Chapter 41: Behave!

It started as a tingle in her wings, like she felt when a thunderstorm closed in. The very air around her bristled and crackled with a stray charge as Nahana built up to her full size. Sylph stood face to face with a furious storm that threatened to both bite her head off and electrocute her at once, and she wondered if Nahana had always been that large and she so small.

“I wanted to thank him for my rescue,” Sylph threw the words into the room, but they did nothing to calm the storm. If Nahana was not her mother, she would have surrendered and begged for her life at this point. She must have overheard the last part of their conversation.

“Where is your guard?” Nahana sneered. Sylph’s wings quivered, and she ducked a step backwards as the added emotion hit her like a brick wall of rage. She expected her anger if they caught her, but feeling it was unexpected. “Well, I came out of the bathroom and he was gone, smell apparently made him run away, haha.”

Nahana’s tail sailed through the room and Sylph dodged backwards to not get touched. “I swear, if you have killed one of my guards for this nonsense-”

“I would not do that! He was just very distracted while I slipped away. Probably thinks I am still suffering in there. He knows nothing.”

Nahana’s face cramped up as if a fuse had finally blown. She drew in some air and swallowed, but her expressions deflated. The crackle in the air vanished, and she continued with an exceptionally calm voice. “I will deal with him later. Take Sylph back to the balcony. No matter what she says, she stays right there until I am back. Do you understand?” The two guards nodded. “No exceptions at all.” They nodded once more, stepped forwards and Sylph followed without a sound or complaint, best to not rile her up any further right now.

She heard the booing and cheering outside as soon as they left the visitors’ room. Back on the balcony, she saw why. The human killed the waterfiend, an impressive feat for the old man. Dave rested, covered in blood, and looked mightily unimpressed. His gaze firmly fixated the empty balcony and as soon as Sylph stepped up, they all focused on her. She wished she stood down there instead, fighting odds stacked against her. Instead, they now seemed to wait for her to do something, so her gaze swiveled to Nahana’s vacant lounge, too. It hopefully said ‘I am waiting for her too, please do not expect me to act’.

Not that she wanted Nahana to return. Perhaps there was something she could do- “Speaking as a father myself,” the older of the two guards addressed her, “this is the point where you should not aggravate our mistress any further.” The second guard nodded fervently.

If they talked to her, perhaps against their better judgment, it might be a good idea to stop. The guards must know Nahana’s temper. “I guess I can continue to be difficult later.”

The anticipation of punishment was worse than punishment. From house arrest to the alley, it could be anything until it was something. It took Nahana several minutes to return and when she finally did; she sat down as if nothing happened. She would not make a scene in front of a large audience. As far as they knew, Sylph did nothing, and everything was fine.

A pinkish-red Sol flew up to the announcer, and they exchanged a few words. “Oh my, we have another match lined up, changed at the last minute.” The excited voice droned through the arena. “You might remember him. Leaving the entrance, Dust, the traitor!”

Sylph turned to face Nahana. Was she going to punish Dust for what she did? “Actions have consequences, little one. I’ll leave it up to you what action of yours prompted this.” The words hit her like a punch. Why should Dust of all dragons bear Nahana’s rage for that?

Dust entered the arena, his wings tightly bound to his body with sturdy metal braces. The crowd could not decide who to boo or cheer. Dust’s mouth moved, but Sylph did not hear what they said with the surrounding noise, probably the usual pleasantries before a bout. Her claws dug a little deeper into the lounge. This would end in a death.

They both took a fighting stance and charged at each other a second later. It was a clear win for Dust. Dave barely reached up to his head. In her mind, the fight played out in a variety of ways, all easy wins for the large Sol. And yet, they moved like nothing she had anticipated.

Dust surged forward, aiming to bite the human’s shield arm but smashed straight into the counter. “No!” Sylph yelled out and watched in horror as Dave’s spear embedded itself in Dust’s torso, piercing the dragonheart.

The crowd was in an uproar. “Dave win-” the announcer started, but was cut short when Nahana leaped off the balcony.

Dave did not even notice her landing right behind him. Her pfods closed around his head. He yanked at the spear to retaliate, but before it dislodged, his body jumped forwards as if struck with a massive hammer. Nahana had discharged her weapon straight through his head. His body dropped to the floor when she let go.

