A/N: Okay guys! Here we are again. I just want to say thanks to all of you who reviewed, and a special thanks to HereLies for every wonderful review left for me. I don't know when I'm gonna be able to post again. I figured I should get a chapter up before the storm gets too bad and I lose internet (or worse, power!). I live on the Gulf Coast, so yeah. People who have lived here their entire lives are freaking out about this wee little Cat. 1 hurricane even though we survived Katrina, which was a Cat. 5. I don't get it. But anyways, enjoy you guys!
Chapter 15
Freya was dying. Her blood poured out onto the grass, and she looked up at me with glassy blue eyes. I saw no fear, only confusion. I didn't think she felt any pain. In the midst of my panic, I prayed. I begged Mara to save her. I bargained my life for hers... But Mara did not answer.
I positioned my hands over the horrendous gashes in Freya's pale skin, tried not to look too closely at the pale streaks of bone I could see between gushes of crimson. I felt my magic rush up and into my fingers, prayed that I was not too late. And still, her eyes stared up at me.
I heard the dragon's body disintegrate, knew its soul would come to Freya. I wondered if it would heal her. Mara was still silent. I wondered if I really had been dreaming. This couldn't be the test; Freya was close to death. What was I supposed to do if she died? I didn't want to think about it.
Some of the residents of Dragon Bridge had come out of hiding, and were marveling at the skeleton. Did they not notice that she was dying? I could feel her fading even as I healed her. And then it happened.
At first, I was too surprised to move. I could only sit as the dragon's soul rushed into me. I thought maybe it was a mistake, and that the soul would leave and go to Freya, where it belonged. I didn't expect the pain.
Something in me tore. I could feel my being alter. My soul and the dragons twisted together, fighting one another before they finally merging together. I heard my bones snap. They were morphing-elongating-beneath my skin. My muscles tore apart, my skin split, and I screamed.
Voices faded in and out of range. I felt warm all over, like waking up on a winter morning underneath thick furs on a soft bed. I didn't want to open my eyes. I was so tired. I heard a woman scream, and memories came fluttering back. A dragon, blood, Silas…
I sat bolt upright, frightening the three women that had been gathered around me. The warmth faded, leaving hollow exhaustion in its wake. I recognized the women as the ones that had healed Silas.
"What happened?" I asked. There was a large commotion behind me, and I turned to face a horrible sight.
An ancient dragon lay sprawled on the ground, people swarming all around it. I reached for my sword, but it was absent. I vaguely remembered stabbing a dragon in the eye. I rushed over, shoving people out of my way as I went, until I reached the dragon's head.
"What happened here?" I asked. Several heads turned towards me, faces filled with fear and excitement. "What happened?" I asked again.
"Your companion, Milady," a man said timidly. "When we got here, he was already…"
The man trailed off and glanced meaningfully at the dragon. No, I thought. Nonononono… I stepped closer to the dragon, a dream flashing through my head. Mist, Alduin, and another dragon. NO.
"There was nothing we could do," the man continued as I stepped closer to the dragon. "By the time someone got close enough to help, he had already finished."
"Finished what?" I asked.
"Changing."
I dropped to my knees in front of the dragon. It has to be another dream. I tried to convince myself, but I knew it wasn't true. Silas had absorbed the dragon's soul, and had been transformed into a dragon himself.
My mind raced, thoughts swirling together, forming one jumbled mess of noise. My fault, I heard. My fault. Louder and louder. I reached a hand out and brushed the scales between the dragon's nostrils. Its breath tickled my palm.
I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. It couldn't be Silas. This had to be a mistake. This couldn't happen to him. A huff of breath blew my hair from my face, and the dragon's head shifted where it lay on the ground. The crowd of people jumped back.
I wished they would all go away. I wanted to be alone with him. When he woke up, I would do my best to keep him calm. It would help if there weren't twenty people standing around staring at him. I straightened from my crouched position, and felt a strange crinkling sensation on my side.
