I would spend the night here, I decided.
The next day, I awoke to proper sunlight, clear skies, and birdsong. All brought back longing for California, feelings so deep yet so distant, I’d describe them as nostalgic. Had the birds sung inside the close darkness of the forest? I couldn’t remember. I smiled at their songs, so fresh and sweet, as I searched near the stream for food. As I explored, I came upon old wagon tracks and scattered ashes. Again I thought of Reldion, wondered if we would meet again in this life. Edonai Forest was so vast that even if he managed to escape his captors, it was unlikely that we would come across one another. Still, he had to have some tracking skills in order to hunt that he could use to find me. (I didn’t really know, but I hoped so.) How did the old advice go? When you are lost, stay in one place until someone finds you? In that case, it would be easiest for him if I stayed here at the clearing. It didn’t hurt that there was food, water, and optimum dragon watching.
Little happened in the afternoon. That evening, I saw my first sunset in what felt like forever. The trees around the clearing blocked most of it, but it felt like a real treat to see the sky change from orange to pink to purple. Since I had conserved energy all day, I stayed up a bit to watch the stars come out. They were exquisite: countless dashes of white paint on a midnight blue canvas. And Zellia, which I assumed was the closest, shone like a diamond in a commercial, all points of light and winking facets. As I marveled, something large I couldn’t identify in the dark flew across Zellia. I hardly dared to hope it was the dragon I’d sought so long.
The next morning, I decided to spend the day watching the skies. Previously I had divided my time between the sky and the edges of the clearing, watching for Reldion or Wilders. I hadn’t seen any people, just deer. Since it was winter, I figured the bears were hibernating. Of course, this being the Other World, there were probably some enchanted beasts much scarier than bears that didn’t need to hibernate. I hoped I didn’t encounter any of them; I doubted amateur knowledge of elements and mirror magic would help much.
It felt strange to lean back against a tree and just watch the sky. Today, clouds had moved in. I lost myself in their gloomy patterns; my mind drifted on a sea of vapor and smoke until something dark glided across the smudges and shadows.
Could it be? I got slowly to my feet and looked closer. It was circling, whatever it was, gliding high above the trees. I could still hear the birds scolding, but they had all hidden.
The possible dragon dove groundward, with one flap of doom like a thunderclap. Leaves and branches flew skyward in its wake. Somewhere an animal screamed. Then another explosion of leaves and branches. The creature returned to the sky, a deer clutched in its talons. Blood dripped from the carcass like red rain.
My senses kicked into high gear and took it all in: the black, sinewy snake-like body; the wings and tail; the undeniable power of its flight; the talons that had ended its prey’s life and Gerry’s in my dream.
It was a dragon! No doubt about it!
The rational part of my mind knew this could be any dragon. Who knew how many of them still existed in this world, hidden and unknown?
But then another part of my mind stepped forward. I had my long-awaited sign. I had hoped Reldion would be here when it came, but that couldn’t be helped. This was my chance! I had to pursue.
The dragon’s flight path was to the northeast. I hurried to the edge of the clearing, then stopped and looked back at the sunlight dancing off the ripples in the stream. I could still wait for Reldion, here in the sun, in the sweet open air.
Slowly, I turned back to the trees, towering and forbidding, and returned to the way forward and all its unknowns.
{****}
Well after the dragon disappeared, I continued to pursue. The first night, I took careful note of Zellia’s position, on my left. The second night, I began to wonder if I had acted foolishly after all. The forest scenery never changed, except for the hills, which seemed steeper. I blamed that feeling on imagination and how tired I was from the long, taxing journey.
Too weary and footsore to worry about it for long, I surrendered myself to fate and let myself sleep. Even when I was technically conscious enough to drag myself to my feet, I continued to rest in the somnambulant forest dim.
When I awoke, it felt late. I engaged in what had become my ritual chewing exercise — tough fruit, tougher meat — and debated whether I should go back to sleep.
