Chapter 11—Freedom

She lied back on the bed, folding her arms behind her head. The loose sleeves of her cloak fell, revealing her lower arms.

Eona heard frustrated sighs come from Ryko on the other side of the room as he moved around, looking for a comfortable position. Once it was super quiet, she knew he must've finally settled down. "It's weird," she heard Ryko say. "For all the lying you just did, you also spoke a lot of truth."

Eona tilted her head backwards, though she still couldn't see him.

"You're pretty good at this."

She almost sat up and turned around to retort, but his voice held no trace of its usual maliciousness.

"I have to be. I've always had to be. This was never a fun game of dress-up for me," she said. "And at this point, it's second-nature to me."

Ryko grunted.

"Ryko," she said.

"What."

"You might be able to repel the compulsion power if it's ever done to you, now that you've been brought back." She could hear the sharp intake of breath and hear him pivot his whole body in her direction. "Ido was able to do it, when I tried to compel him. He said it's because he was brought back to life. Maybe the same way you were, maybe not. But my compulsion had no effect on him whatsoever."

"And you believe him?"

"I don't know what to believe. But it didn't work on him. And you have that new ability to see things—" She cut off when she heard him hiss. He did not want to talk about this newfound power of his. "I know," she said. "It's scary having a power you didn't ask for and can't control."

Ryko grunted again, as if not believing it himself. "He is a Dragoneye," he said. "He might've gained some kind of power to ward off that kind of control. I'd rather you just not compel me to begin with."

"I'd rather that too," she said, trying to keep her voice even, "and so far, it's been working. It takes time to be able to control it completely."

Neither said anymore after that, and when it was completely dark out, Ryko blew out the candle and they both fell asleep sometime in the night.

Step by step she moved closer to Eona. The warm, gold-laced Pearl was just within reach. Eona lifted her head, her large yellow eyes silently greeting her. The girl gently reached out and touched the Pearl, her small hands not nearly big enough to cup the entirety of the massive Pearl, her palms feeling the pulsating, unmistakable dragon power that lay within in. Eona, the Mirror Dragon, inched forward, her snout taking in a breath as she opened her mouth.

"Eona."

Eona jerked upright, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling of the bed. She saw sunlight flooding through the thin curtains at the windows. It felt like just a minute ago it'd still been nighttime. Ryko, who was already awake, noticed her sudden movement. "You seemed to be in a deep sleep."

"I had a bad dream." The dream wasn't really bad per say; but confusing and strange.

Had that really happened? Had her dragon really, literally, spoken to her?

There was banging on the door. It was so strong and relentless, Eona knew it wasn't Sho. Her first thought was Liang, until it flew open and a small figure darted in, slamming the door shut behind them. The person crouched in the corner of the room, and when their hood fell off, Eona could see it was a girl, probably no older than her. Long black tangled hair fell over her sweaty face, and her eyes nearly bulged as she stared in utter horror from Eona to Ryko. "Please," she whispered. "Don't tell them I'm here!"

Eona and Ryko gawked at each other and then back at the girl. Eona stepped slowly toward her, holding her hands up in a gesture of peace, to show the girl they meant no harm. "We won't hurt you," she said quietly. "Who is after you?"

"Them," she half-whispered, half-sobbed. "Master Liang and his men. They…I tried to escape. When one of them opened the door to deliver some food, I tried to escape. I need to get out of here!" Her sentence ended with a hushed shriek. She clutched the fabric of her cloak.

Eona took her and steered her toward the bed. She glanced back frantically at Ryko, but he was at as much of a loss as she was. There was nowhere to hide in here. Ryko took a peek out the window—there were men surrounding the whole cabin.

Suddenly there was a hard bang at the door. "Ping! Shin! We have reason to believe you are hiding someone in there! Now deliver her now or we will come in there and get her ourselves!"

Even if they were going to deliver her, they'd never been given the chance to. For immediately after the threat was spoken, the door was kicked in, almost completely off its hinges, and a flood of armed men poured in, pushing Eona and Ryko's backs against the wall and surrounding the bed. This cabin was not meant to hold more than two or three people.

They seized the screaming girl by the arms and dragged her out the door. All of the men had a hold on her even though it would've easily taken only one of them. The men acted as though Eona and Ryko were not even there. The two of them followed the men outside.

