Lohikäärme: The Dragon's Descent (Revised)

Chapter X - Whisper

This chapter and the following ones have not been fully edited after I added the scene with Arkady (Arkady's chapter is part of the third draft). I have not finished editing this draft, but I thought if someone could help me identify the things that ought to be changed, that would be easier, so I'm posting the partially unedited ones here. :)

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Chapter X - Whisper

Flies buzzed around the hanging bodies of Arkady and his friend. Blood dripped from the stumps of their limbs, falling on my cheeks as I stared and stood right below them.

"Why couldn't I save you?" I murmured. "Why couldn't I save the physicker? What am I here for?"

Crows cawed at me.

Was I brought here just to watch you die?

"Never go against the High Council," a lookout hollered from one of the turrets, "and you will not receive their fates."

The High Council? Kosh was a member of the council. Surely, she would try to stop this if she could.

"Sssafia, ssstay away from thessse crow cagesss. You can't be confined to bed at sssuch a time."

Blood trickled down my cheek and seeped into my mouth, its bitter taste reminding me of nothing but death. My hands clenched in self-disgust until my nails dug into my skin. You would be the last of them, I promised. Next time, I would do anything to save people.

"Sssafia!" he whined.

I walked back into the castle and was marching up the stairs when somebody called my name. I turned around and curtseyed. "Your Magistry." Have they learned of my motives?

She carried a parchment with scribbles that split the colors into more striking ones that swirled around the parchment. "The magisters have discussed your duty as a kinsman. You are to be a cleaning lady. You can start on the morrow. The Descension Hall needs a bit of cleaning."

"Descension Hall? Not Ascension?"

"Oh, yes. It's the one above the Ascension Hall. I'll have someone leave the cleaning tools in your room before sunrise."

Remekiah's head protruded from my collar. "But we're not cleaning tomorrow, are we?"

I clasped my hair together and lay them over my left shoulder to cover his face. Sometimes, I feared he would get us in trouble with all his whining and commenting about everything.

Curtseying once more, I returned to my chamber. Kosh told me this morning that she wanted to talk to me. She wanted to take me somewhere, she said. Maybe I should rest while waiting. I leaned my head on the side of my bed as I stared at the wooden door in front of me. I slipped my slipper and wiggled my toes free of grass and dirt. Closing my eyes, I yawned...

...and saw a tall pair of intricately decorated doors in front of me. It was dark, even darker than the wooden doors of Aethelgard. This door wasn't even wooden, and it had a keyhole surrounded by elaborate carvings of leaves and flowers. My eyes roamed the chamber. This was a completely different place. A hearth sat across the window, and a stack of thick books lay on the table beside me. The bed was larger, with an iron headboard and fine draperies hung around the bed.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Safi?"

As I tilted my head, my eyes met his, and I was once again lost in those crystal blue eyes of his. I didn't want to find my way back. I would love to be lost in those pools of blue forever. When he caressed my face, I leaned into his chest and let him stroke my hair and my back.