He bent down and tapped her on the nose. She giggled. “That’s right. Now do you want to come have a bite to eat with us? Our treat.”
She nodded her head so hard it looked like it was going to fall off.
Before we could move, someone yelled, “Shawna! There you are. Why did you stop?”
Shawna put her head down in shame. “Sorry, but this nice man and elf were going to buy me some honey bread. You know how I love honey bread!”
“You can barely hold what you’re carrying now.” The woman reached down and took the bread from Shawna, cradling it in her right arm along with the dead chicken she carried.” Her eyes widened when she saw me and she let out a tiny gasp. “Come on, Shawna, let’s go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want us to buy it for you?” I asked.
“No, thank you,” the mother said.
“Do you at least need help? We can carry those home for you.”
“No, I wouldn’t want to put you to the trouble.”
“It’s no trouble at all.”
“No,” she said sharply. “Let’s go, Shawna.”
Shawna pouted but walked alongside her mother. The woman whispered to her daughter in hushed tones.
Demay and I went to the stall and bought pieces of honey bread. But not even its sweet, sticky taste could cheer me up.
We went back to the castle to continue our studying and planning. There wasn’t much left to do except to return to the White Mountain to find some answers there.
After dinner, I went to my room early, hoping to see the princess. My room was far away from Krystal’s room, bordering on the servants’ quarters. There was a small section of guest rooms there, but she had told me that it was where the less desirable guests were housed. The king might have wanted me there, but Krystal had chosen that specific room for a reason.
I was used to the smaller room, as opposed to the luxurious room I’d had when I first arrived. It was cramped, reminding me of my mother’s longhouse in Sedah, the village where I’d grown up. The nicked dresser almost touched the bed when I pulled the drawers out. The bed could hold two people, but it was a snug fit. The small window gave me a view of the wall of a tower. At least the pillows were filled with feathers and the blankets made of satin.
There were secret passages throughout the castle and the city of Alexandria. This was one of the rooms that held one. The princess visited every night; no matter how trying her day was, she came. We talked, we cuddled, we did things that a man and woman would do. I loved spending time with her. She dropped her guard around me, knowing that she didn’t have to be the Princess of Alexandria, as I didn’t care about any of that.
I took off my boots and lay down on the comfy bed, staring at the stone wall in front of me, waiting for it to open and for the beautiful princess to come gliding out of it. During the past week she had been coming later and later, so I struggled to stay awake, but I was so tired I nodded off.
----
The soft scraping of stone walls woke me. The light in the room was almost non-existent. It was far later than I had expected—only a few more hours until dawn broke.
I magically lit the candles in the room, keeping the light dim, and rose to meet her.
She extinguished the torch in her hand and hung it in the gloomy tunnel. She walked inside my room and sealed the entrance. “Sorry I’m late. I should have been here sooner but I was caught up in something.”
I stood in front of her and grinned, thankful that she had come anyway. I took her angled face in my hands. “It’s all right. You
are
a princess, after all.” I kissed her hard on her full, soft lips. She moaned and furiously returned it.
We broke the kiss, and as I looked closer, I was astonished by how terrible she looked. Her sun-kissed hair was in disarray and her eyes were ringed with dark circles. She yawned.
“Excuse me, it’s been a long night,” Krystal said, her violet eyes twinkling. “And I have a feeling it’s about to get longer.” She grinned with anticipation. “But before we get to that, I have a gift for you. One I know you’ll want.”
I placed my hand against her waist and pulled her close until our bodies meshed together, the heat rising throughout the room. “And what could I want more than you?”
Krystal’s face lit up and her face flushed red. “This.” She held a scroll in front of me.
I let go of her and took the scroll, unrolling it to see what it said. I gasped when I realized it was a very powerful and ancient ritual. I stared at Krystal and opened my mouth, then shut it, wanting to finish reading before I asked any questions.
The ritual was the perfect disguise to allow my friends and me to venture into Masep. By using the blood of the Wasteland creatures, it would fool them into thinking anyone affected by the spell was one of them. To their eyes and noses, we would smell and look like them. But like all magic, it had a cost.
