by C. K. Rieke
Kera looked over at Burr as he walked along the desert sands. “You could say the same about me, maybe I don’t know as much as I think I do about the world.”
“You’re different,” Lilaci said. “You’re a child still.”
Kera went silent, seemingly in thought. “Three hairs from a queen’s head . . .”
“You know . . .” Lilaci said. “I do know a queen.”
“You do?” Kera seemed almost excited by that statement. “Would she give you her hairs?”
“I wouldn’t imagine so,” Lilaci said. “As far as it goes, I shouldn’t say so much that I know a queen. I have met her, and talked to her, but I don’t think I’d get as far as being able to talk to her. The only way I’ll see her again, I’d wager, is if my head was removed from my shoulders.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say.”
“Sorry. But it’s kind of true,” Lilaci said. The only way I’d leave one of the three cities would be in a coffin.
“I suppose the same could be said of me,” Kera said.
“Don’t say that,” Lilaci said. “I prefer to think of you meeting a queen, with the queen on her knees to you.”
“What do you mean?” Kera asked.
“You know, big scary dragon behind you would go a long way to getting people to do things they don’t want to do.”
“You think the egg is still alive? I mean— the baby dragon inside is still alive?” Kera asked in a soft voice.
Lilaci looked down into her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure it is. It had a strong heartbeat.”
“What did it sound like?”
“You know what a regular heartbeat sounds like, right?”
“I think so,” Kera said.
Lilaci reached out and grabbed her arm, so they both stopped. Lilaci knelt to one knee, and opened one arm out wide, and with the other pulled Kera’s head in towards her chest. Roren, walking behind them, paused to watch. Kera leaned her ear in next to her chest. “You hear that?”
Kera nodded, with her head still held tightly against her chest.
“The dragon’s heart was like that, but it beat quicker. It wasn’t like mine— a thud thud, thud thud. It was like a thud thud thud thud thud, beating rapidly like a bird’s wings. It was a strong heartbeat. So yes, I’m sure it’s still alive.”
Kera pulled her head back. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if— when— we get there. All these things I’ve been taught by the ones who raised me. They didn’t tell me enough about how to do the things I’m supposed to do. I only know why I’m here, for that one reason and that one reason only.” She took a deep breath, and then, suddenly she pushed Lilaci in the chest with both hands. Lilaci had to catch herself from falling over. “Why did you accept that third whisper from the Garen Pixie?”
Lilaci was shocked. She’d never seen Kera so mad before. Her face scrunched together, with her eyebrows scorning down.
“I— I didn’t know,” Lilaci said. “It all happened so fast.”
“How are we supposed to get a queen’s hairs? Or find that pixie and kill it? What if Burr was right? Maybe we should be looking for that pixie instead of heading towards the egg.”
“Everything is alright, Kera. “No one here has any curse on them. Now are you going to push me again, or can I get up safely now?”
“Don’t be that way,” Kera said. “It’s not fair for you to only worry for me. Remember that for you to keep me safe, you have to be around. If the curse is real, we have to find a way to lift it. Promise me. I’m not taking another step further until you promise me.”
“Fine, fine,” Lilaci laughed. “If the curse is real, then we will find a way to lift it. You satisfied?”
Kera sneered at her. Then she turned and walked away, back towards Fewn and Burr who were well ahead of them then.
“The girl’s upset with us,” Roren said.
Lilaci watched her run under the hot sun towards the two. “What if she’s right, Roren?” She looked over at the dark-skinned man with the bald head and deep blue eyes.
“Ah— rubbish,” he said. “There’s no way I believe in that kind of make-believe.”
“But . . . What if they’re right? Kera’s safety is number one. But we can’t well protect her if it’s true.”
