Lost
"Take Lilly! Take her- NO! Child stop that and RUN!" Leah ran.
Hot embers fell from the ceiling and fire leapt at her from all sides, but Leah ran. There was nothing else she could do. Leah did not want to die. She did not want to burn. She could hear her mothers labored breathing, but even so she was yelling at someone. Leah could not make out the words over her own wheezing breath and the roar of the flames.
There was a sudden, loud crack and the fire suddenly fell on her. Lilly fell out of her arms and sprawled on the floor screaming. Tears ran down her soft pink cheeks. Her small chubby fingers reached for Leah, but Leah was pinned. Unable to move. Unable to breath. Unable to quench the flames that were consuming her. Suddenly he was there wresting her from embrace of death and taking her to safety.
Strong arms were carrying her and little Lilly out of the burning house.
She saw a pair of blue eyes and a face she knew; streaked with tears just above her.
"Uncle!" Lilly wailed.
"I'm here baby. You're safe." He said soothingly.
Suddenly Leah felt cool, almost cold. They were outside now. The night air felt good on her skin . She was coughing.
"My eyes hut!" Lilly wailed rubbing fretfully at her eyes. "They hut! They hut!" She was coughing too.
"What about Mama!" a dim figure screamed. "Mama! MAMA!!"
A sudden jolt shocked Lehanna from her dreams. She had cracked the back of her head on whatever hard surface was under her.
"Be careful damn it!" A man yelled.
"Sorry, sorry." Someone grumbled.
Pain raked Leah's chest and head. She had some trouble breathing.
"Stop yelling." Said a woman. Was it Joan? "I think she is coming to."
Lehanna struggled to open her eyes which were crusted shut. When she did pry them open the light stung so badly that she immediately had to close them.
Cursing softly under her breath she tried to pull herself into a sitting position but she was gently pushed back down. Lehanna recognized Joan by her warm scent.
"Joan, Corin." Leah murmured and was surprised by how weak her voice sounded.
"We're here Leah." Corin said. She felt him grab her hand.
Leah pulled her hand away as she sat up again. Pain pulsed through her chest and head. "What- Where.." She stammered.
"We would like to know that too Hun." Joan said quietly.
Realization suddenly flooded into her along with the memory of what had happened the previous-- Was it only last night? How long had she slept?
After gingerly opening her eyes and taking in Corin and Joan's worried expressions she managed to croak out "How long?" The words were difficult to work out of her mouth.
They were traveling in a wagon Leah realized. Joan was sitting next to her and Corin was sitting on the drivers bench next to the driver. She had been lying against the side of the wagon pressed against the back of the drivers seat. Two oxen were pulling the rickety vehicle.
"Almost two days. A bit less." Replied Corin.
"Where was I exactly? How did you find me?" Leah asked.
She wondered if she should tell them about the dragon and the woman but if they had people out searching for her then surely they would have found them…
"The damage wasn't too bad in the town so when Tom, that's the Wagoner." Joan said indicating the man driving the wagon "Said that he saw you leave the village and head south we asked the men who were going to investigate the damage to the country side, to look for you."
"Of course we looked ourselves. Rosta was busy at the Inn. Three houses caught fire and she is putting up the families who lost their homes." Corin's tone was impatient. "Tell us Leah, what possessed you to run off into the woods by yourself with no protection?"
Leah returned Corin's hard stare.
"Lor." She said.
"What?" Joan and Corin asked at the same time.
"I saw Lor sneaking out of the village after the quake." Leah began still unsure of how to explain all she had seen and done.
The very memory of the mutilated Dragon and presumably it's Rider along with her pain made her want to curl up in a ball and just die.
Leah felt her chest where the Red Beast had raked her with it's claws.
She nudged aside the laces in the V shaped collar of her shirt and felt bandages. The shirt was not hers. The bust was stretched out and it was red.
"Why am I wearing Rosta's shirt?" She asked Corin.
"Yours was to torn and bloody to salvage." Joan said, gently stroking a Leah's pale blonde head.
Corin shot his sister an angry look. "You were saying?" He said again.
Leah sighed. "I followed Lor." She continued while gingerly massaging the sore spot between her breasts. "Because he was being more suspicious then usual. I stayed far enough behind that the chances of me being seen were slim." She only hopped this was true. She hopped that Lor had saw her only when she was knocked from the embankment and she wasn't so much of a clumsy tracker as she feared. Then again there was a difference between hunting deer and hunting a man.
