The Heart of Oldra

by Georgina Makalani

  Cora turned back to look out over the view. ‘There is a whole world out there that we don’t know.’

  Teven pulled his tunic back over his head and then looked at the slice on the sleeve. ‘Why did you come this way?’

  ‘I thought I saw someone,’ she said.

  He watched her for too long before he spoke. ‘First dragons and now more people,’ he said with a slight grin and a shake of his head.

  Cora turned back for the trees. She knew there were dragons, and therefore there must be other people. But were they friendly, or were they the enemy the people believed them to be?

  Chapter 15

  The following morning, Cora gulped her breakfast down quickly. Before she could even suggest heading out, Teven shook his head. ‘No,’ he said sternly.

  ‘I haven’t asked a question,’ Cora moaned.

  ‘Let me repeat it,’ the chief said behind her, and she turned slowly.

  ‘Why?’ she asked.

  ‘Did you give your father such grief?’

  ‘You would know,’ she said, looking into her empty bowl. She felt a stab of homesickness at the thought that her father would have been the first to join her in exploring the new world.

  ‘You may go out, but only to where you have been before,’ the chief said sharply before he disappeared back into the shadows. Cora wondered again how it could be so dark all the time.

  ‘I’ve been there before,’ she whispered, giving Teven a cheeky grin, and he almost growled. ‘Where is Rhali?’ She asked it mostly just to bait him, but she wondered if he really did have any idea where Rhali went of a day.

  He looked towards the fire, ignoring her. She held her hand out for his bowl, but he shook his head.

  ‘It is my turn,’ she said.

  ‘You are a guest.’

  ‘Is that what I am?’ Cora asked slowly as he glowered at her. ‘Fine,’ she said, handing the bowl over.

  He took it, and she stood slowly as he focused on the task of cleaning. He barely glanced up, and she took a slow step backwards. There were dragons and people, and if she had any connection to them, she was going to find them. Cora might not be what her mother thought she was, but she would find a way out of this.

  She took another step back and then turned. She was partway around the cavern before she heard him calling after her, and she took off at the fastest run she had. She could barely make out the trees around her. Although she looked, she couldn’t see Rhali.

  Her heart pounded as she made her way through the trees. Struggling to maintain her too fast pace, she could hear Teven running behind her. His heavy footfalls and his determined call.

  She didn’t slow as she burst out through the trees. It was further than she remembered, and her lungs were burning. The sun was almost blinding and Teven’s call more desperate behind her as she raced straight for the cliff. Her foot found the edge, and she pushed off into nothing.

  ‘Whoohoo,’ she called like a madwoman on the way down. ‘Anytime,’ she added. And then her arms closed around a dragon’s neck, and she shot straight back up into the air.

  As she passed Teven standing on the edge of the cliff, his arms hanging by his sides and his mouth open, she waved. ‘Over the trees,’ she whispered to the dragon. It turned and glided over the trees she had looked over. They seemed to stretch on forever, and the ground was dark and unknown beneath them. ‘Are there more people out here?’

  You should return to Teven, a voice hummed in her mind. It was younger, not as deep as Dra. She ran her hand over the soft leathery skin. They were so alike and yet so different.

  ‘Are you alone?’ she asked.

  Don’t be sad, the voice hummed. We are enough.

  ‘Do you have a name?’

  You have so many questions, Oldra, but I think you could find it.

  Find it? Where would she find the name of a dragon? They landed softly before Teven, and his surprised look had been replaced with an angry one. As Cora slipped down to the ground, she was reminded just how much smaller this dragon was than the ones she knew. Perhaps it was young.

  Teven grabbed her arm and pulled her away. ‘What are you doing?’ he snapped, his hold tight.

  She pulled her arm from his and moved back towards the dragon. ‘You knew.’

  He shook his head as the dragon rubbed her nose along Cora’s arm.

  He is lost. Be kind.

