WREN Book Three Prince of Dragons

Cartridge

I had been to small towns before. Some were just hidden clusters of buildings. Yet I had been secluded in the school for my entire life. Never, in all my dreams, had I imagined being in the heart of a place like this! The others who had gone out before me, leaving me to toil in the Wry, would send me their thoughts of these places. I lived within them through my connections to the dragons, but this, experiencing it…

“You look like a tourist!” Dyami growled beside me.

I couldn’t help it, I wanted to see everything. I spun in circles, eyes wide as I took in the amount of people shuffling through the gate. The guards at the top watched us as we passed by. Then, when I was inside… the noise, the smells, the colors everything was so unreal to me!

I saw a little girl hanging laundry from the second story window of her home, boys playing in the side streets, men on their way to work. That didn’t take in the shops! Women dressed in long skirts their hair piled upon their heads. They sweet smells that wafted off of them. Cordgi grasped my wrist as I spun about before a cart.

“Really Zyn!” He giggled. “I have never seen you like this!” He chuckled watching me with merriment dancing in his eyes.

“I have never seen a place like this!” I gasped.

“Oh, what it would be like to take him to capital.” Baram snorted.

“A death sentence for sure!” Cordgi hissed back.

“This is a back water hick town compared to capital.” Baram went on as if my boyfriend hadn’t spoken.

“Zyn?” a soft voice filtered through the noise of the busy street.

 I didn’t hear it with my ears. I stilled my obsessed intake of all the sights and sounds. Narrowing my mind, I focused on the mental voice.

‘Yes?’ I answered her.

‘It’s been a long time, my friend.’ I lifted my gaze. She was close by. I scanned the area. There were too many people.

‘That it has.’ I chuckled.

‘Are you well?’ Her voice was tinged with caution.

‘For now.’

“Zyn, where here. Can you help us?” Guldan broke into my conversation. I paused long enough to scan the streets once more. I wondered where she was, why she was hiding from me. I turned to assist Greyson from the cart.

We walked into the small clinic. There was a young boy with his head resting in his mother’s lap, a little girl sat holding a stuffed doll as she leaned against her father. Their faces were flush with fever. I frowned. Didn’t they know how to lessen that? A young woman sat alone in the corner ringing her hands together. The sunlight glistened off of the many rings on her fingers.

“Welcome, it’s been awhile.” The voice washed over me.

I smirked at the sound. I was using one hand to guide Greyson, or maybe he was guiding me. I spun when I heard her voice. She hadn’t been talking to me, but had addressed the old man within our mists. He was explaining how Greyson was injured.

“Xyan!” I cried seeing her now. Her dark head lifted up. Large green eyes locked to mine. Her smile was just as shy as it had been the day I met her in the woods.

“Zyn!” She called out to me once more. I let go of Greyson. She leapt over the counter that had divided us. Her arms wrapped around my neck as I pulled her against my chest. She laughed softly, the sound like musical bells tinkling. I felt her bury her head into my neck.

“You smell the same!” She giggled.

“I’ve been traveling for weeks without a proper bath!” I chided her. She was tiny, smaller than even Wics or Attroxia.