“Bah!” Roren dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “Don’t tell me you believe what the old man spouts out too. He’s got no sense about him. Sure, he saved us, and he’s sharp like the devil with that bow— but come on now. Three hairs? From a queen’s head? I’ve never heard such a hoax. His father probably told him that story to scare him when he was a child. Now, here we are, talking about it. Do yourself a favor and keep focused on the mission at hand. This is going to be a day by day quest, with her out in the open like this. Not to mention two fugitive ex-Scaethers and the only living last Knight of the Whiteblade.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Lilaci said, and Roren began to walk off out towards Kera. Lilaci paused, and then looked down at the back of her pale hands, inspecting for anything new. “Nothing.” She seemed reassured and went off after the rest of the group as they walked on towards the rolling mountains in the distance.
After a long day on foot, in a particularly hot day for that time of year, the travelers arrived at the foothills. Their feet found hard rock once again, and their chances of finding food and water grew one-hundred fold, as anyone who walked the sands knew. Burr went off at once, to scour up on the hillside. There were plants scattered upon the hills, albeit mostly dead. There were many cacti— short bulbous ones down on the lowest parts of the hills, and taller, tree-like cacti with many offshoots, like branches. Fewn went to cutting and trimming the skin and prickles from the shorter cacti as Lilaci and Roren went after looking for Kera.
As Kera sat to rest on a soft bed of long blades of dead grass, Lilaci watched Fewn prepare the cactus for Kera. Her arm was still wrapped in the bandage from when Lilaci unintentionally burned her. But Lilaci knew that Fewn was a hardened warrior, and no matter the pain incurred, she’d stay strong, or at least put on that facade. Watching her in the later hours of the day, Lilaci could finally feel the soft, delicate fingers of the breeze as it cooled her neck and shoulders. Kera noticed it, and pulled her cloak clean off and tossed it aside.
Roren went about removing the young girl’s boots and letting her small feet dry in that last bit of sunlight. Kera looked at the brink of exhaustion. She’d walked her whole life, but back with her tribe, they’d camp for a week at a time sometimes. Now, they walked every day, without fail. Not only did they need to make it to the sandworm’s cave with the egg, but they needed to avoid prying eyes. Who knew who’d be after them next? Lilaci worried about another pack of Scaethers, but she worried about the Reevins just as much. The Scaethers were excellent hunters and killers, but the Reevins brought with them all sort of unnatural beasts. She’d not only have to kill the Reevin but protect Kera at the same time. Then she remembered the orbs, and she breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she held onto all three of the stones, she could withstand many types of attack. She only needed to learn to use the new dagger from the cave as another tool.
Fewn ran and leapt down off a boulder, landing next to Roren. Then he gave a slice of the cactus for Kera to chew upon. Cactus was always bitter to eat, but when thirst kicks in, you couldn’t ask for a better alleviation. Kera chewed feverishly on the cactus, and trickles of juice fell down her chin as she sighed in relief. They’d all carried watersacks from the Dune of the Last Dragon, but they hadn’t eaten all day. And walking the sands on such a hot day, they mostly finished their watersacks by the time they’d reached the foothills, where they knew they could find more.
“Is there food coming?” Kera asked in a sweet, soft voice. “I’m hungry.” Lilaci saw her young face, covered in a delicate layer of sand, with dirt smudged under her eyes. Lilaci took a kerchief from her pack and began to brush away the dirt and sand. “Thank you,” Kera murmured as her eyes began to glaze over. She could barel
y keep them open, as the young girl drifted off.
“You’re welcome,” Lilaci whispered. “You can rest now. You’re safe here. We’ll get you something to eat. You just get some rest. She held out her hand to Kera’s mouth, and Kera spat the cactus into it, which Lilaci discarded. Kera rolled to her side, and her breaths turned to a vague wheezing sound: she’d fallen asleep. Such a sweet girl. I need to get her some real nourishment and water soon. I hate to look at her hungry.
Roren went and placed her cloak over her, and tucked it under her on both sides. He then pulled his blanket from his bag and folded it, placing it under her head. “She’s always been able to do that— fall asleep in an instant. What a great relief it is, when you have all of this weight on your shoulders. Even from when she was a baby, if one of her caretakers took her up in their arms and swayed or walked, Kera would be fast asleep.”
