"How can you get all that from… this?" I point with my toe, still standing a few feet back. I don't need special Spirit senses to smell how awful this is.
"Experience," Kaden says, without elaborating.
We head back to the clearing and I recount what we know. "The girls all serve the council. They all went missing within a week of each other. There's definitely a Corrupted Spirit involved. And then there's this button." I look down at it. Something is niggling the back of my mind, but I can't place it.
"Can either of you tell who it belongs to?" I ask.
"Not yet," Landon says. "We'd have to canvas the whole village and smell each person to place the scent."
"Do it." I offer the button, but Bix shakes his head. "We have the scent. Don't need button."
They take their leave, and Kaden and I consider out next step. "We need to search the woods for the Spirit," I say.
He nods. "But not alone. Let me find Phoenix, create a plan. See what Landon and Bix uncover."
"Sounds good. I'm going to find out if there are any other girls part of the service club the council's got going. She could be the next victim and will need guarding."
He reaches for my hand and pulls me into his chest. "Be careful. There's something more going on, I can feel it."
"As someone recently pointed out, this girl is pretty powerful. I'll be fine."
He's smiling as he kisses me, and I kiss him back, my arms wrapping around him to pull him closer.
When we pull away, it is with reluctance. I want more. But that will have to wait.
I decide to head to the inn first. Alba seems to know just about everything happening in town. Maybe she'll know if there are any other girls involved.
On my way there I see Jerrit coming out of a bakery, arms laden with fresh loaves wrapped in cloth. He sees me and smiles, heading toward me. I stop to wait for him.
"How is the investigation coming along?" he asks, offering me a chunk of bread. It's still warm and I accept it and bite into it while he talks. "This whole business has really been a fright for the people of this village. We are a small community, so what happens to one affects all."
I swallow my bread and glance at him. "We have some leads we are exploring."
There is flour on my hands from the bread and I wipe them on my legs as I walk with Jerrit. "Charles told us about the girls working in service to the council," I say, watching his expression from the corner of my eye. I wouldn't have noticed anything unusual. He remains passive. His body relaxed. But he has one tell. A twitch of his fingers tightening around the bread he's holding.
"Yes, it's something we started to— "
"To help the less fortunate. He explained. That's really generous of you all." I try to keep my voice light, sincere. But the pieces are falling into place. I double check to make sure, but yes, I'm right.
He's wearing his guilt as surely as if he held a bloody knife.
"It was you, wasn't it?" I say.
He looks over to me, a shocked expression on his face. "I don't know what you mean. Surely you've found evidence of a Corrupted Spirit."
Evidence he made sure we'd find. "Oh we did, and we'll find the Spirit and handle it, but that's not what endangered those girls."
We've been walking through the village, and I realize we have made it all the way to the edge of the woods.
I should be more careful, but I'm an Ashknight. He's human. What could he possibly to do me? I'm not a little girl.
He sits on a rock and places his bread bundle by his hip, then folds his hands on his lap. "You're a clever one. How did you know?"
I pull the silver button out of my pouch. "This is yours. I suspected it before seeing you in this cloak, but you've confirmed it."
He looks down at his cloak with silver buttons. One is missing. He fingers it. "I wondered where it went to."
"It came off the night you took Caroline."
"How did you know it was mine before?"
"It's silver. No one in this village can afford silver. Except the council. But the others, they wear gold. You like to imagine yourself a man of the people. You like to offset their ostentation with your own insincere humility."
He nods, a small smile forming on his lips. "Perceptive. If only you were younger… "
I sneer at him. "Do you use the girls yourselves, or are you just selling them to the highest bidding pervert you can find?"
"They aren't my taste, though I had to do some level of… skill testing."
I cringe and try to resist killing him on the spot. I need to hear the rest. To know the whole story in case there are others involved.
"They are lucrative business," he says. "Unfortunately, Charles and Frankelton were becoming suspicious. They genuinely believed all the money we brought in came from grateful families looking for a good maid. As if those couldn't be found on every street corner. They didn't realize we were grooming these girls for something far more specific."
"What happened to the four girls who have gone missing?" I ask, while quietly seething with rage..
"They have been sold," he says. "Fortunately, having a Corrupted Spirit loose near the village helped cover this up. Though, with all the suspicion, I will have to alert the Emperor that this location is no longer viable. He will surely find me another town or village better suited to the disappearing of wayward waifs."
"The Emperor knows?"
Jerrit laughs. "Knows? He commissioned me himself to start this little business—may he never burn. He needed to appease certain powerful nobles with unique tastes."
He stands, and a cold sweat breaks out all over my body. Suddenly, I don't feel well. My stomach roils and my head spins.
"But you're asking the wrong questions, Ash Girl. You should be asking yourself why I'm telling you all this. Doesn't it seem odd, that I would confess everything to you right here and now? Without worry? Are you starting to feel sick? Off balance?"
I stumble and grab onto a tree to regain my balance. I reach within for my Spirit, but I can't access it. I'm too weak. I fall to my knees in the dirt, scraping my knee on a root.
"I can't let you go now, but the Spirit I captured will need some company. I need her a little longer to keep terrorizing this town. Long enough for me to leave without a trace."
