Pledged in Blood - Chapter Thirty Eight (Patreon)

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Chapter Thirty Eight

Tivos

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I paced back and forth atop the plateau late the next morning. Sparrow had left for Tivos just after dawn. Her plan was to scout the place first, alone. She also hoped to make contact with the local guards or military detachment, and inform them that she and Blue Jay would be escorting a dragon into the city. If questioned, she was going claim it was for an official visit, sanctioned under authority of the Gryphon Legion. It wasn’t entirely truthful, but that hardly mattered at this point. Sparrow also said she planned to keep the details as sparse as possible. The idea was just to ensure no one tried to shoot us down when we neared the city. Once we were there, we’d have to play the rest by ear. 

“You’re wearing a rut in the soil, Dragon.” Blue Jay sat nearby, idly preening his wings. “You should settle down, try and relax.” 

“What do I care about a damn rut?” I lashed my tail, scything through a few stands of tall, winter-dry grass. I paced a few more times, then paused to glance over at Nesh. “How long has she been gone?” 

Nesh shrugged, seated not far from Blue Jay and leaning back onto his hands. “I’ve no idea. Without a pocket watch, I’m terrible at telling time. Oh!” He straightened up. “I should buy one in Tivos! A pocket watch, I mean.” 

Blue Jay glanced up towards the sun. “I’d say she’s been gone three hours, give or take.” He bumped Nesh with an outstretched wing. “You should learn to read the sun.” 

“And burn holes in my retinas?” Nesh shook his head, scowling. “I think not.”

“You don’t look directly at it,” Blue Jay said, chirping. “You just estimate it’s position in the sky.” 

“Because that sounds accurate.” Nesh rolled his eyes.

“And what was your best guess, human?” The gryphon clacked his beak. “Oh, that’s right, you didn’t have one.” 

I let them argue about the finer points of telling time, and resumed my pacing. A stifling anxiousness had clamped itself around my belly, refusing to release me. My heart battered my chest. My fire glands tingled, overproducing fire bile. All my spiny frills stood at full extension, locked into nervous threat display. At this point, I was just ready to get this all over with. 

With any luck, by the end of the day this would all be over, and I’d feel a little calmer, a little safer. I was not yet sure where we would spend the night, but if things went well, we would likely remain near the city for several days. I clenched my jaw, digging my claws into the earth. Gods, I thought, if I’m this nervous the whole time, my heart’s going to explode before I ever fly home. 

Try taking deep breaths. 

Melakar’s voice drifted through my mind, unbidden but ever so welcome. I did as he asked, forcing myself to take slow, even breaths. My heart’s pounding beats and racing speed eased somewhat, and the icy compressing my belly melted, just a little. I slowed my brisk pacing to a more leisurely walk, still breathing deeply. 

There. See? In my mind, Melakar stretched his wing across my back, gently cradling me. That’s not so bad. You’ll be fine, Ella. It’ll be scary at first, and then they’ll accept you. You’ll get to see Ayrah again! Everything will be fine. Melakar walked at my side, smiling. He nuzzled my neck. And then you’ll have custard! You’ll like custard.

That brought a laugh out of me, and I shook my head. “You and the damn custard!” 

“Excuse me?” Nesh gave me a quizzical look, his furry eye ridges furrowed. 

“Oh, nothing.” I tossed my head, snorting. “Melakar just…” I trailed off, looking around as I expected to find him there, alongside me. “I was…imagining him, trying to soothe me. Told me we’d have custard.” 

Nesh laughed as he rose to his feet and walked over to me. “Maybe you’re read one too many of his notes with custard references, then. Starting to think the old boy had a serious addiction.” He put a hand on my scales, gently stroking them. “Why don’t you sit down, Ella? Fretting and worrying won’t pass the time any faster.” 

“I suppose not.” I glanced at Blue Jay, a devious smirk on my muzzle. “I may as well get comfortable while I wait.” 

While the gryphon was distracted by rearranging his own feathers, I padded over to him. “Shove over, bird, I require a pillow!” 

Before Blue Jay could stop me, I put both forepaws against him and pushed him over onto the ground. He squawked as he flopped onto his side, flapping his wings. As he tried to stand back eup, I flopped down against him, half laying atop the ground, with my head resting on his warm feathers. He heaved a sigh, then eased himself down, getting comfortable beneath me. 

“There.” I liked one of his ears in gratitude. “That’s a good pillow.” 

Blue Jay muttered something obscene in gryphon. 

I didn’t catch all of it, but I got the general gist. “I haven’t decided if I like you enough for that yet. Although, it might be worth it just to see the look on Sparrow’s face if she flew back, and found me doing that for you.”

