The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter 23 - A Predator's Presence 

Despite Shary's pleading, the Dragons launched an attack on the Void, hoping to repay the pain that it had caused within them.  

As weeks stretched by during Cara's confinement within Cair Demesis, she grew increasingly desperate to find a way out. After the first few days, the occupants of the decrepit castle largely spent their time apart. When motivation struck her, Cara explored and attempted to determine the organization system for the library while still practicing her magic. 

Her dragon had grown too, and Cara had begun to refer to the creature as 'little girl’, though it was dependant on the creature’s whims whether or not it answered to the moniker.  Petra and Ahnn, aside from mealtimes, had been locked up in the study or walking together in secretive huddles, sometimes furtively discussing something on a piece of paper. 

Any further inquiries Cara had made as to why she was here or what was going on were ignored, food shoved at her quickly before they hurried on to their next conversation. She was getting frustrated with constantly being left out of everything and had stopped trying to care whenever they were in the same room. Isolation had always suited her fine, the gentle quiet of her own company preferable to the unpredictability of others. She still hadn’t quite gotten over the part where they abducted her against her will.

After some astute observation and her own guesses, Cara figured out that Petra had been serious about writing letters, as Ahnn had passed her in the entrance hall several times now, a bundle of envelopes carried in her hands. It was slowly driving Cara mad that she couldn’t figure out exactly how they were sending these letters, as they never left the castle so far as she could tell. Cara had kept an eye out through the library windows, but despite her sharp focus, she never saw Ahnn or Kirial depart the castle, much less the tremendous green bulk of Lysander. 

One night at dinner, the Princess decided that it was time to interrogate Cara instead of letting her scuttle back to the library without another word. Politely yet not without force, Petra pinned Cara down under the terrible weight of societal obligation when she asked her to join them for the meal.

“Really darling, don’t you think the moody distance has gone on long enough? Sit and eat for once.”

“I’m quite partial to the moody distance myself.”

“You’ll make no friends that way, you know, and I would so like us to be amicable at least, even if your disapproval is evident.” Petra said, ushering Cara down into the now cleaned and cleared dining area at the bottom of the tower.

Feeling off-kilter, as though she was being guided into a dance without knowing the steps, Cara cautiously sat down, eyeing Ahnn’s silent, appraising gaze. They sat in a strained, watching silence, the boiled mush of grains and heated meat having come from the kitchen on the second floor of the Dining Tower. 

The little grey dragon on Cara’s lap quickly decided that meant the food placed on the plate in front of them was for her, not her rider. As the creature had grown, so too had her appetite, and she was slowly getting more aggressive as she tried to acquire her food. Neck quickly darting out, little jaws beat Cara’s fork to the chunk of salted pork it was aimed at, inciting her rider into a struggle for her meal as she tried to snatch the meat back out of tightly clamped draconic jaws.

"What is your dragon's name?" Petra inquired curiously as Cara flicked her dragon's snout to make it drop the food. 

"She… doesn't have one." Cara replied, not looking up. She was still upset with the two of them for taking her here in the first place, but that anger had slowly faded to a dull similarity over the last few weeks as she acclimated to her life at this defunct castle. Her nook in the tower was comfortable, and she had enough to eat, but she still felt restless and stagnant after the repetition of so many lonely days spent cleaning, sorting, and practicing by herself.

"You really should name her." Petra said, glancing over at Ahnn. "But don't worry, it took Ahnn a few months before she named Kirial." 

Looking back to Cara, Petra's smile widened as though she was about to tell Cara a delicious secret. "We've known each other for so long, you see." The Princess informed Cara as if that fact wasn't already obvious. "I was there when she picked her egg out of the great hoard of Kitisal, hatching the little creature like a purple eggplant from the garden."

“Your Highness. I must ask that you not spread personal stories about me to strangers.”

“Hush now, Lady Myzanti is supposed to be our friend and ally, though perhaps she would appear less a stranger if we called her by her name…?”

