“Now I’m not speaking to you either.”
“You just spoke to me,” Dot-R pointed out.
Rosamund snorted and looked away from them, staring out the viewscreen as they flew.
Then she gasped in amazement and delight.
They were heading towards what looked like a small town, and flying above the town, there were dragons.
There were dozens of them, their ruby-red scales catching the light, their broad wings slicing through the air. She imagined they were probably guarding the town, but as she watched, one of them tucked in his wings and rolled into a glorious spiraling dive, for the sheer joy of flight. Another dragon followed him, and another, and the three chased each other through the sky in an aerial game of catch-me-if-you-can. Brief blasts of golden fire flashed off the bellies of the clouds.
It was just like a scene out of her favorite fairy tales.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kodran said. “Our clan only settled here a few months ago, but construction on the new colony is going quickly. We have named the planet Farza, and the colony is named Shimra.”
“It’s amazing. I mean, I’m still not speaking to you. Don’t say it!” she added, as Dot-R started to correct her.
The area was mostly lush jungle, but a huge area had been cleared. There were buildings lining the streets of a small town, and houses scattered throughout a large forest.
When they emerged, the sun was shining and the air smelled sweetly perfumed.
They landed next to an enormous building built from stone – probably a good idea if your people could breathe fire, Rosamund thought. Its spires and crenellations made her think again of the illustrations in the storybooks she’d loved as a child. She didn’t let it show on her face, but inside she was jumping up and down and squealing and all but peeing her pants. She was still really mad, but come on…dragons swooping through the sky above a fairy tale castle. It was something she’d never dreamed she’d be able to see in real life.
“This is my family’s home, and also our meeting place,” Kodran said. “And now, my heart’s fire, it will be your home too. We will live and love here, and you will teach our little ones to fly from the top of that tower.”
Rosamund opened her mouth to respond that all she could teach anyone about flying was how to go splat, but before she could, she was distracted by sudden noise and movement.
There was a large crowd of people standing in front of the building, and when they saw Kodran and Rosamund and Dot-R, they started waving frantically and shouting. Hauntingly beautiful music streamed through the air, and there was a banner stretched between two poles.
The crowd, Rosamund noticed, was mostly male. This was the result of the Population Wars; generations of females had been wiped out.
Rosamund pointed at the banner. The crowd was rushing towards them now. “Look, they’re throwing you a welcome home party!” she said.
Kodran didn’t look pleased at all. In fact he looked alarmed. “I believe the appropriate expression is ‘oops’,” he said. “We, ah… I’d like to take you on a tour right now. Immediately.”
Prenzal walked up to them, glanced at the banner, and shook his head in disgust. “Sir, I told you that you should have just returned her to Agora,” he said, scowling. “Now it’s too late. I expected this would end badly.”
“Too late for what?” Rosamund asked as Kodran grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away.
A group of small children ran up and surrounded them, shouting happily. The girls wore little tunic dresses with embroidered flowers and the boys wore tunics and pants with embroidered dragons.
“Look how excited they are to see you! That’s so sweet!” Rosamund said. She wondered if the scared-looking woman from the ship and her little daughter would be there too. She didn’t see them anywhere. Everyone here had red scales.
A regally dressed couple was waving at Kodran from the front steps of the building. They both had crowns, and wore tunic outfits of gold with capes flowing behind them.
Kodran pulled harder on Rosamund’s arm, dragging her several steps. She pulled away from him.
“Wait! They’re calling your name!” she said, pointing at the royal couple.
“Faster,” he said, grabbing at her arm again. “We need to move faster.”
“Kodran! You are being extremely rude!” she chided him.
All of a sudden, she was completely surrounded by the crowd…who swept her off her feet, and began running away at full speed, shouting at the tops of their lungs.
They were carrying her towards some kind of clearing. She cried out for Kodran, but the shouting was so loud, and the crowd was so thick, that she couldn’t see or hear him anymore.
Now they were rushing her towards a platform in the middle of the clearing…
Prenzal had said it was too late. What were they going to do to her?
Before she could shout again, they were setting her roughly down on the platform…
