Streams to Ashes by D.L. Gardner

Author:D.L. Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sword and Sorcery, Sagas
Publisher: D.L. Gardner
Published: 2023-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE CHILLY AIR HIT hard when Stenhjaert jumped airborne. Elisa screamed as the dragon flew into the prism that was the door to the Realm. The crystal burst. Chips of rock scattered in all directions, falling like ash onto the plains below. If Elisa hadn't gripped firmly, the dragon's jump would have sent her flying off its back. She closed her eyes as Stenhjaert bucked the wind and only peeked for a moment, long enough to see the Realm getting smaller and her feet trembling in the air.

She gasped.

They went so fast and so high that they soared into the sunset, their shadow gliding on the grasslands beneath them. Over the plains they flew, covering distance like a jetliner. When the dragon swooped in between the treetops of Alcove Forest, Elisa leaned low to the dragon’s neck and clung to his body.

No roller coaster or carnival ride had ever been this unnerving.

“Can’t you slow down?” she asked.

“If I were to slow down, I would not be flying,” he retorted.

“Surely there must be a happy medium.”

The longer they flew, the more Elisa became used to the feeling of air hitting her like a pressure washer. Though it took an effort to fight the wind, she sat up slowly, awed by the world from a dragon’s eye. They traveled south now, beyond any part of Alcove Forest that Elisa had known. Over rocky hills, where the reflection of stars glistened in a cluster of lakes below, where herds of antelope raced away from their shadow, where grasslands coated the earth like smooth icing on a cake.

“Where is this?” she asked.

“My hunting grounds,” the dragon replied.

“Are you hunting now?”

“No. I just wanted you to see these fields, so that if you can’t find me, you’ll know that this is where I’ll be. I’ll come back after I drop you off with your friends.”

“Drop me off? What about helping them?”

“Fret not,” Stenhjaert said, but his indifference did not convince Elisa of any intentions.

“Right,” she muttered as Stenhjaert winged higher, caught an air current, and glided northeast, which was much smoother riding,

“Where are your friends?” the dragon asked.

“They were going to Alisubbo,” Elisa said. “They’d be there and gone by now though if there was a war going on.”

“Ah. Then we shall look for a war.”

In time they came to the white walls of a city, a torn castle tower, a waterway, and a bridge that Stenhjaert hovered over like an eagle.

“What do you see? Anything?” Elisa asked. All she could identify below was darkness, and the glistening of stars in the water.

“Men. Horses. Oh,” he chuckled, and his belly shook, rattling his scales again.

“What’s funny?”

“They spotted us. Shall we have some fun?”

“No!” Elisa commanded as the dragon plummeted. “No! Stop. This is too serious a situation and they might be our friends.”

Stenhjaert ceased his dive with a sudden jolt, giving Elisa a mild case of whiplash.

“You could have just slowed down,” she complained, rubbing her neck. She peeked over his wing at the congregation of people below them.

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