“Oh, they’ll listen,” Justin said confidently. “The White Witch and Amelia the Planeswalker just whistled up every living dragon to fight under your banner. Everyone’s scared of them, and they’re taking orders from you. That makes you the most important dragon in the world.” He slapped Julius on the back again. “I knew you had it in you!”
There were so many things wrong with that statement, Julius didn’t know where to begin, so he didn’t bother. Arguing with his brother over facts was the same as banging your head against a wall: painful and ineffective. There was no point, anyway. If Justin was happy, that was good enough for Julius, so he dismissed the inaccuracies and accepted the compliment as it had been intended. “Thank you, Justin.”
“I’m the one who should be grateful,” Justin said, puffing out his chest. “You made me look amazing, and I wasn’t even there! I should give you a boon for this.”
“Please don’t,” Julius begged. “I’ve had enough trouble with debts to last me the rest of my life. The last thing I need is another…”
He trailed off. Justin went quiet as well, dropping a hand to the wrapped handle of his Fang of the Heartstriker as Marlin Drake left his knot of dragons and approached, a charming, hungry smile on his too-handsome face.
As soon as he got within striking distance, Justin put himself between the older dragon and Julius. “What do you want, clanless?”
“Just coming to pay my regards while we wait,” Drake replied smoothly. “The Affiliated Clanless Dragons have always been steadfast allies of the Heartstriker. Bethesda’s been a regular on my show for fifty years, you know.”
“Yeah, we know,” Justin snapped. “She makes us watch every time she’s on. But I don’t see what your famewhoring sellout of a dragon-and-pony show has to do with anything.”
“Justin,” Julius hissed, putting a hand on his brother’s arm as he dropped his voice to a whisper. “We don’t have enough allies to afford insulting one!”
“But he’s the head of the clanless,” Justin hissed back. “They’ll take anyone who’ll swear loyalty to Drake. Complete lack of standards. Don’t believe me, check out who’s lurking in his ranks.”
Justin glanced at the mismatched knot of Marlin Drake’s “clan” standing at the far edge of the cavern. Sure enough, the clanless dragons stood out from the rest of the room like platypuses among swans. All the other families were clearly cut from the same cloth with similar clothing and physical features. Even the Golden Empire’s dragons—which were technically twenty different clans held together by a lucky golden claw—looked like a matched set. But the only uniting feature of the clanless dragons was that they were standing together. They came from every family, age, and type, including a few breeds Julius had never seen before. All of them looked scruffy and intimidated by the bigger powers surrounding them, but one dragon in particular seemed to be going out of his way to hide in the shadows, his green eyes glowing like a sulking cat’s.
“Is that…” Julius squinted through the gloom, breathing in deep to catch the dragon’s scent. When he found it, he grabbed Justin’s arm. “That’s Gregory!”
It didn’t seem possible, but Julius’s nose didn’t lie. There was no question the dragon lurking at the urban cavern’s edge was Gregory no-longer-Heartstriker. Just seeing him was enough to make Julius’s long-healed injuries twinge as if they were fresh. The only reason he didn’t panic was because Gregory looked just as freaked out as Julius felt. The banished dragon was practically cowering behind his fellow clanless, watching the Heartstrikers as though he expected them to come over and rip his head off at any second, which, given the way Justin was growling, was probably a legitimate fear.
“You dare bring a traitor into our midst?” the knight snarled, taking a menacing step toward Marlin Drake. “Some ally.”
“I didn’t bring him,” Drake replied. “He was called by the Planeswalker and summoned by the White Witch same as the rest of us. My only crime was vouching for him, but don’t worry. I’ve heard all about the unpleasantness at Heartstriker Mountain, and I promise you personally that he will be no trouble.” He looked over his shoulder at Gregory with a killing smile. “As a clanless dragon, he has nowhere else to go. Even Heartstriker’s enemies would not shelter a traitor. I’m his only safe harbor, and I’ve made it very clear that my protection is strictly conditional on our continued good relations with your family.” He turned back to Julius with a smile. “You won’t even know he’s here.”
