(Starla)
The Last Stronghold murkily loomed in front of us.
Torches lined the winding path up the mountain; their flames flickered in the strong breeze. The snow was about to fall. From within came the sound of voices, laughter, shouting, the clatter of cups and plates.
"What’s happening?" I asked, quickening my pace.
Azkan glanced back at me, his otherworldly eyes catching the torchlight. "The nightly feast. My warriors gather to share words, to honour victories, to remind each other why they fight and let loose." His voice was laden with pride for his fellow beastmen.
"You will join us." It wasn’t a question but a statement.
"I am not exactly welcome. I think I will eat in my room," I tried to respectfully answer, thinking of Yamil’s cold eyes, of the suspicious glances I had received from other sentries. "Your people don’t trust me."
"They don’t have to trust you." Azkan’s voice was like spiked ice. "They have to obey me, and they will."
He turned and strode toward the main entrance, leaving me no choice but to quietly follow with a heavy heart.
The great hall was transformed.
When I had left that morning, it had been empty apart from empty tables and the gigantic fireplace. Now it was alive.
Long tables stretched the length of the room, laden with so much food. Roasted meats, steaming soups, freshly baked breads, tankards of wine and rum and bowls of fruit I had never seen before.
Beastmen of every shape and size filled the benches, their voices rising in a cacophony of languages and laughter. Their long ears sticking out of their heads, their shoulders covered in furs or scales. That laughter died, and silence fell over them when I entered.
Every head turned. Every eye fixed on me. I felt their crippling and judgemental gazes. Suspicion, curiosity and hostility they carried. A few hands drifted toward weapons. Others curled into fists. Doodles raised his hackles and let out a threatening growl.
They see a human, they think it’s the enemy. They see the one who destroyed Aksel, their Warden.
I lifted my chin and walked forward, Doodles pressed against my ankle, remaining alert.
Azkan had already reached the head table. He stood before a massive chair carved from thick wood. Its back was shaped like dragon wings unfurling.
He didn’t sit. Instead, he turned to face the hall, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade.
"My fellow beastmen."
The words echoed off the stone walls. Every Beastman straightened, attention snapping to their Commander.
"You know why we gathered tonight." His eyes, which seemed to have captured the wild irises, swept the room. "A century of watching our brother suffer. A century of trying and failing to reach him. Today, that changed."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. I saw confusion and disbelief. Something else, too, hope, perhaps, buried beneath centuries of pain.
"This is Starla." Azkan gestured toward me. "The human guide who reached Aksel when nothing else could."
All eyes turned to me. I felt my cheeks flush; my heart began to loudly pound.
"She is human," someone called out. A large Beastman with elephant-like tusks, his voice rough with suspicion. "The last human who came here poisoned our Commander. She destroyed him. And now you bring another into our home?"
The room erupted behind him; anger and frustration flowed like a wild river, and somehow I was a dinghy stuck in between.
Voices rose in fear and I caught fragments,
"Betrayal."
"Spy."
"Never again, kill her before she can..."
"ENOUGH." Azkan’s voice was thunder, making the hall fall silent. Every head bowed in submission.
"I know what the last human did." His voice was low, dangerous, his eyes blazing with accumulated hatred. "I was there. I watched my brother fall. I held him while he screamed and burned and lost himself." He paused, and something raw flickered across his face. "Do you think I have forgotten? Do you think I trust her?"
He stared at me with his tight jaw. Pain erupted in my heart.
"I don’t trust her. I don’t trust any human." He turned back to the crowd. "But she reached Aksel. She did what none of us could. And until I understand how, until I know if she can save him, she stays. No one will touch her. Understood?"
No one dared argue. "Yes, Commander," they chorused in reply, not very thrilled, but they respected their commander.
"Now sit." Azkan’s voice brooked no argument. "Eat. Drink. Remember why we are here."
The tension broke slowly. Beastmen returned to their seats, though many shot me dark glances. I felt the weight of their hostility like needle pricks. Better me than my sister; she wouldn’t have survived this.
I knew they might never accept or trust me. And they shouldn’t. I was lying to all of them, but I was still going to try.
Azkan guided me to the head table. I expected to sit at the end, out of the way, invisible. Instead, he gestured to a seat near his own, close enough to be noticed, far enough to maintain distance.
Yamil was already there with Lumina. Both of them offered me cold glances but they didn’t speak and I was thankful for that.
Quietly I sat. Doodles curled at my feet and let out a satisfied purr. Picking up a charred piece of meat and some veggies I placed them on my plate.
Before I could start to eat, my gaze drifted, and then I saw her.
She was breathtakingly beautiful. There was no other word for it. Hair like liquid obsidian cascaded down her back. Eyes the colour of storm clouds. Brown scaly skin that seemed to glow in the firelight. She wore armour of dark leather, fitted to her curves and a whip attached to her belt.
She was a dragon. I could feel the immense power coiled beneath her skin, the heat that radiated from her like a furnace.
And she was walking toward Azkan with a knowing smile curling on her ruby-shaded lips.
Who was she?