Chapter 10

Renegades

"How far do you think that one is?"

Jayce peered around the boulder he was leaning against, narrowing his eyes at the shape of a large island on the horizon. Charla balanced precariously on top of the rock, her wings half spread.

"Too far," he said bluntly, and promptly returned his attention to his blades. They were chipped and scratched beyond polishing after several months of surviving in the wilderness. No matter how much Jayce buffed them with the end of his tattered tunic, he could never make them shine like they once had.

"I bet I could fly there," said Charla, her wings twitching.

"And carry me?"

"You can swim." Jayce heard Charla's paws shuffling on rock and suddenly her upside-down grinning face filled his vision. "Right?"

He stared levelly at her. "No."

A pout threatened to twist her features and she rolled off the boulder to land heavily beside Jayce on her back. "But I'm tired of this island. I want a new one. And that one's closest."

"But it's still too far," said Jayce, sheathing his scimitar with one last disappointed glance.

He stood up and stretched, clenching and unclenching his fingers as he turned to survey the surroundings. The island Charla was referring to was certainly closer than any other. While most were distant dark smudges on the horizon, Jayce could just make out the shapes of trees lining the edges of this one. The considerable stretch of water between the islands was still and glassy in the evening light.

"We don't even know if the Army has an outpost there," he muttered, more to himself than to Charla. In the number of months—Jayce estimated it to be about nine—since they had left the Well of Souls, he and Charla had run awry of more hostile outposts than he would have liked. They seemed to be spreading and multiplying, even this far into dragon territory.

For some time, they had found refuge on this small, largely deserted island. Occasionally small fleets of apes would pass by, but they never set foot on the duo's secret home. Already three weeks had passed, however, and Charla was growing increasingly restless.

"What if I found a boat?" she pressed, rolling onto her belly and looking imploringly up at Jayce. He glanced at her huge pleading eyes and looked quickly away again.

"From where?" he asked bluntly.

"Them." Charla pointed a claw past Jayce, towards a small shape cutting through the smooth water towards them.

Jayce hissed and dived behind the boulder, flattening Charla to the ground in the process. She grunted as her jaw hit the rock.

"Why didn't you tell me they were there?" he hissed.

"I just did," Charla muttered, her voice muffled.

Hesitantly, Jayce peered around the boulder as far as he dared. Sure enough, the shape Charla had spotted was a small wooden boat, carrying three large apes—or so Jayce could tell from this distance. It was the usual patrol that passed by every few days and hardly spared their tiny island a glance. Jayce, who frequently lost track of time, had forgotten they were due.

"Damn patrol," he muttered under his breath. "Let's go, Char. We're too visible up here."

"But I've got a plan!" she protested, even as he began to crawl back down the rocky outcrop to the forest below. When Jayce didn't respond, Charla took that as a signal to continue, chatting as she followed at his heels. "If we want to get to that island we need a boat, and if we want a boat we need to steal a boat, and they've got a boat, so I was thinking I could fly down there and blast them to pieces, and then… Wait, that won't work."

She paused halfway down the outcrop, tapping her chin with a claw. "How do you steal a boat without destroying it first?"

"With more tact than you've got," Jayce shot back, already on the ground and waiting impatiently. "Get down here and let's go. And keep quiet, they might hear us."

"Oh, that's it!"

"What's it?" Jayce asked, but Charla had already turned her back on him and was clambering back to the top of the outcrop. "Hey!"

Blatantly ignoring him, Charla hopped up onto the highest boulder and attempted, with much wobbling, to balance on her hind legs. She took a deep breath and yelled as loud as she could, "Hey! Ugly apes! Over here, smelly fish-faces! Hey!"

'Fish-faces?' Jayce ran a hand over his snout, just to check that his face wasn't really shaped like a fish. Then he realised just what she was doing and forgot to worry about his face. "Charla! What the heck? They'll see you!"