  Cora turned to the dragon and ran a hand over the soft leathery skin, feeling the difference from the scales of the dragons she knew. She listened to the sounds the dragon made, checked over her fine wings and long tail as she tried to ignore the man still watching her too closely.

  ‘Do you know her name?’ she asked.

  When there was no answer, she turned back to Teven. Sighing, he shook his head. The dragon sat down, curled partly around Cora and folded back its wings. Cora leaned into the dragon and sighed. She missed Dra. She missed all the dragons, and she realised it had been so silent in her head without them. She rested her face against the dragon, again noting how different it felt, but it sounded just the same. She had sat with so many dragons in her time, only they glistened with scales.

  ‘I wish you could come out of the shadows, Serassa,’ she whispered, patting across her leathery skin. She could feel the dragon’s strong heart beating within her chest. The warmth and comfort radiated from her as Cora closed her eyes.

  ‘Serassa?’ Teven questioned.

  She nodded and motioned him forward. ‘You know them,’ she said softly as he moved hesitantly. When he was close enough, she pulled him to sit beside her.

  ‘How do you know her?’

  ‘I know all dragons, in a way. It is part of the Oldra skill.’

  There is more that you can do. You will find your way, Cora, Greatest Oldra of them all.

  ‘Don’t say that,’ Cora murmured. ‘Wyndha was the greatest, Mama is the strongest. I have only just worked out my healing skills and...’ She stopped.

  He cannot take what you will not give.

  ‘What is he exactly?’

  Not what he looks like.

  She sighed and leaned back.

  Let her heal you. Let her reveal who you are.

  ‘I can’t,’ Teven whispered.

  I will keep you safe.

  Teven looked at Cora and slowly shook his head.

  Cora looked him over. He might be Oldra as well, or he might simply be a warrior. All warriors could talk to their dragons, if not all dragons.

  ‘Have you met before?’ she asked.

  ‘I have seen several dragons in the trees,’ he whispered.

  ‘Can you hear them all, or just this one?’

  ‘I’m not what you think,’ he said, looking out beyond the cliff.

  Cora followed his gaze. She was still mesmerised by the differences between this world and hers, yet she was sure they were the same. Serassa nudged her, and she reached around to pat her without taking her eyes from the sky. ‘You don’t know what I think you are,’ she said to Teven.

  ‘You think I might be like you.’

  ‘You might be more like the men of my clan. Each of them connects to a single dragon.’

  ‘Everyone?’ he asked.

  She nodded as she leaned back into Serassa. This was the most comfortable she had felt since arriving here. She had thought it might be a way for her to leave, but she understood in meeting Serassa that she wouldn’t be able to. Not until she became what she needed to be.

  ‘Don’t be afraid,’ her mother’s voice whispered in her ear. But for the first time, Cora wasn’t afraid. She knew she was where she was meant to be, and that her mother knew it too.

  ‘Do you know what skill I have?’ Cora asked the sky.

  The dragon chuckled inside her head.

  ‘So I must find it on my own.’

  ‘She didn’t say anything,’ Teven said.

  ‘But I have heard that laugh before. Ariandi has a similar way of letting you find out for yourself what others already k
now.’

  ‘Does the chief know?’

  Cora nodded. ‘Merik knows exactly what I am, but he also thinks he can take that for himself.’

  She stood and walked towards the edge of the cliff, flinching as Teven closed his hand around her arm.

  ‘I don’t want you to fall.’

  ‘Who is down there? Who is the man Rhali meets with?’

  Teven released his grip and moved back.

  ‘Can I get down there?’ Cora asked. She heard the rustle of wings as the dragon got to her feet.

  ‘It isn’t safe. We can’t leave the cavern.’

  She turned back to him with frustration. ‘We’ve already left the cavern. You leave it every day.’ What else was he trying to hide from her?

  He shook his head.

  ‘Serassa, would you mind?’

  The dragon bowed her head. There is a path, she said with a flick of her head. Then she lifted into the air and disappeared.

  ‘How did you know her name?’ Teven asked as Cora headed in the direction the dragon had indicated.