The rest of the morning passed a little swifter. Nesh and Blue Jay both worked to keep me distracted from my thoughts and fears. I wondered if they were as nervous as I was. While they had less reason to fear being blasted out of the sky by cannons, they were taking risks, too. If their military found them to be collaborating with the enemy or some other such nonsense, they could have lifelong consequences. I greatly appreciated that despite that, they were working to try and keep me calm. Perhaps doing so served as their own distraction, to help keep their own worries at bay. 

Sparrow finally returned late in the morning, bearing food. She’d brought us a whole roasted pig, that she picked up in some isolated human village on the way back. I was unfamiliar with the odd-looking animal, and unused to cooked meat, but I found it delicious. The skin was crispy in most places, charred in a few others, with a layer of succulent fat just beneath it that melted away the moment it reached my tongue. The embers and woodsmoke it was cooked over added both sweetness and smoky, savor notes, and the meat itself was juicy and rich. 

As we ate, Sparrow filled us in on her progress with the city. She had met with officials from the city, and the local military guard force, and secured permission for our group to approach the city. However, she was warned that I was to land in a designated area inside the city, and nowhere else. There was a plaza near a place where many different locomotive tracks were all centralized. Sparrow explained that it was a place where both people and cargo were unloaded, inspected, and authorized for entry into the city, and the nation. It was already a well-secured area, and the officials she spoke with wanted me to wait there. Once I had arrived, and they had assessed the situation to be safe enough, their leader would come and speak with me personally. It seemed their mayor had experience negotiating with a dragon before. I suspected that to be Melakar, and hoped I could use that to my advantage.

Sparrow had not told them much about me, simply that she was escorting a dragon looking to create a trade alliance with their city, and that she would personally vouch for the on behalf of the gryphon legion. She warned me that the people who met us would be armed, and would likely have their weapons trained on me. Sparrow also wasn’t sure just how far news of Melakar’s death had traveled, if it had traveled at all. For all we knew, her military may have kept it a secret. The people she met in Tivos may even believe it was in fact, Melakar coming to visit them under a more official basis. She made a point not to describe me as anything more than ‘the dragon’. It was just as possible that Nesh’s army had spread around the news that they’d shot down a ‘murderous’ dragon, and put everyone in range of such monsters on high alert.

We left the plateau as soon as we were finished eating. Sparrow and Blue Jay took up formation alongside me, with Sparrow calling out our route as we flew. It immediately noticed there were more roads and rails beneath us than ever before. A locomotive chugged across the distance horizon. Uneven lines of pumps and storage tanks rose and fell against the earth. Carriages pulled by teams of horses, and heavy carts by teams of yaks rolled down earthen roads, leaving trails of dust behind them. In all directions, more and more of the line was divided by stone walls and wooden fencing, hemmed into pastures filled with unfamiliar livestock, or tilled earth waiting for spring’s warmth and the planting of crops. The worry and anxiety that were my frequent visitors of late returned, their cold grip upon my bowels now tighter than ever. 

For the first time in all my life, I was in human lands now. 

I stayed silent for much of the flight. A thousand possibilities rolled through my nervous mind, some hopeful, some frightening. The idea of being met by heavily armed humans inside their city did not sit well with me, though I could not blame them for their own caution. I tried to tell myself they were likely more afraid of me than I was of them, but that only helped for a short time. It was not long before I realized that same fear might cause them to fire upon me if they erroneously believed their lives were in danger. If they did fire upon me, then I would defend myself. One little mistake, one tiny misstep, that was all it would take to lead to immense bloodshed. If the worst happened, I might not ever make it out of that city alive. 

Nesh must have sensed my tension, felt it in the tautness of the muscles beneath him that powered my flight. Each time fear’s icy talons dug into my mind, squeezed at my heart, he leaned forward to stroke my neck. His touch brought me a measure of calm, however temporary, that was greatly appreciated. Each time he soothed me again I tried to focus on the positive possibilities. If Melakar had forged a beneficial relationship with this town, then I might be able to pick up where he left off. If I landed, settled on my belly, proved myself not a threat, they may lower their weapons sooner, rather than later. That would put me more at ease, and make it easier to conduct whatever negotiations their leaders had in mind. 

In the far distance, smoke smudged the sky. At first it was quite far away, a faint haze that Sparrow steered us towards. The closer we drew, the thicker it became. Soon it was a grey pall smothering the horizon. Given our heading, and the faint outlines of buildings visible at the edge of my vision, it was clear that smoke drifted above our destination. My frill-spines tingled a little worry. 

