Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 409

Chapter 409: Fancy flight
Anaisa hadn’t even heard the dragon’s approach, let alone seen it, but apparently the wide bridge she’d been led out onto was really a kind of landing platform for the beasts.

“Ow!” She used the last of her breath to make the sound of protest.

Her waist–and arms–were ensnared within the grasp of the dragon’s feet as it lifted her from the bridge. Mind flying into a panic, she wildly struggled before it could carry her too far.

Almost immediately, Anaisa realized that wiggling free now would mean dropping a dozen or more stories to her death, dashed upon the cave floor far below.

The dragon hovered in place for a moment, and Anaisa craned her neck to see that the wight was jumping aboard the dragon’s back.

Using her arms to loosen the dragon’s grasp as much as she could, which wasn’t much, she was able to at least gain the space to fill her lungs once more with air.

She had too many questions to choose just one to blurt out. Why was she being taken? Where were they going? Was this a kidnapping, or was the place to send a message from far enough to need this transport? Why couldn’t she be riding on top of the dragon with the wight instead of being clasped in its claws? What was the meaning of all of this?

Before she could begin any line of inquiry, the dragon dove with incredible speed towards the cave floor. Anaisa’s eyes snapped shut, watering involuntarily as the cold air bit at her face.

The time for words was past, even if she could even have gotten them out. Her stomach plummeted, but the dragon dropped even faster until suddenly pulling up before it could hit either the ground or the trees.

Forward they dashed, and Anaisa almost vomited. Mercifully, her stomach was empty.

How long ago was her last meal, anyway?

The dragon soared forward, and let out a keening roar. Anaisa managed to slit her eyes open against the torrent of wind and saw that other dragons had joined the one that gripped her.

In barely a second, they had left the grand cavern behind and entered the pitch black tunnel through which the humans had entered—or maybe a different tunnel; Anaisa couldn’t really tell.

It curved and rose and fell, or at least, that was what she guessed from the almost erratic flight pattern she was enduring in the clutch of the flying beast. She had no voice to protest, but suddenly she found herself glad that she wasn’t trying to cling to its back.

Surely she would have fallen off by now if left to her own devices.

Shouldn’t wights have invented some kind of dragon saddle if they often traveled this way?

The darkness continued around her, and Anaisa had trouble keeping track of time. The sheer force of the speed and suddenness of turns threatened to render her unconscious, and perhaps did at times.

Her head swam, feeling heavy and drained.

Eventually, at last, the air rushing past her seemed to slow down, and Anaisa was able to open her eyes a bit more fully.

She looked towards her feet, and saw nothing. Only darkness. Turning her head, there was at least some faint light forward.

The wind in her ears prevented her from discerning anything further from her hearing.

Regretting ever leaving Trace’s presence, she began to hope, at least, that this horrible flight would end soon.

At the moment, she wanted nothing more in the world than to have her feet on the ground again. Any ground would do. She didn’t care.

The light ahead grew more distinct, and she blinked as the dragons slowed enough to let her begin to listen.

Water?

Or the sound of wings?

No, it was steady. A waterfall, perhaps.

The thought had no sooner passed through her mind than she was absolutely drenched.

Outraged and confused, she spluttered as daylight surged around her. She was underneath the dragon’s belly in its claws, how had she even gotten wet? Had it intentionally dunked her into water?

The thought spurred her temper. After being snatched, and dragged, and indignantly flown about, to be subject to this further treatment was nothing short of insulting!

Demeaning!

She was a former Countess, of noble blood! She’d been instrumental in saving her kingdom from the schemings of an evil man! She’d carried children in her womb and brought them into the world! She didn’t deserve such treatment!

The dragon swept upward, slowing before lowering Anaisa to the earth. Water dripped from her hair, her eyelashes, and her clothes, and she wondered if it were some sort of ironic punishment for her wish to clean up.

Her feet were set on green grass, but she collapsed instead of standing on them. In a bedraggled, semi-conscious puddle on the ground, she peeked at her surroundings, gathering her anger to unleash it on the wight, the dragon, and anything else that came near enough to be a fitting target for her ire.

“That. Was. Awful.” She declared when she was finally able to gather her breath. “Who do you think you are? No warning, no asking for permission, just scooping me up and carrying me off like some friendless feral kitten that no one would miss? How dare you!”

The dragon, paying her no heed, lowered its head to allow the wight to descend to the ground.

“Look,” It replied to her, lifting a long arm and gesturing forward.

“I’ll look when I’m good and ready! For goodness’ sake, I might vomit from the ordeal you put me through! I could barely breathe, clenched in those vile claws for who knows how long! It would serve you right if my husband threw a fit and stopped dealing with your wayward emperor!”

“Look,” The wight insisted more firmly, and Anaisa glared for a moment before shifting her gaze and blinking in delayed recognition.

She found herself in a very familiar clearing. Perfectly circular, next to a stream that flowed from a waterfall emerging from the side of a cliff.

All around it, the trees were burning.