Looking Petra dead in the eye, Cara savored the small amount of rebellion that she still held over the Princess and simply smiled back at her, nodding vaguely as she stabbed at her grain mush with a fork, the pork abandoned to victorious draconian stomachs.

“Don’t worry about Ahnn though, Lady Myzanti.” Petra said, neatly recovering with a slightly disappointed look in her eyes. “She may seem distant and formal, but we’ve been companions since childhood, and I’ve come to realize that my Ahnn has a heart of snow. Cold at first touch, but pure and easy to melt once you get to know her.”

“Your Highness. Please do not spread such baseless rumors about me to other people.” Ahnn said flatly. 

“What? It’s true! You just clam up around most people until you’re sure that-”

“Your Highness. Please.”

"Oh, fine. You’re no fun sometimes.” The Princess huffed, returning to her meal as the table sat in silence for a few moments.

“Ahnn heard that you had a close childhood friend of your own, Lady Myzanti, and a most curious one at that." Petra said, cat-like eyes watching as Cara's head shot up, eyeing the pair of them suspiciously. 

“Oh? Where did she hear that?”

Neither replied; Ahnn’s mask gave away nothing, Petra's face betraying only delight as the Princess took in Cara's reaction. 

"How did you befriend an Ataran countess at such an early age? I'm keen to know." Petra leaned in as Cara shifted uncomfortably, the dragon in her lap still eyeing the uneaten meat on Cara's plate. 

“This dinner has moved from awkwardly suspicious to downright creepy quite fast.”

“It’s not so bad as all that. You’re not very forthcoming in your own right, so I asked Ahnn to look into you.”

“Lady Myzanti. There was not much I found besides your sister’s fame and your connection to Bree, Countess of Dal.”

“Yes, and while I’m sure we could spend hours discussing your sister’s abnormally rapid rise through the military,” Petra paused, taking in the displeased look on Cara’s face. “I would much rather spend the time getting to know you, and one way we can do that is talking about your friends. So how did you meet?”

Realizing that she wasn’t getting out of this without some discussion, Cara gave in, resolving to be vague as she answered and avoided looking at Petra when she replied. "We met at a holiday party on the border as children before the Distoff Incident. We've kept in touch via letters ever since then." 

"Lady Myzanti. It sounds like your friendship is still intact despite the current political situation." Ahnn prompted, her voice dry. Cara shrugged in response, not offering up anything else freely to them if she didn’t have to.

After sitting under the weight of an expectant silence for a few more minutes, she pushed up and went to place her dishes in the kitchen, desperately hoping to escape the strain of social interaction for the haven of her library.

"I'm sure you've figured it out already, but the succession was decided to be a Game." Petra's voice told her as she walked away, stopping Cara in her tracks. "We have one year to declare my claim, obtain the papers thereof, and fight our way through my siblings to the throne." 

Rolling her shoulders, Cara responded, "That sounds more like your problem than mine, your highness. Best of luck." She began walking again, her dragon chasing her feet on the floor. 

"Well, I've written to the Capitol and declared my intent to reign, with your and Ahnn's names as declared supporters." Petra finished, stopping Cara once more. Slowly turning, Cara asked a simple question, her voice quiet. 

"You did what?" 

"Well, since we left together, you're already seen as my ally, what with our simultaneous disappearances, and since you still seem unwilling to cooperate even weeks after our arrival, I ensured your participation. Besides, the more supporters we can list, the better." Petra looked at Cara as though she was unreasonable. "It'll be fine. We’ll be able to train you a bit before the Game starts."

Her anger threatening to rip through her throat in a roaring, ragged yell, Cara quickly finished her walk up the stairs that Ahnn had declared safe to ascend, making her way towards the kitchen. Slamming the door behind her, Cara tossed her dishes on the nearby stone counter and placed her arms beside them, burying her head in her hands as she processed what Petra had done. 

Without her consent or knowledge, Cara was now officially and politically attached to Petra and her claim. This was a fact that would already be public knowledge by the time that she got back to the capital. Keti was going to be furious, no doubt, and Cara was going to have to go through a complete mess of effort just to clear her name from any association. Godbeast, this was a mess, and it wasn’t even one that she had caused or wanted.

