Content
Part 1
“So, I guess I win our little wager.”
Isaac looked up from the pages, fluttering wildly in his hands as the wind whipped by.
“Wager?” he asked.
“Remember when we first got to Delvon? I told you we wouldn’t be staying there longer than a week.”
He didn’t quite remember, but that certainly sounded like the sort of rash thing he’d bet on, and her memory was impeccable.
“Uh-oh, what did I stake on it this time?” he asked regretfully.
“Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t cruel enough to let you actually bet anything, just your pride,” she teased.
“How nice of you,” he replied in a joking, sarcastic tone, though he couldn’t help feeling just a bit relieved.
Celine beat her wings again to maintain their altitude; a deep *thwump* and a noticeable upward jerk, neither of which were really noticed at all by Isaac. He looked down at his papers again.
“So, what’s the trouble this time? Some senseless noble who needs to be scared straight?” she asked with a hint of aggravation. “If I had an extra meal for every time the king wasted a dragon on such a simple task, I’d be too fat to fly.”
“Raiders, actually.”
“Essl raiders? In Avastan?” she replied with surprise. “But that’s days from the border by foot. What about the army? What about the civil guard?”
Isaac flipped through the papers for a moment.
“Slipped in past the army and scared off the civil guard,” he summarized. “Managed to sabotage each barracks in every town they hit before attacking so the guards couldn’t fight back.”
“What a mess.”
“A job for the Knights.”
*Thwump*; another wingbeat.
“So they’ve actually hit Avastan then? And we’re charging straight in?”
“No, but they’re close. They took the next town over, a couple days ago. This is their most likely next stop.”
“Good, at least I’ll get a bit of rest after all this flying before I have to- Ugh, I had to open my mouth.”
Celine beat her wings several times, picking up speed.
“What?”
“I can see it from here, the raid’s already started, Avastan is under attack.” There was a note of urgency in her voice, but it was mostly overshadowed by her clear annoyance that she wouldn’t be getting her nap.
“Blast!” Isaac grumbled, he stuffed the papers away and began hastily checking over his effects: securing his sword, tightening his armor, donning his helmet. “Can you see how many? How long until we land?”
“Two minutes, maybe three. I don’t have a good angle yet, but I’d say at least two dozen, probably more judging by the way everyone’s fleeing.”
Isaac scrambled as Celine’s wingbeats intensified. They normally had a bit more time to plan before taking action, but it seemed like only moments later that he felt her begin to descend, a sign that they were getting close indeed.
“They’ve started a fire,” she reported.
“Blast!!” Isaac swore again, abandoning his remaining preparations. “Give me a view!”
Celine banked sharply, flapping hard, letting Isaac take a long look over her flank at the town below. He could see the people running, the first few billows of smoke. They were only seconds from touchdown now. They needed a place to land, and a plan.
“I think we’re going to need a good show to get their attention,” he said.
“Sounds fine to me,” she replied. “I say we use the three-story stone building near the center.”
“What about the damages? You know you’re not supposed to land on those.”
“Half the buildings will be in flames in minutes if we don’t strike hard, and the other half will be looted. I don’t think the king will mind a few cracks.”
“Fine. Take us in. Let’s show these guys who they’re dealing with.”
Isaac felt her take a sharp dive, the wind howling past his ears, the world slowly rotating as she adjusted her aim. He saw the buildings getting larger as they approached, heard the faint din of battle below. And then Celine’s massive wings shot out to either side, pressing him flat against her back; heavy, low thumps assaulting his ears as she slowed herself. He heard the scrape and crack of her claws against stone, mixed with the screams and gasps of the shocked crowd below.
Celine alighted atop the roof, prominently overlooking most of the raiders’ forces, but she paid them no mind yet. She raised her wings to the sky and splayed them wide, casting large, dark shadows over the town. She took a deep breath, drawing her head up and back, her chest swelling.
And then she lashed her snout upwards, and roared. A loud, fierce, boneshaking sound; accompanied by an equally impressive, thirty-foot column of bright flames, shooting from her jaws up into the blue sky. It was a display that could hardly be topped if the Earth itself had split open and the fires of Hell had spewed forth.
