Unlike my father, I knocked on the door and when it didn’t open I cautiously opened it. The front room was completely empty. No furniture, no belongings. If they had gone on vacation, they’d packed everything. Going from room to room, I found the same. All were bare. The only thing still there was an old bed frame with a broken leg, and even that didn’t have a mattress.
Whoever lived in this village left a long time ago, and it seemed that they took their swords with them. We’d not only wasted our journey, we’d added yet another problem we’d have to figure out. A problem that I’d have to figure out because if I didn’t, there was a real possibility the dragons’ souls would be trapped forever.
Chapter Six
I heard him before I saw him.
My father was cursing away, more than likely to himself. He’d found his house just as empty as mine. I couldn’t blame him. I was mad, too, and tired. Tired of it all. Tired of going from place to place and not finding what we were looking for. Tired of being lied to and manipulated. This whole quest had been a mission to nothing. All we’d done was waste time while the dragons’ bodies withered. I couldn’t even claim it a success on the building bridges front. The dragons and the Slayers hated each other more than ever. The Wolvren weren’t much better. Okay, they weren’t exactly argumentative, but they didn’t want to be involved and were only there because Alpha told them to. Alpha was only there because he was in love with Morganna.
Not only was I sick of going from place to place and not actually getting anywhere, I was also physically tired. My bones hurt from all the walking, the sleepless nights, and the weather.
After a final look around the desolate house, I opened the front door and headed out into the sunshine. As I had thought, my father was complaining to Jasper, who, in turn, was nodding his head. They both looked my way as I walked toward them.
“Don’t!” I held my hand up as I strode past them. I wasn’t in the mood. If they wanted to be angry, so be it. They could keep it to themselves. I was angry enough myself.
Neither my father nor Jasper spoke. Instead, they followed me back across the bridge. I was getting better at this being forceful thing.
As I walked into the town square, the others were already starting to appear from their allotted houses. It was apparent by the looks on their faces that they had been no luckier than us. Spear stood on the other side of the square, his face as dark as thunder, having a shouting match with one of the Wolvren who was waving his hands about. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could guess. Everyone was tired. Tempers were flaring.
Sighing, I made my way across to them. So much for the wolves not getting involved. At least it wasn’t Alpha, who I could see just emerging from one of the houses empty handed.
“What’s going on?” I asked Spear, although it was plain to anyone what the problem was.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” shouted my father from behind me, almost knocking me out of the way on his beeline to Spear. “There’s nothing here,” he shouted at Spear, butting the Wolvren out of the way. “No swords. Nothing. I’m willing to bet that this was all a ploy to get me away from my village. With me all the way out here, your people will be able to sweep in and do what you want. You’ve wanted to destroy Dronias for a long time but you couldn’t, could you? So instead of fighting fairly, you got one of your pretty boys to seduce my daughter so she’d lead us on this wild goose chase halfway around the kingdom.”
A familiar figure shot past me before I had a chance to speak, and punched my father square in the face.
“Ash!” I shouted. He’d done no more damage than a split lip, but my father, who was twice his size, looked ready to punch back. I ran toward them but was too late. A couple of the other dragons had gotten there before me and were holding my father back. All around me, I heard shouts and threats as more and more people entered the fight. One of the dragons had accidentally hit one of the Wolvren and so now they had entered the fray, too. The tiny semblance of peace between the three groups had finally dissolved, and now all I could see was chaos.
“Stop!” I shouted, but my voice was lost in the ruckus. No one could hear me above the noise they were all making, and no one was interested in what I had to say, only too happy to finally let out their frustrations. I had half a mind to let them fight it out, but many of them were strong, and who knew what damage they could do to each other. I didn’t have it in me to organize getting thirty injured people out of here.
Morganna appeared at my side. Unlike me, she seemed completely composed.
“What should I do?” I asked her, my nerves apparent.
She sighed. “This has been coming for days. I had hoped to get through this without any bloodshed, especially from our own, but years of tension are coming to a head.”
“Yeah, but they are going to kill each other.” I stepped forward, planning to go into the throng to try to stop it, but Morganna caught me on the shoulder.
“They are bigger than you and they are angry. I hate to say it, but there is nothing you can do without getting hurt yourself. We will have to leave them to it until they realize they are hurting no one but themselves.”
I agreed with Morganna in part. I wasn’t a match for any of them physically, but I wasn’t about to let them kill each other, not when we’d come so far. Scrabbling around in my bag, I found a box of matches for lighting cooking fires when Ash didn’t feel like turning into his dragon form. I struck the first and held it to the straw roof of the nearest house. Then I held the second match to another spot on the same roof, not stopping until the entire box of matches was spent and the roof was ablaze. I had no remorse for setting someone’s house on fire. No one had lived in this village for a long time and I couldn’t see them coming back any time soon.
I hopped up onto the wall of the village well in front of the burning house and shouted again, this time as loudly as I could. Whether it was my voice or the wall of flames behind me, I didn’t know, but within seconds, every single one of them had stopped what they were doing and were looking my way.
