Chapter 2:
Aurlauc
Rock surrounded me on all sides except for one. The left side of the curved rock staircase that led from the bottom of our housing pit to the scorching earth above had carved windows. Anyone using the staircase had the opportunity to peek curious glances down to the city below.
I could feel a hard pit form in my stomach as I reached one of the case's many landings and crossed paths with Khrelan.
He, Tredorphen, and I had all been great friends as dragonlings. And then the humans came.
Not only had we taken a blow of losing Tredorphen, but something in Khrelan seemed to have changed after that. His attack on the humans formed a wedge between us that was nearly imperceptible to anybody but the two of us. But, it was there all the same. A palpable distinction that separated us.
I ascended the staircase that sat in the midst of our underground home and paid him no mind.
“Aurlauc!” the navy scaled shifter called out with a laugh.
I swallowed a sigh and turned on my heel to regard him. I smiled and gave a nod, “Khrelan.”
“Heading to The Tower?” Khrelan asked. The navy shifter didn’t look at me as he spoke, instead ridding the corners of his eyes of their crusts with his fingertips.
“I’m not stationed there today,” I said easily as I walked by him.
“Did you hear about Lenovius?”
I cocked a brow and shook my head. “Planet?”
He nodded, furiously rubbing at his eyes. “The D’Karr says he’s heard good things about the prospect of food. It is cycles away, but… he’s gathering an army to send. You interested?”
I shrugged, but Khrelan couldn’t see: too busy with his quickly reddening eyes. “This damn itch in my eye,” the dark-skinned shifter swore, all but ramming his fist into the hollow of his eye and itching ravenously.
I laughed at the sight and took a seat on the stairs above the landing where he stood.
Finally removing his hand from his face, he looked up at me, his eye red and swollen. “You know he’d put us in if we wanted,” he explained.
It was true. Growing up as cousin and he as best friend to the D’Karr’s son was as good as being royalty in D’Karr Boradrith’s eyes. He spoiled us and gave us rank as if we were his own. All we would have to do is imply we wanted in on a mission and it was as good as ours.
“Last time didn’t go so well,” I said in an uncharacteristically unenthusiastic tone. “And I don’t mean on Ceylara.”
“Oh right,” Khrelan said with a long, exhaled breath. “Zevaxu,” he said and his eyes widened. “What a mess.”
“I told you!” I laughed. “It’s a Drog breeding pool, the whole planet! We were as good as melted.”
“Who’d have ever thought you would be the one doling out advice to me?” Khrelan laughed and leaned up against the wall behind him.
“Sometimes I’m brilliant,” I said with a smirk.
“Sometimes,” Khrelan repeated with a tone that married a compliment with sarcasm. “You hear about the new orders in The Tower?”
I shook my head.
“The D’Karr wants Athena taken from The Tower and moved to his personal playpen.”
“Boradrith?” I asked unbelievingly and Khrelan frowned at my use of our ruler’s first name.
“Says he wants to break her,” he raised a suggestive brow and then let out a belly laugh. “Whatever that means!”
“I’m sure his mate must love that,” I said absent-mindedly, barely believing his words but trying not to look too stunned.
Khrelan sloped his shoulders downward as though it didn’t matter one way or another. “She was the only one with the coordinates to the Earth,” he explained. “Plus, it’s obvious that she knows where Tredorphen went. D’Karr is spreading around that he was kidnapped.”
I rolled my eyes and let out a seething laugh. “Please.”
“I know,” Khrelan waved me off. “But it’s what he’s saying. Probably just a reason to wage war against the Earth.”
I stood from the staircase and pushed my wings from their boney entrances that sat hinged on my back. I flicked them behind me and felt a tickle crawl through my spine as they expanded.
Khrelan watched me carefully and then looked to the ground, an uncomfortable air between us.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked lowly, my eyes shooting around the staircase to ensure no shifter was listening in on our conversation.
He swallowed and pitched a brow. “Why do you think?”
