Chapter 44: VHAROS WILL NOT SETTLE

DIANA’S POV

The dragonstone became hot enough to interrupt Diana’s afternoon household meeting before Blackharrow had confirmed the western fighting was over.

She had made herself return to work because remaining beside the dispatch table could not change what happened beyond the western line.

Mistress Hale was reviewing the emergency family rooms with her. Several remained occupied by relatives of deployed soldiers, and two additional heated chambers near the infirmary could be opened if the returning wounded exceeded the space already prepared.

Diana had just reached for her slate to ask how long the extra rooms could remain reserved without displacing ordinary household needs when heat pressed suddenly against the scar at her throat.

Diana dropped the page.

Mistress Hale looked up.

"Your Grace?"

Diana pulled the dragonstone from beneath her collar.

The black stone was warm against her fingers and growing hotter.

Alma crossed the room immediately.

"What happened?"

Diana shook her head.

She did not know.

Then something roared beneath the Citadel.

The table trembled. Ink moved inside its bottle.

Mistress Hale stood.

Another roar followed, deeper than the first and somehow closer, though the stone beneath Diana’s feet made direction difficult to judge.

Alma looked toward the floor.

"Vharos?"

The dragonstone burned against Diana’s palm.

Diana was already moving.

Mistress Hale came around the table.

"Your Grace."

Diana pointed north, toward the secured route leading beneath the Dragon Heights.

"I know."

"The cavern route is restricted."

Diana knew that too.

Raigoro had personally told her not to enter.

Her two Household Guards fell in behind Diana and Alma as they left the Healing and Household Terrace, crossed north through the controlled interior passages, and descended toward the outer cavern gate.

The route took them beyond the ordinary household halls. Servants stopped at the final public stair while Dragon Host workers carrying medical cases passed through the military checkpoint.

Two secured military guards stood across the iron entrance when Diana arrived.

One bowed.

"Your Grace."

Diana pointed toward the iron gate.

The dragon roared again.

The guard remained where he was.

"You cannot enter."

Diana pulled out her slate.

I KNOW.

She pointed toward the gate again.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

"Vharos is agitated."

That seemed inadequate.

Another impact shook dust from the stone arch.

Alma flinched.

Diana wrote:

HE SOUNDS MORE THAN AGITATED.

"I agree."

At least the guard was reasonable.

A dragonkeeper appeared beyond the gate. He was breathing hard.

"Clear this passage."

He stopped when he reached the gate.

"What is she doing here?"

The guard answered, "She asked what was happening."

The dragonstone in Diana’s hand caught the keeper’s attention just before another roar shook the corridor.

"Your Grace, step back."

Diana did.

Three paces.

Vharos roared again.

The keeper looked through the gate.

"Another five."

Diana stared at him.

He pointed down the corridor.

"Please."

She moved farther back.

A sound came from below that Diana felt through the soles of her boots.

Stone scraped.

Men shouted.

Then the roar came harder than before.

The dragonstone flared against her palm.

Diana gasped and nearly dropped it.

Alma caught her wrist.

"Princess."

The heat was not the only change.

Pressure tightened beneath Diana’s scar, deep enough that swallowing became uncomfortable. She pressed her free hand against her throat.

Meris had made the dragonstone warm. The wounded patrol dragon had done the same while watching Diana from the treatment court.

Neither reaction had felt like this.

This pressure seemed to increase as she moved away from the cavern.

Diana looked back toward the gate.

That made no sense.

She was the one retreating. Whatever Vharos was doing remained somewhere beneath several levels of stone.

Alma followed her attention. "Your throat?"

Diana nodded.

"Worse?"

Another roar came from below.

Diana nodded again.

The keeper had already come through the gate.

"Forward."

Diana looked at him.

"Slowly."

She obeyed.

The first few steps changed nothing. Then the pressure beneath her scar eased slightly.

Diana stopped.

The keeper pointed toward the gate. "Keep coming."

She did.

By the time she reached the iron entrance, breathing no longer required quite as much effort.

Diana kept one hand over the dragonstone.

Vharos was reacting to her distance.

Apparently her own body was reacting to something too.

She had no idea whether those were the same problem.

Diana reached the gate.

The roaring stopped. Men were still speaking below, metal scraped somewhere in the cavern, and Vharos was breathing hard enough for the sound to carry into the passage.

The keeper stared at Diana.

Alma looked between them.

"What?"

The keeper did not answer.

He stepped back through the gate.

"Stay there."

Diana had no intention of leaving.

Several minutes passed.

The dragonstone remained warm but no longer painful.

Diana slipped it back beneath her collar, though her fingers remained over the stone.

A second keeper asked Diana to move away again.

Vharos became restless before she reached the far end of the passage. When she returned to the gate, his breathing eased.

When Master Husen Clair arrived, he repeated the test once more and received the same result.

"How long has she been here?" he asked the guard.

"Minutes."

"Did anything happen before she arrived?"

"He had already tried to rise twice," another keeper said from beyond the gate. "Third attempt was when she reached the final secured stair."

Vharos had already tried to rise twice. He was supposed to be too ill for ordinary Muster activity.

Master Clair asked, "What happens if she stays here?"

"He settles somewhat," the keeper said. "But he keeps trying to rise."

"If she goes?"

"You heard him."

Master Clair pointed toward the dragonstone.

"Has it done that before?"

Diana wrote:

WITH OTHER DRAGONS.

Master Clair read the answer again.

Raigoro would be delighted that the list of unexplained problems had grown while he was away.

A messenger arrived at a run.

"Commander Voss is coming."

For once, Daric’s arrival sounded useful. He could become responsible for the problem.

Alma leaned close.

"You look relieved."

Diana wrote:

I AM LEARNING TO DELEGATE.

Vharos shifted below.

Diana put the slate away.

When Daric appeared at the end of the corridor, he found Diana and Alma outside the locked gate with four keepers, two Household Guards, and the dragonstone back in Diana’s hand. "Why is she here?"

Master Clair answered. "Because his condition changes with her distance."

Daric looked toward the cavern. "Tested?"

"Three times. He worsens when she leaves and settles when she returns."

"Did you enter?" Daric asked Diana.

She shook her head.

The guard said, "Her Grace stopped when ordered."

Daric nodded.

Then Vharos roared again.

Raigoro’s instruction had been clear. Diana was not to enter the restricted dragon caverns while he was away.

Master Clair looked at Daric.

"We need a decision."