For those few seconds, the universe itself quivered. And then she stopped. She lowered her head and wings slowly; all eyes were on her now. But she let the attention pass her by. Dipping her neck below the height of the roof, her gleaming back took prominence, and as her head left the view of most onlookers, all eyes slowly shifted to Isaac.
He stood atop her dazzling teal scales, clad in striking armor of his own, and drew his sword, thrusting it into the air for all to see. He could hear faint whispers from below as it rang out; some in awe, some in fear, some in anger. He summoned the loudest, most commanding voice he could.
“The Velarian Knights have arrived! The assault on this town is over! In the name of the king, all trespassers are demanded to drop their weapons and leave at once. This is your only warning.”
It took a second for his words to settle in through the shock, but that second was followed by the clatter of metal, wood and stone as uncounted numbers of warriors flung their implements to the ground and ran. Isaac watched from on high, keeping his smug satisfaction well contained as he maintained his stern expression.
His pride was short-lived, however. After a few moments of watching invaders flee, just after he’d thought they had succeeded in scaring them all off, a jolt of terror ran through him, as a projectile ricocheted off his shoulder piece, nearly knocking him off balance.
Celine’s head instantly snapped to where the bolt had originated: a group of five, half-cowering around the corner of a building down the path.
Isaac never even said a word; he didn’t need to. They both knew the drill; their enemies got one chance. One, that was it.
Celine leapt from the rooftop, covering more than half the distance before she hit the ground, she kept her forward momentum, continuing into a second bound aimed straight at her targets. Before the man who had fired had any chance to reload, the dragon’s massive paw came crashing through, knocking him and two others ten feet through the dirt.
She locked her eyes on where they landed, intent on finishing the job, but one foe who was still standing leapt in front of her, thrusting a sword threateningly in her direction.
“Back!” he spat. “Back, demon beast!!”
Fool, the dragoness thought in passing. She could never reason what brought some humans to put on such a hopeless display. She was countless times their size. Large enough that it was quite easy to make an example of them.
Hardly thinking twice, Celine glanced angrily down at her foe, opened her jaws, and snapped.
In that one split second, the man saw the red flash of the dragon’s maw, and all trace of color drained from his face. He did what he should have done earlier and dropped his sword, but Celine’s jaws had already closed around his belly by the time it hit the ground.
Rocketing all the way from the dirt, she flung her head skyward, letting her snout part as it reached its peak. Out flew the man, straight up in the air, crying out with a harsh scream. He flailed and flipped as gravity regained control. His ascent slowed, and then stopped, and then he began to fall. He plummeted, still screaming, straight back down into Celine’s maw, disappearing from the world one final time with an audible gulp.
“No man left behind!! Attack!!” The crossbowman whom she had knocked down earlier, evidently some kind of leader, was already back on his feet, aiming his weapon again.
“Celine, behind you!” Isaac called. He had spotted a group of six- no- eight men charging from the rear, with swords and axes and spears.
Celine swiped her tail swiftly along the ground, knocking the men over, but not out. Another bolt whizzed through the air, this time ricocheting off one of the scales of the dragoness’ chest.
“You would dare shoot that thing at me?” she growled angrily. But Isaac was more focused on a third group of assailants who were emerging from a looted building nearby, looking to ambush them while they were preoccupied. There were far more enemies here than they had thought; not more than Celine could deal with, but maybe more than she could walk away from uninjured.
“Let me down, I’ll try to keep them off you while you clean up!” he called.
Celine extended one limb toward the man who had shot at her and slammed it to the ground with a fierce thud. An intimidating threat, but also an easy way for Isaac to dismount. In a practiced move, he slid off her flank and down her leg, landing heavily on his feet as his armor clanked.
As soon as he was clear, Celine made her next move, leaping toward her target. Isaac turned his attention to the foes approaching from behind, readying his sword and taking his fighting stance.
