It was little more than an hour later when Mournful reappeared, appearing normal, if a little bit withdrawn. By then everyone had had their fill of the food, and what was left was quickly eaten by Mournful. Cody let his thoughts meld with his dragon’s as soon as she landed. Even though he wouldn’t be able to pay much attention to her due to his weakness, his mental abilities were about as sharp as ever, and Cody hoped that that would help them decipher what had happened. About ten minutes after she arrived, Cody noticed that she seemed a bit more nervous than before, and she kept glancing at the neighboring mountains, on the alert for something.
“You said she knows where to go,” Inferno pointed out sleepily. “She may just be anxious to leave.”
“That too,” Cody said, and then quickly added, “But I think she may be more concerned about where she intends to take us.”
Inferno, slowly beginning to drift off to sleep, answered, “Perhaps, and perhaps not. I am sure that she is eager, in any case, to be on her way. If that is the case, I think it would be better if I were to remain awake.”
“Maybe she is leading us into a trap?”
Inferno snorted, apparently wide awake, when he answered, “Not likely. No, we know little of her but she will not try to trap us.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Nor do I, but I told you before, she is a native to this land. Until we learn our way around, we are in her hands. We have no choice except whether we want to follow her into what could be either helpful or harmful, or we could walk off now, and almost certainly be killed,” Inferno argued. “To me, it seems only logical that we follow her. If she were to lure us into a trap, I doubt that she would have such urgency in which to do it.”
Perhaps Inferno was right. But all the same, Cody wasn’t sure he could trust Mournful at that moment. However and whatever he had learned of her in the short time he had been with her, she had not snapped like in the forest. The more he thought about it the more certain he was that it wasn’t a trick or a trap, but whatever she had thought of was clearly risky or desperate in some way. What he was truly trying to figure out was how and why it was so dangerous, and whom did the danger threaten?
Inferno and Cody remained silent while the others, except Mournful, all discussed mostly minor things such as different experiences they had been through. The injured dragon and his rider hoped that Mournful was rethinking her plans on them leaving so that they could rest longer. The danger that they were in could not be ignored, but neither could Inferno’s wounds. So when questions arose in the conversation as to what the plan was, Cody visibly winced.
Mournful looked at him in a weird way, something similar to a glare, but he detected sympathy in her gaze as well. He would have forced Inferno to his paws right then and there, but his concern was too great. Cody noted that it was noon, and with that he knew that Inferno would be easiest to see at the very moment from the mountains. Their time was limited, and so was Mournful’s patience.
“Inferno.”
It wasn’t a question. Mournful seemed to hesitate on the name though, and while she seemed sure that it was the right time, the pain and sympathy laced into his dragon’s name convinced Cody that it was necessary.
Inferno grumbled, as he shifted position, the sound like that of a small rockslide on the mountains. The dragon slowly rolled onto his stomach, and Cody winced when he heard a faint growl escape his lips. Inch by inch Inferno drew his paws under him until he only appeared to be crouching. With another growl, many times louder than the first, the dragon pulled himself to his paws, slow as ever. On instinct he opened his wings wide, clearly exposing the massive expanse of shredded tissue for the first time. Cody choked back the bile that rose in his throat and remained silent as Inferno worked his way up to his paws.
Finally the dragon straightened his legs and carefully folded his wings in, which was painful enough for him to let out a long hiss. The bandages on his stomach, chest, and neck started to turn red, but it was slow enough that Cody would have felt foolish to point it out at that point. The pile of furs beneath inferno’s paws was bloody, and the hairs matted together in dark, sticky clumps from his earlier bleeding. Inferno straightened slightly, though it clearly pained him, and raised his head in pride. He didn’t look as noble as Cody new he felt, but no one had the heart to say it. Instead, everyone smiled or nodded in approval.
“I’m glad you could do it Inferno,” Mournful announced in a pleased tone of voice. Whatever had troubled her before, she seemed to have gotten over it, or at least found a way to push it to the back of her mind.
“I’m glad as well,” the dragon answered. “I am a bit afraid to try walking, however.”
Within only a few seconds Mournful shifted into her gryphon form and she and Ashheart went to either side of the dragon. With the two large creatures (though they were still only half his size, if that) Inferno lifted one of his paws slowly and reached forward with it. A gurgling growl seeped from his lips as he did, but he pressed on. In the course of a minute he had moved forward several yards, but the tree line still laid a dozen or so more away.
“Come on Inferno,” Cody encouraged quietly.
Destiny walked up to Inferno and started to make a noise oddly similar to whistling. Inferno grumbled to himself as he continued to walk, step by careful step, over to the trees. When they finally reached a space wide enough for Inferno to lie down, Mournful spread out the pelts again and the dragon eagerly lowered himself onto them with a deep sigh of relief.
