Page 35 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

“I’m sorry. You died for a princess that doesn’t exist,” I said, then reached out to touch the beast’s cheek.

Nogel came up behind me. “Forgive me, princess. I truly believed he could make the journey.Hetruly believed it.”

“We’re alive. At least…most of us. His effort was valiant.”

“Yes, my lady. We lost one of your guards.”

The dragon’s body shifted and we backed away. Nogel held out a protective arm, but it wasn’t necessary. The beast was dead. It was its spirit that struggled to free itself. And as we all watched, an ethereal white mist rose from the heart of the dragon, paused to consider its audience, then headedstraight for me!

Nogel’s protection vanished. I felt, rather than saw, the others backing away.

The white stuff shifted around me, considered me from every side, then nodded and lifted into the sky. Once it was gone, everyone was aghast.

“An Everkind dragon?” I asked Nogel. “Is that common?”

Tears dripped from his wide eyes. “I had no idea. We should have…treated him better.”

Tearloch was back at my side. Scowling again, he searched my eyes, then got down on a knee to examine my wound. Minkin joined him, pulled a bit of cloth from her bag, and after cleaning my waist with water, pressed a clean cloth against it. Her plaited hair had nearly all pulled free, and the blossoms were gone.

“She’ll need doctoring,” she said. “It’s a wonder we all didn’t fall off. Must remember to be grateful for that.”

Tearloch ran his fingers through his hair. “You tried to pull away. Why?”

I explained, briefly, what I’d tried to do. “I don’t know if it worked.”

Nogel overheard me. “Probably saved us. I was sure he was already dead.”

A while later, Morrow and his two remaining men joined us carrying the man who had fallen. They laid him beside the dragon. He still had his head, but the body was far too damaged to recover, despite his immortality.

“I’m sorry,” I told them. “I never asked his name.”

Morrow dipped his head. “It wouldn’t have been his real name in any case.”

* * *

Nogeland the guards agreed that the right course of action would be to burn the bodies of both the dragon and the guard, even if it would take us some time. It didn’t seem right to simply leave them behind.

We set out to gather what wood and flammables that could be found, then made a bed for the guard and tucked the rest of our scraps around Old Grim. We all climbed up a nearby hillock to watch as Nogel set off the conflagration.

Unsurprisingly, the dragon’s wings caught, flamed, and were soon gone with nothing but black bones standing, though they didn’t stand for long. The old skin caught just as easily, and I was grateful for a slight wind that took the smoke away from our hill. When we left the still-burning pyre behind, we also left the length of metal seats that now looked like the spine of an infant dragon sitting by to watch its parent burn.

It was sobering to think, had Tearloch not held tight, it might have been me smoldering there, with nothing to be remembered by but a pile of char and a melted key to a library.

I owed him my life. And with the weight of that debt, I finally understood why Demius had advised against it—if I were compelled to repay Tearloch at an inopportune time, would I do the honorable thing?

17

THE TASTE OF TRUST

We reached the peak of the next ridge and found the sun coming up on our right. The endless night was behind us. Despite the blue dragon, we had been granted another day.

I asked Nogel if he knew where we were.

"Three days’ walk from Ristat. Half a day less if we cross through the Queevnar.” He pointed to the range of mountains rising up to the northwest. “If we keep to the valleys between, we won’t climb too high. But of course, if we can find other transportation, we can arrive much sooner." Nogel held up his hands. "I say the ladies decide. Through the mountains will be hardest on them.”

Minkin rolled her eyes, then looked at me. "Through," we said, in unison.

Besides the two of us, none of our party was well rested, but I heard no complaints as we set off toward the Queevnar—the guardians of the king’s city. The boots I’d taken from the Semels made the journey easier, but holding my skirts up wasn’t conducive to keeping my balance. We hadn’t gone far before I asked for rope and made a belt so I could bunch up the purple cloth and walk with my hands free.

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