The next few moments were filled with the sounds of battle: the clash of swords, the thud of draconic steps, the twang of arrows and bolts, the cries of falling warriors, the gulps of Celine swallowing.
With both of them in the fight, they had divided their enemies in half. This made things much easier for Celine, but much harder for Isaac. He was well trained- far better than any of these rookies, as any Velarian Knight should be- but even he could only fight so many enemies at a time. He was dispatching them at a steady pace, but he was quickly getting pushed further and further up the street. He could hear Celine rampaging just behind him, the base of her tail looming overhead, but he couldn’t spare a glance backwards without being impaled.
One opponent took a well-timed thrust, and Isaac was forced to parry it rather hastily, flinging his sword harshly out to one side. He knocked his foe’s weapon clean out of his hands, but to his surprise, he felt his own sword make contact with something unexpected.
He heard Celine roar in anger. He looked to his blade. They had backed him up further than he had thought, and he found with surprise that he had unwittingly sliced his blade right into the back of one of Celine’s legs- so hard that he had managed to crack through some of her scales.
His immediate thought was to pull it back out, not only for her sake, but because without his weapon he was probably only a second or two away from being hacked to pieces. But there was something else he should have been worrying about, something that was upon him even faster than his enemies.
He hardly saw it coming. The shadow had only given him a split-second’s warning, and by the time he had looked up, it was already far too late. The moment gave him no time to shout, to breathe, to blink, all it gave him was a bone chilling view, and a jolt of primal terror.
Celine had been quite busy finishing off the last of the men before her when she had felt the blade pierce her hide. Angry and indignant that someone had managed to land a clean blow, she had snapped her neck around like a whip. She had opened her jaws wide, teeth bared in a blind attack, and chomped.
The dragoness’ tongue hit him like a brick wall. Everything suddenly went dark. Hot liquids splattered over his skin as they seeped through the gaps in his armor. He fought to keep hold of his senses as he shook off the impact.
Damn! She didn’t even look! He thought, equally angry at himself for not keeping a better eye on his own weapon. He felt Celine thrash her head, and presumably the rest of her body around as she proceeded to bat away at their remaining foes. He took a deep breath, barely managing not to choke on the dragon’s hot, humid breath.
“Celine!! It’s me!! Let me go!!” he yelled.
He felt what might have been a twitch of her tongue against his armor, but the thrashing continued. Muffled cries from men outside reached his ears, along with the thudding of the dragoness’ movements, and the rush of her breathing as it passed through her nostrils.
“Celine!!” he called again, fighting off the instinctual urge to panic as he was thrown to and fro.
And then suddenly, he was falling. A blast of sunlight, a rush of fresh air, a hard thud and a clank, and he was back on the ground.
Isaac shoved off his helmet, the opening webbed with strands of drool, and took a deep, gasping breath. He blinked to clear his vision and saw Celine looking down at him, a bit concerned. Realizing he was lying belly-up on the battlefield, he scrambled to his feet and looked around. But aside from a few men who were sprinting away from them, everyone else lay flat against the ground, unmoving.
“I think that was the last of them,” Celine said. “You alright?”
He felt his breathing and heartrate begin to slow.
“Yeah, I think so. What about you?”
“I think you’re the only one who actually managed to touch me,” she said, half as a joke and half as a complaint.
Isaac raised his arms, noting the lines of saliva that stretched across his chestplate.
“Call it even?” he offered.
“Deal.”
…
“You should learn to be a bit more careful out there,” Celine suggested, watching as Isaac sat by the lakeside, rinsing his armor.
“Yeah. Sorry again about your leg,” he apologized.
“My leg is fine. I’m talking about the raider with the crossbow who nearly shot you clean off my back.”
“I had my armor on,” he contended.
“Armor won’t save you from a lucky shot, or a fall.”
“Or being swallowed alive,” he added.
“… No,” she agreed, quietly acknowledging that she could have been a bit more careful as well. After all, his mistake gave her a scratch, hers nearly cost him his life.
“You know, I remember a time when almost getting eaten was still terrifying,” Isaac remarked, splashing more water over his chestplate to wash away the drool. “What has it been now, four times?”
