by Dreagen
AnaSaya turned her back to them and looked down at the dying Ridgeback. “Oh, and you forget that I’m a healer.” Kneeling down over his face, she watched as a large green eye slowly turned to look up at her. “Please,” she said in a calm and gentle voice. “Calm your mind and put your trust in me…I won’t abandon you.” She placed her hands on his upper jaw and closed her eyes. Immediately, she felt herself communing with him. His body had grown numb, cold and detached from the world around him, as his flame prepared to be free of it and his body return to it. She knew she may not have the power to do what needed to be done in order to save him, but was ready to try all the same. Like water flowing down an empty streambed, her flame flowed into the empty canals within him where his had previously. Her body trembled as her flame reached his injuries, and she felt for the first time the extent of their severity. Whatever had caused them had punctured his lungs and the edge of his heart. It’s a wonder he’s been able to hang on this long, or at all, period. With a steady push, she forced her flame into the damaged areas.
Feeling a sudden surge within him, the Ridgeback arched his head and tail upward, releasing a ragged, throaty roar.
“AnaSaya, watch out!” EeNox said, taking a step towards her before being stopped by Rex.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Give her a chance.”
“A chance to do what?” LyCora asked. “You don’t actually think she can heal him, do you?”
“Hey! Over the past ten cycles, I learned that I’m from another world, that DraGons are real, and that I’m a fucking DyVorian! So don’t tell me this or anything is ever impossible!”
“Look, something’s happening!” ShinGaru exclaimed, pointing.
They all turned and were surprised to see AnaSaya aglow with her lavender flame wafting off her in gentle waves that began to make all the plants around her grow. Flowers sprouted from the ground beneath her and the branches of all the trees above grew and careened down towards her. It was like the forest itself was reaching out to her from all sides, drawn to her mysterious life-giving power. The others stood mesmerized as they bore witness to a wonder of evolution.
AnaSaya could feel the Ridgeback clinging to life with what little strength he had left, unwilling to let death’s icy grip take hold of him without a fight. You’ve fought well, brave warrior, she told him as her mind touched his. Now let me carry you the rest of the way back. With a final push, the severed and torn arteries began to heal over as the very cells they were comprised of began repairing themselves at lightning speed. The Ridgeback’s mind had been dawdling between wake and dream for hours, unsure of whether what he had heard or seen pass in front of his eyes was real or products of his mind slipping into madness. Now he felt something stir within him. Something he, despite still being alive, had left him: his flame. Louder and louder the sounds of its burning fury grew in his head, as he could feel it spread to every corner of his body, infusing him with precious life energy. Live, a gentle voice called to him, and he felt his eyes shoot open where he saw the world come into focus. The ground fell away from his head as it rose up and his jaws parted, unleashing a torrent of dazzling green fire.
Everyone took several steps back as he slowly rose to his full standing height. At first his stance seemed shaky, as if he did not yet feel comfortable back on two legs, but when he noticed the four of them staring, he immediately steadied himself and locked them in the kind of stare only a predator could transfix another living thing in.
“She did it!” EeNox said, stunned. “She actually did it!”
“Now we get to find out if that’s a good thing or not,” LyCora said uneasily, not taking her eyes off the large predator.
The Ridgeback regarded them all with stern silence before a weak moan carried his attention down to a small creature that lay motionless at his feet. Wincing in slight pain, he lowered his head down to the tiny still form of AnaSaya and gave it a gentle nudge with his snout. Nothing. The big Ridgeback, looking more frustrated, gave it another nudge, this time with a bit more emphasis; still no movement. Finally, he reared up and barked a loud bass call that made the other four jump, and the still girl sprang to life.
AnaSaya looked all around, unsure at first what had happened.
Glancing to her left she saw the other four staring up over her head. It was then that she noticed the large shadow cast over her, and peered up to see the face of the Ridgeback staring back down. Their eyes met, and for a moment it was as if they were two old friends reacquainting with one another. Without any fear or hesitation, AnaSaya got to her feet, dusted herself off, and gazed back up to the Ridgeback, who continued to regard her in silence.
With a smile, AnaSaya said, “I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better. I was worried I might not have been strong enough to give you the helping hand you needed. But I’m happy to see I was wrong. Thank you for trusting me.” She bowed in a courtly fashion to the Ridgeback, who cocked his head to the side.
“It is I who should be thanking you, little lavender flame,” he spoke at last. “I had been clinging to life all night, but found myself losing the fight by sunrise. I don’t know how you did it, but had you not come along, I would have been dead by midday. Thank you.”
AnaSaya blushed and drew circles in the dirt with the toe of her boot. “Oh…it’s all right. I mean, I just helped along what you had already been doing. It wasn’t as big of a deal as you make it out to be.”
“Nonsense,” he said stoically. “I owe you my life. My name is RemoKy, and I am in your debt. You may ask anything of me.”
“Wow,” said Rex, nodding his head approvingly.
“Looks like our little AnaSaya is just full of surprises,” EeNox said with a grin.
