Chapter 14 #2
The five drivas landed heavily on the grass, the largest and most formidable one in front. Adorex. My mind was grappling with the size of these beasts. Just one of their scales was larger than my hand. Fuck, they were huge and terrifying and beautiful .
Their crystalline blue eyes were on me, expectant. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get over this, the feeling of standing in the presence of something so ancient, so powerful.
“Hello again,” I said, offering a weak smile. Should I have said hello to them? Was it strange to greet them? I swore I heard Whit stifle a laugh behind me. “Thank you for coming.”
“They’re drivas, not party guests,” Miles grumbled.
“Shut the fuck up,” Cal scolded his younger brother.
Adorex flexed her serpentine neck, shaking her head as a puff of steam left her flaring nostrils. Then she leaned forward, as if she were listening.
I straightened, hoping I appeared strong and sure of myself.
I was standing in front of drivas . “I have an idea, and I’m not sure if it’s even possible.
I don’t know if anything like this has ever been done before, but…
we need an army. I sent word to the leaders of kingdoms around the realm, and none of them believed me.
They don’t believe I am the Daughter of Katia, or that Malosym and the Occulti are wreaking havoc on us, or that it’s up to us to stop him.
” I took a tentative step forward, doing my best to keep my chin high and shoulders back.
“I want to show them proof. I want to show them…you.”
Adorex’s eyes narrowed for a split second. Her gaze pierced directly through to my soul, and I somehow felt the most powerful I ever had for the sheer fact I’d summoned them, and the smallest I’d ever felt standing next to their hulking, reality-defying forms.
“So,” I pushed on, “my proposal is that we travel with you to Losina. Nesan, first, since they’re the largest of the kingdoms on Losina, and convince them to send aid. And since there are five of us and five of you, I was thinking…”
I could tell that everyone who stood behind me was holding their breath.
Adorex turned to the other four drivas, some silent exchange passing between them. Each second that passed was agonizing, because if this didn’t work, I was out of ideas .
Adorex turned back to me, and suddenly, my mind echoed, Yes .
My hands flew to my head and I jumped backward. “What the fuck?” I whispered. I could feel everyone on alert around me.
Cal was at my side in an instant. “What?”
I didn’t hear a voice in my head. I simply felt her presence, her answers given to me in an abstract awareness.
Mind. Petra. Hear.
She wasn’t speaking. But it was like whatever she was feeling, whatever she was thinking, was being amplified from within her to land within me. The feeling was a warmth that nestled into my mind like it had been waiting to do just that.
“Holy shit,” I whispered to myself. “You’re in my mind.”
Drivas. Speak. Mind.
“What’s going on, Petra?” Cal asked, his voice rightfully concerned.
Court?
“Court?” I asked, furrowing my brows. Her gaze fell behind me. “Oh, is this my court?” I gestured to the group of people around me. “Yes. This is Cal, Miles, Whit, and Nell.”
Nell gasped and Whit jolted, his eyes widening. Miles’ posture straightened, and something like fear flashed across his features for a moment. Cal’s hand tore through his hair, shock on his handsome face. “ What ?”
“Are they in your mind?” I asked.
Everyone nodded, and I couldn’t help but smile at their responses. In fact, I threw my head back and laughed at the absurdity.
I felt Adorex in my mind again. Nesan. Now?
My eyes widened at her question. “Oh, um, no,” I stammered. “We have to prepare, we have to… I didn’t think you’d actually agree to this, so my plan didn’t account for that. I’m not even sure I can handle this.”
Adorex stared at me, and… Did she just roll her eyes at me? Did a driva just roll her eyes at me? She turned away, her wings ru stling as she presented to me her side. Petra. Handle , she thought.
I almost scoffed. “How can you be so sure?”
Mother. Katia.
“Could I just try first? Maybe just take a few laps around the plain?”
Fine.
Adorex lowered her shoulders, a clear invitation to me.
This couldn’t be real. There was no way I was walking toward a driva.
There was no way I was carefully placing my hand against one of the concerningly large, opalescent scales near the top of one of her legs.
There was no way I was climbing onto her back.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I called.
I swore the other drivas chuffed, as if they were laughing.
No. Hurt. Adorex. Strong.
I nodded, exhaling as I secured my foot in the crook of a scale and clambered ungraciously up her body to settle between her shoulder blades. Holy shit. “Where should I hold–”
Then we were airborne, a terrified scream leaving my throat as I scrambled to grab a hold of anything I could. “Adorex!” I shrieked, managing to grip one of the spikes protruding from the top of her spine.
