I should be back home by now. Damara leaned with her back against a tree. I’ve lost track of how far away Saint Morehice Day is. If we missed the Parade of the Troops, I wouldn’t even know.
All three of the dragons were lying around in the sun like lazy cats. It irked her to see them doing nothing.
I’ve mastered skinning animals and lighting fires, but what have they done? She tapped her head lightly against the tree bark. What are we still doing here?
After a while, Chasm stood, shaking off the dirt that clung to his hide. He stretched his legs out and the tips of his bat-like wings pointed to the sky. Damara watched him, sadly remembering how her brother would get up and stretch after spending a long time pargeting.
“Chasm, when are we going back?” she asked.
The dragon cast her an irritable glance. “When I’m ready,” he answered.
“But you’re just sunbathing!” she exclaimed, exasperated. “When will you ever be ready?”
“Give me time!” he snapped and she lowered her head.
Time? He’s had so much time! I got on his back that day so we could prove to Wystil that dragons and humans can be at peace with one another, but it’s clear that’s not going to happen. Damara blew hair out of her face.
“You’re not even trying,” she muttered under her breath.
Chasm drew tense.
“Remember how you begged to come with me?” he said loftily. “Now I have to worry about your safety when you wander off all the time like a lost sheep.”
“Stop comparing me to your prey!” She leapt up, nose scrunched in anger. “I can take care of myself! Just go and do whatever it is you keep saying you need to do. I’m sick and tired of being here!”
Chasm curled his lip. “Veer,” he snarled to the female sunbathing nearby. “Keep Damara here while I am away.”
“She’s your human.” Veer refused, “I’m not taking responsibility over her.”
Chasm seethed. “Do not leave Veer’s sight,” he warned Damara and took to the air, nearly whisking her face with the tip of his wing.
Damara cursed him silently, glaring as she watched him leave. I’ll go where I please!
As soon as Chasm had disappeared over the mountain ridge, she snagged her empty gourd and climbed with it up to a shady crack in the rocks. Hard packed snow still remained from the past winter. Using her nails to dig some out, she crammed clumps of it into her gourd and jumped down from the boulder.
“She’s leaving,” Damara heard Hasten grunt to his mate as she strutted away, tying the gourd to her waist.
“That’s none of my concern,” Veer gave a husky reply. “Chasm can manage his own humans.”
Pig filth! Damara fumed. I’ll get back to Wystil on my own without them! I’m not going to let Chasm treat me like a child. I don’t need anyone.
She had a pretty good idea of which direction to head in, hesitating for only a moment before picking her way along a route she once took. She passed by the mudslide, taking a quick glance around to make sure she wasn’t being followed.
I can’t believe I praised the dragons for so long! She snorted with contempt. They’re just as bad as humans. But what should I expect? They were humans. Maybe Chasm himself wasn’t, but his ancestors were.
Were the dragons that I grew up with like this, too? Was the Colony any different from Chasm and those brutes he calls ‘allies’?
Damara drove herself forward, pushing away any thoughts of what Chasm would do once he found out she was gone.
Come the night, come the morn- I won’t stop walking till I’m there.
All in good time, she reached the top of a mountain. She stared out at the kingdom of Wystil spread out before her. Fields of green spotted with goats and sheep rolled in gentle bluffs, split where Swaine River carved a bend towards the distant castle. Dark forests patched the land, making way for the occasional town or village.
Don’t stop now. Damara shook her head to rid herself of the distraction. She began clambering down, her skinny waist brushing past flowers as she lowered her weight onto one rock after another. Eventually she came upon some slopes and continued descending at a swifter pace.
Then, she froze in place like an alerted deer, staring at a swarm of people far down below.
The army.
Her heart seized up as she peered out at them.
Xander must be with them!
From her high point of view, each man looked quite small, though she could make out their flags and spears held high. The majority of the soldiers marched on foot. Those riding horses shone with breast plates and helmets, but all the rest were a drab muddle. Damara couldn’t tell if they even had chainmail to protect them. Somehow, she doubted very many did.
I have to do something! They need to go back!
We can still have peace! I just have to convince them.
Damara raced as fast as she could down the bouldered mountain side until she was stopped by a continuous wall of huge dead plants. Without hesitation, she turned and went on running in the opposite direction of Wystil.
