24. The Flight
Arxet couldn’t stop flying for hours. Once she was over the water she had no choice. She was an even weaker swimmer than she was a flier, and there was no way she would ever be able to lift off again if she landed on the lake.
Going straight south to southern Eskany would be at least a two hundred mile flight, that simply wasn’t feasible for her, yet. At least it wouldn’t be without proper preparation. Tifse was level headed enough to have pulled a map out and started helping her work out a better route.
If she hadn’t, Arxet might have picked a random direction over the lake and just started flying without any actual plan with the state she was in. Her mind felt like a screaming match of conflicting feelings: regret, anger, grief, terror, and even smug accomplishment. She had no idea how to feel. She only knew she couldn’t possibly go back.
Ultimately Tifse decided it would be safest to go southeast, into the Mercani Empire, but avoiding the bridge from the Aileri Peninsula to Fellrock. The fewer people who saw them during their flight, the better.
The empire was dangerous, especially for outsiders. Their guards were known to be especially belligerent toward law-breakers, racism and anti-coldmark sentiment was rabid there, and most distastefully, slavery was commonplace. Tifse would need to cover up her coldmark while they passed through. Being a rider would afford her some station, but the political influence of the ministry was weaker inside the borders of the empire. They would both have to be careful. A dragon with a coldmark would really stir up trouble. However, their borders were strict. If Arxet was set on avoiding the family, they were less likely to be followed into The Empire.
It took almost two hours to clear the strait and reach land again, but Arxet still wasn’t ready to land. Her wings ached, and she was experiencing hunger pangs like she hadn’t in years, but she needed to create as much distance as possible if she was going to avoid being tracked. She followed the arid scrub land along the coastline of the empire for as long as she could until she felt ready to crash. Amjazel’s words about pushing herself too hard rang out from the recesses of her mind like taunts until she finally relented.
She angled her wings and slowly made her descent toward the coastline below. The closest sign of civilization here was a small fishing village two or three miles further up. She wouldn’t have to worry too much about being bothered out here.
Her wings finally faltered when she was ready to flare them out and slow down enough for a landing, and instead she slammed feet first into the sand. She flipped forward and tumbled a dozen feet further until finding herself on her side, Tifse held on for dear life and tucked herself as close to Arxet’s back as possible to avoid being crushed in the crash, but still ended up battered. Some rock or shell was thrown up and left a bloody mark on her brow, and the fox was roughed up from the violent forces of the crash itself, but intact.
Arxet’s wings, back muscles, and tail ached as if she’d been beaten. Now that she was on the ground and not moving she didn’t think she’d be able to move again any time soon, and flying might be out of the question for days. Her stomach growled at the pair like a rabid animal ready to pounce if Arxet didn’t find food soon.
Tifse unbuckled herself and fell down onto Arxet’s wing, splayed out on the sand. The dragon groaned and made a weak flap to try and get her off. With the intensity of the soreness it felt like someone was striking her with hammers wherever Tifse put her weight.
The fox scrambled off as quickly as she could, able to feel the pain just as much, and collapsed face first into the sand. Every ache Arxet was suffering was shared just as much with her, and her legs were numb after not being able to stand for so long. Pins and needles shot through her as she struggled to stand again, and she nearly rolled her ankle getting her footing. She’d never had a chance to get her own set of rider armor to make her more comfortable during long flights. Only a sizing was done, and it wouldn’t be ready for another week or two at the earliest, not that picking it up would be an option anymore.
“We need food.” She sputtered out and leaned against Arxet’s chest for support as blood flowed back into her legs. “I’m going into that village. A few of your coins should get us plenty.”
Arxet just groaned and nodded. She hated giving up a part of her hoard, but she wasn’t in any state to argue, even if arguing was one of her favorite pastimes. “No fish.”
“That’s probably not gonna be an option here.” The fox sighed and patted Arxet’s forehead. “I’ll be back in an hour or two. Okay? Are you going to be alright?”
“Everything hurts. I just had to leave… them… behind. I’m back to not having a home. What do you think?” The eye facing Tifse glared. “I’m just going to lie here, and hopefully some monster comes along and eats me.”
“Yeah. That would really solve all my problems, wouldn’t it?” The fox sighed. “Don’t die, seriously. I hate you but I don’t want you dead. And that would leave me stranded in this shit hole.”
