by Maia Starr
“Don’t!” Orylis yelled, his voice deep and cracked as he chased after me.
I was in full runner’s stance: arms locked and propelling my motion. I was running like a bat out of hell.
I could hear his wings expand behind me and the gust of wind he created as he flew ahead only rushed me forward even further. I watched as he landed not far off in front of me and dug my heel into the ground, spinning on it and running back the other way.
“You’re going to get hurt!” he yelled in a panic and flew skyward.
“No shit, why do you think I’m running?” I screamed back.
“Not by me!” he called back.
He flew low over my head and knocked me over with his tail.
I landed in the mud: skids of it now lining my bare legs. I set my hands in the sinking ground and looked up at him.
“That,” Orylis said, grabbing me from behind and pointing toward the beast, “is what will hurt you.”
The creature was burnt-orange in color with a rocky face and pale-yellow eyes with giant horns that curled around like a ram’s. It had a wide-set mouth that was gaping at me: ready to attack.
I could feel my body shaking as I looked up at the massive beast.
“That is a kenthian,” he said smoothly. “It will rip you apart without a second thought.”
Orylis walked in front of me and expanded his wings in some show of dominance to the beast, craning his head back and expelling fire from his mouth.
My jaw clenched. I’d never seen a Parduss expel fire when he was in his human form.
I shivered as the fire shot into the sky.
The kenthian watched as well: his massive head tilting upward only slightly.
It looked Orylis over and then made a low grunt before slowly turning away from us.
I closed my eyes and exhaled as the creature began stomping away from us, the ground shaking beneath our feet as it did.
Orylis looked at me expectantly before showing me his palms as if to say: ‘Well?’
“You’re welcome!” he finally shouted with a smile.
I pierced him with a stare and drew my brows together in what I hoped looked like a menacing stare.
Without another thought, I took back to my feet. I could hear the thick chunks of mud falling off my dress as I ran deeper into the forest.
Orylis let out an irritated sigh and flew up behind me, tackling me from behind and wrapping his arms around me.
We both fell down to the mudbanks, him next to me. I scurried in the slippery dirt, trying to get back up.
I lodged my foot in the mud, trying to use it for leverage to stand, but Orylis grabbed my foot and pulled me back down.
What disgusted me most was the look on his face as he spun me toward him: a sadistic, smug smile.
He was enjoying this?
I tensed and tried to push away from him, but he strengthened his grip on my arms and shook me. I squared my mouth and drew back a gob of spit and unloaded it on his face.
His amber eyes darkened and his features tensed. I could see the fury rising in his expression, and it only made me want to spit at him again.
With a hand still firmly planted on my arm, he used his free hand to wipe the spit away in a single stroke.
“Are you done?” he enunciated.
I struggled against his hold, but my body was too weak to keep up. My features fell, and I could feel my lip start to quiver as I looked up at him.
“I didn’t hear you,” he said, shaking my arm, and I offered him a nod.
He grabbed my wrist and started walking me back to the encampment I had woken up in earlier. Halfway back, we ran into the Parduss Orylis had been talking to earlier.
The man was fastened with intricate armor that clung tightly to his muscular body. He had small eyes and a massive jaw.
“You got her?” the man said and then offered me an almost friendly nod.
“No,” Orylis responded sarcastically. “This is a new human I found.”
The dark-skinned man rolled his eyes and gave a smirk. “Veynore,” he said to me, clearly introducing himself.
My lip continued to shake, and I see the tears filling my eyes and blurring my vision: the drops falling down my face in what felt like a steam.
My features crumbled and I stood with shoulders hunched: a violent sob escaping my mouth.
I covered my face with my hands and continued to cry into them. Through my fingers, I could see unknown Parduss raised his hands to me as if waving a white flag.
“It’s okay,” he said in a strangely comforting voice. “You’re Hazel?” he asked, and I nodded. “Azara,” he greeted.
I stared at him, wanting to point out how ridiculous it was that he was even bothering to be nice to me.
“Azara,” I said through my tears.
“Look, I’m… I’m sorry my friend here is an absolute idiot and took you, but we’re all in this together now,” he said, and Orylis gave an incredulous grimace.
“Um. Excuse me?” Orylis snorted.
Veynore dismissed him with a wave and came up to take my hand, leading me toward the fire.
We sat down in front of the warm flames, and he cooed, “There are clothes in the kaddar,” he said, pointing back to the strange, purple cabin. “They belonged to our Dendren, Merenora. She was a little bigger than you, but they should fit.”
I continued to cry into my hands. I wanted to say thank you, but my body wouldn’t let so much as a croak come out of my lips unless it was laced with a sob.
Veynore licked his bottom lip and looked up at Orylis cautiously before turning back to me. He set a light hand on my shoulder and leaned into me, reassuring like a brother might have.
“Hazel, what are the odds that Theren, or some of the other warriors, will be coming for you?” he asked.
I shrugged, unsure if I should answer him truthfully. Would it scare them if I said the odds were high? Or would they start planning for an attack?
My breaths and cries were coming out rapid and sharp like hyperventilation, and I struggled to slow them down.
