Ash Princess

by Eve Langlais

  Not likely. If trained adults couldn’t do it back in the day, then how could she and one man prevail against an older and wilier drake? Had her father tried at night? Surely the drake had the same habit as the other beasts and returned to the heat of the lava at night.

  Or did he?

  In case he didn’t, Cam needed to see the reality of a smaller dragon to appreciate the danger of a larger one. He should know how they moved and attacked. How to kill it. Experience with dragons would help on their treacherous march to the border.

  Killing the beast who’d claimed this ledge would make one less predator in the air coming after them. Win. Win.

  She’d had very few of those lately, and she feared the tower would prove to be another dead end. Even if there was a fabled tunnel, it was probably destroyed. But what if it existed and they found it? She had to take that chance and get out of this mess. She’d already waited too long.

  Before the ghoul invasion, she’d been loath to admit Cam might be right, that they were wasting away in the Necropolis. Their numbers being whittled year by year with dwindling births. None in six years now. Food was becoming scarce. The predators more cunning.

  She’d often thought about heading out and seeing if she could make it to the border, find a safe place, and send back help. She just couldn’t leave anyone behind, so she stuck around.

  Cam’s arrival helped jolt her. It reminded her that there was a world outside this nightmare and she shouldn’t give up.

  She glanced across at the man with her. He had his gaze focused outside, but as if sensing her stare, he glanced her way. When their eyes locked, she’d have sworn something snapped into place between them. The ardency in his gaze heated her. She couldn’t hold it. She glanced away and took in his body instead.

  Big and fierce, showing barely any sign he’d fought ghouls the day before. He’d already peeled the bandages from his wound, and she saw the skin. The scabbing gash was getting ready to shed already. He’d claimed he healed quickly. Too quickly. Perhaps he did have some of the magic he spoke of.

  Only two days she’d known him, and yet she felt a closeness to him. He’d shared with her, telling of his upbringing, his sister. She didn’t get the impression he did that often. She also got the sense he was lost and looking for something. Was it foolish to wish she could be what he sought?

  There was something solid about him. Ardent, too. She’d seen how he gazed at her.

  She admired his fearlessness. Did nothing penetrate his cool composure?

  Could he teach her how he did it? Because she trembled. Even after all this time, she felt fear before each battle. And it made no sense. She’d killed dragons before, usually attacking them in a group, an arduous culling endeavor to ensure none of the ones nesting on the mountain got too big and also because they made a good source of meat. Pity that eating their enemy didn’t make them stronger.

  On the contrary, Kayda gagged if she tried to eat them, unable to choke it down. Even killing them filled her with a stomach-churning nausea and a sadness. She’d been raised with dragons. Surely there was a better way?

  A foolish thought. The fire dragons had no interest in dealing with humans. Just eating them.

  “I hear something,” Cam whispered from his crouched spot across from the gap.

  Listening carefully, she caught the distinctive flutter of wings and rattling as a breeze stirred up the debris on the ledge. Then the crackling and crunching of something walking on brittle bone.

  Cam had the right angle for viewing, and since she watched him, she noticed his expression turn grim. He looked away from the gap.

  What is it? she mouthed.

  “It has a human,” was his whisper.

  She went to rise, and he shook his head.

  “Not one of yours,” he mouthed.

  A small relief. But who was it then?

  A pained cry had her eyes widening. Whoever the victim, they weren’t dead. Before she could react, Cam slid out the crack, long dagger in hand.

  Kayda followed with her crossbow and took aim. The dragon, a beast with a deep black and burgundy hide, hissed at Cam, lifting its wings, making itself seem bigger. It reminded her of the kitten she used to have before she fled the castle. Its wide stance made it a great target.

  Twang. The bolt shot out and missed the chest to punch through the wing.

  Just a tiny sting probably but the dragon howled. Not good, especially since she could feel its pain—and its rage. So much rage.

