The Heart of Oldra

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘We have found no one else,’ Teven said.

  Cora felt the tears welling. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t keep them in. The overwhelming loss of Dra pulled at her more than she would have thought possible.

  The woman, Rhali, put her arm around Cora to comfort her and rested her cheek on Cora’s shoulder, then pulled back. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Is he your mate?’

  ‘Who?’ Cora asked.

  ‘Dra,’ Rhali said.

  Cora shook her head slowly. ‘He is my dragon.’

  The girl instantly let her go, and the man moved a step closer. Cora wished she could stand and run.

  ‘You have a dragon?’ he asked.

  ‘Where do you think I fell from?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Your father fell from a dragon?’

  ‘Elleric,’ she said softly, ‘during a battle with the Keetar.’

  ‘Keetar?’

  ‘We are friends with the Keetar now. The war ended before I was born.’

  ‘When you defeated the shadows,’ an older man said softly as he entered the cavern.

  There was something familiar about him as well, but Cora couldn’t place it. She nodded once.

  ‘You are very strong,’ he said. ‘Very strong.’

  ‘My mother tells me the same,’ Cora said, trying not to wince at the pain in her leg as she struggled to sit up. How long would it be until she could try to return home?

  ‘You do not believe her.’ It wasn’t a question.

  Cora remained unmoving. As she watched him walk towards her, she recognised him for the man who had appeared in the dream she’d had of Teven.

  ‘You will stay with us. The birthing chamber may be needed for another. Teven will carry you to their hearth, and we shall keep you there.’

  ‘As a prisoner,’ she said softly.

  ‘As a guest,’ he said, the smile somewhat unnerving, and then he was gone.

  Cora looked after him, then at the two who stood looking at each other. Teven sighed as though resigned to do as he was told. He scooped Cora up again, and she shivered as he carefully manoeuvred her out of the entrance.

  The world before her was very different from the one she knew. The tall trees were covered in leaves, some bright green and some dull. It was like the warming cavern, only outside. She stopped shivering; the sun was warm on her skin. She looked back at the cavern they had been in and smiled. The hillside around it was green with grass. When she looked up, Teven smiled too, but then his smile slipped.

  ‘We need to go in,’ he said, turning away from the trees and following the hillside around to another opening.

  She could feel the pull of the trees, or something in the trees. She wanted desperately to get out of his arms, but he held her tight. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘There is something out there.’

  ‘And that is why we must hurry.’

  ‘It means no harm,’ she said.

  But he didn’t stop. He carried her through a large leather hanging, much like the entrance to the Penna cavern, and they were underground again.

  ‘Why is it so warm outside?’ she asked.

  ‘It is always warm,’ he said without looking at her. He walked fast through the people who had stopped to watch them and deeper into the cavern she knew from her dream.

  Chapter 5

  Teven placed her carefully down on a bed while Rhali piled up the cushions behind her. She was near the wall of the cavern, and there was nothing between her and the next hearth. People openly stared at her. She closed her eyes, ready to sleep again, although she had so many questions. The people of the cavern murmured amongst themselves. She tried to ignore it as she shuffled about to find a comfortable position. Her ribs were much better, but her leg still burned. Perhaps it was more than a break. Maybe she was bleeding like Sarn had.

  She shook her head and thought about the man she had known almost as well as her own parents. He came to mind in a fitful sleep, sweat beading on his brow and his exposed purple chest. Cold hands moved across his skin. Cora sucked in a breath as the man who had requested her moved appeared standing over Sarn.

  She looked up into Teven’s worried face and pushed his hand from her brow.

  ‘If you die,’ he murmured, ‘your people might fight us.’

  ‘They don’t know where I am,’ she said, aware that it was even darker in the cavern. ‘No one knows where I am.’ The sob caught her unawares. ‘Why am I here?’ She tried to sit up and look about, but her leg burned even more, so she grabbed at it. If only she could clear her mind enough, she might be able to channel some of her average healing skills and look into it herself. ‘Can you take the bandage off?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ Teven growled. A little distance away, Rhali murmured in her sleep and rolled over.

  ‘I just need to look. It is burning and I can’t see.’

  ‘What do you think you will see? Are you a healer?’

  ‘Not a very good one,’ Cora murmured. She tried not to cry, but the pain kept increasing and she wasn’t sure what she could do to make it any better. Again, she wished her mother were here. Or at least that she had an idea of where Cora was. She had been panicked about Wyn—would she feel the same if Cora didn’t return? Or had she already known this was going to happen?

  ‘You said your mother is a healer.’

  Cora nodded and rubbed at her face.

  ‘Rhali knows how to bind broken bones.’

  Cora sighed.

  ‘I can help you,’ Teven whispered, ‘but I won’t unwind what is holding you together.’

  She nodded again, and he pulled the furs back. She sat forward and placed her hands on her thigh, closing her eyes. She could only feel the bandages as she pushed her hands down her leg slowly. She couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t even see within her own skin, let alone to the bone. She sighed in frustration and pushed harder, sucking in a breath at the pain. She had to be able to do this.

