“You’ve been especially happy lately,” Catherine mentioned to Damara as they went about doing their chores. Catherine turned to her with a grin. “You found a boy for yourself, didn’t you?”
Damara’s smile broadened. Not the kind you’d expect, she answered silently, increasingly satisfied with herself.
“My, isn’t that something!” Catherine’s mother exclaimed, overhearing them. “Damara found herself a boy and now Xander can be the one to get all riled up.”
“Mom!” Catherine laughed, turning to her.
“What?” her mother replied, beaming with an all-knowing grin. “It’s what siblings are like- They want to manage each other’s lives. Why, I remember when your father had eyes for my sister. You can imagine how envious I was about that!”
“Dad was in love with Auntie?”
“Yes, but I won him for myself in the end, didn’t I? I remember how I used to…”
Damara blocked out their conversation as she began to think about Chasm again.
The sun is nearly above my head, she noted and sought for a way to slip out.
“I have to go,” she said, putting on her newly mended cape, and escaped out the door without looking back.
“Off to find her sweetheart.” Damara heard Catherine’s mother whisper to her daughter.
Their giggling ebbed in the distance as Damara hurried up to the head of the road, relieved to have not been called back. She found the rope and blanket she’d hidden for herself under a bush and took them with her into the forest.
It didn’t take her long to spot the pine that punctured the overcast sky with its highest needles. She stared at the brightest spot in the clouds, checking to make sure that the sun was directly above her head, and anxiously awaited Chasm’s arrival.
Her eyes fell to the rope in her hands as she fiddled with it nervously.
How am I going to situate this? she wondered, imagining herself having to close her arms around Chasm to bring the rope around his neck. Feeling a little queasy, she folded her arms close to her stomach. Everything’s going to be fine, she promised herself. I’ll get used to riding him soon enough.
“Oh, good, you’re here already.”
Damara started as Chasm’s voice came from behind.
That’s the second time he’s caught me off guard. She willed herself to not be so skittish. How can such a large beast move so silently?
The dragon’s eyes peered down at the rope and folded blanket in her hands. “I see you brought some things to help you.”
Damara nodded sheepishly. He doesn’t need anything for when I ride him. Why can’t I be more adaptable like him?
“I think I have to tie this around you,” she uttered, lifting up the rope, “so I have something to hold on to.”
Chasm smirked. “Then do so,” he replied, exposing his side to her as he had before.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. Feeling especially self-conscious, she reached over his hefty back muscles to drape the rope over the base of his neck. Stepping back to look at him, she wondered what to do with it next.
If only there was special gear already made for this, she thought. But then, she supposed if there was any, she wouldn’t be the first dragon rider. She knitted her brow determinedly. I can do this.
“Um…” She looked up at Chasm. “Could you maybe…lie down on your side for a moment so I can tie it?”
The dragon frowned. “No need for that,” he said. “Just climb under and tie it from there.”
“Oh.” Damara ducked her head in embarrassment. She got down on all fours, feeling as though she couldn’t get any more awkward, and shimmied her way directly beneath him. She goggled at Chasm’s chest plates, knowing she’d be crushed if his strong legs were to buckle. She tied the rope as hastily as she could and wormed out from under him, pine needles stuck in her short hair. But then, realizing it wasn’t quite right, she climbed back under and did it again.
“Are you done yet?” Chasm growled just as Damara finished tying what she hoped to be her last knot.
“I think so,” she said, tugging on the rope to make sure that it was secure. “Let’s give this a try.”
The great dragon crouched down as she placed the blanket in the crook of his neck. Not quite so nervous anymore, she mounted him much more gracefully than before.
Positioning herself on top of the blanket, Damara was pleased to feel the huge improvement in comfort. Wobbling a little, she hooked her legs under a loop of rope. Another loop went around his neck and she gripped it tightly.
It still feels strange, she thought, feeling her legs shift under the rope. I’ll just have to get used to it.
