Chapter Eight

Flynn and Nesryn had left the assassins castle a few days earlier, the assassins had given them horses and a few supplies, they were camping out in the Baranam forest in a clearing on a hilltop, they would arrive in Nybia in about two weeks. Nesryn couldn't wait to see Verenya again, she hadn't seen her since she was five. But she was nervous, what if Verenya hated her? What if she never wanted to talk to Nesryn ever again? Worst of all what if they had moved and she never found Verenya? What if she never saw her beloved daughter ever again? They stood on top a grassy hill watching the sunrise to the east, stars still glimmered in the dark blue sky to the west, she gazed at the horizon and beyond lost in thoughts, the pink and orange of the rising sun reflecting in her eyes.

Flynn watched her silently, he felt as if she were looking at something he couldn't see far away, beyond the horizon, her dark green cloak fluttering in the small breeze that swept over the hilltop, her hair was bound into her usual braid that reached her mid back. He tuned back to their small fire that was no more then embers at this early hour, he saddled the two horses, one of them gray and the other buckskin, the gray one was his, he had named it Grey, he didn't care that the name was the horses colour, Nesryn hadn't bothered naming her horse as they might have to sell them and she had said that naming things only made you get more attached to them, he knew she was right but he couldn't help himself. He then loaded up the sleeping rolls. Nesryn still stood watching the sun as if she were in a trance, she jumped when he laid a hand on her shoulder to tell her they had better move on.

Thats how it went on for the next two weeks, sleeping then riding on, then sleeping again when it got dark, each night they told each other stories of where they had grown up, Nesryn was born in Szerabi, far to the south where it was always warm, the winter they knew was rain not snow, she had grown up in Nybia the capital of Szerabi, where as Flynn had been born in northern part of Easalrea, where there was snow almost all year round, they lived mainly off meet as plants were only accessible for a few months in summer. He had lived in a small village next to the Tatschi river, he had been taken captive by king Rohnans forces when they passed through the village, they had burnt the cluster of houses to the ground and killed most of the villagers, those who had survived the massacre had been taken to the labour camp where he had met Nesryn.

It began to rain.

It continued to rain for the next day and a half as they climbed up the steep slope to look out over the land, as reached the lip of the hill the earth fell away, Flynn reached the top first, he drew a silent breath of admiration as he saw the huge city sprawled before him, a great wall surrounded it, the buildings were a beige colour and the roof tiles were a malachite green, though the rain stained the walls a darker brownish colour, he had never seen anything like it, he had never seen such a big city, he had seldom left the village he had lived in as a child and the labour camp had just been a few scattered buildings. On one side of the city the great wall melted into a jagged cliff even from this distance they could see the wide path carved into the cliff face that led down a sandy beach that melted into the ocean, from a distance the sand appeared grey in the rain and the ocean that was a stormy mass of tall foam tipped waves. He helped Nesryn up the last part of the slope so she could see the city for herself. Her hood was up to shield her face from the sheets of rain, the dark green material glistened. But not as much as her eyes did when she beheld the city below, a smile lit her face as she looked up at Flynn.

"We made it," Her voice was filled with joy. "I'm home." She began her way back down the slippery slope to where the horses were waiting under a tree where they were hiding from the rain, Flynn slid down after her and swung into his saddle. Nesryn didn't wait to see if he was following as she urged her hose forward around the cliff. It took the almost all day to get around the cliff. As they entered the city through the huge city gates, the guards at the gate stopped them to ask their business but Nesryn simply stated that she live here and that was that.

Despite the rain the streets were packed with people, it was the Rain Festival Nesryn told him, the first rains of the season was always celebrated. Flynn had no idea how Nesryn knew where she was going, he had long lost track of how to get back to the gate as they continued down the winding streets. The shouts of vendors overwhelmed him. Nesryn pulled on the reins and her horse came to a stop, she jumped down and dug through her saddle bag, she pulled out the small leather pouch that held the little money they had. Just as she began to walk a little ways down the street the rain came to an abrupt stop and the sun began to shine, she walked over to one of the vendors, they began to argue over something in a language he didn't understand, when she returned she held a small necklace in her hand, a beautifully wove gold chain that held a crystal in a spiralling grip, it was polished and smooth, he had never seen this kind of crystal before, it was clear on the surface but inside it there was a bundle of pale colour, as the sunlight caught the stone it seemed to almost looked like it was glowing, the pale blueish-yellow colour of it seemed to draw the light into it.

"What is it?" He asked, she smiled at him.

