The window went up slightly before it gave a small squeaking sound, just the slight whine of glass being disturbed by wood. Nya held her breath, her eyes focused on the young men sleeping on the floor. The noise was nothing like what she’s seen in her mind’s eye as she’d played the scenario out a few times; it didn’t match the versions of reality where she was caught by the sleeping servants, who did nothing to stop her but sounded the alarm so that she’d be met outside by a legion of the king’s guard. Instead, it was just a whist
The swaying lantern swung back and forth, casting odd shadows as the boy approached Nya’s hiding spot. In her mind, she saw, as long as she didn’t breathe until he walked past Warrior’s stall, she wouldn’t discover her hiding there in the darkness. But he was walking so slowly, by the time he was standing directly in front of her, Nya’s lungs were burning. She needed to take a breath. If she did, she knew he would hear, and then, she’d have to deal with him in a way that would not be beneficial to the young man with the lantern.
It was easier for Nya to find the location for the sacrifice than she expected it to be. She figured it had to be near the castle, but not within the grounds beyond the large wall that surrounded the village that served the king and the castle itself. Allowing the dragon to fly freely that close to the royal family’s home was akin to inviting him to roast the king and his family if he saw fit, and considering the disposition of this bastard, she wouldn’t put it past him. Surely, the king of Goodhorn was not so stupid as to put his family in jeopardy.
Nya didn’t have to stand there, hidden in the trees, gazing at the sky for long. Only a few moments after the guards made it from the castle with their prisoner in tow, fastening him to a large rock that looked more like an altar than the place in The Point back home, the night grew quiet. All of the animals stilled. The bugs stopped their chirping, night birds flew away or hid in their nests, and any predators out crawling through the high grass on the mountainside quickly dove for their burrows. Seconds later, the sound of large wings disturbing the air drew Nya’s eyes skyward.
“Who the hell are you?” Nya asked as she blinked against the fog. The man, dressed in a black shirt, open wide enough at the collar that she could see a tuft of dark hair across his chest, black pants and boots, all of it with red piping along the seems, with dark hair and intense dark eyes, staring at her with a smoldering glare, paused several paces in front of her. The fog seemed to dissipate for a moment, and behind him, Nya could see nothing but the jagged tops of the mountain. No trees, no plants, no buildings, no animals. No dragon.
The fog billowed around the man standing across from Nya. Slate, he’d said his name was. With the glint of the moon radiating off of the thin veil of wispy white, he looked even more sinister than before. She stared at him, not sure how to address what he’d said. Once her mouth was working again, she asked, “Did you say… you are the dragon?”
The giant wings of the dragon beat steadily as Nya glided through the air on his back, gripping tightly to his neck with her knees and her hands, though the further up the mountain range they flew, the more daring she became. Looking up at the stars from this angle, admiring the landscape far below her, on either side of the wicked mountain, illuminated by the silver moonbeams, she couldn’t believe just how beautiful it all was.
“All of them?” Nya repeated her question, even though she had heard Slate loud and clear. He said that all of the sacrifices were here, inside of this cave. She didn’t know how that could be possible, but if it were true, then that meant that Gavin was here somewhere.She stepped up to the railing, her eyes frantically searching the faces below her. It was far enough away that she couldn’t quite make out the details, but she knew she’d recognize Gavin’s gait anywhere if she saw him walking around below her. She didn’t see him anywhere.“Yes, they’re all here,” Slate was saying as Nya continued to scan the crowd. “It was never my intention to eat any of them.” He said the word “eat” like it was
Her lungs burned in her chest as she sprinted as quickly as she could go across the open space toward the sound of Gavin’s voice. He was running toward her, too, but the uneven terrain carved inside of the mountain was larger than she realized, and she refused to slow down to suck in air until she had her arms wrapped around him.They collided into one another so powerfully, the air would’ve gotten knocked out of her lungs anyway. Nya ignored the pain and wrapped her arms tight around him as Gavin’s arms came around her waist and he lifted her from the ground. “I can’t believe it!” she said, as soon as she could speak again. “I really can’t believe it.” Tears stung her eyes as she considered what was happening. All of this time, over a year, she’d assumed he was dead. She’d had absolutely no reason to think otherwise. The fact that her