I was so distracted by his skin I didn't see the dip in the ground. My foot hit it, my balance shifted, and I stumbled forward two steps, yelping at the impact on the bottoms of my feet. Almost immediately, the dark brown Dragon surged forward to catch me, likely preventing me from falling, but the Wyvern was right beside him.
Everyone stopped, turning to look at me. All I could do was blink, and a few more tears streaked down my face. Wiping at them, I simultaneously massaged my eyes, begging them to learn how to work in this over-lit world.
That made the men on either side of me start talking quickly. It didn't sound like a debate. More like they were coming to a decision. The brown one made a gesture over his eyes. The Wyvern nodded, and then slipped off his pack. I watched in confusion as he pulled out the cloth and water we'd used for lunch.
One more time, the Wyvern soaked the fabric and offered it to me. Grateful, I began to pat at the back of my neck, hoping for the same cool effect. That made the blue-tailed man smile, but the brown one had other ideas.
Lightly touching my arm to get my attention, he pointed to the cloth. Reluctantly, I surrendered it, wishing I'd been able to wring it out on my neck first. But instead of using it himself, the brown Dragon unfolded the crumbled material and then laid it over the top of my head so part of it dangled before my face, not quite reaching my nose.
And I could see through it!
That little bit of fabric was just enough to block out the glare of the daylight, which meant I could see now. I wanted to laugh, or cheer, or something. Instead, I simply smiled, not sure which one of them I should be thanking.
But the Wyvern wasn't done yet. Clearing his throat, he pointed to my foot. I shook my head, but he pointed again. Not knowing what else to do, I lifted it.
The man tested the bandages, then moved my leg so he could see the bottom without making me fall over. On my other side, the brown Dragon just sighed heavily before he grumbled something under his breath.
"I'm fine." I insisted, gently pulling my foot back from the Wyvern's hands.
He let me, but muttered, "Ayem fahn."
"I'm fine," I said again, enunciating my words.
"Ey um fai nuh," the Wyvern mumbled, shaking his head.
I just huffed and kept walking. That they understood. The rest began moving, leaving the Wyvern to catch up. He did, jogging right back to my side, but his lips were still working over the strange syllables of my words. He didn't stop until the brown Dragon started chattering at him again. This time, I recognized the tone as teasing.
The Wyvern shot something back, and the green Dragon responded. The mood began to lighten, and I tried my best to keep up with what they were saying. I didn't stand a chance, yet it was still interesting to watch them interact. Almost as interesting as the world around us. Combined, all of this reminded me of the fantasies my mother had made up.
Thinking about her made me toy with the little ring on my pinky. My mother would've loved this. She'd have called it a great adventure and reminded me to enjoy every second. A wistful smile flickered across my lips before I looked at the world around me again, the cloth on my head finally allowing me to appreciate some of it.
Out here, there were so many trees. Millions of them, stretching on as far as my eyes could see. Big ones, and with all different kinds of leaves. Around the base of each were the brown and dead remains from the years before. It looked soft from a distance, but I'd learned the hard way how that brown carpet was filled with many, many sharp things. Walking across it would be treacherous. Running would be almost impossible.
And yet the Dragon had walked through it without seeming to notice. So had the rabbit. My feet seemed to only be safe on the path, or road, or whatever it was properly called. Regardless, it was wide enough for four people side by side and hard enough no grass or plants grew on it to attack my feet. Well, not many. Occasionally, I saw something sprouting up, but it never looked as lush as what thrived along the edges. Could this be the only way through the world that didn't have dangerous hazards? If so, how would I ever escape my captors?
Because I'd promised Callah I would at least try. Since I wasn't dead yet, maybe I still had a chance? These Dragons were mostly acting kind, but I wasn't foolish enough to trust them. Not with the way the green one had lashed out earlier. After all, that was what men did. They smiled kindly and talked softly, up until a woman refused what they wanted.
Which meant my plan to lull them into trusting me might even be working? I wasn't sure if acting meek and submissive actually qualified as a plan, but it was the best I had. Plus, with the Dragons leading me someplace, I was getting the chance to learn at least a few useful things, like the cloth over my head and the water on my skin.
Hopefully, I'd be able to survive on my own when I slipped away. Maybe tonight? I wouldn't be blind then, so it would probably be my best chance. I'd wait for the men to all fall asleep and maybe climb one of the trees? A few of them had limbs low to the ground. I'd managed to climb into the library, so I should be able to do the same with branches, right?
Because that was the best option I had. Sure, I'd read books about the Earth, but they'd been about a completely different time. Back then, there had been ways to travel in moving boxes called cars. The wilderness had been reserved for special areas, and access had been granted only when specialists were around to keep them safe. Some areas had been very big, and many people had enjoyed them, but they certainly hadn't lived inside them.