  Re-Mah, Ancient of the Keetar, had been unable to heal herself. Arminel had assured Cora that it had nothing to do with her abilities, but the darkness that had infected her.

  An overwhelming helplessness pushed down on Cora as she tried to hold in her fears and sobs. She pushed again on her leg and groaned. The sharp pain travelled down to her foot, followed by the same burning sensation. Then it began to cool, and the pain eased. She opened her eyes to see Teven’s hands on hers and a concentrated look on his face.

  ‘You are the healer,’ she whispered.

  He lifted his hands and shook his head. ‘I just didn’t want to see you cry again,’ he said.

  She took his hands and placed them back on her leg. ‘Please,’ she begged.

  He shook his head and tried to pull from her hold. The comforting coolness she had felt before did not return, and she released him. She pulled the furs back up over her legs and closed her eyes.

  ‘I’m not a healer, I know nothing of herbs or wrappings.’

  Cora remained still. Maybe this world saw things very differently. Maybe they didn’t have the same skills. The world her mother had come from was different, and no one there had the skills she did. Arminel would know. Cora just had to get back to him to be able to ask the question.

  ‘Are you the chief?’ she asked. In the following silence, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

  He shook his head.

  ‘Why am I at your hearth?’

  ‘I found you,’ he said, looking towards the fire. ‘I saw you fall and I wanted to help. The chief,’ he said, indicating beyond the fire by raising his chin, ‘said you were something special and that we should help you.’

  ‘I’m not,’ Cora said. ‘I can’t even keep hold of a bow.’

  ‘I have that,’ Teven said, jumping up and moving out of her view. When he returned holding out her bow, she put a hand to her face as more tears fell. She had never been so happy to see an object in her life. She held out her hand and he laid it across her lap. Cora ran her hand over the pattern, wonde
ring just what Tarn had seen to create it. The Penna felt more distant, despite her holding the bow in her hands.

  She looked up at the man watching her too closely.

  ‘You are still crying,’ he said.

  ‘I want to go home,’ she sniffed.

  He shook his head. ‘Not until the chief wills it, and he has seen something in you.’

  ‘What has he seen?’ she asked.

  Teven shook his head and turned back to the fire. He said nothing more.

  Cora remained watching him, too sore to sleep and too scared of what the chief might want from her. As the cavern started to lighten—though not as much as her own cavern did of a morning—the older man appeared before her, grinning. Again, she felt an uneasiness. She shuffled back against the cushions and called out when the movement twisted her leg enough that it pinched. He sighed, then sat down on the woven mat by the fire. That too was similar to the Penna cavern, but there was no table.

  Rhali appeared with a cup of something and handed it directly to him, and Cora realised how thirsty she was. How long had it been since she had fallen?

  ‘I thought you might have healed yourself by now,’ the chief murmured.

  Cora shook her head. Her stomach pinched. She realised that they may have looked after her injuries, to a degree, but they hadn’t fed her. She could smell porridge cooking over fires in the cavern. Teven stood at the fire with a bowl in his hands, but the chief shook his head as she looked up at him.

  She wouldn’t be getting anything until this man got whatever it was he wanted.

  ‘I am Cora of the Penna.’ She bowed her head and waited, but he didn’t reply. She chewed on her lip and sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t think she had any more tears to shed, but she was too angry now to find out. She stared the man down, and he nodded once after handing the finished cup back to Rhali.

  ‘You are Chief,’ he said.

  She shook her head. ‘My parents are the chiefs of the Penna.’

  ‘Two?’ Teven asked. But as the older man looked up at him, he hung his head.

  ‘My father, Pira was Chief before my mother came to this world. My mother, Gerry, is Healer and...’ She wasn’t sure they would understand the rest. They might not have the same skills, and it might cause fear if she used words like seer.

  ‘Geraldine,’ the chief said, nodding.

  Cora stared at him. Did he know her? Had he met her somewhere? He certainly didn’t look like her; he had the same features as the Penna and Keetar.

  He gave a small cough of a laugh. ‘Little Oldra, I know exactly what you are and what you have done.’

  ‘Oldra?’ Teven asked. ‘What is an Oldra?’

  ‘You don’t know me,’ Cora said. ‘What is your name?’ she asked.

  ‘I am Chief, and that is all you need to know.’

  Cora sighed. ‘Will you tell me more of your people, how you live, your connection to the dragons?’ She looked about the cavern then, but there was no room for the large beasts.

  ‘You will find out soon enough, for now you must take the time to heal. It may take you longer than you expect.’

  She watched as he stood and walked away. Teven still held the bowl in his hands. When Cora reached for it, he shook his head. ‘How can I heal if I can’t eat?’

  ‘We must wait,’ he said softly.

  After what seemed like an age, he squatted down beside her and handed her the bowl. The contents were no longer hot, but she took the wooden spoon and lifted it to her mouth. There was very little flavour to it, and she stopped after shovelling in a couple more spoonfuls. Her stomach threatened to reject what she had given it as she handed the bowl back to Teven.

  He smiled at her and took the bowl away. Rhali handed her a cup of water. She took a sip and then held on to it, in fear they may not give her another.

  ‘He is testing you,’ Rhali said.

