(Path of the Dragon Mage: Nomad) 26. Talent of Earth (1 of 2) (Patreon)

Starella sensed that something very odd had just happened between her cousin and the man dressed in hideous jewelry.

The man's reaction upon shaking hands with Corvus was... odd. Something passed between the two of them, and the man murmured in an undertone to her cousin, too low to hear. Something about a quest?

Abruptly, Corvus turned to Starella.

"You should go to your rooms and collect your dragon egg."

"Why?" she demanded, not because she disagreed but because Corvus was being odd again. She had remembered her older cousin as sweet and intelligent, but not self-confident in the least. This new, older version of Corvus never seemed to second guess himself. He also kept secrets from her. 

Starella wasn't sure what to think about his odd magic, either. She halfway thought his healing of her had been a bad dream... except for the lingering soreness in her arm.

Corvus frowned as if she had asked a stupid question. “You should always have your egg with you, Starella.”

Is that how you managed to hatch yours? She wondered with an unladylike bolt of jealousy. 

The man with the gaudy jewelry stepped in. "The Governor is engaged in meetings with the city leaders through the morning. Word has already been passed to him that you've returned to the palace and are in good health. I'm certain the Governor will want to speak to you and Prince Corvus in person, when he is free.”

Starella nearly objected on several points: Legally, Corvus was not a prince. It was inappropriate to use that rank. Also, as the princess, Starella ought to have first authority over any prior meetings.

Things were spinning out of her control again, and a very familiar feeling clogged up her throat. She knew if she tried to speak, it would come out as a squeak. So, she nodded stiffly.

The gaudy man quickly arranged for servants to show her to her rooms, while he led Corvus to a library. Probably so they could plot against her without her overhearing.

I am a princess. You cannot send me to my rooms! She thought, but her feet carried her along anyway. Every moment that passed, her throat felt tighter, and pressure built up in her chest.

She barely made it in time.

The servant opened the door and she swept in, willing the zephyrs to slam and lock it in place behind her. Her Talent could still do that much… even if it had failed her yesterday.

Now she was alone, she put her head in her hands and let out the tight sobs she'd been keeping so firmly in check.

It wasn't that she'd been brushed off by her cousin. It was everything. She had woken up in an unfamiliar bed that smelled of unfamiliar animals. Aside from her cousin, she had not seen one face she recognized all day. Starella had spent her entire life in the palace. She knew everyone there, from the important nobles to the silent servants. 

Now, everyone she set eyes on was a stranger.

She wanted to go home, where things were familiar. Were safe. Now she was further away than she ever thought she'd be, with a cousin who was like a stranger to her. 

Worse was Corvus’s ridiculous claims of a pending demon attack. What if someone expected her to defend the city? What if they expected her to lead?

Starella paced back and forth, wringing her hands. "I can't do this... I can't do this..." she murmured fretfully.

Her objections didn’t matter. She knew that if she were called upon, she must act with the full force of her elemental Talents.

She was a princess. Princesses were strong.

She thought she had been. Now, surrounded by unfamiliar people in this unfamiliar place... she felt her spirit wilt.

There was the fact, too, she wasn’t as magically adept as she should be. She'd been warned her Talent would wane the longer she was away from the palace. She felt it. Her wind zephyrs, always so reliable, were slower to respond, their whispers less clear. The senses from the earth she received were muddied, too.

"I want to go home..." she whispered.

Turning to the window, Starella looked out. She was so far from the palace she couldn’t see the mountains that bordered their kingdom.

Her earth talent told her that it was impossible, but the stone walls felt like they were closing in — tighter and tighter. Squeezing just like the breath was being squeezed out of her chest…

In an effort to regain some control, Starella turned to the drawers where the servants had unpacked her luggage. 

There, sitting pride in place, was her dragon egg.

It was beautiful. A deep blue-black with bright pinpoints scattered across the surface. It had always reminded her of the night sky. When she had been a child, she had tried to find pictures in the points of light. Constellations all her own.

Corvus’s egg had been a coppery color if she remembered correctly. Not nearly as striking as her egg. How in the world had he managed to hatch it?

The answer did not include Elemental Talents. He had none at all. Only that odd drawn out magic. 

"Could that be the key?" she asked the egg, and immediately felt stupid for talking to an inanimate object. Despite that, she persisted. "Can you sense the other dragon nearby? Demons are coming. Would you hatch out and protect me from them?"

There was nothing from the egg. Not a twitch, and certainly not a crack in the shell.

Starella sighed and looked about the room. Calmer now, she found a basin of water and washed her face free of the tears. Then she returned and picked up the egg, cradling it in her arms as she sat down on the bed.

As she did, she felt a tremor from the earth.

Her Earth talent had never been as strong as Air. Yet… That tremor had come from far, far below through the earth. She was certain of it.

Holding the dragon egg between her palms, she closed her eyes and sent her awareness down. Strangely, this exercise was easier to do than it had been before she left the palace.

Now that she was concentrating, she became aware of something scratching at the edge of her perception. She sensed it had been happening for hours—perhaps days. Only now that she concentrated, did she recognize that it had been plaguing her…

A soft knock on the other side of her door shattered her concentration. 

"Princess?" said a servant. "The governor will see you now."

Irritated, Starella opened her eyes and snapped, "The governor will await on my word. Not the other way around."

There was a delicate pause, and the servant murmured, "As you say, Princess." Quick footsteps retreated down the hall.

Irritated by the interruption, Starella rose to shut out the curtains from her room, extinguishing all light and distractions from outside. Then she sat on the bed again, pulling the egg into her lap. She blew out a deep breath and let her senses expand.

Abruptly, she was plunged far down below, through the solid foundation of the building into the soft earth itself. 

Earth, which was roiled by thousands of little bodies. She was the soil, being dug by countless little claws, nipped by teeth, churned and fouled by demons.

They kept coming and coming… They were everywhere, and she couldn't see her way out to escape.

Starella screamed.