Golden Age (The Shifting Tides, #1)(100)

Chloe felt color come to her cheeks. ‘Tell me about your mother,’ she said.

‘Her name is Thea and she’s a strong woman, as strong as you. At first she and my father were strangers, but that was long ago. Now it’s clear how close they are.’ Dion hesitated. ‘Her story’s quite sad.’

‘Go on.’

He continued in between scoops of water. ‘Nikolas’s mother died in childbirth and with just the one heir, the king needed a new queen. For a long time a suitable bride couldn’t be found, and the search continued far from Xanthos. Finally, a marriage was arranged with a minor king’s daughter from a distant place called Azeros.’

‘Azeros,’ Chloe mused. ‘I’ve heard of it, I think.’

‘It lives on in no memory but my mother’s,’ Dion said. ‘The day she left her home a band of wildren descended on the town. Giants. They slaughtered everyone.’ Chloe turned her wide eyes on him, but he wasn’t looking at her as he continued to bail. ‘Then, as they hunted down any stragglers, the giants came across my mother and her escort. The soldiers hid her and drew off the wildren. She somehow made her way, alone, to Xanthos.’

Dion finally looked across at her. His eyes were sorrowful, but it wasn’t for himself; he was thinking of his mother.

‘She told me it was difficult, settling in among a new people. She hadn’t even met my father. But like I said, she’s strong. He wanted to send out the army, to hunt down every eldran and wildran within a thousand miles of Xanthos. But my mother’s also compassionate. She protected the eldren from his wrath. Though we don’t have quite the relationship between our two races as you do in Phalesia, we no longer kill each other.’

Chloe let out a breath. ‘She sounds like quite a woman. I’d like to meet her.’ She thought about the raging debates at the Assembly. ‘A lot of Phalesians despise the eldren, but I’ve known Zachary since I was a girl, when my father took me into the Wilds to introduce me to him.’ She paused as she remembered Zachary emerging from the trees, frightening her with his ancient eyes and silver hair until he’d crouched in front of her and opened his palm to reveal a shiny green frog. ‘He’s always been kind to me, and he saved my sister’s life.’

Dion nodded. ‘If there was only something we could do about the wildren, perhaps our two races could be at peace.’

‘Even Zachary says that when they’re too far gone to bring back, they must be hunted down. He says they’re dead to him as soon as they pass the point of no return.’

‘Yet now they have a king,’ Dion murmured.

‘Yes . . .’ Chloe trailed off. She gazed into the water and thought about serpents, giants, and dragons. ‘Now they have a king.’




Chloe watched as they approached the dark blur on the horizon, seeing it rise out of the sea like an immense black wave. She made sure it was definitely land before she woke Dion.

Despite lying in a growing pool of water, Dion was asleep. His chest rose and fell with every breath and he twitched now and then as he dreamed.

‘Dion,’ Chloe said softly. ‘Wake.’

He spluttered as he shot up, seeing that his body was half submerged. Immediately, he began to bail. ‘Why didn’t you wake me sooner?’ He scowled.

Chloe felt her ire rise. ‘I was letting you sleep.’

‘We could have sunk!’

She gestured to the open sea as her eyes narrowed. ‘The water is calm. I was judging my moment, trying to let you rest as much as possible.’

Furiously, he tossed bucketful after bucketful over the side as he tried to evacuate the water. ‘Don’t do that again.’

‘Look ahead of us, you fool,’ Chloe said.

Dion stopped what he was doing long enough to see the growing silhouette of mountains rising out of the sea ahead. ‘Land.’

‘Yes, land. Where do you think it is? Athos?’

‘No,’ he said instantly. ‘Athos is low lying, and this place is too high. My guess is Orius or Parnos.’ He turned back to her, and now there was light in his eyes. ‘We might be able to get help. Perhaps another boat. If this is Orius then we’re not far from Xanthos.’

He continued to empty out the water, but it took an eternity before he’d made a noticeable difference. He checked the sail and then hauled on the rope to bring it in on a closer set. The Calypso leaned over and noticeably increased speed.

‘Head directly for land,’ Dion instructed. ‘This boat won’t last much longer.’

Chloe bit off a rejoinder; she didn’t have the energy to point out that she was already moving the tiller. Instead they both watched as the landmass grew larger.

She frowned as she looked to the left and saw a second landmass, separate from the one that lay ahead. But unlike the place they were heading for, this was a solitary mountain, a towering peak with a broken summit and a thin stream of smoke trailing into the sky. Chloe looked again at the dark clouds clustering above the long escarpment they were heading for.

‘Dion,’ Chloe said. ‘Dion!’

‘What?’ he said, looking back and frowning.

‘Look, to the left.’ She pointed.

Dion swore. ‘Mount Oden. Which makes the land we’re heading for . . .’