  ‘He knows far more than he has asked about.’ Cora looked beyond the fire, but she could only see the outlines of others at the neighbouring hearths.

  Chapter 6

  The days blurred into each other as Cora sat by the fire waiting to heal. She had tried several times to see inside her own leg, but she couldn’t do it no matter how she tried. She wanted to tell Arminel he had been wrong, that she had no special skills. That other than her dreams of her mother’s history, she had nothing. The chief had stayed away, but she knew he would return. No one else came anywhere near them.

  ‘I need to get up,’ she said. Her body ached from lying still too long.

  ‘You can’t walk,’ Teven offered.

  ‘I can hobble,’ she murmured, ‘and I can’t lie here any longer.’

  He looked around before he nodded once, then squatted down beside her and lifted her carefully into his arms.

  ‘This is not what I meant,’ she said. ‘But now you have me, maybe we could go outside.’

  He sighed and then carried her out through the cavern. No one seemed to be watching her this time. Cora wondered where the chief was and whether he would object to her leaving the hearth he had confined her to. The fresh air tingled across her skin as they pushed through the hide and into the sunshine.

  She put a hand up to shield her eyes. ‘It is so bright,’ she murmured.

  ‘You have been inside for some time.’

  ‘There are no clouds,’ she said. ‘The sun is rarely out from behind the clouds. But here...’

  He carefully lowered her to the ground and maintained a strong hold around her, which she was grateful for. It was hard trying to support her weight, even on her good leg. She had spent far too long lying down and had very little to eat over her time with these people. And she still had no idea of who they were or what they wanted from her.

  There was no one outside the cavern where they had remained close to the opening. Cora took a tentative step forward and turned her face up to the sun. A cool breeze wrapped around her. She tried to transition, but she still couldn’t make that work either. It was as though any skill she’d possessed had disappeared when she fell from Dra. She looked towards the trees then, hoping he had survived whatever had knocked them from the sky.

  She took another step forward as something pulled at her from between the trees. She was sure that whatever it was, it wanted to help her. She took another step before Teven’s hand closed around her arm and held her still.

  ‘It is not safe in the trees,’ he said.

  ‘What is out there?’ she asked, looking up at him.

  He shook his head and turned her back towards the cavern. ‘The chief knows that it is not safe. There are many who have seen terrible things. You need to go back inside.’

  ‘I can’t,’ she said, but a shiver crossed her skin. Teven looked at her with disappointment. ‘Could I have some clothes?’ she asked, leaning into him more than she wanted to.

  ‘Not until the chief says you can.’

  Cora sighed and rubbed absently at her leg. She had never in her life known of someone being injured for so long. Even with the damage that had been done when Sarn hit the ground, he’d been walking around the cavern sooner than Cora had been allowed out of the sleeping mat.

  She looked up at the green hill that surrounded the cavern. It looked soft, with a few trees growing along its edges and none on the top. ‘Can we look from the top?’ she asked.

  Teven glared at her.

  ‘Are we not allowed to climb it?’

  ‘You have a broken leg, and your ribs...’

  ‘My ribs are much better,’ she said, watching him closely. He had stayed close to her that first night, his hand on her side. She wondered if there was more to him. When he had touched her leg, she was sure he had healing powers, and yet he denied it.

  He surprised her by leading her past the doorway and around the hill, where there was a less steep incline. ‘I can’t carry you,’ he said.

  ‘What about on your back?’ she asked. She had played dragons with her little brothers often enough.

  He nodd
ed, turning his back on her.

  She put her arms around his neck and leaned against him. He was a solid man. She tried to focus on her surroundings as he stood up and carefully placed his hands beneath her thighs. Her broken leg was uncomfortable as it jutted forward, but she appreciated the higher view.

  They started up the side of the hill, which quickly became steeper. He took his time and didn’t complain once about her weight or the difficulty in carrying her. When the hill had levelled out, he lowered her to the grass. She could only see trees, a thick forest all around them. Unlike the trees she knew, these were covered in leaves. ‘Mama would love this,’ she said, turning slowly. When she lost her balance, he was quick to hold her closer to him.

  ‘Where did you get the mark on your chest?’ he asked again.

  ‘I was born with it,’ she repeated.

  ‘What does it mean?’

  ‘It is the mark of Oldra. It marks me as Oldra.’

  ‘Does it hurt?’

  She shook her head, then pulled down at the edge of her singlet. ‘It is part of me—part of the skin,’ she said. But as he reached out to touch it, she took a small step back and stumbled.

  Again, he pulled her close to stop her falling. And he took the opportunity to run a fingertip over the mark. ‘What does it mean?’ he asked. ‘How did it choose you?’

  ‘Essara chose me,’ Cora said. ‘I need to sit down.’

  Teven nodded once and lowered her carefully to the grass. It was soft beneath her. She smiled as she ran her hand over the short, slender leaves.

  ‘My parents are both Oldra,’ she said, looking out to the trees that surrounded them rather than Teven’s intense stare. ‘And...’ She looked up then. Her mother had told her she had been conceived in fire. That was partly why she was thought to be so strong, but she wasn’t sure she could explain it to this man.