The drums jarred Nya’s body with every step she took through the night, over uneven ground, down a path she didn’t want to be taking. Way off ahead of her, so far away, she could barely see him, soldiers led Gavin toward The Point. In a moment, her family would branch off and go a different direction, toward an overlook where they’d witness the sacrifice. Because her family was royalty, they were required to be present, by law of the land. Nya could’ve gotten away with staying back or even letting Rok lock her in the tower, but she’d already determined she needed to be there.
The moon shone bright above them. Earlier in the evening, there had been some wayward clouds, dancing along the surface, interrupting the perfect beams of light that filtered from the orb down to the earth. But now, all of them were gone, and the further they got away from the villages, the less interference there was from torches and lamplight so that the stars created a heavenly display of bright pinpricks against a dark background as well. It might’ve been beautiful under any other circumstances, but at the moment, it was the most hideous scene Nya had ever seen.
She walked along, her long gown gathered in her fists in an attempt not to trip, though she didn’t care if she muddied the hem. She would never wear this dress again; in fact, she might just burn it. All around her, members of the King’s Guard walked alongside them. They were allegedly there to keep the royal family safe, though, if the dragon wanted to scorch all of them, he easily could before any of the soldiers could even raise their swords or shields, not that they’d do any good against a fire as hot as the blazing sun. Tonight, Nya had to assume the guards were there more to make sure she didn’t take off than anything else. Rok Phin was never more than a stone’s throw from her side.
Gavin’s family was not allowed to come with them. Even though his father was a member of the army, and therefore, he should be allowed to escort them, as he had every other time a sacrifice had been made to the dragon, the fact that he was Gavin’s father negated his position, and he was left behind. Not that he would’ve wanted to go and leave his wife alone to endure this by herself anyway. Visions of Gavin’s mother, distraught with tears, filled Nya’s mind. Fighting tears, she walked on, wishing this night would just be over.
But then… what would tomorrow bring?
How would she go about her day, knowing Gavin was gone? So much of her time was occupied with either exploring the forest or the castle with him or thinking about what they’d do later, after her studies, after his drills, she had no idea what she would do now.Thoughts of Gavin’s endless drilling to become a member of the army made tears well up in her eyes again. All of those hours he’d spent preparing for duties he’d never get to carry out. None of it was fair. She looked at her father, walking ahead of her, and wished she could sacrifice him to the dragon. Why had he done this? Was her sister, Eru, right? Had her father been so worried that Nya was in love with Gavin that he’d order the young man to his death? There had to be more to it. None of it made any sense.
They reached the junction in the road where the royal party would branch off and head to a large tower that overlooked The Point but should be out of harm’s way, assuming the dragon was pleased with the sacrifice and saw no reason to unleash his anger upon the king or his family. As Nya turned to follow her family, most of the soldiers came along with them. Gavin was giving them no problems, so only a handful were needed to secure him to the altar at The Point.
She caught his eye. She hadn’t meant to. There was a large space between them, nearly an entire world between them, for that matter, but she’d looked into those dark orbs of his and saw no fear there. He even smiled at her.
How he could face this with so much courage, so much… grace, she wasn’t sure. If it were here, marching toward certain death at the talons of a large, fierce creature, she would probably be pissing her pants. But not Gavin. He would stand there and look the dragon in the eyes.
Boots and slippers echoed off of stone steps as they climbed the stairs to the tower. With every footfall, Nya’s heart sunk a little lower into her chest. This all needed to be over with. She needed to go home, throw her blankets over her head, and wake up to find it had all been a dream, a nightmare.
Only, when she woke up the next day, it wouldn’t be over. This wasn’t a dream she could just wake up from. It was real. And in a few minutes, Gavin would be dead.
The royal family reached the top of the tower and took their positions in front of the only opening in the stone building, meant to protect them as much as possible from the dragon’s fiery breath. Everyone knew he could singe the entire stone structure and turn it to ash if he wanted to. The fire that shot from his mouth was powerful enough to do that.
Nya stood behind her mother and a little to the side. Her father carried an eyeglass that allowed him to look more closely at what was happening at The Point. Nya didn’t need to see anymore than she could. It was obvious that the guards who had accompanied Gavin were attaching him to the altar now. His arms were spread wide, shackled to two stone pillars. When the dragon came and pulled him away, his arms were more likely to break than the chains. Not that they’d ever found arms left behind. The dragon was far too greedy to let that happen.
Once Gavin was secure, the soldiers moved away in a hurry. It wouldn’t be long now. The dragon never left the sacrifice standing there for more than a few minutes. At least, he was merciful in that regard.
Rather than stare at the silhouette of her best friend out there in the darkness alone, Nya turned her attention to the moon. The light was just missing Gavin now, but it would move momentarily, and he’d be bathed in the soft, warm glow of the Dragon Moon, and then, a shadow would pass across the orb, interrupting the beams, and the dragon would swoop out of the sky, his sharp talons sinking into Gavin’s flesh before the dragon plucked him away, flying up into the night sky with him and likely devouring him before he even reached his lair somewhere on the top of Scale Mountain to the west.
