“I'm not sure if I needed to know that,” Melantha says, and Yuna laughs.
“Well, you did ask. Dragons do lay eggs. Or did. Unfortunately in the last few centuries, our women have not been able to get pregnant. It might be to do with all the shifting, but we don't know for sure. But it does leave me free to pursue other... interests.” Yuna now strides into the room and stops in front of Melantha. I want to turn my eyes away, because I'm not sure whether to feel disgusted, embarrassed, or pleased. I'm fairly flexible when it comes to sexuality, though I strictly bat for the boys – but there's something about these two that get to me. I think maybe it's to do with the blatant emotion, because now I see Yuna bending over Melantha, holding her chin in one hand and nibbling her bottom lip.
Melantha doesn't seem to know how to react. I suspect she's a batter for the boy's team as well, placed into an entirely different profession. If she hates it, she doesn't tell me, but from this angle, it certainly looks like she doesn't mind. Yuna eventually departs, saying she needs to go out, and will see us later.
I'm grateful in a way that I can just drop into her place and sleep. I've been technically living at Cael's for a week, and I'll be going to Alaric's today, but Cael basically avoids me like the plague. Ever since that little session where everything seemed to spill out of him, he just left me to struggle by myself. And when I bump into him in the chambers, the atmosphere is so chilly that I can't stand being there. He doesn't want to see me at all. And Alaric is avoiding him, back at his clan.
So far, Cael hasn't lodged any complaints that I'm staying over at Yuna's instead – and I think it greatly concerns his sister. After all, she pretty much took a hand in buying me to help solve the escalating tensions between her brother and Alaric. And that doesn't seem to be happening.
“As my great mistress commands,” Melantha says, ironically saluting. She checks over the clothes she's dressed into, and I give her a look.
“We could escape. Maybe if we try it together, we'll have more of a chance.”
“Right. 'Cept we don't know where we are. If we even in the world anymore. That's the issue. Told you that shifters have their own kind of place.”
“It's impossible. It has to be somewhere in our world,” I protest. I keep glancing outside, to make sure no one is eavesdropping on us. “They've just isolated us so we can't speak to authorities.”
“Mm hm.” Melantha doesn't look convinced. “Bothers me I can't talk to my da. He gotta be wondering what's happening with his estranged daughter.”
“Me, too.” We both appear glum at this revelation. It's eating into both of us that we can't find a way to speak to our families. I'm amazed that there's no kind of internet at all. And it's not from lack of trying, either. Melantha and I have gone everywhere we can, snooping for something that might give us an edge here. I wouldn't mind escaping from those dark eyes of Cael's, from Alaric's bitch-slapped expression when it comes to interacting with his former lover.
“I really think we might be stuck here,” Melantha says then. “And be like all those other women who never found it back home, and just vanished from the face of the earth.”
Panic and determination writhe through me. “No. It won't be like that. We'll be different. We'll find a way.”
Melantha doesn't respond to that, but claps me on the shoulder. “Let's go stuff our stomachs. Maybe sneak a game of cards or two.”
I smile. We've been playing card games since Melantha had managed to keep a miniature set on her during the abduction. We've managed to rope a couple of the other women in as well, since the best card games need three or more people, and everyone's a little homesick for memories of before. They're awkward to handle, but better than the improvised ones other women have made. One even carved out painstakingly a twenty-sided dice, because she liked to play Dungeons and Dragons back in the day. She's called Katie, and she's promised us a session at some point.
She's not the kind of person I would have got on with in normal life, I think. But here, where boredom is a real danger, I'm willing to try out different things to stave it. And maybe one of the women might be smart enough to tinker with objects to create something with signal.
So far though, no one seems to have made a serious attempt at escape. Even Melantha, who is feisty and the kind brimming with passion, hasn't made much more effort than to grumble about her situation.
I think she's liking Yuna more than she wants to admit.
At breakfast, we sit with two other women and play the normal card version of Uno. Several of the dragon servants and nobles watch us as we play, interested in the way humans find to entertain ourselves. Yuna isn't there – she's busy with something else. I spot Cael once, slouching through the kitchen doors like some moody teenager, despite being in his early thirties. I wish I could slap that expression off him, because it's seriously starting to bug me.
“I place an eight, you miss a go,” Katie says, adjusting her glasses and smirking as Melantha glares. I place a Jack down.
“Changing to spades.” I drawl out spades, which causes Verity to giggle. Now everyone notices I have two cards left, so they instantly make a temporary alliance against me, trying to stop me from placing down those last two cards. Joke's on them, since I have no spades in my hand. Just two Jacks. I should win this, unless they royally fuck me up.
I don't mind this, if I'm honest. I mean, I don't want to be here, really. Most of us don't, but at some point, the other women seem to accept their fates. But things like this make it more bearable, more fun. Hearing about women trying to recreate games they liked such as Monopoly, trying to bribe their husbands to bring back some things for when they go to visit human civilization – it's kind of like us women have created a niche of our own in this place. No dragons allowed.
