Page 16 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

I took a deep breath and moved my feet. After all, I'd been begging Demius for half my life for a trip to the city. And now I was going. No permission needed…

I forced my boots to keep moving while the rest of me accepted the reality—Demius had already given his permission. He'd known he wouldn't be alive to grant it."You shall never have need to ask again."He’d known he would die and said nothing.

Why?

Eight days, Demius had said.Give me eight days to prepare. He’d known what would happen to him, to me, and I suspect he’d known the blue dragon would come as well. And for the first time since I’d lit my home on fire, I wondered if leaving had been a mistake.

If Demius had known all this and still spent the last days of his life re-reading the Book of the Ordeal, a book he knew by heart, then perhaps I shouldn’t have left that tome behind.

Was our collective fate written inside? Or the instructions on how to defeat a blue dragon?

I shook off the thought as I trudged down the red dirt-covered path. It didn’t matter what Demius chose to do with his remaining days—it mattered what I did with mine. And I’d already decided that my mission was to track down the man called Huxor. My greatest desire was for revenge. After that, let the blue dragon come…

The slightest ping of guilt came only from the fact that Huxor’s two brothers were mere steps behind me, and I knew they’d be offended if they could read my thoughts. To put a little distance between us, I hurried forward to have a word with our leader.

"How long does it take to get to the city?"

Tearloch's head snapped around and he missed a step while gaping at me. "You mean you don't know?"

"I was never given the same answer twice. So no, I do not know for certain. Anywhere from two days to a quarter moon."

Sweetie choked.

Tearloch bit his lips together, trying to hide a smile. They were laughing at me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted someone to tell me the truth.

Tearloch cleared the mirth from his throat. “We should leave the canyon behind before nightfall. The city is a day beyond that. We should reach Sunbasin well before the sun goes down tomorrow.”

"So, two days from home. Just two little days…"

"Yes."

"Well, at least sometimes he told me the truth."

"Your master? Lied to you a lot, did he?"

"I cannot say." I shrugged my shoulders and slowed so they had to choose between staring at me and keeping their pace.

* * *

Without saying another word,I somehow earned a great many strange looks from the group over the next few hours. They obviously wanted to ask questions. My face made it clear I didn't want to hear them, let alone answer them.

My existence seemed odd? Well, theirs seemed just as odd to me. One man wore gloves at all times, followed by a flock of friends. They never spoke of a home of their own, and I wondered if they didn’t have one. I understood why they hunted their evil friend and that Sweetie’s state was new to him. But what had the big man done to earn the sorcerer’s ire?

There were many questions I wanted to ask, but I was a stranger, and I wouldn’t pry…for as long as I could help it. Questions invited questions, and I intended to keep my own counsel. Demius always warned that I should never give away information. What knowledge we had was earned, and others would need to earn their own.

I always considered his attitude a bit selfish, but I assumed he had good reason. I practiced patience and trusted in his promise thatTimewould reveal all things.

But now that the blue dragon had come,Timehad better shake its tail.

* * *

Not long afterthe sun passed its zenith, we stopped to rest and drink. They all pulled different food stuffs from their packs, and Minkin offered me a familiar piece of dried meat and a flat bit of bread. I was embarrassed that I hadn’t thought to pack any food myself, and I declined. I wouldn’t want her regretting her generosity later, when she reached for her last morsel and found her bag empty.

After all, I wasn’t travelling with them out of friendship, but because I was using them to find my prey. And my awareness of it kept my stomach quiet.

“Go on,” she said. “Take it. Unless you can make a meal of your dragonspice, eh?”

I laughed. “Oh, I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d hallucinate for days. Probably kill me.”

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