Winter appeared to be drawing to an end. The snow melted in the fields, giving way to spring blossoms and tender grass. The distant mountain range was still hooded by white but the leaflets of trees glowed a soft green.
Damara sat atop a boulder, watching a herd of deer grazing a ways away. She felt as though there was a caterpillar within her, champing at her insides as she anxiously thought of Tide. She hadn’t seen him since the day of Lynx and Rosefinch’s bat killing contest.
On top of that, Damara wasn’t sure where Tyrone was. It’d been a while since she’d last seen him. She prayed that he was safe wherever he was, might that be the hunting lodge or elsewhere.
Perhaps I can ask whoever’s guarding the refugee camp, she thought. They should know where Tyrone is. She was just about to get up and go to the great hole in the ground when something caught her eye.
In the air soared a dragon, brown and pink against the clear sky.
Rosefinch? She strained her eyes as the dragon passed over the sun, startled by the shadow that raced over her. With a skillful loop in the air, Rosefinch tucked in her wings and dove for the ground below.
Damara gasped as she saw what she was after- the deer. The animals lifted their heads to the sky, springing away in fear, but the dragon had one targeted.
Wham! Rosefinch tackled her victim. It lay still, killed instantly.
Damara leapt to her feet in excitement, scrambling down her boulder and running a stretch of grass to meet the dragon out in the field.
“Hey Damara,” Rosefinch greeted her, pride lacing her voice. The deer under her feet was broken and bloodied, its eyes glassy.
Damara was winded as she slowed to a stop, bending over to place her hands on her knees. “That was amazing!” she panted. “I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”
Rosefinch beamed. “It is a tricky move,” she said, eyeing the carcass. “At least the rogues taught me something useful.”
“What?” Damara puzzled, straightening up as she finally caught her breath.
“Oh, the rogues,” the dragon repeated herself. “They mentored me.”
Damara ran a hand through her hair. “I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘rogue’, though I think I’ve heard it before.”
“Oh, well, we considered any dragon who wasn’t a Colonist a rogue. There were a number of decent ones…not the pack I ran with, though. That became clear.” Rosefinch sounded a bit guilty.
Damara folded her arms. “What are you talking about?”
The dragon neglected to answer, face hardening as she stared off.
“Roe, what happened?” Damara pressed.
“They sometimes made me uneasy,” Rosefinch said distantly, “threatening others for no good reason, scheming to gain more territory. They expected me to be right there with them, no matter the cause. I should’ve seen it coming before they…” She trailed off for a moment, then, “They ate a nest full of eggs!” she spat, causing Damara to flinch. “Dragon eggs! Right in front of me! They even invited me to join them.” The dragon seethed, muscles clenched in fury.
They ate their own young? Damara gawked. That’s barbaric!
Rosefinch relaxed after a moment. “Anyway,” she said gruffly, pawing the dead deer to distract herself, “that’s when I left to join Ty and the others.”
But she was actually reared by rogues? Damara thought in amazement as Rosefinch bit down on the deer carcass. A pop sounded when the dragon tore raw flesh from the bones. She swallowed the hunk of meat whole.
Damara laid back on the ground, staring up at the sky. How could anyone come out of that sort of life and turn out as well as Roe?
“Who were your parents?” she asked. Her cheek brushed soft dirt as she turned her head to see the dragon. From her low point of view, the deer rose like a furry mound beside her.
“I have no idea,” Rosefinch answered, surprising her. “It’s in our nature to leave the young, to let them find their own way.”
“Isn’t that risky?” Damara urged, sitting back up.
I just thought Iris was being irresponsible.
“History has shown us the problem in our ways,” Rosefinch admitted. “But that’s why we need to find that hidden clutch. We need to make sure those younglings have a fair chance at life.”
Damara bit her lip in doubt. “Even though they’re Chasm’s offspring?” she spoke quietly, not sure if she wanted to be heard.
“Damara,” Rosefinch paused to swallow another bite, “for all I know, I could be related to Chasm. Don’t fret so much!”
“I’m not,” she opposed. People like Catherine fret. Not me.
Rosefinch looked at her funny. “But you are! It’s in your eyes, your voice, everything.”
Damara huddled in embarrassment. The dragon seemed to read that, too, for she turned her eyes to the mangled deer and asked if she wanted any.
Damara shook her head.
“Oh, yeah.” Rosefinch grinned, a bit of fur stuck between her teeth. “I forgot humans don’t like their meat raw.” She lowered her head again to continue eating.
