Wings of Arian (12 page)

Morcant’s eyes narrowed at the movement, his voice changing from the melodic happy sound they had been hearing to a threatening low rumble with an underlying hiss. “So, the Prince wants to pull his sword?”

Emane realized what he had done and whipped his hand back to his side, but it was too late. Morcant’s temper had snapped.

“You are all the same,” Morcant’s voice was growing louder, booming through the trees, “thinking that you are better than the rest. You humans have no idea what is in the world around you and yet you claim your superiority over it.” Smoke was beginning to pour out his nose. Eleana yelled, trying to calm the situation but could barely be heard above the volume of Morcant. “And you, because you were born into the royal family you claim superiority above them all.” Morcant’s voice had grown thunderous with tiny bits of flame flickering around his mouth.

Eleana looked very alarmed. Kiora could see her mouth moving but could not make out what it was she was trying to say. Aleric was running to Emane.

“A thousand years I have been in hiding. Why? So that war would end. So that you and YOUR kind could live in peace. So that you could breed the Solus.” He threw his head back into the air and bellowed. “A THOUSAND YEARS!” Fire shot from his mouth into the sky. It lit up the forest as far as the eye could see. Morcant looked back down at Emane. “We have waited for you and your kind to save us all, and you can’t even tell me WHO WE ARE! We, who have sacrificed our lives, our happiness for yours, and YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW WE EXIST!” He punctuated the last words, his voice thundering like drum beats.

Kiora watched in horror as with the last words, fire again exploded from Morcant’s mouth. The scene played out in slow motion. As the fire burned a path toward Emane, Aleric stepped quickly in front of him to throw up a shield. The shield had barely gown large enough to cover the two when the fire impacted, exploding off to the side. The fire continued its assault and it was clear Aleric was faltering; the strength needed for such a shield was putting tremendous strain on him.

Something had to be done. Acting on an instinct Kiora didn’t understand, she raised her hands towards Morcant’s head, pushing every ounce of energy she had in his direction. Just as before, when she had made the shield that had stopped Raynor, she could feel the magic traveling down her arms and out. The force of it slammed into the side of his head throwing it sharply to the left. Fire scorched a line across the trees in the newly determined path.

Morcant’s mouth slammed shut before he bellowed, “ELEANA!” His head swung back around and down to Eleana’s face again. “HOW DARE YOU!”

Eleana held her hand up to silence him and then spoke calmly. “Morcant, you almost killed Emane and Aleric. I understand that your kind have short tempers, but that will never happen again if you are to work with us.” Morcant puffed smoke through his nose, his eyes still flashing with rage. “It also might be worthy to note, that was not my doing.”

Morcant just stared at her, nostrils still flaring with tendrils of smoke escaping. Eleana turned her head to look at Kiora and Morcant followed.

“Her?” Morcant asked.

“Yes, Morcant, her,” Eleana snapped. “She is what prevented you from destroying Emane and Aleric with that ridiculous temper of yours.”

Kiora felt her knees go weak. What was wrong with Eleana? She had just watched this dragon nearly kill two people and now she was directing his anger in her direction. But instead of breathing fire at her, his eyes softened and his face regained the calm look she had seen earlier.

No sooner had she relaxed than Morcant’s head came shooting towards her. She panicked. Morcant bent down towards Kiora when suddenly she was gone. He stopped and looked around for a second before bellowing with laughter. “Well, Eleana, I was concerned about a female Solus. But it appears I have now been outsmarted by her twice. Come, little one, show yourself, I do not wish you any harm.”

Kiora appeared next to Aleric and Emane.

“Gone to protect your friends have you?” Morcant asked.

Kiora nodded. “Your mood seems to change quickly,” she said, her green eyes fixed solidly on Morcant.

“I’m sorry,” Emane said a little too suddenly, and a little too loudly. “I need to go.” He turned on his heels and stomped though the charred undergrowth.

Kiora turned and watched in shock as Emane left, where was he going?

“Emane,” she called. He did not respond. “Aleric, what is he doing?”

Aleric moved to follow Emane, and then stopped, turning back. “Morcant, if you don’t mind, I will leave you to speak with Kiora.” He dipped in a respectful bow.

