A Scale of Sapphire

Willow

For the second time since the world ended, I was trapped in a plant in the dark. Even though it may have been my choice this time, it was still far from pleasant. At least Crab Apple was soft, the trees were decidedly less so. Ah well, if I was going to be stuck in here for a while, I might as well try to be productive. I kept my voice at a soft whisper.

“Hey Spruce, I had a couple questions, and I was hoping you might help.”

Spruce’s deep, rumbling voice filled the little chamber. It was hard to believe I was the only one who could hear them.

“Always happy to help, Willow. What were you wondering?”

“As I understand it, even non magical plants can communicate a little, especially if a more magical one is asking them questions, so I was wondering if you could ask the plants near Cyrus’ village to keep an eye on things. Maybe they can let us know when it’s safe to travel again, y’know?”

There was a rumbling, huffing sound. Is that how treants laugh?

“I figured you’d ask for something like that. Squishy as you are, this can’t be very comfortable, can it? I’ll let you know as soon as it’s safe to get out, ok?”

“I- wow, thank you, Spruce. That means a lot! This is definitely not the most comfortable place I’ve ever been, no.”

Spruce rumbled again, and I tried my best to get settled in for a long wait.

A really

…

Long

…

Wait

…

“I wish I could at least see what was going on outside, it’s so boring in here!”

“So do it.”

“What?”

“Do it. Pixies can see through plants. Did nobody tell you that?”

“Wha-? No! Nobody told me that! Seriously?!? That’s a thing?”

“Yeah.”

Ok. Sure. Apparently that’s a thing I can do. Not that it helps much since I have no clue how to do it, but we’ll get there. I guess I have something to occupy my time while I wait. Alright. Focus. I let my mind go blank, and dipped into my pool of magical energy, ignoring the headache that came with it. Helping the flowers change and the treants to make these cavities had really taken it out of me, but that didn’t matter right now. Slowly, I started drawing up the barest trickle of energy, guiding it towards my eyes. Suddenly, there was a shimmer, and Spruce’s bark began to appear glassy and transparent, with every second I spent focusing, more and more began to reveal itself to me. I could see through Spruce, out into the world beyond, I could see past the flowers that had surrounded us, I could see Cass, somehow sleeping soundly in her treant, and I could see Erica and Aoife, tangled in each other’s arms and-

Nope! That’s private! I- wow, that was a lot of kissing! My focus dropped, and the energy I was channeling into my eyes was cut off on the spot, plunging me in darkness again. I guess I had the whole “seeing through plants” thing figured out now, great job me! Now I figured it’d be best if I followed Cass’ lead. I hadn’t slept all night, and from my brief glance outside, it looked like it was almost morning. I’d want to be rested and prepared when we made our escape.

Aoife

We were woken up by a rustling, crunching sound. A muffled voice from outside the treant called out.

“Good morning you two! Or, I guess it’d be evening. Whatever. Anyways, we gotta get going. We’re burning moonlight!”

“Mfghbf!”

“Hmm… ok, yeah. It’s ok, I speak sleepy. That was ‘Willow is so cool, she’s my best friend, and I’m ready to go on a post-apocalyptic hike with her’ right?”

The rustling, creaking, crunching sound grew louder, and a crack began to form in the wall of our little chamber, letting moonlight slowly begin to filter in. I made the slow crawl to wakefulness as the crack began to widen, and I heard Erica groaning as she did the same. A kindred spirit.

When the gap had finally grown wide enough, I crawled out of the treant, and flopped on my back onto the grass, yelping as I accidentally squished my tail. I rolled over, taking the weight off it, when I noticed a pixie staring down at me. She was probably about half my height, with green hair and green wings that contrasted nicely with her dark skin. She crouched down to look me in the eyes.

“Hey, Aoife. You’re finally awake.”

Willow.

Without even thinking, I sat bolt upright and pulled her into a hug, squeezing her tight. Tears began streaming down my face as I clung to her, my whole body shaking as I gasped and sobbed. 

“W-Willow… I m-missed you so much…” I hiccuped, “I-It was s-s-so scary when everything went to shit, a-and all I could th-think of was you were probably…”

I heard something heavy drop to the ground beside me, and then there was a massive hand slowly running up and down my back as I continued to weep. I’d never realized just how important Willow was to me until this moment. Not knowing whether she was dead or alive, it felt like a part of me was missing. It felt like I’d been holding my breath for the last week, and only now was I allowed to breathe. Tiny hands began running through my hair as Willow hugged me back.
“I missed you too, Aoife.” She sniffed, noisily. “I’m sorry I didn’t come for you earlier. I’m glad you found uh… friends, to help you through it, and I’m so proud of you for being honest about who you are.”

