To my right was the rest of the mountain range. Peak after peak of beautiful mountains, the same mountains I’d gazed upon my whole life. On the other side of one of those mountains was Frokontas where Edeline and Fiere and Lucy would be waiting for news, and somewhere along the large expanse of flat farming land, way off in the distance, was my home village, now partly destroyed by fire. It was too far away to see it from here, although I could make out a few small villages which were closer. I felt like a bird, eager to jump from the ledge and stretch my wings and just fly—fly wherever the mood took me, where I wouldn’t have to worry about swords and trapped dragons and eons-old grudges.
Thinking of swords made me realize I’d not practiced with mine for a long time. It was something I used to do every day, ironically, before I ever really needed to. The first day I actually had to use my sword, my eighteenth birthday, was the last time I’d really practiced with it. I hadn’t realized until now just how much I missed it, the feel of the weight of it in my hand, slicing through the air for the fun of it, not to protect myself or to kill anyone.
I unsheathed the sword and held it up in the air. It felt so good between my fingers. It was so cold up here that I could see my breath which made me all the more eager to warm up my muscles.
I imagined a terrible foe in front of me. Before I’d always pictured an angry dragon, but of course I couldn’t use that image anymore. Instead, I conjured up something even more terrible. My idol, Morganna. She was the most famous of all swordsmen and swordswomen. In a world where men excelled at sword fighting, Morganna had turned the notion that women couldn’t fight on its head and paved the way for the rest of us. Her sword skills were legendary, having never lost a fight with any man or woman.
She was long dead now though. A dragon finally out-maneuvered her. She was fighting two at a time and didn’t notice a third who had sneaked up behind her. She’d put up a brave fight, but she couldn’t survive the blast of flame that hit.
I closed my eyes and pictured her. I’d never met her, but I’d seen pictures. An oil painting depicting her slicing the head clean off a dragon hung in one of the community buildings in Dronias.
She was tall and muscular, with long black hair that she always kept in place with a golden headband. In the picture, she wore a short skirt made out of brown leather and a short top of the same material. Her stomach was uncovered, showing off her tremendous muscles. I doubt she really dressed like that, but the painter obviously wanted to show people her strength.
In front of me now with her sword held high, she took an imaginary stab which I dodged and parried back. One swipe from me and she was down, covered in blood.
“Really?” I opened my eyes, admonishing myself. “You took out the greatest swordsperson of all time with one hit?”
I closed my eyes again and Morganna resurrected in front of me. This time, when I thrust my sword at her, she swiped it away expertly before slicing her own sword back. I dodged and weaved, unable to keep up with her and unable to get another attack in. All my moves were on the defensive.
It was much closer to the truth, although if it was real, I’d have been down for the count within seconds. I knew I was a good swordswoman but I also knew I had a lot to learn. I opened my eyes and took in a deep breath. The sun was higher in the sky now although it hadn’t warmed up any. My muscles burned with the exertion and sweat dripped off me despite the cold morning. I guess I’d been practicing longer than I realized. I often zoned out when I concentrated.
“What are you doing? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Thought the Goblins had eaten you for breakfast or something.”
I turned to find Ash standing behind me.
“You didn’t!”
“Ok, no I didn’t but I was worried. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming out here?”
“You were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you.”
Ash held out his hand and I took it. He was so warm. “Come on, we are all having breakfast. Spear wants us to head back pretty early. He asked me to check if the weather was good enough to fly home.”
“It’s beautiful out here. Perfect conditions for flying. You know, I was just thinking how nice it would be to have wings and fly away. I forgot that you can do just that.”
“So can you,” he replied. “You just have to jump on my back and I’ll take you anywhere.”
It sounded so nice, the thought of us flying away together, away from all the mess. Of course, it would never happen, but it was nice to dream for a while.
Breakfast was held in the same place we’d eaten the night before and was just as good. Krikor joined us again and as we left he bade us all farewell, telling us that we were welcome to come back anytime. He made it sound friendly, but something in his voice told me he really didn’t want to see any of us again.
We were all a little disheartened at our failure as we began our trek down the mountain. Spear had decided that it would be better to get away from the Goblins before members of the group changed into dragons. I didn’t know what his reasoning was but I knew better than to question him. Coal was the only one who seemed happy. He kept pulling the ring box out of his pocket and checking that the ring he’d purchased was still there.
My whole body ached as we walked over the difficult terrain. I had pushed myself too far this morning. I was out of practice and it showed.
“Who were you fighting this morning when I found you?” asked Ash.
“I wasn’t fighting anyone. I was practicing.” I stepped over the rocks, my feet hurting with every footstep.
“You were fighting someone in your mind. Your movements weren’t just random. You looked like you were embroiled in battle.”
“Okay, if you must know, I was fighting Morganna.” I felt silly just saying it.
“Morganna?”
“She was a brilliant swordswoman,” I explained.
