by LJ Davies
Strangest of all was the sound of speech. I was sure it came from the mysterious dragoness. I knew I had my own voice, I could understand myself every time I spoke, however, whenever I tried out loud no one could understand.
Maybe I can speak to her?
I hadn’t tried in ages, in fact, I didn’t even know if my voice was still there, but there was no harm in trying.
Opening my mouth, using words I'd picked up from humans, I tried to speak. My dry throat resisted, but a quick cough cleared the congestion.
Maybe not the best first impression, but it helped.
"Hello?"
She blinked, seemingly a little startled, initially leading me to believe I'd said something wrong. My worry was quickly dismissed when she excitedly hopped down from the table and responded.
"It's good to see that bang to your head hasn't damaged your ability to talk."
Using some of my returning strength to lift my head, I looked myself over, discovering she'd tended my wing, which despite a dull ache, felt fine. I saw no clear sign of injury; it certainly wasn't as bad as I thought it might have been after my bewildering flight and headfirst plummet through the trees.
Thinking of my flight, I wondered for a moment how long I'd been out there and how long it had taken such an injury to heal. I moved my legs, testing how strong they felt while assessing whether I'd be able to stand. Placing my quivering paws on the bed, I carefully pushed up with all four legs.
"Back on your paws already?" the stranger asked from across the cave, where her head was buried inside the curved lip of some crockery.
Pulling out from the pot, she held what looked like a cluster of dried leaves in her mouth. It was my first clear look at her, revealing all the features I'd failed to notice before. She promptly returned to my bedside, placing the dried leaves in front of me.
"Eat this," she instructed. "It’s not great, but it will make you feel better."
She looked me up and down with a little apprehension. "Though you seem to have made a miraculous recovery all on your own."
I glanced back at myself again to see if I could figure out what was so unusual about my recovery. Surely this is the place where I wouldn’t be unusual?
I'd experienced lesser aspects of the same thing before. I'd never succumbed to any major injuries, the many smaller ones I'd acquired over the years always healed quickly. It was why I often hurtled through trees and branches with such disregard, knowing that whatever minor injuries they inflicted would be gone within a few hours. It was always something I'd attributed to my race – there was no other reason – so surely that couldn't have been what surprised her?
Either way, she'd moved on from her inquisitive surprise, continuing her attempts to persuade me to eat the leaves by nudging them towards me with a forepaw. It seemed foolish to accept them from a stranger but also ignorant to reject her offer.
It could be anything – poison or some sort of magical trick! Urgh, I’ve got to find a way to trust again or I'll get nowhere.
I looked down at the leaves and calmed my mind. If she's trying to kill me surely she's had plenty of opportunity already.
I cautiously picked the medicine up in my mouth and began chewing. It tasted awful, which only reinforced the belief that it might be harmful.
Really, what sort of medicine tastes good? It's just like bitter, dry mulch?
"My name's Risha," she announced enthusiastically as I finished chewing and reluctantly swallowed the green mush.
Trying to delay my response, I continued to chew and after pretending to gnaw away for a while longer, I responded with the only thing I could think to say.
"Blaze."
I made a real effort to remember her name. ‘Risha’, quite a strange name. Not one a person would give to a pet. I knew where Tarwin’s name for me originated, she'd been a young girl with a pet dragon, so simplicity made sense.
"Well, Blaze, was there any particular reason for you flying straight into a tree?" Risha asked with a smile, forging her words into more of a friendly joke than a serious question.
Although my confused thoughts prevented any real joy emerging, I at least found it a little humorous, though before I could improvise, she shook her head and moved on.
"Never mind, I bet you're hungry. Those gar leaves won't heal that." She dismissed the previous question with a flick of her wing, walking over to the opening and giving me a subtle signal to follow with a forepaw.
I climbed down gingerly, body opposing my movements with a concoction of aches and pains. Wincing, I attempted to ignore them as I moved towards the opening.
I'd no idea how long I'd been lying there, though, if it was as short a time as Risha's reaction suggested, it really hadn’t taken long for my injuries to heal. My flurry of thoughts was soon dismissed as I remembered we were leaving, and I walked tentatively, stumbling a few times.
Risha's concerns over my unstable approach made her appear doubtful of my ability to handle where she was taking me. Yet having reached the opening, she seemed to give up on any worries, moving through into the passageway beyond.
It seemed rather stupid, almost naïve, to simply follow her without question. However, I wasn’t getting the impression that I had anything to worry about, or at least anything connected to earlier events.
Is it just a coincidence that two of the greatest events in my life happened so close together?
For now, none of that truly mattered. All I wanted to know was what had happened to Tarwin.
It seemed logical to me that I should go straight after her. No doubt driven by the fear of what might have happened, but I wasn’t mentally or physically capable of going anywhere. As much as it hurt, I decided the smartest thing to do would be to collect myself and learn what I could while I recovered.
