I’d almost finished when she finally spoke. “Where am I?” she asked in a small voice.
“This is the Triad Mountains,” I answered. “Don’t you know? How did you get here?”
She gazed around her as if trying to remember something. “I was here,” she began. “It was a long time ago, I think. I don’t remember exactly when. I was hunting for food when...when someone attacked me with a sword. He was a huge man with a shaggy beard. Then, a few days ago, I came back. I feel like I’ve been gone a long time, but I don’t remember anything since then.”
No prizes for guessing who the man with the shaggy beard was. My father. That’s why she’d appeared up here and didn’t know why. My father must have attacked her at some time in the past and taken her soul. When I let the dragons go, her soul would have come back to her body. I just couldn’t understand why her body hadn’t been taken down to the Slayer village like all the others. I also didn’t understand how he’d managed to climb all the way up here. It was incredibly difficult to get so high up the mountain without the help of a dragon.
“Did my father...Did this man attack you up here?”
She shook her head. “He attacked me farther down the mountain, but after he stabbed me, I managed to escape. I flew up here and then everything went black. I felt a whooshing sensation as though I was being pulled from my body.”
“That would have been your soul,” I replied, moving from her to Ash, who had also suffered from scratches and bites in the fight.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“My father’s sword didn’t kill; it trapped dragon souls. He tried to get you, but he didn’t push the sword in far enough. It meant that it was only later when your soul escaped and, as you say, ‘whooshed’ down the mountain to his sword. I let all the dragons free from his sword a week ago. That’s when you came back up the mountain to your body.”
She gazed at me uncomprehending as I turned to Ash, to bandage up his scratches.
“Why did you attack me?” he asked her.
“Is that what happened?” asked Morganna. “She attacked you?”
“Yeah. I was just sitting here waiting for you to come back when she flew out of the sky and attacked.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, bursting into tears. “I was scared. I didn’t know what had happened to me and then I saw you and thought you might hurt me.”
“Well, you did a good job of hurting me!” He held out his arm so I could clean the dried blood from it.
“Do you know each other?” I asked.
“No,” they chorused.
“She’s not from Frokontas.”
“I’m not from around here at all,” she admitted. “I ran away from home. I can’t even remember how far I traveled looking for food before flying up this mountain. I thought I might find a mountain goat to eat, but instead, I found the man that hurt me. He was your father, you say?”
“It’s a long story, one for another day,” I said, finishing up with Ash. “Do you know how to get home?”
She shook her head sadly. “My brain feels fuzzy, like I’ve been asleep for a very long time. I can’t even remember which direction my home is. I wish I’d never left.”
I turned to Ash. “Do you know of any other dragon colonies near here?”
“No,” he answered, standing up and checking the bandages I’d put on him.
“I’ve heard of other colonies in this mountain range,” remembered Morganna. “I wanted to go and find them in my youth. I wanted to be the one who slayed all the dragons.”
The girl flinched at this admission.
“Don’t worry, I don’t do that anymore,” she assured the girl. “But I do know of other colonies to the south. It’s possible she came from there.”
“Do you remember your name?” I asked her. I couldn’t keep thinking of her as ‘the girl.’
“Avery.”
“Well, Avery, we can’t leave you here. You can come down the mountain with us. You’ll be looked after in Frokontas. It’s a dragon village.”
Ash pulled my arm and took me to one side. “Do you think that’s wise? She might get sick like the others.”
I looked back at her. Her face was pale, her lips chapped and she looked so tired with black circles under her eyes. “She was trapped in my father’s sword like the others. There’s a good chance she’s already sick.”
He nodded. “I guess you’re right. If she is sick already, we’ll need to keep her in her human form so she doesn’t get worse.”
The journey down the mountain was arduous. The muscles at the back of my legs burned with the exertion. Ash offered to fly me down the mountain, but I refused, knowing it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else, not least to Avery who looked as worn out as I felt. The original plan had been to walk down to the cliff top and set off the flare so that someone could come and fly us down the cliff into the village. However, because of our slow going, it was already dark by the time we reached the cliff edge.
The lights of Frokontas twinkled down below, but the huge fire in the fire pit was extinguished for the day. Nevertheless, I pulled out the flare and set it off. It lit up the whole sky, then fizzled out. I found a rock to sit on and waited. After five minutes it became apparent that no one was going to come for us.
“Ash, you’re going to have to fly down there and let them know we need help.”
He nodded, pulling his clothes off quickly, disappearing behind a bush. “You can come down with me and find Spear,” he commanded. “I’ll fly back up and bring some more down. Between the two of us, we can get everyone down to the ground in only a few journeys.”
“I can fly some people down,” said Avery, gazing down into the valley.
“No!” we all shouted making her jump.
“Stay in your human form,” I said. I didn’t want to tell her that the dragons who were trapped in my father’s sword were getting sick. She was afraid enough as it was.
“You look tired,” I improvised. “And you don’t know exactly where to drop us.”
She nodded, accepting my reasons.
Ash’s voice came from behind the bush. “Julianna, can you come back here, please?”