“Sparrow!” I broke my long silence to get her attention. “Is the city on fire?” 

That seemed like just my luck. I might have come all this way just to find the city burned down before I arrived, or suffering under bombardment from some enemy force. I knew Sparrow and Blue Jay would not be able to keep out of any such conflict, and I feared they may well draw me in as well. While I wished to build alliances, I hoped to avoid doing so at the expense of making a mortal enemy out of an entire human nation. 

“What?” Sparrow glanced my way, her red-flecked crown feathers rising in alarm all around her head. “Where do you see fire?” 

“I don’t, but I do see an awful lot of smoke in the distance!” I pointed when I had her attention. “I can only assume that is our destination that’s burning!” 

Sparrow’s beak split with a grin, and she warbled musical laughter. “No, Ella, don’t worry! The city’s not on fire! Ask Nesh so I don’t have to shout over the wind!” 

“You say that like I can speak to her at a normal volume when we’re flying!” Nesh scooted up against the back of my neck to speak closer to my ear. “Those aren’t fires, Ella!” I glanced back at him. His dark brown head fur billowed all around his face. “At least, not uncontrolled ones! Those are factories, I suspect, along with locomotives of all types. Nothing to worry about, I assure you! As long as you don’t sit and breathe the smoke all day, at least.” 

“That is less comforting than you may realize, Nesh.” 

I returned to silence as we made our approach. Soon, we were flying over more farmland than I had ever imagined. It was everywhere, nothing but patchwork plots, fences, and livestock pastures as far as I could see. Clusters of buildings marked the centers of individual farms, where families lived and stored their crops. Trails in the earth stretched from one farm to another, or out to small roads feeding into the larger thoroughfares that led to Tivos. 

We stayed at a high enough altitude to avoid spooking the livestock, but I saw many more unfamiliar beasts and devices down below. In a few places, yaks or other large prey animals pulled plows through the earth. Along the road, a strange, ungainly wheeled thing belching smoke ambled along, akin to a miniaturized locomotive. It pulled a great, blue-painted wagon behind it. 

All too soon, I could see the city of Tivos. At first, it was but a great, gray and brown scar inflicted upon the land. The roads beneath us grew wider, and more numerous, spanning various outlining villages. There was more traffic upon them too. There were humans on foot, humans riding animals, and humans in carts and carriages pulled by beasts. There were also a few more wheeled, smoke-breathing machines.

“Oh, look at those!” Nesh pointed them out to me, as if he thought I hadn’t somehow noticed the noisy, lumbering monstrosities. “I didn’t think they’d have any road locomotives out here!” 

Sparrow drifted closer to address him. “The town’s bigger and more thriving than I’d expected. And they’re still in the midst of a major boom. Whoever’s running the place seems to have done an excellent job transforming them from a local trading post and into a serious regional hub. All the trade, cargo, resources, and commerce in the area probably passes through here first on its way to the bigger cities. If anything, the city’s population is growing faster than they can house people! 

By then I was paying them little attention. We were close enough now for me to make out more details of the city, and what I saw staggered me. There must have been hundreds of buildings, maybe even thousands. They were smallest at the outer edges, rows of similar looking boxy structures built of wood, with muddy lanes before and between them. Flimsy looking shacks, tents, and colorful tarpaulins held up with poles and ropes were mixed in. Larger, sturdier looking buildings lined the streets that lead towards the city’s entry points, gates in their outer walls. Colorfully painted signs above doorways or hanging from poles along the street advertised services and things for sale. The skeleton framework of many more half finished buildings littered the lands around the city’s outskirts, though whether they were building new houses for the locals or displacing them I could not say. 

Inside the city’s outermost wall was an entire labyrinth of streets and buildings of all shapes and sizes. While many of them were wood, and painted in bright colors, many more were built from stone of gray, white, or red. Further towards the center of the city, the buildings grew larger and larger, stories built upon stories, roofed with slate tiles or other less familiar materials. Even the streets themselves looked to be paved with stones. Though we were still at a distance and a great altitude, an ocean of humanity filled the many streets. The roads pulsed, as though the humans were but the ever-flowing blood of a city that had taken on a life of its own. 

My heart dropped into my stomach, and my stomach in turn puddled in my ice-cold hind paws. Never, in all my life, had I fathomed so many humans in one place. And to think that this was not even near the largest of their cities. It was almost inconceivable. There were more humans in this city alone than our great Valley ever had dragons, even at the absolute height of our power. Melakar was right. They were countless beyond measure, now, and we had long since been left behind. 