Meanwhile, I noticed Risha glance back at me from beyond the opening, prompting me to follow again. As I did, I managed to get another good look at her. I could see that we shared other similarities; running down her neck and back was a fin, which continued down her tail where it merged with the webbed feature at the tip. Spines similar to mine supported the membrane, fusing into a solid-blue sail, each point beautifully curved and resembling a breaking wave. Her shoulders had dark-blue markings made up from a cluster of coloured scales, similar to the patterns she had on her forehead.
The markings weren’t just random patches – they resembled two breaking waves, rising and parting symmetrically from each other before falling in opposing directions.
An odd symbol to have on your body? I thought, as I noticed similar markings on her hips.
Other than that, we seemed to be the same. With my visual references exhausted, my curiosity was forced to wait until I was presented with a new piece of information.
I followed Risha through the opening into a long, rounded corridor, noticing a light source at the end. However, its position and lack of shadows behind me suggested that it couldn’t be the point of illumination. What light there was in the tunnel seemed to emanate from a glowing substance that clung to the walls, chasing away the darkness with a mysterious blue glow.
Moving further I managed to get a closer look at the luminous material, running a wing tip over its surface as I passed. It was moss, growing from carefully selected areas, as if cultivated. It was like no plant I'd ever seen, instead of being green, it appeared to be transparent, holding some sort of flickering blue liquid within a tangled prison of tiny leaves.
I regarded each cluster like I had the mysterious glow in my dreams, until a light breeze drifting in from ahead suggested that we were approaching the end of the tunnel. My previous worries slowly gave way to nervous excitement. Having inadvertently found what I'd longed for all my life, I was almost unable to wait until we reached the end to discover what other revelations I'd find.
I was also warming to the idea of speech. Despite only having said a few words, I was a quick learner and I'd a lifetime of listening as practice.
"What is this place?
" I asked.
Risha turned to me with a puzzled look. "What? You've never heard of Dardien?" she responded quizzically, like I should have known all about it. Before I could answer, she continued. "I've never heard of a dragon who doesn't know about the hanging city. Then again, I’ve never seen a dragon like you before."
I didn't know what to think. Clearly there were lots of things I didn't know, but from what I could gather, and according to her, I should have been here before, or at least be aware of 'here's' existence. Of more concern was the point she had made about my appearance. ‘I’ve never seen a dragon like you before’.
What's that supposed to mean?
I guess most dragons didn't go flying into trees, other than that I had no idea about what she might be referring to. Before I could dwell on the thoughts, however; we stepped out into the light at the end of the corridor.
It didn’t continue into a cave or an open area as I'd expected – it just ended, leading straight out to the open air. The sight I saw next completely blew away any amazement the tunnel had stimulated.
The exit led to a ledge suspended high upon a vast cliff face extending far above us. It didn’t just end as any normal cliff would; it did quite the opposite. The wall curved and reached out to form a rocky overhang. I'd seen similar formations back home, where the sea had eroded the cliff's base, but this was larger than anything I'd seen before. In fact, it was so vast that it blocked out the sky. I could only assume it continued upwards from where the overhang ended, like a huge version of the cliffs near the village.
My bewilderment didn’t stop there, however. My curious eyes followed the monolithic shadow of stone sky up towards a multitude of structures suspended like giant stalactites, each bearing a myriad of artificial cracks and crevices allowing more of the mysterious blue glow to project from within.
A light breeze brought up cool and refreshing air, carrying distant sounds of a busy city mixed with the far-off gushing of waterfalls. Tonnes of water cascaded over the front edge of the stone ceiling, falling like great curtains, each vertical river shrouded in a cloak of white mist as it fell into the immense depths below. Beyond the torrent of falling water, a considerable distance away, I could see another cliff face. It was equally immense in size, opposing us in almost perfect symmetry like we were in the depths of a monstrous gorge.
Bright rays of sunlight penetrated the gap between the two faces, revealing that the outside world lay somewhere above. The realisation made me feel a little more confident about my new surroundings; despite this space being beyond my comprehension I was glad not to be confined while technically completely subterranean.
My eyes followed the golden beams of light into the lower parts of the cavern, where to my surprise, they didn't just disappear into an endless abyss. They were reflected beautifully by an enormous lake held serenely between the monolithic cliffs. The water created a huge mirror, perfectly reflecting the image of the structures hanging above. Only the misty waterfalls disturbed the illusion, creating faint ripples that flickered and morphed the image’s beauty.
"This is Dardien, if you hadn't already worked that out," Risha announced with a slight laugh. "The city of dragons," she added with a sense of pride in her voice.
"You'll have no trouble with trees down here," she joked, her friendly attitude relieving my tension.
This was more like what I'd imagined and wanted my first encounter with my own kind to be like. Magnificent and unclouded by the memory of monsters.
"N–No... I don't think I will," I replied, awe stealing my words.
Risha smiled.
"Well, follow me," she beckoned as she leapt from the edge.
With her wings held at her side she quickly descended before snapping them open, catching the wind beneath the leathery surface, instantly halting her descent. She elegantly pulled up on the rising air, until she was level with the ledge, at which point she flapped her wings to hold herself steady.
"Are you coming?" she hollered.