  She rearmed the crossbow by feel, keeping her eyes on the scene in front of her. Cam held his dagger in one hand, partially crouched, leaning side to side, intent on the beast. The dragon still trumpeted and humped its body, an aggressive motion meant to intimidate.

  Cam looked bored. “Are you just gonna talk or fight? I ain’t got all day.”

  Intentionally antagonizing, and it worked. She could feel the confusion and then irritation that this pesky creature didn’t quiver before its might.

  She was definitely going crazy.

  “Gngng.”

  The moan drew her attention to the slumped body on the ground. It moved slightly. Not dead yet.

  With a blaring noise, the dragon lunged at Cam, stretching its long neck and snapping those vicious teeth. Cam moved at the last moment, dancing out of reach and slashing at the same time, only making the slightest mark against the dragon’s neck.

  Enough to have it bellow in pained surprise. The problem with being an apex predator was they didn’t expect anyone to actually hurt them.

  “Come on, you bastard. Come and fight for real this time instead of sneaking up like you do.” Cam beckoned it, a feral grin lighting his expression.

  The crossbow was loaded, and she aimed again. Swinging to follow the movement of the dragon, she fired. Strike! The bolt hit it in the neck.

  While it raised its head and stretched its neck in shock, Cam dove. The dragon stumbled back defensively. It swiped randomly just as he swung. He didn’t hit flesh but did shorten some claw-like knuckles.

  It only served to madden the beast further. Cam ducked under the lashing tail and somehow managed to come out of that dive with a chop of his dagger that bit into the tail. Cam held on and pulled the knife free, and the dragon screamed.

  Cam wasn’t done. He’d outfitted himself before coming, meaning he had another blade ready to go as he ran for the dragon yelling, “I’ll keep it occupied. Shoot it in the eye.”

  She fumbled with her crossbow, having gotten distracted. Armed it then raised it and eyed along the sight. The creature’s head kept bobbing, the horns on it not the crest of her precious Gellie but the shape of the head and snout… She flattened her lips. This dragon wasn’t a pet.

  She caught sight of its eyes. Yellow iris with orange light in the midst. Her breathing slowed, her focus narrowed, and time seemed to slow down as she adjusted minutely.

  Thwack. Her bolt fired true and sunk deep in the orb. The dragon screamed and stumbled back, retreating from a pain it couldn’t escape. Its foot slipped off the edge. It tried to recover just as Cam slashed through a wing and swung his foot around in a solid kick that unbalanced it.

  The dragon fell, and for a moment, she felt its panic. She shut her mind to it. She couldn’t feel sorry when they were left alive, chests heaving.

  “I can see why they’re worthy adversaries. But they can be taken down,” he said, turning to her with a smile.

  “That was only a little one. The one that lives in the tower is many times that size.”

  “You’ve seen it?”

  She frowned. “No. We don’t go to the tower.”

  He eyed her. “Please. You’re going to tell me a bunch of curious teens never dared each other for a peek.”

  Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “Maybe once. Right after some hunters cleared out this ledge. We snuck out at night. Made it to the top and then thought we heard something.”

  The scariest thing. She remembered being ultra-conscious of her own bre
ath. Of every scuff they made. Father had said to not trust the night either, that other monsters did come out. But they were at the top of the mountain, there was nothing but the biggest dragon of all up here.

  They stood on the plateau, giggling and strutting. As idiots are apt to do when young. A few them began walking toward the tower, which was oddly illuminated against the sky, the outline of it jagged. But when those lights shifted as if something moved around inside?

  They went running back for the safety of the tunnels.

  Did the big drake leave at night? If it didn’t, they were in serious trouble.

  “Why are you scowling?”

  “This was a bad idea,” she muttered.

  “I’ll admit I could have gone after it quicker, but I wanted to see what it could do. It’s not as bad as I expected.”

  “Not bad?” she retorted.

  He stalked toward her, bristling with adrenaline, his smile lopsided and cocky. “It’s dead, and we’re alive without a mark. I’d say that’s worth celebrating.”

