EIGHT
I was in and out of lucidity as we flew, but I didn’t mind. Each second that I went under was a chance to rest, and each time I came to I got to re-remember that I had somehow magically escaped from an entire fortress of people intent on keeping me there.
But if I had thought I knew pain before, it was definitely nothing compared to the burning discomfort that claimed every single nerve ending in my body. By the time we approached a mountain range, my limbs were locking into position and my lips were cracking. It was cold, it was wet, and the ride was not smooth. Not that I was complaining but…okay, maybe I was complaining just a little.
But we did land, and that was what mattered.
Myrik dove towards what absolutely looked like a solid side of the mountain, but instead of crashing to our untimely deaths, we flew through the now shimmering patch. I yelped in surprise as we coasted through the wide entrance then landed in a smaller version of the meadow the breeding pens had once been in.
I never thought I would be so happy to see glow stones peppering an artificial sky, and yet here I was, tears streaming down my cheeks in pure, undiluted relief.
He released me, and I just kind of flopped over in a pitiful heap. Black smoke engulfed me, but I didn’t even have the energy to hold my breath while I waited for it to dissipate. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste all that horrible. It was dusty, and had a twinge of mold, but it by far wasn’t the worst thing ever.
Strong hands scooped me up, and I was pinned to a warm chest. It was a secure hold, but not painful. Or at least not painful compared to everything else that was going on in my body.
“You saved me,” I murmured, looking up at the strong jaw I knew so well.
But his voice was laced with anger as he responded. “You are an idiot. Why did you run off like that? You nearly killed Dwyllverys and yourself!”
“But it worked, didn’t it?”
“You are barely alive and I literally caught you after you took a running leap out of a high tower.”
“But it worked.”
I could have sworn I saw his jaw muscles move in what could possibly be a half-smile. “I do wish you could have been there to see their faces when they realized what you had done. Watching them realize that they owed our ability to escape without leaving a single soul, or important information behind was most enjoyable.”
“Good,” I breathed. “Maybe they’ll give up on this whole asshole thing they’ve got going on.”
“I would not count on it. The Queen and Ilvis’ battle was interrupted. Without a victor, tensions have not eased. In fact, they might have even escalated in such close quarters.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” After all I’d been through, the torture, the spy shenanigans, nearly being crushed to death, they still couldn’t get their act together long enough to ensure the continuation of their species? What did I have to do to prove to them that I was trying to help them?
“I am not. Perhaps stubbornness and being too old for our own good go hand in hand.” He pulled me closer. “But that is all of little matter right now. We need to get you to Dwyllverys before you bleed out all over my robes.”
“Come on now, you know I’m too stubborn for that.”
“You have a point,” he conceded. “But you should conserve your energy anyways.”
“I think…I think I just might.” I slowly lowered my lids, and for the first time in weeks, I wasn’t in fear as I slid into sleep.
*
I came to slowly, aware of dimly muted shouts just on the other side of a nearby wall. I groaned and sat up to see I was in a fairly nondescript room, although bandages and empty potion bottles littered the floor everywhere.
“—bviously a traitor!”
“How in all of the eleven layers of hell do you come to that conclusion!?” That was unmistakably Myrik.
“How else can you explain how easily she evaded capture? There is no way they just let her go, unless it was specifically to get her back into our folds.”
“Evaded capture?” That was Dwyllverys. “She had a fracture in her leg, a dislocated arm, and a list of other injuries! What about that is easy?”
“You are all blinded by this delusion that a human is some sort of savior of our people!”
“You are the one who’s blinded by your own inability to realize that we will all die if we stay on the same path we have been on!”
As much as the other voices made my irritation double, it was nice to hear Myrik defend me so passionately. Normally he only seemed to have two tones: derisive and condescending. But now, as I listened from the other side of a wall, I heard so much more than that.
He cared for me, at least somewhat. It made me feel that much less alone.
A sudden quiet fell over the shouting, and I wondered what happened, until I heard the calm, collected voice of the Queen.
“I thought I made my views clear on such discussions.” Her voice was dangerously low, lower than I had ever heard it before.
“Yes Your Majesty. We apologize.”
“We have already lost our capital, and half of the pens you were so keen on maintaining. Until we have a way to ensure that we are completely prepared to defend ourselves from another attack, there will be no more infighting. No more of these pointless arguments. We are dying, and if you cannot feel the life being squeezed from us, then there is less hope for us than I had thought.”