Taking deep breaths, Cara pushed the copper curls of her hair away from her face and stood up, looking around the kitchen as she tried to calm down. The room was dark and lined by white stone counters, the hard material they were made of dully glittering in the dim light that crept in under the door. A couple of simple hearths that they had been using to cook stood off to the side, the stove in the middle of the room some odd contraption that wouldn't take wood. The back half of the room was cluttered with debris from where the roof had collapsed due to rot and neglect, limiting the space they had been able to use.

Several boxes and bags of preservable ingredients were piled on the counter opposite where Cara stood, the components within sadly underutilized by the fact that neither Petra nor Ahnn possessed any knowledge of cooking. Cara could have contributed her skills but saw little point in assisting the people that had captured her. The painful growl that her stomach had while she tossed the remainder of the mush into the trash chute next to the deep stone basin of the sink caused her to reconsider slightly. She was still hungry, but another mouthful of bland mush, and she would send her plate flying at Petra’s inconsiderate face. Cara comforted herself with the fact that she could just come back later in the night when they were asleep and whip something up with what ingredients there were accessible. 

Cooling her heels off about the more immediate problem, Cara stashed her dishes and marched back out to the dining room, where Ahnn and Petra were again huddled together over a piece of paper. Upon seeing them, the rage in Cara’s chest relighted, and she marched her way down the stairs and slammed a hand on the table.

"You had no right." Cara began, her voice trembling.

Upon Cara's entrance, they straightened, paper hid, and eyes warily locked on her as one would look at a wild animal. "You're right. I should've gotten your consent. But I knew you wouldn't give it, and as I’ve said before, I can't risk you and your dragon going to someone else." Petra's voice was cold as she addressed Cara, chin raised as though she spoke to a petulant child. "And you can't change it until after the succession has been decided, so that's that." 

Cara sniffed, walking back down into the recessed dining area and retrieving her dragon. "Houses change all the time." She said carefully, picking up the little creature by its scaly stomach. "Otherwise, loyalties would be fixed and unrealistic to politics." 

"Right you are, Lady Myzanti, houses do." 

They let Cara leave without further comment; the door swinging loudly shut behind her, the only protest that was voiced when she turned on her heel and left them in the tower. On her way back to the library, Cara passed a nicely sized pile of rubble sitting in the entrance hall next to one of the other doors, leftover from the excavations of the middle tunnel that Ahnn and Petra must have begun earlier that day. They hadn't told Cara of their plans or asked her to help, so she hadn't known what the mess and noise were about until she wandered to the kitchen for dinner. 

The silence of the illuminated tunnel welcomed her, its floors now free of dust and some grime after Cara had swept it clean with a broom she found in a closet off the entrance hall. Besides just cleaning and organizing, however, Cara had been searching for ways out of the castle, practicing the use of her magic, and trying to read some of the books that were contained within her tower. In all three activities, she had failed to produce results, with the castle seeming practically impregnable except on dragon back, her powers still doing little more than making her able to pull some light and get brighter. The other task was even more frustrating than the first two. There were few real books in the library, with the majority of them being vanity pieces of empty pages and gilded spines that were supposed to look nice. The rest seemingly a variety of languages she didn't speak.

Shutting the thick oaken door of the library closed, Cara took a few moments to stew in what had happened over the meal, anger simmering dangerously close to a boil within her. Placing her dragonling down on the floor, Cara hastened over to the space that had cleared over the last two weeks on the bottom of the tower. Although the size of the library and the sheer amount of shelves were amazing, Cara discovered over the weeks that it was mostly all just for effect. 

Cara had cleared some space in the shelves along the wall by tossing the blank scrolls and hollow books up onto one of the second-floor shelves. Afterward, she had organized most of the middle floor, emptying the bookcases into their now-ready counterparts on the walls. 

With the books removed, Cara had cleared the floor of the bookcases, slowly dragging them off to the side and leaning them against the wall. Now she had a mostly clear practice space but no weapons with which to practice. Even her meat came to her in bite-sized chunks, a spoon her only utensil in case she attacked someone with a butter knife. Even though these girls claimed they wanted to work with her, it was clear that no trust was lost on her. 

