by Kyle West
I’d already torn a hole, so there was no backing out now. I didn’t think anyone was watching from above, otherwise I would have heard something. They had been content to lock the trapdoor, trusting that it was enough to keep me in.
I took my time ripping the wall, using the puncture I had made as a starting point. Before long, a large enough hole had been torn, revealing the full silver light of the surrounding leaves and the glowing bark of the boughs.
I concentrated on my target – the thick part of the bough just beyond the thin limb that was sticking up. If I swung the pod to the left of the limb, I could hop out and land on the thicker bough beyond. As a child, I had done this sort of thing, jumping out of swings. Only here, it was my life at stake rather than a bruised knee. I was sure I could do it. I just had to jump before the pod reached its apex, and especially before it started swinging back.
I took a deep breath, my heart beginning to race. If I hesitated any longer, I’d talk myself out of it. It was only a five-foot fall to get onto the bough, but even a narrow miss would send me crashing through the branches.
As crazy as it sounded, it was a risk I was willing to take. I could never be at peace with being a prisoner, nor did I want to face the Elder Council for judgment.
I walked back to the bed, sliding it to the other side of the pod to clear my path. Then, I ran toward the opening. Then back. Then, forward again.
It didn’t really have the effect I was looking for. I didn’t give up, though – persistence, or stubbornness, as my mother would have called it, is my best and worst quality. I kept going until I was breathing heavily. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the pod was moving, and at some point, the momentum started working for me. I kept adding a bit of my own energy with each swing. The ladder attached to the tether above started creaking. I didn’t think either the tether or the ladder would break, but all the same, it was another incentive to get out of here quickly.
Finally, it was time. I stopped adding my own energy, and prepared myself for the jump.
This is it.
The pod swung forward, and right before it reached its apex, I leaped while biting back a scream. I had gone far higher than I expected, and as I started to fall, I feared the force of my landing would break the branch. I braced myself for impact, landing a few feet further than my intended spot. I grunted as my arms, then my chest, dug into the bark while I slid to a stop. I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth against the pain. I examined my hands and arms, but thankfully, the damage didn’t go beyond a few scrapes.
I turned to see the pod swinging haphazardly back and forth. It provided a strange contrast against the dozens of other pods that remained still and silent in the night. If someone hadn’t yet seen my pod moving like that, they probably would soon.
The branch was wide, but not so wide that I would have been comfortable walking normally along it. For that reason, I decided to stay at a crouch. I doubled back for the trunk, looking through the boughs and leaves below for a veranda I could land on. However, the canopy was too thick to see anything.
The bough widened a bit as it made a straight path to join the trunk. I noticed that there was another branch below, thinner than the one I was on now. Below that were more branches, which I could easily reach by transitioning from one branch to another.
So, that was what I did. I hung from the branch I was on, finding that my feet just barely touched the one below. I let go, curling my body so that I was directly over the branch, well-balanced. I landed without a hitch. Now more confident, I repeated the process again for the branch below.
So far, it was going well. I was lost in a sea of leaves and branches – no one could have seen me from anywhere in Haven. At some point, though, I would have to find a place to safely land. The key was making it to the trunk and following it down to the canyon floor. From there...well, I still had to figure that part out.
I paused on my current branch and squinted through the leaves, where I barely made out one of the walkways below. That would be my landing spot, but it was still a good fifty feet below.
I crawled along the branch, noticing that it became thinner the further I went. It dipped with my added weight. Before I could go back, it sunk further, so surprisingly fast that I held on tight and felt butterflies in my stomach. I let out a scream, holding on to a branch that was liable to snap at any moment.
I was about ten feet above the veranda, and the limb wasn’t bending any further. Either it was going to break, or it was going to snap back and possibly catapult me.
I hopped off before either of these things could happen. As I did so, however, the limb caught my right foot, sending me into a haphazard spin. I screamed again as I fell and maladroitly landed on my hands and knees. Shocks of pain shot up through my knees and upper legs, even into my torso.
Then a crack resounded through the air, so loud that it was shocking. The limb had shot up so quickly that it had effectively functioned as a whip. A shower of silver leaves cascaded down.
As I made myself stand, I saw that I was standing in front of a young man wearing shining black armor, the same kind I’d seen other guards wearing while Isaru and I were eating earlier. He stared at me with wide blue eyes, and he had curly blond hair. From his age, it was clear he hadn’t been doing this long. Either that, or what I had done was so far out of the ordinary that he didn’t know what to do.
Despite the ringing pain in my kneecaps and wrists, I took off in the other direction. My sudden movement seemed to snap him back to reality.
“Wait...stop!”
I didn’t stop, even if stopping would have been the wise thing to do. I noticed that I was running away from the trunk, meaning that there was no way I was getting out of here unless I could lower myself from branch to branch, as I had done before. Only, everything was too far below, or too small, to be of use.
I snuck a glance back only to see the guard chasing after me. Worse, his call had alerted a couple of other guards, and now they were running after me. I sprinted, following the twists and turns of the wooden planks below. I couldn’t keep this up forever; either they’d catch me, or I’d run out of places to run.
