The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Seven

Chapter 7: First Encounters in the Frost 

This outraged Nepthys, who pleaded and begged its counterpart to return to their celestial cycle, to no avail.

Hurtling through the portal's light and odd sensations for the second time seemed to go by a great deal faster than the first. Cara supposed, as she flew, that it was because her body hurt too much to feel any of the sensations, so instead, she directed all of her focus on keeping the dragon egg clutched closely to her bosom. 

The scratching had begun again; Cara could feel the shell's vibration under her hands as everything went dark, quickly fading into that curtain of buttery light once more. As it was peeled back, Cara noted she was not falling from the sky as she had before but rather being flung out of a doorway unceremoniously. 

The light faded away quickly, and Cara was left tripping over her own feet and toppling into a small, painful pile as she looked around. The portal had left her on a hill somewhere, but the sound of trickling water had turned into a dull roar. Stumbling towards the sound, Cara found herself atop the gently sloping banks of the River Tyrbessa, the body of water named after the wife of the first monarch and whose girth calmly circled the Capital of Netis. 

Urging her feet forward one last time, Cara made her way down the slope, walking carefully even though the slow movement was agonizing. When her feet finally made contact with the loose soil of the makeshift beach that edged the river, Cara breathed a long sigh of relief out, collapsing downwards and gently placing her egg behind her on the dirt. Shakily, she pulled off what remained of her boot, putting the ruined footwear off to the side as she slowly lowered her leg into the water. 

A quick shock of cold ran through her before the soothing liquid surrounded her legs, beckoning the rest of Cara into its cool embrace. Untying her jacket remains from around her leg and stomach, Cara gazed at the crispy mess of skin under the water, tossing the ruined hide off to the side. She pulled off the cord holding her braid together and put it by her egg along with what remained of her clothing and boots, making sure that it was secure. A quick examination revealed that no new cracks had appeared since leaving the portal, just the occasional scratching now and again. 

Her fingers clumsily separating her burnt braid apart, Cara slowly leaned back in the shallows of the water. Allowing the relief to spread all over her body, she sighed, as her hair spread out in a fiery fan across the river's surface before sinking beneath the surface in dark red tendrils. She wasn't aware of falling unconscious, but when Cara's eyes opened again, the reddish pink of sunset had been painted across the sky, the light fading from her surroundings. 

Turning over onto her stomach, Cara stifled a groan of pain as her body violently protested both the movement and the abandonment of the water with a wave of crippling pain. She dragged herself closer to the edge of the river, the soft eddies of the water gently lapping at her burnt and steam stung flesh as she reached up towards the egg behind her ruined shoes. It now had a network of cracks rippling across it like a web with the scraping noises growing more aggressive within its shell, and Cara got the feeling that the baby within would soon hatch.

When she picked up the egg, both dragging herself closer to it and out of the water simultaneously, the scratching sound went quiet, as though waiting for something from her before continuing. Holding the egg to her chest, Cara shivered as a violent sensation of pain and sickness rushed over her, urging her eyes to close. Settling down further into the shallow water and gently warmed by the failing light of day, Cara laid her head down on the rocky shore, the cracked egg only a few inches away from the limp locks of red hair spread around her head to dry out. 

Tapping a heavy hand on the egg one last time before giving in to sleep, Cara whispered, "Hurry up, or I'm going to be asleep when you get out of there." No reply immediately came from within the turquoise shell, so she closed her eyes to rest for just a few moments. 

Something hard and warmly wet dropped onto Cara's outstretched arm she had been using as a pillow. She was planning on just blearily shaking it off and returning to her slumber when another piece hit her, and she quickly realized what that was. Quickly attempting to blink away the sleep, Cara glanced around the area, struggling to see in that dusk that had covered almost everything in shadow. Further down the river was a small patch of sunlight still peeking in between hills, and Cara picked up her egg, pieces of which had fallen off. 

Quickly crawling her way down, adrenaline powered Cara's movement as she promptly placed the cracking egg onto the ground in the patch of light, straining to see what was inside the tiny hole that had been made. More movement came from inside as another large piece fell away. Cara's dragon was finally making its push for life and freedom.

The light was fading quickly over the bank above her, but before the height of the ridge could block its final fingers out, a small head emerged from the side of the egg, butting its way through. Blinking wide, purple eyes, the tiny head swiveled towards Cara almost immediately, letting out a little indignant chirp before rapidly withdrawing from the hole that was made. 

"Oh, my." Her breath caught in her chest, Cara waited for a moment with anticipated breath before a final, loud crack sounded out, and a small creature tumbled out, partially covered in a milky clear liquid. "Hello, little darling." Cara whispered softly, reaching out a cautious hand towards the fragile being in front of her. The baby dragon was no bigger than a small cat, with a high, graceful brow and pale scales whose exact coloring was hard to make out in the growing darkness. 

