Becca Lusher's Blog

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Of family, friends and enemies of the citadel.

“WHAT IN MAEGLA’S name happened to you?” Stirla was the first to break the silence as the three returnees gathered around Taryn’s bed, staring down at her with tragic faces.

Feeling as if she was staring up their noses and hating the vulnerability, Taryn tried to sit up, temporarily forgetting that her right arm was still mostly broken. She gasped in pain, grunting as Mhysra rushed forward and pulled a pillow out from behind her, quickly repositioning it, so that Stirla could tuck his sturdy hands beneath Taryn’s arms and lift, propping her upright like a doll.

It was exceedingly effective, if completely undignified. Taryn grunted, half thanks, half complaint.

Smirking, Lyrai propped his hip on the opposite side of her bed, far too wise to fuss over her. Or perhaps his paralysed arm prevented him from doing so, she silently corrected herself, as Lyrai ran his right hand over the lifeless fingers of his left.

Finding herself in a similarly lopsided state, Taryn finally understood a little of what her brother must feel. He met her eyes with rueful understanding as Orla bustled back into the room with a chair for Mhysra.

Lyrai’s attention shifted to making sure his wife was comfortable, leaving Taryn to Stirla’s assessing stare. The man might have lost one of his eyes in the kaz-naghkt wars, but he was as perceptive as ever, sitting on the end of her bed and cataloguing each of her injuries with a professional gaze.

“How long were we away?”

Since Taryn couldn’t remember what day of the month it was, let along when they had left, it was fortunate he wasn’t talking to her.

Freshly seated, Mhysra brushed a wayward curl out of her eyes with a sigh. “Less than two months. A moon and a half at most.”

Stirla tsked and shook his head. “And look what you did in our absence.” He grabbed the toes of Taryn’s unbroken leg and gave them a playful tweak. “You said you’d look after the place, not wreck it.”

“The citadel still stands, doesn’t it?” Healer Haelle asked, entering the room to check on the patients. “That’s surely an improvement on some of the times you’ve been away.”

The older Riders – three ex, one current – shared a chuckle Taryn couldn’t understand. They’d all been here when Aquila was taken by pirates and kaz-naghkt. Healer Haelle had been trapped on the mountain the entire time, while the other three had travelled the Overworld, searching for help in regaining their lost home. They’d survived siege, invasion and war, not to mention the destruction and rebuilding of the citadel, and now they laughed about it. So many lives had been lost, so much pain had been inflicted – not a single one of them had come through the ordeal unscathed, yet here they were, telling jokes.

Taryn didn’t think she could ever do the same. Maybe time would help, but every time she closed her eyes she could feel the water sweeping her off her feet and throwing her face first into a tree. She could remember… she could remember…

She frowned, trying to remember what came before the trees. Something about the lake, about being in the lake. Something to do with Rhiddyl.

“Are you trying to outdo me in everything?” Lyrai’s amused voice broke through her thoughts, scattering them like pigeons.

She blinked at her brother.

“Not just your dominant hand, but your leg as well,” Lyrai teased, nodding at her bandaged limbs. “I’m flattered that you care enough to imitate, dear sister, but it is possible to take things too far.”

Healer Haelle snorted and picked her way to the side of Taryn’s bed, sliding cool fingers beneath her chin to tilt her head back. While her freshly-returned relatives began sharing stories of Nimbys and Silver Vale and the other members of their family that had been left behind, Taryn stared into Haelle’s blue eyes and obeyed each of the healer’s commands. It was no hardship. Haelle was possibly the most beautiful woman Taryn had ever seen, so at least there were some compensations for being trapped in bed all day.

Eventually, though, the checks were complete and Taryn was yawning, not really in the mood for company.

“Is she all right?” she heard Mhysra ask, full of concern.

“Are well as can be expected,” Haelle assured her gently. “Morri got to her quickly and he’s been working on her personally. He’s almost finished healing her arm, then he’ll finish her leg. She might even be ready to train by the start of the year.”

“Thank Maegla,” Lyrai breathed.

“Thank Nightriver, more like,” Stirla chuckled.

“She’ll be fine,” Haelle said again. “No lasting effects, we don’t think. If we can keep her resting and quiet, she’ll make a full recovery. Morri isn’t worried.”

“Then we won’t be either,” Mhysra ssid firmly, and Taryn could imagine the woman holding Lyrai’s hand, forcing her brother not to worry.

Which was when Taryn realised her eyes were closed. More words were spoken, but they were muffled and distant. Then sleep snuck up and stole her swiftly away.

* * *

VHEN SAT ON his bed and looked around the room he was used to sharing with five others. Except half the beds were empty and Caelo was snoring in hers, the cold she couldn’t shake still taking its toll. Zett sat on the bed next to Vhen’s, idly turning the pages of a book, not absorbing a word unless he could read a lot faster than most.

The bell rang, clanging from the tower, calling everyone to the evening meal. Neither boy moved. Caelo groaned in her sleep, rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head.

Vhen caught Zett’s eye and smiled. “Shall we?”

Zett shut his book and sighed. “Caelo needs to eat.”

“We’ll bring her something back.”

They left the sad emptiness of their room and slouched along the corridors, delaying the moment they left the quiet Rider wing for the more public areas where their fellow students mingled. The closer they got, the slower they walked, until by the time they actually stepped into the main thoroughfare, it had already emptied of the rush of hungry students. Vhen reached the door to the hall first. He paused to square his shoulders, took a deep breath, and with a shared nod of solidarity, he and Zett stepped inside.

Silence.

Heads turned from every direction. Eyes narrowed. The whispering started.

Feeling Zett beginning to curl in upon himself beside him, Vhen clenched his jaw and summoned up the generations of arrogance that had been bred into him, the latest child in a long line of Sutheralli Sun Priests. He might not share his mother’s beliefs, especially with regards to the divine right of rule, but he was an excellent actor. In truth it didn’t take much effort to summon up a sneer for these petty fools. If they couldn’t tell the difference between an attack and a rescue they didn’t deserve to be saved. And they certainly weren’t worth his or any of his friends’ time or attention.

“Come on,” he urged Zett, stalking over to the board where food, crockery and the all-important desserts had been left for the Riders to serve themselves with. The handful of students standing there scattered at his approach, earning themselves a scowl. “Let’s get something for Caelo then we’ll head to the eyries.” They were always empty at this time of day and the miryhls wouldn’t turn them away.

Zett nodded and followed in silence as they filled up three plates.

“Traitors,” someone hissed, causing Zett’s hand to freeze as he reached for dessert. “They should have been the ones to drown.”

Vhen turned slowly, letting his eyes run along the table behind them until he reached Lenel, a boy he’d once thought almost friendly. Their eyes locked. Vhen didn’t glare, he didn’t sneer, he simply looked. Lenel couldn’t hold his gaze for long and turned his own glare onto his plate, fists clenching on his cutlery. Sitting beside him, Tenzi sent Vhen a mildly apologetic smile, but it faded as Vhen simply looked at her until she looked away too.

When the accusations were being flung and cruel remarks spat, Tenzi’s silence spoke volumes. Once she’d been his friend. She’d started her training right alongside him and Rhiddyl in the selection school of Zvenera in the Storm Peaks. It hadn’t been possible to shut her up in those days. Not that Vhen cared. He didn’t need a host of weak acquaintances who would offer up sad smiles and limp apologies that meant nothing. He had friends, real friends, who he trusted to support him when he truly needed them. Real Riders who risked their lives for each other and would never stand silently by while others wished him dead.

Turning back to the desserts, Vhen picked up two bowls and handed them to Zett. He added a third to the top of the pile, then gathered up three for himself. Quirking an eyebrow at Lenel’s table, daring anyone to comment, he marched out of the hall.

As soon as they stepped into the corridor, a wall of noise rose behind them, just as it always did. He rolled his eyes and saw Zett biting his lip.

“What?” he half-growled, in no mood to be lectured over baiting their idiotic year mates.

Zett shook his head, his rare smile spreading across his face. “You are such a bad influence. Three desserts each, Vhen, really?”

“Two,” Vhen corrected gruffly, a little embarrassed by his petty display. “Two of them are for Caelo.”

“All of them more like,” Zett laughed. “She won’t eat anything else once she catches sight of these. Cinnamon snaps are her favourite.”

“We’d best eat ours on the way then,” Vhen chuckled, and headed back to their room with a bounce in his step.

More next week.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Nightriver is not a happy ancient water dragon.

RHIDDYL LIKED NIGHTRIVER. The Dragongift was old, even by Clan dragon standards, but unlike old Clan dragons he didn’t lecture or pick apart everything Rhiddyl did, simply because he was older and therefore knew best. Mostly the water dragon was quiet, which was restful, and he was far more likely to laugh at Rhiddyl than criticise her – and since Nightriver laughed at almost everything, she didn’t take offence.

He wasn’t laughing now. “We have searched the whole length, my Morri, and found nothing.”

Following the dark dragon out of the lake, Rhiddyl politely wandered a little way along the shore before shaking herself dry. Then she returned to where Nightriver towered over the slender human with whom he was bound.

Head Healer Morri gave his dragon’s chest a comforting pat. “Perhaps whatever it was has gone. Perhaps Rhiddyl killed it.” He shot her a smile, but didn’t sound convinced.

Rhiddyl wasn’t convinced either. Nor was Nightriver. “It does not feel gone.” The great Dragongift shifted his weight from one short leg to another, water streaming down his sides as he reduced from his largest size – which was almost equal to Rhiddyl’s dragon form and much bulkier – to near-human length. Now he looked more like a lizard than dragon. A cousin, perhaps, of the great river hunters of the Cleansed lands that had been thought long-lost beneath the Curse, until the clouds rolled back and revealed the ancient creatures surviving much as they always had even in the perpetual mists.

