A R I
Ari held Sofia around her waist in one arm while clutching onto the grip of the dragon's saddle in the other, as Warrah set off into the night sky.
"Mama!" Sofia yelled.
Ari twisted in the seat of her saddle, trying to see where the woman had gone, and she realised with a start that the crazy store owner had jumped in front of the lions.
One of the lions launched into the air, but the other was stopped as Dot grabbed onto the Garde's leg and yanked, hard. The Garde fell from the saddle.
The other Garde stopped and turned, to check on his partner.
Dot scrambled against the Garde and tried to punch him. The Garde acted without hesitation, using a slice of light magic so hard and so fast that the woman had no chance of protecting herself. She was only an ord, and without her own magical protection, she could do nothing against the light.
She screamed out as the light shattered through her shoulder and collarbone, cutting deep into her skin.
In Ari's arms, Sofia let out an anguished scream as her mother fell to the ground.
"Don't look," Ari said, and she pulled the little girl's face into her chest, trying to stop her from seeing.
But Sofia struggled away, and there was no stopping the girl from seeing the Garde kicking Dot to the ground. Ari turned away.
Dot had sacrificed her life for the safety of her daughter. Ari knew now that she could not abandon Sofia, not when she had nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. Ari would need to find Pythos Savvas and take Sofia to him. It was the only right thing to do.
Jinni and Lumi would have to wait.
Ari urged the dragon onwards. Jinni was flying low, apparently too weak to pick up much height, and they needed to get out of here and out across the ocean as soon as possible. Ari had no idea what to do, but Warrah shot off into the sky, and miraculously, Jinni followed.
Ari kept scanning the skies for someone else following them, but it seemed that the way was clear.
"Do you know when Pythos Savvas's ship left the harbour?" Ari asked the sobbing Sofia as they flew.
"Two days ago," Sofia said, sniffing.
Ari calculated it would take them all night of flying to catch up with the ship. There was no way that Jinni could fly that long. They would need to stop and rest at one of the small islands off the coast of Lombardia. Most of them held nothing but tiny fishing villages, and almost all of them were Vastien, except that Lombardia had laid claim to a lot them.
"Where's your father, Sofia?" Ari asked.
"I don't know," Sofia said.
"Do you know which island he came from?" Ari asked.
"Zantiala," Sofia said determinedly.
Ari sighed. Zantiala was the biggest island of Vastier, and most considered it the capital city, although Vastier was not ruled with a central government. It was home to the largest population of Vastiens. And it was a few days flight, or a week's sailing, away. It seemed they had no choice but to head in that direction, and hope that they ran into Savvas's ship on the way.
They flew for a few hours, and then Ari spotted lights far down below. She directed Warrah down, and they landed on the beach of a tiny island. There were only three huts on the small sandy island. Perhaps only one small family lived here. Perhaps it would be safe to ask them for help.
Only moments after landing on the sandy beach, Ari noticed dark shapes in the ocean. She froze, staring out at the black waves, and realised there were two dragons emerging from the water, headed in their direction. Their heads were bent low, dark eyes fixed on Jinni and Warrah, and Ari could recognise they were in a stance ready for fighting.
Something made Ari turn, and she saw fire further up the beach. There were two men walking along the beach towards them, each brandishing a torch with fire. The dragons were getting closer now, and Jinni had lowered his head and put his ears back. His teeth were bared as he stared at the dragon.
"State your business!" came a yell from up the beach, from one of the men.
Ari jumped from Warrah's back and helped Sofia down. Her legs were in pain from riding with the uncomfortable saddle and being squeezed on with Sofia. She held onto Sofia, trying to comfort the girl, who was whimpering in fear, and then called out, "We're Vastien! We don't mean any harm!" she spoke in the Vastien language, and hoped the men understood her.
Two men came out of one of the huts, holding up a torch rather than a solar lamp. It was this that made Ari confident that this island wasn't run by Lombardians - if Lombardians were here, they would have brought solar lamps.
"State your business!" one of the men yelled in the Starg language.
"We're Vastien!" Ari called out, in the Vastien language. "We mean no harm."
As they approached, Ari finally got a look at both of the men, their faces glowing in the light of their torches. Dark skin, short cropped hair, and tough leathery skin, probably from years of fishing.
"More refugees," one of them said to the other. "At least these ones actually speak Vastien."
"Just two little girls," the other man said. "Is that... a tiger?"
The dragons circled them, and Ari crossed the sand to where Jinni had landed. She checked on his leg. Now that the bandages were gone, the ugly stitched scar of his amputated leg was visible. There were also much more shallow, open wounds all along his shoulder and to his wing. Ari hissed as she saw that the joint where his wing connected to his shoulder was freshly bleeding.
"The tiger belongs to a friend," Ari said. "But I'm trying to get this little girl to safety."
"You should both go to Zantiala," one of the men said, stepping forward. "It's where all the other refugees are headed. It's the only place that might be safe."
"We would, but we can't fly anymore tonight. The tiger's injured. And we have no food. Would you allow us to sleep on your beach?"
The first man scoffed. "Two young Vastien girls sleeping on our beach? You'll sleep inside, where it's warm."
"Thank you," Ari said.
Ari and Sofia found themselves welcomed into the hut of the men. They lit candles, and in the soft lighting Ari could tell that they were brothers.
They offered baked fish and even oysters, which Ari and Sofia ate eagerly, and then they helped feed Warrah, although neither man would go near Jinni.
Ari checked on Jinni's wounds, and then fed him more fish. Jinni seemed satisfied to curl up outside with Warrah and the other dragons on the dune grass outside, as Ari and Sofia were given a place to sleep inside on a pile of blankets.
