Across the Edge of Paradise

Every day, we look for the wall separating games from wars.

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Aideyll was beautiful, but Oblivion could be beautiful, too—depending on the eye of the beholder.

For Szak, all of Oblivion was a festering mess beneath a sparkling surface. He had been in enough of their countries to lose count.

Stop it.

In the back of Szak’s head, Fiera was thinking back to all of their missions together, trying to count for him.

Does it not bother you?

Focus on the present, please, Szak internally groaned.

Fine. It’s your shit memories, not mine. Fiera heaved out a soft breath, hot enough for Szak to feel her annoyance tickle his skin, but not hard enough to upset the stillness of their surroundings.

Szak mentally apologized for her having to deal with his poor memories, then refocused to the here and the now. In the middle of the forest. North of the Oblivious country Elusior, in the Isle Skells, resting in the Sea of Carme. From here, the Edge to safety in Aideyll was over a summer-hour away on Fiera’s wings.

It was quiet. Fiera’s ears could pick up any movement within a quarter mile. Well, almost any movement. Dragon hearing would never be as acute as a siren’s, but it was more than enough in most fights.

With Venimi, Katarina’s dragon, guiding them earlier, it had been exceedingly easy to find the hit location when they landed on the island. Soon after arrival, Szak stayed back with Fiera and Venimi beside him. Two others who had been dispatched with Katarina prior, Hanula and Stakoni, also stayed behind, on watch in other surrounding areas. Szak’s two trusted comrades, Bladen and Jamis, went in first to secure the area before the search. Bladen’s dragon, Sidian, was an Umbrian—a shadow breed. All Bladen had to do was let his partner scout the premises by shadow while Jamis’ dragon, Mirage, let out hallucinatory toxins to avoid letting any of them be found.

The process took less than a long summer’s hour.

Sidian returned in Szak’s shadow, growing out of the ground in all of its misty-black grandeur, and reported to Fiera. The air ship had fallen about twenty-five degrees northeast from where they currently stood. Cross the river along the way, and a mudslide would come to view, covering at least half a dozen Isle Skell traders. No one had come to back up the fallen, since. They were cleared to go.

Szak gestured for Venimi. “Make it quick. You’re ordered to do nothing other than retrieve Katarina.”

Both of Venimi’s heads nodded, though at different paces, so she looked like she was bobbling off-beat to two different forms of dance. Szak refrained from rolling his eyes until after Venimi flew away.

And then they waited.

And waited.

Szak was mid-yawn when Venimi’s toxins came to his senses. Fiera’s nose caught it first, and before she finished her thought, Szak was already swinging a leg around her and ready to fly. They lifted with a whiff of her wings, the gust behind them ripping hundreds of late summer leaves off their branches. Within the same moment, the forest burst into flames in the direction of the airship. Metal and wooden debris ripped through the silence as the fire roared to life.

A spur-of-the-moment or last-resort decision, Fiera concluded.

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Szak scoffed. Venimi was a two-headed venom. One head secreted poison while the other breathed its finicky antidote—also a toxin when left alone. In small doses in a human body, it could be maintained, but it was ultimately an unstable spit unless neutralized specifically by the poison.

Only a tellurian could take down this fire. Szak shook his head as Fiera descended past the mudslide. Good thing we brought Hanula.

Hanula arrived at the scene with her own earth dragon, of which neither Szak nor Fiera could recall the name. She met Szak’s eyes and gave a singular nod. Then, she charged forward, her dragon’s thick thighs racing the two of them into the fire. With every stomp of her dragon’s claws, the muddy earth lifted and collapsed onto the flames like waves in the middle of an ocean’s storm. Szak and Fiera kept up beside them, gliding through the smokey air.

There.

Szak saw it in his head, with Fiera’s eyes, before he turned and saw it for himself. Venimi stood between two bodies, guarding a red-head in the mud from whoever was now shriveling to black in the fire. Dumb ass of a dragon.

We overstayed our welcome, regardless.

Szak shook his head. That was no excuse for Venimi to put them on a time limit. It wouldn’t be long before those in the trading port to the southern coast of the island would arrive, now. Fiera’s claws dug into the mud. Beside them, the collapsed air ship was a massive, egg-shaped thing with dozens of propellers, all of it made of different metal compounds—a common commodity in Elusior and many other countries of Oblivion.

Szak ran the rest of the way to the body in the mud, boots sliding a bit in each step. The air was awful in the smoke. It didn’t help that the air was of Elusior and not Aideyll. Having a body that could withstand the highest temperatures did not help Szak’s eyes from drying out, and being of the Drakonskar clan that was impervious to dragon talents did not mean that the toxin-filled air made it easier to breathe.

He could barely recognize Katarina when he approached her. Most of her body had been covered in blood when not covered in mud.

Venimi was pacing around, restless. Antsy. One head was looking all over the place, the other with a constant eye on Katarina.

Szak placed a hand on Katarina’s jugular. There was still a pulse, as soft as it was. He checked for her breath. Also soft and slow.

Fiera leaned over. Szak reached over to where their resources were secured and pulled out a pouch and a roll of bandages. Quick, like clockwork, with experience Szak had never wanted to live through, he took needle and thread out of the pouch for a temporary stitch-up before a bandage up where needed. She had two punctures that were larger, in which Szak took, from the pouch, thin, metal plates, placed them on the wounds, and wrapped those bandages tight. When he was done, he put one arm under her neck, and had to dig through mud to get his other arm under her knees before lifting her.

When he did, one of her legs dangled, free and heavy, tossing around back and forth without direction. He immediately put her back down. The gash had cut so deep that Szak could see too much bone. Bone that did not align together and was missing a knee cap. The two parts were kept in place by the surrounding muscle and skin, though there was another fracture lower in the leg, too.

He held her tighter for a split moment, even though he refused to feel anything. Not now. He had more important things, like tying off the blood circulation and wrapping up the leg how he could.

“Get over here,” Szak called as he finished up.

Venimi swooped in, placing one of its large claws carefully around Katarina to take hold of her. It wrapped around her arms and down her waist, and she brought her other claw down and around to secure both of Katarina’s legs.

“Straight to the hospital. Take Stakoni, too.”

Venimi’s left head leaned down and nudged at Szak in thanks as she lifted further up in the air.

“Go,” Szak groaned, standing up. He put the pouch and bandages away without seeing Venimi off. As he did, though, he caught a movement in the corner of his eye, just behind the air ship.

Get ready.

Careful. He looks young. Hazel hair.

Szak tried to not react, but he took extra care when he swallowed. His throat turned dry. If Fiera didn’t see wrong—and she rarely did—then Szak had to bring that boy back to Aideyll, too.

But what are the chances? We’ve been searching for him, for years.

Fiera flew over and went around the airship. I’ll just knock him out and grab him.

Make sure he’s not— Szak got a good look at the boy through Fiera’s eyes as he crouched over, arms over his head. He leaned into the metal body of the air ship as if it could hide him just before she swung her wing across. The force swooped up all of the hazel-eyed teenager and flung him across the mud. He rolled and rolled past the length of the airship before he stopped, unconscious.

“Commander!”

Szak turned to Hanula and her dragon. Jamis and Mirage followed behind her, in the air. The fires were gone, now, and all that was left to surround them were charred trees and a lot of dry air.

I thought you said to be careful.

Eh. Fiera grabbed the boy by the claw and flew back. Szak looked left and right.

“Where’s Bladen?”