by Megg Jensen
"It sounds like an owl," Jarrett said. "I've never seen a dragon do that before."
Tressa nodded, too scared to say anything. She had heard that noise before too. Her little owl friend Narek had hooted to her in the forest when it was still shrouded in fog.
Another red dragon descended from the sky, landing next to the first. They nuzzled.
"Mates," Jarrett whispered. “And I’m surprised they didn’t sniff out our horses and eat them.”
Tressa nudged him with her elbow. She didn't need a running commentary. Jarrett went silent, at last. They watched the two dragons wander around Hutton's Bridge, sniffing at the ground and the cottages. After a while, they took flight, their wings spread out so much they blocked the sun for a few breaths.
"It's okay to go back down now," Jarrett said. "Let's grab the horses and get out of here."
"We should go to Ashoom and ask for help." Tressa looked toward the east. Bastian was still there. Injured. Waiting for her.
"There's no one there who can help us," Jarrett said. "If we go to my home in the Sands, I can almost guarantee a small army."
Tressa sighed. She'd have to choose again. Months ago she’d left Bastian in the forest with their parents, and snuck off into the town seeking to destroy Stacia. Leaving him had been hard, but it paid off. Stacia was dead. Now she struggled to make the choice again.
It had been a long time since she'd had a moment alone with Bastian. Though she wanted, more than anything, to sit and have a long talk with him, she knew helping her people was more important. She couldn't let her own feelings get in the way of what was right.
She thought of Bastian lying injured, his wounds gaping and crusted with blood. His mouth pulled into a smile for her benefit. Perhaps he'd heal better without her around. He wouldn't need to pretend he was okay for her sake.
Tressa steeled her heart. "Let's go, then."
"And what about Bastian?" Jarrett asked.
"Bastian needs time to heal, whether I'm there or not," Tressa said, the truth catching in her throat. The veracity of her statement wasn't easy to swallow. "We will ride to the Sands and ask your people for help."
"If you're sure," Jarrett said. His eyes were warm, caring. Tressa knew he'd do as she asked. All she had to do was insist they return to the castle. To Bastian. He would follow without question.
But no. She’d made her choice.
Tressa nodded. "I am."
They made for the horses they'd hidden in the forest. Tressa ventured one last glance at her empty town. Her past had been erased. Her new life held only uncertainty.
"We have to hurry," Jarrett said, mounting his horse. "I want to get to the first oasis by nightfall. Especially if those dragons decide to come back. We need to get out of here."
Tressa dug her heels into her horse's sides. "Let's go."
Chapter Five
“You must wake up. Now.”
Delicate fingers dug into Bastian’s shoulders. He just wanted to sleep. The last few months he’d seen too many injuries. Too many battles. But no one seemed to care. Someone always wanted to tell him where to go. Who to be.
“Wake up!”
The accent was strange to him. Lilting and high. Obviously a woman. But one laced with intense vigor.
As Bastian raised his arm to shoo her away, teeth sank into the tender skin of his arm.
“Ow!” Bastian sat up, his eyes open wide. A woman stood in front of him. Or maybe she was a girl. He wasn’t sure. Her black cloak hid any clues. Her golden hair spilled down to her shoulders in a mess of waves. Bright blue eyes gazed at him intensely. “Who are you?”
“I’m Elinor.” She yanked on his arm, but she was too diminutive to budge him. Her fingers couldn’t even wrap around his forearm. “Do as I say or die.”
Bastian laughed. “You and what army?”
She glared at him. “Flex your stupid muscles. Well, do it.”
Bastian did as she asked and was surprised to find his arms no longer hurt. He ran his hands over his stomach and chest. No wounds. No blood. No bandages. “What happened? I was injured. Severely.”
“And now you’re not. Stop asking questions and get up. You have to get out of Ashoom. Your friends are gone and I can take you someplace safe.”
