‘Excellent,’ Fedolia purred. ‘If your dragon can handle all of the flying, then I’ll keep us from being seen on the way there.’ She let out a high, tinkling laugh as she sauntered past me and gave Jasper’s scaly side a condescending pat. ‘This should be even more fun than a riot!’
My stomach churned as I followed after her … and I hoped I hadn’t just made another mistake that my whole kingdom would regret.
CHAPTER 17
I hadn’t thought about the cold.
When we first took off, soaring high above Villenne, my gown and student robe were still sodden with saltwater, but the summer sun shone down on us, and Jasper’s scales radiated heat. As the sky darkened around us, though, a growing chill crept through my sticky, stiff clothes, growing more and more intense with every minute. Each new beat of Jasper’s wings sent an icy blast through me. I hunched lower and lower over his warm back. It wasn’t enough. By the time the sky turned fully black, I was shivering uncontrollably.
‘Better get used to it, Princess.’ Fedolia was perched on the curve of Jasper’s shoulder in front of me. I could just make out the shift of her shadowy silhouette as she swung her legs casually in mid-air. ‘It’ll get a lot colder soon enough!’
‘Are you cold, Sofia?’ Jasper’s head swung around, his long neck twisting like a snake. His eyes glowed gold in the darkness, like eerie lamps. ‘I could blow smoke on you if it would help.’
‘No, thank you.’ I grimaced, wrapping my arms around my chest. My stomach was growling; it hadn’t occurred to me to bring food either. I clenched my teeth to stop their telltale chattering.
‘We should land soon anyway,’ Jasper said. ‘I’ve never flown so far in just one day. My wings … they’re still not fully developed.’ A gust of smoke escaped his mouth as he let out a hissing sigh. ‘If I go much further, they’ll be too sore to even lift us off the ground tomorrow.’
What? As miserable as I was, my head still snapped up in horror. We couldn’t just stop! Not when our families were locked in ice!
But the last time I’d let my temper loose, I’d lost everything … so I forced back my instinctive, furious protest and kept my mouth clamped tightly shut as Jasper arced down through the vast, cold darkness towards the grassy top of a massive, treeless hill. He landed with a crash that jolted through my aching bones, and his wings sagged limply to the ground.
‘Hmm!’ Fedolia hopped off easily from his shoulders, dusting her hands together and letting off blue sparks. ‘You certainly could do with a bit more practice, dragon-boy.’
Jasper let out a weary growl, his big head sinking down to lie flat on the ground. The golden lamplight of his gaze snapped off as his eyes fell closed.
Thank goodness. I did not want him to see this.
Slowly, painfully, I slid down the broad curve of his back, my robe and skirts snagging again and again on his scales. Finally, I landed on two feet again – and staggered hard, pain lancing through my body.
Every single piece of me hurt! I’d spent so many hours braced around his big dragon back that the muscles in my legs, my back, my neck – and even my face! – all seemed to scream out in agony as I tried to unclench.
I couldn’t even force my legs to straighten.
And – gaah. Of course I hadn’t brought a chamber pot either.
Shuffling like an old woman and biting back a moan, I turned to scan the countryside around us. Clouds had shifted away from the moon as we’d landed. By its faint glow, I could see a lake spread out on one side of the hill, reflecting the bright stars in its dark waters. Far in the distance, on the other side of the hill, I could just make out a small patch of scattered lights – a village, perhaps? I couldn’t have walked that far even if I weren’t an aching lump of knotted muscles.
Fedolia had been right: it was already much colder here than it had been in Villenne. And there was nothing to protect us from the biting wind on this high, bare hilltop.
I’d spent so much time resenting my ladies-in-waiting for the way they’d been forced on me. But I’d never thought about the way they looked after me … until now. Ulrike would have thought to pack warm clothes and something to eat for the journey. I’d never packed for myself in my life.
‘I’m off!’ Fedolia announced – and vanished.
What?
I stared, mind reeling, at the empty patch of grass where she had stood.
‘Do you think she’s coming back?’ Jasper rumbled. He’d only half opened his eyes at her announcement. Even his voice was drooping, his words sliding into hisses on his long, forked tongue.
