by Sarah Hite
To the brave kids of Pycan,
The Dragon Guard is proud of what you are doing, and we will gladly help you in your journey, as well as after. A letter such as this has been sent to every Guard captain across the nation. I am afraid I have some bad news for you. When you complete your mission, go to Aretell or Sheadod; the people there can help you. There is no easy way to say this, but Pycan is no more. The village was burned to the ground by Vidar’s command. All men known to have served as Guard were taken prisoner, and we have had no word of the women and children. I am sorry, and I know nothing can replace your home, your families. Our hearts are with you. We fight with you.
Your Friend,
Amos Leften
Acting Commander of the Guard
Ania did not read the rest of the letter. There was a small portion below the main message addressed to her by name. It was a warning: Be on your guard, daughter of Thorin. The Duke knows who you are and what you look like, and he is watching for you. The women of the Guard have been instructed to supply disguises to better keep you safe. Stay well; we will be looking out for you.
The Search
Deep within the keep, down in the chambers of the queen, Elder, Kei-ata Lorbrein, and Ryou Elder were meeting with Kym. The queen answered their request for admittance and offered them something to eat or drink; when they declined, she got straight to business.
“I need your help,” she began. She led them to the next chamber where they met the king’s brother, Seoung. “He won’t listen to me; he won’t listen to Seoung either. I don’t know what to do,” she said, feeling discouraged.
Seoung stepped in. “Ever since Saydene disappeared, Kyeon hasn’t been himself. He blames himself for her leaving.” Seoung paused and shook his head sadly. “We’ve tried to convince him that it wasn’t his doing, but it just hasn’t done any good.”
“Not even her hatchling cheers him up. I think he only makes Kyeon feel even guiltier.” Kym said; the child was a constant reminder of Moon’s absence.
Elder nodded and Kei-ata Lorbrein replied, “We’ve noticed.”
Ryou forsook his study of a stalagmite and turned to them, “I think the only thing that would return Kyeon to his old self is Saydene.” Being military minded, he had a sudden idea. “What if we, as the council, sent out scouting parties to search for her? I know what it’s like to lose family; if I had the chance to find the one who disappeared, alive, I would stop at nothing to get him back. Saydene is a part of the Keep… as much a part of it as any one of us. I say we send search teams, and don’t stop until she’s found,” he said with determination.
Elder lowered his head so that he was at eye level with the others. “I, too, have thought about sending search parties. As she is not the only one, there are others to be found as well. Saydene’s disappearance has reminded us that several of the scouts did not return during the recall. They may still be out there.” Kei-ata turned his head toward Elder, Thank you, Father. He said with his mind. You are welcome, my son, Elder responded. Elder knew that the shaman missed his son, who was one such scout. “How soon can the scouts be ready?” Kym asked.
“I can have them mobilized within the week, My Lady,” Ryou replied. “We can send scouts to the forests and dessert clans, as well as the distant mountains.”
“So be it,” the Queen said, giving her approval. Then she turned back to an inner chamber where Moon’s hatchling was just waking from a midday nap.
“I will take my leave and ready the scouts,” Ryou said as he parted.
Seoung also said his farewells. “I, too, will take my leave. I must see to Kyeon.”
“How is he?” Kei-ata asked, motioning in the direction of the hatchling.
Kym picked him up off of the low ledge he had been sleeping on and set him on the floor. He was not quite awake yet and fell over. “He’s clever and he’s learning. He’s hasn’t grown much, though.” She turned to Kei-ata, “Is that normal? I know most hatchlings usually double in size within days.”
He paused to think a moment. “There are some who grow differently than most; for instance, the Ocean dragons grow less in their first five years and then grow to five times their size in six months until they reach their full growth. However, some combinations of breeding cause the offspring to grow differently than their parents. I’ll have to look into it. If I knew who his father was, I might be able to find an explanation.”
“Have you thought of a name for him yet?” Elder asked.
“He kind of reminds me of Mangjul elder. I was thinking maybe of naming him after his grandsire.” She sighed, “However, if Saydene isn’t found, maybe naming him after her? I just don’t know,” and she shook her head.