  ‘I felt it,’ she murmured. The path dropped suddenly, and she hugged the wall as it went down below the cliff line. She could see the sheer drop on one side. Although she wanted to see what was down amongst the other trees, she didn’t want to fall all the way. She wasn’t confident Serassa would sweep in to save her again.

  ‘This is a bad idea,’ Teven murmured behind her.

  ‘And yet here we go.’

  It took some time to reach the base of the cliff. Cora looked back up from the shadow of the trees, wondering if he was right and this wasn’t a good idea. She had nothing with her, no bow, no spear, no idea what these people might think of her when she appeared amongst them. If she could find them.

  She looked amongst the trees for signs of a path or track, but there was nothing. Teven took the lead, appearing to know the direction to take, but he moved slowly.

  ‘I don’t think this is a good idea,’ he murmured as they made their way into the trees. They had a slightly different feel down here, a little cooler as less sun penetrated the canopy. Cora looked up as they walked and realised just how dense the foliage was above her. She wondered what her own trees would be like when she returned; they would look so bare compared to these that she wasn’t sure she would want to be out amongst them.

  Teven stopped and looked about. She wasn’t sure if he was looking for a way through the trees or for someone. As she opened her mouth to ask a question, he held up his hand. She couldn’t hear anything, and then she could. Like when she hunted with her father, she got a sense of something moving closer. She stepped towards Teven.

  In some way, Cora expected the shadows to shift about her as they did at times in her mother’s dreams—as they had when she had wandered from the cavern in the other direction. Cora sucked in a breath. Was that the shadow of the chief amongst the trees? She took a slow step forward and was halted by Teven’s strong hold around her arm.

  ‘You were told not to come here,’ an older voice said from the shadows, but it wasn’t the chief. ‘And you know not to bring others.’

  ‘She is different,’ Teven said.

  Cora tensed as she heard the arrow pulled back, drawing across the bow.

  ‘Not enough,’ the voice continued. Cora squeezed her eyes closed against the arrow she knew was coming, but she couldn’t tell from where.

  Then Teven was groaning as he pushed back against her. She couldn’t hold his weight. He had stepped between her and the arrow, and he lay at her feet.

  ‘No,’ she cried as she dropped to her knees. The arrow had struck the centre of his chest, and it was only luck that it had missed his heart.

  Someone swore in the dark, and then someone else was dragging her back as she tried to place her hands on him.

  ‘I can heal him,’ she said, surprising herself with how much she sounded like her mother. She wondered if she really could do for him as she had done for herself.

  ‘No one can heal that,’ a younger man beside her said, still tugging at her arm, but Teven had gripped her wrist. Despite his failing life and the other man’s determination, he maintained the hold.

  ‘Bring them both,’ the older man sighed.

  Teven grunted as more men appeared from the trees, bows slung over their shoulders. Cora was thankful that they hadn’t all released their arrows at her, or neither of them would have survived.

  The cavern they entered was unseen amongst the trees until they were through the heavy leather curtain. Then the lights showed her a different world. There was a small entrance, as there was with the cavern of the Penna, although no crystal trees. Cora wondered if it was because of the snow, or lack of it, that they were so alike yet so different.

  The number of men surrounding them surprised her, and she understood her mother’s fear of the shadows. She just needed to shine a light on them, she told herself.

  They moved through another curtain and into a cavern much larger than the Penna one. It was bright, and she breathed in the familiarity. As they pushed her along and half carried, half dragged Teven, they continued to the centre of the cavern, where she noticed another doorway. The hearths were more similar to those of the Penna than the cavern she had been staying in, and it appeared that every member of the clan was standing and watching them enter.

  The group paused at a doorway to the next space with only a look between the men before they entered. Those who had carried Teven laid him down in the centre of the space by the fire, then disappeared. The man at Cora’s side and the older man were the only ones to remain with them.

  The cavern they had entered was smaller, but still larger than she’d expected. It had a high ceiling, with more little suns like her own world. Cora focused on the older woman in red robes, with a long grey braid that travelled down the centre of her spine to the back of her knees.

