In the morning, Damara found that Chasm had still not returned. Her stomach was terribly sore from the previous day’s encounter with the dragon’s boney head. It hurt to sit up.
There’s nothing here for me to eat, she thought, looking around at the small, crumbled village. No chickens. No grain.
She painfully climbed a tall tree nearby, perching in its topmost branches so she could look out from the leaves and see the land around her. The summer sun was warm against the back of her neck and a soft wind teased her hair.
Nothing but fields and hills, Damara observed. Where is the closest town?
She climbed down again, taking a moment to reconsider Chasm’s orders to wait here.
What does it matter? she decided. Chasm’s going to do with me what he pleases either way. She exhaled, slowly wandering for a while until she came across Swaine River.
Perhaps I could follow this to Swaineford. There’s bound to be food there.
. . .
By the next day, Damara reached Swaineford, gladdened to see that some chickens were there. Hungrily, she picked out a rooster, grimacing when it pecked her outreached hand. Undeterred, she wrung its neck and plucked its feathers. Roasting over a fire, the meat got partially burnt, just the way she liked it.
“Where are we?”
Damara froze as she heard a little child’s voice. It sounded as out of place as a kitten’s mew in the open sky. She turned, her eyes searching the rubble for its source.
“Swaineford,” Chasm’s voice answered in a voice smooth as glass.
Damara nearly choked.
He caught a child?!
Two figures slinked into view. Stepping back, she saw that it was Chasm and Iris. Damara stared in utter shock, for clinging to the base of Chasm’s neck was a small, redheaded girl.
No! He can’t have deceived another!
The young girl gasped, ducking behind Chasm’s scales. “Who is that?” she asked in a wavering tone.
“This is Damara,” Chasm answered the child. Then, turning his head to Damara, he added, “Right where I expected her to be.”
Damara ground her teeth. Another child…no, this can’t be true…
Chasm cast Damara a warning glare as he told the child, “She’s going to teach you how to fly Iris.”
Behind him, Iris narrowed her eyes unhappily, but didn’t speak a word.
“No, I won’t!” Damara refused. “Where did you steal this child from? What did you do to her family?”
“Steal her?” Chasm repeated after her, mockingly appalled. “I saved her.”
Damara looked up at the child, trying her best to look affable as she tentatively asked, “What is your name?”
The girl’s bottom lip trembled. “Fairy.”
“Fairy?”
“Oh, do tell her your real name,” Chasm told the child, frowning in disapproval.
The child bowed her head and whispered, “Faren.”
“Where is your family?” urged Damara.
Faren sniveled, tear tracks glinting off her cheeks. “I don’t know,” she cried. “I got lost in the woods.”
“But you’re safe now that I have found you,” Chasm purred.
Damara trembled in burning hot anger, unable to think of what to say.
“Let’s get started then,” Chasm said, grinning. “First, we’ll teach Faren how to ride on my back, since I have the ropes tied around me. Then we can find some more rope for when she’s ready to ride Iris.”
Listen to how friendly he makes himself sound, Damara thought, sick to her stomach.
“Climb up behind Faren,” Chasm told her, “and make sure she doesn’t fall.”
Damara stood rigid. “No.”
Chasm cocked his head menacingly at her. “We’d hate for the child to get hurt, wouldn’t we?”
By the look on Faren’s face, she obviously didn’t catch onto the threat.
Screaming on the inside, Damara bit down on her tongue so hard that the taste of blood seeped into her mouth. I have no choice.
Shaking, she stepped forward and climbed up onto Chasm’s back, behind Faren. The child twisted around to look up at her.
“Do you know where my family is?” she asked, hope illuminating in her eyes.
Damara couldn’t respond, choked up with pity, anger, fear.
Chasm can’t have this child! How can I help her? What can I even do?!
Faren had already slipped her scrawny legs under the rope around Chasm’s chest. Damara knew she’d just have to balance on her own.
