Page 25 of Draekora

With her eyes firmly closed, she concentrated on her breathing, on the sound of air moving through her lungs and out her nose. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, so she focused on that as well.Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum. Then she expanded her hearing outwards. She heard the trickle of the water flowing along the stream at her feet. She listened to the crunch of the snow when she shuffled her feet and the whistle of the wind as it blew through the trees. Far in the distance she heard the sound of birds bedding down for the night, creatures rustling in the underbrush, scavenging for their evening meals. She heard the soft paw prints of a larger animal wading a path across the snow, along with the pitter-patter of smaller paws trailing close behind it; cubs with their mother, perhaps.

Keeping a tight hold on the sounds, Alex focused on her other senses. She felt the cold breeze kiss her face, she smelled a faint scent of earth buried deep beneath the snow at her feet and she tasted the freshness on her tongue from the mountain-crisp water, as well as the faint aftertaste oflaendra.

Finally, she opened her eyes.

Alex stood motionless as she took in the sights around her, as if seeing the world for the first time. Everything was brighter; everything was clearer. When the heavens opened up and flurries began to trickle down on her, Alex watched them in slow motion, seeing the intricate details of each individual snowflake. She held her hand out, watching as the ice melted on her skin, experiencing everything with microscopic clarity.

Fully in control now, Alex pulled her senses inward. She felt her blood pumping in her veins, her muscles tense and ready for action. She was overwhelmingly aware of the power in her body and the strength at her disposal.

Shifting forward slightly, Alex felt every tendon and ligament yield with supple expectation. And when she used her heels to push off from the ground, she wasn’t surprised when she moved straight into a sprint where her feet barely touched the snow as she tore through the forest, blurring through the trees at an impossible speed.

It was exhilarating; intoxicating, even. Alex hadn’t been able to enjoy the experience when she’d been running from Aven, but now, even with the wind slashing at her face and bringing tears to her eyes, Alex couldn’t help but feel truly free for the first time in what felt like forever.

Maybe thisvarrungardthing isn’t so bad after all, she thought, closing her eyes and knowing that her other attuned senses would keep her from ploughing headfirst into a tree.Because I sure could get used to this.

Alex ran all night, following a trail of moonlight through the forest and continuing on well into the next morning. She stopped only when she had to—if she came across new streams to drink from or when she felt the faint stirrings of hunger. She wasn’t sure if it was the Meyarin blood in her veins or the repeated ingestion oflaendra, but her energy never failed her, nor did her new abilities. Granted, each time she ceased running, she had to take a considerable amount of time to centre herself and ‘listen’ before she was able to take off again, but on the whole, she was extremely proud of her progress. In fact, she had travelled so far that the leaves of the trees had just begun transforming from glimmering charcoal to glistening honey, showing that she had now reached the forest forming the boundary around Meya. At the speed she was moving, it wouldn’t be long at all until she reached the Golden Cliffs and came to the end of hervarrungard. It was perhaps even possible that she would be back in time for lunch.

Oh, how she hoped Gaiel and Riza would be at the palace to see her triumphant return. She’d sure show them what it meant to be ‘durable for a mortal’.

Increasing her speed in anticipation of her arrival, it was just as she broke through a tight copse of trees bordering a large clearing that she was brought to a sudden, staggering halt. And that was because an agonised roar bellowed out from somewhere close by, causing her to bend at the waist while slapping her hands protectively over her ears.

The sound was unlike anything she’d ever heard before. To her Meyarin-sensitive hearing, it felt like needles were being shoved into her ear canals. Through watering eyes, she looked up just in time to witness the source of the sound fall from the sky above the golden trees and come to a skidding, sliding stop at the edge of the clearing.

Forgetting her pain at the sight before her, Alex scrambled backwards until she hit a tree and froze to the spot.

“No freaking way,” she gasped out.

What she was looking at wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

Because in front of her, barely thirty feet away, lay a dragon.

Nine

The beast was a pitch-black colour, easilytwice the height of an elephant and three times its length. Its scaly hide rippled when its muscles contracted as it fought against the glowing net it was ensnared in, a net that had tangled its wings and legs, pulling it from the air and trapping it on the ground.

Hot puffs of air blew from its huge nostrils, melting the snow near where it lay. A keening cry emitted from its throat, one that spoke to Alex of both pain and fear.

She had no idea what to do. On one hand, she was looking at adragon. A mythical creature capable of eating her without so much as having to chew first. On the other, she couldn’t condone the senseless entrapment of such a magnificent creature. But what if…

Alex didn’t get to finish her thought before the beast tensed and turned its majestic head her way. Its eyes gleamed like orbs of blue fire, yet the pupils were dilated with terror.

“Please don’t eat me for this,” she whispered, cautiously moving towards the creature. Its gaze remained locked on her the whole time, tracking her steps. If anything, it looked increasingly more fearful the closer she approached. Its keening transitioned into a high-pitched wail as it struggled fiercely against the bonds.

“It’s okay,” Alex found herself saying when she was just a few steps away. She was bending slightly, her weight in the balls of her feet, her hands raised in a calming manner. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She closed the remaining gap between them and the dragon’s eyes widened further. Its breathing turned even more haggard, the panting bursts complete with alarming sparks of blue fire liquefying the ice at Alex’s feet.

“Take it easy, big fella,” Alex said, keeping her voice soft, willing her hands not to shake even though she was, perhaps, more scared than the beast. “Let me take a look at you.”

Upon closer inspection, Alex recognised the substance the netting was made out of—thin strands of Moxyreel.

“This complicates things,” she murmured, knowing that the only thing that could cut through Meyarin steelwasMeyarin steel. She didn’t allow her mind to consider why, exactly, the dragon was caught in a Moxyreel net, nor who was to blame for bringing down the creature. Instead she tapped her finger against her lip and wondered how best to try and free it.

“Abrassa.”

Alex jumped backwards, nearly slipping on the melted sludge at her feet. She turned stunned eyes to the creature. “No way! You cantalk?”

“Abrassa,” the creature said again, his voice deep and male but also sounding young, like an adolescent. “Abrassa… closing… Hurry.”

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