She walked out into the dark until she couldn’t see the fire anymore. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore, but her destiny remained tangled up with his. They were both on their way to the castle to find the Phoenix Throne. It only made sense they should travel together.
They couldn’t go anywhere until they got this business worked out. They couldn’t keep attacking and hurting each other like this, day after weary day. They had to come to some understanding so they could travel in peace.
She stopped somewhere out in the dark and fought to gain control of her thoughts and emotions. She wanted Robbie. She wanted Ushne. She wanted to go home. She wanted a lot of things, and they all conflicted with each other. Now she would get none of them.
What should she do? Should she walk away from Robbie once and for all? She didn’t need this drama. They barely knew each other. They never even kissed, and now they both admitted they wanted each other. He already knew she wanted the dragon. Didn’t he see how much she wanted to kiss him the night they sat together by the fire? Didn’t he understand how much she needed this?
Maybe not. Maybe he convinced himself she pulled away on purpose. Who knew what went on in his mind? Either way, he was one level of complication she didn’t need weighing her down now. He gave her the option to leave. She should take it. She had enough food in her pack to last her a long time. She could always hunt more. She had a few weapons now. She didn’t need him.
All at once, she heard footsteps coming toward her through the woods. She stood still and didn’t turn around. Robbie came up behind her. “Are ye there, Elle?”
“I’m here,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry, Elle. I…. I didnae ken ye felt that way.”
“What did you think?” she snapped over her shoulder. “Did you think I wanted the dragon instead of you? No, don’t answer that. You must have.”
He spoke low in her ear from behind. “I’m sorry, Elle. I’m an idiot.”
“You are the dragon. Don’t you realize that? If I wanted the dragon, I must have wanted you. When are you going to understand that?”
His hands appeared on her shoulders. “I understand it now. I suppose…. I suppose I’m just dim that way.”
She didn’t want to smile. She told herself not to, but she couldn’t stop herself laughing. “You sure are.”
He eased closer to her. He pulled her against him by the shoulders, and his warm breath blew into her hair. “Come back tae the fire, lass. Dinnae stand out ‘ere in the cold.”
“Why should I?” she growled.
He slipped one arm around her waist and hugged her against his chest. He breathed into her ear. “Come back. Come back tae the fire wi’ me. I need you.”
She let herself sink against him. “Are you sure? You won’t send me away again?”
“No. I promise I won’t.”
She stayed there a moment longer. She didn’t want to give in, but she already knew she would. He separated from her and took her hand. He led her back to the fire’s welcoming glow, and they sat down side by side. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace, just like he did the last time.
She laid her hand on his chest and fiddled with the amulet. What would happen when he took it off? They would never know until they tried.
“Ye can tak’ it off if ye want tae,” he told her.
“No,” she replied. “Leave it on. You’ll take it off when you’re ready. Until then, I’m happy to have you like this.”
“Are ye sure? It’s nothin’ tae me.”
“Yes, it is,” she replied. “If it was nothing, we wouldn’t have just had that conversation. Don’t take it off until you’re ready to be both a man and a dragon. One of these days, you’ll be ready, and when that happens, I’ll be waiting.”
He pressed his mouth against her hair. Man, it felt good to be back with him! She wanted him ten times as much, now that she knew he was really Ushne. She didn’t care if she ever saw the dragon again. She had him. She had both of them.
She fell asleep like that on his chest, and she dreamed of Ushne the way she always did. The dream didn’t haunt her anymore. She had him. She no longer hated herself for getting aroused by a dragon. She wasn’t sick. He was really a man. She wanted him because he was Robbie. It all made sense now.
She woke up the next morning to find Robbie in the same position. He hadn’t moved, but he gazed down at her while she slept. He waited until she sat up before he stretched his back and legs. “Ready fer another day?”
“I’m ready when you are,” she replied. “We still haven’t decided whether we’re going over the ridge or along the flat land.”
“I say we go alaing the flat land. That’ll mak’ it easier goin’.”
