In The Lair of the Draca (Book 2)

In The Lair of the Draca (Book 2) Chapter 68: End of the Beginning

Broad wings, glistening with multitudinous hues of absinthe, malachite, and handsome spruce beneath the ghostly light of the Twin Moons, unfolded themselves and stretched as high as the bolberry trees in the time it took for two hearts to beat. They were Disha's wings; Disha's strong, moss-colored scales lining a rippling belly; Disha's swirling length of serpentine tail, and Disha's formidable head, complete with blazing celadon eyes and formidable double-crests. She was not as heavy as Deema or as quick to flight as Duscha, but Disha's senses had always been arduous. That morning, she had tasted the waters of Haven's Creek, and the droplets had stung bitter and metallic on her palate.

She knew that taste; something familiar was in the water, something so vulnerable and tenuous that it was all her draconian instinct could do to keep from leaving her sisters behind and leaping to the young girl's aid.

"You are impatient and uneasy," said Duscha firmly from her perch above the others, in the oldest section of the largest bolberry tree. "Ziuta is protected and and venerated. Having finally been driven away from the two-tongued People we call the Evening folk, she is leaning to survive on her own as only a child of the Stars can manage: by hunting, by spearing fish, by swimming in the waters of Haven's creek, and by communicating with the birds and animals that roam Hallow's Wood. It is her destiny to learn to survive among us-- and only when her skills are perfected can she truly become 'One' with us."

"But she is in grave danger. I can feel it!" Disha hissed, her ponderous tail coiling and uncoiling like some gruesome tree constrictor. "There is more than one enemy which would seek to do her harm; Ziuta is sharp, but is her naivety enough to protect her from what lies in wait?"

Duscha only continued to perch and dipped her head from the branches, gazing into Disha's eyes like a pensive serpent. "She is safe."

"She is being stalked-- and by more than one predator!"

"She is protected by the three of us. No harm can come to her-- except what she must endure in order to become one with Draca and draga everywhere. There is nothing you can do, Disha, except rest assured that Ziuta will not be taken from us or erased from this world. She is too intelligent, and her protectors too vigilant. Do you not understand these things?"

Unable to come up with a satisfactory answer, Disha lifted her snout to the heavens and howled.

Deema, usually so quiet that the others forgot her presence, shook her massive body and crept toward the creek with her belly low to the ground. Beneath the star-light, she was an absolutely magnificent specimen-- they all were, with thick bodies, limbs half the size of the tree trunks, and thick necks that could swivel at the drop of a nail. Puissant wings swished, unfolded themselves, and flapped restlessly like bats eager to set out from their evening resting places. Deema dipped her head and lapped at the water, drawing away from it as soon as the droplets touched her tongue. It was almost as though she had tasted magma.

"I can taste the girl," she whispered. "Ziuta is closer than we have ever seen her! She is unfettered by clothing or manacles, and her mood is jubilant. Oh, Duscha, what shall do when her enemies pour from the shrubbery to destroy the one pure heart that seeks one-ness with our own?"

"Deema-"

"She is in peril."

"She is safe!" Duscha crouched, the muscles bunching in her haunches, and sprang down from the branches of the tree, landing on the grassy meadow with a heaviness that made the wood rat burrows tremble beneath her claws. She padded stealthily toward Haven's Creek, one threatening paw before the other, and lowered her head to taste the water as the others had. While she said nothing, it seemed that her tendons stiffened.