Chapter 15

We ran down the mountain. The steep incline made it difficult to stay balanced.

We also knew that if we slowed down we wouldn't get enough distance between us and my dad.

Thena huffed, "while Declan may be slow as a Drezir, he won't stop. We'll have to find somewhere where Drezir won't be able to see you."

Something didn't make sense. If the Drezir can see agnir like a pillar of light even in darkness, how was I able to hide before? I remembered the village hideout. Somehow when I was in the bunker I was never found.

"Thena, we might be able to hide from the Drezir but Declan might still be an issue..." If the Drezir really couldn't see me in the bunker, then we might make it out of this alive.

We hurried down the mountain side and finally reached the valley.

Thena whistled and a distant neighing cried out in response. Rapnir appeared from the clouds.

"It seems he was able to recover while we were away." I said in relief. Rapnir would be the fastest way back to my village.

The pale moonlight glimmered on rapnir's white mane. He descended in front of us but did not stop. He merely slowed down so we could keep up. Thena grabbed rapnirs saddle and jumped on. She offered a hand to me.

"just one bite?" Agnir whispered and I could feel her flame crawl up my arm. I retracted my hand before grabbing Thena's arm.

"agnir! Not now!" I shouted. Thena looked startled but still held out her hand. After my flame went away I finally grabbed Thena's hand and she lifted me up behind her. I grabbed tightly once more around her slender waist.

Rapnir instantly sped up and we were riding fast. The wind felt nice on my sweating head.
I was able to relax.

Thena also became slightly less tense. "This will buy us some time, but we will need to find your sister and get out of here." Thena was looking far into the distance, strategizing her next move.

I couldn't hold back my curiosity anymore. "So you're dragon kind?" I wanted to ask more, but decided that I should let her be in charge of what she wants to tell me.

"yeah... My father raised me, but I haven't seen him for a long time now..." She sounded sentimental. "I learned about dragons from him... As you can probably guess my mom is a dragon."

I held back all of my excitement, and stayed quiet. I thought about what it would be like to be a dragon. "Do you know your mom well?" I asked.

Thena shifted her head to the side, "eh, not really. Not like I would care even if I knew who she was. Dragons really can't be trusted, Torin. Even that red elder dragon was most likely trying to deceive you. Always keep your guard up!"

Agnir shouted in protest, "hey! That's my mom you're talking about! Take it back! Tak-"

I tried to speak while drowning out agnir's anger, "I've also heard that... Fireheart seems strangely different though... I guess I could be biased because of agnir."

Thena's interest piqued, "oh yeah... So... Why didn't you tell us you had the king's flame? That's kind of a big deal!"

I felt a little guilty, "I didn't know, I couldn't even use magic till the day you found me! Plus, even if I did know, it probably wouldn't have been a good idea..."

Memories of rapnir being poisoned came back. "I wonder if rapnir knows who poisoned him..." Rapnir let out a little neigh as he raced forward.

Thena got upset again, "I'll make them pay, no one touches rapnir!" She patted rapnirs mane, "who's a good horsey?" She whispered into rapnirs ear.

Their relationship seemed deeper than just a horse and its owner. "So rapnir has wind magic? Are there many creatures with magic?" As someone who was not familiar with magic I had to start from ground zero.

Thena scratched rapnirs neck, "magic is a force that discriminates. Byron will say it is equal but if it was truly equal then everyone would have it. It seems to pick and choose its owner. Some people are born with it. Others acquire magic later in their lives. Some people never acquire it at all." Thena paused. "Animals are not so different. A wild animal will often have magic, while farm animals would not since they are not often communing with nature. Even a horse bred and raised to have the most powerful magic would not have magic because it is in confinement."

I looked at rapnir, "so he's a wild horse?" Suddenly my comfortable posture turned back into rigid and stiff.

Thena smiled it off like it was no big deal, "yeah he is amazing isn't he?" She smiled brightly as she said it.

I think Thena and rapnir get along so well because they are so alike.

We finally arrived at my village. The disarray and burned down buildings only reminded me of the day before. The nightmarish Drezir, and their frightful power. The villagers were all out of the bunker now.

"Torin? Is that you!? Drella! Torin is back!" One of my neighbors recognized me and shouted to my mother, Drella. She turned and dropped the wood that she was holding. She run to me. I dismounted the horse and ran to her.

We held each other tightly. Then I started to cry. All of the tension and memories from the past two days had been weighing down on me so heavily. I finally felt like I could let it all go. I couldn't control my crying.

I wailed in mourning of my father.