“No promises. Get lost.” Arxet closed her eye and tried to relax. Tifse could tell it wasn’t working. She was still freaking out inside after five hours of flight.
“Sure. Whatever you say.” Tifse patted the dragon’s brow again, over the coldmark, and went to get some coin from the saddlebag and then set out.
Today had spiraled out of control so quickly she still wasn’t sure what to make of it. Arxet had actually tried to do a nice thing for her, even if she was being a pain about it. They got to talk like regular people for a bit. It was… nice?
No, no. Nice seemed too strong of a word. It was tolerable. And after weeks of misery, ‘tolerable’ was a godsend.
And then Aquixi showed up.
She wasn’t sure what to make of the ancient dragon. She was supposed to be old and wise or something, but she’d come into that situation far too hot already. Tifse could tell the dragon cared in her own misguided way, and she was somewhat jealous of that. Her family didn’t care at all anymore. Why would they care about an unruly child like her? Arxet really didn’t realize how lucky she was, but Tifse knew better than to push that, especially now.
For now the two were stuck together, and that dumbass clearly needed a hand. She was hopeless on her own, and not just because she couldn’t talk with mortals herself as a dragon. Tifse would just have to be the mature one in the pair, and do the talking.
The sun felt nice on her scales as Arxet laid on the sand. That was about the only positive thing she could think of.
She still couldn’t bring herself to move. The lake stank along this shore. Algae blooms, dead fish, bird shit. You name it, she could smell it. However, she just endured the odor. She could probably try to move somewhere else, but she was sore, and she probably deserved a little bit of discomfort after her performance today.
What Rubis had said to her hurt, but did she really deserve what had happened? Aquixi was the one that pushed her to her limit, and she had gone and let it all out on the one person who was trying to make it right. “I’m such an idiot…”
This was all a mistake. She never should have tried to pick pockets with a dragon around. She never should have accepted Emren’s offer. She should have told Amjazel to go to hell at the offer to become a dragon. This didn’t feel worth it anymore.
She hated who she was, she hated who she had become. She hated every stupid decision she had made in her twenty two years of life. Amjazel was a fool to choose her. How could anyone love someone who couldn’t even love herself?
She wished she could be someone else. She needed to be. She couldn’t go on as Arxet. Arxet just made everything worse. She just wanted to curl up and shrink away from the world, to be impossible to find again. Someone actually worthy of love.
Something shifted.
Suddenly, everything felt… different. Arxet attempted to push herself up onto her side, but found her limbs weren’t in the usual arrangement. She turned her face down to her paws, and the texture of her cheek against the sand wasn’t the same as it was a moment ago. That felt like fur, not scale. She had hands again. They weren’t her old hands, either. These were brown, with paw pads and fur around the fingers, rather than her bare skin around the fingers she was accustomed to. Below that… orange. She was a fox. A red fox, like Audirei, not the desert fox Tifse was.
She sat up fully and felt over herself. Yeah, she had the assets to match her new gender as well in this body. She was even in the same dress robe she’d worn when she’d gone up to the transformation ceremony. “Tifse, hold on! I’m coming with you!” She shot up out of the dragon-shaped crater she had been laying in and started digging in the saddle bag for her armor.
The dragon in fox form caught up in just a few minutes. She was still sore, sure, but mostly in her back around where her wing muscles connected as a dragon. Her legs worked just fine.
Tifse had sat down on a rock by the shoreline to wait, and wasn’t really paying attention as her bonded dragon approached. She was so distracted she just gave a halfhearted polite wave at the ‘stranger’ as she came up to her.
“It’s me, Tifse.” A devious toothy grin entered the smaller fox’s peripheral vision, and their senses were shared for a moment to confirm. Tifse got a good view of herself through her dragon’s eyes.
“Arxet? What?” The rider nearly fell backwards off the rock in surprise. “You’re- you figured out- WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE AUDIREI?” Her fur puffed up in anger. “What, is this some sick-”
“Hey, hey, please calm down. I don’t even know why this is the form I took. I only just figured this whole shape-shifting thing out.” The taller fox patted her rider’s head. “I thought I was years from this.”
“That’s really creepy. You could be her sister, just with a coldmark.” Tifse pushed the hand away. “Why not just hide the coldmark? It’s gotten even bigger today too.”