“She’s so beautiful, isn’t she,” Fewn said. “She’s the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen.” Yes, yes, she is. I could look at her innocent face all night as she sleeps. The pleasant look on her face warms my heart.
Roren simply nodded and smiled.
Lilaci couldn’t take her eyes off of Kera. Her lips almost curled into a warm smile, her cute nose, and her eyes fluttering behind closed eyelids. Her eyelashes were dark and long, for such a young girl, and a few of her black hairs rolled across her face and nose like tiny streams of water. “Roren,” she said looking over at him. “What was she like as a young child? What was she like as a babe?”
“I dare say she indeed was the most beautiful thing any of us had ever seen. It was as if she’d placed a spell on all of us.”
“Where’d she come from?” Lilaci asked. “Was she born in your group? I haven’t asked you yet, but what about her mother and father? Where are they? Who are they?”
“Like most stories of young children in these lands, it isn’t a pleasant story, and one we’ve not told Kera yet— for good reason we think.” He pulled Lilaci aside with his hand on her back. “I’d rather her not hear it yet, even if she is asleep.” Fewn followed the two over to a nestling of dead grass without rocks. They all sat together in a circle, Roren with his legs crossed in front of him, and Lilaci on her knees, Fewn sat with her legs to her side. Lilaci went and let her hair down to let the sand let itself free in the breeze. Fewn did the same. “Her father, was from the deep south, a wild man, not unlike a Scaether. But he had dark skin and was more barbaric than the hunters. He took her mother by force on a starless night of dark cloud. When we went searching for him, we’d found he’d been killed by a neighboring tribe, they’d taken his head from his body. Her mother, we started to call her Evenell.” Roren’s eyes grew somber when he mentioned the name. “She— she died in childbirth.”
“Both her parents are dead?” Lilaci said in a sad tone. “Why haven’t you told her?”
“We didn’t want her blaming herself for her mother’s passing, number one,” he said. “Number two, it was to give her the feeling she may have been created for her purpose only. When she’d ask such questions about a mother and father, we’d just insinuate she’d been given to us for the sole purpose of saving these lands.”
“Who are you to decide that?” Fewn spat. “You’re just like the Scaethers. You were just training her for your own desires? She’s just a girl.”
“Roren, that’s atrocious, she deserves to know the truth,” Lilaci said. “You can’t lie to her about something like that, just because you want her to be your weapon doesn’t give you the right. That is indeed the way of the Scaethers!”
“We are nothing like them,” he said defensively. “We didn’t kill her parents, we would’ve saved the mother had we the chance. And— we were going to tell Kera in time. Once she reached maturity perhaps. We would not keep this from her forever. I agree she deserves to know, but her purpose is so important. It was for her own well-being. Please do not tell her these things. I promise you, when the time is right, I will tell her, or the order will when we return.”
Lilaci looked over at Fewn. When was he going to tell us this? He had better not hope I’m not going to follow wherever she goes. “You intend to take her back to the Order of Drakon?” she asked Roren. Fewn gave a disapproving gaze.
“Why of course,” he said as if the answer should have been clear. “We are her family. Why would she not return?”
“We are her family now,” Fewn said, looking over into Lilaci’s eyes for approval. “All of us.”
“Do not misunderstand,” he said. “We are not taking her away from you. You are all family, but— she needs her original family. They can protect her. They can keep her safe. She won’t have to walk the sands every day, hoping that they won’t be attacked. Mind you, there are those after her— of course— but there are others after you two as well. You put her in danger by being near her.”
“How dare you!” Fewn stood abruptly in anger.
“Fewn,” Lilaci said, trying to calm her.
“No, Lilaci. He’s wrong. She’s safer with us: we can protect her better than them.”
“No, Fewn,” Lilaci said. “He’s right. We do bring unwanted eyes towards us. We do attract the wrong attention. They’ll be after us always. But—” she looked at Roren, “—we can protect her better than the order. It’s all we know, is battle.”
“I don’t disagree that you can . . .” Roren said, but then they all turned back around to the foothills to see Burr leaping down, one boulder at a time. He had a small, furry animal in his wrinkled hand.