For the illusion to appear real, we would have to turn into those monsters. I would have to pull the dead creatures’ souls from the afterlife and bind them to our own with blood magic. There was only room in one’s body for one occupying soul; there was a chance those beasts could take control and we would be lost, or our bodies would die from the strain.
I sat down on the bed, lost in thought. In a month of research, we had found no other way. It was a risk I would have to take, but I would understand if the others weren’t willing to.
“Where did you get this?” I asked, then frowned when I realized the answer. “That secret vault of yours?”
All tiredness in her face vanished. The lines in her face deepened and became stern. Here stood the Princess of Alexandria, hiding behind that royal mask of hers. I hated that judging, calculating, unemotional gaze where I couldn’t read how she felt or what she thought. I much preferred the fierce woman who smiled and laughed and who showed how tired and frustrated she could be. That woman only appeared when we were alone—and not always then.
“I scoured for days, searching for information that would help you,” the princess said. “It’s similar to the way Jastillian disguises himself by wearing a goblin skin when he journeys into the Wastelands, except this illusion should hold up even at close proximity.”
“Thanks for finding this, but if you had let me go through your vault, you wouldn’t have had to search so late or so hard.”
Krystal shook her head and grimaced. “You know I can’t do that, Hellsfire. I have a—”
“Duty. I know. I’ve heard it all before.”
The princess snatched the scroll out of my hand before I could stop her. She turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm. I didn’t want her to go. Not because I needed the scroll or magic, but because I didn’t want her to be mad with me. She gave me a dagger-like stare and I immediately let go.
“I’m sorry.” I clenched my fists. “You’re doing so much that I wanted to make things easier for you.” My shoulders slumped and I sighed. “And I wish you would trust me. I care nothing for power.”
Krystal took a step forward and held out the scroll. “I
do
trust you. That’s why I’m giving this to you.” Her royal mask melted and she glanced down at the ground for a moment as if she couldn’t meet my eyes. “This may be the best spell I could find, but it’s still very dangerous. You’ll be binding another soul to you. You may lose your own in the process. I don’t want that to happen.” She gave me a sad smile. “I’m rather fond of you.”
She might not be a wizard, but she understood the magic behind the ritual as well as its dangers. I was going to have to make sure my friends fully understood the dangers as well. They were all warriors—they understood risking their lives in battle. But risking their souls was something else again.
“You won’t lose me,” I said.
Krystal lifted her hand and rubbed my cheek. I nuzzled up against it. She gazed into my eyes, but said nothing. She walked past me and stopped in front of the bed. Unfastening her cloak, then the lavender dress that bound her, she let them fall to the ground. She slipped out of her thin smock. I stared at her naked backside, my eyes tracing the curves I had gotten to know so well over the past month.
She looked over her shoulder and a tantalizing smile passed over her lips. “Are you coming?”
I gulped and placed the scroll on the dresser. There would be time to memorize and study it later. Having it would cut down the time I needed to spend at the White Mountain to a day or two, reducing the risk of Premier getting his power back while we were in the heart of his stronghold.
But that was something to fret over later. Right now, I wanted to live in the moment and enjoy what little time I had left with Krystal. I pulled my robes over my head, followed by my tunic and breeches, and threw them to the floor. I crawled into bed on top of her and I brushed my lips upon her.
Krystal smiled, but it was a tired one. It had been a trying month for her, with seeing to her people and the rebuilding of Alexandria, yet she still managed to spend time with me and search for a way to help in my journey.
I rolled her over onto her front.
“Hellsfire, what are you doing?”
“Shhh.”
I massaged her neck and shoulders, the tight, firm muscles loosening under my rough hands. The princess’s breathing increased until she panted short, sharp breaths. I continued to stroke her for several minutes, taking pleasure in making her happy. Her whole body soon fell into a familiar stance, her breathing slow and rhythmic.
“Krystal?” I whispered into her ear.
She couldn’t answer; she was asleep. I stopped massaging her and pulled the blankets over us. I wrapped my arms around her and she snuggled up against me.
I was happier in this simple moment than I had ever been before. I wished there was magic that could capture this moment in time, because I knew it wasn’t going to last.