He swung his legs over the side of the table and stood up. He felt remarkably well considering the injuries he’d sustained after fighting the beasts in the foggy forest outside of Hutton’s Bridge, and then being dragged back to the town by the Black Guard. “How long have I been out?”
“Days.” She shot a furtive glance toward the door.
“What?”
“You ask too many questions. If you close your lips and do as I say, you probably won’t die.” She slipped her hand in his and tugged him toward the back of the room.
Bastian sighed. He was so tired of being dragged and pulled everywhere. “I’m not leaving. Tressa should be back soon and we—” He tugged his hand away from Elinor’s.
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I healed you at great cost to my own strength. Don’t be an ass by rejecting the gift. The men of the Black Guard know what happened to Stacia. They know you are missing. They won’t stop until they find you and kill you. Slowly. Marden isn’t known for his compassion.”
Bastian remembered Marden. The largest man he’d ever laid eyes on. No, he didn’t want to meet him in battle. Bastian was sure of his own strength, but against a man like that he stood little chance.
“Then where should I hide? I don’t know this town.”
Elinor puckered her lips and blew an errant strand of hair off her face. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Come with me and you’ll be safe.”
Bastian took a step back. “Why should I trust you? Maybe you’re just leading me to him.”
She stomped one tiny booted foot on the floor. “Fine. If you want to be an idiot, I can’t change that. They warned me. They said, ‘Elinor, he’s the least intelligent of the three. Don’t waste your time with him. Try to find one of the other two.’”
“What are you talking about?”
Elinor scooted a chair in front of Bastian. She climbed atop the seat, looking him straight in the eyes. “I am an initiate healer of the First Order of the Healer's Guild, the most skilled in recent memory, though I still have many mysteries to learn. I can heal the most grievous injuries with the lightest touch of my hand. But I can only do it once every moon. I used it up on you. So if you want to repay me by acting like an imbecile, I will be teased, and forced to leave my order. It isn’t just the skill that is valued. It’s the judgment in using it properly. I have spent all eighteen years of my life cloistered with the other healers. You were my first test. A rather successful one at that.”
“What will you have me do? If I follow you, that is?” Bastian swallowed, suddenly nervous around this wisp of a woman. He was strong, but she had powerful magic.
“I will protect you, of course. I’ll find a place for you to hide until things calm down here in Ashoom. Until a new leader steps forward and claims the Blue Throne. Without one, we are vulnerable to the other dragonlords.” She clambered off the chair and smoothed out her black gown. “But we’re wasting time. You must follow me. I will not have my first success die only moments after I’ve healed him.”
“Thank you.” Bastian stuttered a bit. It was disconcerting how someone so small could set him off kilter.
Elinor shoved a black cloak at him. “Cover your hair. Not many giant redheads in Ashoom. You’re too easily recognizable.”
Bastian slung the cape around his shoulders and pulled the hood over his head.
“Hold your wrists together.”
Bastian did as he was told.
Elinor tied a rope around his wrists and before he could protest, she’d knotted the rope so tightly he couldn’t move.
“Hey!”
“It’s part of the disguise.” She waved her hand and gestured for him to follow. “I don’t want a month’s worth
of healing to go to waste. Now follow me. Stay close.”
Bastian shrugged and followed the girl, woman, whatever she was, out of the back of the cottage. It was just like when he’d escaped with Tressa after finding Connor missing.
Tressa. She’d be back soon with Jarrett and he’d be gone. How would she find him? He looked over his shoulder at the crowded street. People were agitated and angry. He pulled farther back into the hood. Better to be alive in hiding than for Tressa to find him dead at the hands of her former mates in the Black Guard.
Elinor pulled a bundle of herbs from a pocket inside her cloak. She waved her fingers over the herbs and muttered a series of incomprehensible words. The herbs began to smolder.
Smoke wafted into his nose, stifling his breathing and choking him. Bastian coughed and held an arm over his face. “What is that?”
