Page 19 of Clash of Kingdoms
He walked to Storm wearing his bulky black armor, the kind he hadn’t worn before. His back carried his blade as well as an axe. He grabbed on to the bindings and pulled himself up onto the mighty beast.
I did the same and grabbed on to the reins. I couldn’t communicate with the dragons the way the Rolfes could, so I had to rely on Huntley communicating with him. There was barely any warning before we launched into the air, just the subtle dip of the creature’s arms. The cold wind moved past my face as we soared into the sky in mere seconds. The world became a dot below. Harlow’s mind became faint before it disappeared altogether. Then it was just Pyre and me, high in the sky, the dark world at our feet.
We crossed the mountains under the starlight, and once we made it to the other side, the sun crested the horizon. The world was a distant haze, the shadows from the mountains stretching far into the distance.
Huntley brought his dragon to a halt in midair.
Pyre knew to approach, so he came to Storm, their faces close together.
I looked at Huntley, feeling odd talking to him in the middle of the sky, the sound of flapping wings around us.
“Assuming the tunnel is linear, it should be half a day’s ride north,” Huntley said. “If we fly hard, we can cover more ground before there’s too much light in the sky. As far as I can tell, there’s no civilization this close to the mountains.”
“Except the ring of fire.” I could see it, and it was the most peculiar thing I’d ever observed in my fifteen hundred years. “I suspect that’s where the Teeth are headed. Must be the front door to their domain.”
Huntley stared at it, his mind incisive the way his daughter’s was. He felt everything intensely because he was passionate and thoughtful at all times.
“We’ll get as close as we can, but we may want to traverse on foot, just in case.”
“I agree,” he said. “Let’s go.” Storm turned away and flew off, his mighty wings creating a boom right in my ear.
Pyre immediately followed, and we continued our path along the mountains, the other dragons behind us.
When the light became too bright, we landed at the base of the mountains, the shrubbery thick and dense, perfect for hiding from prying eyes. Huntley dismounted and provided water for his dragon before he did the same for Pyre and the others.
I watched him care for the dragons like they were equals rather than merely animals. My father had a prized stallion that he rode into battle, but he didn’t care whether the beast lived or died. Didn’t groom him himself. Didn’t show an ounce of affection, not the way Harlow did with Pyre.
Huntley returned, every footstep clear because his armor weighed him down into the dirt.
The sun was already painful on my skin, a dull burn that was constantly present until I stepped into the shade again. I could tolerate sunlight for an extended period of time, but the damage was irreversible, and once I received too much of it, I would perish. And I’d spent more time in the sunlight in this land than I ever had in my long life.
Wordlessly, we trekked forward, sticking to the shade of the trees.
I walked behind him, feeling the minds of the dragons become faint the farther we traveled.
My eyes examined the mountain, looking for signs of passage, of a heavy wall that would conceal the entrance from unwanted eyes, but there was never any indication of that. There was also a chance the Teeth moved underground until they entered the domain of the demons…and never came to the surface at all.
I kept all those thoughts to myself.
Hours passed and we continued forward, moving under the branches of the trees, searching for signs of the Teeth.
The sun was just starting to lower in the sky, making the shadows lengthen once more, and before long it would be dark.
Huntley came to a stop. “We’re north of the Teeth’s domain now.”
“It’s possible their path remains underground and connects to the demons.”
He turned back around to face me, his eyes shifting in consideration. “Perhaps.”
“The composition of the earth is more than just sand and rock. It’s possible they had to make many detours to reach the other side. It could be farther north…”
Huntley moved to unfasten his chest piece, ready to take it off after carrying it for so many leagues. He leaned it against a log before he took a seat, opened his water canteen, and took a drink.
I remained standing, taking a long sweep of our surroundings, opening my mind further to detect another presence. But I saw nothing and felt nothing. I moved to the other log, keeping space between us because we might be allies, but we weren’t friendly.
Time passed and sunset arrived. The colors of the sky began to deepen into shades of pink and purple. My arms rested on my knees, and I thought of the woman I’d left behind, the woman who would sleep alone while my brothers remained down the hallway.
Huntley’s mind had been quiet at first, but then it started to deepen, with shards of anger and guilt, different shades of darkness. The weight of his people rested on his shoulders, and despite his strength, he struggled to carry it.