"I know!" She bounced on her hind legs, waving her forepaws in the air and flapping her wings just enough to lift her ever so slightly into the air. "Come and get me, ugly butts!"

Her hind paw slipped as she touched back down again, and with a shriek she tumbled off the boulder and landed sprawled beside it, wings still flapping. Unfazed, she jumped back to her feet, glanced towards the patrolling apes, and excitedly scurried back down to Jayce.

"They saw me, they're coming!" she exclaimed, running past him and hooking her tailblade in his belt as she went. "Come on!"

Jayce staggered and freed himself from her tailblade before he was pulled into a face-plant, and loped after her with a grimace. She led him back through the forest towards a little rocky cove at the edge of the island. The two of them had often fished there, but Jayce knew she wasn't looking for fish this time. The moment the cove came into view, Charla dove behind a cluster of rocks and beckoned for Jayce to join her.

"What are you planning?" Jayce asked exasperatedly as he sank down beside her. She hushed him and gestured for him to watch the shore, just as she was doing.

Minutes later, the little wooden dinghy came into view and slowly pulled up to the cove. Jayce sank lower on instinct as the largest ape jumped out and began to tug the boat onto the rocky shore. He could hear the sound of the wooden hull scraping on the pebbles. The ape didn't get very far, and soon he was complaining loudly at the others still in the boat. Jayce shook his head disbelievingly as one of the other apes finally, grudgingly, climbed out to assist.

"What are they doing?" he muttered.

"Looking for me," Charla hissed excitedly, her eyes bright as she peered over the rocks. "They'll come this way and we can lead them into the forest and get them lost, and then steal their boat! It's perfect!"

"Perfectly stupid," Jayce grunted. "Not even apes are dumb enough to get lost on an island this small. I hope you've got a back-up plan."

His hand edged towards his scimitars and he found himself nervously scratching the strap that secured them to his back. Charla, on the other hand, was grinning.

"Yeah. The usual."

"Oh."

The time for talking quickly ended, however, when the apes finally finished pulling their boat ashore and the third ape climbed out to join them. They drew their weapons and began to creep up the pebbled shore towards the forest, their eyes darting around suspiciously. As they drew closer, Jayce could hear what they were saying.

"Where d'you think it went?" said the larger, scratching its scraggly beard.

"Prob'ly somewhere in there," grunted another, pointing into the forest. "Looked like a dragon to me."

"What's a dragon doin' here?" exclaimed the third in a high-pitched voice that put Jayce's teeth on edge.

"Maybe it's tryin' to escape the war," said the first grimly, hefting his wickedly curved blade as though he'd like to cleave through any such dragon then and there. Jayce scowled. "C'mon, let's…"

The big ape didn't get much further. At that moment, Charla snuck out from behind the boulders and boldly stepped into full view at the edge of the forest. She grinned widely at the apes and waved airily, while Jayce slapped his hand to his forehead. The apes stared stupidly at her, their weapons still half-raised.

"Oi…" one of them started to say.

"Look!" cried Charla, pointing behind them.

All three of them spun around and she dashed into the bushes with a quiet chuckle. By the time the confused apes had turned around again, she was gone. Bellowing with outrage, the biggest ape charged into the forest with the others scrambling behind him. Jayce watched them go, mouth half open, completely unnoticed. Drawing his swords, he hurried after them.

Charla slunk through the bushes, not caring to silence her giggles as she heard the apes blundering behind her. She ducked around the undergrowth and slipped through thin gaps between trees at a pace somewhere between a run and a slow trot. From the crashing sounds behind her, the apes weren't having much luck navigating the underbrush. Picking her moment, Charla clambered up the trunk of a nearby tree as quickly as she could. The bark caught under her claws and twice she almost fell down, but she reached a branch near the top by the time the apes came into view.

"Which way?" one of them yelled, stopping nearby and wheeling in circles.

"It's flown off!" another cried, staring skyward.