"Oh, hi there, little one, you're so beautiful." She whispered again as the dragon noticed her hand and cautiously stretched out a small neck towards it, not moving from in front of its egg. Cara marveled out how smoothly her fingers slid over its little nose and felt a jerk of delight when the dragon head-butted her hand, letting out a small cry that sounded more like a dove cooing. Something changed in Cara as she picked up her new bonded partner, a sort of understanding of the creature she held, the way it moved and shifted. She could tell that it was full of energy and rather hungry. Grimacing, Cara tried to pull a leg out of the water, her vision momentarily going white and ringing from the pain. 

The dragon in her hands let out a small cry in response to Cara's yelp of pain, nuzzling a pointed snout into the crook of her elbow before immediately taking advantage of her distraction to clamber up over her arm and hop down onto the shore. "No, you come back here." Cara scolded, scooping up the pale creature and desperately wishing she could see better in the low light. A different kind of shiver ran over her, and the chill of night settled over the riverbank, helped along by its flowing waters.

Turning over her dragon so that it laid on its back, she slowly scooped up some water and poured it over the little creature, helping to clear off the last of the fluid from its egg. Once she had finished, Cara gently lowered the squeaking baby back into her lap, slowly taking her leg out of the water. It didn't hurt as bad the second time, though the pain still wracked Cara from head to toe when she attempted to stand up, landing on the tail of her ruined pants with a wet thud and nearly dropping the dragon in the process. 

Squeaking and scrabbling indignantly at her arms, the newborn nipped at her bare arms as it tried to escape. "Nepthy's gash!" Cara swore, resisting the urge to fling the dragon off of her arm where it still sat, tiny needle teeth glistening white in her flesh. "Let. Go. Please." Cara hissed, drawing out the last word through gritted teeth. Coaxing at the underside of her dragon's throat with a fingertip, Cara stroked its smooth, scaly little neck to make it swallow repeatedly. 

The discomfort caused the baby to quickly release her arm, opening and closing its mouth as its little forked tongue flicked the air, looking almost black in the low light of night. Stroking the tip of the dragon's nose with a finger, she brushed up its head and scratched behind its little horns.

"No more biting me, please, hmm? We don't need you getting us faded for harming riders before you even grow big enough to fly." Cara whispered affectionately to her new friend, bringing the hand cupping its small stomach closer to her face. 

The tiny creature bucked its head into the scratches she gave it, chirping angrily when Cara pulled her hand away to scratch at her own arms. It cooed again when she didn't immediately resume her duties, instead continuing to rub at her uninjured leg, which had also started to itch. As recompense, the dragon decided her curls were its newest food source and promptly took to chewing on the end of the nearest one.

"I'm sorry, little bit." She murmured, standing up and taking a step away from the water as she flicked her hair out of the hatchling’s reach. Cara realized she had stood unaided right about the same time as a breeze swept through the hills, usually a soothing touch that now cut through Cara's soaked clothes in icy knives. Goosebumps raised all over her skin, and Cara quickly made her way over to her boots, realizing that while the pain was still very much there, it had changed to feeling more like a swelling tightness than a raw, screaming fire. 

Her wet boots disintegrated completely when she tried to pick them up, and Cara thought about not even attempting to pick up the sodden jacket beyond them. With her shoes gone, she needed to find shelter now, before the cold and everything else got worse. Poking at the scraps, she picked up one that hadn't entirely been eaten away, the back of her jacket where the insignia of her house was emblazoned. Now it looked faded, the green field mostly destroyed, and the fox’s russet faded to a hint of red, its white marks patchy yet still easily the most visible thing left on the cloth. 

Grabbing a piece of the broken eggshell, Cara put the chunk into her one intact pant pocket, the fabric on her burned side barely holding together as it was. She clutched the squirming hatchling in her hands closer to her chest, wrapping it with the remaining cloth from her ill-fitted jacket while savoring the minuscule bit of warmth that came out of the small creature. After a few moments of squeaking protests, the diminutive form gradually stopped wiggling and instead began nosing at her shirt curiously. Cara was sure she smelled horrible, like she had just hugged a wet dog after rolling around in a trash fire for a few hours, but her dragon didn't seem to mind. 

The bank of the river, which had seemed so small when she came down it, now loomed over her head like a mountain, an impossibly long journey to reach its top. Cara's eyes drooped again at the thought of having to trudge back up, but she lifted her feet, heavier than stones, and began forcing them up the small hill. She had to get back to the Shardroad or else risk dying once her throat started swelling from the cold. All Cara wanted to do as she slowly labored up the bank was to just fall back down into a ball, soothe her painful body, and scratch at her irritated skin. 

