by Aderyn Wood
My Hysbryd? Dale’s skin tingled.
Perhaps it was a hawk after all. Dale didn’t like heights, it always made her feet tickle as though they melted to nothing, but being able to fly would be useful. The way Ness had been able to change into the albatross, in the form of her hysbryd, Nancy, had saved her life. She took a deep breath and moved on, preventing any further thoughts of Ness from stalling her. She had to keep going.
A few more steps and she paused once more. A deep sound, like the thud of large wings came from above and Dale looked up and gasped, a jolt of adrenalin suddenly waking every fibre in her body. Up above, high in the night sky, and between wisps of cloud, a dragon flew before the moon.
25
Every fibre within her burned upwards as voices from the prophecy strained her mind. A powerful hysbryd will unlock the void. Dale gasped, and more of the prophecy came to her. The hysbryd must first be controlled. Stability is challenged with every step. Dale stared in wonder as the voices faded and the dragon circled the moon, its flight so graceful. The dragon was her hysbryd; she could feel it in her heart, in her blood, in her bones. Dale closed her eyes, and she knew exactly where the dragon flew. Dale’s face followed her flight. She wanted to reach out with her mind, but something stalled her. Not yet. She had to keep moving. They must meet face to face.
With her energy renewed, Dale continued her climb. Her legs still ached and her body needed rest, but now her heart and mind were electrified. She’d found her hysbryd! A dragon!
Soon enough snow came into sight. Dale’s breath laboured, but she didn’t stop. Clumps of snow lined the rocky path and her leather shoes became moist and chilled, but the layer of leaves prevented the moisture from seeping through – for now. The tree line stopped and only patches of alpine flowers and grasses existed here and there among rocky outcrops. The top of the mountain peak rose before her.
She continued until she came to a large, flat ledge, an outcrop that stood out from the mountain’s peak. A dark opening appeared in the wall of the mountain. A cave. Dale took a breath for courage. She stepped onto the ledge and walked toward the opening. Warm air billowed from within and she closed her eyes at the comfort it brought. This was her hysbryd’s lair.
Her heart pounded with excitement as she walked out to the edge of the outcrop and returned her attention to the sky. Soon she spotted the dragon, flying closer, returning to her lair. Dale smiled as the wind whipped her hair and energy pulsed through her veins. “Dragon!”
Her voice echoed off the mountains and returned to her. She watched as the dragon drew closer, wings beating slowly.
Her vast size became easier to measure and Dale held her breath. The dragon was huge. The size of a giant whale, Dale guessed. Larger even. But so graceful in the sky. Closer still, she flew and Dale edged back toward the wall of mountain, heart leaping.
In another handful of breaths the dragon hovered and landed. The vibration on the ledge shuddered through Dale’s feet, making her cry out. The great creature moved toward her, claws scrapping the rock and body moving almost snake like as she thundered toward Dale.
Dale's mouth fell open, her heart racing.
One large nostril now hovered an arm’s length in front of Dale’s face. Sulphur and fire assaulted her senses, and she just managed to avoid coughing. She looked up instead and found the dragon’s eyes. Two large jewels, snake-like pupils each with an iris that danced like green fire. Dale blinked as she looked into them and something clicked within her. Something opened, like a long locked door.
No! The word came to Dale, and then she was swooped off the ledge with one almighty claw. Dale screamed once as she tumbled down the mountainside. Her head smashed against something sharp. Pain stabbed her temple, and utter blackness took her.
Dale blinked slowly in the grey morning light then scrunched her eyes shut again. Her head thumped with pain and her shoulder throbbed. Gradually, she sat up and took a deep, cleansing breath as she looked around.
A large rock beside her wore a splotch of blood. Her fingers walked over her head and found an egg-shaped bump protruding from her forehead, and she winced when she pressed too hard. Finally, she examined the stinging spot on her right shoulder. Her shirt was torn and dried blood crusted on a deep scratch. Dale frowned. That must be where my Hysbryd slapped me.
