Vane

by Teshelle Combs

  “I see….” She was wise enough to move on. “So these troubles. Are they a private matter?”

  “Actually,” Cale cleared his throat. “Ava’s been…sick. We thought you might have some knowledge that could help us make her better.”

  Emaline grew even more serious. “This is grave, indeed. What sort of an illness, rothai? I will help if I can. We do not want to lose you, especially at a time like this.”

  Ava hesitated. It was strange to have someone seem to care about her, other than Cale. “Well…I keep…dying.”

  Emaline’s eyes widened. “You are dying?”

  “No, I mean…I already did. Twice.”

  “You…have already died?”

  “Yes.”

  “And now you are alive again?”

  “Yes.”

  Emaline thought for a moment, then yelled for Maurice. He came in with an etiquette he reserved only for Emaline and bowed. “You called?”

  “The rothai keeps dying, yet here she is alive before us.”

  Maurice’s eyes went wider than Emaline’s, and he began to bow to Ava. “Your Immanence—” he started.

  “Maurice, I will walk right out of here. Don’t call me that, for God’s sake. Ava is just fine.”

  “You didn’t tell us you were a mighty phoenix. How could you keep this from us.” Maurice almost seemed wounded.

  “We didn’t know, Maurice,” Cale answered. “But how is it that Ava and I can fly together if she’s not human? And how do we keep the bond from being severed if she keeps…dying?”

  Maurice shook his little head. “It’s simple. You cannot be bonded. It isn’t possible.”

  Ava almost snarled. “It is obviously possible, Maurice. I just flew with him a few hours ago. And before that I was dead. So, if everyone could stop saying it can’t happen, we could get past that and figure out the how.”

  “I know not, rider, how such a thing could come to be. And I can assure you, though our red dragon historical records are limited, it has never happened before.”

  Ava gave a sigh so loud the hut shook. “Fine. How do I keep from going to ownworld?”

  Emaline wrinkled her nose. “To where?”

  “You’ve never heard of ownworld? I’m the only one who’s ever been there?”

  Maurice frowned at her. “You must forgive our ignorance, rothai, but phoenixes do not keep records nor do they share information. If you are in trouble, perhaps another phoenix could help. If you could locate—”

  “I know where to find her, and I’m not going back there,” Ava snapped, a flood of gold filling the room and then dissipating.

  Emaline and Maurice stood in awe and silence. Then without saying another word to Ava or Cale, she leaned out the window. “Jethro, a moment,” she called.

  The young man, who’s looks matched hers almost exactly, propped himself up on the window so he could see inside. He seemed more tired than Ava remembered, and his frown had become an unchanging part of his features.

  “Do the people know that the rider is here?” Emaline asked him.

  “They’re starting to suspect something is going on. And what was that lightning? It is drawing attention.”

  “Why can’t the people know we’re here?” Cale asked.

  Jethro looked over his shoulder as he spoke. “If we knew you had changed your mind, we would have warned you against coming into the village. Your help would be welcome for driving out sirens, but the dragons who have come here to find refuge are growing desperate. They will cling to you. And I imagine they will expect more from dragon and rider than you are able to give.”

  Emaline nodded. “See to it that they’re escorted safely and quickly out of the village.” And then she turned back to her guests.

  Cale swallowed. “We should have come sooner…. Are you angry with us, Emaline?”

  “Hmm? No, of course not.” She waved a hand at them. “I am not so fickle, Anderson. You had your own problems to attend to, as we have ours.”

  Cale flinched at the term. Anderson. It was short hand for son of Anders nest. And he was sure Emaline had used the name on purpose.

  She continued. “Forgive me for not staying here with you longer, but as you can see, we have too much to deal with. Thank you for coming to inform me of the attack on Lou’s castle, and I send you with every blessing to see to your business as we see to ours. Call on us if you need us.” She said it kindly, but in her stern eyes there was a shadow of disappointment. She turned on her heel and slapped the curtain aside as she left.

