Garret, I thought, swallowing the tightness in my throat. Riley. I hope you’re all right. Where were they now? What was happening to them? Imagining the awful things Talon might do to the infamous rogue and the soldier of St. George made my stomach hurt. Hang in there, both of you; we’ll find a way out of here, somehow.
The needle slid into my skin, a brief stab of pain followed by a feeling of drowsiness. Briefly, I wondered where Dante was, and the Elder Wyrm. And which of them was responsible for what was happening now.
“Take her to lab station two,” I heard the human say as the world started to go dark. “And for God’s sake, be careful. We don’t want her damaged before she reaches the Elder Wyrm.”
That was the last thing I heard.
* * *
I flinched and opened my eyes.
I was lying on my back, gazing up at a sterile white ceiling. My head spun. There was a weird, bitter chemical taste in my mouth, and the light overhead was hazy. I blinked several times, clearing my vision, and my blood turned to ice.
The Elder Wyrm loomed above me, regarding me impassively, though her massive presence filled the entire chamber. I jerked and realized I couldn’t move; my wrists and ankles had been tied down with leather cuffs, and there were straps across my waist and chest, holding me immobile. Instinctively, I tried to Shift, to break free of the restraints, but my dragon wouldn’t respond at all. Panicked, I thrashed against the bindings, feeling the enormous power of the Elder Wyrm pressing down on me from all sides.
“It’s easier if you don’t resist,” the Elder Wyrm said. Panting, I glared up at her, and she gazed back. “Stop fighting. It is useless. You cannot Shift. There are a half-dozen vessels guarding this room, and only a select few know where you are. I would rather not have to sedate you, but I will not risk you injuring yourself. Calm down, before I have someone do it for you.”
“What do you want with me?” I growled.
The Elder Wyrm regarded me another moment. A chilling smile crossed her face, making me shrink down in terror.
“Everything.”
“I...won’t talk,” I said, though my heart was pounding and my breath was coming in short gasps. Riley had said Talon had no problem torturing people for information. If you had something they wanted, they wouldn’t stop until they acquired it, by whatever means necessary. Apparently, not even the daughter of the Elder Wyrm was exempt.
“Talk?” the Elder Wyrm repeated, and raised a brow. “You think you are here to be interrogated,” she mused, and gave a soft chuckle. “No, Ember Hill. You have no information that I want. I don’t care about Cobalt’s network of traitors and runaways. The secrets of St. George mean nothing to me. I am not even concerned about the Eastern dragon that followed you over from China. Soon, none of that will matter.”
“Why am I here, then?”
“You have no idea what you really are,” the Elder Wyrm went on. “Or why you are special. To the dragons of Talon, you are my daughter, the heir to the empire along with Dante. They don’t know your true purpose—none of them have figured it out, not even your very clever brother. You see, Ember...” She smiled again, no less frightening than before. “Dante is the backup plan. You were always the chosen one.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered, heart pounding as she drew closer, looming over me. “Dante and I were raised together, and he’s always been loyal to Talon.” A thought came to me then, making my breath catch. “So, that story you told us in your office...was any of it true? Is Dante related to me at all? Are we even siblings?” The sudden realization that Dante might not be my brother, after all, hit me like a punch in the stomach. Even with all our differences, the times he’d betrayed me, stabbed me in the back and sided with Talon, he was still my twin. To think that he might be just some stranger, some random dragon that had been raised alongside me...it seemed wrong. Like my brother had died, after all.
“You don’t understand.” The Elder Wyrm shook her head. “Dante is of my blood,” she continued, making me slump in relief. “As are you. Though not in the way you would expect. As far as Talon is concerned, you and Dante are my offspring. The blood of the Elder Wyrm—that is all that matters. How you were created is something only a few know.”
I stared at her, the world spinning around me as I finally got it. “We...we’re clones,” I whispered. “Dante and I...we’re like the vessels, or whatever you call them.”
“No,” said the Elder Wyrm firmly. “You are not like the vessels. The vessels were created to be mindless, programmed to obey commands and little else. They are a perfect army, but they exist to serve a single purpose. They have no individuality, no thoughts of their own. You, however...” Her gaze roamed my body, as if seeing what lay beneath the sheets, scrutinizing it. It made my skin crawl. “You and your brother were engineered for perfection. You might have begun life in a vat, but I wanted you and Dante to develop normally. To reach your full potential. You were genetically constructed to be superior, but I needed your growth to be natural, untampered with. That was essential.”
“Why?”
For a moment, in that tiny room, the Elder Wyrm just stared at me, her eyes distant and dark. In that gaze, I felt the weight of a thousand years, someone who had watched worlds rise and fall, who had seen so much death, atrocity, chaos and evil that nothing affected her anymore.
“I am old,” the Elder Wyrm said, and her voice seemed to echo all around me. “Older than you know. Older than any living creature on this planet. I have spent the past few centuries building this empire from nothing, and it has become exactly what I envisioned. But there is still so much to do, and I haven’t much time left. Even dragons cannot live forever.”
“So, that’s why you need us,” I guessed. “You wanted an heir to take over Talon. Someone who would share your ideals and do exactly what you wanted.”
