They had no real idea where they were.
Caldris had vanished behind them hours ago. At least, he assumed it had.
The roads below didn't match anything he remembered from the maps at Evernight. Too many bends. Too many wild trees. The rivers were wrong. The fences were crooked.
And no one kept torchlight anymore.
Lindarion squinted into the wind. His eyes were dry. The air hurt. But he kept watching. The third village below them had barely ten rooftops and no smoke. Dead farmland, half a wall around it. They didn't slow down.
He didn't want to see it up close anyway.
Behind him, Lira shifted her weight again. He could feel her fingers tightening around one of the ridges in Ashwing's scale. Not out of fear. Just to hold on.
She hadn't said anything since they'd lifted off.
That alone told him how new this was for her.
'She's never ridden a dragon before..well me neither.'
He was sure of it now.
The silence wasn't practiced. It was stunned. Measured.
Not panic.
