was appointed his protector. He was my best friend. I don’t know if I was his. I’d promised him, every time he shared his fear of being killed, that I would be there. That I would keep him safe. I had him in my arms. I came so close to saving him. I failed.”
I want to give Ion time, but I’ve got to be sure I understand what he was saying. “You were attacked by a dragon from the back?”
“Yes.”
“While you tried to carry Alexei out?” I’m trying to make sense of Ion’s story. The Romanov royal family had four daughters and one son, Alexei, the youngest, a child of thirteen the night he died. He was plagued by illness all his life.
Ion’s still looking up at the treetops, and now he’s shaking his head. I’ve never seen such an expression of self-loathing on anyone’s face ever before. “I intended to carry him out.” Ion’s voice is still, almost silent.
“You were attacked from the back?”
“I woke up four days later, a thousand miles away, everyone I’d known and loved dead or missing forever.”
“Someone took you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then how?” I can’t imagine Ion could fly a thousand miles with the injuries that caused the scars on his back. But I’m not sure I’ve followed his story at all. He’s talking about the night the Romanovs were executed. He’s talking about failing them, but something’s missing. Something doesn’t add up.
“I fled. Like a coward.”
“You flew?”
“I teleported.”
Chapter Ten
Probably my mouth is hanging open, but that’s the least of my worries right now.
Ion what ?
“You what?”
“Teleported away. Like a coward. It must have been the last action I took before I blacked out. There is a gap in my memory. One moment, I had Alexei in my arms, ready to fly him away to safety, and then a dragon slashed my back with his claws. The pain was like a flash of light, cutting off my consciousness and memory. The next thing I knew, it was four days later. I was in Eudora’s castle, of all places, hastily bandaged, being cared for with a kind of cursory reluctance that bordered on neglect.”
As he speaks, I try to envision everything Ion is telling me. I’ve got the part about the Romanovs, the royal family of Russia, being executed. Obviously if there were dragons present, that part never made it into the history books, edited out either by sympathizers who wanted to help hide us, or by our enemies who preferred to imagine a world in which we didn’t exist.
Got it. No problem. I mean, I don’t like that the Romanovs were executed, and I especially don’t like the obvious burden of guilt Ion carries because of it, but I can at least grasp the rudimentary structure of the story.
There’s just that last part that doesn’t fit with anything I know of the world and what’s scientifically possible. “You teleported ?”
Ion looks at me with deep regret. “I was so close to saving him. Even injured, I should have been able to get away. But I failed him. I failed Russia. I failed the dragons.”
I place my hand on Ion’s arm.
He’s grappling with guilt.
I’m struggling with the limits of the space-time continuum.
“I did not know…” I start slowly, thinking back over what I do know, trying to fit the two together. “When the yagi attacked me, you were on the balcony, and then you were next to me, fighting, but you didn’t change into a dragon and fly there because you were wearing the same clothes, and if you’d changed into a dragon, your clothes would have been gone.”
“I teleported.”
“You teleported.”
“I grabbed the swords from above one of the mantels in the ballroom, and then teleported to your side.”
“So you just…how do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Teleport.”
“Same way anyone else teleports, I suppose.”
“Okay.” I’m nodding, trying to decide if there’s any reason for me not to admit I don’t know how to teleport. If there is, I don’t know what it is.
I want to give Ion time, but I’ve got to be sure I understand what he was saying. “You were attacked by a dragon from the back?”
“Yes.”
“While you tried to carry Alexei out?” I’m trying to make sense of Ion’s story. The Romanov royal family had four daughters and one son, Alexei, the youngest, a child of thirteen the night he died. He was plagued by illness all his life.
Ion’s still looking up at the treetops, and now he’s shaking his head. I’ve never seen such an expression of self-loathing on anyone’s face ever before. “I intended to carry him out.” Ion’s voice is still, almost silent.
“You were attacked from the back?”
“I woke up four days later, a thousand miles away, everyone I’d known and loved dead or missing forever.”
“Someone took you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then how?” I can’t imagine Ion could fly a thousand miles with the injuries that caused the scars on his back. But I’m not sure I’ve followed his story at all. He’s talking about the night the Romanovs were executed. He’s talking about failing them, but something’s missing. Something doesn’t add up.
“I fled. Like a coward.”
“You flew?”
“I teleported.”
Chapter Ten
Probably my mouth is hanging open, but that’s the least of my worries right now.
Ion what ?
“You what?”
“Teleported away. Like a coward. It must have been the last action I took before I blacked out. There is a gap in my memory. One moment, I had Alexei in my arms, ready to fly him away to safety, and then a dragon slashed my back with his claws. The pain was like a flash of light, cutting off my consciousness and memory. The next thing I knew, it was four days later. I was in Eudora’s castle, of all places, hastily bandaged, being cared for with a kind of cursory reluctance that bordered on neglect.”
As he speaks, I try to envision everything Ion is telling me. I’ve got the part about the Romanovs, the royal family of Russia, being executed. Obviously if there were dragons present, that part never made it into the history books, edited out either by sympathizers who wanted to help hide us, or by our enemies who preferred to imagine a world in which we didn’t exist.
Got it. No problem. I mean, I don’t like that the Romanovs were executed, and I especially don’t like the obvious burden of guilt Ion carries because of it, but I can at least grasp the rudimentary structure of the story.
There’s just that last part that doesn’t fit with anything I know of the world and what’s scientifically possible. “You teleported ?”
Ion looks at me with deep regret. “I was so close to saving him. Even injured, I should have been able to get away. But I failed him. I failed Russia. I failed the dragons.”
I place my hand on Ion’s arm.
He’s grappling with guilt.
I’m struggling with the limits of the space-time continuum.
“I did not know…” I start slowly, thinking back over what I do know, trying to fit the two together. “When the yagi attacked me, you were on the balcony, and then you were next to me, fighting, but you didn’t change into a dragon and fly there because you were wearing the same clothes, and if you’d changed into a dragon, your clothes would have been gone.”
“I teleported.”
“You teleported.”
“I grabbed the swords from above one of the mantels in the ballroom, and then teleported to your side.”
“So you just…how do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Teleport.”
“Same way anyone else teleports, I suppose.”
“Okay.” I’m nodding, trying to decide if there’s any reason for me not to admit I don’t know how to teleport. If there is, I don’t know what it is.
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