I looked at Morganna who shrugged. The scene that greeted me when I walked around the bush made me open my mouth in shock. He stood there with his trousers on, but no top, exposing his bare chest. Across the chest and over the shoulder was a deep scratch that was still gushing blood.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” I asked, scrabbling for the first aid kit once again. I thought about our long walk down the mountain. The t-shirt he’d been wearing was drenched in blood. He’d tossed it to the floor along with a coat he’d been wearing over it. That’s why I hadn’t noticed.
“I didn’t know it was so bad. I thought it would stop bleeding.”
I looked down at the cut. A first aid kit wasn’t going to help much, but at least I could clean the wound. “You are going to need stitches.” I pulled out some cleaning ointment and poured it on a cotton swab. He winced as the fluid dripped into the deep cut. “Lift your arm,” I ordered, pulling out the last of the bandages.
“There’s no point putting that on. It will only tear off when I shift into a dragon.”
I looked him square in the eye. “That’s not going to happen. Turning into a dragon will rip your skin to shreds in this condition.”
“So, how will we get down?”
“It looks like Avery will have to go down for help after all.”
Chapter Seventeen
I quietly explained to Morganna the problem with Ash. She agreed that we’d have to ask Avery to go for help.
Avery was sitting waiting on a rock, looking down at the ground. She appeared upset and unsure. I could hardly blame her. She was stuck on a cliffside with a group of people she didn’t know, including two self-confessed Slayers, one of whom was the daughter of the man who trapped her in his sword for so long.
“Avery.” She looked up and gave me a
shy smile. I just wanted to pick her up and put her in my pocket. “Ash is injured. He can’t shift without hurting himself. Would you mind going down the cliff after all?”
Her hand went to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She looked behind me as Ash emerged from behind the boulder, now with his shirt and coat back on.
He smiled warmly back at her. “It’s no problem. You were scared. I hurt you, too. We’ll have to chalk it up to experience, but I can’t shift. My skin is torn across my shoulder.”
“I said I’d go down and I will,” she said, standing up. She looked even smaller now. I’d put her at seventeen or eighteen years old, but now that I’d looked at her properly, I saw I was wrong. I’d be surprised if she was a day over fifteen.
“Can you see that house over there?” I asked, pointing to Spear’s house in the distance. She nodded. “Fly down there and find a man called Spear. He’ll send someone up to carry us all down. Tell him that Ash is okay but unable to shift. You don’t have to tell him that it’s because the pair of you were fighting. Don’t turn back into your dragon form.”
She nodded again, this time disappearing behind the bush that Ash had just emerged from.
“Wouldn’t it be better if one of us goes down with her?” asked Ash. It hadn’t occurred to me, but he was right.
Less than a minute later the bright yellow dragon came out and readied herself for flight. I ran up to her, hoping she’d hear me before flying away. She hesitated and looked at me.
“I’m coming with you. Is that alright?”
She nodded, so I jumped on her back.
It felt weird being airborne with someone other than Ash. The thrill of flying was still there, but I found I had to hold on tighter to Avery. We weren’t as in sync as Ash and I were when we flew together. I’d been flying with him for so long now that I knew instinctively which way he was going to turn, whether he was going to do a dive, or when he was just gliding through the air. I could fly on his back and almost never have to hold on, just adjust my body to match the way he was flying. With Avery, I had to hold on to her neck. She glided all the way over Frokontas, coming to a stop in Spear’s garden. I hopped down and told her to wait where she was. Running inside, I bumped into Edeline.
“Julianna!” she exclaimed. “You’re back. How did it go?”
I shook my head. “Not great. The Goblins wouldn’t tell us anything. I doubt they ever will. Is Spear around?”
“He’s outside with the sick dragons. Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, but Ash got hurt and couldn’t bring us down the mountain. He’s okay,” I reassured her. “Nothing that a few days of healing won’t cure, but everyone is trapped up there.”
“I’ll go get them. Are they on the ledge?”
“Yes, but I’d prefer Spear to go. I’ve got another job for you if you don’t mind.”
“What is it?”
I guided her to the window. Avery was still in her dragon form, curled up on the grass.
“Who is that?” Edeline asked.
“She’s a runaway from another colony. She’s been in my father’s sword so long, she can’t remember her way home. I was hoping you could find some clothes for her, then bring her inside. She’s very thin. I think she’s in sore need of a good meal.”
Edeline nodded and followed me outside. I ran to the makeshift hospital while Edeline went to help Avery. I found Spear talking to my father at the far end of the hospital. So many dragons were laid out on the floor unconscious that it looked just like the prison in the woods near Dronias, except these dragons did have their souls.
“Julianna,” he greeted me. “Success?”
“Not really. I’ll tell you about it later. The others are up on the ledge. Can you go and get them?”
“Can’t Ash bring Morganna down?”
“No, he’s hurt. It’s not bad, but he can’t shift right now.”
Spear furrowed his brow. “So how did you get down?”
“It’s a long story. It’s not just Morganna up there. Ash is still up there, and the Wolvren too.”