My eyes flicked from his and I remained stony. In truth, I didn’t know why he was telling me. Khrelan had made no secret of his feelings toward possessing Athena, especially since she had thrown nothing but figurative fire his way since she arrived. This ignited his passion for her like no other. He hadn’t even taken a lover since the humans arrived, instead waiting to claim her as his own.
“I guess because… Well, you know!” he erupted awkwardly, twirling his fingers to the air. “I guess I just knew you wouldn’t like hearing it.”
I tried to decipher what he was saying without asking and he rolled his eyes and swat me on the arm as he passed me by. “You are really just the brawn, aren’t you?”
I smirked and turned to watch him pass.
“Claim her or I will,” he said as a warning, still descending the staircase away from me. “That, or the D’Karr will have her, break her, and kill her for her inability to cooperate. You know the D’Sharr would love to watch him do it.”
He spoke of our king’s wife. She hated the humans, likely because they had captivated her mate’s attention. Specifically his nether regions.
I swallowed and nodded to my old friend, but he didn’t turn to see it.
With a quick exhale, I began my ascent to the top of our underground homes. Our whole society had gone from the greenery of Dobromia’s soil to taking shelter in an inverted spire that drove deep into the ground.
Our D’Karr's kingdom was set up through a series of interconnecting caves below the topside. There were rivers and homes, as well as green fields and the castle. Going to our inverted mountain town was the only thing protecting us from the heat. Those who were in the best standing, such as the D’Karr and his family, were stationed closest to the bottom, farthest from the suns. Those who were less than were assigned apartments near the top.
I wasn't exactly sure how living at the bottom was supposed to be a boon, though, considering the insane climb it took just to get to the top. Most of us simply flew topside, but I preferred to walk.
There were many things about my human shifted form I preferred over the dragon characteristics that spilled across my body.
I waited until nightfall before making my way to The Tower. I wasn’t scheduled, but Khrelan had made sure to distract a guard and cause him to leave his post with the promise of coming along on the mission to Lenovius.
With no patience for walking after my long trek out of the underground kingdom, I flew to the floor I knew Athena was on. There were various openings throughout The Tower: large window ledges made for us to get in and out of the spire with ease.
I saw Athena sleeping in the middle of her cell. Her body was splayed out before me in a mess of deep tan skin and blonde hair.
It was my joy to be the guard in here on long days: to sit and talk with her and hear her peculiar take on the world. Her opinions were immovable and I loved that.
Except when it came to her escape. Her mind was so sharply focused on the possibility of escaping that she never stopped to realize she would die under the scorching stars or be eaten by the many beasts that lived on Dobromia.
Still, I would cater to her wishes.
I looked around the stone halls and up at the intricate statues of shifter’s past: the intricate detailing the ceiling held. The shifter females had carved beautiful decorations into the bone ceiling and painted it with the stains from flowers. A rich blue shone back down at me.
The Tower used to be where the D’Karr lived. Our ruler and his mate made lavish shows here in The Tower. But, since we moved down below the surface of the ground, we had transformed the vast tower into a prison. We took the line of servant’s quarters and arrayed them with bars and locks.
I blinked in recognition of the beauty and prestige the spire once held and then directed my gaze back to the beautiful human sleeping on the cold floor.
“Athena,” I said quietly.
She stirred immediately and her blue eyes shot open, her recognition somewhere between asleep and awake. She crawled on all fours toward the front of the cage and gave me a strange stare, as though she weren’t entirely sure if this were real.
There were no words between us as I set a satchel on the floor in front of her. I raised each item to the air; the fire lanterns on the walls were the only thing illuminating the room. I wanted to show her exactly how much I loved her.
One by one I raised my gifts to her eye line. A bundle of grain wrapped up in a pouch, a sheathed knife, a canteen of water, a dark cloak, a roughly sketched out lay of the land on a scrap of cloth. And finally, her laser pistol. The one I had kept close to me all these cycles.
Athena’s breathing quickened noticeably and her brows drew into a deep frown. “What are you doing?” she whispered desperately.
“The D’Karr wants to torture you and the D’Sharr wants you dead,” I said quietly. “They believe you know where Tredorphen is.”