As the moon shifted, so did Nya’s eyes. She watched the beams as they seemed to widen and then followed them down to see Gavin drowned in moonlight. Sucking in a deep breath, Nya held it and raised her eyes back to the moon.
They heard him before they saw him this time as a loud screech filled the night air and a furious flapping of wings large enough to cover most of the throne room floor if spread end to end across the expanse. All eyes lifted to the moon as the dragon’s massive form came between the satellite and the earth.
He stopped mid-flight, opening his mouth and giving another roar, a blaze of fire shooting out of his mouth and heating the air around him. The fire hung there for a moment and then went out. Most of the people in the tower shirked and backed up, but not Nya. She took a step forward, closer to the opening, staring the dragon down, not that he could see her or take note of a small woman in a ball gown. He should take note of her, though. Someday, he would have to deal with her, she vowed that to herself and to Gavin.
The dragon did seem to turn his head then and look in her direction. While it was more likely that he was just apprising the situation with the king and the royal family, for a second, she felt as if his massive red eyes were burning through her.
Then, the dragon shifted, lowering his wings and descending quickly on The Point. Gavin’s face was raised to the sky but even as those sharp talons swung toward him, he did not move, did not falter.
The dragon reached out with his claws and made a sweeping motion through the chains, something Nya had never noticed before. Perhaps he always did that, and she hadn’t seen, or maybe he was just more leery of leaving behind good arm meat this time. Then, his claws wrapped around Gavin and he lifted him off of the ground. The dragon roared again, but no fire shot from his mouth. His red and black scales caught the moonlight for a brief second as he screeched and then took off toward Scale Mountain, not looking back at Nya or her family.
Just like that, Gavin was gone. Nya stood for a long moment, her eyes cast to the sky where the dragon had vanished, where Gavin had vanished. A solitary tear slid down her cheek as her mother rested her hand on her shoulder. “Come, daughter. We must go.”
Nya nodded, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t. Not yet. Someday, before too many moons passed, she would find a way to avenge Gavin and destroy the dragon.
A few days passed. Nya spent most of them in a daze. Even though Gavin was gone, she still had lessons to learn from her governess. She still had meals she was required to attend with her family. She was still expected to go on about her duties as if nothing had happened, as if nothing had changed, as if her father hadn’t disappointed her something awful.No matter h
Sweat stung her eyes as Nya swung the sword around, just in time to block Rok’s steel blade. The reverberation shook all the way up her arm, but she didn’t have time to let the ache distract her as Rok was bringing the sword around again, this time from the other direction. The tip of the blade almost caught her underneath the chin, but she managed to jump back, raising her arms and shoulders to make herself smaller in the middle. The blade flew up into the air, missing her, but it wasn’t headed away from her for long. Rok was relentless, swiveling around in a full circle and bringing his sword along, ready to cut her in the middle. She was wearing a metal chest plat
Nya’s shoes slid as she rocketed around the corner, in a hurry to get to the throne room where her family awaited her. She was supposed to be there ten minutes ago, but her training with Rok had kept her longer than usual, and by the time she’d gotten the message that the king and queen were waiting for her, she’d had to rush to put on presentable clothes and get her hair up as she was supposed to wear it in their presence.
The military barracks were a place most women wouldn’t dare go by themselves. Not that the soldiers of Frindom were particularly raunchy or dangerous, but a large group of men who were forced by their circumstances to spend most of their time with only other men without seeing many women were much more likely to participate in catcalling and other raucous behavior. As Nya walked into the large building behind the castle proper where the troops were housed, she didn’t give a second thought about being harassed. Not only was she the princess, someone they wouldn’t dare harass, she’d already kicked the asses of most of these soldiers. If she hadn’t trampled
“You will not be ready,” Rok said, dismissing Nya’s question the moment she posed it to him. They were sitting in his office, the attack in the hallway pushed out of her mind for the time being. She wanted to argue with him, to tell him that she would find a way to be ready, but he was shaking his head. “For that matter, I’m not certain you will ever be ready.”
Drum beats. There they were again--ricocheting off of her internal organs, rolling around in her mind as if each of them was a giant boulder, careening into her mind with every slam of stick onto skin. Nya stood on the daise with her family, her hands literally tied to her sides, her feet bound beneath her gown so that no one in the audience could tell that she had been forced to attend the ceremony against her will. Of course, the binding was also to prevent her from taking action against her father as he went through the motions of selecting the next person who would die at the hands of the angry dragon.
Nya didn’t want to walk into the room where Alsys and her family were saying goodbye, but she couldn’t tell the young girl no, either, not when she’d requested to see her. She truly hoped this didn’t get to be a tradition, that every time they chose a new sacrifice, she would have to meet with him or her before they were taken to The Point. But then… if she had her way, there would be no more sacrifices. Alsys would be the last.
The march to The Point was even more miserable than it had ever been before, except for when it was Gavin who was being led along by the soldiers. As Nya walked with her family, under close guard by a detail of soldiers, though she wasn’t bound as she had been during the ceremony, she dreaded every step she took. Her stomach was twisted in a knot so tight, she thought she might vomit at any moment, not that there were any contents in her stomach except for acid. She hadn’t eaten anything all day, she’d been so upset about the events of the ceremony