Wondering amusedly if Nightriver would feel insulted or complimented by the comparison, Rhiddyl changed too, shrinking from her first form to the human shape that was becoming ever more familiar and comfortable.

“Do you feel anything, Rhiddyl?” Morri asked, once she was settled inside her skin.

She shook her head. “I am a Skystorm, a dragon of the air. Water does not speak to me.”

Nightriver growled and dug at the muddy ground, turning over stones with his curved claws. “It does not speak to me either, not as it used to.”

Morri’s expression turned pensive. “What does this mean? Are we under attack? Is it confined to the upper lake or should we worry about the lower one as well?”

Feeling worse than useless, Rhiddyl could only shrug, while Nightriver paced back to the waterline and paddled into the shallows. “The mountain is uneasy,” the old dragon rumbled. “But the waters are calm. There is nothing hiding in even the deepest depths. I should be able to feel it.”

And yet until the creature struck, Nightriver had clearly not known it was there.

“We searched the whole lake and didn’t find anything,” Rhiddyl said, wishing there was more she could say, more help she could give. But they had already spent fourteen days in the water, diving into the darkest depths, searching, always searching for answers that were no longer there to find. “There’s nothing down there.”

Morri ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I’ll tell the dean and advise him to place restrictions on coming up here. If whatever it was does come back, perhaps it will stay quiet as long as we leave it alone.”

Rhiddyl wrinkled her nose and Nightriver lashed his tail, sending up a spray of water to sparkle in the sunlight.

“I am the protector of this mountain,” the Dragongift snarled, turning to face them, green eyes aglow. “I will not be left in the dark.” With another swish of his tail, Nightriver vanished into the lake, spreading ripples and a line of bubbles the only signs of his passing.

Wiping water from his face, Morri shot Rhiddyl a wry smile. “You can’t fault him for trying.”

She smiled weakly back. Nightriver was definitely trying, but she had little confidence he would find anything new. Whatever the thing that had attacked the students was, it clearly didn’t want to be found. Even if Rhiddyl had managed to kill the creature, some remains should have been left behind, but there was nothing. Only darkness and the silt of ages. There was no trace of anything else, but the uneasiness that prickled against her skin and scales assured Rhiddyl that it wasn’t over yet. Even if the creature had left the lake, she doubted it had left the mountain, and if Nightriver – who could sense each and everything that moved on this mountain, should he so wish – couldn’t find it, no one would.

If only they knew what they were facing. All Rhiddyl knew was that it wasn’t human, and she didn’t think it was a dragon either. Then again, Nightriver was unlike any other dragon in history, changed and enhanced by his long bond with this mountain. Was it possible another dragon could have been altered too? Was the creature in the lake perhaps a Clan dragon who sought the long last sleep in centuries past, freshly awoken by some strange stirring deep beneath the lake?

She wrinkled her nose again and shook her head. No. If it had been a dragon she would have sensed it. Nightriver would have sensed it. They were dragons, and no matter how changed another dragon might be, it would still feel like a dragon. The creature in the water had lacked that familiar sense, that strange spark, the essence that instantly whispered kin to other kin. It hadn’t had that. It hadn’t had anything much, except cold. Such a deep, bone aching cold, like the empty space between stars.

The memory of it made her shiver and Morri rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Are you ready to come back to the citadel? Your friends have missed you.”

A different sort of cold settled in Rhiddyl’s stomach; the memory of the bodies laid along the shore and the accusation in people’s eyes. Guilt gnawed like acid in her bones and she shook her head.

“You’re not to blame,” Morri said gently. “You know that, don’t you? Your power saved lives, it didn’t take any. The dead were burned, not shocked.”

She knew that; she’d been told it before, and yet…

“I can’t go back,” she whispered, looking across the lake to where an enormous black head broke the water as Nightriver took a breath, then dived deep again, the long line of his back taking several heartbeats to crest and slide away, finishing with a flick of his tail. “We haven’t finished searching yet.”

Morri’s lips twisted, but he thankfully swallowed whatever words of advice or protest he was considering. He patted her shoulder instead. “Very well, come back when you’re ready. I’ve already spoken to the dean for you and he knows you weren’t to blame. You’re still a Rider, Rhiddyl. You still belong.”

Rhiddyl’s view of the lake turned blurry and she sniffled, determined not to cry as Morri walked to the water and scooped up a handful. Slinging drops across the lake, he turned to the miryhl waiting patiently off to one side. The Head Healer of Aquila had no miryhl of his own these days, but he and this particular bird were very old friends.

“The eyries know the truth,” Thunder told Rhiddyl, as Morri climbed into her saddle. “If you need our help, you only have to ask.”

More tears made Rhiddyl’s eyes feel hot and she pulled in a shaky breath, returning the great miryhl’s bow. “Thank you.”

Out across the water, Nightriver broke the surface, leaping more like a whale than the lizard he resembled. His landing boomed around the forested valleys, rolling like thunder across the water. The farewells finished, the miryhl spread her broad wings and leapt into the sky, carrying Morri back to where he was needed. Leaving Rhiddyl behind, alone, unwanted and useless. Again. As always.

The lake surface rippled and parted a few paces from the shore, revealing bright green eyes glinting above a long, tooth-filled snout. “Come,” Nightriver growled in his most monstrous shape. “Nothing on this mountain hides from me. Let us find it.”

More next week.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Orla gets to work.

Six
Trials

THE FOLLOWING HALF-MONTH was a blur for Orla. She was so busy helping Healer Morri tend to patients up in the forest, then transporting them back to Aquila, where she helped out even more in the infirmary, that she barely even noticed her own bruises, break and scrapes healing. All she knew was work. Fewer students than first feared had actually died in the lake disaster, but eight was still eight too many, and many more were laid up in the infirmary, unlikely to do any flying or training anytime soon.

At least by working in the infirmary she was there when Taryn woke. It took eleven days, during which time healer Morri managed to fix her broken nose and piece her shattered kneecap together. While Orla was glad the head healer had enough magical skill to repair such things, she fervently hoped she would never have to witness that type of thing again. The memory of shards of bone wriggling and shifting beneath Taryn’s skin was enough to turn Orla’s stomach and the sound of everything shifting back into place haunted her sleep.

However, those injuries were just the worst of Taryn’s wounds and despite all of Morri’s magical treatments, she was clearly in a lot of pain when she finally woke. She still managed a smile, when Orla rushed over to her, dropping the fresh bandages she’d been sent to deliver to the room.

“You look at home,” the Imercish princess croaked. “Though I don’t think those are supposed to be on the floor.”

Embarrassed, Orla tidied up the mess and bustled about the room, putting the bandages by each of the four beds. “I am best when I am busy,” she muttered, and hurried off again, having plenty more tasks and chores to complete.

She also had a chance to see Vhen and Zett when they came in each day to have their burns assessed and redressed. Such was the severity of the worst of the wounded that those who were capable of walking had been discharged back to their dormitories almost as soon as everyone returned to Aquila. There was too much work to be done in the infirmary to look after every last person who had been injured at the lake, so those who could mostly take care of themselves were expected to. Which included the boys, although they both made a point to seek her out each day when they came in.

It was the most Orla got to see of friendly faces, since she was too busy to return to their room herself. Instead she was given a pallet in the healer’s quarters beneath the infirmary, on which she crashed into sleep each night, before rising each morning and continuing her endless round of chores.

“You’d best not be thinking of stealing this one,” Thera startled Orla one morning by growling at Healer Haelle, as the woman checked the lieutenant’s broken leg and the burns that spiralled up her waist and back. “She’s a Rider.”

“Aren’t we all, lieutenant?” Healer Haelle replied with unrelenting cheerfulness.

“I mean it, healer,” Thera grumbled.

Haelle winked at Orla. “You’ll have to take it up with Morri. I just work here, as you’d do best to remember. Now roll over, please, I want to check your back.”

“Check away, if you must,” the lieutenant muttered into her pillow. “But stop stealing our students. We’ve few enough good ones as it is.”

Putting down the bowl of hot water that she’d been asked to bring, Orla felt heat rise to her face. That sounded suspiciously like approval from a woman not known for approving of anyone. Healer Haelle winked at Orla again, making her blush worse.

“Yes, we’re very fond of Orla too, but her path is her own to choose. Hold still now, I need to soak these bandages off.”

Orla escaped before the inevitable swearing could begin, and paused outside the treatment room to hold her hands to her hot face, willing herself to cool down.

“Ah, Orla, just the student we were looking for!”

Startled, she dropped her hands and spun, surprised to see three familiar instructors rushing towards her, all of whom had swapped Aquila for Nimbys over the summer. Evidently they had now returned. Orla missed the days when she and her friends would have seen any skyship approaching the citadel over the wide, white Cloud Sea. Now all she saw were white walls and sickly faces.

“Captain!” she greeted the tallest and highest ranked of the three. “Tutors.” She nodded at the other two. “How may I help?”

The normally cheerful Captain Stirla looked uncommonly grim as he glanced up and down the corridor, while Tutors Lyrai and Mhysra were holding hands. “We heard Taryn was in here somewhere,” the captain spoke for them all. “Can you take us to her?”

“Of course.” Orla turned around at once. “Please, follow me.”

“Is she badly hurt?” Tutor Mhysra asked, gripping her husband’s hand tightly. Tutor Lyrai didn’t speak, he just watched Orla with his pale blue eyes, waiting for her answer.

It was no surprise that he was worried since Taryn was his sister. Stirla and Mhysra might have been part of Taryn’s extended family, but Lyrai was the one closest to her by blood. He looked so much like her in that moment that Orla almost tripped over her own feet.

