Last of Her Kind

Chapter 10 CATHRYN

Cathryn’s room was filled with smoke and the smell of sulfur. Alora had pushed her away and now refused to look at her.

“What was that?” she asked again.

Alora shook her head, “Nothing. It was nothing.”

“You just blew smoke out of your nose. I don’t think that was nothing.” She reached out and touched Alora’s arm. “Alora?”

But she flinched away from Cathryn’s touch and got up off the bed.

Cathryn sighed. She knew what was going on, she had read about in the book that was now under her bead. Cathryn stood up and crossed over to where Alora stood hugging herself.

“I won’t tell anyone. Just, look at me.” She turned Alora around to face her.

Alora’s eyes narrowed. “You won’t tell anyone what?”

“That you’re a dragon.”

Alora scoffed and turned her head. “That’s an insane accusation. Dragon’s are extinct. Everyone knows that.”

“Are they though?” Cathryn c****d her head as Alora turned to meet her gaze. “I think they’re hiding. Right in front of me.” Alora refused to look away as Cathryn continued, “Maybe not. But the great slayer Boldorf will be here tomorrow, and I can just ask him for you.”

“What do you want?” Instantaneously, Alora growled and appeared to grow larger, her eyes darkening into slits.

Cathryn stepped back a bit, but refused to break eye contact.

“Nothing but the truth.”

Another, smaller cloud of smoke appeared as Alora sighed heavily. She eyed Cathryn quietly for what seemed like a long time.

“Fine.”

Alora sat back down on the bed and looked down at her hands as Cathryn settled in for a story. She took a deep breath and began.

“It was almost twenty years ago, I was still just a pup when the slayers found our tribe. We had successfully kept slayers at bay by always pretending to be villagers, afraid of a dragon that lived close by. That is, until one slayer got the better of us. He had stayed behind after his hunting party had left. No one knew he was still there, so the next day, a few of our kind took the skies to look for food. The slayer ran back to his hunting party and they returned to raid the village the next day.”

While she spoke, Alora wiped away the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes before continuing. “It was awful. People were running every which way. Some were shifting where they stood, destroying the buildings that surrounded them, knocking others around and up into the air. I couldn’t find my mom or my dad and there was smoke everywhere. I didn’t see who it was that scooped me up and ran off. I just remember crying out for my mom. And coughing. I was coughing a lot from the smoke.

“The hunters were burning down the village in order to force everyone out. Once people started shifting, the hunters brought out these machines that shot huge spears into the sky. They tried to fight back, destroying everything they had built in the process. I watched dozens of dragons fall from the sky that day before I was whisked off. It was Elysor who grabbed me, my companion in the other room. He had seen me crying in the streets as slayers were marching in. If he hadn’t snatched me up then, I would’ve been taken by the slayers.

“Elysor took me and Elysia out of the village to a rendezvous spot in the woods a few miles out. We were the only ones there when we arrived, so we waited. For hours. Until Metlen, another dragon elder, showed up with the other three in tow. Metlen stepped aside to talk to Elysolr quietly, but I could tell from the looks on their faces that things were bad. Elysor and Metlen then took us further into the mountains where we disappeared. Metlen left us a few days after to try to find other survivors and he never came back. We’ve been in hiding ever since.”

Alora hung her head and let the tears fall. Cathryn wanted to reach out to comfort her, but decided against it. She had heard that story hundreds of times, but never like that.

Cathryn had still been young when the hunting party returned to the city claiming to have slain the last of the dragons. That had been the hunt that made Boldorf the greatest slayer of all time. He had been the one who had crept into the village and found out they were all dragons. He had been the one who had led the rest of the party in the slaughter. He had the one who had rode into the city with a dragon head in tow. She had seen it all. There were celebrations for weeks, and some had even dared to feast on dragon meat during that time. The hunters had traveled from Citadel to Port and back to the eastern shores hoisting dragon heads for the whole country to witness. The reign of dragons was over.

The crying stopped and Cathryn saw that Alora had fallen asleep. She took out a blanket from a chest, at the foot of her bed, and covered Alora with it. Cathryn retrieved her book, from under the bed, and went back out to the kitchen. She lit a lantern and went to make some tea before settling down at the table and opening the book.

