One of us had to move soon and I knew it should be me, but I couldn’t budge.
“Julianna, you’re home!” My mother ran forward to hug me, dropping my father’s sword in the process. From then on, it was as if everything happened in slow motion. I moved toward my mother to embrace her while my father and Jasper both ran for the falling sword. Ash grabbed my arm and started to pull me to the door.
While all this was going on, something infinitely stranger was happening. Jasper’s sword began to emit smoke from the tip. The hissing made us all turn our heads to look at it. Because of it, my father’s sword hit the floor before either my father or Jasper could catch it, my mother and I didn’t get to hug each other, and Ash completely forgot about our escape. The lurid purple smoke had us all mesmerized as it blossomed into a thick fog. There was a loud bang from the sword itself, followed by a bright orange flame that lit up the room in a flash before going out completely, but not before setting fire to Jasper’s curtains.
Ash grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs and out into the wet night. I could barely keep up with him as my feet sunk into the thick mud. My clothes were now so heavy with rain that each footstep caused me pain and the armor rubbed against my bare arms, making them chafe.
Behind us, my father was hot on our heels with Jasper and my mother following behind. I screamed, not because of my family chasing me, but because of what I could see behind them. Flames licked the side of our house in the distance, illuminating the dark sky and turning it a deep orange.
“Ash, do something!” I yelled. Villagers opened their doors and windows to see what the commotion was all about, and yet Ash pulled me onwards.
“I can’t do anything. I can only make fire. I can’t put it out. The rain will do that if it keeps up like this.”
He hopped over the fence and into the woods at the base of the mountains and I followed, knowing it was our only chance of escape. If he couldn’t save my house, there was no reason for us to stick around. I turned and looked at my parents and brother one last time before disappearing into the trees. At least I knew they were all safe from harm. Before me, Ash’s shape changed. He’d turned so quickly that his clothes ripped to shreds. I jumped onto his back and held onto his neck as he outstretched his wings, flying through a gap in the branches. It was only when we were half way up the mountain that I realized we had failed to steal either sword.
Chapter Sixteen
Before us, dark clouds covered the sky with a blanket of black, but behind us, fire painted the landscape every shade of orange.
“It’s spreading!” I shouted pointlessly as the roar of the rain took my words away.
I could barely see my village anymore but the reach of the fire was unmistakable. The rain wasn’t even touching it.
“Turn around!” I screamed out in a panic but Ash either didn’t hear me or chose to ignore me.
We flew deeper into the clouds and the orange faded into black until there was nothing at all, and I once again had to close my eyes to block out the rain.
When we landed back on the ledge where I had first met Ash as a human, I immediately jumped from his back and ran to the edge. Freezing needles of rain lashed down, stinging my face, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to enter the cave system which I knew would shelter me. Ash grabbed my arm and dragged me backwards until the darkness of the cave swallowed me.
“Why didn’t you go back?” I shouted at him. “We shouldn’t have left. All we succeeded in doing is burning my house and goodness knows how many others in my village to the ground. We didn’t even bring a sword back except for mine and that’s no use.” I shook as I shouted, whether with fear, anger or cold, I didn’t know, though it was probably a combination of all three.
“The rain will put it out. I already told you that. You need to get out of those clothes before you freeze to death. Your lips are practically blue with the cold.”
“You didn’t see how bad it was. It only looked like a small fire when we took off, but from a distance, it lit up the whole sky.”
“Even a small fire would do that. You saw your family escape and your house was far enough away to not pose a danger to the other houses in the village. If it were a dry, hot day, maybe a stray ember might drift over and catch a straw roof, but look at the rain. The fire will be out in no time.”
He moved towards me to hug me and for the first time since meeting him, I backed away from his embrace. It might have been irrational, but I was angry at him.
“Why didn’t you turn around when I asked you? Even if you didn’t think it was anything to worry about, you should have still listened to me.”
“Julianna, if you want to go back, I’ll take you back now. They’re your family, and if you want to be there, we can go down the mountain. I didn’t turn around because I didn’t hear you.”
“You mean it?”
“Of course! I don’t know how you’ll be able to help them but I wouldn’t keep you away from them. Look, the rain is starting to let up. Get out of those clothes before you get pneumonia and I’ll dry them with my dragon breath. There’s a blanket behind that rock; wrap yourself in it and when the rain stops, I’ll take you home.”
I ran towards him and gave him the hug I’d dodged earlier. It was only then I noticed he was dressed.
“You have clothes on! They were ripped to shreds back in the village.”
“I keep a few spares up here. At least, I used to. I’m going through them so quickly I’ll have to bring more up. This is my last set.”
I picked up the blanket with the intention of getting undressed behind it, but Ash disappeared into the tunnel to let me change in private. He was right; I was freezing and could barely keep my teeth from chattering.
I put my armor to one side and peeled the sodden clothes from my body, laying them out as straight as I could on some rocks. The blanket was dry but not warm enough to make my goosebumps disappear or keep my teeth from chattering.