“I think this makes five,” Celine replied. “Count yourself lucky.”
“I don’t think I’d call almost becoming a dragon’s lunch lucky.”
“Lucky that I prefer to swallow my food whole, rather than bite you in half.” As usual, she had a point.
“‘Food’ in this case being humans. How does the kingdom let you get away with that, anyway?”
“Because I only ever take the ones I’m supposed to kill. That’s all they care about. As long as I kill the ones they want dead and don’t kill the ones they want alive, it doesn’t matter how I do it.”
He could hear the echo of experience in her words. Unsettling as it was, he couldn’t argue with her logic. Or her results; she’d been doing this much longer than he had. And after all, their methods might differ, but their job was the same. On some level he was almost glad she got something extra out of it, considering how much more she’d had to sacrifice for the position.
Sensing a break in the conversation, Celine bent down to the lake for a drink. The light of the setting sun glinted off her scales. Isaac’s eyes settled on a distinct spark of gold, gleaming amongst the teal.
The king’s insignia. He couldn’t help but feel just a little sorry for her every time he noticed it. A symbol of her loyal commitment to the Velariain throne, crafted of molten gold, fused to the skin of her chest where her scales had been torn away. He watched it twitch as her throat bobbed to the rhythm of her swallows. It was the price any dragon had to pay to earn the king’s trust, to enter the borders and join the Knights; a permanent mark of a lifelong pledge.
“Thirty years I’ve had this now,” she said, noting his gaze as she came up from her drink. “A dragon doesn’t get to live in the kingdom that long without learning the rules. And considering the only human I’ve had to deal with for the last two years is you, I’d say I’ve done that quite well.”
“What do you mean by that?” he asked. His tone didn’t suggest he had taken her statement personally and he sounded genuinely confused.
She shot him a skeptical glance, having expected him to pick up on her meaning.
“Nearly every other dragon in the Velariain Knights is grouped up with at least four humans, why do you think that is?”
Isaac had never really considered that question directly. He knew every dragon got put with at least one human- someone had to fit into buildings and read and respond to messages- but why just the two of them? Well, he was pretty good with a sword and she was a veteran. When they had been paired up two years back, on some level he’d just assumed that they had been judged capable enough to handle problems on their own.
“The king knows I’m not one to cause trouble,” Celine answered, as if she could read the thoughts from his head. “I’ve proven I don’t need a bunch of humans keeping an eye on me, so he can let me have some measure of peace.”
“…Being a Knight doesn’t exactly sound like your first choice,” Isaac replied. “So, why then? You’re a dragon; I’ve seen you hunt; you don’t need the free food we give you; you could live anywhere. Why live in the kingdom and have to deal with us?”
Now perhaps her cynical tone was starting to get to him. She paused for a moment to consider her next words.
No sense in sparing him the truth.
“Dragons and humans have been fighting over land for a long time; neither of us seem particularly good at sharing. For a human settlement, every dragon beyond its borders is just another battle waiting to happen. It’s dry wood ready to burn, and every spark brings another town burned to ash, or another clutch extinguished.
“I didn’t want to have to choose between fighting or fleeing every time Velaria decided to grow. That’s why I let them give me this.” She gestured toward the golden emblem with her snout. “It’s a clear symbol that tells all the king’s armies to leave me alone, and all I have to do is scare a few humans every now and then and swat the occasional invader.”
Isaac hefted his chestplate somewhat dejectedly off to one side and started rinsing his helmet. “So you’d be happier if all us humans just left you alone?” He couldn’t hide the depressed tone in his voice.
“Yes. All of humanity is just one big nuisance as far as I’m concerned, especially you.”
Isaac couldn’t help but laugh. He turned his head up to look at her and meet her gaze again.
“I know you didn’t mean me,” he said with a small smile, though to be truthful he was happy to hear her say it. “It’s just… it’s such an honor for me to serve as a Knight, to be out here with you… but I know it wouldn’t be the same if I’d been forced into it.”
