JEREMIAH

My mother and I traveled for two days and one night. We didn’t rest. We only stopped once for hardly any time. She made us a tea that would give us enough energy to reach our location. Even though it gave me energy, my body screamed every time I moved. My eyes could hardly stay open as we rode through unclaimed patches of forest and across rickety cobbled streets. Mother avoided every town and if anyone did happen to bump into our paths, she kept her head down and told me not to show my face. She warned me anyone could be looking for me.

We eventually did make it to the place Mother said we would be staying. We had to travel off the cobbled road and through thick trees to get to it. I felt like the trip through the thicket was a day on it’s own. Time seemed to go by slower during the day. The sun burned my eyes and made my head feel like it was splitting open.

Once we reached the edge of the forest, a small log house came into view. It was surrounded by open fields spanning for archers. There was dense wood on every side, completely isolating the farm. Next to the small house was an equally small windmill. It was cracked, the arms of the sails holed and splintered. I questioned if it even worked.

We dismounted and I removed the saddle from our horse. He had been good to us. I spotted a small pond behind the house and led the mount to it. He took a long and much needed drink. I turned to Mother after tying his lead to a tree, and she waved her hand for me to come inside.

The log house was smaller than I thought. The first room was cramped and only had enough room for one person to walk through at a time. There was a fireplace next to the door and a small table that could seat two. The table sat across the fireplace. On the wall to the right was a single low bookshelf just under the window. There were no books on the shelf though, to my dismay. It was only a piece of ugly furniture to take up space. Across the entrance door was another door that led to the only other room. Inside it was two straw stuffed beds and one end table between the two of them. At the end of one bed was a wooden trunk that had seen better days. The wood splintered at the corners and had stains all on its surface. There was only enough room for that in there. I felt cramped just thinking about staying here. Dust clung to every object in here and made the air smell musty.

“We’re living here?” I asked in disbelief. It was so claustrophobic and ugly. It was nothing like the palace. I hadn’t expected something as grand as my old home, but I also never pictured something so worn down.

Mother pinched my ear. “Don’t complain. We need to sit down and talk.”

“About what?” I asked. She pointed to the desk and I sat in one of the chairs. Mother fell into the other. Her wrinkled form must have been painful to be in.

“We have a lot to do here to make it look like we aren’t who we are,” she said. Her voice sounded shaky and weak. It was almost hard to listen to. Her green eyes looked up at me, her wrinkles almost hiding them.

“Like what?” I asked.

She tugged at my silk sleeve. “For one, you have to put away these nice clothes. There should be a linen tunic in that chest over there. You won’t like it but it’ll keep us safe. We’ll need to burn the other clothes.”

“Burn them?” I gasped. I looked down at the soft fabric I wore. “We could at least sell them?” I asked. “Won’t we need the money?”

She shook her head. “I have plenty of money hidden here if we need it. It’ll bring too much attention to us if we tried to sell the clothing. Burning it will be better.”

I sighed. I couldn’t argue with her. “Fine.” I shrugged the bag off my back. I would change now rather than later. Before I stood though, I opened my bag. The first thing I saw was the lockbox with the egg inside of it. I pulled it out and showed Mother. “I don’t care what you say about this though. I’m keeping her.” I unlocked the metal box and pulled out the sparkling egg.

Mother’s lips parted in shock. She reached out a knobby finger to run over the glittering surface. “Her?” she asked.

I nodded. “Iara held her and told me that it’s a girl.”

My mother smiled. “If I had a girl I wanted her name to be Eliza.”

I looked at my mother then back to my egg. “That’s a dumb name for a dragon.”

Mother snorted and crossed her arms. “Put her away right now. We have a lot to do before night.”

I nodded, placing the egg back into the safe box. I placed her in the chest under the linen clothing my mother had mentioned. I didn’t have time to look at the egg or mope around doing nothing like before.