(no subject)
Title: A Magical Night
Story: The Dragonfire Chronicles
Characters: Assorted
Flavours: Strawberry #7 [Fireflies]; Rocky Road #3 [Yard]; Chocolate Gelato #13 [Memento mori]
Toppings: Rainbow Sprinkles; Cookie Crumbs [Eruption]; Gummy Bunnies - 500themes #25 [Suffer the agony]
Extras: Malt - Summer challenge #255 [The road to success is always under construction]
Word count: 1,203
Rating: PG
Summary: In which there are other consequences when the dragon hatches.
There was a town not too far north of Laradien, a town that was currently playing host to a travelling circus. The inhabitants didn't mind. The circus came by once or twice a year, weather permitting, and it was nice, fun - something to distract the townspeople from day to day life.
Adaya was almost as excited as the crowd. For the last three years since she'd joined the circus, she'd been the assistant to the knife thrower - a job both she and he hated. She made him look bad, he said, and she couldn't deny it, not really. She wasn't good at standing still.
Tonight, though- Tonight. One of the high-wire acrobats had dropped out, had broken her arm in rehearsal that morning. Adaya knew the routine; she loved the routine. This was what she had always wanted to be.
They'd accepted her warily until she'd rehearsed. Then Zevi had beamed at her like she was the answer to all his wishes. "Perfect," he'd said, and that was that. She'd been accepted and tonight, for the first time, she would do the thing she'd always hoped to.
Realistically, she knew that once Malkia healed, she would be bumped back down to knife thrower's assistant, but it didn't matter. The point was tonight.
They stepped out into the ring on opposite sides and climbed the towers, Adaya already feeling her heart thump against her ribcage. Her costume was all tight sparkles and the light reflected from it, throwing stars across the ceiling of the tent. She paused at the top of the platform. From here, she felt like she could fly.
Fly she did, gripping the bar and dropping down at Zevi's nod, their routine as flawless as his and Malkia's had ever been. There was no crowd to worry about, not really. They were the small people below, the ones who couldn't-
Adaya knew something was wrong when her hand cramped; she fumbled a hold but caught it, her timing off by a beat and then back again when she shifted her weight. Zevi was giving her an odd look when they stood on the platforms again, but the crowd was cheering so it was likely only he had noticed.
They climbed down as the ringmaster walked out, his smile not indicating anything was amiss. Only a tiny slip-up then. Zevi might not like it, but he might just assign it to nerves.
He reached for her hand and she took it. They bowed.
The world tipped and swayed and Adaya pressed a hand to her breastbone as pain curled up from her lungs. Zevi had his arms around her, holding her up; there was silence, shocked as they watched her squirm.
"What is it?" the ringmaster asked. "What is wrong with her? Get her out of here!"
Adaya shook her head; she knew this feeling, the way she'd known when she almost missed the bar-
They needed to leave.
"Out," she said, clenching her teeth when pain juddered through her again. It would be easy to let go, so, so easy; but her father had told her that if this happened, she must never, ever give in.
"What?" Zevi asked.
"Get them out. Get everyone out. Get me - far-"
The ringmaster was shaking his head and the crowd was starting to grumble; Adaya felt her control slip, falter- and then fall away entirely.
The fabric of the tent was the first thing to burst into flames; the stampede that followed didn't particularly help matters. Zevi dragged Adaya across the ring, but there was no way out - the exits were burning and then-
Three members of the circus survived, as did a handful of the townspeople who had visited that night.
The knife thrower, Dekel, packed up his and Malkia and Eli's things; he was the only one who had seen what had occurred, the only one quick enough to cut a hole in the big top and escape.
They were chased out of town by people angry and grieving. Malkia hadn't stopped crying and Eli held onto his mother's hand with confusion written all over his face.
"What happened?" she asked Dekel one night, when they were sitting by the road with flames throwing odd shadows across their faces.
Dekel shrugged. "An accident," he said. It was all he could say. He couldn't say what he had actually seen, that Adaya had had skills no human should have-
"An accident," he said, and he would stick to it until the day he died.
