The Blades

Chapter Ten

June 22nd

I awoke sometime later. Airys was shifting slightly as he stirred, slowly waking up. I coughed and felt relief. My lungs no longer burned and ached and I released his hand. I was on my stomach, still below the overhang. My clothes were damp, not wet, so the tide hadn't been out for too long. There was shade below the overhang and the sun shone brightly, high in the sky, on the crystal-clear ocean. Glittering. In my haziness, I thought it was beautiful.

The smell of salt was strong, as was that of burning wood. I rolled over. Stalactites greeted me, their dangerous points seemed threatening, like they could kill us any moment.

Airys groaned and sat up. Soot still covered his face where the water hadn't washed it off and his clothes were charred in some places. If I were to guess, it was probably a little before noon. Then, it occurred to me that I didn't know where we were. I asked Airys my question.

"A little south of the city," he said and got to his feet, walking towards the water. He turned, facing away from me, facing South, "Those are the mountains near Aethel. They are directly south of Dolonde. Aethel itself is southeast of them so we need to go," he spun in a circle, "that way!" he pointed northwest from our current position.

"We should get a move on. The others are probably missing us," I told him, getting to my feet slowly. My head spun a little as I got my bearings.

Airys nodded, face serious, "Wait, you're bleeding," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me closer, inspecting the bright red gash on my shoulder. It must have happened the night before. His thumb gently touched the skin to the side of it and I felt my body telling me to pull away. But I didn't.

His eyes, so focused and intense while they inspected my injury, were beautiful in the natural light. I hadn't seen them like this before. His eyes found mine, green staring into blue. They were soft and gentle now.

"I'm sure you'll be fine...Just fine." A small grin was curving his lips slowly and I saw his body momentarily lean in towards mine.

Then, he shook his head slightly and took a step back, "We need to go," he mumbled, not looking at me. He turned and set off, down the beach, heading towards the city. The smell of charred wood was heavily surrounding the area and the sky was still gray from the smoke as the last bits of the fire died out. Blue skies were on the horizon but hovering above the city, the cloud hung low and ominous.

The Dolonde dragons were carrying large buckets from the ocean to the burning forest, slowly putting out the fire by dumping water over the parts still smoking. The dragon that reminded me of the ocean was carrying water in its mouth and spraying it over the trees in a great arc. It must be an Aqua species, able to carry water in its mouth.

We walked through the blackened remains and Airys looked around, "Gossamer won't be very happy. She loves trees," he said, putting out a hand to touch a trunk and inspecting his hand, now covered in blackened soot.

It was all so surreal. The ash fell as if in slow motion and lay upon the ground like a sheet of gray snow. We marveled at the damage, walking in stunned silence. The pine forest was thousands of years old and had burned to the ground in a manner of hours.

"It's terrible," he whispered.

"Yes, but these trees lived a beautiful life. The fire is only the start of a brand-new generation. The saplings will grow and replace their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents," I said. He chuckled as he looked at me and smiled.

We moved on, the statues of the great kings flanking the gates, grew ever closer. We made our way around them, towards the west gate and the rock that hid the secret entrance into the sanctuary.