“Life forces decisions on you, but it never decides them for you. It wasn’t the simplest of choices, but all else said it’s not one I regret. I opted to trade a bit of freedom and a bit of pride for an easier life, a dragon has plenty of both to spare. And as long as there are a few humans like you around, that trade sits just fine with me.”
Isaac smiled up at her appreciatively.
*chirp* *chirp*
A familiar sound caught both their ears, followed by the quick flutter of wings. A bird darted into sight and landed between them. It turned to look at Isaac, the bright white streak in its feathers catching his eyes.
“Well, looks like we have a message,” Isaac remarked, breaking the short silence.
He let the well-trained bird climb onto his hand and retrieved a tiny piece of parchment from the small container around its leg.
“‘Congratulations on another job well done’,” he said, quoting a part of the message aloud before silently reading on.
“…I take it that’s not all it says,” Celine figured, anticipating some unpleasant news.
“No such luck, looks like we have orders to move to Helma.”
“We’re going to the border?” she asked.
He read a bit further.
“Most of the army from that area went inland chasing those raiders, and the civil guard there is undermanned from when they were attacked. We stopped the raiders long enough for the army to catch up and finish the job, but it’ll take them a few days of marching before they can make it back to the border.”
He rolled up the paper with finality and stashed it away.
“Looks like they want us to head there as soon as possible to help keep the town safe until the army returns and the civil guard can be remanned. They’re probably worried about weathering another attack while our defenses are weak.”
“Looks like I have more flying to do,” Celine replied with a mild note of complaint, she flexed her wings lightly.
“You flew two hours this morning, not to mention we’re fresh out of combat. Take the night to rest, we can leave in the morning.”
“You’re definitely one of the better humans,” the dragoness complimented with a smirk.
He smiled back. A stray beam from the setting sun caught his eye.
“Well, it’s getting late. I’ll stop by the aviary on the way to the inn to return the messenger and pen a reply. We’ll meet back here in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me,” Celine replied, already starting to get comfortable.
Isaac, still smiling faintly, turned away and went to gathering his things.
Part 2
The sun already well overhead, Isaac trekked along the narrow path from the recovering town of Avastan down toward the lake. Carrying his pack, fully stocked for their journey, he listened to the birds sing as he walked and prepared himself for another lengthy flight. Admittedly he was a bit late, but he doubted Celine would mind. In fact she would probably be happy about it; more ‘peace’ for her to enjoy.
He crested a small hill and reached a break in the trees. Glancing up through the foliage, he took note of the weather: clear skies with a few slow-moving clouds; easy flying conditions.
He’d been thinking about Celine more than usual since their unexpectedly insightful chat the other night. He found himself surprised that there was still so much he didn’t know about her after having shared so much time together, and he found himself looking forward to spending more.
Just then he paused and focused his ears. He’d suddenly realized that a sound he had been taking for a songbird was definitely not coming from any bird. It did sound like singing though. Slowly he started to walk again. As he went, he found the melody growing louder, clearer. He began making out the contours of speech. Something about the voice sounded strange, almost unnatural. As he neared the lake, making his way through the final cluster of trees, he finally could start to make out the words.
“♪ High as the sky; low as the sea ♪
“♪ Light as the clouds; heavy as the trees ♪
“♪ Free as the winds; but kept under key ♪
“♪ Crossing the line; from you into me ♪”
Isaac stepped out of the forest onto the shores of the lake. The teal dragoness Celine stood by the water’s edge, alone, looking out over the tiny, shimmering waves. The singing stopped abruptly as soon as he set foot on the sand, just before she turned around.
He spoke, rather flabbergasted.
“Was that you singing?” he asked.
“You said we’d leave in the morning, it’s nearly noon,” she said back, ignoring his question and implying she’d been waiting for quite a while.
“Sorry,” he muttered awkwardly. “Yesterday must have taken more out of me than I thought.”
She seemed to drop the subject, stepping away from the shore and stretching her wings.
“I didn’t even know dragons could sing.”
“Most dragons don’t. It’s certainly a human thing. …But we can, with some practice.”
