by Lola Ford
He was proud of Alix who had helped without question, getting wood, and starting a fire, then boiling water. While Graith did the stitching and reconstruction on Zel’s wing, Alix took care of Mero. The poor horse kept looking for his cart to be hitched to.
The whole time Graith worked, the three of them kept looking back towards Kelna. No one seemed to be coming after them, but they wanted to get on the road as quickly as they could.
While Graith had worked on her, Zel had hunched protectively over her hatchling’s corpse.
Zel, I… Graith wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. I don’t think that a pyre is a smart idea right now. It will just draw attention from the city.
Zel growled lightly as she said, She deserves to be honored.
Aye, but for now we have not drawn their attention. I don’t know if or when they are going to come looking for you.
Zel looked down at him, her eyes glowing orange.
I will kill them if they do. She will be honored.
Graith sighed, putting the final stitch into place.
All right Zel, but we must be on our way once the pyre is lit.
He rubbed Zel’s snout gently.
Turning towards Alix, he said, “Alix, we need more firewood.”
Standing and stretching from where he had been sitting on the ground, Graith looked around at the meager selection of trees to choose from. The boy looked at him quizzically.
“I thought we were leaving now that you’ve patched Zel up?”
“We are soon - but we have something important we have to do first.”
Alix stood there confused until Zel spoke. Dragon’s burn their dead Alix. My daughter deserves that honor.
“Oh! Of course, Zel! How much do we need?”
Alix was already running towards the small copse of trees that lined the river.
“Enough to build a pyre.” Graith said.
He grabbed a fallen sapling from the edge of the tree line, and he dragged it towards Zel. Looking at her hunched form, staring down at the hatchling’s body Graith’s soul twisted. It wasn’t fair that this was happening to her or her family - and he was powerless to do anything to help.
More for himself than her, he said, Remember, we must go as soon as the pyre is lit.
I know, Zel said. She sounded so resigned.
It took them about half an hour to assemble the pyre, the sun moving slowly overhead. Once complete, Zel gently laid the small form atop it.
Alix and Graith took a collective step backwards as she released a gout of flame. It enveloped the small pyre and black smoke immediately billowed into the cloudless sky.
As the fire crackled, Graith and Alix mounted Mero’s wide back, legs resting awkwardly on the now properly strapped on saddlebags without a saddle. Turning and spurring Mero into a trot, Graith looked back to see Zel staring deeply into the orange flames.
Azelia. We must go.
She did not acknowledge him instead, tilted back her large head. A keen, sharp and loud, pierced the air before she finally turned to follow.
Graith watched her trundle along, her tail dragging on the ground and wings limp. Behind her, Kelna was obscured from his vision by the large column of smoke. His heart raced with every step that Mero took, moving them farther from the city. Graith wanted to get them as far away from the pyre as possible before nightfall.
***
Riding Mero was nothing like being pulled along in the cart. Bouncing more and straddling his wide back caused them to need to take several short breaks over the next few hours. It impeded their progress, and Graith worried that soldiers would show up at any moment.
In addition to their discomfort, every time they stopped Zel would stare back in the direction of the pyre. Graith’s insides twisted with guilt from pulling her away from the pyre - giving her no time to grieve her loss. His curiosity also clawed at him, desperate to know what had transpired in Kelna.
Finally, he couldn’t hold it back any longer. During one of their short breaks, he asked, What happened after we were separated Zel?
I made it to the ship. The knight, the one Alix told us about, he was waiting for me. Told me if he saw me again that they would kill the rest of my eggs. Then they threw my daughter overboard.
Her voice broke, and for a second Graith saw a vision of the egg tumbling end over end in the dark churning waters.
I was so close Graith. My claws missed her by inches. What if I miss them all by inches?
She was so distraught by the idea that her wings sagged again and her tail, which had been twitching back and forth slumped to the ground.
Graith walked over and laid himself against her head, wrapping his arms around it as best as he could.
You won't. We won't, he promised.
Alix hadn’t heard the exchange, but he still came over and hugged Zel’s snout from the other side.
“Zel, can I ride on your back? Mero and Graith aren’t as warm as you,” he murmured as he rubbed his face against the soft scales of her snout. He was still wet from passing under the waterfall twice, and the cold air had him shivering.
I’ve never had a human ride on my back, she said, sounding thoughtful and not denying him.
Still unaware of her previous conversation and mood with Graith, Alix perked up.
“We could have great fun! If you were the same size as Mero, we could race!”
Graith was surprised by Alix wanting to use Zel as a mount, and for a moment was rather offended by it for her, until she spoke up again.
That could be fun! she said, allowing Alix’s mood to lighten her own. Anything to keep her thoughts from returning to her daughter or her other eggs.
Graith knew Alix had a competitive streak a mile wide but was surprised with Zel. Then he remembered her saying that she was young for a dragon. Not much more than a child herself. As he walked back over to Mero, he realized how little he knew about Zel. And how little about dragonkind any of them knew.
Even as Alix settled on her back and they had started moving again, Graith was still lost in thought, wonder about dragons and Etria, and how exactly she had gotten into this situation.