When they stepped out of the cabin, Eona saw a distraught Sho standing by the sidelines, already several pairs of arms holding him back. Everybody around the vicinity was being detained from getting involved, and Eona saw one large man step out of the crowd. A large, angry, familiar-looking man. Master Liang. And he had an ax in his hand, while the girl was pushed down to the ground, her hair being swept back from her head, exposing her neck.

Eona dashed forward, attempting to push her way through the men, ready to fling her body across the girl's. Or grab her and run. Or summon her dragon to put an end to all of this. She didn't quite know what she had been going to do, and she never got a chance. She didn't get very far as she was shoved back immediately, landing in Sho's arms as he caught her. She tried to lunge again, but he pulled her back.

"Ping, no!" Sho stepped in front of her, cutting her path off from the girl. Eona tried to race around him but he held her by her upper arms, his hands strong, his grip firm. She tried looking over his shoulder but he instantly spun her around to face Ryko, her back at him and Liang and the girl. "Do not look," Sho hissed in her ear. "Do not look, Ping. You don't need to see this."

"And as soon as you're finished with her, dump both parts in the river," she heard Liang say.

An ear-bleeding cry escaped the girl's mouth and it was abruptly cut short with a swift slicing sound. Eona would never know how it looked and she was grateful Sho had forced her to look in the opposite direction. Sho and Ryko, on the other hand, stood in front of her facing what was behind her. Ryko looked dismayed and Sho was visibly holding back tears. A brief sensation of pure terror that Eona had only felt a few times in her life tingled down her spine.

She walked back up the steps of the cabin, through the door, and over to the wall with such fluidity that it was almost as though she was gliding. When she stopped at the wall, Ryko walked around her to catch a glimpse of her face, stone-cold and rigid. Her body on the other hand, was visibly shaking like an unstable exterior of a badly-built cabin, ready to fall apart at the foundation, not unlike what had happened with the earthquake and mudslide days ago. The tension emanating from her gave him the impression that something else was about to happen. Like any movement he did would cause her to break. No longer being able to hold it in, Eona banged her head against the wall. Hard.

Ryko gripped her shoulders and pulled her back. "Stop that."

The door burst open and when Ryko spun around, ready to fight off whoever it was, and he let out a semi-relieved breath to see that it was Sho.

Sho looked from Eona to Ryko back to Eona again, worry creasing on his face. He signaled her to sit down on the bed, and she did so, Sho sitting beside her. Ryko knelt down on the ground on her other side, gazing up at her to make sure she wouldn't try to hurt herself again.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that," Sho said. There was tension radiating from him too, mixing with her own. She would've thought that would've doubled the discomfort, but it didn't. "I'm sorry you had to witness that." He put his arm around her and she didn't flinch or squirm away. She didn't embrace it, but she didn't move away. The feeling she had when she sat beside him and when he whispered words of comfort was very secure. Somehow, without any logical reason, she just knew deep in her gut that she could trust him. That he was on her side, no matter what. She longed to tell him who and what she really was. It almost pained her to keep the words in her throat that wanted so badly to come out. She'd never felt an irrational undeniable and unquestionable trust like this before with anyone, not even her own former Master when she had been Eon. But she held back, knowing her life was not the only one at risk here should her instincts be horribly wrong.

"Why…why would anyone do something like this?" Ryko said, barely above a whisper.

"Do they really need a reason?" Sho replied. His mouth was in a hard, firm line, all trace of sympathy gone, replaced by a hot wave of anger that matched Eona's toward what those men had done to that girl. "People like that don't need a reason to do what they do. They need nothing. They feel nothing." The heat changed to cold, dread rising up inside of her like a tidal wave. This is exactly what would happen to her if anyone here found out she was a girl too.

Sho looked down at her, the corners of his mouth rising a little in an attempt to smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'll go get you both some food." He got up and the abruptness of his disappearing presence by her almost made Eona feel bare, in danger again. "One of you needs to get water from the well and bring it to Liang's cabin." He left.

Ryko took one look at Eona and said, "I'll go."

"No." She stood up. "I'll do it."

He gaped at her, and she continued, "The well is right out there."

"Eona, you need to sit down and rest for a little while. It's too soon."