“So?” she spat.
“So he is their son; he disappeared with your sister. He abandoned us.”
“Yeah and she abandoned me,” she scoffed. “I think that makes us square.”
I ran my tongue along the underside of my top lip several times and looked at her with curiosity. “What… does this mean? Square?”
“It means we’re even,” Athena rolled her eyes and shook her head. “One for one, you know?’
“Right,” I nodded, but wasn’t sure I understood completely. I wrapped up the bag and gave it to her, save for the cloak, which I tossed into her cell.
“What’s this for?” she asked desperately as she slipped it on over her delicate curves. “Isn’t it a million degrees outside?”
“The cycles are hot but the nights will crisp your skin to ice,” I explained.
“Like a desert,” she said dismissively as though coming to a conclusion.
I shrugged, taking her word for it.
Athena shoved the gun in the band of her pants and quickly rifled through the bag I gave her before looking up at me with eyes as wide as saucers. It was the first time I’d ever seen fear in her.
“You’ll stand out,” I warned.
“There’s plenty of humans here now,” she argued.
“You’re not like them,” I smiled. “Besides, once they find out you’ve escaped, they’ll be on the lookout for you. As far as the D’Karr is concerned, you’re our biggest enemy.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“They’ll send his army after you and shifters can fly faster than you can run,” I explained.
“Why are you doing this?” she repeated, unable to accept my dismissal of her question.
I swallowed hard, and she speared me with her gaze. A bittersweet euphoria crawled across my body like a mist, and I took one last selfish moment to see her in the cage. To see her where I had befriended her all these cycles. I took a last moment to myself; not knowing if she would run the second the door opened or if I would get to talk to the defiant blonde for just a moment longer.
Air filled my lungs and I blew it out forcefully as I held the lock to the door and watched as it unlatched. The barred entrance went ajar and Athena blinked in surprised.
“Aurlauc,” she said quietly and my heart lilted.
She stood back in her cage and stared at the door unsurely and I began to laugh. She was always so calculated, she couldn’t even accept a rescue properly.
“It’s not a trap,” I chuckled.
“Then, what is it?” she asked skeptically.
“It’s… a rescue.”
“Why?” came her demanding tone.
I let out a loud sigh and continued to chuckle at the girl, reaching my hand to hers. “Because I’ve lost my mind.”
She grabbed my hand and I began to pull her toward the door, but she seemed to have locked her feet against the floor. Instead, she pulled me into the cage. Her eyes flicked around the room unsurely and the skin around the corners of her eyes tightened.
“Why, Aurlauc?”
“Why else?” I looked at her and could feel the heat rising up my cheeks. “You are my chosen. And I know…” I raised my palms to her in quick defense, “that I am not yours. But I would do anything for you. You know that.”
“I do now.”
The orange hue from the fire reflected against the blue in Athena’s eyes and I could tell they had filled with tears. She swallowed and then pitched the satchel over her shoulder.
The honey blonde whipped her long hair behind her body and then smiled in spite of herself. She stepped up on the tips of her toes and used a hand on my bare shoulder to steady herself as she reached her lips up to mine.
I felt a spark ignite through my body and even though my wings were retracted for her comfort, I felt as though I was flying.
My eyes closed by instinct and I felt them press shut in a way that was deep and hard: like being in a dream. My lips moved softly against hers just twice before they parted, sticky and sweet.
“Thank you,” she said as sincerely as I’d ever heard her say anything.
“That’s it?” I asked in surprise. “No sarcastic quip? No defiant opinions?”
“No,” she smiled up at me. “Just thank you.”
I nodded. “You’re welcome.” Then I pulled her through the gate and told her exactly how to get out of The Tower and which direction to go.
“I can’t promise to get you a ship… but if you head north to Westfall, I might be able to meet you, find a way to get you back to Ceylara where your ship crashed.”
“Don’t forget about me,” she said as she pressed a testing hand to my chest, then she pushed me back playfully.
“Impossible,” I smiled. “Don’t die out there.”
She smiled as if it were a dare and said, “Impossible.”