Jim hadn’t moved, but when she checked on him again he was still breathing steadily. He wasn’t obviously broken or bleeding so she wasn’t too worried. Watching him, she pondered whether or not to change back. Whilst in her emaciated state she doubted he would find her sexually attractive, equally she didn’t know him. The coarse and disgusting men she’d been living beside for the last two years made her wary. Jim was a young, fit and strong man. As the only woman around she might tempt him, but her dragon form would put him off trying anything silly. It was sensible to take a few precautions to ensure her safety, especially whilst she remained so weak. She found a tree nearby with a dense canopy of wide spreading branches. She crawled beneath it and sat in the deep shadow knowing it would help hide her. She glanced up at the sky relieved the portal’s shadow was gone and that nothing had come through after them. Feeling a little more secure she fell asleep resting on a warm bed of fragrant pine needles.
She was unaware that several curious eyes had seen her flying in the distance and were cautiously making their way towards her last visible position.
Jim woke with a start. He’d been dreaming he was falling and it was a truly nasty sensation. He looked around him and his memory flooded back, particularly when he sat up hissing with pain and felt his ribs. He lifted his tunic and found he was black and blue and in one spot a talon had dug a small bloody hole in his side. He looked around but Amelie wasn’t in sight. He knew she couldn’t have gone far though, not after going through that. Finding tracks, he abruptly realised they were big dragon footprints, not those of a woman. Why hadn’t she changed back? The tracks led from his side to the river and there nearby, he spotted Amelie the dragon curled up beneath the shadow of a tree. The sun cast a dappled patchwork of bright spots revealing vivid cobalt blue scales. He’d never seen a dragon before and stared with a mix of awe and trepidation at the deadly hunter she’d become. Whilst he knew that an animus automatically took the shape of their alternate animal under duress, he’d been the one to suggest a dragon to her and she’d done it. What would they have done if her form had been a bunny? Animus people only normally had one human form and one animal. But she had impersonated a guard too. He wondered what that meant. Had it been luck that he’d suggested the one animal that she could become? Or had she not settled on an alternate form yet? He now wondered whether the limitations he’d learned on animus people’s abilities were flawed or incomplete. Amelie’s dragon was a very pretty colour and gracefully proportioned, albeit the size of a small horse. Reassured she didn’t seem to have taken any harm and was sleeping, he took the opportunity for a quick wash in the cold fresh water, easing his ribs and abraded skin. Next he replenished his water skins before he approached Amelie.
A gleaming blue eye opened to register his approach. ‘You can keep watch since you’re up,’ she told him. ‘You'd best find a good vantage point. The Portal might be watched, although I think the village has been dead for years.’
‘Shouldn’t we leave then? While we’ve got some daylight and can travel safely.’
‘Give me a few minutes more; I’m still exhausted. I hear and smell so much more in this form.’ She raised her head and scented the clean fragrant wind. ‘It’s going to take some time to understand my new senses and capabilities. There are so many creatures near and far, but I don’t yet know what most of them are. I can’t tell what might be a danger to us. I’d welcome those sausages now, if you still have them?’
‘For the lady who saved my life, of course I still have them.’ He opened his pack and presented the sausages with a little flourish.
She ate and felt better. The rich meat and animal fat in the sausages were just what her body craved, although she could have done with twice as many. She took another long swallow of clean untainted water and they started walking. This form could walk swiftly but just as importantly, dragons were known and respected by the local wildlife. Most predators tempted to tackle a human on foot, would think twice about attacking a dragon, even a small one like Amelie. She also liked the fact she had wings and could get them both quickly to safety should the need arise; once her strength improved of course. She was tiny for a dragon, but in her current emaciated state she didn’t have enough strength to be any bigger. Besides, walking amongst trees would be difficult if she were too much taller. But in the days to come, once her strength increased, she would have to become larger to be more believable.
‘Where are we heading?’ Jim asked from his position at her shoulder.