“Who’d’ve guessed.”
He slid the pack off his back as the dragoness approached.
“So, ready to head for Helma? Wager we’ll have to deal with any ‘excitement’ while we’re there?”
“I hope not,” she replied.
…
No excitement indeed. The place was half empty; deserted streets, a couple damaged buildings; Helma had definitely been hit hard. Isaac had been patrolling for hours now, trying to learn the frankly confusing layout of the hill-heavy settlement.
He’d found the town’s inn, thankfully in one piece, as well as a few other minor landmarks. What he hadn’t found in all that time was a single member of the civil guard. ‘Undermanned’ must have been an understatement; no wonder they wanted him here. He’d assumed he would come across the barracks at some point, but the twisty, uneven paths and cascading houses seemed intent on proving him wrong.
Making his way down a rather narrow path between two buildings, he noted the length of the shadows. The light would be fading soon, he should probably start heading back toward Celine so they could meet up before turning in for the night.
Suddenly Isaac froze, still as a deer. He blinked a few times, thinking perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him, but no. He put a hand to his sword and slowly crouched to reduce his profile, pressing himself against the shadowed side of a building.
Five men, lightly armed but no armor, walking right down the middle of a deserted street. They wore the blatantly recognizable attire of Essl raiders. The surprise scrambled his mind, but his warrior instincts kicked in quickly to take the reins.
Another raid!? No. Their weapons aren’t drawn.
The last bits of intel he’d read on them flashed through his mind.
Sabotage. They must be trying to sneak in and take out whatever defenses are left.
He looked them over, analyzing the entire group in a single glance. He picked out his first target: the largest man with the most threatening weapon, where the element of surprise would be most effective.
I can’t let that happen.
The first blow came faster than anyone could react. A sudden flurry of footsteps, the ring of a metal blade, and then a scream. Four men turned with startled expressions to see Isaac’s sword protruding from the back of their remaining comrade. Before they had a chance to respond, the Knight shoved the impaled enemy off, straight into the nearest raider, sending them both to the ground.
“What in God’s name!?” came an angry voice. A poor use of precious time. Isaac slashed his blade through the air, nicking the raider’s throat just as deep as he needed to.
“Give those bastards what they deserve!” came a voice from above. Isaac spared a glance and caught sight of a figure looking down from a second story window.
The scrape of another sword brought his attention back to the battle as his third opponent drew his weapon. The brute lunged furiously. A strong strike, but a weak stance. With a well-timed kick, Isaac sent the man stumbling past him. The Knight spun his sword round and jabbed, feeling the impact as he pierced the man’s back.
Two left. He turned.
The last raider standing had just managed to push the Knight’s first kill off of his other living comrade. To his credit, he quickly whipped out his sword and turned to face Isaac as the Knight approached. The warrior made a solid, skillful strike, but Isaac had seen it coming. Angling his blade just right, the incoming slash slid against his masterful parry with a burst of sparks, guiding him into the perfect opening.
There was another sharp grunt, followed by the thud of another body. And then there was only one left.
Isaac walked up to the sole remaining raider. The man was still on the ground, apparently with no weapon to hand. He seemed a bit older than the others from his party. The Knight looked down at him and pointed his sword threateningly, but didn’t strike. They shared a long, bitter glare.
“You’re unarmed, get up and leave. And remember this the next time you think of attacking Velaria.”
The man looked around frantically at his fallen kin, then back at Isaac.
“You’ll pay for this you two-faced dogs!” he spat, but he quickly scrambled to his feet and took off down the path, towards the kingdom’s borders.
“Woo!” came a lone cheer.
Isaac wiped and sheathed his sword as he looked up again to meet the gaze of a very appreciative old man.
“I never thought I’d live to see another Velarian Knight in action, what a privilege. I’m glad to know there’s still someone who can keep these thugs out.”
“The privilege is mine,” Isaac replied, returning the man’s smile.
The setting sun struck the corner of his eye and he glanced away, down toward his fallen foes. A few quick thoughts crossed his mind before he looked back up.