There were quiet murmurs and the shuffling of feet, and eventually the hall was silent. I was glad I wasn’t there to see the Queen’s gaze as she said that. It sounded absolutely terrifying. Granted, it would probably be a bit satisfying to send those idiots scuttling.
The latch at the door clicked, and Dwyllverys entered, hard arms laden yet again with pastes and bandages.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she said, her pale eyes wide. “How are you feeling?”
“Like one of those Giants you like so much took a healthy bite of me instead of the meal you made for them.”
“That is an unappreciated simile, but have you noticed improvement since you were last conscious?”
“I think maybe? But it’s hard to tell when everything just feels like a massive bruise covering every inch of my body.”
“You certainly have a knack for vivid imagery.” I shrugged. “It must fun in the family. My Abuela doesn’t seem so bad at it either. Translating her journal has been pre” I stopped mid-sentence. “Her journal! My bag, do you have them? Were they able to be saved?”
Probably not. After all, it had basically been a total retreat from their previous stronghold, who would take the time to go back and save a couple of books?
“I do not know. They were in Myrik’s quarters, correct? You would need to ask him.”
I resigned myself to them being lost forever, and tried not to show my disappointment. But the books were completely replaced in my mind when I realized there was one companion that I hadn’t heard or seen already in my short time since I had arrived.
“What of Gael? Is the Prince alright?”
Her colorless face took on a pained expression. “No. No one has heard from the dragons we sent out.”
“Does…that mean they’re dead?”
“Not necessarily. They just might not have found the message that we sent them about our migration.”
Two low blows in a row made the contentment bubbling in me dim a bit, but I was still fairly grateful just to be alive. I was sure that my surviving all the danger that was stacked against me in the human realm was a sign that I was on the right track. The path that I had been brought here for.
“Once you are a little more recovered, Myrik wishes to speak to you. He’s concerned your escape will cause a concentrated effort by the humans to find our new inhabitance.”
“I’m sure. The Prince will not appreciate that I got away, or that a dragon dared encroach on his beloved castle. If I’m even half right, he’ll take it as a personal slight.”
The corners of her lip twitched, and I could tell that she was trying not to betray her interest. “You met the royal? What was he like?”
“He seemed cordial at first, like some rich parent whose kid invited you into their home and they don’t approve of you being there, but they have this compulsion to be a good host. But I could tell it was a mask.
“I thought what was under it would be some sort of smarmy jerk who was too assured of himself to ever think that I could beat him. But he was smart. Dangerously so. And I could tell he loved hurting me every second he got to. He’s got a lust for violence. And blood. Not to be overdramatic, but I could see him definitely being a total Captain Ahab.”
“Who is that? A valiant warrior of the Ilse?”
“Oh, no…not quite. He’s just a very stubborn individual who dedicates his entire life to revenge. It’s not a happy story.”
“Yes, as I imagine one such tale serves as one of caution rather than encouragement.”
“That’s exactly what it’s used for.”
She nodded. “I understand. Now, if you wouldn’t mind lying back, I would like to change your bandages and make sure your leg still has healthy blood flow. I see you’ve had some medical attention, but human treatment is well behind us both in methodology and success.”
“Careful there. If I didn’t know you better, I would think you were insulting my people.”
“That’s probably because I was. Be still, and let me fix this mess your people have inflicted on your body.”
I smiled at her playful tone and did as she asked. It was such an abrupt shift; to me, only a little earlier I had been running from my life and a very unfortunate ending. But now, I was back with the dragons, with my friends, joking about literary classics and medical incompetency. One thing was for certain, I could never claim boredom in this strange fairy-tale land that was more a nightmare than it was a flight of fancy.
As I lay in my bed, listening to the albino dragon bemoan the terrible state of my body, my eyes drifted to the door. It had opened quietly while we had been talking, and I saw Myrik standing there, an unreadable expression on his face.
He didn’t speak, and neither did I. I wondered what he was thinking, but at the same time I felt like I knew. He had come for me. Despite all logic, despite the massive waste of resources and the risk of exposing his people’s new stronghold, despite everything he had taught me about risk and reward, he had come for me.
