CHAPTER 22: CROSSING OVER

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The trip to Peridan was a complete blur to Aeris. It still felt unreal. No matter how many times she replayed the events of the last year in her mind, she couldn’t believe it. Even knowing her memories were real, she couldn’t believe it.

She recalled her lessons with Aubrey, all the warnings of why she should never, under any circumstances, go to the Dragonlands. As a domesticate, her fate would be sealed if she was discovered. No one would come to her rescue there.

Yet she was preparing to cross that border a second time. The first time, she was with Sareen and she wasn’t allowed an opportunity to take in the sights. It didn’t seem she would get that chance now either.

She supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised. It wasn’t the weirdest thing that’s happened to her. So much has gone on in the last two years.

It was all she could think about. So much that the days went by without her, or perhaps it was weeks. She didn’t know and hadn’t been keeping track. It didn’t matter. Her life was over. She had no home to go back to.

Knowing others were with her only worsened her guilt. They had homes to go back to yet they were giving them up for her.

“Aeris, you there?” Janine asked.

Aeris broke out of her reverie and faced the young woman. “Sorry. I was…thinking. What did you say?”

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I just…this is where we were a year ago. Running for our lives with nowhere to go.” She dropped her head. It hadn’t even been a year since she ran away from home, but it seemed so much longer. She wished it were longer then the memories wouldn’t be as fresh.

Janine cradled Aeris’ head. “It’s gonna be fine. Nothin’ bad is gonna happen this time.”

She doubted it, but she also didn’t have the heart to trample on the young woman’s attempts to cheer her up. She nodded and gave a brave smile instead.

To distract from the growing knot of guilt in her stomach, she focused on her surroundings. They were moving at a slightly slower pace so she could take in the sights. It reminded her a lot Diamus with lots of tall buildings all bunched together. Every so often the street branched off into another area or turn down a narrow alley. Everything felt so imposing like the nobles she used to hang around. Always dressed in their best and on their best behavior. That was the vibe she got; the whole city seemed to puff out its chest showing off its neatness and shininess.

It was a sharp contrast to the citizens filling the roads. Humans and dragons were everywhere, some dressed to match the proud feel of the city, others in just whatever worn, dirty clothing they owned. All around there was noise. People talking, merchants advertising their wares, the general cacophony of many bodies moving at once.

“Wow, I don’t remember the place bein’ this busy,” Janine said.

“This is the only legal way to cross over,” Nesse explained. “So, yeah, this place sees a lot of traffic. Stay close. It’s easy to get lost.”

“BEWARE! BEWARE, MY FRIENDS! FOR THE END IS NIGH!”

Aeris stopped and turned towards the source. A human stood on top of a crate at the edge of the road, addressing the passing crowd. He wore a tailored suit and his face was clean-shaven, but he had a crazed look in his eyes that made Aeris uncomfortable. Most people seemed to ignore him, but a small crowd had formed around him.

“THE DRAGONS HAVE MADE THEIR MOVE AND DECLARED WAR UPON US! EVEN NOW THEY ASPIRE TO TAKE AWAY YOUR HOMES, YOUR LOVED ONES, YOUR VERY LIVES!”

Aeris tucked her head, remembering the state of things in Diamus.

“AND WHO IS TO BLAME FOR ALL THIS? THE DRACAENA! THE ARCHAIC SYMBOL OF POWER AND SUBJUGATION! SHE FLIES AGAIN AND RALLIES HER TROOPS! SHE HAS CALLED OUT FOR BLOOD AND HER FOLLOWERS HAVE ANSWERED!”

A chorus of agreement shuddered through the crowd.

“You shouldn’t be here, miss,” a voice said. “Move along.”

Aeris whirled around and came face-to-face with a uniformed human. Next to him stood a dragon wearing a bronze badge around his neck. The human had a similar badge clipped to his left shoulder. She assumed they were part of the city watch.

The human smiled gently and motioned to the crowd behind Aeris. “It happens every time the Dracaena passes through here. Some nut starts screaming about how it’s the end times and dragons are going to take over the world, blah, blah blah. He’ll make some noise for a few weeks and then people will write him off. It’s better not to add fuel to the fire.”

“Oh. Okay. Thank you.”

She had lingered too long anyway. She had to catch up with the others. The crowd had gotten thicker with more and more angry humans joining the fray, dragons annoyed with the protests, and watch wardens to keep the peace. Aeris pushed her way through the tightening wall of people.