A slight burning sensation began pricking where the skin itched, forcing Cara to try to move her legs faster. No matter how hard she thought about it, though, her pace remained at a slow crawl until she reached the top of the riverbank and raised her weary head to look out at what possibilities stretched in front of her. Before Cara was a wide grassy field that led to a neat fence in front of the round lanterns of the road that led to the capital of Netis. To her other side, the riverbank curved towards the Veselarius Forest, its three mountains peeking out like shadows on the horizon.

Looking away from her survey of the area, Cara stopped in her tracks, checking that the little creature in her arms was still doing alright. She could see sharp little eyes glinting up at her from inside the folded jacket scrap, a little tail flicking around as the newborn got comfortable. "At least one of us is warm." Cara told it, her words punctuated by chattering teeth. 

Lantern light on the road would help her see the dragon better, Cara realized. She tried to use that as an incentive to ignore the burning itching that was becoming almost unbearable and instead begin forging her way towards the Shardroad. The glowing stone shone luminescent in the night, visible from the ground as luminous marks that dragon riders used to navigate at night. On the other side of the road, there was a statue with an enormous plaque announcing that Jelena the Mistwraith, one of the most feared Matriarcha of Farca when she reigned, had worked together with other nations in the construction of the Shard Path, making a navigational municipality for all countries. 

Cara's thoughts turned even more delirious and unrelated while trudging through the grass field, eyes fixed on the line of glowing stone beyond the wooden fence. It was hard to concentrate on any one thing. Instead, her mind swirled around, jumping from one unrelated thing to the next as her throat felt scratchy and hot. She hadn't always had this issue with the cold; as a little girl, she had loved to run out into the snow barefoot. 

Age and changes in her body had brought this new reaction, and Cara had first experienced an attack, nearly suffocating during a snowball fight at a memorable holiday feast. Another gust of wind brushed into Cara, slightly warmer but still sending her shivering, rubbing at her good arm while it held the warm little bundle as close to her as possible. Her thoughts were gone now, nothing but an empty void in their place with one directive, to make it to the road where hopefully someone would find her. 

Cramping painfully, her stomach sent a wave of nausea racing up her throat, and Cara was forced to come to a stop, bending over slightly and gagging. She had eaten nothing since that morning, so there wasn't much besides river water that came up, but she felt even worse afterward. In her arms, the newborn dragon reached its curious little head out of the jacket scraps, snapping at Cara's mouth. 

"That's gross, stop that." Cara mumbled, wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her tattered shirt and containing her trek. It felt like she had been walking across this grassy field forever with the fence not looking any closer. The breeze picked up, becoming a solid wind, punctuated by several gusts around Cara. She could hear something in the distance, perhaps the cry of some bird, but ignored everything as she tried to continue onwards.

A substantial buffet of air knocked her forward, sending the creature in her arms flying a foot or so into the dirt. Twisting around, the little dragon looked around at the tall grass and tasted a blade with a curious bite, pausing as it considered the green vegetation. Cara placed a hand on her ground and got herself to a sitting position, gasping in pain and scratching frantically at her healthy leg, which was now covered in angry red spots. 

"Girl!" A rough voice barked out, making Cara jump and sending the little dragon scuttling back into her lap. "What do you think you're doing trudging around my pastures at night? You're upsetting the sheep meant to feed the king and all of his ilk in a few days!" Breathing in deeply, her throat feeling tight, Cara looked up to see a sandy golden dragon, its knobby horns sticking straight up, descending on her from the sky. 

On its back was a man with a dark beard and simple clothes, a frown adorning his face as he looked at the pale little creature climbing around Cara's arms. "You one of those lordlings from the trial, then?" He called, dragon touching down and reaching a curious, round nose out towards where Cara sat. She tried to respond, but for some reason, no matter how hard she tried to speak or not, her body just wasn't listening anymore. 

The dragon in front of her pulled its neck back as its rider took a few steps forward, looking at Cara with a cautious eye. "Must've taken a bad wild portal." He muttered, crossing his arms and taking her in. "Warm her up a bit, would you, Marocles?" The dull yellow dragon looked at Cara and then slowly opened its mouth, sending a spinning vortex of warm air towards her. The relief was almost immediate, the heat gently encompassing her tired, sore body and holding her in its comforting warmth. 

"Alright girl, what house are you from? We'll get you back, sure enough." The air from the dragon in front of her had loosened her muscles enough that Cara could shake her head, closing her heavy eyes and curling up around her hard-won prize. 

"Hey! Dung and Deathscale, don't go to sleep; you need to answer me!" The man's foot gently nudged at Cara's ribs. "Where do I take you, my lady?" He asked, voice sounding irritated.

"Myzanti," Cara murmured finally, sleepily swatting away the foot as she barely got the words out. "I belong to House Myzanti." 

Cara then laid her head down, ignoring any other questions or curses that might have been flung her way.