Rewriting Fate

ANDRA

Andra was exhausted from her training, but she took off running toward the dragon anyway.

Tiri’s very presence had revived her and filled her with energy.

~What’s Tiri doing here? Why did she come back?~

Andra hardly had time to wonder, though. Her legs burned as she ran into the dragon’s shadow.

Tiri swooped low and landed gracefully on the ground.

The fire that pressed against Andra’s mind grew brighter, warmer, as if Andra could never be cold again.

Even though she knew it was too good to be true, she felt complete.

Out of sheer relief, Andra wrapped her arms around the dragon’s neck.

She leaned all of her weight on the huge creature and Tiri purred in delight.

~“Why did you come back?”~ Andra asked, though she was scared the answer might disappoint her.

~“I missed you,”~ Tiri replied simply. ~“Now that I’ve seen you again, my heart can’t bear the thought of living without you.”~

Tiri rested her scaly cheek against Andra’s arm.

Andra’s heart soared. She squeezed the dragon’s neck even tighter.

~I hope it’s possible to undo what happened yesterday,~ Andra thought, her still-broken heart aching.

~“But fate isn’t on our side,”~ Andra said cautiously. ~“We can never have a true Rider connection…”~

Tiri was quiet. For a moment, the two held one another in silence.

Andra didn’t want this moment to end, especially if Tiri’s response would leave her sad and alone once more.

~“What we do have is enough for me.”~

Tears of relief flowed down Andra’s cheeks.

~“It’s enough for me too,”~ she replied.

~“Even if my mother doesn’t agree,”~ Tiri continued, ~“what we have is worth it. You are worth it, Andra.”~

Tiri’s words mended the broken pieces of Andra’s heart, sealing them together.

~“I’ll travel with you and do whatever I can to protect you,”~ Tiri finished.

~“I can’t tell you how happy this makes me, Tiri. When you left yesterday, I felt like my heart left with you.”~

Tiri pulled back and looked at Andra with her glistening purple eyes.

~“You don’t have to tell me, sister. I already know. And I felt the same way.”~

The sun was setting quickly. Andra wondered how long they had been talking and alone.

It had been long enough for her life to change course—forever.

~“I can’t wait to tell my friends about this,”~ Andra told Tiri.

She didn’t realize she thought of the Freemen as her friends, but as she said it, it felt true.

Andra turned back to camp to see the three men standing in a row, watching her. At Kael’s side, Eithne snorted happily and flicked her tail against the ground.

KAEL

Kael led the group of travelers through the last stretch of forest before reaching the desert known as the Burning Sands.

He had offered Andra her usual spot on his horse, but she had decided to travel with Tiri.

Andra didn’t know how to ride atop a flying dragon yet, so Tiri traveled by land too.

Though she could easily keep up with the horses, dragons were much more graceful in the air, and Kael could hear Eithne chuckling at the younger dragon in his mind.

~“Remember when we were like that, Kael?”~ she asked.

Kael did. He smiled as he thought back on when they had first found each other.

~“We would spend hours just looking in each other’s eyes…,”~ he recalled.

Eithne laughed, and the warm sound delighted Kael.

~“Let her enjoy it,”~ Eithne said, ~“the Burning Sands are soon approaching. I can see it over the trees.”~

Anxiety flared in Kael’s stomach.

When they reached the desert, the dragons would have to travel in the sky. Crossing the hostile territory would be dangerous no matter what, but far less so by air than by foot.

~“Don’t worry, heart song.”~ Eithne’s voice was comforting, and it steeled him up for the two-day journey. ~“Tiri and I will be fine, and the desert is large. We likely won’t even cross paths with the Wandering Clans.”~

~I hope she’s right,~ Kael thought.

“Andra, come join me on the horse,” he called.

“No!” she called without looking up. “I want to stay with Tiri!”

“But it’s not safe for the dragons on the ground. They have to take to the sky,” he explained.

“Why?” Andra asked.

“I’ll tell you if you ~come here~,” Kael replied. As usual, his patience was running out.

With a humph, the girl got off the dragon and hugged her once more before Tiri took to the sky.

~“She’s gone from being a servant to a contrarian,”~ Kael said to Eithne.

~“Oh, please,”~ Eithne chuckled. ~“I know you like it better this way.”~

Kael stuck out his arm and helped Andra onto the horse.

“So, why can’t Tiri come with us over the Burning Sands?” she asked as she settled into her place at the front of the saddle.

“It has to do with the Three Hundred Years’ War,” he began. “Before the war, the Burning Sands used to be lush farmland.”

He went on, “But when anything is scorched with dragon fire, it takes millennia to grow back.”

Andra was silent as she processed this information.

“So the people of the desert don’t like dragons because they destroyed their land?” she asked.

“Exactly.” Kael was impressed she had caught on so quickly.

