Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 35

            Faal flew lower and lower over the trees, gold eyes darting and nostrils flaring. Birds screeched alarm under his belly as he pulled up, using another thermal to spiral high again. Isaac took a deep breath and shivered slightly as his stomach clenched in anticipation. When they were high enough, the dragon again dropped, wings wrapped tightly around him. He snapped them out as they got close enough to the treetops, skimming along in another shallow dive. Isaac concentrated on keeping his stomach contents inside of himself.

            “Doesn’t doing that all the time make you sick?”

            “No. I am a drragon,” he hissed, eyes sweeping the trees.

            “You’re sure you know where the camp is?”

            He growled slightly. “I cam accrross it onsce in my hunting. I have avoided it everr ssinsce. It iss dangerrouss for usss to get too clossse.”

            Isaac chuckled. “So basically, you only have a rough idea where it is.”

            “Do not think I have rruled out eating you.”

          That made him laugh. “You’re like Val. Resorting to threats whenever I’m winning.”

            “I can alsso drrop you,” he said, though Isaac could tell he was amused. After the past two hours on dragonback he was getting better at picking out the emotions in Faal’s voice.

            Above them, Rish spiralled lazily up and down, keeping one eye on her brother. Valerie was doing the same, leaning forward slightly and watching for any sign that they’d found it. Ten minutes later, Faal had again taken a thermal back up but this time he stayed aloft. Rish recognized the signal and drifted over so the pair of them kited around each other.

            Faal hissed and growled something at Rish who translated. “He wantss to know how you wissh to apprroach.”

            “I hadn’t really thought about it,” Valerie said, frowning.

            “Then may we make the descission?”

            “Sure. Just don’t hurt yourselves. There are an awful lot of trees down there,” she replied, looking down at the sea of leaves that was hiding stabbing branches.

            Rish hiss-chuckled. “We know farr betterr than you how to fly ssafely.”

            She growled something at Faal who responded with a gape of his jaw. He turned back to where he’d guessed the camp was, gaining height as he did so. Rish was right behind him. “So what are you going to do?”

           “Imprress them,” the dragon relied before following her brother’s lead and dropping.

            Miette’s shriek this time was louder and more piercing than before. Both dragons had their wings wrapped around their bodies as they went into complete free fall. Valerie had real proof now that dragons were magic because she couldn’t imagine how else she and Miette hadn’t gone shooting over Rish’s tail.

            The air shooting past them made Valerie squint so she only saw what they were approaching when they were directly over it. Below them, a gap in the trees revealed a small clearing that backed onto a river. From the direction of their noses, she guessed that that’s what Faal and Rish were heading for.

            When they were close, far too close for Valerie to feel safe, the dragons snapped their wings open and pulled upward to slow down. She felt her stomach drop into her feet as Rish began to furiously pump her wings while they continued to fall. All around them birds called alarms and animals went into hiding as the thunder of wings continued.

            Leaves around them began flying, blown by the strength of the dragons’ flapping. Amid what seemed to be a hurricane of colour, they landed hindquarters first, in the clearing. The first thing Valerie saw when she blinked the dust from her eyes were all the bows pointed straight at them.

            “Stop!” she cried, holding her arms out wide. “Don’t shoot!”

            The men in front of her, in the green of the Armithian army she was relieved to see, stared at her, hesitating. She swept them with her gaze, trying to seem like she was in control and not like her heart was trying to batter its way out of her chest. “You can put your weapons down, we’re here to help.”

            “Who are you?” One of the men asked, stepping forward. The extra black braid on his uniform made her think he was probably an officer.

            She opened her mouth to reply when a shout from behind made her turn. “Lady Ruby!” Kafin shouted again, his bow dropping to his side as he bowed. “You’ve returned. And…you’ve brought help?”

            Valerie grinned. “Yep. Rish and Faal say they’ll help us. I’m glad you got here okay. Oh and don’t worry about the kids. They’re staying with a friend of Miette’s who’s a witch. No one’s going to hurt them.”

            Kafin bowed again. Faal looked up at her, cocking his head slightly. “Ssso, thiss iss the rright plasce?”

            She nodded. “Yes. These are our allies.”

            The dragon glanced around at the men, several of who were shaking and most of who had already dropped their weapons and were staring. “I ssuposse they will do if you have no one elsse.”

            “Don’t be mean,” she told him, hands falling to her hips.

            He hissed his laughter as he laid flat down, making several of the soldiers flinch backwards like it was an attack. She rolled her eyes as more flinched when Rish did the same. She half turned to look at Miette who still had a death grip on her waist. “Hey, Miette. You can let go now. We’re here.”

            She raised her pale face to stare at Valerie. “P-pro…promise me that I will never have to do that again.”

            Val chuckled. “Sorry. I didn’t think it would be that bad for you.”

            The lady released her hold on the other woman’s waist and pulled herself away. “I will never do that again. Ever,” she said as she looked down at the scaled leg below her. She looked back at Valerie who smiled and grabbed her hand to help her down. Only when Miette was safely on the ground did she slide off herself, almost collapsing as her legs protested this newest exercise.

            Amid staring eyes, Val dusted herself off then looked at the assembled soldiers. She frowned as she counted when another shout made her lose track. She turned to see a slight figure come out from the trees, the brown hair and face very familiar. “You are alive!”

            She couldn’t help but gape. “Amorrt.”