By the time the summer storm was upon them, Damara felt terribly ill. Coughing fits shook her bones like the thunder that shook the trees outside. Thick, warm rain blew under the big stone bridge, as though aiming for the children that huddled beneath it.
The world blanched stark white as lightning struck the sky above, immediately followed by a loud crack that seemingly shattered Damara’s ear drums. Faren wailed in fear. Their small fire was dying and Damara was far too exhausted to refuel it. She tried to calm Faren and tell her to feed the flames, but her throat closed painfully around her words.
Damara surrendered to the ground, blades of grass stroking her strained face. As she shuddered, coughing yet again, Faren wept over her, calling her name desperately.
Damara wanted to tell her everything would be fine, but another flash of lightning lit her eyes and thunder rumbled like a cruel, chortling giant. The cape she held tight around her body was damp with warm rain.
Faren’s wet hair draped down her back, dripping from its ends. Damara turned her head as the water dribbled into one ear. She left her mouth agape, heaving as she waited for the next series of coughs to rack her fatigued body.
Let this illness pass, she prayed miserably. And this storm.
Have I not suffered enough?
. . .
“No, no! She can’t!”
Damara opened her eyes laboriously as Faren’s protests disturbed her from her sleep. Groggily, she saw the child crouching over her.
“Damara’s too ill!”
Damara’s eyes cleared enough to see that Chasm was there, frowning.
“Then come ride Iris alone,” Chasm reasoned with the child, deceptively kind.
“I can’t,” Faren whined. “Damara needs me.”
No. Damara became angry with herself for being so weak. I shouldn’t need anyone. Get up!
She longed to rise to her feet, strong and independent. But no matter how greatly she willed herself, her body refused to move, still dogged by illness that taxed her flesh and bones.
Get up. Get up…
. . .
Damara awoke to the sound of Faren laughing. Opening her blurry eyes, she saw the little redhead milking a goat as it bleated, as though joining in on the laughter with its loud, obnoxious voice.
Damara closed her eyes until Faren was there, shaking her shoulder.
“Here, drink!” the child said, beaming with pride as she held out an old wooden pail to her.
Damara sat up and drank from it, relieved as the milk washed down her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered, leaning back.
Faren chirped, “Are you feeling better?”
Damara gave the child a tired smile.
“A little.”
. . .
Damara sat with her back against the stone bridge, waiting for Faren to return from her quest to retrieve more chicken eggs. Besides her exhaustion, she was feeling increasingly better, with only a slight headache to remind her of the illness now passed. Bored, she fiddled with her ivory ring.
Where has Chasm gone? He hasn’t bothered us for a few days now.
What could be more important to him right now than getting Faren and I back in the air? Surely he wouldn’t attack the kingdom without us, his protection?
She ran her thumb over the smooth surface of the ivory fish, inspecting the moth whose wings connected the fish’s mouth and tail.
Where is that child? Restlessly, Damara pulled herself to her feet, pausing to let her head clear. She should be back by now.
Walking through Swaineford, she listened for the chickens’ clucks and followed the road.
“Faren,” she called softly. “Where are you?”
She came across the chickens but found that Faren was not there.
She better not have wandered off, Damara thought to herself. Isn’t that how she strayed from her family in the first place?
Looking around, she realized that she could see no one. The bridge was left unguarded and no dragons stalked through the ruins or soared overhead.
Where is everyone? Damara furrowed her brow, quickening her pace as she walked the littered roads of Swaineford.
“Faren?” she called again, her voice tinged with worry. “Faren, come out!”
Through the corner of her eye, she saw movement.
“Faren?” Damara turned to the ruins, squinting past the sun. “Is that you?”
Suddenly, Hasten leapt from the rubble, snarling with eyes rolling. Twitching with spasms, the mountainous dragon advanced on her, flames flickering from between his furiously clenched teeth.
Damara cried aloud, jumping back. What’s wrong with him?! This was unlike anytime she’d seen him in battle. He’s gone mad!
The dragon convulsed as he stalked closer to her, thick muscles constricting like snakes. Damara turned to run, but her foot struck a stone and she toppled over. Twisting around fearfully, she stared up in horror as Hasten reared over her, about to crush her beneath his talons.
Then, in a split second, the hulking dragon was tackled from the side. Damara gasped.
The Dragon Knight!
