Page 47 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

“Please, sir.” He followed Ciro to the side of the black and blue dragon. “I’ll find a way to be useful to my lady. Also, I’ve never seen the Eastlands, let alone The Soundless.”

The DeNoy stared him down, then nodded. “If the Princess wills it.”

Since the king’s men hadn’t been interested in punishing a dragon rider, I thought maybe the young man would like to return to Sunbasin and avoid more trouble. But he assured me that was the last thing he wanted. “Besides,” he reasoned, “you’ll need a guide like me around so many dragons.”

I turned to Tearloch. “What do you think?”

“I think he’ll regret it. I think we’ll all regret not taking a stand here and now. But remember, death is still on its way, and the boy wants to spend his last days on an adventure.”

Nogel beamed.

“All right. You can come.”

22

NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S DRAGON

Afemale dragon rider told Tearloch, Nogel, and I to follow her. Her clothing was tight and the same color as her flesh, so from any distance, she appeared nude. Gold straps crossed her body at all angles. Her long blond braid reached the backs of her knees and was wrapped in the same gold strips, woven in an intricate pattern, the tip of which perfectly matched the tail of her tan dragon.

The beasts’ talons were gold, like Kivi’s, as were the fingernails of its rider.

I thought I hid my terror well until Tearloch rubbed his gloved hands up and down my arms.

“You’re shaking,” he said. “Don’t worry. The beast is young and able. I doubt they’re taking us up just to drop us to our deaths.”

“But you’re not sure.”

He bit his lip and looked at the stars, at a waiting Ciro, then back at me and laughed. “Let’s say I’m hopeful.”

There was no long skeleton of seats attached to the dragon’s back, but the woman expected us to climb up anyway. Once she was seated, long sentient tendrils of gold wove around her, beneath her, then stretched themselves out along the dragon’s spine to create three saddles behind her. After we were in place, more gold came up around our legs to clamp us firmly in place.

I let out a heavy sigh of relief and I felt the rumble of Tearloch’s laughter shake my bones and bubble in my blood. I bit my lips together to keep from grinning like an idiot.

The difference between an old and dying dragon and a young one was the difference between sleeping and running. I was surprised Old Grim had taken us as far as he had. If we'd been riding on the DeNoy's dragon, we might have reached Ristat in a couple of hours, it was that fast. And I suspected it could have gone even faster with only one passenger on its back.

Free of any riders, I wouldn't be surprised if it could shoot across the sky like a star.

With my gold seat locking me in place, I was slightly less terrified than I'd been when falling out of the sky on the old dragon. Only this time, we were falling forward. And once again, I had Tearloch at my back, holding tight, assuring me that if I were to die, at least I wouldn't be alone.

The air grew progressively colder and I couldn't imagine how the DeNoy woman could stand it. I reminded myself that she wasn't in fact nude, but her gown couldn't protect her from the wind—a wind much harsher than our last ride. I might have asked her how she managed, but there was no chance of being heard.

I regretted not hauling that nightcoat along. I had nothing I could pull up to cover my head. All I could do was pretend I wasn’t freezing to death. But perhaps I was. That might explain why I was slow to realize we were reducing speed. And in the distance, I recognized the physical manifestation of a mountain range I’d only seen on maps.

The range that marked the start of the Eastlands. And just inside the Eastlands, lay The Soundless.

For as long as recorded time, the Eastlands had belonged to the DeNoy. Though they, too, were citizens of Hestia, they were allowed to live by their own rules and were granted dominion over a swath of land reserved for them alone. Anyone crossing into their territory was subject to their laws. The fact that we were about to fly into that territory meant I could no longer pretend that the king would come to my defense should I need him. My gown and my ruse were now worthless.

My only solace was that, if I could convince Ciro to let us go, I might have a fast flight to the capital city. But it was Morrow with the power to get me an audience with Moire. If and when I was allowed to leave The Soundless, I had to take him with me. It seemed like a reasonable thing to expect, but I felt in my gut that Ciro wasn’t a reasonable man.

With the death of all Hestians in the balance, however, I couldn’t allow myself to give up hope.

Because we had traveled northeast, we met the sun coming up a little sooner than we might have. One piercing orange eye appeared in thecolbetween two mountains on the horizon, taking us from night to daybreak in an instant. The sky paled further while we came to a stop mid-air, then hovered while to both sides of us, some of the other DeNoy and their dragons lined up.

In the darkness, I was sure there had been more…

On the green beast nearest us, the sole rider produced a circular trumpet and sounded a call three separate times, then waited. A moment later, a different call came from somewhere ahead, also three times. And as one, the line of hovering dragons proceeded forward.

It was as if we passed through some invisible bubble—a physical substance I felt against my face…and then it was gone. And in that same amount of time, it seemed we’d moved from one dimension to another. Where nothing but a smooth blanket of snow lay beyond the mountains before us, there now waited a bright and colorful city—more colorful than even the dragons that now dispersed in all directions.

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