Page 31 of Dragon Valley
Caden remained sullenand distant for the rest of the evening. He barely spoke a word, only grunting his approval when we found a building that still had most of its frame and roof intact. I knew he was acting out of a place of pain and I yearned to comfort him in some way. The war took such a toll on him that he shut down and became this emotional shell, only doing what was necessary to survive.
It felt like he built a wall around himself, so thick that not even Dusa’s affection could get through to him. He stepped out of range of her headbutts and kept far away from me too. I didn’t know whether to give him space or try to break through his wall.
We unrolled our sleeping mats when night fell and he didn’t even say goodnight. After checking to make sure his sword was in reach, he flipped over to face the wall away from me. I settled onto my own mat and proceeded to stare at the exposed beams in the ceiling.
I didn’t sleep a wink.
When the first light of dawn began creeping into the sky, I sat up and stretched my stiff, aching muscles. Caden still laid on his side, breathing gently. He must have gotten used to sleeping anywhere after three years of no permanent home.
I stepped outside to find Dusa gnawing on a charred pig carcass and gave her some morning pats before moving on. Even though these people no longer needed their homes and earthly belongings, they deserved some acknowledgement and a send-off to the next realm.
Taking a deep breath, I walked through the rubble and searched under the larger pieces of debris. I only dug through the ashy remnants for a minute when I found my first artifact— a half-burned doll.
Her handsewn dress was now black and sooty. I rubbed my thumb over what remained of her face and could just make out the features of one eye and half of a cross-stitched smile.
Blinking back tears, I clutched her to my chest like she was my most treasured possession and continued digging through the mess. I gathered up as many small items as I could until my arms couldn’t hold any more, then headed back toward Dusa.
My dragon cocked her head at me curiously as she watched me come over with an assortment of random, partially burnt items in my arms.
“Dig a hole for me, girl,” I instructed as I laid everything down carefully. A man’s boot, a scrap of cloth, a drinking horn, some kind of metal figurine, a small knife, and the doll.
With a grunt she obliged, tearing into the earth with her massive claws. Within minutes, she carved out a hole just large enough for all of the items to fit in. I dug through our food packs to see what food we could spare. Dusa could always hunt more meat for us, so I took out a few strips of dried beef.
I knelt in front of the hole while carefully and solemnly placing each of the items inside, the doll last. Then I laid the food on her sooty dress before sitting back.
“I’m afraid I don’t know your Gods,” I began. “But I ask the Dragon God to burn away the pain and torment of your senseless deaths. Ride on His back and find warmth and peace in His flames.” My voice cracked and I sucked in another breath. “Take this food and let Him guide you on your journey to your final place of rest. May you find your family members and loved ones in the sky realm or wherever your Gods await you.”
With a final shaky breath, I pushed the upturned earth into the hole until it was filled and the items disappeared beneath the surface. I smoothed my hands over the dirt and rose to my feet.
As I turned back to Dusa, wiping my hands on my trousers, the sight of Caden startled me enough to make me gasp.
“Hey,” I greeted softly.
“What were you doing?” His tone didn’t carry that same, sharp edge from last night but was still colder than I was used to.
“Just having a small moment for the dead. With no bodies to bury, I found some personal items and decided to bury those.” I shrugged casually but insecurity ripped through me. I didn’t know any of these people’s customs. What if I did something disrespectful?
He said nothing, just stared at me for a few moments with an unreadable expression.
“You would do that for people you’ve never met?” he finally asked. “For people who would have ran away screaming at the first sight of Dusa, or call you a savage the moment they saw you?”
“Well, they never got a chance to do that,” I answered bitterly. “Because they were burned alive in their homes. And yes. It doesn’t matter how they would have reacted to me or Dusa, no one deserves to die like this. Their souls were ripped from their bodies, they didn’t go peacefully. So I had to do something so they would move on and be at peace.”
Again, he didn’t speak for the longest time and I couldn’t begin to tell what he was thinking.
“It was just personal items, not supplies we could have used,” I added. “So no need to worry about wasting in times of war.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” he said with a slight shake of his head. He ran a hand through his pale hair, already tousled and sticking out everywhere from sleep. “Ready to go soon?”
There it was. The familiar warmth in his voice from the Caden I knew. The warmth that made me smile and brought a flutter to my chest. I nodded and we had a quick breakfast of crusty bread and dried beef before climbing on Dusa and heading to our next destination.
“Did you rest enough, girl?” I asked, rubbing her neck as we climbed in altitude.
Her growl was a tentative yes but Caden’s attitude still made her feel uneasy. As if sensing that and wanting to reassure her, he pulled a charred rabbit from his saddlebag and tossed it in front of us so she could catch it in midair.
She chewed it as we flew and her resulting happiness flooded through me. I found myself smiling for the first time since we arrived at the village last night.
But when Caden scooted closer behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist so snugly I could feel his heartbeat against my back, my heart soared like it had wings of its own.