“Stop fighting, all of you!” I demanded. “I’ve had enough. We have only one fight, a common cause and that is not with each other. All you are doing is making it harder to solve the problem. You are creating more problems. I’ve spent days listening to you gripe about each other, but you all know that this is the fault of the Goblins. They lied to us, tricked us again. We know they can’t be trusted. This was their plan all along. If we fight each other, we won’t have time to go back and fight them, but fight them we must. It is clear to me that all this stems from them and always has, even from the start. I don’t like that we have been fooled, but I have to admit that the Goblins have beaten us again.
“However, I’m taking a lesson from this. The next time we go to the Goblins, I will not leave until I get a straight answer. I will not let Krikor or any of them lead me on a merry dance again. I will find out what happened to the swords and I will free the dragons’ souls. Either you will come with me, or I will leave you all here to beat each other to a bloody pulp, but I’m telling you now. If you choose the second option, I will go alone. I will not help any of you get out of here when you are too injured to walk. The choice is yours.”
I glared down at them, trying to appear more menacing than I actually felt. Inside my heart was hammering beneath my ribs. I’d talked myself into a corner. If they did decide that hurting each other was more important than our mission, I’d be forced to walk out of this valley by myself.
Ash was the first to come forward. He had a bruise on his cheek where someone had punched him. “I’m sorry. It was me that started this,” he said, shame filling his face. He walked towards me and held out his hand to me. I took it and jumped down from the well wall. “I really am sorry,” he said again, but this time much more quietly so only I could hear. “I know how stupid it was, but I couldn’t let your father talk about you like that.”
“On behalf of the Wolvren, I apologize, too.”
Alpha stepped forward and called his men to his side. One by one the others walked toward me and then stood behind me until it was only my father and Spear. My father had a split lip and a dribble of blood was drying on his chin. Spear had a black eye. I couldn’t help thinking that they both deserved their injuries.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for one of them to back down. With a small step, Spear finally moved forward.
Not waiting for my father to move, I turned to walk out of the village. My father was a proud man, but he was also at a disadvantage. He was the only one left. He knew that getting out of the valley was not going to be easy, especially if he tried to do it alone. Besides, he had no one left to fight. His only option was to come with us. As I took a step along the path that would lead us back to the river, with the others behind me. I knew my father would come, too. His pride was wounded, but he wasn’t stupid.
Morganna ran up to me at the front. “That was quite something,” she beamed. “I was all for letting them fight it out, get it out of their system, let off steam.”
“They would have damaged each other. I’m sure they will find plenty of opportunities to fight, but at the moment we don’t have the time. Let them have at it when all this is over. I might even sell tickets and bring popcorn.”
Morganna snorted. “You are now my new hero,” she said, laughing.
Coming from my hero, hearing her say that, filled me with confidence. “Thank you,” I replied.
“I mean it. I’m really proud of you. I don’t know many people that could stop a whole group of hot-blooded males fighting, but you did. I know I couldn’t have done it.”
I blushed, not knowing what to say. Instead, I just smiled. With a renewed vigor, I picked up the pace. Those Goblins didn’t know what was coming to them. As the river came into view, I couldn’t suppress the smile on my face. OK, so we hadn’t gotten any further, but Morganna believed in me. Maybe it was about time I began to believe in myself.
“I don’t know what came over me,” said Ash, taking my hand once again. “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am. I really shouldn’t have punched your father. When he said those things about you, I just saw red.”
“Are you sure you weren’t just mad because he called you a pretty boy?” I replied good-naturedly.
“That, too,” smirked Ash.
Behind us, the flames rose, sending black smoke up into the sky.
Chapter Seven
The boat was where we left it, tied to the bridge, bobbing around in the current.
“Now what?” asked Xander. “We can’t row upstream. The current is too strong and we only have two oars.
He was right. There was no way we were going to be able to get back to the Goblins the way we came, either by boat or on foot. Farther upriver, the canyon walls were too high and too steep to climb. I didn’t fancy asking the dragons to make a few journeys to carry everyone, either. I could only too well imagine the expression on my father’s face, not to mention Spear’s, if I asked them. No, we’d have to find another way back. We were surrounded by mountain ranges. On the other side of the river, the snowy peaks of the Triad mountains rose above us, sprawling out to the east. Behind us was another mountain range. If we jumped in the boat and let the river carry us out through the valley, we would be heading in entirely the wrong direction. We were going to have to climb.
“If the uppermost peak of the Triads is over there,” I said, pointing out the peak to our left, “then Frokontas should be somewhere in front of us.” I tried picturing the valley of Frokontas. It did have mountains surrounding it. If I was right, those mountains were just on the other side of the mountain in front of us. “We’ll go there and rest up. We are going to need more provisions if we are going back to see the Goblins, and I’m sure you all need rest. Before anyone complains that we are going to the dragon’s home, I want to point out that the Slayers and Wolvren have already let us into their villages. Spear, I’m sure you’d like to return the favor and Father, I know you’ll be grateful for the invite.”
He probably wouldn’t be, but tough. He was coming to Frokontas or staying behind.