"I'm okay," she said. She headed for the door, and paused to look back at Ryko, looking unsure. "Will you watch me from the front steps?"

"Yes," he said with a curt nod.

The well was in full view of the cabin and Eona had no reason to be afraid or think that someone would easily get their hands on her. Still, she faced the direction that was strictly where the well was, and never once looked back at the place where the girl had been slain, even though she knew every trace of what happened had been taken away. And still, she felt her skin go prickly all over, as she felt exposed and in plain sight, like any minute someone was going to point her out and yell, "It's a girl! A girl is on the loose!" when oddly she'd never felt this way in all her time of being Eon. But then, even the Celestial Empire wasn't as cruel as this place, even to girls and women. As she lowered the bucket into the well, Eona could almost feel a growl erupt in her throat. How dare they. How DARE THEY. There were so many things she wanted to say to these people about the way they treated girls and women. How they weren't useless at all, how they can serve just as much purpose in life as boys and men. How they were human every bit as much as they were. And most importantly, how no one deserved to be treated like an animal. Her bones felt like they would rattle and fall apart from the anger running through her veins. In a way though, it made her feel better. Less afraid, as she trudged around her and Ryko's shack to the cabin behind it, leaving the bucket on the floor inside the front door of the vacant place.

No doubt Master Liang was still over at the stable where there were more humans—girls and women of all ages—than there were horses. She took half a second to spit on the floor and walked out. When she returned to Ryko, she tried to hide the anger and hurt on her face, but she knew from his guarded expression that it was as plain as day to him.


In the early evening hours Eona and Ryko sat down with the small crate between them, each with a plate of corn bread and a cup of water that Sho had brought. They ate in silence, before Eona finally broached the subject.

"Do you think we can trust him?" she asked. Without saying his name, she knew he knew she was talking about Sho.

Ryko glanced up and shook his head. "No. I know he seems like a good man, but it could all be an act. For all we know he could be in league with Ido too. We've only known him for a little while."

I only knew you and Dela for a little while, Eona wanted to say. But she knew it wasn't the same. They were all from the same empire, had the same goal in mind. Sho was from a completely different world. There were new worlds out there that Eona had never known about, that none of them had known about. Everything that had once seemed story-like to her was coming true, and everything that had always been familiar was fading away. And to Sho, he'd only heard stories about Eona the Female Dragoneye. He hadn't even known if they were real or not.

"I mean don't you think it's a little strange how everyone here seems to hold the same…principles except him? How does one grow up in an environment like this and turn out the complete opposite?" Ryko said.

"Maybe…maybe he was raised by someone else and they were different. He did say he lost his parents not too long ago. Maybe they were different from the people here." There are different people everywhere, she thought. There are different people in our own empire. There are different people where Kat comes from.

"But still," Ryko said, "did he not seem a little too friendly towards us? Asking us questions and whatnot? It might be nothing, I might be paranoid, but did it not seem a little unusual to you?"

Eona could only nod. It did call for a little caution. Ultimately she still knew nothing about this Sho at all, or anyone around here.

She pushed her corn bread away.

"Eona—"

"Ping," she corrected, harsher than she'd intended.

Ryko widened his eyes in frustration and gestured his hands around the room, as if to say, There's no one here but us!

"I just don't want you to accidentally drop my name when someone is around," she said slowly.

"I'm getting used to it. Give me some credit here." He shoved the corn bread back towards her. "Ping, you need to eat. You haven't eaten all day."

Eona knew he was right even if her stomach didn't feel up to it. She took a piece off of the corn bread and put it in her mouth. And immediately choked, trying so hard to block out the sound she'd heard of the girl getting—

She gagged and slapped a hand over her mouth, then her other, squeezing her eyes shut and forcing the bread down her throat. Once it was fully down and she had nothing to cough up, she panted a little and forced herself to take deep breaths. She closed her eyes and counted to five, telling herself it was over, the worst was over.

She opened them and found Ryko staring at her in alarm. She pushed the rest of her corn bread towards him and he sighed.

"I'm going to go and free all of the girls and women," Eona finally said.

Ryko began to cough, nearly choking on his own bread. "Eona," he said sternly, and she didn't bother to correct him this time, "not only will you be risking and endangering our own lives, but you'll be doing the same to theirs. You saw what happened to that poor girl—they'll get killed immediately."