"He had climbed down a ravine as the sun was sinking below the horizon and I decided to follow." Leah gingerly lifted the edge of the bandage around her calf and saw that the wound was red and puffy but not too swollen. "I was knocked off by the second quake."
"You weren't found in a ravine." Joan said in her soft voice.
Corin shot her an impatient look.
"Well when I pulled my self together Lor was in front of me with his bow drawn." Leah sighed then. "Short version he shot me and I hit him in the side of the head with a rock."
"What?" Corin and Joan yelled at the same time.
Leah ignored their cries. "Anyway. I grabbed his bow and your pack." She nodded toward Corin "The tan one with the green stitching I can't remember if he told me why he had it. And then I walked off…." Leah trailed off.
Corin shook his head. "That still does not explain why we found you half a mile from the ravine, girl" He said, not unkindly
"I ran when I saw a…" What was she supposed to say, that she saw a mutilated Dragon and Rider and ran off when she got attacked by a beast? They obliviously didn't know about the dragon or they would have mentioned it wouldn't they? And besides they wouldn't believe her, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to tell them. She liked Corin and Joan quite a lot but some part of her told her things would be a lot simpler if she lied.
"When you saw…?" Joan prompted
Lehanna's voice was stronger now and she had no trouble with the lie.
"When I saw a bear. It was young, not yet full grown but not a cub. I interrupted it's dinner and it smelled my blood I guess. I panicked and ran it chased me and attacked, but got bored after I passed out; I suppose I don't taste as good as whatever it was feeding on."
Corin seemed unconvinced and Joan hugged her sympathetically.
"Poor baby." She murmured.
Leah looked around the wagon. "Where is the pack? Where are we?" She asked.
"Didn't see a pack with you Hun, are you sure it was mine?" Corin replied. Leah nodded.
"We are going back to The Hovel." Said Joan. "While you were asleep Corin went back to make sure everyone was alright and I stayed with you and Rosta in the Inn. But the physician said you could be taken back if you were kept still and quiet."
Leah figured as much. Now she regretted not helping the Wagoner, Tom, catch his team.
Leah propped herself against the driver seat. She had no desire to smack her head every time the wagon jolted.
No one seemed to be interested in conversation now. Joan seemed to be sleeping and Corin was repeatedly asking Tom if he could believe what Lor had done. He could of course because he didn't know Lor.
Leah was suddenly afraid. Terrified in fact. Her breathing quickened. Her palms were sweating and she felt very exposed. Her shoulder, of all things, felt like if was on fire. She rubbed it but the feeling did not go away.
Leah wiped away a lone tear and continued massaging her arm. What was wrong with her. She felt very lost and very alone. Why was she so scared. The trauma of the attack and all the near mythical creatures popping out of the woods must be why she told herself.
Lehanna pulled herself together and remained silent for the rest of the trip
When they arrived at The Hovel she was plagued by question after question. Old man Logan gave her an almost venomous look when he helped her from the wagon. He was strong for such a skinny old man.
Leah learned that she had only been out the day she had been found and had woken at noon the day after. Not two days after the attack.. She was glad she had not lost more time.
Lilly had widened their sleeping pallet so that she could stretch out if she wanted to and so that when they slept Lilly would not crowd her or bump her. But that left little room for anything else in their hovel thereby deterring any curious well-wishers. So for the next three days Leah stayed inside partly to heal and partly to hide from the other villagers.
Leah lay on her straw pallet most of the day and only got up when nature called. Lilly or one of the other women would clean her wounds twice a day. The wounds were healing, albeit slowly but still healing.
The wound in her leg, thankfully only ached when she bore weight on it. The wounds on her chest however plagued her greatly. Leah shut her eyes tight and refused to watch the gouges, some deep and some shallow, be cleansed and dressed. She knew that there were three, or four is you counted the shallowest, lines of torn flesh beginning at her clavicle and ending somewhere bellow her ribs. She knew that they were healing. She didn't want to know anything more specific.
She had yelled at Lilly when her cousin had said that she bet could stick the whole first joint of her pinky finger and maybe half of the second. into the deepest cut.
Leah wasn't really the sort of girl to snap so violently. If she had an issue with some she greatly preferred to handle it in a much more devious, and subtle way. Acting so harshly towards her cousin upset Leah almost as much as her wounds, and the ordeal that had given them to her, had upset her.
Another problem Leah had was that her shoulder continued to ache. She had asked Logan to look at it but he only told her that the muscle had been strained, "Most like".