“Ready?” Chasm asked. “Hold on.”
He spread his wings and took to the air with full, powerful strokes of his wings. Faren cried out in alarm, shrinking into Damara. Damara put her arms around the child’s middle, leaning forward, with her legs up against the dragon’s wing shoulders.
Higher and higher, the dragon ascended. Faren slumped further into Damara. Her heart jolted as she saw the little one loll with her eyes rolled back.
“Chasm, stop!” Damara cried over the wind, holding the limp child tight. “Land!”
Chasm turned his head to see them. Slowly, he descended, banking right before alighting on the ground.
“What’s wrong with her?!” he snarled.
Damara eased the unconscious child’s legs out from under the rope and awkwardly carried her down.
“Your slave killed her!” Iris accused shrilly, swooping in beside Chasm.
“She’s too young for this!” Damara fumed, holding Faren protectively against her chest. “She fainted.”
Chasm curled his lip back in frustration. “You never did this.”
“I’m older than her!” Damara snapped. “Probably twice her age. You can’t expect her to be as brave as I am.”
“She doesn’t need to be as brave as you are,” the dragon said in hushed, angry tones. “She just needs to be able to ride. So I suggest that you teach her before I deem her not worth keeping.”
Damara watched as he whisked away, leaving Iris to glare at her before taking after Chasm. Damara frowned down at the unconscious child’s gentle face.
You’d have been better off alone in the woods, she told her silently, laying her down in a soft bed of grass between two thick tree roots. How am I going to protect you?
. . .
“Damara?”
Faren’s voice roused her from her sleep, where she was cradled high up in the crook of a tree. Her eyelids lifted to reveal the child’s crinkled red hair and big, hazel green eyes peering at her.
“Where is Chasm?” the child asked nervously.
Damara straightened herself up, wincing at the tingling pain that overcame her legs. “Hopefully gone,” she groaned. “Listen, how did he get you?”
Faren looked down at her feet, wedged between branches. “Ramsey said he’d make me wings if I caught a fairy for him in the woods, but I got lost. The bugbears would have gotten me if Chasm didn’t find me first.”
“Who is Ramsey?” Damara asked, frowning. And why would he tell you such things?
“My brother!” Faren’s face brightened for a moment, then fell downcast once again. Tears began rolling down her cheeks and she whimpered, “I want my family.”
Damara looked down at her, helpless as the child’s sniveling blossomed into cries.
“Where are they?” Faren bawled. The little redhead rocked dangerously in the tree and Damara’s hands flew out to steady her. Faren took it as an invitation to nuzzle into her arms.
Embracing the child, Damara crouched there, unsure of what to do. She couldn’t recall a time she’d held someone before to comfort them. After a little while, Faren wiped her eyes, gazing up at her.
“Do you think Chasm can find them for me?” she asked, blinking away the tears. The hope in her voice dug into Damara’s heart.
What do I say? I can’t say yes. But to tell her no…
Damara twisted the ivory ring around her finger, striving for the right words. Faren’s eyes fell on the treasure.
&
nbsp; “Is that a magical fish?” the child whispered, full of awe.
It gave Damara an idea.
“Yes,” she lied, slipping it off, just wanting the crying to cease. “If you wear it your wish will come true. Here. Wish for your family.”
Faren took the ring, excitement dawning on her face. But as she tried to put it on, it became clear that it was too big for the child’s little fingers.
“It won’t stay!” Faren looked as though her dreams had been torn apart like a handful of leaves. When she accidently dropped the ring, she wailed. It fell all the way to the ground, a small white band standing out against the dirt.
“Hey, hey- it’s alright!” Damara assured, willing her not to cry. “Hold on.” Eyeing the ground, she repositioned herself and leapt from the branches, causing Faren to gasp. There was a soft thud as she hit the earth, somewhat gracefully.
She picked up the ring, holding it up to show Faren. Through the ivory circlet, Damara could see the worried redhead’s face peering down at her.
