Chapter 13: The Woman

By fate or star or twist of thread, To Skylar’s path, this rider’s led. He meets the thief beneath the moon, A blade, a breath, a shadowed boon. Ryuki I hate that my dragon is talking to this woman. ‘She’s getting our egg and bringing it back to us, Ryuki. It’s not like she’s going to become my rider.’ ‘But you’re talking to her. Yttyc is talking to her.’ ‘We are the most powerful dragons here. She is helping us get our egg back. Perhaps next time you’d like me to drop you off outside the castle walls so YOU can collect the egg?’ he growls at me. ‘What is it about her?’ I ask angrily. Bynjym is quiet a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ he says softly. And that right there is what’s bothering me. No one seems to know how a woman, who isn’t even bonded to a dragon, can possibly speak to not one, but all the dragons. ‘I already told you that whatever this is, it won’t break our bond.’ ‘You can’t know that, Bynjym. You said yourself you don’t know what this is, so you have no idea how it will impact our bond or the dragons at all. Where are we even taking her? Why did Yttyc pick her up, too? He could have taken the egg and left her behind.’ ‘We’re taking her to Scyrlyt so she can get her egg back.’ ‘Any of you could have done that without bringing her along,’ I say, noticing that he didn’t answer the question. ‘Yttyc and I want to speak with her,’ he finally says, his tone remorseful. He knows how much his words will hurt me. The disbelief and betrayal are instant. ‘Are you KIDDING me?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do I get to know what you want to talk with this woman about?’ I ask sarcastically. ‘We’re curious about her.’ ‘Curious? What specifically are you curious about? Did you want to see if she could become your second rider? Maybe she could become a rider to all the dragons, she already talks to all of you,’ I spit out. Bynjym grumbles, irritated. I know I’m acting like a green rider, but I don’t care. Bynjym is MY dragon. He chose ME! And now this woman, this …thief has become intriguing to the dragons. She’s threatening the entire balance between dragons and riders. ‘Stop being dramatic. She’s not threatening anything,’ he says, as Yttyc begins his descent. Not threatening anything? It sure feels like she’s threatening something and the worst part is that the dragons seem to be willing to tumble head-long into whatever this is even though none of them seem to understand it. Bynjym hovers while Yttyc carefully lands on his back feet. He lowers his right paw to the ground, then slowly opens the claws of his left paw letting the woman crawl out with the egg. When she steps out of his paw, she looks around quickly. “Listen, I don’t know why you brought me here, but this little one is cold. They had her on stone floor with no heat. I tucked her against my body, but I’m not sure I’m warm enough for a dragon,” she says, looking from Yttyc to Bynjym. I watch Yttyc, knowing that if Bynjym says something to her, I’ll hear him. Yttyc moves his head and the girl looks around. ‘Where?’ ‘Put her here, human,’ Bynjym says, landing next to Yttyc. “Don’t fry me,” she says, as she begins to carefully pull off her cloak and begins to undo her shirt. “What are you doing?” I ask her. She looks up at me and I suck in a breath. I haven’t gotten a good look at her before, but this woman is beyond gorgeous. She has long, blond hair and green eyes that shimmer like a green’s egg. “I’m trying to put this egg where the dragons asked me to. If you want to help, feel free to get off your dragon and help me. I know the blues aren’t as heavy as the golds, silvers, and bronzes, but she’s still a hefty girl,” the woman snaps. I slide off Bynjym’s neck. I don’t want to admit it to my dragon, but I’m sort of feeling drawn to this female too. I hear Bynjym snort in my head. Sometimes having a dragon in your mind feels very intrusive. ‘I’m not intrusive. I’m just aware of when you’re lying to me and yourself.’ “Thank you. Hold her, while I undo my shirt,” she says. I watch as she quickly unbuttons her shirt. Underneath, her skin is milky white. I don’t know why that’s turning me on, maybe because it feels like her skin is never exposed to any one or any thing and here I am, seeing it. I force myself to look at the egg. “How do you know it’s a female?” I ask. She looks at me like I’m stupid. “It’s a blue egg. All blues are female,” she says slowly as if I’m too stupid to keep up. “I know that. How do YOU know that?” “I’m not blind. Golds, reds, and blues are female. Silvers, bronzes, and greens are male. Silvers only mate with queens, so I’m guessing these two have mated with Ylys.” “Actually, Yttyc is Ylys’ child, so no, he hasn’t mated with her,” I say distractedly. She stops, turning to look at Yttyc. He moves his head and I know he’s talking to her. “I’m so sorry,” she says softly. I take the egg and watch as she turns to Yttyc. He lowers his head to her and allows her to run her hand over his face. “That must be terrible for you.” ‘What are they saying?’ I ask Bynjym, aggravated that I’m being left out of the conversation. ‘He’s telling her that he mated with Tymyr but now that she’s dead, he has to wait for the egg to hatch and the dragon hatchling to mature before he can mate again.’ “But what about the reds and blues? Can’t you mate with them? There are so many more of them,” she says, still stroking Yttyc’s face. She scoffs at whatever he says. “Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.” He snorts and her shirt blows off her shoulder. Thankfully, she finally seems to remember that she’s only half dressed. She turns back to me, still buttoning her blouse. It’s awfully large on her. I wonder if that was intentional to hide an egg. “You need to warm her up. She’s cold,” she says. “Can you hear her?” I ask. “No. I can … feel her,” she says, frowning. “What does that mean?” I ask. “I’m not exactly sure. I just … I know she’s cold.” ‘Set her in front of me,’ Bynjym says. I do, then step back, pulling the woman back with me. Bynjym blows his fire over the egg, heating it. “Much better,” she says, looking at Yttyc and Bynjym. “Okay, if you can point me in the right direction, I need to get back. I have a long journey ahead of me.” Bronze Nyyh lands beside us. The woman turns and looks at him. “Excuse me? I need to get back before I’m missed. If you want someone to help you get your eggs back, you’ll let me go,” she says. ‘Sorry, human. Scyrlyt wants to thank you for bringing her egg back to her,’ Bynjym says. “She already thanked me,” the woman says. I grit my teeth. She can hear the dragons that aren’t right in front of her? Scyrlyt is about a mile away. ‘She wants to thank you face to face,’ Bynjym tells her. She sighs. “Fine. Let’s go, rider. I’ll let Scyrlyt say thank you, then I’ll be on my way. I look at Bynjym and Yttyc before turning to follow her. I already know they aren’t going to let her go yet.