Master of None: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

37.

Darkstalker

After we got away from Scorpion Den, I carried my wife into the mountains, as far as I could go before I had to come down to land, exhausted.

We landed between jagged mountain peaks, hovering over a lush green forest, seemingly abandoned, and found a cave hidden enough as to barely be visible from overhead. I set Clearsight down, wincing as I looked at the state of her injury, and fell asleep beside her.

We've remained there ever since. Clearsight resting as much as she can force herself to, trying not to worsen her injury. Me, looking after her as best I can.

She sleeps through most of the day, or maybe she just doesn't want to speak with me. And I go hunting.

We've slipped into some kind of a routine; a strange sense of normalcy. After I think we've been here a month, it starts to feel real to me.

In the morning, when I leave, she says, "Off to fight in the war?" like she always does, still half-asleep.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I guess I deserve it.

"We're out of bandages."

"And you think you can get us more?"

I sigh. "Honey."

She's quiet for a long time. She wraps herself up in a blanket, like those shawls she used to wear

"All right. Just... be back before dark. Okay?"

***

I fly over the forest for a few hours, trying to hunt. This landscape is so similar and yet so foreign: I don't recognize any of the trees or the little bushes that grow beneath them. Their leaves have all turned a bright, burning shade of orange as a brisk wind blows through the valley.

I almost catch a fox, but I get distracted by the dew glistening on the leaves, by the brilliance of their colour. I've never seen autumn like this before, and after all I've been through, all I've survived, it takes my breath away.

I wish Clearsight were here.

She's seen it from up in the mountains, but it's not the same.

I spend a few hours in silence, in pursuit of the fox, which keeps evading me. I didn't sleep well last night, and I'm too sluggish and slow. But eventually, I think it stops noticing that I'm in its pursuit, because it stops at a small pond to drink.

I close in behind it, and kill it in one quick movement.

Well, look at that. Maybe I'm not useless after all.

A dragon steps out of the bushes, and I flinch, immediately readying myself to go in for the kill, imagining monsters sent by Sharp-eyes to kill my wife and I while we're weak.

"Calm down already, I'm far too old to be dangerous," an old SkyWing says, adjusting her glasses. "Although I can still fly like someone half my age, I'll have you know." Her scales are a soft orange, the colour of a fading sunset.

My heart is racing, every muscle in my body tensed and ready to spring into action. I let out a breath.

"You can't just sneak up on dragons like that. Don't you know there's a war on?"

"Oh, are they back at it again? Honestly, I stopped paying attention to that stuff years ago. It's nonsense. I can't keep up with it." She rolls her eyes. "Whatever issue they're all killing each other over, I'm sure it's not going to involve my little cottage in the middle of nowhere."