The sun was just barely starting to peek its way over the eastern walls of the city when Cathryn was awoken by her father.

“What are you doing out here?” He slammed a mug down on the table beside Cathryn’s head.

She jumped at the sound, pages of the book ripping themselves free from her face as Cathryn sat up and saw her father peering down at her through squinted eyes.

Cathryn rubbed her face, as she tried to take in her surroundings. She had fallen asleep at the table with the book opened to a section on Aptares, a species of dragon that had the magic and ability to shape shift. There was an illustration of a dragon shifting into an elf that span across the top half of both pages.

Her father asked again, “What are you doing out here?”

“I was up late last night doing some research.”

“On dragons?” There was suspicion that laced his question.

Cathryn shut the book and stood up and crossed the room to grab herself some of the brew her father had made.

“Yes, dragons. You heard Eli. They’ve seen a few over the past few weeks.”

“Okay?” He had followed her across the room. “Why do you need to study them?”

Cathryn turned and looked at her father hard. “Do you really think I am stupid? I know what evening ivy does. Why else would Boldorf need barrels of the paste I make?”

“You don’t need to worry about why the general needs the paste. You should only worry about making it. Which you should go ahead and get back to work.”

“It’s barely sunrise.”

“The general is supposed to be returning today. If what your brother says is true, he’ll be wanting whatever you can make from this last harvest. So get to work and get rid of that stupid book.”

Her father left, slamming the door behind him. Cathryn cleared the table and got to work making breakfast for their guests. As she worked, a thought began to cross her mind.

What if Alora was the dragon her brother spoke of shooting down yesterday?

Distracted by this thought, she burned the first round of eggs. Smoke filled the kitchen and the hall, as she took the pan out into the alley to clear the mess. Cathryn stood in the doorway and fanned some of the smoke out as Alora appeared in the kitchen doorway, coughing.

“I figured you wouldn’t be bothered by the smoke.” Cathryn came back inside, the door slamming behind her.

Alora looked at her coldly. Cathryn felt she must have crossed a line somehow. She grabbed the pot of brew and offered it to Alora.

“Want some?”

Alora nodded and then spoke up, “It’s one thing to make it yourself. It’s another when someone else is burning what smells like eggs.”

Cathryn laughed as she passed a mug over to Alora. “Well, I’m making a fresh batch right now. Just go sit and it’ll be ready soon.”

“Are you sure you can handle it? I can make them myself, if I need to.”

It was Cathryn’s turn to be annoyed as her lips pursed and her nostrils flared. She didn’t take criticism too well, even if it was meant as a joke. “Ha ha. You’re not funny. I’ve got this.”

Alora threw her hands up in defense. “You’re the one who burned the first batch.”

“I was distracted.”

“By what? Someone who knows how to cook?”

Again, Cathryn made a face at the remark. “No. I was just - thinking.”

“Must be really hard for you.”

“Why are you being so rude this morning? I’m making you breakfast after you spent the night in my bed.”

“I’m sorry.” Alora turned away and hugged herself, “I’m sensitive to you knowing the secret of what I am, and this is how I express myself.”

Cathryn sighed. She was being a bit annoying herself. Her father had left a bitter taste in her mouth. “It’s okay. I get that you are somewhere dangerous and unfamiliar. But you’re safe with me. I won’t tell anyone your secret.”

Alora looked back at her. “Thanks,” she whispered.

“I do have a question though. It’s what was distracting me, when I burned the eggs.”

“Okay,” Alora was a bit hesitant with her answer, so Cathryn tried to tread lightly.

“Yesterday, my brother spoke of a dragon they shot down -”

Cathryn never got around to finishing her question because, at that moment, Elysor came stumbling into the kitchen, clutching his shoulder.

“Alora,” he was groaning through gritted teeth.

Alora rushed to his side to inspect the old man’s shoulder. She pulled his shirt back to reveal a gash at the top of his arm that was starting to blacken with infection. Alora eyes widened at the sight.

“Why is it so much worse than Elysia’s?” She breathed out as she tried to inspect the wound further but Elysor pulled back crying pain. Alora turned to Cathryn, worry painted on her face.

 “Can you help him?”