“Calm down,” Orylis snapped and paced around the fire.
Veynore shot him a dirty look and said, “Will you give her a break?”
“I saved her,” he said, crossing his arms. “And I got spit on.”
Veynore stared at him and slowly processed the statement. Then he let out a deep gut-laugh that he couldn’t seem to stop.
His furious laughter was so friendly and genuinely amused that it caused a tickle to tingle up my throat—enough to put the brakes on my crying.
“Did you really spit on him?” he said, laughing so hard that tears were forming in the corners of his eyes.
I slowly raised and lowered a shoulder and muffled out, “Y-yeah.”
Veynore’s eyes went wide, and his laughter intensified. He pointed at Orylis and shook his head with amusement.
“Hey!” Orylis seethed, drawing his brows downward into a furious stare. “I’m your Dendren!” He demanded, “Show your due respect!”
Veynore’s laughter died down then, and I felt a tension return to the air as he stood. He walked over to Orylis, towering above the Atherien Dendren. He seemed offended now.
“I will show you respect when you earn it,” he said, placing a finger on Orylis’ armored chest.
Orylis raised his chin to the man.
“Get your hand off me,” Orylis spat, and Veynore immediately obeyed.
Veynore had bright orange scales that covered his face like scarring: his tail immensely thick and finned at the end. He returned to his spot next to me, no longer making eye-contact with Orylis.
Maybe he didn’t respect him, I thought, but he certainly backed down quickly. The Dendren title must have had more power than he had let on.
“Not Theren,” I finally said. I internally winced at the fact that I had said anything to them, but for some reason, I felt the need to cut the tension.
Both shifters looked at me curiously and drew
my bottom lip over my top one before continuing, “Theren wouldn’t be coming, or his army, for that matter. He probably won’t even notice I’m gone for a day or so.”
Orylis cocked a brow and wiped a finger along his forehead. “Why’s that?”
“I leave a lot,” I said with a shrug.
“Yeah,” Orylis continued easily, “I noticed.”
“He leaves for days sometimes, and it wouldn’t be alarming to him if I didn’t come home one night,” I said, realizing how ridiculous the words sounded coming out. It was the truth.
“Great!” Veynore said, standing once more and warming his hands by the fire. “Then let’s take her back!”
“No,” Orylis said harshly. “We can’t do that.”
“She won’t tell,” Veynore said, looking at me with eyes that told me to nod along. I did. “She just wants to go back.”
“And you call me an idiot?” Orylis laughed. “No. She stays. Now…” he looked at me, taking a single step closer. “Who then?”
I swallowed. “Who… what?”
“You said, ‘Not Theren.’ He won’t come looking for you. Who will?” he clarified.
“Oh,” I murmured. “Nariva,” I said, and they exchanged a look. “She’s a warrior for the Dendren and also my guard.”
“How long will it take for her to notice?” Veynore asked.
“An hour? Maybe more, maybe less,” I said. “She may check the outskirts for me but, after that, she’ll raise the alarm.”
Veynore nodded thoughtfully. He looked at Orylis and announced, “Then we don’t have long.”
Chapter Seven
Orylis
She ran away.
Again.
This was the third night in a row. I would put her in the kaddar, and she would wait until one of us fell asleep and then make off into the night.
“She’s being defiant,” I snapped to Veynore as I put her into the kaddar, again.
Veynore laughed with a hand to his chest.
“You kidnapped her!” he reminded me. “How’s she supposed to act?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. “Yeah, well, if I knew it was going to be this much work maybe I would have thought a second longer about the whole idea.”
“I wish you would have,” he reprimanded.
My eyes were closed, but I could tell Veynore was watching me with his judgmental stare.
“She gets to leave!” I shouted, throwing my hands into the air. “What possible problem could she have with that?”
“You need to make peace with her,” he said.
I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
“Orylis,” he said slowly. “You’re the one who made me your advisor, so listen to me. We have to get back to the mainland city. That means we have to get her to cooperate.”
“Nobody’s even come for her!” I argued. “What was all this about some eniwan warrior who watches after her all the time? Nothing has happened!”
Veynore ignored me. “You said you liked her at first.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “Until I found out she was Theren’s!”
“Make nice,” he enunciated. “From this point forward, she is no longer our captive; she is our guest. How we treat her during this time may have a direct bearing on what we receive in return for her.”
I closed my tired eyes briefly, submitting to my advisor’s request.
“And Orylis,” he warned gently, “you are the Dendren now. You can’t keep acting like a warrior. If you take these kinds of risks…” He shook his head. “We can’t lose you, too.”
My ego fell aside then, and for the first time in days, Veynore seemed like my friend again.
“I know,” I said lowly. “I know.”
With that, I took a breath and walked back into the kaddar.
Hazel sat on the edge of the bed in my mother’s battle armor. The armor was a shimmering gold, dulled in places. It had been mother’s favorite. It seemed strange to see them on a human.
I put up a fight with Veynore about giving it to the girl. Not only was it my mother’s but having it on obviously made her feel more confident about heading into the brush alone.
