The Sword and The Mountain (Kathardra book 1)

Lungs crying for air Lessa’s eyes burst open but her throat did not. She was underwater, she kicked for the light. “LESSA!” Storm’s blooming intrusive thought crashed into her mind.

“Storm, what’s happening?” Her head broke the surface and Lessa could finally fill her chest with icy air.

“I don’t know, but I’m coming!”

Lessa could feel that Storm was close, but that didn’t help when Lessa was trying to swim in a nearly frozen river. And she was bone-deep tired. A grunt was pushed from her throat when she was thrust against a boulder hidden by the current. The energy to pull herself to the side of the river did not exist. It was all Lessa could do to keep herself afloat. She was bumped into another rock, this one popped above the surface. Lessa tried to grab onto it but her fingers could not find purchase on its slimy surface. The next rock the river brought Lessa she gripped in a desperate hug.

Storm was so close. Lessa couldn’t feel her fingers. If she was this affected by the cold no doubt it would have killed any other. The water pulled at her for what felt like hours but was surely seconds.

“I’m here,” Storm said unnecessarily. Lessa both felt the air buffeted by Storm’s wings and saw the shadow of her dragon surround her.

As carefully as she could, Storm scooped her claws under Lessa’s torso and pulled her from the river. Being carried in such a way only had to be endured for a moment, for she dropped to the snow on the bank at once and set Lessa on her feet. Violent shivers racked Lessa’s body and she hugged herself to combat them.

“Lessa!” Zar yelled as he vaulted from Storm’s saddle. “Here love,” he took off his cloak and wrapped it around Lessa’s freezing form. Storm wrapped her wings forward around them both and pulled a fire into her throat, superheating the small space.

“Look at me,” Zar cupped her cheeks and tilted her eyes up to his. “Stars Lessa, please tell me you’re ok, say something.”

“What did you call me?” she asked through chattering teeth.

Zar laughed out loud, and pulled Lessa against him, one hand around her back and the other on her head.

“What is happening?” Lessa demanded of Storm. But Storm only responded with a content happy hum.

“I should have told you ages ago,” Zar said, still holding her tightly, “But I’m a coward. Lessa I love you. I thought I lost you, and it made me realize how much time I’ve wasted.”

Wonder filled Lessa’s eyes as she tilted her head back and looked at Zar’s smiling face.

“You don’t have to say anything.” he went on, his smile slipping “But I needed you to know.”

“Say it again,” she hardly breathed the words.

His smile was gone now, replaced by deep intensity. “Lessa, I love you.”

Warmth blossomed from Lessa’s core, beating her heart faster and heating her from soul to fingers.

“I love you too, Zar.”

His blue eyes seemed to dance, he grinned wider than Lessa had ever seen. His arms latched around her and he lifted her from the ground, spinning in a full circle within Storm’s wings.

He placed her bare feet back in the snow and his eyes met hers again.

Out of unconscious habit, Lessa hooked her fingers around her ear to tuck her hair. But her fingers found an uneven bristle.

She gasped and both hands launched to her head, stroking over her missing locks her eyes misting with horror.

“No, no, no, no,” Zar said, grabbing both of her wrists. “It will grow back.”

Horrified, Lessa yanked the hood of Zar’s cloak over her head and tugged it low, she sank into herself. In Kathardra a woman’s hair was everything. Lessa had worn a slim braid in her hair for a long while now, only as a disguise. Now that she had a true reason to wear one, she had no hair.

“It will grow back,” Zar said again, dipping his head to look into the hood.

Memories exploded into Lessa’s mind. She looked down at her unblemished arms and hands. They started shaking again, not just from the chill.

“Here let me…” Zar waved his hands out to each side of her and water was drawn away from her clothes leaving her completely dry. The shaking persisted.

Somehow the only token remaining of what Lessa had been through was her stubbled hair. She was unreasonably fixated on it, a constant reminder of what had happened.

Again, her hands stroked the top of her head.

“It will grow back,” Zar said once more.

“Lessa.”

For the first time, Lessa realized Storm had a feeling in her throat, like she might throw up.

Bewildered, Lessa looked up at Storm’s snout, it came down to kiss Lessa’s forehead, and as they made contact the feeling of ejection from Storm ruptured into a near convolution, starting at the base of her tail and washing out her nose to Lessa.