‘Away from the Portal; the forest looked quite extensive in this direction. It’s got many places to hide. Have you been to this part of the world before?’
‘Well, South Rosh is quite a large country. I’ve been to Rosharia its capital once oh, about three years ago. It’s a coastal town with a lovely natural harbour. They’re quite proud of the fact it’s big enough to keep the whole fishing fleet safe in winter from the wild Southern sea, not to mention all the other traffic. I was in a hurry at the time, only stopping long enough to book passage on a barge to take me up the Rift River and on to Mekk.’
‘Mekk is south of Rosharia where the Rift River leaves the inland sea isn’t it?’ Amelie commented.
‘How did you know that?’
‘I did have schooling you know.’ She nudged him hard enough to push him sideways for his impertinence. ‘Anyway, where would you suggest we head? Or would you rather find your own road?’ she added tentatively.
He halted. ‘Is that what you want?’
‘No, not really, I’d actually prefer some company. It’s been a long time since I had anyone to talk to.’ She noticed his nod of relief and understanding; he obviously wasn’t a loner either. ‘We’re probably many leagues from any civilisation. Judging by those blackened ruins, I imagine they’d have made sure the portal entrance activator was destroyed. We can’t use that Portal to travel anywhere else, even if we could work out how to work it. I didn’t see any other cleared areas nearby, so the people are probably long gone from this area. I just thought you’d need to be getting back as quickly as possible.’
‘Not necessarily. I’m not in any great hurry to get back into the reach of the King’s minions.’ He noticed Amelie was waiting for him to elaborate. ‘Well yes, I should report in to the guild as soon as I can. But they will know I was arrested and where I was taken, even if that jailor tries to cover it up. I’m off the chore list for the time being!’
‘What kind of chores do you do?’ Amelie asked casually. He was not fooled however. Her gaze was as keen as the edge on her dragon’s teeth.
‘I’m in my gap year at the Academy. I’m working for the Wizard’s Guild,’ he said in a little rush. A sudden flush came to his cheeks as if he braced himself for ridicule. His soft floppy blond hair fell in his eyes and he hastily shook it back, lifting his chin.
‘Thought as much,’ Amelie said instead. That had been the reason for the guard’s caution. A young wizard the guild had deemed worth training might have all sorts of unknown capabilities he was still growing into. It made him difficult to categorise and thus unpredictable. ‘So, what’s your speciality, aside from picking locks?’
‘Useful wasn’t it?’
‘Yes. But I daresay my catching you and preventing you becoming another brown stain in the grass was a more crucial skill.’
‘Particularly to me, yes! Thank you,’ he said and bowed with a little flourish. ‘Well, to answer your question, I’m sensitive to those with any magic, even latent. My job has been to identify to our masters those children who have some gift. Children need to be taught to understand and therefore control whatever magic they have. They can be dangerous, not only to themselves, but to anyone who has the misfortune to be in the way when they’re experimenting and lose control.’
‘Why were you arrested?’
‘Oh, a minister thought his daughter was absolutely perfect and gifted in every way. She had him wrapped around her finger. She thought she could just flutter her eyelashes and get i
nto our guild. She didn’t like it when I told her father she had no magical talent whatsoever. I’m afraid I wasn’t as tactful as I might have been. But she was dreadfully spoiled and highly aggravating.’
‘Didn’t your Guild support you?’
‘Oh yes. But the spiteful little cow waited until I was assessing some cot holder children out of town and I was on my own. She was apparently seen galloping back into town with her dress ripped and publicly announced I’d assaulted her. Of course when I reached the gates a few hours later, nothing I said was heard, or believed. Possibly I didn’t help my cause by calling her a swine faced cow to her face. Naturally I was roughed up thoroughly before I was dragged into the prison where I so fortuitously met you.’
Jim glanced at Amelie and realised the odd snorting was actually draconic laughter. He couldn’t help a smile of his own, the first since the disgraceful, humiliating incident.
