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He gently set me on the ground, and I faced the fields, seeing several people working. It would have been safer to come at night so we wouldn’t be seen, but I wouldn’t have been able to speak with Tilly then, not out in the open. And besides, Azar didn’t want to risk me having to go underground and into the tunnels of the community to find her.
He wanted to keep me close in case he had to take flight and leave to protect me. And I wasn’t foolish enough not to know he was right.
The idea that I could be “captured” by the elders and council was very real. As far as I knew, no one had ever seen an actual Dragao. So to them, I was the first, and probably pretty valuable in that regard.
I felt even more beads of sweat cover my body, the twin suns intense. The Scorch was coming on fast. Or maybe it wasn’t any hotter than normal and my nervousness made me anxious.
Azar was a strong, silent presence behind me and clearly staying in his dragon form. I took a couple of steps forward and could sense him tensing behind me, knowing it worried him not to be close to me.
But I was trying in vain to see if I could spot Tilly and focus on that, not all the worry clouding my brain. There were a few people far in the distance, but I could tell by their body shapes that they weren’t her.
I stared at the other people I could see, a couple of them closer, but no Tilly. I started to feel despair that I wasn’t going to be able to see or find her, or maybe they’d taken her off field work. Had coming out here been a waste of time, a lost cause?
I felt Azar’s snout nudge my back, and I turned to look at him, knowing he could sense my feelings as easily as if they were his own.
I reached out and ran my fingers along his hard yet smooth scales. “Let me just keep looking. Maybe she went underground for a moment.” He huffed out, and I knew he was relenting and giving me what I wanted. I smiled and rose to press my lips to the side of his face, hearing his dragon instantly purr from the small touch.
My heart was thundering in my chest as I turned back around and continued to scan the bodies, squinting to see if I could make out the forms clearly. I moved closer to a large boulder, placing my hands on the stone but quickly taking it away, as it was too hot to touch. The heat was steadily rising these days.
Azar made a sound of distress behind me, and I knew he hadn’t missed the fact that I’d slightly burned my hand. I gave him a reassuring look over my shoulder and then focused on the field once more.
It was clear that no one cared enough about seeing Azar or that, for the first time in our life, a dragon had made contact, as I didn’t see any extra bodies outside and no guards patrolling. Then again, it’s not as if their spears or swords, their bows and knives were any match against a dragon, even if they did think they had a chance.
I leaned over the boulder to look on the other side, and my breath caught as I finally spotted Tilly a good distance away. She was alone close to the edge of the field, a thick swatch of fabric covering her head and tied under her chin to keep the sunrays off as much as possible. She was digging some roots before picking them up and putting them in a satchel that hung around her waist. When she straightened and stretched, her hand going to her lower back, I could almost imagine how sore she was, knowing she probably had blisters on her fingers.
I looked over at the other workers again to make sure it would be safe enough to call her over and they wouldn’t hear. When I was confident, I licked my lips and looked over my shoulder at Azar. His focus was on Tilly, and when he glanced at me, his big head went up and down, letting me know he had seen her.
After making a deep sound in his throat, almost as if encouraging me, I focused on Tilly once more.
But suddenly my body froze, every muscle tense, my voice gone. I felt dizzy, scared. All I could think about was someone hurting Azar, of the Pit taking me from him. I looked at my dragon again, and I knew he could sense more of my distress. He huffed out, and I knew he was moments away from taking me away, seconds away from pulling me against his chest and never to return.
