The last of the Dragons-Set 2

203

    The Next Morning

"Jess?"

I fluttered my eyelids as I sat up, and was greeted with the sight of Bailey hovering over me.

"What is it?" I asked as I sat up.

"I can't fall back to sleep. The ground is hurting my back." She replied.

"Yeah, well, it won't be long before they wake us." I said as I stood up.

"We haven't eaten for three days. Do you think they'll feed us today?" Bailey asked.

I sighed.

"Last time we waited a week for food. I wouldn't get your hopes up." I said.

It was early morning, the sun was still hidden behind the horizon, with only its light dimly glowing in the distance. The air was cool and crisp with a light breeze, and the sky was partially filled with clouds. 

"It looks like it may be a bit of a cooler day today. That will be nice." I said.

"It would be the first one in a while. Nothing but sun for the past week." Bailey replied.

"What are you two doing up already? They haven't woken us yet." Tahli said as she slowly sat up.

"Well, the bumpy hard ground doesn't make sleep easy." Bailey replied.

I chuckled.

"That may be true. But things could be worse." I said.

Bailey turned to me with a confused look on her face.

"How? How could things possibly be worse for us?" She asked.

I pondered for a moment. I didn't really think about it up until that point, but she was right. Things couldn't really be much worse as far as I could tell. I could see little else we could be stripped of, short of our lives. 

"Okay, so maybe they couldn't be much worse. But we still need to hold on to hope. Don't ever give that up." I said as I turned to her.

She scoffed at me.

"Hope for what? We've lost nearly everything we had. We've lost our families, and our freedom. I can't see much else worth living for." She said.

I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"You and I both know that hope is the greatest strength a person can have. If you hold onto hope, you can't loose." I said.

She smiled at my slightly.

Bailey and I stood beside each other, gazing at the beauty of the rising sun, when suddenly, several soldiers came riding past us on horses shouting.

"We've been attacked! Ready the troops! All hands to arms!" One of them shouted.

They rode on through the camp before I was able to hear any further. The shouting woke Amy, Tahli and several other people however, and now we were all watching curiously, waiting for something to happen. After a few moments, hundreds of soldiers came running to the camps edge, with their weapons drawn, and aimed at the sky.

"What the hell is going on?" Bailey asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I spoke, a familiar screech filled my ears. I slowly turned around and gazed up at the clouds far past the river.

"It's them."