Chasm began walking without asking if she was ready first. Instead of fighting for her balance, she let herself roll with the swagger of his gait, discovering that, by loosening her body, she could override the transitions of movement.
“That’s better,” Chasm snorted. “You’re not clinging to me so much this time.”
“I think I’m getting the hang of it!” Damara was delighted, looking down at herself, then lifting her head to gaze around as they moved forward. She ducked quickly as tree branches swept into her face. “Can you try not to walk me into the trees?”
“You can handle it.”
Damara spat bitter-tasting leaves out of her mouth. Irked, she took one hand off the rope to block the branches from her face as they brushed past.
Damara shielded her eyes as clouds parted way, allowing a few sunrays through to shine on a clearing in the woods. The trees thinned, opening up to her and Chasm a place free of any blockades or obstructions.
“Perfect,” Chasm grunted, outstretching his wings as if to embrace the breeze that met them. “Hold tight.”
“What?!” Damara yelped, unable to brace herself in time before he struck the earth and beat his powerful wings to rise, a thick mass of muscle and scales gliding low above the ground.
Tucking the gathered hem of her dress under her thighs, Damara laughed nervously as she realized she’d held on alright. She reminded her legs not to be so tense and let herself relax, learning how to keep her balance at each stroke of his wings. Their shadow glided over the plains as effortlessly as a pedal carried downstream.
“Yes!” she shouted out in overwhelmed excitement. She flung her arms out, as though they were her own pair of wings carrying her over the gentle air currents. “We’re flying!”
Chasm tilted upward for the sky, ascending with ease.
Damara felt her rear end slip back and her thighs press against the pumping shoulders of his wings. Her body started to peel away from him and she pulled herself in close to hug Chasm’s neck. In that position, air rode over her, no longer prying her off of the dragon’s back.
Damara stared with her cheek pressed against Chasm, watching as the forest shrank. Spotting her town down below, she called to the dragon, “They might see us!”
The wind whipped his reply away and her ears could not catch it. Still, they climbed higher, until Damara grew short of breath and they shot through the clouds.
Clouds! She gasped in the thin air, striving to fill her lungs. I can barely feel them. The most she could distinguish was a chilled moisture on her face as they sliced through the overcast. It almost smelled like rain.
A canopy of clouds, she thought, enticed. Her teeth chattered in the cold. Tiny bumps were forming on her arms in reaction to the cold but she couldn’t pull her flapping cape over them to warm herself.
A pop sounded in her ears and she frowned. What is that?
She tried to inhale, but her lungs failed to take in a satisfying amount of air. Again, she inhaled, but still the air was too thin.
“Chasm,” she heaved, alarmed as her ears popped a second time. “Chasm, I can’t breathe!”
The dragon bent downwards, filling her with wonder as a sense of weightlessness lifted her. Slowly at first, but with intensifying decline, Chasm dove, plunging faster and faster. Panicky, Damara clawed at his neck but couldn’t pull herself
in. With wind roaring in her ears, she cried out as her legs slipped out from under the rope. She couldn’t hold on.
Like a leaf whisked from a branch, Damara broke away from Chasm.
Free falling.
“Chasm!” she shrieked, limbs flailing as she was turned over and over. Land and sky whirled around her, until her cape wrapped around her face and she could see nothing. She was screaming now, into the cloth, envisioning bone-crushing ground one last breath away.
Then- she was wrenched to a halt.
The fabric fell away from her eyes.
Chasm had her in his talons.
Breathing rapidly, Damara saw her feet dangling. Beneath them was the ground. A long way down.
He caught me! She sighed, relieved to be in his clutch, though her heart knocked furiously within her chest.
Chasm descended in a wide, banking spiral until they pierced through the leafless branches. With solid ground but a few feet beneath Damara, Chasm dropped her and she fell to her knees, shaking all over. She bent down and gripped handfuls of grass, a delirious fit of laughter stirring up inside of her until she could not contain it. Turning over onto her back, she stared up at the overcast sky through teary eyes as the laughter continued to spill out.
I touched those clouds!