Elder put a claw on her shoulder, “You could name him after them both,” he suggested. “Maybe I will,” she thought. “Sayden Konjon.” Crooning, she nuzzled the hatchling as he came to her. “Thank you, both of you,” and they took their leave.
Betrayal
The kids made camp next to a rock outcropping. The rocks circled half of their camp and were quite large. Vines covered the rocks and the ground near them. The rocks would supply good cover and keep them and their fire from being seen. Flame was tired, so he sat on the ground. Then he rubbed his temples. It had taken them much longer to get this far; the increasing presence of soldiers had forced them to go numerous miles around the next several towns and which had forced them to take long detours to keep from being seen. They trusted the dragons to navigate their way out of danger. Since they were constantly invisible, Ania had to keep an eye on them.
They were all tired and irritable. Ania pulled the hood down and climbed down from her horse. She took off the travel sling she had been wearing at Moon’s request. The constant exercise made Shaelynn tired and she would often fall behind. The sling gave her a safe place to rest and kept her from getting left behind; she seemed to like it.
After camp had been set and the fire was going, Lorex said he would go hunting; he asked Flame if he would take the first watch. He nodded in return and Lorex left. Several hours later he returned with a brace of rabbits. Stone groaned when she saw them. “More rabbit? You couldn’t find anything else?” She was tired of rabbit; it seemed like it was all they ate.
Lorex snorted, “You try hunting in the dark. I was lucky to have found them at all.” He sat down by the fire and started cleaning them. Lukair and Flame came over to help. They gave the hearts, livers, and other organs to Shaelynn. After she had taken them, Lorex looked at the older dragons and asked, “Would you like to go hunting? I don’t think you’ve had a chance to all week.” They agreed and took off, leaving Shaelynn in their care. After the kids had eaten and were preparing to go to sleep, an uneasy feeling gripped Ania. Flame sat just outside of camp by a tree.
A flicker of movement in the shadows alerted them to the impending danger, but too late. Before they could defend themselves, soldiers wearing Vidar’s uniform overran the camp. The group immediately sought their weapons. Flame lunged for his sword, which he had left leaning against a tree. He ducked under a blow from the soldier closest to him and reached for the long, broad, two-handed sword and struck back at the soldier. He glanced to his left and saw Lukair and Tyanna already engaging the men. Tyanna twisted her sword, blocking a blow as one of the men thrust out his sword in an attempt to stab her, and quickly threw one of her knives. The soldier fell without a sound. Ania drew her bow and another soldier fell. She stiffened when Stone cried out for help; she was surrounded by five men, one of which had just barely missed her with his blade. It had passed so close to her face that she could feel the metal. Ania thrust out her sword and caught her opponent in the chest, killing him. Then she spun around to help her friend, knowing that she was not the strongest fighter. Together they fought off the men.
Ania could see the others fighting in the darkness. She concentrated on the men in front of her. It seemed like there were more than those she could see. The gaps in their ranks closed too quickly. With a sinkin
g feeling she knew there had to be many more. She back stepped as a soldier swung his sword at her. She caught it with her cross guard and disarmed him with a twist of her wrist. Using the pommel of her sword, she knocked the man out and stepped past him to engage another.
After taking out several of the soldiers, Lorex snarled and lunged for a man just out of his reach. He missed by a hair’s breath, throwing him off balance. The soldier he had aimed for hit him on the back of the head and he fell to the ground unconscious. Lukair turned just in time to see his brother fall. “No!” he cried.
Seeing what had caused him to cry out, Stone ran to help her brothers. The majority of soldiers were at the center of the camp. A few were about twenty five feet away, where Ania kept their attention by the rocks. Slowly the sheer size of the duke’s forces drove the five kids together at the center of their camp, surrounding them.
After Ania dispatched her last soldier she turned to help the others. As she ran toward the camp, she passed a protrusion of shale and limestone just outside the rest of the rocks. As she ran past the rocks she yelped in surprise; she suddenly slipped underground through a hole at the base of the rock. No one had noticed the hole earlier because vines that covered it.