By now, the sound of a dragon ripping at carrion was as normal to Damara’s ears as mere birds’ song and she looked on indifferently. Still, gazing out at the bouldered field, she wondered if she could ever trust Chasm’s offspring, should Tide manage to find them.
Chasm’s own flesh and blood…How could I ever look past that?
But then…I suppose my father was far from respectable himself. The man who came home drunk at night to abuse his own children…He doesn’t show through me, does he?
The thought made her tense as she realized how quick to anger she was.
But I’m not like him. I don’t hurt people.
And Xander isn’t like him. He knows how to love.
Suddenly a shadow fell over them. Damara scurried back as Lynx landed between her and Rosefinch.
“Ah,” the dragon slurred. “Delicious.” He crouched down to dig into the deer carcass.
“Hey!” Rosefinch barked, knocking him back with the crown of her head. “Back off!”
“Aw, come on,” Lynx carped, puffing out his chest. “Would it hurt to share?”
“You’d only defile it with your flaming breath,” hissed the female.
“Fire makes everything better!” he exclaimed.
Rosefinch snorted. “If you aren’t going to guard the chimney shaft, then I will.”
Damara gawked as the female heaved her half eaten deer into the air, flying away towards the refugees’ cave.
Lynx also stared after her, eyes narrowed.
Great. Damara crossed her arms. Now I’m left with him.
As if hearing her thoughts, the dragon turned his head to her. “How does it feel to be useless?” he asked, as though struck by sudden curiosity.
“Excuse me?” Damara’s skin crawled and she glared into his eyes.
“I’m just wondering.” Lynx rolled his head for no apparent reason. “Here you are, a helpless human with nothing to do but wait and- what was it you humans do?” He snickered. “Pray?”
“For you to go away,” Damara replied sharply.
“Me?” Lynx’s eyes widened in mock surprise. “But I’m actually helpful! I keep that Chasm monigon away from you all. I haven’t seen you do that.”
“Shut up,” she fumed, knowing he was right.
“Oh, but I have a proposition for you,” he objected.
A proposition? Damara braced herself for more idiocy.
“We can’t trust that hatchling, Tide, to find the eggs,” the dragon pressed. “We need to do it ourselves- me as the wings, you as the hands. We might even have the pleasure of ending Chasm.”
Ending Chasm. Damara tensed up. Is he serious?
I…I couldn’t do that! If I could, I would have done it long ago.
“I am not climbing on your sickly back to go anywhere!” she refused.
Lynx opened his mouth, but became distracted as a cloud of moths approached, fluttering in between them. Damara c
ould see his eyes following them as a cat watches a mouse, predator apprehension mounting.
Damara stood back, brightening as she recognized the greenish-white insects. That’s the kind of moth that made me lose my voice!
She tried not to smile as Lynx snapped at the cloud of feathery insects like a dog bites at flies. Snap! Snap! He clacked his teeth together again and again, then stood there with jaws wide open, flicking his moth covered tongue.
“So Lynx…” Damara fervently searched for something to ask. It has to be something he’ll really want to answer!
“How can you relish the firesap so much when you know it’s going to kill you in the end?”
Lynx smirked, opening his mouth to speak.
No words came out.
Yes! Damara was delighted as she saw the confusion on Lynx’s face. He worked his lips, talking silently, then clearly attempted to roar. He stared down at his muzzle, as though expecting to see what the problem was. His throat vibrated furiously. His tongue writhed inside his mouth like a worm. But no matter how hard he tried, the only sound he could make was the squelching of saliva, with bubbles foaming from between his teeth.
Damara laughed so hard that her stomach began to hurt and she doubled over, eyes blurry with tears. She kept on laughing as the moths congregated back in front of her face.
Finally able to stand upright again, she saw that Lynx had stopped trying to talk. Instead, he shot her a heated stare from behind the swarm of powdery insects.
A spark of cunning glimmered in his eye and he blew a flame towards her. She felt a short blast of heat, gasping as the cloud of moths ignited and turned to ash. The moths’ remnants settled in her hair, onto her face, and around her mouth in a fluttery puff.
Damara choked and coughed for an instant, then suddenly fell silent, though the sputtering continued. She tried to curse aloud but her voice was gone.
Damn! Not again!
Just as before, her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. But this time, even her limbs seemed to be affected, numbed slightly. She glowered at Lynx as the smoke cleared, trying to clench her fists as the dragon gave her a smarmy grin.
She bared her teeth at him, seeing how his sides quavered with muted laughter.
Wretched cur.
Chapter 26