The Dragonlord's Call Short Story Collection by K.S. Villoso

Author:K.S. Villoso
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Jagged Slate on Blue

(A Prequel Story for Jaeth’s Eye)

He is afraid that if he closes his eyes, he will forget the crashing of waves against an empty shore. The fiery gaze of a million stars stretching over deep, black darkness. The rustle of the wind through the branches.

It is not that those things do not exist in Baidh. Even from the hard, narrow bed he occupies, he can hear the swelling sea from the docks, watch the sky twinkle over the flat grey rooftops, and smell the smoke-tinged breeze brush through the dusty muslin curtains. But it is not the same. The town has consumed every aspect of the world he knew and twisted it into something different. Not unpleasant, but different.

Jarche does not understand. Jarche thinks he is being overdramatic and that he should be thankful he is here instead of rotting in the ocean depths. She dares him to leave, to swim all the way back, if there is even anything there left waiting for him. She tells him that fire has consumed his village and that everything and everyone is either rubble or ash. She says it is the truth. She does not realize that because he did not see it happen it is not the truth for him. A part of him still thinks he can come home if he wants to.

The other, more sensible part simply drives him to stay awake at nights and hold on to those last few strands of memory like a famished man grasping for food, or a drowning man reaching for air.

“Is it so bad not to remember?” Jarche asks him one morning as she pulls bread out of the oven and lays them on the table one bun after another. Her eyes gleam like blue marbles. He has never seen such eyes before, so big and bright that you can see the amber flecking around the iris. He finds them fascinating.

He shrugs in response to her question, cradling a hot bun in his hands. He breaks a piece off, pops it in his mouth, waits for it to melt under his tongue. He sighs. If not for the bread, he would have left a long time ago.

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