"It's moonstone, I got it for Verenya. It's supposed to bring good luck." She murmured transfixed by the beauty of the stone. A stranger bumped into her and she snapped out of it, she swung herself back into the saddle telling him it wasn't far now. Three streets further towards the heart of the city she reined in her horse, she slid off and stood staring into the back yard of a small house, he could hear laughter coming from within as his too pulled his horse to a stop he could see a small group of children playing just inside the gates, Nesryn was gazing at a young girl, her ebony hair stuck to her olive skin still wet from the rain her blue eyes sparkling. Nesryn swallowed.

"Verenya?" She called out, the girl stopped and looked back at them, she took a step towards Nesryn. "Hey sweetie." Nesryn said her voice was quiet and thick with emotions. The girl ran to Nesryn flinging her arms around her her, Nesryn hugged her tight spinning her around in her arms and let out a choked laugh, she set the girl down and took her face in her hands, smiling, tears streamed down both their faces. The little girl beamed through her tears, Nesryn drew her in again and hugged her tight as if trying to make up for four years of missed hugs. When they broke apart Verenya took Nesryns hand and led her into the back yard calling out for someone named Rosie. They were half-way across the yard when a tall woman in a golden-yellow dress and her hair coiled elegantly onto the top of her head stepped out of the back door of the house into the yard looking around to inquire why Verenya had called her. The dark skinned woman gave a strangled cry when she saw Nesryn, the two woman embraced laughing. The woman was almost a head taller then Nesryn.

"You came back!" The woman laughed. "Where's Ravi?" The woman asked, as she let go of Nesryn looking around, Nesryns face fell.

"Rosita," The woman strode towards Flynn as if expecting Ravi to be with him. "Rosita," Nesryn said again this time louder. "He's gone, I'm sorry, I couldn't save him."

Rosita fell to her knees not caring that her golden-yellow gown would be ruined, her shoulders shook as sobs racked her body, she cried out to Phayannon, cursing whoever they were, for bringing only her sister home, for letting her brother die.

~

Yuana listened to the sound of water slapping against the hull of the boat, the boat rocked back and forth, thats how it had been since she woke up fully dressed and blindfolded in this stinking place, it smelled of piss, vomit and fear, most of the riders ships and castles reeked of the latter. Her memories of her time as a dragon were hazy, no matter how hard she tried to remember what had happened she couldn't, all she knew was that she had killed, how many or why she didn't know and didn't particularly care either if she was honest. She could hear others breathing around her but it was quiet, no voices, though occasionally the distant shout of a sailor, or at least she thought it was a sailor, would drift by high above, accompanied by the sound of creaky steps on wood. She spent most of her time sleeping, there wasn't much else to do. They were fed every once in a while, she had been allowed to remove her blindfold while she ate, she scanned the place where they were, it was a cramped storage space of a ship, she could see others but she didn't recognize any of them as they too were blindfolded, the blindfold cover much of their features and there was but one oil lamp burning which set the rest of their faces into shadow. She knew the cursed copper bracelet was back on her wrist, she could feel it and she loathed it more then ever. She soon lost track of time, she was dozing when a clear voice broke the insufferable silence.

A sweet high voice began to sing. A strange language, not the common tongue, but she understood it, she recognized it, she recognised the song, her father had sung it to her before he died. A song from the north, from her fathers homeland, Easalrea.

"When the stars wink out, my world will go dark, but I will fight the for the light and I'll fight for the stars." Her heart ached, she could still hear her fathers voice as he sang that very song, she had been too little to understand it but she had loved the melody, so he had sung it. The voice was strong, its owner hadn't been broken by the riders like she had been.

"The light may have left me but the flame in my heart will always burn bright." Yuana joined the lone voice, singing in the damp darkness, her voice was low and rough compared to her companion, but together they sang. More of the prisoners who knew the song joined them until the sound echoed all round, she could feel the wet of tears on her cheeks as the music rushed through her, giving her hope that not all was lost, that not all the stars hadn't winked out yet, there were still a few of them here and they burned bright, bright as the sun, she could see them before her. if she reached out she could touch them. Her blindfold was ripped off and she squinted against the bright light of the lantern dangling in her face, as her eyes adjusted she saw the snarling face of a woman in front of her. The prisoners stopped singing, all except for one voice, the same voice that had started, a young woman, she couldn't have been much older then Yuana herself. The girl was from Easalrea. Her pale skin, blueish-black hair and bright green eyes were a dead give away. She looked into the eyes of the figure who stood before her and sang the last verse of the song.

"Never shall I die." The girl looked to Yuana and as there eyes met the girl blinked slowly as if to say: it's ok, we're ok. Yuana admired her for her bravery.

