Chapter 7 #3
“Where are they?” I breathed as my shirtless fruit-feeders appeared from the direction of the river with a grand litter to carry me on.
They kept bringing that thing out, hoping I might give in to it.
And okay, occasionally I did, enjoying the ride for a little while before growing bored.
I ended up feeling like a prize meal being paraded about for people to feast on. No, I definitely preferred walking.
Snake Abs was carrying a flag of Cascada – I couldn’t remember their names, but he had a snake tattoo running across his stomach that was hard to miss. My father snatched it from him and drove the pole into the ground.
“I declare Coalmere belongs to Cascada!”
Cheers went up but they died out fairly quickly, the whole thing feeling a bit pointless.
“Pyros is hiding from us!” Father continued which roused some excitement.
“We’re a wolf on the tail of a rabbit and we will chase it further north.
Tonight, we celebrate our first victory here in our newly-claimed city and at dawn we take the river up through their fertile land, seizing it for our own! ”
At talks of celebration, a clamour broke out and it wasn’t long before someone fetched a drum and a mandolin from one of the ships to play music. Ale barrels were rolled out from a nearby tavern and merriment spread through our people. But I didn’t feel any of it in my heart.
I propped myself against the stone railing that ringed the brazier, watching the party around me in discontent.
Shouldn’t we have been more concerned about where an entire city had run to?
Kaské, wasn’t it worrying that not a single Flamebringer awaited us here?
What if they were laying traps this very moment?
What if they were waiting for us to drink until we were inebriated then attack us from every direction?
No one seemed in the least bit concerned about that possibility besides me. I noted that no one handed me a drink, perhaps laying their faith in the power of the Void to protect them if all hell broke loose.
Although a ring of warriors sat around me, none of them spoke to me. There were plenty of hushed whispers though, people pointing, staring.
Was this the life that legends lived? It was a lonelier one than I’d expected.
A flash of blue in the corner of my eye made me turn my head and a scaly tail disappeared behind the stone railing.
I lowered to a crouch, my pulse rioting as I crept toward the creature, certain I wasn’t going insane. I’d seen flashes of blue in the corner of my eye far too often lately. And now that tail…
I leapt around the railing, my hand slapping down on the tiny lizard and making him screech as I squashed him to the ground.
“I knew it,” I growled, locking my fingers around the small beast and picking him up. “Calcifiend.”
The Sayer Dragon chirruped guiltily, his big eyes blinking in that cute way of his.
“Why the hell are you following me?” I hissed, dropping to the floor and tucking him against my lap so no one else would see him.
Calcifiend clicked his tongue in answer, but it wasn’t one I could decipher and I frowned at the pathetic look he gave me.
“Your master is dead,” I said, my brows drawing lower.
I swear the little thing nodded, releasing a sad, mournful noise that pulled at my heartstrings. “And now you have no one.”
He trilled softly, nuzzling into my hand as if to say ‘I have you’.
And damn, I wanted to keep him. Was there really any harm?
Kaiser was gone. It wasn’t like the Sayer Dragon could betray me to him anymore.
And were these creatures even capable of choices outside their master’s command?
Maybe he wasn’t purposefully a traitor. And maybe he might take to a new master.
I ran a finger up his back and he grunted happily at my touch. “Kaské, it’s sort of nice to see a friendly face. I mean as friendly as a little traitorous lizard can be. You’re not all bad, are you?”
He chirruped in what seemed to be agreement and I smiled. “You’re not mad at me for what I did?”
He chirruped again and I subtly cast a silencing shield around us to hide what I was going to say next in case anyone was eavesdropping.
“Maybe he wasn’t such a good master to you anyway.
That emotionless lump of stacked muscle couldn’t have been the friendliest companion.
But I am sorry. Not for killing him. I mean.
..” I leaned in close to whisper just to him.
“Sometimes I feel strange about it. Not regret exactly but…I don’t know.
He was so broken. There are things about him I didn’t understand, but I wish I could now.
My mind can’t put it to rest if I’m honest. Sometimes I dream of him.
Sometimes he feels so close I can almost smell the cinders on his skin.
Sometimes I wish I could smell that scent again for real.
But that’s just for you to know.” I pressed a finger to my lips and Calcifiend rolled over in my palm, licking my thumb then sitting like a tiny dog and gazing up at me patiently as if waiting for me to continue talking.
I supposed whatever I said couldn’t be repeated anyway.
I gazed across the sea of warriors, finding myself exactly where I had chosen to be, yet feeling like I didn’t belong. “I guess nothing in this world is as black and white as I thought it was.”