Realising all three were staring at her now, Orla cleared her throat and headed for the correct room. “She is much improved. The healers are very pleased with her progress. Head Healer Morri has been taking extra special care of her.”

Mhysra murmured something thankful, while Tutor Lyrai closed his eyes, still looking worried. Not wanting to prolong their anxiety, Orla bustled into the room where the worst injured had been collected together. Three of the four beds were still occupied, the fourth student, Fenla, having been moved to a more lightly-monitored room the day before.

Taryn was sitting propped up against her pillows, staring out of the window with a listless expression. Her right arm and leg were tightly bandaged and propped on more pillows, and her face was badly bruised from her broken nose.

The three people behind Orla drew in sharp breaths, then Tutor Lyrai strode across the room, Captain Stirla and Tutor Mhysra following more slowly. Orla paused long enough to see Taryn turn towards them and frown. Then Lyrai leant across the bed to kiss her cheek and she smiled.

Seeing that smile, Orla let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding and hurried back to work. There was always something that needed doing in the infirmary and Orla felt best when she was busy and needed.

More next Friday.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Poor Rhiddyl.

THE STUDENTS WERE not all alive. Life was not good. Huddled on the shoreline, her friends on either side of her, Rhiddyl hugged her knees and felt increasingly numb as the wounded and dead were hauled from the water and laid out on the grass.

Some were only sleeping, as Zett now was. Others no longer breathed.

Rhiddyl stopped counting after the fifth body and buried her head against her knees, hating the sight of the bloated, shiny faces, hating that her power had done this. She was the monster in the water, not whatever had stolen the students in the first place.

Family, she couldn’t stay at Aquila now. She would have to leave. She would have to return home, a failure and a murderer. How was she going to explain this? How could she ever make it right?

“What happened? Sacred fires, Zett! What’s wrong with him?”

“Caelo?” Vhen frowned, while Rhiddyl was still trying to wrap her head around the unexpected voice. Caelo was the last person Rhiddyl expected to see on this side of the lake, considering how much fuss she’d made about being in the water and how many miles she would have had to walk to reach this spot. The girl students had crossed the lake by miryhl back early that morning for their swimming lesson, but there were no eagles in the sky when Rhiddyl raised her head.

“Did you – did you swim across?” Vhen sounded doubtful and Rhiddyl didn’t blame him; Caelo looked completely dry.

The girl wrinkled her nose. “How do you think I got here?” she asked exasperatedly, and crouched over Zett, holding her hands close to his puffy face but not quite touching. “What does it even matter? What happened to him? And you, Vhen? You look like you’ve been boiled.”

Rhiddyl hugged her knees even tighter and must have looked almost as miserable as she felt, because Vhen threw an arm across her shoulders.

“You did what was necessary,” he said softly. “You saved us.”

Caelo stared at Rhiddyl. “You did this?” She sounded more incredulous than accusatory, but Rhiddyl still flinched.

“I didn’t mean to! I was trying to help.”

“You did help,” Vhen insisted firmly. “That thing was dragging us all down for no good purpose. None of us would have got away if not for you. You didn’t do anything wrong, Rhiddyl. Your power saved lives.”

Caelo looked around the shore, pulling on her bottom lip. She seemed to register the dead bodies for the first time and looked at Zett with concern. Taking the sleeping boy’s hand, she squeezed herself in between Zett and Rhiddyl and took her hand as well.

“I don’t know what went on here,” she said softly, “but I know burn marks when I see them. I thought you were a Skystorm.”

Rhiddyl gave a miserable nod. “I am,” she croaked. “I hit that weed monster with everything I had, shocking everyone in the process.”

Caelo wrinkled her nose. “They don’t look shocked to me.” She leant forward to look at Vhen, sitting on Rhiddyl’s far side. “How do you feel, Vhen? Shocked or boiled?”

The Sutheralli boy touched his shiny cheek with a hesitant hand and smiled wryly. “Now that you mention it, I definitely feel boiled, although I think we’ve all had a shock. Just not the kind a Skystorm makes.”

“Yes, this is definitely more Sunlord than Skystorm, although…” Caelo trailed off, staring at the water. Rhiddyl had never seen the girl looking so serious.

“Although?” Vhen prompted when it became clear she wasn’t going to continue.

Caelo wrinkled her nose and shook her head, giving Rhiddyl’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I wouldn’t blame yourself too harshly just yet, sweetheart. I think there are other factors in play. No lightning bolt ever caused these sorts of injuries.”

“And no Sunlord either,” Rhiddyl pointed out.

Caelo surprised her with a chuckle. “There are more powers on this world than those of Clan dragons, dear Rhiddyl. Don’t grow snobby on me now.”

The lake surface parted directly in front of them, eliciting a brief flurry of panic, until Lieutenant Dhori came striding along the shore, shouting for everyone to calm down. Rhiddyl thought the man optimistic as a monstrous shape emerged from the depths. Long, scaly and armed with ferocious jaws, he was a terrifying sight at even the best of times.

Fortunately, there was nothing the least bit weedy about this monster and he was very familiar to Rhiddyl.

Nightriver, the magically-bonded partner of Healer Morri, bared his teeth at Rhiddyl and her friends in his travesty of a smile. “More powers indeed,” the water dragon rumbled, revealing that he must have been lurking in the shallows for some time. “There is something very strange at work in this lake.”

“Good of you to notice,” Dhori snapped. “Dare I hope your usefulness extends past such observations and into action, such as bringing Morri up here with you?”

“My Morri is busy on the other side of the lake,” the dragon said calmly, not offended by the lieutenant’s tone as he referred to the human to whom he was bound for life, in a Dragongift tie similar to the Wingborn bonds between humans and miryhls, and equally as rare. “They have even more need of him than you at present.”

Running a hand through his hair, Dhori blew out a strained breath as he looked at the bodies laid out before them. “I can’t imagine how.”

“Be grateful that is so,” the Dragongift rumbled and looked at Rhiddyl. “Care to be useful?”

Nightriver’s appearance had drawn a lot of attention, much of which had spilled over onto Rhiddyl, none of which was friendly. Regardless of what Caelo thought, it seemed the other students blamed Rhiddyl as much as she blamed herself for their injuries and losses.

“Does it involve leaving this place?” she asked, wanting nothing more than to fade into the background and be forgotten, even if she could never forget the sight that lay before her.

The Dragongift smiled again, revealing rows of wickedly sharp teeth. “Certainly.”

“Family, yes, please.” She crawled away from her friends and followed the other dragon into the water without a backward glance. Only once she was below the surface did she change into her full shape. Nightriver flashed his teeth and together they dove into the depths.

More next Friday.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Nothing good ever happens around this lake.

Five
Consequences

BODIES FLOATED IN the lake. Aching all over, weak and dizzy, Rhiddyl drifted on the surface like flotsam and could barely take in the horrifying scene around her.

So many bodies, all limp and lifeless.

“He’s breathing! Get him out!”

The familiar, comforting sound of Lieutenant Dhori’s voice drew Rhiddyl’s attention. She tried to watch the figures running along the distant shore, but her eyes wouldn’t focus. Just dark blobs on a strangely shattered scene. Her head hurt.

She looked around the bodies, searching for familiar features and faces. She couldn’t focus. Her nose wasn’t working. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt. She paddled towards the nearest student, but her limbs felt like lead.

She reached towards the body, wondering why its skin was all shiny, wondering why her scales were missing and why her arm was so pale.

“I must have shifted,” she mumbled, and patted the body again. It turned in the water, dark braids fanning out around the head like weeds.

The thought made her shudder and she rolled the body over in the water. The face was puffy and shiny and so unlike how it should look – but she still recognised it.

“Zett.” Her voice was a croak, pathetic and broken, but strength was coming back. Along with memories.

Oh, Family, Zett! She grabbed her friend close, then let go, worried she’d hurt him.

Of course she’d hurt him! Her power had done this. That was why his skin was all shiny; she’d fried him in the water!

“Vhen?” Memories flooded back and she spun around, almost going back under as her aching head protested the movement.

Someone groaned nearby, a corpse that wasn’t a corpse. More of them were moving. More of them were alive.

Family be praised.

“Vhen!”

Someone was coughing, others were choking. Alive, alive, alive. Even Zett was making noises. Unhappy though they were, Rhiddyl thought them the most beautiful sounds she’d ever heard. He was alive. She was alive. They were all alive.

“Vhen!”

Vhen was alive, swimming towards her, his face blistered, his eyes swollen almost shut. She swam towards him and hugged him tight.

It hurt. It must have hurt him too, but neither of them let go. Pulling Zett in to join them, the three of them clung together, treading water, until Dhori’s boat came to pick them up.

Stumbling ashore, Rhiddyl fell to her trembling knees and waited for the world to stop spinning. Vhen and Zett collapsed alongside her, groaning but alive.

They were all alive.

Smiling with relief, Rhiddyl looked up at the beautiful sun in the bright blue sky and whispered her thanks, grateful that life was good.

* * *

BLOOD. IN HER mouth, on her face. Taryn could taste it, smell it. Blood surrounded her. Oh gods. She rolled over to retch and lost track of the world.

When the blackness cleared she felt pain. So much pain. In her arm, her leg, her side, her face. It burned almost as much as the bile in her throat. The scent of blood overwhelmed her and she vomited, choking and crying, wishing everything would stop.

Spitting the foul taste from her mouth, she pushed her hands into the earth, desperate to get away from her own mess, and found that only her left side worked. She looked at her right before she thought better of it and quickly wished she hadn’t.

“Oh gods,” she whimpered, closing her eyes, but unable to get the sight out of her mind.