"We'll start with these two." The woman who stood over Yuana called to the man who hauled the girl to her feet, they unlocked the shackles that were attached to a thick chain that ran along the inner walls of the ships hull, so Yuana and the girl could stand, then they bound her wrists back together with rope, the coarse vine it was made of scratching and pricking into the already shredded skin on her wrists, she hissed as bolts of pain shot through her raw wrists. They were shoved unceremoniously up the narrow wooded staircase and onto the deck. She breathed in the cool fresh air, the sun was low on the horizon and there was water all around, no sign of land. She relished the touch of a breeze on her hot and filthy skin. There was a metal bowl next to one of the masts, fire flickered in the bowl, some of the sailors paused to watch them as they were shoved towards the mast and fire bowl.

The woman shoved Yuana to her knees, she felt the hard wooden deck crash into hr knees, the feeling reverberated through her body, The girl was shoved to her knees beside Yuana, the woman spun Yuana so she was back to back with the girl. And they remained there, kneeling on the deck in the fading light of the sun, their hands bound behind their backs, their fingers touched and they held onto each other, kept holding on to hope. Yuana was facing the open water while the girl faces the mast and fire, she heard the girl let out a shaky breath as the clink of metal on metal broke the silence.

"What are they doing?" Yuana breathed, she didn't dare turn to look, as one of the sailors stood close by, his sword drawn.

"They're heating up branding irons," The girl whispered. "They mean to burn us, mark us like property. Brand us like we're animals!" The sailor grinned at them, he knew they were scared, sure enough she could feel the girl trembling slightly, the mild spring night suddenly felt cold and a shiver ran through her.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours but what couldn't have been more then fifteen minutes judging by the position of the sun, the sailors took turns guarding them, some of them just stood and watched, while others taunted them, one even caressed her face telling her exactly what he wanted to do to her. Then the woman came back.

"The irons are hot," She said. "Who would like to go first?" Neither of them replied, they just stayed hunched in on themselves gripping each others hands, the little comfort they could offer each other. The woman walked slowly around them, waiting for one of them to say something, Yuana closed her eyes and tried to imagine she was anywhere but here, the womans footsteps slowed then came to a halt.

"What about you." She said, Yuanas eyes shot open expecting to see the womans leering face before her but all she saw was their flickering shadows cast by the fire.

The girl shook, her fingers were icy and Yuana held on as tight as she could. The girls fingers were yanked from her grip as two sailors hauled her to her feet.

"NO! Please, I'll do anything!" The girl begged but they ignored her, the woman came into Yuana line of sight and made her turn towards the girl, she was going to make her watch, make her watch them brand the girl, watch them brand her because she had been singing. Yuana felt sick, Yes she was being trained as an assassin, but that didn't mean she cut people up or branded them, no her job was to make someone disappear without a trace, her job was to make it quick and quiet. This was different, this was sick.

"Please I didn't do anything! I swear, whatever you think I did, it wasn't me! I've been locked up this whole time!"The young woman begged as two of the sailors made her take her shirt off then pinned her to the deck, she faced Yuana, she met Yuanas eyes silently begging for her to help, to do something anything, but they both knew there was nothing either of them could do that would stop this.

Yuana tried to look away, to turn her head away, she wouldn't watch, but the woman grabbed a handful of her hair forcing her to watch. The last ray of golden sunshine fell onto the young womans face, it light up her eyes as the iron was lowered towards her bare shoulder.

"Please don't!" The young woman whispered, she had given up trying to fight against the grip of the two sailors.

The iron was pressed onto her shoulder, she didn't scream, she wouldn't give them the satisfaction, the young woman panted through the pain, maybe it was just a trick of the light but Yuana could have sworn her eyes were glowing, she didn't know how that was possible as the girl, too, had a copper bracelet around her wrist. The woman who still held Yuanas hair hard enough to make her eyes water, laughed.

"She didn't scream, impressive, go again, on the same spot." The man who had branded the young woman grinned then took the second iron out the fire, he pressed it onto the same place on her shoulder as the iron before, this time the young woman screamed, the sound ripped through Yuana, the young womans face was stilled highlighted by the ray of sunlight, and this time Yuana was sure, the girls eyes were glowing a bright deep golden.

"No!" Yuana screamed and began to struggle against the woman, she got free and staggered to her feet, she charged at one of the sailors, the man instead of dodging as she had expected caught her in his arms, she struggled, kicking and biting, her arms and shoulders were on fire all of a sudden as the sailor pulled her still bound arms back, she bent forward to ease the pain, the man held her like that not letting go of her arms, she winced as a lick of pain swept through her shoulders and she shifter slightly, a pair of black boots stepped in front of her and she craned her neck to the side to see the young woman, her eyes had stopped glowing as she lay defeated on the wooden planks tears dripping down her nose onto the wood, Yuana let out a breath of relief, her distraction had worked, no had noticed the glowing eyes, she hadn't been trying to escape, if she had been she would have jumped overboard even though water terrified her, she hated swimming, she hated that she couldn't see what was beneath her, she hated the water plants that would wrap themselves around her ankles when she swam.

