Ahri ran to catch the girl, hoping her legs size would beat the infant's stamina. When she reached her, Leah was laying on the ground, feeling the grass with her bare hands. She was just enjoying the nature. Ahri chuckled at her reaction and sat on the grass as well, but stilled when the kid came closer to rest her head on her lap.
For the first time, she imagined what would happen to this beautiful and incredibly smart child that was bound to her by fate. She saved her from that cell, and the girl saved her life in the process, but she couldn't guarantee her future. She only hoped that her mother knew what she was doing by sending them South.
"Did you live in the forest before, Leah?" Only then did Ahri noticed she had begun to comb Leah's hair with her fingers. The girl nodded and giggled when a red beetle climbed her leg.
The daylight was running out quickly behind the northern mountains, and Ahri was getting restless by the wait. Laying down there among the trees provided them with a false sense of safety, one she knew wouldn't last. If that ride of theirs didn't arrive soon, she had no idea how she'd manage in the woods by herself.
"Leah, it's getting late. Maybe we should head back."
"He is coming," Leah answered, with a voice way steadier than the first times she spoke, as if she were relearning how to speak. "He waits for the night."
"Do you know who is coming?"
The little girl didn't answer, and Ahri decided she couldn't wait any longer. The second sun had just set in the horizon, and the light was almost too little for them to find their way back. Staying unsheltered through the night was simply not an option. Besides, Ahri hadn't slept the night before and was pushing forward on sheer force of will. Being exhausted wouldn't keep them alive that night.
"Come on Leah, we have to go." She got the girl by the hand and walked back, but a second later she felt Leah slipping through her fingers. The girl ran back to the small clearance where they had spent the last few hours, and Ahri ran to catch her. Her hands were almost at it when she halted.
The first thing she noticed was the quiet. How all the little sounds of the forest seemed to die bit by bit, making room for an eerie silence. She tasted the shift in the air. That unmistakable sense of danger that crawled into the hearts of prey whenever the predator was close, lurking.
As her eyes adjusted to the dark sky above, she saw it. The shadow of a beast that flew already too low above her head and spiraled down with the speed of a falcon. When it landed, trees that stood in the way were rooted from the ground and the waves of impact had Ahri spreading her feet to keep standing.
Black wings closed around its massive body and onyx eyes shone against the moonlight. The veil of the night hid its presence like a dark shield, and when it stood still, one could think there was nothing there but shadows and angst. It was terrifying, but Ahri couldn't feel the fear. Like a nightmare that visited you so many times, it becomes expected. Awaited.
It was incredible, enormous, and looking straight into her eyes. Ahri didn't know for how long they stood there, nor how long it would last if Leah hadn't moved. But she did, and suddenly that static wonderment dissipated to make way for a rational evaluation.
"Leah, stay here," Ahri commanded, pushing the girl behind her.
The beasts' nostrils flared in clear menace, and Ahri knew it wasn't happy with her actions. A growl formed inside its throat, and the sound had the rocks of the earth rumbling beneath her feet.
"Skye," called Leah's tiny voice, and she looked at the girl. Ahri was out of place there, and besides the push of logic telling her to run, she felt in her gut the need to let Leah lead the way.
"Do you know him, Leah?"
"Yes. Skye." The child moved from behind her back and stepped forward. Her tiny hand grabbed Ahri's and with slow, steady steps, moved closed to the black dragon in front of them.
The animal didn't move, and encouraged by his lack of action, she looked into his eyes once again. Each step was followed by his black orbs and she couldn't say if it was trapping or calling for her. Maybe both.
"Skye, we go home?"
The dragon broke their stare to look at the child Ahri was holding, and his entire body seemed to change in recognition. His predator stance was gone, as if he had willed it to lift from his body, and made way for an almost gentle approach. He opened one of his wings to the side and Leah squeaked in… joy? Why? Ahri didn't understand until the girl climbed the giant limb.
"Leah, what are you doing?"
"We go home, Ahli."
"I am not climbing a dragon."
But she did. After a child looked at her with pleading eyes, and a dragon growled in annoyance at her delay, she did. The black scales were irregular, but Leah showed her the way up. With the courage drawn from some unknown place in Ahri's mind, she held on to the spikes that covered the dragon's back.
As the beast took off, Ahri noticed she had to exert an immense strength to make sure neither she nor Leah would fall. The height wasn't as scary as she thought it would be, and after a couple of minutes she found herself enjoying the wind on her face and the stars above.
Ahri closed her eyes and thought about the home she was leaving behind. Lightbridge was never kind to her, and its people shared too little of her values for her to make real friends. But the streets were familiar, and the markets were her constant playground, so she knew she'd miss it.
And then there was her mother. Eleanor was no ordinary mother, with her unrelenting dedication to work, her secrecy, her detached way of raising a child. But Ahri loved her fiercely, and knew she was a daughter of unwavering love.
Ahri was still lost in the thoughts of the life she was leaving when she felt her grip escaping. The scare was enough to have her holding tighter and adjusting her body, but she knew it was a sign of exhaustion. She hadn't slept the night before, and the moon in the sky showed her they were riding the better part of the night.
"Leah, do you know how much longer until we get there?"
The small girl in front of her had yet to say a word during the ride, but Ahri knew she was fine by the few giggles she let out when the dragon picked up speed.
"Long, long time!"
Damn, she wouldn't be able to hold on too long. How did she ask a dragon to stop? She sucked up the exhaustion and forced herself to stay alert. She went back down the nostalgic road, thinking about her childhood and her mother. Noticing something was off, Leah turned around to check on her, but it was too dark for Ahri to see her face.
"Ahli, you are cold." The child's voice was muffled by the wind that picked up around them. Only then did Ahri realize she was shaking, and her hands were white and rigid against the scales of the black dragon.
She tried to speak, but the words weren't coming out. When did it become so cold? She looked down, and for the first time, noticed the evergreen forests of Lightbridge had been replaced for miles of boreal pines. The first sunrise was beginning to light the southern horizon, but it seemed distant from above.
She knew the south was colder, and considering they were riding for over four hours, they were probably past every map Ahri had ever studied. But she didn't expect them to go so far. Her head felt light, and she was trying to fight it, but there was only so much she could do.
The last shreds of rational thinking told her it made sense that dragons hid so far from the knights that once hunted them. But then, a spark of fear was born in her heart. She was being taken to somewhere unknown by a giant beast she knew nothing about.
"Skye! Stop, Ahli falling," Leah screamed, but it was already too distant, and her mind felt numb.