Chasm looked down at her, his signature smirk marking his face. “You would’ve died just now, had I not caught you.”
“Well,” Damara wheezed, sitting up, “I wouldn’t have fallen off if you hadn’t dived with me on your back!”
Chasm grinned. “You’ll learn to like it,” he told her.
. . .
By the next week, Damara had mastered the techniques of riding a dragon. So quickly, in fact, that she prided herself in having a natural gift for it.
It had been over a month since the dragon attack on Swaineford and everyone seemed more at ease, as though assuming it was just a one-time occurrence.
Everyone that was, except King Chadwick, who was still gathering men for his army. Damara’s urgency to prove her point with Chasm became even more prominent in her mind. Though the Parade of the Troops seemed forever away, she could barely wait to show off to the people of Wystil- to prove that humans and dragons could be at peace with one another.
Going about her morning chores, Damara was feeling especially giddy.
“What’s making you so happy?” Catherine, slicing vegetables for that day’s stew, asked her yet again.
But Damara’s only response was, “You’ll see.”
“Damara, stop!” her friend laughed, exasperated as she shook the table in over exuberance. “You’ll make a mess!”
Damara stepped back but fidgeted in impatience, wanting to move onto their next chore. Just then, Catherine’s parents entered the house. Catherine’s father raised his eyebrows at Damara’s energy and she calmed herself, embarrassed.
“Finished with those?” Catherine’s mother asked, peering at the vegetables from over her daughter’s shoulder.
“Almost.”
Damara turned her head to the door as Xander entered. He paused in the doorway, glancing around the room as though unsure of what to do. Damara cocked her head slightly at him.
His eyes met hers and she grinned. The smile he returned was subtle and hesitant.
Something’s definitely wrong.
Catherine must have noticed too, because she asked her mother to take over her work and went to give him a hug. “You alright?” she asked him.
Damara could see her searching his eyes.
“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” he murmured. Obviously distracted, he cleared his throat and looked around at everyone inside the house. Damara noticed his eyes skip over hers and she braced herself.
This can’t be good.
“I have something to tell you,” Xander addressed the room, still standing close to the doorway. “I’ve been…called to fight.”
What?
Everyone rustled in place.
“I have to fight in the war, for King Chadwick,” Xander clarified further.
It was as though the room itself took a deep, collective breath.
Having said that, he approached Catherine’s father. “They’re interrupting my apprenticeship for now,” he told him. “They’re training me to be an archer.”
No! Damara thought. The King can’t just take my brother like that!
“Not to worry, Son.” The burly man clapped a heavy hand on Xander’s shoulder. “There’ll be plenty of time for pargeting after you come back.”
“Thank you,” Xander said.
Catherine came up behind him, slipping her hand into his. He turned to hug her again.
She’s not even going to protest? Damara thought. Doesn’t it horrify her that they’re making him go to war against-
No.
There will be no war.
Chasm and I have already decided that.
Suddenly, she realized everyone in the room was looking at her.
They want to see how I’ll respond.
“Damara, you know I have no choice,” Xander spoke, trying to reason with her even though she hadn’t said anything.
Damara scoffed and looked away, blowing the hair out of her face.
Doesn’t matter. Training will be in vain, you’ll see.
. . .
Out in the woods the next day, Damara was still distracted by Xander’s announcement. The whole time she flew on Chasm’s back, thoughts about her brother ran through her head.
Would he fight the dragons if he got the chance to? The thought disturbed her. Would he loose arrows on the very dragons that cared for us?
She didn’t even have to pay attention as Chasm went for another dive. Her body responded by habit, clinging close to him and pressing her legs into his sides so as not to slip.
Recalling how quick Xander was to accept his call to fight, anger began building up inside of her. Doesn’t he remember what we owe the Colony for taking us in? Doesn’t he have any loyalty?
What has my brother become?
. . .
Next thing she knew, flight practice was over and she was walking down the dirt road to her house in Rookton.
