Chapter 30: Silken Wings

The city paid them no more attention as they walked in silence to the east-side harbor just outside town. Unlike Halfhill’s harbor that stretched above the rim of the island, Prina’s was completely inland. The few airships in port all rested in fenced off areas on nothing more than compacted sand. She missed the touch of worn cobbles beneath her paws, the whirring of idling engines and odor of hot water and oil that normally accompanied a harbor. It looked more like a random spot of desert picked as ship parking space. But it was quite busy with workers unloading barrels and crates of cargo.

Dust lead them away from the bustle and towards a small, bulky airship of older design that sat a few hundred tail lengths away on the sand. It did not even have a fence. To Sylph’s surprise, the entire crew on deck were Sol and a singular Aer. She had never seen that before. Humans operated the small, finicky bits, like valves and these little wheels that sometimes poked out of the wall. Fully adult dragons alone made for a terrible crew. Although, in truth, she had no clue how to operate an airship.

Two rough Sol guards at the ramp gave Sylph and Brandon an odd look as they approached, but a simple gesture of Dust’s tail signaled they were no trouble. Following a dragon thrice her age into an unknown, shoddy airship was something her mothers warned her about. But considering the other options and possible results, it seemed like the right choice.

Once inside, they settled down in the cargo hold. Compared to other passenger ships, this one only accommodated dragons. Low tables and nailed down leather mats covered the alcoves at the sides. While the large, worn mats showed the peach-like dent of countless bottoms, discolorations she would rather not think about, and the coated wood of the tables held enough food scraps for an entire meal, it was a welcome change to see something made for her kind.

Sylph sat down opposite of Dust, and Brandon kneeled down on the same mat as her. Her claws poked and grabbed the thick leather as she fixated Dust. “What is going on in this town? Who is Nahana?” The airship’s engines rumbled to life, and the floor shook beneath them.

“Nahana will take back what they took from us.”

“Could you be any more cryptic?”

Dust’s gaze flicked towards Brandon and his bared fangs caught the light from behind to cast a toothy shade on the table. “The humans, they took the desert from us.”

Sylph’s tail curled halfway around Brandon without touching him. “Don’t sneer at Brandon. He is as far from a slaver as could be.” She would let no one blame him. Dust closed his mouth, his nostrils twitched, and he cocked his head. “You are actually good friends. I wasn’t sure. Perhaps your opinion would change once you were in a safe place.”

“You thought I was using him to hide myself in town?” Sylph scoffed. “This town is awful. In the kingdom, nobody would think that. They would have vastly different ideas about the rope, very inappropriate ones, though.” She only heard Brandon’s palm slap against his forehead.

Dust retracted his head and forced a grin. He lay down on the mat, but still towered over Sylph and Brandon. “I have visited Sawaila, multiple times even. The Western desert, near Gideza, is very close to the kingdom in terms of their equality, but a friendship between human and dragon is strange to witness after all this time spent in Prina.” His gaze still scrutinized Brandon’s silence. Pinned down under the gaze, Brandon leaned forward, placed his hands on the table and faced Dust. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it. Prina is disgusting. But that is not the fault of all humans. I can say the same about dragons and their practices in other kingdoms. Nobody is innocent.” He raised his voice and sounded surprisingly aggressive. Sylph sucked in a bunch of air as she waited for Dust’s reaction.

Dust held still for a second, then nodded. “Indeed, one always rules the other. It has been that way since ancient times.” He mirrored what Tanno told her, nearly word for word. The desert had a pretty grim outlook on ever living together.

“But,” Sylph said, “Sawaila works. One does not rule the other.”

Dust turned around, pulled a pitcher of water from a compartment in the wall and placed it on a metal stand above a bowl of coals. “So far. Systems want to be broken. Your nameless heroes did well in that regard. Be it them, Nahana, or the conspiring houses that killed Oasis’ royal family and brought about the rise of the Western desert. Change is inevitable.”

Brandon nodded in return and continued. “I guess this will play out like the watch uprising in Viening? A coup? That’s why the guard is involved, isn’t it?”

Dust cocked his head and flattened his wings. He drew a deep breath. “I am surprised to hear this from a human mouth. Slavery was always a problem for both our people. Like the old poet, Naamohn said: ‘No two are the same, but all are one.’ We are all individual, but as a people we keep repeating our mistakes. I suspect that’s why he joined forces with the Heartseeker himself.” His throat undulated, and he reached into his mouth with two digits. Pulling them back out, he brought them down to the coals and, upon rubbing them together, the slimy substance ignited with a hiss. “Few even connect the two. A Sol poet and a human feared for his dragon killing prowess bent on genocide, and yet, they became the founders of Sawaila.” He pulled out three bowls and waited for the water to boil. “History is fascinating, am I right?”

Sylph looked around the sparse interior. She had heard the stories of the Nameless, the Heartseeker, but she was not quite interested in a history lesson. “So, if I got it right, you are fighting against slavery with Nahana?”

