Chapter 16: Into the Drakeclaws

 Chapter 16: Into the Drakeclaws

The first pale rays of dawn cast their weak light over the ragged edge of Ember Hollows, stirring Ariel from a fitful sleep. For a moment, disorientation held her. She felt the rough scrape of scales beneath her cheek, the cold, unforgiving ground beneath her knees. Memories of the last few days tumbled back into place. She blinked groggily, her muscles aching with every movement.

When she finally sat up, she found herself still encircled by the three wyverns—Neo, Silverwing, and their younger sibling—who had spread their wings around her, Noah, and Zed through the night to block the piercing wind. Zed was curled at her feet, snoring softly.

A few steps away, Noah stood peering out at the distant Drakeclaw Mountains, their peaks etched in sharp relief against a sky of iron gray. The change from the forest to this bleak, rocky landscape was stark. Loose stones and patches of windblown sand stretched away, and every gust felt like it carried shards of ice.

“Morning,” he said, hearing Ariel stir behind him. His voice cracked with exhaustion.

She offered a weak smile. “Morning. How’s Neo?”

They both looked at the older wyvern, who still had a dark patch of dried blood around the wound where the arrow had lodged itself. He stirred, blinking golden eyes, clearly still in pain. A low groan rumbled from his throat.

Ariel slipped free of the protective ring of scales and approached Neo, humming softly. Silverwing and the youngest wyvern immediately lifted their heads, watching her. The small unicorn, Zed, rose too, following with a limp curiosity. Neo allowed Noah to approach as well, and together, they managed to remove the broken arrow, staunch a bit of fresh bleeding, and soothe the wyvern’s nerves with gentle words and quiet humming.

“That’s all we can do for now,” Noah said, wiping a streak of blood off his hand.

Neo exhaled a shaky breath and settled onto his belly, wincing but otherwise calm. The sharp tang of worry hung in the air—none of them could afford to rest too long, but traveling with an injured wyvern was no small burden.

Ariel ran her hand over Neo’s flank in an attempt at comfort, and then, to her surprise, she felt a rush of emotion—fear, longing, relief—like a whisper of insight from the wyvern’s mind. She glanced at Silverwing and the younger sibling, who both eyed the mountains with a blend of yearning and trepidation.

She didn’t know how to ask them directly, but her bond with them was strong enough that single words and impressions formed in her mind. Flying… can’t… Ariel caught flickers of regret as the images swirled: the vast heights of Drakeclaw’s peaks, a place of swirling snow and jagged crags. She saw fleeting images of older wyverns, stern-faced, warning them not to go near the humans’ land. A pang of guilt and sadness flowed from them.

“They can’t fly over the mountains,” she translated to Noah, her voice hushed. “They’re not strong enough yet. They’re… too young. That’s why they were traveling on foot—or, well, on wings and feet—when they got captured.”

Noah rubbed his arms, trying to fight the cold. “So there’s no easy way around?”

Ariel shook her head, frowning. She picked up bits and pieces from Silverwing’s mind—an image of a hidden pass wreathed in shadows, somewhere high in the mountains. Dangerous—the word pulsed in her thoughts. That was where Fig’s men had ambushed them, dragging them away from the Vale. It seemed to be the only route they knew.

“They’re saying,” she explained, “that the only path through Drakeclaw is near the place where they were taken. It’s dangerous, but they have no other way. And…” She hesitated, catching more flashes of memory: the wyvern siblings laughing, ignoring warnings, crossing into Ember Hollows on a whim. “They… disobeyed their parents by exploring that dangerous path where they were taken from” she said softly. “That’s how they ended up in Emberwood to begin with.”

A tremor went through Silverwing. The younger wyvern averted its eyes, as if ashamed. Ariel felt a sudden wave of kinship with them. She slid her hand from Neo’s flank to Silverwing’s foreleg.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “When you found me, I wasn’t supposed to be there, either. I… disobeyed my parents too.” She swallowed hard, remembering the pang of running from the Uni barn with Zed. “I understand.”

Silverwing’s tense posture relaxed fractionally. A faint rumble emerged from its chest. For a moment, Ariel sensed both relief and sorrow, a subtle apology for all that had gone wrong. She returned a tentative smile.

Noah, who had been absorbing all of this with quiet astonishment, cleared his throat. “So the path is near where they were captured—dangerous or not, it’s our only shot at getting them home.” He glanced at Ariel, voice trembling with worry. “We can’t turn back now, but that means we have to follow them into Drakeclaw Vale… right where Fig’s men might be waiting.”

Ariel squared her shoulders. “Yes,” she whispered, bracing herself. “We’ll be careful. We have no other choice.”

They shared a solemn look. Zed brushed his muzzle against Ariel’s hand, as if giving his own wordless agreement to the plan.

Deciding it was time to move, they gathered the meager supplies that remained. The wind had picked up, raking across the barren land around them, sending dust devils spinning across the stony ground. One by one, the wyverns stretched their wings, as if testing the air. Neo gritted his teeth (or the wyvern equivalent of it), but signaled his willingness to continue with a snort.

Walking now felt less like a flight from danger and more like a march toward it. By late afternoon, they’d reached a rocky plateau that gave them a stark view of the mountainous approach. The Drakeclaw Mountains loomed, their jagged peaks veiled by swirling clouds. The path leading upward looked barely passable—narrow, steep, and lined with treacherous crags.

The day waned, and exhaustion gnawed at them all. When dusk began to swallow the sky, they stumbled upon a shallow alcove—just enough to shield from direct wind, though not by much. Zed clung close to Ariel’s side, shivering. She and Noah shared the last of their dried bread with him, while the wyverns huddled together in an imposing circle.

Ariel tried to quell the knot in her stomach. At least they’d made it one step closer to the Vale. Tomorrow, they would need the last of their strength for whatever dangers the pass held. She missed her parents so intensely that her throat tightened. Noah stared at the ground, lost in similar worries.

They tried to settle down for the night. Snow flurries had started drifting in the air, and the wind howled like a living creature. Once again, the wyverns bent their wings, forming a protective half-dome around the children and Zed, sharing warmth. The kids nestled into each other, cloaked in battered blankets.

Just when Ariel’s eyelids grew heavy, a low growl from Silverwing snapped her back to full awareness. She sat up, heart pounding, and peered over the wyvern’s outstretched wing.

At first, she saw nothing but endless darkness. Then a flicker of orange caught her eye. Far off across the rocky plain, a smattering of torches bobbed, tiny points of light moving closer. A wave of dread slammed into her, pinning her chest tight.

Fig’s men. They’d managed to track them across the cold wasteland, and they were closing in again.

Noah must have caught the shape of her silhouette tensing; he crawled forward, eyes wide with alarm. “Are those…?”

Ariel nodded grimly, her pulse drumming in her ears. “We have to go,” she whispered, though her body felt so drained she wasn’t sure she could even stand. The scattered torches bobbed in uneven lines, but they were unmistakably heading their way.

With a shudder, she pulled her blanket around her shoulders and reached for Zed, who whimpered softly. The wyverns rumbled, now fully alert, muscles coiled. They, too, understood the threat that glowed faintly in the distance.

“We’ll rest no more tonight,” Ariel murmured. “Because it looks like the men who want us caught are here… again.”

Silverwing shifted to let out a low, urgent cry, and Neo gave a sharp hiss. The children braced themselves. A single, terrifying thought pulsed in Ariel’s mind: We may not outrun them this time.

Yet they had no choice but to try.