Leah did not agree. Leah knew what a strained muscle felt like. The pain in her shoulder was nothing like that. It felt like a burn. Leah knew what burns felt like too-
At night Leah wrestled with her fear and loneliness. She had no right to be lonely Leah had told herself. She had multiple visitors everyday and Lilly was never very far but she couldn't shake the feeling.
Five days passed. Normalcy was returned the Hovel now that everyone was no longer worried about the Earth moving beneath their feet.
Even for all the peace Leah bathed in day after day, she was very worried. Strange and often dangerous creatures were not uncommon so close to The Spine so it wasn't as though the Hovel was not already keeping an eye to the forest that surrounded it, but Leah knew that the bramble that had been piled and woven around the village was only good for maybe deterring a disinterested pack of wolves, or mountain lion, but any bear, boar or Beast would not be so swayed.
It was alright to lie. Leah told her self one night. Knowing exactly what is out there will not make us any safer. Just because we can put a face on the menace doesn't mean the menace will pass us by.
And so went Leah's days. Wake up and attempt to rise, stumble out the door. Piss. Stumble back, sample something bland from the liquid diet she was relegated to; even though she was hungry enough that pale skinned, green eyed , unhealthily thinLilly had started to look tasty, change her bandages. Worry. Sleep. Dream of blood and red fur.
One night when the moon was three quarters full Lehanna found that she could remain still no longer. She pushed off her sparse coverlet and gingerly eased herself into a sitting position. She just as gingerly got her legs under her and rose shakily to a somewhat upright position.
She needed to be outside. She needed fresh air and she needed most of all to see the sky.
So, being mindful not to even risk tearing any scabs, Leah edged her way out of her hovel, nearly tripping on Lilly when she had to bare all of her weight on her injured leg.
But all was well and she stepped outside into the night.
I'll walk a few yards into the woods. Leah thought. I need to use my legs or they will be weak as a newborn kittens by the time I am healed.
The woods were quiet. Leah was glad to hear. The wind rustled the the naked branches of the trees, an owl hooted from off in the distance; though it would be hard pressed to find mice or voles about in weather this cold.
The sky above her was an endless black vault splattered with white and silver and blue swirls of sparkling light, and the moon! Even though it was only three quarters full it was shockingly bright and hung proudly in the sky like some silver dragon hovering benevolently above the world.
Leah loved admiring the sky, day or night, and she soaked in the sight of stars, and moon hungrily-- Until she was shoved roughly from behind.
Leah stumbled, caught herself on a spindly young tree and then wheeled about to face her shover.
There was no one to be seen.
Leah straightened and peered about. There was nothing in sight except the shadows the light in Logan's hut cast, the trees with their bare limbs, and the winter sky.
She was suddenly yanked around the tree and then shoved by an invisible hand; away from The Hovel.
Leah cried out for Corin, Joan for Lilly. For anyone! But no one came, and now more unseen hands were shoving her deeper into the forest.
She cried and ran where the hands wanted her to go. One yanked at her shirt drawing her suddenly to the left, and Leah almost fell. The pain in her leg made her limp and the pain in her chest made her scream.
Leah ran with one hand out in front of her ready to catch herself if she fell, and to knock away branches and bramble. The other hand was clutched to her bandaged chest trying to keep the skin from tearing further.
Finally her leg gave out and Leah crashed to the ground. The invisible hands gave one last tug and were gone.
Leah lay there sobbing, face turned to the damp earth for a long time.
Her mind had a numbness to it that prevented her to ask usual questions like .Why me? What have I done? Is it over? Even after the ache in her chest had become bearable, Leah had no desire to move. It mattered not if she suffocated in the dirt. It took a rustling of the branches overhead to banish thoughts of death by mud inhalation.
Straining to sit up, and clutching her chest Leah slowly scooted her back against a pine behind her.
The hair on Leah's arms, legs and back rose perceptibly. Something moved in the tree above her. She couldn't make out the shape in the limited light.
It hissed. The sound was louder and deeper then something a snake or cat could produce.
Leah's breaths came in ragged gasps.
"What do you want!" She yelled at the thing hissing in the tree. "Huh? What do you want you stupid beast?!" Pulling her self to her knees and glaring at the invisible thing she yelled again "Just kill me or eat me or something! Get it over with you--" the small black mass that had been perched in the tree suddenly flailed about and tumbled end over end until it hit the forest floor with a thunk.
The shiny black ball was still but for a steady movement Leah took to be a sign that it was still breathing.
The little monster uncurled itself just a bit and raised it's head.
The pits of it's eyes were a darker black then the shadows under the trees around them.
It opened it's mouth a crack and wailed.