“Follow me closely!” Sparrow dipped a wing and banked as she bled off altitude. “They gave me a route they wished us to use for our approach.” 

It was all I could do to force myself to follow her. Every instinct I had begged me, screamed at me, to turn away. I was flying right in the very den of our ancestral enemies. We had slayed each other for countless generations. What reason could they ever have to actually let me leave there with my life? I took the deepest breath I could manage, and altered course to pursue Sparrow. 

If Melakar could do this, I could do this. 

Blue Jay moved in behind me as we neared the city’s wall. With a gryphon before me and another behind me, I could not help but feel a bit like their prisoner. One to guide me, and another to stop me from fleeing. If Pidgeon and Cardinal were here, I imagined one of them would be flying on either side of me. At least if this was a formation gryphons flew to escort prisoners, it might help the city’s armed forces feel a little more at ease. 

Sparrow banked, moving away from the main gates. Given the high concentration of humans there, it was likely she wanted to avoid starting any kind of panic once we were noticed. A whole line of carts, carriages, wagons, and odd, wheeled machines sat outside the gate. Men in military coats were climbing over and into every conveyance, examining it inside and out before allowing it admittance into the city. On either side of the wall were a number of cannon emplacements. Some were on the ground, others atop the wall. I also noticed more barrels protruding from evenly spaced holes along the wall itself. 

Our new course flew us parallel to the great, snaking barrier that surrounded the city. To my limited knowledge, the fortification looked older than most of the buildings inside it. I saw more such walls a bit deeper in the city. This whole place was probably an expansive fortress once, grown into a city. The outer most wall might once have protected farms and pastures that supplied the city with food. Perhaps it was old enough to have even been built by the same people who built the forts on the islands. What better place to develop a trade hub than one that already had fortifications in place? 

Some areas of the wall did look newly constructed, or recently expanded. Such sections often bore larger cannons mounted upon platforms with elaborate arrays of gears and cranks. They reminded me of the sort of mobile weaponry they’d brought with them when they were tracking down Melakar. When soldiers started cranking the gears, turning the cannons towards the skies to track us, my heart skipped a beat. My fire glands tingled, begging me to unleash my flame across any who would dare take aim at a dragon. 

“They’re aiming at us, Nesh!” 

“I noticed.” Nesh’s voice was taut than I’d have liked. “Just follow Sparrow, everything will be fine.” 

I did as he suggested, yet I could not help keep watch on the nearest cannons. More soldiers joined in, turning more cranks, causing the entire platform to rotate towards us. Commanders shouted out orders and coordinates, and several other cannons along the wall also tracked us. Their movement was slow and methodical, only as fast as a group of men could turn the great cogs moving the heavy things. I was sure I could evade their fire, if I had too. Yet that did little to diminish the eerie, nerve-wracking sensation of having such dangerous things pointing at my belly. I could not help but wonder if those were the sort of things that first shot down poor Melakar. If he did not expect betrayal, it would have been easier for such weapons to track him in a straight line as he flew across the army’s encampment. 

“Sparrow!” Nesh called out ahead of us, his voice still tight. “There are significantly more fortifications and anti-air defenses than I expected!” 

“I noticed that too! But we’re already here, so-”

“Anything you’d like to tell me!” Nesh twisted around, yelling back to Blue Jay. “Or you? You know, anything that you kill squad gryphons and your classified intelligence might know that us grunts will never get told?” 

“Not now, Nesh!” Sparrow gave a sharp trill, as if to quell the question. 

“Shevar’s got new gunships!” Blue Jay broke formation long enough to fly alongside us, and speak to Nesh. “Among other things. They’ve been deployed a few years now, probably, but…rumor says they’ve sent a few of them down here to near the border, ostensibly to dissuade us from deciding to cross that river if further hostilities break out. Unofficially, there’s a fear that the next time Diandrios pushes them a little to far, they might decide to battle test it in retaliation. This is our biggest, most valuable city in the area, now. If full war ever breaks out, Shevar will probably try and break this city’s back to help them take it while our main army is focused up north. So, it stands to reason they’re putting extra effort into it’s defenses.”

“Wonderful!” Nesh snarled, slapping a hand against my back. “Did you know all that when you picked Tivos?” 

Blue Jay just squawked and drifted back into position behind me. “You wanted supplies, and a place they might let Ella in! There weren’t many options!” 

I ground my teeth, my frills flared in frustration. Whatever Blue Jay knew, surely Sparrow knew it too. Her earlier warning about crossing the contested land made even more sense, now. Part of me wished they’d told me about the defenses and the threats earlier in the journey. Yet another part of me realized they understood how difficult this was for me. The more frightening things I knew about ahead of time, the harder it would have been to push on towards the city. 