It caused Lessa’s head to itch like it never had before. But she didn’t dare move. Her growing hair was visibly spiraling out from her skull, it came out past her eyes and down to its original length.

“Keep going!” Lessa urged as Storm moved to pull away.

“Greedy,” Storm called her, but her pressure increased once more and Lessa let her withdraw after her hair reached down to her waist.

“Thank you, Storm!” Lessa jumped on Storm’s nose and squeezed her as tight as she could, but her arms betrayed her. Muscles weak from neglect.

“Come on,” Zar said, pulling Lessa toward Storm’s saddle. “We need to get you out of the snow.”

Lessa agreed with a nod and started climbing the loops to Storm’s saddle, barefoot.

“Don’t look,” she shot down at Zar, fully aware she was only wearing a silky slip of a dress under Zar’s cloak.

“I won't,” he said, eyes on the ground.

The dress forced Lessa to ride side saddle, she perched carefully out of the way while Zar sat fully in the seat. She jumped a little when he grabbed her and pulled her back, holding her firmly across his lap.

“I’m never letting you go again,” he said determinedly. An indulgent smile spread on Lessa’s face when she rested her head on his shoulder.

The trip was more of a hop and glide than a flight. Just as Storm was landing Lessa could feel a spell, it was clearly some sort of greenhouse. Creating a bubble to keep heat in and cold out.

Zar dropped from Storm’s side and he reached up to catch Lessa on her way down. Any other time the gesture suggesting she was incapable of dismounting her dragon alone might have caused offense, but Lessa was so tired that she was grateful for the assistance.

A door in the mountain opened as Lessa’s bare feet touched the ground, Worran burst out, “Lessa?” he asked.

“What happened to you?” she demanded at once. “Did the soldiers do that to you?” One of his eyes wasn’t opening, the other was black, his lip was swollen and bleeding and he was holding his ribs.

He was rooted to the spot, his hand went to his face and he swiped at the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes.

He nodded, his single open eye flicked to Zar.

Lessa looked over her shoulder at Zar, who was scowling darkly at Worran. Her eyes dropped to Zar’s bruised knuckles and her gaze blistered.

“Let me heal you.” She started forward with both hands raised, but he gently pushed them aside.

“No. I got what was coming to me.”

Lessa’s jaw clenched. “What happened was not your fault.”

Silence answered Lessa, Worran’s eye fixed on the ground.

“You listen to me right now. Both of you.” Lessa turned so that she could address them both.

“I make my own choices. I understand that it’s inherent in you males to protect, but you are not responsible for the consequences of my actions.”

Zar took a step closer to Lessa, “I swore I would protect you. I should have been there.”

“So that they could take us both?"

Golathar's voice, asking who and where the heir was came unbidden to Lessa's mind. She forcefully pushed the thought away. "And you were released from that oath when you turned me into the most powerful mage to walk Kathardra!”

“But-” Worran started to protest, but Lessa cut him off with a pointed finger.

“No!” she snapped at him.

Lessa brought her hands up again and placed them on each side of Worran’s face, he did not protest this time and she started reciting healing spells. Face and head healing was complicated, but as she was taught Lessa started on the most internal injuries. First, she recited the spell for healing eyeballs, then the bone structure of the face, another for the cartilage of the nose, and finally the skin and muscles. After several minutes of no sound but Lessa’s words Worran was finally whole.

Lessa dropped her hands away from Worran’s face. “Zar, don’t hit Worran again. It’s childish.”

Zar chuckled, “There is just something about Worran that makes me act like a child.” His fingers found Lessa’s and laced tightly in them.

“I am sorry, Worran," Zar told him sincerely.

Worran ignored him, his eyes widening at their clasped hands. Heat crept up Lessa's cheeks and she smiled demurely.

“Can we finally talk about this?” Worran asked, spreading his arms and hugging them both.

“Worran,” Zar warned.

“What? You aren’t allowed to hit me anymore! Zar finally got the stones to say something? Ah! This has been killing me for months, you are both at once so insufferably starry-eyed and oblivious!”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Lessa pushed him off. “I need both food and sleep. And I’m not sure which first.” Worran turned and led the way back into the house. “Was it really that obvious?” she asked his back.

“To everyone but Zar.”