"They're going to get killed anyway," Eona said morosely. "Don't they at least deserve a chance? A chance to escape and survive? It's what I would want." She hadn't realized until the words came out that it was exactly what she had done so long ago when the opportunity arose. Yes, she went through hell when she took the opportunity. Yes, it was a long and winding road of pain and mistakes and even sometimes self-hatred. But she didn't regret the road she took.

She looked at Ryko. He had an equally grim and sullen look on his face, but she could see in his eyes, in his hard gaze, that she was right. They had to try something. They could not leave their time here wasted. They couldn't find any of their companions here, but if nothing else, they had to try to save innocent people who were being hurt, and for no reason at all. Eona thought of Liam, the child back where her and Lillia had been taken. A black pit opened up in her heart. She could never look back if she didn't try something about this too.

And she had to try it right away.


Eona had awoken when it was still dark out, with only the stars and half of the moonlight to guide her across the fields. Though out in the open, it was easier to move inconspicuously with mostly darkness to conceal her. There was no one out and her dark robe blended in conveniently with the black night around her.

She happened across a large brown barn house with a couple of small caged windows and a door with a wide wooden latch across it.

The sight that met her was beyond horrifying.

Beyond the bars inside, there must've been twenty—maybe thirty girls and women, some elderly, some as young as five, and a few babies. All huddled together, in nothing to keep warm but rags and straw. They were filthy; their skin and hair was caked with dirt and mud. There was also blood mixed in, which left an unmistakable scent in the air. One of the women held a lantern up, and they all gawked at Eona, this random stranger come to visit them in the night. Some of them were crying silently. No sound came out of their mouths.

Just for good measure, she put a finger to her mouth, signaling them to keep quiet. She seized hold of the handle on the door and yanked it. She yanked as hard as she could, and still nothing budged. There didn't look to be a key holder anywhere, yet somehow the door was locked to both people from the inside and the outside. She tried pulling the bars off the windows. Tried smashing them with a crate she found outside. Finally she made her way back to the handle and started smashing it with the crate. Over and over and over, until suddenly, something clicked. She heard the high sharp sound of a creak and the door slowly swung open. She glanced up at the women. Their mouths slowly dropped open, the confusion of what was happening freezing them in place. Urging them out, the women gathered their children and took each other's hands, quietly but quickly making their way out of the barn, silent tears of both fear mixed with hope dripping down their faces.

Unfortunately too though, the ruckus she'd caused to get them out in the first place most definitely attracted attention. And now there were the dark silhouettes of figures on the horizon. Figures who, just from their postures and movements as they made their way down the hill toward her at a speedy pace, Eona could tell were angry.


When Eona burst into the cabin, Ryko lifted his head in alarm. "They know I'm a girl," she panted. "I don't know how they know, but they do. There's a horse stable if you continue out the back door and across the field."

"Did they catch you freeing the women?"

"Yes, but…that doesn't prove I'm a girl. Though maybe they suspected it," she said all in one breath.

Ryko was on his feet before she'd finished, gripping his sword and gesturing toward the bed. "Hide under there."

"They're after you too, Ryko. They know you're with me and they know you've been hiding me."

Cursing, Ryko took his sword out of its sheath and stopped at the back door of the cabin, peeking through the cracks. His face told Eona there were men right outside that vastly outnumbered them. He turned to her, grim-faced. "We're going to have to make a run for it. You stay right behind me."

Eona nodded.

After a deep breath, they threw the door open and went flying through the men, past the angry hands reaching out to them, and dodging the even angrier swords. Ryko swung his sword in every direction, hitting some men and causing others to jump out of the way furiously. They reached the open field and were running across it for their lives, a hoard of vicious people coming after them, Eona's cloak flopping around as she ran the fastest she'd ever ran. She thanked the gods that she was fast at all. It felt like this herd was right at her heels, right in the back of her heart.

She was grabbed from behind by two powerful hands, one gripping her waist and the other her arm. "I got her, I got her!—" Eona jabbed her elbow into him, prompting a loud, "Argh!" from the attacker, and kept right on running. There was now a large man right in front of her, ready to pounce. He was so wide he probably could fit Ryko and Kygo and Chart in him and still have room. Eona desperately wished she had her swords.