No wonder everything hurt so much. She must have hit a tree. Perhaps several. Either way, she’d hit something with too much force, because the right side of her body was bent into angles it shouldn’t be able to manage.

She became aware of other sounds around her – sobs, groans, whispered curses and prayers – and remembered running. She remembered water. She remembered Orla.

Taryn opened her eyes and found Orla looking back. The Ihran was crouched over her, left arm tucked against her chest, face pale beneath a splash of blood. Or was it a bruise?

“You’re all right,” Taryn murmured, at least she tried, but breathing was hard and her mouth wasn’t working right.

Orla swallowed, eyes unusually wide as she took the hand Taryn was holding out. She squeezed it reassuringly tight. “You will be,” the Ihran promised fervently. “Oh, Taryn, you will be too.”

Taryn tried to nod, but a sharp pain shot up her neck and into her head. She winced. “I… I’m going to shut my eyes now,” she said, wondering why her voice sounded like it was coming from so far away.

“No,” Orla’s voice was far away too, sounding panicked. “Taryn, don’t. Stay awake, stay with me.”

Taryn wanted to, but she was just too tired and everything hurt too much. It was far easier to shut her eyes and let the darkness carry her away.

* * *

ORLA FELT THE life go out of Taryn and panicked. Her breathing sped up, her head felt light and dark spots danced in front of her eyes. “Don’t die, don’t die, please don’t die,” she whispered, using her trembling hand to check Taryn’s bloodied neck.

A pulse. Strong and steady, despite everything.

Orla hung her head, gasping with relief, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

A scream rent the air and she lifted her head. The world turned black.

No, it wasn’t the world, merely the sky as something enormous loomed over her.

Eyes wide, Orla leant back and looked up, past thick muscle and a chunky neck, to a long head with sharp, extended jaws. Bright green eyes glowed in the gloom, looking down at her, and Orla swallowed hard.

All around her fellow survivors scrambled desperately away, but there was nowhere for Orla to run. She couldn’t leave Taryn and the creature had already caught her. It was over.

Lowering its head, the monster opened its vicious jaws before Orla’s face and a waft of hot breath swept over her, smelling oddly of mint and lilies.

“Move aside, student. Let me see the patient.”

Orla blinked and shook her head, struggling to understand. Not only was the monster talking, but it wanted to help?

The creature bared its vicious teeth and Orla whimpered.

“No smiling.” Suddenly and entirely unexpectedly, Head Healer Morri appeared, patting the monster on the shoulder. “You know the effect it has and the poor girl’s frightened enough. Can’t you shrink a bit? You’re blocking out the light. Hullo there, Orla, isn’t it? Look at me, yes, that’s good.”

It was hard to drag her eyes away from the monster, but the healer thrust his face right in the way, leaving Orla no choice. The man was ghostly pale in the gloom, his eyes seeming to glow with the same green light as the creature.

Glowing eyes? She must have hit her head harder than she’d thought. She shut her eyes tight and shook her head again.

Cool hands caught her face. “Don’t do that,” Morri ordered, holding up a bright green glow globe that made her flinch. At least that explained the glowing. Perhaps she hadn’t knocked her brain loose after all.

“That wrist looks broken. Keep holding it exactly like that, please. Nightriver, are you finished?”

It took Orla a moment to realise the last bit wasn’t aimed at her. Released by the healer, she scooted hurriedly backwards as the monster reappeared, considerably smaller this time. Where once it had loomed large enough to block out the sky, now it was barely as long as Healer Morri was tall, holding itself off the ground on muscled arms and legs. Jogging out of the shadows, it passed Orla, its head as high as her own where she sat huddled against a tree. The monster winked at her and joined Morri in crouching over Taryn.

Orla wanted to protest, to move forward and protect her friend, but Morri was the head healer of Aquila. If anyone could help Taryn, it was him. He was safe, he knew what he was doing – and he was talking to the monster as if it was another healer.

Pressing her good hand to her head, Orla shut her eyes and prayed for the world to make sense again.

When she opened them, Lieutenant Honra was kneeling next to Taryn. “Can you help her?”

“If I have some peace and quiet, yes,” Morri said. “There’s a lot to work on here and I need to concentrate.”

The monster made a rumbling sound, reminiscent of laughter. “You should not let the screams bother you, my Morri. They do not bother me.”

“Unfortunately we are not all so unflappable as you, Nightriver,” Honra said, his tone wry. He looked up and caught Orla staring at him, incredulous that so sensible a man was conversing with a monster.

Honra looked well for a man who’d been half-drowned in the lake. His clothes were torn and sodden, but compared to how Orla and the others on shore had fared, he seemed well.

He nodded at her and turned back to the healer and the monster. “Dare I hope more help is coming?”

“Haelle raised the alarm,” the monster rumbled, since Morri was checking Taryn’s wounds and muttering to himself. “The eyries are emptying.”

“Good.” Slapping his hands on his thighs, Honra stood up. “I’ll ready the whole and lesser injured and get them out of your way then.”

“Do that,” Morri agreed absently. “And give me numbers. There are more badly injured here, although Taryn is the worst. Find them for me.”

Honra nodded again and patted the healer on the shoulder before heading back to the shore.

“I will check the lake,” the monster rumbled. “Threats like this should not vanish so quickly.”

“Do that,” Morri agreed again, not seeming to notice when the monster jogged away. Fresh screams arose beyond the tree line, followed by the familiar raised voices of Lieutenants Thera and Honra as they tried to restore calm.

Healer Morri scowled, shook his head and bent back over Taryn. Running his hands along her battered body, he left a cloud of deep green light in his wake, unmistakable in the woodland gloom.

No matter how many times Orla blinked, the vision didn’t change. The healer’s hands were glowing – and Taryn’s broken limbs were straightening.

Finishing the first pass over his patient’s body, Healer Morri sat back on his heels and ran the back of his hand across his forehead with a weary sigh. His bright green eyes met Orla’s.

“What are you?” she whispered, half-awed, half-afraid.

The healer tipped his head and smiled, but it was rueful and not particularly warm. “I am the Defender of Aquila. Which makes me little different from you, student, so come here and let me see that arm. There’s a lot of work for me to do and my strength isn’t infinite. Nor is yours, so let me help you while I can and then perhaps you can help me?”

Orla had been raised to be helpful and she’d never allowed herself to be fanciful. Swallowing her fears, she crawled away from her tree and held out her broken wrist to the man with the glowing eyes. His hands were gentle when they cradled her cracked arm, the light soothing as it sank into her skin. A sharp pain snapped through her, then warmth swept in to ease the ache away.

“Lovely. Only a small fracture, nice and neatly mended. I love when these things are simple.”

Orla blinked. There was no fear now, only awe. Morri’s smile was rueful again as he studied her expression, patted her mended wrist and let go. “Well, come along then, student. Time to repay my help with yours. We’ve got work to do.”

More next Friday.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2022 treats you well.

Meanwhile, there’s something in the water…

THERE WAS SOMETHING in the water. Something alive and powerful. Vhen had known it the moment he was yanked beneath the surface, cracking his chin on a rock and biting his tongue hard enough to draw blood. The weeds wrapped around his ankle, then his waist, then his arms, as sinuous and tenacious as a snake. It yanked him under the water and started pulling him deeper almost before he knew what had happened.

Lungs burning, black spots swimming in his vision, he fought against the restraints. A wide piece of weed covered his face and he screamed, expecting to inhale a lungful of air and choke, drowning in the darkness.

He received a gust of air instead. Foul and stinking, yet enough to keep him breathing.

His struggles redoubled, but he was helpless to free himself from the monstrous strength that was dragging him away from shore and sunlight. As he rushed over the rocky edge that marked the end of the shallows, he spotted more shapes being towed along and wished he had enough belief to pray to something, anything that might save him in this moment.

But he didn’t believe in gods and nebulous fancies that could not be seen or touched. He believed in real things, like friends and dragons. Especially friends who were dragons.

Rhiddyl shot through the water, shimmering silver-blue in the darkness, sparks flickering along her scales as she clawed towards whatever had hold of him. He opened his mouth to call her and was hit by the weeds again.

Except this time it didn’t just give him oxygen, it wrapped tight around his face and rolled him into darkness.

* * *

EVERYONE WAS SCREAMING. Taryn had barely pulled herself ashore when she spun back towards the water. Jylana and the lieutenants were gone and now everyone was swimming out to find them.

“Get back!” Taryn shouted. “It isn’t safe!”

Because no matter what Jylana said Taryn had not kicked her in the face. They’d both been pulled under by something, the same something that had clearly struck again. It continued to do so as students vanished beneath the surface with stricken yelps.

Where was Orla?

Taryn sprinted along the shore, scanning the water for the familiar thick brown hair of her friend. She couldn’t see her.

“Orla!” she shouted, lungs burning, feeling a cold seep into her bones that no amount of sunlight could warm. “Orla!”

“Here!”

Taryn skidded to a halt, relieved to see Orla waving at her from the rock Lieutenant Thera had found for her.

“Thank Maegla,” she whispered, wading back into the water and swimming out to join her.

“You’re safe.” Hauling herself up, she wrapped Orla in her arms, surprising both of them. But not half as much as Orla surprised Taryn by hugging her back.

“I thought you were drowned,” Orla whispered, shivering. “I saw you go under and I thought -”

She didn’t finish and Taryn didn’t push her to. She understood all too well, after her sprint along the shore when she’d thought Orla had been taken too. Their arms tightened on each other for a brief, desperate moment, then they both let go and shuffled awkwardly apart. Taryn didn’t know what Orla was feeling, but she was a little embarrassed by her own show of affection. Except for Pinwheel and her niece, such displays just weren’t part of who Taryn was.

