Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TYNAN
We flew the rest of the day and a good chunk of the night.
It was more difficult than I thought it would be.
Every time we flew over a village, we had to stop and survey the area.
If she was in trouble, the crawlers would show us that something was amiss.
Usually, crawlers just stood by themselves, not motivated to move unless the possibility of getting fresh meat was somewhere on the horizon.
So far, every town, every city, we passed was quiet, without large herds gathering together.
“Do you think she’s still alive?” Victor asked.
“Yes,” I responded without hesitation.
“How do you know?” Frid asked.
“I just know.”
Silence followed my response.
“I still can’t believe you let her handcuff you,” Victor continued.
I had a strong urge to punch his smug dragon face.
“It could happen to anyone,” Sol chimed in.
“Thanks,” I responded.
“If a beautiful girl offers to handcuff me, I wouldn’t say no,” he continued.
I closed my eyes. It took all of my self-control to stay silent.
“I really don’t want that mental image,” Frid muttered.
Another hour passed and the blackness of the sky above made the search more difficult. She was close. So close that I could almost feel her. I could feel her presence deep in my bones.
“We need to make camp,” Victor said.
“Not now,” I growled.
“We can’t see anything in the dark,” Frid added.
“I agree. We need rest,” Sol joined.
Instead of answering, I descended lower, surveying the city below. She was not here, but she was so close I could almost taste her scent. That was impossible. My sleep deprived, tired body was playing tricks on me. But, I knew she was nearby.
As soon as I found a safe place, and everyone had landed on the roof, I took off again.
“Ty! Seriously?” Frid called, but I was already far away.
The clouds covered the moon up above and without its light, I could see almost nothing.
I followed my instinct and turned east. Another small city, its shape distorted and clearly abandoned, suddenly appeared beneath me.
I slowly flew above it, watching the outlines of buildings get larger.
The growls from below, the unsettled state of the crawlers, told me everything I needed to know. Chills ran deep under my scales.
She was there.
I landed behind the group of the undead that crowded around the storefronts.
My eyes darted from shadow to shadow, praying to all the gods I knew for her to be still alive.
Without hesitating any longer, I lifted my body up into the air, and waited until my lungs burned with the unspent flames before unleashing the fire on the crawlers below.
The last thing I wanted to do was to set the buildings on fire, but it was the only way to get the herd out of the way.
The burning bodies scattered all over the street, walking aimlessly back and forth.
When the flames died down. I landed, shifting back to my human form, and unsheathed my long hunting knife.
My blade worked almost mechanically, slaying the monsters on both sides of the raging flames. The flying suit was good protection, but how long the leather could shield me from the flames was not something I wanted to test.
I rushed to the closest one of the abandoned stores. I clenched my teeth and booted the door, but it was locked. Then a crawler jumped on me from the side, I plunged my knife into its temple and threw him through the glass storefront.
Without wasting any more time, I stepped through the window frame. A tiny shape was crouched on the floor. Her hands covered her ears as she rocked back and forth.
“Alina!” I called, but she did not react.
I looked around, noticing the crawler on the floor. A discarded poker was on the other side of its body. I kneeled in front of the girl, lightly touching her shoulder.
“Alina?” I tried to soften my voice, suddenly desperate to see her face.
When she looked up, her eyes were void of any emotions, as if she was not fully there. I shook her shoulders.
“Are you hurt? Answer me, damn it!” I lifted her chin and checked her arms and neck for bites.
“No!” she said, shaking her head frantically.
“We need to go.” I tried to pick her up.
“No!” She pushed me away.
“You can’t stay here.” I caught her arm.
“Leave me,” she whimpered and attempted to fight me.
“You are going with me!” I pulled her up off the ground.
“Why can’t you leave me alone? Let me die a free person. Is that too much to ask? Please . . . Tynan . . . please,” she sobbed.
Her hands clenched my arms. I looked into her beautiful eyes, full of tears.
In moments like this, I truly hated myself, hated who I had become.
Everything that happened to me, all my life decisions.
Things I was not able to control. She looked at me as if I was the most worthless man who ever lived.
And she was right, to someone like her, I was the villain.
A person with no means of redemption. I kept telling myself that I had no choice, that the lives of my friends depended solely on me, but that mantra was quickly wearing out.
That had been enough for so many years, but it hardly worked anymore.
I did not know what she did to get imprisoned, and I no longer cared.
She was a creature from another world, beautiful and not broken.
This life, the endless struggle that all of us had gotten accustomed to, had not corrupted her soul, and she was still alive.
I straightened. “Get up!” I said.
“Damn you. I hate you! I hate you so much!” she whimpered.