The sound made Leah clap her hands to her ears. It was such a pitiful noise. The rise and fall of the black things chest quickened, and the wail came in shorter, louder bursts.
Lehanna stretched forward, the tips of her finger barely brushing the lower jaw of the screaming monster. It was hard and smooth but not cold like metal. The little things screaming slowly died down then, but Leah still did not move her hand or attempt to come closer.
The strangest sort of terror had overcome Leah as soon as her skin touched the creatures.
The black lump pulled one spindly leg out from under itself and used it to lever it's front half up. Leah did not stop shaking; but awe, not terror, was her motivation now.
Getting its back legs under itself and unfurling long, elegant wings ,the small black dragon swaggered up to her and plopped itself in her lap.
Heaving a great sigh it promptly fell asleep. Leah was overwhelmed by a sense of contentment. It was overpowering. She could do not but sit and wonder how on earth this had come to be.
She could feel the dragons mind now too, it was like a river, no a whirlpool, of emotion, and thought, and color.
But I'm not a dragon rider. Leah thought I don't have the mark. I've only ever seen one or two dragons in my life and they certainly couldn't be mine.
Leah thought to when she had reached into Corrin's squirming pack almost two weeks ago. She had thought something had bit her but now she wasn't so sure. She doubted the dragon would have chomped on her and there had been no marks on her hand…. Had the pain been the shock of having her essence suddenly fused with that of this beautiful creature? She doubted she could ever be sure.
Leah rubbed her right palm vigorously on the knee of her skirt. Trying to dislodge the dirt and blood that had accumulated over the last week or so.
She then lifted her hand to her face and squinted at it. Sure enough there was a gleam of opal white beneath the grime.
The night was no longer still. The normal sounds the deep forest made in winter were coming back. Leah could hear, if she strained, the sound of hunting birds and an occasional cricket. The rustle of branches sounded less and less like a horrible roar and more like the gentle rustle it should be.
Leah gazed at the patch of sky above her as she contentedly stroked the baby in her lap. It had an unusual patch of scales on it right shoulder it felt like a burn. Leah unconsciously rubbed her own still aching shoulder. So this was the link between dragon and rider. They truly did share thoughts and pains alike. Leah wasn't sure she liked that thought. This was perhaps the reason why, through out the week, she had been so overtaken by emotions that seemed so out of place.
Leah disliked the thought that something had burned her baby even more. What had happened to it since it hatched. Where had it been?
The dragon picked up it's little head and starred off into the branches.
Leah felt a cold sort of alarm creep over the little thing.
It stood in her lap slowly, never taking it's eyes off of that one spot in the trees, it stretched out it's wings heedless of the fact that the tip of the left one almost poked out Leah's eye, and as it stretched them out, it hissed. The hiss was only a warning Leah could sense. The dragon slowly moved his gaze from the branches of a tree across from them, and moved it slowly to the branches of the tree Leah had her back too. Lehanna was prepared to snatch her dragon and run if anything were to pop out of the bushes again.
The baby hissed again unfurling it's wings further. Leah was temporarily stunned. This wasn't right! Dragons were one color and one color only. The only variation in a dragons coloring was merely shade. This dragons wings, and parts of it's legs as well as the spinal crest down it's neck and back were dusted with a shimmering white that truly did mimic the night sky. Leah's attention was torn away from the dragons wings as there was a scrambling sound above her and quite suddenly Corrins pack landed in her lap on top of the poor baby.
She quickly attempted sooth the hissing and spitting dragonet, murmuring to it. The dragon no longer sensed whatever was in the trees and so calmed down fairly quickly. Leah however could sense anger in it just simmering in it's heart. Perhaps it's ego was bruised.
Leah's nerves had had about enough. She wanted to crawl into her own bed and sleep for a week. She had even started to stand and attempt to figure out how exactly to make her way back home when it hit her that this baby dragon she was cradling had probably not eaten in it's whole life. It was certainly not much more than scale and bone. Leah sank back down. Wondering at how many problems she had been presented all at once. How was she going to feed the baby or get it to the relative safety of The Hovel? How was she going to get herself there? She did not relish the prospect of carrying the dragon with her the hole way. How had Lor been in possession of a dragon egg in the first place.
The black began to nudge at the pack that had mysteriously dropped into her lap. Truthfully she didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore she wanted it gone and away from her. But the black was adamant about getting into it.
It's need overwhelmed her and so she opened it for her dragon and let it nose about.
The black stuck it's head in and a moment later pulled out the body of an owl.
It secured the corpse between one taloned paw, and her thigh, and began to tear strips of dripping flash out of it not bothering to pluck the feathers.
