knew why.
His most severe beatings were best described as flayings, the whip peeling away flesh and muscle down to the bone. It was why he always stood with rounded shoulders and a slight hunch. Due to the scarring and muscle damage, he couldn't stand truly straight if he tried.
'You said I was brave,' she whispered, her voice trembling. 'I couldn't have survived this. I can't believe you're still alive, let alone still hopeful. So willing to risk everything to share what you know with the world. I don't know that I could be so defiant after what's been done to you.'
'I was always willful,' Shay said, managing the faintest ghost of a grin. 'I read about things like freedom and justice and love, and I believed in them. I wanted to experience them. And if a world run by dragons didn't offer these things, then I knew from an early age I'd have to change the world. Chapelion did his best to beat my dreams to dust. I'm not brave, Jandra. I'd beg to avoid a whipping. I'd weep before the leather ever touched my back, and renounce every idea I'd ever believed in. When the beatings would stop, the slavecatchers would order me to drop and kiss their talons in gratitude for their devotion to my improvement. I've groveled, Jandra. It's not courage that drives me. It's fear. It's shame. I'll slit my own throat before I ever bow down to a dragon again.'
Silently, she took him by the hand and led him toward the pool. They crept into the cool water together, their hands clasped for balance on the slick, smooth stones. Shay shivered as the water rose up his legs. They neared the white water at the edge of waterfall and suddenly he slipped. He plunged beneath the water, pulling Jandra down with him. They both flailed about, their legs and arms entwining. They both grew still as Jandra pressed her breasts against his chest. They clung to each other tightly as they drifted back to the surface. Jandra's body was hot against his despite the chill of the water.
They bobbed above the surface of the pool. The water was deep here; Shay could barely touch bottom by stretching his toes. Jandra was floating, with her arms still clasped around his shoulders and her left leg wrapped around his hip. Gray water streamed out of her coal-tinted hair. Dark, oily spots lay upon her cheeks as the water beaded on the grime. Her face was only inches from his.
'Clean enough,' she murmured, as she pressed her lips against his.
His assumption proved true. Kissing was simple enough to figure out. He closed his eyes as his toes curled and they drifted in the water, weightless.
'Scary birds,' said Lizard.
Jandra's eyes fluttered open. The little green earth-dragon was perched next to her head. Behind Lizard, the fire had died down to a few smoking embers. Shay was still asleep beneath the blanket with her, his bony arm draped across her rib cage. It was warm under the blanket with the two of them pressed together. Jandra wasn't in the mood to get up and worry about breakfast yet.
'Go catch fish,' she mumbled as she closed her eyes. She snugged the blanket tightly beneath her chin. She felt marvelous. For the first time since the goddess had altered her memories, she felt like she'd dreamed her own dreams. Shay's arms around her made her feel safe. He held her tightly enough that she couldn't be pushed out by the goddess.
Lizard's damp paw fell onto her forehead. He flexed his claws ever so slightly, pricking her.
'Scary birds!' he said, more emphatically.
She opened one eye. She didn't normally consider birds a threat, though she supposed a particularly robust eagle could have carried off Lizard. Still, for all she knew, there could be eagles the size of elephants down here.
'Where?' she asked.
'Scary birds!' Lizard shrieked, pointing skyward.
It wasn't birds. Three winged humans were flying across the lake. Their wings were metallic silver, similar to the wings Gabriel-the goddess's robotic angel-had flown on. While Gabriel had been designed as the pinnacle of human perfection, these winged men were a sorry looking bunch. They were wearing the once white uniforms of long-wyrm riders. All carried crossbows. Two of them still wore silver visors, but the third one's visor was missing and he'd recently suffered some horrible injury to the left side of his face. His eye was swollen shut and his lower lip dangled, streaming drool.
'Poor Meshach,' she said, as Jazz's memories flashed the men's names into her mind. These were survivors of the goddess's long-wyrm riders. The wounded one was Meshach, the one with the thick black beard was Shadrach, and the last one, a short, balding man with a unibrow, was named Guido.
Shay sat up, stretching his arms. 'Good morning,' he said, his voice low and hoarse. 'Waking up next to you is like waking up in heaven.' He looked up, following her gaze. 'Okay,' he said. 'Even this close to heaven, I didn't expect angels.'
The winged men halted about fifty yards away, hovering in the air. Jandra vaguely remembered that the wings didn't need to flap to keep the men airborne. It was the sort of memory that might prove useful, yet, as often happened whenever she tried to actively access Jazz's memories, the details faded away before she could grasp them.
'Hide,' she said to Lizard.
Lizard crept away, low to the ground, slithering into pool with barely a ripple.
Shadrach, the highest ranking of the three guards, called out, 'Intruders! You've violated the sanctity of the sanctuary of the goddess! The punishment is death!'
'Wait!' said Jandra. 'You must know your goddess is dead! We're not violating the sanctity of anyone. There's no need for us to fight.'
'She's right!' Meshach, the wounded one, snarled. 'I told you the goddess was dead. Look around, Shadrach! The evidence is before your eyes!'
'Silence!' Shadrach snapped. 'I'll bash in the other side of your face if you don't still your blasphemous tongue.'
'But Shadrach,' said Guido. 'What if it's true? We don't need to follow the codes no more. We can make our own rules.'
'We will obey the commandments!' Shadrach shouted. 'Intruders are to be killed, not molested!'
'What if we just molested her a little?' said Guido. 'We can kill her after we're done.'
Shadrach spun around in the air, delivering a savage kick to Meshach's guts. Meshach doubled over, clutching his stomach.
'Guido suggested it!' Meshach whined.
'You were closer, and you were thinking it too,' said Shadrach, completing his spin, halting as he faced Shay and Jandra once more. 'Now, kill them!'
Shadrach lifted his crossbow. Guido did the same, though he didn't look happy about it. Meshach was still clutching his stomach. He looked a bit greenish.
Jandra flapped the blanket, jumping up as the crossbows rang out in simultaneous twangs. The crossbow bolt fired by Shadrach punched through the blanket, passed a few inches to the left of Jandra's belly, and buried itself in her backpack. The bolt fired by Guido was better aimed. It tore into Shay's left thigh, right on the inner edge of the skin a few inches above his knee. Shay's mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound came out. Jandra quickly analyzed the wound. The bolt had only cut the surface. His muscles looked uninjured, which was confirmed when he sprang to his feet.
Jandra dropped the blanket and dove toward the shotgun.
'Sweet goddess! She's naked!' Guido shouted. 'Shadrach, you've got to-'
'Shut up!' said Shadrach, swinging out with the butt of his crossbow, smashing it into Guido's nose.
Guido did a loop in the air in response to the blow. He dropped down toward the saline lake, catching himself only five feet above the surface, with a massive down-flap of his silver wings that sent waves rolling toward the shore.
'Bastard!' Guido growled.
'The goddess is dead!' Meshach screamed, spraying spittle from his flapping lower lip. He was now the only guard with a loaded crossbow. He turned the weapon toward Shadrach. 'I'll do as I please! There is no law!'
He fired, the crossbow bolt passing neatly through Shadrach's neck. The bearded man's eyes rolled up in his head as he tilted in the air. His body went limp, and his wings did as well. He plummeted toward the rocky shore, landing with a wet slap on the black beach.
'The woman is ours!' Meshach screamed, casting his one leering eye toward Jandra.
