Tales of Fire and Ruin

Paid in Blood

I clung onto Oleander's scaly claw as if my life depended on it, because it literally did. We soared through the clouds, so far above the ground that the city of Wildewall and its surrounding farmland looked like a patched blanket girdled by a yellow and green landscape. I should have been more scared than I was, but flying this high was so surreal to my mind, it no longer seemed capable of comprehending the danger.

Wind stung in my eyes and rushed in my ears. The only sounds I heard over the howling were queen Idonia's screams in panic. She pulled on Oleander's claw with all her might, trying to escape his grasp, but she would accomplish nothing with it unless she wanted Oleander to drop her while we were mid-flight.

"Your majesty! Stop struggling, you will fall!" I yelled, but it seemed she either couldn't hear me or was too panicked to listen. After a few attempts to calm the queen down with no luck, I gave up. There was little I could do except wait and see where Oleander was taking us.

We flew without slowing for quite a while. Although it was impossible for me to tell exactly how long we were in the air, it couldn't have been more than a few hours. The sun was still high in the sky when I noticed Oleander was descending into a woodland clearing next to a large body of water. Like I couldn't tell how much time had passed, I also wasn't familiar enough with the landscape to know exactly where we were. But I only knew of one giant forest near Wildewall, and that was the Starcross woods.

Spreading his wings and keeping them still, Oleander descended slowly until he was flying only a few feet above the sparkling, clear lake. That was when his grip on me loosened until I slipped out of his claw and fell. I involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of water as I plummeted into the cold water. Swimming up as fast as I could, I broke the surface just in time to glimpse Oleander's black tail disappearing between the trees up ahead.

"Oleander!" I yelled between coughs. "Queen Idonia?"

I received no response. The was no movement on the water's surface, safe for the ripples I made. It seemed this had only been my dumping spot, not queen Idonia's. Still spitting out water and coughing, I swam to the shore and pulled myself out of the water. There was no time to lose, and I forced my trembling legs to straighten below me. Mumbling a quick prayer to the thunder god, I turned away from the water and stumbled in the direction in which Oleander had disappeared.

"Oleander! Queen Idonia!" I yelled. When I received no answer again, I sped up the moment I trusted my legs to not give out and started running. Branches swept into my face as I pushed my way through the thick vegetation. I didn't find any traces of a dragon's presence, and for a moment I thought I'd gone in the wrong direction. But then a path suddenly opened up in front of me, flanked by snapped branches and fallen trees. A very similar pattern to the one I'd seen in the valley where I found Oleander.

Moments later, I reached a clearing, but I didn't find a dragon. Instead, I found Oleander as an elf, standing naked with the queen's bejewelled staff in his hands. He was injured. Blood dripped down from several wounds on his body, corresponding to the places where an arrow had hit him as a dragon. Injured or not, however, Oleander stood ready to fight with the staff's blood red gem pointed at the queen.

The queen's expression was a mixture of fear and indigence. "I do not know what you think you will achieve with taking me or the staff," she spoke in a trembling voice, "But know that the city of Wildewall and its humans will never stop hunting you for this."

Oleander regarded the queen levelly as he took a step closer to her. Queen Idonia kept her dignity by refusing to back away, even if all her muscles tensed in fear.