Leah shuddered. It felt as though a cold hand had suddenly trailed it's fingers up her spine. A startling thought had come to her, if Lor had had one egg perhaps it wasn't the only one.
The baby had choked down the last piece of Owl and nuzzled it's head under her arm and Leah began to feel peace radiate from it. This helped her to relax and order her thoughts
Leah shifted the baby dragon off of her knee though it still insisted of leaving it's head under her arm. It was as stubborn and unmovable as a rock.
Leah then pulled the pack onto her lap and began to riffle through it. She found a rough blanket with embroidery unmistakably Joan's. It must belong to Corin. Under that a parcel of cooking herbs, a stone and flint and a small knife wrapped in leather, another smaller blanket and…
Leah's fingers brushed something hard. She identified two round objects in the bottom of the pack, badly wrapped by the second blanket. She pulled the first one out and stared at it. It was a large bronze egg. Leah shivered with cold and fear. What sort of things was Lor mixed up in? Dragon eggs and dragon riders, red beasts and a very treacherous hunter do not an innocent make.
Leah replaced the egg in the bag and with a sort of cold certainty she brought out the second object.
As she had assumed, she was holding a second egg. This one a dusky lavender.
After a moments scrutiny Leah placed the second egg carefully back into the bag and wrapped it in the blanket. What ever was going on in the world Leah felt now that she was smack in the middle of it. Too much. Entirely too much had happened to her this week and she was fairly sick of it; though she must admit that being gifted a dragon was a good way for fate to make up for itself.
Now in the past Leah had prided herself on having a quick mind and an even temperament. She was not prone to mood swings and kept a level head. Until now she had not realized how useful those traits were for already she was thinking of what to do with her life next.
What would be best? She wondered. Would going to the village and waking everyone to proclaim herself as a rider be a wise idea? Probably not. There was no way to tell if someone in the village might try to steal her new baby. And she did not think that anyone but perhaps the rider corps itself or perhaps the elves, would have the true authority over these presumably stolen eggs.
As Leah was the only rider to be seen it would be up to her to protect these eggs until they could be returned to the dragons who had produced them or to the corps.
Leah protectively wrapped her arms around the dozing dragon. Maybe the riders wouldn't want her to be a rider because she had not been selected by them to be brought before the eggs. Maybe they wouldn't let her keep the baby. She did not see how this could be true though… Another thing to worry about was that there was no way to know if Lor would be looking for her. She had stolen his pack which turned out to have a dragon in it after all. Not to mention she had beaten him in the head with a rock.
Leah felt as though she could not be shocked by anything anymore.
"Do you know?" whispered a voice above her.
The baby dragons head snapped up to look into the branches of the pine tree, whacking Leah's bottom jaw in the process and snapping her had back against the trunk of the tree.
The baby writhed a little in her arms.
"Do you know, dearest Leah…" the voice continued, "Exactly what you've gotten yourself into?"
Leah scrambled away from the base of the tree pulling the pack and the reluctant dragon with her.
For a second time that night a small dark shape dropped from the trees to rest at her feet.
"What sort of trouble?" Leah asked, forcing her voice to sound as nonchalant as possible.
The thing moved slowly and fluidly towards her. Leah could not make out the shape of it's body, only that it was gray and sort of humanoid.
A glint of gold shone in it's eyes.
The thing put a smallish hand on her shoulder and leaned toward her face.
Grinning, it's teeth shining deadly white in the dark. It licked it's lips.
"Dearest Leah…" it purred.
Leah wanted to swat the thing away but she was locked in the creatures gaze.
The dragon twisted in her grip and snapped at the creatures face.
Jumping back with incredible speed the gray thing crouched on it's haunches a foot or two away. The smile had not left it's face.
"Who would have thought it would happen this way?" it purred almost to itself.
Leah was angry now. Angry that this hairy thing had complicated matters more. It's not like it's everyday one finds out that they are now a dragon rider. A Dragon Rider!
"What do you want?" Leah hissed at it. "What are you? That Red Beasts little brother or something?" Leah rose to her knees and pushed the dragon, and pack behind her.
"What is you want from me?"
The creature ran a clawed hand through it's tangled mass of gray hair, the smile on it's face twitched even wider.
"Dearest Leah-" it began.
"Dearest?" Leah almost yelled.
The thing laughed with a quite sort of amusement. It was an eerie thing to watch it's toothy smile grow and grow.
"Yes dearest. Do you not recall my face." it purred as it said this. "Have you no name to put to me?" It stepped closer.