Roaring, the Hooded Dragon wrestled with Hasten, snapping and clawing at the maddened beast’s underside. Flames streaked from Hasten’s mouth, glancing off the leather of the other dragon’s headgear. The Hooded Dragon blinded Hasten with a burst of his own fire.
Heavily armored, the Dragon Knight held onto his steed with unquestionable skill, thrusting his lance into Hasten’s weak spots. Damara saw glimpses of blood leaking from one of Hasten’s eyes. Her breath caught in her lungs as she watched the frenzied dragon swipe at the man, who quickly ducked.
At last, the Hooded Dragon locked jaws with the maddened beast.
Crack!
In one powerful motion, he snapped Hasten’s neck.
Damara trembled as the big brute collapsed on his side, head twisted in an unnatural direction. Overcome, she turned her head to the ground and vomited.
With nothing left for her body to reject, Damara gazed up at the Hooded Dragon. He faced her, heaving.
“Are you hurt?” The Dragon Knight leaned over in his saddle, helmeted head pointed in her direction.
Breathing heavily, Damara shook her head, eyes wide. She could barely keep herself propped up with her arms quavering. Hair fell in her face, obscuring her vision. Shakily, she brushed it out of her eyes, not once tearing her eyes away from the knight and his dragon. The only other time she’d been this close to them was in combat.
They just saved my life! she marveled.
“The child?” the armored man asked. “Where is Faren?”
Faren! Damara gaped at him. How does he know her name?!
Does he know my name?
Mouth dry, she stuttered, “I- I don’t know.”
The Hooded Dragon’s fatigued breathing sounded like strong gusts of wind rushing through a tunnel. Damara saw how his chest swelled and compressed. His breath was warm, like the sun.
The scales of his hide were a dark pine green, the membrane of his wings a deep blue. It was hard to read his expression with half his face covered by the leather headgear.
Damara started as she noticed the Dragon Knight reach up as if to remove his helmet.
Suddenly, there was a cry of alarm. Only then did Damara notice one of the Dragon Knight’s allies, the brown and pink female, hovering in the air. She had her head turned to something, preparing to dive- but was too late.
Chasm swept in on silent wings, seizing the Hooded Dragon. The knight was sent flying from his saddle. He hit the ground, far from the two battling dragons.
Damara gasped, scrambling back as Chasm’s tail whipped past her.
Oh God! she cried inwardly as she saw Chasm clamp his jaws around the Hooded Dragon’s throat and yank with violent, repeated movements. The Hooded Dragon opened his mouth wide, rasping as he writhed.
In one final jerk, Chasm ripped the dragon’s throat open, spitting flesh all over the littered ground.
The noble beast crumpled in the dust, dead.
A short distance away, the Dragon Knight cried out. He scrambled to get to his fallen steed but was swept up in the claws of the hovering female. The man’s desperate shouting died out as she flew off with him.
Damara fell to her knees, staring at the Hooded Dragon lying motionless beside Hasten’s body.
No, she choked. He just saved my life! No!
Chasm stood upright with eyes flashing.
He leered over the Hooded Dragon’s body, jaws slightly parted with the reek of blood on his breath, his teeth stained red.
Horrified, Damara’s gaze drifted over the dead dragon’s leather headgear, his somber mouth, his bloodied throat…
Her eyes stung and welled up with tears.
Sobbing, she folded over, pressing her forehead into the blood spattered dirt. Her mouth stretched taut in a painful grimace. A single wavering note strained from her throat.
No, she groaned, tears mixing with the blood and dirt. He saved me from Hasten- just to be killed…
Grief stricken, she lifted her eyes as Chasm snapped his head towards her.
He sneered. “I just saved your life.”
Damara choked on her tears, unable to object. She trembled in anger and despair.
Why?!
. . .
She cried even after the sun went down, left with nothing but moonlight to see her fallen savior. Once all her tears were spent, she continued to kneel in front of the Hooded Dragon, ruefully gazing at him.
I don’t even know his name, she grieved.
She wasn’t sure when Chasm had gone, or where he had gone, but she could sense that she was alone. Alone with the bodies.
The ground where she knelt was splotched red by the blood of both Hasten and the Hooded Dragon. A murderer and a savior.
What does the Dragon Knight think of me now?
His ally wouldn’t be dead if it weren’t for me.
It’s all my fault.
Chapter 16