Dragon Aster Trilogy

21: HUNTED



Sybl looked out her window to the view of the training courts at the back of the Sanctus. Kenshe had begun practicing with weapons other than his teeth and claws, and Jru had partnered him with Gwa. It would have worked out well, if they didn’t look to want to kill each other for real. They exchanged sword blow for blow, until Gwa gave out on being tired, first.

“What’s your deal? You’re a dog until now, and yet you come pre-trained to fight?” Gwa shouted angrily at Kenshe.

“It doesn’t mean that I haven’t been paying attention. Besides, the Caelestis is watching, and I didn’t agree to this to embarrass myself.”

Sybl walked out onto her veranda, after being caught spying on them.

“Oh hey Beautiful,” Gwa said, switching his mood to positive so fast it made her question her own sanity. “Did you want to come down here and play with us?”

“We’re practicing, not playing,” Kenshe corrected.

“Meh, same thing.”

Kenshe only shook his head.

“No thanks,” Sybl politely declined.

Gwa laughed. “We should take her hunting.” His brown eyes lit up with the idea and looked at Kenshe.

“There is a whole storehouse of food here, why do you need to hunt?” Sybl asked.

“Hey, it doesn’t fill itself.” Gwa somned, and then flew up to her veranda. He unsomned and caught her before she could flee, then somned back with her tightly between his talons. “And you can’t argue otherwise until you learn how to fly.” He sprung back into the air with his cat legs, and then flew off with her.

Kenshe somned and chased after them with an angry bark.

“Kas is going to have a meltdown,” Sybl said, as she tried to hold on to his talons to save herself from the racing trees below.

“Good. You are going to go crazy from being locked up, and Kas is easier to manage as such. Besides, we’re just going to a nearby spot I have.”

They had flown for some minutes before Gwa flew into the trees. They landed on a large tree that was cut to create a platform.

He let Sybl down, and gave a precautionary look around. “This is my treehouse.” Then he unsomned.

“Treehouse, eh?” Sybl looked down to where he had turned the massive banyan-like tree into a house, as opposed to building one on it.

“So what do you think?”

Sybl climbed into one of the tunnels, and found the inside carved out like a reading nook, complete with a bench. “It’s cozy, but I think you took its literal meaning too far.”

Gwa read her thoughts and smiled in turn. “Nah, mine is just better than what you’ve seen. To the hunt then.” He led the way out of the tree, where Kenshe waited outside.

“Are you out of your mind!” Kenshe shouted between his panting. “The Falls are all over these woods, and—”

“Oh, give it up already. We’re not staying long.” Gwa somned and sent his talons for Kenshe’s nose, more to push him away than to hurt him. The griffin then jumped to another tree and climbed up.

“My Lady, we have to go back,” Kenshe pleaded.

“It’s okay, Kenshe. Gwa is right, I do need some fresh air. Just a little while of it.”

He sighed and collapsed against the ground like a newborn colt, legs outstretched in defeat. “Climb on. It’s safer if we stay with the bird. I think.”

She did, and Kenshe got back up. He followed Gwa from the ground as the griffin glided from one tree to the next like a flying squirrel.

“You saw Kayla at the Dragon Caverns, didn’t you?”

“She thought I was a slave,” Sybl laughed briefly.

“I’m surprised my mother didn’t see your aura as I can. She has the talent to see Threads as a Novaist.”

“Your mother is a daoran? With Hain as your father?”

“It’s complicated.” There was a pause of silence between them, before Kenshe diverted the topic to its previous one. “Part of mastering the Thread is being able to see it there, before you actually see it. At least that’s what my father said.” Kenshe stopped then and looked up, trying to find where Gwa had vanished to. He turned his senses to where an angry growl went out. “Damn idiot! He found a blasted bear.” Kenshe ran to find Gwa fighting off a furious black bear, that was almost as big as he was.

“Kenshe, help!” Gwa cried.

Kenshe only twitched his right ear. “I’d rather watch it eat you.”

“I didn’t know it had the Aeger!” Gwa ducked from another furious swipe of its claws. The canopy was too dense for him to fly out.

Sybl slid down from Kenshe. She played the distraction as the phelan slipped off to tackle it from the other side. The bear’s eyes glowed silver as it focused on her, and Gwa reacted by sending his talons across its face. It was enough to redirect the bear’s attention back to him. But he didn’t have to, as the Aeger faded from the animal by her presence, and the bear backed off to retreat by natural instincts.

Kenshe stood up from where he had been prowling closer to the bear to attack, confused. “You can heal the Aeger?”

“It doesn’t last. Only when I’m nearby,” Sybl replied.

Gwa let his feathers fall flat again, from where they had been standing up like his fur to make him look bigger.

“I think we’ve hunted enough,” Kenshe said as he walked over to Sybl. But before he could reach her, something grabbed his back foot and dragged him away in a rush.

“Kenshe!” Gwa ran after him, but before he could pounce him with his talons, a wall of underbrush rose up and cut him off. He immediately turned and ran back to Sybl, but the same thing happened.

Sybl looked around as the forest was turned into a labyrinth of dense bushes and thorns for walls. “Gwa! Kenshe!”

“There is no point in trying to call them. They are very much detained right now.”

Lintrance? She walked through the maze a few turns, and found the tall dragoon waiting for her. He stood in silver-coated armor, and with his broad sword standing upright in the ground before him. “What are you doing?”

“This was the easiest way I could think of to speak to you alone. I was ordered to tell you to surrender, by Queen Yri.”

“So the Elders passed the High Priestess as Queen? They seriously let that heretic take the throne of Toria?”

“Unfortunately, yes. But I have been fighting them, my own family, my very being my entire life. I’m exhausted.”

“So you would rather just give up and let Yri execute me to feel better?”

“No, that’s why I am here. She was generous enough to allow me to return as an Elder, if I bring you back dead. Seeing as it was your ‘cure’ that killed my Bond, Aleste, I intend to carry out her orders.”

“I didn’t know it wouldn’t last,” Sybl replied.

“It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, and you won’t have the life of my daughter, either. Rose was right there—in the town of Berion—and I didn’t see her. But now that I am certain that you can’t save my Rose, I realize that you can only help destroy her in being what you are. But out of respect for your mother, I will make this painless.”

Sybl took a defensive stance as he lifted his blade with both hands, before taking a swing at her. She scattered backwards, avoiding the sharp edge by inches. On turning to run, another wall of bushes rose before her.