Dust sprinkled some tea leaves into the bowls and filled them with boiling water. “Mistress Nahana, be sure to call her that too,” Dust insisted. “It is a simplification, but you could say that. Senbo is an oasis for dragons in the east.” He shot Sylph a glance. “By killing Tanno, you are part of it, if you want to, or not.”

Sylph sighed. All she wanted was to find her past, not fight slavery in some desert weeks of travel away. Getting back out would be painful, but maybe she could make it easier. “We have some dragons you can save. Would that make it better?” Dust’s eyes widened as she continued. “We disagreed with the first slavers we met.” She tugged at the flowing robe Brandon wore and pointed at the pinkish remnants of blood. “They sold eggs, we buried them after they- perished. They should be easy to locate because we made a marker.” She tried to get rid of the forming pictures in her head, but Tim’s face remained.

Dust perked up and took a large gulp of tea. “You really like collecting death sentences, do you? But I guess that doesn’t matter much now. I’ll see to it.”

This journey had been nothing but bad incidents, followed by more unpleasant incidents. But she had accomplished something by saving those eggs. Sylph smiled and nipped at the blazing tea. It tasted like hot water and she put it back down.

“I would tell you to get some rest, but you slept for nearly a day,” Dust laughed. The airship rocked and his smile turned into a swallow. He placed down the bowl and stared towards the window. “I will head upstairs for a bit of fresh air. We should reach Senbo in a few hours.” He stood up with the forced, slow dignity of someone trying to hide their airsickness, just like Veria always headed to take care of business or went to survey the deck as soon as the ship took off. Sylph snorted. A moving box of wood brought all these terrifying, scarred, and powerful dragons down a notch.

Brandon blew over the tea. “I have a bad feeling about this. I think it’s gonna be the other way around in Senbo. They don’t seem to like humans.”

“It will be fine. You are with me. I will make sure it is fine. Just as you did for me in Prina.” A wide smirk crawled up her face. “Should I get the rope ready?”

They laughed. “I will if I have to.” He nipped on his tea. “This really doesn’t taste like much, does it?”

********************

The ship set down a mile outside a town that looked smaller, but not unlike Prina. Sandstone houses lined the streets, the same palm trees peeked from above the roofs, and yet it felt different. The distant figures of dragons wandered the roads, no human silhouette at all.

Sylph could not hide the twitch in her tail at the thought of meeting this Mistress Nahana. The things she heard and how people reacted to the name, it invoked a similar feeling to saying Void’s back home. Being that influential, maybe she would know something about her parents.

“It’s pretty strange to see that many dragons at once,” Brandon said, and followed her down the ramp. He shielded his eyes from the sun and peered at the distant gate, then straightened his back and patted down his robe as if he had to impress.

Sylph turned to Dust. “So, where do we find her?”

“She will welcome us before we reach the gate. She likes to see all visitors. No ship is allowed to land closer.” As if on command, three shapes lifted off the highest roof deep in the city. Sylph had only eyes for the largest dragon. A fully grown Aer whose wings could cover the other two as easily as a blanket a hatchling. It had to be Nahana. The two guards flanking her, an orange Sol and a dark-gray Metia, were clad in chain mail and struggled to keep up as Nahana accelerated towards them with swift beats of her wings.

Only a few seconds later, Nahana dove downwards like an arrow, caught herself a few tail lengths above the ground and gracefully glided down the rest of the way like a piece of silk in the wind. She landed so softly that she did not disturb a single grain of sand. The guards frantically caught up and thumped to the ground like whelps. They were not terrible flyers, but in contrast to Nahana, even a cloud looked unskilled at flight.

Judging by size, Nahana neared fifty years. Her pale-blue scales shimmered in the sun as she folded her wings. She was slim as any Aer, but the way she held her head high and all muscles tensed made her appear far larger and more imposing than any Aer should be. Her green eyes stared down at Sylph like one would stare at a mouse. It all but matched Veria’s fierce gaze and yet her eyes held less fight but more authority. Sylph followed Dust’s example and bowed her head all the way to the ground.

A twinge in her stomach urged her to be careful around Nahana. The authority she emanated threatened to swallow Sylph up whole the longer she bowed and waited. So far, she had felt that she could run from a lot of danger, but there was no way she could run from an Aer like that. She dared to peek up. Nahana had stepped closer and her head hovered mere inches in front of Sylph. Her fierce gaze shifted to one of curiosity and the more Sylph studied her face in return, the stranger it looked. The narrow snout and jawline, the twist of her horns and the way her ears stood back in a certain way. It threw Sylph’s head into confusion. She had never seen Nahana, but she looked creepily familiar.

Time slowed to a crawl. The only thing confusing her were the emerald eyes. When Sylph looked at the mirror, she saw blue eyes. Everything else looked exactly like herself, merely far older.

“Mistress,” Dust said, “I believe I found your daughter.”

It couldn’t be. “This can’t be,” Nahana echoed her thoughts. Her voice flashed with confusion and sparked with joy. Sylph stood rooted to the ground and her tail whipped up to her side, laying flat against her chest. The questions Dust asked, he confirmed what he knew. Now she saw it too. “Mother?” she stumbled over her own words in disbelief.