‘I think you ought to report you’re safe and well. We’ll have been listed as dead by now I imagine,’ Amelie told him. ‘They won’t want to admit anyone escaped.’
‘I plan to,’ Jim assured her, ‘but I can’t reach anyone mentally over such a distance; we are on a different continent. Once we reach some civilisation I could send a letter. But we need a story to explain how I got all the way over here.’
‘You could always say you found the Portal and out of desperation to avoid the rioting prisoners you had to jump through, not knowing it was an Air one. A passing dragon caught you, but you managed to cast a spell on it and struggle free, escaping being its dinner.’
‘Sounds rather a desperate choice, but they’d understand, given the circumstances. A wizard is expected to do almost anything to avoid kidnap by convicted felons, including take his own life. They’ll know of the Portal and where it ends up. No one in my line has ever had the Animus capability; we have always had variations of the Sensitivity. I couldn’t have got to the ground unaided but the guards will have your records and what they imagine you are. They’ll soon put it together and my survival will be proof enough for them.’
‘Hence my decision to perfect my animal disguise and, since I’m not strong enough yet to fly, I guess we’re walking. Well, we’ve got the evening sun in our eyes so we’re heading west. That’s the right way for the coast and home although I’ve no idea how far away it is. I imagine we’re probably east of Rosharia, judging by that big mountain range at our back. I couldn’t hazard a guess though how many weeks it’ll take us to get out of South Rosh and into Edmoston. We might need to head north to reach the capital once we get to the coast.’
‘Rosharia would be good. I can report in there and certainly find out what’s going on. We can get transport too. I did hear there were animus people in Rosharia; it might be a safe place for you. You know, it’s often easier to disappear in a city than out in the wilds.’
‘Rosharia it is then,’ she acknowledged, glad they had decided on a destination and weren’t going to be aimlessly wandering. ‘You’re going to have plenty of time to work out what you want to say when we get there. Do you have anything else edible in that pack?’
‘No, but I do have these.’ He assembled a crossbow and fastened a large sheathed knife to his belt. ‘May as well be prepared to nab whatever crosses our path. I’d rather not end up being your dinner.’ She laughed and let him take the lead; they were both hungry.
‘I smell rabbits,’ she whispered to him some time later and gestured with a curved black talon. He managed to shoot two on the surface before they vanished underground. He simply cut his precious bolts out of them and tossed them to her. She caught them one at a time in her teeth, flipped them into better position and with barely a crunch, ate them whole. She cheerfully ignored his wince and that she then had to pick small bones from her teeth. Her belly desperately needed sustenance and fortunately a dragon didn’t need to have table manners, nor have to wait for her meat to be skinned, boned and cooked nicely.
Over the next few weeks they perfected the art of combining her vastly superior senses of sight, smell and hearing with his archery skills. Her ribs slowly lost their painful definition and she began to acquire fitness and strength. The amount of ground they managed to cover in a day increased steadily too.
They kept moving west, avoiding the scattered little hamlets of houses clustered near good farmland or to serve foresters or mining communities. A richly coloured patchwork of fields of ripening wheat, legumes by the river and varied fruit orchards were evidence of man’s industry and the self-sufficiency of these far flung communities. But not knowing whether an alert had been given out, or if the locals were under any instructions to report all sightings of strangers, they were careful to pass unnoticed. Several times Amelie detected men in the area they were about to traverse and they either detoured or took cover. It was with great relief that they moved away from the settled areas bordering the river and back into wild country.
