Some Fall By Virtue

Chapter Twenty-Four: comes from below

She knew the instant they had arrived near the approximated location of the dragon was said to be. They had learnt of folk going missing from nearby, and if there was one commonality between the victims of such – it was that they had likely had large amounts of gold in their possessions, whether it be treasures or riches. It was how whispers of the dragon's presence there had reached the ears of Imladris, what with her soulmate being determined to hunt dragons down. Sakura mused on that being why the relationship between men and elves seemed to be flourishing so in those times in which she had landed in.

Had it not been for Glorfindel and his need to hunt down and slay his soulmate's kin, as he presumed his soulmark to mean for him to do, Sakura doubted that relationship wouldn't have been as good as it was right then and there. Elves were the type to stick to their realms and not involve themselves in the businesses of their younger brethren. That was what Glorfindel might as well have considered her as, what with her excellent disguise which always plagued her so. Deceiver, the word always rang around her brain, the sound echoing in her ear like a bugle. She had found herself wondering far too often what she looked like in the eyes of the elves. She wondered when the doubts as to her mortality would crop up. Sakura doubted the impression of her being human could last all that long. She had lived far longer than a human could, what with her being a dragon – one of the original ones whose strength hadn't dwindled with time. She had lived through four lives by then, and three deaths which had brought her to that fourth life. Part of her couldn't help but wish it would be her last, though she didn't deserve for such a blissful wish to be fulfilled.

A shiver passed over her skin, and she barely refrained from flinching as she felt those grey eyes come to rest on her again. "Are you cold?" he asked, and Sakura could only shake her head somewhat viciously. She was about to hunt another of her kin and try to make up for some of her terrible, horrid sins against her soulmate's people – as if she would be brought down by something as puny as coldness. She was too great for such a thing. Though she would rather have been good than great. The arrogance of a dragon, the voice whispered, how well it suits you...

"I'm fine," she grumbled, wishing she could sink into the ground and vanish at all the attention her soulmate's fretting earned her. Though she doubted the attention would be as benevolent if they were aware she was actually kin of the beast they hunted. "But it's close," she mumbled, hairs rising up on end. It was nothing like the previous hunt. No, there was something different. Though, then again, each dragon was different from the last. They each gave off a different impression, whether it be arrogant yet intelligent, or thirsting for revenge. She didn't particularly like the feeling she could sense then.

"That is why we left the horses a short while back," Glorfindel said, sounding as cheerful as ever. Sakura wondered why she couldn't ever manage to sound half as cheery. But then again living as a vengeful, hatred-ridden dragon who thrived off burning all things cheerful had probably contributed something to her lacking cheer. The voice laughed at that, a cold, mocking sound, which froze her very bones themselves. "This dragon seems to linger close to the road, so I do doubt this time we will have to trek through miles of forest – a fact you will likely be most gracious for."

A wry smile curled at her lips. "I suppose every cloud has a silver lining," she murmured, following after him so very carefully. She felt twitchy, and a twitchy dragon meant for nothing good. She was on edge, her attention flickering back between her soulmate and the forest surrounding them like pinballs. Though she couldn't work out exactly why. She should've been able to sense a dragon that close – like called to like.

She bit her lip, mulling over what it could be from her vast bank of dragon knowledge. Truly, she couldn't really fathom why the dragon had chosen there to linger. It wasn't as though it were a well-travelled road for merchants and peddlers who might have vast amounts of gold and treasures for them to take and hoard. Then again, well-travelled roads would have been more closely monitored, and a greater amount of casualties and lost business, bringing forth a greater likelihood of being hunted and killed. Not that doing business on a less known stretch of road had saved this particular dragon from such a fate.