"Idiot!" The third and largest smacked the one who had spoken across the back of the head. "We'd have noticed! Search the trees!"

Charla took a deep breath, pursed her lips together, and made a loud, rude noise. The apes jumped and spun around confusedly, until the largest spotted her. He pointed angrily. "There!"

Giggling, Charla leapt onto the branch of another tree and then another. The apes followed below. The sounds of their angry yells only fed her laughter, but the grin dropped from her face when her paw slipped on the next branch. With a yelp and much scrambling, she tumbled to the forest floor and landed heavily on her shoulder. Shaking leaves from her horns, she scrambled to her feet, but not before the apes were upon her. They grinned triumphantly as they bore down on her, and Charla could only grin sheepishly back.

"Uh…surprise?" she offered.

The larger ape chuckled darkly. "Nice to see you too, little dragon. Now be a good girl and stay still."

The underbrush rustled behind them. Charla's eyes flicked upwards over their shoulders and she fought back a relieved grin. The apes were clueless. She stayed utterly still as they approached, but her muscles were tensed for action.

"That dragon's already taken."

The apes stopped and turned incredulous stares on the ape who had just appeared behind them. Jayce spread his arms disarmingly, even though his scimitars were still clutched firmly in his hands. "Yeah, sorry about that. I own her, see."

"Own?" repeatedly one of the apes dumbly. "How do you own a dragon?"

"That's stupid-talk," grunted the larger, narrowing his eyes at Jayce. "No ape can own a dragon."

"Really?" Jayce paused and looked almost legitimately thoughtful. "Strange. I must have missed that rule. No matter—we lost it anyway."

"What?" said the trio of apes together. They spun around to find Charla was nowhere to be seen.

Jayce couldn't hide a grin as he caught sight of her in the bushes, sneaking back the way they had come.

"Shame, really," he said, resting one sword on his shoulder nonchalantly. "That's the thing about dragons. One minute they're there, the next…poof. No dragon."

A low growl of anger was growing louder in the larger ape's throat, and he spun around with his sword pointed straight at Jayce. "Kill him!"

Jayce grinned feebly. "Gotta go."

Parrying the dagger the smaller ape threw at him, Jayce spun on his heels and ran as fast as his legs would carry him back through the forest. He turned a sharp left away from the cove, hoping Charla was already back with the boat and pushing it out to sea. All he needed to do was lose the lunatics and get back to her. But luck wasn't on his side.

As Jayce wheeled around a small cluster of trees, his foot caught an upturned root and he hit the ground hard, his swords flying out of his grip. Clutching his ribs, he staggered back to his feet and scrambled to grab his blades before the apes caught up. He could hear them quickly approaching, but his frantic eyes couldn't pick out the telltale glint of his scimitars.

"Where are they?" he hissed under his breath. His paw fell on something hard and, with a sigh of relief, he pulled one sword out of the undergrowth. There was no time to find the other before the apes were upon him. They smiled unpleasantly as they approached, emboldened by the odds of three-on-one.

"Our turn, dragon boy," hissed the larger.

"Bring it on…" Jayce paused and added with a grin, "fish-face."

"Hey, that was mine," a voice whined overhead. Every ape looked up to find Charla sitting on a branch not far above their heads. She grinned down at Jayce. "Need help? I thought you might."

Jayce stared up at her. "Back-up plan?"

Charla grinned.

The trio of apes stared from her to Jayce and back again, bemused. They didn't get to do much else before Charla doused the undergrowth at their feet in flames. Screams broke the silence as the apes scrambled out of the way of the fire, and Jayce took his chance. Backing up a few steps, he took a running leap over the top of the growing wall of flames and pushed the apes out of his way. Ignoring their panicked flailing, he sprinted back towards the cove.