“That was torture,” he groaned.
“We can rest here for a few days now,” Mournful said, appearing relieved as well.
The hours passed by quickly as a fire was made and everyone ate supper. There was some talk that went on between the humans and even the two dragons and wolf, but for the most part Cody was silent, as was Mournful. The daylight soon faded and Inferno, weariest of all, fell asleep almost as soon as it was dark. Cody remained still, watching the flames dance about the logs in the fire for a long while as he imagined that they were images of him and Inferno flying around the vast mountain ranges together. With a sigh he broke his concentration and looked around.
The moon was rising over a hand’s breadth above the trees and Cody was surprised to find that almost everyone was asleep. The only one that was still awake with him was Mournful. She sat on a stump by the fire, her silvery hair with black highlights largely obscuring her face from view, though it was clear that she was contemplating something carefully. Cody sat still a minute longer, debating what he should do next, until he decided that he would try to figure out why Mournful was acting strangely, and perhaps figure out where she would soon be leading them. In the very least he wanted to be prepared.
“Are you alright?” he said after thinking hard about what he would say.
Mournful stirred a bit before answering, “I guess.” There was a long silence, when she suddenly added, “I’m sorry I yelled at you, I should have been more considerate of you and Inferno.”
Cody shrugged, “I suppose it is both of our faults. I have seen creatures bigger than those deer before, Argos mostly.” He thought he saw Mournful smile for a moment.
“Definitely, but I shouldn’t have yelled at you; it’s not my right.”
“Then why did you?” Cody dared to ask.
Again there was silence, and Mournful grabbed a stick and poked it into a bed of coals in the fire until it caught, and then she pulled it out again and spit on the flames that licked at the end. Cody began to wonder if she was ever going to answer, when she finally said to his annoyance, “It’s complicated, I doubt you would understand.”
“I could try,” Cody persisted. “Where are you taking us? Don’t we deserve to know whether you lead us into a trap or not?”
Mournful looked down at the fire before responding, “Caution is good….Is it not enough for me to give my word that I do not intend to harm you?”
“If there is any danger at all, I think we should know; in the very least to brace ourselves.”
The gryphon nodded slowly. “I suppose you have the right to know that there is danger ahead, but it is impossible for me to predict how severe the danger could be.”
“Give me an estimate,” Cody begged, looking at her closely and observing her every move.
Mournful chuckled, though she didn’t seem truly amused. “The best answer I can give to your question is that I am taking you to my family.”
“I thought you lived on your own.”
“Banishment does not replace blood,” Mournful answered simply, her face turned grim by the statement.
Cody felt a shiver run along his spine as the gravity of what she said sunk in, while Mournful put her stick back in the bed of coals to heat it again. A hundred questions buzzed around his brain for every second that he sat silent, but he was content to contemplate each one for the time being as he watched her carefully. The biggest questions were about why she was banished and whether he should trust someone who was exiled, though the thought was heavy on his mind that he and all his friends were entirely dependent on her, and he was even surer of that after encountering the deer.
“Why were you banished?” he asked, instantly hating himself for letting the question loose.
Mournful ceased her prodding in the fire as she tensed. “That too is complicated.”
Cody thought that that would be the end of the answer, until he heard Mournful sigh and continue, “It was a long time ago, so long that I dare not say exactly the length. I was friends with a…well a female and her friend, as I can best describe it. They followed me back home. My father went off to speak with them in private…and that’s when it happened. There was a noise, and my sister and I rushed into the room to see our father dead on the floor. The two murderers raced out, but the rest of my family managed to catch the female and killed her. Her friend escaped. Our new leader was furious with me for leading them here; she thought I was a part of whatever plot they had had to kill him, and she exiled me.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Cody said at once, continuing to stare at the little fallen leaf by his knee that had captivated him ever since the beginning of her story.
“How do you know? I wasn’t a part of the plan but if I hadn’t helped lead them through the rain to our den….”
Cody shrugged. “They probably would have found their way again anyways and the rain would have only stalled them. Believe me; I know what it’s like to blame yourself for the loss of loved ones.” And it was true: Cody thought every day of his mother and father, though he always did his best to pay the thoughts little mind.
“Who have you lost?” Mournful asked after a while, the tone of her voice perfectly living up to the expectations of her name.
Cody let out a long sigh before explaining, “Apparently my father was sent to kill me, if that makes any sense. Let’s just say he owed a favor to a man, a snake more like, and after years of thinking over the favor his judgments and emotions were clouded. A while after I had already met Inferno we returned to my home to find that my mother had been killed and my father poisoned, both because my father was supposed to be hunting me.”
