Chapter 2 (part 3)

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Daninlei: attack from the sky

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Early the next morning, Supreany rolled off her bed onto the floor, landing with a solid thud.

"Mmmnha, what's going on?" she groaned as she dug herself from the sheets that were wrapped tightly about her. Looking at her surroundings, she huffed and climbed to her feet. 'I must have rolled out of bed … and I was sleeping so well, too. All well.' She rolled up the sheets and tossed them back on the bed. Turning around, she saw that Cecealye was sound asleep. 'She must be sleeping hard because I know that was loud.' She proceeded to tiptoe out of the room. Ean and Brundin's voices could be heard all the way down the hall.

"… Ean I'm not going to let you get yourself killed. You may be my half-brother, but you're my only brother."

"Look, I love you, but you cannot ask me to abandon Cecealye."

"Do you hear yourself? When will you realize, no matter how many times you save her, things can never be as you want! You're a peasant and she's a queen; it's never going to happen."

"I'm not asking you to understand. I'm just asking you to send me away with a smile. That's all."

Their voices fell silent. Supreany took that as her cue to come out into sight, as if she had heard nothing. Being sure to make noise, she came out into the room rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, Supreany," Ean greeted her.

"Morning."

"CC still asleep?"

"Yeah, surprisingly." A smirk came upon her face. "I rolled out of bed and made enough sound to wake the dead."

They laughed at that statement.

"Say, I don't mean to impose, but do you have any food?"

"Why, of course. By all means, help yourself."

She began preparing a rather dry breakfast: no eggs, no milk, and no meat, just bread. She lifted it up to her mouth. 'Man, I would give my left arm for some meat, but beggars don't have the luxury of being choosy. I'll just eat it quickly.' She did just that. Silence had overcome the room until a slight scuffling came from down the hall as Cecealye slowly walked out into view.

Ean's spirit seemed to lighten instantly. "Hey there, sleeping beauty. How was your rest?"

She began rubbing her back. "A bit rougher than usual."

Supreany gave a snicker. "That's because you were sleeping like a corpse."

A smile graced Cecealye's lips. "Ha, ha. You're so funny, Supreany."

"I thought so."

"If we intend on going, we should get to it,. Lingering is dangerous," Orckle said as he, too, entered the room.

"I reckon you're right," Ean sighed.

They restocked everything they needed, said farewell to Ean's half-brother and his wife, and exited the city. Just as they walked through the city gates, the sky released a gentle rain. Lifting her eyes to the clouds, Supreany let the rain roll down her face. Her sight glazed over as she drifted into deep thought, some forgotten memory in the midst.

She became instantly aware of her surroundings upon hearing a beastly roar. Swooping down toward them were three dragons. In a rush, supplies were dropped, screams and yells could be heard in the distance, and there was a loud slam as the gates were shut right before her. Spinning around she realized that she and Orckle were the only two outside the city gates.

Scuffling from atop the wall could be heard as archers took their place. Looking over at Orckle, she knew she had no other option. Orckle watched as two fleshy wings began to grow from Supreany's back. He could hear the bones in her back cracking and popping and within seconds, she stood before him with two large, brilliant gold wings.

There wasn't a moment to lose. Supreany ran over to Orckle, wrapped her arms around him and lifted them into the air. Unfortunately, the dragons attention became drawn to them. Making chase after the two, the dragons flew away from the city. Down on the ground, the men froze in amazement as one yelled out.

"She's flying. She's drawing them away from the city!"

Ean looked down at the inside of the closed gates. 'She's flying?'

He looked over at Cecealye, and simultaneously they said, "Supreany?"

Anxiety worked up into their throats as they waited for the gates to open up once more. Upon them doing so, neither Orckle nor Supreany could be found.

Cecealye, with a look of sadness and regret, stared over at Ean. "We shouldn't have left them out here. We should have been out here with them."

Ean walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I know, but whatever fate we have, they are not a part of it anymore." He looked down into her vivid green eyes. "We better get going." He walked over and began to pick up the dropped supplies. "We might as well take them with us since we spent money on them." So they gathered the dropped supplies and headed off for Sophiapolis.