  To her shock, he wrapped his free arm around her, pulled her close, and kissed her!

  Shocked, she didn’t move, and when she did, it was to kiss him back. To slant her mouth over his and enjoy the taste of him, minty from the mossy salad they ate at lunch. The scent of him was musk and exertion, but she didn’t mind it. Especially as the kiss deepened and his tongue came for a visit.

  Oh. She’d never imagined the jolting awareness and pleasure she’d get from it.

  “Ahem.”

  The raspy sound drew her flustered attention as she tore herself from the splendid pleasure of Cam’s mouth to look at the man rising from the ground.

  A man she knew.

  “Zee?” How had she not known their oldest resident had gone missing? In her defense, he didn’t often come out of hiding.

  “Ayuh. It’s me.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Being stupid.” The grizzled fellow stretched, wincing at the claw marks left on him.

  Her focus changed. “We need to bind those wounds.”

  Before she could act, Cam was offering her a scrap of fabric, a few actually. She glanced at him. “You brought bandages?”

  “I washed and kept the ones you used on me last night. Guess they’ll come in handy now.”

  She took the material and approached Zee. “How did the dragon get you? Did you leave the mountain? Or did it get you inside?” Please no. She didn’t need another thing to worry about.

  “It happened when I was outside the mountain,” the old man admitted. Although old might be subjective given he was still in his forties.

  “Why did you leave?” she asked, pouring some of the water from her pouch over the puncture marks the dragon left in his flesh.

  Zee hissed. “Damn that stings.”

  “What did you expect? You know the dragons hunt by day, so why were you outside?”

  “I heard we were evacuating because of ghouls. So I went reconnoitering to check things out.”

  “You should have told us.”

  “Then you would have made me take some youngster when all I wanted to do was see if it was any better than the last time a group tried it.”

  “And?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “It won’t work.”

  “We don’t really have much of a choice.”

  Cam backed her up. “We can’t stay.”

  “I agree, but you can’t go overland. You’ll all get eaten.”

  “We were planning to only move by night.”

  “By night is just as dangerous. Why do you think no one has succeeded? The closer you get to the crevice, the more the denizens that emerge at night. And they’re hungry.”

  “Ghouls?” Cam asked.

  “Worse,” was Zee’s grim reply. He glanced between them. “Why are you up here instead of prepping for the move?”

  “We were looking for another way out,” Cam said. “I hear the tower at the top of the mountain might be of ancient origin.”

  “It is,” Zee muttered softly.

  She paused in her bandaging. “Do you know why my father was so intent on reaching it?”

  “I’d say it was obvious.”

  But she wanted to hear it. “He thought it had one of the ancient tunnels connecting all of Ozz.”

  “Your father didn’t just think it; he knew it was there. He just couldn’t reach it,” Zee asserted.

  “How is this the first I’m hearing of it?” she exclaimed

  “Because too many people died trying to reach it. There was no point in sending more to a useless death.”

  “You were part of the last group that tried to get to the tower,” she remarked. Left unsaid, the group her father died in. The one with Zee’s daughter, too.

  “Ayuh. We made one last big push. All of us at once. Armed to the teeth. But we underestimated the beast.”

  “How did you make it back?” Cam asked, his question casual, and yet she noticed how he watched Zee.

  “Bad luck, I guess.”

  Kayda chewed her lower lip. “With the tower mostly destroyed, how do we know if those ancient tunnels still exist?”

  “There is no way of knowing.” Zee shrugged. “Your father wasn’t even aware they were a possibility until the dragons were already entrenched. Could be there’s nothing there.”

  “Only one way to find out,” Cam said, wiping his blades and holstering them.

  “We need to reach that tower,” she said grimly. Because now, more than ever, it was their only chance.

  Chapter 11

  The pressure to find an escape weighed on Kayda. Cam could see it in the grim set of her lips and the slumping of her shoulders.

