Wings of Deceit

Chapter Five

Warm light traced my skin, its touch gentle as it pulled me from the darkness. As I opened my eyes, I saw that we were no longer in a dark part of the forest. The sunlight I had begun to miss had returned and so had the mellow chirps of the birds above us. A golden glow painted the trees, the setting sun creating an illusion of safety when I knew deep down there could be danger lurking in any shadow.

I laid on the ground with my head resting on one of the satchels we had brought with us and a cloak covering me to act as a blanket. Sat beside me, picking the dirt out of her nails with a dagger, was my sister. My eyes searched our surroundings, at the small camp that had been set up, but Larc was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?"

Haera's gaze shifted to me as she caught my movement. "You passed out because you needed to rest when you said you were fine. Idiot." She leant over to flick my forehead and pass me a flask of water, the latter I gratefully accepted. "You can't do that again, Zo. We all need to be as alert as we can while travelling through here. What if the Dragon-born or another creature hiding out here took that as an opportunity to attack us?"

I shrugged, a wave of guilt washing through me as the water soothed my dry throat. "I'm sorry. I just wanted us to make as much progress as we could towards the Lyre."

My sister sighed, pulling me towards her as I sat up to wrap me in her arms. "Just don't let it happen again. You terrified me."

"I won't," I replied as I passed the flask back to her. "Where is Larc? Shouldn't he also be here?" Until Haera had mentioned him, I had begun to think that I had imagined him.

She rolled her eyes, motioning her head towards some trees. "He's out bathing in a lake he found to get the blood out of his hair. I would have gone with him to make sure he's not up to anything bad, but I needed to stay here with you."

"Right, because bathing to get rid of the blood all over your body is suspicious." I laced my voice with sarcasm.

"You never know, he could be contacting some other Dragon-borns and letting them know about everything that's happened so far." She crossed her arms, inviting me to challenge her thought process. A challenge that I accepted ardently.

"I highly doubt it. I don't know why you're giving Larc such a hard time. He's only trying to help us and stop the war."

"And I'm just trying to be cautious. I don't want us to end up dead because I didn't have my guard up." There was a slight wobble in her voice and, without a second thought, I knew what it was caused by. Haera didn't want to lose anyone just like we lost our father. It was heart-breaking enough already losing one person, she didn't want to lose me too.

"I understand. Maybe you can just try to be a little bit kinder then?" I suggested, taking my sister's free hand in my own. "You don't have to let your guard down. The poor guy has just lost his wings — Larc isn't able to fly anymore and I bet it's taking a toll on him. He almost died because of it too." Giving her fingers a gentle squeeze, I met her eyes. "By all means, you can still be cautious about his plans, but there's no need to be so mean to him."

Haera scowled. "I'll consider it."

"Thank you." I let go of her hand, rising to my feet. "I'm going to relieve myself. I won't be too far away and I'll be back in a moment."

After waiting for my sister's nod of approval, I wandered away from the little camp they had set up, trying to assess where would be close enough so I would still be safe but was still far enough away that I could have some privacy. As I scanned my surroundings, hoping I wouldn't find a creature staring down at me from the top of a tree, I spied the lake that Haera had mentioned.