AnaSaya was proud of herself for having passed yet another test of her abilities, but mostly relieved. She had never lost someone, and was unsure if she would be able to deal with it. She knew it was something inevitable and that the day would come when she would be forced to look at herself in the mirror after failing to save someone’s life. However, today was thankfully not that day. “It is a pleasure to meet you, RemoKy. My name is AnaSaya, and these are my friends, Rex, EeNox, LyCora, and ShinGaru.” RemoKy bowed his head before something caught his eye. “We have traveled from KaNar to rescue our friend DiNiya, who was taken,” she continued, not yet noticing that he was not looking at her, but instead had fixed his gaze on to something behind her, something that was both a surprise and familiar to him.
Rex was already well aware of where his attention had come to rest. Whether it was from a human, SaVarian, DyVorian, or DraGon, Rex could always recognize the stare someone gave him when seeing his eyes for the first time. You’d think I’d be used to this by now.
Without saying a word, RemoKy strode over to where the others were standing, stopping just short of Rex. Lowering his head, he took a good look at him, eyeing every part of him as if scanning his body for something specific. At last he reared back up and spoke. “So she wasn’t one of a kind, after all. I had been wondering about that much of the time I was lying here, trying not to die.”
“Wait,” Rex said with surprise. “She?”
“Yes. DiNiya was the name she gave, as I recall.”
“You saw DiNiya?” EeNox asked enthusiastically. “When? Was she all right?”
“Yesterday at dusk, and it depends how you define all right.”
“Was she hurt?” Rex asked.
“Not as far as I could tell, but then again, that DraGon she was with seemed none too pleased with her.”
ShinGaru stepped forward and asked, “Did she say anything to you? Like why they were taking her?”
“All she told me was her name, that she had been taken captive by the DraGon, and that your village had been attacked by others. Shortly thereafter we were…interrupted.” RemoKy glanced down at the wounds on his chest, which while no longer life threatening, were still in the process of healing over.
“What was the last thing you remember?” Rex asked
.
The Ridgeback thought for a moment, the memory of yesterday’s battle coming back to him in fragments. “I had heard a terrible sound while I was out hunting. It made the ground tremble and sent all winged DyVorians flying. It was then that I smelled something unfamiliar. Naturally, I decided to investigate, and that’s when I saw your friend running from something strange and angry. Being that this is my territory and that this…DraGon…was clearly intruding, I did what was well within my rights, and engaged that winged monstrosity in battle.”
“Doesn’t look like it went well,” LyCora said.
“No,” he said with a sigh. “No, it did not, at least not in the end, which I suppose is the only part of a fight that really counts. Still, I had her down and out for the first half!” he boasted with a sense of accomplishment.
“So what happened?” Rex asked.
“Well, your friend and I were getting acquainted much in the same way we are now, when that thing ran two tree roots through my chest and threw me halfway across the damn forest.”
“So, wait, this isn’t where it happened, then?” EeNox asked.
RemoKy shook his head. “It all went down about a kilometer west of here. Give or take, that is.”
ShinGaru walked around from behind and placed a hand on his leg. “If you’re feeling up to it, could you please show us?”
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the edge of the burned-out clearing, where they all took in the terrible sight in silence. It was especially disturbing for Rex and LyCora, who had flashbacks to the day they had come to a similar sight in the mountain forest where sentinel clones had attacked them.
“Well, this looks familiar,” Rex said while walking out into the center of the clearing.
LyCora and the others followed close behind, wary of the ground beneath them. “I don’t know if we should be out here like this,” she said. “Remember what happened last time?”
“KaNar had sentinel clones at its gates. We’re no safer in the forest than we are standing right here. Besides, these DraGons aren’t trying to hide their presence anymore. The attack on KaNar was their big coming-out party. They want everyone to know they’re here and to be afraid.”
EeNox felt a chill run down his spine. “Just the same, I think LyCora’s right. We should get out of here.”
Rex turned to look at him. He could see his friend was doing his very best to keep up a brave face, but in truth he was very much afraid. He could not blame him, for he also was masking his own fear every time he spoke with any kind of determination. He only hoped that at some point along the way he could believe his own projected sense of bravery. They returned to the cover of the forest where the others were waiting.
“Well?” asked ShinGaru calmly.
“It was definitely a DraGon,” Rex answered.
“That’s strange.”
“Go out there yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I was just wondering why she would have stopped here just to burn a hole in the middle of a forest. Especially since she made it clear that she needed to bring DiNiya to the tower.”
“DiNiya may have been trying to escape and convinced her somehow to land, giving her a chance to run for it,” Rex suggested.
“The DraGon was indeed chasing her when I intervened,” RemoKy said.
“Yes, but how did she manage to convince her to land in the first place?” EeNox asked.
“Does it matter?” Rex replied. “It obviously didn’t work, and probably just angered LemaRes more, which I doubt made things any easier for your sister.” A solemn look spread across everyone’s face.
“So…what now?” AnaSaya asked.
“Nothing has changed. We stick to the plan and go and get her back, no matter what.”
LyCora sighed. “Yes, I figured as much.”