“She was a dragon Slayer!” added Spear. I hadn’t even realized he’d heard us talking. “Killed many of us...or at least took the dragon’s souls. She was a barbarian!”
It hadn’t occurred to me until now just how different our opinions of one person could be. I’d grown up pretending to be Morganna. She was more than my idol, she was the one woman I’d grown up wanting to be. To hear someone say anything bad about her felt wrong, but knowing what I knew now, I had to see his point.
“She came from your village. Did you know that?” Spear added.
It’s funny, in all the stories I’d heard about her, I’d not once considered where she lived or where she was from. Stories of her came from all over the land—the wars she’d fought in, the enemies she had slain.
“We had a festival for her once a long time ago. I was so young I barely remember it. It was then I was told that she had died. At the time I didn’t really know who she was, but I remember being in awe of all the fuss that was made. Everyone came out. People were wailing and crying and yet still celebrating her life.”
I walked on in silence thinking back to the huge party we’d held for her.
“Oh!” I exclaimed out loud.
“What?”
“Her sword! If she was one of us...one of the Slayers, her sword will have the souls of dragons in it. If the legend of her is correct, there will be hundreds trapped.”
Spear stopped and looked at me. “I was just thinking the same thing. Do you know where it is?”
I thought back to the festival. I couldn’t remember a sword. Her body wasn’t even there. It was not a burial. She had died in a far-off land.
“I’ve never seen her sword except in a painting. I know exactly what it looks like but I don’t know where it is. I didn’t even know she came from Dronias until you told me.”
“We need to find that sword!”
“I don’t know,” I repeated. I felt so useless, but I’d never seen the sword in real life. I knew if I closed my eyes I’d be able to picture it as plain as day. I’d stared at the painting of her long enough.
“Can you d
raw it at least, so we know what we are looking for?”
“Yes!” I replied quickly, feeling relieved that I’d at least be able to do something. “I know exactly what it looks like.”
“That’s a start,” said Spear. “Before you mentioned her, I’d not thought about her for a very long time. She was a legend in our village just as much as she was in yours. I am much older than you and remember stories about her very well. It had not occurred to me that we are not only looking for swords from your villagers but also from the ones that left. You mentioned that the swords of your ancestors were all kept in a vault somewhere. If that is true, could it be possible that Morganna’s sword is stored in the same vault?”
I thought for a second before answering. “I don’t think so. Morganna was much bigger than anyone in our village. If I didn’t know she came from there, I’m guessing it was because she left and never came back. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say that she would have asked to be buried with her sword.”
“And where is she buried?” asked Ash.
“I don’t know.” I hated how I didn’t know anything about the history of my village. How had I grown up knowing so little? It wasn’t as though I didn’t talk about Morganna much. She was a constant topic of conversation when I was little. It all went back to my father. He’d lied to me about so much, who was to say he hadn’t lied to me about Morganna too? He must have known that she came from the village so why had he never mentioned it?
“We change here.” Spear stopped the rest of our group. Splitting into pairs again as we had on the journey up, the dragons pulled off their clothes and changed. I hopped up on Ash’s back and together we soared through the air.
Chapter Nine
The journey down the mountain was wonderful, the kind of journey I wished would last forever. The skies were clear and the views were beautiful. If it hadn’t been for my head filled with thoughts of Morganna and her sword, I’d have asked Ash to stay in the air all day, or at least as long as it took him to tire out.
We landed, once again to a waiting party of dragons eager to know what we had learned. Ash and I left Spear to tell them the bad news and inform them of yet another sword to find. I couldn’t face seeing anyone else at the moment and I was sick of talking about Slayers and dragons and the war surrounding us. I was sick of hidden swords and age-old grudges, and most of all I was sick of the lies. I just wanted to be me, if only for one afternoon.
Ash dressed quickly and went to inform his parents and sister that we were back. He returned and quickly turned into his dragon form again. He nudged me to get on his back. When I did, he stretched out his wings and we took off, leaving everything behind us.
It was just the two of us, up in the air without a care in the world.
He landed on the other side of the mountain on a rocky outcrop. The vista below was magnificent, almost as good as it had been higher up in the mountains; I could see for miles. I leaned back and let the sun warm my face as Ash changed back into his human form and put his clothes on. He sat next to me, dangling his feet over the side, and threw me an apple. When I asked him where he’d got it from he told me Edeline had given it to us.
“We are invited to dinner tonight. Mama doesn’t want us back late. She insisted that we all eat together.”
“Around the campfire you mean?”
“No, just the five of us.” It sounded ominous, as if she was going to tell us something. My imagination ran wild as I wondered if she wanted me out of the house. I’d been living there for quite a while now and hadn’t paid rent or contributed to the food I ate.
“Don’t worry,” Ash said, reading me like a book. “She just wants us to be together, that’s all.”
“Good. Do you think I should bring some food back? I feel bad about living there rent-free.”
“Honestly, Mama doesn’t care for that. You are the one who brought her husband back to her. You could live there for your entire life and she’ll still think she owes you. If you really want to, we could do some hunting. Take something home for dinner?”
