Ascendant

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: HOME

[GEM]

The black scaled dragons flew over the mountains of Iceland, passing rocky ravines and forests of evergreens, snow making snakelike patterns in the landscape below them.

Melody's nose and ears were red and cold as she clutched to Muiredach's waist. It was the afternoon now and they'd been flying for a few hours.

[MELODY]

As she was still wearing clothes that weren't for this weather she was shivering from the cold. Then she remembered what she did before while riding with Muiredach. She decided to duck under his cloak again trying to get some warmth.

[GEM]

He lifted a brow as he looked over his shoulder when she did this but then an amused smile began to stretch across his lips that he was lucky she couldn't see, this grin lingering as he felt her curled up against his back.

[MELODY]

He couldn't see that she had gotten a slight blush on her face as she realized that she found this very comforting. She closed her eyes trying to push that thought out of her mind as she tried to warm herself up. But it didn't help that she breathed in an overwhelming amount of his scent.

[GEM]

Runa glanced over at them and seeing the look on his face she held back an amused smirk and when their eyes met, Muiredach wiped the smile from his face as fast as possible, returning to a serious look as he flew.

But Runa grinned to herself and looked ahead again.

They flew for a few more minutes but Muiredach lowered Umbra onto a familiar clearing of the forest, spotting the mangled corpse of a dragon below them that stained the grass with blood.

Umbra's claws met the dirt as she rested her wings and shook her head. He leaned down and rubbed the side of her scales idly as his eyes scanned the ground.

[MELODY]

Melody peeked out from under his cloak when she felt them going down and landing. Once they landed her eyes fell on the corpse. Her eyes widened when she saw it. "..oh gods.." she said quietly, at first wondering what happened to it.

[GEM]

That's when she looked around at the tree-line and it came back to her.

Mortifer landed behind them and Runa glanced around with a quizzical look. "Where are we?"

[MELODY]

Melody let out a deep sigh. "..My home.." she said quietly as she got off. She started walking in the direction of what remained of her cabin.

[GEM]

Muiredach got off his dragon and knelt down to the body of his former Sister. But there was little remorse in his heart for her. She was a cold blooded killer with a sick mind. And he could see that even more clearly now.

Runa plugged her nose with her fingers as the stench of the field was beyond unbearable.

Muiredach put his cloak around his face like a mask as he looked back at Runa and motioned for her to come help him before he began to unfasten the dead woman's skillfully crafted leather gear. 

Melody's steps took her down the familiar pathway until she arrived at the halfway desecrated cottage beside the rotting corpse of that exoskeletal dragon that Muiredach had cut the head off of. The smell was revolting and it assaulted her nose rather aggressively.