While the trip had taken several hours for Ewan, Pavas and Fusain, Wynblow's journey had been much more direct by flying.
In nearly an hour, she had already reached her destination, Larshen Mountain.
In truth, Larshen was more of a mountain range, rather than a single large, solitary mountain set in the middle of the landscape. Also being further south than Borh and the village where Ewan had crossed her path, Larshen Mountain was already overgrown with greenery and dense vegetation that the cold could not reach in these much sunnier lands.
The animals were also much more numerous than in the mountain where she had spent all that time hiding, and fled en masse as soon as she flew over a mountainside. It was like ants whose homes had been destroyed, scattering in all directions in a totally random fashion.
However, it was precisely because of this abundance of trees and shrubs that Wynblow had to work hard to find a place to land.
Although she was not as tall as some of her fellow dragons, her wingspan prevented her from flying between the trees, and she had to fly in circles several times before finally finding a somewhat clear mountainside.
The journey had already strained her wing muscles, and the injury to her paw was certainly not going to help. She also didn't know exactly when or where she would meet again the young man, and during the whole trip, she had been possessed by a growing anxiety.
What if... he had lied to her?
This suspicion had not left her huge heart, making her fear that the human had perhaps played her and abandoned her.
Until now, she had never trusted anyone, except...
She thought of the man from her dream - probably a distant memory that had resurfaced - and her head hurt.
Why... did she not remember anything?
She had told the young hunter that she didn't remember her supposed childhood, but it was actually much worse.
The young dragoness couldn't remember anything since she woke up a year ago. Her earliest memory was a year back, when she emerged from a cave into a world she knew nothing about.
No, come to think of it, she knew almost nothing, except one thing: she had an irrepressible urge to go north. To go to Valgheist.
Wynblow was sure of it now. That must have been the name of the place she was supposed to go. The place that held all the answers to her questions, and possibly the key to her forgotten past.
Yet this information also made her anxious. Why did this particular word sounded so familiar and yet so threatening at the same time?
Lying down in the tall grass, she silently observed the swarms of birds flying through the sky, the strange flocks of sparrows hovering between the treetops.
If only everything could be as simple as flying carefree all the time...
For fear that he would abandon her, she had already distorted reality as she wished.
A decade spent in County Kells? What a joke.
Another dragon she'd been with for a while? They had only lived together for a few months, before the old dragon perished.
True, she had learned a few rare words of draconic language, and she already knew the old human language without having learned it.
Wynblow. That name was also more than familiar to her, belonging entirely to her.
Deep down, she hadn't entirely told lies, but she had already gone too far.
She had already lied too much about her own situation, so what was to say that the young hunter hadn't lied to her as well?
Still distracted, she then spotted a bird of prey diving towards the living cloud of a hundred sparrows, the raptor catching one of the small birds in mid-air between its talons to make its meal.
Things were never simple, no matter what situation one was in.
Sooner or later she would probably have to tell him the truth. If, however, he kept his word and came to meet her here.
Even with a huge, strong, fiery heart like hers, she couldn't help but feel tiny, left to her own devices.
Feeling the wind slip through the tips of her scales, she heard a slight whistle - a rustle, perhaps? - that traveled down her body. Her scales continued to make that strange sound until the wind blew in a different direction, rushing under the surrounding trees.
Now that she thought about it, it had been a while since she had enjoyed the warmth of the sun so innocently. Being a dragon was far from a long line of advantages, especially in a world where the species was hunted by almost every thinking civilization strong enough to take on a Salamander. Even being part of one of the most powerful and terrifying races on the continent didn't do a thing to prevent falling prey to overzealous humanoids.
In that case... Why had she trusted him?
When you think about it, it didn't really make sense.
Sure, they'd had a rather friendly discussion, instead of directly trying to kill each other. She had a strange feeling when her eyes landed on this young man. Almost as if...
The sudden cracking of several branches immediately made her raise her head in alarm.
Someone was very close to her position, she could smell it.
The smell of a human being.
Could it be that someone had spotted her flying in the sky, and followed her here? And if so, did she have to fly away again to find another hiding place?
Her big head full of spikes and horns turned in all directions, like a kind of watchtower emerging from the tall grass; on the lookout for the slightest thing entering her field of vision.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of rocks and sand tumbling, as if someone had slipped down a slope. Directing her green gaze toward the source of the noise, she saw a large basket sticking out from between several thickets.
Then, a voice full of distress rose from the bushes.
"Ah... My back..."
Damn, it was definitely a human. She had to get out of here as soon as possible.
Abruptly rising to her feet, ignoring the pain in her paw, she was already about to take flight, when the voice spoke again.
"He... Help... Is anyone there?"