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Iris felt out of place in a flight cavern full of dragons.
Kelnor had a dominating presence with his tall, brawny build and intense red eyes. He scanned his men as a chill wind whistled through the cave, leaving his close-cut red hair unruffled. Iris thought he looked old enough to be the other dragons' fathers, but he also looked just as strong and vital as they did.
They all looked strong and vital. Iris wasn’t short, but she still felt small and insignificant, standing between Char and Rath as they chatted with three other men, all larger than her.
She recognized Thrak from the telepathic impression she got of him during her first battle. He was taller than Char and had eerie yellow eyes and a shock of forest green hair. The other two, Rork and Nost, were twins. They were the shortest men in the cavern and had stocky, muscular builds. Rork had orange eyes; Nost had lavender. Both kept their long black hair tied back in ponytails.
She heard the grating of stone and looked at the door. Srot had arrived.
“I’m here!” he called, shoving the door closed and jogging up to the group. A smile lit up his deep purple eyes when he saw her. “And I finally get to thank you.”
She gave him a shy smile. “You’re welcome.”
“You’re making a bad habit of being late, Srot,” Kelnor reprimanded him.
“Ah, well, you know, had to say ‘bye’ to Kara.” He shrugged and ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair. “What’s all that for?” he asked, surveying the pile of blankets next to the two packs of supplies against the cavern wall.
“She gets really cold really quickly,” Char explained.
“There will be time enough to talk while we’re on the wing. Let’s go,” Kelnor barked.
Char pulled Iris back as the temperature plummeted. A freezing wind swept past her, and in the blink of an eye, Kelnor was gone, replaced by a massive red dragon who made the enormous cavern seem small. She gaped at him as he headed for the exit.
“He’s huge,” she whispered.
“Biggest dragon I’ve ever seen,” Rath concurred. “Better get you wrapped up. Things go fast from here.”
He and Char handed Iris the two packs and began draping blankets over her shoulders. Once they had her cocooned, she wouldn’t need to use both hands to hold the bundles of supplies, thus allowing her to keep the amulet in her right hand. For now, she hugged the packs to her chest, watching as Thrak transformed into a green dragon similar in size to Char, but no less intimidating than Kelnor. The icy wind bit her nose and cheeks. Srot followed Thrak, Rork and Nost took their turns after Srot, and then it was Rath's turn.
“See you in the sky.” He flashed her a grin. With a gust of wind, the grin was gone, and a black dragon was racing toward the exit.
“Are you ready?” Char asked, doing a final check of the blankets to ensure they were secure around her.
She nodded. “I guess so.”
He leaned in to give her a soft, reassuring kiss. “Trust me.”
And then he transformed, towering over her in his black-scaled, muscular dragon form. He reached a claw out for her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, heart pounding as cold talons enclosed her in a tight grip. Then her feet left the ground, and they were in motion.
She’d never get used to this.
They launched into the air with a sickening lurch of her stomach. The higher they climbed, the more light-headed she became. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she passed out. The next time she awoke, they would be on the ground in human territory.
She didn't enjoy flying, but maybe she could make good use of this flight.
Iris.
The whispers tugged at her, and she reached for them, allowing them to pull her away as her body lost consciousness.
Iris, he is looking for you.
I know.
She followed the whispers as they led her west, ahead of the pack of dragons. When she glanced back, she saw herself, little more than a bundle of blankets gripped in Char’s coal-black claws.
You must shut him out, or he will find you.
How do I do that?
The shields you cast for others can also protect you, Iris.
The mountains bled into the foothills, which smoothed into miles of thick forest as they taught her. Then the trees disappeared, and the plains took over. Lone farmhouses dotted the ground between well-spaced villages, the balance between the two shifting as Iris neared the capital. Villages became towns, the distance between towns lessened, and farms dwindled.
Suddenly, she felt a distinctive snapping and crackling. Fear seized her heart.
Micah. Inside a tent surrounded by smaller tents and armed patrols. The battle would take place there.
Could he sense her, too? Was he lying in wait for her, ready to capture her and enact his promised punishment?
She couldn’t go through the extraction process again. She couldn’t stand to let him touch her again. She couldn’t—
He doesn’t know you’re here, Iris. Focus.
The whispers pulled her north, giving the encampment a wide berth before they resumed their westward trajectory. His signature faded, as did the terror.
How could she face him again?
She forced herself to focus on the capital city looming on the horizon. Beyond it was a shadow she knew to be the castle, and as she closed the distance, more details became apparent. Huge cut and mortared stones composed thick, tall castle walls broken by even taller watchtowers, and a set of massive wooden doors reinforced with iron sealed it off from intruders.
From her.
She had to get past all of that and into the castle somehow.
She stopped just outside the gates and scanned the area for guards. Most were obvious, standing stationary at their posts in shining armor that glinted in the sunlight or patrolling the premises with loud, clanking steps, but there were archers in black at the tops of towers who were harder to spot. Regardless of location, they all came in sets of two, their rhythmic, structured movements matching their partners step-for-step.
She hovered there for hours, memorizing every detail, noting the times the guards rotated.
“Iris. Iris!”
Char’s voice came with a sharp jolt that yanked her into motion. Suddenly, everything was a blur, rushing past her as a force she couldn’t control crossed miles of terrain in less than a second. She was nauseous when she opened her eyes to see Char silhouetted against a clear, starry sky.