“So we are climbing mountains again, huh?” grunted Jasper. “Just wonderful!”
“Do you have any better ideas?” I asked, turning to him with my hands on my hips.
“No,” he admitted.
“Well then,” I said, crossing the bridge quickly. I didn’t want to get caught in another argument.
I set a quick pace, more out of eagerness to keep everyone moving so they had better things to think about than fighting rather than enthusiasm at actually reaching our destination.
“You do remember that we can fly up there,” said Ash quietly. “It would take a while, but we could possibly make a few trips and—”
“Don’t even say it,” I interrupted. “Do you really think Spear will allow it? For that matter, do you want to be the one who asks my father if he wants to ride on a dragon?”
Ash pulled a face. “I see your point.”
“I was just telling Julianna how wonderful she was down there,” cut in Morganna. “She’s turning out to be a true leader and warrior.”
“I always found something special in her, but she’s no warrior,” Ash said, but it didn’t feel like an insult. His arm wrapped around my shoulder. “A warrior, by definition, is a person of war. I’ve never met anyone as brave as Julianna, but at the same time, I know she’d never deliberately hurt anyone.”
“I stand corrected,” said Morganna, smiling while I blushed furiously. The two people I admired the most were talking over my head about me. I was embarrassed sure, but I was also bursting with pride.
“You guys. You do see that I’m right here?”
Ash grinned. “Nowhere else I’d like you to be but right by my side.”
Morganna laughed pleasantly. “I’ll let you two lovebirds go on ahead. It’s probably better if one of us lags behind to make sure one of the boys back there doesn’t start a fight again.
“That was embarrassing,” I said, “but thanks. It means a lot to me that you believe in me.
“I meant it, too, about you being by my side. When we get back to Frokontas, I want you to stay there with me.”
“Of course I’ll stay with you. Not for long though. Just until we regroup and rest and then we’ll head back up to the Goblins.”
“I don’t just mean now. I mean forever. I know you’ve said you’ll stay with me, but that was before you rekindled your relationship with your family.”
I looked at him. It hadn’t occurred to me that he’d be worried that I’d want to go back and live in Dronias. “I’m with you. I’m with you whether you want to live in Frokontas or Dronias or anywhere. It doesn’t matter where we are. Wherever I am with you, that is where I call home.”
He nodded and smiled, hopefully feeling more at ease. I gripped his hand tightly. I meant every word of it.
The climb up the mountain was grueling. Even though the view made it a much more pleasant walk, the pretty, grassy banks peppered with beautiful flowers were much sheerer than the rocky mountain paths we’d already climbed. By the time we reached the peak, I was having to hold onto clumps of long grass to pull myself up. It took us the best part of the afternoon to get to the very top. Unlike the jagged edges of the mountains to our left, this peak was a plateau. Flat grasslands, too high for farm animals to reach. About a kilometer ahead of us was some kind of precipice. With any luck, it wouldn’t be too steep on the other side.
With each step to the edge, all I could think about was the canyon we had come through in the boat. If the sides were as steep, we would be stuck up here and Ash’s suggestion of flying would be our only option.
As it was, the edge was only the beginning of a delicate downward slope. Even better, I could see the fenced fields of Frokontas in the distance.
“Home,” smiled Ash as he led me down the hill.
It did feel like home. Dronias wasn’t my home anymore and hadn’t been for some t
ime. I was glad to be back. It had been too long. My only concern was how the people of the town would take my father, or more worryingly, how he would react to them.
He’d been pretty quiet throughout the journey up the hill, but I put that down to wounded pride. Just in case, I held back, waiting while all the others trooped past. My father was at the very back.
“I see Frokontas coming up.”
“The dragon village,” he replied gruffly. It wasn’t a question, more of a statement.
I nodded. “They are good people.”
“All evidence to the contrary.”
I sighed. “You’ve met them in the worst of circumstances. Everyone is annoyed and tired. Spear can be a little hot-headed at times, but let’s be honest, you’ve been much worse.”
“Hrmph.”
“Father!”
“Fine,” he conceded. “I could have put in more effort, but...”
“But?” I raised an eyebrow. It was impossible for my father to admit his shortcomings without making them someone else’s fault. I waited patiently to find out who he was going to blame.
“This Spear guy. I don’t trust him. How do we know he hasn’t got half his city waiting to ambush us? This could all be some kind of trick.”
“For one thing, look in front of you. Frokontas is hardly a city. It’s a smaller village than Dronias. Secondly, Dronias’s bravest and strongest are either out with us or have their souls trapped in our swords. The people left behind are just normal people.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he huffed. I let Ash stay up ahead, deciding to enter the town with my father. I didn’t trust him to be civil.
As the ground beneath us flattened out and we began the walk through the village, I linked arms with my father. I’d like to say it was because I was his daughter and loved him, but in truth, it was my way of keeping him close to me. My nerves were running high as we entered the fire pit area, but my stomach rumbled anxiously as I took in the smell of meat roasting over a fire. It had been a long time since I had a decent meal.
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