Into the Land of Valentia

Chapter the Twenty-Fourth

XIV

Horrified at what had just happened, Vivica twisted around to face the bushes spanning the edge of the forest. Garrett had broken free of the trees' cover and already started to make his way towards her at a broken trot, snorting nervously.

"He fell— I don't think I— If he's dead, I don't—" Vivica continued to start sentences without knowing how she planned to end them. She stumbled towards the stallion, her boot stubbing against something hard. Caught off-guard, she was thrown to the ground. She landed on a metal breastplate instead of the hard-packed earth she was expecting. She lifted her eyes to look into the face of the dead guard.

From this close up, she could see that he had died with eyes wide open in terror. The blood vessels around his pupils had burst from the impact, and his jaw was broken and hinged oddly.

Pushing back with her hands, Vivica scrambled as far away from the guard as she could. She only stopped when her back hit the outer wall of the town, and worked on slowing her heavy, panicked breaths. 

Somewhere above her head, Cayden was bound to be in the same state.

Garrett reached her, whuffling at her hair in hopes of comforting her. She could feel his whiskers brushing against her cheek, and she squeezed her eyes shut. With the darkness, she only brought forth a more vivid recollection of Cayden's free fall.

"If I had just left Tansy. . ." Vivica's chest tightened and she drew her knees to her chest. High above, she heard the flapping of the dragon's wings as it continued to cruise the skies. It showed no interest in moving to attack within the town walls. Likely it knew that soldiers would be quick to assemble and overpower its strike. Here, on the very edge of the town, it could pick off the few that approached by the less travelled path. A testament to the creature's growing intelligence.

She knew that she couldn't stay where she was. Pressed against the wall, the kertz would have added difficulty if it wanted to reach her. But remaining in the partial shelter would do nothing. There were still the ingredients for Aimee's cure to be brought to the castle, and Garrett's broad back was a shining beacon to any dragon on the attack. 

"You can't be certain he's dead," Garrett tried, at the same time as Vivica rose to her feet. She braced herself against the rough stone of the wall, attention split between the intimidating shape hurtling through the skies and the horse speaking to her. She hated how easily Garrett's words had lit a spark of hope in her chest.

"You saw how far he fell." Six metres, at least, and without uttering a cry upon impact. There hadn't been a sound since he had vanished behind the parapet. Nothing to indicate that he was still breathing. "And unlike that guard, he wore no armour."

The kertz let out a particularly ear-splitting cry. Garrett inched towards the forest nervously. His tail whisked to the side. "He has a . . . hard head."

Vivica evaluated her stallion and good friend. If she was hearing properly, there was sorrow laced into Garrett's words. For someone who had started out so against the man, Garrett seemed to have developed a fondness for Cayden. Even she had thought. . . 

She twisted back to look at the wall. Cayden already proved that it could be scaled. With smaller feet, she would be able to find purchases for her toes more easily. Once climbed, she could find out for herself what had happened to Cayden. If he had survived, like she so wanted to believe.

Even more, she would be able to make it into the town. The soldier barracks were housed near that part of the wall. The dragon—the cunning, horrible, plague of a beast—would be killed.

The idea was making more sense with each passing moment.

"Go back to Tansy," she told Garrett, already digging her fingers into a jutting piece of stone. The rough, unhewn edges of the rock cut into her fingertips. Using the sharp pain as motivation, she began to search for a spot to hook her toe into.