Page 55 of Ava's Legacy of the Dragons
Ava shrugged casually. "Since I assume your people will also be looking for us once they've recovered from the attack, no."
Lilly grinned broadly, as if this were all just a lovely adventure.
"By the way," Ava said, turning to Marcus, who was splashing water on his face. "I'm sorry."
He paused mid-motion and looked at her in surprise. "What do you have to be sorry for?"
"Well, for centuries no one knows you exist, and as soon as you get a visit from me and the egg, hordes of mages invade you."
He looked at her, not noticing how the water ran over his hands and dripped into the spring pool. "That wasn't your fault. If anything, your appearance finally exposed this traitor! All these years we survived despite the mage, but apparently only because we were irrelevant to her."
Lilly shrugged half-heartedly with a grin. "Until a dragon egg turned your city into a treasure chest."
"And a guardian." The admiration he had shown her from the beginning returned to his eyes.
"I'm still sorry. I can understand if you want to go back to help your people."
"Away from you?" He snorted, splashed anotherhandful of water on his face, and wiped off the drops with his forearm. When he came to them, he looked determined. "I thought I had made it clear where my priorities lie."
"But don't you want to know if they're okay?"
"First, I'm helping you. That's why I'd suggest we go to another dragon cave. There's another one in this forest. We'll be safe there."
Ava raised her hands defensively. "Oh no. First, they tracked us down in the fire dragon cave, and then we fled through another one. To remain undetected, we should stay away from any dragon caves."
Lilly grinned widely. "So, Talus it is. Like I said, in cities I not only know how to survive, we'd also have endless butter pretzels."
"And we don't even have to steal them. Look what Kilian gave me for you." Ava took the silver coin from her pocket and gave it to her, causing the girl to gasp.
"It's from him? For me?" She cradled the coin like a treasure and sighed. "He's so great! I can buy us more than a kilo of butter pretzels with this."
Marcus wrinkled his face in disgust. "Those dry things?"
The girl snorted. "Then you can dunk them in a glass of milk if your teeth are already too rickety."
Ava ignored the squabble between the two and directed her thoughts to the baby dragon."Everything okay with you?"
"Yes, but I was scared. I can't grow in this state. I need security, Ava."
Since the little one was connected to her heartbeat, it probably wouldn't help to pretend this security existed.
"Don't worry, we're all looking out for you."Mentally,she went over what she had already learned about this world. She didn't know many places, so Lilly's suggestion seemed best. Sure, Kilian and his men hadn't wanted to hide them in Talus, and the soldiers were looking for them, but at that time the mage hadn't known about the egg's existence. Besides, the question remained whether the captain had even extended the search to Talus. After all, no one had learned that Kilian had taken them so far away on his fire dragon. Even if she had to live in various tunnels to give the unhatched dragon security, she would do it. The dragon child had top priority.
She shouldered the bag decisively. "You're right, Lilly. Let's go to Talus. Or do you think we should wait for nightfall so the dragon fighters don't see us?"
Lilly shook her head. "Right now, Elora's followers are more dangerous. We need to get out of here as fast as possible! Besides, I know from experience that the city guards take a closer look at visitors' faces when darkness falls."
Marcus sighed. "Then I guess that's settled."
Chapter 21
They reached the edge of the forest without incident. Before stepping through the tree line, they looked up at the sky. A flock of dragons hovered above their heads. There were red and white-blue scales gleaming in the sun, but Kilian's large fire dragon was not among them.
The vast landscape spread out before them, and they saw the towers of the city rising in the distance. If they had estimated correctly, it would take them just under two hours to reach Talus.
Before leaving the forest, Marcus hesitated. "Wait a moment." He took a deep breath and turned to a beech tree. He placed his hands on the trunk and closed his eyes.
Ava and Lilly exchanged a brief glance, and the girl shrugged. But Marcus had already opened his eyes again.