Petra. Hold.
“Thanks for the advice!”
“Yeah, Petra!” I heard Cal scream from the ground, Nell and Whit whooping along with him. “That’s my girl!” The other drivas snorted with what I hoped was delight.
My stomach was in my throat and my heart along with it as we rose into the sky. “Wait!” I called, my legs still dangling behind me as I tried to find purchase on the back of the massive animal.
No. Wait. Fly. Now.
Her massive wings beat ferociously, propelling us forward just below the cloud cover. The wind whipped in my ears, my eyes watering in the cool air that assaulted them. And still my feet fought for any semblance of a foothold.
This was how I was going to die. I was going to fall off a fucking driva.
No. Die. Feet. Scales.
Carefully, I hitched each of my feet in between two of the scales on Adorex’s shoulders.
Her head seemed to move in approval as I breathed a sigh of relief that my death was now just that much less imminent in this moment.
Without warning though, she dove, tucking her wings and streamlining her body so we shot downward at a nauseating angle.
“Fuck!” I screamed. “Fuck, shit, fuck, stop !”
Fun.
Fun?! Adorex’s wings shot out at the last possible second, stopping us just feet away from the ground before she angled her body upward again.
Would she be mad if I vomited on her scales? She’d probably be mad if I vomited on her scales, right?
We climbed higher, breaking into the clouds, and I shuddered as cold beads of moisture began to gather on my skin. My fingers stiffened, though I couldn’t tell if that was because of the cold or the vigor of my grip.
Sunlight , Adorex thought.
Sunlight? Huh? There was no sign of the sun today, not beneath a murky gray sky.
But we broke through the clouds then, and there it was. The sun was above us, the tops of the clouds below us, and I forgot all about the cold as I stared out over this foreign world. For a moment, I was weightless as Adorex’s wings flexed and beat before evening out.
And then, she soared.
“This is incredible,” I whispered to myself. Adorex gave me a chuff of agreement. Her wings held steady. Up this high, the only sound was air cascading easily by me .
Apprehensively, I removed one hand from the spike where I’d been holding on for dear life.
The other followed. A burning ache began in my thighs as I squeezed them even tighter, flexing my feet to make sure they were still firmly planted between her scales.
I spread my arms wide, inhaling the air that somehow seemed cleaner way up here.
For a moment, I wasn’t the Daughter of Katia. For a moment, I was flying.
No. Sunlight. Long.
I blinked, trying to make sense of Adorex’s thoughts. “No sunlight long? It won’t last long?”
No. Sunlight. Long , her thoughts repeated. I was silent, but she added, No. Sunlight. Adorex.
“You haven’t seen the sunlight in a long time?”
She huffed in confirmation. Adorex. Love. Sunlight.
Something about that made me pause. This massive, fearsome creature, this monster of legends, loved sunlight. A part of my heart cracked. “Where do you go when you’re not…here?”
Eyrie. Hell. Sleep.
“You’ve been sleeping in an eyrie in Hell?”
Yes. Sad. Love. Fly.
“How did you get here? To the Human Realm?”
Travel. Realm.
“So you can cross realms, too.” I leaned forward, placing my hands gently against her neck. “How about this? We cross the Widow’s Sea, garner the aid we need, defeat Malosym, then you can come live in the Human Realm and soak in all the sunlight you want.”
Her answering nod was enough to bring a smile to my face.
I cast my arms out beside me, bathing in the sunlight that the clouds had smothered from the world below us.
Then I let out a yell from the depths of my soul.
It tore through me, taking some of the fear and doubt with it as I screamed.
Adorex joined in, her neck flexing as she inhaled and let out a deep, bellowing roar.
The sound was different than when I’d heard it in Eserene.
This was happy. This was good. And still terrifying.
I could do this. I would trust Adorex and the other drivas to take us across the Widow’s Sea, to Araqina, Nesan’s capital city.
I would show Nesan’s king and queen proof that I was the Daughter of Katia and demand their army’s aid in defeating Malosym.
I’d do that in all the major cities across the continent of Losina.
Adorex banked left, heading down toward the clouds.
This time, I didn’t feel the cold as we broke through and soared toward the ground.
Adorex was graceful for such a large creature, and she landed carefully in the flowing grasses of the plain, in between the other four drivas.
She lowered her shoulder, allowing me to — very inelegantly — shuffle off her back and slide to the ground.
The faces of my companions brought a genuine smile to my face. “So,” I started, out of breath, “who wants to fly on a fucking driva to Nesan?”