Read Dragon's Fall :: Chapter 12

Nysid had been exhausted when he’d finally fallen asleep beside Ephinea the night before, but he didn’t feel much better by the time morning came despite having slept unusually deeply. He wasn’t a heavy sleeper at home in the comfort of his own chambers, let alone out on mission in unfamiliar territory, and yet he had. So much so that Ephinea had somehow managed to get up without waking the prince.

Confused, Nysid sat up with a groan, his body protesting the rough treatment it had suffered the day before. They’d hit the water hard, harder than he’d realized apparently, if the way his back, ribs, and hip all panged him simultaneously was anything to go by. There was little to be done for it with his gear swallowed by the sea, however, so the prince did his best to ignore his discomfort and got slowly to his feet, feeling a good thirty years older than he was.

The fire had died over the course of the night, leaving only the gray light of early morning to see by, though that was plenty even for Nysid’s sleep blurred eyes. The prince yawned and rubbed his face absently as he looked around, concerned when he couldn’t immediately see his partner. “Ephi?” he called, frowning. Nysid stepped out from under the rocky outcropping they’d camped beneath, discomfited by the dense silence that hung in the air; it was even worse than before without his dragon near. “Ephinea!” he shouted, throwing caution to the wind as panic began to eat at him.

When still no answer came, Nysid put his fingers to his lips and released a shrill, oscillating whistle, the same one he always used when they got separated and his voice wouldn’t carry. More silence; the prince’s hands began to shake and he tightened them into fists in an attempt to master his fear. Ephinea was a dragon, something couldn’t have taken her, not without her making enough noise to wake him in the process. A dragon never went anywhere but where it wished.

But surely she wouldn’t have just walked away without warning him first? It wasn’t like her, particularly with them still in enemy territory— him with no magic and her unable to fly... She’d never just abandon him to go wander off and— what? They’d had their disagreement the night before and he knew he’d disappointed her by not agreeing to go after the golden dragon and his rider, but there was no way she’d go look for them on her own.

Right?

Nysid had never doubted Ephinea before; she’d never given him a reason to. Was the prospect of finding her mate enough to make her reconsider their bond when he resisted?

Feeling on the verge of a panic attack, the heavy air around him becoming harder to breathe by the moment, Nysid called for his partner again then began to look around the small clearing for a sign of which direction she might have gone. It didn’t take long to find her trail through the dense forest; wherever Ephinea had been going she hadn’t tried to be sneaky about it, which gave the prince some relief. Even that much soon disappeared, however, when the forest thinned and the ground became rocky, then ended altogether at a gorge.

“Ephinea!” Nysid called again as he stood at its edge. The crevasse was deep, with steep sides a human couldn’t climb down without rope of some sort, let alone get back up the opposite side. From the sound of it, there was water down at its shadowed base as well, no doubt running all the way down towards the sea.

The prince paced along the cliff’s edge, uncertain of what to do. The gorge was far too wide for him to jump, but well within Ephinea’s ability to span, even without the use of her wings. Looking left and then right, Nysid considered that she hadn’t crossed it at all; the ground was rocky and he was no tracker or woodsman— perhaps she had turned away in favor of heading towards the mountain. That had been their goal in the first place once they’d realized they were stranded on the shore but before they’d become distracted by unexpected company in the marsh.

He could see the mountain from where he stood, not so very far away now (though it seemed so much further without Ephinea by his side), and Nysid came to a decision. Faced with the impossibility of crossing the gorge, he decided to head for their original destination in hopes of potentially finding his partner along the way.

Morning wore on into afternoon and Nysid’s already low energy began to flag significantly after a full day of no food or water and a painful dunking in a storm tossed sea. No matter how far he walked, the air remained stale and tepid, which was somehow worse than if it had been outright hot─ at least the sky overhead remained clear. This was all the more important when the geography itself began to work against him, slowly shunting him further and further away from the gorge he’d been attempting to follow thanks to impassible rock formations and a narrow but deep and fast flowing river Nysid did not quite dare to try and cross alone. The sun, at least, allowed him to navigate in the right general direction once the prince found himself in the depths of the forest once again, but that only lasted until around noon when it was directly overhead and no longer useful.

Deciding to bide his time until the sun resumed a more helpful angle in the sky rather than get himself turned around trying to navigate without its help, Nysid settled down beneath a tree to get what rest he could. Exhausted, he drifted off into a light doze and felt a little better an hour later when something startled him awake. Uncertain of what had drawn him from sleep, the prince sat and listened, tense with anticipation, and lunged to his feet when the sound of a distant cry caught his ear.

Heart in his throat, hand resting on the hilt of his sword, Nysid took a few steps then hesitated, doubting he’d be so lucky as to find Ephinea at the other end of this detour. Then again, maybe he would.

