Page 43 of Upon Buried Embers
His sleep-riddled voice reaches me next. “Sleep.”
And for some reason, I do.
Thirteen
Elf
“The horses are ready,” Calian informs Rohan, looking at them all saddled up. “We lost one of the cart pullers to the wild dragon, but I hooked up two smaller ones and unloaded a few things to make it lighter.”
“Good. Kaldar?”
He nods. “Ready.”
Rohan whistles, and there’s aneighbefore Serah trots over to him. He murmurs to her as he holds her head, and I look at her mane that’s now braided, along with her tail.
Did he do that, or someone else?
“Drogonah!” Rohan bellows suddenly as he steps away, and I tense.
A distant roar is followed by the sound of wings. I look up into the morning sky and see him heading straight toward us. I not so subtly move behind Rohan, not able to get away with the rope attached between us.
Others move out of the way as the dragon lands, but Serah doesn’t even flinch, letting me know this must be a normal occurrence.
Drogonah shakes himself out, his tail swishing back and forth as Rohan moves to him, pulling me along. Drogonah looks over at me, his lips peeling back as I try to shrink behind Rohan.
“I’m with Serah today,” Rohan says to him. The dragon rumbles. “Fly above. Then the others will see we are on our way home.” Another rumble, and not for the first time I wonder if he understands Rohan. Can they talk somehow? “Guide the others well.”
Drogonah nudges Rohan, then he flaps his wings a few times, causing a flurry of snow to drift up from the ground, taking to the skies. I spot the other three dragons that are with the clan flying toward him, ready to head out.
“Come.” Rohan tugs on my rope, then I’m hauled onto Serah who shifts beneath me. “Grip the pommel.” He places my hands on the part that sticks up on the saddle. “Do you not know the parts of a saddle?” Rohan looks at where my hands are. I shake my head and lower my eyes, not wanting to see the anger there. His sigh is weighted, and I wonder if he regrets taking me. “You shall be given books when we arrive at the settlement.”
I gulp at that. We weren’t allowed books. A slave shouldn’t dirty such things.
Rohan lifts himself onto Serah with ease, positioning himself at my back, his arms coming around and grabbing the reins.
I know that, at least.
“Ride out!” I jump at his shout, and then he taps his heels on Serah, and we set off at full speed. I squeak at the unexpectedness of it, my back pressing against his chest.
His dark chuckle of amusement can be felt, but I ignore it and lift my head to watch Drogonah flying directly above us, casting us in his shadow as the others fan out around him.
Kaldar rides to Rohan’s left, Adora to his right, and when I look back I see Calian at the edges, making sure we all sticktogether. Garret and Olaf seem to stay in the middle with the carts, searching the skies.
We ride for a while, which causes an ache on the inside of my thighs and I’m sure my eyebrows are now icicles in the winter wind. My hair is tucked beneath the hood of the cloak I’m wearing, but everyone else has theirs out, braided neatly.
Rohan slows when we come to a frozen lake, holding his hand up to halt the others. Soft hoofbeats can be heard and I turn my head as Kaldar rides up beside us on a brown horse with white spots.
“We may have to go around,” he says, and Rohan grunts as he climbs off Serah. I go to follow, but he unties the rope and wraps it around the pommel, giving me a hard look that says,stay put.
I swallow as Kaldar gets off his horse and follows him to the lake. I hear others stop near me at the front, but I keep my eyes down, not wanting to draw attention to myself.
“Kaldar looks hot when he’s all scowl-y,” Olaf says, and Fiona giggles. “Look at those hands, too. Hmm, those hands can do a lot of things.” Olaf sighs dreamily.
“You act like I don’t know,” Fiona replies in a sultry tone.
“Do you need more of our attention, Fiona?” Olaf’s tone has a harder edge to it now. “It was a long time ago when you warmed his bed.”
“I’m sure there’s room for one more.” Her hopeful tone gets shut down instantly.