She had almost reached the edge of the crowd when a scream cut over the din of noise.

“IT’S HER! THE BLUE DEMON! THE CHOSEN AGENT OF STRIFE AND DISCORD! DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW, MY FRIENDS? DO YOU SEE? HAVE YOUR EYES BEEN OPENED? DEATH WALKS AMONG YOU!”

Aeris froze. A lump locked up her throat. He couldn’t be referring to her. But she knew it was a lie. How many other blue dragons existed in the world?

“SHE HAS ALREADY CLAIMED RUBELLUM FOR HER OWN, FORCING HUMANS TO CATER TO HER WHIMS, TRAINING HER SCALED BRETHREN AND RAISING HER ARMY! NOW SHE SEEKS TO DO THE SAME HERE!”

Aeris whirled around. The man on the crate pointed an accusatory finger in her direction, his eye wide and full of fear. She had never seen this man before. How did he recognize her? And it sounded like he knew of her teaching dragons to read. That couldn’t be either. Not even her former master knew of her reading lessons.

The crowd turned to Aeris, anger and hate in their eyes.

Several watch wardens cut in front of them, warning the crowd to back off.

“Miss, you need to leave, now,” one of the wardens said. “Rayne and Simon will escort you.”

Aeris was too frightened to move. This couldn’t be happening. Who was this man? How did he know her? What did he want?

“Die demon!” someone shouted.

There was a gunshot, followed by a pained scream, and then the crowd exploded into panic. Aeris snapped out of her trance and scurried away.

She had no idea where she was going and didn’t care. So long as it put as much between her and that man as possible.

The others. I have to find the others. She flicked her tongue, trying to catch their scents, but there were too many people around. Too many mingling smells to pinpoint anyone. More gunshots rang out, followed by more screams. She ducked low and continued on.

I don’t understand. Why is this happening?

“It’s because you exist, blood of my blood,” Tanor replied.

Aeris was so glad to have someone with her to talk to even if it was technically with herself. “What do I do?”

“Kill the man who called you a demon of course. You should never let such an insult stand.”

“No! I’m not going to kill anyone!”

“You’re too soft.”

The sounds of chaos drew closer. Aeris hurried away from the noise.

“Sooner or later, you’ll have to start taking charge,” Tanor said. “A Matriarch doesn’t tolerate weakness.”

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Aeris wished she had someone else to talk to. But she couldn’t worry about that now. She kept moving, sticking to the side streets and alleys to avoid drawing attention. Every time she stepped onto the main streets, it was chaos. People were fighting, running, and screaming and the random gunshots gave her anxiety. It didn’t help that someone would shout, “it’s the demon!” and things would get even worse. At least when it happened, a dragon usually came to her aid.

She wasn’t sure what was happening, but her only concern was finding the others. But she couldn’t track their scents and calling out to them drew attention to herself which she didn’t need.

Finally, Terran’s voice carried over the crowd. It was faint, but there was no mistaking it. “Aeris! Aeris, where are you?”

She hurried towards the source of the sound, not caring if she was discovered or not. It didn’t take long to find Terran. He easily stood over a head taller than most of the people in the crowd. He noticed Aeris as well and pushed through the sea of bodies to get to her.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I don’t know. There was this man and he called me a demon, and people started screaming, and there was shooting and—”

Terran rubbed her snout and shushed her. “It’s okay. I don’t know what’s going on, but we can figure it out later. We gotta go. We have to get across the bridge before they lock the whole city down.”

Aeris nodded and followed. She felt a lot better having Terran to with her. Fewer people seemed to take notice of her, likely due to the large gun-wielding human at her side. According to him, the others were told to wait by the bridge for them to return. It was a relief to hear they were okay.

They didn’t speak much. Terran said they needed to focus and pay attention. Catching up could be done later.

The chaos quieted down and the crowds thinned as they walked until it was almost as if nothing had happened.

A long line of people was gathered near the bridge connecting to the Dragonlands. But Aeris didn’t care about the crowd. Her only concern was finding the others. It wasn’t hard to find them standing outside a nearby building. Janine rushed over and wrapped her arms around Aeris’ neck.

“One minute you were there, and the next you’re gone!” Janine said. “Don’t scare me like that again!”

“I’m sorry,” Aeris said. “I got distracted by this man and—”

“Not here,” Terran interjected. “We need to get across the border.”

“We ain’t don’ nothin’ else waitin’ in this line,” Janine said.

Aeris shook her head. It was too risky with these other humans around who might overhear.

