Shawna coughed and put down the fire-mead. They were all seated, or standing, in a luxurious reception room while Sirrush’s harpies waited upon them. She took another sip of the fiery drink. It burned her throat and made her eyes water, but it helped dull her mind. She couldn’t look at Orin, not after what Sirrush had told her, but he was looking at her. They were all looking at her.
After the visions in the Mirror of Acumen, Sirrush had commanded everyone but her to leave. Orin nearly got himself killed when he drew his sword and demanded that he be allowed to stay as well. Luckily, Shawna and Mira were able to persuade him to leave before a furious looking Sirrush decided to tear him limb from limb. She wished now that she had begged to let him stay.
She had been petrified to be left alone with the dragon-man, but her terror only mounted as he told her what was truly hidden within those liquid walls: the secret he had been keeping. He was right. She hadn’t wanted to know. She wished she’d never asked. He spoke to her, then walked away, leaving her stunned and collapsed on the rippling dark water. The worst of it was that she couldn’t tell anyone, especially not Orin. His life depended on her secrecy, and her choice.
Antares had missed the entire thing and seemed like he could care less. In fact, he seemed positively excited to be leaving soon, which was apparent in his ‘peppy’ mood. His whiskers constantly twitched and he ‘hrumphed’ less, a sure sign of his elation. However, he still laid his ears back anytime a harpy drew too near, which they did frequently just to annoy him. A harpy flipped her long black hair, and gave Shawna a haughty look. Five of the gorgeous harpies were hovering around the room. Sirrush suddenly laughed, making everyone jump.
“Poor, fragile, little flower,” he said to Shawna.
A harpy tittered at his comment, and flashed Shawna dark purple eyes from under dark brows. He raised his goblet which was immediately refilled by another harpy. Shawna saw it was Broga, and quickly looked away before her stare was caught.
“Why can’t you tell us, dragon?” Orin said, his arms crossed. “What’s so important that if she tells us then the last realm will be ‘forever closed,’ ‘the world will continue down its destructive path,’ or whatever prophetic doom you claim?”
Every harpy turned to hiss at him, which made Shawna’s hair curl, but Orin didn’t even look at them. Mira swished her tail and stamped a hoof in warning. He had been becoming ever more rude since Sirrush had spoken with Shawna. The ice-blue eyes bore into Orin’s until Orin finally conceded and looked away, but tendons flexed in his hands.
“Because,” said Sirrush in a silky voice. “You, boy, would be part of the ‘doom’ if the knowledge was yours. Shawna knows this.”
Orin’s arms uncrossed, muscles taut, and Shawna thought he was about to go for his sword again, but he just curled his hands into fists. This seemed to amuse Sirrush and the harpies. All six of them grinned with sharp teeth.
“I grow weary of repetitive talk.” His face immediately wasn’t the mask of pleasant host anymore. The harpies were beginning to stand and waft from the room.
“Wait, I want to know why? Why did you…make the prophecy?” She immediately regretted pushing him when he stood and stared down at her.
His grin reached his eyes this time, only making her feel more uncomfortable at his shifting moods. “After a few thousand years, the world grows monotonous.” He turned and walked away from them without another word.
The harpies were silently and impatiently implying for them to leave. They all followed them through winding hallways that eventually led into an expansive outside courtyard. Sirrush seemed to have disappeared. Before she could ask where their host had gone, a hurricane of wind whipped Shawna’s hair into her face. When she pulled her hair away, Sirrush was landing nearby. Even though she had seen him transform before, his magnificence and brilliant silver scales still left her breathless. The courtyard was barely large enough for his wingspan.
“I will carry you to the mountain range. You can continue your journey from there.”
Antares looked horrified at the thought of being in Sirrush’s clutches again. Shawna and Orin looked at each other and, with some trepidation, let Sirrush guide them up to sit between his spines. They sat uncomfortably on his wide metallic back between curved black spikes.
I’m going to be impaled. She ran her hand down a chest-high spike curving towards her. Orin was behind her with a spike pointed at his own chest. He seemed to be just as worried of an early death by impalement as she was. Lula clung to Shawna as Sirrush shifted to his hind legs and tail. Mira allowed him to curl his large claws around her and lift her up. Antares growled and flattened his ears.
“Shock me with your light, soleon, and my grip just might loosen the higher I fly.”
Antares growled back grumpily, but let himself be lifted up as well. Sirrush unfurled his wings and, using them like hands, crawled to the open edge of the courtyard where the earth fell away. Shawna had a quick glance of a ravine behind the castle before he leapt without warning. Everyone, except Mira, screamed, yelled, or roared as the earth hurtled towards them before he caught their descent and shot upwards towards the mountains. He filled the valley with roaring laughter.
Shawna and Orin had nearly been impaled twenty times before Sirrush finally landed on the edge of a cliff. As she dismounted, her legs shook from trying to cling to his back. She would never complain about riding Mira ever again. Antares looked dazed. He had not enjoyed rushing through the air hundreds of feet above solid ground in the grip of a dragon, least of all because of the bugs. Shawna had wondered what the intermittent zapping noises had been during their flight.
“Farewell, little human girl,” said Sirrush as he readied to take flight again. He spread his wings, then turned his great head towards Shawna. “I look forward to seeing what world you help create, or destroy.” His toothy grin as a dragon was not nearly as charming as his human one.
“Wait,” Shawna said, a little shocked at herself as everyone turned to look at her.
“Wait?” He sounded annoyed.
“I—” She glanced around. “I was just wondering, wanted to know something, if you don’t mind?” He looked like he minded. “If you could tell me something, anything, about how I can do this? It’s impossible.” She felt stinging tears rising and quickly blinked them away.
Sirrush stuck his nose down to hers, and she had to take a few steps away from his hot breath. Dragon nostrils were not pleasing to stand too close to.
“Did you not once believe a world such as this was impossible?” His blue eyes flashed with amusement. “Life is layered with mysteries upon mysteries. Alone they may seem like threads of impossibility, but woven together, entire worlds, stars, and even the vast darkness in which they lie becomes possible.” He then launched himself into the sky, nearly knocking everyone flat with a gust of wind, and flew away.
“Wow,” Lula said. “For a shiny flying lizard he almost sounded poetic didn’t he?”
Shawna wanted to laugh, to feel light-hearted, as she knew Lula was trying to do, but couldn’t even bring herself to smile. Graciously, Lula just landed on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring hug.
“Hey,” she said as Shawna stood on the precipice of stone. “Whatever he said to you, whatever you have to do, isn’t impossible because we’re here with you. I’m not going to let you do this alone.”
A couple tears escaped from the corners of Shawna’s eyes, and she wiped them away as Lula flew up to beam at her.
“Thanks,” Shawna said, finally smiling. “Sorry about that last time we—”
“Don’t worry about it. We’d better get going.”
Lula flew on ahead while Shawna stared in the direction where the last glint of his silver wings had disappeared.