The Dragon Liberator: Escapee

POV: Fendrel

There were nine going on the mission. Even though Oliver was not an official volunteer, they still counted him as a part of the search party. Cloud and Fog provided rations, but decided they would mainly be for Thea, Oliver, and Fendrel. The dragons would eat whatever the area provided for them.

Thea insisted on joining even though she had no idea what Fendrel and the dragons were saying to each other.

Oliver wished to see their quest to the end but was told by Cloud he wouldn’t be able to stay the whole time. He was only a child and needed to be brought somewhere safe, though Fendrel had no idea where that would be. He knew Oliver wouldn’t be better off dead than with his uncle, but life on the streets was inevitable for any orphan or runaway.

The company of nine were gathered around the table in the great hall.

Cloud opened his wings part-way, and the nobles quieted and looked at him. “Excluding the child, there are eight of us here. I think we should split up in teams. The Liberator and his companions can join me.”

Venom lifted his wings, a sign of asking permission to speak.

“Yes, Venom?” Cloud answered.

The dusk dragon lowered his wings. “May the Liberator and his companions join my group instead? If the rogue dragon he mentioned last night attacks again, he’ll need someone who is experienced in combat.”

Fendrel doubted that was the real reason, but it was a well-thought-out excuse.

Fog’s eyes brightened. “If you get hurt, you’ll need a healer. I’ll go with you!”

Gemstone—Crystal was what Fog called her the night before —slammed her club tail on the ground. Her glare was set on Fog.

The vapor dragon curled her tail around her paws, winding like a snake up a tree. “I’m sorry for speaking without being granted permission. I would like to go with Venom and the humans, if that’s all right with you, my king.”

Crystal nodded in approval but didn’t seem to notice the embarrassment on Fog’s face.

Cloud was mildly surprised. He scrunched his brow and exhaled heavily. A trail of mist escaped from his nostrils. “I would like to keep the humans together. Now you two want to accompany them. That’s four, excluding the child, which leaves four left to be grouped.”

Crystal raised her wings. Cloud didn’t notice until she shook them to get his attention.

Cloud’s eyes blinked with rapid fire. “Er, yes?”

The gemstone dragon lowered her wings. “I suggest that the noble of ice join my team. I feel the factions used to terrestrial travel will fare better together while the flyers can travel amongst each other.”

“That sounds good to me, and air may go with His Highness. My group will stay west. The middle requires a lot of flying, so I believe it would be best for Crystal and Caribou to travel east.” Venom gave Cloud an encouraging look as he said this.

Cloud caught the older dragon’s signal and nodded approvingly. He looked at the assembly. “Are we all in agreement?”

Venom, Fendrel, and Crystal nodded their heads immediately.

Fog exuberantly agreed. Ice, Caribou, and Flight followed her lead with a bit of hesitation.

Thea nervously walked to Fendrel and tapped his shoulder. “Hey, uh, what was all that about?”

Fendrel pointed at Thea, Oliver, and himself. “You, Oliver, and I are going with the dusk dragon and the feathered vapor dragon.”

Biting her lip, Thea eyed Venom. “He looks kind of scary. Have you seen his fangs?”

“All dusk dragons have fangs, Thea.” Fendrel fought off the slight drowsiness that annoyed him.

Cloud lifted his wings. “Well, with that settled, let us prepare. We set out today. When you finish your search, or if you find Mist, head back here immediately. I will send a spark dragon messenger your way every now and then to stay up to date.”

Fog was the first to stand. She shuffled out of the palace, her tail dragging. Venom followed her out in a dignified fashion. He cast a gaze at Fendrel and tilted his head as if to say, “follow me.”

Oliver rushed out, almost running into Flight, who snorted with disapproval.

Fendrel followed the boy with Thea in tow. He stepped out and went to his travel partners.

Venom stood with travel bags at his paws and Fog sitting across from him

“We have the food and water bags for them.” Venom pointed his wing at the humans as he spoke to Fog. “And do you have any sparrow-catching claws?”

Fog tilted her head. “Why would I need those? We only eat sparrows in the winter. Won’t there be enough plant-based food on the way?”

“Probably, but there’s always the chance that there is only live prey. Besides, you could use them as weapons if we run into trouble.” Venom flexed his own claws.

“Oh.” Fog nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I have them. They’re in my room.”

She ran for the edge and glided off to retrieve her metal claws.

Fendrel peered over the cliff’s lip, watching Fog dive into a hollow with a carved doorway.

After a few moments, she leapt out and arrowed for the sky. Light wingbeats signaled her return. The metal claws she wore on her talons scraped against the stone as she landed.

She lifted one of her paws. “I sharpened them last winter and I haven’t used them since, so we’re good to go.”

A thunderous sound reached their ears as Cloud, Crystal, Ice, and Flight lifted off.

At the sight of the departing dragons, Fog danced on her claw tips. Her eyes grew wide and her feathers fluffed out in excitement. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Great, so, who’s carrying us?” Fendrel asked.

Venom stiffened. He grimaced then lowered himself. He huffed. “This is extremely undignified… Well? Come on, then.”

Thea froze. She recognized the stance Cloud had taken back near the Sharpdagger castle. “Can I go with the vapor dragon?”

“She has to carry the bags and that’s a big enough burden for her. Vapor dragons aren’t used to heavy loads. You’ll just have to ride with Oliver and I. Look, he isn’t scared.” Fendrel gestured to the boy. He was trying to clamber onto the annoyed dragon’s shoulders.

Thea cautiously approached Venom. She helped Oliver onto Venom’s shoulders. The mage hauled herself up, situating Oliver in front of her.

Fendrel hoisted himself in front of Oliver.

As soon as they were all seated, Venom stood.

Thea gasped and squeezed her knees into the dragon’s sides.

