The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter 21: Collapsed expectations
Sharys forced all of its children together to see what they had wrought, the scattered bodies of both babes and hatchlings smeared in the wake of their rage.
Watching Petra’s confident gait as she sauntered off, Cara's mouth hung ajar in surprise as she was just left there, unbound, with no guard or restrictions. A fierce squeaking drew her out of the shock as Cara desperately looked around for her hatchling, who was the source of that sound. Behind her, Ahnn approached, face politely settled into a neutral expression as she unwrapped the sheet wrapped around Cara's dragon.
The writhing bundle within came tumbling out in a small pile of limbs and wings, perforated by a few loose, dull grey scales that clatter to the ground with it. Cara quickly picked up her dragon as Ahnn scooped up the discarded chitin, sliding the small plates into her pocket while Cara was reunited with her little dragon. More patches of beautiful silver now leaked through the little dragon's scales, and Cara gently touched her nose to her dragon's snout before looking up at Ahnn, who was watching them with the blank expression that Cara was beginning to associate with the girl.
"What, are you waiting to put a knife to my back like your friend over there?" Cara asked aggressively, jutting her chin in the direction the Princess had walked.
"Her Highness only took what actions she deemed necessary to protect her safety and interests." Ahnn replied, offering a hand to help Cara up. Ignoring her, Cara instead used the ground to rise to a standing position, giving Ahnn a look of suspicion.
"Weren't you just yelling at Petra for her kidnapping plan being a bad one?"
"Lady Myzanti. For whatever it is worth to ease your mind, I disagreed with Her Highness's decision to double back, not her abduction of you, which I believe to be a soundly tactical one." Turning on her heel, Ahhn walked away, her dark purple dragon trudging along behind her as she went, lowering its knobby horns towards the castle doors.
"Where are you going?" Cara called after her, "Aren't you going to stop me from running away?" She took a step backward towards the edge of the sun pad as if to prove her intent.
Slowly, Ahnn looked back over her shoulder at Cara, the bushy mane of auburn hair shifting with the movement.
"Lady Myzanti. Where will you go?" She asked, her soft tone sending a shiver up Cara's back. "The only way in or out is on dragon back, and you've no wings to carry you aloft."
With that, the Kitisalian girl walked into the tall, gaping archway of the palace, leaving Cara to examine her surroundings in a panic. Ahnn was, of course, correct in that there did not appear to be any bridges or lifts stretching from the wide cliff on which the castle rested, but Cara had other skills that could help her escape.
Walking over to the edge, Cara discovered with a sinking heart that those skills were not unique enough, for someone had already thought to take care of any would-be climbers.
Smoother than a piece of silk, the rock surrounding the castle was whole and unblemished, all cracks and openings smoothed away into a continuous face of the pristine rock. Cursing the people who built the mountain palace, their mothers, and their mother’s dragons, Cara threw herself onto the ground, crossing her legs underneath her as she comforted herself and her hatchling further. After several deep breaths and a few rounds of consolation scratches, she stood, resolving not to give up on escape so easily. Cara took a deep breath and began making her way towards the doors ahead of her, clutching her dragon to the middle of her chest.
Upon her movement, the third, silent party that had remained out with her on the sun pad began to stir, the great thuds of its gait reminding Cara of its presence. Looking over her shoulder, the great emerald green dragon that had carried her to this place took a step forward, its golden horns shining in the morning sun. In her arms, the hatchling happily peeped up a greeting to the larger dragon, her high tones piercing the still air of the courtyard.
Snorting once in reply, the dragon came to a stop behind Cara; massive head tucked downwards as dull, yellow eyes considered her. Cautiously, Cara took a step backward, keeping the dragon fully in her sights as she backed away. Every time that she thought about turning her back to the creature, phantom flames licked into her skin, sending spikes of fear through her body. After a few more steps, the dragon followed, prompting Cara to continue her retreat, hastening her pace as the scaly giant in front of her did the same.
"...what are you doing?" The Princess's voice rang out the question, and Cara cricked her neck from the speed at which she twisted to look behind her. Petra stood there, hands on her hips and a bemused expression on her face as she took in Cara’s awkward, paused body halfway through another backward step away from the slowly approaching dragon.