“Fine with me.”
She brushed her hair out of her eyes, got something to eat, and they set off. Once they made up their minds which route to take, things got easier. Not only did the country get gentler, but the new understanding between them lifted the weight of tension off their shoulders.
They talked the route over as they went. They followed the deer trails to open countryside. They found rolling fields wide open to the blue sky. They kept the mountains on their left-hand side. The ridge of peaks Obus pointed out to Elle cut across the cloudless firmament and pointed into the distance.
Robbie surveyed the countryside. “This is an easy walk compared tae the time we had findin’ the castle. No wraiths jumpin’ out at us at e’ery turn. No witches or monsters stoppin’ us from crossin’ e’ery river we come tae. I could get used tae this.”
“Tell me more about your journey to the castle,” she asked.
“There’s naught tae tell aboot it that I han’t already told ye,” he replied. “There were allus killin’ and dyin’ and shriekin’ and bleedin’. That’s all I care tae tell aboot it. I’ve no doubt there’s been naught but the same since me brothers entered the castle and lost me.”
“You must be really worried about them.”
“I’ve no doubt they’ve lost more, if not all o’ ‘em in the process. It’s no pretty sicht, this ficht. I can tell ye that. That’s why I’m in a hurry tae get back tae ‘em. They’ll be desperate fer any hand tae help ‘em.”
She didn’t say what was really on her mind. If the fight to free the castle and reclaim the Phoenix Throne was so desperate, how much more his brothers would need him fighting as a dragon. Heck, maybe they were all dragons. They could conquer anything that way, but only if they were willing to take their dragon forms. If the rest of them wanted to stay men forever, they were history.
“Mak’s ye wonder, though, doesn’t it?” he mused. “Mak’s ye wonder what we couldnae accomplish if we’d been dragons fichtin’ the wraiths.”
Elle gasped. “That’s what I was just thinking! I didn’t want to say it.”
He cocked his head. “No? Weel, there ye go. I said it. Maybe ye’re richt aboot it bein’ a good thing. I dinnae licht tae think what they’ll say when they find out, but that’s a matter for another day.”
She opened her mouth and closed it. She could think of so many things she wanted to say and ask, but she didn’t want to offend him all over again.
“Go alaing. Say it. Ye’ll no bother me wi’ the sayin’ o’t.”
“I was just thinking. What if we come across something out here, and you have to change into a dragon to fight it? What if you can’t get the amulet off in time?”
He stopped in his tracks and faced her. “Awricht, lass. Ye’ve been after me allus time tae tak’ the thing off. Here. I’ll do’t.”
“Wait a minute!” she exclaimed. “That’s not what I meant.”
Before she could stop him, he pulled the cord over his head and shoved the amulet into her hands. For a terrible moment, they stared at each other and waited. Nothing happened. Elle blinked, first at him and then at the amulet.
A few more minutes passed. Still nothing happened. He was the same old Rob. He humphed and kept walking. “There ye go. I
t’as nothin’.”
She hurried to catch up with him. “Do you feel any different? Do you feel like you could change if you wanted to?”
“How could I change?” he asked. “I dinnae ken how. It happened by accident afore, and I dinnae ken how tae do it now. All bein’ weel, I’ll ne’er change again in me life.”
He strode across the fields and down a wooden bank to the river beyond. Elle walked at his side for a few hundred paces before she thought to put the amulet away. It might come in handy someday.
She kept stealing glances at him. He no longer wore the amulet to stop him changing. If he didn’t know how to change, he could change at any moment. He might change in his sleep again. He might fly off somewhere with no memory of how he got there, and she wouldn’t be able to find him.
A thousand nightmare scenarios swarmed in to her mind. She wasn’t traveling with a man anymore. She was traveling with a dragon. He oozed danger from every pore.
The rest of the day passed without event, and by the time they made camp that night, Elle started to settle into the same old routine. Maybe it really was nothing. He wouldn’t explode into a dragon at any second. He was just a regular guy like any other.
