Page 52 of Lady Dragon
Kirek cut through Samansa’s rising anxiety. “No. But if we change again,you’llneed to be able to stay seated on my back once more.”
But isn’t flying too dangerous to risk, especially if we might change again? You almost died!Samansa could still see the terror in Kirek’s eyes, and could only too easily imagine what falling herself would feel like. She likelywouldhave died.
“Staying here is more dangerous. We’ll fly low, and neither of us will sleep—we’ll remain alert for any sign of transformation. We need to retrieve the saddle and reach shelter before daylight. No one can see us like this—no dragon, at least.”
Why?Samansa asked. Weren’t they supposed to find shelter among the dragons?
“Because you won’t be able to adequately explain who you are, and neither will I. Not in any manner that would be believed, in our current state. It will be easier when I’m in my true form and you, yours.”
There was that shadow of worry again, cast from her words—thateasierwas growing less likely.
I thought we would be safe in the draconic realm, even like this, Samansa said.Safer, at least. Maybe only somewhat safer.Perhaps her imprecision with words was, ironically, a sign that her dragon-speech was improving, since she was communicating more like her natural self.What would a dragon do to us now?
Kirek hauled herself to her feet with a grimace—one of pain rather than emotion, since she uttered with a disturbing lack of concern, “Before we can reach High Nest and try to explain the situation to the Queen Mother? Probably kill us as soon as look at us.”
If Samansa had been a human and not a dragon, she would have giggled hysterically. Instead, she said with her own admirable, if ill-fitting calm,Oh. Wouldn’t that be unfortunate.
14
KIREK
The oasis lay tucked between dunes, where Kirek remembered it, and thank the skies they reached it just before dawn crested on the craggy, mountainous horizon, the sun rising like the internal fire behind a dragon’s teeth. They’d already been flying northeast over increasingly arid land for some time, until the scattered brush finally gave way to endless sand spreading like a pale, wave-rippled sea beneath the night sky. Invisible beyond the horizon to the south stretched the wide, grassy plains where dragons hunted from scattered, sprawling herds of wild game. Here, the ground looked uninhabited—if the skies were not. Dragons didn’t dwell where they hunted, so as not to frighten the herds away.
It was beautiful here in the desert, although it left them ever more exposed. Even flying low, Kirek was able to appreciate the view from the back of a dragon for the first time, with different eyes. She didn’t know what Samansa thought of it, and for some strange reason, no doubt to do with Kirek’s own confusing, conflicting human emotions, she didn’t want to ask.
Perhaps Samansa would despise the dry, near-dead landscape that took Kirek’s breath away, that made her misshome with an ache in her chest fiercer than what the broken Heartstone gave her.
And yet, at the same time, Kirek dreaded returning to High Nest, because she had no idea what she might find there. What sort of welcome, if any. Any hesitation in Samansa about where they were headed would not only compound the pain of homesickness, but also weaken Kirek’s resolve in return.
But where else could they go? Yes, the Queen Mother had wanted Kirek to kill the princess and was usually unforgiving if her demands weren’t met, but there was no possible way she could expect Kirek to carry out such an order after bonding with her. Her mother would have to understand. Pair-bonding was fundamental to the dragon way of life, even if it had happened with a human, this time. The situation was unheard of, but still relatable. Kirek had to remain steady in her plan.
For now, they would rest. Samansa’s arm—now a wing once more—had healed, and she’d slept some while on Kirek’s back, even if her nap had nearly ended disastrously. Despite being exhausted, Kirek didn’t dare close her eyes for fear of transforming midflight. She hadn’t slept since the day before, after Samansa had transformed in her tower and they’d taken refuge in the woods, and had spent a full night awake since, much of that time either bound and assaulted by dragonsbane or flying with extra weight on her back, just as Samansa was now.
The princess carried not only Kirek but the saddle clutched in her claws. And yet the great red dragon seemed tireless. In dragon form, Samansa was bigger, stronger than Kirek, and fueled by something powerful that the dragon girl couldn’t quite name.
Determination? Desperation? Despair?
Whatever it was, sooner or later it would burn out—or burn Samansa out. The princess—dragon princess?—needed to rest as well, even if she didn’t act like it.
“Here,” Kirek said, directing them toward the thick ring of palm trees towering around the blue jewel of a spring nestled within.
Samansa tucked her wings and ducked neatly through the bristling leaves and trunks. She was getting much better at flying. More natural. But Kirek wasn’t sure the princess would want to hear that, just as Kirek herself had rejected any sense of ease she had felt in human form.
Perhaps it wasn’t to either of their benefits to feel natural in their strange, new shapes. It felt too much like settling. Like giving in to the curse.
Samansa’s claws dug up deep furrows of sand as she landed near the crystalline blue spring. The water shimmered orange in the rising sun. Kirek slid from the dragon’s back as Samansa tossed the saddle aside with her claws and, without further ado, ducked her snout in the spring and drank deeply. Good thing the water was safe, Kirek knew. Some of the pools in draconic realm, those closest to the chain of volcanoes, were not only too scorchingly hot to drink but toxic from the poisonous seeping of the earth.
Kirek stumbled forward on tired legs and fell to her knees before the spring, first splashing water over her cheeks and then drinking from her own cupped hands. Part of her wanted to simply throw her face in like Samansa, but she didn’t think that would look terribly dignified, and besides, she would probably get water up her small, flat human nose.
Suddenly, spray hit her directly on the side of the head,saturating her hair and trickling down her neck. She spun in shock, and saw the great red dragon with her jaws still dripping. Samansa hadspata mouthful of the spring at her. Kirek sputtered, wiping the wet from her cheek.
Caught off guard, for once?Samansa quipped.
In a flash, Kirek smacked the surface of the spring with the flat of her hand, sending a cut of water straight across the dragon’s eyes. She readied herself in a crouch.
“Your move—”
Kirek’s words turned into a yelp as Samansa surged forward, her scaled body curving into a serpentine dive. Kirek barely had time to scramble away before a much larger splash, more like a small wave, soaked the sand where she’d been standing. The dragon rolled over in the pool, both languid and graceful, glittering in the sunlight, sending plumes of water into the air and looking entirely too satisfied with herself.