“Where’s Caelo?” Taryn asked after a long moment.

Orla frowned. “She escaped to shore as soon as the races began. Lieutenant Thera didn’t notice.”

Not that Caelo would have cared if the woman had. Taryn studied the shoreline, but all she could see were trees. Wherever Caelo was Taryn hoped she was safe.

“What are we going to do?” Orla asked.

Taryn looked over the surface of the lake at where half of their fellow students were splashing around, panicked and calling out to the ones who were gone.

“We need Rhiddyl.”

Orla turned towards the far shore and shook her head. “She’s busy.”

Taryn huffed and slid into the water. “Then I guess it’s up to us. Come on, let’s get you to shore and then we can work out a plan.”

* * *

MORE WEEDS SHOT out of the depths, lashing Rhiddyl and trying to take her.

Snarling, she fought back, slashing, biting, zapping with her power. She would not be trussed up like some spider’s prey and dragged helplessly into the darkness to feed Family knew what.

The screams grew louder and more frequent, the attacks turning vicious. The weeds weren’t trying to catch Rhiddyl now, they just whipped her, scoring lines along her scales.

Fearing for herself and her friends, Rhiddyl knew she had to act fast. Avoidance wasn’t working. Time to stop resisting. Seizing a frond with her claws, she hauled forwards, dragging herself deeper into the depths. Swiftly overtaking the weedy bundles of human students, she rushed into the darkness. Weeds slithered around her, pulling her in, thinking her caught.

Rhiddyl let them, grateful when their strength increased her speed. It was all part of her plan.

Then, just as her lungs began to scream for air, she saw a light throb through the darkness. A deep brown light, like an enormous dragon glow globe buried beneath mud and rotting debris. The screams turned to singing, luring her in, lulling her senses.

Rhiddyl ignored it and shut her eyes, grabbing every piece of weed she could reach. Biting the pulpy mass, she tore into it with her teeth and summoned every drop of power within.

Lightning sparked, crackled and struck.

With a ear-shattering shriek, the monster in the depths exploded.

* * *

TARYN AND ORLA stumbled ashore, shivering so hard it was difficult to stand.

“Come on,” Taryn urged, when Orla would otherwise have sunk onto the nearest sunny patch of grass, wanting nothing more than to lie down and dry out.

But there was no time for that. Their fellow Riders were still in danger.

Groaning as her frozen muscles threatened to cramp, Orla forced herself to move, limping after Taryn as the girl ran back to Lieutenant Honra’s promontory.

“Get out of the water!” Taryn shouted as she ran. “It isn’t safe!”

Startled out of their panic, some of their fellow students stopped swimming in circles and headed for the bank. A few had already pulled themselves ashore, but others ignored her, determinedly paddling back and forth, calling and diving as they searched for the missing.

Unable to stop them, Orla and Taryn jogged back and forth, pulling half-frozen girls up the steep banks, helping them over the rocky shoreline to safety.

Soon there were only five stubborn girls left in the water. Orla stood panting beside Taryn, trying to decide what to do about them and the missing Riders, when a bright light flashed in the centre of the lake.

Gasping, Orla was almost knocked off her feet as Taryn yanked her arm, sprinting for the trees. The lake began to bubble behind them.

“But what about -?”

“No time. Move!” Taryn shouted, and they scrambled over the rocks, shouting at the other girls to run.

“Go! Go! Go!”

A dull boom shuddered through the ground and Orla glanced over her shoulder to see a wall of water racing towards them. “Hold on!” Taryn yelled, grabbing Orla’s hand as the water slammed into them, throwing them forward, tumbling them around and tossing them into the chaos of the forest.

More next Friday.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Dunk some bullies in the cold lake,
Fa la la la la, la la la la
It will make you feel so great,
Tra la la la, la la la la…

Four
Troubled Waters

TARYN SLICED THROUGH the water, arm over arm, keeping her head down and coming up for air every few strokes. On and on she pushed, kicking her legs, ploughing forwards, determined to win. Jylana was the most popular girl in their year and leader of the cruelty that had seen Orla and Rhiddyl driven out of their original dorm room.

Taryn despised Jylana and everything she stood for. She would not let her win.

Not usually much of a competitive person, Taryn couldn’t normally bestir herself to excel in such foolish competitions, but beating Jylana was different. Taryn wasn’t doing this for herself, she was doing it for Orla and Rhiddyl and Zett, and anyone else that nasty poisonous gossip and her sneering friends tried to tear down for being just a little bit west of their narrow definition of normal.

What was the point of being normal if you ended up like Jylana and her block-print friends? They all looked, acted and sounded the same, mimicking hairstyles and accents, regardless of where on the Overworld they’d originated. Taryn much preferred her misfit bunch of mates and was fiercely protective of them.

So she pushed on through the water, keeping her head down for three strokes, then four, ignoring the burning in her lungs. Until her fingers struck rock and she jerked upright, barely avoiding smashing her nose into Honra’s promontory.

“Back you go, Taryn. Quick!” the lieutenant told her. “Jylana’s coming in fast behind.”

Shaking the water from her eyes, Taryn turned and kicked off the rock, churning her aching legs doubly hard as she passed Jylana. Enjoying the sound of the girl spluttering in her wake, Taryn pushed to come up every four breaths and lost herself to the stroke of her tired arms and the glide of the cool water. Her lungs burned and her heart pounded in her ears, leaving her deaf to everything else.

Until something slimy and cool drifted across her waist, sliding down the length of her body to snag around her ankle.

Taryn double-kicked to free herself, breaking her rhythm to gasp for air.

The weed tightened and Taryn kicked again.

Behind her, Jylana yelped. Taryn turned sharply but could see no sign of the other girl.

“Jylana?” she called, suspicious and ready at any moment to dunk the fool for messing around at such a time.

Someone cried her name and Taryn spun, ready to fight, but was yanked beneath the surface without any time to scream.

* * *

RHIDDYL DIVED, TWISTING under the water and arrowing to the far shore. Her body shifted as she moved, making tiny changes to make her faster, sleeker, stronger in the water. By the time she reached the edge of the lake, where the deep floor started rising rapidly, she probably looked more like a Flowflight dragon than a Skystorm. Her Clan would be horrified, but Rhiddyl reminded herself that such things weren’t important now. Her Clan wasn’t here; her friends were and they needed her.

She shot to the surface, gulped for breath and dived once more.

Bubbles frothed in the sun-dappled shadows and water churned, stirring up cold currents and making the light sway and dance.

No, not light: weeds.

Rhiddyl blinked, focusing on the shifting shadows and recognised bodies. Thrashing arms, kicking legs, screaming faces, all glimpsed between thick swaying fronds.

Not if she could help it.

Power tingling along her scales, Rhiddyl arrowed downwards, over the shallow edge of the lakeshore and into the dark depths. The weeds continued to wave, taunting her with glimpses of her friends. Zett’s long braids; Vhen’s face; someone else’s arm and leg.

Rhiddyl bared her teeth and clawed at the water, tucking her wings tight to her sides as she pushed with her tail, thrusting herself deeper.

A thick weed frond slapped her face, sliding over her scales and curling around her neck.

Rhiddyl slashed with her claws, power zapping outwards. The weed shrivelled and shredded.

Deep in the lake, something screamed.

* * *

AS TARYN VANISHED beneath the surface, Orla leapt forward, remembering too late that she didn’t know how to swim. Fortunately Lieutenant Thera was there to catch her.

“Stay on the rock!” the woman shouted, calling more orders to the other girls to stay put, while she swam swiftly away. At the other end of their makeshift race lane, Honra had already dived in, powering towards the spot where both girls had disappeared.

Water erupted upwards and two heads – one blonde, one dark – emerged from the depths.

“You bitch!” Jylana’s voice sliced through the pensive silence. “You kicked me in the face!”

Taryn slicked her hair back, her expression incredulous. “I just saved your life,” she protested. “I didn’t kick you. I pulled you up!”

“If you hadn’t kicked me in the face I wouldn’t have needed pulling anywhere!”

“Your feet were tangled in the weeds, you fool. No one kicked you.”

“You did! Look, my nose is bleeding!”

“No, it isn’t, you bloody liar, but I can fix that for you.”

The lieutenants arrived and pulled the girls apart before Taryn could follow through on her threat. Jylana fought Lieutenant Thera’s grasp, kicking and spitting like a cat, while Honra simply held Taryn’s arm.

“She’s lost her mind,” Taryn shouted over Jylana’s racket. “Not that she had much to begin with.”

Jylana howled, redoubling her efforts to get free.

“For Maegla’s sake, Honra,” Thera growled. “Get her out of here, then come back and give me a hand. One moron at a time is enough for anyone to handle.”

“I could give you some tips,” Taryn started saying, but Honra yanked her back, dunking her under the water. She came up spluttering and cursing, but finally obeyed her lieutenant’s instructions and swam towards his rock.

Orla watched anxiously until Taryn climbed safely ashore. Only then did she look back towards Jylana and the lieutenants. All three of them were gone.

More next week!

Whatever you celebrate, if you celebrate at all, I wish you a happy and safe festive season!
And if you’re in the northern hemisphere – woohoo, we’re halfway out of the dark!
(If you’re in the south, enjoy your summer, you lucky ducks.)

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

What a lovely day for some play in the lake…

“YOU BETTER NOT have pissed in this water, Caelo,” Taryn growled as she towed Orla over to where Rhiddyl was patiently treading water with Caelo clinging to her back.

“Why on the Overworld would you think that?” Rhiddyl asked the same question Orla had been thinking.

“Because the water over here is significantly warmer than the rest of the lake,” Taryn said.

