Page 53 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

Step by quiet step, we pushed along the corridor, praying everyone else was having success.

We couldn't quite believe our luck when we reached the doors. Sweetie pressed on one. It wasn't locked, but the hinges screamed, and he froze.

Dower took a glow stone from his pocket, and shielding most of the light, we took a quick look around us. No immediate solution presented itself. Then I had a thought.

I tapped Sweetie on the shoulder. "Just a minute." I reached into my bag, found the dragon spice, and threw a handful of it at the hinges. Not much reached the highest targets, but I was able to press some of the precious sand into the lower two. When I nodded, Sweetie tried again. A tiny screech, and the wood swung open.

Thank goodness I hadn’t sold my precious supply!

We filed out quickly, and when Sweetie closed the door behind us, there was no sound at all. If Tearloch and the others took this route, it was ready for them.

No, notif,butwhen. When the others took this route, the door was ready.

Sweetie, Minkin, Lears, Poole, and myself. A manageable group. All we had to do was make it to the north wall.

I looked at the expanse of solid white ground before us and the shadows of the wall to our right. If I stayed along the curtain wall, my white clothes would stand out against the dark stone. The others would blend in just fine.

The only way I could blend was to cut across the snow.

I explained to Sweetie. The others nodded in agreement, and I wasted no time striking out for the northern boundary. The others moved silently to the right. I was on my own.

The problem was…snow was new to me. I had no idea it made noise when you stepped on it! I took three steps and stopped, waiting for some reaction.

Someone shouted from near the middle of the east wall. Too far to have heard me.

A second man shouted back, and their distant laughter echoed across the white courtyard. Encouraged, I started moving again, making my steps random. One step here, two steps together. A long pause and another two.

Anyone watching would think my mind was turning…

I was now used to the sound of dragon wings and heard the whoosh and draw of a beast headed my way. I spread myself across the snow and hoped my white hair would blend in half as well as the rest of me.

If the dragon had decent hearing, I was sure it would hear my heart pounding against the icy stuff, pounding in my neck, in my head, in rhythm with its wings.

At least I was alone. If they caught me now, it wouldn't be so sad to leave just one of us behind.

But I wasn't caught. The dragon passed over. Its wings never skipped a beat. Never paused as it passed. And when I looked up, it was already gone.

No trumpets. No alarm. No shouts. And thankfully, no Ciro.

My stuttered steps finally took me to the north wall. Human figures congregated there. Just four of them. Just the right number. Just my people. I stopped short of joining them, however, and sat in the snow to keep my robes from standing out. And waited…

25

ALL QUIET ON THE NORTHERN FRONT

Tearloch was eager to get up those stairs and find the horns. But leaving Asper’s side was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Who knew what that madman had in store for her. The way he looked at Asper made Tearloch’s blood boil. The man had something fiendish in mind. He was sure of it.

Nogel had insisted on coming on this quest. Tearloch was sure it would prove too dangerous for the boy, but he couldn't deny Nogel the chance to prove himself. And he so wanted to prove himself.

He took the death of Old Grim too personally. He felt he’d let the team down and he needed to make up for it, when the opposite was true. They'd all survived. That was a success. It didn't matter if that success was helped along by Asper’s clever maneuver. But Nogel had kept his head through it all, and that had also played a part.

Tearloch’s stomach bubbled like hot oil when they reached the top of the staircase and found no guard there. He heard a shuffle and turned back to the foyer, but there was no telling where the noise had come from. It might have been his friends making their way down the north corridor. He strained to hear more, but there was nothing.

No guards. No lights. No beasts stalking the hallways as he expected.

The starlight coming through windows along the upper walls of the foyer lent enough illumination to see by. Even without either of the moons in the sky, there was no need for glow stones.

They passed through a high pointed arch and onto a long gallery at the end of which were two doors. One on the right, one in the center. Since the tower with the horns had been centered in the castle itself, he chose the one in the middle. He placed his hand on the wood, testing for the vibration of voices. Surely, at long last, they would encounter a guard here.

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