“Lavender and oregano. I’m cleansing the air around you as we walk through the town. Everyone will stay clear, and no one will suspect you are anything other than a diseased wretch.” She waved the herbs in front of his face again, her blue eyes unflinching.
“They will because it reeks,” he said, muffled through his arm.
“No. This marks you as ill and me as your healer. No one will want to tempt the fate of the gods by coming any closer than they have to.” She tugged hard on the rope leash. “Come on.”
Bastian stumbled and followed her down the street. She spoke true. Everyone kept far away from them. A few made strange gestures with their hands and some spat on the ground while cursing. Elinor was right. They quickly left the town without any interference. He just hoped she was exactly what she’d told him and that he wasn’t being led into another trap.
Chapter Six
After they left the town, Elinor smothered her smoldering herbs and untied Bastian’s hands. She commanded he keep the hood on in case they came across anyone who was looking for him.
Bastian hadn’t been this way before. Only northwest to Hutton’s Bridge. His head spun. Earlier in the day he’d marched out of his town into the fog, killed the beasts, and reasoned with the woman in the tree, only to get captured by Stacia’s men. Again. Despite all of his brawn and bravery, he couldn’t remain free.
Women kept saving him. First Tressa. Now this Elinor girl. It was embarrassing.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
“Somewhere safe.” Elinor fell back, walking next to Bastian. They were no longer healer and patient, but equals.
Bastian looked down. Where he was too tall, she was too short. A tiny thing, the top of her head barely reached his elbow. “I think it’s okay to tell me now. No one is around to hear you.”
Elinor stopped and yanked on his sleeve. “Fine. We’re going to a cave along the Snake River. It’s just to the north of the three trees that grow as one. Past the stream that leads into the river. Does that help? Do you know where we’re going now?”
Bastian glared at her, irritated. “Yes, I do.” He didn’t, but there was no reason to tell her that. She didn’t need to know he’d never travelled anywhere. “I’m very familiar with that area.”
Elinor slapped her hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh.
“What?” Bastian asked. His irritation was rapidly growing into annoyance.
“Make sure you take a right at the cow.” She laughed again, this time not even pretending to cover it up.
“Funny. Very funny.” It wasn’t. Not at all. But she’d healed his injuries and led him to freedom, so he would keep his opinions to himself.
“I know you’ve never been outside of your little town or mine.”
Bastian raised his eyebrows.
“Hutton’s Bridge is a bit of a legend to us, too.” Elinor plucked a white daisy from the ground and twirled it between her fingers. “I grew up thinking it was a town of mystery and enchantment. A fairy tale. I mean, the fog has always been there. Impenetrable. How could anyone live inside that? We thought everyone was dead.”
Bastian shook his head. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? We believed the rest of the world was gone. Only death awaited us. Every year, our elders sent three into the fog. No one ever returned. Not one.”
“Yet you kept trying.” She sighed. “You must have a very strong community. Many people here would give up. They wouldn’t believe. Your people must be so brave.”
Bastian hadn’t thought of it that way before. Sending three into the fog had felt desperate. Villagers rarely volunteered. It wasn’t like they were clamoring to leave. At times, they were sent at sword-point. Within a few days, life in Hutton’s Bridge would go back to normal. The belongings of the people who entered the fog were distributed to those who needed them most. “We weren’t any different than your people. We did what we needed to survive.”
Elinor nodded. She tossed the daisy into the air. It landed on the ground, nestling among the blades of grass that reached up to their ankles. They walked in silence for a while longer.
Trees stretched into the sky, covered in green leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. It was far different from the forbidding forest outside of Hutton’s Bridge. This one didn’t harbor monsters waiting to suck the marrow from his bones. Magical guardians didn’t hide in the trees, holding the fate of hundreds in their hands. Here, Bastian could almost appreciate the beauty. He just wished Tressa was there with him, not off on some errand with that man from the Black Guard.
Yes, Jarrett had helped to keep her safe. He’d fought bravely against the dragon when Bastian was wounded and left for dead in the hall. But Bastian bristled, knowing that Jarrett was interested in Tressa.