Orla had been too busy trying not to drown to notice, but now that Taryn mentioned it the water did feel warmer. Not warm enough to be comfortable, but her toes no longer felt like they were about to fall off. Perhaps it was shallower?

“Don’t be disgusting,” Caelo said. “You’re supposed to be a princess. Anyway it wouldn’t work.” She paused for a thoughtful moment. “Would it?”

“No!” Rhiddyl squealed and dived, leaving Caelo spluttering and cursing at the surface.

The dragon resurfaced cautiously behind Orla, just as Caelo started splashing and flailing at Taryn.

“Look what you did! I could have drowned! Now my heat source is gone. Why are you always ruining everything?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Taryn protested, laughing as she passed Orla over to Rhiddyl and swam hastily backwards. “You were never in any danger of drowning. We’d never be that lucky.”

“You,” Caelo snarled, stopping splashing long enough to point a shivering finger at the princess, “are a thoroughly unpleasant person.”

Floating backwards, Taryn clutched her hands to her chest. “You say the sweetest things!”

Caelo growled and dogpaddled determinedly after her. Taryn was laughing too hard to make an effective retreat and was swiftly caught. Whereupon Caelo scrambled onto the princess’ shoulders and tried to drown her.

Fortunately, Lieutenant Thani intervened before Orla and Rhiddyl had to decide if they wanted to.

“As delightful as this is to witness – why, it’s like watching lambs frolic in spring – can you lovebirds stop flirting for a bit? We have important stuff to do here.”

“Flirting!” Caelo shrieked, utterly outraged. “Can’t you recognise a murder attempt when it whacks you in the face?”

Taryn slicked her hair back and sniffed. “She isn’t my type anyway. Too brassy.”

Caelo’s eyes seemed to glow as she reached for the princess. Lieutenant Thani sighed, planted a hand on both girls’ heads and dunked them under the surface.

Caelo emerged still growling, so down she went again.

Taryn merely looked wounded. “I didn’t do anything,” she complained, and quickly swam away before the lieutenant could duck her a second time.

Bubbles and spit heralded Caelo’s return to the surface and she scowled at the lieutenant.

“Feeling civilised yet?” Thani asked sweetly.

Caelo snarled. “I’m waiting for an appropriate example to follow.”

The lieutenant smiled and patted her on the cheek. “Such a sweet temper. I can’t understand why no one likes you.”

Caelo narrowed her eyes, but a sneeze cut off whatever imprudent thing she intended to say and she sank below the water again.

Chuckling, Lieutenant Thani clapped her hands to draw everyone’s attention. “Now that we’re all pleasantly warmed up -”

“Speak for yourself,” Taryn grumbled, as Caelo rejoined them with a splutter and a cough.

“- time to get to the point of this exercise. See that rock over there?” The students turned to where Lieutenant Honra was waving, some hundred or so paces away. “You have to swim there and back, on my command. Not just almost there, not just within sight of the rock. You have to make contact with your hand. Lieutenant Honra will be watching. Those who fail to hit get disqualified. And don’t think that gets you out of the water any quicker. Everyone stays in until we have a winner.”

A chorus of groans and a few less than polite names were uttered.

Lieutenant Thani smiled as if they’d lavished her with compliments. “Prepare yourselves, students. We’re going to have a race.”

“Oh goodie,” Caelo muttered, while some of the keener swimmers jostled their way to the front of the pack, eager to begin.

“Not so fast,” Thani called. “We won’t be doing this as a group. Why, how ever could Lieutenant Honra prevent everyone from cheating that way? No, we’re doing this in pairs. Winner goes through to the next round. Then the next, and so on. Until we have a winner.”

Teeth beginning to chatter, Orla exchanged horrified glances with her friends. How long would take? There were almost thirty girls in their year group. And they all had to stay in the lake until it was finished.

“She’s trying to k-k-kill us,” Caelo whispered, and the others agreed.

“Everyone understand the rules?” Thani asked, grinning. “Excellent. Then let’s begin. Ateyni, Valona, you’re up first. Get ready, and… go!”

* * *

RHIDDYL WAS EXCITED about racing, although she still wasn’t certain how she would hold herself back so she didn’t beat everyone too easily. When Lieutenant Thani waved her over, she went eagerly, towing Orla after her.

“Can’t swim?” the lieutenant asked the Ihran.

Teeth-chattering, face still white with fear, Orla shook her head.

Unusually Thani took pity and nodded over her shoulder. “There’s a rock just under the water behind me. Sit on that and you’ll be fine.”

Orla sighed with relief as Rhiddyl tugged her over to the rock and helped her get comfortable. “That’s better,” the Ihran said gratefully.

“You’ll still have to find time to learn, mind,” Lieutenant Thani said, her kindness only stretching so far. “Maybe Rhiddyl will teach you?”

Rhiddyl nodded, more than happy to do so.

“You can start now, if you like. You have plenty of time,” Thani continued. “You’ll have to sit this one out again too, Rhiddyl, I’m afraid. Can’t have you beating the others. It would damage their morale.” The woman swam off to break up a squabble developing between the bored and frozen girls waiting to race.

All of Rhiddyl’s happy anticipation turned to rocks in her belly and she sank up to her eyes.

“But what about your morale?” Orla grumbled from her rock. “Why doesn’t anyone ever think of that?”

Warmth brought Rhiddyl back above the surface again and she smiled at her friend, reminded of why she liked Orla so much. “It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

Orla’s raised eyebrows suggested she didn’t believe her. Rhiddyl didn’t believe herself either. She sighed again. “Can I start your swimming lessons another time? Since I’m not wanted here, I might as well explore the lake.”

Orla waved her away. “Take as long as you like. I’m not going anywhere. Have fun and be careful.”

“I always am,” Rhiddyl replied, diving beneath the cool surface before she could be accused of lying again.

She wasn’t a reckless dragon by nature or even particularly impulsive. She always tried to do the right thing. It was just she wasn’t always very good at doing it. Such as last winter, when she’d brought her friends up to the lake to play in the snow and ended up almost drowning the lot of them. The memory of breaking through the ice made her shiver and she sent a pulse of power through her body to warm herself up.

The water crackled around her in response to her lightning and she shot through the sun-dappled depths, revelling in the feeling of being a single century old again. Back home at Storm Heart, where all Clan Skystorm dragons were raised, she and her clutch mates had learnt to swim in the vast lake between the mountains. Old Tskeeik, the massive Seadrake who lived there had enjoyed a good game of hide and seek amongst the waters that had kept them safe when the Cloud Curse covered the Dragonlands too. But the Curse was long gone and the Dragonlands became the Cleansed Lands, allowing the few remaining kin Seadrake to return to the oceans. Except for Tskeeik, who preferred their mountain lake and the sanctuary that had saved them eight centuries before.

Those had been wonderful, innocent days, when Rhiddyl had been just a wingling testing out her powers for the first time. Before she became too powerful to trust and had to be sent away for the good of the Clan.

And here she was again, being sent away because she was too powerful to play with her human friends.

She sighed a stream of bubbles and shot for the surface, wondering if there would ever be a time or place where she could belong.

She arched above the surface, unaware she’d shifted into full dragon form, and leapt into the light, opening her wings to glide above the surface, shimmering in the sun.

Someone screamed.

* * *

ZETT WAS THOROUGHLY enjoying himself. He’d been one of the first to run into the water, uncomfortable at being half-naked in the open. The other boys hadn’t seemed to mind, but Zett always preferred being fully clothed. So he ran into the water and swiftly forgot his discomfort in the joy of swimming.

He’d always loved to swim. It gave him the same joy as dancing. The weightlessness of his limbs, the ease with which he could power through the water, was a sheer delight. It was also far too cold to stand still or simply tread water, so he swam and dived, rolled and rippled, loving the way the sunlight played beneath the surface.

So much nicer than the last time he’d been in this lake, when he’d thought he and Caelo were going to die. The cold today was nothing compared to the death chill of last time and he frolicked with happy abandon, determined to remove that memory from his mind.

Vhen was less happy, especially when Zett kept swimming circles around him. “You’re going to tire yourself out. What are you, part fish? Is this how people amuse themselves in the uncivilised wilds of Havia?”

Their fellow team mates, Jorgo and Lenel snorted. Kevians. So snooty, thinking their mining wealth made them better than the rest of the Greater West. Their money came from dirt and their homes weren’t much better. Still, Zett was having too much fun to care. He cupped a hand and poured water over Vhen’s head instead.

His Sutheralli friend didn’t shriek or yelp as many would, he glared. Zett could imagine steam rising off him and the other boys cackled.

“Oh, he’s a Sun Priest all right. Better watch your back, Zeze, or you’ll wake up as charcoal tomorrow.”

Vhen snorted water out of his nose and rolled his eyes.

Zett grinned, knowing the Sutheralli wasn’t that annoyed. He was just Vhen.

Lieutenant Cayn finally grew tired of leaving them to freeze and set out a series of challenges. The first involved Zett’s team protecting a rock fifty or so strokes from shore, trying to make sure no other team could climb up and claim it. A simple enough task when the rock was in the middle of a patch of weeds and the majority of the boys were complete cowards.

“Urgh, it’s all slimy!”

“I’m not swimming through that.”

“Argh, my ankle! Something’s got my ankle!”

Zett’s team sat on the rock, rolling their eyes, since they’d had to cross the weed forest themselves and had come through just fine.

Bored of the farce, Zett looked across the lake at where the girls were holding races and smiled sadly to see Rhiddyl swimming on her own. He nudged Vhen with his elbow.

The other boy sighed. “Cast out again. Poor dragon.”