I leaned against the warm walls of the cabin and crossed my arms: stared down at my feet.
“Look,” I breathed. “We’re not going to keep you here, and you know it. So why do you insist on running?”
“Because I don’t want to be used as a bargaining chip,” she said evenly.
“Aren’t you the one who wanted to make peace with the mainlands to begin with?”
Her face reddened and then hardened as she stared back at me. “Yeah, but not like this! Remember when I encouraged you to take the deal? Nowhere did I remember saying, ‘Please take me against my will!’”
“Then you’re clearly unaware of the signals you’re sending out,” I snarked. “Look, I’m sick of fighting with you!”
Surprisingly, she laughed at that. I looked at her, taken aback at her reaction and immediately became endeared to her again.
“You laughed,” I teased.
“I coughed,” she said, folding her arms petulantly.
“No, you laughed,” I said, bemused as I took a step closer to her. “You like me.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “No, I just realized you’re not actually going to hurt me, or you would have done it already.”
“Good,” I said with a nod. “Then you’d better start getting comfortable because this is probably going to take a while.”
“Great,” she snapped back, and her eyes went wide as she mocked, “I’m quite the talker, so I hope you’re prepared!”
“Oh, what?” I laughed. “You’re going to annoy your way out of this?”
She inhaled sharply and smiled. “I take that as a personal challenge.”
“Don’t.” I shook my head. “How about we get this out of the way, since you’re so convinced we’re going to be such good friends: Your partner’s deal was a farce.”
Hazel looked up at me, clearly thinking, and argued, “No, believe it or not, it wasn’t.”
“Oh, here we go,” I scoffed. “And I guess he told you that?”
“Yeah, he did!” she quipped in a high-pitch.
“You’re either very oblivious or very naïve, Hazel. The gilds want us dead. They would rather see us—”
She cut me off with a scoff, “No, you’re just too prideful! They offered for you to come live in the plenks and you turned it down. Some Dendren you are.”
I pushed myself away from the wall and walked up to the edge of the bed.
“Excuse me?” I seethed.
“I said,” she drew out her words, “some Dendren you are. You can’t put your own ego aside even if it means saving your people.”
“Is that right?” I said furiously. “And what do you really know about the deal that was offered to us?”
“You were offered three girls in exchange for passage into the mainlands and the chance to come live… I don’t know, not like this!” She mocked, gesturing to the modest surroundings of the kaddar.
I blinked: furrowed a brow. “You think this is where we live?”
She seemed taken aback by that and asked, “Well, isn’t it?”
“This is a hunter’s lodge,” I said and then cleared my throat.
“Oh,” she mumbled, her face reddening.
“I don’t like your… Theren,” I finally said.
“Then don’t you sleep with him!” she snapped.
She said it with such vigor that I had to laugh.
“Fair enough,” I said, calming down. “What do you want, Hazel? What can I do to…?” I stalled and breathed out slowly, shocked that I had to lower myself and cater to this girl. “What can I do to make you more comfortable here? To make you stop running?”
“You can take me back to the plenks!” she said petulantly.
“Obviously, you see why I can’t do that,” I reasoned, crouching down in front of her.
; She laughed viciously and tilted her head to the side as she spewed, “Because you’re a coward?”
“No,” I snapped. “Because I’m smart.”
She rolled her eyes and looked away from me. She was absolutely stunning. I hadn’t forgotten that, even with all the trouble she’d been causing me the past few days.
Her small bangs spread across her forehead and highlighted thick brows and impossibly large, hazel eyes. I wanted so badly to reach out and touch her.
I cleared my throat.
“Let me show you the mainlands,” I said.
“What?” she frowned. Though she didn’t move her head, her eyes flicked sideways at me, considering my offer.
“You said…” I thought about it and nearly snapped my fingers. “You said you wanted to see the mainlands. In fact, I believe I remember you used the word love. You love the mainlands, right?”
She hesitated: hid a smile, “Right?”
“Let me show them to you. Don’t consider this a… ransom,” I explained, closing my eyes and shaking my head, trying to come up with anything that might soften her. “Consider it a tour.”
“Why would you do that?” she perked up.
“Because…” I pretended to think about it. The answer was because I needed her to stop taking off. I needed her to get comfortable here until we could make a trade. “If you’re right and we need this alliance,” I lied, “I want what’s fair, not the crumbs that they’re willing to give us.”
“Okay,” she elongated her word.
“I want you to bring back proof that the mainlands are worth keeping alive,” I insisted. “All I need from you is three weeks.”
“Three weeks?” she bounded back, shaking her head. “Try three days!”
I smiled.
She went from ‘take me home immediately’ to ‘three days.’ So, there was wiggle room there.
“Give me one week to show you the mainlands,” I cooperated. “Then you’re free to take what you know back to your people.”
She stood and walked over to me, raising a testing brow. “What will we see?”
“Well… one week isn’t a lot of time in the wilds,” I mocked. “So I’ll show you… the rivers, the badlands, and the blue city.”
“You Parduss and your names,” she teased.