Left In The Night

Chapter 21

About six hours into the trip, Zyrah, and Blueheart hung out on the deck of the ship, staring at the sea on the port side. Zyrah leaned on a rail, with Blueheart's head in her lap, grazing her fingers up and down the female's head.

Being a dragon rider, Zyrah was used to trusting Blueheart's incredible sense of direction plus her memory of landmarks around the island. She had little experience with ships, save for the names of port and starboard. As she watched her birth parents work around the ship, she tried picking up on the little skills that were needed to maintain it.

Einar was surprisingly nimble on the ropes and nets, and Ragnhild also showed incredible strength in pulling said ropes around hooks and the like. It was quite something.

A little later on, Ragnhild offered to show the girls where they could sleep in the hull.

Much to Zyrah's surprise, the hull was larger than she expected, and as she looked around, taking in her surroundings, she couldn't help but notice the various cells, with holes left behind by what she could assume to be iron bars. She understood what kinds of things might've happened down here, and it sent a chill down her spine.

Ragnhild led her down a short hallway to a room, opening the door, revealing a small bedroom with a bed in the corner, with a pillow and a few blankets of wool and regular fur, and a nightstand next to it with a candle.

"Hopefully your dragon should be comfortable," Ragnhild said with a timid smile.

"I'm not used to sleeping on ships, so this'll be fine," Zyrah assured. There was some awkward silence as Ragnhild just stood there, unsure of what to say next. Unwilling to have more conversation, Zyrah made her way into the room, setting her stuff down and lighting the candle with a flint she always carried.

"We'll be fine." She assured once again. With a small nod, Ragnhild attempted a smile again, gently closing the door behind her, and leaving Zyrah and Blueheart alone in the room.

"Alright girl... uh, well, guess we gotta make do with what's given to us, eh?" With a snort, Blueheart plopped down on the floor next to the bed.

"Fair enough." Following Blueheart, Zyrah snuggled under the blankets, deciding to take a nap, letting the gentle rock of the waves lull her to sleep.

****

When Zyrah awoke, she had no idea how long she was asleep, or what time of day it was. She wasn't entirely sure what woke her up, but she was now wide awake, and the smell of the salty air filled her nose, as well as the mustiness of the aged wood. With a quick glance out the window, the sun had long since gone below the horizon. It was pitch black outside, and if not for the stars lighting up the sky, the horizon would've blended in with the sea.

With a yawn and a stretch, she slid out of bed, gently waking Blueheart.

"Hey, girl, uppity up." Blueheart peeled her eyes open, emitting a sound that was a mix of a growl and a yawn, begrudgingly standing.

"Lemme uh, go see what's going on, 'kay? I'll be right back." With a good-natured pat on the snout, Blueheart crooned as Zyrah opened the door and made her way down the short hallway to go find Einar and Ragnhild, hoping they hadn't gone to sleep yet.

As she reached the end, she did hear movement in the main room. She froze, suddenly spying on the figures of Einar and Ragnhild, the latter appearing to clean a wound on Einar's back, who was sitting down next to a table.

She didn't actively pay attention to what they were saying but did make note of their current attire. Einar had removed his shirt, exposing all of the scars and burns he'd received over the years in hunting and trapping dragons. That itself wasn't odd, Zyrah had plenty of scars, small scratches, and burns herself from training. But what stood out to her was an unusual scar on Einar's upper back, on his left shoulder.