*
As Adaya burned, a one year old boy slept in a townhouse in Laradien. His parents were sleeping in the next room - and his father heard as his son's window unlatched and the shutters banged against the walls. He frowned and got up, smiling at his baby as he reached out and closed the shutters, making sure the latch was firmly in place.
He climbed back into bed and kissed his wife on the forehead when she turned onto her side, but froze when he heard it- The bang of the shutters against the wall.
Frowning, the man got up again, walked through, noted his son was sleeping and closed the shutters.
He climbed back into bed.
The shutters flew open.
He didn't know his son was dreaming of the stars.
*
And there were others: a guard who hid in the corner when his water skin refilled itself; a lady who gasped when she moved her pearls without touching them; a stable hand who worried what his master would say when a stall cracked open and the prized stallion escaped; a brawler who paled in fear when a skull crumbled in the palm of his hand-
And more and more and more.
*
Then there was Michal.
He grinned when the magic shuddered through him, when he could feel and taste it around him. He knew what it meant; knew it somewhere in his soul - if he even had one anymore.
There was no need to wake Ramelan, he told the guards; though one still ran to wake his master as the other accompanied him outside, watched him breathe the air and grin.
"What is it?" Ramelan asked from behind him, half-asleep and weak. Michal's lip curled in disgust; how could he have to answer to this pathetic creature, one who let his defences down so easily-
"What is it, Michal?" Ramelan asked. This time steel hardened his voice. He owned Michal; he had the dragon's blood, after all.
"Can't you feel it?"
Ramelan lifted his head. "The air is… heavy, tonight."
"Magic," Michal said. "There's a dragon here and so many people have magic-"
"Can you find it?" Ramelan asked.
Michal nodded. His senses were sharp now, though he knew it would wear off; the magic would ebb as it ran to fill the gaps, tried to make up for a hundred years of not existing. "Yes," he said.
"Very well. Go. Find the dragon, find whoever's hiding it and bring them back here."
Michal turned and bowed. "Yes, master," he said. He felt Ramelan's eyes watch him leave and wondered if the prince could tell what he was thinking.
Story: The Dragonfire Chronicles
Characters: Assorted
Flavours: Strawberry #7 [Fireflies]; Rocky Road #3 [Yard]; Chocolate Gelato #13 [Memento mori]
Toppings: Rainbow Sprinkles; Cookie Crumbs [Eruption]; Gummy Bunnies - 500themes #25 [Suffer the agony]
Extras: Malt - Summer challenge #255 [The road to success is always under construction]
Word count: 1,203
Rating: PG
Summary: In which there are other consequences when the dragon hatches.
There was a town not too far north of Laradien, a town that was currently playing host to a travelling circus. The inhabitants didn't mind. The circus came by once or twice a year, weather permitting, and it was nice, fun - something to distract the townspeople from day to day life.
Adaya was almost as excited as the crowd. For the last three years since she'd joined the circus, she'd been the assistant to the knife thrower - a job both she and he hated. She made him look bad, he said, and she couldn't deny it, not really. She wasn't good at standing still.
Tonight, though- Tonight. One of the high-wire acrobats had dropped out, had broken her arm in rehearsal that morning. Adaya knew the routine; she loved the routine. This was what she had always wanted to be.
They'd accepted her warily until she'd rehearsed. Then Zevi had beamed at her like she was the answer to all his wishes. "Perfect," he'd said, and that was that. She'd been accepted and tonight, for the first time, she would do the thing she'd always hoped to.
Realistically, she knew that once Malkia healed, she would be bumped back down to knife thrower's assistant, but it didn't matter. The point was tonight.
They stepped out into the ring on opposite sides and climbed the towers, Adaya already feeling her heart thump against her ribcage. Her costume was all tight sparkles and the light reflected from it, throwing stars across the ceiling of the tent. She paused at the top of the platform. From here, she felt like she could fly.
Fly she did, gripping the bar and dropping down at Zevi's nod, their routine as flawless as his and Malkia's had ever been. There was no crowd to worry about, not really. They were the small people below, the ones who couldn't-
Adaya knew something was wrong when her hand cramped; she fumbled a hold but caught it, her timing off by a beat and then back again when she shifted her weight. Zevi was giving her an odd look when they stood on the platforms again, but the crowd was cheering so it was likely only he had noticed.