I could make a little progress, I decided. It might clear some of the fog from my head and make me feel better about this admittedly depressing business.
It turned out to be a good idea. For whatever reason, the trees thinned, to be replaced by boulders and cliff faces as far as I could see. I was too excited by the change of scenery to overthink the practical considerations, at least right away: how I didn’t rock climb; how navigating this maze was going to screw up my direction; and so forth. The thoughts continued their usual worried buzz, but in the back of my mind, at least.
As I ventured further into the rocks, I began to notice cracks and indentations where I supposed wind and weather had worn the stone away. Occasionally, I came across openings big enough and stretching far enough back to count — in my inexperienced opinion — as caves. Most were short enough for the sun to hit the back wall, and there were no other passages branching off around corners. I did light a torch and venture inside one that seemed promising, but it also ended within minutes of exploration.
I would use one of the small caves for shelter tonight, I decided. After my time in Edonai, I felt exposed among these stones. Also, the wind blew chilly here, and I doubted I could find enough wood for a fire.
As the afternoon shadows gave way to twilight, I stopped at a point just before the land sloped sharply downward. I was too tired to figure out a safe way down. Anything I can up with would probably end in raw, scraped hands and sliding down on my butt, which I didn’t feel up for. It had been a long day already, and I had yet to find shelter for the night. Still, I surveyed the area, hoping by committing it to memory, some insight would come to me.
Then I saw it: a dark shape standing sentinel outside the biggest cave mouth I’d seen yet.
Chapter Twenty
Rescuing the Prince
All weariness left me.
Painstakingly, I picked my way down the cliff to get a better look. The dragon was right there outside the cave, crouched like a cat by a mouse hole. I froze and tried to keep as still as a mouse, myself. The dragon had the advantage in this game, however. While it had flat ground to stand on, I was draped awkwardly over a rock, one knee pushing into it, while I stood on tiptoe to keep my other leg’s foothold. I shifted my weight, trying to stretch a cramp out of my foot. A pile of small rocks clattered down the slope. I gritted my teeth. I didn’t have much hope of outrunning the dragon. Maybe I could hide among the rocks until it got bored of investigating the disturbance?
The dragon didn’t so much as stir a nostril.
Maybe it was asleep?
I came closer. The buzz of fear in my head grew to a roar. If a dragon’s eyes were like a hawk’s, it probably could see the slightest movements from miles away. These boulders were literally the only thing standing between me and death.
But wait. What was going on? Birds were flying in from overhead and perching on the dragon’s body, as though it were no more dangerous than a tree! And still, the dragon made no move to protest. The last time I’d been near a dragon, the birds made themselves scarce while calling warnings to their fellows. Something was up.
I crept up from behind, following the dragon’s twisting tail to the torso. It was too dark to see if the ribs moved with its breath, but I sensed a stillness that came from no living creature. I reached out with one trembling hand.
This is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, my mind screamed in the space between safe empty air and the dragon’s body. Snakeskin, my fingers registered. My whole hand came away black, and the area I’d touched crumbled away, flut
tered like ashes to the ground.
Whatever had happened, this dragon no longer lived.
Still, I didn’t have the courage to pass in front it. I hopped over the tail and slunk into the cave from that side.
Inside, the temperature dropped. I froze in the passage. I should have given this more thought! What can I possibly do alone? wailed the perpetually anxious, worried part of me. No! I have to seize my chance! argued a courage I’d felt emerging for some time now.
The conflicted dialogue would have been comical for observers, I thought. I just needed to throw in some my preciouses, and I’d sound just like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.
In the end, I touched Gerry’s button and brooch for strength, lit my last torch, and continued into the cave.
I didn’t get far before I stopped again. Something was moaning in the darkness ahead, a terrible sound that made me tremble. Holding the torch out as far as my arms would go, I inched forward, step by agonized step, until a man came into view.