Watching the scene unfold, Dust sat down, tail curled all the way around himself and wore a strange look of contempt on his face. How could he simply sit there and bleed? Deep down, she knew the wound was fatal and that nothing would save him, but how did he sit there so still, accepting his fate?

Nahana clasped his throat and dragged his head down to her eye-level. “You coward!” she hissed. “I should’ve known.”

He spat out a jet of blood, and his answer was too silent for her to pick up. Nahana’s voice, however, was loud enough. “It is not. You choose the easy way, as always.”

His next cough sent blood gushing from the wound. Sylph had never seen so much red before, and it made her feel queasy. It kept flowing; She was watching him die, unable to stop it. Her heart hammered cold in her chest and she wished for working wings. Not that she would make it very far with an angry Aer behind her and Brandon in her claws, but she would try.

Dust closed his eyes and dropped limply to the side. Nahana stepped on his head, drilling it deeper into the sand before her attention turned back to the balcony. If gazes could kill, Sylph would not even have seen that one coming.

She spun around on the lounge. Five guards lined up in the corridor made quick work of her thoughts of escape, and Nahana’s arrival behind her locked away the last idea of freedom.

“Take her to her room. We need to talk,” Nahana said, her voice cold.

Sylph followed the guards. It was impossible to escape right now.

They locked the door behind her and she curled up on the soft nest, waiting for things to come. Everything had gone wrong. She could not fight the entire palace. She could barely face one unarmed guard, and running from Nahana through the desert was a death sentence. Her pfod tensed up. She escaped Tanno. She would escape Nahana. Her gaze went up to the small windows, the drawers, finally the carpet. Not here, not now, but she would get them out of here. She had all the non-answers she came for.

“I need to use the bathroom?” There was no response until the lock turned and a large metal pot sailed through the half-opened door. It clattered over the floor with a deep, hollow thump. Perhaps she could knock somebody out with the chamber pot. It was almost too heavy to lift with one arm, after all.

********************

The sun had nearly set when the lock turned again. Nahana entered, wearing a big fake smile on her face. “Why would you want to leave me already?” Her sickly sweet voice turned Sylph’s insides sour.

She had tried everything but reason, at this point trying that could hardly make things worse. “I don’t belong here. Not in the desert, not in Senbo. Not as your heir. Do you really think I am gonna change much from how I am now?”

Nahana laid down on the nest next to her, surrounding Sylph with her body. “You are wrong, you belong here, you belong to me.”

“I belong to no one.” Sylph tried to roll out of her grasp, but Nahana enveloped her with her wing, not touching, but too close for comfort and stopping her from escaping. “You are my heir. You may not act like it, but I will make sure you learn how, one way or another.”

The threats were not subtle. “I might be your daughter, but I won’t be your heir. You don’t need me. Farron sounds quite eager to take over after you.”

Nahana scoffed. “As long as you are alive, Farron can not. You are my firstborn. That right belongs to you and you alone, according to the ancient laws of the great desert.”

“Says who?”

“Non other than queen Oasis, hundreds of years ago,” Nahana said and turned her gaze inward to face Sylph.

Sylph carefully brought up her tail. “You are not even a Sol, nor Sol royalty. You just took over. Why would these rules apply to you?”

Her eyes slimmed. “There is always a first ruler. And I shall abide by Oasis’ rules and customs that kept her desert safe for generations. So please make this easier for both of us and stop the nonsense.”

“No.” Sylph realized too late that it had not been a question. The air prickled with charge once more. Nahana lifted her wings further away. “I was afraid you might say that.” She flicked her tail against the floor and immediately two guards barged through the door. One of them held a thick iron collar in one of his pfod. “I am grounding you.”

The sight was enough to ignite every muscle in her body. Sylph rolled out of the nest, through Nahana’s wings, just in time to evade her grab. This was her last chance to escape. Her dragonheart flared up hotter.

Nahana spun around on the spot, pressed her legs into the nest and followed Sylph before she could get into an adequate stance. She tried to dodge to the side, but Nahana’s speed and range matched Veria. Her pfod closed around Sylph’s horns and she threw her towards the wall. Sylph rolled to catch herself and retaliate, but Nahana expected her move and stopped her mid roll by stepping on her neck. Sylph grasped for a breath as Nahana’s pfod pushed down harder.