They climbed down as the ringmaster walked out, his smile not indicating anything was amiss. Only a tiny slip-up then. Zevi might not like it, but he might just assign it to nerves.
He reached for her hand and she took it. They bowed.
The world tipped and swayed and Adaya pressed a hand to her breastbone as pain curled up from her lungs. Zevi had his arms around her, holding her up; there was silence, shocked as they watched her squirm.
"What is it?" the ringmaster asked. "What is wrong with her? Get her out of here!"
Adaya shook her head; she knew this feeling, the way she'd known when she almost missed the bar-
They needed to leave.
"Out," she said, clenching her teeth when pain juddered through her again. It would be easy to let go, so, so easy; but her father had told her that if this happened, she must never, ever give in.
"What?" Zevi asked.
"Get them out. Get everyone out. Get me - far-"
The ringmaster was shaking his head and the crowd was starting to grumble; Adaya felt her control slip, falter- and then fall away entirely.
The fabric of the tent was the first thing to burst into flames; the stampede that followed didn't particularly help matters. Zevi dragged Adaya across the ring, but there was no way out - the exits were burning and then-
Three members of the circus survived, as did a handful of the townspeople who had visited that night.
The knife thrower, Dekel, packed up his and Malkia and Eli's things; he was the only one who had seen what had occurred, the only one quick enough to cut a hole in the big top and escape.
They were chased out of town by people angry and grieving. Malkia hadn't stopped crying and Eli held onto his mother's hand with confusion written all over his face.
"What happened?" she asked Dekel one night, when they were sitting by the road with flames throwing odd shadows across their faces.
Dekel shrugged. "An accident," he said. It was all he could say. He couldn't say what he had actually seen, that Adaya had had skills no human should have-
"An accident," he said, and he would stick to it until the day he died.
*
As Adaya burned, a one year old boy slept in a townhouse in Laradien. His parents were sleeping in the next room - and his father heard as his son's window unlatched and the shutters banged against the walls. He frowned and got up, smiling at his baby as he reached out and closed the shutters, making sure the latch was firmly in place.
He climbed back into bed and kissed his wife on the forehead when she turned onto her side, but froze when he heard it- The bang of the shutters against the wall.
Frowning, the man got up again, walked through, noted his son was sleeping and closed the shutters.
He climbed back into bed.
The shutters flew open.
He didn't know his son was dreaming of the stars.
*
And there were others: a guard who hid in the corner when his water skin refilled itself; a lady who gasped when she moved her pearls without touching them; a stable hand who worried what his master would say when a stall cracked open and the prized stallion escaped; a brawler who paled in fear when a skull crumbled in the palm of his hand-
And more and more and more.
*
Then there was Michal.
He grinned when the magic shuddered through him, when he could feel and taste it around him. He knew what it meant; knew it somewhere in his soul - if he even had one anymore.
There was no need to wake Ramelan, he told the guards; though one still ran to wake his master as the other accompanied him outside, watched him breathe the air and grin.
"What is it?" Ramelan asked from behind him, half-asleep and weak. Michal's lip curled in disgust; how could he have to answer to this pathetic creature, one who let his defences down so easily-
"What is it, Michal?" Ramelan asked. This time steel hardened his voice. He owned Michal; he had the dragon's blood, after all.
"Can't you feel it?"
Ramelan lifted his head. "The air is… heavy, tonight."
"Magic," Michal said. "There's a dragon here and so many people have magic-"
"Can you find it?" Ramelan asked.
Michal nodded. His senses were sharp now, though he knew it would wear off; the magic would ebb as it ran to fill the gaps, tried to make up for a hundred years of not existing. "Yes," he said.
"Very well. Go. Find the dragon, find whoever's hiding it and bring them back here."
Michal turned and bowed. "Yes, master," he said. He felt Ramelan's eyes watch him leave and wondered if the prince could tell what he was thinking.