Page 134 of Queen’s Gambit

Do you know what happened here? I asked Cinared, hoping the dragon older than time would have some answers.

No, my light. I don’t remember this land or its people, but I was lost in the heavens for millennia until I felt your call.

‘Siras?’ I asked, urging my mount closer. ‘Do you have dragons here?’

‘No,’ he answered, his eyes narrowing as his camel jerked the reins wrapped around his stump. ‘Why are you asking?’

‘They live a long time.’ I shrugged and gave him back the waterskin. Siras blushed when he caught me watching him clumsily replace the cork with his teeth. ‘Let me help you with your hands. I can restore them. Tangra’s Aether might be locked in the sand, but I can siphon it. Let me help you.’

He looked at me over his face covering. ‘It’s enough for you to fix my land.’

‘You’re a stubborn fool. Stop punishing yourself. You need both hands to govern…’ I stopped when he turned his head away. ‘Fine. How long till we arrive in the capital?’

‘Two days, if there are no sandstorms,’ he answered, heading back to lead the caravan. ‘And if my men can endure the march.’

I looked back at the remnants of the once formidable Tangrian army as they dragged their feet through the glassy sand.

‘They need to rest, and I’m not in a rush.’

By nightfall, we arrived at an oasis. Several palm trees shaded a small patch of dark sand with a pipe sticking out of it and a strange contraption attached to the pipe’s side. Around it were tents of various sizes, while a few thin cattle chewed on bales of what I assumed was hay despite its ochre tinge. Siras looked at this picture of famine with indifference, as if the sight were commonplace.

‘This isn’t enough to live on,’ I whispered as we approached.

‘We didn’t invade your lands out of hubris, Roksana. The coastal towns not lost to the sand survive by utilising the sea’s bounty, but inland…’ He shook his head. ‘Places like this are everywhere; that’s all that’s left of Tangra. Each year, more and more people die of starvation.’

I nodded, swallowing hard. Siras exchanged greetings with the camp elders while the soldiers drank their fill. The palm tree provided shade from the last rays of the burning sun. I dipped my hand into the puddle below the pipe, trailing my fingers over the cloudy liquid. I could sense the Aether saturating it, but there was no natural flow. Had the crystals dissolved in it?

I remembered a drunken discussion with Tova the day we met. I’d been lamenting a failed experiment with a tincture for fever, and he loudly told me I’d done everything wrong, then gathered seven pepper pots to explain why. I hadn’t taken him seriously in our inebriated state, but I’d adopted his method soon after.

Would it work here? Tova, maybe you’ll save this land too. I dug my fingers into the wet sand. I couldn’t change the desert, but water? If I altered it just enough, could it do more than dissolve the crystallised Aether? If I could energise it to flow, then the plants, livestock, and people would gain an active source of power.

I had to try. Vivamancy answered my call, spreading out into the water. Cin, help me. How do you shape your fire?

Surprise coloured the dragon’s thoughts, but he demonstrated. Once I’d grasped it, my instincts took over. The change was minimal: a slight increase in water’s energy, a gentle push to the motionless Aether.

The water glowed, just like the desert, its light dancing in the depths and growing brighter with each slow swirl. My magic was restless. It reached the bales of ochre hay, forcing new growth from the cut stalks as roots sought the underground water.

That’s enough, Sanika. Cin’s voice reverberated in my mind. You’re overexerting your power. That’s enough!

Someone was shouting my name, but it felt too good to stop. Grass sprouted along the shore of the oasis, spreading across the surrounding sand. Then olive saplings burst from their pots, their roots plunging into the earth.

A rush of power burned through me when the land itself connected with my magic. My vision blurred; I lost all sense of direction and crashed face-first into the puddle.

A dragon’s tail swept me up and held me in front of his muzzle.

‘You’re testing my patience, Sanika,’ Cin said, and I burst out laughing, my power settling back into its familiar flow.

‘It worked. How’s everything look?’ I asked once my power stabilised.

‘It worked? Roksana, you performed a miracle.’ Siras dropped to his knees.

Grass covered the ground and spread into the dunes, while newly grown plants and young trees cast shadows across the sparkling water of the lake that had appeared from nowhere. Power radiated from the water in playful pulses, feeding everything around it with life-giving Aether. I slid from the dragon’s grip and placed my hand on the sand.

Whatever had turned the Aether into crystals was still there, insidious and constant, but the water dissolved any solidified magic and returned it to the world in a never-ending cycle.

Now I needed to connect my power to this land’s soul and let the prayers for the Songstress end this curse, once and for all.

‘How long will it last, do you think?’ I asked the dragon.