Each step up the mountain was arduous. The ground beneath me shifted with loose gravel, and my boots threatened to slip with every stride. My legs burned from the climb, muscles trembling under the strain. The cold air bit at my face, sharp as a dagger, while the wind howled around me like a thousand unseen wraiths.

And yet I continued on.

Strapped to my back, my two young twins, Arlen and Edwen, slept soundly, their small bodies bundled tightly in thick woolen blankets. Their steady breaths warmed the nape of my neck. They were drugged—not enough to harm them, just enough to keep them from waking and crying out. Normally, I would never subject them to such a dangerous journey, but the war with dragonkind left no room for caution or mercy. I could not even protect my two sons, heirs to their father's line. 

The dragons had to know I was serious. THey were not pawns, they were proof of my sincerity.

If their father knew what I'd done, I'd die a thousand deaths slowly. 

The thought of what might await us higher up churned in my stomach, a knot of fear and dread. The thought of what awaited back home... Xander would not take kindly to this. 

The mountain path, narrow and treacherous, hugged the sheer rock face. Below, the dark expanse of the valley yawned wide, the forested floor stretching into shadow. Somewhere in that darkness, dragon wings beat the air, patrolling. 

I was deep in enemy territory. I inhaled and kept on. The war had waged for years, mercilessly, unyielding. Dragons had massacred a town of innocents. Surely that had a been a misunderstanding, but then they'd attacked another and another and the Celtii had been forced to respond in kind. The spiral of vengeance had never stopped. Both sides claimed to be righteous. Both had suffered unimaginable loss.

The knowledge I carried up the mountain only moved me forward. The Celtii and the dragons had been allies until the Formorians surged from their homes in the underground. No friends of the dragons they wanted to reclaim their lands - and in so doing their prince had stolen a dragon egg from their queen Analakastra. He'd stolen and smashed it in a human village. It wasn't the only first born they'd taken that night.

A mother's loss - the grief was unimaginable. One mother to another - I understood. I had suffered the loss of my eldest to the Formorians. Now my twins were next in line. And my kingdom was at stake. 

The stories said this mountain was  a holy place where they communed with their gods. Now, I was trespassing—an act of desperation, not defiance. At the top of the mountain their queen, Analakastra kept her clutch. To speak with her, one queen to another I ascended with my own brood. Dragons held a tradition of placing an egg into the clutch of their enemy or rival to talk and have peace. It was the only way to get her attention. I had brought my brood. 

I paused to adjust the strap digging into my shoulder. My fingers, stiff from the cold, struggled with the knot. Above, the moonlight bathed the jagged peaks in silver light, but it did little to pierce the oppressive gloom of the path ahead. The mountain felt alive, each creak of the rocks and hiss of the wind carrying an ominous weight.

Behind me, a low rumble echoed through the valley. My breath caught, and I froze. The sound was unmistakable—a dragon's growl, deep and resonant, reverberating through the air like the roll of distant thunder. My heart pounded as I scanned the skies. Just a little further.

One of the twins shifted on my back, his tiny hand brushing my shoulder, and I held my breath, terrified he might wake. But the herbs I had given them were strong, and he settled again, his soft snores muffled by the wind.

The winds echoed around me as I entered the clouds. 

Ahead of me, a cave mouth yawned wide, its jagged edges illuminated by the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the mist. The air here was heavy with the scent of earth and sulfur. My chest tightened. This was it—the nesting grounds of a queen.

I had been here once before, as a girl, clutching my father's hand as he showed me the way of the mountain. Back then, it had been different. A time of peace, when dragon and Celtii walked this sacred path as allies. The memory felt distant now, a fragile dream buried beneath years of war.

I took a steadying breath and stepped forward. The wind died down, replaced by a silence so profound it made my ears ache. 

The nest was in front of me. 

I walked towards it. A hiss in the air halted my steps and I paused bowing low.

"Aoibheann."

I raised my head and trembling I undid the straps. My sons remained sleeping and despite the hissing I moved forward. It grew in intensity as I stepped up to the edge of the nest. The eggs were large, bigger than my two sons but warm, innocent. 

I placed my sons inside the nest, a sob wracking my breath.

I stepped back and bowed low again.

The hissing stopped.

"You remember well, Queen Aoibheann."

"I do," I whispered still bowed. I chanced a glance up.

She was there, emerging from the shadows at the far side of the cave, her scales shimmering like molten gold in the dim light. Analakastra, the queen of dragons, was far larger than I remembered from my childhood—her presence filling the cavern with an overwhelming aura of majesty and danger. Her eyes, two pools of molten amber, locked onto me, unblinking and piercing.

"You honor our ways," she said, her voice echoing like a thousand whispers in the stone chamber. Her wings unfurled slightly, the faintest stretch, as though reminding me of the power she held.

I dared not rise from my bow. "My Queen," I said, my voice trembling. "We have wronged you. And now, I come seeking not forgiveness, but understanding."

Analakastra tilted her massive head, her gaze falling upon the sleeping forms of my sons nestled among her eggs. A low rumble escaped her throat, a sound that could have been either curiosity or disdain. "You bring your hatchlings to my clutch as an offering? Or as a plea?"

"A plea," I admitted, my voice barely audible. "I know the pain of losing a child, as you do. I know the fury, the grief, the desire for vengeance that follows. I bring my sons here not as a sacrifice, but as a testament. One mother to another. To prove my sincerity. I would speak to you."

For a moment, there was only silence, save for the faint crackle of heat emanating from the nest. Analakastra leaned closer, her massive head lowering until her eyes were level with mine. Her breath, hot and sulfurous, washed over me, making me fight the instinct to recoil.

"You tread a dangerous path, little queen," she said. "I would take my revenge on those who stole my egg."

"I have nothing left to give but the truth," I replied, my voice steadier now. "The war has taken everything—our people, our homes, our hope. I can't even save my sons. On the night you lost your first, a Formorian stole your egg and smashed it. I have come here because the truth must be known. I cannot make my husband see reason, I cannot give the enemy what they desire. We have always faced them together."

Analakastra's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought she might strike me down. But then she shifted her gaze to her clutch, to my sons sleeping amidst the eggs. Her tail, long and sinuous, coiled gently around the nest as though shielding it and hiding both eggs and my sons.

"The Formorians," she looked at me. "They were spied coming up the mountain tonight."

"I slipped past them many times," I said. "They fear the truth."

The dragon queen regarded me in silence for what felt like an eternity. Then, with a slow and deliberate motion, she drew back, her head rising high above me once more.

"You are bold, Aoibheann," she said, her tone unreadable. "I will call back my dragons. You will leave your sons here. They will be protected, raised among my own until the war is over."

My heart clenched at her words, but I nodded. I knew the price would be steep. "Thank you."

She turned away from me and roared, I covered my ears and my sons stirred in the clutch. 

Two more smaller dragons landed at the nest.

Analakastra turned to me. "You will ride down with me. We will give truth to your words."

I bowed low.

If Xander was not dead already. Perhaps we could get through this. I took one last look at my sons and then turned and climbed up the golden scales. The ridges on the Queen's back were high and I was able to find a place among them. 

"Little Queen," Analakastra said. "Tonight we serve vengeance for the deaths of ours eggs."

She leaped into the sky.