  Cora dropped down beside Teven. ‘Ancient, please allow me to save him.’

  ‘You can heal such a wound?’ the woman asked.

  Cora nodded as she looked back to the woman’s kind face, which reminded her of Arminel. She smiled and nodded once.

  ‘Henda, you cannot allow this woman to...’

  ‘Can’t I?’ she asked.

  Cora was reminded of her mother asking a question they all knew the answer to.

  The man bowed and backed up.

  ‘Would you rather he die?’ Henda asked the man.

  ‘You can save him.’

  ‘I could not before,’ she said, her voice sad. Cora looked up at Henda as the woman looked down on Teven. Then she nodded to Cora.

  Cora rushed forward and, without hesitation, pulled the arrow from his chest. Blood rushed from the wound, and she pressed her hands over it. There was no movement and very little breath from Teven. She hoped it wasn’t too late. She tried to calm the too-fast beating of her heart and the panic that threatened to overwhelm her.

  Cora closed her eyes and breathed slowly as she looked deep inside Teven. The blood slowed and the damage to the bone repaired as she watched, the muscles around it closing over. She sat back slowly and wiped a bloody hand over her brow, willing herself not to cry and hoping she wasn’t too late.

  Teven remained still, his breathing slow. Cora started to chew on her lip.

  ‘Get the girl some hot water,’ the ancient snapped, and the younger of the men ran out through the hide. ‘You have not finished,’ she said.

  Cora looked at Teven and then shook her head. ‘Can you help me?’

  His clothes were intact but covered in blood. She had worked over the remains of the material to heal the hole in his chest. The man reluctantly assisted in pulling his tunic away as the other man returned with hot water.

  Cora took the cloth from his hand, then wet it and ran it over Teven’s chest. There wasn’t a mark. Not even a scratch. Only the burn over his heart. She moved her fingers over it and then clenched them into a fist.

  ‘He doesn’t want me to,’ she whispered.


  ‘It is time,’ the old woman said, squatting down opposite Cora. ‘I tried when I could, but there was so much fear.’

  Cora nodded. The sharp pain she had felt was his mother’s fear. But was it fear at what she had done, or was it the reason she had burnt him?

  ‘It hurts,’ Cora whispered. Although she realised then that the hole in his chest hadn’t hurt her. She sucked in a deep breath and placed her hand over the scar. She groaned as the pain burned into her. Before she could pull away, the old woman had placed her hand over Cora’s.

  ‘So much strength,’ she murmured. ‘You know this is what you must do.’

  Cora closed her eyes, trying desperately to ignore the pain as she looked into the skin. There was only scar tissue. He had lived with this his whole life; it may never return to what it was. She thought of Larek and the scar he carried in his heart from when his mate died.

  When Cora looked up, the woman smiled at her and nodded once. Cora tried to look for the emotional scar Teven carried, although in many ways it was his mother’s scar and not his. She had done this to her child. To her baby. There must have been a reason. There must have been something behind the action Cora was yet to learn.

  Serassa had asked Teven to let Cora show what he was. Was he Draga or their equivalent? Or was he Oldra?

  As she closed her eyes, she thought only of Teven. What he did for the cavern, the silent respect the people paid him. She could see him walking confidently through the trees, smiling at her—or was it someone else? He was a chief, a leader, and yet he allowed what he did to occur in the cavern.

  Was he protecting them by staying by their side? These people knew him. They knew what he was and where he was from, and yet they didn’t want him there. Was he an outcast? Was he trapped in the little dark cavern rather than there by choice?

  ‘He can’t answer your questions. Even if he wanted to.’ The older woman appeared beside Cora in her mind.

  ‘How can I heal him?’

  ‘You have,’ she whispered. Cora opened her eyes to see the old woman now sitting beside Teven.

  Cora was too scared to look. But there, as in the chief’s vision, was the mark of Oldra on Teven’s chest where the scar had been.