“I’ll believe that when it happens,” Julius grumbled. But annoyed as he was at this new complication, a very small part of him was happy that Gregory had found someone to take him in. Dragons were highly social creatures, and traitor or not, no one deserved to be alone.
“This has been a very humbling experience for him,” Drake said, leaning around the still-growling Justin to lock his eyes on Julius. “He was actually the one who first told me your name. You’re the head of Heartstriker now, aren’t you?”
“I’m one of three heads,” Julius corrected. “I share power with Bethesda and my brother Ian via a clan council.”
“Dragons don’t share power,” Drake said dismissively. “On paper, perhaps, your rule is split, but I just saw every dragon in the world deferring to you, which tells me where the real power lies.” He moved a little closer. “So how did it actually go down? Gregory was tragically short on the details, and Bethesda threatened to eat me when I asked her. I’d love to hear the whole story from the dragon who was in the middle of things.”
He smiled eagerly, and Julius bit his lip. “We don’t really have the time right now to—”
“Of course, of course,” Drake said, moving closer still despite the increasing volume of Justin’s growling. “You can tell me everything on my show when this is over. An exclusive interview with you and your Merlin, and your knight, of course.” He flashed a smile at Justin, who seemed surprisingly mollified by the possibility of being on television despite badmouthing the whole idea earlier. But while his brother was looking pleased, Julius was starting to get annoyed.
“If we survive, I’ll think about it,” he said, moving away. “Right now, we have more important things to worry about.”
“But right now might be our last chance to talk,” Drake said, his sea-blue eyes gleaming dangerously. “I’m dying to know more about the runt of a J who rose from the bottom of his clan to become the leader who commands the respect of every important dragon in the world. The Qilin, Svena, the Planeswalker, even Bethesda’s Shade all defer to you, and I find that fascinating. Not surprising, of course. Unlikely success is in your blood. After all…” His lips curled into a coy smile. “You are my son.”
Julius jerked back so fast he nearly fell over. His face must have been a sight, because Marlin Drake’s smirk turned into a laugh. “When we survive this, call me,” he said, flipping a business card out of his sleeve and tucking it into the front pocket of Julius’s jacket. “We’ll do a whole series. ‘The Unlikely Dragon Who Saved the World!’ It’ll be a sensation.” He gave Julius a final wink and turned around. “Bring your Merlin girl as well. When I’m done, the two of you will be the talk of the world. I just hope you’re ready to be famous.”
He walked off with a wave, leaving Julius staring after him with his mouth hanging open.
“There he goes again,” Justin said, shaking his head. “Leave it to the First Dragon in Television to turn our real life into a cheesy ‘tune in next week’ style cliffhanger.”
Julius’s head bobbed, but he was still too shocked to speak. It wasn’t until Justin grabbed his arm and started dragging him back toward the other Heartstrikers that he finally blurted out, “Did you know?”
His brother stopped, confused. “Did I know what?”
“That!” Julius cried, pointing at Marlin Drake’s back. “Did you know he was our father?”
“Of course I knew,” Justin said. “Drake does the dad reveal whenever one of us gets famous enough to catch his attention. He pull
ed it on me back when I became the clan’s knight at seventeen, though I never got invited to do an interview.”
Julius stared at him. “You’ve known who our father was since we were seventeen, and you never told me?”
“You never asked!” Justin cried. “I’m not psychic! I don’t know what you want. Even when you do tell me, it doesn’t make sense half the time.”
“I would think this would be obvious!” Julius cried back. “He’s our dad!”
“All the more reason to keep it to myself,” Justin snapped. “What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey Julius, you seem to be having a good day, so let me ruin it by telling you that our father is a clanless reject whose only claim to power is being in charge of other clanless rejects. He’s also a shameless huckster who made his fortune spilling dragon secrets for human entertainment, and our mother only slept with him so she’d have a regular spot on his talk show.’” Justin rolled his eyes. “Seriously, you were mopey enough as it was back then. I wasn’t about to make it worse by telling you the truth.”
