‘We can light a fire,’ he said, patting her back. She was only a girl, he had to remind himself. ‘The light might show you that there is nothing in here.’
She nodded but didn’t move.
‘Ana?’ he asked carefully.
‘I can’t see things. I’m not what he thinks I am.’
‘You saw something with the dragon.’
She looked back up at him and nodded, then shook her head. ‘I don’t want to see things.’
He took her shoulders and moved her back a step. ‘We are what we are.’
She gave him a frustrated scowl that made him smile.
‘You saw something with the mage, the dragon and even a scar I don’t have. What can you see in here that has you so unsettled?’
‘It is more a feeling,’ she said. ‘It is like I can feel the loss and pain.’
‘It is an old house. Whatever happened here happened a very long time ago.’
‘It doesn’t feel like that.’
‘Do you want to keep moving?’
‘No,’ she sighed. ‘I can’t walk any further and I’m cold.’
‘Then sit here,’ he said, guiding her slowly into the room. ‘I’ll start a fire and then see if I can find something for us to eat.’
‘How long will it take us to find this friend of yours?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘We aren’t going to make it, are we?’ she said, sitting down against the wall and tucking the cloak around her. She appeared even smaller.
‘Of course, we are. You have a dragon watching over you, for a start,’ he said.
Dray didn’t want to leave her as she stared at nothing, her lip quivering. Yet there was no sign that anyone had followed them or that anyone else was close. They might have just slipped away as he had hoped. He was vigilant as he headed back out in search of wood to start a fire. The ground was damper this far up the mountain, where the moss seemed to grow over anything that lay still long enough.
It took him far longer than he would have liked to collect enough wood, but thankfully he didn’t see anyone and managed to catch a large rabbit. He just hoped the dragon wasn’t coming for dinner. He shook his head as he made his way back into the last standing room. If the dragon arrived for dinner, they were most likely going to be it.
He entered the room to find Ana curled in the corner, the cloak wrapped tight around her and up over her head.
‘I found a rabbit,’ he said, dropping the wood down, but she didn’t move. ‘You must be tired,’ he said more quietly. She wasn’t used to travelling in such a way for so long, he had to remind himself. No good saving her if he then finished her off in the mountains.
He worked quickly to set the fire and before long, a small blaze had warmed the room considerably. He held his hands over the flames and rolled his shoulders. He was cold too, but he had more layers beneath his armour than the girl wore even with his cloak.
He turned then to find that she hadn’t moved at all. An odd feeling gnawed at his gut. He bent down slowly and peeled back his cloak, fearful of just what might be waiting on the other side. Perhaps they had been discovered while he’d been out searching for dry wood and they had left her dead for him to find on his return.
He forced himself to look at her pale face. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t move at all. As he studied her, she gave the smallest of shudders. If he hadn’t been looking, he would have missed it.
‘Ana,’ he called, pulling her around into his arms, trying to be gentle and yet trying to shake her awake at the same time.
She didn’t move, and then he heard something scrape across the stones outside. He waited, and the noise repeated. It was something between a shuffle and a large claw moving over the stones, and he wondered if the dragon had returned. Although he had no idea if that would be good or bad.
Dray lay Ana back down carefully and wrapped the cloak around her, then stood slowly, took half a step forward and drew his sword. The dragon was too large to fit in the room, and if it was someone else, he only hoped there were not too many of them.
A shadow moved across the doorway. With his sword held firm, he took another small step forward. He didn’t want any fighting to happen around Ana, but he didn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to find a way behind him.
The hunched figure in a tattered cloak was a surprise.
‘Hello friend,’ an old voice said. ‘Could I share your fire? I smelled the smoke a little ways across the mountain, and I hoped there might be the smell of meat.’ As the figure stepped into the small space and the light of the flames, Dray focused on his old, lined face and long dark grey beard.
The old face smiled, and as he blinked slowly, taking in the dimly lit room, Dray was sure his eyes were solid black for just a second before they returned to an old milky brown.
‘I see you caught a rabbit,’ he said, a smile splitting his weathered face and revealing perfect white teeth. ‘Might I share…’ He stepped forward then. ‘What happened to the girl?’ he asked, concern thick in his voice as he stood straighter.
‘I don’t know,’ Dray said. ‘I think she is just cold and tired from the travelling.’
The old man pushed him out of the way with surprising force and knelt down over Ana. He peeled the cloak back in much the same way as Dray had, then ran a hand over her face. She murmured something, but didn’t wake.
‘Have you got water?’ he asked.
Dray nodded and then shook his head. He was sure he had a skin, but right at that moment he had no idea where it was or how he had let the man approach Ana.
‘Maybe you could get that rabbit cooking,’ the man said, and Dray took the rabbit and headed outside to clean it. It took him a little while to skin and gut the animal, and it was only then that he thought about what he had done.
He headed straight back into the room, the rabbit hanging by his side. ‘What have you done to me?’ he demanded.
‘I haven’t done anything,’ the man said, sitting beside Ana with the waterskin in his hand. She appeared just as she had when Dray had left.