"Her turn." The woman said and Yuana was pushed onto the deck, she couldn't catch herself as she fell and she face planted onto the hard wood, her breath whooshed out of her as she kissed the planks. The left side of her face stung like hell as she peeled it off the deck. The two sailors who had held the girl down were on her in seconds, they unbound her hands and pulled her shirt off, the wood dug into her bare breasts as she was held down, the woman drew the iron out the fire, she could only watch out the corner of her eyes as it neared her shoulder. The hot metal sizzled as it was laid on her bare skin, she didn't hold back as she screamed, the heat of the red-hot iron spread through her like wildfire, she dug her nail into the palms of her hand till blood welled, the woman removed the iron and she lay there sobbing, the burning didn't stop, it ripped through her, burrowing deep under her skin down to her very bones, the sailors released her but she remained on the ground, listening to the splash of the water on the hull of the boat, to her thundering heart, to the drip, drip, drip of the blood from her nose and tears on the wood.

Yuana was pulled to her feet by a sailor while the woman who had branded her yanked the other young woman to her feet, they were allowed to put their shirts back on, they were pushed, shoved and pulled back down to the other prisoners, her shoulder still burned, but her pain was nothing to what the girl must be feeling, she could see blood slowly but surely spread out on her shirt. They were silent and kept their heads down as the were rechained but no blindfold this time, Yuana and the girl were chained next to each other, the girl slouched down as they locked the chains in place, when the sailors turned to the other prisoners and left taking two more innocent people to be branded, Yuana reached over and took the girls hand, they didn't speak, they just sat in silence until the screams of their fellow prisoners echoed down from the deck above, the girls bottom lip began to wobble and the tears came, Yuana scooted over to her as far as she could and the girl leaned into her side as she continued to sob, Yuana just held her stroking her hair as Yuanas mother had done for her as a child, it was quiet in the dark place the only sound was the soft despairing sobs of the girl. She tried to ignore the insistent pain in her shoulder, tried to direct her magic to her shoulder to heal it, the bracelet stopped it from healing but the magic soothed the pain slightly.

She jolted away at the slam of a door above, she hadn't meant to fall asleep. The girl had slid to the floor, she too was asleep, Yuana didn't wake her, there was no point.

The sound of footsteps echoed down the wooden stairway, all the prisoners who were awake went still and tried to make themselves as small as possible.

Shafts of dusty sunlight pierced the darkness, she could see well enough in this light. Yuana shook the girl awake, maybe it was better to be awake in case they were taken somewhere again, murmuring for to be quiet and sit up.

The girl nodded her eyes wide. The door was thrown open with such force it banged into he wall behind it and any of the prisoners who had still been asleep jolted awake. The same woman who had burned Yuana stood in the doorway, she prowled down the first row of prisoner then the second, until she stopped near Yuana and the girl.

"Which one of you stole it?" She demanded, the room was quiet as death, what was she talking about? What was stolen? Yuana had no idea, how could any of the steal anything anyway? They were all locked up in this putrid smelling room. "Which one of did it?" She demanded, she stalked over to a cowering young man. "Did you take it?" She hissed. "Or was it you?" She turned on an older woman who held her head high. "Or you?" She turned to yet another person.

"Someone has to talk!" She roared. "If no one comes forward," she grabbed a child clinging to the arm of an older woman, the girl was only seven or eight. "Who was it? Step forward now or the girl dies!"

The child began to cry, she tried to go back to her mother but the woman held her arm in a bruising grip. No one stepped forward. The woman drew a short cruel blade and slashed it down the childs back, blood splattered the wood, the child screamed. The childs mother sobbed reaching for her child but the woman kicked her aside.

"Who was it?" The woman roared again, raising the knife to strike again. "Who stole the Dragon's amulet?"

The Dragon's amulet, so thats what had been stolen, hadn't the woman though to question her sailors? They were much more likely to steel it then someone who was locked up. The Dragon's amulet belonged to the Dragon Queen, why did someone who was associated with the riders have it? Sure the Dragon Queen had vanished twelve years ago but so had the amulet, or so everyone had thought, but if the riders had it... Did they have the Dragon Queen too?