Chapter 17
The next morning, Elle and Robbie followed the river where they camped. It cut through the mountains. It created a smooth path for them to stick close to the line of ridges pointed toward their destination.
The sun shone clear and warm. Robbie enjoyed the pleasant journey. They had all the food they needed. They took a leisurely pace and appreciated the natural beauty around them.
By midmorning, the river entered a country populated by people. Farms and fields full of livestock lined the river, and within an hour, they came to a bridge crossing the water between two well-maintained roads.
“Weel, ‘ere we go,” Robbie murmured. “We may as weel follow this and see what kind o’ people live ‘ere. We cinnae do any worse than travelin’ on our own….” He glanced at Elle. “Unless ye think we oughtn’t.”
“We might as well,” she replied. “Whoever lives here certainly knows how to manage the place. Look at the cows. They’re fat and healthy.”
They climbed onto the road and left the mountains behind. They kept the mountains in sight no matter how far they went. They could always pick them up and find their bearings to their destination.
In the meantime, Robbie appreciated traveling by road instead of breaking a path through heath and forest all the time. The road relaxed him. In a few hours, they found their first village, and his heart went out to it. Simple cottages full of ordinary country people lined the roads and dotted the farms. People greeted the pair on their way past.
The women wore plain dresses and aprons. The men wore kilts, but he didn’t recognize their tartan. He understood these people.
“We could travel through this country a laing way,” he told Elle. “It’s the best o’ traveling.”
“I agree,” she replied. “Let’s stick to these roads as much as we can. We probably won’t have to hunt for our food in this country, either. It’s too bad we don’t have any money. We could get lodgings and take a bath for a change.”
He laughed. “Ye wanna tak’ a bath?”
“What’s so funny about that?” she asked. “I haven’t had one since I came to this country. I should wash my clothes, too.”
He shook his head, but he couldn’t stop chuckling. “I can just imagine ye in a big bath full o’ soap up tae your ears.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You better stop that before I get bent out of shape.”
“Oh, I wouldae want that.” He laughed harder than ever.
They left the village and returned to the open farmland. What a pleasant, peaceful country this was. At midday, he and Elle sat down under a spreading oak tree next to the road to eat some food and drink some water from a spring nearby.
Robbie leaned back against the tree. “Ye wouldnae think a country licht this could exist in the same world as wraiths and dragons and those little demons and such. It doesnae seem licht the same world.”
“Maybe it isn’t,” Elle suggested. “Maybe we crossed some barrier, and we’re back in the Highlands.”
“I was thinkin’ the same,” he replied. “Whoe’er these people may be, they’re Highlanders licht me and me brothers. I wonder who they belaing tae. I dinnae recognize their tartan. They mun’ be a different Clan altogether.”
“You could ask somebody. They must be thinking the same thing about you.”
“E’eryone kens the Camerons,” he replied. “They’ll all o’ ‘em ken I’m a Cameron.”
Just then, the sound of drumming horses’ hooves rumbled down the road. A company of mounted horsemen cantered into view with banners flying and their weapons gleaming on their pommels.
The horses wore plate mail, and the first few men in the cavalcade wore glistening golden decorations pinned to the plaids across their chests. Robbie got to his feet to watch them pass. The riders’ long hair waved in the breeze, and their eyes skipped over the countryside in search of any danger.
The company rode up a small rise in the road, and Robbie got his first good look at the man leading the riders. He sat tall and straight in his saddle, and he wore a jeweled sword at his waist. His mount snorted and tossed its head. A circlet of gold adorned his head and a golden emblem hung on a chain around his neck.
He reined his horse when he spotted Robbie. The rest of the company slowed behind him until the whole cavalcade stopped in front of the oak tree. The man in charge eyed Robbie. “Ye’re a Cameron, are ye no?”
Robbie bowed. “I am. Robbie Cameron, the Younger.”
“If ye’ll do me the honor,” the man replied, “ye’ll come wi’ me and mine tae the castle. We’ve a matter o’ business tae discuss wi’ ye.”