Ryko rounded him up by appearing behind him, sword raised. The man turned to face him, and snarled, "You were hiding her. You're just as despicable as her, if not worse." Spittle flew from his rotting teeth, and his fists clenched like the jaws of a crocodile. Since he was momentarily distracted by Ryko, Eona took this opportunity to drive her foot right where it would hurt the most…

The man screamed out in pure agony, answering the question of whether he was a eunuch or not.

She raced around him, knowing with every step she took that he was getting right back up on his feet again. She briefly glanced backwards to make sure Ryko was with her, which he was. By now they were running across the open field, probably ten, fifteen, twenty men chasing them now. Others were staring in confusion at all of the commotion.

They managed to pass a couple of cabins before they'd lost sight of their pursuers and reached a small shed. One of the doors was opened, and they ran in, hiding behind the closed one. Ryko was cautiously peeking around the corner while Eona observed their surroundings. It looked similar to the cabin she'd seen when she first arrived here, with all of the various weapons hanging from the wall. She grabbed the one nearest her, an ax.

Ryko turned and frowned. "You watch where you swing that thing."

She glared, then turned immediately when she heard a slight scuttling sound towards the back of the shed, where it was so dark, one could barely see anything. She'd thought there was no one there when they'd entered, but as she saw another flicker of movement in the shadows, she saw that there was someone else hiding in there as well.

An older man stepped out, hands clasped to his mouth, shock at seeing them clear just in the way he stood. Eyes widening, he began to howl and Ryko slowly brought his sword to his throat. The man fell silent. "Quiet," Ryko said softly, "quiet."

"Psss!"

Eona jumped and raised the ax, lowering it when she saw it was Sho, cowering behind his hands. "Easy!" he whispered. "Listen, I can lead you guys to safety. I can give you a way out of here. You just have to follow me."

Eona and Ryko glanced uncertainly at each other. Should they chance it? Did they have any better options? Surely they couldn't hide out here for long.

Biting her lip, Eona nodded. Soon enough they left the terrified old man behind and were on Sho's heels, Eona with her ax out, Ryko with his sword out. They looked around in all directions suspiciously to make sure no one had caught up with them while Sho kept his head straight, marching toward the horse stable with a purpose. They'd reached the inside of the large stable and he released a horse, leading it toward them. "This here is my Master's horse, but he has many of them," Sho said, gently rubbing the horse. "Some of them are extremely loyal to him, however this one doesn't care who he serves, just that you treat him right. Which I trust the two of you will do. You first," he said abruptly, taking Eona by the arm and gesturing toward the horse.

Eona tried to pull herself up on the horse but fell. Sho and Ryko helped her get up all the way, the horse bristled a little in alarm and confusion, but stood calmly nonetheless. Then Ryko got on, hoisting himself up on with no problem at all, and took hold of the reins. He turned and said, "Hang on to me, my Lady."

"Best of luck to both of you. Please take care…Miss." Eona's stomach jumped as she looked down and saw that Sho was looking her right in the eye. She could hear from the sharp intake of breath that Ryko was shocked as well. "I knew all along," he said quietly. "You must leave. This is not a safe place for you at all, young lady."

Before she had a chance to respond, someone yelled, "Hey, over there! In the stable!"

Eona took hold of Ryko tightly, Ryko commanded the horse as it veered away, reaching the forest. It kept going, faster and faster, the wind whipping against their faces, until there was no more sound except the horse's hooves beating against the ground.


They'd been traveling through the endless woods at top speed for over ten minutes now. From the right Eona heard a shout and she saw a dagger fling out and slice Ryko right in the shoulder. The horse cried out and lost balance. Both of them went tumbling down, Eona hitting the ground so hard her vision almost left her, a searing fire of pain exploding in her head. Then everything was quiet and Eona dared not speak or move for fear whoever attacked would sense her and attack again. She kept her eyes closed for a few seconds, and gradually the pain receded. When she opened them there were still black blotches in the corners that were fading. Ryko sat in front of her holding his shoulder tightly. His tunic sleeve was ripped at the shoulder and there was blood gushing out. Eona even thought she saw a bit of bone sticking out. She cringed as he tried to stand, hissing in pain.