“I just said I’m new to this, Tifse. Be a little patient, please.” She relented with the head patting and slid her helmet on. It didn’t fit quite as well as it did when she was a rat. Her eye holes and ear holes didn’t line up quite right, but it still covered up the coldmark. The rest of the plate armor was more easily adjusted. Amjazel and Emren must have been pretty confident about her being a girl, the armor fit even better like this. “If anyone asks I’m just another rider, okay?”
“Right…” Tifse seemed unsure about the plan. The dragon didn’t seem herself. She was being… reasonable? No. She was even being nice. “That does remind me, we’re not supposed to tell other people about you turning into a dragon. So Audirei can’t even know you’re Arxet.”
“Oh, easy. I just need a fake name. I’ve used them before on some uh… illegal activities. How about…” She racked her brain for options. A new name probably wouldn’t be a terrible idea if she was going to try and avoid being found by Amjazel, or even worse, Aquixi. Arxet could be easily modified into Arxeti using the feminine suffix common in the Tiskin language, but that would be dumb, and obvious. Her mind snapped to another option: the word for sapphire in Tiskin, Safrax. “I’ll be Safraxi.”
“You just pull that out of your ass now?” The fox squinted at the newly anointed Safraxi. “It means sapphire, right? That isn’t a bit…”
“Oh it’s not cheesy. I like it!” Safraxi crossed her arms. “Safi for short maybe, that sounds nice.”
“What is going on with you? You don’t feel like yourself-” This was really starting to creep Tifse out. “You haven’t even insulted me, even after I called the new face creepy.”
“You’re annoying. There. Is that better? And I hid the new face under the helmet anyway.” Safraxi rolled her eyes. The perks of a bond link were many, including that the rider could tell she had rolled her eyes behind the helmet. “I’m starving, can we get going? It’s gonna be a long walk on foot like this.”
“Uh- yeah. You… are annoying too, ice for brains. Let’s just go.” She turned and continued her march to the distant village.
Safraxi felt nearly ready to collapse by the time the pair made it to the village. She didn’t know where she had found the strength to not only shape shift but get up out of her dragon shaped crater earlier.
The two had walked in silence for the past hour, but Safraxi could tell that the change was still bothering Tifse. Meanwhile, Tifse was still utterly bewildered about what was going on with Arx- Safraxi? For some reason the dragon seemed to want to choose that as a new name. It wasn’t unusual, she supposed. She had changed her name as a child when she had realized she was a girl, but now seemed like such an odd time for it, even if Safraxi did have other reasonable excuses for it.
There was something else under the surface that she couldn’t neatly scrutinize. All of the rage and hurt that had been rampaging through their link for the flight out here had just… evaporated. Or was it still there somewhere, hidden? For a moment in the tunnel Safraxi had seemed like someone else entirely, then been back to her normal self for hours, and now she was back to being someone else, but in a completely different direction.
All she could really do now was try to ride it out. She wasn’t sure this was healthy, but she also knew the dragon wouldn’t really listen to her.
The village was about half the size of Tanenvil, but was in much better repair. The boats appeared newer and fresher than the other backwater fishing town. The buildings had fresh coats of paint. People’s clothes generally looked newer, and many even had brightly dyed accessories to go with them. Safraxi knew Mercani was supposed to be a wealthy nation, but she had assumed at least their far flung villages would still have a bit more disrepair.
As they came closer Tifse pointed out a rough walkway of wooden planks embedded into the soil above the beach, and they climbed up the embankment to take it the rest of the way. As they crossed the edge of the village Safraxi stumbled over to an overturned bucket and sank down. “I need… I need a minute. Just… come find me.”
“Yeah…” Tifse hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t sure Safraxi should be left alone here of all places. “...alright. But I’ll be quick.” She dashed into the town, searching for any kind of store or stand selling food. The villagers all seemed a bit confused at her presence. Mercanians were primarily avian. Mammals and reptiles were treated as a lower class. Her behavior right now would be considered downright brazen and she knew it.
Finally, almost at the far side of the cluster of buildings, she found the market stalls. She ran straight up to the fishmonger and fumbled for Safraxi’s coin purse. “I just need fish. Just like… a fuck ton. How much do you have?” She glanced over the various fish hanging from the racks, in buckets, laid out on the table, and piled to the side. “Yeah, all of it should be enough.”
“S’cuse me?” The sleepy looking crane behind the stand blinked at her.