“Zel, tell us about your family?” he asked finally, figuring that brooding on the subject would get him no answers.
She looked over at him, her eyes still not their normal blue, but no longer an anxious orange, instead they were a mint green. She looked surprised that he had asked, and her wingtips clicked together above Alix’s head.
Well, I’m the only child of my mother Isla and father Corly.
She broadcast the image of two dragons, a seafoam green and an orangish pink. The green dragon could have been Zel with her smooth wings and soft scales. Her head was the same wedge shape too.
The coral pink dragon however was different. He was covered in short spines and his head was blockier. His wings were short and wide, and his tail ended in a protrusion that looked like a mace.
Graith was fascinated. From Zel’s dream and the images now, all the dragons he’d seen were unique. As he thought about this Alix spoke up.
“What determines what color a dragon will be?” Alix asked, wonder in his voice - he’d never seen another dragon before.
A hatchling can be any color in their bloodline.
“Why was your hatchling white?” Alix asked. Graith knew that he meant, ‘Are their white dragons in your family’ but he would have covered Alix’s mouth if he could have reached. The kid had no tact - they were supposed to be keeping Zel’s mind away from her lost hatchling.
She would not have been born white, she wasn’t old enough to develop a color yet, Zel’s voice sounded strained.
“Oh, what color would she have been?” Alix plunged forward, not noticing Zel’s emotional state.
There is no way to know until shortly before they hatch. Their egg takes on a shade similar to their scales, Zel’s voice was now icy.
“What color do you think your hatchlings will be?” Alix was oblivious.
Graith was considering grabbing the boy from the dragon’s back at this point. Before Zel could answer, Graith intervened.
“Alix, you ready for that race?”
Graith wasn’t sure what else to say to distract the boy from his current line of questions.
“Yeah! You ready Zel?” Alix leaned forward and laid nearly flat along her neck.
Yes.
She put on a fake tone of excitement, but Graith could feel her tension over the short interview.
“Alright, how far are we going Alix?” Graith asked, lining Mero up shoulder to shoulder with Zel.
“Um…” He looked into the distance, “That dead tree about a quarter of a mile out!”
“One!” Graith counted.
“Two!” Alix shouted excitedly.
Three! Zel leapt ahead before Graith could nudge Mero into motion.
Unsure of who won, they did sprint after sprint until both Zel and Mero were panting. After Zel said she doubted she could take another step they stopped. Both the dragon and the horse drank deeply from the river they still followed. Once sated, they resumed moving, but at a walking pace.
***
The hours passed slowly and by nightfall Graith couldn’t have pointed out Kelna if he had wanted to. He dismounted Mero and pulled off the saddle bags.
Before now, they hadn’t had time to take stock of the damage. They lost a lot with the destruction of the cart, most of which had been comfort and the jars of food. They had also lost the weapons - but Graith wasn’t terribly upset by that.
As he pulled the bags open, he found mostly dirty clothes and his sewing kit he had used just hours before. A large camp knife was inside one bag, and a few loaves of stale bread. A blanket and his traveling cloak were buried in another bag.
It wasn’t great, but they could survive. Especially with Zel hunting for them.
Will you be able to fly soon? he asked her silently.
While Alix was mature for his age, Graith and Zel had become his impromptu caregivers and there was no reason to worry him unless necessary.
Within a day. This was more a puncture than a rip to my mainsail. I could fly now if I needed but it would be painful.
Okay. Well, we are short on food, so once you’re able we’ll need you to hunt.
He packed everything back into the bags with a semblance of organization and cuddled up to Zel’s left side while Alix had already done so on her right.
***
They woke the following morning to a thin layer of snow covering Zel and Mero. The horse, for the first time since Graith had owned him, seemed in a less than pleased mood. His tail twitched in agitation and his ears were flat against his head. He stomped restlessly as Graith cleaned the snow off him.
Zel stood and shook herself, snow coming back down in small flurries. Alix shouted in glee, but Graith was more worried than ever. The boy was not dressed to be traveling in this weather. He had planned on getting him proper clothing in Kelna.
“Alix, come here,” Graith called while digging the clothes out of the saddle bags.
“We need to dress you as warmly as we can. Don’t know how long the trip to the capital is, and you aren’t dressed for the weather. Can’t have you catching a chill.”
They layered as many shirts and pants onto the boy as they could and then Zel shrunk small so that he could hop on her back before increasing her size back to larger than Mero.
“You’ve gotten good at that!” Alix exclaimed in excitement.
Thank you. I need to continue to keep practicing. We don’t know when I’ll need to use it again, she said sounding resigned, and Graith knew she was thinking about how she had lost control in Kelna.
We will find your eggs Zel, Graith told her once again.
Graith pulled on the blanket himself and followed by his cloak. The cloak, while oiled and water resistant wasn’t warm. He hoped the blanket would keep his heat in well enough. Snuggling in, he urged Mero forward, and Zel followed behind.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Nerie
We’ll finally get to fly together! Kiriga bugled happily, her roar audible to all within the palace walls.