The woman slashed down with the knife again, the child was sobbing as her blood painted her legs and the floor bright red.

"Stop!" The woman turned with a smile. Chains clanked as a boy took a limping step out of the shadows. "It was me. I stole it and threw it overboard to where it belongs, so it could join it's mistress in the After-world."

The young girls mother cried harder, the woman shoved the little girl to her and she enveloped her child in her arms. The little girl reached her small hand towards the boy. She cried out his name, boy glanced at her for a second then repeated what he had just said. "It was me."

The woman marched over to him and unlocked his chains, she dragged him past the woman and the weeping child, their sobs were heart breaking. The little girl tried to run to him but her mother held her back.

"I love you ma." The boy whispered as they passed.

"Pablo please!" The boys mother begged him. "Please tell me you didn't!"

The boys sister cried silently in her mothers arms as the woman dragged her brother away.

The door closed and they were all silent listening to the retreating footsteps, Yuana glanced the girl next to her as she slid to the ground, tears in her eyes and even as she tried to blink them away Yuana knew, it hadn't been the boy who had stolen the amulet, he had only been trying to save his little sister. She knew that the real thief was sitting slumped on the wooden boards next to her.

It was silent as the grave when the boat bumped into something a day later. The woman and some sailors came down and were taking a group of five prisoners with them each time they left. Finally they came for her and the girl, she had learn the day prior that her name was Elyta, they hadn't talked after that.

"Get up!" The woman snapped at them, she had brought the boy back the night before, the poor boy was covered in blood and had flinched away when someone tried to help him, he didn't talk about what they had done to him either, not because he didn't want to talk about it but because they had cut out his tongue. The riders are fucking psychos! She thought to herself. How could they cut out a fifteen year olds tongue?

She found it strange and unfair that they could hold so many magic wielders captive in the ship with no consequences. Oh she was going to kill them all, one day when the time came, she would kill every. Last. One. Let the consequences for that be damned, maybe she would go to hell for it but she didn't care. Not now she knew the Dragon Queen was alive, not now that she knew where she was. She had pieced it together bit by bit while the others slept.

They were led onto the deck, it felt like a repetition of when they had been branded, but as she looked up her breath caught in her chest as she beheld the grasslands in front of her, the golden light of the midday sun beat down on them, she relished its warmth after the cold and damp of the ship. The long swaying grass seemed to beckon to her, it reminded her of the grassland outside Nybia to the south, where her mother had grown up. It stretched out as far as the eye could see. She breathed in the smell of sun backed grass, wild flowers and something else she didn't recognise. The prisoners were led down the lowered gangplank onto the jetty, it was a simple wooed one, there were no other ships, it looked abandoned as some of the planks were missing showing the murky water below and as her feet hit the ground she swayed slightly, the ground felt so solid under her after days on that ship, as she glanced back at it the white sail let down and fluttering in the slight breeze, the ships name was scrawled across it in elegant gold letters, Natalia, the blue sky was nearly cloudless, wherever they were there was no going back unless she had a ship.

The sailor lugged two heavy looking crates down the gangplank, she heard a growl emanate from one of the crates, she shivered what the hell was in those crates, she was too focused on the crates to notice as the copper bracelet was opened, she jumped as it thudded onto the dry ground.

Her magic rushed through her body, it felt as if a missing part of her clicked into place, everything seemed to slow, the woman stepping away from her couldn't be moving that slow, the wind couldn't make her hair float instead of flutter, Yuana pushed away from the woman, she shifted in a flash, the woman barely blinked as the wolf vanished into the swaying grass. Then prisoner after prisoner quickly followed suit and in a matter of seconds the sailors and the woman were alone on river shore, the sound of the sails snapping in the rising wind was the only sound, the woman turned back to the ship with a small smile on her face, the smile was colder then ice and even the captain of the ship lowered his head and backed away as the woman pulled the bars, keeping the crates shut, away letting them drop to the ground, for a second there was pure silence, then the Sniftergrins sleek, black, leathery bodies shot out of the crates, bat-like faces close to the ground, sniffing, scenting, tracking... hunting.

The Sniftergrins lean forms close to the ground as the chased after the array of animal. They weren't pack animal, usually they would mark a target and chase them to the end of the world if they had to, their teeth were sharp and serrated made for tearing flesh off bone, their ears were big and smoothed back along the its skull, their noses were squished in like a bats, their crimson eyes filled with a hunger and blood-lust.

The woman grinned as the last of their long tails disappeared into the under brush. "Run faster!" She said as if the prisoners could hear her, she stood there still as a statue until the first animalistic scream split the air, then she smiled again and without a backwards glance she strode up the gangplank.