Chapter 118: WRONG STONE

DIANA’S POV

Three accepted blocks from the Valence restitution shipment had been assigned to secondary repairs in Dragon Heights.

Dragon Heights maintained its own ward-service bay because the protective lines, treatment spaces, sealed storage, and emergency systems required regular maintenance. Material intended for those systems received a secondary certification before installation.

The ward-service bay was separate from Vharos’s main cavern but part of the same protected northern complex. It opened off the lower treatment passage beyond a marked ward boundary.

Diana was there for Vharos’s scheduled observation that morning, not for the certification.

Master Clair remained with her inside Vharos’s controlled observation area. In the ward-service bay off the lower treatment passage, Senior Ward Specialist Julius Renn supervised the certification while a Ward Artificer operated the calibration frame.

Usually, the two pieces of work had nothing to do with each other.

Diana preferred professionals who stayed in their own professions.

She sat behind Master Clair’s marked line with her board. Raigoro was absent because Government Terrace still had Valence negotiations.

Diana told herself that was convenient, though the letter waiting upstairs made the thought less convincing.

Master Clair pointed toward Vharos.

"Baseline."

Diana recorded his condition.

Breathing was stable, his wing position ordinary for the morning, the dragonstone cool, and there was no pressure at her scar.

The Ward Artificer activated the first sample, and a faint blue-white line appeared around the testing arms.

The first load remained normal, as did the second. The stone was removed without incident.

The next sample produced the same result.

The third sample moved beneath the frame with its Valence mark visible along the edge.

The initial load produced nothing unusual, but when Renn authorized the next range and the artificer increased the pressure, warmth touched Diana’s throat.

She lowered the chalk.

The sealed scar did not hurt. Warmth was spreading beneath it, and the dragonstone against her skin had begun warming too.

Diana looked toward Master Clair.

He understood immediately.

"How strong?"

She held up one finger.

Low.

Diana recorded the time, then wrote:

DRAGONSTONE WARM.

THROAT PRESSURE.

Renn checked the instrument.

"Reading normal."

Both facts belonged in the record.

Diana looked toward Vharos.

One eye was open now, and his head lifted from the stone.

Master Clair turned toward him.

"Hold the load."

Renn gave the order, and the Ward Artificer froze the current setting.

Vharos pushed himself upright.

The old black dragon rarely wasted effort while recovering, but now he stood and turned his head toward the testing frame.

Diana wrote quickly:

VHAROS STOOD.

ORIENTED TOWARD TEST.

The warmth at her scar sharpened into burning, catching her breath.

Healer Lou came from the lower treatment passage.

"Pain?"

Diana shook her head, then reconsidered. Pain was not quite right.

She wrote:

SCAR BURNING.

"When did it increase?"

Diana pointed toward the second load mark.

Renn checked his gauges again.

"Everything remains inside expected certification range."

Vharos took one step toward the cavern entrance.

Master Clair raised his hand.

"Stop the test."

Renn gave the order, and the Ward Artificer cut power.

The blue-white line disappeared.

Vharos roared.

The sound rolled through the open keeper passage and struck the service bay hard enough that one junior technician dropped a writing board.

Diana was on her feet before she had decided to stand.

Vharos shifted his wings, but the damaged left one stopped before full extension.

Healer Lou moved immediately.

"Do not let him load that side."

Master Clair was already directing the Dragonkeepers. Two moved into familiar positions while another cleared equipment from the route toward Vharos’s upper resting shelf.

Nobody rushed him, tried to restrain him, or proved bravery by standing in front of an agitated dragon.

His attention remained fixed on the opening toward the ward-service bay.

Master Clair had seen him react to unfamiliar equipment before. Vharos might inspect it, avoid it, or become irritated when something entered his space.

This was different.

His body had gone rigid in the same way it sometimes did when a keeper narrowed an exit too quickly.

Diana knew the response.

Vharos had recognized something before the anger began.

Renn stared at the stone.

"What happened?"

Master Clair looked at him.

"Your test is stopped?"

"Yes."

"Then leave it stopped."

Diana pressed two fingers against her throat. The burning had lessened after the load ended, but it remained.

Something felt wrong.

She started to write the conclusion, then stopped herself.

Master Clair read over her shoulder.

"Physical observations first."

Right.

Diana erased the sentence and replaced it with what she could prove.

SCAR HEAT INCREASED DURING SECOND LOAD.

DRAGONSTONE WARMED SAME PERIOD.

VHAROS STOOD AND ORIENTED TOWARD TEST FRAME.

RESPONSE CONTINUED AFTER LOAD ENDED.

Better.

She had recorded facts instead of turning them into a magical verdict.

Renn came closer.

"Our instruments recorded no abnormality."

Diana nodded.

"Then record that too," Master Clair said.

The specialist did.

The keepers made the first attempt to guide Vharos toward the upper resting shelf, but he resisted. One keeper withdrew from his side while another opened the route farther.

Vharos finally moved.

After several steps, he stopped and looked back toward the ward-service bay. A low sound came from his chest, and the vibration reached Diana’s scar.

The burning sharpened again.

Diana wrote immediately:

VHAROS LOOKED BACK.

SCAR HEAT INCREASED AGAIN.

Master Clair read the observation.

Renn looked toward the isolated stone.

"Remove it from the frame."

One technician approached.

Vharos roared again.

The technician stopped.

Master Clair turned toward him.

"Do not."

He stepped back.

Vharos remained rigid in the passage, head high and attention fixed toward the ward-service bay.

Renn looked toward Clair.

"Can we isolate it where it is?"

"Yes."

A containment screen was brought around the platform without touching the stone itself. The testing arms were disconnected, and the entire area was marked restricted.

Vharos began to settle only after the containment screen was in place.

His head lowered as the heat in Diana’s throat slowly faded.

Healer Lou followed Vharos to the upper resting shelf. Master Clair remained until Vharos lay down, then returned to the service bay.

Renn already had the instrument record open.

"Every reading is normal."

Clair looked toward him.

"And?"

The man glanced toward Vharos’s cavern.

"I am not releasing the batch."

Renn pointed toward Diana’s observation board.

"I need copies."

Diana handed it to the clerk.

"We repeat with another sample."

Master Clair answered immediately.

"Away from Vharos."

"Agreed."

Renn looked toward Diana.

"And without assuming Her Grace will react next time."

Diana nodded.

The specialist returned his attention to the contained stone and began listing what they knew.

"Markings correct. Dimensions correct. Initial response correct. Load response within normal range."

Every expected marker was present.

Vharos had still tried to leave the main cavern toward the ward-service bay. Diana’s scar had burned, and the dragonstone at her throat had warmed.

Renn closed the record.

"Until we know why two observations disagree with the instruments, nothing from this shipment enters an active ward."

Diana looked at the ordinary gray block behind the containment screen.

Broken Ward had taught them to fear records describing things that did not exist.

This time, the stone existed. The paperwork matched it, and every instrument said it worked.

Vharos had found something Blackharrow’s tools had missed.