Courting a Dragon

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

We walked under the massive archway and found ourselves in a part of the forest where the trees dwindled in number. The greater gaps allowed me to see something akin to a prairie beyond the boundary of the trees. A small river also flowed in front of us from the north and we crossed its cold waters via a long but narrow curved bridge.

I paused at the top and watched the waters flow downstream where they joined the tumultuous river we had followed on our way here. “What are these rivers called?”

“Big Caican and Little Caican,” Arian told me as she nodded at the northern one. “The Little cuts through the cold northern mountains and feeds the Big Cai.”

We continued on and I nodded at the open land beyond the trees. “What’s that way?”

Arian looked at where I indicated and her good humor faded. “That is the Tianfeld.”

The way she said the name sent chills down my spine, and not the fun ones. “That sounds bad.”

She bowed her head and her fingers fidgeted with each other against her front. “I told you before that my father fought a great battle against the wolves shortly before I was born. This is the place where that battle occurred.”

The familiar names made my heart leap. “I remember you telling me, but you didn’t give the particulars. I mean, how did one guy manage to fend off two armies?”

“My father told me Lord Eastwei fended off the armies using his fire magic to create a wall between the armies while Prince Yushir stole away the leaders of both parties to speak with them,” she revealed as she bit her lip. “Yushir promised them the wrath of heaven if they were to continue and Lord Eastwei’s prowess in the battle was proof they would lose if they did not cease the war. They were so ashamed they agreed on the spot and thus the field was renamed ‘Tianfeld.’ That means Field of Shame.”

“Wow,” I breathed as I tried to imagine such a powerful scene. There was Yushir making the discussions with Eastwei in the background devastating the ranks of both armies. “So what were you guys fighting over?”

“The land itself which now nobody claims,” she told me as she lifted her eyes to the barren wasteland.

I lifted an eyebrow. “Was it a nice place before the battle?”

“No. It has always been desolate.”

My face drooped. “So why did anybody want it?”

She bit her lower lip and shook her head. “I am afraid I do not know. I asked my father once and he told me it was a matter of pride.”

I snorted. “I see. Nobody wanted to give it up to the other and lose face with their people.” I studied the field a moment longer before I clapped a hand on my friend’s shoulder, making her jump. “How about we go take a closer look at this shame? Unless it’s not allowed.”

Arian perked up and shook her head. “Oh no! Anyone may cross the battlefield so long as we do not enter the Feng.”

I was almost getting tired of my insatiable curiosity. Maybe it was the remnants of the feline still stirring inside me. “What’s that?”

“The land of the wolf shifters beyond the feld,” Arian explained as she nodded at the far end of the war zone. “Their land is marked by a long row of dense shrubs.”

“Sounds interesting,” I mused as I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the battlefield. “Let’s go check it out.”

We wound our way through the last of the trees and found ourselves on the precipice of ruination. The battlefield occupied some fifty rectangular-shaped acres that stretched left and right. The ground was hard-packed dusty earth with deep, thin cracks running hither and thither. A few scraggly weeds grew here and there and some random clumps of stubby grass, but otherwise the place was empty.

I tapped one of the puzzle pieces created by the cracks and the top layer of earth puffed up in a small cloud. “It’s like a different world,” I mused as Arian shuffled up to my side.

Her big eyes swept over the area as she nodded. “Very much so.”

Something about the place rubbed me the wrong way but the scrubs on the far side of plain tempted me. The edge of the wolf clan’s territory was an easy walk of about a mile.

“Let’s go see those shrubs you were talking about,” I suggested as I strolled onto the plain.

I had gone five yards when I noticed something amiss. My friend hadn’t joined me in the fields. I turned around to find her on the edge of the barren feld. Her arms were pressed against her front and she bit her lower lip. A plethora of emotions flickered through her wide eyes, but the most prominent was fear.

Her fear made my heart skip a beat. “What’s wrong?” I asked her as I resisted the urge to run off the plains.

“I-it is nothing,” she replied.

I pointed at her. “Then why aren’t you coming?”

