Purpose Kills

Chapter Nineteen

   Desarae's eyes slowly cracked open, only to be blinded by a lantern next to her head, and she threw an arm over her eyes with a soft groan. Her entire body hurt, and the only thing she could truly remember clearly was dropping like a hot coal into water in front of Oliver. What had happened? Questions, questions she needed answers to.

"You're awake," Oliver's voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her to look up at him quickly.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"The Shades grabbed you, I couldn't reach you in time, but I went after you anyway," Oliver started, rubbing a calloused hand over his strong jaw. She didn't remember that bit, not at all. He continued, "But then you began to... change. It looked like you were pulling all the shadows into yourself, and I lost sight of you, it got so dark. But when you shot up into the sky, you were something else. You were a dragon, Des. A blooming dragon." He sounded fascinated as he stared at her. She swallowed, and the fog of her mind began to lift a bit. She remembered hovering in the sky, feeling utterly different. She had the faint memory of feeling her back muscles shifting- wings beating in the air to hold herself up. "You stayed in the air for a bit. You almost blended in with the night sky, you were black as pitch. Your underbelly was metallic, completely made of iron. Your head was slim, with long horns that pulled backwards out of your head and curled at the top. Your wings were enormous, filled with a black membrane and an iron claw on the tips. You had a long black tail, spiked with iron." He swallowed as he stared into her golden eyes. "Your eyes were molten gold. It was something out of a nightmare. I thought you were going to raze the village to the ground, and take us all with it. But you looked down at your feet and clenched them a bit, before diving for the ground. You landed heavily and then began to attack the shades. You ripped them all apart, and I took the villagers back. You turned to look at us, like you could still smell fear, and I was almost certain you were going to rip us apart as you did with the Shades.

"But you didn't. You glanced around and softened like all of your energy had been sapped from you. Then you collapsed, and darkness blanketed you. For a moment, I thought you were dead. I went to you, and just as I reached you, the cloud lifted and you- human you- was on the ground, but you were breathing. I brought you here, it's Kyra's home." He explained. Desarae was dumbfounded, and she felt herself subconsciously looking at her hands. She flexed them, and for a moment her hands turned scaly, one finger missing, elongated and tipped with iron claws for tearing.

"Lomatskan Dragis," She whispered, then looked up at Oliver.

"The ancient dragon warriors? No, those died out a long time ago. They're legends, Desarae," Even though his tone was certain, his face displayed something different.

"It- I need to find as much as I can on them. Now," She answered, slowly sitting up. She winced, but Oliver didn't try to stop her. "Where's the biggest library you know of?"

"The Jade Heart, they have a massive library that goes down deep, no one has gone down very deep, usually whatever we need is towards the top-" Oliver started when Desarae slung herself out of bed. She stumbled forward a step, but planted her hand firmly on the back of Oliver's chair. Her nostrils flared as she straightened.

"Prepare our things. We leave as soon as possible. I will meet you back at the stables. We have to find what we can, no matter how deep we have to go down into that library. Am I understood?" Her voice was stone cold, and so was her stare. Asherian blood, she'd always been proud of that that thrummed in her veins. The Lomatskan made her feel like a mutt, but now it felt like so much more than a taint. Oliver, not even bothering to protest being ordered, stood and nodded.

"You will find your clothes in the wardrobe. I will see you soon," He murmured, quickly escorting himself out of the room. She touched the coin on the string around her neck, her thumb gliding over the wyverns. It was almost ironic now. She released it quickly, as if it had branded her. Desarae picked her way over to the wooden wardrobe and opened it, quickly changing out of her night clothes and into her simple clothes, shrugging into her long coat and buckling her sword sheath at her waist, tightening the long black coat around herself. She sighed softly, running a hand through her hair as she straightened her back, which gave a bark of pain. She straightened it more, now looking ramrod straight, as if challenging her body to cry out again. She put her right foot forward, clenching her teeth as another searing pain was sent up her leg. However, she kept moving until she reached the door, tugging it open. The cold iron of the handle was like spikes digging into her palm, and she shuddered. Whatever that transformation she had undergone was, its effects made her extremely sensitive.

Disregarding this all, she continued to move until she was outside the home, the sun had risen above the horizon slightly, and she shielded her eyes from it. She had to get to the stables. She'd given Oliver very little time, but hopefully he would have the horses saddled and prepared to leave. Now, Desarae needed more answers than she had begun with. She looked down at her hand, and the scaly hand was there for a moment, before she clenched it into a fist and it faded like a mirage.

The walk to the stables was short, and when she arrived, Oliver was holding both horses by the reigns in one hand. It surprised Desarae- he must've been trained to get on the move very quickly. They covered many topics at the Jade Heart, it seemed. The pain in her bones numbed when she reached Oliver, who was kissing Kyra on the cheek and discussing something with her in a low voice. When he noticed Des's arrival, he straightened and gave Kyra a parting smile, who smiled back. She patted his cheek and kissed his brow before turning towards where Des was standing, giving her a slow look up and down. Kyra smiled and kissed her on the brow. As much as she would've liked to already be leaving, she bowed her head.

"My humblest thanks for your hospitality, Kyra," she said quickly.

"The pleasure is all mine, Dragis," Kyra replied in a soft voice. The word pounded in her ears for a second before she nodded curtly. Kyra kissed her cheek, before sauntering away. Without another word, Desarae mounted Bijesan and clicked her tongue without waiting for Oliver. She kicked her steed's sides, and he thundered for the gates. The sound of hooves on the ground followed after her a moment later. Desarae's eyes were a bit to the left of the sun, back in the direction of the Jade Heart.