Page 23 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

“I don’t want to die,” he cried. “Why do we have to die?”

Moments ticked by. The dragon continued north, and frightened screams marked its progress. Cluster by cluster, people near us began to move again. Slower, less determined than before, as if that dragon had doused what little spark of hope they’d been grasping. Anyone trying to put the prophecy out of their thoughts had been reminded.

It wasn’t just the children who were weeping now. Few bothered to put on a brave face, except for closely watched parents.

“Yora, you’re shaking,” Tearloch said, and rubbed the outside of my arms. Again, I should have stepped back, but I couldn’t.

“Asper,” I said.

He was half-distracted by the crowd pushing past us now. “What?”

“I’m Asper, not Yora.”

He scowled at me, then his eyes widened. “Forgive me. A slip of the tongue.” He stopped rubbing. “Can you walk?”

I nodded. He took me by the hand and pulled me along behind him. Weaving between families and wagons of all sizes, we finally reached his friends waiting by the side of the road. Minkin was tucked under Sweetie’s arm like she was hiding from the rain, but she stepped away from him when she saw us coming.

She leaned to look behind me. “Where’s the girl?”

“With her family,” Tearloch answered. “Everyone all right?”

The four of them nodded. Tearloch released my hand and tilted his head toward the city. “Let’s make up some time.”

Minkin smiled at me and grabbed my arm as we hurried to keep up. “Glad he brought you back,” she said, as if that had been Tearloch’s intention. But I knew better.

He’d gone back for Yora.

* * *

As evening descended,the scare from the dragon faded and I stopped shaking. The space on the road grew sparse, and to make headway over our fellow travelers, we followed others who were forging their own way about fifty feet east of the worn path. We also grouped closer together. Minkin walked between Tearloch and Sweetie. I walked between the brothers.

“You know what they call them, don’t you?” Bain asked the group at large. “Sky Gods. Not to their faces, of course. The king’s Guardian Riders.”

“They think awfully highly of themselves,” Dower said with a snarl. “I’d bet the king doesn’t know his men are out here terrorizing his people.”

“In any case,” Tearloch said, “they’re hunting for the blue dragon. Probably not concerned with anything else, let alone crying babes.”

Sweetie snorted. “I’ll admit, I thought for a moment that gray dragon was blue. Terrible time of night for discerning colors.”

As the city grew closer, we had to get back onto the road to join the line of people waiting to be allowed into Sunbasin. The queue seemed as long as the city seemed wide, but there was nothing we could do about it. Uniformed guards patrolled up and down both sides of the line, barking orders to people who largely ignored them. They warned that the gates would close when the sunlight was gone, so people were prepared.

We inched down the road for another hour, and when the last of the orange and pink faded from the sky, the line stopped moving. All around us, folks settled on the hard byway and tried to make themselves comfortable for the night. With no alternative, we did the same.

The road’s surface was a combination of packed red dirt and black stone—primarily, the heartstone of Hestia that had bubbled up to the surface. Black molten stuff that was fairly giving with the heat of the day, but as the night air cooled it, it would turn hard and unyielding. An uncomfortable bed was an easy price to pay, however, for the energy one could derive from contact with Hestia herself.

At least for me.

I pulled out my glow stone and sat it beside me. Immediately, it brightened to full power. I covered it with the edge of my robe so I didn’t draw attention to myself. Here and there, others were doing the same, gathering their groups around their lights for a quick meal. Many stretched out and closed their eyes. Voices lowered.

Minkin was delighted when her stone lit up as mine had done. The men slyly did the same, hiding their lights beneath their packs.

I explained, “Tonight is the Moonless Quarter. The heartstone’s power is many times stronger than usual.”

Tearloch urged us to move closer together. “I’ll take the first watch. Trust no one.”

“Who would want to plunder our pockets?” Dower said with a grin. “They’d find only stones…and leaves.”

It was a clever jibe, and I laughed lightly along with everyone else. Then I patted my pockets and kept my secrets…

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