"No why should I?" Leah said. Wishing all the while that she had taken a knife or big stick with her when she went for a walk in the woods.
"Oh dearest I'm stung, truly." The thing did not look stung by any means.
Her doubt must have shown on her face for the creatures smile twitched wider again.
"You do indeed have a name to put to me." It stepped up to her and brushed away a lock of hair from her face. "You've the occasion to call me GreyWind."
Leah flinched back from it's touch.
GreyWind was the near feral cat that had taken to her some years ago.
"You cannot be…" But even as she said this Leah noticed how the creatures hair or perhaps it's fur looked to be the same texture as GreyWind's and how it had the same pattern of gray dusted with chestnut and cream near the roots. Even the things eyes were the same vibrant gold.
The thing that claimed to be her cat chuckled quietly.
"Yes dearest I can indeed be GreyWind. I am a Werecat. You've surly heard the name?"
Leah nodded rather dumbly.
GreyWind crouched down next to her. Peering at the dragon. "What an uppity creature." he said.
Leah glared at him and put herself between GreyWind and the baby.
GreyWind laughed a bit. "No need to be so defensive dear."
Leah ignored this. "What is a werecat doing here? What do you want with me?" She spat out. Leah felt as though her nerves were shot. Her stomach was a hollow pit and every muscle in her body shook.
GreyWind's smile, for once, twitched down. "Do you have nothing to say to me in the way of thanks?" He said.
"Thanks?" Leah repeated.
GreyWind shook his head. "You must not realize then, or you would not be so ungrateful."
Leah was about to ask what he meant, but he beat her to it.
"The day that red.. Beast? Did you call it?" GreyWind began. "The day he attacked you it was I who intervened… And saved your life."
Leah took this news numbly. She put a hand over her eyes and squeezed them shut tight. Trying hard not to remember the carnage of that day or the ferocity and rage in the eyes of the red monster that had so nearly ripped her apart.
"That was…" Leah began remembering the blur of grey that had distracted the monster.
GreyWind's chuckle penetrated her thoughts.
"Yes dearest. You needed me then. You need me now, as it happens."
Leah peered at him between two spread fingers.
"You've not answered my question cat." She muttered.
GreyWind's head tilted to the side.
"I am here because I feel the urge to be here. And I told you I am the werecat that you've the occasion to call GreyWind."
GreyWind, Leah concluded, was not his only name then.
"What brought you to me GreyWind? Why is it that I need you, as you say?"
GreyWind's smile was beginning to scare Leah. It never truly shrank to a frown and his teeth were so very sharp…
"I brought myself to you dearest Leah, and you need my help because you are alone and injured in the woods at night in the spine no less, amidst more turmoil from more kingdoms, factions, races and tribes than you could begin to realize just now." GreyWind paused a moment. "And you don't even know it." he said this last thing almost regretfully.
Leah shook her head and said. "I don't think I am in any state to trust what you say-- GreyWind."
She peered at the werecat from behind her loose and tangled hair. She imagined that just now she must look nearly as wild as he did.
Behind her, the baby had stuck it's head under her arm and was leering at GreyWind. A small hiss still emanating from it's throat.
Leah's minds tried to puzzle out what GreyWind had said about her being in some trouble with more peoples than she knew… Did he mean the kingdom of men here in Alagaesia? The Brodding kingdom? The elves perhaps? Were they fighting?
The night and it's surprises had been entirely to much for Leah.
As though he had read her thoughts GreyWind spoke and said, "One would think that it is in the nature of the day not the night for secrets to be revealed and truths to be uncovered." He put a hand, rather sympathetically on Leah's shoulder. Leah felt that she could trust GreyWind for he really did seem to be her cat and for several years now he had never truly wished her any ill will, but even so it was a strange sensation to so calmly trust this being.
"I know you do not understand this dear." He continued. "And I know that this is not the way you ever dreamed of becoming a rider, but you are a rider now, and as such you have responsibility-"
"Responsibility?" Leah said coldly, thinking of Lilly. "Oh I know all about that."
GreyWind nodded, not protesting the interruption.
"As I said you are a rider now and I find that it is up to me to explain to you exactly what your responsibilities are."
Leah could guess he was going to tell her to feed her dragon twice daily and look out for dry scales. She almost chuckled at the delight of it.
"You must flee Leah." He said.
Her head came up. The strange sensation of calm and trust suddenly leaving her in an instant.
She starred uncomprehendingly at small man-cat.
GreyWind patted her shoulder a bit. His grin almost disappearing. Almost.