And then, there it was: the end of the walkway. A ladder was lashed to an ascending tree limb, but there were only a couple dozen rungs before it ended in what appeared to be a lookout post.
I climbed the ladder as fast as I could, even as the guards gave chase. Before I knew it, I was standing in the lookout. There was nothing ahead but the open air, the ground below filled with glowing trees, and the rim of the canyon high above.
There was nowhere left to go. Already, the original guard I’d surprised earlier was climbing up.
That was when a sudden buffet of wind pushed me back. I grabbed onto the railing just in time to see Jorla flapping her wings in front of me. The full moon illuminated her black scales.
I didn’t know why she was here, but maybe it was to help me escape.
Please, I thought. You have to get me out of here.
Jorla looked at me, her eyes white and glowing in the night. If she had come here, it could only have been to save me. If that was the case, then why wasn’t she responding?
You can’t run from your destiny, Shanti.
I will not be caught in this place!
You are in no danger here, Jorla said. Haven isn’t like Colonia.
But I almost made it, I said. Please...
Running will not help, Jorla said. Where do you belong, if not here?
It was a good question, but at that moment, I wasn’t ready to listen to reason.
It was then that the young guard pulled himself into the lookout post. I backed away, though the post couldn’t have been more than twenty feet wide. He looked at me, as if not sure what to do now that he’d caught me. His eyes went to Jorla, widening upon seeing her.
And then, Jorla turned in the air, flying away and leaving me at the mercy of the guard. As she gained distance, the guard at last managed to speak.
&
nbsp; “You will come with us peacefully. There is nowhere left to run.”
I just watched as Jorla got smaller and smaller. If she had wanted to, she could have gotten me out of this.
At last, I nodded in response to the guard’s command.
He nodded toward the ladder. “Climb down, then.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Just go down the ladder. We’ll find out what to do with you in a minute.”
By the time I descended the ladder, the other two guards were waiting at the bottom, and a couple of more had shown up.
The oldest one, about thirty years of age with a trim beard, addressed me.
“Explain yourself.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just wanted to get out of here.”
“I don’t recognize her, Captain,” the young guard said, as he hopped off the ladder. “She might be new.”
“She looks familiar,” another guard said. “I thought I saw her ride in with Prince Isaru earlier.”
All the guards stared at me for a moment, as if I were a puzzle to be figured out, but the captain was the only one who seemed to know more than the others.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said.
“No,” another voice said. “I will.”
Everyone looked up at another person, who until now had gone unnoticed. It was Elder Isandru, who was watching from a distance with the cowl of his robe raised. His beard seemed to glow silver in the night.
“Elder Prophet,” the captain said, with a slight bow, “you don’t need to waste your time with this. We can take care of her.”
“Never mind that,” Isandru said. “I will speak with this Elekai alone.”
The guards exchanged glances, muttering a bit before walking back in the direction of the trunk. As they passed Isandru, they nodded in deference. Once they had gone by, they looked back at me, as if wondering who I was to have caught the attention of the Elder Prophet.
And to be honest, I was wondering that, too.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ISANDRU WALKED TO THE RAILING, looking into the surrounding leaves as if admiring their beauty. He wasn’t a large man, but at one time, he might have been taller, because his frame was stooped with age. His two gnarled hands gasped the Silverwood railing.
“Elder...” I began.
“People often forget that Haven is different from Colonia. Here, people aren’t punished for who they’re born to be. If anyone gets hurt here, it’s usually from an accident...such as when one traipses through the branches like a monkey.”
My cheeks burned at that. “It was the only way out. They locked me in.”
“Did they, now?” He sounded as if he didn’t approve.
“The King said I’d be judged at Council tomorrow.” I paused. “I guess that would mean you would be judging me.”
“Judging? Well, I’d hardly call it that. In fact, some would call your summons an honor.”
“An honor? What do you mean?”
“Already, I’ve spoken too much. Suffice it to say, you are an Elekai of great potential, such as we haven’t seen in years. I spoke with Isaru earlier, and he told me that in addition to Calling, you are well-versed in Dragonspeech, both Gifts being untrained. That is rare, indeed. Rest assured that we will find a good place for you. The transition will be difficult, yes...but such is the nature of change.” He nodded. “Change is impossible without at least a little difficulty.”
Despite myself, I became curious. “Have you always lived in Haven, Elder?”
“I’ve lived in many places,” Elder Isandru said. “Some near, some far...and some so old they no longer exist and have passed from the memory of most. The Red Wild shifts like the tides. These times, in the Fourth Century, we find ourselves in the midst of a long peace, though it was not always so. When you grow as old as I am, you learn to sense changes in the world.”
“You must be old, indeed.”
Isandru chuckled. “Older than the hills, they say. Well...I’d like to think I’m not quite as old as that.”
It didn’t feel as if Isandru meant me any harm. On the contrary, he seemed to mean quite the opposite. That was something I sorely needed in a place I didn’t belong.
“Isaru told me most of the Elders didn’t want to rescue me,” I said. “Is that true?”