A sharp prickle tickled Zett’s feet where they dangled in the water and he grinned at Vhen. “She’ll be fine,” he said, knowing that no matter how hurt Rhiddyl was at being excluded from their holiday activities, she was still a dragon, with two centuries of power beneath her scales.

Vhen swirled his feet in the water and smiled. “I wonder if she can warm the whole lake.”

“Probably not with us in it,” Zett said. “Unless we want to be cooked.”

Vhen smirked. “You could do with a new hair-do. Your braids are fraying.”

Of course, that had to be the remark that caught their team mates’ attention. The other boys oohed appreciatively and started teasing Zett about his neat habits and sartorial ways.

Scowling at Vhen’s rueful chuckle, he shoved his friend off the rock to the whooping approval of the others.

“Ha! Lover’s tiff. Does that mean you’ve dumped your boyfriend, Zeze? Caelo will be pleased.”

Zett whirled, ready to knock the other boys off too, but someone else beat him to it.

One moment Jorgo was laughing in Zett’s face, the next he was gone. Zett’s eyes met Lenel’s, both wide with confusion, then something slimy wrapped around Zett’s ankle and dragged him backwards too.

His nails skidded across the wet rock as he tried to hold on, but it was no use. He couldn’t stop. So he screamed with his whole heart instead.

“Rhiddyl!” The lake waters closed over his head and he plunged into darkness.

More next week. Sorry ;)

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Anyone for swimming?

Three
Swimming

THE UPPER LAKE of Aquila was long, broad and deep. It froze in winter, thawed in spring and even in the depths of summer remained bitterly cold. A fact that Taryn couldn’t help being aware of since she was currently neck deep in it.

“Come on, you lot. You’re Rift Riders. Stop being pampered princess and act like it! No offence, Taryn,” Lieutenant Thani added from where she was treading water an arm’s length away.

“None taken,” Taryn muttered, barely preventing her teeth from chattering as she waited for the rest of the girls to stop giggling, shrieking and prevaricating and join her in the water. Some were genuinely nervous, like Orla, who stood on the shore in her dark shirt and knee-breeches, eyeing the lake anxiously. Others were just playing silly beggars. Taryn eyed Jylana and her gang of popular girls with intense dislike as they pranced around, pretending to dip their toes and screaming loudly enough for the boys to hear them clean across the lake.

“Maegla bolt the lot of them,” Lieutenant Thani growled and waded back to shore, water streaming from her clothes.

Needing to move to keep warm, Taryn swam in a circle and noticed the boys were showing similar pampered-princess tendencies on the far side. Dhori and Cayn were less refined in their methods than Honra and Thani, though, and she grinned as the lieutenants swung someone between them and threw them off a rocky promontory into the water.

“Some students have all the fun,” Rhiddyl murmured, surfacing next to Taryn, her feathery hair slicked back against her head. Sunlight shimmered around them, almost as bright as the dragon’s eyes. “There goes Vhen.”

The lieutenants swung again and a distinctly tall boy was flung, kicking and cursing, through the air. He made a most impressive splash, much to the roaring amusement of the other boys.

“I think Orla might need our support.”

Rhiddyl’s soft voice drew Taryn’s attention back to their own shore and she turned to see Orla bravely wading into the water. It lapped against her knees and her usually ruddy face was pale as the milk her miryhl was named for.

Clearly they didn’t teach swimming in Ihra. Having only learnt the skill herself after her family moved out of Nimbys five years ago, Taryn swam quickly to shore to provide assistance.

Slicking her sodden hair out of her eyes, she exchanged an encouraging smile for Orla’s weak effort and offered her hand. “Hold onto us,” she said, nodding towards Rhiddyl. “We won’t let you drown.”

As the two of them gently guided Orla into deeper waters, the rest of their year mates ventured into the cold. All except Caelo, who insisted on remaining on shore with several blankets wrapped around her shoulders.

“I’m sick,” she told Lieutenant Thani firmly. “Cold water will make it worse. I might get pneumonia and die. Head Healer Morri would have words with you.”

The lieutenant looked mildly amused and nodded at Honra. “Can you handle this? I need to make sure none of our other princesses drown. No offence, Taryn,” she added again, without looking around.

“None taken,” she and her friends, Caelo included, chorused.

Thani jogged back into the water and dived in, much to the yelping dismay of the girls who got splashed as they edged reluctantly deeper.

“Go on, Caelo,” Lieutenant Honra encouraged on the shore. “Stop messing around. The sun’s warm enough to dry you afterwards. You’ll be fine.”

Caelo shrugged. “I’ll be better if I stay with you, sir,” the redhead argued. “Why are you on this side of the lake, anyway? Is it because you prefer men?”

“Honra doesn’t prefer anyone,” Thani said, having returned to the shallows to chase the slow-movers into the depths.

“The Overworld is a splendid and complicated thing,” Caelo observed cheerfully.

“And you’re still not getting out of this swimming lesson,” Thani said. “So ditch those blankets and get in the water before I have to throw you in like the lieutenants across the lake are doing.”

A glance across the shimmering surface showed that all the occupants on the opposite shore were now splashing merrily around while Cayn shouted at them from a rock.

Caelo sneezed. “There’s no need to be a brute about it.”

“Rhiddyl, Taryn, can you stop babying Orla for a moment and drag your recalcitrant pet into the lake, please?”

“Are you going to let her talk about me like that, sir?” Caelo asked Honra.

The man smiled. “Moving quickly is best, I always think. The shock fades away soon enough. Sometimes it even feels warmer that way.”

While Caelo was still frowning over what his words might mean, Rhiddyl snatched the small redhead off her feet and ran towards the lake.

“No! Rhiddyl, you can’t! This is betrayal! This is -” The girl’s screams cut off sharply as the dragon dived, plunging them both beneath the surface.

Holding tightly to Orla’s hand, Taryn braced herself against the resulting wave and shivered as cold washed through the lake.

“Treachery.” Caelo broke the surface, spluttering, and burst into a fresh round of coughs.

“Yes, yes, we all feel sorry for you,” Lieutenant Thani said, once the racket had died down. “But now that we’re finally all in this blasted water, let’s get moving before our toes fall off. Everyone, follow me.”

At the back of the group, Taryn flinched away from the resultant fountain of kicks that churned the shining water into foam. Orla clutched her hand harder than ever and Taryn sighed.

“Come on, I won’t let you sink,” she promised, and floated into the deeper waters, dragging a nervy Orla behind her.

* * *

“AREN’T YOU HAPPY to be on this side of the lake today?” Vhen asked Zett as the boy swam circles around him, as sleek and happy as an otter to be in the water, regardless of the frigid temperature.

Zett surfaced long enough to flash him a grin, while Vhen watched Rhiddyl sprint into the lake with Caelo shrieking all the way. A shiver rippled through him at the shock the redhead had likely just experienced, but he felt no sympathy. If he had to suffer these waters, everyone else should have to too.

Strange as it felt to be separated from the girl portion of their friendship group, Vhen was nevertheless relieved to be away from Caelo’s dramas. It was rare the lieutenants bothered to split the six of them up. The usual gender divide no longer seemed to apply to them, since they’d been sharing a room in relative harmony for almost a year, but swimming in the lake appeared to be a different matter.

Vhen was glad and wished Rhiddyl the best of luck dealing with Caelo’s theatrics. Thank goodness Zett was nothing like his best friend. Instead he was the most sensible and quiet of fellows, even if he was unnaturally happy to be in the water.

“All right, you lily-livered lot,” Cayn barked from his position on a sunny rock. Stripped to the waist, as all of them were, Cayn’s bare chest revealed an impressive array of scars in the morning sun – badges of honour for any Rider who had lived through the War of Aquila, when pirates and kaz-naghkt had seized the citadel and driven the Riders out.

Seeing the marks permanently etched on the man’s otherwise healthy skin, Vhen understood why Cayn and the other lieutenants refused to accept that the kaz-naghkt were gone. Anyone who’d suffered such wounds from the enemy and survived would need far more than five years to forget so potent a threat. Especially when there was still a chance the kaz-naghkt might return one day. The pirates already had, though they’d always been the lesser evil.

Still, the man’s scars were as brisk a wake-up call as the cold water, reminding the students that Rift Rider life wasn’t all fun and games. They were training for a serious purpose, so Vhen turned his back on what the girls were up to and paid attention as Cayn began dividing them into groups and setting water-based challenges. Relieved to be grouped with Zett along with a couple of other boys, Vhen allowed his competitive side to rise and prepared to give the rest of their year mates the thrashing they deserved.

More next week.

Thanks for reading!

~ The Beginning ~ Last Update ~

Lessons and dreams.

THE MIRYHLS STAYED until dusk, at which point the lieutenants sent the eagles back to their eyries, much to everyone’s disappointment.

“Can’t they stay until morning?” Tenzi asked, a fellow student and occasional friend to Orla’s group. “We’ll all be good.”

Her plea was echoed by many others, along with even rasher promises, but the lieutenants were unmoved. “You still have lessons tonight,” Dhori reminded them all. “The miryhls have distracted you enough for one day.”

Everyone groaned. While most of the daily lessons were fun in some way – tracking and hunting, building fires, preparing food, even identifying the safely edible plants and fungi amongst the vegetation – the evening ones were always dull.

“Can’t we have a night off, for Maegla’s sake?” someone was unwise enough to whine, unfortunately not just within Orla’s hearing, but in Lieutenant Cayn’s as well.

“Wanting a night off are you, Givellen?” the lieutenant asked with the kind of sympathy that made wise students wary. “Tired of learning your history?”