Yet another mistake, thinking her hysbryd would readily accept their connection. But, there had been a connection. Dale felt it the way one sensed familiar recognition, but the dragon didn’t want to be anyone’s hysbryd, least of all Dale’s. She should have known it wouldn’t be so easy. Every book she’d ever read on dragons had told of their tricky, independent natures, and their desire to avoid anything remotely akin to servitude.
Dale sighed and tried to stand but her head hurt so much she was forced to remain seated on the cold rock. She closed her eyes and concentrated on healing the pain in her head.
“Come on,” she whispered. “You’ve done it before.” If she could heal Rhys, surly she could heal herself. But when she focused, trying to draw on the abundant aether present in the land of the First, the pain made her lose concentration, and she gave up.
“So much for unlocking my power.” She tried standing again. Her legs still ached, and her back felt afire from sleeping on the rocky ground. Her head pounded. She stumbled to a nearby stream and crouched to drink then cup some icy water on her forehead. The pain dimmed a notch. Snow would be better.
A heavy mist had settled on the mountain overnight and the sun hadn’t lifted it yet. Dale couldn’t see the mountain peak or the ledge that lead to the dragon’s lair, but she kept moving up and soon enough she came to the snow line and the outcrop of rock from which she’d been thrown by the dragon. She bent to scoop a handful of snow and held it to her forehead. She sucked in a sharp breath, but the relief from the pain was worth the icy touch.
She stepped up onto the ledge and the opening to the dragon’s lair came into sight, a dark shadow in the white mist.
Dale walked toward it, her heart thumping. She steadied her breathing as she edged through the entrance. She had to be brave. She had to face the dragon.
A vast cavern opened up, and way down in the centre, so far below it could almost be the very core of the world, a red river of lava flowed. Now and then small fires would explode and light flashed gold and red before blinking out, leaving only a ruddy glow.
The cavern’s walls were rough and irregular with twisted sharp fangs of rock, but it all sparkled in the fiery glow of the lava, as though gems lay within. It was both beautiful and terrifying, and Dale’s feet tingled violently as she looked down. Her handful of snow melted away, and she gripped the rock wall of the entrance with both hands, not wanting to fall from the ledge. She looked again for the dragon.
Below, the equivalent of roughly three storeys down, another broad rock ledge seemed to hang above the burning river, and there upon it rested her dragon. Her red scales gleamed in the low light. She was curled up, like a cat, asleep. Her breaths regular and slow. She almost looked harmless.
Dale chewed her lip. Her father had warned her about her hysbryd’s strong nature. Dale had to talk to her. Make the dragon see they were meant to be together, to work together against the Unseelie.
Dale edged around the rocky shelf and stones trickled and scattered down the vast chasm. She paused and held her breath, trying not to look down. Hopefully, she hadn’t woken the dragon, not yet. She looked back down, and giddiness made her sway and clutch the wall.
The dragon still slept.
Dale’s feet and hands tingled and her stomach whirled, but she forced her feet to shuffle along and then to step down, until gradually, step-by-step she made it to the ledge.
Her dragon still slept.
Dale stood a healthy distance away this time. She’d have time to run, or at least shuffle back up the cavern, and if the dragon tried to swipe from where she was, she’d be out of reach. At least, Dale hoped so.
Dale took a breath as
she eyed her hysbryd. Down here, it was hot, tropical, and Dale began to sweat, her hair sticking to her neck, and her head throbbing hard. But the dragon seemed to sleep with a deep sense of peace. Then an ear moved. Dale drew a sharp breath and took a step back, but when she looked again, the ear was merely twitching. Dale exhaled slowly. Cat used to do the same thing when he slept.
The dragon seemed so peaceful, so calm that Dale was loath to wake her. But she had to. She had to get it over with and make her way back to Arcadia, preferably with her hysbryd. She needed her to defeat the enemy.
If this didn’t work, would Dale still be alive to return to Arcadia?
Despite the deal with herself not to, Dale looked down and her feet tickled sharply, making her ankles and knees weak. From this ledge, she could see the river of lava more clearly. Red bubbles of molten rock boiled to the surface as though it were mere water. Flames hissed and roared randomly. If the dragon was angry with her, there’d be no way Dale could make it out alive.