She dropped her gaze to the bare dirt in front of her and her hands fidgeted together against her chest. “I. . .I am not so sure about that.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and c****d my head to one side. “Alright, spill it. What’s so wrong with this place that you won’t step foot on it?”

“It is. . .it is nothing,” she insisted.

“You’re doing a lot of not-moving for nothing.”

She bit her lip so hard I thought she would cut herself. “There. . .there are. . .stories.”

My eyebrows shot up and I leaned toward her. “What kind of stories?”

Arian swallowed a lump in her throat. “They are. . .ghost stories.”

I perked up at her reveal. “Real ghost stories? Not just things to scare kids into behaving?”

My friend scuffed the ground as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I. . .I am not sure. My nurse would tell me tales of the ghosts that haunt the battlefield when the moon is full. Only under such powerful light can they take full form and replay their terrible deaths.”

I dropped my eyes to the dusty ground and a horrible thought made my throat dry out. “There. . .there aren’t any bodies under here, are there?”

“I do not know but I once heard my father speaking with Lord Lujun, and he reminded him that there were so many bodies trampled into the blood-soaked ground that they were never sure if they had gathered them all.”

The color drained from my face and I tiptoed back to my friend. I tripped at the end and crashed into her with a yelp. We both went down on the small patches of grass that abutted the field.

“Sorry!” I apologized as I scrambled off her.

We both froze when a soft wind blew across the empty feld and over us. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the strange haunting sound that traveled on the breeze.

I swallowed the frog in my throat but could only manage a whisper. “W-what was that?”

Arian’s eyes were as large as saucers. “P-perhaps it was a howl from the wolf clan.”

“Y-yeah,” I reluctantly agreed as we helped each other to our feet. I gazed out over the vast expanse of nothingness. Suddenly the other side seemed so far away. Still, it was tempting me and the sun was high and shining. “You stay here.”

I took a step forward but Arian latched onto my arm. “Where are you going?”

I nodded at the far side of the feld. “Just over there to those scrubs.” I patted her hand and offered her a warm smile. “You’ll be able to see me the whole time and I’ll be back before you know it.”

She tightened her grip on me and furiously shook her head. “I will not allow you to go alone.”

I dropped my eyes to her hand. It was shaking like a leaf in a tornado. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She scooted closer to me and bit her lower lip. “No, but I could not forgive myself if something happened to you.”

I grinned and squeezed her hand. “Nothing can happen so long as you’re by my side. Now let’ go and see this mighty wolf clan land.”

We cautiously stepped onto the feld and my friend attached herself even tighter to me. I couldn’t blame her. The eerie noise of the wind and the desolation now made me jumpy, and the slight bit of movement made me whip my head about. Even with the bright sun, I half-expected a spook to rise out of one of the many cracks and jump at us.

It was with much relief that we reached the long row of weeds that marked the end of the battlefield and the beginning of the wolf clan lands. The clumps of grass and bushes were almost as tall as me and thick enough to be considered a wall.

We were thirty feet away when Arian stopped, and her attachment to me meant I stopped, as well. “I should not go any farther.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”

“The wind might carry my scent and the wolves may consider me an intruder,” she pointed out.

“Then I’ll just get a peek over the top and we’ll go back,” I assured her.

She reluctantly released me and I hurried over to the wall. I stood on my tiptoes and peeked over the top. A brushland stretched out before me with small hills and a few groves of green trees. Animal trails wound their way through the scrubs but outside of that, there was no sign of life.

I was almost disappointed. I’d hoped to see one of these legendary wolf warriors but I didn’t see so much as a mouse.

“Anna!” Arian called. “We really should head back!”

“Coming!” I replied as I turned and took a step toward her.

Something made me pause. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I whipped my head around. Nothing stirred save for a few blades of grass against the breeze. Doubt nagged at the corners of my mind.

“Anna!”

My friend’s voice brought me out of my reverie and I hurried over to her. Together we trekked back across the barren battlefield and into the woods.

Little did I know that a pair of golden eyes watched us from the shadows behind one of the thicker scrubs. Those eyes were zeroed in on me and a long tongue flicked out to whet the lips of a very hungry wolf.