"He will not attack you, you know. Lysander’s no feral Faded" Petra’s voice was purposely slow, as though speaking to a child, serving to incite Cara’s irritation further.
"Fine." Cara said, gritting her teeth and whirling on her heel as she forced herself to turn her back on the dragon just to make a point. Cara bit on her cheek and defiantly looked forward, even as her mind cried out in fear and sent her muscles trembling.
"Take me home."
The Princess exchanged a knowing look with Ahnn, who had reappeared from the depths of the hall behind her, glancing between the two of them with a calculated appraisal. They said nothing, merely exchanging glances before turning back to Cara, Petra shaking her head.
"Fine. Then tell me what you want from me, abducting me in the middle of the night like that." Cara said, pacing back and forth, letting the agitation that had built up inside her release with the movement."Explain something about what's happened, so I'm not just dangling ignorantly!"
Petra glanced over at Ahhn once again, but this time the short-browed girl shook her head, looking away into the depths of the hall behind her, "Your Highness. This is your plan to deal with the consequences of, and I need to assess the situation within." Quickly making her exit, Ahnn left Cara alone with Petra, who looked displeased by the hasty exit.
Petra's icy green gaze brushed over Cara as Ahnn left them, her voice an unenthused tone when next she spoke. "So. To make things simple, the succession is a Game. People were assassinated, and I refused to leave a weapon in my sibling’s arsenal." Putting a hand on her hip, Petra's eyes flicked over to Cara. "That should explain about everything."
"Great, no, that's wonderful. Really cleared everything up there, Petra."
Bright, cat-like eyes snapped back over to Cara; an eyebrow arched in surprise. "I don't remember giving you permission to address me in such a manner." The Princess said, her voice distant and dignified.
Cara shrugged, walking further into the hall. "Must've been somewhere between the time you abducted me and my dragon from bed at sword-point and the time you stabbed me in the back, quite literally."
Petra sighed, turning and making her way into the depths of the castle's entrance. "You healed fine from that." She said, her voice slightly sullen.
"Yes, well, it still doesn't leave a lot of room left in my opinion of you for pleasantries and cooperation."
"Well, you may have a point there. But then I demand the same right of you!” The Princess declared imperiously, eyes flashing as she spoke. “You shall also be addressed by your first name from now on."
A deadened silence rang out after her words, and as Cara didn’t respond, walking into the hall and pausing after she realized that the Princess had stopped walking. Looking back, she found Petra looking at her expectantly and realized that her captor didn't even know her name. Pinching her lips together, Cara glared back at the princess, refusing to tell her as she looked around the hall they currently traversed.
Tall, thick pillars of dark stone took the hall’s ceiling high off the ground, massively ornate lanterns cast from bronze hanging from its heights. Several doorways flanked each side of the vaulted entryway, another pair of sizable double doors lining the back wall. On either side of those massive doors, unused fireplaces sat, cobwebs and dust filling the space where logs and flame usually lived.
"Oh, very well, I'll just have Ahnn tell me." Petra finally snapped, walking off towards the last door on the left. All of the doors set into the hall were sized to humans, so Cara was more than glad to take the opportunity to leave draconic eyes behind her in the entrance hall. Godbeasts, she had been so jumpy since the Trial, and being forced to abide here did not help.
Through the door, only a mosaic of dirt, cobwebs, and dust awaited her as the years of abandonment coated the passage with its layers of grime. Following the small, dainty footprints on the floor, Cara walked down the narrow hall, small arrow slots up ahead, letting in cold shafts of sunlight. Dust particles dotted and danced through the illumination, stirred up by Cara's footsteps as she made her way towards the sound of a closing door.
Around a slight bend in the hall, Cara yanked a wooden door open, ready to bombard questions at whoever she found behind it. Instead, the immediately huddled shapes of draped furniture greeted her, placed down in a shallow pit carved into the center of a wide tower. The floor had two concentric descending rings carved into it like steps that led down to a mass of leathers and cloth coverings. An iron staircase with stone steps curved up the sides of the tower’s round walls, and if she craned her neck far enough, Cara could see a couple of large, dragon-sized windows higher up the roof.