I think that's pretty cool. And the fact we actually have the freedom to be able to create these things is another tick in the box. We're allowed to roam the city, and even go into nature nearby. It makes sense, because we have a snowball's chance of being able to survive in the wilderness and to not be caught by dragons hunting for us.
I've not bothered to talk to Cael about my feelings. I've kind of tried with Yuna, though she's adamant on not allowing a mobile device to be smuggled in. No matter our intent, sooner or later, humans will attempt to bring down the wrath of their countries upon the dragon cities.
Probably shouldn't build a culture that focuses on abducting women, then. It's their own damned fault. They could have easily made it legitimate, instead of carrying oudated practises from centuries ago.
What else can we do? What else can I do? My mind is full of escape plans, even though most are impossible to carry out all the way through without hitting some major roadblock. I still feverishly run through them anyway, because not being able to contact my family eats away at me, until it becomes a distressing headache at the back of my skull. They have to know I'm alive.
I'm fairly certain by now that my dear Walmart boss has replaced me. But that's okay. I was itching for a reason to leave on a level, but just got comfortable with the routine. Just kept giving excuses to keep going, thinking it would get better with time, even though in those kind of jobs, it's always a flat out sprint. Always playing catch up to impossible targets. Some good days doesn't change the fact that the whole system stinks.
There's something else that's been digging at my consciousness, too.
Aside from the fact that I want to get back to those that I love, why am I so desperate to return to human society?
In the week I've been here, I haven't had to pay a single dollar. I've had a nice bed to sleep in, delicious food. There's forests and lakes and mountains, and it's not so bad being able to sit around like this and talk to the other women. I'm more social than I was before, simply because there's no other distractions. Conversation is how we make our time, not mobile phones or iPads.
I don't know whether I hate it or like it. And it feels odd to wake up and not have to rush to work, deal with a strin
g of distressed customers and frustrated colleagues rushing around trying to get things done, so they can fit everything in their schedule on time, and freak out if they miss things or it doesn't work out the way they want – which is virtually all the time.
That's what is dangerous about these mountains. The lure of never having to worry about government, wages or schedules again. And I'm seeing this in just a week.
Does Melantha see it, too? Have the other women seen it and accepted because of this? They sacrifice their bodies, make babies, because they've traded one form of life for another?
Many of the women I've spoken to have children. For all I know, I might have one brewing in my stomach already. It's not like Cael and Alaric were wearing condoms.
“What's eating ya?” Melantha nudges me. It's my turn. I flush and place down my second-to-last Jack, and announce that I have one card. This turns the other women into a feverish discussion, though Melantha continues to look at me with that baffled expression. “You seem pretty out of it. Is it cos you're going to Alaric? Or?”
“It's nothing.” I shrug. “Just thinking.”
“Got nothing but time to think,” Melantha says, nodding, though she's still suspicious. “Don't let it fuck you up. Too much thinking makes you crazy.”
I twitch a smile in response, though I'm not feeling it. I don't like where my thoughts are leading. It's like... I've only just realized I was living in a cage, and now I've been moved to a different one with different scenery. And I can stretch out and touch both cages with my hands. I can see them. I can see the pros and cons they offer.
I don't like the responsibility of this knowledge.
It would be simple if I can just point a finger and say yeah, this is what I really want.
“We can talk more 'bout it later,” Melantha says, briefly examining the four cards she has left. “Get us some more womanly bonding.”
I laugh. It's less forced this time, and Verity slams down a Jack, changing it from spades to hearts, because she's sure she's seen a lot of hearts go down. I look at my Jack of hearts and try to act disappointed. Katie has to pick up, and Melantha places a three.
I rub it in as much as possible when I win, which also gets me a punch on the arm from Melantha.
“You humans really like your games, don't you?” One of the dragon servants leans in, avid interest stamped upon his face. “With all these rules.”
“Happens when you got free time,” Melantha says. “If we're not working, not eating, sexing or sleeping, then we gotta find something else to do with our time. Games is as good as any.”
“Hmm. I should like to learn this.”
We allow the servant to sit down and introduce him to the rules quickly, playing one open game so he gets to see how we work. One game later, he's delighted with the feel of the game, of the banter we fling at one another and hastily constructed and torn down alliances.
I end up making my excuses and going when I see Alaric appear just outside the kitchen, waiting to pick me up.
“Good luck,” Melantha says, giving me a wave. “He ain't so bad looking, yunno. Could do worse.”
“Yeah...” I roll my eyes and follow Alaric after grabbing my black fur coat. My red hair's a mess. I haven't bothered to brush it, since I've been a little too occupied in my head. I wonder if Alaric plans to avoid me like before, since he's not bothered to make any effort at contact before this. Yuna had to arrange the one week at a time clause, since neither of the princes seemed remotely inclined. She raged about it as well, saying they acted like children, though I think it's more because they don't want to face up to what they did.
