Edited 1/29/22 - Please let me know your thoughts throughout the story, I'd love to hear for you :)

I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.

Enjoy,


Talk of Shadows

Three hours after they left the byre when the sun became but a fading halo casting a dim orange light over the grayness of the sky, Rose leaned forward tightening her grip around the small frame of Cai. Her hands quavered and she couldn't get a decent holding. The boy was leaning against her chest in a fast sleep, his snores were lost to the cry of wind and the heavy rhythmic beating of wings pounding air. Had it not been for the smack of cold wind in her face that kept her well awake and her hair streamed behind her as they rode at speed, she would gladly join the boy in his slumbering.

Rose regretted using the mattress, as replacement for the sheepskins she had left in the valley near Culdaff, as soon as Thorn leveled out in the heights of the sky. The mattress moved as they shifted and gathered beneath her, unbalancing her and making the flight very unpleasant. She had tried to bargain with Thorn to fly lower or to land, but the dragon stood firm in his covet to return to Teirm unseen and without stopping.

The heavens were a colorless stupor like a grey ocean rolling with dark waves and nothing could be seen past the span of her hands and the numbing winds shrieked around them, deranging Thorn and threatening to throw them from his back. Not once was a sky bird seen or heard.

The next hours were equally cheerless, although the wind began to fade and the clouds no longer rolled, but at last some sunshine warmed them. The veiling sun crept to the edge of the west and peaked out from behind the clouds. Below, they saw only the faint glimmer of the landscape, pushing broad and shapeless through the undulating emptiness. Rose began to feel that she was not moving at all, but rather she sat on Thorn still as a carven statue, and the mists whirled past her in a gust of wind.

They didn't speak, she and Thorn, both still felt the darkness of their earlier disagreement and separation. Thorn was now pushing himself faster, and Rose shivered: the cold was beginning to bite, and huddled Cai closer to her. The cold made her feel strangely fragile, as if she were made of glass. It rained again, a heavier shower, and then the clouds vanished from the sky completely and the moon emerged from hiding so that the land below shone silver below them, a stretching endlessly into the distance.

Three hours after the moon rose into the sky, Rose saw Teirm rising tall and hoary out of the darkness and below wound the Toark River lazily through the farmlands, glittering the moonlight. She looked excitedly to the west, thinking of the coming hours of sleep, at the inky glimmer of the ocean. Thorn pushed himself harder still and glided towards the sea cliffs. Not long after, he landed dived into the cave and lay down as Rose inelegantly tumbled from his back. She searched blindly in the darkness for her sword and upon finding it, she cut the ropes tied to the mattress and slide both that and a roused Cai from Thorn's back. Then at last, Rose carelessly discarded her sword and lay down between Thorn and Cai where she fell asleep almost instantly.

When the sun came it ascended recently, casting a warm golden light over all that it touched. As Rose awoke it was now already midmorning, the air was thick and pressed down on her heavily. It took a moment but the solidity of sleep left her and she sat up, looking around the shadowy cave. Cai was sitting at the edge of the cavern overlooking the sea, beside him was her sword, the blade shone in the overcast light. She glanced around wildly for its scabbard, upon seeing it she scrambled forward and swept it from the ground where she had carelessly thrown it the night before.

The child looked up as she walked towards him, he had dark half circles under his eyes and he looked ready to drop. She wondered if he had slept at all or if he had been forging it. "Yer ah girl," he said. "Why do you got ah sword?"

Rose sat beside him and took the hilt of it, lifting it from the ground. For a long moment she stared at the light reflecting off the blade. Somehow having the sword in her hands made her feel more grounded, safer almost as if she would be able handle what was to occur in the coming hours."Do you know the reason why your brother brought me to your house?"

His lip wobbled. "Ter repent," said he, playing with his fingers.

"That's not the reason why." She stood up and returned her blade into its casing.

"Then why?" said Cai, he too stood, but in anger, and glared at her through a tangle of coiling hair.

Rose moved and took out some food, throwing the rotten meat and decayed fruit over the cliff into the sea below, and the water bottle. "Thorn is not the Boogey Beast, he's a dragon," she said, sitting on the mattress, her legs stretched out before her. A scattering of molding straw was spread across the ground from an enlarged hole in the shredded mattress as Thorn's scales had done a fine job wearing its cotton martial down to tatters.

She ate the stale bread hungrily, watching as Cai took in this information, looking between her and the large dragon behind her. Thorn was well awake though he remained silent and still, watching over the humans as they interacted. Rose could feel his mild interest through their mindlink.

Slowly a look of understanding dawned onto his face, and he looked at her with wide, dark eyes. "Those an't real," he said darkly. "Are you playing me some trick?"

She shrugged and ate the last bit of her hardened piece of bread. "No one is playing tricks here," she said, buckling her belt around her waist. "I have food in that bag if you want any of it. There's not much, mind you."