“Say, do you happen to know where the Civil Guard’s outpost is?”
“I do.”
“And does Helma have any guards left?”
“Oh yes, we have a handful still.”
“Would you be willing to do me a service and tell them about this little skirmish? I should really be getting back to my partner before I lose the light, but I can’t well leave these men lying around.” He gestured to the bodies.
“It would be my honor!” the man replied with a spark of vigor. “I’ll tell them right away.”
“Thank you, I’m sure they’ll be very happy to hear the news.”
…
“Five of them?” Celine asked.
“That’s right, swords and all.”
“I suppose they can afford to move in numbers, with so many of the citizens gone and so few guards left,” she reasoned. “You should have come back to get me.”
“It was only five raiders, I knew I could handle them,” he reassured.
“I mean you should have come to get me before spending hours patrolling alone. If there really are only a few guards left, you can’t hope to cover the whole town, let alone defend it from an attack. The next group could be in the dozens.”
He considered her words for a moment and then nodded.
“Alright, so tomorrow we’ll patrol together, from the air. It’ll be easier than wandering that maze anyhow.” *yawn* “For now, though, I think I’ll head back to the inn for the night- if I can find it again.”
“I could fly you there, you know; help you find it. I’ve been sitting around all day.”
“It’s fine, I was just joking. Save your strength for tomorrow. I’ll meet you here in the morning.”
“Do you actually mean ‘morning’ this time, or should I expect to wait until lunch?” she teased.
“Morning,” he repeated. “We have a town that needs protecting.”
…
And what a pleasant morning it was. The rising sun warmed the air, the birds chirped happily, wispy clouds dotted the dazzling blue sky. The light breeze rustling through the trees accompanied Isaac as he climbed the hill toward the clearing where he’d last parted with Celine.
The dragoness came into view as he rounded a bend, she was sitting up, looking down the path, her eyes following him as he approached.
“Good morning, Celine,” he said contently. “Ready for some flying? I actually did see a few guards around this morning on my way out of town, so we’re not totally alone here after all, isn’t that a relief.” He set his pack down and started going through it.
“There have been peace talks,” Celine said.
Isaac stopped and looked up.
“…You mean between Essl and Velaria?”
The dragoness didn’t reply, but her silence felt like a ‘yes’.
“Well, good. It’s about time. Maybe we can finally strike an accord and stop these raids.”
“A treaty was just accepted.”
“Really? That’s great! But how could you…” Isaac glanced around, and for the first time noticed a few recent hoofprints. Someone from Helma must have come to deliver the news… on horseback. Perhaps they didn’t know he was staying at the inn?
“On their way back home, the Essl party was ambushed,” Celine continued. “Most of them didn’t make it.”
“Oh… I see. That’s too bad,” he replied solemnly. “The lands beyond the border can be dangerous.”
“They were ambushed in Velaria.”
Isaac perked up.
“The Essl are furious, they have scores of warriors in the open now, on the borders of four different towns.”
“They’re attacking!? When did this all happen!? Why didn’t anyone come to wake me!?”
Celine didn’t answer directly, rather she just continued talking, her voice emotionless.
“The king sent messages all through the night, pleading with them. An attack of this magnitude would cost thousands of lives, casualties on both sides. By morning he’d managed to convince them not to strike.”
Isaac took a moment to process everything, wrestling with the frightening thought of so many enemies looming on their doorstep.
“How?” he asked.
“By offering a trade: death for death.”
“…The ambush, he’s trading the death of the ones who did it,” Isaac said, catching on. “He’s sending us after them,” he pieced together, growing determined. He wasn’t about to let this happen; they’d leave immediately, fly all day if they had to, search every corner of the kingdom.
“Where did it happen?” he asked.
“In Helma, yesterday.”
“…In… Helma?” For a moment he was terribly confused, but then it finally hit him. He felt his blood run cold. Those raiders he’d killed, they couldn’t have been…
“…T-The guards,” Isaac muttered. “They were all missing yesterday, maybe they-”
“-were all present at the negotiations,” Celine interrupted. “Right up until the end, when they let the Essl leave unescorted, as a show of trust.”