If he’d been less upset, Julius would have been touched by Justin’s thoughtfulness. Emotional sensitivity wasn’t usually his brother’s strong suit. But while hearing the logic behind the decision made him feel slightly less betrayed, he still couldn’t believe Justin had kept this from him.
“We have to tell the other Js,” he said angrily. “They deserve to know.”
“I’m pretty sure they already do,” Justin said. “Like I said, Drake does the dad reveal whenever one of us gets important, and unlike you, all of us became important a while ago.”
Julius’s shoulders slumped. “So I’m the last to know?”
His brother nodded. “None of us talked about it because who brags about a deadbeat dad? But we all knew. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner. Marlin Drake’s a sea serpent, and his dragon form is all over his movie posters. Didn’t you ever notice we all shared his coloration and head shape?”
“Blue and green aren’t exactly uncommon Heartstriker colors,” Julius said defensively. Then he thought of something else. “Wait, if our father’s a sea serpent, why don’t we have any water-related powers?” Having gills or something would have been really useful all those times he’d nearly drowned fighting Vann Jeger and Algonquin.
“Because like I said, he’s a deadbeat,” Justin growled. “Bethesda picked prime mates for her early clutches because she was breeding up her power base. By the time she got to us, though, she needed other things more than she needed strong dragons, so her standards for good matches started going downhill. Drake is only slightly older than the H’s and the last surviving member of his clan, so it wasn’t like he had a broad power base to start from. Even if he had been ancient and powerful, though, it’s never gonna be a good mix when you’re combining scaly sea serpents with feathered dragons.” He huffed in disgust. “If we did get something good out of the match, I’ve never found it. I can’t even go into the water in my true shape without looking like a drowned chicken.”
Julius had never been crazy enough to try swimming as a dragon for that exact reason, but hearing they’d gotten nothing from their dad made him angry all over again. Worse, Marlin Drake hadn’t even bothered to seek him out until Julius had something he wanted. Like a true dragon, he’d only cared about his son when Julius became useful, and even then, his caring was limited to how Julius could be used to his advantage.
“He and Bethesda deserve each other,” Julius snarled, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’d rather have no father at all than another parent who only sees me as a tool.”
“That’s what children are to dragons,” Justin said with a shrug. “You see, this is why I never told you. The rest of us could handle the truth, but you were always too soft. You wanted parents who loved you, but that just doesn’t happen for us. Anyway, it’s not like Drake matters. He’s half our DNA, but he’s not family. We are. We’re Heartstrikers, clan. That’s something Drake could never have given us, and who wants to be part of a stage show for humans, anyway?”
He finished with a grin, but Julius could only stare at his brother in awe. Their entire life, Justin had been his bully, the tormentor of his childhood. He’d hunted and harassed and irritated Julius more than any other J, and yet, of everyone in the family, Justin was the only one who’d always been there. Even when he was being a pompous, overbearing jerk about it, he’d always looked out for his little brother even at the risk of his own life. He could be an absolute pain, but Justin had been truer to Julius’s idea of family than any other dragon, and though he’d always known it deep down, Julius loved him for it now more than ever.
“Thank you, brother,” he whispered, stepping in to wrap his arms around Justin’s chest.
“Yeah, yeah,” Justin muttered, tolerating the hug for a good five seconds before pushing Julius away. “Don’t get all mushy on me. You get a pass as the Nice Dragon, but some of us have actual reputations to maintain.”
“You’re the knight of the Nice Dragon,” Julius pointed out. “Doesn’t that buy you some slack?”
Justin’s answer to that was an appalled look. But just as Julius was about to tease him again, the military com he’d just put on his head buzzed to life. General Jackson’s face appeared in the AR in front of his face a moment later. “Canadian Command in Windsor says that magical levels have dropped enough to authorize flight,” she said, her voice surprisingly loud despite the fact that the com unit had no supplemental speakers. “I’m clearing all air units for combat. Repeat, all air units are cleared for combat. Get up there and bring that bastard down.”