A wall of flame shot up the tunnel, quickly followed by Ash. He curled his body in the small cave and blew breathed more fire. The cave turned a bright orange and heated immediately. I could see he was being careful not to burn me or my clothes. The heat flowing through the small cave and the intermittent light made the cave feel homely. I’d spent time with Ash as a dragon before, but in all of those times, I’d been flying on his back. To have him sitting near me like this felt weird. I could talk to him but he wouldn’t be able to answer me.
“Thank you for agreeing to take me home,” I said to him.
It was hard to tell but I thought he nodded his head slightly. I could barely see him at all when he wasn’t breathing fire, and when he did, his whole body reflected the light of the flames as though he was on fire himself.
I pulled the blanket tighter, thinking of my parents. Ash was right about one thing. They and Jasper had gotten out of the house without injury. I loved my house, but at the end of the day, that’s all it was—a building full of things. The things that made it a home had all escaped the fire.
“I wonder what started the fire?” I asked out loud, not expecting an answer. I thought back to the scene in the bedroom before the curtains caught fire. There hadn’t been a naked flame nearby. “I don’t suppose you can produce fire in your human form can you?”
Ash made a growling noise which could have meant anything but he accompanied it by shaking his head. He blew another blast of heat my way, warming me right to my toes.
It had looked like the flame had erupted from Jasper’s sword but how could it? It was made of metal and no part of it was flammable. I picked up my own sword and examined it. It was different from Jasper’s but not so much to make any difference to its capability to catch fire. I admired the intricate metal work. When Ash blew another blast, I held up my sword in the path of the flame. The heat slightly burnished the metal but set no part of it alight.
I knew nothing about the slayer’s swords. Not only could I not see how it could produce or sustain fire,
I also couldn’t see how it would trap a soul. Why had I not been taught any of this? I’d spent my whole life being taught swordlore and yet I knew nothing at all.
My thoughts went back to Stone and all the other dragons who had lost their souls at the hands of the people in my village. Going home now would serve no purpose other than to alleviate my fears. What would my parents do if I went home anyway? Jasper had been so angry to see me with Ash that he’d attacked me without even thinking to ask why I was home. My father wasn’t any better. He’d jumped to the conclusion that Ash had kidnapped me, and like Jasper, he had attacked without pausing to find out who he was. That was the problem with the people in my village. They mindlessly followed hundreds of years of traditions without pausing to question why they were doing what they were doing.
“I’m not going home.” I’d made a promise to Ash and I was going to keep it. I moved to sit beside him, snuggling as close as I could to his curled body and resting my arm on his skin. For so many years I’d believed dragon hide to be tough and scaly and cold, but Ash’s skin was warm and comfortable. He brought his long neck around so I was completely surrounded. I rested my head on his neck and closed my eyes, listening to the rhythm of the rain on the ledge outside the cave.
Later when I awoke, the sun was beaming down, warming the cave. I stepped away from Ash, who was still sleeping in his dragon form, and grabbed my now dry clothes. Throwing them on, I stepped outside into the most radiant sunshine. Any evidence of the summer storm that had made me feel so cold the night before had gone, evaporated in the sunny morning. It was almost as if I’d dreamed the whole thing.
I peered down the mountain, trying to see my village, but of course, we were too far away. Now that the adrenaline had stopped pumping through me quite so freely and I’d had a decent amount of sleep, I knew I’d made the right decision to stay. Ash could try and convince the dragons to give the slayers a chance, but unless he had one on his side, his endeavors would be pointless. Despite what my parents and Jasper saw last night, or thought they saw, they knew me well enough to know how much I loved them, and the time would come when I’d be able to get the chance to put things right with them. Until then, there were plenty of families in the village that would take them in and make sure they were all right. Knowing the villagers as I did, they had probably already started rebuilding our house.
A warm pair of arms wrapped themselves around me. “You just say the word and I’ll fly you back down there. I’ll never stop you from going home.”
“I know, and that’s exactly the reason I need to stay.” I brought my arms up to his and we just stood there like that for a long time, looking out at the incredible view down the mountain, the heat of the sun beating down on our faces.
We followed the same path through the mountain that we had taken the very first day I’d met Ash. This time, I had no problem holding his hand as we walked through the dark tunnel. Had that really been less than a week ago? It felt so strange that I’d gone eighteen years with everything being the same and nothing really changing, and then in just a few days, my whole life had turned upside down; now everything was different.
We came out onto the ledge at the opposite side of the mountain and it became apparent very quickly that something was happening. There were dragons everywhere. Previously, I’d only ever seen two or three in the sky at once, but now it seemed the whole sky was full of them. They looked amazing, so many different shapes and sizes, a kaleidoscope of colors circling around.
“Uh oh!”
“What?” I asked Ash. “What’s happening?”
“They’re looking for us. They’ve probably been on the other side of the mountain too. We need to get you home quickly.”
