Here Be Dragons: The Protector

Chapter twelve: Departure

Vaylerie walked in front, trapped in her thoughts. Lukas followed close behind, sword in hand and Jenna slung over his shoulder. After trying and failing to wake the woman in green, he had learned from his earlier mistake and decided not to wait for her to wake up – a decision he was now very glad of, as he could see a dark purple mark spreading over her scalp. 'Looks like she hit her head pretty hard when Zephyr threw her... She probably won't be back with us for a while...' 

They walked for a long time before Vaylerie broke the silence. "Where are we going?"
"To my home – we call it the basin, and it's the one place in the world that you'll be safe."
"Why? Why am I not safe right here?" She stopped where she stood.
"Because those things with the skin made of stone—"
"That's their skin?" She interjected, shock evident on her face. "I thought they were wearing stone armour!"
Lukas sighed ruefully, "Oh, I wish... imagine what I could do if they were surrounded by something I could control..." He was enjoying imagining a myriad of ways to use that as a weapon when he chastised himself for getting side-tracked, "But, as I was saying, those things can track us. The only place they wouldn't dare attack is the basin – there are far too many Riders there."
She digested that for a few seconds before launching down a different avenue of questions.

After what felt like a year-long interrogation, Vaylerie announced that she was tired, so they settled down at the next defensible location – a small hill with a claw-shape of rocks protruding from the ground. After a quick glance at the sky to find that the time was roughly Tolabove, he reached into the bag he'd tasked Vaylerie with carrying. At first, she had complained that he was bigger than her, and he wasn't carrying anything, but blushed and stopped talking when he crouched and lifted Jenna into a fireman's lift. He found a knet roll in the bag, tore it roughly in half, and gave the larger of the two sections to the girl. He had enough appetite to eat three of the little rolls without slowing, but he knew that if he ate his fill, they would be out of rations before Kaolin had even reached them – which Lukas estimated would be three days away. Stomach rumbling, he resigned himself to his meagre portion.

Vaylerie had already bitten into the roll Lukas had given her when she heard his stomach growl. Only then did she notice how poorly he had split it. 'It hardly seems fair that I get more food when he is so much larger than I am...' She cast about, when her eyes alighted on a shape in the sky, and she had an idea. "Is that another dragon?" She asked.
He craned his neck to look at what was quite obviously a bird, but when he opened his mouth to say as much, he felt his hand grow significantly heavier. He looked down, confused, to see that his knet roll had almost doubled in size, but had developed a tiny bite mark in the top. He grinned at her, "Well, I'm sure you feel clever."
She did indeed, but she tried to hide it with a wave of her hand. "Sorry, there was a bit of... tober... sticking out that looked delicious. I just couldn't help myself." That made him laugh. It was a deep laugh, much deeper than his voice – as if it were coming straight up from his belly. The sound brought a smile to her lips, and she made a mental note to make him laugh more often – Tol knew they could do with a bit more mirth at the moment. She elected to push the reason why as far away from her mind.
He turned his attention to the knet roll in his hands and started picking out the little grey wass beans. He was grinning down at his future meal, while speaking up to her, "But, I'm afraid the joke is on you, Vayle."
"And why is that?" She challenged.
A loud thud behind her made her nearly jump from her skin. Lukas laughed again, before starting to gloat, "Because it was a dragon. And a familiar one at that."

Vaylerie turned to regard the dragon and an amazed gasp rushed through her lips. The huge beast was magnificent. The afternoon Tollight sparkled off of her ruby scales. Her leathery wings beat the air a few more times, and Vaylerie couldn't help but giggle as she was buffeted by the wind. Finally, she gazed into her eyes. They were mesmerising; they were two specks of ocean amid the fiery hue of her scales, the reptilian slit a black island amid the waves. But it wasn't just their appearance that she found breath-taking – it was what she saw hidden beneath them. There were vast swathes of intelligence behind them, along with a healthy dose of pride and loyalty. In that moment, she felt connected to the dragon, and completely by instinct, stepped forward and stroked her snout. "Hello, Blaze. It's good to meet you." She was answered by a contented hum.

Where Vaylerie had been absorbed by the appearance of the dragon, Lukas was focused on the man sat atop her. Jonah slid down her flank to walk over, once again holding his arm out in greeting. The expression on his face, however, was one of confusion. He looked around before addressing Lukas, "I appreciate you making my job easier and all, but shouldn't you be trying to find your own spark?"
Lukas glanced over at the girl – who was marvelling at the feel of Blaze's scales – before he looked his brother in the eye and replied, "I have a lot to catch you up on."