But she had to try.
She gulped warm air, and cleared her throat. “Ah, hello?” Dale’s voice was shaky, but the dragon made no move to wake up. Was it even possible to wake a sleeping dragon?
“Hello?” she said a little louder, her voice echoing off the rock.
But the dragon still slept soundly, no movement, not even a twitch from her ear.
Dale would have to shout. She filled her lungs and opened her mouth wide. “Hello! Wake up!”
Dale’s voice echoed and reverberated time after time. And still the dragon slept.
She frowned. Surely, it wasn’t this hard to wake a dragon. She didn’t want to touch her. Too dangerous. She’d be sure to swipe Dale again, and Dale would tumble over the edge and that would spell the end. No, she couldn’t risk getting any closer.
Rocks lay on the ledge, everywhere. She picked up two the size of her fist – they were warm and heavy. She took aim and threw with all her might, shouting as she did so. One missed and tumbled down to the fiery river below. The other hit her target right on her nose. Dale drew a sharp breath and held her hands to her mouth, eyes wide.
The dragon’s nostrils flared, but still the dragon slept.
Dale gripped her hair with two hands. This was proving too difficult. It was worse than trying to wake Gareth when he’d had too much to drink.
There had to be a way. They were connected after all. Of course, we’re connected!
Dale steadied her breathing and concentrated on the feeling she got when she first found her hysbryd. That door within her that had opened revealing their connection. She shifted her vision to the true realm and saw the dragon’s aura of gold. Dale’s eyes lingered over the beauty, such a rare aura indeed, one that revealed the dragon’s strength. Dale looked further, focusing on the sensation she’d had when she’d seen the dragon flying before the moon. Yes, they were bonded. They shared a magical partnership that would drive back the enemy. Dale’s focus narrowed until she could see their connection in the true realm – a golden thread that linked their cores. She reached out and grasped the cord; she could feel it as one could feel a rope. She gave it a sharp pull and said in her mind, wake!
The dragon opened her eyes and screeched. Dale’s sight snapped back to normal, and she held her breath.
The dragon turned her gaze on Dale. YOU!
Dale stepped back as the dragon screeched and writhed, and took a deep, menacing breath, with green eyes like fire, glowing stronger with every second.
“Oh god,” Dale uttered as she edged back again.
Then the dragon opened her jaws and a wall of fire spat forth. Dale shut her eyes and held her hands in front of her, wishing them to protect her. A yellow glow and a wall of heat assaulted her. Wind from a fiery furnace lifted her hair. And the pungent stench of sulphur followed. I’m going to die.
But the heat eventually lulled and Dale opened her eyes. She wasn’t burned, and she wasn’t dead. Yet.
The dragon stared at her with fiery eyes.
You dare wake a dragon? You are a particular fool of a girl.
Dale responded with all the authority she could muster. My name is Princess Dalendra and you are to be my hysbryd.
The dragon laughed. I know who you are. And I will be no fool’s slave.
Dale gulped. What was she supposed to do now? How could she make this beast do something she didn’t want to do? She frowned, why couldn’t she have had a simple animal like a cat or a dog. Why did she have to have a dragon with a mind of its own and a temper to boot.
A dog? The dragon snarled. Please.
Dale steeled herself. If she was going to get anywhere, she had to focus her thoughts. I just want to be your friend. Won’t you at least tell me your name?
The dragon laughed again, and a vast rumble fed the cavern. Stupid girl, my name is the very last thing I would tell you. And with that, the dragon spread her huge wings and their wind made Dale grasp the walls of the cavern. In two wing beats, the dragon had lifted with grace and precision, and glided out of the cavern. Gone in seconds.
Dale slouched her shoulders. “Great. Just great.”
26
Dale stood on the ledge, outside the lair’s entrance. She’d looked up to the sky a dozen times. The mist had lifted a little now, although heavy cloud still surrounded them, but there was no sign of her hysbryd.