‘Who knows?’ I shrugged helplessly as cold wind whistled through my gritty, sticky gown. ‘I don’t even know if she’s really gone.’
Maybe she’d only wanted some privacy. Then again, perhaps she’d changed her mind about the whole adventure and started back towards Villenne on her own. I didn’t understand anything about that kobold.
Another gust of cold wind billowed across the hilltop. This time, I stumbled with the force of it.
Enough. I was so worn out I could barely even think. But I knew one thing: I wouldn’t do my sister any good by letting myself freeze on this hillside.
Grimacing, I stumped over to Jasper’s big, bulky body. ‘Would you mind …?’
‘Of course.’ He heaved up his closest wing to make space.
‘Ohhh.’ I collapsed on to the grass beside him with a groan, tucking myself tightly against his hot scales. His wing drifted back down to cover me like a hot, scratchy blanket, and I closed my eyes, letting my head sink against his side. It moved gently up and down with his breath, rocking me backwards and forwards.
Three weeks ago, being so close to anyone would have made me stiffen with panicky discomfort. Now, as I let myself be rocked like an infant, my breathing gradually eased. My shoulders ached even more as they finally began to loosen.
Hunger gnawed at my empty stomach. I would have spent my whole quarterly allowance to buy a single cinnamon roll right now. I would have given my entire library for a chamber pot!
But for the first time since I’d seen my sister’s carriage flying towards us that morning, I felt almost … safe.
So I couldn’t hold back the words any longer. ‘I’m sorry.’
It was the first time I’d willingly apologised in my life. The words slipped out in a shamed whisper.
Has he even heard me? He didn’t say anything. I held my breath as I waited through the long, agonising silence.
Finally, he shifted beneath me. ‘Sorry for what?’
‘Do you have to ask?’ When I reopened my eyes, I found his big head tilted towards me and his golden gaze focused intently on me. ‘If I’d stayed with the others in the palace, the way I was supposed to, you’d be safe underneath your mountain right now. Your mother would be safe there too.’
‘But not for long.’ His tone was thoughtful. ‘If you were the one who’d been taken today instead of your sister, my mother would have flown after the giants to retrieve you. Our honour – and our alliance – would have required it.’
‘Well …’ I heaved a sigh. ‘Maybe she wouldn’t have been captured, though. Or –’
‘You think she would have attacked them any differently?’ His head tilted even more, the pupils of his eyes narrowing into vertical, reptilian slits. ‘I told you how my family defines power: flame and claws. She would never have brought any other weapons to a battle.’
‘But – oh, this is absurd!’ I flapped one hand in frustration beneath his heavy wing. ‘How can you not blame me for everything that’s gone wrong? I’m the whole reason you’re here!’
His shrug rolled all the way down his huge body. ‘Did you trick me into sneaking out of my cavern to meet you? Did you even ask me to do it in the first place?’
I scowled, digging myself deeper into the warmth of his scaly side. ‘Didn’t I say in my letter that I wished you were with me?’
His laugh sent balls of smoke flying from his snout. ‘You think I took tha
t as an order?’ Jasper tipped back his head, showing off all his teeth in his grin. ‘You do remember I’m a dragon, don’t you?’
‘Hmmph.’ I crossed my arms and stuck my jaw out. ‘I’m just trying to apologise for getting you into trouble!’
‘Oh, really!’ Jasper snorted. ‘You think too much like a princess.’
‘What?’ In all of the many criticisms levelled against me in my life, no one had ever once claimed that.
‘You think everything is your responsibility.’
‘Just ask my sister,’ I muttered. ‘She’ll tell you I don’t have any sense of responsibility.’
‘Then she hasn’t been paying attention.’ Jasper curved his neck fully around to look at me face-to-face, his hot breath steaming the last chills from my skin. ‘You told me how Gert van Heidecker defined power. Remember? He said it only exists when wielded over other people. Well, you couldn’t control my decision to come here, or what the ice giants did, could you? So you don’t have that much power … or that much responsibility. You see?’