"By the gods! I am sorry! I am sorry! My Lady…Ryko, is that you?" Three men approached them on a horse, one of them already jumping off and rushing over toward Ryko. But all had their weapons down, and the one in front, with the desperate look of remorse on his face, had his hands up. "I thought you were Ido's men."

"How did you—" Ryko hissed again, standing on shaky legs, and Eona reached out to try and steady him. "How did you come to that, Kenzo?" Ryko whispered furiously.

The man opened his mouth but no words came out. So these were some of the soldiers Ryko had been traveling with. Eona believed it was an honest accident, but he should've been more careful and more sure.

"Let me heal it," she said to Ryko. Ryko's face hardened, and Eona snapped, "What do you have to lose?"

She saw a window of defeat in his eyes. He knew she was right—at this point, his will was already vulnerable to her. What difference would it make if she healed him again?

"She's right, Ryko. If she doesn't, you may lose your arm. Or become infected. This is no small cut." Kenzo picked up the dagger and wiped the blood from it.

With one of the most reluctant nods Eona had ever seen, Ryko agreed. Putting her hand to his shoulder, Eona closed her eyes and reached into the energy world, seeing herself and Ryko as mere dots from the sky. The vanilla, the cinnamon, the orange…it was all there. Now all she had to do was pull all of her energy, all of her force, into one command: heal. Hand shaking, the skin above the bone in his shoulder began to rebuild and come together again, his whole arm fresh in no time. The wound was gone; there was no more blood. When she came back into the physical realm she opened her eyes and saw him move his shoulder and touch it delicately. He no longer looked to be in pain. Only shock.

She glanced over at the other three, who were equally awed and speechless. After a few seconds, Kenzo took a step toward her and quietly said, "That is amazing, Lady Eona. Simply amazing." She herself was still surprised by it. It must've been astounding for someone who has never seen it before but knew of it, knew of the Mirror Dragon and what kinds of magic came with it.

Ryko regained himself, stood up, and cleared his throat. "Lady Eona," Ryko said, gesturing them from left to right, "this is Shun, Kenzo, and Felix."

Shun was very tall and serious-looking. He gave a curt nod to Eona. One might have thought that he was glaring at her, but she figured that was the way he always looked, and that he was as tired and hungry and aching all over as everyone else was. Kenzo was a polar opposite; he wore a big proud smile on his face, as if never having expected to greet the Mirror Dragoneye in person. He was young, looked almost about Eona's age, with a sharp angular face that could look serious one moment, then be tamed just with a grin the next. "My Lady," he said, bowing down to his knees, "it is an honor to serve you."

Eona glanced at Ryko, who looked just as embarrassed, and she said, "You may rise." He rose up, giving another bow of his head her way.

The last man was Felix, who stood out drastically from the rest. He was very clearly from one of the Western tribes with different facial features, light-colored hair and eyes, and a heavy accent when he said, "Hello, Lady Eona." He looked to Kenzo questioningly, as if he was thinking, Should I bow?

Saving him from confusion or embarrassment, Eona responded quickly, "Hello Felix."

"Felix is with us, and can definitely be trusted," Ryko said. "Don't worry about him. We ran into him up north and he was a prisoner of our enemies. He fought with us, almost died. He is from their territory, but not one of them. He is on our side."

Figures you say that about someone now, but felt completely different about Kat, a teenage girl. Eona had to admit that Ryko was right though—even if Felix, who seemed harmless, were to pose a threat to them, he was vastly outnumbered at this point, and everyone had a firm eye on him. It would be stupid to try anything on them now, such as escaping to pass on information about them to someone else. And something about what Ryko said resonated very well with Eona: 'He is from their territory, but he is not one of them.' That was essentially what Ido was to them.

"Where did you get those daggers from?" Ryko asked.

Kenzo was going through his pack now, which Eona saw had a number of weapons—at least five daggers, a chain whip, and a sickle. A deep pang tightened her stomach—she took a deep breath to still the rising panic in her throat. She'd find her swords. Her ancestresses would not allow them to fall into the wrong hands. In Kenzo's pack, she also counted three arrows (but there was no bow in sight), two darts, and the next thing he pulled out caused her breath to catch in her throat.

"We found a pack of weapons buried in the woods north of here. Someone might've been coming back to get them, but it was a very stupid plan," Kenzo said, waving the hammer lightly. His smile vanished when he turned to Eona. "What is it, my Lady?"