  Zee had left to return to Necropolis. With his injuries, he needed to rest. But the man had already done the biggest job of all by giving them confirmation. The tunnels were here. They just had to find them.

  Hopefully not under the ass of a giant dragon.

  The stairs proved challenging. Once wide enough for several people across, now they were broken remains with entire sections missing that required careful climbing. When they reached a wrecked part, Cam sent her first while he watched the skies. Then he tossed the crossbow and she kept an eye for his turn.

  This high above the ash clouds, the sky remained clear except for the distant shapes of flying dragons. Other mountains appeared to have green splotches on them, but this one was only stone, stone, and more stone. Although they did kill another dragon that they surprised napping on a ledge in the sun. The same fucker that had tried to eat his arm. The remains of his helmet still littered its nest.

  “The sun’s getting close to setting,” he remarked as the sky emptied.

  No more diving and swooping bodies. Already a chill began to creep in.

  “We’re almost to the top.”

  They were only a few steps from cresting, and when they did, he whistled. “Talk about a view.”

  He had an almost perfect panorama and could see for miles. They were surrounded by hilltops and mountains, dotted and jagged in height. As the sun dipped low, the peaks were illuminated in mauves and whites and hints of green.

  Night took hold, and the air immediately cooled. Quickly he surveyed the tower at the far end of the plateau. Its ruins rose from the ground, a forlorn relic.

  “How do we tell if the dragon’s gone for the night?” he asked. He’d certainly not seen anything flying away from the mountain.

  “By looking inside,” was her sarcastic reply.

  He snorted. “Good plan. Let me guess, I get to do the peeking.”

  He’d meant to anyhow. If she’d argued, he would have challenged her via arm wrestle. Even Casey rarely beat him at that.

  But she didn’t even try to steal his fun. “Why thank you for offering. I promise if you end up getting eaten, that we’ll say something nice in your memory before we divvy up your things.”

  The humor in her reply had him smiling. Smiling while on the way to p
ossibly meeting a giant dragon. He blamed the woman by his side. She was…incredible. Strong and capable. Her skill with the crossbow impressive.

  Beautiful and sexy. He couldn’t help himself earlier, hence why he’d kissed her. He had to taste her lips.

  But one kiss wasn’t enough. He wanted more, and that would only happen if he—No, hold on. It wasn’t just him. It was her, too. Another kiss would only happen if they found a way out.

  Big if, given the ruins they neared. The plateau was clear open space with nowhere to hide. The good? Nothing was hiding in wait for them. The bad, anyone looking out would see them.

  But who did he expect to be peeking?

  As they neared the tower, he finally grasped the level of destruction by the jagged remnants of the walls. Since the debris didn’t sit on the outside, he could only imagine it had fallen inwards, burying whatever entrance used to lead below. And him without a shovel or even a pry bar.

  It seemed impossible, but he wasn’t about to show anything less than certainty to Kayda. She'd been through so much. He wasn’t about to let her see him afraid. She needed him to be strong.

  Neither one of them spoke as they trod carefully across the plateau. While he kept trying to peer all around, looking for signs of danger, all too aware he’d never see it coming from above, she remained fixated on the tower. A tower he could suddenly see quite well.

  He stumbled as he noticed the strangeness. “Is that lights?” he hissed.

  “Yes.”

  “I thought you said the tower was abandoned.”

  “It is.”

  “Those lights say it isn’t!” He pointed.

  “They illuminate the moment the sun goes down.”

  “Automated lighting,” he mused aloud. “Common feature in ancient structures. I’m surprised it still works.” It was a good sign, meaning, while there was destruction, some functionality remained.

  “Cam, I should tell you something.” She sounded hesitant.

  Was this where she addressed the kiss? Would she declare some kind of emotion? What would he reply? A kiss was easy. He could handle that, but words? Sometimes they failed him. “What is it, Kay?”

  “I should have said something earlier.” She paused, and he had to prod her.