The whole situation was acceptable to Cara, who still hadn't quite gotten over the small hill of their abduction of her. Now, she walked into the center of the tower, shrugging off her green flight jumper and tossing it to the side. A quick stretch and warm-up later, Cara began practicing her street steppeing, battling a certain smug blonde in her mind. However, the target she fought was a cloak rack she had found near the door to the tower, standing in for a sparring sandbag. 

Cara started practicing her footwork, weaving back and forth while keeping her stride narrow and changing directions four times before repeating the exercise. With each repetition, her stride grew longer, her arms throwing a few jabs. Pausing in front of the tall wooden stand, Cara bounced a few times on the balls of her feet before beginning her kicks. This was a weaker department of hers, and Cara's upper thighs soon burned with the strain of repeatedly forcing her legs to extend both high and low rapidly.

"Well, you look miserable." A voice said, matter-of-factly. 

Cara nearly toppled over from the surprise of the sudden intrusion and quickly put her foot down to balance herself out. Using her arms to help catch herself, Cara straightened up and glared towards the intruder leaning against the wall by the door. Petra was looking over Cara's training area with a silent, amused gaze, much like the one she had shot Cara during the presentation feast. 

“I would ask what the cloak rack's done to you, but I'm also decently sure its name is strikingly similar to my own." Petra remarked, pushing off the wall and taking a couple of slow steps towards Cara. "What is it that you were doing? I've seen my brother’s brawl before, but that seemed more… fluid." The Princess’s face was filled with open curiosity as she spoke, but Cara wasn't interested in sating it. 

"Just some Aerie yard brawling." Cara replied vaguely, finishing her words with a sigh. Footsteps sounded as Petra drew near, the Aspas heiress soon standing in front of her, towering an entire head and a half over Cara. Tension rapidly pulled across her body as the expression on the Princesses face grew intense, and the girl suddenly leaned forward. 

"Teach me." Petra commanded, far too close to Cara's personal space for comfort.

“Why? You've had far better education using your blade, I'm sure." Cara responded, taking a step back to ease the distance.

"It looks useful, and I've no martial master out here to teach me Farcan fighting, so you'll have to do." 

"No, I meant, why do you want to learn? It's not like you need it." Cara shot back, gesturing towards her shoulder. "My back tells me you're more than capable of handling yourself." 

Petra shrugged, sliding a foot forwards and closing the distance again. "I was… perturbed the other day." She began, leaning her weight onto the foot and taking a step into Cara's space once again. "In the match, so many of our people were taken out because the Atarans attacked before they could get their weapon drawn. I'd like not to be caught on the back foot come the succession Game." 

Cara took a couple of steps back, shaking her head. "You're going to be fighting your siblings, not Atarans. I'm sure whatever you've got planned is fine." 

Petra paused at this, tilting her head as she considered Cara. "You must not know." She murmured, green eyes flicking over Cara's face. Shaking her head, the Princess’s lips twitched in a smile "I wouldn't count on other countries keeping their fingers out of the mix." she said, something about her expression giving Cara the feeling as though there was a joke she was missing out on. 

Cara had never really been one to obsessively track the politics and lives of the royals, let alone their weird rituals for transfers of power, so she was lost as she tried to figure out what had Petra so amused. When her world was based on surviving one day to the next in one form or the other, Cara had chosen to focus on herself and dragon keeping to stay afloat, which didn’t leave room for court gossip and political innuendos.  

"Let me rephrase all of this." Cara said, dodging another step back as Petra continued her chase. "Why should I want to teach you?" 

Petra stopped her advance at Cara's question, thinking for a moment before she replied. "Well, we're allies, of course. You should want me to be stronger."

Cara openly scoffed at that one, crossing her arms after the sarcastic sound left her mouth. "You have failed to treat me like an ally thus far, Your Highness. I’m not breaking my wings to treat you like one." 