"Dining tower." Ahnn's voice said from next to Cara, startling her and the hatchling into a soft yelp. The girl had at some point changed, discarding her cloak, gown, and Cara’s spear for a pair of black britches that tightly hugged her body and a simple dark purple blouse with puffy sleeves. Her bushy hair gathered back into a low, voluminous auburn ponytail, secured by a purple ribbon the same color as her shirt. Although the clothes were simple in style and decoration, Cara couldn't help but note the impeccable tailoring that hugged the generous swerve of Ahnn’s hips and the absurdly fine quality of cloth from which her clothes were made.
"Ahnn, there you are!" Petra’s voice jubilantly called out from above, preceding the Princess rushing down the staircase, her blond hair bouncing with the movement.
"Your Highness. The kitchens seem to be broken; I’m unsure as to the mechanisms that made them work, but a supporting bar rusted through, and the entire back part of the room has collapsed." Ahnn gave her report matter-of-factly before turning slightly and gesturing upwards.
"There's a lift to bring food down to the serving table, but I would not recommend using it until its safety has been verified."
Petra sighed, smoothing the hair atop her head that had already neatly fallen back into place. "And this all means…?" She trailed off, looking over.
Ahnn shook her head, opening the door Cara had just come through. "I would not recommend this tower as fit for habitation in its current state, pending further repairs and sanitation."
Petra nodded, walking out the door trailed by Ahnn, and eventually, a begrudging Cara. While they walked back to the entrance hall, Petra peppered off questions at Ahnn, who answered them without delay in her apathetic manner.
"How long do you think it'll take to fix that up? We should hire extra workers to speed things along, don't you think?"
"Your Highness. We are supposed to be hiding here, are we not? I doubt that bringing in local workers to fix up the castle would suffice to function under that plan."
Petra waved a hand, briefly highlighted by the slits in the walls. "Fine, we'll get some of our trusted servants to sneak in and help. It’ll just take longer. I should write to my mother and let her know I'm safe; she’ll be mad with worry after the news gets out back home."
In the entrance hall, the dragons turned to greet them, the large wings of the green King beating slightly as the dragon stirred.
"Lysander-'' The Princess began, her words choked out by a coughing fit that broke out as a cloud of disturbed dust hit her face. Cara only got some of the dust, sneezing twice while the other two girls recovered.
"Lysander, you menace!" Petra rasped, gesturing towards the green beast. "His wings-" she coughed again, gesturing with one hand towards where a patch of floor that could be casually described through squinting eyes as ‘clear’ now lay.
"Where is the water?" The Princess said, turning to Ahnn, who hastened over to her small purple mount. Swiftly detaching one of the metal containers strapped to its side, she carried it over to the princess. Unscrewing the cap, the Kitisalian girl gently held it to the Princesses lips while she greedily drank. After a few seconds of gulping, Petra took the container from Ahnn and finished her drink, coughing once while she put the cap back on.
"Well, now that I've survived an assassination attempt from my dragon…." Petra shot the yellow-eyed dragon a stern look. "We should cover more ground. I'll take the doors on the left; you take the moody Myzanti girl and doors on the right, Ahnn."
Cara shot a dirty look and a quick jab back Petra's way. "Isn't this your house? How do you not remember where anything is?"
Something flashed across Petra's light green eyes as her face settled into a neutral mask, posture subtly shifting into a closed countenance. "The last time I was here, I was quite small, and we didn’t even go inside." She said cooly, crossing her arms.”Naturally, I wouldn’t know where anything is in a castle I’ve never been inside." Walking away, Petra opened the next door and entered without another word.
A sharp, cruel elbow to her ribs sent a shock of pain up Cara's side, and she looked up to see Ahnn looking at her, short eyebrows scrunched together.
"What the shattered hell?" Cara gasped, shuffling her hatchling onto her shoulder so she could nurse her ribs.
"Lady Myzanti. I warned you before. Be respectful of Her Highness. She'll be your Queen come a year, and you should treat her with the appropriate amount of reverence."