It was only when he got there that he realised Charla hadn't followed. Whirling around, he scanned the edge of the forest for any sign of her and flinched as a great explosion rocked the island. Black smoke rose above the forest and an orange glow began to spread from within. Charla came pelting out of the trees, her scales smoking and a familiar blade clutched in her teeth. She skidded to a halt and spat it at Jayce's feet.

"You forgot something," she said brightly.

Jayce slowly picked it up and returned it and its twin to their sheaths.

"You set everything on fire again," he replied, staring at the blazing inferno that was slowly engulfing the forest.

"Yep." Charla grinned. "The usual."

The stolen boat, as Charla had hoped, became their ticket to freedom. It had taken only a few hours to get to the next island, but it was close to midnight by the time they found a beach to pull into. Under the light of the twin moons, Charla and Jayce pulled their wooden dinghy onto the sand, as far from the tide as they could manage. A few large rocks placed around the hull ensured it would still be there come morning—unless someone else stole it.

"We should find somewhere to rest for the night," Jayce said once they had secured the boat, gazing around the shore. A dark line of trees stood before them, and high cliff-faces enclosed the shore on either side. There was nothing to suggest that the island was inhabited—but nothing to suggest it wasn't, either. In the dead of night, Jayce wasn't game to find out.

The shore was washed with moonlight and, in the silvery gloom, the mismatched pair searched the base of the cliffs for shelter. Wind and water had carved shallow niches and overhangs into the rock over time and it was under a large overhang that the duo set up camp. The sand was damp under their feet and the chill of the night ocean air settled around them. Waves lapped gently at the shore.

Charla huddled against Jayce's side as he settled down for the night, setting his scimitars beside him for easy access. Without the materials to start a fire, uheir only warmth was derived from each other. Jayce wished the old myth he had once read about fire dragons—which claimed their scales were perpetually heated—was true.

"Do you think they got away?"

Jayce paused in his attempt to get comfortable on the damp sand and glanced at Charla. She was staring out to sea, where the small island they had left could still be seen glowing feebly with the remnants of the flames that had ravaged it only a few hours ago. He couldn't see Charla's face, but something about her voice sounded troubled.

"Maybe." He pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her and hugging her to his chest. Myth or not, at least she granted some warmth. "They were surrounded by water, after all. As long as they were smart enough to think of it."

Charla didn't reply and buried her muzzle in his chest. Jayce sighed and tightened his hold. He could still remember the first time Charla had killed an ape. It had been inevitable in their situation, hunted as they had become when the Dark Army had discovered their continued existence. Had she not, she would have been killed herself. But the memory of the haunted look in her eyes had stayed with Jayce ever since.

"It's not a bad thing," he said suddenly, and felt Charla shift under his arm.

"What isn't?" she mumbled into his tunic.

"Feeling remorse. We might have to kill to survive, but as long as we always hold onto that remorse… As long as we don't start enjoying it, we'll still be who we are. We'll still be us." He removed his arm from around her and placed it on her forehead. She raised her eyes to meet his. "Right?"

Charla snorted and smiled. "Sure, Jayce. As long as we're always us. And not just…me."

It took a moment for Jayce to understand what she meant. When he did, he wrapped his arm around her again and pulled her tightly against him. "As if I'd ever let that happen. We'll always be us."

He laid his head on the sand and closed his eyes, letting the gentle lapping of the waves and the rhythmic rise and fall of Charla's ribs lull him to sleep. As he waited for the usual dreams to embrace him, he promised himself the same promise he made every night.

'No ape's going to tear us apart.'

It took Charla and Jayce two days to explore their new island in its entirety. There were marks of the Dark Army on the shores, and the remnants of inhabitation deep in the forest suggested there had once been an encampment there. But the evidence was old, and the island looked as though it had been abandoned for months. Jayce guessed the Army had abandoned their camp for a more tactical position after they had captured the surrounding islands.

