Dawn's Light

Chapter 27

Verbena allowed her sore legs to dangle as she rode the updraft on outstretched wings. The wind whistled angrily against her ears. What had once been a helpful tailwind was now an active hindrance to her escape.

"Fly north!" Xan fearfully glanced back to the guards emerging from the cave, "It's our best chance to get out of here!" He continued to hug Celia's waist and his feet remained securely wrapped around the rear straps of Verbena's harness. "Irin will get the saddlebags for us. We need to focus on getting away from here!"

Despite the whistle of the headwind, Verbena still heard Xan's screaming and continued to fight her way forward. At the same time, she was thankful for the updraft that allowed her to focus solely on her forward momentum.

Celia craned her neck to look up to the gently swirling clouds as they grow from the constant release of rising steam from below. Celia blinked as she observed the movement of the white fluffy clouds as they gently moved away from the Ulven lands. Perhaps if Verbena could rise high enough, the winds should shift to something better than a headwind, 'Verbena, there looks like there are more favorable winds in the clouds if you can fly high enough.'

Verbena wordlessly shifted her wings and increased the rate of assent. Though her wings currently felt fine, the other four limbs she used to be mobile were limp. Her breathing had calmed, but the fatigue had not quite passed.

Celia watched the ground recede and become an expansive black sea of snowless land. After a moment, she closed her eyes and exhaled in relief again, then noticed how accustomed she was high in the air above ground, and how tense she became when she returned to the underground world.

Previously, the human girl believed the warm underground remained safer and far more welcoming than the cold. Now, however, with her expanded horizons and new experiences, she came to a new conclusion: outside of the familiar, the lands around her felt hostile and strange.

The vast differences between the underground worlds starkly contrasted the belief the old Celia who believed the underground world was the same dark stone. Each new realm differed from her own in both appearance and culture, and Celia doubted she would ever view her homeland the same.

The group suddenly entered the grey river of the cloud layer. The warm soup of dense water droplets clung to the human's clothes and fogged their protective eyewear. Thankfully, their outerwear resisted the attack by the moisture which slowly began to freeze as they rose higher and left strange warmth of the Ulven lands.

Though the humans could not see because of the white film of microscopic droplets that covered their eyes, the density of the white clouds inhibited Verbena's sharp sense of sight for more than a few hands beyond her nose. Her protective third eyelids, the nictitating membrane, kept her eyes clear of debris in the mass of moisture, but the cloud's thickness was too great.

Though she had no idea the height of the clouds, she decided to try and rise above the clouds in the hope to at least be able to see farther ahead, even if she could not see the ground as long as the layer of clouds blocked her view.

As they rode the updraft deeper into the cloud level, Verbena lurched slightly as a tailwind caught her wings and caused her to suddenly accelerate. In the volatile movement, Celia strengthened her grip on the harness, but relaxed once Verbena steadied and leveled out once more.

'A tailwind,' Verbena released a sigh as she released the tension in her muscles and slowed her wingbeats, though with the fading updraft she occasionally stirred the clouds flapped her wings to retain her altitude, 'I thought I would never find one.' A soft purr released from her throat.

'When we are far enough away, we will stop and let you have a nice, long rest before we continue. You definitely deserve it.' Celia blindly reached up and rubbed the side of Verbena's neck.