He ran down to them, “It’s not much, but it’ll be enough for her tonight.”
Fewn scanned the foothills, “That’s fine. But what about us? I’m starving too.”
“I looked down on the hillside,” Burr said. “There’s hardly any trace of life. The herds have either gone south for the season, or this is just a desolate mountain. There’s not even a bird in the sky. Not even a buzzard.”
They all three looked up and saw nothing.
“I fear these mountains aren’t going to provide the sustenance we’d assumed they’d have,” he said.
“Well, there’s got to be something up there,” Lilaci said. “If it’s not above, then it's under.”
“Ugh,” Fewn sighed with a disgusted face. “I hate grubs.”
“I rather enjoy them,” Burr said with a smile. “I like the crunch of their head when you bite down.”
“You’re gross,” Fewn said.
“Yes, if there’s another option we will find it,” Lilaci said. “I’ll go up and look around. You stay here and watch her.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, that’s okay Fewn, thanks, I’d like to be alone for a bit. Clear my head and breathe some fresh mountain air.” Fewn gave her a saddened look.
Lilaci strode off up the hill, looking at Kera’s sweet, slumbering face as she did. She looked up at the high peaks of the mountain and looked to her left as the range curved off as far as the desert went. This is going to be a long walk back to the cave, I told Kera the dragon inside the egg is alive. I certainly hope I was right about that. Don’t worry about that right now though. Right now, it’s time to hunt, so we all don’t sleep on empty bellies yet again. At least we have food for her when she awakens. She had a mother and father. Why didn’t they just tell her? She’s old enough to know. I can’t help but be a little reminded of the Scaethers, as Fewn mentioned. They molded children into tools— weapons. Will the Arr never change? Will the winds never blow in a different direction? With the Great Oasi never let their waters flow outward again? Are these lands cursed? Lilaci looked down at the back of her hands again and holding it up closer to her face to inspect. She asked herself, “Is that a new wrinkle?” She held her hand closer, extending her fingers out and squeezing them back together. “No, it’s just in your head. There’s no curse on you.” Focus Lilaci, it’s time to hunt.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The smell of the fire wafted around them, its musty ar
oma carried hints of pine and tree sap. There were no grubs or insects they had to eat to be able to sleep with full bellies— but lizards. Lilaci had stumbled upon a small crevasse higher up in the foothills harboring a half-dozen brown lizards with blue spiked fins on their necks, and long red tails. Their flesh popped and crackled on roasting sticks over the fire. Lilaci could feel her stomaching aching for the warm meat. Her normally dry mouth was wet with hunger from the aroma. Each of them held their own skewer, waiting for the meat to cook through.
Kera had already eaten enough of what Burr had brought back so that she’d had something in her belly, but it wasn’t much. She eagerly awaited the new, warm meal. Fewn eyed her cooking lizard with eager eyes. The smell was almost torture to them. Impatiently, Fewn pulled the skewer close to her, and popped a leg off, nibbling off the sparse meat on the thin-boned joint.
“Better than worms?” Burr joked.
Fewn let out a groan of pleasure from the warm food. She nodded. With some luck, Lilaci had also found some root plants growing in a ditch over a hill, and so they had a handful of onions and potatoes resting on the coals. For them, this was to be a feast. Kera watched the fire with intense eyes, staring, and not speaking. Lilaci glanced over at her and held concern for what she was thinking. She also wanted to tell her about her parents, but she figured that could wait until another time.
At the campfire that evening, under a star-filled sky, with the mountains on the one side, and the never-ending desert on the other— little was spoken. The group filled their bellies with as much as they could, they drank from the full watersacks, with water collected from a nearby deposit of fresh water, harnessed in a shadowed crevasse. Then they were off to sleep, which they found quickly. That is— except Lilaci. She’d be on first watch that evening. She was tired, and her eyelids felt heavy, but she wouldn’t succumb to the temptation of rest, not with Kera sleeping soundly next to her. She heard the far-off howling of a pack of dogs, or wolves. They yipped and let out long, drawn-out howls that seemed to carry for miles.
