Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle
The shade was fast. Before Mellary could blink he had drawn his blade and lunged toward her, the wickedly curved sword slicing through the air toward her neck.
Luckily for her, Mellary was pretty quick too. She drew one of her slim blades and swung it up. The two blades met in midair with a ringing crash. Before the ring died Mellary pulled her second sword and whipped it toward the shades heart. He wasn't expecting that; his eyes went wide and he had to jump back to avoid it.
Something heavy and wooden smashed into Mellary's side, crushing her against the wall. Mellary's head hit the stone and her ears filled with a high pitched whine.
Mellary stumbled away from the wall. Her eyes were on the floor which was swaying the deck of a ship. Something warm ran down her cheek. Blood.
Something flashed in the corner of her vision. Mellary jumped to the side as the shade's curved sword sliced through the air where she had been an instant before. Fire roared toward her. Mellary barely managed to get the words out of her mouth to block the fire before it reached her, passing on either side of her body. It struck the crates behind her. The wood was consumed in an instant and the gold coins melted into a molten pool. It spread over the ground. Coins fell, sending drops flying through the air and burning holes in the hem of Mellary's borrowed dress.
Mellary dodged a wooden bar as it hurtled through the air and blocked the shades swing. She struck with her other sword when he was recovering from the block, catching him on the arm and opening up a gash. The shade hissed through his teeth and his maroon eyes narrowed with hate.
He grabbed her sword, the blade biting deep into his hand. The shade jerked it toward himself. The tip of his sword was in front of him; he almost impaled Mellary with it when she stumbled forward after the sword. Mellary let go. The shade tossed the blade behind him. It hit the floor with a clear ring and slid out the door.
Mellary clenched her remaining sword with both hands and shifted her feet. She was so concentrated on the shade that she was taken completely by surprise when the sharp mental spike smashed through the first layer of her mental shield like it was nothing more than glass.
The attack continued, hammering on her second layer. She nearly screamed as pain filled her head, driving out every thought. She grabbed her head with both hands and closed her eyes, falling to her knees. Only years of training kept her from dropping her sword.
A sharp, concentrated force hit her side, knocking her over. The physical pain overwhelmed her for a heartbeat, giving her the breath she needed. Mellary shoved back, forcing the spike out of her mind and pouring energy into the shields.
She opened her eye to see the shade standing over her, the tip of his sword just barely touching her throat. Mellary glared up at him, refusing to let him see just how scared she was. Moving slowly, she picked herself up off the stone floor, sitting up. The room spun around her, but she kept her eyes focused on the shade, watching for the tiniest shift to indicate a strike.
The shade grinned and drew back his sword. Mellary lunged off her knees, twisting as the sword plunged toward her. It slid by her side, slicing through the dress and into her skin. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it hard to the side. There was a crack and it was the shade's turn to stumble away. He swore. Mellary grabbed her sword off the ground and brought it up.
The king laughed. Mellary's eyes shifted to him. She was panting and close to her breaking point. She couldn't take another round of fighting.
The king fell silent and his eyes focused on her. The shade stepped up by the king's side, rubbing his wrist and glaring at her. Mellary held her breath.
Squeak. The sound made her jump. There was a knocking sound followed by a crack. She turned to look at the stones on the pedestal, her eyes wide.
The emerald egg has a long crack running straight down the middle. As she watched more cracks snaked across the surface. A tiny piece at the top trembled, them popped up, falling down the side and leaving a dark hole.
Mellary stepped up, the tip of her sword drifting towards the floor as she watched, transfixed. Footsteps came from behind her. Mellary circled the pedestal as the king and the shade approached. They stood around the middle of the room, watching.
It was silent as more shards broke loose from the egg. Finally it imploded, shell falling into the center. A green creature wound it's way out of the pieces. It sat in the straw, blinking its emerald eyes at her.
The first though that crossed Mellary's mind as she watched the hatchling was the it was a lot like her when she was younger; long, thin, and uncoordinated. The baby dragon was as long as her arm. Its legs, all four of them, were thin and spindly, bones sticking out at odd angles. It had tiny dull talons on each foot.
It turned those startling green eyes away from her and licked at its deep emerald scales, where some of the membrane from the egg still clung. It's head was triangular, with scaled ridges over both eyes. It's slit pupils held a deeply intelligent look. A jaw dropped down to let a long red tongue snake out, and Mellary caught a glimpse of gleaming ivory fangs.
Laying flat along the dragonet's sides were thin ridges. They reached from the shoulder blades down to the dragon's hindquarters. Mellary suspected they were the backbone to the dragon's wings.
Thin bumps, like spikes, ran along the hatchling's backbone and down the whip it had for a tail. The tail was about as long as the dragon was.
The shade reached toward it. The dragon shied away, hissing at the bone white man, baring its little fangs. Mellary almost giggled at the show of bravery from such a tiny, fragile creature.
"Durza." The king said quietly. The shade, Durza, pulled back with a scowl.
The little dragon got to its feet shakily. It walked a step toward Mellary, squeaking as its new legs gave out under it.
Knowing exactly what she was doing, Mellary reached out and brushed her fingers along its snout.
Icy pain raced up her arm and into her body. She closed her eye tightly. Silver filled her mind, daggers drove deep into every part of her. Her legs threatened to give out, her mind wanted to slip into the threatening darkness, into sweet relief from the pain. It took all her willpower to stay conscious and on her feet. As it was, she went down to one knee, trembling.
But with the pain came energy. It washed over her, banishing her exhaustion. She felt the bleeding stop, and her mental defenses were reinforced. Energy ran down her legs and up her arms, giving her the strength to fight. The strength to run.