Alas for the rest of them, Givellen seemed oblivious to the lieutenant’s tone or the way his friends had shuffled away from him. “Honestly, sir? Yes. Why are we still learning about kaz-naghkt? No one’s seen one for five years. They’re dead and gone. We’ve nothing to fear from them anymore.”

“Have we not?” Cayn asked, his voice deceptively soft. He smiled at his fellow lieutenants. “D’you hear that? Seems we can rest easy now, everyone, safe in the knowledge that Givellen here’s been all over the World’s End mountains, removing any trace of our old enemy. I daresay he routed out every last nest and roost, making sure they were all dead and gone. How lucky we are!”

No one laughed. Least of all Givellen, whose mouth gaped like a fish. “But that’s not what I – I didn’t say – I didn’t mean – Sir!”

Cayn narrowed his eyes. “Sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about, am I right?”

Givellen shook his head numbly, shrugged and finally hung his head. “You’re always right, sir,” he mumbled the lieutenant’s favourite response.

“I am,” Cayn agreed cheerfully. “And until the day you’ve explored every last inch of the Overworld, crawled through the deepest caves and climbed the highest peaks, neither you nor anyone else can definitively say that the kaz-naghkt are gone for good, can they?” He looked at the students, eyebrows raised expectantly.

“No, sir,” they answered.

“We’ve thought them defeated before, but they always came back, didn’t they?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So it’s not impossible that they might turn up again, is it?”

“No, sir.”

“Then I guess we’ll be sitting down tonight and every other night the rest of the lieutenants and I choose to learn about the old enemy, won’t we?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Anything else to add, Givellen?” Cayn leant forward, smiling at the lad.

While Givellen might have been a little slow on the uptake earlier, he and the rest of the students had spent enough time with Cayn to know there was only one answer to that question.

The lad licked his lips and kept his head down. “No, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you, sir,” the subdued students chorused.

Cayn smiled and spread his arms as if to hug them all. “Then settle down, my lambs. It’s time to begin at the beginning once again.”

Orla joined her friends in a huddle towards the back of the group. Other students might vie for positions close to the fire – or as far away from Cayn as possible – but it wasn’t so very cold. Nor could Cayn be trusted to remain in one spot. The man positively revelled in tormenting the students whenever he could, and was often known for standing behind any who were foolish enough to show they were trying to avoid him. Taking the space between Taryn and Zett, Orla rested her back against a sturdy tree and stifled a yawn as Cayn stalked around the students while the other lieutenants set up an easel with a familiar set of boards.

“Blast and burn Givellen, the loud-mouthed duck-brain,” Caelo grumbled into her handkerchief, pausing in her complaints to sneeze twice. “We were supposed to be learning North Point folklore tonight, until that slack-jaw flapped his daft tongue right back to kaz-naghkt. Again. Because learning about them last night wasn’t enough.”

“Sounds like you know plenty about them,” Cayn’s voice emerged from behind Orla’s tree making them all jump. The smirking lieutenant stepped out of the shadows, rubbing his hands with glee. “Care to take the lesson tonight, Caelo?”

The girl growled, sniffling into her handkerchief, and stood up. “Kind of you to ask, sir. I’d be delighted.” She stormed off before Zett could grab her. Even Cayn looked startled as he chased her towards the rest of the lieutenants.

Seeing her approach, Dhori stepped forward. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. Silence fell as everyone waited for whatever drama Caelo would cause next. Thanks to her cold it had been a while since her last performance, but perhaps this new start proved she was finally shaking it off. Orla hoped so. As ridiculous as Caelo could often be, Orla didn’t like seeing her as listless as she’d been over recent days.

Coming to a halt directly in front of Dhori, Caelo sneezed and tilted her head back to glare at him. The taller lieutenant also sneezed as he looked down at the stocky student. “Well?”

“I am going to -”

“Sit back down,” Cayn said, finally catching up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “A fine joke, Caelo, but get back to your friends. These lessons are serious, not one of your comedy plays.”

Caelo whirled towards the lieutenant, her fiery hair writhing with the angry movement. “Do you think Rift Riders were the only ones who suffered from the kaz-naghkt? Are Riders the only ones who learned about the enemy? Are Riders -”

“Peace, Caelo,” Dhori murmured, resting his hand on her other shoulder. “No one is saying that. But now is not the time. Tonight we’ll learn about the enemy from a Rider perspective. Perhaps tomorrow we can trade stories and survival techniques?”

Caelo eyed him over her shoulder, sniffed and shrugged both lieutenants off with a toss of her hair. “I’d rather learn North Point folklore, as we were promised,” she told them, marching back to her friends.

“Perhaps we’ll find time for both,” Lieutenant Honra said, ever the peacemaker, and calmly drew everyone’s attention to the board, where a picture of a kaz-naghkt shone in the firelight.

Part human, part dragon, the kaz-naghkt looked precisely what it was: lethal.

Orla and her friends paid little heed to it as Caelo stomped back to Zett’s side, sat with a thump and promptly broke into a sneezing fit.

When she was done, Zett handed her a handkerchief. “Feeling better?”

Caelo glared at him.

“Wipe your face, love, you’re all snotty,” her friend advised, making Orla and the others bite their tongues or look away to suppress snickers.

“A pox on all of you,” Caelo grumbled into the handkerchief, and emerged with a rasping cough. “The sooner we leave these accursed trees and return to Aquila, the better.”

“We’ll be home soon,” Rhiddyl promised soothingly. “Half-Year is only a month away. They can’t keep us out here too much longer.”

“Want to bet?” Vhen grumbled.

“Autumn is coming,” Orla pointed out, because it felt relevant.

Rhiddyl shot her a smile and nodded. “I can feel the change in the air. The weather is shifting.”

“Great,” Caelo muttered, blowing her nose. “Rain’s just what we need. Because this trip hasn’t been fun enough already.”

“They’ll take us home when it rains,” Rhiddyl said confidently.

Orla wasn’t the only one to cast the dragon a sceptical look. Rhiddyl was sweet and surprisingly idealistic for someone over two hundred years old. Sweet but completely unrealistic. Even after more than a year of living amongst humans, she continued to think the best of people. Which was pretty miraculous when Cayn was around.

“Rain or no, we should probably start paying attention,” Orla warned, nodding towards the fire at the front, where Honra had handed over teaching duties to Thani, and Cayn was once again out of sight.

The friends sat up, casting wary glances over their shoulders in case the missing lieutenant had snuck up on them again. A sharp yelp on the far side of the gathering indicated they were safe for now, but one could never tell with Cayn. He did enjoy springing out of nowhere and demanding answers to questions no one had asked.

The safest way to guard against such attacks was to pay attention to the lieutenants. Stifling a yawn, Orla propped her cheek on her fist and focused on Thani’s description of kaz-naghkt weaponry and fighting styles. When her eyes grew heavy, she fought off the lure of sleep, even as Caelo started snoring softly, but eventually she too succumbed. The crackle of a footstep in the undergrowth startled her awake, but it was only Rhiddyl draping blankets over her friends.

“Sweet dreams, Orla,” she whispered, covering her heavy limbs with warmth.

“Sweet dreams,” she mumbled, closing her eyes and surrendering to the dark.

* * *

ZETT DREAMED.

There was nothing sweet about this darkness. It was deep, cold and all encompassing. It wrapped tight around him, weighing him down, dragging him deeper. He was in the lake.

And he was drowning.

It wasn ’ t just a dream; it was a memory. From the winter, when he and his friends had flown to the lake to play in the snow and he and Caelo had fallen through the ice.

Caelo! Where was Caelo? He had to find her. He had to save her.

He thrashed in the cold, kicking his way into a turn. All was dark, all was heavy. It crushed him, squeezing his burning lungs and gripping his heart.

He sank deeper, unable to move, unable to swim. Unable to save himself. He sank into the darkness.

And heard a voice. Singing. Beautifully clear. It called to him, called him to come down, to join with the dark. To sink.

Zett opened his arms and fell —

Ice cold slapped his face and he woke spluttering, water in his face, his eyes, his mouth. Drowning! He was drowning! Panic stricken, he flailed, hands and feet striking something hard.

The lakebed, the shore. He planted his hands and pushed, lifting free of the shallow water and thrusting back onto his knees. Shaking, he wiped water from his face and squeezed handfuls out of his hair.

Night lay over the lake. Stars burned in the sky. There were no clouds to obscure the glare of the full moon shining down on him. Silver shimmered over everything, turning the colours of daylight to a blue and grey scene. Gilt-edged ripples spread across the water, betraying the breath of the wind. Bats flittered overhead and somewhere in the distance an owl shrieked.

“Zett?”

He jumped, twisting to find Caelo behind him. At least he thought it was Caelo, but she was hidden beneath so many blankets she more closely resembled a giant grub.

“Can’t sleep?” she asked, then shifted her blankets to cough against her covered hand, muffling most of the noise.

The wind sighed over the water, shimmering in the moonlight, and Zett pushed to his feet. “I was just admiring the view,” he said, forcing himself to smile, unsure why he lied. Except Caelo had been so sick of late and he didn’t want to worry her. “You shouldn’t be out here. It’s cold.”

Caelo cast him a knowing look but thankfully didn’t press any further, and Zett was grateful for the silver-edged darkness that hid the evidence of his unplanned dip. The last thing he wanted was Caelo fussing over him. She wasn’t very good at it.

“Here. You look like you need this more than me. We wouldn’t want you relapsing.” The grub shed its outermost layer and draped a blanket over his shoulders.

Perhaps she was better at fussing than he remembered.

“Thanks, Cae.” She shuffled closer and tucked her arm through his, resting her head against him. “You’re welcome, Zeze,” she snuffled, and they headed back to camp in comfortable silence, dreams and unplanned dips forgotten.

More next week.

Thanks for reading!