  “Quickly,” Jethro said. “The displaced are beginning to murmur of your coming. Climb out through the window.”

  Ava furrowed her brows. “I still don’t think all this secrecy is necessary.”

  Jethro motioned for her to move faster, glancing behind them. “Every time I step foot outside, they crowd me, claw at my clothes and demand I do something to change their circumstances. They will not be able to contain themselves if they know the two of you, the only rider and dragon, are here in Great Nest.”

  “What about Harlon?” Cale asked. “We can’t just leave him again. He’s supposed to go with us.”

  “Forget him,” Jethro said. And he began to run a little faster.

  It was only then that Ava and Cale could hear it. The hum of voices rising together. The thud of footsteps drumming behind them. When Ava glanced behind her, she saw them. Not sirens. A hundred villagers, bedraggled and weary, giving chase. They wanted saviors. They wanted Cale and Ava to fix the world for them.

  The people yelled things. “Wait. Rothai, help us. Help us.” It only made them move faster to escape. A mob like that would tear them to pieces.

  They made it through the tree line and into the forest that surrounded the Nest. Ava and the two dragons paused for a moment, breathless.

  “Jethro—” Ava wiped at the sweat on her face, trying to catch her breath. “We have to do something about this. Maybe we should stay. Maybe we should help.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “This isn’t your responsibility. The red dragons of this world are for us to care for. Maurice and Emaline and me.

  We should never have asked for you to leave your homes in the first place. You have your own work to do.” Even though he couldn’t have been more than a few years older than them, Jethro stood up straight and met their eyes with all the authority and severity of a councilman. “I leave you with the wisdom that my mother always offers to our village. ‘Guilt is a lie. It only burns up the time that could be spent on moving forward.’ Do not feel guilty about taking care of each other. Never feel guilty about that. You are each other’s greatest gift.”

  And the crowd was nearly on them, pushing their way through the trees, scrambling towards the only dragon and rider in the last century to beg them—force them—to help them find their nests, their lost loved ones, and their revenge on the sirens that took them.

  “We fly,” Ava said. “Just one more time, Cale.” She touched her hand to his shoulder, knowing how tired he was from the siren battle and the walk to Great Nest.

  He didn’t need much prompting. The column of ash left his mouth and he became his second form, tearing through his clothes as his core was sparked and his molecules remodeled. And as Ava took to his back, she couldn’t help but think that the displaced dragons, with their gaping mouths and haggard, hungry eyes, looked so much like the sirens they feared and faught against.

  She brought Cale down as soon as they were far enough out to avoid the throngs. He changed back, lying on the ground face down. It would have been a normal post-flight response…Except for how completely naked he was.

  I should say something. I should do something. She felt like Eve in the garden. Should I toss some leaves at him? Though Ava thought she should have been more appalled, maybe should have blushed a bit, what she felt was a pressing worry.

  She went over to him and put her hand on his back. It wasn’t the meaningful caress he would have given her, but it was something
.

  He sighed out a deep growl, almost a purr, in response. Her touching him helped. It was like a shot of adrenaline for his core. And he needed it. Because he was running on empty.

  With her dragon still face down, she dug through her backpack and pulled out her lighter. “Look, Cale,” she said as she flicked the switch and the little flame came to life. She held a twig to it and Cale tilted his head so he could see. He studied the way the flame shifted and danced, consuming the wood, turning it into something else, something dark and beautiful. And then he looked at Ava. She was concerned for him. He could tell by the way her eyebrows pinched together, the way the corners of her mouth angled down just a little.

  “I’m okay,” he said. She’d know it was true if he said it out loud.

  She patted his back again, and searched her bag for more clothes. “You’ll be okay once we get you some food and a place to lie down.” But we don’t have any money. We don’t even have any more clothes.

  He could feel her muscles tense as she thought. “We’ll be okay,” he mumbled.

  She nodded, only half listening. “Yeah.”

  “Ava….”

  “Stay here,” she said. “I’ll find you something to wear.”