There was no sign of dragon inhabitation. It must have been many months since they had lost these islands to the Dark Army. Jayce couldn't help but wonder where their stronghold was now, if they even had one. Perhaps their forces were scattered all over the islands, struggling to hold out in the wake of the Dark Army's secret weapon.

Cynder had caused chaos on the front lines. Jayce and Charla had seen her only from afar once before, but it wasn't hard to tell that her arrival had spelled destruction for her own species. Before she had come, the dragons had been pushing back. Now, their islands were abandoned and the Dark Army was spreading further into their territory. Defeat could not have been far away, unless the dragons too had a secret weapon. It was too optimistic a thought.

On the third day since their arrival on the new island, Jayce and Charla split up to go hunting. While she headed into the forest for prey, Jayce took it upon himself to try his hand at fishing. He'd never been particularly good at it before—Charla was always the one who caught the fish—but nor was he an ape to easily give up. He whittled himself a sharp spear from a long thin branch he broke from a tree, and headed down to the cove.

Half an hour later, he was wet, frustrated and fishless.

"Rotten things," Jayce grumbled under his breath, hefting his makeshift spear for the fiftieth time and lobbing it at the silvery shapes under the water. It struck the sand and the fish darted off in different directions, unharmed. "Stay still!"

Rolling his shoulders, Jayce waded over and retrieved his weapon once again. Suppressing a sigh, he turned his face to the sun, shielding his eyes with a hand as he tried to gauge the time. It was shortly past midday, if his estimations were correct, and his stomach was growling. Thinking vaguely of heading back to the forest to see if Charla had caught anything, Jayce was about to turn around when something caught his eye.

There was a dark shape in the sky, stark against the white clouds and the endless blue expanse. At first he thought it had to be a bird, but a second look made him wonder. It was far too big to be a bird. For a moment, he just stared, until a horrible thought surfaced in his mind. He took a step back.

Cynder hadn't been the only new addition to the Dark Army in the last few months. Shortly after her arrival, Gaul had introduced a new, unusual species to the ranks. Dreadwings—huge, bat-like creatures as big as full-grown dragons and twice as ugly. From what Jayce had heard, they came from a place the dragons called Concurrent Skies. This land of perpetual storms had reportedly been home to a veritable fortress of electric dragons, who shared the skies somewhat amicably with their dreadwing neighbours.

And then along came Cynder.

As far as Jayce understood, Cynder had slaughtered the dreadwing queen—thereby instating herself as their new queen—and led them into battle against the hapless, unsuspecting dragons. Now it was Cynder's fortress. And the dreadwings, now serving as mounts for the Dark Army, gave the apes an advantage they'd never had before—something the dragons had held above their heads for centuries. The power of flight.

Maybe this was part of the reason why the war had turned around so quickly and drastically, since Cynder had come.

Jayce hated dreadwings. They gave him the creeps. But he couldn't imagine what one of them was doing here. Everything in his body and mind urged him to run to Charla, but something stopped him. Something just didn't seem right.

What would a lone dreadwing be doing above the ocean in broad daylight, far from any sign of the Dark Army? They were creatures of night and darkness, which found their way by sound rather than sight. It was too strange.

Moments later, Jayce realised he was wrong. It was not a dreadwing at all. The glimmer of its cobalt-blue scales was enough to prove that.

With a yell, he threw himself to the side as the dragon shot down towards him. He expected to feel its claws tearing at his fur and flesh, the panic and agony as its jaws closed around his throat—but he felt none of this. A heavy, sickening thud shook the ground, and a wave of sand washed over him. Jayce struggled back to his feet, brushing the grit away from his face, and gazed incredulously.

The dragon lay in the sand, chest heaving, its jaw slack and mouth open. A quick glance was all Jayce needed to notice several things. It was a young male apparently in its prime, only just full-grown, with vibrant blue scales and huge white wings like torn sails. Horrific wounds had been opened along the length of its body, pulsing blood in rivers down its scales and turning the sand beneath it red. It appeared to have crash-landed and one of its wings was bent at an odd angle.

