Light as a Cloud

Chapter 4

Ayra left her dragon outside the city walls so she wouldn't scare the citizens. Then she flew over the walls by herself.

The first wall had enormous distance to the second one, and although the base was made out of stone, most of it was wood. Ayra guessed that this wall was the point where they'd ran out of stone. Inside this wall she saw small farms with their farmers working on the lands, even though Ayra had already seen many farms outside the first wall. She wondered if the necessary space for farmlands had just grown, or that it was meant to be this way.

Then Ayra flew over the second wall, that was completely made out of stone, and landed in the first street she could. A fat man, that had just been able to get out from under Ayra's feet, cursed under his breath.

"If you want to fly, learn to aim where you land, show-off," he hissed.

Ayra glanced at him. "You got a problem, beardo?"

The man turned his head away. "Cover your eyes, eminn," he barked. "I don't need you in my brain."

"Eminn?" Ayra asked, wiping the one lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes away. "Did you call me eminn? What are you doing in Grisenland if you're not an eminn?"

The man pulled a huge axe from his belt and took a step closer to Ayra, though he still tried very hard to look away. Ayra put her hand on the handle of her dagger. She thanked herself for thinking of it to keep it, as she wouldn't know how to get out of this fight alive if she'd been unarmed, unless other people would have come to help Ayra. However, except for her and this man, the street was empty.

"In case you forgot," the man growled, "there are also dwarves living in this kingdom, and they have just as much right to be here!"

"Does that need to be said with an axe in your hand?" Ayra laughed.

Then she slashed her dagger forward, stopping it just before the dwarf's neck. The dwarf was startled, and turned his head to Ayra- after which he lowered his axe and stared blankly into Ayra's eyes.

"Too bad!" Ayra laughed, though inside she felt relieved.

She sent the dwarf away and erased the memory from his head. Then she sat down against the wall and tried to reflect on what just happened. It happened so fast and seemingly automatically that Ayra could barely grasp what it was and where it came from.

"Uhm... Hello?" a clear male voice suddenly asked.

Ayra jumped up and turned to the right, where she saw a tall, yet young looking eminn boy, only a little older than Ayra. His clothes were so torn you could barely even call them clothes, except for the black hat on his head that fixed his dark blonde hair over his eyes.

"What?" Ayra asked.

"Nothing, nothing," the boy hastily said. "It's just that... Do you have money?"

Ayra shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "I don't even know how to get myself dinner tonight."

"Hexit," the boy grumbled. "Well, whatever, I'll find someone else to rob."

"You're admitting to me that you're a thief?" Ayra laughed. "How do you know your secret is safe with me?"

The boy straightened his position. He was slightly taller than Ayra and from under his hair appeared a scar. He had a certain aura that Ayra couldn't quite place, as if he was radiating some kind of dark energy or magic.

"Because if it isn't, then neither is your secret," he said. "Besides, everyone knows our gang already. It's just that I noticed you'd never been here before." He took a step forward, closing in on Ayra. "Eminns that live here know they shouldn't talk to dwarfs... Or keep their eyes visible."

Ayra clawed with her hand in her hair and pulled it over her eyes.

"It's okay," the boy said. "It doesn't work on me anyway." He stroked his hair and took another step forward. "Though you should be more careful with what you say and do from now on." He chuckled and said: "Unless you're a criminal, of course, then you can do whatever."

Ayra nodded slowly. In her mind, she was back at what used to be home. Leika was lying on the floor, with a shard stabbed deep into her throat. The writhing had just stopped, and now Ayra listened to the soft sound of the blood slowly draining from Leika's body. It felt surreal.

"I'm already a murderer," Ayra confessed. "It can't get much worse, can it?"

The boy chuckled again. "Easily. Follow me."

"I don't even know your name," Ayra said. However, she had already decided that she was going to follow this guy.

"Meroch," he said.

"Ayra," replied Ayra.