Chapter 56: Bloodstained Sand

Chained to a wooden construct, the sun blazed down on her back. Sylph pushed against the heavy restraints once more until the metal bit into her arms and the leather constricted her neck. Placed at the end of the half-moon arrangement, she could only turn far enough to see the other three and the large red Sol waddling towards them on two legs, Dragonbane held up in his pfod.

A silent acceptance hung above her like a dark cloud covering the otherwise pale blue sky. There was simply no escape, struggle proved pointless. A singular, unexpected grate messed up their plan. She failed them by not having all the information and winging it as always. She tried once more to wiggle against the restraints, but the thick straps would keep even Veria at bay. Veria; her mother’s name evoked some semblance of hope deep within, but they were a day out. Embers deep inside her chest glimmered like a candle in the abyss, fighting the dreary darkness in her head, but she already knew; this was how she would die.

The executioner stopped his waddle next to Biscuit and waited for Nahana. Even now she rested on her lounge and smiled grotesquely down at her own daughter and friends on the chopping block. The way she had them arranged was no coincidence. Sylph would be forced to see them die, one after the other.

Sylph gave another look towards Brandon, whose face remained unreadable. He made no sound and hung limply in the restraint. She could not tell if he accepted his fate or froze in shock.

A horrid image crawled into Sylph’s mind. What if the execution stopped before it got to her? Nahana would imprison her, alone. The embers in her chest pushed out into the dark. Knowing Nahana, that idea made too much sense and Sylph would never accept that.

Dragons talked and yelled up in the stands as Nahana rose from her lounge and raised her pfod for silence. The red Sol stumbled closer, bearing no hint of emotion on his face at the prospect of having to kill somebody young enough to be his whelp. He rested the heavy axe against Biscuit’s chopping block.

Nahana started a speech about justice, painting the servants as great traitors. All Sylph had ears for were Biscuit’s muffled wails in his gag. Unable to make out any words, she knew he begged for his life. Elina thrashed into her restraints, but her pained screams carried no words, only terror that made Sylph’s scales stand up straight, as if the fear she felt was her own. They didn’t deserve this.

Biscuit threw himself backwards once more, trying to slip away through the leather as her speech ended. Then he ceased all movement and froze as the executioner reached for the axe. The soft and fearful pattering of liquid onto the sand filled the air.

Dragonbane gleamed silver as it caught the sunlight above his head, and Sylph averted her eyes.

The blade sang like a hollow voice as it cut through the dry air. One last muffled scream tore through the arena before it fell dead silent. A sickening thud followed as something heavy hit the sand. Another, faster pattering of liquid joined the first and a deep growl reverberated over the sand and all the way into Sylph’s bones. It felt as though somebody had pushed a dagger into her chest and twisted it and she realized she was no braver than Biscuit. Facing death, it drew forth unknown terror from deep within that forced tears to her eyes. She did not want to die.

The crowd went wild. Screams and hisses filled the air and Sylph opened her eyes a fraction, only to see a pool of crimson blood beneath the chopping block. Her stomach heaved when she saw the lifeless dull eyes of the red Sol stare at her in shock.

Her eyes shot wide open at the sight of the decapitated executioner. A large and muscular Metia throned on top of his body, dragonbane held up in one pfod as if it was a mere knife, and a bloodied tail blade pointed at Nahana.

“I am here to take back my daughter!” Veria bellowed. Her voice forced the arena into silence. She turned to face Sylph and a single gaze said more than words ever could. It told her that everything would be alright, no one could hurt her anymore.

“You are here!” Sylph yelled in excitement, but only muffled words came out.

With a soft thud, Dalian landed in front of her and turned his attention to the wooden construct. His pure white scales shone so brightly in the desert sun that she had to close her eyes until they had adjusted to the secondary sun. “Not a moment too late,” Dalian huffed and Sylph saw the air flickering inside the locks of her chains before they snapped open.

He then undid the leather strap around her snout, and she spat out the cloth. “You said three days.” Miraculously, they had come early.

Dalian continued to unchain Brandon. “And it would have been, but because of some unexpected pointers from Oasis and breaking at least seven aviation laws, we arrived a little faster.” How his voice remained as calm as always in this situation was a mystery to her.

Sylph turned her attention towards the gathering storm between Veria and Nahana. The air itself was palpable and bristling like a thundercloud as they faced off. The masses did not dare move an inch, as if a singular action could ignite the arena. But Sylph spotted the guards moving up through the stands all around them.

“Veria, what a most unpleasant surprise.” Sensing the hushed tension slip, the crowd erupted into murmurs. Nahana raised her arm, faced the crowd, and dragged a singular claw over her own throat. The stands fell dead silent. “Your daughter?” Her wings flared up to cover the entire balcony. “To think that it was you who hid and ruined her.”

For once, the emotions in her voice were real. Sylph invited her tremble and fury and took it as her own, feeling it reverberate and fan her own dragonheart. If there ever was a time to share her emotions, it was now. Sylph’s claws dug into the sand. Nahana would pay.

Veria threw the axe to the side, and it landed with a deafening thud that sent clouds of dust swirling upwards. “Keeping her from you was the best decisions I ever made. Seeing this,” she gestured at the chopping blocks, “I don’t know how your town trusts you. I’ll be taking my daughter and her friends and we will leave you to bleach your behind in the sunlight, or whatever it is you do all day.”

Nahana reached down towards the table and pulled up a carafe. She downed the remaining wine in one go, wiped her snout, and threw it to the side. Nahana would not let them go and Veria would not be stopped. Sylph glimpsed at the gathering guards above. Not even Veria could fight her entire guard force all at once.

Reinvigorated by several liters of wine, Nahana lowered her wings and neatly folded them on her back. “You wouldn’t have talked to me like this back then.” Nahana’s voice grew oddly warm, as if she suddenly talked to an old friend. Sylph perked up as they continued. She knew they had met, but what exactly transpired between them, she did not.

Nahana grabbed the railing with her pfod. “I heard you got married. What a shame. I would have offered you to join back then.” She pierced a piece of fruit before shoving it between her teeth. “But you left without a word. And yet I may give you another chance. I still need somebody like you.”

Veria laughed and flicked her tail further upwards. “Do not talk to me as though you know me. I might have been persuaded to join you in the bath back then, but I have grown up. I forged genuine bonds.” She turned to Sylph with a somewhat embarrassed smile on her face. “You made me realize I had to defend those bonds most important to me. To protect Sylph from you.”

Sylph recalled the one image of a younger Nahana resting in the bath she had seen from Veria’s memory in the Veil. “Really? Nahana?” Veria went quiet for a second and Sylph snorted. Arastra’s words about a more impressionable young Veria proved to be true. Not that it mattered to the current one.

“I regret it. And now,” Veria turned back to Nahana, “We will be going.”

“You know how I get when you try to take something from me, don’t you?” Nahana hissed from the balcony, wings primed to launch herself.

“You get a little feisty.” Veria brandished her tail in front of her again and wiped away the drying blood on the wooden post next to them. Merely brushing against the hardwood left a narrow cut. Sylph had never seen Veria sharpen her tail to that extent before.

Nahana laughed and grabbed the small railing tighter. “I see that tail of yours is as agile as ever.”

“This time it’s truly going to split you apart.” Veria fell into her real fighting stance, not making a show of it like whenever she dueled with Sylph. Half crouched, wings pre-spread and her tail standing still and tense at her side, Sylph swore she could feel the heat radiating from her chest.

Veria turned to Sylph. “Repeat what I say.”