The Wyvern's Gift

Chapter Seven

A dead wyvern has a bad smell. After it had sat in the sun all day being poked at by the bravest scavengers? By night it would be in pieces and a more manageable smell. Two dead wyverns was a nearly unbearable smell. Isra hadn't moved any closer than the base edge of the broken ring of trees outside the cave's opening. She had taken one look at the broken eggs and started wailing until Haelyn was able to turn her away.

"She knows they're not dracontix eggs, right?" Wren asked. His voice came out muffled from under the bit of cloth he was using to cover his nose and mouth.

"Dracontix don't often have offspring anyway, over half are born sterile. But they act as nursemaids for dragons, I suppose it wouldn't be too far out of the realm of possibilities that they'd do the same for wyverns," Haelyn explained. The wiggling bundle of lilac pulled away and climbed halfway up a tree. She clung to the trunk, claws digging in and ripping off chunks that rained down on the floor below.

"Should be easier to get the stupid flower now, right?" Evander asked. He moved around the pile of decaying flesh, seemingly unaffected by the smell. "I'll just grab one."

Before he could grab one of the pale green flowers, Evanora lopped a shining bit or orange magic around his wrist and tugged. His hand flew back and his body followed. He glared at her from the floor.

"What is wrong with you, twerp?" His voice rose into a shout.

"Wyvern's gift can only be harvested from nests with live wyverns," Haelyn explained. She knelt at the edge of the mound of feathers and twigs. The broken shells glinted in the sunlight. The previously internal sides still showed a bit of the wetness the eggs had contained. The outside had been bone white, speckled with bits of green and blue. Now smears of red interlaced the speckles.

Haelyn picked up a shard and used it to move the green flowers aside. A few blue petals were scattered among their stems. They'd become dry and brittle, crumbling from the slightest brush of her fingertips.

A hand landed on her shoulder. "Are there none you can take?" Yophiel asked.

"No. As soon as the young hatch or the adults abandon the nest, the gift dies out and the blight overtakes it. That's all that's left now, poison," Haelyn explained. She dusted off her knees as she stood. "There's nothing here for us."

The knight looked crestfallen. "We can't go back without that flower."

Wren shrugged and adjusted his pack on his shoulders. "Looks like you'll need to get some wyverns to mate post haste then. We've done our part though."

"You don't honestly think the king will smile on us returning without what we went out for. He's not going to honor his agreement," Weylyn argued. He'd begun to look around anxiously. Anyone could be stalking them from the shadows and waiting for them to fail. He had no desire to feel the noose around his neck for the death of a prince.

"There must be another nest around,"Yophiel said.

A loud laugh from Wren ripped through the stillness of the forest. "Do you think wyverns would so willingly share such a small area? Even if there was another nest nearby, it would be days away, if not a week. You'd have more luck finding a dragon's gold horde and buying your way to freedom."

"Shouldn't we at least look around for one?" Yophiel insisted. The two began to argue back and forth over the pros and cons of wasting their time searching. Their voices steadily increased until they were shouting.

Haelyn looked up to the tree tops, hands on her hips. The glass bottles in her bag clinked together like reminders of what she had yet to achieve. Finding Isra had been a good start, but if she couldn't insure her freedom, this meeting would most likely be their last.

"What are you looking at?" Evander asked, coming to stand beside her.

"I was just thinking, if we could climb up, maybe we could spot another nest. We made good time getting here. I'm sure we could reach another without much trouble," she mumbled. Her eyes moved over Evanora to Isra who was still clinging to a tree. She looked between them again.

"I know what that look is. What are you thinking?" Evander began to grin. He could practically see the hears in her head turning.

The brunette matched his grin and coaxed Isra off the tree. "Hey, pipsqueak"

Evanora scowled but turned to face her anyway. She'd already been upset with the ever increasing noise of the boys, and Haelyn's quip was the last straw. "Look princess, unless you have something to contribute, keep your mouth shut."

Unfazed by her attitude, Haelyn gestured to Isra's back. "I was just going to ask if you might like to go for a ride." A smirk spread over her face as Evanora's face lit up.