The rest of the teens soon found themselves surrounded and were forced to surrender, Lukair knelt by Lorex as he groaned and slowly came to. As the soldiers prepared to arrest them, an angry roar interrupted them. Moon landed in front of the kids snarling. She growled another warning and mantled her wings aggressively, trying to scare them away. The men backed away from her but did not leave the camp. Pai dropped down on the men from above. He swooped down and grabbing two of the men, flew back into the sky. The remaining members of the company stiffened as they heard their comrades scream, but they stood their ground. They only ran when Moon snapped at one who had tried to sneak around her to the teenagers. Seeing her mother actions, Shaelynn leapt from the darkness and tackled one of the men. The color of her hide camouflaged her perfectly in the low light. She mimicked her mother and snapped at the man, her sharp teeth closing inches from his nose. The scout returned to berate them again, but from another direction, causing the men to panic. During the ensuing chaos, no one noticed that Ania was missing.
Flame saw the opportunity to flee, and they ran to where their horses were picketed. Flame cut the line and then helped Lukair put Lorex, who was now conscious but groggy, on his horse before mounting his own. They spurred their horses toward the trees as quickly as possible. The dragons stayed behind in order to give them a good start, but Moon told Shaelynn to accompany them. The kids could not see in the blackness that surrounded them, but they trusted the horses to stay together and find their way. They tried to outdistance the soldiers as they were chased through the forest. The dragons flying overhead, attacking them when the trees parted.
The horses burst from the trees into a small clearing. The half-moon giving off just enough light for them to see the stream they had heard just before leaving the tree line. They paused for a moment at the bank to listen for the soldiers- nothing. They quietly decided which direction to go and steered the horses into the stream, hoping the water would make it harder to be found. They had no intention into being lulled into a false sense of security. Just as they were about to proceed, Stone noticed Ania’s absence. They knew they could not slow down and thought she would catch up, thinking she was still in the woods. They led the horses south for a quarter mile. They had known they were somewhere close to Lord Ryell’s land when they had made camp. They aimed for Aretell and hoped to find it by daybreak. At sunrise they stopped on the crest of a hill to take stock of their surroundings and to assess their injuries in the morning light. As Stone looked around she noticed that two members of their party were missing. “Where’s Lorex?” He was not among the group, and Ania’s horse stood behind the rest.
As the others looked around for a sign of them, Flame looked ahead. He saw a city roughly three leagues away. Slowly he said, “If they are alive they will continue to Aretell.” Knowing he was right and hating it, the others agreed. They knew they could not look for them and evade the soldiers, but Ryell could, so they spurred their horses toward the city.
Many of the soldiers had chased the group into the woods; however, several remained at the campsite. They seemed to waiting for something. One of the men squatted close to the fire. He arose when he heard someone approaching. Lorex rode back into camp, his expression hard. He dismounted and slapped the horse on the flank, sending him away.
The man who had been closest to the fire stepped toward him. “I thought you said the dragons would be gone.” He was the same soldier who had delivered the message in the small town where Ania and Flame had found Shaelynn.
“They were supposed to be. I sent them to hunt my- self. The hatchling must have called them back.”
The other man did not answer. He turned back to the fire. When he said nothing else, Lorex turned to another and asked, “Did you have to hit me so hard?”
The other man chuckled. “Had to make it look good. Didn’t want your friends knowing it was you who told us where to find you.”
“That doesn’t matter; I’m sure they will figure it out, eventually.”
The Cave’s Secret
What happened? Ania asked herself as she sat up. Nausea and pain overwhelmed her senses. She laid back down for a moment to let the throbbing subside, then she slowly sat back up. She looked around but could not see very much. It was almost pitch black wherever she was. She could not hear anything either. This barren space was devoid of sound and light, so she felt around with a hand, trying to determine where she was, but all she felt was rough, cold stone.
