by Jensine Odom
“Yield,” I pant, making my way to my feet.
“No,” he responds, catching me off-guard, and in the blink of an eye, swats my stick away and rams his shoulder into my gut, knocking me back to the ground.
I use the momentum to rock back, kicking hard off his chest as he follows me down, then completely roll backwards into a crouch. Baldure reaches for his weapon, and I throw my last stick at him tomahawk style, hitting his hand with surprising accuracy.
Without missing a beat, I lunge forward. Baldure saw it coming, though, and turns aside like a conquistador. Grabbing one arm, he swings me around, seizing my other arm and trapping me against his body.
I throw my head back, but it just bounces off his muscled chest with a solid thud, only succeeding in dazing me for a moment. I drive my heel down towards his instep; he moves his foot. I try to mule kick his shin; he moves his leg. I pull away from him as hard as I can, struggling in vain against his iron grip. He just pulls my arms in closer behind me, straining my chest and further restricting my movement, making rage flare in the pit of my stomach.
He lowers his head, his breath warm on my ear. “Yield?” he asks, humor in his voice.
“Never,” I snarl, and Baldure just chuckles, the sound reverberating through my body.
“All right, Little One,” he mocks, and lifts me by my arms, forcing me onto my toes.
The leverage strains my shoulders, sending pain across my chest, and I lose what grip I had on my anger. I growl deep in my throat as a warning, but Baldure just snorts in amusement, lifting me just a little higher, the pain fueling my rage.
“Oh, no,” Tristin and Zebulon say together, and I know they’re plugging their ears.
I toss my head back and scream, the supersonic sound echoing eerily through the trees, and time slows for an instant as adrenaline surges through me.
Baldure loosens his grip. My feet fall flat against the ground. I throw all my weight against him, knocking him off balance and freeing my arms. Turning, I grab around his thick neck, jump up, and swing with all my might through his splayed legs, effectively flipping him over me.
His back collides with the ground hard, all the air in his lungs escaping with a wheeze. I’m already up grappling him, putting him in an armbar before he can recover, using the leverage to choke him out with my leg. With no air to speak, Baldure’s forced to tap, the gesture barely registering in my berserk mind as submission.
With a frustrated growl, I let him go, leaving him gasping on the ground, and storm into the darkening forest to cool down. I haven’t lost it like that in a while. Not on a friend, anyways.
I feel Caedryn begin to follow, but Zebulon stops him. “That’s not advisable, Bro,” he warns, and Caedryn’s concern floods me, but he doesn’t move beyond the edge of the trees.
Making sure Caedryn doesn’t worry too much, I don’t go far; just out of sight of the camp, but close enough for Caedryn to feel me strong enough. Stopping in a small circle clearing, I stand quietly, hands on my hips, taking gulping breaths until the blood stops roaring in my ears and my heart stops pounding.
Caedryn’s still waiting for me at the edge of the trees when I return, and pulls me into his arms, kissing the top of my head. I smile my thanks, then head over to Baldure, patting his sweaty back.
“Good fight,” I say. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
Baldure gives me a broad smile, picking me up into a firm bear hug. “You surprised me, but didn’t injure me,” he assures, setting me back on my feet. “We wanted to see what happened when you were pushed beyond your mental limits.”
“Wait, we?!” I look suspiciously at Baldure.
“You performed well,” Caedryn says, pride emanating from him.
“I tried to warn them,” Tristin adds, joining us.
“About the supersonic scream or the berserker mode?” I ask with a humorous note.
“Both.” Tristin gives Baldure and Caedryn an ‘I told you so’ look, making me laugh.
From the corner of my eye, I see Mary sitting on the rock nearest our sparring arena, and Kerric sits beside her. He pulls a dagger from his belt, one I didn’t know he had, and hands it to her, the high polished blade and blue opal handle glinting in the dying light.
“This is for you,” he explains, removing the sheath from his belt and handing it over as well. “I thought you should have something aside from a cooking utensil to protect yourself.” Standing, he gestures for her to follow him. “Let me show you a few ways you can use it.”
