Among Dragons (Editing)

Chapter 8

The village inside the castle walls was exactly where I expected a dragon of fire to call home. Smoke drifted through the air constantly, giving everything a gray coating. Children covered in soot ran around barefoot, their clothes beyond dirty while their mothers worked open stalls lining the single stone pathway that led up to the large castle steps.

Each and every stare singed  its mark onto my skin with a burning fierceness. Every murrmurr was a lash against my body, making me flinch. I didn’t like all of this attention and judgement to be passed over me, I never did.
Even as we reached the top of the steps and the castle doors slammed behind us with a heavy moan, I could feel the stares still on my skin. How could Niram stand being in the spotlight all the time? It was awful, to have everything you do in your life watched constantly and judged by so many people.

To my relief, the hallways in the castle kept in a cool air. The feel of it rushed over my skin blissfully, my lungs breathing it in with great relief from the dry heat outside. There were no windows at all, only torches with bright fires lighting the way every so often.

The walk to get there had been extremely quiet, so much so that I thought that I could hear the dread churning my stomach in fear of seeing Phoenix. Even though I feared what it would be like, I was also curious. The idea of dragons still fascinated me, no matter how menacing and powerful they were. To see something that I had only seen created by computers or drawn by hand, it was amazing.

The man stopped in front of a pair of double doors, the frame around them arched at the top. Two guards stood rigidly on either side of them with blank expressions. Without even asking, they moved aside for him.

“She may go inside, but he must stay.” The man pointed at Niram before pushing open one of the doors. The first thing that came up into my mind was to protest, my arm reaching out for him even as the man dragged me inside. I didn’t want to go in there alone, and I definitely did not want strangers mulling over my unconscious body when I went into Phoenix’s mind.

I caught one last sight of Niram struggling against the guards outside as well, he eyes finding mine and locking onto them, giving me one last boost of reassurance before it closed and shut me into the darkness.

The sound of our breathing was intensified from my lack of sight. I was grateful for the distraction.

Anything to keep me from imagining the worst happening. A flash of light sparked brilliantly in the darkness, cutting through it with a hot orange light. The man handed me the torch and smiled crookedly.

“Good luck,” He said, his voice raspy and hushed.

My stomach dropped out from under me. What did he mean by that? I watched with wide, fearful eyes as he slipped behind me and out of the door. The light from the hallway seeped in slightly, only to be once again cut off as the door closed behind him. The sound of it echoed in my now hollow body. The fear had eaten away all of my insides, leaving just a shell of me behind.

My feet moved forward on their own, even though my mind was still numb and unable to think clearly. The darkness was too heavy for the torch in my hand. It only provided a small circle of vision, so that I could see a pillar passing beside me on my right, or make sure that I was following the blood red carpet which I hoped led me in the right direction. I could feel that the room was large and cavernous. The air just had an endlessness to it, like it extended further than I could even imagine in every direction.

After only a minute of walking, I could hear the heavy breaths of Phoenix. Her claws scratched from a movement, sending another wave of fear to crash against my chest and take my breath away.

The tension in my muscles was ridiculous. It was as if I was a coiled spring, just waiting to jump from any sudden advancement. My body only tightened in alarm the further I walked on and the nearer I drew to the breaths that now stirred my hair and made the flame of the torch flicker.