“Oh I don’t doubt there are many things you’re good at.”
A sharp ping pierced the air pulling their attention. Birdie tossed a stick then sliced it clean in two. “Let’s fucking go then.” She marched past pulling a wary Bee in tow.
The night air was heavy as they climbed to the top of the ruin and Aesira wondered if it would bring rain. Her heart twitched, thinking about the day only a few weeks ago when she had danced in the rain with Stone. Had watched as the Strix dropped that boy. The sound of his body hitting the hard ground. The memory it tore from her. The memory of Eldrin.
Even if they had not found Desmond, this trip had changed her in so many ways. It had opened her eyes after years of living in the dark. Years, she had done nothing outside of the Order. Years she had spent worshipping a goddess that did not care for her back. Years she had buried the shame of losing her brother, let the mistakes of her childhood dictate her future. What she thought she deserved.
She didn’t want to think of what lay ahead. Didn’t want to think of Kamari, alone in the Citadel, praying to Celestria.It will devastate her, she thought. Everything they’d found on this trip, everything they’d seen.
At the top of the ruin, they peered through an expansive crater where the dragon had risen. “Do we just call it up?” Bee locked her arm with Stone’s.
“Oh dragon,” Birdie sang, “come out.” She laughed and Bee punched her arm.
"Birdie Odega can you take anything seriously, for once?"
"I was serious the day I told you I loved you." Birdie pecked a quick kiss to Bee's cheek. "And not a day since."
From where they stood, Aesira could see the fields ofastraglowing under the moon. The Lunaris moths circled above the flowers, eliciting more ethereal light. “Stone do you have theastra?” He nodded then reached into his bag and pulled a single flower. “Hold it over the edge.”
He gave her a puzzled look but did as she said, dangling the flower over the edge. A few moments passed and nothing rose from the ruins. “Why do you think it wants theastra?” Stone asked, pulling the flower back.
Aesira's brows bunched, watching the endless dark at the bottom of the ruin. “It seems like everything here revolves around it,” she said. “The fields and the moths. The flower we found in the case. The runes. I just thought maybe the dragon was also tied to it somehow.”
Stone smiled and held theastraback over the edge of the opening. “I love the way your mind works.”
Her stomach somersaulted, tripping over a single word, then, he let go.
“Wait!” Bee shot forward. “We need that for the ship.”
“We’ll get another,” he said, eyespinned on Aesira.
The gleaming glow of the flower faded into the inky black of the pit then, a deep bellow echoed up through the roof.
“Finally,” Birdie said, holding the sword higher. “Here we go.”
The roof shook but Birdie stood firm, her grip around the sword assured. The ground beneath them quaked and the dark of the pit transformed to white teeth and a flash of orange eyes. A gasp caught in Aesira’s throat as the massive dragon tore through the roof and that’s when she saw it, a golden chain laced around its neck.
“Bird!” she shouted. “There!” Aesira stepped back into Stone’s arms and Birdie stepped forward just as the dragon spread its enormous maw, spittle flying, coating Birdie’s face and hair. Its scream wretched through the darkness, bleeding into their ears, trembling their ribs in the chest.
A smile slashed across Birdie’s lips as she swung her blade.
One slice.
One sharp, precise slice of the weapon and the chain fell down, down, down until it disappeared into the deep chasm and the dragon soared overhead, dark scales disguising into the night.
Breaths heavy, legs weak, they dropped to their knees. A laugh bubbled in Aesira’s chest until she couldn’t contain it. It rippled out of her in waves until she was clutching her side and then Bee was laughing too and Stone. Then, Birdie.
“We just freed a dragon,” Birdie said and as if on cue the beast roared overhead, sobering their bout of laughter. “Shit, we just freed a fucking dragon.” She pulled herself to her feet, grabbing Bee’s hand and pulling her too. “We need to getthe hell out of here.”
They walked straight through the night, found a hidden cave to sleep in during the day and decided it was best to trudge through the Polaris Ridge come nightfall. It wasn’t worth the risk sleeping there again, not with the Dreamweavers. They would make the trip through the ridge as quickly as possible, torches lit and wide awake.
The air began to change once over the ridge. Arid and dry. Nothing like the fresh, cool air of Ravki that Aesira found herself missing. She should feel relieved they were almost back to the Aquila but all she felt was sick.
Sick that she’d failed to find Desmond. Sick that the further she walked from Ravki, the more she missed it. She glanced at Stone as he set up camp. A few more days and they would be back to the Aquila, headed back to Vargah, where they would face a hurdle of challenges.
“There has never been a world where you and I feast at the same table.”
His words rang in her mind, over and over again. Her father would never accept his daughter to be with an Odega and it didn’t matter anyway. She had her orders. She and the rest of her knights would leave Vargah as soon as she arrived, moving on to their next station for several months. At first she was content with the timeshe and Stone had together but now as he slid next to her and pulled her close, kissing her softly on the lips, she wasn’t sure there would ever be enough time with him.