“I’m a rider. My dragon is hungry.” She flashed a silver coin. “This should cover it.”
“Uh huh…” The crane eyed her up and down. Tifse’s fur on the back of her neck stood up at the appraisal. “You here on… official rider business? In these here parts?”
Right. She cursed herself. The Empire was so strict with its borders that even riders and dragons needed to have papers to show they were on official business, or else they’d be treated like any other criminal or illegal immigrant. The nation had an ego big enough to set conditions for a goddess and treat her servants and family with suspicion, not to mention bullying and exploiting their neighbors. “Got called in for rumors of a Rabisu a town over. I was going to ask around if anyone here had seen anything odd recently.”
“What town?” The crane eyed her.
Why was this guy being so suspicious of her? For fish? “Like I can remember all of your weird Mercani names. I barely speak the language. Can I just buy some fish and we’ll be out of your feathers?”
“Two silver for the lot.” The fishmonger crossed his arms and leaned back against the building behind him.
“TWO SILV- fine. It’s not my money anyway.” She slammed two silver down on the counter. “You got a wheelbarrow I can borrow?”
“Not for you. Now, you’d better hurry and get your fish off my stand, girl, before I start mixing it up with my stock.” He slid the coins off the counter and into his pocket.
“I just bought your whole stock.”
“I don’t see the connection.” He smirked at her. “Get it off my stand.”
Tifse cursed and started grabbing the various fish and tucking as many of them as she could under her arm, into her bag, and even one in her teeth for her first trip. Safraxi’s hunger pangs were getting to her. She dashed across the town back to the dragon and dumped all the fish at her feet. “I know you said no fish but that’s going to be most of what we can find in this town. I’ll be right back.”
“I don’t remember saying- okay.” Safraxi trailed off as Tifse sprinted back over to the stand. She nearly lost her footing on the wet mossy cobblestones around the dock as she skidded to a halt in front of the stand and prepared to grab what was left.
“Hey! Hey! What do you think you’re doin’, girl?” The crane slammed his hands onto the table. “In these parts we pay for things, instead of just grabbin’ ‘em!”
“I just paid for these though!” She grit her teeth and clenched her fists on the counter top.
“You paid for that bunch you ran over yonder with. If you want the rest, it’s another two silver.” He grinned at her. Who the hell was this tar pit of a bird to try and pull this on a rider, let alone anyone else?
“I paid for the lot.” She slammed her hand down onto the table and dragged a barbel toward her. “You’re not going to fuck me on this.”
“Language, girl. There are kids in this village.” The bird pulled the barbel back, but Tifse’s grip was strong.
The fox was already well built before the bonding, but she had draconic magic flowing through her now. It hadn’t settled in quite fully, she couldn’t pick up an entire person as casually as Emren had lifted her one time (she had struggled getting down from Safraxi’s saddle the first couple of times), but it was more than enough to out-wrestle one greasy Mercani asshole. “Oh, and ripping off strangers is somehow better than saying a bad word?” She put on a baby voice for the second half. “You’re pathetic!”
“Get your filthy paws off my fish you mangy-” He never got a chance to finish the sentence as her gauntleted hand collided with his beak. The bird was out like a light in an instant, his beak may even be fractured.
“Safraxi we have to go. Now. Get your fish and get ready to run.” She scrambled to cram as much fish into her bag and arms as she could and ran for the entrance to town.
“Tifse, did you just-” Safraxi was already up and trying to carry as much as she could, but her saddlebag was already full after she’d stuffed her dress robe in, and she really didn’t want fish getting on it, even if she did know a simple cleaning spell. The villagers were already crowding and yelling for help after witnessing the assault. Angry looking men were running into their houses with intention.
“OH PLEASE LIKE YOU HAVEN’T DONE WORSE! CHANGE! CHANGE! DRAGON TIME!” She flew past her partner in crime and out onto the wooden path again.
Safraxi gave up on picking up all the fish and sprinted after with only a few tucked in her arms. The two of them did, theoretically, have numerous magical advantages that should give them better speed and stamina. Even in an anthronoid form Safraxi had her draconic strength, but two of the other townsfolk were hot on their heels. One, a kingfisher, had a club, and the other, an eagle, had a hatchet. Hardly the most effective of weaponry, but still potentially dangerous, especially with how drained Safraxi was.
