Light as a Cloud

Chapter 11

The morning had long since arrived in the west of Grisenland when the spell on Ayra's mind finally wore off. Her head cleared, and suddenly the light was so sharp and bright in her eyes that she had to squint and shield her eyes with her hand.

"What time is it?" she asked. "What did I miss?"

"Hush," said the elf, a young boy with long, white-blonde hair that was standing next to her.

Suddenly Ayra realized the situation she was in: she was standing in a circle, together with about twenty elves, and in the middle of the circle stood Meroch and someone Ayra assumed was the Elvenking: a silver crown on his head marked his important position.

"No, I'm not hushing!" she called out, and took a step forward. "What am I doing here? Why did you folks hex me? Where's my dragon?"

All the elves now turned to her, and Meroch too

"Coincidentally, Ayra, Meroch was just telling me about this dragon." The Elvenking spoke with a deep voice, through which Ayra could clearly feel the magic. "Maybe you can tell more about it, if it's yours?"

"It's name is Jewel," Ayra said. "I tamed it... let me think... four days ago. I travelled on its back to Fennekirch. "

"Is it a boy or a girl?" the Elvenking asked.

Ayra shrugged. "I have no idea. When I tame a dragon, I don't look between its legs. It's more important to me that it doesn't murder me in my sleep."

One of the elves turned away, trying to suppress her laughter. Another one's mouth fell open, and he stared at Ayra, as if he had just been struck by the spell that she'd escaped from.

"And does it murder?" the Elvenking continued.

"Not that I know," Ayra replied. "I mean, except its food, of course. If you don't wanna be killed, just don't be tasty."

"Don't be tasty!" Meroch repeated, and he burst into laughter. "Don't be tahahasty!"

A few other elves started to laugh as well, though carefully, for the Elvenking seemed to wear a mask of steel.

"Now," Ayra interrupted the laughter, "where did you leave Jewel?"

"We tied it up at the place it fell asleep," an elf from the circle replied, "it probably woke up by now, but I doubt it broke free."

"You tied it up?!" Ayra shouted. "How dare you! What did it even do to you?"

At that moment, a loud roar sounded. A hot breeze and the sound of breaking branches announced the arrival of a furious dragon.

Some elves had already raised their hands, ready to cast some spell on Jewel, but Ayra shouted: "Stop! Don't hurt it! Leave it alone!"

A tree behind her caught fire, but she didn't move away an inch. Indeed, she turned around and called Jewel, whose head appeared in the flaming tree, among the burning leaves. It was trembling with hate. Smoke came out of its nostrils as it glanced around menacingly at the now broken circle of elves.

Ayra wiped her hair out of her face. "Jewel," she said, "look at me."

For many long seconds, they stared into each other's eyes, their minds connecting and becoming one. Ayra felt her dragon's rage, she shared it even, and Jewel knew it. How dared they tie it down- Jewel, an innocent child of a dragon! The elves are the ones who should be tied down in its place! Those were the thoughts they shared, until they finally calmed each other down.

Ayra broke the connection and Jewel hopped out of the tree. Its eyes still darted around like a feather in a tyfoon, in an attempt to keep track of all elves at once, but its body was still as stone at Ayra's side.

Meroch began to clap. A few elves followed, then a few more, until they were all clapping- all except the Elvenking.

"I see no reason to clap," he said loudly, and the applause fell silent. "Our forest is still on fire."

"That's not my fault," Ayra said. "You tied an innocent dragon down for no good reason. Of course it got angry!"

"You brought him here," the Elvenking calmly defended himself. "You should have had him under control from the beginning. It is your task to put out the fire."

Ayra clacked her tongue. "I'm no wizard."

The Elvenking showed no sign of emotion. "You're putting it out, or I'm throwing you into it."

Ayra was suddenly reminded of her mother Leika, who would always say such things, horrible things, without any compassion or emotion whatsoever. In Ayra's mind, she was standing before her again like she used to, eyes revealed, finger raised accusingly.

She already stood close to the king, her dagger on his throat, and hissed: "Respect me!"

His eyes, silver and deathly still, stared back into hers menacingly. They did not lose their power or magical sparkle. He didn't fall for the magic of eminn eyes. Ayra noticed there was a slight blue glow over him, as if he was being magically protected in some way.

"Ayra," Meroch's voice sounded, "put the blade down. I just put out the fire."

Slowly, and without ever losing eye contact, Ayra moved her dagger away from the Elvenking's throat. It left a thin, yet deep cut in his skin, from which his blood slowly started dripping. Five red stripes stretched over his white skin to the edge of his cloak, like the bloody fingers of the hand of Death.

Yet the Elvenking's face remained undisturbed. "You managed to find a dragon that's less dangerous than yourself," he spoke coldly.

For a moment, Ayra felt the strong urge to stab him right through his egoistic heart, but immediately there was the threat of the elves around her, that all had their hands tensed and ready to kill for their king if they had to.

She gave him her deadliest glare, then flew to Jewel and landed on its back. "Meroch, I'm leaving," she said. "You've got one minute to join me, because I'm not staying any longer than that."

Meroch rolled his eyes. "You can't just leave like that. If you apologize-"

"Good day, Meroch," Ayra interrupted him. She took her dragon up, turned to the southeast and flew away. No elf stopped them- they were too perplexed to think of it.