He pulled his shirt off without even bothering to run back into the cave to change.
“Wait!” I yelled as he began to undo the buttons on his trousers. “I already told you. I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here with you.”
“I meant my home!” he said, flinging his trousers off and changing into a dragon before my eyes. I scooped his clothes up and jumped onto his back as dragons swooped towards us. Unlike the leisurely flight I’d first taken down this mountain, this one was fraught with panic. The other dragons weren’t attacking us, but as soon as they had caught sight of us, they had formed a formation around us to escort us back down to the ground.
Chapter Seventeen
Wind whipped my face as we soared past the training grounds toward the center of the village. The thatched roof of the circular Town Hall greeted me. We flew over a village square that had been hidden before.
The square was surrounded by shops made in the same higgledy-piggledy construction as the rest of the buildings in the village. Many had flat roofs with stairs leading to the ground. Some of the dragons descended onto these makeshift landing pads, although most of them, like us, landed in the square itself. To one side of the square was a cafe with tables and chairs arranged outside. On any other day, in any other situation, I’d have liked to sit there and drink a hot mug of coffee while watching the world go by.
The ground was still damp from the previous night’s rain and large puddles had formed, leaving less space for the dragons to land. When they did land, they immediately ran to the edge of the square where two fences had been erected. They were the same type of dressing rooms I’d seen at the training ground just the other day.
I hopped off in the middle of the square and Ash flew to one of the fences to join his fellow dragons.
I’d not had time to count just how many dragons had escorted us back, but there were a lot. Many more in their human forms had been in the village square, waiting for us to return. The way they watched me made me extremely nervous. The noise of the bones crunching as the dragons changed still made me feel queasy, but it was the fear of what would happen next that made my stomach churn the most. I was alone and exposed, but there was nothing I could do but wait. I crossed my fingers, hoping that Ash would be the first to change, but it was Spear that made his appearance first. I almost didn’t recognize him as he wore a very formal robe and what could only be described as a judge’s wig. It was likely meant to make him appear imposing but he just looked ridiculous, which somehow made me feel slightly more at ease. At least, I did until he barked at me to follow him to the Town Hall.
“I’d like to wait for Ash,” I said, looking around at the fences to see if he was there. Some of the other dragons had changed and dressed and were now coming toward us, but there was no sign of him.
“He’ll know where you are,” replied Spear, catching hold of my arm and pulling me roughly toward the Town Hall.
The other dragons followed. Some I recognized but there were quite a few I’d never seen before.
I was taken through the circular building and into the courtyard. Unlike before when it had been empty, the sandy courtyard was filled with chairs.
“Are we going down to the courtroom?” I asked as Spear dragged me toward the stairs that would lead us down there.
“Not this time. There are too many of us to fit today,” he replied brusquely. We came to the small stage where Spear pushed me up the stairs, following close behind.
“Why are we here?” I asked innocently, but I knew. The dragons thought I had tried to escape. That’s why so many of them had been flying up on the mountain—to try to find Ash and me.
“My people will not tolerate your behavior. I knew right from the start that having you here would lead to no good. Ash might be blinded by some ridiculous crush, but the rest of us aren’t. Thanks to your little escapade last night, I think it’s safe to say that you’ve shown your true colors. You’re here, Julianna, to be sentenced to death.”
The seats in the courtyard slowly filled up with villagers. They were all here to watch me die.
“I went to my village to find information that will help you!” I cried out.
“Of course you did. Good luck in convincing the court.”
I looked out over
the almost full courtyard, desperately hoping I’d see Ash in the crowd. It was then that I noticed something that I’d not seen when I’d been there previously—a set of gallows had been erected at the back. They had already made up their minds. I was going to die.
“Ash won’t let you do this!” I screamed.
“Ash can’t help you now. He’s due to be convicted as well.”
Ash ran in from the back. No one needed to pull him up onto the stage—he was making his way here all by himself. I felt an immense but misplaced sense of relief on seeing him run up an aisle between the rows of chairs. I wanted to shout out to him, to warn him, but something stopped me. I realized I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t leave me. Not here and not like this.
“What are you doing? What’s going on?” Ash demanded as he stomped to my side.
“I warned you, Ash. You’ve been brought here to stand before your peers for the crime of treachery. If found guilty, which I can assure you, you will be, you will be hanged.”
“Shut it, Spear.” Ash took my hand. I felt safer although my situation hadn’t improved, just because Ash was by my side. Any safety I felt was just an illusion. There was at least one person guarding each exit, so escape was not an option.
“This is nonsense!” Ash shouted to the assembled crowd. “I admit, we did go to the slayers’ village. Julianna took me to her home.”
Gasps surrounded me as Ash spoke. I guess everyone thought we were going to deny it.
“She didn’t take me there for her benefit, nor for the benefit of her people. She took me there because she thinks that Stone is still alive.”
The gasp that I’d heard before was nothing compared to the interested babble that erupted among the crowd.
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