Dragon's wrath

Chapter 3: Escaping the walls

As soon as I sat in our bedroom, I stared at the bag I had packed with the clothes I needed for a few days which excited me immensely once again. Alarick was still packing his clothes, as well as some other necessities we might need. He had sent Agnes over there to prepare the place for us, so I knew I didn't need to take any cosmetics. She already knew what I liked and what I was using, so I was sure she stocked it there. Thinking of her suddenly reminded me how much I missed her, and because of that, I thought of Kendra as well. 

The dream I had had, when I was really down and close to breaking point, that little dream of her helped calm my nerves. I think of her more often now. After this summer, she would be starting her last year at school, and after that she would be the part of the system I was now fighting against. 

“Ready?” Alarick interrupted my flow of thoughts and brought me back to reality. He was standing right in front of me, cupping my face with his hands. I didn’t even notice him putting his hands there. 

“Ready.” I answered, but he didn’t move. 

“What were you thinking of?” He asked while lifting me off of my feet and taking my place, putting me on his lap and cuddling me. 

“A lot of things, but to be specific right now I was thinking of Kendra.” I told him the truth. 

“Ah, your human friend. Honestly, I am not so sure she is actually human,” he said, and my eyes widened while I gave him a questioning look. 

“Don’t get me wrong, Princess. She was born human but…” He himself was confused about her, and that intensified my concern. 

“I don’t know if my father told you, but I had a dream about her.” I drifted back to the day when I had had my panic attack before Alarick’s rescue mission. He didn’t understand where I was heading or what I was talking about, so I knew my father probably didn’t tell anyone. 

“Before I came for you, I had a panic attack.” I wanted to continue, but Alarick’s concerned eyes stopped me. Smiling at him was the only way I could assure him I was perfectly fine now. 

“What I mean is, when I was panicking, Estra was with me and she put me to sleep right away, or maybe I passed out. To be honest, I don’t know what happened, but I remember I found myself on the beach with Kendra. I was enjoying the beach and sea-side atmosphere like we always did, while she stayed on land under the umbrella reading her books. Nothing was strange about that, but when I came back from the water, she asked me if I was okay now and told me it was time to wake up. I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but then everyone around us disappeared and it was just her and me standing opposite each other and she repeated I had to wake up. Then she did something and everything went black. After that I woke up in the hospital.” I explained everything exactly as it had happened back then. I don’t know why I still couldn’t forget it. 

“It sounds like she was in control of your dream, but that would only make sense if…” he suddenly paused, his brain working at maximum speed. “Is she adopted or something?” Alarick asked out of blue and I shook my head, but the truth was I didn’t know. Then I remembered her mom and her family. 

“I don’t think so. There is a definite resemblance between her and her brother, as well as her mom. The only thing different about her is her personality in that she is like no one else in her family, but her face is very similar to her mom’s,” I explained, and it confused him even more.

“Let’s not think about it right now. I am sure we will know soon enough.” He suddenly changed the subject and stood up with me in his arms. Recently, because of my mom, I stayed in my human form, except when Alarick and I  were together romantically. I found it more convenient to be as tall as he was. So holding me with one arm was quite easy for him, while he picked up the bags and put them on his back with the other. 

“You know I can walk and carry my bag, right?” I asked, teasingly. 

“I know, but that would drain some of your energy and I am sure you will need your energy quite soon.” My dirty mind brought back the images of what we were doing the previous night and my cheeks instantly blushed and burned. Alarick only smiled, visibly happy with the reaction his words had caused. He carried me to the elevator and out of the building. My mom and dad were already standing there, waiting for us in front of the car. 

“Take care of both of you.” By the look my mom was giving us, it felt like we were leaving for months and not only for a few days. 

“Mom, we will be back in a few days,” I assured her, but she only shook her head.

“That doesn’t mean something can’t happen.” I could see she was really worried, especially with everything bad happening around us. 

“For an entire month he did nothing, honey. Surely he wouldn’t send his spies over our mountain right now. When they come back, I will ask Alarick to take us there as well, so you can see that even if Ezekiel sent someone to search the mountain, they would never find that place.” My father turned to my mom and tried to calm her. I was really grateful for his help. 