“Not...exactly.” The Elder Wyrm stepped forward, her eyes glowing green in the shadows, making me want to sink into the mattress. “That is what the rest of Talon thinks. They know I would never leave my organization in the hands of just any dragon, even one that is loyal to the organization. An older dragon would ignore my wishes and attempt to make Talon their own, to tear down my ideals and replace them with their own desires, and I have worked too hard to relinquish that control. I wanted someone of my blood, someone I could shape, and mold, who would continue my work should I fall. Dante is exactly what I need in an heir. I have no doubt he will do exactly as I wish and honor my will, if I am ever gone. But that is not why I created you.
“You are the perfect replica of me,” the Elder Wyrm went on. “We share the same blood, the same DNA, but it is more than that. You were specifically engineered to house my memories, my essence, if you will.” In the shadow cast by the overhead lights, her eyes glinted. “You are my vessel, Ember Hill,” she told me. “The envelope of my soul. Once I am ‘programmed’ into your brain, I will live for another thousand years. I have not come this far, and built so much, to abandon it to something as trivial as death.”
“But...” I was having trouble breathing; this felt like a nightmare. A paralyzing, horrific nightmare, something that couldn’t be real. “What about the other vessels?” I asked, my voice coming out small and desperate. “Can’t you use one of them?”
“No. The vessels were created for one purpose only, and that is war. Because their growth rate was so rapidly accelerated, their brains did not develop fully. They are able to accept simple programming. Anything more complex, and there are...complications.” The Elder Wyrm made a vague, disgusted gesture. “For a time, we experimented with implanting the memories of a runaway hatchling or rogue into a vessel. But something always happened—the vessels went mad or became catatonic, and we would have to destroy them and the donor dragon.” She said this calmly, like she was discussing a TV sitcom, not casually admitting the experimental mind rape and murd
er of numerous dragons.
“The vessels are unsuitable for memory transfer,” the Elder Wyrm continued. “They excel at what they were bred for, which is obeying orders and dying for our cause. But they cannot imprint memories or personality. For my objective to work, I needed a daughter, someone who shared my blood and my DNA. Who had the chance to grow up, to learn and develop normally, even as she rebelled against everything we stand for.” One elegant white hand rose to frame my face. Her nails lightly scraped my cheek before I flinched away. The Elder Wyrm smiled. “You will be my vessel, Ember Hill,” she said, and though her touch was light, her eyes were cold. As if she was inspecting an outfit for flaws. “My new body, in which I will live forever.”
“But...” I scrambled for a response, a way out, anything to stop this horrific reality from going forward. “You don’t know if this procedure will work, you just said so yourself. The vessels can’t imprint memories or personality. What if you get into my head and we both go nuts?”
“Oh, my dear.” The Elder Wyrm chuckled again and shook her head. “What makes you think you and Dante are the only children I created?”
My heart seemed to stop. “But you said—”
“I said the vessels are unsuited for memory transfer. Of course I would not risk myself if the procedure had not been perfected.” The Elder Wyrm shook her head at me, smiling. “You are not the first daughter of mine, Ember Hill. Nor the second, nor the third. You are simply the oldest. There were others, many others, before you. The first experiments were quite dismal—many were lost to madness, deformities or other failures. But we kept trying, knowing that with every clone we put down, we learned something new. We learned that the brain must have the chance to fully develop, to experience memory, emotion, personality and all the things that cannot be artificially emulated. So you see, daughter...” The Elder Wyrm smiled her coldest, most terrifying smile yet. “The secret of immortality is within my grasp, and it will be mine alone.”
“And...what happened to all the other clones?” I whispered. My sisters, the siblings I had never known. The Elder Wyrm’s terrifying expression didn’t change.
“They were destroyed.”
Straightening, she took a step back. “Unfortunately, before my memories can be implanted, we will have to remove yours,” she said. “Two personalities in one mind will certainly cause complications. I will no doubt have my hands full trying to adjust to my new body without having to fight your presence for control. Better that no trace of your personality remains when I settle in.”
Horror threatened to choke me. “You can’t do that,” I whispered.
“Of course we can,” the Elder Wyrm said. “Humans have been doing similar things for years, even without old magic. Brainwashing, hypnotism, forced amnesia...the mind is a curious thing.” She stepped back, watching as I forced myself to breathe, to not panic, though I felt that, if I opened my mouth, I would start screaming and not be able to stop. “Sacrifice has always been necessary for the survival of our race, Ember,” the Elder Wyrm said. “I know it means little now, but this will ensure that Talon never falls, and dragons are one step closer to ruling the world, as it should be.”
“Why now?” I asked desperately. “If this was what you were planning all along, why the charade? What was all that about having me take my place in Talon with Dante?”
“That was for Dante’s benefit,” the Elder Wyrm replied. “He is still disturbingly loyal to you and would not take the truth of your creation well. I allowed him to think he could save you, because a willing heir is much easier to work with. Which is why I sent him away for a time. I knew you would never agree to conform to Talon. From what I have seen and heard, you have been corrupted thoroughly by Cobalt. There are ways to get you to do what we want, of course, ways to leverage your cooperation. For instance, it is hard to be willful when your friends are screaming in pain on the other side of the glass.”