‘What have you done to her?’
‘I gave her a little water, made sure she was warm,’ the man added, and Dray noticed that he no longer wore his cloak. It was draped over his own, over Ana.
‘Is she sick?’ he asked.
‘She isn’t quite herself,’ the old man murmured, looking back over her.
‘We can’t stay here,’ Dray said.
‘Cook the rabbit and we can decide what to do next.’
Dray nodded, then set up a stand over the fire with makeshift sticks from the pile of wood he had collected and started the rabbit cooking. As the smell of it started to fill the room, his stomach growled, and he was sure he saw a glint in the old man’s eye.
They had remained in silence, and the old man had stayed at Ana’s side.
‘Maybe it is the shock,’ Dray murmured. ‘She is scared of heights and she was up very high.’
The old man nodded as though he knew just what Dray spoke of. He had been a fool, he realised, stepping in when he should have done just what he had always done—watched what the men in power wanted, or did, or let unfold.
But there had been something so innocent in the girl as she squeezed her eyes closed, and the woman who should have watched over her was so keen to watch her fall to her death. Well, not quite. She would have only watched her slip from view. He had looked all the way down as he lay across the walkway, holding the girl by her hand as he prayed to every god he knew of to save her. The cliff face had disappeared beneath them, yet he was surprised he could hear the distant water. A mist covered what he would have seen of the water, yet through the soft white vapour, sharp black rocks jutted towards him. They may have been a long way off, but they seemed scary enough from his vantage point.
‘It was right that you were there,’ the old man said, and Dray looked up at him as he took Ana’s hand in his and wrapped his old hands around it.
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br /> Ana tried not to look down. She knew there was nothing beneath her and very little stopping her from slipping over the edge. It would only take the wind to swirl up around her and she would be gone. She wanted to squeeze her eyes closed against what she knew was coming, but the world before her was strange and she needed to understand it.
In the circular opening back into the lord’s office stood the lord herself, although she avoided looking at Ana as though ashamed of what she’d done. But Ana knew she would not do anything to try and stop it. Beside her was the sharp-faced mage, darkness surrounding him like a shadow. She shivered.
The third was Drayton Sterling. A soldier, a man she didn’t know, and yet she knew she could trust no one like him. He held out his hand and she reached for him. A low, deep growl started, and behind the three was a large red-black dragon. Ana wondered how it could have found its way into the room. Then Dray’s hand was tight around hers.
She blinked into the firelight, taking a moment to work out where she was. She was standing on the Walk, but she wasn’t; and it wasn’t Dray holding her hand but an old man. Concern etched his weathered face, and warmth radiated from him.
‘Ahh,’ he said softly. ‘She is back.’
‘Are you all right?’ Dray asked, almost pushing the man out of the way.
Ana nodded, but she wasn’t sure. She must have been sleeping, but she didn’t feel rested in any way.
Dray sighed, then clenched and unclenched his fist.
‘I’m hungry,’ she managed.
He smiled then and turned away, returning with a greasy rabbit leg, which he held out to her. He appeared unsure whether to help her, kneel or just stand. She smiled as she sat up and pushed at the cloaks covering her. She was still cold, even with the fire, as the ground was damp and cool.
She took the meat and bit hungrily into it, but the old man rested his hand on hers. ‘Slow,’ he said.
She nodded and tried to take her time. Then she focused on the man before her. ‘Are you Dray’s friend?’ she asked.
‘He has offered his hospitality,’ he said, looking over his shoulder to Dray.
‘He came out of the cold,’ Dray said.
‘I’m Ana,’ she said, putting a greasy finger to her chest and then biting into the rabbit again.
He nodded slowly. ‘I know who you are,’ he said, as though he had known her before he’d come to find them. She felt the meat slip from her fingers.
‘Don’t waste it, you need your strength,’ he said, catching it before it hit the floor and handing it back to her.
‘Who are you?’ she asked.
He smiled, his perfect teeth a contrast to his old face. She reached forward and placed her hand against his cheek. It was soft and warm, and she was reminded of the older people she knew on Sheer Rock. But she felt the heat and steam of something very different. She looked into his old eyes and knew they had seen far more than any other man. She could smell blood and steel, and she withdrew her hand.
‘You are very gifted,’ he said softly.
‘Sometimes I see things,’ she whispered.
‘Did you see your father’s death before it happened?’ he asked, his voice not quite as kind as it had been. Ana pulled back from him and pushed the meat into her mouth. He watched her too closely.
‘I was there when he died. That was enough to see.’
‘You saw him fall,’ he said. ‘You did not see him die.’
Ana opened and closed her mouth as he continued to watch her.
‘That is enough,’ Dray said, the timbre in his voice scaring her. He sat down beside her and wrapped a large arm around her, pulling her against him and somehow putting himself between her and the old man.
‘I was there,’ the man said, climbing to his feet.
‘You were there in my dream,’ she said, and then wondered at her own words. Had he been there? She closed her eyes for a moment, overwhelmed by the sense she’d gotten from him when she had touched his face. ‘The dragon,’ she murmured.
