Valin (Book 3 of the White Lily Trilogy)- first draft

Chapter 17- Entering the gates

This is a litte rough, not entirely happy with it, but might be a while before i come back and change this 

    Dakelo lost count of the days; he couldn't remember if they had run for hour, days or weeks. All he knew was that the base of his feet, and even his hands, were scuffed and were blistered and his limbs felt on fire with the strain. It was the price he had to pay to run on all fours at times. For now, he ran on two, just to give his arms some relief.

The others look just as haggard, but for now they had to press on, they had to keep pushing. The city was close, he just knew it.

They continued to follow the road towards the capital and the tree line eventually started to thin out. Many more had been cut down since last time, their stumps littering the landscape like grave-markers. They skidded to a complete halt when the tree line came to an abrupt stop all together. Dakelo was shocked by what he saw, almost not believing his eyes.

He remembered Valin explaining that the lands around the city, the Dead Lands, were barren and that nothing could grow in the poisonous soil. He had seen it for himself. The land was black and dusty. Yet, set before them now, the land was green. Green shoots as tall as his knee, were gently waving in the breeze.

"Are we in the right place?" Thiryqa asked. "I remember flying from the city, and the Dead Lands had nothing growing. Nothing could possibly be growing here, that was the punishment of the ancestors."

"Oh Isi, what did you do?" he muttered to himself, for he knew anything like this had to be her doing. Thiryqa looked at him with a mixture of shock and awe.

"You think...Her Highness?"

"It has to be, she must have done it to get on the humans' good side."

"A whole lot of good it did for her then," Froyza growled, strolling up beside them. "Ungrateful creatures. When we are done here we should burn this land all over again." Fire Tongue spat, which caused a lick of flame to jump out his mouth and hit the ground by his feet.

Dakelo almost felt inclined to agree but what would that solve? It would only fully darken any chance of cooperation from the two sides and Isi would not be happy for that to happen. Dakelo looked up at the sun briefly, and then studied his shadow, trying to judge roughly the time of day.

"Afternoon is not quite underway. I want to approach the city at dusk, preferably at night. We will catch what rest we can and get ready. The city is just over those hills. Let's take this time and walk."

Dakelo was glad of the slower pace for the final part. It was a whole lot harder to run since he was now restricted by the clunking armour. It just about fit him and rubbed horribly against his skin. Where it rubbed his skin it eventually cut him and where it rubbed the fabric, it sliced apart. He could tell everyone was frustrated with the noise of the armour clinking around; someone might as well have banged pots in his ear constantly. But no one complained, it wouldn't do anyone any good to vent their anger at this tage.

Dakelo knew that, if she wasn't in the city, they were in serious trouble.

He looked up and saw the upper towers of the palace appearing over the next hill and called for a complete stop.

"What now?" Grey Paw asked.

"Now we have to play our parts. Everyone get yourselves ready." Grey paw took the strip of cloak from her pocket and tied it around her eyes. Xnifo did the same with her ears, and then took Grey Paw's arm in hers, pretending to be lead along. Thiryqa held out his arms to be tied up, Dakelo noticed that his hands were shaking mildly. Dakelo couldn't blame him, Thiryqa never discussed what happened to him in the city prison, and he doubted he ever would. They also made sure his wings were covered up by the cloak so it wouldn't cause the humans to panic before they got to the gate. Just to be extra sure he tied his wings down, wrapping the rope around his chest.