Eona just realized she'd taken an involuntary step back. Lifting her chin, she said, "Nothing. Shall we—get going then?" she asked uneasily, her voice wavering a little bit as her eyes swiveled back to the hammer. Luckily Kenzo was putting everything back now. They all knew they had to start moving immediately to find someone else from their empire.

Before they mounted their horses, Eona saw Ryko over by Kenzo talking in a low voice to him. She couldn't catch everything but she heard him murmur the words, "…it's triggering to her…" Was he talking about the hammer? How would he know about that? She herself hadn't remembered the incident until right after she was first chosen as the Mirror Dragoneye, which though now seemed forever ago, was still years after the 'accident.'

As they mounted their horses, she didn't think too much about it and eventually forgot. All that mattered now was getting out of these woods and finding some sort of civilization. Shun had a little food with him, and Ryko still had a little bit of the cornbread wrapped up in a cloth that Eona held in the pocket of her cloak. And Felix had some water left in his canteen. Other than that though, they really had nothing, and this would all disappear at a dangerously fast pace.

While Kenzo, Shun, and Felix rode on the horse in front of them, Eona and Ryko rode on the horse behind them. It was very quiet; every once and a while Eona would hear Kenzo or Shun commune with each other, but they were too quiet and too far away for her to really make anything out.

At one point Ryko turned his head back and said, "I thought you said you were never going to use your dragon powers for anyone again."

"Would you believe me if I said I'd been lying?"

Ryko frowned, taking a while to respond. "It is a conundrum, my Lady."

By nightfall they'd covered much ground and were thoroughly exhausted. Even the horses had slowed down from a steady walk to barely footsteps, the most snail-like pace Eona had ever seen a horse move. Especially Sho's horse. She felt for it—it must've been confused, and rather terrified, at all that went down. And it must be wondering where its original owner is.

They stopped to rest for the night, then started up again immediately at dawn. The following day was agony. The climate reached a staggering temperature that left them all dripping with sweat and desperate for shade and water. Unfortunately, there was only a little water in the canteen, and they agreed that each was allowed one drop on their tongues (and one drop on the horses tongues) and not touching it again after that until they reached a place with fresh water. When that was, they didn't know. They traveled for hours, searching every inch of their vicinities, but there was none to be found. They were deep in the forest now, and the one droplet of water Eona had tasted felt like a fantasy that never happened.

It had to have been at least a hundred degrees outside. The horses were slowing down, and Shun at one point got off to guide the horse. He started walking ahead, a couple feet in front. The other four sat still on the horses, arms by their sides, trying to stay as still as possible in the unbearable heat. Eona had taken her cloak off and rolled the sleeves of her tunic up over her shoulders and saw that Felix had actually taken his shirt off completely, etiquette be damned. She still felt like she was wearing her cloak though, the heat leaving a permanent-feeling layer on her arms. Eona moved far back on the horse, trying to put as much space between her Ryko as possible, not wanting the heat from their bodies to reach each other. She had tried to gather up saliva in her mouth, but it was becoming more and more scarce. She could feel the dryness of her throat as she tried to swallow. Shutting her eyes, she willed herself to an imaginary place of ice and snow and wind and rain. There must be a place like that somewhere in the world. She was extremely tempted to reach out to her dragon and try to make it rain, and even brought up the suggestion a couple times but Ryko would vehemently reject it each time, citing her lack of experience as a risk, and even the other three agreed they should wait before taking that risk. Wait until when? Eona wanted to scream. Until the horses collapse and we're too dehydrated to even think straight?

At one point Eona even imagined seeing something out of the corner of her eye—something bright and red. Her first thought was Kat, then a fire—but when she glanced over it was gone. She'd imagined it because there was nothing there or anywhere around it. There were no animals in this part of the woods, which made sense if there was no water source around, she figured depressingly. Her mind was probably starting to play tricks on her now due to the heat. She closed her eyes and went back to her imaginary zone.

