Both Zara and Solar raised their eyebrows at him. But he ignored them, pulling Zara in for a quick, if not stiff - on her end, anyways - hug.
“Be careful, Z,” the Oracle said. “And if you can’t be careful, be vicious. As fuck. I’m talking carnage. K?”
“Okay,” she smiled at O, turned back to look in Solar’s eyes one last time, and walked into the forest.
The Oracle and Solar shifted back almost immediately, standing humongous shoulder to humongous shoulder. “And now we wait.”
There was a weariness, a grit and anxiety in his voice that he hadn’t let Zara hear moments before.
Solar was grateful to have his friend at his side in what was sure to be one of the longest waits of his life.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Weirdly enough, this was one of the most beautiful places that Zara had ever been. The pine trees climbed the mountain like soldiers, each one so stoic and dignified. She tried to draw strength as she hiked. She didn’t have a particular path in mind. The wind was changing today, blowing in a few different directions. They had all hoped that would mean that her scent would go farther that way. That there was a better chance of him seeking her out.
Personally, Zara didn’t really understand what the whole deal with the mating scent was. She didn’t think she smelled any different. But she supposed it didn’t really matter as long as this whole thing worked.
Zara sighed and kept walking. The forest was peaceful in the late afternoon sun, the air crisp and sharp, the way it is right before a snowfall. Zara found her nerves calming, settling the more she walked.
Until she heard a bird caw in a tree. She whirled around, caught sight of it about twenty yards away. A blackbird. Staring right at her. Dragons couldn’t communicate directly with blackbirds. But everyone knew they were smart animals. They had motivations, desires, fears. And this one was watching her.
A stick cracked to her left and she whirled again, scanning the forest. The tree line was thinner up here so there was a lot of light between the trees. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just a forest. And maybe that blackbird was an ordinary blackbird. She couldn’t completely turn her back to it, though. Instead, Zara changed directions, walked with the bird on her side. At least until it got out of sight.
She kept one eye on it as she willed herself to walk in a straight line. Head up. One foot in front of the other.
She was concentrating so hard on the bird that she didn’t see the man behind the tree, watching her with one wrinkled eye. His face much older, much beadier than the last time she saw him. And she didn’t see his dragon tail, the only part of him that shifted, rise up behind him like a scorpion. And she didn’t see the poison spikes on the reach out to her.
But she felt them. Her hand instantly covered the scratch on her shoulder; pulling it away, she saw blood on her palm.
At first, it was confusion that clouded her vision. And then it was the toxins swimming through her system. Zara felt herself sway on her feet. Looked up at the blue, blue sky. The same color as Solar’s scales. It was the last thought she’d have before her mind swam and she fell unconscious.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“It’s been too long,” Solar said as he flexed and folded his wings behind him. “Something’s wrong.”
The Oracle sat behind him, his wings folded over his head, giving him quiet and dark while he searched for his gift. Any clues as to what was going on with Zara. But when the Oracle looked up at him, Solar knew he’d had no luck. O’s dragon face was lined with fatigue and he looked more serious than he’d ever seen him.
“It hasn’t been as long as it feels like, Sol,” Javi said as he approached Solar’s flank. “But I agree that something doesn’t feel right. Should we send a scout?”
“No,” Solar shook his head. “If he scents the scout then this will all have been for nothing. We just have to trust her. Trust that she can do this. She’s strong.”
Keiko approached the men, a sudden, wild look in her eye. “What is that? Can you smell it? What is it?”
The three men all lifted their heads to the air, attempting to catch the scent she was talking about. They couldn’t. Keiko had a notoriously sharp sense of smell. She whipped her head in frustration as the wind changed.
“There! Now can you-”
“FUCK!” Solar yelled, instantly winging himself into the air, lifting off with three great beats of his wings.
“It’s poison,” Javi said, following suit immediately.
“And Dalyer,” O said, swinging into the air himself. “I’d know that stench anywhere.”