“We’re crossing the wall!” Sunbird gave two quick, keening cries, and Blue Jay responded with two of his own. The gryphons changed position again, once more flying on either side of me. This time, they were so close our wing tips nearly brushed. I was half afraid we’d knock each other out of the sky. “Ella, stay tight with us! I don’t like the way they’re tracking us.” 

“That isn’t comforting!” I hissed at her, but watched her closely. As soon as she started her banking motion to cross the wall, I did the same. Blue Jay stuck to my other wing just as closely. “Did they not track you this way when you first arrived?”

“No!” Sparrow shot the cannoneers a suspicions glance as he swept between two positions. The men manning the aiming devices kept turning them, the barrels of their cannons following us across the sky. “They did not!” She lifted her voice, loud enough for her snarled anger to drift back to the soldiers operating the weapons. “And I do not like being aimed at by my own people!” 

“Now you know how dragons feel!” I watched her, matching her every motion in the sky. “But it’s not you they’re aiming at.” 

“Which is why Avalek and I are flying so close!” Blue Jay beat his wings, matching my pace. “If they shoot down a couple Gryphon Legion officers, they’ll be hell to pay!” 

“Kraas!” Sparrow snapped her beak, then spat something at him in gryphon, but in an odd, staccato dialect. He responded the same way, and both of them banked towards the heart of the city, giving me just enough room to do the same between them. “Stay tight, Ella!” 

Sparrow descended faster now, and I followed her as close as I could. Within a few nervous heartbeats were so low we were swooping directly over the tops of houses, roads, and storefronts. Below us, people yelled and screamed, running for shelter in buildings, or diving under carts and wagons. Horses reared, and yaks mooed and tried to break free of yoke and harness. Soldiers called for order, even as their comrades pointed rifles towards our underbellies. Something told me Sparrow was no longer following the directions they’d given her. 

“Shall I take it this is not the course they carefully plotted for you?” Sarcasm mingled with tense worry in my voice. My stomach was ice water and tangled knots. 

“A fine guess!” Sparrow hissed her reply, then beat her wings sharply, rising up over the top of a taller building ahead of us. 

I followed her, rising just enough to clear the building’s soot-crusted red stone chimneys before dipping back down again. “Dare I ask why?” 

“Because something feels wrong! They said we’d be met by armed men when we landed, but they didn’t say they’d track us with their damn anti-airship guns!” Sparrow darted across a street, forcing Blue Jay and I to keep up with her. “That wasn’t part of the agreement! I have a feeling they’ve already heard their people had to shoot down one hostile dragon, and got attacked by another. What if one of those soldiers you killed has a grieving relative manning one of those cannons? Even if they don’t know you slew their loved one, they might be looking to take revenge on a dragon while they have the chance! At least flying over the city, they’re not likely to fire on us with cannons, not with their own people in the way. But outside that wall’s a different story. I don’t care what they wanted, there’s no way I’m flying you all around it if they’re going to aim weapon they have at us the whole time!”

“I appreciate your concern!” 

I hoped that came across as genuine, because her worry for me really was touching. It was not that long ago she’d have eagerly led me into an ambush, now here she was, risking her captaincy just to protect me from the vague possibility of one. Or was it vague? Anyone who had lost family to a dragon would probably be eager to avenge their lost loved ones, even if it meant disobeying their orders or breaking their own laws. 

Hell, it could be worse. If I was right about who shot Melakar and why, it was certainly possible their traitorous reach extended into other military detachments as well. They might not realize I was Melakar’s mate, but if their goal was to prevent the Empress from making alliances with so-called evil creatures like dragons, why wouldn’t they shoot one down when they had the chance? Maybe that was paranoia talking. Maybe no one in the city had intention to open fire unless I attacked them first. They might just be extra cautious, considering the recent circumstances. Whatever the case, I was glad to see Sparrow taking it seriously, anyway. 

“Do you see those arches up ahead?” I followed Sparrow’s gaze towards a series of towering iron arches, spanned with a decorative, emerald green awning. “That’s where passengers disembark from the locomotives! There’s a plaza there, that’s where we’re landing. When we set down, lay on your belly! Kraas, Nesh and I will make it clear you’re not a threat!” 

A retort sprang to mind, that I was a greater threat than they’d ever know. But I bit it back before I could leave my tongue. It was neither the time, nor the place for such comments, so I simply nodded my agreement, and followed Sparrow towards the plaza. The city swept past beneath us in a blur of cobbled streets, humans in strange clothes, burden beasts, strange machines, and soot-caked buildings of all shapes and sizes. 