The bread. He poisoned the bread. Then I see the red eyes, glowing in the woods. An inhuman growl fills the air around us, and I topple to the side, darkness crowding in on me.
When I wake, I am cold, shivering, and I turn onto my side and vomit up everything in my stomach. It stinks of digested food and bad ale, and the smell of it makes me vomit again, until I have nothing left but bile.
I push myself up then, my head spinning as I try to figure out where I am.
The light from a fire flickers over stone walls. Red eyes glow at me from the other side of the fire. My body aches, and my ankle is ripped open as if by sharp teeth. I have scrapes that go up my legs, torso and arms, as if I was dragged over rock and dirt. Did the corrupted dog bite into my ankle and pull me into this cave?
"I am surprised the man let you live," a girl's voice says softly.
I can't see her at first, but then the light of the fire flickers against the wall, and I see. She is a girl, maybe twelve years old, and she is trapped by vines that keep her pinned to the stone. Her chin drops to her chest and her eyes are bloodshot. Red. Corrupted.
"Who are you?"
"I am… I don't know anymore who I am. Or who I was. I know only what I'm meant to be. I am the sacrifice. The one meant to keep the Nine Worlds safe."
Her words are riddles to me, said in a soft, child-like voice with an accent I can't place. "You're the Corrupted Spirit that's been hurting people in the village?"
She holds her head up, her dark hair falling away from her face as she does. "I am, but I have not."
The dog walks up to her and begins nuzzling her. "He is my eyes and ears. I see and I collect, but still the man keeps me here."
"Jerrit put
you in here? Why?"
"This was my wish. My one favor granted. I wanted to be free, just for a time, before I was to be sacrificed. Pike said it would be so. But once I was free, I did not want to go back. Then, when the man found me, I couldn't go back."
My heart skips a beat and my mouth goes dry. I walk to the girl, standing close to her face. "Pike? You know Pike?"
She nods, her eyes opening and closing slowly. "I worked for him. I know all about him." Her eyes focus on mine and she grins. "I can tell you everything you want to know, if you help me."
I step back, not sure what to say or do. "What do you mean you were meant to be a sacrifice? For whom? Is this part of what the council is doing to the girls?"
She laughs, but it's the laugh of someone losing their mind. "This has nothing to do with them. I have nothing to do with them. Don't you see? The man was just using me to cover up his misdeeds, as all men are wont to do. It's in their nature—men—to abuse and use and demand and cover up and do it all again and again and again. They grab the power and abuse the power and create dark spots everywhere, over everyone's eyes, and in their mouths and on their faces and in their noses. Dark spots everywhere. Full of blood. Full of decay. Full of dead things pretending to be living."
I try to parse out the truth from the rant, but it's hard to know what's real and what's not. "Tell me, please. What do you know of Pike? Of what's happening to the girls here? Tell me!" My voice carries and echoes in the small chamber of the cave.
The undead dog growls at me and I step back, fear surging within me as I remember what I'm facing.
"You said you wanted help," I say, trying to change the mood. "What kind of help?"
She giggles. "A helping hand. A helping spade. A help a help a help. We all need help. I need the help of dragons. Only the dragons can help any of us anymore."
She pauses, then sucks in air and looks at me, her eyes clear for just a moment. "You. You. YOU!"
I stumble back as she screams, as she struggles against her confinement. Her fingernails break off as she fights to free herself from the vines, leaving chips of nail and bloody lines over the foliage.
"I don't know what that means," I say, though inside I'm terrified she knows what I really am. Can she tell I'm of dragon blood?
"I need the skin of a dragon, and I need to leave. Far away. Far along. Away and along and goodbye to this dreary place."
"The skin of a dragon? You mean a dragonstone?"
She nods, her face lighting up.
I struggle with what to do next, because I have a dragonstone. I keep one on me at all times, just in case. But I don't want to give it to her. She's Corrupted and insane and could kill the whole village if she escapes.
"And you need to leave? Like, leave this world?"
She nods again.
"So you need a travel talisman," I say.
"A talisman, a tail, a traveling tail of tales," she sings, off key. "But not just that, I need a guide. Yes, a guide for a god. For the sacrifice of dragons. For the good girl who took the place of the other."
My head begins to pound and I lean against the cave's wall and try to think, pinching my nose as I do. "Ok, so a dragonstone, a travel talisman, and we'd have to get to a fountain or body of water under the proper star alignment. I haven't learned to use travel talisman yet. We'd need someone's help."
"Oh fooey, fooey, gooey on you. You can do it. It's in your blood, silly dragon."
"Won't you please just tell me what you know about Pike? I'll do my best to help you if you tell me." She knows something. Something about Kara. About what happened to my baby. And I need to know.
"Get away from it," a voice from the mouth of the cave calls.
I turn around in shock, surprised to see Raven there. "How did you find me?" I ask.
"I tracked your scent," she says. "I smelled something off and knew you were in trouble. There was a stone blocking the entrance to this cave, so I used my Spirit to move it."
She turns to the Corrupted Spirit, and begins to transmute.
"Raven, no! She has answers I need."
