Page 86 of A Brat's Tale
I don’t know if it will understand me, but my bloodline is supposed to be able to speak to them. Instead of answering me, it tucks its legs under, curls its wings around its body and closes its eyes. Great, it’s asleep. I stow my bow and climb down the tree doing my best not to disturb his or her majesty. They don’t even move. I roll my eyes. “Jagar,” I say quietly. “We have a visitor.”
Jagar wakes, keeping quiet so as not to disturb Aldagir if he can help it, but sleep on the road like this is rarely deep unless you’re Lucca, who can sleep through a stampede of horses. “Tristan, what is that?”
I smile at him finally feeling comfortable enough to call me Tristan. “A dragon.”
“Dragon?”
“Yes.” Dragons have long since left Markaytia, but legends always place them in other realms. They have popped up in stories from time to time but these stories are thought of as tall tales. Most Markaytians don’t believe in dragons anymore.
“You’re sure?”
“Sure, as the Kanes blood running through me.”
“What’s it doing?”
“Sleeping.”
As Jagar inspects it, Aldagir wakes. “What’s going on?” he says.
“Nothing too alarming, except that Tristan’s found a dragon,” Jagar tells him.
“I think it might have found me, actually.”
“Well, whatever it’s doing here, it’s not going to tell us tonight. Perhaps you should sleep too, Highness? I’ll take the next watch.”
I should, but both Aldagir and I are like little boys who’ve just found a puppy except that puppy is a dragon. “Do you think it’s male or female?” Aldagir asks, looking it over with wonder.
I reach out to the dragon with my inner senses, my blood, to get a feel of it. “I think it’s a he.”
“Well then, he’s kind of an arrogant little thing, falling asleep on your hand like that.”
“He might be but it wouldn’t be the first arrogant creature I’ve drawn into my life. I think he knows he’s safe with me.”
“Go to sleep you two,” Jagar says before he heads off to take his post. I’m surprised he’s given me a direct order, but it must be hard for him to resist what is natural. He’s incredibly dominant, I am brat. There’s no doubt he’ll be worried after my care.
Both Aldagir and I suppress a giggle for the light scolding, but it feels good.
Jagar realizes what he did. “My apologies Highness, I did not mean to tell you what to do. It’s just … well what would Prince Corrik say to you?”
“Say? He would notsayanything. I would be placed over his knee and soundly spanked for not obeying him the first time.” I wink. “I don’t mind Jagar and I’m surprised it took this long for me to pull it out of you. I need it, but that’s the only time you’ll hear me say that.”
He smiles. “Get to bed then you two; you can play with the dragon in a few hours.”
The sun is barely rising when Aldagir wakes us both up. The tiny dragon is not where I left him last night. “He flew over there, Tristan,” Aldagir says. “I think he might be waiting for us.”
How odd. And he is waiting for us, perched on a jagged tree stump.
“Which way should we go, Highness?” Jagar asks.
“Northwest,” I tell him, he raises his brow. “That little fellow, that’s the way he’s staring. I think that’s the way to go.”
Without much else to go on, since Diekin’s instructions have long ended, we follow the little dragon keeping our eyes peeled. The forest gets eerier, things feel tainted in this region, and it makes me wonder what this little guy was doing in here and where he came from. As we move, the dragon continues to fly ahead of us, resting on this tree orthat, until we catch up. We follow him up the mountain for hours until we reach the mouth of a cliff that leads into a cave.
Surrounding the cave is some fucking weird stuff—an abandoned firepit, piles of clothing—children’s clothing—and a white coat I recognize. “Corrik,” I say quietly. We don’t know what’s around here. I look up to the dragon whose sharp eyes peer directly at me and then he takes flight disappearing in the strange, purple sky.
I look over to Jagar who’s investigating, he shrugs when he doesn’t find anything. I point to the cave, letting him know I’m going to head in, but he shakes his head, urging Aldagir to go with me. I wait and before I head in, I take a breath. I let it run through me.
Did I come all this way only to learn of Corrik’s death?