“That’s our cue,” Julius said to Justin as all the UN forces began to scramble. “Ready?”
“Are you kidding?” Justin said, drawing his sword. Fire engulfed him before the blade was even out, replacing his towering human form with a bright-green-feathered dragon with the bone cage of his transformed Fang of the Heartstrikers locked over his jaws and a look of pure glee shining in his green eyes. The moment the change finished, Justin launched into the air, his Fang transforming the flames that flashed between his giant teeth into the magical green fire of the Quetzalcoatl as he flew straight up into the shadow of their enemy. Julius was still staring after when he realized no one else was flying.
“What are you waiting for?” he shouted, turning to the rest of the dragons. “The magic’s down! It’s time to fight back! Go!”
“You heard the small Heartstriker!” Svena called, striding out from the circle of her sisters with her whelps clinging to her shoulders like a living cloak of snowy down. “Fly, you idiots!”
She shed her human form as she spoke, revealing the beautiful white dragon underneath. Then, babies still clinging to her frosted scales, Svena launched herself into the air as well, shooting up through the hole in the Skyways with a single powerful beat of her frosted wings. Her sisters followed at once, as did everyone else. Within seconds, the air was full of flapping wings and scraping claws as all the dragons of the world took off en masse.
Julius was the last to go, waiting until the cavern was empty before shedding his own human mask to transform into his dragon. As always, the weight of his transformed Fang was surprisingly heavy on his head, but at least it gave him somewhere safe to tuck his com unit before he launched into the air as well, following the others into a sky that was already full of fire.
***
“And they’re off,” Bob said, rising from his seat on Julius’s last remaining step. “Quite the spectacle, isn’t it?”
He glanced at the Black Reach, who was standing beside him, but the construct’s face was bleak. “I find no joy in watching the race I was made to protect fly to their almost-certain deaths.”
“Thank you, Captain Bringdown,” Bob said. “But loath as I am to undercut your doomsayer routine, death is no longer a foregone conclusion. We’re in new territory, predictively speaking, and new territory means new opportunities.”
“That is true,” the Bl
ack Reach admitted. “But just because the cards have been reshuffled doesn’t mean they’ve changed their faces. We’re still up against the same unbeatable foe.” He arched a narrow eyebrow at Bob. “Unless you’ve got something in mind that changes the fundamental fact that we are outmatched in every way, I fail to see how any of these newly created futures will turn out differently than the old ones.”
“I always have something in mind,” Bob said with a smile. “This is my plot, remember? I didn’t make the Leviathan mess, but I orchestrated its current form.” He nodded at the sky full of dragons. “This fight is taking place on my board with my pieces. If there’s a way out of this, I already have everything I need to make it happen. I just have to find it.”
“And then what?” the Black Reach said, shooting a dangerous look at the pigeon snoozing on Bob’s shoulder. “Use that to ensure it? Sell all other futures for the latest version of the happy ending where you survive?”
“My lady’s already done her part,” Bob said, placing a hand on the pigeon’s feathered back. “She helped me survive you. Now that the veil of my death has finally been lifted, I’m free to use my genius to find us a real way out of this. No cheating required.”
“That sounds dangerously close to desperation,” the Black Reach growled. “Hope is fine for others, Brohomir, but we seers must always embrace reality. If you let what you want to happen blind you to what will happen, you’ll be just as unprepared for the end as they are.”
Bob’s jaw clenched. “Perhaps I am being overly optimistic, but the only other option is to prepare for defeat, and I never could stand losing. You’re the one who taught me that even certain doom isn’t certain until it actually happens, and if there’s any seer who could find a way out of this, it’s me. After all…” His lips curled into a smirk. “I’m the one who beat you.”
The Black Reach didn’t dignify that with a response. He just stood there silently, rolling Marci’s Kosmolabe between his long-fingered hands as the dragons overhead began burning the Leviathan’s tentacles to ash.