“You having second thoughts again?”
“No. It’s just as you say. We see this through or die somewhere along the way.”
“Now there’s that positive attitude we all love so much about you, LyCora,” ShinGaru said with uncharacteristic sarcasm and a laugh.
“RemoKy,” AnaSaya called up to the Ridgeback. “Would you do us a tiny favor?”
“As I said,” he replied. “I am in your debt. Ask of me what you will.”
“Could you travel east and give word to the search party that is looking for us, and tell them what has happened here?”
“Hey, wait,” EeNox protested. “Are you trying to get us caught?”
“Of course not. But they have a right to know that we, and at least as of last night, DiNiya, are all right.”
“I suppose,” EeNox replied, sounding uncertain.
“We won’t be making it any easier for them to find us, just giving them a little good news to give them hope. No harm in that, right?”
EeNox sighed and nodded. “I guess not, but we better get moving, just to make sure we stay ahead of them. If I know VayRonx, he’ll be tearing through everything in his way to get to the tower and us.”
“Do you feel up to the job, RemoKy?” AnaSaya asked.
“Consider it done,” he said, pulling his head and neck into an s-shape and puffing out his chest. “Stick to the forest as much as possible.”
“That was the plan,” said Rex.
“Good. If you run into any others of my kind, tell them I granted you safe passage. That should keep them from harming you, but there is no guarantee, so be on guard.”
“We will, and thank you.”
“A safe journey to you all. Go save your friend.”
The five of them parted ways with RemoKy and continued west.
“Hey, does anyone else think we should have asked him to come with us instead of sending him in the opposite direction?” LyCora asked.
“No,” replied Rex. “We show up with anyone else besides the five of us, and we risk their killing DiNiya.”
“He’s right,” added EeNox. “That’s the whole reason we ran away in the first place, remember?”
“Yes, I remember, but what makes you think they won’t just kill her anyway, or that we could even stop them if they decide to?”
“You’re right,” Rex replied. “There’s no guarantee that we’re not doing all of this for nothing, but if you’re going to think like that, you might as well lie down and die right here.”
“That’s a bit dramatic.”
“That’s life.”
They continued on for another hour, not encountering any other Ridgebacks, much to their relief. At last they reached the edge of the forest and beheld the expanse of what seemed like an endless plain before them.
“So much for sticking to the forests,” said Rex unhappily.
“We have to cross the plains to get to the forest on the other side,” said EeNox.
“Great. How far is that?”
“About three hundred kilometers.”
Rex sighed heavily. He wondered if he really knew what he was doing. Am I really going to save DiNiya like this, or just get all of us killed? He glanced at the others, who looked back at him with expectant faces. Well…only one way to find out.
Moving forward, he took the first step out into the open air and walked out into the expanse. The others followed suit, and they were once again moving towards an unknown destiny.
21
FAITH
BaRone had been the first to realize that his son and the others had slipped away unseen into the night. He had come home, wracked with grief and anger despite having just mounted a rescue party with VayRonx, when he realized that EeNox and Rex were not home. He quickly asked KySer and the other CyTorians to immediately scan the town from overhead and ask as many as they could if anyone had seen the five of them. After what seemed like all night but had actually been less than two hours, it became clear that they were nowhere in KaNar, which meant only one thing: they had taken matters into their own hands and done what they had all told them specifically not to.
Upon hearing th
is, VayRonx immediately dispatched the rescue team that, along with himself and BaRone, consisted of VoRenna, TarFor, VyKia, and NyRo. They had cleared a great deal of ground the first night, leaving KaNar far behind, reaching the lowland forests in record time. Having failed to pick up their trail, they stuck to forests, figuring that is what the five teenagers would have done to avoid being spotted by air. “A wise plan,” VayRonx had said. “Until they reached the western plains, that is.”
They pushed through the forest, their muscles burning with flame to keep the pace up, but by dawn they had begun to tire. VayRonx, despite wanting to cover as much distance as they could in the shortest amount of time possible, decided to slow down to not push themselves beyond the point of fatigue.
They continued for another twenty minutes or so before the large DyVorian called back to the others. “We’ll break here for fifteen minutes.”
Low rumbles came from the other DyVorians and lone OroGon while the SaVarians sighed heavily as they sat down, feeling the weight of their bodies collapsing upon themselves. BaRone was in no mood to take a break, however. Instead, he confronted VayRonx, who was sniffing the ground and air for signs of any danger.
“VayRonx, I know everyone is tired, but don’t you think we should throw the usual protocol aside in favor of speed?”
Peering down with his right eye, VayRonx replied, “It is times like these that protocol is most important, and why it even exists in the first place, BaRone. You should know that, seeing as how I am the one who taught it to you.”
“I know but—”
“But what? What exactly would you have me do? Tell everyone no breaks, and push them past their limits so they themselves break before we even make it halfway to catching up to them? Because if so, then we really will have to rely on those children to save your daughter.”
“That’s not what I meant, VayRonx, and you know it,” BaRone replied, feeling more frustrated than ever.