Morcant nodded his affirmative.

“Thank you.” Aleric hurried off after Emane.

Morcant eased himself down in front of Kiora snapping the few remaining trees near his tail. Folding his massive wings neatly on his back he cleared his throat. “I must admit Kiora, I find you very curious.”

She sighed in frustration. “Why is that?”

Morcant’s eyebrows rose. “You seem annoyed, why?”

Why?
She looked over at Eleana. Eleana smiled and gestured towards Morcant as if to say,
tell him.
Then she too turned and gracefully disappeared into the trees. Kiora’s eyes widened a bit, realizing that she was now completely alone with Morcant.

Morcant turned to see what Kiora was concerned about. “It is just you and me I see.”

“Yes it is.” She tried to stand tall to mask the explosion of nerves.

“Now, back to what I was saying. You seemed annoyed and I asked you to tell me why.”

She stared at him for a while before finally opening her mouth. “I am not sure that I would like to be the cause of you losing your temper again.”

Morcant’s laugh bellowed through the trees. “Curious,” he grinned at her, “I give you my word I will remain calm. I wish you to speak freely””

Wondering if she had a death wish, she spoke freely. “Morcant, you almost killed Emane because you didn’t like what he said. And now you act as if the incident never happened. I don’t understand how you can be so casual about almost taking a life over something so insignificant. Emane and Aleric are not just my friends, but also an important part of what we are trying to do. And you almost took them from me!” The words had poured out of her before she could stop them.

“Very interesting,” Morcant said.

Kiora was getting angrier by the second. “Interesting!? There is nothing interesting about it. You have a foul temper Morcant, just foul!” She watched as Morcant’s eyes narrowed, just as they had with Emane. “See!” she yelled, pointing. “You promised to remain calm and look at you, it’s happening all over again.”

“I am angry at your lack of understanding. But I gave you my word that I would not lose my temper.”

“You did give me your word,” she said softer, “but you didn’t give a second thought to Emane.”

Morcant puffed smoke through his nose and rose to his feet, branches popping and snapping around him. “Come Kiora, I will show you what it is that causes these bursts of anger you are seeing.”

Realizing what it was he wanted from her a knot formed in her chest. He wanted her to go with him. Away from Eleana, Aleric and Emane, he wanted her to leave the Hollow.

“You want me to go with you? Where?”

“Do you not trust me?”

Kiora just looked at him, her mouth opening before she shut it again, nervously looking over to the section of trees where Eleana had disappeared.

“That is as much an answer as any. Eleana trusted me enough to leave you with me did she not?”

Kiora nodded. She had a sinking feeling that in the situation, only one answer would be the right one.

“What about Dralazar? He will know if I leave the Hollow.”

“A dragon’s thread is strong enough to mask yours. If you stay close, we should be fine.”

“Alright,” she ventured, “I will go with you”

“Curious Kiora, very curious. Climb on then.” He stretched himself back up to standing, his enormous legs unfolded in front of her. She was barely taller than his ankle.

“Morcant,” Kiora yelled up.Morcant flinched. “There is no need to yell, little one. Dragons have excellent hearing.”

Kiora shook her head in defeat. There was no winning with him. “Sorry, Morcant, I just wanted to know how to get on.”

He looked down at her and smiled. “You have not figured out a magical solution to that one yet?”

Kiora shook her head no.

“Good,” he grinned. “Because the other way is much more fun.”

His head rushed towards her with his lips curling back. She screamed as his mouth opened. Throwing up a bubble she vanished again.

Morcant pulled up short. “Kiora, I was picking you up.”

She appeared again, “with your MOUTH.”

Morcant chuckled, “Alright, if you don’t like that way, wrap your arms around my tail.”

She lay down on top of his tail, wrapping her arms as far around it as she could. Morcant lifted his tail up into the air, depositing her onto his back.

This was a far cry from riding on Arturo. The unevenness of reptile skin was exaggerated by his immense size. Every bump felt like a boulder underneath her. She shifted around trying to get comfortable.

“I would hold on if I were you.” Morcant shot back as he spread his wings.

“To WHAT?” Kiora yelled. The rush of wind from him pumping his wings was so loud she couldn’t even hear herself despite that Morcant heard her anyway.