"Things have happened in the wide world." He said. "The news of which is slow to reach this side of the spine. Let me tell you now."
GreyWind settled in at her side, and motioned for her to sit back against the tree. Leah did so, pulling the dragon onto her lap as she did.
GreyWind grinned at the dragon. "He's a pretty one he is. Such lovely colors."
"Is he supposed to have patterns like that?" Leah asked, fingering the dusting of silver white down her baby's back, and resting her hand on the scabs on his shoulder. Wishing she knew magic so she could fix his hurts.
"It's a rare thing." GreyWind said. "Like an albino. We can talk about this later."
"So go on with it." Leah said; Imagining that if it had been Lor or even Corrin who had dropped out of the trees and told her that she needed to run for the hills that she would have slapped him and gone her own way. Why was she so mellow and trusting of GreyWind?
The branches of the trees around the girl, dragon and werecat scrapped together. Once again sounding menacing.
GreyWind looked at the sky and began to speak in his soft, slow pur.
"I shall start by explaining to you why it would be most unwise to run off to the hovel and proclaim your newfound destiny to everyone."
Leah wanted to roll her eyes, but she sensed that the situation was to serious, for all of GreyWind's manic grin.
"Someone is killing riders you see? Yes you do you saw one such fallen at the ravine the other week."
Leah's memory flashed back to that day remembering the dragon with it's dismembered wings
"You were there." She said, it wasn't really a question.
GreyWind did not seem irked by the interruption. "Yes I was and I will get to that in a moment."
Leah quieted now more willing to listen to the Werecat.
"There is a force on this continent that wishes the death of the riders. Or some of them. I am not sure of it's ultimate purpose really."
"This force is speculated to be a large mixture of rouge sorcerers and perhaps several shades."
Leah shuddered to think of several shades stalking the land.
"Because the good king of the Brodding kingdom, the Elven queen and the highest ranking officers of the Dragon Rider corps don't know exactly what sort of threat this force posses; all traffic in and out of Vroengaurd has been halted."
"Halted?" Interrupted Leah who was quite shocked by this. "Why?"
Nonplussed by yet another interruption GreyWind said, "Because they don't want anyone or anything unwanted sneaking in and killing everyone. To be blunt about it."
Leah shivered. "Nothing could do that." She said. "Nothing could destroy Vroengaurd like that."
GreyWind shrugged.
"At any rate." He continued. "Something out there wants the riders dead, and it is a serious enough threat that nearly all riders and their dragons have been recalled. Only a few remain on the mainland."
GreyWind paused to let her absorb this.
Something that could threaten the riders like that would give her nightmares for weeks Leah thought. What was Alagaesia going to do without it's Dragon Riders?
"I don't understand." She said. "How do you know this? How does this directly effect me at this very instant? Why does that mean I must hide? Shouldn't I go to Vroengaurd to be trained or something?"
Very patiently GreyWind explained.
"It means, Dearest Leah, that you are being hunted. Those eggs were being transferred from a rider outpost in Du Weldenvarden to Vroengaurd when they were stolen by Lor, and Lor knows you've got them."
"The gray dragon I saw." Leah murmured.
"Yes." GreyWind said. "She, and her Elven rider where transporting the Eggs. They were not alone but for some reason her companion, the green dragon that passed over the village that morning, had flown ahead of her. It was the battle between the rider and Lor or a companion of his more like, that caused the earthquake." GreyWind paused thoughtfully. "Really it was more of the after shock of a powerful spell and not a true quake- Anyway I do not know if Lor and his probable companions are in league with the group that are attempting the assassination of the Riders, or if he is just the usual sort of rabble that tries to steal an Egg or two, but either way he's after you, and you my dear are not strong enough yet to face him on equal ground. Not even close."
Leah pressed her hands into her eyes. Trying to ward off a headache she knew was hiding somewhere in her head.
"I think I could take him once these cuts healed."
GreyWind threw back his head and yowled a laugh. "Dear girl I think you could! But I told you that he most likely has a companion, one who was able to dismember an elven rider and her dragon. Do you think you could take him?"
Leah somberly shook her head no.
"Smart child." GreyWind said.
They sat in silence for some time. Both the girl and GreyWind starred up at the sky, and the few clouds that blew swiftly across it.
Leah hugged her rather tense hatchling to her chest. Wincing as hard scales pressed tightly against her wounds.
The situation with Lor was infinitely more serious than Leah had first thought, and quite obviously could not be ignored.
The situation of the threat to the Riders as a whole was so immense she could not force her mind get a hold on it.
