Chapter 13: Chapter 13
The march to The Point was even more miserable than it had ever been before, except for when it was Gavin who was being led along by the soldiers. As Nya walked with her family, under close guard by a detail of soldiers, though she wasn’t bound as she had been during the ceremony, she dreaded every step she took. Her stomach was twisted in a knot so tight, she thought she might vomit at any moment, not that there were any contents in her stomach except for acid. She hadn’t eaten anything all day, she’d been so upset about the events of the ceremony. Now, with Alsys wailing in the distance and the soldiers who were practically dragging her to The Point shouting at her to keep moving, she wanted to break away from the guards, her family, everyone, and help the poor little girl who was about to become a dragon’s dinner.
But she couldn’t do anything to help Alsys, just as she hadn’t been able to help Gavin. At least he had gone peacefully. He hadn’t cried or screamed the way that Alsys was. Most of the time, they didn’t carry on like this. Most of the time, the sacrifices were too scared to make much of a fuss. Alsys broke from the norm. How she continued to cry and scream so loudly without her voice breaking, Nya didn’t know, but when the king sighed loudly and covered his ears, she knew it was getting to her father as well. Not enough for him to put an end to the shenanigans, though. He wouldn’t dare call off the sacrifice.
Instead, Rok said something to one of the soldiers in her escort, and the fellow ran across the distance to the other path, the one that was already veering off toward The Point whereas the royal family was headed toward the tower. It was difficult to see what was going on over there as the soldier approached the other detail. Nya needed to keep an eye on where she was walking so she didn’t trip over her long gown, but she also wanted to see what Rok had ordered. She peered through the night, into the distance, and watched as the soldier he’d sent scooped the girl up into his arms and carried her on.
Nya turned to Rok, an eyebrow arched in question.
“May as well stop the delays,” he said with a shrug. “There is nothing that can be done for her.”
The girl was still screaming, but at least she wasn’t slowing the escort down now. It was all so awful, Nya had no response for the military commander. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, watching the rocky path for obstacles that might cause her to trip and trying her best to block out the cries for help Alsys was sending up to anyone or anything that could hear her. No one was coming to help.
They reached the stairs that led up the hillside to the tower. Nya gathered her skirts and followed her family up, soldiers between them, behind her, and even on either side of her, giving her very little room on each of the narrow steps. She said nothing, only climbed.
The door to the tower was opened by a member of the military who was there already, making sure it was secure before the royal family entered. The king went first, followed by Queen Shu, Eru, and then a mass of guards, and finally Nya, followed by more guards. They took their places so that they could witness the abomination taking place at The Point, off in the distance.
Nya saw the girl’s detail coming into place and watched as the soldiers hurriedly attached her frail arms to the altar. She wondered if they’d have to make any adjustments to the restraints, considering how small Alsys’s arms were. They couldn’t possibly fit the same clamps that had been used to hold Gavin, could they?
Satisfied that the girl was secure, the soldiers moved off, most of them running, some marching at a quick pace, all of them wanting to put some distance between themselves and the dragon which would surely be making his appearance in the next few moments.
Once the soldiers were out of the picture, hurrying to hide in the tall grass far from The Point, but not so far that they couldn’t attempt to fight off the dragon if he should move toward the nearby villages or the tower, Nya had nothing to watch except for the tiny figure who was struggling to free herself from the chains that held her in place.
Alsys was putting up quite the fight. Nya couldn’t remember ever seeing a sacrifice fight so hard to get free. She was pulling and straining, attempting to break the chains free of the bars on either side of her or get her hands worked out of the chains. Nya wondered if she’d go so far as to leave her hands behind, if that was an option.
Her eyes went to the sky as she scanned the horizon, watching, waiting for him. For the dragon. The beast that would swoop out of the sky and snatch up the poor, wailing girl in the distance.
She heard his wings before she saw him. He seemed to come out of nowhere; he wasn’t there, and then he was, his large wings batting through the air, stirring up a breeze, even in the distance. He flew over the moon, the light of the full sphere illuminating his dark scales as he paused, wings spread, head held high, pointy, sharp tail outstretched. His front claws were menacing as he hung there in the air, and though Nya assumed he was truly studying the small girl at The Point, for a moment, as she stared up at the full, glowing orb behind the monster, she thought his eyes were looking directly back at her. Nya didn’t blink, choosing instead to keep her eyes trained on his glowing irises, a mixture of gold and red from this distance. Whether or not the creature could even see her, she didn’t care, choosing to believe that he could see her, that he would see her, and that when he saw her again, close up and armed, he would fear her.
As quickly as he paused, he was moving again, swooping down to The Point, and coming to a halt directly in front of the girl.
Her screams had morphed from juvenile shrieks to screeches of terror, ear-splitting, high-pitched, mind rattling, shrill cries that cut to Nya’s bones. “Mama! Mama!” Alsys called. Mama wasn’t coming. No one was coming.
The dragon did the same thing he always did, freeing the girl from the restraints by knocking them loose, rather than ripping her from the ties and possibly severing an arm. In this case, it made sense because the girl was so tiny, every ounce of meat had to count for something.
Once Alsys was free, she tried to run, dragging the long chains behind her on the ground and getting about four steps before the massive dragon reached out with a front paw and wrapped it around her thin frame. He didn’t even have to take a step forward to collect his prize. Somehow, the dragon removed the chains from the girl so that they’d be left behind, as they always were, and she’d be lifted off of the ground without the extra weight, not that she would be heavy for him in the slightest.
Then, with the girl in his clutches, no longer screaming, either because he was squeezing her so tightly she couldn’t breathe, or because she was too terrified to make a peep, he looked toward the tower. Nya watched as her father took two steps backward, as if he might run and hide in the stairwell where the dragon’s fire couldn’t hit him. Nya didn’t move, though. If anything, she would’ve moved closer to the window, raised a sword, taunted the dragon, “Come and get me!” She didn’t take those steps, knowing it would do no one any good. Her time hadn’t come yet, and Alsys was no longer savable.
The dragon turned away from them and then, with his large wings spread wide, he took off, making a large circle over the countryside between The Point and the village and then turning to head back toward his own mountain home.
Nya kept her eyes on him until she could no longer see him, stepping to the window and moving in the direction in which he was disappearing. When he was a tiny dot on the horizon, she blinked for the first time since he had first come into her line of sight. In her mind, Nya swore to herself, “I’m going to kill that bastard.”
If there was anything in the world that she could do about it, Alsys would be the last sacrifice the Kingdom of Frindom ever made.