"Refugees have been passing by and we've been helping out as best as we can," one of the men said. His voice was low and soft as he spoke. Beside her, Sofia was slowly drifting to sleep, her arm wrapped around her blanket. But Ari was still sitting up.
"We know the Lombardians will try to take our island soon. We'll defend it as long as we can, but this war might last years. They'll need us in the Dragon Army. We're young enough, and we're water starrlings with kinnlings. We owe it to our fellow Vastiens to fight. But until then, we'll help as many refugees as we can who are fleeing Lombardia."
"Thank you for your kindness," Ari murmured.
She tried to sleep, but it didn't come easily to her. When she'd been hiding out at the school, stealing food and listening to conversations, it had almost seemed like real life would resume at any moment. When she'd watched the students of the House of Water being taken away, she'd been horrified, but as soon as they were out of sight she'd almost forgotten about them, focussed as she was on saving Jinni.
But now that she'd escaped the school and seen just how quickly the war was taking effect, Ari couldn't deny it any longer. Lombardia was at war with Vastier, and Ari was caught right in the middle of it. And despite her plan to take Jinni to Lumi, she now knew that she couldn't abandon Sofia. She needed to find Pythos Savvas.
In the morning, they ate another meal, thanked the brothers for sheltering them, and then Ari checked the tiger's wounds again. The bleeding had stopped, but it seemed that if he flew for a long distance then the wounds might reopen.
When they set off, Jinni forced them into a slow pace. She knew he wasn't capable of flying faster, and yet she was concerned about their speed. At the rate they were flying, they wouldn't catch up to Pythos Savvas's ship. And if they didn't find his ship, they would have to fly all the way to Zantiala.
By midmorning she was thinking they would need to stop again at the next island they saw, when suddenly another dragon swooped past them.
Sofia screamed, Ari clutched onto her, as Warrah swooped in pursuit of the new dragon. They descended from the clouds, and suddenly Ari spotted a fleet of three ships on the water far below.
Three dragons launched into the sky in defense of the ships, but they circled back as Warrah approached. She felt a burst of relief at the sight of the Water Dancer's beautiful silver dragon, who was flying lithely above one of the ships. Then she noticed that Pythos Savvas himself was riding on his dragon.
"Savvas!" she hailed him, as Warrah drew closer.
Pythos Savvas was a big man, with broad shoulders and skin as hard and brown as leather. He wore his greying hair in locs, and he was still wearing the kinncharging uniform that he'd worn at the Midwinter Championships.
He flew to meet them. "Is there a reason you've brought me a three-legged tiger?" he called out.
"It's not for you!" Ari yelled over the wind. "It's Lumi's tiger! I need to take him back to her."
Pythos's eyes widened. "Land on the middle ship," he said.
Warrah followed Savvas's directions, aiming for the middle ship of the fleet. Jinni cautiously followed.
The deck was teaming with people, but they all made way and cleared the deck to give Warrah and Jinni room to land. A few people screamed at the sight of the tiger, and she even saw one Vastien jump into the water and onto the back of a dragon that was waiting for him there.
Ari jumped off Warrah and helped Sofia down, then stared around her. The ship was full of Vastiens, young and old, and they were all staring at her.
Warrah slipped off the side of the deck and into the water, and Ari saw that there were tens of dragons in the water around the ship, swimming alongside. Warrah seemed content to join the others.
Ari stood in front of Jinni, and watched as Pythos Savvas dropped from his dragon's back and landed on the deck, while his dragon dove neatly into the water.
"Ari, come to the captain's cabin," Savvas instructed.
Ari glanced around. "I'm not leaving Jinni alone with all of these people."
Savvas sighed. "You're saying this is..." he paused. "That tiger belongs to..."
"Yes," Ari said. "But after the Midwinter Championships she disappeared. She's probably already back in Singtsu. I need to take Jinni to her."
"How'd he lose the leg?"
"Long story," Ari said.
"We're heading to Zantiala," Savvas said. "They're already setting up a camp for refugees coming from the inner islands. The Dragon Army is gathering in Zantiala. It's time. And you should join us, Ariane."
"I told you," Ari said. "I want no part in this. I'm going to take Jinni to Singtsu."
Savvas frowned. "Then I'm going to come with you."
Ari stared at him in shock.
"Vastier doesn't want a war. We want peace and diplomacy with our Lombardian neighbours. If it comes to war, the Lombardian forces aren't as strong as the Dragon Army. But if Norrlund or Kakaio choose to side with Lombardia, then we'll be extremely outnumbered. If we take this tiger to Singtsu, we can try to win favour of the Empress Kiyo. Even if she doesn't want to help Vastier, we can implore her not to send her Fire Army against the Vastiens."
Ari nodded. "Then we'll need a ship."
"Luckily, there's no other place like Zantiala to find a ship."
"This little girl is Sofia," Ari said in a hush. "Her mother died so I could bring her to Zantiala."
"She'll be safe with us," Savvas said. "Maria, take Sofia to get settled in the girls' cabin."
A teenage girl stepped through the crowd, precariously because she was holding herself up with wooden crutches. Her leg was bandaged and held with a plinth.
"Nice of you to join us again, Ariane the winter starrling," Maria said with a nod.
Ari recognised the girl as one of the water dancers who had been captured after the Midwinter Championships.
"Sofia, you go with this girl, Maria. She'll look after you," Ari said as gently as she could.
But Sofia stopped and was looking past Ari.
Ari turned, just in time to see Jinni collapsing onto the deck of the ship.
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elle xx