*ON HOLD* The Airborne Oracles [Book I - Breeding the fire]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

[Ugain ar hugain]

"We should get him Blue!" Blackeye roared in an impatient whisper next to Nixie.

She peaked through the dense bushes they were hiding behind at the shock of a scene before her. They had been following the two verdant beasts that dragged Oldaff and a halfling through the small forest north of the wetlands.

Paduss prodded her from behind and huffed.

She turned around with a frown, "What is it?"

Call for Caliopé.

Her eyes widened at the intrusion in her head. It was the first time in a long while that Paduss spoke to her. For some unknown reason her mind chose to be isolated from him, or he chose to ignore her. She could not tell with certainty.

Her dragon was right though, should something go wrong, she could always fly to the Dryads and call on their leader for help. She hoped however, that it would not come to that.

"Do you think the others can detect yours?"

Blackeye's question made Nixie refocus on the task ahead. She gazed at the two dragons, who by some miracle, halved in size against Paduss' frame. It was a small mercy should her rescue mission come to a hostile situation.

Her beast was afterall the second most largest dragon in all the dragon kingdoms.

She shook her head and uttered in a low voice, "I do not think so. They seem quite oblivious to our presence."

Her gaze studied the moving party of Corpt. She needed to take note of their advantages if she were to rescue Oldaff. Her heart ached at the mere sight of seeing him tied up to the tail of a dragon.

If she could, she would go to him at once and tell him all will be fine. Alas, it was not yet time, nor could she assure him of that, no matter how much she yearned to embrace her cousin in a hug and be united once again.

It excited her. To know a chance existed, how big or small it were, she could imagine Ithiucoral being rebuilt. A frisk of a glimpse allowed her to hope for a happy ending. One where she forgot about her marriage and raise her child as an Eaglefire.

Yes. She would raise him as the prince he will be. Perhaps not in all the glory of being a dragonkin, but he would be treated as royalty nonetheless.

A pan of guilt rushed over her and she bit her lower lip.

Would she be able to deal the same fate to her child as she was given? Growing up without a father, wishing for a way to unlock the secrets to one's heritage. Spending countless hours of self-loathing and judgement to questions no one could answer.

She shook her head at the thought.

I cannot think of that now.

With that, Nixie tiptoed closer to the party who came to a stillstand sometime during her thought process. She poked Blackeye who studied them with attentiveness, "What is happening?"

He grumbled underneath his breath, "Your cousin has a very large mouth on him."

"What do you mean?" she frowned as she looked ahead.

The leader of the party hopped off his dragon alongside another. The other two men joined them on the ground as they turned the green beasts around.

An eerie silence fell around them whilst Nixie waited for the chieftain's next move.

He shoved Oldaff to the side and ripped off his blindfold. Within seconds he was cut loose and fell to the ground with an audible gasp, assumably seeing the beasts in front of him for the first time.