~A Wattpad featured and Wattys Longlisted story~
Lana can hardly remember what it's like to be free. After nine years as a captive on board a ship ruled by ruthless bounty hunters, sailing across Maris with no clear direction, she's desperate for so...
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AFTER A FEW hours of silence, Skye finds himself staring absentmindedly at the clouds above them. For a few painful hours they had been flying in those icy shapes for some disguise in case they were followed. He doesn't think any of them had anticipated the chill it would bring and when they finally moved down into the open air, Lana's lips were blue and all of them were cold, wet, and miserable. Even now that Skye's dried off, the heat from Firedusts' back warming him and the sun drying his clothes, he now feels a permanent chill ingrained in his heart, as if they had never left the clouds at all. Just thinking about the way he left Ellerin in Lyra....
Skye sighs and tries to focus on the sight in front of him. They had landed on a rocky outcropping less than an hour ago, and both Bryan and him sit atop their dragons, all of them stretched out and soaking in the warmth. They both still feel weary from the several days on guard in Lyra, both of them still unsettled from the paranoia of being watched and followed, but Lana is full of energy. As soon as they landed, she had them teach her the basics of flying and has since been soaring through the skies gleefully. The deep sense of guilt weighs Skye down from Ellerin but as he watches her makes him feel a little lighter. Her laughter and smiles makes what happened on Lyra a little easier to bear.
"Are you okay?" Bryan asks softly, and Skye looks towards his left, where Bryan had been sitting beside him in silence. Skye figured he, like himself, had gotten used to the constant sound of the buffeting wind and self loathing. Or in other words, silence, so the sudden change in pace to conversation surprises him.
"I'll be fine. It's just..." He trails off and sighs. "I feel as if what happened to Ellerin is my fault."
Bryan frowns. "How so?"
"I just feel like we should have never left her alone." Skye says softly and both of them fall silent at that.
Bryan turns back towards Lana with a weary expression, as if he had aged ten years in a matter of moments. Both of them are at a loss of words, and Bryan's attempt to console him fades in the fact that she is truly gone.
"We should go." Bryan says softly and sets his sight towards the direction of the setting sun. "We should be able to reach Halsa by nightfall."
Skye nods and without words, their dragons leap off the edge of the rocks, and soar into the air.
The dragons spot Halsa before they do. After several solid hours of flight and a full day without any sort of sleep, Skye's exhausted and if not for Firedusts small nudge in his mind, he would've never seen it. To his left and right, he notices Bryan and Lana both shaking themselves awake too, and as they all turn towards the city, he's alert rather quickly.
In the light of several huge braziers, each building seems to be more elaborate than the next, with towering homes that incorporated defining arches and pillars, and beautifully etched woodwork. The darkness of the night casts breathtaking shadows upon the buildings that seem to give them life, as if they are standing tall and proud to greet new visitors.
