Arianna wanted to quip back with some scathing remark. It was tacky. It was over the top. It was too much of everything. There was no appreciation for the beauty of simplicity. But her tongue had gone soft and spongy, and her usual wit hadn’t caught up with her.
“It’s not what I expected.” She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of more than that. “Now focus on not getting us killed.”
He must’ve agreed with the sentiment, because Cvareh said nothing further. Ari could feel his magic thinning. Bruises were beginning to form on his skin as his body broke down from the exertion. Arianna had no doubt he had a large mark around his torso where she’d been gripping for her life. But the man had yet to speak a word against her potentially painful proximity or hold on his person.
The glider banked. Carved into the far side of the mountains, she could see the outlines of a grand series of structures that defied all sense of logic and necessity. They were suspended in the air, connected by gusty bridge-ways and narrow spiraling stairs. Cvareh tracked them to a large building above it all at the top of the mountain.
“You need to slow us,” Ari cautioned nervously, realizing he intended to land on a flat alcove just on the other side of the structure.
“I’m working on it.”
“Work on it more urgently.” They were coming in far too fast for such a narrow ledge. Numbers flashed through her head, estimations based on estimations, but in every scenario they were splattered against the back wall of the wide-mouthed cavern.
Cvareh tugged on the handles, his magic straining in spite of his obvious will. “You want to try flying this thing?”
The question was obviously meant to be rhetorical, but Arianna had to bite her tongue from answering a resounding yes!
She waited until what she estimated to be the last possible second for Cvareh to pull himself together and get the glider back under his control and on a proper trajectory. He met her expectations of failure. Ari pushed her magic into him, into the glider through her feet. It wasn’t possible to assume complete control without gripping the handles, but it had the desired effect. His magic was vastly weakened by the dominant influx of her own, resulting in the almost total arrest of the vessel’s momentum—and thus knocking it off the suicide course it had been propelling them along. Arianna mentally accommodated for the falter by adding extra lift beneath the wings.
They skipped like a stone on water, skidding to a stop with a crash that crumpled one wing and sent them both tumbling from the glider. Ari’s ears were ringing from the sharp bang of metal crushing against stone. She winced at the sight of the technical masterpiece that was a Dragon glider reduced to half a heap of scrap.
“Are you all right?” Cvareh drew himself to a seated position, taking note of her expression.
“Takes a lot more than that to fell me.” Ari quickly checked for any rogue cuts or scratches she’d need to hide.
“Isn’t that the truth?” He stood. “We need to get moving.”
“To where?” Ari was already in step behind him.
“The Temple of Xin.”
Arianna had studied Dragon culture enough to know of the culture’s pantheon—the twenty needless gods they prayed to for everything from love to peace to luck. She could list off a good fifteen, maybe even all twenty, but Arianna could only align three to what they were said to be the gods of—and Xin was one of them.
Lord Xin, the death-giver and patron of the House of his namesake—Cvareh’s family’s House.
“Unless you can sprout actual wings on Nova, I doubt we’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.” Arianna shuffled toward the edge of the cavern, looking up and down. The walls were sheer and frustratingly smooth. Climbing would be a trick. Her mind was already turning around what they could salvage from the wreckage of the glider to help them scale the face when magic popped faintly around her companion.
Cvareh murmured softly to himself in Ryouk, the language of the Dragons. Arianna’s ears picked up half of the conversation, but he spoke too softly for her to catch anything substantial. She stepped closer and his hand promptly fell away from his ear.
“Wings are coming.”
“What does that mean?” She raised her eyebrows.
He laughed. The infuriating Dragon had the audacity to laugh at her as though she were a child inquiring about how water turned to ice. Arianna narrowed her eyes at him in warning.
“You’ll see.” He leaned against one of the side walls, folding his arms over his chest.
The Dragon had become bolder around her and Arianna hadn’t done enough to discourage the disdainful behavior. His mannerisms were his own, but every now and then she saw the shade of someone else in them. Someone that gave her pause even when she was at her boldest.
“I’d rather you just tell me.” She leaned against the wall at his side with a hefty sigh.
“By the time I did, you—”
The air from the flapping of large wings buffeted the side of her face and Arianna turned as a loud screech nearly deafened her. A giant bird-like creature had been saddled with an ornate leather seat like those intended for horseback. Her fingers closed around the hilt of her sharper dagger.
A Dragon the color of pale sea foam sat poised on its back as the bird perched with ease on the ledge. The rider had golden eyes not unlike Cvareh’s, but his hair was a darker shade, closer to the color of fired brick or wet clay. He ran a hand through his shoulder-length locks, smoothing them from the ride. His eyes drifted to her instantly.
“You brought a Chimera?” Disapproval radiated from the man’s pores.
“The ends, Cain.” Cvareh’s tone had a cautionary punctuation, the words strung together with a vibrato of authority Arianna had never heard from him before. It made her look sideways at the man she’d traveled across Loom with.
“Looking forward to hearing more of those.” Cain shook his head. “Come on then. Petra’Oji wants you in the Temple post haste.”
Cvareh made a start for the bird, Arianna at his side. He stopped her with an arm. “You need to wait here.”
“Excuse me?”
“The boco can’t take more than two riders at a time.”
“Then leave this petulant Dragon and take me.” Arianna motioned rudely to the man named Cain. Cvareh had earned his name; all others would as well.
“What did you call me?” The man on the boco growled.
“Peace.” Cvareh held out his hands between them. But amusement was alight in his eyes—amusement for her.
Bloody cogs, first his boldness and now she was endearing to him? She was losing her edge.
“Wait here. Time is of the essence and I can’t explain now. Cain will come back for you,” Cvareh said.
“If he doesn’t—”
“He will,” the Dragon cut off her threat. “Trust me, Ari.”
She rolled her eyes and leaned against the side wall again, arms folded across her chest to communicate her general displeasure at the situation. Cvareh shook his head, squeezing awkwardly into the saddle behind Cain. She watched them depart, questioning the choices that had led her here.
Arianna drew her dagger and commenced flipping it in the air, attempting to take her mind off the fact that she had just willingly walked into the Dragon’s den.
2. Petra