Dale exhaled a slow breath. Why wasn’t anything easy? Hunger growled in her stomach and she made her way down the mountain trail to look for food, grabbing some snow as she went and easing it onto her throbbing forehead. She stumbled through the underbrush, assessing the forest for anything to eat and letting her mind wander as she walked. Her father’s advice to find her hysbryd so that she might unlock her powers did seem to hold a ring of truth. But Dale’s magic was still floundering. Perhaps she had to bond with the dragon the way her mother had with Stella, and Ness with Nancy. The way Jaral had bonded with Belor and Rhys with his owl. And Gareth and Cat. Gareth had been so close to Cat the pair were never more than a moment out of each other’s sight.
Off the trail some way she found a blackberry bush. The leaves had turned yellow and black with the touch of snow, and most of the berries were gone, leaving only a sparse array of overripe ones that were sour, some almost rotten. They were all she had and Dale forced them down. Her hands soon turned a dark purple. It was lucky there were any berries at all, considering the time of year. By now, all the birds and squirrels should have taken them. Not that Dale had seen any birds or squirrels here. Perhaps the dragon had scared them all away. Dale wouldn’t be surprised; the dragon was a monster. An angry monster.
Dale ate her fill of berries and moved on until she found an almond tree with nuts scattered on the forest floor. She ate her fill of those too. This forest was proving to be surprisingly abundant, probably because there were so few animals.
After drinking from a mountain stream, with her hunger somewhat abated, she sat on a boulder to consider her next step. Did she truly want to be this dragon’s friend? Why go through with it if she had to force the dragon to accept her? Not that she’d be able to force a dragon. No one could do that. Probably not even her father. He’d spoken to her of order and chaos. Dale shook her head. Her dragon was chaos all right.
Somehow, she had to convince the dragon to join her.
She focused on her heartbeat and the sound of her breathing. Meditation was one of the most useful things she’d learned since her arrival at the Borderlands. When she had too many problems, she stopped and focused on the simple act of being, of existing, of breathing. She emptied her mind and relaxed her spine and her entire body went limp.
Images jumped into the space that was her consciousness and she let them cycle through randomly. Visuals of her past life on Earth, of her old bedroom and the large painting of the red dragon on her wall. Little did she know she’d painted her hysbryd all those years ago. Other memories with Gareth and Cat while sailing Joy also came to her. Dale let them all slide by without clinging
to any one in particular. She remained emotionally distant as though she watched random television clips with the sound off.
And then an image stuck, and the sound with it. Her father stood before her. ‘Find your connection with your hysbryd. That is the key to your power.’
Dale was in full meditation now and she let her consciousness follow the thread. She’d found her hysbryd, and she needed to know more about their connection. She focused on an image of the dragon. The dragon’s eyes, so fiery. So sad. The dragon had suffered once, and her deep sadness had turned to anger. Dale could feel the grief and fury that bubbled and burned within her.
Dale didn’t allow the emotions to consume her; instead, she concentrated on the dragon’s image. Who is she? She asked the omniscience and a single word replied with the voices of the prophecy. Ancient words, long and difficult to say. Words with power.
Dale opened her eyes, her skin crawling with cold.
“Yes,” Dale whispered. “Her name!”
Dale’s heart pounded as she raced back up the mountain. Branches and fronds slapped at her face and stung the bruise on her forehead, but she did her best to ignore them and not slow down. Excitement bubbled; she had to get back to the rock-ledge.
Finally, she came to the snow line. The clouds had enveloped the mountain again, making it cold and lonely. But a fire warmed within her and Dale felt none of it, she barely detected the small flakes of snow that had begun to fall and settle on her red hair. An ice breeze numbed her nose, but a heat within her core warmed her, and excitement buzzed through her limbs. Perhaps she could tame her dragon after all.
She walked out to the very edge, her feet still buzzed when she looked down, but she gripped her toes tight. The wind blew, tugging at her hair and the hem of her shirt. She had to lean into it to prevent it from pushing her back.
The grey darkness of cloud above thickened and snow fell fast. The steam of her breath made her think of the dragon. She crossed her fingers and sent a prayer out to her father to help her if he could. This had to work. If it didn’t, she was lost.