He gave another rolling shrug that bounced me against the hard ground as he settled his chin back down on his front feet with a sigh. ‘It’s all because of the princess problem.’
‘The princess problem?’ I groaned. ‘If you’re trying to tell me I’m no good at being a princess –’
‘No, you’re too good a princess,’ he said calmly. ‘When you get upset, you forget to think like a philosopher. It’s not your fault, though. You’ve been told all your life that you’re more important than anyone else only because of the family you were born into. I told you humans are all obsessed with blood.’
‘We are not – !’ I took a deep breath. No more losing my temper! ‘I’m not more important as a person,’ I gritted. ‘But as a princess, I do have more responsibilities than other people, because my whole kingdom can suffer for my actions.’ My shoulders hunched as I repeated the reminder that had battered me endlessly across the years.
‘But why is this your fault?’ Jasper said. ‘What could you possibly have done to stop the ice giants today?’
‘What about you?’ I twisted around, glowering at him. ‘You said your mother would have been captured no matter when she went after the ice giants. But look at you now! You’re going after them too. Do you think you have any more power than she does?’
‘That’s different.’ His voice dropped to a dangerous pitch.
‘How?’ I demanded.
‘She’s my mother.’
His deep, ominous growl probably should have frightened me. But we’d been arguing philosophy by post for months, and besides, I’d already been inside one dragon’s mouth. Being shouted at by another couldn’t frighten me.
‘I’m not leaving her trapped in ice!’ he roared.
Strands of my hair flew out of their pins with the gusting of his hot breath.
‘Because you have a responsibility towards her,’ I said triumphantly, shaking my finger at him. ‘You see? Just like I have a responsibility towards my kingdom!’
‘Ha!’ He snorted out a smoke ring that bounced off my face. ‘So this has nothing to do with saving your sister just because you love your family?’
‘My family – !’ I cut myself off, breathing hard.
Katrin’s last words to me rang in my ears. ‘I will never, ever forgive you.’
I’d always known we weren’t like other families I’d met, even before today’s disaster. But now …
I curled my fingers into fists, shoving those thoughts deep down where they couldn’t hurt me. ‘I’m saving my sister for our kingdom,’ I snarled, ‘because Drachenheim needs her in charge – and ensuring my kingdom’s future is my responsibility. So maybe princesses aren’t such a problem!’
‘My goodness!’ a third voice chirped, making me jump. ‘It looks like I’ve missed the best entertainment this evening!’
Fedolia popped back into sight beside us, her expression glittering with interest in the lamplight of Jasper’s eyes. ‘I was just eating my supper. Delicious fish in the lake down below! They’re nice and lively, I can tell you. They really wriggle as they slide down your throat!’ She cocked her head to one side. ‘Aren’t you two going to go fishing for your own suppers? Or would you prefer to argue a while longer? I never mind some good theatre before bed!’
Sitting down cross-legged on the cold grass, she looked at us both expectantly.
Apparently, tonight could get worse after all … but I’d been pushed too far to care.
Nudging Jasper’s wing firmly aside, I rose to my feet. ‘I am going for a walk,’ I announced. ‘Do not look where I’m going. I mean it!’
Jasper’s wings lifted off the ground. ‘Don’t you think you should have company? For safety –’
‘No.’ I glared menacingly at him. ‘I want to be alone. So no looking, either of you!’
I might have been used to being on display for the good of my kingdom. But some things were still private, even for a princess.
I couldn’t save my sister tonight, convince Jasper of the most basic truths in my world, or catch live fish to eat with my hands …
But I was determined to figure out life without a chamber pot, because I desperately needed to feel relief about something, and that was the only option I had left.
CHAPTER 18
That night, I didn’t even try to sleep. As Jasper’s snores rumbled across the hilltop and Fedolia slept curled up on top of him, I crunched myself into a ball against his hot, scaly side. My arms wrapped tightly around my legs, but they weren’t nearly enough to ward off danger.
Scenes from the day flashed over and over again behind my eyelids in an unstoppable, nightmarish progression. I had to clamp my lips shut to keep myself from screaming out loud to make them stop.