Spear sighed. “I really don’t want anyone turning into their dragon form at the moment. Too many dragons are getting sick.”
“You can’t leave them up there, Spear,” responded my father.
To my amazement, Spear clapped him on the shoulder as one would an old friend. “You’re right. I’ll do it myself and bring them down a couple at a time. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour to get them all.”
“What was all that about?” I asked once Spear had left.
“I’ve been on my best behavior. We’ve come to a truce of sorts.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I replied. “Dare I ask what brought about this turn of events?”
He looked around him at all the dragons with a look of regret on his face. “I’ve seen dragons looking like this many times. I’d often go to the building where we held the bodies to rejoice over my power. I know it sounds pathetic now, but back then I thought I was all powerful. Seeing just how many bodies I’d slain made me feel like a big man. Spear and I have our differences, but seeing how much he wants these dragons to get well has made me realize just how much damage I’ve caused. Slaying dragons didn’t make me a big man. Quite the opposite. It made me very small indeed. Trying to save the people in the village, doing everything in his power to help them, including giving up his time and garden. That makes Spear a bigger man than me. I never cared about the people in Dronias as much as Spear cares about the people here. I pretended I did, but the truth was, I wanted everyone to look up to me.” He grabbed a cloth and began to mop the brow of one of the slumbering dragons. “I feel such guilt at my actions.”
I smiled at him. “It sounds like you are willing to put things right.”
“I am. I said that when we first started this journey, but again, I think I was trying to exert my power. Now, I really do want to help. I don’t know what is wrong with these people but I’m going to do everything I can to fix it. I know you said that the Goblins wouldn’t help you, but I’ll bet everything I own that they know what’s wrong.”
I sighed. He was probably right, but after three attempts at climbing up there, I’d finally given up hope of them ever helping us.
“How did you get down here if Ash didn’t bring you? Don’t tell me you climbed down.”
“I’d break my neck attempting to do that. Come with me and I’ll show you.”
I took my father into the house. Avery and Edeline were both in the dining room. Avery was devouring a salad that Edeline had made for her. A plate of mini muffins was next to it on the table.
“Father, this is Avery. She’s a dragon from another colony. Avery, this is my father, Rocco.”
At me mentioning who he was, her eyes went wide. The fear in them was obvious.
“Are you...” My father turned to me. “Was she in...”
“Yes, Father. Avery was one of the dragons you slayed. When she was released, her soul went to the mountain peak where her body remained. We found her when we were visiting the Goblins.”
“My child,” he said, moving toward her. She flinched. “Please don’t be afraid of me. I’m not going to hurt you. Not anymore.”
“I remember you now,” she said.
“I’m sorry. Truly sorry for what I did to you. All I can do is promise that it will never happen again. Please forgive me.”
I watched with bated breath. She had no reason to forgive him. It was because of him that she was lost and alone.
She gave a timid smile and picked up the plate of muffins, offering one to my father. He took the whole plate, set it down on the table, and gave her a hug. I couldn’t see his face from where I was standing, but his body moved as though he was sobbing silently. I decided to leave them there. My father had a lot of making up to do and it was up to him to decide how he was going to do that. An evening speaking with Avery might be good for both of them. If my father meant what he said, and I believed he did, then maybe when this was
all over, he’d help Avery find her way home.
Outside, I only had the starlight to help me see Spear, but as I watched, a dark silhouette of a dragon carrying three people came in to land. Morganna, Alpha and another of the Wolvren hopped down and headed over to me.
“It’s been a long night,” Morganna said to me as Spear took off again. “We are going to head to bed.” She took Alpha’s hand and the two of them headed to the houses in the cliff face. The other Wolvren walked past me into the house. Spear must have let him sleep there.
Ash was the last to be brought down. Once Spear was back in his human form, we took Ash to the outside hospital where Spear patched him up a lot better than I had. Stitches pinched together the long hole in his shoulder and chest that Avery had made in the fight.
“That’s going to scar,” said Spear, finishing up his work.
“It’s okay, we’ll match,” I said meaning the scars on my own body. I took Ash’s hand and bade farewell to Spear.
Together, we walked the same path Alpha and Morganna had taken fifteen minutes earlier. The night was quiet, with a slight hint of a chill. Ash took off his coat and gave it to me, exposing the bloody mess of his shirt.
“Do you think this will ever be over?” I asked him. “It seems that no matter what we do, nothing gets any better.”
He put his arm around me. “I want to be positive and say yes, but I honestly don’t know. I don’t see how we can fix everything without the Goblins, and they are refusing to help. Maybe it’s time that we admitted defeat and treat those soulless dragons back in Dronias as dead. That’s what we thought they were for the longest time. We’ve already done our mourning for them.”
I sighed. I hated that he was talking this way. I had been hoping that he would cheer me up like he always did. “It’s not just the dragons back in Dronias though, is it? The dragons here are sick, too.”
“Maybe we should mourn them, too,” Ash replied.
With that sobering thought in mind, we let ourselves into his house and fell asleep in his bed.
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