His clothes had been fine once: a coat gilded with gold scrollwork and a cape of red velvet, but now they hung from him in tatters, covered in blood and dirt. He raised his eyes to me, and I gasped in recognition. Beneath the patchy beard and shadowed eyes…
“Gerry,” I whispered.
“Leah…” My name in his voice, a sound I hadn’t heard in months. How the time had changed him, no, both of us.
Tears started in my eyes at his state, but I pushed them back. Gerry had lost weight. The dragon rider probably hadn’t given him much water, either. Shackles bound his wrists and ankles. The chains were fused into the boulder at Ger’s back, with no keyhole, no matter how I examined them. Not that it would have done much; there was no key, either. I should have expected no less from a person who could command dragons. The strange transition from metal to rock made me think of how Ben had said mirror magic could change elemental properties. I wished the scholar were here now.
“You found me!” Ger whispered. Gratitude filled his eyes and voice. He didn’t seem at all aware of my hesitation. “At last!”
“I came as quickly as I could,” I said before I was able to wait no longer. I threw my arms around Ger and kissed his cheeks and dry, cracked lips. I couldn’t give up! Not now!
“I was worried when I first sent out the dream message,” Ger was saying. “But she should expect it. She never kept our agreement.”
What was he talking about? It almost seemed that Ger was rambling, but that was my thing, not his. I’d have to figure it out later.
“I know the war is her fault, though I had my doubts in the beginning. But when she tried to have you assassinated -”
Claws scraped on rocks at the cave entrance. My boyfriend’s eyes had gone wide with alarm, and no wonder! The rider must have returned.
I darted behind a boulder and smothered my torch against the stone. As Gerry’s captor entered, tongues of teal fire, some hovering close, others floating high against the ceiling, came to life. In their light, some mysteries of the cave were revealed -broken columns and archways, winding walkways and stairs of an ancient stone labyrinth.
The boulder I’d all but dived behind turned out to be a cluster of rocks with convenient crevices for peeking out. From there, I watched my enemies and hoped against hope for a plan to come to me.
The dragon entered the cave first. Considering it was the size of a car, it stepped lightly and moved quietly. I hoped those nostrils, each bigger than my whole hand, wouldn’t detect me, sweating and shaking, behind my rock wall. Then I noticed the way it seemed to limp. There was no way something had bested a creature like this. Something trailed from its leg was clearly bothering the dragon; it kept brushing against the wall and scraping against the floor to get it off.
“Shedding season heralds spring in the South. Here winter clings,” the dragon rider said, possibly to Gerry and possibly to no one in particular.
Spring! That was encouraging. If I lived to get out of here and return south to see it.
But what did the rider mean by shedding? I thought for a minute, recalling how snakes and other lizards slipped out of their skins every so often, leaving the old one behind. Sometimes the old skin looked like the original creatures. That must be what was outside the cave!
The rider dismounted and patted the dragon on the neck. As the black-clad figure reached up to remove the horned helmet, I leaned in to the largest peephole in the rocks, so close I squashed my nose against the stone. Now I would see if Reldion had told me the truth. I’d wondered for weeks, never really believing I would make it this far and find out.
A waterfall of glossy black hair streamed free of the helmet. My heart plummeted to the soles of my feet. How well I knew those high cheekbones and perfect nose. This woman could be none other than Lady Ariana!
Playfully, the dragon head-butted Lady Ariana. It was almost a cozy, domestic thing to do, and I wondered briefly if he wanted to be fed. That was before I remembered that he was more than capable of catching his own food.
“Yes, Gedion. I shall cast off this false form now.”
What was she talking about? Again, I hurried to press my against the peepholes.
Lady Ariana raised her arms, still willowy despite their black chain mail, to the cave ceiling. I’d forgotten her soothing voice. Her murmured words of magic relaxed me, almost made me forget we were enemies.
Keep focused, I reminded myself.
But what I saw next made me choke back a gasp of surprise.
