The night sky stretched endlessly above Sky as he crouched in the cave, motionless save for the twitch of his ear. Another waft of wind: leather, sweat, metal.
Closer now.
Two—no, three humans. All male.
Sky's jaw clenched. He pressed a hand to the satchel at his chest where four warm shapes pulsed faintly through the leather.
The eggs stirred with unease—fear pulsing down their emotional tether.
Time to leave.
He took a long breath and closed his eyes.
His shoulder blades burned as wings, tucked and invisible in their dormant state, emerged in shimmering, gossamer silver edged with draconic ridges.
Not full dragon wings. They wouldn't fit his human shape. But enough. Enough to rise.
"Hold on," he murmured to the satchel. The eggs inside pulsed in response.
He leapt, the wind catching beneath his wings, and rose into the stars.
*****
Sky flew for hours. Across tall grasses and craggy hills, forests blackened by war, over shallow lakes like mirrors to the moon.