It seemed the world had returned to a wild state. When the Devil won the last battle, men had paid the price. That allowed everything else to reclaim what it had lost. I'd seen the injuries the hunters came back with. I'd treated many of them. Now, here I was in the same dangerous land with no one to tell me what to avoid, slowly but surely marching toward some unknown future.
I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't see the tree laying across the road until the Wyvern thrust an arm across my chest to stop me. Sucking in a breath, I looked up to find him staring again. As if to explain, I tugged at the cloth over my eyes, and something about the monster's face softened. Slowly, he nodded.
Then he rambled off a string of strange words and pointed to my feet. That didn't make any sense, so I looked at the large tree. It was as big around as I was, and the branches on it had thin, green spines. They weren't like the other leaves. This tree looked like the kind shown for Christmas in my books, without all the decorations. It took a moment before I thought to look at the parts not on the road.
The base of the tree had pulled up when it fell. A massive knot of roots jutted straight into the air. On the side with the tree's top, there were nothing but dense vines. The kind that had thorns. Everyone else was merely stepping over the tree - which was when I figured out what the Wyvern meant.
The ground around the tree was covered in loose green needles and pieces of wood. For my wounded feet, that would be torture. I was having enough trouble with the hard-packed road. This? It would definitely hurt, but clearly the entire group intended to go across.
Pushing out a nervous breath, I braced myself, then took a step forward. Again, the Wyvern thrust his arm up, halting me. He repeated the gesture at my feet, but I could only lift my hands in confusion. Yes, I knew I wasn't wearing shoes. What exactly did he want me to do about it?
So the man put the tips of his fingers together, his hands making a flat circle, and raised them. I shook my head, making no sense of his gesture. The sound which came from him could only be described as a growl. Slowly, he bent to pick up a stick, and I watched. The tan Dragon, however, was losing his patience.
Grumbling out a string of those foreign words, he stormed right towards me. When he was close, he lifted his hands. The gesture was clear enough. He intended to grab me. Letting out a yelp, I hurried back, doing my best to stay out of his reach.
A flash of blue shoved before me, and the Wyvern hit the other man hard. Both palms shoved against the tan one's shoulders, forcing the man back, but he merely spread his shoulders and chest. They looked ready to fight, and the snarls coming from each sounded feral. Behind them, their tails lashed. The dangerous barbs were still retracted, but the whips were deadly enough.
Each sentence came out louder than the last, and none of them made any sense. The Wyvern pointed towards me. The tan one pointed towards the other side of the tree. Both males had their muscles tensed as if ready for a fight, and they shifted back and forth, each one taking his turn to lean in a little closer. Thankfully they didn't attack.
Not until the tan one took a step towards me. That was more than the Wyvern could take. Moving faster than anything I'd seen before, he lunged, shoving the tan Dragon onto his rump. The man snarled out a string of sounds, but didn't immediately get up. Instead, the Wyvern pointed to the far side of the trees. Letting out a breath, the tan one nodded.
And then, the Wyvern turned to me, but he didn't make a move to approach. He simply knelt, picking up two small pieces of wood and placing a larger one before him. Treating them like dolls, he mimed what he'd been unable to convey in words. The smallest stick was meant to be me. The slightly bigger one was him. The one lying on the ground was the tree.
When he lifted one of those hairless brows, I nodded to show I was following along. Then, he clasped his stick with two fingers, the tips of them sticking out too much, and carefully laid the smaller stick - me - on them. Balancing the smallest stick on the Wyvern one, he bounced the pair over the "tree."
He was asking if he could carry me over!
The Wyvern had seen my wounded feet. He knew the debris would hurt. The others had strange feet, so this wasn't a big deal for them. To me, it would be painful, so he wanted to help. The Wyvern. He was offering to actually help me?
So, with my heart racing and my mind trying to prepare for how he would betray me, I nodded. Mostly, I agreed because he'd asked. The two of us hadn't shared a single understandable word, but he'd stopped the other Dragon from grabbing me, and then he'd figured out some way to ask if he could actually touch me? It was more than any of the Righteous men had ever done.
Slowly, carefully, he approached me. Always watching my face, he reached down for my hand. That, he lifted over his shoulder, right around his neck. The chain connecting my arms slipped down my back, but the Wyvern simply ignored it as he bent to scoop an arm beneath the backs of my knees. When I didn't flinch or squeal, he lifted.
The moment my weight was off the ground, I grabbed at him for support. His shoulders were slick, but that was simply his strange skin. The muscles beneath were hard, giving my hands something to clasp. As carefully as he could, the monster most feared by the Righteous curled me up against his chest as if I were a child. And then he walked towards the tree.