Lady Ariana’s form wavered like a reflection in a pond fragmented by ripples. When she lowered her arms, the distortion of her body stopped. However, something about her had changed.
I couldn’t articulate the difference in her face and form, but I knew with certainty that she had become even more beautiful, like an exquisite statue given life. Too, the transformation had turned her hair the hue of fresh-fallen snow on the purest white marble.
Somber Mersania, born with the First People’s White Hair and eyes of silver.
I heard again Wagoners and Wilders singing their refrain.
Unbelievable, but it must be! Lady Ariana was not only the dragon rider, but the last child born to the First People! Now it all made sense: the glamour she exuded, her sickness at the banquet during the retelling of her story, how distant she seemed after the war started. There were other implications, too, such as her possible betrayal of the Arencaster house, but I didn’t have time to consider those now. Any minute now, Ariana/Mersania or her dragon would see me.
If I wanted to leave with Gerry, I had no hope of sneaking past. And in the time I had before I was spotted, there was no way I could overpower the rider or dragon. I took a deep breath to slow my racing pulse. There was only one way out of this: through.
I came out from my hiding place and started toward Mersania and Gerry. The dragon spotted me at once. It lowered its head and pointed it toward me like an angry goose about to charge. The growl rumbled through the floor, pulsing under the soles of my feet and up my legs.
Though my every instinct screamed to run away, I kept walking toward Mersania. She said nothing and made no moves, all the while watching my every step. An unmistakable power emanated from her eyes, nearly evaporating the last of my courage. When I was certain Mersania would be able to hear me over her dragon’s warning calls, I stopped. “Let Gerry go,” I commanded in a voice as dry as late summer leaves.
Mersania exploded. “You willful hussy! I’m through enduring you! A world away, you stole my beloved from me! You followed us here, here where you have no business reaching! And now you’ve intruded into my home! I should kill you where you stand!”
“Mers, no!” Gerry croaked out. “Remember our deal!”
“Deal? What’s going on?” I demanded.
“Mers promised not to kill you if…this is hard for me to say. Just know that I consider what we had to be a beautiful thing. But to save your life, I told her we would wed.”
“You what?” My head spun. I knew
this wasn’t the most important thing, under the circumstances, but… I guess those were my world’s priorities for you. Facebook would erupt if I posted something like this to my status. It was a living soap opera!
“You were only a diversion for him,” Mersania declared. “Gerard and I have been together for over a century.”
Over a hundred years together?! How? Oh. Magic. Of course. Just the idea that such a thing had physically happened was hard to wrap my mind around. Where was Ben when I needed him?
“Hear me, Leah,” Mersania commanded. “If you leave this world and swear on your life never to return, I will forgive all your transgressions.”
Transgressions, I thought. Well excuse me for living. Literally!
Mersania crossed her arms and tossed her head. “I have magic that will make this all possible. However, this is your last and only chance for this year, so long as the winter stars shine. Had I known sooner, I would have approached you before.” Mersania glared at Gerry, well, Gerard.
Gerard shrugged as best as a person could in chains. “I was going to tell you the next time we met up.”
“Silence, Gerard!” Mersania said in a voice that resonated not only on the walls but within my head and chest. “Now, Leah. What is your choice?”
“It wasn’t my choice to come here,” I found myself babbling. The reality of Mersania’s power and superior being were starting to affect me. “The fight with the dragon -”
Mersania held up her hand for silence. “As I was saying, just tell me where you want to go and my portal will send you there. It can be that tasteless place you and Gerard met; your own bedroom if you so desire; or anywhere in your world at all.”
“Don’t do it, Leah!” Gerard said. “Don’t leave me here,” his eyes said. I remembered the terrible dream that must articulate how he really felt about the situation, however calm he seemed on the outside.
“So Gerard must stay here with you.”
Yes. Mersania drew herself up straighter and taller, seeming as icy and unfeeling as marble from the tip of her lashes to the deepest corridors of her heart.
Rescuing the Prince Page 27