When I looked down, the memory came flooding back. Dried blood covered my armor and the shirt beneath. There were gaping tears in both metal and cloth, but the skin beneath was whole and undamaged. Faint green lines striped across my stomach and onto my side.
A woman screamed, and I looked up just in time to see Silas' eyes open. They were the same forest green as always, but the pupil was now a mere slit. His eyes focused on me, and I tried my best to keep a calm face.
A startled growl escaped his toothy maw, his tail lashed from side to side behind him. It cleaved a tree in two, and he whipped his head around to see what had just happened. When he saw the rest of his body, he froze. It was a few seconds before that his anguished, keening cry pierced the air.
People scattered in all directions at the sound, startled and frightened. I tried to keep my composure, but was losing the fight as I watched Silas battle for control over the foreign body. He struggled to rise, but had no control over his wings. He became a wriggling mass of scaled flesh and muscle. I was forced to step back out of harm's way.
His tail smashed into the corner of the inn, splitting wood and sending chunks flying in all directions. I needed to calm him down soon or there would be nothing left of Dragon Bridge.
"Silas!" I screamed over his roars of frustration. He couldn't hear me. I quickly shouted the words for Kyne's Peace, hoping it would calm him down enough for me to explain what had happened. He came to rest within a few seconds, lying on his left side with his wing pinned beneath him.
"Silas," I spoke softly, trying to soothe him with my voice. "It's okay, Silas. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should never have asked you to come with me. I'm so sorry."
I inched towards him, moving slowly towards his head. His eyes were wide with fear, pupils dilated to obsidian orbs. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks, falling to the gouged earth. I continued my stream of words, watched his head fall to rest on the ground, heard the sigh heaved forth.
"Freya," he spoke, teeth glinting in the sun. His voice was still smooth silk, only deeper. I reached out hesitantly, brushed the smooth scales between his eyes. They closed slowly, and another sigh was heaved. His body trembled, from fear or anger I didn't know.
"The soul," he said with a broken voice. "I don't understand."
"We need to leave," I said so only he could hear. The people were beginning to gather again, curious whispers floating to my ears. The boldest in the crowd were edging closer, hoping for a better view. The innkeeper saw the damage to the inn and began yelling, ranting about how compensation was necessary. I stood form my crouched position by Silas' head.
"Get up, Silas," I commanded. He shifted his weight, trying to roll off of his wing without causing pain, and was lying on his belly in a matter of seconds. He struggled to use his wings as arms and push his body off of the ground.
The people were edging closer and closer because he was moving, the whispers growing in volume. "We should keep him here," someone whispered. "Imagine the business we would get if we had a live dragon in town!"
"Silas," I said more urgently, scanning my surroundings. I looked for Jala amongst the thickening crowd, planning an escape route. "You need to fly," I said, spotting someone with a bundle of rope. "Now."
The earth shook as Silas lifted his front end and flapped his wings, only to fall back to the ground. He tried again, flapping harder this time. A form broke from the group, jogging towards us.
"Fly, Silas!" I shouted, sprinting to meet the man head on. He was so focused on Silas that he didn't notice me. I slammed into him with such force that he flew to the ground. We grappled, and I came up on top. I rammed one gauntleted fist into the man's stomach, causing him to double up and gasp for breath.
Silas was struggling to lift off, and more forms were breaking from the crowd. I only had one chance to deter them all and give Silas the time he needed. I sucked in a deep breath and felt the power of the Dragon Tongue rise inside of me.
"Fus ro dah!" I shouted, watching as the force of my words ram into the villagers and knock them to the ground. I glanced towards Silas and was glad to see that, through much effort, he was finally in the sky.
I ran for Jala. She stood just beside the road that led over the bridge. I jumped onto her back, scrabbled for the reins, and kicked her into a gallop. We thundered across the bridge and onto solid earth, Jala's hoofs kicking up clods of earth as she ran.
I craned my neck, looking for Silas. He was struggling to stay in the air. I yelled his name, hoping he could hear me. I pointed up, signaling for him to gain as much altitude as possible. I prayed that the townspeople wouldn't follow us so that I could focus my attention on helping Silas deal with this major change.