"I an't hungry." He cast her a look of dislike.

"If you're not hungry then don't eat," she said glancing at Thorn. Shall we?

Cai looked at her as if she had just spoken a different language which he understood nothing of. "Yeh an't gonna make me?" he said.

She looked at his gaped mouthed expression and shook her head. "I must leave for a time," she said. "There's someone I must talk to."

"Yer just gonna leave me here?"
"I am," she said with a dismissive shrug.

He looked over the endlessness of the ocean far below. "I an't wantin' ter stay here." His words were soft and Rose could hardly hear them. He looked at her meekly and his lip wobbled again.

With a look of indifference, she put her hand onto Thorn's scales. They were cool and smooth to the touch, like glass was though they held none of its fragileness. "I certainly cannot take you with me," she said, gasping as an edge of from a scale sliced into her finger. She looked down at it as a welt of blood bubbled from her skin.

Is it wise to leave him here alone? Thorn asked.

Rose climbed onto his back, and balanced herself there for a moment. Where else is he going to go? We cannot risk him running loose in the city telling all he sees about you. The less word out there is out there about us, the better.

"That an't fair!" Cai exclaimed.

"There's less risk in you remaining here," said Rose. "Think about those men, they might be looking for you."

Cai flinched and fell back onto his bottom. "They could be lookin' fer you, too," he said, shuddering. "You gots the Boogey Beast."

Nodding, Rose urged Thorn to go forth and after a moment's hesitation he moved towards the opening of the cave. I'm enough to protect you, said Thorn jumping off the ledge and flaring out his wings.

I hope so, she said fervently. For both our sakes.

After they left the cave, Thorn flew as close as he dared to Teirm and allowed Rose to climb down before going off on business of his own, likely to stalk her from above, and she made her way to city, bending her steps to the inn Ailis said she was staying at. Thorn was quite unhappy, he did not wish for her to return to Teirm, and he had turned her augments from the day before against her. It had taken Rose quite some time to convince that all would be well and that she had to speak with Ailis but the dragon would not relent. You will have to go perilously near those army two-leggeds to go into the city, he had said. They're gathering down there for what reason is beyond me. Its dangerous, I do not like it. We should return to the cave.

The more time we spend disputing in the skies the more perilous our path becomes, Rose argued. Let me down, Thorn. The dragon only flew higher and Rose kicked at his bulk with her foot. It hurt her more than it hurt him. Did you not just say that you were enough to protect me? What are a bunch of lowly soldiers carrying sticks compared to a big strong dragon like you? She hit at his vanity, his weak point, and at last he landed.

She remembered the way through the maze of streets with little difficulty, ignoring the looks she received from the people she passed, and halted outside the Croaking Toad inn, suddenly feeling foolish. What if Ailis wasn't there? Rose had been gone for days, and it wasn't as if Ailis couldn't have left.

She opened the door hesitantly and climbed up the stairway to the room Ailis had been staying at. When she knocked, no one answered and she slowly tried the door. It was locked. She peered into the keyhole, and saw a familiar leather bag on the bed. Ailis was still here, somewhere within Teirm. She hadn't left, yet. Rose gasped and sat down, leaning against the door. She had been so sure that Ailis would have left by now, given up on waiting for her and returned to the Haven Cove but she had not. Setting her sword on her lap, Rose waited. There was little else she could do.

She didn't know how long she sat there waiting but it seemed to be an endless stretch of time before she saw Ailis walking down the hallway, the woman's head bent studying the floor before her. Ailis looked up and upon seeing Rose for a moment she stood absolutely still, her bottom lip trembled as if she was holding back tears. Then something flashed in her eyes, and almost quicker than Rose could follow, she had come up to her and grabbed her arms. Rose was too surprised to move, and with a strange force, the woman picked her up and pushed her into the room, half throwing her into the room. Rose stumbled to the floor and her sword slid out of its scabbard and slid across the room, she gasped as it hit the wall with a pitiful twack!

Recovering her balance Rose grabbed her sword from the ground and backed against the wall, looking at Ailis with mingled horror and astonishment. Ailis looked very angry indeed, and Rose wondered if might be wiser to risk the jump from the window and leave the city altogether. But before she could decide, Ailis was upon her, easily pulling her sword from her grip and dropping it behind her, she kicking it away. Her eyes were hard.

Rose stood trembling with rage, now that the shock had died away she was quite angry, in front of Ailis. The woman looked crazed, her eyes glittered dangerously, and her lips trembled at the edges. Rose hadn't seen that expression since they had passed through the Spine and were attacked.

