Page 18 of Dragon Lord
She paused at the edge of the woods, her shoulders tense, her right hand hanging near the pommel of her sword as she scanned the forest, planning which way to run.
Draknart wouldn’t have minded chasing her through the woods for a spell, but they had no time to waste.He sniffed the air.“Brown bear sow to the east with two cubs.”He sniffed again.“A wolf pack to the west.”
She stiffened as her gaze snapped to his.Her slim throat moved as she swallowed, indecision creeping into her eyes.“Close by?”
“Don’t wander far.”
Her body near vibrated with frustration.Her shoulders slumped.She sighed.She was not the type to give up, but she was smart enough to bide her time.
She didn’t go far into the forest.She hid herself behind some bushes, steps from the edge of the clearing and did not dally, but hurried back.When her stomach made an odd sound, she pressed a hand against her middle.Several moments passed before Draknart realized that she had not eaten since she had returned to him.
Hunger.
The first time he had this problem with a human.Never before did he have to worry about feeding lunch to his lunch.Except, Einin was now a gift, and as such, she needed to reach Belinus whole.A half-starved gift wouldn’t do at all.“We’ll eat when we stop for the night.”
Her hand inched toward her sword.
He grunted.“I’ll hunt in the woods.I did not bring you along for a quick meal.”He reached for her with his tail so he could resettle her on his neck.“I swear.”
“I’d rather climb up myself,” she told him, and then she hopped onto his knee, and from there pulled herself up to his shoulders.
Soon they were airborne again.When Draknart spotted a nest full of eggs high up in a tree, he swooped low and fetched them for her, nest and all.The small slurping sounds she made as she drank them filled him with contentment.
He allowed her another brief respite at dusk, then took her to the sky once more, impatient to reach Belinus.The wait had been too long, a century without true hope.Anticipation burned through Draknart as he flew.He was as eager for the lifting of the curse as a young dragon for his first deer herd.
He stopped only when midnight neared, at the ruins of an ancient castle, alighting in the window of the only remaining tower.The roof was missing, but the night was clear, no clouds to threaten rain.
Einin slid from his shoulders and surveyed the ruins the moon bathed in silver.“What place is this?”
“Castle Blackstone.”Draknart snatched a couple of pigeons from what remained of the rafters, gutted them with a talon, then roasted them with a few puffs of fire.
Einin’s eyes flared with hunger.
He pushed the pigeons toward her.“Go ahead.”
She sat and ate one, watching him carefully the whole time.He ate the other one—even if the small bird wasn’t worth the bother—just so the lass wouldn’t worry that he meant to eat her.
After they finished, he cleared a spot in the middle of the space.He swept away rocks, chunks of wood, and dead leaves with his leathery wings.Then he dropped to the stones and stretched.
Einin walked up to one of the windows.She stared wide-eyed, as if she had never seen anything half as grand as the broken drawbridge over the swampy moat, the collapsed guard towers, and the rock-littered castle yard.
With the vast forest surrounding the place, everything bathed in moonlight, Draknart supposed, the ruins had a certain charm.The wistful, wonder-filled expression on Einin’s face made him want to show her the world.He huffed and shook off the thought.He’d show her Fae Land.Belinus could show her the rest.
“What happened to the castle?”she whispered without taking her gaze off the scenery.
“Some decades ago…” Draknart let his gaze linger on the graceful lines of her body.“The old lord of the castle took a young bride.He was a rough man, a hard man.He beat his dogs and beat his horses.He beat his servants too.One night, after too much ale, he beat his young wife to death.”
Einin spun around to stare at him.
“The bride’s brothers came and took revenge.The siege collapsed the walls and killed most of the men.The rest left.”
Einin shivered.She wrapped her arms around herself.
Draknart opened a wing.“Come and rest.”
She stepped away from the window with a doubtful look.She did bed down, but at a distance from Draknart, so he folded his wing again.She kept her eyes on him, as if waiting for something.Midnight?
“You dislike being a man,” she said after a while.
