The Writer's Escape

6. The City

The trip was relatively peaceful, just long stretches of sand. Whenever monsters were visible, Berry veered off course. The sun began to set in the sky, burning orange setting the sky aflame, skimmed by soft gray clouds. Serena rarely saw sunsets like these, having lived in cities for most of her life, where pollution congealed the air. Cities were beautiful to her in their own way, with their millions of glittering lights, but seeing such a stretch of undisturbed land was different. It made her breath catch in her throat.

Once, on the journey, they saw a dragon circling above, giant wings beating in the sky. Blue scales sparkled in the fading sunlight, like a piece of glittery mountain lake torn off and given wings. 

"Can it see us from here?" Patrick said, shrinking back against the seat of the hovercraft as if that would hide him from sight.

"No," Berry said, though she pressed down on the accelerator. 

The dragon shrieked, an unearthly noise that echoed down to the dunes and made all of Serena's bones prickle from the inside. She shivered and hoped that she would never get to see it up close. Dragons were fun to write about, but she would never want to get close to one. When the dragon wheeled away and disappeared into a mountain of clouds far off, her shoulders sagged in relief.

"I fought a dragon once, y'know," Berry said.

"No you didn't," said Serena, frowning. "You hunt drakes, not dragons."

"Well, I summoned one."

"Then you ran away?"

"Shut up, and yeah."

Serena snorted, and Patrick chuckled. Berry turned to face them with what could only be a glare, even though her headgear obscured her face, but then she grunted. "They're bigger than you think."

"I'd run too," Patrick said.

With the sun sinking behind the dunes, they arrived at Redhaven. It was aptly named: the buildings were made of red clay, and the sunset only amplified the effect. Even the giant metal gates were inlaid with rubies. But the true reason it had been named so, Serena knew from her world-building notes, was that the battles that had once took place here had soaked the ground in so much blood, the sand had been red for weeks after. 

"That's the beast-repellent gate, isn't it?" Serena said, pointing at the shimmering wall of electricity winding around the gates. It exuded chemicals that would ward away any wandering drakes, flayers, or other desert beasts.

Berry nodded. "Redhaven's got a lotta problems with monsters, what I hear."

Once the hovercraft got close enough to the gates, the guards addressed them.

"State your business," said one of them. A helmet covered his face, black armor layered over his desert clothes. Serena tilted her head in thought; she hadn't described any guards in her story, and she considered how she would go about it. She'd describe that color as onyx, maybe. Black and gleaming like the stone. Her hands itched for a paper and pencil. Or better yet, a laptop. 

"We got news about an attack on this city. Soon," Berry said, pulling down her scarf and goggles; with night, the sun had faded, and the wind had stilled. The look in her eyes dared the guard to contradict her. "Important news, so if you don't wanna get squashed under a demon army, you better let me and my friends through." 

"What kind of attack? How were you informed of this?" 

"I'm one of the Wild Sisters, that's how I know. The sorceresses are gonna crush this village into pulp, so let me warn the lord." When the guard didn't respond, she huffed. "Do we look like raiders?"