Chewing absently on his bottom lip as he thought, the prince set off at a brisk pace when he heard the shout again, casting caution to the wind in favor of desperation and the smallest flicker of hope. Deep in the forest once more, Nysid shoved his way through underbrush and navigated around the massive trunks of fallen trees quickly as he could, but was forced to pause occasionally to listen for the cry again, but still almost lost it more than once. He’d long since determined that the source certainly wasn’t his partner, the voice was too masculine for that and he still couldn’t quite make out what it was saying, which meant it was likely one of their enemies…

His resolve faltered at the thought but Ephinea’s insistence that they could trust the strangers forced him to press on. The prince knew he could be a prideful creature but even he acknowledged he wouldn’t get out of this alive if he didn’t find some manner of help. With Ephinea by his side, he’d been able to maintain the illusion that they’d be fine, but no longer.

“Ghain!”

The cry had come from a little ways off, though close enough now Nysid was certain that was what had been said. Not wanting to chase his quarry in circles through the forest, the prince shouted back, “Hello?”

There was a moment of quiet, and then a hopeful, “Is somebody out there?”

Better able to zero in on the source, Nysid started walking again, pace brisk as he called back, “Here!” excitement bubbling up within him in spite of himself.

“I don’t-” the other voice began, and then cut off as they both broke through the tree-line at the same time and found themselves on opposite sides of a broad, shallow stream. Nysid froze, simultaneously relieved by the sight of another living being in this strange land and full of trepidation after the debacle of their last meeting.

The other rider didn’t seem to have any such hesitation, however, and he started towards the prince immediately, spurring Nysid into motion as well. The prince reached the stream first then waded carefully across it, only to be surprised when he reached the other bank to find an outstretched hand waiting for him. Nysid looked up into the open, smiling features of the golden haired rider and felt his pulse quicken irrationally before accepting it and allowing the man to help him up out of the water.

“I was hoping it was you,” the stranger said even as Nysid reclaimed his hand.

“Why?” the prince asked, unable to keep the suspicion from his voice, then colored awkwardly when the other man only crooked an amused eyebrow at him in response. Unable to resist the reflex, Nysid glanced past the man in the vain hope of finding Ephinea with him, but saw nothing, effectively snuffing the last flicker of hope he’d been harboring.

“She’s not with you,” the prince observed dully and suddenly found himself too tired to go a step further. He sank to the ground at the top of the embankment and ran an unsteady hand over the crown of his tightly braided hair and down the plait.

The stranger, his… mate, dropped into a crouch beside him and said, “No. And looks like Ghain’s not with you.” Nysid shook his head, not having to guess that Ghain was the name of the golden dragon that had hounded him and Ephinea across the battlefield the day before. The prince gave a start when a water skin was thrust under his nose and the other man said, “Here. Your dragon run off with all your stuff too?” Nysid glanced warily up at the rider who gave him a sympathetic smile and wiggled the water-skin invitingly. “Don’t worry, it’s clean.”

The prince only hesitated a moment before he accepted and took a long draw, relishing every drop that cross his parched lips. “No,” he replied once he’d swallowed. “Our gear never made it to shore. We hit the water and I had to cut us free,” he explained grimly and started to hand the skin back, only for the blond to make an encouraging gesture for him to drink more.

Too thirsty for his pride to let him refuse, Nysid took a second drink while the other rider took a seat on the ground beside him and rummaged in the bag he had strapped to his back. A quick glance made it obvious that wasn’t how it was meant to be carried, the satchel had the look of one that typically adorned a dragon’s riding gear, so the prince assumed it was all his fellow rider had been able to salvage from his own things.

“That’s rough,” the man said as he produced a small, carefully wrapped packet and offered that to Nysid as well. “You must be starving, here.” Then, before the prince could so much as squint at it, explained, “It’s just travel tack. Not particularly flavorful but it’ll keep you going no problem,” with a wry smile.

“I-” Nysid began to object, then heaved a sigh and forced himself accept the help offered rather than play the fool, able to imagine how Ephinea would chide him for trying to refuse at all if she had been there with him. None of his own emergency rations had survived their fall from the sky and once ashore they hadn’t seen a single animal to be hunted; even the bugs had been scarce. The prince had contemplated many mushrooms and other plants, a few berries here and there, but unfamiliar with the local flora as he was, he hadn’t quite dared to eat them; he wasn’t starving yet, after all. “Thank you,” Nysid said instead, managing to keep the sulk from his face as he accepted the packet then unwrapped it and began to eat. It stung, having to be rescued by an enemy, but Nysid also knew that being a child about it wasn’t a good look. He swallowed the first bite with the help of a little water, then turned his gaze back to the other man and said, “My name is Nysid.”

“Nysid,” the other man repeated, face breaking out into a wide, dazzling smile, inordinately pleased by this new information. It might have put the prince on edge if he hadn’t immediately replied, “I’m Anders; it’s a pleasure to meet you,” and offered his hand.

“Would you have said the same yesterday, I wonder?” the prince couldn’t help but remark even as he accepted the gesture and they clasped forearms briefly.

He didn’t expect the bark of laughter that escaped the other man─ or his candid answer. “Yesterday on the battlefield? Probably not. Yesterday in the marsh? Yes, I would have.”