After an hour of sparring, the two of them lounged on the soft moss beneath a magnificent beech, whose branches spread wide above them, dappling them in sun and shade. Xandrie’s chest heaved and Claws’ tongue hung out of his mouth, the two of them happy and exhausted in equal measure.
In a split second, their bliss was cut short. The air around them crackled. The hairs stood up on Xandrie’s arms. Claws sniffed the air, his eyes wide and wild. Xandrie strode into the clearing and scanned the sky. She could see no clouds. It didn’t feel like an electrical storm. She had never felt that energy before; it made her heart beat faster in her chest, and everything in her awakened, warmed over.
With the air still spitting and hissing all about them, Claws took off running. Xandrie called after him, but he didn’t so much as pause. Then a deer broke the tree line behind her. Then another. And another. There were deer, antelope, and wild horses, all of them in a stampede. She caught sight of a massive grey wolf, which would have explained the madness, were it not for the pine martins and lop-eared rabbits underfoot. Hawks, owls, and nuthatches swarmed overhead. Every bird and beast – whether hunter or prey, nocturnal or diurnal – fled Westward, though Xandrie had no clue as to why.
Westward. The oaths caught in her throat. To the west were chalk cliffs that plunged into a deep, jagged ravine. Claws was headed towards death. Xandrie pounded after her beloved cub. She couldn’t let anything happen to him. He was her friend, perhaps her only friend, pathetic as it was.
She turned a corner just as Claws’ injured leg gave out under him and watched in horror as he slid towards the cliff edge. She sent up an entreaty. “Not him. Please, not him.”
Claws tipped over the edge and was gone. Xandrie cried out in despair but as she neared the edge, she saw a tuft of white fur poking up over the lip of the cliff. She fell on her belly and crawled towards him. Claws was dangling over the canyon, held aloft only by his leg, which was wedged tight in a crevice.
“To me,” said Xandrie. “Come to me.”
Claws executed the world’s most perfect sit up, tensing his abdomen muscles to raise himself back over the cliff edge and away from certain death.
Xandrie grabbed hold of his forepaw, and managed to pull him up, using all her strength. Safe. He was safe.
She sighed in relief and just then, a large rock skittered down the cliff face, clattering and smashing on the rocks below, taking her with it.
She was airborne, tumbling and screaming, yet knowing there was no escaping her fate.
The last thing Xandrie saw before she blacked out was a red dragon.
Dragoness
“She’s not back yet?” Rhey repeated, confused.
It had been over a day since Demelza had left; he’d expected her to take an hour of freedom and head back to the palace, and she’d left for a day.
He’d given the order - his nobles all over the Kingdom, and their subjects, were to return to the Golden City, their fair Tenelar. Dragons were fond of space and as such, the royal city was large enough for all of the Farden folks to live there. For a time, they would. They’d be uncomfortable and crowded, but safe. As one of their walls - the largest one - had been breached, their lands would soon be crowded by goblins, and other scum. Until they got to the bottom of this, and found a mage powerful enough to rebuild their protection, he wanted his people safe within his walls.
And that certainly included Demelza.
Vincent, who’d volunteered his service as a guard now that he was free of his usual duties, took a step forward, and offered, “I saw her pass us by yesterday. She flew at high speed, heading for the Lakelands.”
Well, that didn’t make any sense. At all.
“Let’s give her a day.” He’d send her guard after her if she didn’t make it by the morrow. “Other than Elza, are we missing any nobles?”
The clerk shook his head. Everyone had made it safely.
Everyone, except his closest friend.
But the Dragon Princess could take care of herself, so he chased away his premature worry, focusing on the rest of his Kingdom.
Xandrie opened her eyes and jumped to her feet, disoriented and out of place. Where in Eartia’s name was she? How had she ended up there? Claws was lying at her feet, which settled her frazzled mind some. She blinked, forcing herself to concentrate on the unfamiliar surroundings. There was moss beneath her and stalactites above, so, she deduced, she was in a cave. The fire cackling nearby puzzled her. It certainly hadn’t made itself and she had no memory of making it.
Her eyes caught the shape of a figure – by the cast of her shoulders and the slightness of her build, a woman most likely – on the other side of the fire. At least, Xandrie hoped it was a woman; she’d heard what Fae did to random humans stumbling into their sacred spaces and didn’t much fancy ending up a nematode or creeping vine or whatever other transmogrification punishment an angry Fae might dream into being. She didn’t want to startle whoever shared the cave and fire – be she Fae or female – so she coughed, gently.
The figure the other side of the fire sprang to her feet and gracefully walked to Xandrie’s side. “You’re awake.” Her voice was soft and slow - she spoke the common tongue with an accent Xandrie just couldn’t place. Her looks were just as foreign - golden skin, bright green eyes, a cascade of shining, brown curls coiling about her shoulders. The stranger was a remarkable beauty - more so than her fair sister, and perhaps just as much as the Elves she’d met in the woods. “I’m Demelza.”
The woman held out her hand; as Xandrie reached to shake it, she felt a burning on the tender skin between her thumb and forefinger. She looked at it, growing even more confused. There was no mistaking it, a rune blazed, but didn’t consume her flesh. She’d only glanced at Talia’s ancient books on runecraft, but she recognized the mark as Ansuz, the messenger rune that symbolized new beginnings.
Okay, so maybe she’d just bashed herself really hard on the head when she fell…
The memories rushed back. The animals panicking and rushing out of the woods - Claws falling. She had saved the tiger and then, gone over the edge of the cliff. She’d been plummeting to her death, when a red dragon…
Her adrenaline spiked. She scoured the cave, searching for her bow and quiver. “There’s a dragon on the loose.”
Demelza didn’t move. She didn’t frown. It was as if she hadn’t heard.
“I’m serious,” said Xandrie. She understood why the woman would doubt her - Dragons didn’t just go strolling about in Northern Var. According to her schooling, she knew there hadn’t been any fire-breathers in these parts for thousands of years.