The Heartless Empire

Chapter One

“There weren’t always dragons in the valley.” I could hear Nanna’s harsh voice in my head as I lay perfectly still in the bed of the wagon, clutching Marta’s hand for dear life. “There was once peace throughout our world. Magic existed only in the House of the Divine, on the far side of the world, where young women were sent to learn craft.

“One of the women who went there was named Aysha. Aysha was gifted beyond most. Her abilities saved countless from famine, fires, and all manners of hardships. But Aysha is not remembered for this.” Nanna’s eyes always grew sad at this point. “No, she is not. And why is she not, children?” She would look down at us with an expectant smile.

“Because she fell in love,” I would always shout back. This had been my favorite story and I knew it well. Before I had experienced a dragon attack. Things changed then.

Nanna had nodded. “Because she fell in love. A thing forbidden to the Diviners. And once, when Aysha was gone, aiding people in a far-off village, her love grew ill, for a mortal cannot love a diviner and live. The illness claimed his life before Aysha could return. The sight of his body when she returned shattered her heart into a million pieces. But remember, Aysha was powerful and she came to believe the reason she was so gifted was to bring her love back to life. The other diviners tried to stop her, reason with her, but it was no good. Her heart was shattered, and the poison of grief had wrapped itself around the shattered parts, the only thing holding it together. And so, she cast a spell to bring her love back to life. But as I said, that spell is forbidden and instead of bringing her love back, the spell claimed her life instead. Without her living to control the magic she had cast, the spell morphed, tearing the barrier between this world and the next. And before the other Diviners could repair it, an Ancient One stepped through, bringing with him the night dragons. Allowing them to terrorize the land, and sending the House of the Divine into hiding. Now the night dragons roam freely across our world, invading our lands, and turning our once beautiful valley into a place of fear.”

I lay as still as stone in the bed of the wagon, recalling Nanna’s story and cursing Aysha and her love. My breath coming out slow and silent as we all waited in the dense brush for the night dragon passing over us to move on. Night dragons used sonar to find their prey and I waited with baited breath, hoping it only detected the thick brush that the wagon master had managed to shove the wagons into, pushing them as far back as they would go.

We had not meant to be caught out at night, but a broken wheel had kept us from reaching the safety of, Rekapur, our destination. Now the wagon master and his companion took turns sleeping, knowing at any moment a night dragon could fly past and find us. There was only so much they could do about the horses but luckily, even horses had gotten used to hiding in the night.

A small sigh of relief left me as I heard the cry of the night dragon fading into the distance. I felt the tension leaving Marta, the young woman lying next to me. We did not dare speak to one another. I squeezed Marta’s hand gently as a sign of reassurance, whether for myself or for her I didn’t know. We were both trembling from the close call and the threat that still lingered. One never knew if another night dragon was nearby, waiting, watching, alert to possible victims.

I doubt anyone got much sleep that night. Marta kept flitting back and forth between shallow unconsciousness and wide-awake terror at the slightest sound. My own eyes hardly shut. I had never slept out in the open before. Never left home. My family’s home had been near the center of the large town in the south of the empire. We were mostly safe from the night dragons. They preferred to hunt on the outskirts of town or along the roads. Only once, a year ago, had a night dragon swarm flown through the village. They took advantage of the foolish safety the townsfolk had felt, living grouped together. They came through any unsecured window, door, hatch that they found. Those unlucky enough to be outside when the attack came stood no chance. They were cut down before they could take so much as a step towards safety. I had forgotten to lock my shutters that night, as I had done most nights. My father had come to check on me just as the night dragon crashed through the loose shutters. He had grabbed me and thrown me into the hall. But he had been jerked back by the night dragon before he could follow. I can still feel my mother’s calloused hands as she grabbed me and dragged me into the next room, slamming the door. She held me as I screamed and tried to get back to my father. Sometimes at night, her voice is still there, whispering that it is too late, there is nothing I can. And deep down, I knew her mother was right. The moment the night dragon had attacked it had been too late. Because night dragons did not kill humans to eat them. Every human killed by a night dragon had a hole through their heart and that was it. No bite marks, no torn limbs, gashes, nothing. I remember seeing my father when the sun came up that next morning. The sight of him seared into my mind. His eyes were wide, his mouth partway open. He was in a pool of blood from the hole in his chest. The rest of him was untouched. I spat a curse on Aysha and her love that day.

As the sun rose above the trees, the wagon master ordered everyone out of the wagons and then guided the horses out of the thicket and back onto the rutted road.

“You all walk for a while and stretch your legs, I imagine more’n thems tightened up.” He grinned wickedly as though he had not been the least afraid of the night dragons.

He may not have been, I realized. The wagon master made these trips every few days. He was most likely used to night dragons, hid from them on a regular basis. I hate admitting he may be right but as we started moving I realized how stiff my legs had gotten, far worse than a simple nights sleep in an uncomfortable place. They struggled to move at all, only by sheer will was I able to get one leg in front of the other. I knew they would leave me behind if I didn’t and even though the dragons wouldn’t be back until the sun fled the sky, there were plenty of other wild animals out here who would have no problem overpowering someone like me. Marta slipped her arm through mine, both of us helping the other as we followed the wagons down the rutted road, some of the ruts so large I feared if I fell in my aching body would not be able to climb back out. I had been told that the further west we went the better the roads became. They said once you got to Tarrenz, the road was as wide as five wagons and made of stones all the way to Q’parra, the empirical city. I wasn’t sure I believed it. I didn’t think there were enough smooth stones in all of the empire to stretch that far. It was a three days ride on a horse if all the travelers who came through our inn were to be believed. And they out to be on this as they all seemed to agree.