As we hurtled towards our destination, I hoped that any danger was merely imagined. They city was probably just being cautious, wanting their weapons trained on me in case I proved hostile. I certainly didn’t want to linger in the line of fire, but I also did not wish to cause a panic among the citizens. With any luck, the city’s leaders would understand why we deviated from the path they assigned us. And if they did not understand our abundance of caution, I’d just blame Sparrow. 

Near our destination, wooden barricades blocked the roads we flew over. Lines of men in black soldier’s coats and holding rifles stood beyond them. A nervous shuddered racked me when they too, all started pointing their weapons at us. Another man walked beyond them, shouting orders. Trickles of ice dribbled down my spine, and down into my limbs. Hints of bitter fire bile coasted my tongue, and it was all I could do to resist the urge to incinerate the threat before they could open fire upon me. 

Sparrow swooped over them just ahead of me. She called down to the humans, reminding them that I was an authorized visitor, escorted here by the Gryphon Legion. By now I wasn’t sure who she was more trying to convince. The humans, or herself. I doubted that she had ever been put in such a situation before, and I dreaded to think that her lies about authorization and official visits might come back to haunt her down the line. At least if her own people chose to punish her, I could always offer her a place within my empire to be. 

I flew over the barricades and soldiers, and past long, red-brick buildings with tall glass windows and vaulted skylights. Immense iron arches and sprawling green awnings loomed ahead of us. Separate awnings spanned platforms with wooden benches alongside a multitude of rail tracks. Sparrow circled the nearby plaza, and then dropped to the ground, signaling for me to do the same. I stuck close behind her, and touched down harder and faster than usual, jarring Nesh upon my back. I trotted a long, wide circle to bleed of speed as Blue Jay landed behind me. My belly twisted anew, there were armed humans all around the plaza, all pointing their firearms at me. 

“Down!” Sparrow snapped her beak at me as I returned to her. “Lie down!” 

“That is a gesture of submission,” I said, hissing at her. I suspected she already knew that. “It is a vulnerable position that is difficult to defend.” 

“That’s the point!” Blue Jay set a forepaw on my haunch, pushing against it. “You need to show them you’re not a threat, remember?” 

I hissed again but acquiesced. Much as it pained me, I knew they were right. I quickly dropped down onto my belly, my forelegs out ahead of me. I lowered my head to rest it against the stony ground, glaring across it at lines of soldiers. Nesh undid his straps and hopped off my back, jogging around to stand in front of my head. I found myself glaring at his boots, rather than his compatriots in arms. 

“Alright, alright, you can lower your rifles!” Nesh stretched his arms out in vain attempt to shield me. “She’s not a damn threat! She’s here with peaceful intent, you’re just making things worse!” 

I grit my teeth. Every time someone said I wasn’t a threat, it made me want to prove them wrong. And seeing dozens upon dozens of humans all aiming their fire-belchers at me did nothing to ease the gnawing anxiety roiling in my belly. My claws unsheathed as if of their own accord, and I dug them into the many small, slightly rounded gray stones upon which I laid. Glimpses of dark metal and large, iron-clad wheels mixed in amongst the humans caught my attention. They’d moved some of their cannons here, too, all aimed in our general direction. My heart thudded against his chest plates. Should we have landed somewhere else? Or would that have seemed too aggressive? I was sure Sparrow made the best choice she could, trying to protect us without disregarding all the instructions she’d been given. 

She joined Nesh, stepping out in front of me. Where he spread his arms, she stretched her wings, better obscuring me from sight. Blue Jay moved to my side and did the same, covering as much of me as he could with his black-barred wings. Both of them repeated the fact that I was not hostile, and that I was there as an official visitor, sanctioned by the city. Sparrow reminded them that I was a guest of the Gryphon Legion, which in turn made me a guest of Diandrios itself. 

While the gryphons spoke, Nesh returned to my side, gesturing for me to lower my head. When I did so, he whispered into my ear. “I’m going to take your gear off, just in case the worst happens, and you need your mobility.” 

Nesh worked swiftly while the standoff continued. I held as still as I could to make it clear I had not planning an attack, only getting out of an uncomfortable cargo harness. Yet remaining still was as difficult as keeping my claws sheathed as my defensive instincts took hold. Dragons did not take well to being threatened, and our natural response was to defend ourselves quickly, and forcefully. I took a slow, deep breath, and forced myself to focus on the smaller details around me as Nesh pulled straps free and set bags aside. If I could lose myself in the strangeness of the environment I found myself in, it would help me stay at least a little calmer. 