They stood quietly while the line moved at an agonizingly slow pace. The longer it went on, the worst Aeris’ anxiety became. She heard things in the distance. The fighting wasn’t slowing down; it was moving closer. She wasn’t the only one who noticed. Nervous murmurs went through the line. Several dragons even took to the air briefly before being shouted at to land.

She tried to focus on other things, but her mind kept drifting back to that man. She was certain she didn’t know him and he didn’t seem to know her very well if he didn’t mention her by name. But then how did he know about her? How many people knew who she was? What she had done?

“It’s getting dark,” Windor said. “And we barely moved in this line. Should we start looking for a place to sleep and try again tomorrow?”

“Half the city’s a warzone,” Terran said. “We have to get across tonight.”

“It won’t matter if they close the bridge,” Nesse said.

“Can’t y’all just fly over?” Janine asked.

“Oh, sure we can try it and catch a bullet for our troubles. It’s part of the treaties. This area’s a no-fly zone. Any dragon other than the Dracaena will get shot down. No questions asked.”

“We are friends with the Dracaena,” Janine mumbled.

Terran’s face turned pale. “No. Don’t mention any connection to her. Things are tense enough as it is.”

“What’re you--?”

Before she could finish, something down the street exploded. They couldn’t see what it was, but a large plume of black smoke rose through between two buildings resembling a hand giving all onlookers the finger.

“That’s not good,” Terran said.

A wave of panicking people rushed around the corner. Everyone in line broke formation and rushed the bridge. Aeris barely had time to register what had happened before being swept up in the current. Even she couldn’t push back against the surging wave. People stepped on her toes and tail. There was no space to spread her wings or move her limbs. Twice she nearly fell over. It took everything she had just to keep her head above the crowd.

“Janine! Janine!”

The young woman didn’t respond or her replies went unheard over the noise, it was hard to tell which. The crowd continued to push towards the bridge. The border patrol shouted at them and a few even fired warning shots into the air, but that only made the crowd more agitated. Eventually, someone returned fire.

True chaos broke out. Aeris had to run just to keep up with the sudden surge of people. Her ears rang from the screams around her.

One command managed to cut above the din of noise, “Close the bridge!”

Aeris scanned the crowd. She couldn’t tell which side she was on or where the others were. Her answer came when she saw the bridge rising behind her. Several people cried out in protest. Many were jumping across the gap before it became too wide. Some of them didn’t make it. Dragons flew over the top, some of them being shot down by the border patrol or knocked out of the air by other dragons. Their bodies fell into the valley below or crashed into the crowd. Everyone pushed forward, screaming to get away from the fallout.

Aeris was pushed along. Finally, the crowds began to thin out and she was able to break away. She quickly ducked down a nearby alley and fell to the ground. Her body trembled from the adrenaline, everything hurt, and her breath came in hard bursts.

Where is everyone? Did they make it across okay?

“Aeris!” a voice called. It was Nesse. “Brandy? Someone talk to me!”

“I’m over here!” Aeris shouted, lacking the energy to move from where she was.

A few minutes later, the Genial came into view. Aeris was happy to see her but was crestfallen seeing Janine wasn’t with her.

“Thank goodness. That’s one down at least. Are you okay? What about the others?”

Aeris shook her head. “I haven’t seen anyone. What happened? Everyone just started screaming and then I got caught up in the crowd.”

“Whatever caused that riot made people panic. As per protocol, they closed the border and aren’t letting anyone through.” She walked over and checked Aeris for injuries. “Anything broken? Can you stand?”

“I just need to catch my breath. What do you mean by protocol?”

“This isn’t the first time that’s happened. Being right on the border, tensions run high here. This is where a lot of dragons first learn what a domesticate is. Some of them don’t take the news well. Now, I have a place nearby. It’s not a far walk. We can rest there and wait for the others.”

Aeris nodded and stood. “Will the others know to look there?”

“If Brandy’s with them, they will. Either way, we aren’t finding anyone just wandering around. They’ll start rounding people up soon and establishing order.”

She didn’t like the sound of that, but Nesse had a point. It was getting dark and they weren’t going to find anyone wandering the streets. The Genial made the right call. They weren’t the only ones separated from loved ones. Aeris could barely pick out the names with everyone shouting over each other.

They didn’t get far when she heard Terran’s voice. “Aeris! Aeris, I’m glad you’re okay!”

Sure enough, the human was running towards them. His clothes were a mess and slick with sweat but other than that, he seemed okay.

