Soul Bound

Chapter 31

Anna rolled her dragon scale jacket up and tucked it into the large saddle pouch hanging off Aster's side. It was as much armour as she was willing to remove in unknown territory.

Criminals weren't the only threat here. If the unrelenting heat during the day and heart-stopping frigid nights didn't kill you, there were plenty of monsters lying in wait in the sand dunes. Monsters Anna hadn't fought before. Her research told her about their weaknesses, but until she saw one face-to-face, she wasn't declaring victory yet. She'd watched too many Knights die because they had underestimated their opponents. . . .

Her thoughts turned to Eva. She clenched the handle on the saddle until her knuckles went white. If this place didn't kill her, Anna would.

Aster chuckled, a sound that reverberated through her entire torso and went through Anna's legs. "Eva will be fine."

"I know. This is exactly what I trained her for." Anna wanted to laugh, but she couldn't quite bring herself to. "She's more stubborn than a bull. This continent won't be able to break her."

Aster's nerves riddled through her via their link. Anna brushed a hand over the red-orange scales of her shoulder. "Arkon will be all right."

"His kind is not meant to be in this heat."

"Sasha and Syran have found a way to survive after all of these years."

The thought filled Aster's heart with hope. It wasn't like the fire dragon to have a soft spot for anyone, even Anna at times, but appeared to be quite taken by Arkon. She was never one to shy away from danger--and Arkon was as dangerous as they came, as far as dragons went, anyway.

Anna hunkered down in the saddle, leaning forward so her elbows rested on the leather padding designed to support her in this position. With no mountains or canyons to protect her, the wind was a harsh, relentless beast that would see her ripped from her dragon's saddle and stranded in the sea of dunes below.

She focused her magic to her eyes and searched for Eva or Arkon's magical signature.

Every being with magic left a trace behind, like a boat's wake. It didn't stick around long, and being a day behind, Eva and Arkon were pushing Anna to her limits, but she managed to spot a faint trace of Arkon's magic, a faint blue fog that crackled like static.

Anna opened her mind to Aster to show her the trail. A dragon's eye could see a great deal more things than Anna could, the infrared spectrum being one of them, however, having such broad vision meant their eyes weren't as attuned to see the finer details that Anna could pick up on, such as Arkon's day old magic traces.

Aster adjusted her course to follow his trail, her energy increasing the further inland they went. While Arkon was at a disadvantage here, Aster thrived. Her kin originated from these lands and the heat fueled her exponentially more than summertime heat in Aboria. Aster was able to catch up to a warmer trail in no time, taking them to a small settlement.

They had stopped here, but Anna didn't have to dismount to know they weren't here anymore. Arkon's trail continued southeast.

However, they would have to wait until morning to catch them. The sun was setting rapidly and Aster needed to find shelter fast before the cold freezed her blood.

Anna spotted a small out cropping not too far from the settlement and showed Aster the way. The cave was shallow, only giving Aster enough space to tuck her body inside while her head and tail had to be left exposed to the elements.

Anna built a sizable fire at the entrance to protect Aster from the deadly chill. As the sun sank, she ruffled through her bags and put all of her armour back on--and then some, wrapping a cloak around her torso. By the time the sun had disappeared behind the mountains in the distance, the world around them had utterly transformed from a scorching wildness to a frozen wasteland.