I took another breath, noticing for the first time how stagnant the air smelt. It was filled with the scent of odd kinds of smoke. Things were burning that I was unfamiliar with. The air also smelled of refuse, and of far too many humans whom I suspected did not bathe often enough. It made me wish a great breeze would come and clear away all the smoke and unpleasant odors. 

I lifted my head just a little to gaze around. The line of arches led from the disembarking platforms towards one of the large, red-brick buildings. Lamps were suspended from tall, elegantly curved poles along the path. More lamps sat amidst the arching beams of the green awning that sheltered the platform. All the lamps glowed with bright flame, and even over the din of voices, I could still hear an odd, hissing noise from the nearest lights.

Movement drew my attention back to all the soldiers. By then I was free of encumbrances. I stretched my neck in a slow, easy motion, trying to see past Sparrow’s stretched wings and splayed flight feathers. A human approached her, with golden sigils on the shoulders of his dark coat. Anger darkened his complexion, and lines creased his face. Hints of gray marked his hair. A rifle was slung over his shoulder, though he had not drawn it. Instead, he jabbed a finger in the air at Sparrow as if thrusting a tiny spear towards her beak. 

“That was not the route you were assigned!” He stormed towards her, a snarl in his voice. “You’re lucky you weren’t fired upon!” 

“And you’re lucky I don’t stuff you into one of those cannons, and see how far beyond the wall I can blast you!” Sparrow advanced on him, barring him from drawing any closer towards me. “Under no circumstances were you to train your anti-air cannons on members of the Gryphon Legion and their escorted guest!” 

At the same time, a few more humans hurried to join their commander. One of them turned and aimed their weapon not at me, but at Sparrow. She hissed at him, then lashed out with a forepaw to snatch the startled rifleman’s weapon away. Sparrow tossed it aside, and the rifle clattered across the cobblestone plaza. 

That only riled their commander further. “You’re lucky that didn’t go off, catbird!” 

“And you’re lucky I don’t have you all court-martialed just for pointing that thing at me!” Sparrow lifted her voice, her sonorous tones carrying all across the plaza. “I could have you all exiled to a coal mine in the tundra for this!” 

I had to admit, I rather liked seeing this side of Sparrow directed at someone else for a change. I wasn’t sure if her rank was truly sufficient to allow her to make good on her threats, but it rattled the nearest soldiers enough to get them to lower their weapons. Even the man addressing her seemed taken aback, staring at her with his mouth slightly parted as if trying to parse empty threats from dangerous truths. 

Sparrow wasted no time in taking advantage of his indecision. She snatched him by the front of his coat, her claws digging through the thick fabric, and hoisted him off his feet. Just as quickly, she thumped him down on the ground with enough force to rattle his bones, pushing him onto his rump. She set her paw on his shoulder, keeping it there so he could not rise again.

“Now that you’re comfortable, we can talk about why you’re aiming at us!” She lashed her tail, a low growl creeping into her voice.

One of the other soldiers moved towards him, pointing his shaking weapon at Sparrow’s head. “Let the commander-”

That was as far as he got before Blue Jay seized his rifle in a paw, shoving it down towards the ground. The gryphon’s voice was all silken menace. “You point that at her again, and I’m going to make you eat it.” Then he snapped his beak at the others. “And if you point them at me, you’re going to lose your arms!”

“Nesh,” I said, trying to keep my voice low. “This isn’t going well, is it?”

“Not as well as I’d hoped.” Nesh’s face was drawn, and paler than usual. “Just…try to stay calm.”

That was easier said than done. I couldn’t just sit here, silent, like some chastised hatchling waiting to be addressed. “Sparrow!” I kept my voice soft, loud enough for her to hear it but gentle enough so as not to carry to far. When she glanced my way, I met her eyes, hoping she understood what I meant. “Tell them who I am.” 

Sparrow nodded once, and returned her attention to the wider group of soldiers assembled all around us. “This?” Her voice rang out like a great brass bell tolling across the plaza. “Is Queen Ellamyriss! Last of her royal line, and ruler of the Great Valley! She commands a growing empire, and visits your city as an official guest of the Gryphon Legion, and thus, of Diandrios itself! Queen Ellamyriss is here in hopes of conducting trade negotiations, between her empire, and your city! She arrives with peaceful intent, yet you aim your weapons at her? Is this the welcome your city provides visiting royalty? To point your guns at them?” She thumped her forepaw against her own chest. “At your own people?” 

