Dame Elara Brightshield's Arc

Chapter 9 of 11

Elara climbed back up the stone steps and looked toward the ridge. The hunters' wagon sat where they'd left it, empty cages stacked against the morning sky. She could see the wheel tracks cutting through the mud, leading back toward whatever camp or town had sent them. The mother drake had claimed the sanctuary, but the hunters would come back. Skarsh surfaced beside the feeding platform, water streaming from his scales. He held something in his clawed hand—a bone whistle wrapped in marsh grass, arrow marks carved along its length. "Found it in the mud near the wagon," he said. "Hunters use these to signal each other." Elara took it from him, feeling the weight of what it meant. They weren't dealing with lone trappers. This was organized, coordinated. The whistle proved they'd be back with more people, more equipment. She walked to the ridge and found the old watchtower, its stone base thick with moss and its wooden platform high enough to see the marsh in all directions. From up there, the abandoned wagon was obvious—bent metal bars already growing green with algae, a clear marker of what had happened here. Anyone looking would know exactly where to find the sanctuary. Elara turned the whistle over in her hands. She could hide the wagon, scatter the cages, make it harder for the hunters to return to this exact spot. But hiding wouldn't build the world she wanted. It would just delay the next fight. She put the whistle in her belt and climbed down from the tower. Skarsh waited at the water's edge, watching her. "We leave it," she said. "All of it. Let them see what we did." He tilted his head, confusion clear in the way his scales shifted. "If they come back, they'll know exactly where we are." Elara nodded. "And they'll know we beat them once already. We're not hiding anymore. We're telling them this ground is claimed." Skarsh was quiet for a long moment, then he straightened, his posture changing from question to certainty. The sanctuary was safe, and now anyone who looked would know someone was willing to fight for it.