“I wish for Faren to find her family again.” Damara spoke loud and clear for the child, sliding it back onto her own finger.
Suddenly beaming, Faren clapped her hands with joy. “When will it come true?” she asked eagerly. “When do I get to see my family?”
“Soon,” Damara promised, helping her out of the tree.
Faren’s hand held onto hers, even after the child’s feet met solid ground. Damara closed her fingers around the girl’s, gazing off into the distance.
Please, she prayed. Don’t make me a liar.
. . .
The slow churning water lapped at Damara’s knees where she stood, bare-skinned as she washed her clothes in the river. Small white scars, inflicted by Chasm’s talons, marked her chest and shoulders, reminders of when he revealed who he really was. Reminders of how foolish she had been to trust him.
Cheerful ever since Damara gave her the promise, Faren skipped and played in the shallows nearby, also naked as she flung her soaked dress about with one hand.
Watching her, Damara was strangely reminded of a time when she herself ran around like that as a young child.
Where was that? she pondered, envisioning a creek surrounded by trees. And who else was there?
Then she remembered. Jacinth, a deep red dragon, had begged her to put clothes back on after her little bath in the creek. But Damara had refused. That was, until Xander came and demanded that she slip on her dress.
I suppose Xander was taking charge of me even back then, Damara thought. A tickle in her throat caused her to cough as she scrubbed her cape in the water.
“Are there any trolls under here?” Faren asked, cautiously inching towards Swaine Bridge. “Ramsey says they won’t let anyone pass under or over until you laugh at their dumb joke.”
Damara looked down at her reflection in the water. Her incredibly short, light brown hair was plastered to her head, reminding her of a wet river otter’s pelt.
My face looks dirtied with freckles, she thought. And my eyes are as colorless as the rain.
Heavy footsteps sounded nearby and Damara looked up to see Hasten lumbering over the bridge. Faren jumped, retreating under the bridge, peering up at the dragon from the shadows, her lips parted slightly in apprehension.
There’s no reason to hide, Damara knew, bare skin gleaming in the summer sun. Clothed or unclothed, the dragons don’t care. Hasten doesn’t even seem to notice the difference.
Damara felt her ribcage under her pale skin absentmindedly. I should prepare some food for us soon, she thought. If only I could hunt for myself. Then I wouldn’t be so pathetically dependent.
A sudden coughing fit racked its way through her body and she bent over in the water. As the cough subsided, she became aware of her throat, rather sore.
I’m feeling especially tired today…
Faren still cowered in the shadows of the bridge. Damara could sense a summer storm coming their way. A strange, sultry wind blew and dark grey clouds formed on the horizon.
Better dry off now and get to shelter, she thought, lifting her soaked cape out of the water.
Damara mounted the grassy banks, the feeling of gritty dirt between her toes. Drying off, she scanned the broken town, lips stretched grimly taut as she failed to spot any sufficient shelter. All the houses whose walls still stood had holes in their roofs. Some houses were at such a precarious balance that she was sure they’d soon crumble and add to the wreckage of the neighboring buildings.
I suppose the bridge will have to do.
Damara could feel the storm’s approach in the warm gust of wind. There was a flash of light that flickered in the clouds and distant thunder throbbed throughout. Hastily, she pulled her dress on.
“Faren,” she called. “Get dressed and help me gather rocks and kindling for a fire. Rain is coming.”
“Where are the horses?” Faren piped up, wiggling into her dress. She eagerly looked at the approaching storm. “My brother says that winged horses fly up high, with clouds as their manes and tails. The lightning is their spittle and the thunder is their whinny!”
Ignoring the child’s fantasies, Damara was about to again prompt the child to gather brush for the fire. But another coughing fit shook her slender body and she doubled over until it passed.
Kneeling to grab a hefty rock off the ground, she grimly wondered, What will Chasm do if I’m not well enough to ride?
Chapter 15