I moved back when she picked up the poker and swung it at me. I clenched my teeth and grabbed her wrist, forcing her to drop it. Then I dragged her toward the exit.
“It doesn’t matter how strong you are. I will never stop fighting you.”
Alina caught the doorframe and dug her feet in, trying to slow me down. She was so light, I easily picked her up. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she kneed me in my groin and the sharp pain forced me to let go of her. The next moment, she took off, running toward the well.
A sudden growl came from the distance, and my eyes darted to the horizon.
I ran after her, and in one swift motion, I grabbed the girl who stood frozen to her spot, her eyes fixed on something in the sky.
“What is that?” Alina whispered.
“We need to get out of here.”
I pushed her to the closest building, forcing her to crouch behind a window frame of glass mosaic that was leaning against the wall.
I glanced back at the building, trying to figure out if we had time to get behind the door when the massive silhouette landed just twenty feet away.
I had never seen an infected dragon. Even when the dragonborn was bit, the disease would spread into our bodies and turn us into regular crawlers. No one has ever documented a case of an undead dragon.
Alina clenched my bicep, watching the distorted shape of the dragon through the colored glass panel.
“What –” she started saying, but I pressed my hand to her mouth.
My eyes returned to the space beyond the glass.
I moved my head, watching the dragon. Its skin was peeling off, showing the bare bone of its legs and the exposed, rotting flesh of its belly.
The creature had moved closer to the well when one of the crawlers plodded out of the burning building.
The dragon angled its wings and lowered its head, watching the undead.
I stared in disbelief as the dragon flew to the crawler and swallowed half its body.
It shook its massive head, forcing the still moving corpse further into its mouth.
My eyes followed the dragon as it moved through the open area looking for more food.
It was no wonder people rarely returned from the wastelands.
I took a deep breath, forcing my heart rate to slow.
As it was, we only had a couple of options.
One was to try and lose it in the air, but the speed and agility of the undead vastly increased after sunset, the dragon could be much faster than us.
The other choice was to take shelter, spend the night, and hope that the monster would move on by daybreak.
I lowered my lips to Alina’s ear.
“We have to get into the building,” I whispered.
She looked at me for a moment before giving me a short nod.
I grabbed her hand and focused on the dragon who sniffed the air as it walked slowly through the open area. As soon as the creature turned the other way, I ran out, tugging Alina behind me.
We were by the door to the store when suddenly, a crawler appeared out of nowhere and then a loud growl shook the whole area. With one well balanced, explosive motion, I plunged my knife into its temple, pushing the girl to enter the building through the broken window.
I could hear the flapping of wings behind me and when I turned back, I saw that the undead dragon was closing in on us. His talons were pointed directly at me, its white eyes focused on my torso as if he was envisioning tearing me in half.
I jumped through the opening and grabbed Alina’s hand, pulling her further into the building.
We ran through the corridor, trying the doors, one after another, that were all locked.
We ended up in a small storage area with multiple wooden boxes and a couple of chairs.
I locked the door behind us and piled the boxes and furniture against the door.
“I don’t think that will do anything,” Alina whispered.
I placed a finger to my lips, positioning myself by the entrance. Seconds stretched into minutes and nothing happened. I released a slow breath and slid down to the floor, closing my eyes.
I didn't even notice when Alina sat on the floor beside me.
My eyes remained on the unfinished wooden panels as I strained my hearing, not able to believe our luck. Everything seemed quiet. Slowly, I relaxed my shoulders and rubbed my eyes.
“What was that thing?” Alina whispered.
“Undead dragon.”
“I didn’t know that was even possible,” the girl added.
“Yeah.”
My gaze landed on Alina, noticing she was hugging her knees, and her loosely braided hair draped over a shoulder. She was beautiful, and so out of place here. Looking at her now, it was hard to believe that I ever thought that she was from Talman.
I did not believe in gods or spirits, but we must have done something to deserve this hell. Maybe we were being punished for becoming too proud, too arrogant. For detesting other species and considering ourselves the only valued descendants of the gods.
When I thought about the things I have done in the past five years, and even before then, I could see why I deserved all this. I traced my hand through my hair, staring at the worn out wooden floor. I spent my days buying time, waiting for the inevitable end that was coming for all of us.
How long before my luck runs out and I get injured or infected?
What was I doing here? Spending my short time in this life following the orders of the council?
What would I have accomplished in the end?
Contributing to the prosperity of the lucky few who lived in the capital surrounded by luxuries and abundance?
I covered my eyes with my hand. Still, the girl who sat beside me was not part of any of it.
“It will be alright, you know,” Alina whispered and her hand landed on my shoulder.
I looked at her for a long moment, more lost than ever before.