“I don’t know, I’ve never ridden a dragon before.” He let out a bellowing laugh as his front feet lifted off the ground.

Kiora lurched backward, grasping at the uneven surface beneath her. Luckily her fingers found a hold on his uneven scales. It was horribly uncomfortable but at least she wasn’t hurtling back to earth.

Morcant rose higher and higher into air. While Kiora was quickly realizing that her finger holds were not going to be a permanent solution, her fingers were already starting to throb. There was nothing to hold on to and he was too wide to wrap her arms around. She needed something else.

He had asked her about magical solutions, she thought back to the few things she had read in the book, summoning came to mind. She had never even tried it but it was all she had. Closing her eyes she shut out the pain in her throbbing fingers to focus on what was needed. First she called it in her mind, focusing her energy on the item, trying to see it, feel it. Magic began to flow, pulling in instead of pushing out. Finally something rough materialized in her hands, a large coil of rope lay underneath her palm.

“Yes!” She sighed in relief, laying her head down onto Morcant’s hard skin. Shifting her weight over to her left arm, she let go with her right. Wobbling a bit, she stuck one end of the rope in her teeth to prevent it from sliding down his back. With a renewed sense of confidence she flexed her magic a bit, using it as she directed the rope out and around the side of the giant dragon. It swung easily out wrapping around his neck and back around the left side. Slowly sitting up she took hold of both ends of the rope. She could now sit up on his back holding onto the rope like reigns on a horse. She flexed her left fingers moaning. Those fingers were going to hurt for a while.

Morcant turned his head slightly to look back. “You continually impress me little one.”

Kiora just smiled. She had impressed herself as well.

They flew due east, circumventing Meros, into a land Kiora had not seen before. This new land was quite barren and the only word she could think of to accurately describe it was… depressing. Her people never ventured outside of the forest boundaries and now she could see why. They flew past boulders and dead trees, tall brown bushes that looked like nothing more than a bundle of sticks rooted into the dirt. The land was made of one color only, brown. A hundred shades of brown.

“Well, what do you think of my home Kiora?” Morcant asked over his shoulder. She didn’t know what to say. It was the ugliest place she had ever seen.

“Hold on, Kiora.” Morcant pulled himself into a downward dive. Although grateful for the warning, she was sure was going to tumble right over the top of his head. Digging her heels into his side with a squeak she leaned back, laying herself out flat against his back. She wanted to see where they were headed, but didn’t dare lift her head in fear that it would offset the balance she had obtained.

Earth flew past her on all sides. It was a hole, just like the one she had seen the dragons come out of in her vision. The hole was enormous by her standards, but the tips of Morcant’s wings nearly brushed the sides as they plummeted downwards. The dirt was packed down, smooth, with occasional deep gouges where she was sure the tips of his wings had clipped them at one time or another. As they flew deeper the light became dimmer, the opening above her looking smaller and smaller. Then, the smell assaulted her and she coughed as it seared her throat and eyes.

“Dragon’s sulfur,” Morcant announced. “It’s a byproduct of the fire breathing. I understand humans are sensitive to it.”

“Yes,” Kiora shouted. “It’s a little strong.”

“There is no need to shout, child, how many times do I need to tell you that?”

“Sorry,” Kiora mumbled under her breath.

“Apology accepted. Now hold on, landings down here can be a little rough sometimes.”

Kiora’s legs and arms tensed even farther waiting for impact. As they approached the bottom of the giant tunnel, it curved, leading to an arched opening, which he nipped narrowly through before hitting the ground with a thud in a large dirt room. The walls shuddered and Kiora thought her arms were going to be ripped from their sockets as she struggled to hold on to the rope. Morcant walked a few steps to steady himself.

“There we are. Grab hold, Kiora.” He put his tail up for her to grab on to.

He set her on the ground before reaching his neck out above her. Gently blowing fire, he lit a massive torch hanging from the wall. “How was your first dragon ride?”

Kiora massaged her shoulders. “Painful.”

Morcant laughed. “Yes, I have heard it is not as smooth as a pegasus.”

Kiora looked at him in surprise. “Do you know Arturo?”