I felt more connected to him than I ever had, and how could I not? Sure, he was all prickles and barbs on the outside, but when it came down to what mattered, he was as tried and true as anyone I knew.
He stayed there, unspeaking, for the hour or so that Dwyllverys tended to me, only leaving when she began sponge bathing several areas that were especially caked in dried blood. Melancholy rose up the moment I saw his back in retreat, and I realized that the sour Advisor meant a great deal to me.
I contemplated that for a great while before Dwyllverys brought me a tankard of something quite delicious smelling.
“Here, take this. It will help you sleep.”
I groaned. “I feel like all I’ve been doing for the past few weeks is sleep!”
“I am going to set your leg, and make sure your arm is properly relocated. I tried previously, but your limb was so swollen it was impossible to tell if I aligned it with the joint. This is incredibly painful, so you can either drink the drink, or you can experience all of it in real time.”
“I’ll drink the drink,” I murmured, trying not to sound like I was pointing.
“Very good. Here you are.”
I figured if I was going to knock myself out, I might as well enjoy it, so I downed several hearty gulps of the pleasant-smelling draught. It tasted even better, with a lovely mix of summer berries, honey and something else I couldn’t identify.
It didn’t take long for the effects to kick in, and I found myself quickly slipping into the now incredibly familiar hold of involuntary unconsciousness. But as I fell into the inky waves, I knew that this wasn’t going to be a normal trip to Lalaland.
I wasn’t alone.
“Goddamnit, you idiotic little girl!” I dodged as a large chunk of wood went sailing past me. I was back in that same room that I had first saw the faceless man in, and he was back yet again. “You got a dragon to go to the capital to save you! How? How is that possible.”
He ripped up another chunk of floor and pelted it, but it wasn’t specifically at me. No, it seemed our mystery friend was having a proper meltdown and the only thing missing was some popcorn so I could enjoy the show.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t you see all this in that grand scheme of yours?” He whirled on me, and I could feel the murder rolling off of him in waves. “What is that grand scheme, by the way. Because unless it’s failing at everything, you’re not doing very well.”
Suddenly he was next to me, mouth brushing against my ear. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” he hissed.
“No, actually. And that’s why I’m beating you.”
That seemed to surprise him, and he straightened, allowing me to turn and look at the face I just couldn’t quite identify.
“You see, you’re so used to fighting these Shepard people, whoever they are, and it’s clear they follow a certain ruleset. I don’t know any of that. Heck, I didn’t even know they were a whole people until maybe a couple weeks ago!
“You keep expecting me to follow these patterns, these rhythms that make sense based on everyone you’ve faced before, but I don’t know any of them because I’ve never learned.”
“So, you’re saying you’re beating me because you’re too stupid and I’m overthinking?”
“Eh, that wasn’t it entirely, but it’s close enough.” I shrugged. “I don’t even necessarily want to stop whatever it is you’ve got set up here. I just want to restore peace. I don’t know if those are mutually exclusive goals, but if they aren’t, I would be more than happy to see if we could work something out.”
“Don’t you understand yet? The extinction of the dragons is exactly a part of my plan. Once the humans are unchecked, they’ll move on to their next target, and the next until there’s nothing in their path and this entire realm topples into ruin!”
“Why on earth would you want that?”
“Hah! You really do know nothing.”
“Yeah, I thought that would be something that we have long since established by now, but I appreciate your consistent overestimation of my knowledge.”
He stepped back, laughing heartily. “Poor little Mercedes. It’s such a big universe, and you don’t even understand a sliver of it. I’m going to enjoy teaching you everything you need to know.”
“You know, you say something along those lines every time, and so far, all you’ve done is show me your hand ahead of time. You tried to frighten me with your big, bad visions of what would happen when the humans found us, so I blew up a mountain. Whatever you think of next, I will slap it down bigger, badder, and better than anything you can cook up.”
“That we shall have to see. But remember, my little Shepard, that pride does come before a fall. And it will be oh so incredibly delicious to watch you and your little companions fall one by one.”
With that, he faded, just as he had before. The bare room we were in lingered for a touch longer before also dissolving into the same blank slate I was becoming accustomed to. Heaving a sigh, I locked away all of his words to remember for later, and I slipped back into my slumber.
True, I was safe for now. But I had a terrible feeling that it was all going to come crashing down on me yet again.