  If only they could go back to Great Nest. There were plenty of people who’d lend them something, give them dinner. Ava sighed. She would miss the peace she used to find in Great Nest. They were the only dragons that had ever truly been kind to her.

  “Not alone,” Cale said, still lying there. It was as if he didn’t even notice the breeze against his unclothed body. Still, he wasn’t about to let Ava leave his side.

  “Well, you can’t exactly strut through the city naked, Cale. I’ll have to go get you something to wear.”

  And then his eyes widened. “I’m naked?”

  Ava grinned at him from where she sat, her arms resting on her knees. “Yup.”

  Cale closed his eyes, gave the biggest sigh he’d ever given, and buried his face in his arm. “Oh god.”

  Ava was still smiling. “Who cares? It’s just me.”

  “It’s never ‘just you,’ Ava. Oh god.” His face was still hidden, but red hurried across the back of his neck. “You can go get some clothes now.”

  Ava had to chuckle. “I mean, I could stay a while longer. Or you could make a run for it and hope I don’t get the full view.”

  “Oh god!”

  She laughed as she stood up. “Alright, alright.” She swung her backpack over her shoulder. “Be safe,” she called as she left.

  “Be safe,” Cale called back. He didn’t know which made him want to throw up more—the shame of his nudity or the separation from the one he loved.

  But Ava made it through the forest on her own, using the vanishing sun to judge which way was out. She spent her last four dollars catching a ride into the city. And there she was, covered in splotches of purple siren blood and mud, her hair wild and uncombed from dragon turbulence. She probably smelled like the world’s most pungent barbecue thanks to her firebreather.

  What do I do now? Beg? She knew she wasn’t going to try to steal anything. Spending the night in a Dublin prison didn’t sound very appealing. Besides, she’d always been too proud to be a thief. Even when she’d living with Jim and Miriam and had to sneak around to avoid a beating, she’d never stooped so low as to steal lunch money. She’d relied on her boxing abilities to pay for the little things she needed. She paused, remembering with a groan the police officer who could, at that very moment, be questioning Miriam as to where her foster daughter had disappeared to. Ava knew what she would do if it came to it. Punch his face in. But what would soft-spoken Miriam say? ‘Oh, so sorry, officer. Ava’s off flying atop her dragon, battling soul-leeching night terrors, and trying to figure out why she can’t stop dying over and over?’

  The voice came from right over Ava’s shoulder, pulling her from her thoughts with a yank.

  “You will have to come with me.”

  Anyone else’s first instinct might have been to run for it. But Ava was Ava. She reached for her dragonblade, touching the cool of the handle in her pocket just as the no-ir rider grabbed her arm with his gloved hand. He winced, but he remained firm.

  “You will alert the humans if you begin swinging swords around.” He let go and stepped away from her. “Humans are to remain oblivious to our dealings.”

  Not Shiloh. Nothing like Shiloh. Ava recognized him right away. It was the guard who’d snatched her and Cale from the Great Nest feast months ago. The same black rider who’d used his whip to give her the spiraled scar she still wore on her left forearm, peeking out from beneath her riding leather bands. The same rider who tried to tame her in the sky dungeon and couldn’t.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Pendulus, is it? You’re worried about me alarming the humans when you look like a corpse?”

  “I’m not looking for a fight this time, phoenix.” He kept his eyes to the ground out of respect. “I have only come to collect you on behalf of Judge Sirce. And humans tend to ignore what they can’t explain. I will not be alarming to them.”

  “Oh? You’re collecting me? Not going to burn me with your whip or drag me through the air and force me into your sky dungeon?”

  If no-ir riders—with their thin gray skin and black dragon blood—could have blushed, Pendulus would have. “It may not be pleasant, under any circumstance, for you to ride on my Meel, but I only intend to escort you this time. You have my word.”

  “You can keep your word. I have my own dragon to ride.”

  Pendulus glanced up at her for a moment. “The red dragon is not invited. Besides, he would not be able to fly to the courts comfortably. It is too high. He would have to settle for riding through the void on Meel.”

