Chapter Seven
Kairin's muscles tensed as every survival instinct in her body kicked in. Everything slid out of focus except for Durza's smug, smiling face; it seemed as if the world swirled around the slim body of the shade. Kairin's hand itched in with her desire to grasp her fingers around the hilt of her sword, but it lay abandoned in on the dusty ground where she had dropped it in her fit of pique. From the corner of her eye she could see that Leaire had already unsheathed her weapon and stood facing Durza with all the strength of a warrior. Durza's eyes lazily flitted between the two women, painfully obvious in his self-assurance that victory was near.
"You're dead." Kairin hadn't meant to say the words aloud, but her confusion was infuriating her. She had seen Durza ripped apart at the claws of her own dragon, she had seen it... hadn't she?
Durza gave her a look of digust.
"Really, child, do you know nothing of this world? It takes more than the claws of some overgrown lizard to destroy me." Faeria growled quietly, a sound loaded with ferocity that did nothing to unease the shade.
"Your elf-teacher has been remiss if she hadn't already told you that I'm still alive." Leaire said nothing, made no move. Durza's eyes took on a sudden glint of light, narrowing slightly as he studied the elf's impassive face. A slow, awful smile crept onto his face, revealing small and pointed teeth.
"I wonder what else she hasn't told you." At these words, Leaire made a slight move forward, almost giving up her ground. She froze once more, a line now etched between her brows.
"Ah, the elf," he said mockingly. His maroon eyes shifted to Kairin. His smile widened again, revealing pointed teeth.
"Where are your manners, elf? You've never even told her about her own childhood, her own family. About Du Weldenvarden."
"It is neither yours or my place to discuss these things now, shade." When Leaire finally spoke, her voice was stronger and firmer than Kairin would have expected.
"Ah, yes. Not Kairin's place to know herself. Let her believe in her humanity, of course, at least humans are easier to kill."
Kairin could no longer ignore these strange words as her bafflement finally outweighed her terror.
"I may be human, Durza," she began, willing her voice not to shake, "but I will still destroy you." Durza cocked his head to one side.
"You certainly speak like one. Perhaps there really is no trace left in you of the elf you once were."
Kairin's stomach dropped. Elf I once was? She was dumbfounded enough to pull her gaze away from the shade's maroon eyes and look to Leaire. It was Leaire's expression - not one of defiance or anger, but of guilt and panic - that finally unnerved her. Kairin began to back away, towards Faeria.
"What are you saying?" Kairin demanded, hating herself for playing into his hands. Durza smiled his widest yet.
"Enough!" Leaire's voice rang out across the night. "You taunt us! Enough words, shade!" Leaire pounced before the last words had left her mouth, but Durza was quick. He raised his sword with ease and battered her away, striking at her hip, which she blocked with equal agility.
"Run, Kairin, go!" Leaire shrieked, trading blows with Durza too quick for Kairin's eyes to see.
Kairin didn't hesitate. She leapt up into the air as she spun around, turning her back on the battle. Faeria snaked under her and the moment Kairin was seated on her back, took off into the sky with dizzying speed.
Kairin twisted her head towards the earth, but both elf and shade were engulfed in a cloud of dust from their vigorous footwork. Kairin watched as a tear slid from her eye and plummeted towards the earth below.
Kairin awoke when the sun rose. The two had been flying for most of the night, until sometime in the early morning. Faeria had been flying so close to the ground that her claws kept dragging across the earth but it wasn't until Kairin, weak and numb from riding, tumbled from her back and onto the dusty plains that they came to a halt. They had fallen asleep where they lay, too exhausted for words.
Kairin sat up and surveyed her surroundings. She couldn't have been sleeping for much more than an hour or two. Faeria opened a bleary eye and, on seeing that Kairin was awake, stretched her neck out and gave a great yawn, scales rustling.
"We may be in trouble, Faeria." The dragon fixed her pearly eyes on Kairin.
"We must think our way out of this one."
"Thinking wastes time, Faeria, we need to go back." At this, Faeria swung her neck around to fit Kairin under her full gaze.
"Leaire is a skilled fighter, but shades are formidable creatures. She may not be alive. Durza may already be looking for us. Perhaps the wisest thing for us to do would be to leave the elf to her own fate." Kairin leapt to her feet.
"Faeria! She saved us from the shade twice now. She's our only guide, our only link to the Varden and those who want to help us. We can't survive without her."
"We can indeed survive without her, Kairin, even if you don't want to." There was a pause as Faeria waited for the words Kairin did not want to admit. Aware that the dragon was watching her, Kairin reached up and felt the tips of her ears.
They felt as they had always felt under her fingertips, but Kairin suddenly paid close attention to the way they tapered to a slight point. She brought her hands in front of her face and scrutinized them too; had her fingers always been so long and slender? Surely they were the hands of an ordinary human.
