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“Well, the damn thing is that someone is going to have to do something about it. We can’t just let this happen. The humans may not have much fondness for us, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to lose their planet.” He then hung his head and looked as though this was taking as much a toll on him as it was on me. I hadn’t even asked him to help, although I was glad that he offered it willingly. It seemed as though I had found a dragon who had a similar mindset to my own.
“I was supposed to be somewhere else tonight,” he muttered, and then he stared directly at me. “Okay, look, Kadie, you have no idea how much I hate the thought of this, but we’ll head back to my thunder, and we’ll tell them what’s going on. I wasn’t planning to return there like, ever, but I guess I’m about to have a reunion with my father.”
“To your thunder?” I gaped. I had always been warned about the enemy by my father. If he knew that I was going away with one of them… well… I figured that I had already embraced a rebellious spirit so there was no point in stopping now. After all, I couldn’t do this by myself and there was nowhere else for me to turn. The only alternative I had was flying to the end of the world, but that would offer no escape from this fate. It wasn’t as if I could go to the humans as well and tell them that theirfate was in danger. They would slice me and dissect me and who knows what else.
I shuddered with fear at the unknown that waited for me. I stared at Buck through hooded eyes and felt an invisible weight rest on my shoulders.
“Will you promise to keep me safe?” I asked in a small voice. I still wasn’t sure whether this was the right path and I just had to hope that there would still be a way back for me in case I changed my mind, but if Buck promised me that I would be safe then I would believe him. He had already confessed to me that he was an outcast. In that sense we were the same, although I got the sense that he had spent more time away from his thunder than I had spent away from mine. I wondered about his history and what had driven him away. Had someone tried to make him do something he didn’t want to do?
He nodded and grinned, giving me that slanted smile that made it so easy to believe he was trustworthy. After being with Ilvar and feeling so uncomfortable, it was nice to be with someone who made me believe I could be safe.
“To be honest Kadie, I think you’re the one who is going to have to keep me safe. I didn’t leave home under the best circumstances. But when the world is at stake, what choice is there?” he sighed. I felt a little guilty at putting him in this position, but it didn’t seem as though he was hesitant to move.
“Follow me,” he added, and then he shifted into a dragon again. I followed suit and, having gathered my strength, we soared into the air and flew away. I knew I was going into the realm of the enemy, but when my own thunder was willing to sacrifice the entire planet then what was I supposed to do? I just hoped that the rest of Buck’s thunder was as welcoming and as trustworthy as him, otherwise I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I was horrified at the thought that they might even agree with Ilvar. I didn’t think this would be the case, consideringthe contrasting philosophies we possessed, but would they still adhere to their beliefs if there was a way home?
I was about to find out.
Chapter Eight
Mason
The night was turning, the moon was leaving us behind. It had been a long night, one that I thought we would never escape. Jade had kept her word and vanished. I thought about running after her, but didn’t think it would make a difference. Sometimes, we just had to let things go. It wasn’t the first time I had let anyone leave without fighting for them to stay. Friends, lovers, mentors, they all passed in one way or the other. The only constant to this world was the fact that everything changed. It made sense why Brett clung so fiercely to his beliefs because it gave him structure, something certain to rely on in these uncertain times. I wished I had something like that because it felt as though I was standing in quicksand and sinking down, feeling it rushing and rising and threatening to come over my head, and even if I stretched my wings, I wouldn’t have been able to break free.
I looked towards the sky and closed my eyes, wishing I could silence the fears in my head.
Then a deep, choking laugh burst from my lips. At first it was so alien and strange that I thought someone else was standing beside me, before realizing that the sound came from my own mouth.
I opened my eyes, wearing a hopeless glance. What else was there to do but laugh? After all, my life was a joke. All our lives were. We had been set adrift from our planet, settling on this foreign world without an invitation, without being honored guests. We lived like peasants, hidden away in the ruins and the network of caverns that lay under the world. We were like scared rabbits hiding in a warren, not the kings we should have been.I hated to admit it, but I think Buck may have been right. If he were here now, he probably would have told me to stop being stupid and get my head out of my ass. He would have told me that Jade didn’t mean anything, and then he would have taken me to one of those grimy bars he liked to frequent and get me to spend the night with a human woman. He always had an easy answer to the hard questions.
I had never been able to puzzle them out. It was as though, for all my life, there had been vines wrapped around me, squeezing me tight. It only felt like a matter of time until I broke. Now that Zeke was gone, it felt like I was closer than ever. Brett was getting ever more distant. The more time that passed the more I failed to remember the boy he had been. It was as though when Buck left, some kind of spell had been broken between us. We all went spiraling off in different directions. I had gone towards Jade, but now she had left me. I hated to think about it, but it was difficult to ignore the fact that the other dragons might feel this way as well.
In the end, it might end up being Brett and I living in this hollow part of the world. What an accursed thought that was.
I was trapped between the sky and the land. Above me was the open air, promising an endless stretch of possibility. The world was open to me, and I could reach any part of it, and yet I felt chained. Behind me were the ruins of an old fortress embedded into the land. It was impossible to tell where the stone rose from the ground. They were one and the same, with roots and weeds growing over the foundation. It was a place that had been forgotten to time, and one that we had made our home. The fragmented tower rose, its circular wall broken, revealing the winding staircase inside. No doubt it had once been a place of frivolity and hope, but now a shadow of despair had fallen over it.
I had only heard stories about home, but I couldn’t believe such a place would be allowed to exist on Drakon. The elders had often spoken about our home, how the cities had glowed and gleamed, how great structures had risen from the world, getting higher and higher until they touched the sky itself, and the dragons had soared among them. Sometimes the way they spoke about it seemed a dream, as though Drakon had never actually existed at all aside from in the mind of a storyteller, although to speak such a thought would have been heresy. I think most people thought the same though, even if they didn’t voice it. I hoped so at any rate, otherwise I was an outlier.
It was hard to see where the future was going to lead us. Leading people had always come naturally to Zeke, and his son was supposed to take over from him. Instead, Brett and I were the closest things this thunder had to a leader, but I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to go about it. Brett was aloof, and being around him now… well, I always got the impression he was moments away from biting my head off.
I sighed. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable.
The pyre had died down now. Zeke’s body had been given to our ancestors. He may not have been able to set foot on Drakon again, but I hoped he had found peace somewhere along the way. I noticed that Brett had gone up to one of the ramparts. He cut a solitary figure on the walls, staring into space. I shifted quickly and flew up beside him, shifting back as I landed on my feet. We had to be careful with this structure as there was always a risk of it crumbling under the weight of a dragon.
“We need to talk,” I said.
Brett didn’t bother to turn to face me. He could be so maddening when he was like this. Buck had always known how to handle him, but there were moments when it was beyond me.
“Brett,” I said when he didn’t answer. He turned his head slowly and gave me a withering look.
“I’m in mourning Mason. I don’t feel like speaking right now.”
“I’m not sure you have a choice. We need to think about what’s going to happen next. Without Zeke, this thunder is in danger of being directionless.”
“All we need do, is look at the past to find our way.”
“That might be enough for you, but it’s not going to be enough for everyone. People might see Zeke’s passing as a sign, a sign that it’s time for change. They could use this to leave.”
“If they leave then that is their choice, and they were never made to remain with us in the first place. There are rich threads of fate that weave through the world, Mason. I am not going to stand here and try to prevent people from leaving when it is inevitable.”