Soon, Kael could see the sand through the trees before them. They passed through the boundary of the forest, and into the desert.

It was sand for as far as the eye could see. Already the sun was hotter and the air noticeably drier around them.

~“Beneath the desert, there still burns the Eternal Flame of the ‘Old Ones,’ the dragons who fought for the right to Bond freely with humans and elves,”~ Eithne elaborated for both Kael and Andra.

~“It is a memorial to all the lives that were lost: dragon, human, and elven, and its undying heat prevents the land from healing.”~

“Wow,” Andra said softly.

As the horse walked on, Eithne flew slowly, trying to keep the travelers cool in her shadow.

Kael watched Andra survey the land around them. He wanted to know exactly what she was thinking.

She had never traveled before, and here she was about to cross a dangerous desert. Andra glanced up at Tiri in the sky, her brow furrowed with nerves.

“She’ll be okay, don’t worry,” he told her.

“How do you know?” she asked, tense.

“I’ve spent some time here, actually,” he replied. “The Wanderers are my mother’s people.”

Andra turned sharply to look up at Kael.

“So…your family is from a race of dragon haters, and you’re a Rider. That sounds…complicated.”

Kael laughed. “You don’t know the half of it.”

He expected Andra to pry for more information, but she fell quiet, seemingly lost in thought as she stared out at the desert.

“I suppose Eithne is all the family you need,” she said softly.

“She is,” Kael replied. From above, he could feel Eithne’s heart swell with pride. It was true: his relationship with his dragon was much simpler than those he had with his family.

“Is that how you feel with Tiri?” he asked.

Andra gazed up at the sky.

“Tiri’s the only family I ~have~,” Andra replied, “so yes.”

Andra turned around, flashing Kael a disarming smile.

Kael found himself smiling back.

It wasn’t until a moment later that he realized the sad implication of Andra’s words: Tiri was all she had, and they didn’t even share the same bond that connected his heart to Eithne’s.

Without the dragon, Andra was all alone in the world.

ANDRA

A few hours later, the group of travelers stopped for a rest.

Andra was exhausted. She worried that they were taking the break because of her, but Colmen claimed that he needed to stop as well.

Andra wished the dragons would land so that she could speak with Tiri. She was feeling a little bit delirious and strange.

But the dragons flew on, leaving the travelers exposed under the hot sun. Her skin was slicked in sweat, and her neck sweltered beneath the leather collar.

Kael brought a skin of water and raised it to her lips.

“Drink,” he ordered. Andra tried, but she felt like her mouth was full of sand.

Kael left her with the water and went to tend to his horse.

She gazed out at the desert before her. The sand blurred and twisted before her eyes.

Andra knew she needed to get out of the sun…

She caught sight of a small tree nearby and staggered toward it. It was hardly large enough to shade her whole body.

Andra closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she saw a creature perched on the branch. Silhouetted by the sun, it looked almost like…a small dragon—the smallest she had ever seen.

She got to her feet to see it ~was~ a dragon. It had snowy white scales and golden eyes that were focused directly on her.

~Why are all of these dragons around me lately?~ She felt a thrill of excitement.

“You should sit down, Andra. You don’t look so good.”

Andra’s mouth fell open. It could talk ~out loud~?!

“Yes, yes,” the dragon went on. “I am very special, and I’m older than I look. Now sit.”

Andra dropped to the ground.

“I know much about you, bright little star.” The dragon flitted down to the lowest branch so it was at her eye level. It blinked its huge golden eyes.

The dragon was rather round in shape, with large eyes; it looked almost like an owl.

“I know fate has been hard on you, young one. But you must not give up. When the moment comes, you must stand, and you must fight!”

Andra furrowed her brow. Dragons were always arresting and intuitive…but this one was particularly strange.

“You must overcome the darkness of your past!”

His shout rang in her ears, making Andra feel all the more delirious.

“Wh-what does that mean?” she asked.

The dragon’s expression was nearly human as it sighed deeply and looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

It reached out its front leg and extended its talon toward her.

The moment the dragon touched her forehead, Andra’s vision changed entirely.

She was no longer in the desert.

Andra was in Ledo’s chamber. And ~Ledo~ was sitting up in his bed.

His lips were cracked and bloodied, but pressed tight. He looked like he was dead, or dying.

Andra was bodiless, unable to close her eyes and block out the awful vision…

Her heart thumped in her ears as her vision moved closer to his face.

~He can’t hurt you anymore,~ she reminded herself.

~This is just a dream, and Ledo’s gone.~

But at that very moment, when she was close enough to touch the harsh slope of his cheekbone…

Ledo opened his eyes.

And those green eyes burned with the same violence and hatred that he had always reserved for her.

Finally, the vision broke. Andra gasped for air. She was lying on her back, and above her was the merciless sun.

The dragon was gone, and Andra was left with an awful realization.

Ledo was still alive.

And he was coming for revenge.