“So you got through, too,” Nesse said.

Terran just grinned. “I don’t care if that was a jab at me or not. I’m just glad to see no one’s dead.”

“Do you know where the others are?” Aeris asked, hopeful.

Terran’s smile faded. “I know Janine’s across the bridge. I tried to take her with me, but the crowd pull us apart. Then the bridge started going up while I was on it. I had to run for it. Windor was with us though. He didn’t make it across either.”

Aeris sank to the ground. At least Windor was with her.

“What about Brandy?” Nesse asked.

“I haven’t seen her. Maxis neither.”

“I’m sure they’re both okay. In the meantime, we should move.”

Terran quickly cut in front of the dragoness. “Whoa, what? We’re not looking for them?”

“People are rioting and the wardens are rounding everyone up. It’s too risky to wander around now.” She stepped around him and continued to the safehouse. “Brandy and I have plans in case of things like this. We go to the meetup point and wait for the other to arrive. I’m guessing you and Maxis do the same thing.”

“We do, but the situation’s different.”

“The bridge is up anyway. If the bridge is up, we’ll spend hours looking for someone who isn’t there.”

There was no further discussion on the matter. Aeris didn’t have the energy to protest and just followed along. She already knew Janine was across the bridge anyway.

Nesse’s house wasn’t far just as she said. It was only then Aeris noticed the stark difference in architectural design. Instead of tall buildings pressed together. They were shorter but much wider and sparsely decorated the streets.

The inside looked just like Nesse’s place in Diamus. Every available space was filled with research materials.

“Okay, bedroom is in the back,” Nesse said. “Sorry, but I didn’t decorate the place with company in mind. Just pick a spot and fall in it when you’re tired.”

“First, I need to ask Aeris what happened back there,” Terran said. He cleared a nearby chair and sat down. You mentioned a man who called you a demon or something. What happened?”

Aeris let out a slow whine and explained everything that happened, the man, the speech, and the chaos that followed. The more she spoke, the clearer it became how all of this was her fault. If she hadn’t been there, those people wouldn’t have gotten so riled up and maybe everyone would still be together.

When she finished, Nesse was the first to speak up. “Well, shit. This complicates things.”

“It changes nothing,” Terran said flatly.

“It changes everything. Aeris, we can’t stay here.”

“What?” Aeris asked. “But why? What about the others?”

“I don’t know who that man is or what he wants with you, but he knows who are. He called you out once and he’ll do it again. Worse, if the city watch gets word that this started because of you and they hear about Diamus, we’re gonna have a bigger problem on our hands.”

“But—” Aeris began.

The Genial quickly cut her off. “Aeris, I need you to listen to me: You are about to become the most wanted dragon alive. If they find out you’re here, they’ll never let you leave. Not many people know we know each other. The best way to help them is to get as far from here as possible.”

Aeris looked at Terran, hoping he would have something to say. Some kind of counter-argument to convince Nesse they had to wait for the others. Instead the human watched them with a grim expression.

“I’m guessing you’ll be coming with us?” Nesse asked.

“I would rather wait for the others, but I can’t leave our Matriarch alone.”

Nesse tilted her head but quickly shook the thought away. “Anyway, we’re lucky we got across the border when we did because I know the just place that’s perfect to hide out in. My old coven.”

“I thought you couldn’t go back,” Aeris said.

“Technically, I wasn’t officially banned, but we don’t have any other options. We can’t follow the original plan. Not until things calm down. But you’ll be safe at the coven. They don’t just let anyone in, not even to pass through and they couldn’t give two fucks about politics. It’s our best option.”

“You said this place was safe,” Terran said, nettled. “It sounds like they’ll attack us on sight if you show up.”

“It’ll be fine. What I did wasn’t that bad.”

“What did you do?” Aeris asked.

Nesse looked at the ground as she pawed a particular spot on the floor. “I guess it’s better you hear the story now. I might have promised the Matriarch I could do something and I failed to deliver. I can’t say more than that. Coven rules. But I can say that if there’s anywhere Aeris will be safe, it’s with a coven. You can hide out with them until things blow over and expand your knowledge at the same time.”

“Okay,” Aeris mumbled half-heartedly. She wasn’t getting a say in the matter anyway.

“What about the others?” Terran asked.

“We’ll leave them a note. You can write can’t you?”

He rolled his eyes and said, “Yes, I can write.”

“Great. Now go in the back and get some sleep. We leave at first light.”