Page 218 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
She kept calling Niiru back until the small black dragon understood that it had to stay with her, and Niiru did, making little hops around her and burning its extra energy by dashing between the Munsa Clan people that surrounded them. By now, they had all stopped jumping every time Niiru ran past without warning and were instead looking out for external threats; twomen were walking ahead of them, Ekata was by Alezya’s side, and three more people were at the tail of their group.
They held fire torches, spears and tiny daggers as weapons, and all of the Munsa Clan carried fishnets at their belt too. Alezya had only been given a small dagger, but she hoped that Niiru’s fangs would be enough if things went south. She had tried a couple of times while she was alone, and although it looked much younger, Niiru seemed to understand the same commands in the Dragon Clan’s language as Kein did.
Alezya hoped she wouldn’t have to unleash the small dragon on anyone though. The fact that Ekata looked nervous about the clandestine meeting couldn’t be a good sign. They barely talked during the trip, instead everyone keeping an ear out for any incoming enemies or whatever was going on outside. Some of the tunnels were so deep and narrow that they had to bend, walk in a line, or jump over a couple of crevices, and Alezya guessed they were deep under the ground, which, compared to the heights of her home, was unsettling. It took a while before she felt like they were finally going up, and the first rays of natural light reappeared, with a faint breeze of fresh air.
“...How small were the new dragons?” she asked Ekata in a whisper, her eyes always on Niiru and the path ahead.
“Depends who we asked,” Ekata groaned. “According to your father, they were the size of three men, which is strange, given that you told us your caves aren’t any bigger than ours. According to most, they were barely bigger than a snow leopard but definitely bigger than this one. We wish we knew the actual number, but many people said everything happened too fast, and the smaller dragons were running wild everywhere... much like this one, I guess.”
Niiru was indeed full of energy and kept running back and forth to inspect the tiniest holes, hunt something invisible, or dash past their position and back. The dragon could movewith ease in the narrow tunnels, given its small size. Kiki was definitely too big to get into any of the tunnels, so Alezya guessed Kassein must have brought new dragons.
Why? Was he really looking for her? Her heart ached just thinking about it, about him searching for her.
What of Lumie? He had let many people survive; it had to be a good sign, right? She had seen him kill men without remorse for harming her, or at least let his dragon do it for him.
A scarier, more insidious worry nagged at her that he was looking for her, but not for the right reasons. What if he was mad she had left him again? What if Kein hadn’t brought Lumie to him? What if he didn’t have her baby girl? What if her crazy bet hadn’t worked, and everything was going wrong?
Niiru’s high-pitched growl pulled Alezya from her spiraling thoughts. The young dragon, which had been quiet for a long time, was still by her side, its eyes riveted ahead.
“We’re almost there,” Ekata explained.
Alezya nodded stiffly, remaining quiet. She crouched and made a small gesture for Niiru to get into the bag hanging at her hip, although its black head and tail stuck out, visibly too curious to miss the action. Alezya let the young dragon see and sniff around until they reached an opening, then, she gently tucked its tail and head inside the bag, and much to her relief, she only got a little protest growl in return, but Niiru curled up obediently.
They emerged directly onto a little hill of cold grass covered by thick pine trees. After so long following torturous corridors, Alezya had lost track of their location, but it only took her a moment to spot the mountain hills between the high trees and realize they had indeed headed far to the south, closer to Kein and Kassein than she had been in days.
She couldn’t see the orange dragon roaming the skies anymore, but it was past nightfall, and after a few seconds, sherealized the mountains weren’t quiet; the wind was carrying a low chorus of voices and human activity, as well as the familiar smell of a campfire. Either another gathering was happening a couple of mountains over, or it was the settlement of the Dragon Clan’s camp. Alezya’s heartbeat couldn’t help but accelerate at the prospect that they had gotten much closer that day. The Munsa Clan people probably had the same realization because their heads were all turned in the same direction with nervous expressions.
“We have to move quickly,” Ekata whispered.
She took the lead to guide their group down the hill, between the trees, toward a rocky path.
It wasn’t a large area, but it had a little river zigzagging down, enough trees to hide them from prying eyes, and barely enough space for their group to get down in single file. It was so narrow and steep that, several times, they had to help each other climb down rather than walk, and the river would curve into little waterfalls next to them. They could hang on to some tree branches nearby, but a couple of times, someone would slip on the wet rocks and almost twist their ankle, making everyone else gasp and hold their breath until they confirmed they were fine in a whisper.
It was a strange, slow procession, especially as they were careful to be as quiet as possible, though the river and ambient noise around probably covered any sounds they made. Alezya was used to climbing steep, ice-cold heights and standing on sharp cliffs, not torturous and slimy paths, where they could tumble down any second. While living in caves had gotten them all accustomed to the dark, it was still tricky to spot the slippery areas on dark rocks, muddy snow, and wet moss, and everyone walked with their eyes riveted on their feet, progressing slowly and carefully.
Thankfully, it was only a matter of minutes before they reached the gathering. Seconds before they sighted them, Ekata gestured for Alezya to hide under the hood of her coat and check that Niiru was still tucked in the leather bag; to her surprise, the young dragon was still curled into a ball of dark scales and dozing off.
Alezya was positioned at the back of their group when they reached another group waiting for them, although there wasn’t much space to stand on anyway; Ekut and two of their men were standing on one side of the river, and a little group of eight men were waiting on the other side.
It was dark, but no one had bothered to light a fire, most likely too scared to be spotted. Their only source of light was the moonlight peeking through the thickness of the pine trees above them. Ekata took position a step behind her brother, who simply gave them a nod; it looked like they had arrived mid-argument.
Alezya peeked from under her hood to identify the others; given their attires, hairstyles, markings, and stances, she guessed they were facing the representatives of three or four clans. They were exclusively male, which made Alezya feel unsettled right away, and she put a hand in the bag, gently petting Niiru’s warm body to soothe herself.
“Your claims are as empty as Darak’s,” one of the clan chiefs was saying in a hushed voice, and Alezya couldn’t remember seeing him at the gathering. “We came here because you claimed you could stop the dragon, but if this is all just a fallacy to go against the Deklaan Clan...”
“The Deklaan Clan will do nothing but sacrifice others,” Ekut insisted. “Whatever army they’re trying to rally will inevitably die. There’s no way we can win against the Dragon Clan.”
“We don’t have a choice!” they hissed back. “The Dragon Clan’s attacks are relentless! They’re coming for all of us, and if we don’t stand, we will be wiped out next!”
“No clan has been wiped out,” Ekata said. “You all heard the other clan chiefs. Most of them survived and were allowed to flee. Those who didn’t fight were let go!”
“Silence, woman!” one of the clan chiefs barked.
He was immediately greeted with not only Ekata’s furious glare, but also some from a few of the other men, and not just the ones from the Munsa Clan. Ekut gave his sister a sorry look before he spoke up again, careful to keep his voice low.
“Darak claims half of his clan’s warriors got wiped out,” he said, “but he claims so every other month, and you all know we can’t trust his words. Every clan keeps sending men to fight the Dragon Clan, and they’re the ones who die, but Darak brings the same men completely uninjured to every gathering!”
“We have no way to know what’s going on in the south,” one of the men insisted. “Even if Darak is lying, how would we know? The facts are that the Dragon Clan keeps attacking, and he’s the only one who knows–”