But Raven isn't listening. She attacks the girl, and the girl begins to transform, breaking free of her bonds as easily as flicking away ribbon on a present. Her body lengthens and grows in bulk. Her hair falls out in chunks, with her scalp attached. Human skin festers and boils until unnatural bones and chunks of flesh are exposed.
There is no more talking.
The girl, if she'd ever been there to begin with, is gone.
In her place is a mindless monster, and Raven is fighting it alone.
I muster my strength and search inward for my Spirit. I grab onto the thread of light I see. The drugs in my system are wearing off. Transmuting my hand, I lash out at the beast. It roars but attacks. We run to the mouth of the cave and pour out of it. The sunlight stings my eyes.
"We can't let it escape," Raven says.
I nod and we guard the opening, waiting for it to lunge at us.
When it gets closer, I throw down a talisman to create an explosion that forces it back.
I reach for another talisman to create a shield, but the creature is faster than me, and it runs out, knocking into Raven and sending her crashing into a large rock. Her head splits with a hard crack and blood pours out. Her eyes flutter, but do not open.
The beast lunges toward her unconscious body with a knife-like hand jutting out, ready to impale her.
I throw myself between them, blocking with my own dragon claw.
The force send me back, and I'm still dizzy and injured from Jerrit. When my head hits the ground, I feel pain shooting into my brain and blood in my mouth.
I force myself to my knees, and am still transmuted and fighting the monster, when her dog makes a move for Raven.
He's too close. I have to take my eyes off the monster to swipe at the dog. My dragon arm pushes through his neck and he falls to the ground, but as I roll to my back the monster is about to land on me.
I know this will be it.
If this girl is trained in Sanctuary, I could die for real this time.
Just as its about to strike a blow that I might not be able to stop, a figure falls from the sky and lands on the beast's back, stabbing it through the heart with a sword. They throw a purification talisman onto the beast, and the form slowly returns to that of the girl, who is dying.
I spit blood from my mouth and look up to see who saved us.
It's a woman in white with red accents. Her face is covered by a mask, but her hair is red and spirals down her back.
"You're the Outcast," I say, my breath still coming in gasps. I crawl over to Raven to check on her.
"She's alive. She'll have a headache, but she'll live."
"Why did you save us?" I ask.
She walks toward us, and kneels before me. "I want to talk. I have something important to tell you."
My mouth opens, then closes.
"I know you who are," she says. "What you are. I was there that day. When you showed your power. That you are of the dragon blood. And I need to know something."
My blood runs cold. "Who are you?"
"She's the monster who killed my best friend," Kaden says.
I turn my head and he's standing there, sword drawn, ready to kill. "We need to capture her. Now."
He attacks, and the Outcast dodges easily. "You don't understand," she says. "I'm not your enemy."
Kaden isn't listening, or doesn't care, or doesn't believe her. He keeps attacking, and I expect to see her die quickly. But she proves to be a match for Kaden, which seems to surprise him even more than me.
And then, as Kaden lunges, about to make contact. She just disappears.
It's as if she teleported.
There one second, gone the next.
Just as I have done in the past.
Thirty-Six
The Red Dragon
"Where did she go?" Kaden looks around, wide-eyed and full of adrenaline.
I can finally stand, an
d I run to him on wobbly legs, throwing my arms around him. His eyes focus on me, and he frowns. "Are you injured?"
I laugh, because everything on my body hurts so much that I don't even know what's serious and what's not.
He looks more closely at my whole body and sighs. "You need a healer. We need to get out of here, get the squad and return to Dragoncliff to report what's happened."
"I agree, but first, there's something you need to know. Jerrit did this. Did everything. He trapped a Corrupted Spirit and poisoned me. He… " I'm about to tell him everything that happened to those poor girls, but he brushes the hair off my face and the words die on my lips.
"I know. After we separated I found out some things that didn't make sense. Long story short, we got a reluctant confession out of Jerrit. The remaining council members are trying to track down what happened to the girls, and Jerrit is being hanged at sunrise."
"That's fast," I whisper, bile filling my throat.
"It has to be. If what he said is true and this is sanctioned by the Emperor, the village can't afford to wait." He kisses me softly. "We've done our part. Now, we must leave. You're hurt. Raven is unconscious, and I just let a murderer escape."
I limp along with him until we reach Raven. He lifts her gently and carries her as if she weighs nothing. "The village isn't far. Can you make it?"
I nod. My ankle hurts, everything hurts, but I'm already starting to heal.
Kaden speaks again, but doesn't turn to face me. "Sky, I need to tell you something."
There's something in his voice that makes me fear what he's about to say. "Okay…"
"I know you're High Dragon." He stops and turns to face me. Raven is between us, separating us. "I knew there was a chance the Outcast would show up. We think she's after you."
"Me? Why?"
"Because you have power. You are the most powerful person in this world right now, even if you don't know how to fully access that power. That makes you a danger to some, a weapon to others. It's why we have to get back to the Cliff. Immediately. You're not safe here."
We begin walking again and I ask, "How long have you known? And what did you mean by 'we'?"
Of Dreams and Dragons Page 30