The dragon was barely keeping up, and the two men were gaining. Safraxi was wearing a full suit of rider plate, in the summer heat, on an empty stomach. If she were a fire dragon the heat wouldn’t be an issue, but it was well established she had none of those perks she should have been afforded. Tifse was right at home in the dry heat, and was wearing lighter armor, but she knew that her keeping ahead was not the problem.
When the rider finally came to the realization that they were being caught it was almost too late. The eagle with the hatchet had managed to hook Safraxi’s ankle and send her careening to the ground. The dragon’s chest was heaving with strain. After a full day of flight with no food she had no energy to spare. Tifse was hardly in any better shape, and was thoroughly distracted by her dragon’s pain, but at least had some energy to push through.
She turned heel and charged back at the men, dropping the fish and instead drawing her blade. Fortunately, even if her rider armor never finished, her personalized khopesh had been delivered only a day earlier. “Get away from her you trolls!” She ducked under a sloppy swing with the club and body slammed all four foot and two inches of her armored weight into the kingfisher’s groin. The man almost did a full frontward flip as she barreled right through his legs and under him, and his face slammed beak first into the back of Safraxi’s breastplate.
The eagle took the chance to swing with his axe while Tifse was regaining her footing, and the fox barely brought her left armored wrist up in time to deflect. However, the angle of the block was just so slightly off, and the axe found purchase in the unprotected flesh of her elbow. Pain shot through her arm, and she leapt back to try and regain herself.
The man charged again, but this time she was ready. As he brought the hatchet down she hooked the sword onto the handle, diverted it safely away from herself, and slashed the eagle’s ankle before he could recover.
As his tendon was severed he collapsed with a pained yell and dropped the axe. She quickly kicked it away and then began repeatedly stomping his face into the dirt. “Piece of…” Pain shot through her as she allowed herself to relax her elbow. Blood was already pouring down her left arm where she’d failed to deflect the axe.
“Ngh… Tifse, what happened?” Safraxi shoved the unconscious kingfisher off her. Her entire body was shaking, her head was swimming.
“Just grab some fish, dumbass. Come on! Someone else is going to- nngh-” She flinched and grabbed her arm as she tried to pick up the dropped food. “Fuck! Why did I ever tell you to go east?”
“Hold… hold on. I have bandages in the saddle bag I think…” She pulled it off of her shoulder and started to dig through.
“We don’t have time! Someone else might be coming! These two could wake up! We-” Safraxi cut her off as she was yanked down onto the ground next to the dragon.
“This will only take a second.” Safraxi tore open the fabric of the shirt. Luckily the axe caught the arm without the coldmark, so now each sideof her shirt would match with the huge obvious stitched up tears, once this side was repaired, of course. Safraxi poured a bit of water out of their canteen to clean the wound before tightly wrapping the limb and tying it off. Tifse sensed actual care and concern from her bonded partner. This wasn’t just about stopping her own pain for the dragon.
“Easy enough, I was forced to learn how to tend to wounds like that on the streets years ago. This was nothing, considering.” Safraxi returned the bandages and canteen to her bag and turned back to Tifse with a smile. “Okay, let’s get the fish and go!” The dragon then wobbled back to her feet and began the process of grabbing the scattered fish.
“Why are you acting like you care about me all of a sudden?” Tifse’s voice cracked as she looked up at Safraxi in consternation. “Earlier- earlier you tried to do something nice for me, but I could tell that it was also to benefit yourself. This was different. I could tell. What happened? This- you don’t feel like yourself, you don’t look or sound like yourself.” She could only watch as the red fox grabbed up as many of the fish as she could carry.
“I don’t- I don’t know. I guess… I felt like… who I was before wasn’t working. Maybe. You probably just saved my life, too. So I guess I owe you for that.” Safraxi averted her eyes. “Let’s talk about this later. I don’t want you to get hurt aga-”
Tifse had shot to her feet and wrapped her arms around the taller fox’s waist and buried her face into Safraxi’s chest. “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you, I think I still want you to go back to normal, but thank you.” The last few words barely came out as a sob punched its way between them. She hadn’t been shown kindness like that in too long.
Tears were streaming down the shorter fox’s face. Safraxi felt torn. She still didn’t understand why Tifse was so worried about her, but she felt as if she might have made some kind of progress. She wrapped her arms around her rider’s shoulders and rested her head atop the other, her own eyes misting up.