“Can you sense it?” he asked the guard by the border.
“Something sinister flies in the wind.”
“The Tekk-tekk must have unleashed it when the Scarags attacked.”
“The question is why it’s coming our way.”
Clouds loomed in the sky and the sunlight no longer warmed his skin. “Unusi Amati. The beat of her heart travels at the same speed.”
“She’s leading it here,” the guard grasped. “The High Council warned you. Now she brings disaster to our lands.”
“She might as well be trying to stop it.”
The sensation of pending doom grew when clouds covered the sun, and the roots and leaves of the trees trembled. A shadow lifted above the horizon and grew faster than birds flew.
“Dragon!” the guard shouted. “Pray to the gods that your arrows will not miss their target.”
A soft shiver rippled through the forest as the archers lifted their bows.
“Impossible,” Miran said. “The dragons are gone.”
“Unusi,” the guard growled. “She’s trouble. Always has been.”
“You sang another tune when she saved the princess.”
Supernatural stillness filled the forest as every sentient being turned their focus to the dragon. Memories of what had been flashed through his mind. He loved Unusi more than anything else in the world. The memory of their first meeting burned in his soul. The world changed instantly, the colours became vivid, joy danced in the air and hope grew in places otherwise filled with despair. The High Council banned her from the region when they found out about her mortality, as if her mortality endangered the morality in the region.
He saw the wings of the dragon, the thick scales that worked as armour, and Unusi’s limp body in the clutch of its claws.
“Please be careful,” he said to the guard. “She’s weak but still alive.”
His chest cramped and he struggled to breathe. Her pain became his pain, and rippled through his body as a cry for help. The world around him faded and he fell to his knees.
“Help her.”
Her soft hands touched his face and her smile warmed his essence. “Sing to me,” she begged while kissing him. “Sing.” Sunlight flooded their home and she danced around with their sons on her arms. “Sing my love.” Nonija flowers bloomed and glass winged butterflies swirled in the air, like jewels. “Sing my song.” The boys’ laughter bubbled with the joy of the innocent. “Sing.” His body warmed up, he took a deep breath and started to sing.
“Lava oko ljua…” he got up on his feet. “Vuej cajos jenousám.”
The sun came out of the clouds and the dragon stopped to hover just out of reach for the arrows. The song filled the air and filled the forest with warmth again.
“Miran!” the dragon called. “She’s still alive! You can save her!”
“Bring her to me!”
“To be slayed by your archers? No. You come to me.” The dragon flew to a nearby cliff and landed. “Hurry! Her life fades.”
Miran ran out of the forest and crossed the border river.
“You fool!” the guard shouted. “You’ll be slayed!”
He did not care about the warnings or the High Counsel, his beloved needed him. Swift footsteps followed him as he climbed the cliff.
“Stop!” he told them. “Don’t scare him away.”
“We’ll go where you go!”
“She’s our mother. We have the right to be with her too.”
“We’re unarmed.”
The dragon reached down. “Here, let me lift you up.”
“No.” Miran kept on climbing.
“Mother needs us. Let him help.”
Kirjen and Lozaj climbed into the dragon’s paw. Miran hesitated for a moment before he followed them.
“She asked me to bring her to you,” the dragon said. “She fell when we took Haerahiriko city.”
“You fought with the Scarags?” Lozaj asked.
“I fought with her. I owe her a life debt.”
“My love.” Miran kneeled by her lifeless body. “I’m here, the boys are here. We’ll help you. Keep on fighting.”
“We can’t bring her to the forest.” Kirjen turned to the dragon. “Can you lift her over there.”
The dragon gently lifted her to a sheltered cluster of trees. “She asked me to spread her ashes over Sivasty if she dies.”
“She won’t die. I won’t let her.”
Miran summoned aeons of knowledge and turned to heal the woman he loved. The dragon moved boulders to shelter them from the wind and the boys talked to the trees, urging them to grow fast and thick.
“I must leave,” the dragon said. “Other Efirny are coming.”
He soared high in the sky and disappeared.
“He had tears in his eyes,” Kirjen whispered.
“You’re imagining things. Dragons don’t feel, or cry.” Lozaj shook his head. “Help me with the roof.”
“I know what I saw.”
“Hurry up!” Miran told them. “She’s cold, we need to start a fire.”
He had stopped the bleeding and closed her wound. The true battle for her life began there. The trees and branches shaped a shelter to keep her safe from weather and wind, but she needed more. She’d need love, care and attention. All the things she needed when the High Council exiled her. All the things he failed to give, because he feared them and exile.
“I’ll take care of you,” he whispered to her. “Kirjen and Lozaj are here too. We love you. We don’t want to lose you now you’re back.”
It’s strange how things work out, he thought. She found him and healed him when he was lost. Now she had been come to him to be healed. She came home against all odds and he would make sure that she never had to leave.
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