Fog had strapped the bags around her neck, and they hung to her chest. Her tail swung in anticipation with her wings partially open.

“All right, we’re all set.” Venom started for the cliff.

“Yes!” Fog said, leaping into the sky.

Venom sighed, quickly advancing. “You don’t even know where you’re going.”

Fog flared out her wings, so she hovered in the air. “Right, sorry. You should be leading anyway. You’ve been a noble longer than I have.”

“You’ve never left the Hazy Woods before?” Fendrel asked, astonished. He couldn’t imagine what his life would be like if he had never explored the Freelands in its entirety.

“Nope. I’ve only seen maps and sometimes, on really clear days, I can see the silhouette of the human palace.” Fog stared out at the land.

Despite Fog’s mess up, Venom smiled with endearment. He was fast, even with three humans holding him back. He wasn’t as fast as a dragon king, air dragons, or spark dragons though, and he had to fly a bit slower to accommodate Fog.

Trees and lakes passed by in a blur. Vapor dragon appearances diminished, soon none were in sight. They were fast approaching the edge of the Hazy Woods.

Before they crossed into the plains, Venom looked at Fendrel. “That rogue dragon you mentioned before, what does he look like?”

Without hesitation, Fendrel spoke as if he had recited the line hundreds of times before. “He’s a fire dragon. Red scales, white eyes, and purple stripes.”

“Hmm. I don’t think I’ve seen him before, but if I do on this trip you won’t have to worry.” There wasn’t a shred of doubt in his voice.

Fendrel nodded, trusting the dusk dragon’s judgement.

They passed the line of forest and began to fly over the large expanse of plains.

Fog looked at Fendrel with a smile. “I wish we were going east so we could see Glassbeach.” She had a wistful voice.

Fendrel grinned at her. “Glassbeach, that’s a human village. How do you know about that?”

“I uh—” Fog laughed with nervousness. Her voice trailed off on the last few words. “I study the royal maps with human villages a lot more than the ones with our own cities.”

“Fog, you know you and I can’t go near any of the human villages, even if we were traveling east.” A twinge of warning laced Venom’s voice.

She sighed. “I know.”

Venom reignited her lively aura. “Fog, will you remind me of how you got your earring?”

The vapor dragon’s eyes lit up. “I got it from my mom. She found it right on the shore of Glassbeach at sunset. She sent home to me and I had it made into an earring. I’ve heard it’s beautiful at Glassbeach, and I’ve always wanted to go ever since I got a letter from her about it.”

Venom nodded ahead of them. “Those are storm clouds. We should find shelter, or we’ll be exposed to the rain.”

He swooped toward the ground where a small grove would give them refuge from the storm. Fog quickly followed.

The two dragons dove under the trees and sank their paws into the grass, huddling under the branches just as the rain began to pour.

Oliver tumbled off of Venom’s shoulders and sprung back up without a scratch.

“Can I go play in the puddles?” Oliver was already running toward the heavy rain.

“Oh no—” Fendrel slipped down from his seat and grabbed Oliver by the shoulders “—you don’t want to sit around in cold soaked clothes.”

“Aw.” Oliver plopped himself on the ground and sat against a tree trunk.

“Oh, don’t spoil his fun.” Thea gave Fendrel a sly smile.

“Don’t encourage him.” Fendrel pointed at her, his brow raised.

“Fine, fine.” Thea waved her hands and not-so-graciously dismounted Venom.

Fat drops of water fell from the leaves.

Fog stared at their leaky foliage ceiling in awe. “I’ve never seen it rain this hard before. We usually get drizzles in the Hazy Woods. The trees here are shorter, too.” The vapor dragon’s eyelids grew heavy. She rested her head on the grass and her breathing slowed.

“This is the farthest she’s ever flown without rest stops in a single day, and the added weight of the bags must have drained her.” Venom turned his gaze to the clouds. “Hmm, it doesn’t look like it will cease any time soon. We might as well get as much sleep as we can.”

Fendrel relayed the information to Thea and Oliver. “We’ll be here for a while.”

“It looks like it’s going to rain forever.” Thea sat next to Oliver and hugged her knees. “Are we staying here until tomorrow?”

“No, it shouldn’t rain for that long. We may be able to start moving again in the late afternoon.” Fendrel stared out at the rain-soaked grassy plains.

<~><~><~>

The rain died down to a light drizzle. The grass and leaves were heavy with water. Puddles formed in every dip and crevice in the plains.

Above, the branches gave way and released its water, dousing Fog. She jumped with a yelp, looking around with wild eyes.

The commotion woke Venom and the humans, who had fallen asleep shortly after Venom.

Fog shook out her feathers until it looked as though no water had ever touched her.

“How did you do that?” Fendrel sat up.

“Do what?” Fog cocked her head to the side.

“Your feathers are dry.”

“Oh! Vapor dragons are waterproof. The moisture just slips off.” She shivered. “It’s still cold, though.”

Venom stood and stretched. When he yawned, Thea couldn’t draw her eyes from his fangs.

“The storm is almost gone now. We can resume our search until nightfall.” Venom remained crouched for the humans.

Once the humans boarded, both dragons stepped out of the tree cover and took off.

Venom angled his head to address Fendrel. “We should be nearing a human city soon.”

An idea popped into Fendrel’s head. “Lightgrass. Maybe Thea and I can look for any information on Mist there.”

Oliver piped up. “I wanna come!”

Thea and Fendrel shared a look.

Lightgrass is a large city, so there’s no doubt they’ll have wanted posters. I’ve always been able to evade the royal guard, but I was always alone. Will they take Thea and Oliver if they see them with me?

“I’ll keep him close while you do whatever you need to.” Thea seemed to read Fendrel’s mind.