"Do you have half a mind?" she said, her face darkening as she spoke. "Do you have the faintest idea how worried I've been? Being trapped here, unable to leave and search for you lest you return? Five days! You've been gone five days, Rose, without word or bird message. I ought to wring your neck for what you've done!" Ailis shot her a look of black anger, and wiped at her eyes with the palms of hands. "I spent half my life traveling and never once have I met someone so willingly runs away from the arms of saf-safety. Haven't you the slightest idea how hard it is for those who are trying to keep you from harm's way, when you're running from them?"

She stopped listening as soon as she realized that Ailis was beyond reason. Rose watched her as her tantrum continued with her arms crossed, and when she saw no end in sight, she stamped purposely on the woman's foot. It was hard enough that Ailis finally fell silent just long enough for Rose to speak. "No more!" she said fervently.

"I beg your pardon?" said Ailis, her eyes snapping.

Rose leaned back against the wall. "I said no more," she said. "Ailis, you need to calm yourself. Don't speak to me again until you have because I won't listen."

Ailis' eyes turned black with anger. She opened her mouth to say something more but Rose raised an eyebrow at her and covered her ears with her hands to state her point. The woman drew in a shaky breath and turned away to sit on the bed. She sat there for a time and a long silence fell over them.

"I'm very angry with you," Ailis said sharply though she was notably calmer than before. "It was a foolhardy thing to do, disappearing like that. I know that I was the one who spent you to Culdaff but I had expected you to return without a delay. What had happened?"

Rose pulled her hands away from her ears and looked down at them. Noticing that they were shaking, she hid them in the folds of her dress. "I'd rather not say," she said.

Ailis stood and walked over to Rose, cupping her hands around her face forcing her met the woman's eyes. She looked not quite so cross as she had been, a small ghost of a smile played at her lips, or perhaps not. "I am deeply sorry for my actions and words." Ailis' voice was gentle but within it was a strength like steel. "Anger makes a fool out the best of us, and such anger is often borne out of love." Ailis touched her thumb to a cut on Rose's cheek, and she struggled not to flinch. "Please tell me what happened."

Rose was silent for a time, and then after a long struggle with herself she slowly told Ailis all that had happened. As she talked about the deaths of the mother and toddler, a strange sorrow welled up inside her and she found that she could say no more for a long moment. Ailis turned her back to her, listening attentively in silence.

"The captain could have healed the toddler as easily as he killed him. It was maddening to see such a death and being unable to help. I thought the Empire soldiers were tasked with protecting the public but it seems to be everywhere that this is not the case," Rose said, and then to her surprise found herself crumbling to tears. She turned away, but Ailis had already moved close to her and she took her hand.

"Rose, our world is full of evil shadows," she said. "But there is no shadow without a light to cast it. You must remember that." She looked earnestly into Rose's face, but Rose couldn't meet her eyes. She turned away, thrusting away her hand.

"I am sorry," said Rose, wiping at her face. 'I should not have lost control of myself."

Ailis stood silently, her face shadowed, but it wasn't long before she seated herself on the bed. Rose lifted her eyes, still burning with tears, to her face, but the woman did not meet her gaze. Her heart was full of an anger and pain she couldn't describe even to herself, but she didn't want Ailis' compassion. She preferred the woman's earlier anger, the compassion only made things worse; it raised a fear in her, over which she had no control.

"Not as sorry as I am," said Ailis at last. "Would you like to find a something to eat? I'm ravenous at the moment." Rose nodded, she didn't really feel like eating, and after picking up her sword she followed Ailis to the corridor.

"Something" turned out to freshly made meat pasties, and rye bread, and white cheese, and fruit from the tavern connected to the inn. Ailis even bought extra for Rose to bring to Cai. They took their bounty to a small, green hill at the edges of the city sat down, facing the ocean.

"I think it would best if you returned to Tornac," said Ailis after they finished eating. "We cannot take this boy with us, and with him having seen your friend I believe the best place for him is with Voirrey and Padern. It is better than sending him to an orphanage, that's for sure." She turned over a throwing knife with her hands. Rose hadn't seen it before and she wondered where Ailis had gotten it from. "When you get there, I want you collect your things and have Tornac do the same, also I need you to ask Padern for the rest of my belongings before you return here. We need to leave this region as swiftly as possible."

Rose looked at her in mild surprise. "Are we not going to wait for a ship to take us south?"

"We can't," said Ailis with a shake of her head. "The southern bound ships haven't been getting very far and we must make haste. You haven't been the only one who's made discovers, my dear." She threw the knife. It landed half way down the hill trembling between a stone and a tuft of cotton tailed grass.

"Ailis?" Rose asked after a moment. "Is all well?"

The woman looked up at her sadly. "Nay, Rose, all is not well." A shadow fell over Ailis' face and she stood up to collect her knife. "Some things are best left buried in the past," she said, her words were almost lost to the sound of the wind but Rose heard them and stared curiously at Ailis for a long moment. Eventually, they took their leave with a solid promise to meet again.