I’ll have to meet them on their way through the mountain range! She nearly tripped over her own feet as she ran alongside the dried, crackling plants, looking for an opening.
Winded, she had no choice but to stop and catch her breath time and again until, at last, the plants dispersed. The ground leveled out to forest and meadows. Close by was a dried up creek bed that cut through the mountains she’d just exited, lined on both sides by the barricading plants.
King Chadwick is probably going to lead them through there, Damara realized.
Her lips parted in bewilderment when she saw a rickety shelter nearby, clearly built by human hands. Cautiously, she peered inside, but saw nothing except a cauldron, a clutter of plants, and other random objects. It all felt strangely familiar.
Who lives here? She swiveled her gaze. Do they know there’s an army coming?
Damara could hear the sound of marching men echo from the valley as she left the structure behind.
They’re nearly here! She panicked. What if they saw me and shot me from a distance?!
Thinking fast, she climbed a tree with the plan of calling down to the army on their arrival. Then they’ll see that I’m just a girl.
I’ll tell them they have to go back. Or maybe Xander will come with me and we can get out of here together. If there’s a battle here- Xander mustn’t fight. I won’t let him. He could die!
She stared past the pine needles in her face. They’ll be here any moment. She heard the troops coming ever closer, but no voices could be heard. Even the horses stopped whinnying as they approached, as though they knew what was coming.
Then, Damara pressed herself into the trunk of the tree as an unfamiliar dragon slunk directly below her, drawing closer to the valley. She bit her lip as half a dozen more appeared as silent and menacing as a pack of wolves.
Those must be the dragons Chasm warned me about!
They’ll notice me, if I call out to the army now, she knew, reading the beasts’ body language. Then I’d be dead before I could see Xander’s face again.
As quietly as the needled branches would allow, Damara hoisted herself higher up in the tree, praying for a better idea.
Then the troops appeared.
Immediately, the dragons were upon them. Screams rose to the tree tops. Everything became a violent thrashing of movement.
“Xander!” Damara’s cry was lost among countless others. She watched in horror as a seemingly endless supply of soldiers pushed past the dead ones, only to be tackled by crouching dragons or scorched by a flurry of flames.
The beasts were powerful, but the humans had their tactics. With long spears pointed outwards, they grouped in formation with shields protecting them from all directions, mimicking the defense of a spiked bramble monigon. Whenever dragons came close, soldiers facing the enemy shoved their spears into weak spots. A dragon roared in enraged agony as one spear was shoved into his eye; two more were stabbed into
a wound in his shoulder and another was embedded in the back of his throat. The beast fell on his side and the soldiers left him, preparing to take on a second attacker.
Those who had arrived on horseback now fought on foot, having either been thrown off or forced to abandon their slaughtered steeds. Their armor proved helpful against the worst of the flames and the blunt of the blows, but the knights’ swords failed to slice the dragons’ hides. Instead, the knights slashed at the membrane of their wings. With a thrust of their blades, they pierced through chinks in the beasts’ plating or the malleable scales of the dragons’ joints.
Archers lined a ridge of the mountainside, aiming for the dragons that attacked from above while avoiding their fellow Wystilians down below. A wave of arrows caught one dragon in the air and she fell to the ground, wings tattered and bleeding as she staggered.
Damara pulled herself in tightly as arrows whizzed through the neighboring trees. She stared at the archers in search of Xander, but could not see him. Her voice cried out in alarm as dragons charged up the archers’ slope, fire flashing from their jaws.
Lone warriors wielding axes met the assailants with admirable bravery, managing to hack at the dragons before having to duck behind their blocky wooden shields. One dragon swiped a man’s shield away, caught the warrior in his jaws and tore him in half. Immediately after, another axe man came and struck the beast on the neck, critically wounding it.
The dragons were just now seeming to realize the necessity of their fire. Nearly every one of them had flames blasting out their mouths, swinging their heads from side to side in fierce defense. But despite their efforts, their numbers were waning. Over half of them lay crumpled in the dirt.
The same, however, could be said for the humans. Hundreds of bodies, torn, crushed and severed in every way possible, tripped those still struggling to stay alive. Flesh sizzled from the flames. Dented metal glowed yellow and red.
The Wystilian survivors held together, fighting for themselves, their families, their king.