For a moment, Jayce could only stare. The dragon struggled for breath, his eyes rolling in their sockets as he tried, unsuccessfully, to push himself up. Hesitantly, Jayce stepped forward. The dragon's head whipped towards him and Jayce froze at the sight of the bloody scar that was all that remained of one of his eyes.

"Ape!" the dragon croaked. His voice trembled, but Jayce could still hear the rage that laced it. "Step no closer, or…!"

His legs gave out and his chin hit the sand. Jayce stumbled backwards on reflex, horrified by the sight. There was blood at the corner of the dragon's mouth, suggesting internal injuries just as devastating as those gouged into his scales.

"Ea…easy," Jayce stammered, holding his hands out disarmingly. He didn't dare step closer. "I'm not your enemy."

"You…are an ape," the dragon gasped, struggling to push himself upright once more. His leg slipped and he slumped into the sand, gazing up at Jayce with the utmost hatred. "All apes are…are enemies to us."

"Yeah, I…thought that, too, a long time ago." He watched the dragon as it fell still, with only the rise and fall of its bleeding chest to suggest that it was still alive. Jayce bit his lip and crouched down in the sand. "I don't expect you to trust me, but you shouldn't move. You're making it worse."

Blood flecked the sand as the dragon chuckled humourlessly, the laugh gurgling unpleasantly in his throat. "Ape, I am…already dead. I am…"

His eyes rolled again and he gave a great shuddering gasp before coughing blood into the sand. Jayce felt a cold shudder run up his spine as the dragon's bleary eyes desperately sought out his own and held them.

"I fled…" the dragon croaked. "I ran away to…die. I will not give those v-vile beasts the…pl-pleasure of seeing it. I will not…"

"What's happening out there?" Jayce murmured in a voice barely more than a whisper. Even he wasn't sure whether the question was meant for the dragon or just a wonder voiced aloud, but the dying creature answered all the same.

"Is that what you…what you want, ape?" he spat out with an unpleasant grimace. "To hear st-stories of your kind's…g-glorious victories?"

"They're not my victories any more than they are yours," Jayce replied solemnly. "We've spent so long running from the Dark Army… What have they done? What's happened to your kind?"

He was answered by a snort that flecked the sand with another spray of blood, and then a raspy intake of breath. The dragon's head lolled uselessly as he tried to push his broken body off the sand. His struggles were in vain and he stared with helpless distaste at Jayce as he forced the words from his bloody lips.

"To us? To dragons? We have…we have failed," he choked out. His claws curled into the sand. "W-we were winning…winning… But then… Her… Terror of the Skies…"

Jayce didn't have to wonder who that title belonged to. The dying dragon coughed violently and it was a moment before he was able to continue. "The Guardians are gone… Taken by…taken by her. And the Fire Guardian… Some believe he has forsaken us. M-maybe he, too…ran away to die."

A visible shudder passed over the dragon, from the tip of his muzzle all the way down to the scarred tailblade that lay heavy in the sand. Jayce almost didn't see the salty tears that were flowing from the dying creature's only eye, clearing paths through blood and sand. That eye was filled with anguish the likes of which Jayce had never seen.

"I watched them die…all of them…" The dragon made an odd choking noise. "Tinder, Tectrin… I j-just watched them die. Forgive me…forgive me…"

"Our kind…has fallen. The age of dragons is…is over." His eye closed tightly and a great tremble wracked his broken body. "We have n-nothing left…"

Jayce swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, opening his mouth to speak words that his mind had not yet thought of. He never got the chance. The soft thump of something hitting the sand sounded behind him and he whirled around. So engrossed in the dying dragon's story, he had not heard her approach.

"Jayce?" Charla was staring past him, her wide green eyes fixed on the bloody blue form that lay in the sand. A pair of tree-rats lay between her paws, the result of her more successful hunt. She seemed to have forgotten they were there.

