Light as a Cloud

Chapter 8

After quietly making their way to the dark corridors, they arrived in a huge hall. There was a fire quietly taking its last licks off the nearly burned out wood in the fireplace. Kayr was the first to arrive there and lit a new torch, that he'd kept in his cloak, so that they could see what hall this was.

The light came too late for Ayra, who tripped over the edge of a carpet and fell right on the back of her shield. Fortunately, the metal points of the shield landed on the carpet, and not on the stone floor- instead of a loud clattering, the only sound that came from the fall were a muffled cry and a dull thud.

"Are you alright?" Athon asked her.

Ayra nodded, and stood up. She picked up her shield and found herself looking at two large thrones.

"Oh my," Sheya called out. "If this isn't the throne room, I'm a halfling!"

She walked over to the thrones. There were crowns on them, probably meant to be worn by the king and queen if they were receiving guests. Sheya took the one off the left throne and placed it on her head.

"I, as the queen of Grisenland," she spoke in an overly pompous voice, "hereby exile all halflings from my land!"

Kayr laughed. "What's your problem with halflings?"

Sheya dramatically turned to Kayr and replied: "they are... INADEQUATELY ENTERTAINING!"

"Ssst!" Meroch hissed sharply.

A silence fell in the throne room. Everybody stared from the one to the other.

"Too late," Athon sighed. "They're coming."

"What way out?" Kayr pointlessly whispered.

"Any," Athon replied, "but there's a chance we get in a fight at every path. They're preparing right now."

Ayra clacked her tongue. "The roof, you fools..."

Kayr turned to her. "Brilliant! The roof!"

"The... roof," Meroch repeated.

"The roof?" Selar asked.

As an answer, Ayra grabbed Athon by his waist with one arm and carried him out the window. She circled up the building, against the now fiercely howling wind and clattering rain, and landed upon the wooden roof of the keep. A few seconds later, Kayr landed with Meroch, and after them Sheya and Selar with Grey.

"Great plan," Kayr shouted through the thundering storm. "Now what?"

"Not so great, actually," Grey barked, before Ayra could reply. "Look."

Six pairs of eyes followed his glance to the army of servants inside the bailey.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a little?" Kayr shouted down. "We didn't even steal anything!"

"I did," Sheya whispered in Ayra's ear, "I still have the crown!"

One of the servants flew up. He had a hard time doing so, with a spear in one hand and a thick shield in the other. He flew a few circles around the keep until he finally reached the roof.

"You were caught, Kayr," he said. "Get over it. Drop your weapons."

In the distance, Ayra suddenly noticed a flash of light. It was definitely not lightning: the light was on the ground alone and there was no thunder. Ayra had seen it often: it was caused by a dragon that roasted its prey. However, she was taught that dragons didn't come close to cities at all, and she realized this dragon could only be one dragon.

"How far does a roar carry through the night?" she asked the servant.

"What?"

Selar coughed. "Ayra, I don't think this is the time for riddles. We're currently trying to escape this castle."

Ayra turned into the direction she'd seen the flash. The wind pulled her hair forward. She saw no other option but to call Jewel. If it didn't hear her, all would be lost, but the situation already seemed pretty lost to her.

"GRAAA!" she roared, imitating her dragon's familiar call.

No response. Everybody stared at Ayra as if they saw a ghost.

Ayra's thoughts had wings. She wondered, if Jewel had heard her, how long would it take it to reach the castle? Did it even recognize her? Should she call again?

"Enough," the servant barked. "Drop your weapons or we're going to have to use violence."

"You have fun using violence," Ayra laughed. She'd seen a shadow rushing through the starlight. Jewel was coming, she was sure of it.

"Are you out of your mind?" Meroch called out. He dropped his rapier, grabbed Ayra by the shoulders and shook her. "Ayra, what are you doing?"

"Graaa!" the roar of a dragon suddenly sounded from above.

"DRAGON!" the servant shrieked. "DRAGON ALERT!"

Ayra leaped forward and slammed her shield against his breastplate. He staggered, seemed to regain his balance, but fell anyway. Ayra kicked against his waist, causing him to roll off the roof. A dull thud told her that his body reached the ground.

"That's one," Grey said. "Great job. 199 left to go."

"That shouldn't be too difficult," Ayra replied.

"Oh, and don't forget the dragon," Grey continued.

"Exactly," Ayra nodded. She threw herself off the roof, but let her wings catch her, and she rose up to meet Jewel, who was patiently circling around above the keep.

"Grrr," Jewel growled cutely, and pressed its smoky nose against Ayra's hand.

"I'm glad to see you too, buddy," Ayra whispered.

Mid-air she climbed onto her dragon's back. Under them, in the moonlight, she saw the army rising in a tornado storm of bodies and steel. She knew it would be now or never.

"Attack!" she called, and to support her order she pointed down at the army.

It is for a reason that dragons had never been tamed. Jewel is a young Little Dragon, that grow up to the size of a horse. Big Dragons, that are less intelligent, are about the size of a big elephant. Even if a dragon is not so huge, it's very, very hard to beat them in combat. Their scales are nearly impossible to break and their claws and teeth are enormous and razor sharp. On top of that, most dragons are very fast and agile and of course they can breathe fire. Sure it'd be different if you were dealing with a river dragon or a frost dragon, for obvious reasons, but then still there is a reason dragons were feared much in Grisenland. Grisian people were already glad these creatures usually went after other animals that had more meat on them, even if that meant they ate the cattle.

It wasn't Jewel's intention to eat or even kill its opponents. It was actually just playing, avoiding the steel blades and setting spear shafts on fire here and there. It ruled the place. However, with the noise waking Fennekirch, it couldn't go on for long.

"Come with me," Ayra called to the gang, while leading Jewel to the roof and letting it land on the edge. "We can fly away. They'll never catch us. My dragon is lightning fast."

"You want us to just hop onto that beast?" Grey shouted. "No way!"

"I'd rather be caught than put my life in the talons of a dragon," Kayr agreed.

Ayra clacked her tongue. "Your choice. Last chance. I'm leaving in ten seconds."

Meroch stepped forward. "Have you guys lost your freaking minds?!" he asked. "Who wants to be executed? I'm choosing the dragon."

"Get eaten carefully," Sheya snapped.

Meroch didn't even turn back. He picked up his rapier, took Ayra's hand and climbed onto Jewel's scaled back. He tried to find a comfortable spot to sit between the spikes, but before he was ready, they whizzed away into the night.