3
The Dragon
After a long and oppressively hot climb up a series of progressively steeper hills, they came out onto a broad, rocky and blindingly sunny, outcrop. The dense dark forest they’d been travelling through had finally thinned with altitude, giving way to twisted and wind sculpted pines. At the edge of the escarpment, the ground turned to bare rock and fell away almost vertically for about fifty feet before sloping down to the valley far below. They stood silently with the fresh breeze cooling their faces and gazing at the unusual vista provided by being above the surrounding country. Amelie the dragon also relished the natural sounds all around them including the rustling of tiny animals in the undergrowth behind them. The wind sighed through the trees and an eagle, floating effortlessly far above them, cried. She soaked up the tranquil view just as much as the sun on her back, appreciating the feeling of being safe. The rough hills they were crossing were finally mostly behind them. Ahead was a gentler rolling terrain. The wild vista and the fresh clean updraft called to her and without thinking, she leaped off the cliff and glided away. The refreshing wind whistled under her wings, the sun was bright and she felt strong and free. It was a glorious sensation. Finding a thermal she circled, effortlessly rising higher. She’d been kept caged in the dark for far too long. She was a dragon! She gave her spirit free rein to soar.
Movement on the ground in a small clearing caught her eye as she played in the breeze. She banked round sharply and went straight into a dive. Moments later her momentum had snapped the neck of the large deer she’d pinned to the ground. Flushed with success and the thrill of the kill she fed greedily on the warm flesh where it had fallen. Her belly finally becoming full, she belatedly checked her surroundings. The large clearing she was in was, on closer inspection, fenced. A herd of these deer stared mesmerised at her from the farthest away point of the shady paddock. Firmly grasping her kill she immediately launched herself skyward, veering away from the scent of cooking fires and humans. How could she have been so blinkered she hadn’t noticed? How could she have forgotten all caution? Had she immersed herself too deeply within her dragon’s fearless persona?
Before Jim could say much beyond expressing his congratulations and appreciation for her getting the deer, she breathlessly cut him short.
‘Jim, it was in a field and must be owned by someone. I didn’t realise until I’d killed it and started eating. Pack some meat quickly; I think we should leave.’ He nodded, frowning in concern but had already drawn his knife and was acting quickly. ‘Just cut out the major bones, I don’t want to have to carry the whole beast. I don’t know if anyone saw me but they might have and be on their way with dogs.’
Jim, busy digging through his pack for something to carry bloody meat, abruptly became aware of a strange cry. Amelie craning her long neck skywards gave him the clue where to look. Unfortunately, with the closely pressing trees on three sides, there wasn’t a view to be had in that direction.
Amelie heard the pitiful cry again in the distance. She exchanged a questioning glance with Jim, wondering what manner
of creature had such a resonant voice. He shrugged uneasily so Amelie cautiously rose into the air and looked about. A massive golden shape was flying about a mile away. It was a dragon! As the creature flew towards her, she noticed it was staring at her with intense attention. Amelie had the distinct impression the dragon had been looking for her. It must have seen her flying a few minutes ago. She was about to meet a real dragon! She hoped the creature would not attack her; it was easily twice her size. Would it notice something amiss with her disguise? Would it take affront at her masquerading as a dragon?
‘Come with me; quickly,’ a voice demanded mentally. Amelie hesitated, but along with the demand she sensed great pain and desperation. As the golden dragon turned away, obviously expecting compliance, Amelie noticed how slow and laborious her motions were. A long streak of something dark glistened down her side; blood.
‘It’s a dragon. She’s asking me to go with her. She’s badly hurt,’ Amelie called down to Jim having dropped lower again. ‘I don’t think I have much choice in the matter,’ she added noticing he struggled to hear her, but he was frowning in concern and dismay.
‘Go then Am, but be very careful,’ he warned anxiously directly into her mind. Amelie wasted no more time but flew quickly towards the badly wounded dragon. It was clear she needed some kind of help. As she drew closer Amelie sensed relief from the dragon and they speeded up a little. Amelie remembered how the dragon had spoken to her, not in precise words but more a mental need and intent. Jim often did this, but usually formed words too, when he contacted her mind to mind. This was a form of magic and one that dragons obviously had too. She had magic; could she speak that way as well? Well, no way to know without trying it. She would concentrate on the dragon and remember how it had felt when she had contacted her.
‘You must land; you’re losing too much blood,’ Amelie sent to her, eyeing the hideous tear.
Amelie: Wizards of White Haven Page 3