Me included.
“We'll go out to the landing platform and you'll hop on my back again.” Alaric glances at me briefly, though I don't feel like he's really focusing on me. “Then if you want, you can stay in the servants quarters.”
That instant dismissal pisses me off. I want to say something about it, accuse him of being a coward of whatever, but instead I clamp my mouth shut, and don't say a thing. The situation Alaric wants to fix won't be solved like this. Won't be solved by shutting me away somewhere and pretending I don't exist.
I bet he's just going through this for his mother and father, so that they think everything's alright. Well, it won't take long for word to spread against it. One bribed servant talking to the queen, and they'll know we're sleeping in separate beds.
Then again, why the fuck do I care?
Let it happen. Let it all crumble apart as these two burn the bridges on their pathetic relationship. These thieves who stole me from my family. Why indeed should I fucking care?
The resentment boils in me as I follow. Alaric transforms into his green dragon when we make it to the landing platforms outside the peculiar brick houses of the Spiden clan. Alaric waits for me to clamber on him, and I'm tempted to just run away on the spot. My throat's plugged up with barely suppressed frustration. I clamber onto him, wedging once more behind his dark green bone frill.
He lifts off with that mighty whoosh of wing, and my stomach lurches as he gets into rhythm, and I adapt to the elevation, the thinner air. He doesn't fly too high at least, since the Spiden mountain range is higher than his own.
As I clutch onto his frill, I see the city beneath me turn to forests and lakes, and for one insane moment, I wonder if there's a way to escape him mid-flight. I contemplate it, before coming to the inevitable conclusion that jumping off a dragon mid-flight is one surefire way to get myself killed.
Best to be sensible on that.
I look just behind us, and gape as I see a dark copper dragon speeding towards us. It's not Cael – he's a lighter copper than this one, same with Yuna. It's a stranger, and the way he flies makes me think he's not just cruising airspace.
“Alaric!” I yell, hoping to hell he can hear me. “There's someone chasing us!”
Alaric doesn't react at first. I repeat it, and Alaric swerves just in time to avoid the advancing dragon's attack. He hisses and screeches at the attacker, who is forced to make a loop in the air, now redirecting himself again. Without human speech, I can't understand the exchange going on between the dragons, but I definitely can understand a murderous bullet of copper hurtling towards Alaric.
The terror and adrenaline make me take in faster, heavier breaths. Oh no. Why is this happening? Spiden dragons not liking Frostgreen dragons or something? Cael ordering a hit against Alaric, and possibly me in the process? I have to resist the urge to scream like a banshee and cling on with a death-knuckle grip, stomach lurching uncomfortably as Alaric braces himself to avoid another attack.
The copper dragon roars, and Alaric isn't so graceful in trying to avoid it this time. He receives a scathing blow to his leg and rolls in the air. I'm holding on hard, but when I'm turned completely upside down, the cold and fear and sweat and awkward twist of my body makes it hard to hold on.
My fingers slip. The whip of force tears then away from his frills, and I plummet, screaming through the air, down to the cold lake below.
Chapter Six
I think I blank out at one point from the screaming change of altitude. When I focus again, the lake is close, and most certainly doesn't look inviting. I'm no longer wasting my breath on yelling. It's not like it will make a difference, and make me any less prone to smacking into the lake.
The lake that I'm about to miss.
To be fair, I think from the height I'm falling, it'll probably feel like slamming into concrete anyway, but I don't seem to allow decent, rational thoughts to strike me, and instead start panicking further. I'm heading for a kind of deep snowy incline along the side of one of the mountains, as my angle is rapidly jerking towards it. I want to twist and steer myself towards the lake – all the movies seem to show people surviving big falls like this. Don't think any of them mentioned terminal velocity, but as the snow rushes to meet me, I begin to think my last prayers, and wish that my mom and dad never find out what happened to me, and that it was a shame I never got to know
Melantha better or saw Alaric and Cael get over their stupid differences.
I slam into the snowdrift, and skid through deep snow, until it entombs me completely. My body aches from the impact, but the decline and buffer of snow seems to have left me more or less not a broken husk of a being.
In fact, I'm stiff from the realization that I just survived a huge ass fall and only the initial areas where I impacted actually hurt. No broken bones though. The snow is so deep though that even when I reach my arms upward, I only just scrape the surface. Wow.
I don't think I've ever experienced snow this deep before. Then again, I've never plummeted from the back of a dragon before. Awkwardly, after making sure I really am alive and not paralyzed, I begin to struggle upright. The snow makes it awkward, but I find that with some effort, and some frozen fingers, I'm able to pat myself to the surface, and see the two dragons still clashing in the air.
Sold To The Dragon Princes: The Novel Page 9