She knew with reluctant certainty that GreyWind was right. She could not go back to the Hovel. It would to greatly put the village at risk. Not to mention herself. If Lor knew she had the eggs then he would be after her and the first place he would come would be the Hovel. So what would she do now?
GreyWind leaned into her, his warm shoulder pressing against her side.
"What do I do?" She asked him in a small voice.
"Leave." he replied.
"Obviously." Leah retorted sharply.
GreyWind's eyes closed. His smile remained in place as he said.
"I have found a place, deeper in the spine. You should go there. It's defensible there is game enough to hunt and will be more safe than hiding in a town or city."
"So I am supposed to hide? For how long? Why can't I find one of the Riders still on the continent and ask them for help?"
GreyWind sighed "I will over look your idiocy since you have been through much tonight." Rising to look her full in the face he said,
"You intend to trek across Alagaesia, wounded with a dragon who wont be bigger than a pony for several months? All the while being hunted by who knows what, and you expect to find a full grown Rider and his or her Dragon who will undoubtedly be shielding and hiding themselves in every way they possibly can?" GreyWind said this is one breath.
"Ah." Leah said.
"Ah indeed."
They sat for a few long moments. GreyWind still gazed into her eyes.
"What about Lilly?" Leah asked. Her heart felt like it was binging squeezed by the hands that had pushed her here. Which was another thing to ask GreyWind about.
A look of sympathy crosses his face which conflicted with his smile.
"You will have to leave her behind." He said. "For a time at least."
"I can't." Leah exclaimed. "She is my family, my only real cousin I'm responsible for her. I can't just leave her!"
GreyWind patter her knee. "Hush child I know it's hard but Lilly is seventeen now. She is responsible for herself. She has Corin and Joan and that nephew of Rosta's down in Narda. She will miss you terribly, and most likely be hurt by your sudden disappearance but chances are-" He shrugged. "You'll both die if you don't go."
Leah starred down at her lap where the dragon lay quietly. He was starring with one black eye at GreyWind. Becoming a dragon rider was starting to feel less and less like a gift from fate.
"People will search for me." Leah said quietly. "If I just up and leave."
GreyWind shook his head "The place I have for you is quite out of the way." GreyWind's smile broadened. "I doubt it can be found buy mortals. An Elf might not have difficulty or an Urgal…" He trailed off.
"My things…"
"Dearest Leah." GreyWind said calmly. "What are things compared to your life?"
Nothing. Leah thought. Nothing compared to my life or the life of other people who've done nothing to deserve my brining down utter destruction on them.
"How will I get there?" Leah asked. "I don't know if I could walk all the way. I don't even know how I got here." Leah starred accusingly at the werecat who chuckled.
"You shall have to walk I'm afraid. And as for how you got here… Logan gave you a nudge in the right direction."
Leah blinked. "Old man Logan?" She asked, thinking of the crazy man who so often deigned to stand naked atop the rock face above the Hovel.
"Indeed. He is something of a sorcerer. He found where your dragon had run off too and brought you here at my request."
Leah shook her head.
"Logan will tell Lilly that you went to Narda where you had bartered your way into a merchant train bound for Dras Leona. He will tell her that you needed to be away from this place for a time and that saying goodbye to her was to painful. He will collect your things and pretend to send them onward to Dras Leona when in actuality I will be the one to collect them." His smile broadened. "See child. It wont be so bad."
"She'll be devastated." Leah said flatly. Thinking of her slight cousins sharp green eyes, so quick to tear. "She'll hate me and never forgive me."
"You must not dwell on that now." GreyWind said.
Leah had to agree. It was her duty to look after Lilly and this had to be the best way of doing that.
"I can't go anywhere tonight." Leah sighed. Feeling somehow defeated, and terribly, unbearably tired.
"I did not want to travel until morning anyway."
Leah laid down, squirming to move the dragon from her chest.
GreyWind pulled one of the blankets out of the pack and covered her with it.
"Tomorrow we will go to the place I've found for you. You and your baby will be safe there. Tomorrow the sun will have risen and everything will seem less impossible and more manageable." He knew that Leah was asleep. The poor child had been through a terrible lot since becoming a rider, and shortly before. He hoped she would make it through this.
GreyWind patted her shoulder. Eying the black dragon that starred at him over Leah's shoulder.
"It will be all right girl. You wait and see."
Authors note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter guys. I just wanted to clarify that when I mentioned the 'Brodding Kingdom' I was referring to the kingdom humans had established before the fall of the Poalini has made this official it's not just in my mind. Thank you.
~FalseDawn