What is Xander thinking? The hem of her dress got wet as she kicked through a puddle. I’m out with Chasm, working towards peace, while he’s out there drawing arrows on fake dragon targets!
Lifting her eyes, she saw that someone sat hard at work, just outside the house. It was Xander, back from his first day of training.
I thought his apprenticeship was being interrupted for now, Damara thought. Yet there he was, crouched over a half-finished pargeting mould, carving away. She remembered how dizzy she’d become whenever she watched him work. So steady was he. So precise. He claimed it helped him to relax.
Damara tried to slip past, but he looked up and smiled.
“Hey,” he greeted, taking a moment to sit back. “Long day.”
Long day learning how to kill someone, you mean? Damara fumed. She stopped and leaned against a wall beside him, glowering up at the grey clouds overhead.
“I make a lousy archer,” Xander laughed good-naturedly. “I thought my artist hand might be just as steady on the bowstring as it is with pargeting tools, but-” he dropped his sentence, shrugging. “At least I’m not the only one who missed my mark.”
Damara gave him nothing but icy silence. Through the corner of her eye, she could see him turn his head to her.
“Why do you always insist on being like this?” he asked, standing up with arms crossed. “Do you enjoy making everyone around you uncomfortable?”
“What does it matter?!” Damara flared suddenly, fastening her eyes on him. “I didn’t ask to be talked to! Why should I have to waste my breath on pointless, petty conversation?
“And besides,” she ranted on, “how can you criticize me when you’re the one learning how to kill dragons? Don’t you care at all about the ones that took us in? If it weren’t for them, we’d still be calling to our weak-
minded mother for help as our drunk father beat us senseless! Have you forgotten about all that, Brother?”
Xander glared back at her with dark brown eyes. “I was the one who insisted the Colony bring you in,” he spoke in a low voice. “I was the one who snuck back into the house to retrieve you. Do you really not remember that?”
“No!” Damara shouted. “I don’t! I can barely remember anything and you won’t tell me anything!” She felt her stomach muscles contract. Hot tears ran from her eyes and dropped to the dirt at her feet. “You won’t tell me anything…” she repeated quietly.
With her vision obscured, Damara couldn’t see his expression, but felt him touch her shoulder. Without another word, she shook his hand off and fled.
. . .
That night, Catherine came up beside Damara and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.
Damara furrowed her brow. “Sorry for what?”
“I just know how much you care about the dragons,” her friend explained. “And if there really are a lot of them out there, I’m sure there must be at least some that don’t deserve to be…well,” Catherine cut herself off. “I just know you must be upset with this whole war coming close…”
Damara looked up at her, amazed.
Maybe I’m not as misunderstood as I thought.
“Thanks,” she said, smiling in sincere gratitude.
. . .
In the morning, Damara felt so pleased with Catherine that she wanted to return the friendly gesture.
She doesn’t hate the dragons just for what they are, she thought to herself. Friends trust each other with their secrets. Why shouldn’t I trust Catherine with mine?
She remembered that Chasm had asked her to meet her in the morning.
“Catherine, I want to show you something,” Damara told her. “Will you come with me?”
“Sure,” Catherine said, and got up to follow.
Damara secured a gourd of water to her waist and slung a small satchel over her shoulder. Then, taking her friend by the hand, she led the way, saying cheerily, “It’s a secret so, besides me, you’re the first person to know about it.”
“Oh?”
Suddenly, Catherine halted. Xander was coming their way.
No, Damara groaned inwardly. She hadn’t spoken to her brother since the previous day. No doubt their fight was still fresh in his mind, as it was hers.
“Hey, Catherine,” Xander greeted. He nodded to Damara but she ignored him. “Where are you going?”
Catherine opened her mouth to reply but Damara cut her off.
“It’s a secret,” she said curtly, tugging at her friend’s arm. “Come on, Catherine.”
Damara saw Catherine give Xander an apologetic smile before giving in. Damara picked up the pace, wanting to leave her brother’s sight as quickly as possible.
