The small, frail body on the ground was gone; one of them had dragged it away to a place I could not see. Now the male was back, hacking at my tail with a weapon, a metal clang against the ivory of my bone. One of my heads bent swiftly, and I snatched it up by its middle. My teeth sank into it, and I exulted at the taste of its blood.
But then a new pain started, a sudden blooming against my skull the instant I had bitten the human. For a few brief moments, there was something else in my head, screaming at me to stop.
No! I dropped the human and thrashed, my other heads bellowing back at me, incensed by my hesitance. The male I had abandoned staggered back to its feet and snatched up its weapon again. But rather than confront me one more time, it turned on itself, stabbing its sharpness into one arm.
The hurt returned, more intense than before. The pain wasn’t mine—not exactly; it felt like someone else was in pain and I had access to their thoughts.
Something was wrong.
The human speared itself again, this time in the leg. The pain doubled, a red haze across my vision.
Listen to me! The words came from somewhere outside my mind, but I felt the message pressing into my head, demanding entry. I do not know who the voice belonged to, but every time the human harmed himself, I could feel its agony. Listen to me! They were not my words. They were not my thoughts. Something was compelling me to submit, but I did not want to.
Listen to me!
No! The jolt of pain that ran through me cleared my mind enough for me to understand, and I fired back at the unfamiliar presence with a scream of my own.
No! I won’t listen!
I felt the presence rear back, the surprise and fury filtering into the beast’s mind that we both occupied. With one last effort, I broke through my curtain of hurt and remembered.
I do not have wings and claws and a tail. I do not have three heads that hiss and war with each other. I am not a daeva. I am not a dragon. I am a girl. My name is Tea.
I am not a daeva. I am not a dragon. I am a girl, and I have a name. My name—
One of the other heads, impatient at my resistance, moved to strike on its own, hurtling back toward the male with jaws stretched open.
My name is Tea!
My teeth sank into my fellow creature’s neck. It screamed in terror, stunned by this betrayal as blood flowed freely from the wound. I struck again, and the second head turned to defend its brother, distracted from the humans beneath us.
No!
I attacked again but this time with the force of my mind. The head reeled back, uncertain at first, and then attempted another assault. I stormed into its head, and it paused in midstrike.
Obey!
It resisted, whipping its head back and forth like this could somehow stem the tide of my invasion. I did not stop.
Obey!
I felt us stagger back, felt the frantic attempt of the third head, still grievously wounded, to muster another counterattack, but I dodged its flimsy bites, beating it on the side of its neck using my own dragon’s head as a battering ram.
Obey!
And then I felt a second awareness inside the second head behind the creature’s consciousness, a panicked struggle to wrest control of the creature away from me. Occupied in the same grotesque body, I shared its thoughts. It felt scared and agitated. It was furious and in pain.
It felt human.
Obey.
I took advantage of its confusion and sank into the second creature’s mind, cutting away all the strings that other awareness had in place, and I felt him scream as his spell crumbled. I tumbled into the second head’s mind, overwhelming its desires and finally finding dominion.
To look out at the world with two heads and two minds while maintaining three was disorienting at first, but it also felt like the most natural thing in the world. I looked down and saw the humans—my friends, I thought—looking fearfully back up at me. I saw Kalen raise his hand, a ball of Fire scorching at his palm, saw Polaire stop him, shaking her head. I keened loudly, the emotion of the words I could not say spilling out into that loud sound. I explored and felt Fox and Chief in my head again, wondered how this would feel on their end. My horse was no longer skittish. True to its pedigree, it looked up at me, trusting. Fox was also looking up at me, and his concern and worry shone through our bond.
“Tea?” he questioned.
The three-headed beast gazed down at him and sighed its affirmation.
The other awareness had retreated into the third head, but I could still feel it within the creature, curled in a small ball and trying its best to remain hidden while it licked at its wounds. I punched into its thoughts, felt its fear—its mind felt strongly of soap and marsh water, bitter and root. I formed my own thoughts into a knife, the edges supple and sharp, and plunged it through the strange consciousness. I felt it claw and scream—and then felt it dissipate. Only I remained—and the creature along with me.
Feeling one less burden lifting from its mind, the beast tried to resist again. Keep still, I ordered, and it paused. Now in command of all its heads, I guided all three to the ground.
“She did it!” Polaire rejoiced, laughing out loud. “Tea actually did it!”
Kalen was more wary, creeping forward with his sword drawn. Fox was quicker, approaching me/the creature despite wounds that should have been fatal on anyone else. “Are you there, Tea?” He laid a hand atop the middle creature’s head.
The azi/I turned and nuzzled at his hand.
“How did you know?” Zoya asked him. “How did you know it would feel your injuries?”
“I didn’t,” my brother said. “I don’t feel it myself, and Tea’s never felt it on her end either…but I sensed that something else inside the dragon had access to her mind. When the dragon bit me, I felt it screaming in response. It could enter Tea’s thoughts, but it wasn’t exempted from the pain.”
“Provide me with a full account later. Althy might be interested in investigating this further.”
“She must kill it quickly,” Kalen said. “Before she loses control.”
My mind rebelled at such a proposal. Without the malignant awareness to guide us, we were compliant and docile, almost benign. We did not want to kill the humans; we only wanted to be left alone…
“He’s right, Tea,” Polaire said to us. “It’s the only way to ensure this does not happen again.”
“Tea?” Fox’s hand felt warm and solid against our skin.
We nudged at him one last time and stood, rising to our full height, wings expanding. Kalen hefted his blade, but we turned away with one last despairing cry, heading into the waters of the lake. We waded deeper, not stopping until the waters closed over our heads until the mud and the dark hid us from view of those waiting by the shore.
The only disturbance along the lake after that was a sudden agitation underneath the surface, huge bubbles rising up to the surface for an extended period of time, only to taper off and fade from view, leaving the waters as clear and as pristine as when we had first arrived.
And I opened my eyes and sputtered. Fox was beside me within moments, placing my head on his lap. The Heartforger’s stone around my neck was still glowing.