Page 44 of Dragon Valley
“Blood.” My whole body stiffened as I leaned forward again. “Caden, her dress is all bloody. Something terrible has happened.”
I squeezed my knees on Dusa’s neck, urging her forward to the distressed girl.
“Oh, thank the Gods!” the girl fell to her knees, her hair swirling around her face from the wind of our landing. “I couldn’t go through with hanging myself from this tree. Please, feed me to your dragon. Or burn me quickly, please. Just end it!”
“You’re not going to be eaten or burned.” I slid down from Dusa and walked cautiously toward her, Caden right on my heels. “What’s your name?”
“Myra,” she choked out with a sob.
Caden moved quickly to her side and knelt at her level. “You’re safe with us now, Myra. What happened?” He used that soft, even-tempered voice that was like an instant balm on an open wound.
It seemed to work. Her shaky breath steadied and her large, watery eyes took him in.
“They invaded my village overnight.” Her lip wobbled. “They burned everything down, killed people sleeping in their beds, even children! My family told me to run and pushed me out the back door. I just knew they would kill me or worse but I ran for my life until I made it out to that rocky ridge.” She pointed down the other side of the hill. “When I looked back, I saw dark smoke in the air and I knew… I just knew…”
She buried her face in her hands and sobbed, her thin shoulder shaking as she wept. Caden cast a grim look at me.
“We should check it out. If these bandits set up—”
“It wasn’t bandits,” Myra interrupted, sniffing and wiping her nose on her sleeve. “It was the Lascari Royal Army.”
Caden’s head whipped around so fast, I thought his neck would break.
“What did you say?”
“They had shiny gold armor and fancy shields,” Myra sniffled. “And the way they attacked was so… uniform and organized. It was a slaughter. No one has money and training like that now except the royals.”
“That’s impossible,” Caden murmured, pinching his brow. “They signed a treaty. They swore they wouldn’t attack another innocent village after the first massacre, when the rebels killed the king’s heir.”
“I know what I saw,” Myra insisted. “Those royal bastards aren’t wealthy or powerful enough, they have to take everything from us, too!”
“We’ll go back with you,” Caden said determinedly, his hand on the pommel of his sword as he looked back at me. “The dragon will only take me and Nadi here as riders, so—”
“Wait a minute,” I held up a hand. “How many soldiers attacked your village?”
“Um,” Myra bit her lip as her eyes darted around. “I don’t know, it was so chaotic. Maybe six or eight?”
“So, a very small unit.” I looked to Caden for confirmation. “Right? If they outnumber the rebel army so much, eight soldiers is a tiny portion of their manpower.”
“Correct.” His sky-blue eyes searched mine as he tried to read me. “Even though our numbers have dwindled, eight ofourmen would be a small unit.”
“So why would the king of Tannia break off a tiny portion of his military to raid a poor village? It’s a waste of resources. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Caden chewed his lip as he thought but it was Myra’s face I watched.
“Who knows? He just wants to wipe us all out so we stop resisting him,” she wailed. “He’s sadistic and been going mad for years! The only citizens he wants are those who will kiss his boots and his ass no matter how hard he shoves them in the dirt.”
“He has grown increasingly difficult to deal with,” Caden said, rubbing his jaw. “The assassination of his son has made him extremely paranoid. It’s possible there is not rhyme or reason to it and it’s just his descent into madness.”
“We should go,” Myra said with urgency. “If there’s anyone alive, they might not be for longer. You two can fly on the dragon and I’ll run behind. There’s no telling what those royal assholes are doing in my home.”
“Caden, a word?” I tilted my head and walked around to the other side of Dusa where Myra couldn’t see us. He followed me without hesitation.
“What are you thinking?” he asked in a low voice.
“Something doesn’t feel right about this,” I admitted.
The moment I saw Myra, a deep, distant feeling triggered in my gut. It nagged at me like a child tugging at my sleeve but I couldn’t place what it was or where it came from. Something about this situation made me deeply uncomfortable.