Damara climbed as high up her tall pine as she could when she saw that its base was on fire. Choking on smoke, she squeezed her eyes shut as the gasping and sobbing of men filled her ears.
Oh God.
Something thwacked her on the head and she opened her stinging eyes as she was grasped in the sharp talons of a dragon.
“No!” she shrilled, cutting her palms on rough bark as she was ripped from the tree. Her vision was blurry and she fought the dragon futilely as she was taken away.
I’m going to die!
Damara’s legs dangled over the battlefield. Something hissed past her ear and she pulled herself in, terrified of the archers’ arrows. Talons pierced into her skin and she pried at them with all the strength of her fingers, trying to release the dragon’s painful clutch.
Prickly leaves rasped her face and snagged her hair when she was swept through the trees like a lifeless war flag. Defeated, she went limp. Screaming was pointless.
I’m going to die.
The dragon dropped her on the ground and she coughed, tears clearing the smoke from her eyes. As she looked up to see what she thought to be her last moment, her gaze met that of the dragon that landed in front of her.
“Chasm!” she heaved, coughing some more.
“See what happens when you disobey me?” he snarled.
“Chasm- my brother!” Damara gasped, imploring him, “We have to save my brother!”
The dragon turned his head to where battle sounds still rung out, echoing off the mountains.
“No.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Xander will die!” she screamed at him, clenching her fists. “You have to help me find him.”
Chasm locked eyes with her. “No,” he repeated.
“Yes!” she shouted and struck him with her knuckles. Her skin broke over his callous face, but he was unmoved, glaring as he bared his teeth at her.
“Don’t be foolish,” he spat. “You would die out there.”
Damara flexed her bleeding hand. “Not if you weren’t too cowardly to protect me,” she hissed and began stalking back to the battlefield. “But I’m going to save Xander- with or without you.”
At once, she was knocked to the ground with Chasm standing over her, breathing hot air into her face. She yelled and struggled, but he had foreclaws pressing down on both her shoulders, crushing her into the ground. She winced, gasping for air as the talon lacerations in her skin stung like knife wounds.
“Get off of me,” she whimpered as fighting proved pointless. Tears welled up and raced down the sides of her face, mixing with the dust beneath her head. Chasm relaxed somewhat, lifting his heavy feet off her shoulders.
Damara lay there, aching and hurting. The dragon still stood over her like a watchdog, waiting for her to make her next move.
I’m so sorry Xander. The tears ran hot between her lashes as she closed her eyes, crying as though she knew her brother was dying…
At last, the yelling and clanging of metal died down, leaving nothing but an echo of the dead.
But with her ear to the ground, Damara could hear the sound of shuffling feet, and something dragging. She opened her eyes just as Chasm moved to the side, staring in the direction of the approaching noise. Laboriously, Damara lifted her upper body off the ground, twisting around to see.
Up the mountain slope, the back of a young man appeared as he struggled to pull his unconscious companion away from the battlefield. Damara couldn’t help but gasp out loud as she saw the gaping wound of the downed soldier’s throat.
At the sound of her gasp, the walking man immediately turned.
He and Damara held each other’s terrified gaze.
Then, before either of them could react, Chasm gathered his powerful haunches and leapt forward, snapping the young man’s neck on impact.
Damara screamed, scrambling to her feet, and ran to the lifeless stranger. She knelt beside the man, staring down at him with hands held tight against her body. His head was turned at an unnatural, nauseating angle. She was afraid to touch him. The other stranger appeared just as lifeless, for his chest did not rise and fall, nor did blood flow from his wound.
Both looked to be the same age as her brother.
Chasm just murdered someone!
Trembling, Damara reached for a rock.
An innocent person!
The stone was partially stuck in the ground and she tore her fingernails in effort to uproot it. She sensed the dragon drawing close behind her.
And now he’s going to kill me!
“What are you scratching at?” Chasm sneered, breathing down her neck.
“Stay away!” Damara spun around. With one, frenzied swing, she bashed the stone against Chasm’s temple.
Chasm, however, was unfazed. He advanced on her like a mad dog, gnashing his teeth. Gasping, Damara scrambled backwards as fast as she could. She stared in horror as he arched his neck. In a single, powerful motion, he cracked his bony chin over her head and all went black.
Chapter 8