Late in the day, just when the sun got to its hottest point, Shun came to a halt, the horses stopping in their tracks. Kenzo gave him a curious glance, and Shun held a hand out. He was looking at something in the distance with alarm in his eyes, darting around furiously. He walked forward, disappearing into the trees. The rest of them stayed in their places, sitting still and silent on their horses, wary. Too hot and tired to muster up much of a response, even though inside they wanted to know. Suddenly they heard running footsteps and Shun raced back out, clamoring toward them with bright, lively eyes. Eona almost leaned back, afraid he'd gone mad. "Water. There's water." He pointed toward the bushes. His voice was hoarse and dry, like he'd forgotten how to talk. They practically all had.

Kenzo gave him a warning look and said in an ominously low voice, "Shun, are you sure or are you imagining it? Because if there's nothing there, then by the gods I will—"

"There is water. Look! Look!"

Keeping all of their hopes pressed down to prevent a massive devastating disappointment, they followed him through the bushes and shrubbery. All of her dreams came alive when Eona saw a bright blue lake before them, sunlight shining off of it. She blinked several times to make sure she wasn't imagining it, and it was still there. She looked at the others. They couldn't all be wrong, could they? Especially Shun, who'd been so quiet and serious up until now. But the others looked just as mesmerized as she did.

Felix and Kenzo got off their horse and went to inspect the lake. Ryko tensed in front of Eona, clearly wanting to jump off and go to the lake himself. It seemed to take forever until Kenzo spun around with a smile stretching ear to ear and shouted, "It is fresh water! Fresh, clean, beautiful water!"

Eona imagined that if she weren't so exhausted and dehydrated, she would've wept for joy right now. While Shun splashed himself with water and loaded the canteen, Felix led their horse over to drink, and Ryko slowly got off the horse, looking cramped and achy. Kenzo came over and held out a hand. "May I help you, my Lady?"

Taking his hand, she climbed off Sho's horse and led it to water. They all sipped on the water, doused their faces with it, and soaked up the glory of hydration at last. Shun loaded the canteen several times, allowing them all to drink it empty, until they'd finally had enough and he loaded it again in preparation for their trip to come, whatever it brought. The horses drank long and good until one of them neighed quietly and seemed to have a little more will to walk now.

"I think we should take a rest," Kenzo said after a while, whom by now Eona assumed was the speaker of the group. The other two didn't say anything, but they didn't object either. Ryko, on the other hand, started shaking his head.

"We need to keep moving. We have no idea how far away the next civilization is. Pretty soon we'll run out of resources again and be stranded here."

"What do you think, Lady Eona?" Kenzo asked. They all turned to her.

Eona took a deep breath, not comfortable that everyone wanted her to make the decision for them. "Ryko," she said, turning toward him, "I don't think it would hurt to rest for just a little while. If the horses don't get any respite, they'll be too tired to walk anymore."

Kenzo nodded with a trace of smile on his mouth for agreeing with him, and there was a faint glare in Ryko's eyes. Eona turned away. It seemed she could never say anything without pissing him off.

She offered him the cornbread in her cloak, but he declined. "You need it more than me," was all he said and he and Felix went to rest with the horses. Shun was by the lake squeezing the water from his shirt, looking strangely melancholy after their wonderful discovery. "Thank you," she said as he walked by. Either he didn't hear her or was not in the mood to convene, because he didn't turn an inch.

"Don't mind him," Kenzo said, coming to sit next to her under the tree, where there was shade. "He is very reluctant to take credit for even great accomplishments like this. He is not quick to revel in thanks and compliments—he has always been very humble. Ever since—" He stopped and glanced up at Eona, hesitant. "It probably is not my business to be telling you this, my Lady. But between you and me, Shun and I grew up together, living in the same village, best friends. And he was always a lively boy, in fact he was almost just like it again just a little while ago when he found this lake." He paused, looking down and frowning. "But about twelve years ago, his family met hard times and was in serious need of more food, and he wanted to help their impoverished state by becoming…the Rat Dragoneye apprentice."

Eona gasped quietly. They all knew who it went to.

"And so ever since then he's felt like a failure," Kenzo said. "I've tried to tell him time after time that it is not his fault, that fate and destiny had a different plan. That he did what he could, and the rest was entirely out of his control. But he keeps blaming himself, for his family's struggles, for not getting chosen. Now he's very antsy about being proud of anything." Kenzo sighed. "Have some food," he said, handing her a few berries and some bread. "This is our ration."

"Thank you," she said. They ate in comfortable silence.