Petra looked at Cara, a pale eyebrow arched. "What is it you want?" She asked, waiting for Cara to make her demands. Shaking her head, Cara took another step back, even though Petra had halted her chase. "I want to go home. I didn't ask to be abducted and forced into some political conflict. Take my name off whatever you signed it on and leave me be." 

Breathing in deeply, Petra propped a hand on her hip, weight shifting into the hand. "I can't. You're listed as an individual supporter, so you would either have to die or be forcibly removed before your name was stricken from the parchment.' 

Cara looked away, curses bubbling up inside. "You had no right. You didn't ask." She said harshly, rage twisting the words into a snarl. 

"I didn't. And you wouldn't have said yes. But Kimon told my cousin what you did in that testing room, and I know with how close he is to the Kalatis boy, they would've heard as well. I’m sure you could understand how such a tale would make you at least appear an invaluable asset." 

Cara had to think for a moment to figure out what was going on before an effervescent blond face appeared in her memory, and a groan erupted from her lips. "Bloody Loralei." She muttered, running a hand through her thick mess of curls.

"Yes. She's the sweetest thing but the biggest gossip. Best to keep your secrets tightly guarded unless you want half the court to know by the next day." Petra gave Cara a pitying look as she finished speaking. 

"If I hadn't taken you, my half-siblings would have in the morning. The fact that you're some sort of amplifier makes you extremely valuable to any rider in a battle that has half a brain banging around their head." 

Cara exhaled forcefully, looking up at Petra. "If this is supposed to make me feel better, you're doing awful; I just want you to know." 

Petra sighed as well, shifting her stance to soften and uncrossing her arms. "It would've been different if one of the trade guilds or the military had claimed you, but the timing of everything didn't quite afford you the opportunity." 

Cara's mouth pressed into a bitter smile as a thought occurred to her when thinking over the blanket. "All of this circumstantial manipulation to overshadow Kimon and Lady Manlis instead ended up dooming me. What a wonderful, great idea this all was." She spat the words out, pacing away in agitation.

"Well, seeing as I doubt the airhead knows you exist, I can definitively say it wasn't personal towards you." The wry tone of Petra’s voice made it clear to Cara that the Princess was joking, but she wasn't in the mood for japes.

"Wonderful. Can I have my spear back? Or are you going to show some trust and let me know what the plan is?" 

"No. To both. I'm sorry, but we're still strangers, and you've held us as much at a distance as we've held you. It would be unwise to just take that risk based on a partially hostile interaction." Petra looked at Cara, who didn't bother to hide her disappointment. 

A quick tick flickered in the corner of Petra's lips as she slowly added, "Unless, that is…." 

Cara's stomach sank, and she quickly realized where this was going. Intentionally or not, she had played into Petra's hands, and now she was going to be stuck spending time with her if she wanted to get any closer to escaping. 

Pale green eyes alight with amusement, Cara knew Petra had just seen the realization in her eyes and was savoring the moment before snapping her trap shut. Raising her guard, Cara let her face relax, internal frustration at being emotionally played with in such a manner bubbling behind her mask of neutrality. It was not pleasant to feel like the mouse staring up into a cat's eyes, the triumphant gaze of a skilled predator playing with its food before executing their will. 

"Unless there was a way for us to spend time together, naturally imparting knowledge and forming a bond of trust." Petra finished, her smile growing wider. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Cara instead looked down at the horned head that hit her ankle, her little dragon returning to her side now that all the weird flailing was over. 

"Fine. But this is not me consenting to join you as allies. We're just sparring." Cara saw the silver lining of the deal, being she'd probably get a few good hits in on the Princess before she got flattened.

"Just sparring." Petra agreed, eyes filled with an odd light as she beamed at Cara. "I'll tell Ahnn and ask if she wants to join. See you in the morning!" Still smiling happily to herself, the tall blonde bounced from the room, shutting the door behind her. 

Watching her leave, Cara amended her thoughts about the situation she now found herself in. She'd get a few good hits on the Princess in before she got flattened and summarily poisoned to death by a vengeful Kitisalian.