I closed my eyes, feeling my stomach turn inside out with the realization. I’d never had a chance here. Talon knew exactly what to do to get me to cooperate. If I saw Garret and Riley in pain, if the choice was between killing for Talon and letting either of them die... I would probably agree to whatever they wanted.
“But that is unnecessary,” the Elder Wyrm went on. “Your cooperation is not needed, Ember Hill. The timing is perfect. I have my army. I have my heir. Everything is in place. The only thing I require now is immortality.”
A human in a white coat appeared, his head bowed in respect as he approached the Elder Wyrm. “Ma’am? We’re ready to begin.”
“Excellent.” The Elder Wyrm’s predatory stare settled on the human. “And you are certain the procedure will be complete before the night of Fang and Fire?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The Elder Wyrm gave a brusque nod, and the scientist walked to the head of the gurney and grasped the sides. “I’m afraid this is the last time we will see each other,” she said as he began pulling me away. “Apparently, the process of removing your memories is an involved procedure and will take time to fully complete. If you accept the process and do not fight it, it will be much easier for you.” She gave me an amused look as the scientist paused at a door, pulling it open. “Of course, I realize that would be like telling a fish not to swim. You do remind me of myself when I was your age, though that was a long, long time ago. I’ve almost forgotten what it was like, to be young.” Her smile widened, becoming almost wistful. “I must admit, I am looking forward to having another thousand years.”
Then the gurney was pushed through the frame, the door closed behind us and the Elder Wyrm was gone.
As the gurney rolled forward, I thrashed against the restraints, trying desperately to Shift, to summon the strength to ignore whatever drugs they’d stuck me with. But I felt nothing but a cold sluggishness within, and despair settled heavily in my chest, joining the anger and fear. A man waited in the room beyond, another scientist type in a long white lab coat, smiling at me as I was rolled forward. “Ah, here she is,” he exclaimed, peering at me through his glasses. “Ember Hill, what a pleasure it is to meet you. You must be terribly excited—after sixteen years, your true purpose is finally being fulfilled. To be the Elder Wyrm’s chosen vessel, what a tremendous honor.”
“Yeah, I don’t really see it like that,” I growled at him. He chuckled.
“Nonsense. This is what you were created for. Just think, if immortality can actually be achieved, what will that mean for both dragons and the entire human race? I, for one, am eager to see all my hard work finally come to fruition. Now then, let’s get a look at you.” The scientist pulled the stethoscope from around his neck and put it to my chest. “Hmm, heartbeat is abnormally fast,” he muttered, and I glared at him.
“Oh, really? I wonder why that is.” My voice shook, and I had to force myself to breathe calmly. “You’re just brainwashing and turning me into a zombie so that the Elder Wyrm can move into my head. Nothing evil there.”
“Brainwashing? Oh, no, no, no. This is nothing so crude.” The scientist put the stethoscope back around his neck and smiled at me fondly. “Brainwashing involves high levels of trauma, either physical or mental, to break down a subject’s personality, beliefs and sense of self so that they can be replaced with a new set of ideals. The process can take months, or longer, and the subject still retains who he is at his core. His memories have not been erased, merely suppressed.” He paused as two other scientists converged on me, tightening straps, pulling my eyelids down to shine a light into them, swabbing my skin with something that stung my nostrils. “What we are going to do is a complete mind wipe,” he went on when there was a lull in the ministrations. “We are going to extract your memories and all the emotion, knowledge and skills attached to them, so that your brain will be fully receptive to new memory, skills and personality. Think of it as erasing your computer’s hard drive, removing all files and data
, destroying any harmful information or viruses it might’ve picked up and completely starting over.”
“And...what will happen to me?” I asked. I tried, once more, to Shift, to burst into my true form and burn my way out of this laboratory of horrors, but the dragon refused to stir. The scientist continued to smile and speak casually, as if he was explaining to a child why the needle wouldn’t hurt.
“Well, for the procedure at least, your memory will be electronically stored,” he replied, nodding to something off to the side of the gurney. I craned my neck around to see what looked like a large computer bank, with several men in white coats hovering around the screens. “We’ve had fairly good success with saving individual memories,” the scientist went on, “though eventually they do break down and are lost. But, ultimately, it will be up to the Elder Wyrm to decide what to do with yours. If she wants to keep you for later use or erase you completely.”
“So, you’re saying that me as an individual, everything that makes me who I am, will be destroyed. Gone forever.” The human regarded me serenely but didn’t answer, and my heart fluttered around my ribs like a panicked bird. I bared my teeth at him. “I hope you know that’s essentially murder. Isn’t there some sort of oath that condemns that? Do no harm? Don’t play God? Any of this ringing a bell?”
“Oh, my dear, I’m not a doctor. I’m a scientist.” The two other men returned and began sticking electrodes to my forehead, neck and arms, while the scientist watched them. “And even if I were, the Hippocratic oath only applies to humans. ‘I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.’ If we are going to quote passages at each other.”