Chapter Sixteen

The moon was just crawling over the horizon when we found our way down to the basement of an apartment building owned by the Dragonborn. In that basement was the Dragon Door that would take us to Chondelai.

I had to admit, I was curious about seeing the home world of the Dragonborn. But at the same time, I was terrified. Terrified to enter another world and terrified that their world was filled with monsters –not just dragons who might want to kill me, but dark creatures who definitely wanted to kill me.

“Are you ready?” Deyro asked.

I gave him a small, nervous smile. “As ready as I'm going to be, I guess.”

“Let me ask you one last time,” Quint said. “Are you certain you want to do this?”

“As certain as we can be,” I said.

Quint looked at us with sadness in his eyes. He didn't think we were coming back anymore than we did. The grim look on his face threatened to overwhelm me, consume me, drive me to a dark place of fear. But I resisted. Fought back. Pushed it away.

“How about a little positivity?” I asked, giving him a smile. “We could make it out of there, you know.”

He nodded. “I know,” he said. “If anybody could, I would put my money on you two.”

“Okay, it's time,” Deyro said. “Let's do this.”

I looked from Quint to Deyro and back again. I stepped forward and threw my arms around the big Warden's neck. He was a little stiff and awkward at first, but then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Thank you,” I said. “For everything you've done for me. For the life you gave me. Make sure you tell Ella that as well.”

He nodded and released me. “I will.”

Deyro stepped forward and put his hand out. “Warden,” he said. “It's been a privilege and an honor to serve you. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Quint pulled him into a tight, manly hug, giving him a few good slaps on the back. The way men hugged always amused me, but it wasn't the right time to mock them for it. After a moment, they stepped back from one another and Quint gave us both a meaningful look.

“I will see you both back here soon,” he said.

I nodded and snapped him a small salute. “Yes, sir,” I said. “Soon enough.”

Without another word, I turned and looked at the Dragon Door, marveled at it for a moment. It hung suspended in the air a few inches off the ground, a myriad of colors swirling, pulsing, and writhing within the frame. It was strange and yet – beautiful.

I took a step forward and into the pulsing riot of lights. And when my vision cleared, I found myself not in a basement, but in an open field of tall grass. Twin moons – one red, one white – hung high in the darkened sky overhead, and the silhouettes of rocky, craggy mountains in the distance lined the horizon. It was strange and felt alien – and yet, it had a cold, stark beauty all its own.

Deyro stepped through the Door and was standing beside me a moment later. The Door pulsed brightly one last time before it compressed itself into a tight line and then disappeared entirely. A jolt of fear ripped through me as I watched our only way of getting back to LA blink out of existence.

“Don't worry,” Deyro said, a smile touching his lips as he intuited my thoughts. “I know where the Door home is.”

“You better.”

“Trust me,” he grinned.

I turned around and looked at the landscape around me. There were definitely many similarities to the landscape of home, but it just felt – different. I couldn't articulate how, I just knew I wasn't in my home world anymore.

“So,” I said. “Where do we go from here?”

“We need to make our way to the castle of the River Clan.”

“I certainly hope you know the way,” I said. “Because I doubt my phone's GPS is going to be much use here.”

Deyro laughed and nodded. “I know the way,” he said. “Don't worry.”

“Trust me and don't worry,” I said and gave him a grin. “Those are phrases that among humans, will always make them distrust you and worry. You might want to find a way to be a little more reassuring.”

He laughed. “I'll do my best.”

“So, how do we get there?” I asked. “How long of a walk is it exactly?”

“Walking?” he said, cocking his head as if he were pondering the question. “Probably about a week.”

My jaw fell open. “A week?” I almost shouted. “Why in the hell did we go through that door then? Isn't there one that's closer?”

“Yeah,” Deyro replied, clearly amused. “There's plenty that are closer. But Quint wanted to go through this one so we weren't accidentally seen. The element of surprise is the only thing we really have going for us right now and we want to preserve that.”

I nodded but dreaded the task before us. What he said made perfect sense, I just wasn't looking forward to a week-long trek through an alien – and very hostile – world.

“Good thing we're not going to walk though,” Deyro said.

“What do you mean?”

He cocked his head and looked at me. “Are you really that thick?”

“Apparently.”

He shook his head but grinned at me. He didn't say a word as he began to strip down. First his shirt – which he folded up carefully and handed to me.

“Hold on to this, please,” he said.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “If you really think this is the right time for that, then you –”

My words died on my lips as he kicked off his boots with his pants quickly following. When he stood before me naked, he gave me a smile and then bent down to retrieve his clothes, meticulously folding everything and handing it to me.

“Just put these in that bag I was carrying,” he said. “Please.”

