Page 71 of Starside

It couldn’t have been me who did that. I would be in pieces. The dragon must have been below. It must have risen, just like the sword, to meet me.

Not that I want to complain about someone saving my life … but why?

As if feeling that I’m awake, the dragon begins to fly lower, and my sweaty hands fight for purchase again. Shit. I grit my teeth as it soars down, right toward a field. The dragon lands smoothly, but my body slams against its back, then slides. I barely manage to stay on.

The moon is still out. It’s dark.

My chest clenches with panic, just before I spot the sun, just beginning to crest the horizon. The dragon flew all through the night. For hours. For me.

It sighs loudly beneath me, as if the journey cost it something. I finally stand, wincing at the pain in my bones, grateful I somehow didn’t break any. Then, I slide down its leg and promptly fall on my ass.

The dragon is staring at me.

It has large silver eyes, and scales like a mosaic of moonlight. A crown of spikes adorns its head, continuing down its neck, between a set of glimmering spiral horns.

“You—you saved me,” I say from the ground, like an idiot.

It just breathes heavily through its nostrils, like it was an awful imposition.

I stand slowly, studying the dragon up close, aware that it could kill me a thousand ways before I even reached for the sword I can barely carry. But it wouldn’t have saved me and flown all this way if it planned to kill me … right?

Its head is larger than my body, and its body is larger than a house, but it’s not the largest dragon. There were bigger ones in the sky above the Beast Tree. Still, despite its relatively small size, it has an energy around it, just like my sword.

Its color is the most special part of all.

“You’re silver, like me,” I say, pulling down my collar. Showing it what I’ve never shown anyone but Stellan and my family before.

The dragon dips its head to my level. I should stumble back—but I take a step closer. I extend my hand, aware the creature could eat it, or incinerate it, in a moment.

Instead—it bows into my touch.

All at once, a spark jolts through my arm, down to my feet. A connection, just like the one I formed with my sword. A light erupts from its forehead in the shape of a star, which fades into a glimmering scar.

I don’t know what it means. All I know is that this creature is the reason I’m not splattered across rock right now.

“Thank you for not letting me die,” I say. The dragon huffs through its nostrils. It flares out its wings.

The beautiful silk-like silver webbing is shredded.

I gently touch one of them, and the dragon makes a warning sound.

“What happened to you?” I ask. The dragon just looks at me. The star on its forehead glimmers again and somehow … somehow, I know it’s a girl.

“Do you have a name?”

I don’t know what I’m expecting. Nothing, really. Which is exactly what I get. That doesn’t stop me from talking, though. Apparently, this is how lonely I am.

“I’m Aris. From Silverside. It’s on Stormside, past the gates. I’m here on a quest to reach the gods.”

She just blinks at me.

Then, she shifts onto her side, as if she’s resting.

Right. Of course she’s tired. As she sleeps, I take out the crumpled map from my pocket. Only when it’s unfurled do I remember Zane.

Zane. Was he able to find his weapon? Did he reach the Helmhawks?

He doesn’t have the map now.