“I don’t know how,” I admitted. We’d started the training with Ally and Stone, but when Stone’s soul had been captured, thoughts of training to hunt were put to one side.
“I’ll make it easy for you.”
“I don’t even have a crossbow,” I said, pointing out the flaw in his plan.
“You have me!”
“Okay.” I smiled. “What can you do that I can’t?”
“Look out there.” He pointed to the view in front of us. At the base of the mountains, the farmers’ fields stretched right to the horizon.
“Fields. Some sheep, some cattle.”
“I see dinner.”
“Stealing sheep and cows from farmers is not hunting, it’s rustling,” I pointed out.
“Look again. You see where the fences stop and its just scrubland? It belongs to no one.”
I looked to where he was pointing. He was right, there were no markers there, nothing to show that the land belonged to anyone. I also didn’t see any animals there. “There’s nothing there!”
“We’ll see! Just have your sword ready!” Ash gave me that gorgeous grin of his before throwing his clothes at me and changing back into his dragon form. I folded them and placed them back in the bag, hopping onto his back as I did. I held on tightly as he descended at a rapid rate, skirting the tops of the trees, before evening out and flying over acres and acres of farmland.
Small dots appeared on the horizon, which turned out to be a herd of deer. Ash dipped again suddenly, almost causing me to fall off, and sped toward the herd. They were quick, but he was quicker. He scooped one up in his mouth and tossed it into the air. Blowing a plume of fire right after it. The poor thing was barbecued in a second. He caught it again and held it in his mouth.
“Okay, show off. You aren’t the only one that can hunt. Fly lower and watch me.”
He ducked down lower again and flew right toward the herd for the second time. This time as he flew through the retreating flock, I thrust my sword to the side, right into the heart of one of the deer. It fell immediately to the ground.
“You are going to have to land so I can pick it up!” I instructed. Ash circled back and touched down right by the deer’s body. It was much larger than I had expected and so it took me a good ten minutes to load its body onto Ash’s back. Now that I’d killed it, I felt dreadful. Even though I told myself that it was for food, it didn’t make me feel any better for killing it.
Once we were back in Frokontas, I threw the deer onto the barbecue pit. Ash dropped his, already barbecued deer next to it. There would be enough food to fill the whole village here.
“Can you cook it please?” I asked Ash before he had a chance to turn back. With a fiery blast, the second deer was as cooked as the first. I didn’t tell him why I wanted to cook the animal. The truth was that I was scared that its soul would be trapped forever in my sword, or worse, that we’d eat the body and the soul would have nowhere to go. It was just easier to make sure it was dead.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ash when he had turned back.
“Do you think the deer’s soul is in the sword?”
“I don’t know? Does it feel different to you?”
I held up the sword. It still had the deer’s blood thickly coating it. Picking up a leaf, I wiped the blade until it shone like new. It felt exactly the same. Other people had told me that when a sword takes a soul, the sword feels stronger, heavier. Mine didn’t. “It feels the same,” I said.
“Maybe the Goblin magic only works on dragons?” replied Ash. “Come on, let’s go tell Mama about the deer.”
Inside I could tell we were too late. The most delicious smell permeated the house, telling us that dinner was cooking.
“Mama, we’ve cooked a couple of deer. They are outside in the fire pit.”
“Lovely!” Edeline exclaimed. “I’ll get your father to go and cut them up so we can have them another time.”
“
Julianna killed one,” said Ash proudly, making me feel embarrassed.
“Well done. Now, go and sit at the table, the pair of you. Dinner is almost ready.”
I followed Ash to a room I’d not been in before. It had a long table which would comfortably fit four, but someone had squeezed an extra chair on one side. Fiere and Lucy were already seated. Seconds later, Edeline came in from the kitchen with a huge steaming pot of stew.
“I wish I’d have known about your venison earlier,” remarked Edeline, placing the pot on the table. “It would have been nice in this stew.”
“Deer?” inquired Fiere, ladling great spoonful’s of stew onto his plate.
“We went hunting today,” replied Ash.
“Can you go down after dinner and chop one up for us? The rest of the village can share the other,” said Edeline to Fiere.
“Sure. Two deer. Nice job!”
I’d eaten quite a few times with Ash’s family, but this was the first time we’d really sat down together without other villagers. It was also the first time I’d had a meal around the dining table. Listening to them chat and tell each other about their day reminded me of my own mealtimes with my family. We always made time to eat together. I missed my mother’s cooking, but mostly I missed the time before our lives were ripped apart. It was a bittersweet moment for me. Here I was, having been completely accepted by this new family, and yet I’d somehow managed to lose my own.
They were all completely at ease with me, and although they had taken a while to accept who I was, I was now being treated as any other member of the family. They listened intently to me telling them about the trip up the mountain, and Lucy was fascinated with my description of the Goblins, asking me question after question until Edeline told her to let me eat.
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