Dragon Binder: Book One of the Dragonblood Priestess Series (First Draft)

Chapter 15: The Plan

The flight was short as they approached a abandoned looking building.  A few shutters were hanging loosely from the windows.  A once grand porch wrapped around half of the house, however now the railings were gone and the floor was caved in.  Light shone from the inside, so someone was there.  From Clous's words, Yina assumed it was her father.  

Leaving the dragon's behind to rest the three careful walked across the porch and opened the door.  Once adjusted to the light Yina was shocked to find Tyn sitting next to her father drinking what looked to be tea.  Both of them smiled warmly as she entered, Voren was a bit faster in getting up to greet them then Tyn was.  

"I was so worried something had gone wrong.  The wait was excruciating."  Her father rambled grabbing his daughter in a big bear hug even with the enhanced body it was painfully tight.  Sitting her back down he motioned for them all to sit at the table.  

Looking around the house, it was actually well furnished inside.  It was clean of rubble and a warm fire was going in the fireplace.  This place was obviously used for something, but kept to look rundown on the outside to hide whatever it was.  Taking her the chair next to her father she let her body relax.  

"Alright let us discuss the plan one more time now that Yina is with us.  We will need to move quickly if it has any solid chance of success."  Voren stated looking around at the gathered men and his daughter.  

The crackling fire broke the moment of silence before Voren started back into his little speech.  "So the ultimate goal is to get you to Alary, where your grandparents will give you safe haven.  In order to do this we need to buy you as much time as you can get."  The last part he motioned to Clous and Liat.  Both of them nodded in approval, Yina hated being out of the loop.  

Clous leaned in and started to speak, clearly even this was planned out beforehand.  "We are going to get you to Ardasha before day break.  There your father already has his men getting supplies ready.  They will smuggle you through the border without anyone seeing you.  From there you, Tyn, and Nyssa will make haste to Alary."  If Yina had not known about her fathers black market dealing this would have been a bigger shock then it was.  So far the plan sounded quite good, the only issue was the Raptors.  

"That is all good and all, but what about the Raptors."  Yina piped up taking a cup of hot tea and almost chugged it.  She had not realized how thirsty she had been, they had not really offered her anything during the short stay at the dungeon.  

All but Tyn gave her a baffled look Liat speaking before the other could.  "How do you know about the Raptors?"  Knowing of them was not really uncommon but how sh insinuated them being a issue it led the others to figure she knew more then she should.  

Sheepishly she drank another gulp of tea acting as if it had burnt her.  Yina had to be careful, she did not want to give away who had told her about them.  "I have my sources of information."  Her face and posture was a clear sign that she was not going to explain further.  

The quizzical looks did not last long, they all knew the time crunch they were in.  "So that is where I come in.  Me and Clous will then fly like hell to the south border and I will use my powers to make him look like you and Risang will look like Nyssa.  We need people to see us, with good luck the Raptors will be informed and search there first."  Liat explained.  It made sense why he was with them now.  

"It will probably only buy you a day or two.  More if we are lucky, they will already have your scent, as soon as you are found missing they will retrieve it and send it to the Raptors.  The good side of their tracking is it cannot be done while flying.  So those extra days might enough to get you to safety."  Clous added, getting up and going to a nearby cabinet to pull out some food.  

The plan sounded pretty solid, it would really just be down to if they can get the Raptors distracted long enough.  "So, I assume we will need to travel off the roads, violet dragons are not that common."  Yina pitched in, she had never seen a violet dragon until Nyssa and her mother.  

"You are correct, Tyn is going with you.  Mostly because he refused to stay behind, he approached me as soon as he found out asking how we were breaking you free."  Voren stated with a slight chuckle.  These words however brought a deep red color to flush Tyn's face.  

Yina tossed a piece of bread Clous had served to them.  "Why, your last chance to pass the Endorsement is in a few weeks.  Why would you throw it away like this?"  Her outward anger was not really there, she was actually quite glad that she did not have to make this treacherous trek alone.  

They blush stayed as he looked up at her, a determination in his face.  "What would be the point of becoming a Dragon Bound if you were not there to share it with.  We were going to both become one together.  Plus you are the only family I have."  The words were strong, but Tyn himself was shaking a little as he said them.  

Shock, pure shock crossed Yina as he spoke these words.  It was true, it had been their plan for as long as she could remember.  She had also forgot that he had no family, it was just something she had grown used to.  "I am glad you are coming Tyn."  She stated with a warm smile.  

This helped make the young man relax as she started eating some of the dried meat.  Allowing something to distract him so that he could look away from Yina.  The other three just sat there little the little moment between them happen.  After a few extra minutes Voren spoke back up, they needed to get this plan going.  

"Alright, you four need to get a few hours of sleep.  I will stand watch as well as the dragon's, not many people know this is mine so we should be safe.  You will need as much energy as you can get, it will probably be a while before you get more."  Standing Voren walked over to the fireplace and squelched the fire.  

A small bottle of light bugs was all they group used to see with.  Voren led Yina through a hallway to the one bedroom the house had.  Inside the room was pretty bland but the bed looked quite nice.  "You can sleep here, the others will use bedrolls."  Giving her another big hug he kissed her on the cheek.  

Just as he had almost closed the door Yina stopped him.  "Dad, what will happen to you?  They will know for a fact that you helped."  She was worried for her father, what if they decided to kill him in her place.  What these four were doing probably would constitute as treason.  

Coming back in Voren sat on the bed and laid a hand on her shoulder.  "The worst that could happen is some jail time.  My family is far to powerful for them to kill me.  It would spark a war with Alary.  I always wanted to take you there, meet your grandparents."  Voren stated trying to comfort his scared daughter.  

Fighting back tear Yina laid her head in his lap.  "Promise me you will protect Zyla from mother, if I can I will return to remove both of you from her grasp."  The tears were now flowing down her face as the anger towards her mother came back to life.  

A few light strokes down her hair was all Voren did for a while before speaking.  "I promise, and I will await the day you return.  Now get some sleep."  He sternly stated leaving the room, which fell into silence as the door clicked shut.  

Yina was sure she would be unable to sleep, but as soon as she curled up into a ball under the warm blankets her body slipped into a fast deep sleep.  A combination of things had made her body exhausted, she was surprised he hadn't passed out before then.