“Wi’ me?” Robbie exclaimed. “What business would that be? Ye’ll forgive me if I dinnae come until I kens what it’s all aboot.”
The man closed his eyes and lowered his head. “O’ course. It concerns the Phoenix Throne.”
“The Phoenix Throne! What may ye and yers ken aboot the Phoenix Throne?”
“Ye’ll ken when ye come tae the castle. We mun’ ask ye fer yer help, and ye’ll understand all when ye come.”
Robbie glanced at Elle, but she offered him no help.
“Ye bring yer companion wi’ ye,” the man told him.
“Awricht,” Robbie replied. “I’ll come wi’ ye tae find out aboot the Phoenix Throne, but I’ll no promise any help nor naught else ‘til I hear what ye ha’e tae say.”
“O’ course,” the man replied. “I’m Prince Alan, o’ the House o’ Munro.”
Robbie frowned. “Munro?”
Prince Alan snapped his fingers, and an empty horse appeared from the back of the company. “Ye can ride this. Ye’ll no face any danger wi’ us.”
The Prince reined his horse around, and the rest of the band copied him. Robbie hesitated one more moment. Elle murmured in his ear. “What’s wrong? If you don’t want to go with them, say so now.”
“It’s awricht,” he murmured back. “We’ll go and see what’s what. Do ye wanna ride wi’ me?”
“Okay. I guess I might as well.”
He cast a quick look into her eyes. “Ye’ll tell me if ye sense any danger wi’ ‘em, won’t ye?”
“I don’t sense any danger with them. They seem genuine to me, but I can’t figure out how they knew to come out here and find us, and I can’t imagine what they want to tell you about the Phoenix Throne. I guess we’ll only find out by going with them.”
He seized the horse’s bridle. “That’s the way wi’ me, as weel. Ye mount up behind me. Can ye ride?”
“I never learned how, but I’ll give it my best shot.”
“That’s a game lass.”
He swung up into the saddle and offered her his hand. He took hold of her wrist and hauled her up behind him. She took a deep seat behind the saddle and put her arms around his
waist, just the way she belonged.
Prince Alan and the rest of the company galloped off the way they came. Robbie touched his heels to the horse’s flanks, and the animal shot off down the road after its friends.
The horsemen flew down the open road. Their armor and weapons clattered all around. The excitement of riding with this rich company went to Robbie’s head. He wasn’t a wandering ghost anymore. He was on his way to a castle in the company of a Prince to do some royal business—whatever that might be.
The road wound around a wood, and the castle came in sight. Robbie entertained some misgivings before he saw it that this might be the same castle where the fire demons separated him from his brothers. This castle allayed all his fears. It rose crisp and sturdy on a hill in the distance. Iron-grey granite formed its walls, and people flowed in and out over the open drawbridge. Life and activity surrounded the place, and birds wheeled through the sky overhead.
Alan rode over the drawbridge, and the company drew to a halt in the courtyard. Grooms and boys rushed out to take the horses, and pages helped the men out of their armor. The place seethed all over with noise and bustle. Chickens and sheep got underfoot and rushed away cackling and bleating.
Robbie handed Elle to the ground and slid down. His horse disappeared with the others, and Alan came to his side. “Come alaing wi’ me, both o’ ye, and meet me faither. He’s anxious tae meet ye.”
He crossed the courtyard to a flight of steep granite steps leading up to a big grand door. He pushed it open. Several knights who rode with him followed after Robbie and Elle accompanying the Prince inside.
Alan led the way across a towering entrance hall, up another flight of sweeping stairs, and into an enormous hall. This castle resembled the enchanted castle, but people filled every room and engaged in every imaginable activity everywhere Robbie looked.
People dressed in the richest clothes packed the hall, and a King sat on a magnificent golden throne at the far end. A platform raised the throne above the admirers clustered all around the room. The crowd parted to let Alan through, and he strode all the way down the hall to the throne.
Dragon Quest Page 10