I knelt down and put his clothes into the bag, still too stunned to speak. Deyro stood in the field completely naked, seeming to relish the cool breeze upon his skin. I couldn't help but look. The light of the twin moons cast his creamy white skin in a silvery light, almost making him seem to glow and his eyes sparkle. He was a beautiful man – there was no questioning or denying that.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Ready for what?” I replied. “I'm certainly hoping you don't expect me to –”

For the second time, my words failed me when he started to change. I watched as his skin bulged and fell away, revealing armored, red scales. He grew in size and a pair of long black wings erupted from his back. I had to bite back a scream at what I was witnessing.

Yes, I knew they were Dragonborn. I knew they possessed the ability to transform themselves form human to dragon. Intellectually, I knew it. I'd never actually witnessed it before though. And while on some levels it was fascinating, on others, it was terrifying.

When Deyro had completed his transformation, the beautiful naked man standing before me a moment ago was gone. In his place was a large red dragon. It looked down at me from its elongated neck, its red and black eyes burning with an internal light. He flapped wings that were as black as pitch once, sending a gust of wind that ruffled my hair and blew my cloak back.

Numb with shock, I stepped forward and put my hand on what used to be Deyro's chest. Gone was the smooth skin I'd felt pressed to mine so often. It had become a hardened plate of scales, rough to the touch.

Impressive, huh?

Deyro's voice was in my head – much like Quint's had been the other day in the training house. Apparently, telepathic communication was one of the Dragonborn's many abilities. Deyro was eight feet tall with wing span and a long tail. He had a mouth full of what looked like razor-sharp teeth, and two black, curved horns on the side of his head.

“I don't know if impressive is the right word,” I said. “But, I'll go with that for lack of a better one.”

Deyro's laughter filled my head and I couldn't help but smile. He lowered himself to all fours and looked over at me.

Get on.

I looked at him, not comprehending what he meant. This was all so surreal to me that I was apparently having trouble understanding even the most basic of concepts.

My back. Get on and hold on to the horns on my shoulders.

“Why would I do that?”

Because you don't want to spend a week walking to the River Clan's castle.

Oh, right. That. Except that meant –

“You don't really think I'm going to get on your back and fly, do you?”

Unless you have another better idea for quick transportation? In case you hadn't noticed, Chondelai lacks things like buses, trains, and Uber.

I shook my head, a wry laugh escaping my lips. He had me there. But the idea of climbing onto the back of a dragon and flying – thousands of feet above the earth – it filled me with a fear I don't think I'd ever known before.

“Isn't there another way?”

Let me think – ummmm – no. Not really. Not if you want to get there anytime soon.

“Great,” I said. “If you let me fall –”

I won't. Have a little faith in me.

I slung his pack over my shoulder and looked at him for a long moment. It wasn't necessarily him that I didn't have faith in. I was having a little bit of trouble with the idea of gravity in that moment. Frankly, the idea of falling thousands of feet and splattering upon the ground was a more terrifying death than facing down a dozen dragons with nothing but a stick in my hand.

I know you hate the phrase, but trust me, Alex. Everything will be fine. I will not let you fall.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded and stepped over to him. He held out one of his hands – hands that were tipped with wicked looking long, black claws, and helped hoist me up to his back. I settled down with a leg on either side of his neck, adjusted the packs and my weapons and then took another long, deep breath, trying to settle the swarm of butterflies that were battering at my insides.

Are you ready?

“Not really,” I said. “But, if this is the only way, it's the only way.”

It's the only way. Hold on tight.

I gripped the horns on his shoulders as he'd instructed me to – quite possibly tighter than anything I'd ever gripped in my life. The muscles in his back arched and flexed as he began to beat his wings. Slowly, we lifted off of the ground and began to ascend into the dark, starry night.

I hunkered down low as he continued up into the air, only sitting up – just a little bit – when he leveled off.

“Tell me if you're planning on making any sudden moves.”

You'll be the first to know.

As we flew through the air, gradually, I began to loosen up. I unclenched my shoulders and actually opened my eyes. And what I saw nearly took my breath away. We weaved our way through tufts of fluffy white clouds that floated along lazily. The world below us, dark and ominous in some places, sparkled and shimmered in others. It was gorgeous.

The wind whipped past me, blowing my hair and cloak backward. Eventually, all of my fear seemed to melt away and I was left with a feeling of pure adrenaline and exhilaration as we cut through the sky.

“This is amazing,” I shouted, unable to control my giggling.

I knew you'd enjoy it. I've always found freedom in the air. All of my worries just sort of – fall away. I can just relax and enjoy the views from up here.

“Almost makes me want to be a dragon,” I said. “Or at least, have a pair of wings.”

Deyro's laughter filled my head again and we continued on our path, flying for what seemed like hours. Eventually, he started to alter our course, descending slowly, until we were just barely above the treetops. He found a clearing where he settled back down to the ground and I climbed off. He quickly shifted back into his human form and looked at me, a grim smile on his face.

“We're here.”