“Don’t worry Astrid. I promise I will bring her back in one piece, she will be perfectly fine.” Alarick’s promise made me scoff out loud, but deep inside I was dying of laughter. 

“You are going to jinx me like that and trust me, then I will hurt myself even in my sleep.” I answered him, laughing out loud. My mom knew exactly what I was talking about. A few years ago when Kendra and I went to a children's camp, I promised I wouldn't get hurt and I would come back sound and healthy. From the first day of the camp I met one disaster after another, which ended with a broken hand, a blue eye and several scratches all over my body. When I talked to my mom about what happened, she started laughing and told me never to make promises like that again. 

“What do you mean?” Alarick asked me curiously and even my dad was staring at her as she was laughing, not really understanding what was going on. 

“Once she made a promise like that. For an entire week before her return, she met one disaster after another. Promises like these work like an actual curse in her case, so good luck now. You brought this upon yourself,” my mom told him jokingly, with a teasing undercurrent, and I knew she was going to enjoy the stories we were going to tell her when we came back. Alarick had a panicky expression all over his face. My father looked curious, and I could swear he was thinking of how to test the theory. I was going to suffer in the future in order to satisfy his curiosity. 

“We should go before my father locks me up to test this theory,” I said out loud. My father’s guilty expression told me I was near to the truth. I hugged them both before I walked around the car to take the front passenger seat. Alarick put our bags on the back seat and joined me in the driver’s seat. One last look at my parents and we were on our way. The trip was relaxing. The closer we got to the west dome, the easier I could breathe, and the lighter I felt. Alarick decided to fly from there, just in case Ezekiel had spies stationed close to the main entrance, since they knew exactly where that was. He would be more at ease that way, knowing that nobody would know we were gone except our family and a few of our closest friends. 

As expected, Thomas and Agnes were both waiting for us in the west dome. The roof gate was already open and ready for us to fly. I ran straight to Agnes, hugging her. 

“I missed you.” She only smiled at me, stroking my hair. Alarick probably didn’t realize how close we had become before he sent her to the central town in the middle of the mountain, to what my mom called Flower Town. I knew Thomas came to our dome more often, but the girls went back to their lives and homes. Alarick had already explained that he had brought them there a few days prior to my arrival at his mansion in Eyllwe. She lifted her eyes, staring at Alarick. She didn’t need words for him to understand.

“I will take her there, I promise.” I only hoped they were talking about Flower Town.

“I hope you mean her home in Flower Town.” My voice was stern, yet I still kept hugging Agnes. One would think we were mother and child thanks to the difference in our heights. 

“How do you know about Flower Town?” Alarick sounded surprised.

“My mom told me about it. She said it is the most beautiful place she has ever seen, and you never took me there.” This time I really tried to sound as whiny as I could to make him understand just how much I wanted to see the city. 

“Oh, my bad Princess. I will correct my mistake when we return,” he said with a smile, amused at my childish tone while whining. Sadly, it was really time for us to leave since the sun was setting pretty quickly. Alarick wanted to fly before dark, but once the sun was down, it would be very difficult to spot us. I could understand his concern. I let Agnes go, giving her one last smile before I took both bags and Alarick shifted. As expected, he refused to let me shift, but instead insisted that I ride him. Securing one bag on my back and the other hooked on one thorn on his back was quite easy, but securing me up there was not easy at all. Alarick didn’t have the same armor and thorns on his back as Longwei had back then. Hopefully, the spike right behind my back and the one in front of me would provide the security I needed. Once I thought I was secured, I gave him the signal to leave. Without further notice, we were off. The feeling of being out in the freezing air was indescribable. I enjoyed my previous flights when I had snuck out of the domes, but the feeling of the cold air was different in my human form than in my dragon form. Dragon skin was thick and also the inner heat of the dragon body protected us from the cold, so you could feel the freedom, but not the cold air. Now I could feel both. I could feel the wind whistling around me, freezing my body, which I actually welcomed. I could feel the freedom provided by the vast space around us. I was free.