Mythborn by V. Lakshman Page B

said, “I would introduce you to someone.”
    Thoth motioned and from the air stepped another figure, a girl not much older than Tomas by the look of her. She stepped forward and bowed, one fist to her chest. It was then that he noticed her golden eyes and the wings that sat folded neatly on her back. This girl was no girl.
    “Greetings, Lore Father. Fate falls kindly upon thee,” said the girl. “I art Sai’ken.”
    Giridian blinked, then the memories he’d shared of Themun’s youth flooded back and he said, “Your father is Rai’stahn.”
    “Verily,” said the girl, smiling. That smile revealed row upon row of fanged teeth. Sai’ken looked up at him from under arched eyebrows, her golden gaze almost piercing his soul. “I hath been charged by the Conclave to lend aid to thine Adepts. Wouldst thou share with me their path?”
    Giridian looked from her to Thoth, who added, “Finding Armun Dreys is key, and Sai’ken knows him. Your adepts could use the help.”
    “I’ve…” he began, then paused to clear his throat. “I’m not sure what to say.”
    “Ken my only service is protecting the land and all her people. We dragons serve the Way, just as thee and thine doth. However,” she paused, looking at him in that discerning way only dragons could do, “Sais serve for the sake of vitality and potency. Do not believe thou art being misled in my ability to aid and succor thine adepts. We are not Rais.” This last was said with an arching eyebrow, as if the idea of being akin to the other type of dragons was somehow offensive.
    “And you want to find Dragor and Jesyn and do what, exactly?” His mistrust had not diminished despite her openness.
    Sai’ken looked to Thoth, who nodded once. Then the dragon looked back at him and said, “Armun may be held by the Sovereign. Thine adepts art ill-equipped to suborn his release. I will aid thee, and thereby assure success.”
    Giridian absorbed this, still thinking. Before Kisan had disappeared she’d related that Rai’stahn had bonded with the red mage and fought against her and Silbane. They’d barely escaped with their lives. Now Rai’stahn’s daughter asked for the location of two more of his people. Telling this dragon the whereabouts of his adepts did not sit well with him, so he did the next best thing. He told the truth.
    “I only know they strove towards the Dawnlight Mountain. Part of their effectiveness stems from being given a certain amount of latitude to carry out their orders. Their exact location is unknown to me now.”
    Sai’ken’s golden eyes narrowed as she seemed to ponder his answer. Then she sighed and said, “I shall hearken unto Dawnlight and search for their scent. Mayhap Fate’s fortune shall smile upon me yet.”
    Rather than say anything else, Giridian looked at the Keeper and decided to take a different tact. He knew they had been looking into the old records and asked, “Have you or the dragons learned anything about my runestaff?”
    Thoth leaned back, resting his head on his own staff and closing his eyes. To Giridian his stance exuded a weariness beyond reckoning. When the Keeper opened his eyes, the lore father looked away out of respect. There seemed a profound sadness there. Then he turned to Sai’ken and said, “Tell him.”
    The dragon nodded, stepped forward, and said softly, “Thine staff is the key for a lock known as the Phoenix Stone.”
    That was new. He turned to the Keeper and asked, “What is this stone?”
    Thoth made his way over to the frozen form of Tomas, inspecting him but addressing Giridian. “It holds within it a way to reshape things, to remake them based on the whims of the runestaff’s wielder.”
    “And how’s that better than what Sovereign wants?” the lore father scoffed. “Are we just trading one oblivion for another?”
    Thoth didn’t respond right away, his eyes far away. Then he said, “The Phoenix Stone does not have to remake the world… it can remake just the