Soren spent the next several hours talking about the various aspects of flying and how they would work on strengthening Kiriga’s wings initially. For the first time in what felt like weeks, Nerie was clinging to his every word.
That evening Nerie could hardly sleep. She lay in the dark room, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She and Kiriga were going to fly - truly fly!
Kiriga’s moods was a happy with a bright pink and yellow aura for Nerie to see every time she closed her eyes. Soros and Eras were inordinately pleased with their offspring. Nerie had heard Eras on more than one occasion during the day instruct Kiriga on wing stretches and tail exercises.
Ilex was happy for his young sister too, but for the first time Nerie felt a slight bit of resentment from the older dragon. When Soros told him off, he mumbled something about digging a cave, and faded from Nerie’s mind. She could understand him not wanting to be around the other dragons just then. It must be so frustrating for him, being stuck on the ground when his parents and all his siblings could soar through the sky.
It was Wyla who finally helped Nerie fall asleep. From her distant post she shared the memory of her first flight with Nerie’s ancestor, Kyre. Wyla did not speak, and Nerie could feel the mental strain the dragoness was under trying to clearly share the memory from so far away. The one thing that Wyla was able to crystallize in the memory for Nerie was the feeling of sheer joy that she had shared with Kyre.
Nerie thanked Wyla as the vision faded and her eyes drifting shut.
***
The next morning Nerie was awake far earlier than normal.
Even from the confines of the dark room, she could feel the sun cresting the horizon. She wasn’t sure if this knowledge came from Kiriga or her own intuition, but she knew she was right. She sprang out of bed and pulled her bedroom door open, looking for Karina.
“Karina! Please come help me dress!” she said, turning back to her small closet.
Her new outfit from Soren hung on its own rack front and center - just waiting to be worn.
“Your highness, while it is not my place to tell you what to do, you might want to bathe first. You skipped it yesterday and your hair is quite mussed,” Karina said formally, while subtly eyeing Nerie’s head.
“Oh. Yes. I forgot,” Nerie said sheepishly.
She really had forgotten. All her dreams the night before had been her soaring through the skies on Kiriga’s back.
She ran to the waiting tub, steam rising off the water. She tested it with her hand and found it to be too hot to enter.
Tapping her bare foot impatiently she looked around the bathroom. Seeing the pile of plush towels waiting for her, she grabbed a small one and dipped it into the hot water. She then lathered it with soap and simply scrubbed at her body. She reasoned with herself that it wasn’t like she had done anything to be particularly dirty.
Her hair was another matter. She bent over the stone tub, hair hanging into the water, and quickly dunked her scalp into the tub. Hissing she pulled it back out and started scrubbing it with her nails and palms that were lathered with soap in preparation. A few minutes and three more dips into the scalding water, and she felt she was passably clean.
Drying off and wrapping her hair in a towel she hurried back to her room. Karina was there, along with a golden gown she’d laid out on Nerie’s bed.
Nerie let out a groan.
“Karina! Kiriga and I are flying for the first time today! I need to wear my new outfit King Soren gave me.”
Nerie started to pull the outfit from the closet - but stopped at the look on Karina’s face.
“My lady, you still have lessons with her majesty, the queen, this morning. She would just make you change if she saw you in pants.”
Karina’s voice was strained and her face pale. She didn’t want to upset Nerie, but she had borne the bru
nt of the queen’s ire about princesses wearing pants one too many times.
Nerie crossed her arms, looking at the dress. It was one of her favorites, but her excitement to wear the riding leathers she held was only second to her excitement to fly.
Karina spoke again, “I am afraid she might try to remove them from your possession my lady.”
Fine, she thought. She would wear the dress for the lesson.
As she dressed, Karina fetched her breakfast. Today’s meal was composed of only fruit and toast. Nerie’s stomach growled hungrily, and she worried it wouldn’t be enough for the day.
“His highness said that you might not want much on your stomach,” Karina said when Nerie looked at her surprised.
Not that she would say it aloud, but for a split second Nerie thought that it was a comment on her weight. She wasn’t afraid of heights - or at least she didn’t think she was - but she could understand where Soren was coming from.
When Alaena arrived, Nerie was surprised to see that the queen’s ladies in waiting had accompanied her. They were carrying multiple small baskets which they placed on the small table in the sitting room. After depositing their burdens, the two women exited the room.
Alaena opened one of the baskets and pulled out a small hoop and several skeins of brightly colored thread. Nerie felt the blood drain out of her face.
Embroidery? Really?
While she could theoretically darn her own socks or patch a hole in her clothes, Nerie was not a patient person. She was constantly moving, whether it was tapping her fingers or bouncing her foot. Sometimes, when she was thinking particularly hard, she even chewed on her tongue while she concentrated.
“Do not give me that look, Nerie,” Alaena said coolly, as she looked at the pale faced princess. “Every true lady knows how to embroidery.”
“I don’t want to be a true lady then!” Nerie’s said, her voice tinged with panic.
“Too late. Kiriga signed you up to become the paragon of ladyship.”
Alaena handed Nerie one of the hoops along with a plain white handkerchief. Then she handed her a small leather pack of needles and a simple red floss.