“You don’t blame Inferno?” Mournful asked curiously.
Cody looked at her in surprise. “Of course not. Inferno’s hatching was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and I would give anything, or anyone to save him. I don’t know why, but I blamed myself. Maybe if I hadn’t even been born, none of this would have happened.”
“Exactly,” Mournful said, realization seeming to come over her features. “If you hadn’t been born, Inferno wouldn’t have either. Don’t ask me how I know it, but if you two hadn’t joined forces, Merikh would have never fallen. He will return again one day, but you have stalled him just long enough. Because of you, there are now two more dragons and riders, and another wolf rider, and now some of the other people on “the map”, as you say, will also be chosen as riders. Much has come from you and Inferno, and to everyone else, the two of you have been far more useful to both of our worlds than most could hope for.”
“And what about you? If you had never been banished and your father never killed, we would have no guide. Inferno and I would have surely died by now if not for your help.”
Mournful was silent for a while before she said with a grim smile, “It looks like fate has a strangely morbid way of bringing the world together.
“I guess so,” Cody said with a small smile of his own. The two were quiet for several long minutes before Cody asked, “Why are you named Mournful, by the way?”
The gryphon’s eyes widened in surprise at his question, but she shrugged her shoulders before answering, “The same reason that you are named Cody: it is the name that my parents chose for me.”
“That’s hardly an answer,” Cody joked, glad to have found what appeared to be a lighter subject. “Why would your parents name a child after such an unpleasant feeling?”
Mournful watched him for a long while, making him uncomfortable and making him squirm under her gaze before she answered, “Mourning is not so unpleasant as you think. In it, we remember only the pleasant parts of that which we lost. It is sad to have lost such times, yes, but with it a part of us rejoices with the wonderful times that we had had. We say goodbye to a grand adventure, and begin to make room for the greater adventure that is about to begin. There is no joy when there is no sorrow, just as there is no bliss without mourning. There is only emptiness, and an empty life is not one worth living.”
Cody’s eyes widened in surprise, but he asked, “But that still doesn’t fully answer my question. I suppose you are right, but why not be named something more pleasant to think about? Perhaps Gleeful would have been more suitable.”
“Not for me,” Mournful said with a chuckle. “Among my people, my family I should say, we usually name our children after an emotion or feeling which we value highly or think will be useful. I do not know much of my sister’s name, Blissful, but I do know that while my life could have had much greater sorrows, the mourning I have gone through has wizened me somewhat, and made me the person you see before you.”
“So parents predict their children’s futures?”
“Oh no!” Mournful shook her head. “I cannot say for certain why my parents chose Mournful to be my name, or Blissful to be my sister’s, but I do know that my parents did think of both emotions when they saw us. Call it what you may: predicting the future, intuition, a hunch, or whatever other name you choose to give it, but all we know is that there is a reason for the names. It could be very distantly related to the person but it is always tied in with them somehow.”
“Then perhaps you are meant to live your life in mourning?” Cody wondered aloud.
“Have you been listening?” Mournful said with a laugh as she smiled and rolled her eyes. “For all my people know, I could live the rest of my life in pure bliss and happiness while my sister whiles away her days in pity and sorrow. But tell me, do you honestly think that ‘mournful’ does not somehow suit me?”
Cody looked her over carefully before answering, “I suppose the name does seem to fit somehow, though I can’t fit my finger on it.”
“Exactly! And that is precisely how my family is named. When we are born, I won’t go into details, but parents know or get a sort of feeling of what their children should be named. It doesn’t always happen; there are some with names less suitable, such as Cody, Aval, Omen, Autumn, Heyrone, and whoever else you can think of. But if you do think about it, we are named much similarly to dragons. Inferno suits Inferno, Destiny suits Destiny, Micah suits Micah, Argos suits Argos, and so on and so forth throughout the history of dragons.”
Cody was at least partly satisfied by her answer, but one last question picked at his brain by the time she had finished and went back to gazing at the fire. “Why do you say family? Surely it isn’t just your sister and a few other relatives living in one little area?”
Mournful looked at him with a content if not mischievous smile on her face before she replied, “In a way you’re right, but that’s a story for another time! With luck you will see my family within a month and your question will be answered shortly after. Now I think it’s about time I be getting to bed. We may need to hunt again at first light, so best to rest up while you can. Good night Cody.”
Cody felt a mixture of emotions, such as curiosity, confusion, and delight. He was far from satisfied by Mournful’s answer, and he definitely did not think highly of the idea of hunting nor waiting so long to get to their destination. But he did know that his questioning had solved many of the problems he had been facing, and above all he had somehow helped Mournful to untangle her own emotions and be happy once more. For the time being, everything was put to rest.