Food came first, Lessa yawned her way through a simple meal of yesterday’s bread, spread with herby cheese and ham.

She was introduced to Cinder’s sister. Who stared openly at Lessa while she ate. “Where did you go?” the healer, standing in her nightgown, asked.

Frowning at her food Lessa responded, all waiting for her answer. “I woke up in the river. The last thing I remember before that…”

What was the last thing she remembered before that? She could remember Golathar, and the bald man who had… She pushed that thought away.

“The river?” Ash exclaimed. “If you were in the river you would have frozen to death almost instantly.”

Lessa took a slow bite of her food to avoid answering.

“Sister,” Cinder said, “around this girl, you learn to stop paying attention to trivialities like that.”

Ash harrumphed. “Well then how did you get in the river? There are no footprints in the snow! And why the river.”

“She was downriver from the fairy pond,” Zar said absently, knuckling his lips in thought.

“Do you think that had something to do with it?” Lessa asked.

“It’s the only thing I can think of. Legends have it that strange magic used to happen at fairy ponds.”

“But.” Ash persisted. “She managed to get out of the house, passed you, passed the dragon, through the snow, without leaving tracks, naked, in and out of the river without freezing, not to mention where did that dress come from?”

Lessa looked down at her body, partially to hide her burning cheeks. She still wore Zar’s cloak over the silky dress. The simple silver left nothing to the imagination, clinging to every one of Lessa's curves. It was so much more provocative a thing than she would ever choose to wear herself.

“Um, are my bags here? I need real clothes.” She pulled the cloak closed over herself.

“We brought them,” Worran said walking from the room.

“At this point. It doesn’t matter.” Zar said as he moved to put an arm around Lessa’s shoulder. “Maybe it was an act of providence. But she is back now.”

Lessa dressed lethargically, but glad to feel covered again. She shoved the dress into the bottom of her saddle bags, perhaps the thing held the clue for what happened. But it was a mystery for another day. Lastly she separated a section of very visible hair and put a slim braid in it. Her heart swelled, with both ecstasy and pain.

She walked through the homey caves and out through the front door, to where Storm was enjoying the sun and the unseasonable warmth. Both Zar and Storm looked at her as she walked out of the house.

“Why do I feel like I just interrupted a conversation?” she asked, sliding her hand into Zar’s.

Storm looked away. “What’s wrong?”

Surprisingly, Storm attempted to block a memory from Lessa’s mind.

Unable to stand any longer, Lessa sank to sit on Storm’s legs, she pulled on Zar’s hand but he resisted.

“I don’t think I’d be a welcome addition.” He eyed Storm.

“Nonsen- uh. Oh.” Lessa caught Storm’s mood.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Storm replied, raising her snout.

“What happened between you two?” She looked up at Zar.

He slid his fingers slowly through his dark hair, his hand stuck to the back of his neck in a display of shame and regret.

“If she hasn’t told you I don’t think I should…”

“Storm?”...“One of you needs to tell me what is going on.”

Zar broke first. “When we found out you were captured we needed to get Storm, but we also needed her to wait for dark until she flew to the city. So.. I had to… persuade her to wait.”

Deep shame rolled over Lessa, the emotion belonged to Storm. A flash of the memory of her head pinned in the dirt came with it before Storm could block it out again.

“Oh,” Lessa said carefully.

Neither Storm or Zar made a reply.

How can you repair the pride of a dragon, once broken?

“How did you manage to do that?” Lessa asked, slowly.

“With much difficulty.” he replied with eyes widened unfocused at the memory.

“I doubt there lives another who could wrestle a dragon to the ground.” Lessa hoped Zar would pick up on her meaning. His head tilted for a moment, but he gratefully caught on.

“I doubt any man lives who really could. I am only alive after attempting it because Storm did not want to kill me. In fact, I’ve never pulled on so much magic in my life. It was only enough because she held back her strength.”

“I know what you are doing.” Storm stuck her nose further in the air, but much of her shame dissipated.

Again Lessa pulled on Zar’s hand, forcing him to sit next to her. She threw her legs over his lap and pressed her head into his shoulder. Hesitantly Zar placed his hand over her booted ankle, the other pulled her shoulder in closer.

Grabbing his hand, Lessa moved it from her ankle to just above her knee. She grinned mischievously at him and his grip went from wavering to sure. She promptly fell asleep.