Damara awoke beside the river under the bridge. She favored that area. It helped hide the world from herself, and herself from the world.
Just get through this day and the next, she told herself. And maybe soon the days will stop coming.
Why can’t I just melt into my own shadow? Bitterly, she sat up. Chasm still hasn’t killed me. He must think I’m more special than I am. Does he want me as leverage? A connection to the humans? A messenger?
She ignored her stomach’s grumbling pleas to be filled.
Chasm was drawing near, she knew. By now, she could sense it when he approached.
I should let the river swallow me whole, she thought, but stayed rooted to solid ground.
“Eat this.” Right behind her, Chasm dropped a dead bird in her lap. “It has the same blank stare as you.”
She didn’t even glance at the animal whose scrawny head lolled over her leg.
There was a pause and she knew Chasm was expecting a response. She could tell her silence aggravated him.
“Eat,” Chasm demanded again. “I know how feeble you humans get when you don’t nourish yourselves daily. I would think that you couldn’t get any weaker, and yet you continue to surprise me.”
Why are you even feeding me? Damara questioned silently, dipping her knife into the river to watch the water mend back together, immediately after it was sliced.
“Damara.”
Irritation was creeping into his voice. Still, she did not answer.
Suddenly, she was hit from behind, sent headfirst into the river. The bubbling water welcomed her eagerly, jabbering in her ears, sweeping her up. She inhaled a mouthful of it in a panic.
I can’t swim!
Her limbs flailed at first, then-
Isn’t this what I want?
She gave in, letting the current draw her under.
To die and never feel again?
Despite her willingness to die, she was lifted out again by Chasm, her soggy clothes and hair dripping. She coughed and sputtered on the river bank, with the dragon towering over her.
Water spurted from her mouth as she retched. Why did he save me? Quieting as her choking subsided, she lay still, suspecting that Chasm would only knock her down again if she tried to sit up.
Damn, she thought, clenching her hand. I lost my knife.
“Chasm,” Veer’s deep voice rumbled. Damara craned her neck back to see the mahogany dragon approach on heavy wings, with her mate close behind. Each of their hulking foreclaws thudded the ground when they landed, a few feet away from her. “We burnt down all the other bridges crossing over the river.”
“And the boats?” Chasm inquired.
“Same.”
From the corner of her eye, Damara could see Chasm straighten in approval. “Then it sounds as though we are ready for whatever comes next,” he said. “Did any humans see you?”
“More than I could count,” Hasten grumbled.
“Very well,” Chasm replied. His sharp teeth flashed as he grinned. “Let them come to us. We’ll be waiting.”
Damara processed his words, slowly coming to understand the ingenuity behind Chasm’s plan. Swaineford was the main bridge that crossed over the river into the upper kingdom. By conquering it and burning down all the alternate ways across, the Strong Pack succeeded in severing all communication of one side to the other. In a few strategic blows along the river, that entire section of the kingdom was left set apart and unprotected by the King’s army.
They’re all hopeless, she thought despondently, lying on her side.
Then she spotted something that made her heart jolt. Across the river, surrounded by bushes was a face. A dragon’s face.
Who is that?! Damara stared, trying her best not to draw attention to the stranger. His teal face peered out through the leaves with vigilant eyes. Just by looking at him, she could tell he was no ally of Chasm.
A spy?
Is he alone?
Was Chasm wrong when he said none of the dragons survived the battlefield? Did he miss someone in the mountains? Does he know this stranger?
Damara glanced warily at Chasm. He was tasting the air, mouth slightly agape.
Can he smell him?! She blanched, not sure why she was so suddenly afraid for the stranger. For all she knew, he could hate her kind just as much as Chasm did. But he wasn’t with Chasm, and that was enough for her to try and keep him covered.
I can’t let Chasm know he’s there, she determined.
Just as Chasm began turning to the river, Damara sat up and blurted the first thing she could think of.
“Why didn’t you just let me drown?”
It worked. Chasm faced her, seemingly unsuspecting of the spy within earshot.
“Because you are mine,” he said. “I’m keeping you.”
Keeping me? Damara’s skin crawled.
“But why?” she implored. “What use am I to you?” The questions she’d been wanting to ask were finally coming out and they struck at the root of her misery.
“It is not your place to question me.” With one foreclaw, Chasm pressed her flat back on the ground, as though to remind her of his dominance over her.
“Why don’t you just kill me like all the rest?” she spat. He had only a small fraction of his weight on her chest, but it was heavy all the same.
“That would be an act of kindness.” He stepped off of her, jerking his head towards the bridge. “Now I told you to eat that bird.”
Damara just glared at him.
“Eat it,” Chasm demanded again, locking his jaws on her cape and lifting her up by it.
“I can’t!” she choked, feet striving to touch the ground as she was lifted too high. She pulled at her cape, trying to loosen it so she could breathe. Finally, he set her down.
“Why not?” he growled, spitting the tattered cape out of his mouth.
Damara turned to him and snapped, “You made me lose my knife!”
The grey dragon frowned.
“Then find another one.”
Before she could protest, he took off in flight. She coughed a little, then started as she remembered the spy. But when she spun around to see him, she found that he was gone.
Damara cursed silently, readjusting her well-worn cape as she scuffed the ground with her foot.
Who was that?
Chapter 11