There was only one thought that jolted through Jayce at that very moment, as quick and violent as lightning. He didn't want Charla to see this. But even as he started towards her, spreading his arms in a feeble attempt to hide the dying dragon from view, he knew it was too late. She stared at him with a look he had rarely seen on her face—fear, confusion, betrayal.

"What did you…?"

"Charla, listen to me."

"What did you do?" she exclaimed, taking a step back almost automatically. Her eyes flicked from him to the dragon and back again.

Jayce felt another jolt pierce through him, so different from the first. The insinuation was almost more than he could bear. "Charla, I didn't do anything. He crash-landed here. Just…"

Brief relief registered in her eyes and suddenly she was at his side, staring wide-eyed at the blue dragon with the same confusion and fear she had looked at Jayce with. Jayce lowered a hand to her head, suppressing a sigh of relief that the trust between them was not so easily broken. But the moment of relief did not last.

"Is…is he…?" Charla stammered, her voice catching.

Jayce turned slowly to face the gravely injured dragon once more. It opened its one good eye and stared at them for a long time in a silent moment of disbelief.

"D-dragon…" he croaked out eventually, his eye fixed on Charla. "Dragon and ape."

An unpleasant chuckle bubbled from his throat and the sand beneath his chin turned redder. "D-dragon and ape…together. A dream… Have I g-gone mad from blood loss? Or am I…am I already dead?"

Charla seemed lost for words, her face frozen in an expression halfway between horror and despair. Jayce kept his trembling hand on the top of her head. For a moment, it felt as though the instant he took his hand away she would crumble to dust. There were words on his lips—things he wanted to tell this dragon, to make him see hope in his final moments. But he could not speak. His tongue was made of stone.

"What a dream…" An odd smile had replaced the grimace the dragon had worn only moments before. Chuckling softly, he relaxed in the blood-soaked sand, never taking his one-eyed gaze from Charla.

She and Jayce could only stare in silence as the light finally faded from his lonely eye and the final rattling breath left his lungs. Dragon and ape stood together as the ocean breeze washed over them, in silent vigil to a warrior's final moment.

Evening light bathed the island in orange and rose and turned the sand to molten gold. Jayce stood with his scimitars buried point-first in the sand, at the foot of a shallow mound. Beneath it, buried in his final rest, was the broken body of a blue dragon. A single stone, weathered by wind and water to the size of a dragon's head, was all that marked the grave.

Charla, who had been washing blood from her scales at the water's edge, padded slowly to Jayce's side. They had buried the dragon as far from the tide as possible, so that the waves would not reach his grave. It had taken them many hours to dig and, by the end, their paws and hands were raw and aching.

"He never told us his name," Charla said quietly, gazing at the stone Jayce had placed at the head of the grave. There was little else to suggest a dragon lay buried there.

"I guess we'll never know it." Jayce reached for one of his swords and pulled it gently from the sand. Then, with a hesitant glance at the battered blade, he raised it to the sky. The sunset caught its sheen and, for a moment, it shone with rosy light. A warrior's salute.

"May the ancestors guide you home," he said, his arm trembling as he held the blade aloft, "and welcome you with open wings."

Charla sat silent and solemn at his side, as though she was little more than a statue carved to stand vigil at this nameless dragon's grave. A spark of life suddenly flared in her eyes and she raised her head to the sky. The blaze that leapt forth from her jaws was one of the largest Jayce had ever seen from her. It reached far beyond the length of his sword, still pointed to the sky, a pillar of fire reaching to the moon. As it departed as embers on the ocean wind, Jayce lowered his sword and sheathed them both.

"We should find shelter," he said. "Someone might have seen that."

Charla didn't reply, but she followed without complaint as Jayce placed a gentle hand on her horn and guided her away. She looked over her shoulder at the grave for as long as she could, until they entered the forest and it was lost from view.