Page 13

Rylan

When I woke up much later on, I felt a little better.

The pain pills the doctor had given me were effective, and the ache in my head was at least tolerable now.

I thought I might be able to think a little better and maybe figure things out.

Things like where in the world I was and how I’d gotten there.

There were big gaps in my memories that made my head ache if I concentrated on them too hard.

The doctor had given me a band to wear around my midsection.

He called it a name that he said translated roughly to rib supporter, and there were little pouches all around it that had a cooling substance inside.

It felt good against the soreness. He said it would help the swelling of my ribs and muscles to go down too.

He got me on my feet to walk, and I made it to the bathroom.

I walked around a little in the sick bay area as well, and though I was exhausted when I got back in bed, my mind was clearer.

Well, a little. I knew my name was Rylan, anyway, and not just because they called me by that name. I had no idea why I was on this ship though, and no one would tell me. They just said, “Wait for the general.”

I remembered the tall, handsome, blond officer and wondered what my relationship was to him.

I thought it must be close because of the way he looked at me and held my hand.

When he finally came back to see me, though, he wasn’t as friendly as he had been before.

He sat beside me, but when I reached for his hand, he looked surprised.

He held it anyway when I reached for it, but he seemed uncomfortable.

“Maybe I’m in your way,” I told him.

His eyes softened with surprise as he looked down at me. “You’re not in my way.”

“Really? Then why do you sound so irritated?”

“I don’t mean to. I just have some things on my mind, that’s all. I need to hurry back to Horvath.”

“Why?”

“I know you don’t remember much about what happened. I think we have to give it some time and not get into all of that now. In the meantime, I’ll contact your family and let them know where you are.”

I had a pain in my chest when he mentioned family and started rubbing it with my fist. Suddenly I had a strange yearning feeling that was physically painful. The general frowned down at me.

“Don’t look so sad. I promise you I’ll contact them.”

“Okay. But why don’t they know where I am? Where exactly am I anyway?”

He smiled. “I haven’t heard that word ‘okay’ in a long time. Your voice and the way you talk…it sounds human sometimes. Are you part human, or do you visit Earth often? Maybe one of the other old Alliance planets?”

“Earth? No, I don’t think so. That doesn’t seem right, but I-I’m part human, I think. That sounds right. I don’t remember everything like I should. Why won’t you tell me where we are?” I started breathing hard and feeling agitated again, and he wrapped his arm around me.

“Don’t get upset, Rylan. I have told you, but you keep forgetting. We’re on a ship to Horvath, one of the moons of Lycanus 3. You need to stop worrying. I told you that I’m taking care of everything, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“I-I’m not. Not exactly. It’s just that I think there’s something I need to remember. Something about why I’m here. Remind me why we’re going to Horvath.”

He looked down at me, not at all unkindly, but it made me nervous, and I started to feel a little panicky. “We’re going home,” he said.

It didn’t feel like home to me, but I decided not to argue. “What if I never remember?” I asked him. “What will I do?”

“Shh…don’t worry about any of that. I’ll take care of you, though of course, your memories will come back.”

“But surely somebody must be looking for me by now.” I began picking at the coverlet on top of my bed nervously, and again, he hugged me tight to distract me.

“Stop. Don’t stress over any of this. The doctor thinks that’s bad for you, and it will only push the memories farther away. Give it time, and it will all come back to you and then we’ll talk.”

“I guess I don’t have any choice.”

“We’ll be landing on Horvath soon. Once we deboard and unload everything, then I promise I’ll concentrate on contacting your family and getting you settled. Is that ‘okay’ with you?” He smiled at me, and it changed his whole face from just handsome to downright gorgeous. It made me tongue tied.

I nodded, and he patted my arm. “Let the doctor know if you need me for anything. I’ll see you after we land.”

I nodded again, and he looked down at me like he wanted to say more but then quickly left instead.

I thought about trying to walk around the room a little more, but I was suddenly exhausted and made the mistake of putting back my head and closing my eyes.

I didn’t wake up until the doctor came in and told me we were about to land on Horvath.

I guess we’d been closer than I’d thought.

It was a smooth landing and before long, the doctor came in with an aide to help me get up and sit in a chair that glided on air currents underneath it.

I told the doctor I could walk, but he shook his head and put me in the chair.

We moved down a long corridor to the main hatch, with me trying to straighten the robe they’d put me in and finger-comb my long hair, tucking it back behind my ears.

It was a little cold, so the doctor wrapped a blanket around me, but it really wasn’t all that necessary.

The temperature outside was cool, but not too bad.

I’d wondered about breathing the atmosphere, but I needn’t have worried.

There was plenty of oxygen and whatever else I needed. I wasn’t in any distress anyway.

The dock was one of several in the port area where we landed, and the whole place was buzzing with activity.

Large ships were being loaded and unloaded, and a few smaller passenger ships were arriving and departing too.

The sky overhead was a pale shade of gray with puffy rain clouds, and I could see tall, dark green mountains in the distance.

I heard a commotion from behind us and looked back to see the handsome Marshal General coming down the gangway in his long, red cape.

He was supervising the movement of a big crate of some kind.

It was at least as tall as I was and as wide as it was tall.

Suddenly, one of the men holding the crate lost his grip and slipped on the wet surface of the gangway.

He righted himself, and I thought he’d be all right, but the crate suddenly lurched hard to the left, as if something inside the crate shifted its weight.

The man lost his balance, and he and the other one carrying the crate called out for help so they wouldn’t drop it.

The officer turned to put out a hand to try and catch it, but the crate crashed down on the gangway instead and broke apart.

Some of the pieces fell onto the grassy ground below the ramp.

I was shocked to see there was an egg inside it—an egg that was now cracked and broken.

And not just any egg. It was huge and a pale blue color with speckles.

There was a huge outcry and commotion, as people started running over to help.

Even my attendants rushed toward the now smashed open crate, leaving me alone on the side of the ramp.

I saw the general’s face lose color, as he shouted commands and everyone scrambled to help.

The soldiers nearest it began picking up pieces of it to reveal the rest of the huge, badly cracked egg.

At least it had once had an egg shape, though now it was missing big chunks of its shell, showing a milky white membrane underneath.

Everybody began shouting at once and as they watched in various stages of dismay, as what was left of it began to shake violently.

The cracks got wider and more pieces of it fell off.

Suddenly a little head popped out of the top of the shell.

The head was like a lizard’s and covered with golden scales.

The little face had a slitted black nose and beady black eyes peeking out at the crowd.

It had tufts of pale golden appendages coming out of its head that looked a bit like wet horns.

Two of the tufted horns were larger than the rest and they were coming out of the forehead, sloping back toward the rest of the body.

The whole head was out by then, and I could see that it was around the size of one of the large colts of the arrizes back at my home.

The little creature began to climb out. It had short arms and legs, and the whole small body was covered in those golden scales with black wings folded tightly over its back. Was I dreaming, or did that look exactly like a little baby dragon?

It stood there, shaking off the last bits of shell sticking to it and looking around curiously.

Another sudden memory came back to me. My omak had told me stories about these creatures, because he had been on a moon during the war, and he told me that the moon he lived on had flying dragons of all things.

This must be the same place. He told us about how he had flown them and bragged that he was always really good at it.

I’d thought he was teasing me and my brothers, but my omak said…

I stiffened in shock as I realized what was going through my mind. My omak! I remembered my omak!