Mary looks between Kerric and the dagger, then shrugs and follows. Kerric sets her up with a few stances, then moves her through a few of the motions for self-defense. Zebulon gives them a highly jealous glare, but before he can move to interrupt, Caedryn steps in front.
“Come, let us spar,” he tells Zebulon, handing him a medium sized wooden weapon.
“Good idea,” Zebulon half snarls, and turns abruptly away from the object of his ire.
“Rematch?” I ask Baldure, sending Caedryn a bit of gratitude.
“Nope! My turn,” Tristin calls, rushing Baldure with his own two-handed stick held high, a little too enthusiastic about getting his ass handed to him.
Kerric moves Mary to practice weapons and begins to slowly spar with her, and Turhion takes a seat on one of the rocks to watch, exhaustion clear on his face. Apparently, our mental battle took more out of him than I thought. Petrie sits beside Turhion, squeaking curiously, then lays down, resting her head in his lap. He smiles at her, petting between her two small horns.
Sitrian stands at the edge of the light, watching the proceedings quietly. Her yellow eyes meet mine, and I pick up a couple sticks.
“Care to spar?” I ask, tossing her one stick as I walk up beside her.
Her eyes crease as she smiles fondly. “I had dreamed of the day I would be training you. I hadn’t seen the circumstances, but I knew this day would come.”
“You’re a Seer, then,” I observe, putting my wild hair up in a messy bun and twirling my staff around before taking a combat ready stance.
Sitrian nods, then advances, giving me a few easy attacks. Among other things. Her voice rings clear in my head, even though I never touched her.
Then it hits me. “You’re an Esper.” The shock of it makes me forget to block, and I take a hit to my shoulder, the impact momentarily numbing my arm.
Sitrian just smiles and continues her assault. You need to remain focused.
This time she gets my fingers, making me drop half my staff, and I barely block her next blow. Recovering, I lift my weapon back up, nodding with resolve.
Sitrian picks up the pace, coming at me with a flurry of swings. There are more of us than you know.
Refusing to be distracted this time, I focus on blocking all her attacks. On the last parry, I follow through with my body, slamming myself against her, then sweep her feet out from under her.
“I can see that,” I tell her, stepping back for her to get up.
Well done, she praises, getting to her feet. Again.
Taking another stance, I nod. Sitrian comes at me with both her weapon and her mind, and we carry on until I can barely think, let alone hold my staff up.
“You’re stronger than I had hoped,” Sitrian says with a short bow, and sets her stick aside, my training apparently over.
“Thanks.” I smile lazily, bowing back, then fall into the trampled grass right where I stand, arms and legs splayed as I stare up into the rapidly darkening sky.
“Are you all right?” Caedryn asks, sitting beside me.
“Yep. Just doing a gravity stretch.”
“What’s a gravity stretch?” he asks, looking confused.
“You lay back, spread your limbs, and pretend to stretch.” I laugh, wiggling a bit to get more comfortable.
Caedryn smirks, shaking his head, and I sit up, giving him a quick kiss before getting completely to my feet, brushing the grass off my legs before heading to the fire for some dinner.
“I n
ever realized how beautiful that is,” Mary tells me, her eyes lighting up as she gestures to the soulstone around my neck, the amulet having come out during my sparring.
“It is beautiful,” I agree, playing with it absently.
“The soulstone only glows when it’s with Xerxia,” Caedryn adds, a slight glow to his eyes. “It never looked that beautiful with anyone else.”
Mary gives us both a sly smile, but doesn’t comment. “Can I see it?” she asks instead.
“It might burn you, like it did Zebulon,” I point out, but slip it off my head and hold it up for her to take anyways.
Mary reaches for it, hesitating for only a moment before her hand engulfs the stone, and her eyes widen with surprise. “It’s really warm, but it doesn’t burn.”
“Why did it burn me, then?!” Zebulon asks indignantly.
“Maybe because you made me mad?” I shrug, grabbing a slab of fresh meat from one of the racks by the fire. “That stone holds souls. It’s very likely they felt just as angry as I did when you didn’t believe me.”