If Sylph were larger and older, this would not work. Nahana eased a little pressure to let Sylph breathe. She had to think; fighting larger opponents was the hardest, especially when they had already won. “Let me go!” Sylph yelled and tried to wriggle out of the pin, but Nahana’s pfod rested defiantly on her throat, telling her that she could suffocate her at any moment she choose to.

“It’s for your own good,” Nahana said. “I have to teach you to follow.”

Sylph’s dragonheart burned with full intensity. She would not accept this loss. If Nahana wanted a proper fight, she would get an actual fight. “Nobody will ever put me on a leash again,” Sylph screamed, twisted her head and neck to the point of being painful, scraped her horns through the wooden flooring and used all of her strength to lunge at Nahana’s other arm. Nahana apparently did not expect her to retaliate even further and was too slow to press down her throat. Sylph’s jaw closed around the lower part of her arm and easily pierced the pale blue scales. Fresh blood filled her mouth, and she bit down harder, but Nahana’s arm was simply too big to shatter the bone.

Nahana renewed her grip and tightened it around her throat, but she would not let go. More blood flowed from the wound, attracted by her ability, and the arm shriveled. Nahana pulled back with a pained yelp. Sylph released her jaw and followed up, turned onto her side and kicked after Nahana’s soft underbelly with her hind legs, resulting in several large scratches.

The two guards collided with her half a second later and pressed her to the floor with their combined bulk. Sylph charged up, but was far too slow. The collar snapped shut around her neck, a chain already attached to it, fixed to a ring on the wall at the end.

Nahana stood still, studying her shriveled arm in frozen fascination.

Fury spread through Sylph’s body, even hotter than the fire from her dragonheart. “You will pay for this!”

Nahana returned a stony stare. “You’ll learn to behave the hard way, little one,” she said with a sadistic smile. Sylph pushed herself forward, claws digging into the carpet, ripping threads away. The collar choked her, but she did not care. The ring on the wall would give out first and then she would wipe that smile off Nahana’s face. “Don’t you dare call me little one!” Sylph spat, “Get me off this chain and I’ll see this through to the end!” The guards motioned her to stop talking with gestures from behind.

Nahana bared her teeth. Finally, she showed some more genuine emotions, so Sylph continued. “I would rather spend another hatchlinghood as somebody’s pet than accept you as my mother. You do not deserve to wear that title just because you got stuffed enough to repopulate a small town.”

“I have heard enough, gag her.” Her mother’s face turned to an even nastier stare as she eyed the bright green carpet below, turning dark with wetness. “Belay that order.” Sadly, she was smart enough to not have somebody step on a conductive surface with an Aer. Her gaze shifted upward with utter disdain. “You are a disgrace of a daughter,” she muttered under her breath. Nahana’s tail flung through the room like a whip and hit Sylph straight in the side of her face, leaving a red fiery streak on her snout in the form of her fins. “Don’t expect me to give you as much as a wet cloth.” Nahana eyed her for a second of thought, then left.

The door fell closed behind them and Sylph dropped to the floor as her dragonheart shut down. Every hint of fighting spirit left her body. “Why?”

She examined the bloody streak on her face. Tears formed in her eyes and streamed down her face as the world came crashing down around her. “It hurts,” she wailed and caressed her burning snout with her pfod. It was not a terrible wound, but the sheer disrespect was too much and she had no strength left to stop any emotion.

All the degradation, the pretending, the fear and the blood to get here just to find out that the reason for her life was as simple as stupid greed. Now her own mother collared her once again. Not only her, she had led Brandon here with her. She hoped he was alright, that perhaps Nahana would hide all of this from him for now. Still, she wished he was in this room to talk to her, that anybody was here with her.

She curled her tail around herself, cradling it in between her pfods like she did as a scared hatchling. A slave again. No one wanted to be Sylph. Maybe she deserved this for distrusting the mothers that actually meant well. She had killed; she had done terrible things. Nobody could be blamed but her.

She heaved as more tears streamed down her face in ugly streams. She squeezed her eyes closed and curled up tighter. With her wings pressed tightly to her back, and tail between her legs, she made herself as small as possible and cowered on the wet carpet.

“I want to go home.”