Catherine looked more puzzled the farther out of town they got, until they reached the outskirts of the forest, where she stopped. “Damara, we aren’t allowed in the woods,” she protested.
“It’s a secret so it has to be hidden,” Damara urged her. “I’ve been here more times than I can count and I’ve never been caught.”
“Really?” Catherine looked concerned, but gave in anyway, allowing Damara to lead her in by the hand. “Let’s not get lost,” she said, gazing around at the plentiful trees that closed in on them.
“Just trust me,” Damara replied.
I’ll show her, Damara planned with a wary glance around, and then tell Chasm that I’m ready to fly in front of everyone else. Why wait for the Parade of the Troops? We can stop this war today!
As they came upon the great pine, Damara stopped and Catherine stood with her.
“Is this your secret?” her friend asked. “The woods? It’s beautiful, but I think we should be heading back.”
“No, just wait.” Damara promised her, “There’s more.”
There was the sound of rustling leaves and Catherine spun around to face it. Damara could see Chasm’s form slinking behind the trees, watching them. Beside her, Catherine drew in a sharp breath.
“You’ve brought a friend along,” Chasm rumbled, revealing himself. He eyed Catherine skeptically.
The young woman’s hand flew to her mouth.
“Don’t worry, Cath,” Damara said when she saw the look of horror on her face. “He’s my friend. You knew that dragons couldn’t all be bad, didn’t you? Like what you said last night? Well, look!” She skipped to Chasm and put her hand on his side, beaming. “We’re friends- just like you and I are!”
“Damara!”
She froze at the sound of her brother’s voice. From the brush he stepped out, eyes wide in awe-filled fear of the beast that stood with her. Catherine rushed to Xander’s side, trembling as she clung to his arm.
Xander stared at the dragon.
“Chasm.”
Damara could just barely hear him utter the name.
He remembers Chasm! Her heart jumped in envy. He must remember more from that life than I do.
“Damara,” Xander spoke and stepped forward, though Catherine cried out, trying to hold him back. He walked to Damara and grabbed her by the wrist.
“Let go of me,” she said, panicky as she stared into his eyes. The clench of his hand was painfully tight. “Let go of me, Xander!”
His eyes were intense with fear. “Come this way,” he spoke slowly, beginning to pull her, gently but firmly, towards Catherine.
“No. No, Xander,” Damara breathed. “Let go, you’re hurting me.”
It scared her to see him like that, with a frenzied, haunting gaze that gripped her just as much as the hand that gripped her wrist.
Then, Chasm brought his massive head within a foot of Xander’s face. Yet Xander stood his ground, staring back at the dragon, whose hot breath ruffled his hair.
“Let go of her,” Chasm rumbled in a low voice, baring his teeth.
With another cry, Catherine started to run forward and Xander let go of Damara in alarm. His hands flew out to stop Catherine, just as Chasm’s head snapped towards her.
The young woman halted in terror.
“Careful,” Chasm hissed, leering down. “Or you’ll trigger my hunting instincts.”
“Chasm!” Damara yowled, horrified to hear him threaten her own friend. Taking her chance to escape her brother, she clambered up the dragon’s back. “Please, let’s just leave.”
“Damara,” Xander implored, anxious eyes gazing at her from below, willing her to listen. “Chasm can’t be trusted. If you go with him now, I can’t protect you. Don’t do this.”
For a moment, something inside of her was frightened to hear him say those words.
But then…there was the power of Chasm’s back muscles moving beneath her. She was reminded of their combined strength- a human with a dragon. Her eyes lit up as she remembered their plan and grinned down at her brother, feeling as though she had just beaten him in a game.
“No. You don’t understand. Watch as I do what you should’ve done years ago,” she boasted as Chasm unfolded his wings. “I’m going to prove to the whole kingdom that humans and dragons can live together in peace. Soon, everyone will know that I was right!”
With that, Chasm struck the air and Damara watched as her brother and Catherine were swallowed by a thick cross hatching of shivering branches.
Chapter 5