“We’re almost there,” Elinor said. “You can hide here until things calm down in Ashoom. Then I’ll find a way to get you out of the Drowned Country. Probably by river. Can you sail?” She looked up at him with blue eyes large and round.
“No, I can’t. I’ve never even been near a body of water bigger than a well.”
“Of course not.” Elinor blushed. “I wasn’t thinking. Well, it’s not so hard. You’ll get used to it quickly.”
Bastian appreciated her help, but he wasn’t sure she’d thought her plan all the way through. “Where should I sail to?”
“You can sail the Snake south to one of the major ports. From there you can hire a ship and go anywhere you want.” She paused, laying her hand on the bark of a nearby tree. She pressed her ear to a knothole.
Bastian pretended to look at a rock. He wanted to look at anything other than Elinor. If she hadn’t saved his life, he might have questioned her sanity.
Elinor pulled away from the tree and smiled. “Yes, there’s a cave up ahead. It will do well to hide you.”
“Did the tree tell you that?” Bastian asked, a smirk crossing his face.
Elinor crossed her arms under her chest. It was the first time Bastian realized she had one. An ample set of breasts had been hiding under her cloak the whole time. He forced himself to look into her eyes again. “Just because you don’t understand, doesn’t mean you should tease.” She glared at him. “And, yes, the tree did tell me there’s a cave ahead. It said something about a family living there, but I have to doubt that. There are no families in this part of the forest. Sometimes the memory of trees is polluted by time.”
“Lead on, then,” Bastian said. His wounds were healed, yes, but his stamina hadn’t returned. He needed a rest, and a quiet cave would be perfect. Maybe even a nap.
Elinor turned to the north. “It’s not far now. I know we’ve been walking a long time, but we’re almost there. I promise.” She flashed him a toothy white smile.
“When we get there, will you be leaving?” Bastian wasn’t afraid to be alone, but night would be falling soon. It might not be safe for her to travel in the forest. She’d taken such good care of him. It was right to ask her to stay.
Elinor looked up into the canopy. “The sun is almost ready to set. It would be wise to remain here. Do you mind?”
Bastian shook his head. “Of course not. Maybe you can tell me mo
re about the port. Where can boats take me once I’m on them? I don’t want to go too far away. Tressa said she’d be coming back for me. If I can’t wait in Ashoom, I want to make sure there’s a way she can find me.”
“I’ll watch for her,” Elinor said. “If she comes back, the guard will kill her. It is certain. Soon everyone will be looking for the girl who dresses as a boy. I’ll tell her where you’ve gone. I have friends in the ports who can pass on a message to her. You will be reunited. But if you act foolishly, you’ll be killed, and you’ll never see her again. You have to trust me.”
“You’ve brought me this far,” Bastian said. “I will do as you say.”
Elinor gasped in relief. “Look ahead. Do you see that copse of trees there? It’s guarding the entrance to the cave. We’ll be able to slip in on the other side. Come on!” She grabbed his hand, propelling him forward.
Together they ran to the cave, eager to sit down and rest. Bastian hadn’t asked, but he hoped she’d thought to bring some food. Perhaps there was some hiding in that cloak of hers.
The dark mouth of the cave opened wide, just as she’d said, on the other side of the trees. They stumbled inside, smiles on both of their faces. Bastian rested his hand on a large rock near the mouth of the cave. He sat down, his back against it.
“What?” Elinor said, staring into the cave in horror. “There is a family here.” She took a few steps back, her hand covering her mouth. Her eyes were large, her face pale.
Bastian’s stomach turned. What had she seen? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be worse than the giant beasts he’d fought in the forest outside of Hutton’s Bridge. “What do you see?” He squinted into the darkness, not seeing anything of interest other than a bunch of boulders.
“The cave.” Elinor pointed, her hand shaking. “It’s filled with eggs.”
Chapter Seven