I peered over the edge. I had no problem with flying and my injured wings felt fine, but the sheer spectacle of the city had left me breathless. Despite being below the ground, the ledge was still a lot higher than I'd ever flown before. I tried to clear my mind, developing a fear of high take-offs now wasn’t something I wanted. Peering down at the rippling waters below, I placed my forelegs at the platform’s edge, swallowed my mixed emotions and, without hesitation, jumped. I immediately fell through a strong updraft, which from what I knew about flying and the movement of air, shouldn’t have existed. It was cool and there was no warm air to rise on, even so the strange current remained.
Realising how rapid my rate of descent was becoming, I spread my wings to catch the mysterious updraft, the leathery membranes seizing the air perfectly and immediately arresting my fall. With a few flaps to ensure they were okay, I started to ascend towards Risha, at which point the strange updraft stopped, almost as if it knew exactly what I required.
"You're certainly better now!" she shouted, her head bobbing with each flap of her wings. "Follow me!" she instructed, before darting off into the immense air space stretching out beneath the city.
As I followed, I once again considered how I was blindly going along with this stranger. I knew I should be more cautious, but despite only knowing her for a short time, I knew my situation was precarious and I couldn't continue without help, no matter how much I wanted to.
As I soared through the sky beneath the cliffs, I once again noticed the strange way in which the air assisted our movements. Its currents were perfect for flying, and I struggled to understand how it could exist. I knew about the way air moved – after so many years of flying with no one to teach me, I’d had to learn.
Without flight there would have been no food for a start, more importantly, I'd just be stuck on the ground with everyone else. I didn't like walking along the muddy roads or climbing amongst the trees, as I would do when flying wasn't an option. It was nothing compared to the freedom of soaring through the skies, especially with the wind holding my wings and the beauty of the world beneath.
This flight was different in other ways. For as long as I could remember, other than the birds and some insects, I was the only creature who could fly, yet here I was, gliding in the company of another and hundreds of others, around the steep, rocky walls of the dragon city. Darting around, landing and taking off effortlessly from stone platforms and sprawling walkways.
Everywhere I looked I could see it, winding into caves and crevices where I assumed the pathways joined a vast network of tunnels like the one we'd left. All illuminated by the same mystical glow of the magical blue moss. Meanwhile, the currents flowing like invisible roads carried every winged creature through the sky, while I noticed ours directing us toward what seemed to be our destination.
As we approached, the true scale of the hanging structure hit me. Risha slowed, it was clear she was heading for a platform, one of countless others projecting from the monstrous stalactite's rocky face. I matched her speed, the strange currents adapting once more to support my airborne action. She touched down first and I quickly followed, the air current depositing me right above the rounded platform.
Glancing to where it met the wall, I could see an opening leading into the main structure. More of the glowing moss emitting the same blue hue around it. Risha swiftly made her way inside, seemingly confident that I would follow. I stopped for a moment, gazing out over my unbelievable surroundings. The platform was part of a vast network of similar formations stretching out to my left, right, above and below.
All were bustling with action. Some looked the same as the one on which I stood, smallish circular ledges sticking out from the main rock face. While others were much larger, providing access to grander entrances held up by pillars mimicking natural caves. I really had to wonder how anyone could have built something on such a scale.
Even the next stalactite over seemed a considerable flying distance away and bore the same intricat
e stonework. At their widest, where they merged with the ceiling, was the greatest concentration of architecture, all swarming with dragons.
Each of the winged beasts looked tiny against the enormous rocky surface, like bees around a field of wildflowers. It almost made me feel dizzy, having a city above and below me at the same time was certainly not something I was used to. To avoid any more sensory overload, I diverted my eyes towards the sunlight at the edge of the overhang.
Despite the whole city being constantly in the looming shadow of the stone sky, it was clear that light creeping down from the surface was diminishing. The glimmers that reflected from the vast expanses of water below were showing off a brilliant sunset orange.
I once again thought about asking Risha how long I'd been here, especially if it was sunset already.
One look at this place and I lose myself. I need to stay focused!
Hearing her calling from inside I turned my attention to the archway. Passing into the shadow of the cave, a sense of trepidation fell over me. I had no idea where I was going, one thought suggested this was her home. It seemed strangely welcoming of her to just allow me in; maybe she was tasked with guarding me? One thing I did know was that most of my thoughts remained fixed on Tarwin, despite being overwhelmed by Risha’s kindness and the magnificent city.
Stop it, you're in no state to go after her, you need to rest! My mind scolded. Besides, if you want to trust Risha, she might be able to help.
In an effort to ignore my cynical feelings I focused on the dragoness. I had to give her the benefit of the doubt – she'd done everything to help me so far, so why would that change? It seemed like the best plan, and with my growing confidence in her good intentions, I moved further into her home.
The smooth channel was similar but shorter in length to the earlier tunnel. After only a few steps it opened out into a stone chamber filled with furniture morphed from the rock itself. Risha stood in the centre, pacing in a circle with her attention fixed on what looked to be the ceiling.