“Sorry.” She sat up, shivering in the cool night air. “I was training.”
Rath was moving about in the shadows, setting up camp, she guessed. She wasn’t holding the packs anymore, and the momentary nausea was already fading.
Char’s fingers brushed her hair back from her face and drew her attention back to him.
“We had to wait until nightfall to land. Not much cover out here.”
She nodded. “How did the battle go?”
“You really messed that mage up,” Rath said.
“He seemed pretty distracted,” Char explained. “I think he was looking for you.”
“He was.” She pushed the blankets off her shoulders, but Char’s arm replaced them.
“You’re shivering. Come on, get back under the blankets. Whatever you want to do can wait a few more minutes.”
“Char, come start this fire,” Rath called.
“It’s too dangerous to start a fire.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before I wasted all this time looking for sticks in a place with no trees?”
Char sighed. “Because I thought you realized we’re close enough to the soldiers’ camp for them to see the smoke.”
“Well, I thought I was being helpful. You kept talking about cold she is, how much she’s shivering—”
“Hold on,” Iris interrupted them. She shrugged free from Char and stood, joining Rath by the small pile of firewood. “Is this the center of the camp?”
“More or less. What are you doing?” Rath asked.
She closed her eyes, took the amulet in her right hand, and inhaled a slow, deep breath. When she exhaled, the magic spread out with her breath like a soap bubble, expanding to encompass the entire campsite.
She opened her eyes again and released the amulet. The glistening white barrier shimmered in the starlight and faded from sight.
“It’s safe to start the fire now.” She hugged herself, feeling the goosebumps on her arms. “Micah won’t be able to find us, and to anybody outside the barrier, this is just an empty patch of grass.”
“My labor has not been in vain,” Rath exulted. “You heard her, Char. Get to it while I get the bedrolls laid out. Just two, right?”
“Three,” Iris corrected him.
Rath snickered. “Come on, now. How much trouble do you think you can get up to with me right here?”
“It doesn’t matter, because we’ll be sleeping separately.”
“Just get to it,” Char cut in, approaching the would-be fire. He groaned. “You didn’t clear the grass properly.”
“Stop complaining. I saved you the trouble of finding enough sticks for the fire, didn’t I?”
Iris helped Char scrape the dead grass surrounding the kindling away, creating a circle of dirt extending about a foot from the wood on all sides. Then she watched wide-eyed as he leaned in and breathed a small puff of fire onto the sticks. The flames caught and danced in the night. He took a blanket from Rath and laid it across the ground, another foot back from the dirt.
“I didn’t know dragons could do that,” she said, joining him on the blanket.
“Char’s the only one I know who can,” Rath said. “Here.”
He handed them a canteen of water, some biscuits, and some strips of dried meat. They all sat around the fire, silent for a few minutes while they ate.
“Do you two do this a lot?” Iris asked.
“Used to when Father was alive,” Char said. “We haven’t been out camping since he died.”
“It sounds like you were really close to him.”
“Yeah, he was pretty great,” Rath said. “He took us out all the time. Together, or just one of us. But when he was visiting humans, he only took Char.”
Iris didn’t miss the bitter edge to Rath’s voice. She looked over at him, and she saw dark clouds in his blue eyes as he stared into the flames.
“Well, every child is different," she said, choosing her words with care. "It can be hard to figure out how to give everybody the attention they need when they don’t all like the same things.” She hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “I was the only one Jonah took camping with him. Nobody else wanted to.”
“Sounds like you were really close to him,” Rath said.
“He always made time for me, even though he was the oldest, which meant he had to work and help earn money for us. I remember the first time he asked if I wanted to go camping with him. I think I was four years old. I didn’t even know what ‘camping’ meant, but I was excited, anyway.” She smiled. “He had trouble talking Father John into it. I think we set up camp right outside the forest, within view of the church, so Father John could check on us. Jonah made a fire and laid out the bedrolls like this, and then he told me stories about his little sister.”
Her smile faltered. Char put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him.
“After that, Father John let Jonah take me out most Saturday nights, as long as we were back in time for Sunday morning service. We did that until Jonah left.”
Rath yawned and stood, stretching. “You take the first shift, Char. And try to keep it down.”
Iris watched him cross to the other side of the fire, keeping his back to them as he got into his bedroll. She looked at Char with a silent question.
“He asked me about Jonah yesterday,” Char explained in a low voice. “I told him Father used to take Jonah and me camping.”
“And he’s upset about that?” she asked, careful to keep her voice soft as well.
Char shook his head. “I think he’s upset with himself. He and Mother have always made it clear they wanted nothing to do with humans, and I think he’s feeling guilty about that. And maybe a little left out.”
“But your father did things with him, right? Just the two of them?”
Char nodded. “He’ll work it out.” He kissed her cheek and smiled. “Thanks for taking the first shift with me.”
“Well, I didn’t get much rest during the flight, so I can’t promise I’ll be up long, but I don’t mind sitting up with you for a while,” she said, returning the smile.
“You’re still shivering a little. Here.” He scooped her onto his lap and spread his legs for her to sit in front of him, then pulled his knees up beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Better?”
She folded her arms over his. “Better.”
He kissed her cheek again and rested his chin on her shoulder. They sat in silence like that for a long time, watching tongues of orange and yellow licking at the night.5Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRvtgZPnYJ
