THE HIKE
"There is someone here!" Kale shouted as he rounded the top of
the path. Though he had expected some humans to be running around here, they
had been lucky so far. He wouldn't have been so worried if the woman he saw
before him didn't have an air of deliberate nonchalance around her. He had
seen it before and didn't like the sight of it.
Behind him the rest of the group rounded the path and stood behind him as they
too saw the mystery-woman sitting on her rock. When they were all standing on
the small open space the woman got up. Several of the group, and Kale had to
admit he was one of them, took a step back to rebalance the distance between
them.
Asakti however took a step forward. She wanted to check out this mystery woman
for herself. When she saw the woman she had trouble incorporating her image to
the feeling she had got when kale had yelled out at them. This woman was no
threat to them. She was small and slender with long blond hair. Like something
out of a fairy tale.
To Kale's surprise it was Draca who walked to the woman. The young woman he
had thought to be a coward and ignorant about Earth now actually stepped
forward and approached the woman as if she was just another rock on their way.
"Do we know you?" she asked.
"You might know my name..." the other woman hesitantly said.
"I see you are one of us." Draca answered pointing at her tattoo,
"Would you by any chance be here to join us?"
"That wasn't the plan." the woman admitted, "I am Elior."
"Draca." Draca answered.
Kale couldn't help but notice that Draca was at least a bit more ignorant than
she seemed. No-one would approach their supposed queen like this. But even
though his line had long sought for her, they had never found her.
"You don't recognise my name?" Elior asked stunned, surely there had
to be stories... Elior looked at the rest of the party, each one shrugging and
shaking their head in denial until she reached the last. A man, about her age,
though that was rather relative, Elior thought, looked her in the eye.
"I know who you are." he said at last.
"Tell them please." Elior begged.
"Can't your highness manage that on her own?" Kale asked.
"Wait? Highness?" Wedlyn butted in. She wasn't ready to be swept of
into this whole dragon thing and now a queen showed up? Who did this woman
think she was anyway?
"Easy, sister." Ille tried to calm her down. "I'm sure no-one
is rushing in to regain command." he continued, nodding to Elior.
"Indeed I haven't. I'm stranded here. My escape didn't go as planned and
now I think my only option is to go with you." Elior said, then she
looked at Wedlyn, "As an equal."
The college student calmed down a bit. Wedlyn still wasn't sure she trusted
the woman, everything had changed now that she was here, she could feel it
already in the changed postures of Draca and Kale. Wedlyn feared that things
wouldn't go back to normal, whatever that had been like.
"We never stopped looking for you." Kale said, coming closer. "Ikhar
taught his descendants all we needed to know. It will be an honour to serve
you."
Elior took a step back. This was one of the things she had feared for. Whoever
this Ikhar fellow had been he had maybe ruined her chances on having a life of
her own.
"I don't need servants!" Elior lashed out, a look of desperation on
her face.
"Then he won't serve you. And neither will the rest of us. You are free
to come."
"Come where?" Elior asked.
"To Calienta. To the dragons." Draca answered, helping Kale up from
his crouching position. He looked as if he had been struck down by someone
very powerful.
"Times have changed, Kale." Draca whispered, "Please join us in
the present."
Kale looked up at the calm face of the young woman. How he hated her, but she
was right.
"Mikhail, Athail!" she yelled to the boys. "This is as good a
place as any to leave for Calienta."
"What? Don't you need more candidates?" Asakti asked innocently.
There still wasn't anyone among the men she thought she could even like. None
of them seemed to share her need for adventure... Not even Kale who hadn't so
much as glanced her way.