Dragon Age; Books 1 And 2

Chapter 6; The Journey Begins

The cold wind whistled as it carried snow flakes and ash into the volcano. I watched through a crack in the mountain, at the scene below me, that was all too familiar. Men attacking the mountain, with their large weapons and huge numbers, and the dragons all lining up to fire through the cracks in the walls. Although it snowed lightly in this should-be dark evening, the ground below was full of trees and weapons on fire, shining orange lights eerily on its surroundings.

I watched as a spark from the fire below drifted in the wind and landed on the bottom of my dress, burning the tiniest hole in the fabric, before the little flame went out, leaving behind a miniture hole and a line of smoke which blew out of sight within seconds.
This situation was becoming all too familiar to me and I knew I had to change something. I hated the fact that I had always wanted more responsibilities and to be more independent, but now that I had it, I just wished I could go back. To the relaxing on the Heart Oak tree, eating with my parents or sleeping in my own bed. I swallowed. I didn't want to be the type of person who was bitter at their loss, but my jaw clenched with bitter longing for the things I'd lost.
"We'll get through it Oak, don't you worry." I whispered to my wooden carved dragon who had kept me company for so long. Oak stared back at me with his empty wooden eyes. I sighed, pushing myself up from the stone wall I had been leaning on.

I walked towards a couple of dragons who were firing through the cracks in the mountain, one shooting ice from their mouth, one fire.
"Nevis, Blaze, meet me in the prey grounds when this is over." I said to the two brothers, leaving as I heard them growl in acknowledgement.

I speed walked through the mountain corridors, my mind and heart desperately trying to race, but I calmed them down, telling myself I'm strong and nothing could bring me down.
It had been a week since my talk with the General and I had spent my free time thinking of plans for action. Although I didn't come up with enough to calm my nerves or convince me this journey would make a difference, it was enough to motivate me to leave today. I didn't have choice, the dragons depended on me and I couldn't let them down.

I strode into my room and swept all my belongings out from under my bed with the sweep of my arm. I looked at my snake skin bag and wondered how much I could pack into it. I looked at the few things I had and began shoving them into my bag one by one. The painting of Jarrath I, Jarrath's diary and some dried meat I had on me. I stared at the red covered diary for a few seconds as it sat in my bag, before grabbing the lock and trying to break the chain wrapping the large book. I pulled and twisted it but it was no use and I knew it, it had been two months since I stole the book and occasionally I tried to force open the lock but to no avail. The chains were so tight around the cover there was no opening the book, not even a tiny bit, without removing the chain and lock first.

I sighed, closing the bag and slinging it over my shoulder, followed by my quiver.
My gaze now turned to the once flat plank of Heart Oak wood that I had leaned against my bed after escaping the Feirce village with it. Over the last two months I'd been here I slowly carved it into a long cylinder shape, small enough that my hand almost wrapped around it fully.
The top was left with a big chunk of uncared wood. I had planned to make a staff of sorts out of it, the top having some fancy design. But I didn't have the time for that now, so I grabbed it and slung it over my back with the rope I'd tied around it.

I stood still in the room, feeling a bit heavy under all the weight of my luggage, and wondered for a second if I was carrying too much. But just then I remembered my knife which I had left on my chest of draws. Grabbing that and sliding it into its case at my right side, I exited my room without looking back. This place, that room, I had far too mixed feelings about them. On one hand they were something special, the place where I could finally relax and feel accepted. But on the other hand, they were the place I had to live due to my sudden basishment and almost execution from the Feirce village, that day changed everything for me, I lost so much.

Futher down the mountain, I walked down the stairs that led to the ground level. Following the sound of commotion, I arrived at the entrance of a room, packed full with creatures of all kinds. A pack of sabres, a group of dragons, a man and a very noisy bird. The room was opened at the end, revealing a large doorway to the outside. I shivered at the cold breeze hit me, but quickly forgot about it as I sifted through the wild animals and dragons who were devouring what must've once been animals, but was now shreds of meat scattered on the stone floor.
As I dodged all the hungry animals I finally got to the people I wanted.

Zane and Cranky both say in front of each other yelling as they fought over a peice of meat. "Zane?" I called and he turned to me, loosening his grip on the meat just enough for Cranky to pull it from his grip and fly back out of Zane's direct reach. Zane opened his mouth to yell at the bird but remembered I was there and closed his mouth and turned to me. "What's happening?" he asked, frowning now as he saw all the things I carried.

"Remember that thing I told you General Theaven spoke about? That secret magical place?" I asked, feeling ridiculous as the words escaped my mouth. I didn't believe in a land of magic, but I had to tell myself I believed, I had no other choice.
"They call it Valour, The Secret World." Zane stated and I shrugged, "same thing, are you coming or not?" I asked and Zane responded by jumping onto my shoulder and wrapping around so he was standing on both.

With the extra weight, I sifted through the creatures again until I reached Axel, who held a chunk of meat in his hands.
"Hey Axel, so about our situation, I know everyone's been wondering what I'm going to do about it, and I've finally decided. Have you heard of Valour?" I asked and Axel nodded, "it's been rumoured around for a while that you were going to retrieve the monile's powers there."
"I see you're all up to date on the gossip." Zane commented and Axel rolled his eyes in response. "Alright, well, I'm putting together a group to take that journey, it's me, Zane, Blaze and Nevis. Are you in?" I asked hopefully. I knew I'd be on this journey for months at least and I hoped I'd have some human company on in that time.

"Sure, I'm in, would it help if I brought some trustworthy sabres along?" he asked and I nodded. The more the merrier I supposed, it could never hurt to have sabres on your side. Moments later four sabres had gathered beside Axel. "This is Blitz, Kai, Reign, Ace and you already know Raz." Axel said, pointing at the different sabres. I wondered if I'd ever be able to tell them apart.

Internally shrugging, I turned to Nevis and Blaze who must've noticed us and came walking over. "So, me, Zane, Nevis, Blaze-" I started before Blaze made a growl of surprise and took a step back. I frowned, a little disappointed but mostly confused. I had just assumed Blaze would be coming as he always followed Nevis around everywhere, and Nevis had agreed to come long before.
"Okay, not Blaze than." I said, then whispered so only Zane could hear, "what's up with him?" I asked and Zane chuckled, quietly responding, "his mates pregnant, he refuses to even leave for hunts anymore, he wants to be there when she gives birth." I hummed in thought, "how long has she been pregnant?" I asked. "We found out like a week ago." Zane said.
"I assume that means dragons only carry their babies for few days..?" I asked, wondering how that was even possible.
"Nope, it varies but it is at least three months. We tried to explain that to him, but he's just paranoid."

Resisting the urge to face palm, I role called once more, "so me, Zane, Axel and your five sabres and Nevis. Is everyone agreed on that?" I asked and everyone nodded or growled in response. Then there was Cranky, who let out an ear piercing shreek before landing on my shoulder, making me flinch from the sudden prick of his talons on my skin, and causing Zane to fall off one shoulder, just hanging on left, free shoulder. "and you Cranky, how could I forget." I said rolling my eyes as I heard Zane grumble in annoyance, something about Crankt being a shoulder thief.

Knowing they'd be arguing the whole journey, I decided to try to block out the sound from now, ignoring their bickering as I walked out onto the snow covered ground.

April Bluebird/BlueWhiskers1.
Dragon Age 2; The Queens Jewel.
Chapter 6; The Journey Begins
16/Mar/2022
1667 words.

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