I heard her sniff again, and felt a growing wet spot on my shoulder. I loosened my grip and leaned back to see her eyes shining with tears as well and a radiant smile on her face. I felt myself begin to smile in kind. We’d made it. We’d found each other. We wouldn’t be separated again. I glanced up to see Erica’s other hand hovering hesitantly over Willow, and Willow noticed shortly after. She gave a quick nod to the minotaur behind me, and Erica’s hand descended, giving Willow gentle headpats as her other hand shifted from my back to that holy place behind my horns.

Headpats and horn scritches? Erica was devious. I leaned into it, letting draconic instinct take over. My tears quickly washed away by my strange hiss-purrs. After a few moments of bliss, however; one of the treants stomped over, and Willow stared intently at it.

There was a pause.

“Oh shit, right! Cass! I’m so sorry!”

Suddenly, Willow began to glow, and the treant opened. As Cass stumbled out from her leafy shelter, she fixed us all with a glare. One that immediately softened when she registered the emotionally charged cuddle pile happening right in front of her.

“Sorry to interrupt, girls, but we need to have breakfast and get moving. We need as much distance as we can get by morning. Can you walk ok, Aoife?”

Reluctantly, I extracted myself from Erica and Willow’s grip, leaving Erica still idly stroking Willow’s hair as I stood. The three of them watched me expectantly as I took a few slow steps.

“I uh… I think I can walk, but my leg’s still not quite healed. I… might need a little help if we wanna make good time.”

Erica laughed mischievously.

“Well, I’m feeling much better, personally. Willow was kind enough to get some veggies growing inside our treant, and I snacked on them before you woke up. In other words, if the dragon gets too tired, she can have uppies.”

I shot Erica an icy glare, literally. Cool mist began to trail from my eyes.

“What? I’ve carried you before, Aoife, and you liked it.”

Willow perked up at that.

“Really? Do tell!”

“Oh yeah. I once had to princess carry Aoife for like two hours until we set up camp for the night.”

Willow snapped her head over to look at me, a strange smile on her face.

“Oh you did, did you?”

I should never have brought these two together. They were too powerful. This was quite possibly the single greatest mistake of my life. My face felt like it was on fire, and I couldn’t meet their eyes. I reached around and started fiddling with my tail, gently poking my fingers on each of the spikes, carefully, so as not to hurt myself.

“Yeah, she did. I didn’t realize I was a carnivore till then, so I was kinda malnourished, and Erica carried me till we could get some food. Just… don’t call it uppies. Please. It’s embarrassing.”

Erica’s laugh was gentler now. Softer.

“Sure thing, Aoife. Seriously though, the offer stands. If your leg starts bothering you, let me know and I can carry you. Nobody here will judge you, right?”

Willow and Cass nodded their agreement.

“Now let’s have some breakfast!”

2 Weeks Later

It turns out that when you have a pixie with you who can just ask the giant plants to get out of the way, navigating our ruined world didn’t take nearly as long. We spent our days resting within ruined buildings and watching the skies, and our nights were spent hiking as far and fast as possible. After two weeks of travel, we’d managed to put a little over 150 miles between ourselves and Cyrus’ village. Was that perhaps a bit overkill? Maybe, but none of us wanted to be taking any chances. It’s unlikely Cyrus would be able to track us effectively, the local flora had covered our tracks and concealed our scents quite well, so this kind of distance would at least buy us some time.

He wouldn’t give up. I was certain of that. He seemed convinced that if I wasn’t either controlled or dead, I posed some kind of existential threat. He seemed convinced that I was damned, and he was the one who had to exact punishment. He wouldn’t give up.

We wouldn’t either though. We’d escaped. We beat him… kind of, and we’d use the time we’d bought to prepare. Willow’s garden could grow even bigger, Erica and Cass could both get stronger, and I still had a lot to learn about being a dragon. Besides, it’s not like his village has all the survivors. We’d make a settlement of our own. One where humans and monsters could live together peacefully, and when Cyrus and his goons showed up, we’d kick their collective asses.

Or maybe I’m just an optimist.

Either way, I was safe for now, I had the three most important people in my life with me, and I was a badass little frost dragon. Things were finally starting to look up!

ashlynflagg And............................. this marks the end of the first half of Scale of Sapphire! Look forward to the second half, featuring healthy polyam, a new nation of monsters, giant fairies, little dragons, and (regrettably) more Cyrus. Will Aoife finally find out what the hell Cyrus really wants? Will that new angelic sword make Cass even more badass? Will I ever actually address the bull head in the room? Find out soon!

Next chapter is the same time next week. See you then!