Curse of the Dragons 2 - Kingdom of Ashes & Bone by Storm Raven

Author:Storm, Raven
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raven Storm Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Ten

W ith Zariah’s help (in dragon form, of course), we all built a blazing bonfire in the center of the little camp. This led to a strange, festive air that didn’t sit right with the smoldering ruins of the mud quarter back in the city.

But I also knew people from the mud quarter had never had a reason to celebrate before. Or hot meat. Or a giant, golden symbol of protection and redemption that was a literal light in the darkness that was our existence.

Then again, I would have been thrilled to get out of the mud quarter. I hadn’t been attached to anyone other than my mother, my few friends already gone and taken to the Seat. Looking back wasn’t a mud quarter trait; looking back didn’t do you any good.

So in a way, I understood the happy, nearly crazed atmosphere. With their lighter hair, the surviving women and children from the Seat stuck out like sore thumbs, but they sat side by side with refugees from the mud quarter. The children ate the meat with wide, astonished eyes, one child crying in happiness when Zion offered him seconds.

It was too much. The suffering here compared to life on the Seat was so jarring that I wanted to scream at the injustice.

“Here. Don’t think I forgot about you.”

Zion handed me a giant drumstick. I grasped the greasy meat in my fingers, frowning at it.

“Where did Zariah get this? The land around here …”

The tips of Zion’s ears blushed red. “It’s … Well, there are kingdoms far from here that aren’t so far for a dragon. And their farms are large, with huge herds of prey—I mean, animals. Trust me, they won’t miss these.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about stealing meat from others, but you couldn’t argue that the people here didn’t need it. I hoped that in time, the sickly, gaunt look of most of the children and women would fade. It hadn’t escaped me that almost no men had made it out of the mud quarter; not that there had been many there to begin with. Whether it was by chance or design, I didn’t want to know. These women, at least, deserved a space to feel safe without having to look over their shoulders constantly. I made a mental note to speak to Zephyr about it later. He’d have to keep a sharp eye on the men, who were used to taking whatever they wanted.

“Sit and eat. Everyone else has. It’s your turn.” Zion guided me down in front of the fire, next to Zephyr and Shava. Zephyr gave me a small grin but Shava ignored me. It hurt, but I couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to.

I ate slowly, reveling in the companionable silence as we all kept to ourselves. The crackling of the fire was soothing, as well as the muted voices of the refugees in the background, happy and excited and feeling safe for the first time in their lives.

I

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