  Ava gave a sardonic chuckle. “Invited?” She sunk her hand into her pocket that held her blade, refusing to let go of it, just in case. “If this is by invitation only, then I can decline.”

  It was surprising how little attention Pendulus drew to himself, especially with his black cape, leather boots, and gloves. His grayed skin, bald head, and blackened eyes made him look unhuman. But the city simply bustled around them, no one so much as glancing their way. He hummed a little in his throat, thinking. “If I report to Judge Sirce that you will not come, he will be…angry.”

  “Good,” Ava said, ready to leave.

  “But…he is not one you should make angry.”

  “I’m not scared of the greys, if that’s what you mean.” Ava jutted her chin at Pendulus. “Now, I’m in the middle of something. So, why don’t you just hop on your dragon and fly off.”

  Pendulus clicked his tongue, obviously in distress. “Sirce does things—unkind things—to those who anger him. If you would just come…”

  Ava squared her shoulders, lowering her voice even further. “Are you threatening me?”

  “You have to come, phoenix.”

  “Look, you people can’t make me do anything. Contract or not. The only person I owe anything to is Cale.”

  But as she turned to leave, Pendulus reached out and touched her shoulder, burning himself and not caring. “Please, phoenix.” He stopped, meeting her eyes as no-ir riders rarely did. “Please. Ava. I promised him I would bring you.”

  Ava paused. She’d never heard a no-ir rider use her first name before. It seemed odd, too personal for one of them. But she recovered, moving past it. “Tell Sirce—”

  “Not Sirce.” Pendulus fidgeted again, his eyes roving the streets, as if someone might be listening. “They will kill him. If I don’t straighten all this out, they will kill him.”

  Ava bit down on her lip. “Shiloh?”

  Pendulus nodded. “They’re questioning him. They have been holding him and Rane for too long.”

  “Surely he can handle an interrogation, however long. He’s not the kind to flinch under pressure.”

  Pendulus groaned. “No, you misunderstand. They are keeping him and Rane separate. It will be unbearable.”

&n
bsp; Ava stopped. Pendulus said ‘too long.’ It had been days since Shiloh left Juliette. That meant the greys were holding Shiloh and Rane prisoner in different places. What would that do to the core the two shared? She knew Cale could hardly bare a few minutes. What about Rane? It was torture. It was wicked. And it had been happening for ‘too long.’

  “What would I even do, if I were to go with you?”

  “The greys are questioning Shiloh about the pearl. That is what they want you for. So you can show them to it. And when they find it, they will pardon him. I know it.”

  Ava cursed under her breath. “The blasted pearl? What the hell is it even for? And why would I know how to find it?”

  “Shiloh always said the pearl is everything.”

  Ava rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know where it is. And I can’t just leave Cale. I have to take him with me if I go to the court.”

  “I was ordered to leave him behind.”

  “I don’t care. We’re a package deal. We go together no matter what. Would you go anywhere without your dragon?”

  Pendulus studied the ground around Ava’s worn black and white chucks. “The Accuser will be angry.”

  Ava threw her hands in the air. It was like he was on repeat. “Well, does he want me or not?!”

  Pendulus took a step back, surprised at her outburst. “He wants you.”

  “Alright.” Ava took a deep breath. Cale would be furious. Absolutely livid. The grey court was every dragon’s least favorite place. Most who visited never left alive. And this would be his second trip in the same year. The least I can do is feed him first. “My dragon needs to eat. You find us meat, and we’ll go with you to the court.”

  Pendulus blinked at the ground.

  “Go find meat.” She said. Why is he just standing there?

  “I don’t eat.”

  “You…don’t eat?”

  “No.” Pendulus rocked back on his heels, his square bald head gleaming in the Dublin lamplights. “How will I know what to bring for him?”

  Ava sighed. Nothing was ever just easy. “Meat, Pendulus. Like…what does your dragon eat?”

  The satchel he had strapped to his shoulder wriggled and the dragon poked an ear out. “Meel? He eats rotted carcasses. I know how to find some of those….”