“We lost the vote by a narrow margin,” Isandru said. “The majority deemed the mission too dangerous. Any rescue would have been a great risk to our Champions. None of us foresaw that the prince would take it upon himself, though in retrospect, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.” Isandru paused a moment. “Not to mention the fact that Askaleen are not easily replaced, and the death of any one is a tragic event. Any time it does happen, it strains our relations with Generationals. Though we are all Elekai, you will soon learn that we have a troubled history with the dragons. There was once a time where dragons and men lived as brothers, during the Great Dawn of the First Century.”
“What happened with the dragons?” I asked. “Jorla seemed to like us okay.”
“Jorla is a Generational Dragon, and Isaru’s friend. Not all Generationals like humans, and fewer still allow humans to ride them, but Jorla admires Isaru’s adventurous spirit. Though you wouldn’t guess it, they are of a similar age. Nearby is the Aerie where Jorla was born, and when Isaru was a child, we learned he had the Gift of Dragonspeech when he and Jorla spoke. As soon as she was large enough to bear him, she would carry him with her. Since then, they’ve been getting into trouble all over the Red Wild.” Isandru smiled in memory. “Much to his father’s consternation.”
“What about his mother?”
Isandru was quiet for a moment. “She died when he was young. It’s best if you don’t discuss it.”
I nodded, feeling bad for even asking.
It was quiet for a while. I wasn’t sure if the conversation was over, but I didn’t want it to be.
“Why don’t they speak to us?” I asked. “The Elder Dragons, I mean. Isaru said there was something called the Sundering. What happened to cause it?”
Isandru went quiet, as if trying to find the right way to answer.
“Few, if any, know the answer to that. It is generally agreed that there was a betrayal on the part of humanity that caused the Elder Dragons to sever all ties. Of that, I won’t speak any more. The children of the Elder Dragons, however, are more relaxed in their relations. This becomes more apparent the more generations removed from the Elders they are. Generationals do not render their services lightly, but friendship with a dragon...such as in the case between Isaru and Jorla...makes it more likely. Even then, Generationals are wild, sentient creatures, highly intelligent. Some say more intelligent than a human. Few can be friends with a dragon. In general, we consort with them when necessary, and try to leave them to their gardening.”
“Gardening?”
“Yes,” Isandru said. “The dragons are the gardeners of the Red Wild, well-practiced in directing the energy of the xen to grow as they command. The Red Wild was theirs far longer than it was ours. At best, they tolerate our presence...and anytime we overstep our bounds, they quickly let us know.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said. “But it makes sense.”
“They sheltered us during the Exile, and here we have remained,” Isandru said. “Some dragons would have us leave the Red Wild, saying that we have lost our right. But it is our home, now.”
“Because Elekai are all connected to the Xenofold.”
Isandru nodded. “Yes. You learn quickly.”
“Isaru said that there were also Mindless dragons. What did he mean by that?”
“It is a difficult question,” Isandru said. “It’s something all Elekai have grown up knowing, so it passes unnoticed. The dragons we ride, Jorla being an exception, are Mindless Askaleen. They are tamed for a means of transportation, and in times of war, they are used in battle. If Isaru has told you about the Mindless, then you already know that Mindless Radaska are dan
gerous. However, the Mindless Askaleen are directionless; unless they are controlled by a Mindless Radaska in the Wild, they will do nothing for themselves. At least with us, they can have shelter, food, and direction. It is not as though they are truly Mindless. They have personalities, of a sort, but they lack all the intelligence and memory that are present in a Generational Dragon.” Isandru nodded. “This is because they are not connected to the Xenofold.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“The short answer is, no one knows, but it is said that it wasn’t always so. Some say that the Xenofold is weakening, over time...that there isn’t enough power to ensure every dragon is born a Generational. Among Generationals, sometimes a dragonling will be born Mindless, but this is rare. Mindless Dragons beget Mindless Dragons deep in the Wild, and what few Askaleen we have in our possession are well cared for. The majority of human Elekai will spend their entire lives without ever riding a dragon.”
“I’ve got a lot of people beat there, then.”
Elder Isandru smiled. “Perhaps so.” We stood for a moment before Elder Isandru broke the silence. “I think that is enough talking for tonight. It is late, and we must both be up early tomorrow. Can I trust you not to run again?”
“I won’t,” I said.
Elder Isandru accompanied me along the branch as far as the trunk before we parted ways. I made the rest of my way back, and was able to find the right bough when I recognized the three-way split. When I made it to the hatch leading to my pod, I saw that the lock was no more than a short strip of wood that prevented the door from being pushed out. I moved it on its hinge, allowing the door to open.
I climbed down the ladder, closed the door, and as soon as I was in bed, I felt far better than I had an hour ago. I looked at the hole, hardly believing I’d found it necessary to do that. If they had only let Isandru talk to me first it could have been avoided.
I closed my eyes, and was asleep within moments.
CHAPTER TWENTY
WHEN I AWOKE, GREEN LIGHT filtered through the pod’s thin veneer, bathing the interior in a shining, emerald glow. It took me a moment to realize where I was. Judging by the light, it was still early morning.