“Wanna touch it?” Mary taunts, shoving the necklace at Zebulon.
“Umm. No.” Zebulon jumps away, shaking his head, and grabs his own dinner, watching Mary suspiciously.
Mary just laughs and opens her hand, inspecting the soulstone. As Caedryn had said, it doesn’t glow when she’s holding it, but the moment I sit beside her again it lights up, the red fire center flickering frantically.
“It tingles a little, too,” Mary tells me, handing the necklace back. “Especially when you got closer.”
I slip the chain over my head, untangling it from my hair in a few spots, and tuck the amulet under my tank top once more. A strange relief spreads through me on contact, and the stone pulses against my skin, then settles.
“Why do you hide it still?” Caedryn asks, taking the seat on the other side of me.
“Habit.” I shrug and pull it back out, the blue and red stone glowing bright against the black of my tank top. “Better?”
Caedryn smiles in answer and leans over, giving me a quick kiss. Beautiful, his voice sounds softly in my mind.
Cheater, I tease before his lips leave mine, and I can’t help a giddy smile as I take a bite of my dinner. “What’s this meat?” I ask, savoring the warm juices as I chew slowly; it’s like nothing I’ve tasted before.
“It’s a goat,” Tristin yells comedically.
“But it tastes so good,” I say, giving the meat a perplexed look.
“Dragons have heightened senses, including taste,” Turhion explains.
“Yeah, stupid,” Zebulon teases.
“I’m not stupid,” I playfully pout. “You’re stupid!”
Petrie gives a high-pitched growl and moves to lay beside me, glaring at Zebulon.
“It’s alright. We’re just playing.” I laugh and pat her neck.
Petrie gives me an affirmative squeak, then glances at my steak and gives me what I can only describe as a dragon’s version of puppy dog eyes. Mary laughs, then walks over to the fire, grabbing a small chunk of meat. Petrie looks hopeful, and Mary tosses the treat, but the little dragon closes her eyes and the meat bounces off her nose, plopping somewhere in the grasses behind us.
Petrie squeaks excitedly and leaps up to search for her snack, snapping it up happily when she finds it and running out into the field, tossing it around in her own game of fetch. Mary laughs and grabs two more slightly larger pieces and heads off to give them to Irontooth and Stormwing, who’ve been watching her intently.
Everyone else grabs some food, and we quiet down as we eat, letting the fire naturally die out. With the little light that remains, I pack away the meat, and the rest of the group heads out to find sleeping spots.
The clearing isn’t big enough to hold all the dragons in full form, so just Baldure transforms, laying out with Stormwing and Irontooth to keep our camp safe. Mary ducks into the smaller tent, but Zebulon stands just outside, looking unsure, then decides on sharing the other tent with his brother. Kerric glances curiously at Mary’s tent as he and his brother walk by, headed for one side of the clearing, and Sitrian goes the opposite way.
I head out to the center of the meadow with Caedryn, making a nest with our blankets, and lay in his arms, watching a golden meteor streak across the starry sky. Petrie curls up in the grass next me, resting her head on my side, and Caedryn softly chuckles, kissing my temple. With a contented sigh, I lay my head on his chest, his steady heartbeat my lullaby as I give into sleep.
Over the River, Through the Woods
XERXIA, Caedryn’s deep voice gently coerces my mind into wakefulness.
I just make a complaintive noise and curl against him more, my mind and body not wanting to be up just yet. I haven’t been this thoroughly exhausted since the beginning of the apocalypse.
Not giving up that easy, Caedryn caresses the side of my face, and it takes me a moment to realize it’s his lips. I turn into his gentle kiss, finally opening my eyes to meet his shimmering silver gaze, and roll onto my back, gingerly stretching.
Caedryn smiles and strokes the exposed skin of my belly. Let’s take a walk up river. I scrunch my face at him. Only a short distance, he assures me. It will help to stretch and warm your muscles.
Oh, alright, I give in, and let him pull me up.