“So it’s Queen now, is it?” A new voice rang out over the plaza, nearly as strong and clear as Sparrow’s. Its strange familiarity haunted me. “Lower your damn weapons! Queen or not, this dragon is my invited guest!”

All around us, soldiers murmured in confusion, and one by one, lowered their weapons. Actively bustled behind their lines as men moved about, forming up into official ranks. Gradually, their formations parted, making way for whoever had called out a moment earlier. I hoped the arrival of their leader would herald an easing of tensions before things spiraled any further. I did not want my first trip to a human city to end in bloodshed. 

The commander that Sparrow pushed down scrambled back to his feet, whirling towards the new arrival. He hurried back towards the mass of soldiers. “Ma’am, I cannot advise against this any more strongly! Until we are certain of this beast’s intentions, you must remain in a safe location! Let us handle-”

“Oh, shut up the hell, Nemos.” A woman pushed her way through the soldiers faster than they could part for her. “I know this damn dragon!” She gave the commanding officer an irritable shove. “Now move aside!” 

My jaw dropped open. It couldn’t be.

The woman slipped past the last of the soldiers. She offered the two gryphons a quick salute, and then strode right up towards me as if she’d known me for half her life. 

Because she had. 

“Hello, Ella.” She reached for my head, and when I lowered it towards her, she hugged me in full view of all the soldiers. “It’s been a very long time.” 

“H-Hello, Ayrah…” All at once, I could scarcely find my voice. 

I returned her hug with a gentle paw upon her back as a flood of memories rushed through my mind. I saw her riding on Melakar’s back, cackling like a mad woman. I saw her hiding behind me as I shielded her from a flurry of snowballs. I saw her stretched out on Melakar’s bedding, reading one of his old tomes. I heard her laughter echo through my head while she regaled us with tales of bravery and thievery. And I saw her, fast asleep in Melakar’s arms. 

“That’s Ayrah!?” Nesh gaped at her, blinking. 

Ayrah eased back from the hug. “I see my reputation proceeds me.” 

Sparrow padded closer, her crown feathers up. “You’re Ayrah?” She glanced at the soldiers, then back at my old vassal. “You run this whole city, now?” 

“That’s generally what a mayor does, yes.” Ayrah chuckled, and took a step back. She lifted her face towards me, her eyes roaming me. “It’s good to see you, Ella.” 

“You…you too, Ayrah.” I slowly pushed myself up into a seated position before her.

Rarely did I find myself so speechless. How she had gone from a thief on the run to the ruler of an entire city I did not know, but I had a few suspicions. I gazed down at her, my head tilted. Despite the passing years, she still looked familiar. Her head-fur was more brown than copper now, and little streaks of gray tinted its curls. More lines etched her face, but the same unbridled mischief still danced in her eyes. She wore a black coat trimmed in gold, and lined with gray fur. It was nearly as long as she was tall. 

“Never thought I’d see you leave that valley.” Ayrah shook her head, smiling to herself. She reached towards my chest, and I noticed her hands were shaking. “At least, not…” She stumbled over her words as she set her hand against my chest. “Not without…” 

Ayrah’s smile faded when she turned her face to the sky. She searched it, a flicker of hope shining in her eyes. I knew who she was searching for, who she was so desperately hoping to see, and it broke my heart all over again. Ayrah knew me all too well. Under any other circumstances, I never would have left my valley. Moment by moment, the hope faded from her eyes, as the empty sky spoke to her the awful truth.

I was only here because Melakar was dead. 

“I…” I bowed my head to her, my voice a trembling whisper. “I’m sorry, Ayrah. He’s…he’s…” 

I couldn’t bring myself to say it any more than she could bring herself to ask. 

Ayrah crumpled to her knees, burying her face in her hands. Her shoulders quaked as she broke down into sobs. Her grief woke something in me, a great and overwhelming ocean of anguish I had struggled to bury. It erupted all at once, a tide of cold sorrow pouring from my heart into every fiber of me being. My jaws ached, my throat clenched, and tears ran down the scales of my muzzle. I had mourned him, in my way, but the rituals were not completed, the grief within me not truly addressed. I knew he was gone, but faced with another life Melakar had so deeply touched, his death was suddenly a fresh wound about my mending soul. 

“I know.” Heedless of those around us, I wrapped my forelegs around Ayrah to pull her against me. She accepted my consolation, and buried her face in my chest. In return, she hugged me best she could, stroking my scales. “I know, Ayrah. I know.” 

I stretched my wings and curled them around Ayrah, shielding her from the world and the uncaring sky. Ayrah sobbed against me, and I cried into my own wings, and together we grieved for someone we loved.