"1 crow for malice, 2 for mirth, 3 for a funeral, 4 for birth, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a story that should never be told, 8 for heaven, 9 for hell, 10 for the devil where ever he may dwell… 1 crow for malice, 2 for mirth, 3 for a funeral, 4 for birth, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a story that should never be told, 8 for heaven, 9 for hell, 10 for the devil where ever he may dwell…" I kept singing like mom used to, a lullaby her mother told her, who was told by her grandmother before her.
"Why… are you… singing?" Barbie screamed disgracefully close to me.
I had to hold on not to lose my fucking balance, desperately keeping my eyes on the bridge, not down, not above, "Why did you fucking follow me?" I did my best not to screamed, but I was unable to keep my voice low.
"We thought the plan was for us to follow you!" Percy yelled beyond her.
"Fuck. Keep at least two meters between one another and three from me."
"What? How… how much is two or three meters in steps?" She cried.
If I could, I would have slapped my own forehead, "Twelve to eighteen."
"Steps?" She cried again, louder.
So fucking loud, I almost flinched, "Yes, Barbara, steps, for fuck's sake. Didn't you ask me how much it was on steps, mate? What did you expect I would say? Twelve to thirteen in cocks?" Patience, Grace, she is intellectually inferior to you, patience, the kid is from an orphanage, patience.
She squeaked, "Don't say that word right now, Grace, Gods above."
Percy barked a laugh behind her, and I have no fucking idea how he has the energy to laugh in this bloody moment, "Grace, there's a furious looking guy behind me who's cursing the hell out of you!" He laughed.
"What is your fucking problem, orphan bastard!" A familiar voice barked.
"Oh, that's Sage, Percy. He's not a guy, he's a barking dog!" I yelled back and on my peripheral vision I saw a silver dragon, a really huge one, coming closer. "Moonlight dragon coming!" I yelled more to Barbie and Percy than anything, but don't ask me why I did that, I don't know. But it was not to help them. "Avoid eye contact with this beast, it's the type to insert terror in the prey, and we are the prey."
"Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit!" Barbie screamed scared.
"Oh, my Gods. Oh, my fucking Gods. It's huge!" Sage yelled far back.
"That's what she said!" Percy shouted back.
"Don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh," I groaned to myself. "Ignore it."
"Ignore what? The dragon or the stupid joke?" Sage asked, screaming.
"The dragon, Sage, fuck," I answered, just as loud. "Fuck, why am I even helping this piece of shit?" I cursed under my breath. "Stop! Guys, stop!" I yelled as I felt the dragon getting dangerously closer, so, I closed my eyes to avoid it from doing anything to me, but even then, I felt terror creeping inside of me, not for fear of the dragon or of anything, just the emotion, taking root inside me, raging in me.
"Oh, my Gods," I heard Barbie crying. "Gracie," she groaned.
"Asrai above," Percy groaned in the name of the Goddess of War, the very Goddess that the riders and warriors worship, by the tone of his voice I could tell he was shaking. "Don't look at it, Grace, but… it's one of the castle-sized ones."
I swallowed hard, heart thundering, "I can feel its cold shadow above me," tightening my grip on the handle of the daggers, I didn't lower my eyes, I didn't show any sign of submission, I kept my stand, right feet in the tile of the front and left feet in the back tile, keeping my posture straight.
What I don't know, is what is an adult dragon doing here? Shit. According to the records, they only allowed the younger dragons to roam the pit in the entrance day, which they call 'the Dragon Vale', to avoid a big disaster, since one of those big ones is able to kill more than half a thousand people on their own. Those are the dragons people most want to bond, because bonding one of those means you will be unstoppable and definitely live past 10 years after bonding.
Both my parents had big dragons, father had a dark blue called Ovgrahrein but Rein for short, that are commonly called the stormfury dragons, while mother had an even bigger than his, one of the only golden dragons ever seen, a sunborn dragon, nearly as huge as the palace and truly majestic, she's called Shestendeliath but Shea for short. They were mated like my parents. I only know their true names because I was mom and dad's daughter, and they liked me, while everyone else only knew them as Shea and Rein.
Speaking of them, I don't know what happened to them after my parents passed away, I guess they probably hate me for that. They might have comeback to the vale, since the vale is way more than just the pit under us but that expands to a wider mountainous and forestall land, where magic blooms, the cradle of dragons in the Empire, and the very reason why Arkhane War College was build in here. I also read in a book once, when my parents were still alive, that some believed the entrance test happened in a way to kill 10223 young humans in the process, as a sacrificial offer for the dragons to keep collaborating and bonding the riders.
That aside, it doesn't explain what this bitch is doing here. It's an adult.
My mom used to tell me that when Shea was restless in any way or very stressed, she sang the lullaby she sang to me, to her, and that it would ease stress and lower her bloodlust, so, unable to think of anything else, I sang.
"1 crow for malice, 2 for mirth, 3 for a funeral, 4 for birth, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a story that should never be told, 8 for heaven, 9 for hell, 10 for the devil where ever he may dwell," eyes closed, I kept my voice steady, making sure not to show any fear. "1 crow for malice, 2 for mirth, 3 for a funeral, 4 for birth, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a story that should never be told, 8 for heaven, 9 for hell, 10 for the devil where ever he may dwell," work, work, work, please, work, work. "1 crow for malice, 2 for mirth, 3 for a funeral, 4 for birth, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a story that should never be told, 8 for heaven, 9 for hell, 10 for the devil where ever he may dwell…"
A ear-splitting monstrous came from deep within the vale, far from where we could possibly see, not me since ain't no fucking way I'll look down, but fuck, it was so powerful and loud that everything shook, the mountains, and the bridge. Though not many screams came from behind me, definitely not from the nuisances that have been following me, many screams came from the beyond me, from where I was heading to. It was such a primal draconian growl that the dragon roaming me vanished, flying away, beating its wings in a way that nearly made me fall, had I not crunched and held onto the steps, facing the sky, scared of the ground, nearly making me drop my daggers.
Nearly. I kept them on my grip.
"Shit," I swallowed, heart thundering, limbs shaking softly. "Close call."
"How did you calm the dragon down?" Percy asked, struggling to breath.
"Did I?" I gasped, exasperated. "I was trying to avoid it from eating me!"