The east has begun to lighten, throwing the jagged trees into stark relief, and the first fingers of dawn stretch across the darkness of the sky. Petrie moved some time in the night and is now sleeping beside Sitrian.
I straighten up my clothes and retrieve one of my over shirts from my backpack to ward off the early morning chill, then let Caedryn lead me along the path beside the river.
Good morning, Xerxia, Alarr greets me as we pass him, and I nod my acknowledgement, not ready to use my mind just yet.
We walk along the trail for some time, little creatures scurrying into the trees as we pass. When the path deviates from the river Caedryn has us follow the bank, heading for the water cascading down in a white veil.
The sun’s just barely beginning to rise when we reach the large waterfall, lighting the tops of the pines like candles, and a soft mist wisps off the water’s surface. Caedryn walks ahead, out onto a boulder worn flat from the river rushing over it, and beckons for me to follow.
I take a different route, hopping across some rocks, and I’m so engrossed in not falling that I don’t notice Caedryn’s getting undressed until I land on the boulder beside him. With a devious smile, he lets the last piece of clothing drop from his hand and jumps in the water, splashing me with a few cold drops.
“Your turn,” he teases, the corner of his mouth turning up as he runs a hand through the water. “It’s not as bad as you would assume.”
“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?!” I accuse playfully, hands on my hips, and Caedryn just smiles.
Rolling my eyes, I strip down to nothing, leaving my clothes beside Caedryn’s, and hop in. The cold water hits just below my breasts, simultaneously making me scream and taking my breath away, leaving me sounding more like a deranged seal. Goosebumps race across my skin and I dunk the entirety of body in the water to acclimate, which surprisingly doesn’t take that long.
“Alright. The water’s not that bad,” I admit.
Caedryn chuckles and takes my hand, leading me towards the waterfall, then behind it. The water back here is warm, and getting warmer with every step, turning an opaque light blue when we reach the rock wall. The air’s filled with the slight smell of sulfur, and the water feels almost effervescent against my skin as it rushes from a crack in the rock.
Caedryn’s arms encircle my waist, drawing me into his embrace as he lowers us into the tepid waters. I close my eyes, sighing with bliss, and melt against his body, laying my head against his chest as the natural spring eases my weary muscles; the roar of the waterfall drowning out even my own thoughts.
✽✽✽
Much too soon, Caedryn’s kissing my cheek, hands caressing down my arms
. “It’s time we returned,” he tells me, standing.
I open my eyes reluctantly to find our hidden grotto filled with light, steam rising into the air around us, but when I stand the cool breeze coming off the waterfall sends a shiver down my spine, and I submerge myself once more. Caedryn just laughs at me and wades out, disappearing behind the curtain of water.
I groan, but eventually succumb to reality and leave my sanctuary, running as fast as I can through the colder water for the warmth of the now sunny boulder. Just before reaching my destination, I slip into a suddenly deep pool, my head submerging for a brief moment. I resurface, gasping and sputtering, and Caedryn laughs as I not so gracefully flop onto the boulder at his feet.
Standing, I glare at him as I take my hair down and ring the water out, purposefully flinging cold droplets on him as I toss it back over my shoulder, pulling the curly mass into a low ponytail.
Closing my eyes, I stand in the sun for a moment, letting it dry the water from my skin. A shadow suddenly falls over me, cooling me instantly, and I look to find Caedryn, fully dressed, his clothes curiously changed back to the medieval pirate style.
With a smile, he hands me my own clothes and I put them on quickly, reveling in the sun-warm fabric. Returning Caedryn’s smile lazily, I lean into him and play with the silver scales on his shirt, sliding my hand in the unlaced V to lay my palm against his chest. His arms encircling my waist, Caedryn kisses me softly, holding me against him. I lay my head on his chest, wishing this moment didn’t have to end.
“We need to leave soon,” Caedryn echoes my thoughts, letting me go and gently caressing my face.
“Yeah, I know we should head back,” I sigh, looking towards camp.
“Not just back to camp. Your transformation is nigh.”
“How do you know it’ll be soon?” I look at Caedryn, surprised.