"You believe him." Faeria said simply. Kairin looked up at her. "The shade. You're doubting you're a real human." Confused and overwhelmed, Kairin buried her face in her hands and spoke with her mind.
"I don't know anything about myself. It's not far-fetched to believe that he knows more than I do."
Faeria said nothing.
"Could I be an elf? He said that I was 'once' an elf, what can that mean?"
Faeria remained impassive. Kairin took a handful of dirt and threw it in front of her, watching it scatter into the wind. When the air had cleared, she got to her feet and looked to the horizon.
"Whatever the truth is, he's certainly achieved his goal - I am utterly unnerved." The dragon responded by wrapping her neck around Kairin's shoulders and humming deeply.
"Courage, my hatchling. All will be revealed in time."
"Time is something we don't have," replied Kairin, not unkindly. With an unspoken agreement, Kairin climbed onto Faeria's back and nestled herself into the hollow of the dragon's shoulder blades. They were going back.
The scabs from flying without a saddle instantly began to prickle, but Kairin pushed it aside as Faeria took off and for the first time, she felt the exhiliration that was flying.
The world below spun away at an alarming rate, but Kairin felt nothing but secure on the back of her dragon. This was a proper flight, not an escape, and in the air the two became one. They cut through the sky, watching as miles melted away below them.
Faeria's keen eyes spotted the camp before Kairin's, and as they circled down towards it Kairin began to see that the scene was mostly the way they had left it - Kairin's sword lay where she had dropped it, her saddlebags and Eriere's saddle were still stacked where she had put them. The only real difference was that the scene was utterly deserted; no sign of Eriere, Durza, or Leaire. As they touched down, a plume of dust rose around Faeria's claws.
"Careful, Faeria. I have to read that ground." Lightly, Kairin slipped from Faeria's scaly back and allowed her legs to buckle underneath her as she had expected. Kairin leaned over the ground, studying the patterns that lay before her.
There were footprints all around, particularly dense and erratic in one spot. That was the sword fight. Kairin crawled a little ways away; a messy scuff mark, the imprint of a falling body, and beside it a handprint. The hand was the same size as Leaire's. She had fallen and tried to stand, Kairin determined. There was then a mess of prints so crowded Kairin couldn't make them out, and a column of unfamiliar prints, large and evil looking. The last thing she could make out was two long lines on the ground, with footprints between them. Just like tracking animals in the Spine, Kairin deduced what had happened.
"Look, Faeria." The dragon, who had been sniffing around the circumference of the site, looked her way. "They took her away on some kind of stretcher, see those two lines? They tied her to that and dragged it away. Or at least that's what I can make of it."
"Very good, huntress, but look at those tracks there - the big ones. They stink of Urgal. Durza must have summoned Urgals to help him take Leaire to Gil'ead. We can't overtake an army of Urgals and a Shade, not just the two of us."
"We'll pursue them, then!" cried Kairin, passion overtaking her. "They can't have her, Faeria, and if the fact that we owe her our lives isn't incentive enough, we can't have servants of the Empire learning all about her - and us!" Faeria arched her neck.
"You're right. Of course. Yes, you're right. Come now, we can't lose any more time."
Kairin hurriedly retrieved her sword and Eriere's saddlebags. She considered the horse's saddle for a moment, and left it, saying a hurried prayer for her lost horse's soul under her breath. She spread the horse's blanket over Faeria's back to cushion her sharp scales, strapped the saddlebags to the spikes on her spine, and mounted her once more.
They flew as high as they dared, not speaking. Faeria scanned the ground with her sharp eyes while Kairin periodically pulled out a small, circular mirror that Leaire had given her to murmur the words "draumr kopa."
Each time she scried, Kairin saw Leaire's face; she was unconscious and looked unwell, but she was alive. That small wonder was enough to keep dragon and dragon rider flying deep into the afternoon.
It was evening before they saw the telltale cloud of dust kicked up by the Urgals' boots, and by the time they were close enough to make out the individual shapes of the creatures, Gil'ead had come into view.
"There." Kairin's voice was resigned as she pointed towards the earth. There among the swarming black bodies of the Urgals it was clear to see a slight woman with long blonde hair, trussed up and dragged along by the monsters. There was nothing for the pair to do but watch as the small army surged through the gates of the city, Leaire in tow.
"This is just what we expected, but it still seems worse."
"I cannot say you are wrong. I just hoped that Durza would have left for more important matters."
The shade had not left; they had seen him striding along as swift as the Urgals, keeping close to the litter that held Leaire. The mere sight of him had kept Faeria and Kairin from descending upon the Urgals on sight.
"They've just captured an elf, Faeria. And better yet, an elf who can reveal everything about a certain young Rider; the king will be happy tonight."
"Curse that egg-breaker and all who serve him."
"Land. We need a plan."
