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by Evelyn Chenye (10)

The cavalier closes in on us. If I turn my head and strain, I think I’m able to see a dark blur.

The blur wasn’t there when we first set out last night, so either they’re minimizing the distance between us or my eyes are getting weary. I know my eyes are unclear by now, but I also think they’re there. Within the next few days, we will be captured and I executed. I’m sure of it.

Or we will have outlasted them. We will have escaped. We could be seeing the start of a life you were meant to live. This is your payment to me, I suppose, flying for as long as your wings and your blood will allow. A lifetime under the cavalier’s watch.

When the other dragonkeeper’s children rushed out to pick eggs, I didn’t pick the flashiest. I didn’t pick the largest or the shiniest. I picked one that none of the others saw. I thought that the surface of your egg was blank, but after staring at it for a while, I thought there was something in there I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I picked up the egg, or, rather, I tried. It was on the smaller side, slightly smaller than most of the other eggs, which were as large as most the children’s torsos. None of the eggs were meant to be picked up. We were supposed to wait for them to hatch, then go back to pick the ones from the eggs we chose. We still hadn’t been exposed to the necessary enchantments, so I felt my arms burn at random times for the next few days.

When you hatched, all my life went to you. All that time spent training and practicing. It was all worth it. Worth it for the moment when the spectators grew wild and I started to feel like we’d never descend. Worth it for the moments when I knew without a doubt that

by Sasha Sheiba (7)

we understood each other far more than another person could ever understand me. Neither of us have much time left. Or, we could have all the time we’d like.

The prized gardens, the centerpiece of the six kingdoms, no more. When I found you in the midst of it all, I couldn’t believe my eyes. You had no understanding what you did wrong and you were nearly asleep. I wanted to let you fall asleep there with the rooted growth of flowers and vines scattered all about like a cradle. Your cradle.

And now we will escape or be captured. A lifetime spent as a dragonkeeper-in-training. There was always someone watching my every action, ready with an admonishment. Every breath from waking up to falling asleep was planned to be wherever and for whatever. If we aren’t captured, I’ll escape that forever. We’ll be… I don’t want to say it, but I guess we’ll be free. I can’t comprehend the mere concept of it. And I know that I’ll lose my meaning without someone to decide it for me. All that can happen within a few hours.

But what about now? What is that which is currently revealing itself? The sun sinking into the horizon, its last rays of light, clouds bathed in burnt orange and burning rose, moonrise imminent. The grasses waving in the plains below, rivers winding through the landscapes. Occasional houses, once with a child running out to wave at us. It’s too late for me to know such a thing as freedom. But it’s not too late for me to know this at least.