Katrin’s face as she had shouted at me …
The ice giants carrying her away …
Moaning, I buried my head against my knees. If only I were an ice giant. Keeping my heart safely hidden where no one else could touch it would make everything in my life so much easier.
It would have helped if my cat from Villenne were here, curled in the spot that he’d claimed every night since we’d arrived. Feeling his low, soothing purr vibrate against my chest always made me feel calmer about everything. I could have thought so much more clearly with his fluffy weight nestled beside me.
I’d probably never see him again.
I should have taken the time to name him while I’d had him. Somehow, though, I’d persuaded myself it wouldn’t hurt so much to lose him when we left Villenne if I’d never given him a name in the first place.
I should have done so many things differently. All I could do now, though, was decide what to do next … and by the time the others woke up in the morning, I was ready.
‘Right!’
As Jasper slowly blinked his eyes open and Fedolia stretched luxuriously, still perched on his back, I pushed my aching body to my feet and smacked my hands together. There was a hot, grainy feeling behind my eyes, the back of my mouth tasted sour, and the world spun unnervingly every time I moved, sending a nasty sloshing feeling through my empty stomach. But I kept my expression firm, like a real ruler.
‘First, we need breakfast,’ I announced. ‘All of us.’
Jasper opened his mouth in a yawn that exposed far too much of his long tongue and let out a bad stench of his own. ‘You want to go hunting?’ he asked sleepily. ‘It might take me a few hours, but –’
‘Fedolia can fish for all of us,’ I said. ‘She’s the fastest and the best at it.’
‘Why, thank you.’ Fedolia’s upper lip curled into a sneer. ‘And yet –’
‘Jasper, you’ll do the cooking.’
There was no way I was going to eat a live fish – or even a raw one. Getting sick was the last thing I needed right now! Fortunately, partway through the night, I’d realised that I had a ready source of cooking fire snoring just beside me.
‘Me?’ Jasper looked suddenly alert – a
nd alarmed. ‘My sister’s the one who knows how to cook food. I’ve never –’
‘Think of it as practice for spending time as a human,’ I told him. ‘We always cook our meat. It’s a rule.’
Fedolia’s long blue fingernails tapped – click, click, click! – against Jasper’s blue-and-purple scales as she glared down at me. ‘And you, Your Highness?’ she asked with poisonous sweetness. ‘How exactly are you planning to contribute this morning, while we run about following your royal orders?’
I took a deep breath and stiffened my back. No more cowardice. ‘I’m going to become a criminal,’ I announced. ‘But I’ll need help from both of you to do it.’
Fedolia’s blue eyes widened. She blinked. Then her light blue lips stretched into a grin of malicious delight. ‘Finally,’ she said, ‘a plan I can really enjoy!’
Less than two hours later, Jasper circled through the air, while I squeezed my legs around his back for balance and clung to Fedolia’s shoulders with both hands. All three of us were hidden by her invisibility spell … but my heart raced faster and faster with every moment we came closer to implementing my plan.
Only a month ago, I’d planned to spend the rest of my life safely locked behind the walls of my palace. How had everything gone so wildly off course?
‘There!’ Fedolia leaned over Jasper’s side, tugging me with her, to point down at a scattered group of cottages around an empty green square. Farmland stretched out in a wide circle around them, and I glimpsed men and women alike out working in the fields.
‘It’s washing day,’ Fedolia said. ‘Perfect!’
Unbelievable. Woollens and furs flapped freely in the breeze, suspended from plain ropes behind the houses without a single guard set to protect them.
Wasn’t anyone worried about thieves like me?
‘That grassy space is big enough for me to land,’ Jasper said thoughtfully. ‘But if anyone sees me, you know they’ll panic.’
‘That’s all right.’ Fedolia settled back into place, nestling her back against my front and propping her crossed ankles on Jasper’s neck. ‘I’ll stay with you, dragon-boy. We’ll keep you safely hidden while Sofi goes on her crime spree.’
The Princess Who Flew with Dragons Page 10