Mellary opened her eyes cautiously. Staring at her, its eye inches from her own, was the dragon. Her dragon. Her dragon.
It trilled, and blinked it's eyes happily. Her fingers were still on its head.
The dragon moved forward unsteadily, brushing its head up against her cheek, like a cat. It stepped onto her shoulder, level with the pedestal. It walked along her shoulders and wound across the back of her neck, and settled there with its tail twining around her throat, draped around her shoulders like a scarf. She stood slowly.
"Well now," the king said. "That changes things."
Mellary shook her head. Then she sprang backwards, twisting around. In a single, fast stride she was out the door. Durza's sword, which had moved as soon as she had, bit deeply into the wooden pedestal. She could hear him swearing as he tried to pull it out.
Something, she didn't see what, swept her feet out from under her. Mellary managed to roll with the momentum, grabbing her sword that was lying on the floor. The dragonet screeched. She came up on one knee, blade out in front of her, as Durza came running out the door. And straight onto her sword.
His white face went even whiter, but he raised his blade, ready to strike her down even as he stood impaled on her sword.
Mellary didn't have time to reach for her other blade and plunge it into his heart, killing him forever. She didn't even have time to think. She just moved, twisting the blade to the side and shoving it away from her.
Durza dropped to the ground as his curved sword clattered down next to him. Dead, but not dead. Mellary turned, her blade dripping with the shade's blood, and ran down the hallway. She didn't look back to see the king standing over Durza's body, staring down at the shade.
She ducked into the stairwell. Standing across the opening of the stairs was a great metal door. It had stood open when she had come down, and was still open now. Mellary grabbed the edge and heaved, pulling it out away from the wall. As soon as it started to move it picked up speed, and swung shut with a crash.
She whispered up fire and melted the door into the frame. She followed it with a blast of water, cooling it in place.
Mellary darted up the stairs. She didn't stop when she reached to top, didn't slow and try to meld with the rush of servants. She wouldn't have been able to, with blood rushing down her face and a green dragon coiled around her neck.
Some ran screaming, some could only stare in shock as she flashed past. Somehow, she managed to avoid passing the main halls, instead choosing the plain, guard free back halls, where there were less people. So only a few people saw her mad dash through the palace, and none saw her slide into the storage room and down into the hidden passage.
Mellary didn't relax once she was in the dark. She kept moving quickly, letting the dim light hang in the air in front of her as she fumbled for the cloak she had folded up and tucked into it's own little pack. She slung it around her shoulders over the dragon. It squeaked as the light fabric settled over it. Mellary shushed it, rubbing a finger under it's chin. She felt its purr in her bones. Mellary clasped the cloak around her throat. It was a plain brown color, with a grey or green tint in certain lights. It was cut to brush the ground on her, and the hood was voluminous enough to cover the wound on her head.
She tugged the hood up over her muddy brown hair and cautiously opened the hidden door. No one was in the night cloaked alley. She carefully closed the door. She could feel the weight of the palace wall behind her, weighing down on her shoulders.
She didn't run, in case anyone was watching, but she did walk very quickly. She clung to the shadows, grateful the darkness hid the strange lump under her cloak.
Mellary followed the back path she had memorized from the map that afternoon. Once she saw a pair of guards in the distance. She ducked into a doorway, hoping feverishly they hadn't seen her. So far no alarm had sounded.
The rout she had chosen led to a back gate. It wasn't know to many, but Dras-Leona had two entrances. Or in this case, two exits. One was the big main gate. It had a full squad of guards all day, and was shut and under careful watch at night.
The second wasn't nearly so guarded. Mellary had passed by during the day, when she was tracing her path so she would remember it better. There was a small guard house off to the side of a wooden gate, only big enough to let a few people or a single wagon pass at a time. The house was only big enough to hold one or two guards. She had managed to peek in earlier and only seen one big, fat, lazy guard, who had been about to fall asleep.
As the door came into view, closed and barred with a thick wooden beam, Mellary relaxed. It was then that a huge brass boom, like a giant bell, sounded from the palace up the hill. Mellary froze for a second. The King must have finally blasted the door she had sealed, or one of the servants who had seen her had raised the alarm.
She broke into a run as a light appeared in the window of the guard house. The guard she had seen earlier stumbled out, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Wha…" Was all he managed to get out. Mellary struck out with the hilt of her sword, thumping him on the temple. The guards eyes rolled up and he collapsed on the grimy street. Mellary threw off the crossbar, letting it fall to the street with a thud. She raced out of the city and into the dark night.
Mellary gladly let the cool air fill her lungs as she ran. Her heart was pounding pleasantly from the sheer exhilaration of being outside the city walls again.
Tanyian. She called mentally. The dragon squeaked. A feathery feeling brushed by her mind in protest from the volume of the mental shout. Mellary rubbed its head soothingly. A second probe. Hungry.
"Not now." Mellary murmured with a smile. A dark shape moved on the horizon. Mellary jumped, but then saw the moon-bathed copper horse. Mellary didn't slow as her mare ran up on to one side of her. They matched paces expertly. Mellary reached over and tangled her hand in Tanyian's mane. She jumped in mid stride and swung up onto the horses back. The dragon squeaked in sudden protest, making Tanyian jump forward, startled. Mellary sent her soothing thoughts, explaining the dragon in the best way possible. Tanyian snorted, but kept running.
Behind them the gates to the city opened, and mounted guards poured out. They fanned out, searching the darkness around the city, swinging lit torches through the air. But the light they wielded blinded them to the dark figure rapidly disappearing into the night.