Dragons of Skylark: The Four Heirs

Uprooting and the Damage it Causes

     I don't remember much from the next few weeks. Bits and pieces of recollection studded my understanding of the time. I woke in the morning once and there was a bright light in our den, and Mum and Pop spoke in hushed voices that oozed with secrets.

     "Four eggs, who would take an egg? Let alone four? What kind of...of...monster." It was Mum but her voice was different, strained.

     "I know, I'm also worried."

     It was the light speaking.

     We didn't go out much after that, not alone. We had classes in certain rooms, there were always guards. Nobody understood why. I remember all the times Hailpip came to me because she too could sense how off everything was, how unfair it was that none of the older dragons explained anything. I agreed but at the same time, so much didn't make sense, I don't know if I would have understood.

     There was an empty place where Kiri always was.

     I don't understand how she left. Mum said it was an accident, but nothing more. There was a glazed sense to her voice whenever she spoke about it, I don't think she understood fully either. That was a frightening realization. I'd been hanging off this precipice of confusion for such a long time and I was so sick of hanging. I didn't like the way I could feel how many years I'd spent in the pool of time. I was almost seven years old, that wasn't a lot at all, so why did it feel so vast?

     For the first time in my life, I attended a funeral. It was like a festival, but no one laughed, no one danced. Every dragon who could manage climbed to the top of the mountain, where the late summer sun wafted down, no snow in sight. Kiri's mum had wrapped her body in hithea leaves. They placed her in a pyre, and one by one, dragons who'd known her left tokens and treasures of their belongings nearby, things of hers or things that held her memory. Ronan had brought a gemstone, a ruby, that he'd carved her face into. Strife was the one who placed the flame, as the smoke drifted into the sky, she and Kiri's pather led the Pride in a wordless, somber song. Amidst the vibrations of hundreds of singing dragons and the calming scent of hithea spice, grief relaxed its grip on me.

     I used to ask myself all the time where she went, but after that day I didn't need to.

     Blurry day after blurry day, time passed so fast. It took a long time for Ronan to come out of the den again. It took a long time for May's garden to bloom. Everything took so long, until it finally didn't. Until things finally snapped back in clear, undistorted crystalline. Only to be replaced by a new fear.

     "We're leaving?" May sputtered.

     Pop's frame tensed slightly. "It's for the good of everyone."

     "There's a new den built for us, it's just a little higher up the mountain." Mum explained.

     "How much?" Seth

     They we silent for a moment.

     "It'll be a little harder to see your friends." Pop admitted.

     The four of us went silent.

     "Why?" I frowned.

     "I know it's hard to understand," Mum cooed, "but our family just needs to be in a safer place right now."

     "But this is our home," Ronan's voice quivered. "This is where we hatched, where we're to grow."

     "I want to stay here as well." Pop curled his tail around us. "I'm afraid it's just one of things I can't say too much about. All I can do is make you a promise that it's for the safety of you four, and the safety of the pride."