‘We won’t fit him in here,’ Dray said. ‘And he might still want to eat you.’
Ana looked from Dray to the old man. ‘Do you?’ she asked.
He laughed then, and Dray seemed to hold her tighter.
‘I am Ende,’ he said, bowing his head towards the two of them. ‘I think we might be able to help each other.’
‘In what way?’ Dray asked, sounding hesitant.
‘You need to get to the capital. I think I can assist you.’
‘Are you going to fly us there?’ Ana asked, interrupting.
He laughed again. ‘I am going to walk with you,’ he said. ‘But we search for the same thing.’
‘We are looking for our friend,’ Dray said. ‘We have no plans for the capital. We have no real plans at all. This was not what was meant to happen.’
‘You were to accompany a mage—a powerful mage, no matter what you think of his skill—as he sought tribute. You were to protect him with your life.’
‘That was the plan, but I ended up saving a girl from a fall and now we are alone, unprepared and lost somewhere in the mountains.’
‘Lost?’ Ana asked. She had thought he had a plan. An idea of where they were and where they were going. And now he was admitting they were lost.
‘Once we make it over the mountains, I’ll be able to determine where we are.’
‘Lost,’ she said again.
‘I will keep you safe.’
‘I’m not questioning that,’ she said.
Dray rubbed his hand over his eyes. He looked exhausted. He had led them so far from the lord and the mage, and he had provided fire and food. She felt bad for questioning him.
He sighed and looked over the old man. ‘If Ana is happy for you to travel with us, I will watch over you both.’
‘He’s a dragon,’ she said, holding out her hand to the old man. ‘He could be very useful.’
Dray sighed again, nodded slowly, then leaned back against the wall closing his eyes. Ana leaned back beside him, unsure if he believed her about the old man. She was exhausted, yet she feared what she might find in her dreams.
Ana must have drifted, for she woke to the sound of voices. She had slept against Dray and the cold stone wall, his cloak and Ende’s both covering the two of them. She glanced up at Dray, who held a finger to his lips. Ende was curled up by the fire. But he appeared to give off more heat than the dying embers. He looked like a man who had lived in the mountains his whole life. She was wondering if he spent more of his time as a dragon or a man—and if the latter, where that might be—when she was drawn by the sound of voices again.
Ana was desperate to ask what to do; surely anyone finding the building in the area would investigate. They might be able to smell the fire and the remains of the rabbit. She was momentarily surprised there was in fact some meat left over. But then, Ende had eaten an entire mountain lion just the day before.
‘Could we say we were robbed?’ Ana asked in a soft whisper.
Dray shook his head and sat his hand on his sword. They waited, Ana desperate to move. She had been in the same position for far too long and needed to stretch. The voices disappeared into the distance, and despite Drayton trying to hold on to her, she was at the door looking after where they might have gone.
‘They can’t see us,’ Ende murmured from his place by the fire. She turned back to him.
‘Why?’ she prompted when he didn’t continue.
‘No one can see this place. It is enchanted,’ he said. ‘That is why it has gone undetected for so long.’
‘We could see it,’ Ana said.
‘No,’ Ende said, stretching like a cat and then climbing slowly to his feet. ‘You could see it. The captain only saw once you put your hand on the stonework.
She turned to Dray, but he shrugged his shoulders as though he wasn’t sure if what Ende said was true.
Chapter 10
When the little village came into view, Ed was hopeful for a chance to get down from
the cart and stretch his legs. His feet were still blistered and sore, but the hours spent on the hard bench seat had done nothing for his back or his rear end. And the continued fast pace of the horse had been unsettling.
‘Should you ask after your daughter?’ he suggested, as it appeared neither Phillip nor the horse were slowing when they entered the village.
‘Not here,’ Phillip murmured.
‘How can you be so sure where she was taken to?’
‘Just keep your head down and your cloak up,’ Phillip snapped, and the cart rattled and shook over the dusty road.
Ed looked towards the houses as they passed them by. There didn’t seem to be any movement. Either the town was deserted or not welcoming to strangers. He glanced at Phillip, who focused only on the road ahead as they moved through the village.
They continued in silence as they passed through the fields beyond the cottages, Ed looking over green crops. Large trees dotted the landscape, and before long it appeared that there were more trees than fields. In the distance he was sure he could hear water.
‘Are we near the coast?’ he asked.
‘Don’t be daft, boy. That’s the Deep Near.’
‘The river?’
‘Did you get an education where you came from?’ Phillip asked, his voice gruffer than Ed remembered.
He nodded, but it was yet another reminder of just how little he knew the world. The continent was wider than it appeared. ‘Does that mean you are headed for the Forest of Near?’
‘To reach anything in the north, you must pass through the Forest of Near, and it would be the best hiding place for a girl. They may also have taken others. Every seven years, one of the regions must provide brides as tribute. I’m sure they aren’t that keen in the Near Forest to offer their own girls to the men of the capital, and they stole them from elsewhere.’
‘Are you sure or are you guessing?’ Ed asked.
‘About which bit?’ Phillip asked, real curiosity in his voice.
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