Our old inn, I remembered with a pang in my chest. When father had died, the inn had passed to his nephew. The wretched pomp had promptly thrown me and mother out. Father had never been close with his family and his nephew had no bond to us, so it had been foolish for me to expect anything else. But still, I had been unable to imagine a person who would toss someone out of their home like that. Luckily, mother was extraordinarily close with her family and we had bounced around from one sister to another over the next year. I had been set to take over the inn, my parents and I had always planned that. When I married, my father would pass it on to my husband and me, ensuring that I had a future. When he died, that all disappeared.

“I’m not able to walk much more,” Marta moaned as she leaned on me, a limb developing rather quickly. “I weren’t made for this kind of thing.”

“I imagine not,” the wagon master snapped back at her, a sneer curling his lips. “But you’ll walk until I say so. I won’t be responsible for deliverin’ three brides who ain’t even got legs for walkin’.”

Marta squeezed my arm. “Isn’t it exciting,” she squealed, momentarily forgetting her aching legs. “We’ll be in Rekapur before nightfall and meetin’ our future husbands the day after.”

I attempted a smile. I knew how much this meant to Marta. Her family had next to nothing, living on a small lot of land outside of town. Her father had died of fever when Marta was eleven. Luckily, for her, she had a younger brother for the farm to pass too. Her two year old brother saved her from being thrown out of her home like I was. Marta’s second luck lay in her beauty. By the time she was thirteen, men were coming to Gesk from all over the empire to see the rumored beauty for themselves. Her mother had kept her from toiling their small garden or taking care of the animals. She had kept Marta inside, preserving her looks. Her care in whom she allowed Marta to associate with had also paid off. Marta was on her way to Rekapur to marry its wealthiest merchant. She would be doted on by servants and the townspeople alike. She would want for nothing. Her mother had been smart.

“What do you think they’ll be like?” Marta continued, gazing off into the distance with a ridiculous smile on her face.

“Does it matter?” I asked.

Marta smacked my arm, the motion causing her to trip. She clung to my arm as I helped her back up. “Tosh Lola, course it matters. Why would it not?”

“You’ll be rich and secure. That is what is important,” I point out. Because for women in the Napyrus Empire, that was all that mattered.

“Security. Riches.” Marta spat the words out like poison. “What is that next to love. And how am I to love him if he is ugly or covered in warts or incredibly boring?”

“You could not love him if he were ugly?” I scoffed at her. “His looks mean that much to you?”

Marta glared at me. “My looks meant enough to him for him to send a letter of promise to my brother without even seeing me. Why should his not mean the same to me?”

I paused, studying Marta’s face for perhaps the first time. I had not considered how she felt about finding a husband because of her incredible beauty. I had always felt it rather a blessing, she did not have to put effort in. But I had not considered the other side of that coin. For a man to want you based solely on your looks, would mean he had no interest in who you were apart from that. Looking at Marta’s face, I could see how hurtful and terrifying it was for her. And for one as sharp as she, I could imagine she felt the insult as well. And she was putting on the best face she could.

“I believe he will be right handsome,” I said, nudging her, playing along. “And charming. He’ll read you poetry as you lounge on a chaise eating fresh fruits. And he’ll sit each night, brushing your long, auburn hair as you sing for him.”

Marta’s tinkling laughter drifted through the air. The smile sliding slowly from her face as she looked at me again. “And your husband to be? I hear he’s a landowner. Owns a small part of Rekapur.”

“Mmmm.” Was all I managed. I did not have Marta’s beauty nor any money to offer. I was lucky to get as good of match as I had. An old friend of my father’s who had moved to Rekapur had helped. The landowner’s first wife had died some years back and he had no sons to pass on his ownings to. He had two daughters, one only a few years younger than I.

“Do not worry, Lola. Even a small part of Rekapur is a good living. Perhaps he is a kindly, older man,” Marta said hesitantly. “Or perhaps witty.”

“What do I want for witty?” I scoffed again.

Marta rolled her green, doe eyes. “Because I know how you like wit.” She grinned. “And how are you to fall in love with a husband whose mind is slow as an ox?”

A brief laugh escaped me, smothered quickly by the thought of loving my husband. No, love was not what I had come for. I was traveling to Rekapur for the exact reason I had told Marta. To find security with a husband and bare him a son, ensuring both mine and my child’s future. There would be no love. My nanna had taught me that. I had heard the story of Aysha hundred times as a child. I had learned what love was capable of. Had lost my father to the night dragons set free by that love. Had lain just the night before in terror of being discovered by the same creature. Love was not the blissful happiness that Marta dreamed of. Love was a curse, a poison. And I would not fall victim to it.