“Bloody smooth horned Kitisalian.” Cara muttered as she followed, the slight ache of her side twinging each time she took a breath. They walked through more neglected tunnels into the base of another tower, this one boasting a spiral staircase up the center, with branching landings stretched out to meet it from different levels.
"I'd hazard this to be the family's rooms." Ahnn remarked partially to herself as she opened up several doors on the bottom level.
Left to her own devices, Cara wandered over to the large wooden staircase that shot up the center of the room. The wood didn't look the best, so Cara tested it with her foot, the stair underneath creaking alarmingly once she put some weight on it.
"Best to be careful." Ahnn's voice said, sounding like she was next to Cara's ear.
Whirling around, Cara found no sight of her, though a rustling from a nearby room placed Ahnn rather far away. Writing it off as an oddity, Cara waited at the foot of the stairs, swiping a patch of floor clean and sitting down before letting her little dragon free to roam for a bit. The hatchling happily wandered about, quickly discovering that she wasn't a large fan of the dust that covered everything, and promptly retreated to the small patch of ground that Cara had swept out to sit on. Primly taking a seat, tail wrapped around her sharply clawed feet, the little dragon settled in near Cara's right arm and placed her horned head on her rider’s knee.
Looking up towards the ceiling, Cara could make out several shafts of light peeking through the tiles up above, the roof another casualty of neglect’s cruel whims.
"Lady Myzanti. Let's get going." Ahnn said, stepping out of the rooms behind Cara. "A couple of those are usable, and I'm betting her highness will want to take them over."
Cara quickly grabbed her hatchling and followed Ahnn's bobbing bushel of hair out of what she mentally referred to now as the Residential tower into the next one. They didn't get too far here, as the passage collapsed a good way in, forcing the girls to turn back and try the next door. It led to a large closet with a few crates stacked near the back corner and empty rails and shelves for tools and supplies.
Ahnn paused after taking a few steps into this room, momentarily sending Cara ahead while she rifled through the crates and boxes as though looking for something. Eager for the excuse to be on her own without Ahnn’s stiff, judgemental silence, Cara took off towards the final door on their side of the entrance hall.
She found another long tunnel behind the door, this one longer than the others, slanting slightly downwards as she approached the door at its end. With a bit of encouragement from Cara's shoulder, the wooden door opened into another passage, though this one was short and filled with thick air speaking of salt and clean water.
Steps echoed behind Cara as she exited into an enormous cavern, quickly joined by Ahnn as the dripping sound of water filling the dim darkness around them.
"Lady Myzanti.Would you give us some light?" Ahnn's voice asked her, and Cara looked over in the approximate direction she had come from.
"Ah… maybe? I don't think so unless...."
Cara turned and walked towards the open doorway to the passage behind them, half expecting Ahnn to ask her what she was doing. Instead, the girl patiently waited as Cara hesitantly approached one of the wall slits further back in the passage, thinking of how she had grabbed that shaft of moonlight as she cupped her hands together. Taking a deep breath, she shoved them into the sunlight, silently willing the illumination to stay pooled within her hands.
Moments later, when she pulled away, light still shone from her fingers, though not quite in the way she had expected it to. Instead of pooling like liquid within the bowl of her hands, the light fell through, sticking to them like a thin film of shining dust. Walking back to the room, Cara raised one of her sun-covered hands, extended it towards the expanse of darkness, and pushed.
She had no idea what she was doing really; Cara was just improvising off of what she had seen some light riders do growing up and hoping it worked. Her body grew heavier as the moments wore on, but finally, the rays flickered as though dying out. She shook them, pushing again with all of her might, and the second time the light flickered, it burst back out in an impressive amount of radiance, looking almost like smaller versions of the beams Cara had seen atop the palace roof.
"Not very adjusted to your magic, are you?" Ahnn asked, giving Cara an odd look. "I've not seen someone with such a powerful dragon so reliant on natural sources to power their magic." Before receiving an answer, the girl wandered off towards something she had spotted in Cara's light, leaving its wielder alone and feeling like an inadequate idiot with glowing hands.