Dame Elara Brightshield's Arc

Chapter 8 of 11

The mother drake disappeared beneath the water before Elara could reach the wagon. The cages sat stacked in three rows, each one holding something small and scared. Some of the creatures inside were too young to stand. Others pressed against the bars, making sounds Elara couldn't name. She counted twenty cages total, just like Skarsh had said. Skarsh started opening locks, working fast through the top row while Elara pulled cages down one at a time. The creatures inside didn't move when the doors swung open. They stayed pressed against the back bars, shaking. Elara reached into the first cage and lifted out a drake no bigger than her forearm. Its scales were dull gray instead of blue, and its breathing came too fast. She set it on the ground near the water's edge, but it didn't move toward the pool. It just sat there, staring at nothing. By the time they'd emptied half the cages, Elara understood the problem. These creatures didn't know how to be free. They'd been trapped so long they couldn't remember what water felt like or how to hunt for themselves. She looked at Skarsh, who was watching a young drake refuse to leave its opened cage. "They need more than open doors," she said. "They need a place that teaches them they're safe." Skarsh nodded slowly, then pointed past the standing stones toward a rock formation she'd seen before but never examined closely. Stone steps led down between the rocks, disappearing beneath the marsh's surface. Elara descended the stairs and found herself in an underwater chamber with air pockets trapped beneath the stone ceiling. The walls were smooth and the water here was calm, protected from currents. She surfaced and climbed back up to find Skarsh already carrying the smallest drakes down one at a time. Together they built feeding platforms from fallen logs, sinking channels into the moss-covered wood where fish could gather. The mother drake rose from the deep pool as they worked, circling the entrance to the sunken chamber three times before settling at its threshold. When the last rescued creature finally swam through the entrance on its own, the mother drake's scales brightened from dull blue to luminous, and Elara knew the creature had claimed this place as protected ground. She'd given them shelter, but the mother drake had given them something more important: a guardian who would teach them how to survive.