She thought of her friends and wondered what had happened to them. Had they been arrested? Did they get away? Were they safe, and what happened? Then she remembered the dragons. They had been off hunting and would return to an empty camp. Only little Shaelynn had been there, and she was nearly helpless. She did not know how to fight; she was too young, too small. She was only the size of a house cat. Shaelynn! What happened to her? Did she get away? Did she call for help? There were so many questions that she could think of the worst possible answers to.
Then she remembered. Lorex: he had betrayed them, handed them over to Vidar’s men. She knew it had to have been him. He had gone hunting but had been gone too long. He had been hunting all right, hunting for soldiers. She recalled the fight in her mind and remembered that the boys had been fighting more than one man apiece. Tyanna held her own. Then she remembered Stone, who had called out. “I went to help her, then she ran to help her brothers,” she thought aloud. “I stepped onto softer ground on my way to help them and then the ground fell up.” She paused, “The ground fell… up?”
No, she had fallen down. Ania looked around her, into the dark. She could barely make out the walls of the underground tunnel. She looked up but could not see the hole she had fallen through. She tried to determine how far it was but it was too dark. She knew she was hurt but was not sure if it was from the fall or the fight. She groped around in the darkness for her sword or any weapons she may have when she fell but could not find any. She tried to stand; her leg smarted horribly and another bout of nausea and dizziness forced her to the ground. She wanted to follow the passage, to find a way out but would not be able to walk.
She rolled over and tried to crawl but, as stone bumped the injury, she was forced to stop. “Ekát droav!” she said, reaching down to feel her leg. As her fingers reached the injury, she knew that her leg must be broken. Her skin was hot and feverish, and her calf was swollen. She could not touch it without causing more pain. She took off her cloak and carefully wrapped it around her leg, crying out in pain as the fabric rubbed against the damaged skin. She waited until her vision cleared and then slowly dragged her injured leg down the tunnel. Gritting her teeth as she bumped her leg on a rock, she ignored the pain and continued moving. She would be able to do nothing with it unless she found the proper supplies. She slow
ly made her way blindly down the tunnel, feeling along the wall for direction and stopping frequently when her leg began to pain her unbearably. After what seemed like several hours, she detected a dampness in the air, as well as the distinctive smell of rotting materials. She felt around the tunnel until she found a path that smelled like fresh water. She followed it for a short ways and soon came to a small underground lake. A stone ledge surrounded the round lake on all sides. There was a crevice in the ceiling above, revealing the sky.
The chamber she was in was lit moderately well due to the moon high above. She felt the wall; it felt like sand. Sandstone maybe, she thought. She looked back up. “Hello?” she cried. “Can anyone here me?” She did not know where she was in relation to where the camp had been, or if there was anyone there at the time. Slowly and carefully she lowered herself down to the water. Cupping it in her hands, she drank, the water had a mineral-like taste but was fresh and tasted quite good. She cleaned her wounds, face, and arms and thought about trying to clean her leg. She decided to do it the next day, when she would be able to see the full extent of the injury. She was tired and assumed it must be late, so she laid down at the edge of the lake and closed her eyes to sleep. Just before she did, she saw three dragons in the sky.
When she woke the sun was high; the air in the chamber was cool. Her muscles screamed as she sat up and stretched. She went back to the water’s edge to drink and noticed an opening in the far wall. Looking around, she made sure it was not the same one she had come from. She looked back to the wrapping on her leg, and slowly untied the material. She gasped when she saw her leg. It was swollen and puffy, and a dark, purple-black bruise covered several inches of it. The area around the bruise was red. She gently touched the area and quickly drew back her hand. Tears came to her eyes as she groped the injury, trying to judge how bad it was. She determined that her leg must be broken and knew she could not set it without help. She also knew that she needed to decrease the swelling. She took off her boot and stocking and set them aside, then she slowly pulled her leg over to the water’s edge and lowered herself down. “Etra noella evit!” she said through clenched teeth, but she left her leg in the cold water until the pain was too much. She pulled her leg out and slowly pulled her stocking back on.
