Jahrra drew in another breath through her nose as her eyes widened to take in the splendorous scene. The city boasted a beautiful array of crystalline towers and spires, like enormous stalagmites sprouting from the mountainside and reaching for the heavens above. She blinked her eyes, trying and failing to count the numerous turrets as they flashed by. Up and up they rose, the brilliant sun flickering off their mirror-smooth surfaces, making the city shimmer and sparkle like a rare jewel. The higher they climbed, the more sparse the turrets became until there was nothing left but a tiny spike of stone rising above all else. Shelves of ice and stone protruded from random towers and cornices, and upon them the reptilian forms of dragons stood guard. The dragons were pale in color, long and lean, with sharp features that allowed them to blend almost flawlessly into their surroundings. The famed Creecemind dragons, the frost-breathing guardians of this great City in the Clouds. Jahrra wondered why some of these enormous, reptilian guardians hadn’t helped Jaax with the standoff at the bridge, but quickly shrugged it off. They must have thought three dragons and a retinue of their elvin soldiers was enough to handle the threat.
Jaax tilted his wings, and they banked right, curving around the narrowing tip of the city and mountain peak. Jahrra made an effort to sit up a little and narrowed her eyes at the apex of the mountaintop. It was hard to see, what with the frosty air making her eyes stream and the fact that it was still a good distance away. But, it looked like one of those wind and weather-beaten pine trees grew from the top, its roots twining around a dark, gaping entrance just below it. Jahrra’s eyebrows lifted. That had to be the Sacred Pine and the cave Ellyesce had told her about.
Before she could get a better look, Jaax dropped into a short dive, and Jahrra had to concentrate on staying on her guardian’s back once again. They were drawing closer to the mountain, a great wide patio with arches leading deeper into the mountainside fast approaching. Jahrra braced herself as her guardian came to a stop on the giant granite terrace, his claws scraping against stone and his great wings kicking up enough wind to make the long, pale gossamer curtains hanging before a set of tall, open windows dance like streamers before them.
Jahrra slid from Jaax’s back, using the chains still wrapped around his neck to guide her descent. When the boot of her good leg hit the polished granite floor, her knee nearly buckled. Once she had her bearings, Jahrra pushed away from the Tanaan dragon, brushing her hair from her face. She cleared her throat and looked up at him, a hundred different words vying for dominance in her mind.
I’m so glad to see you! I thought they had captured you! Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Don’t you ever stay behind like that again!
Jahrra’s smile at seeing her guardian and the words she hoped to speak vanished, however, when she took stock of his face. Immediately, the blood drained from her own. Over the years, she had thought she’d seen the worst of his anger. She had been wrong. Jaax’s silvery green eyes boiled with rage, and his lip twitched as if he was fighting to keep from snarling at her. Even more than that, she could feel the heat of his fury rolling off him.
Jahrra wasn’t afraid of this dragon. She hadn’t been for a very long time. But, she felt a twinge of fear now.
“Don’t you ever do something so foolish again!” Jaax snarled, his words accompanied by streamers of smoke.
Jahrra opened her mouth to speak, to apologize, but her guardian cut her off.
“There is nothing more important than your life, Jahrra!” he continued to growl, pacing the spacious patio like a caged wolf.
He whipped his tail in agitation, careful to miss her, and his presence seemed to double in size as he fought to withhold his temper.
For several seconds, Jahrra was completely dumbfounded, stricken by the degree of his wrath. But, once that second dose of shock wore off, her senses gradually returned. Yes, she had done some very stupid things in her past, and as much as she resented having Jaax reprimand her, he had always been right. In this case, however, he wasn’t.
Fisting her hands at her sides and reminding herself she had nothing to fear from Jaax except maybe his bad attitude, she snapped, “Oh? And what was I supposed to do? Give in to their demands and get us all captured?”
Jaax whipped around and practically roared, “That would have been better than killing yourself!”
“I did not kill myself!” she screamed back.
“You jumped off a bridge over a nearly bottomless chasm! What did you expect to happen?!”
“Exactly what did happen!” Jahrra shouted back. “I knew you would act as soon as I went over. I knew those holding us hostage would be so shocked by my actions that you would have easily broken free of them and dived after me. I understood the only thing keeping you and the others from attacking the Red Flange was that dagger at my throat, so I took myself out of the equation. If I could just break free and throw myself from the bridge, you would no longer have a reason to sit there like a trained hound! It went exactly as I planned!”
Jaax, who had been keeping his distance along the edge of the terrace, growled and moved in quickly, his head lowered and level with Jahrra’s body. She drew in a quick breath through her nose and took a small step back, forgetting her injury and nearly falling to the ground in pain. She just barely managed to get all of her weight back onto her good leg before making an utter fool of herself.
“And,” the dragon whispered on a low, rumbling growl, “what would you have done if they had not been surprised? Who would have caught you if, for some reason or another, I became incapacitated? What would have happened if you hadn’t timed everything just right and ended up with a slit throat?”
Jahrra crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “That wouldn’t have happened,” she grumbled, feeling a little deflated.
Jaax regarded her with those deep eyes of his and, for a moment, Jahrra felt uncomfortably crowded. He was far too close to her, something that would not have bothered her if he wasn’t in such an intense mood. She drew upon what gumption she had left, using her flagging energy to keep it going, and looked into those eyes, trying hard to read them. The anger was there, there was no doubt about that, maybe some fear and irritation as well. And something else, something she couldn’t name. It was an emotion she had seen in his eyes before, on very rare occasions when his control slipped, but just like all the times before, it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, sinking beneath the surface to lurk and hideaway in the shadows once more.
The Tanaan dragon lifted his head then and stepped away from her, turning so that he faced the open air on the other end of the patio. He released a deep breath, one he seemed to have been holding for a week. When he spoke, his voice was oddly flat and disconnected.
“Through those curtains is a great room. There are couches, chairs and cushions and a fireplace on the far end. Through the small door on the left you will find everything you need to get cleaned up. I suggest you take advantage of our host’s hospitality. The staff will come by later with tea. All I ask is that you not leave the room, Jahrra. We will talk later.”
Before she could say anything else, Jaax stepped up to the very ledge of the patio and spread his wings, then dove out into the great wide open space. Irritated, Jahrra hobbled to the place where he had leapt, pressing her hands against the balustrade. The height of this particular corner of Nimbronia was dizzying, but she swallowed back her fear. Jaax glided away from the mountainside, an emerald flash of color against all the grey and white. Where he was going, and why he had left her alone, she could only guess. Matters to do with the incident on the bridge and reporting in to the king of this enchanting place, most likely. She hoped he was going back to fetch their friends and make arrangements for Phrym to be brought to the stables. If there were any stables in this place of towers and ice.