No one said another word. The chirping birds never seemed so shrill; the breeze never seemed so ominous. Isaac felt his heart begin to pound.
Had they really been peacemakers? But their weapons!
A necessary precaution.
They hadn’t said anything!
He’d never given them the chance. Not until it was too late.
…No. How could he!? He should have been smarter; he should have known better!
Staring at the ground, he reached slowly for his waist and undid the clasp of his belt. His sword and scabbard clattered to the dirt. The sword that had brought Velaria to the brink of war. The sword that had unwittingly provoked the deaths of thousands. He took a shuttering breath.
And then his eyes went wide. A static filled the air, invisible and inaudible, but he could feel it against his skin. Slowly, he raised his head and looked up at Celine. His mouth hung open; her face was solid as a rock. She stared at him with fixed eyes, as if taking in every last detail she could glean. The stark clarity of that moment crashed through him like an icy wave, somehow still leaving him on his feet. He couldn’t even bring himself to think the words, but he knew.
Celine sensed his realization. She shifted.
Isaac flinched and took half a step back, a sharp, reflexive response that took him by surprise. Celine was only standing up, he realized. The dragoness moved slowly, deliberately, lifting her haunches off the ground. It was a sight he’d seen easily a thousand times before, but she seemed twice as large to him now.
He refocused on her face, looming high over him, and only then did he finally begin to see it. Her blank, stoic expression, the one she’d put on for her own protection, or maybe for his sake. He could see the cracks. He could see the tears she wasn’t letting out, the pain piercing her to her core. And he could see her resolve.
…And he understood.
Memories of feelings and snippets of her words came back to him fleetingly. She’d let him come to understand this on his own. Life had struck again; the stakes had been set. And now they were both there with a decision to make.
Celine opened her mouth. The sunlight illuminated her shadowed maw, waves of red flesh gleaming in the light.
Of course, he thought to himself, she would end it like this.
She slowly began to lower her head, her jaws descending toward him from above.
Funny, he could remember a time when a sight like that hadn’t been so terrifying, even when she’d had fury and death in her eyes. Now she moved gently, no sudden strike or malicious intent, but he had never felt a dread quite so deep in his bones.
But he didn’t move.
He stared straight on into the living abyss, her gullet growing larger before his eyes. Her maw eclipsed the sun. A steamy wave of warm breath washed over him. He closed his eyes.
Celine closed her jaws, feeling the human’s form press against her tongue. He was still, almost deathly so, except for his heart, pulsing like a beacon as it hammered away.
She took him from the earth, her tongue guiding him in past her teeth as she brought her head up and level. He quivered. But he didn’t thrash, he didn’t shout, he didn’t sob.
She held him there, suspended. She would give him one last moment. Or maybe she was giving herself one last moment. She took in a long breath and felt her own heart beating, perhaps slightly harder than it needed to, and then she let it out.
She raised her head. She felt his weight shift, mounting until he started to slide, smooth along the slick length of her muzzle until he reached the edge.
*gulp*
Celine felt the beacon of Isaac’s heartbeat slip over her tongue and into her throat, passing through, down along her neck, pulsing rhythmically as it went. Further and further in. Deeper and deeper down. Until it disappeared into the sea of her belly.
She stood there for a long moment, silent and stark. The thought of her duties crossed her mind, the world waited for the news she’d bring, but she let the thought pass. The breeze blew.
Celine let her rear fall, and then her chest, laying back down onto the grassy hilltop. She curved herself, curling into a crescent, wrapping herself around her belly as if she were guarding some great treasure.
“You were a brave soul, Isaac,” she spoke quietly, “with a good heart.”
“I’ll miss you.”
A cloud passed over the sun. The wind blew once more, stirring the trees and the grass.
“…”
“♪ High as the sky; low as the sea ♪
“♪ Light as the clouds; heavy as the trees ♪
“♪ Free as the winds; but kept under key ♪
“♪ Crossing the line; from you into me ♪”