By the time I woke up, the princess was gone. I rubbed the indentation her body had left in the sheets and inhaled the pillow she’d used, smelling her sweet scent that reminded me of lilac. I had never once woken up to see her there, and that always saddened me.
For once, I wanted to see my sleeping beauty just as the dawn broke.
I dressed, then tucked the scroll into my purse next to my potions and snacks. I seized Stradus’s broken staff and the urn with his ashes, depositing them into a bag with the utmost care. I pulled the drawstring and tied it off, making sure everything was supported before stringing the bag and purse across my body.
I ran into Jastillian, Prastian, Demay, and Behast at the entrance of the keep. We greeted each other and headed outside, walking to the spot where Cynder slept. It was well away from the walls, buildings, and even animals. There used to be a stock pen there, but Krystal had it moved. The dragon was curled up in a ball, much like a cat would be. However, a cat didn’t snore loud enough to sound like it had dozens of bats trapped in its nose. Cynder’s bright red, slumbering frame matched the sunrise from behind him. The sun shone on his body as if he were on fire.
While my friends had gotten to know Cynder over the time I’d been here, they still stared at him with glassy-eyed reverence. I used to live with him in the White Mountain and had known him far longer than anyone else. While he did once try to kill me, we were friends now. He was the only one who understood the things I had gone through and was yet to encounter.
My friends tried to wake Cynder by coaxing him out of his deep sleep with soothing and gentle words. That was never going to work, and neither was throwing a rock at his thick, scaled hide.
I strode to Cynder’s head, next to the small shrine with carvings of wood and wax made in the dragon’s image. Dried blood spotted the ground, no doubt from a meaty offering. Flies buzzed around small piles of rotting fruit and vegetables. The people should have known that he only liked meat.
I waved my friends away and screamed into his ear, “Cynder, wake up!”
His twitching tail flopped back and forth, but he still snored. I gritted my teeth, trying to think of a way to wake him up. We didn’t have time for this. The rotting fruit gave me an idea. I picked up a brown apple and faced him.
“If you don’t wake up,” I said, “I’m going to pelt you with fruit until you do.”
I put my right arm back, ready to throw the apple, when something smashed into me. It struck my back and splattered. Wet mush clung to the back of my neck like a damp spider web. My friends chuckled. I reached up and wiped the goo away, then turned around to see the end of a tail hovering above the fruit.
The dragon stopped his fake snoring and slowly opened his reptilian eyes, amusement dancing in them. The red irises burned like candle flame. He uncurled his body, stretched his elongated neck, and yawned.
“Little Hellsfire,” Cynder said. “Still outmatched and outwitted by a far superior being. Will you never learn?”
I glared at him then ignited the fruit in my hand and flung it at him. He opened his mouth, exposing rows of pointy teeth. He swallowed the burning fruit whole, then smiled at me.
“I hate you,” I said.
“You lesser beings are filled with hate.”
“Are you ready?”
“I’m a dragon. We’re always ready.” Cynder lowered himself so we could all get on his back.
“Thank you for doing this, my friend,” I said, rubbing his smooth scales. “I know how you don’t like to give humans rides, as you’ve constantly reminded me that you’re not a horse.”
“I’m not doing this for you,” he said, and snorted smoke. His red eyes settled on the bag with the urn, cradled in my arm. “I’m doing this for him.”
I nodded.
The others climbed aboard Cynder. I handed the bag and staff to Prastian so I could scale Cynder’s hide. He wore a malicious grin, no doubt considering whether or not to leap up and fly with me halfway on. He’d done that before, while I held on for dear life.
“Look,” Cynder said in a low growl.
The princess stood near the edge of the soldiers’ barracks, surrounded by Guardsmen. Krystal pushed herself past them so she could get a better view. She waved at us before disappearing again.
I climbed on Cynder, wishing she could have said goodbye in a more intimate way. It didn’t matter. In a few days I would see her again, assuming all went well. I made sure my pack and purse straps were fastened across my body. I hugged Cynder’s long, red neck.
“Make sure your weapons and supplies are secure,” I said to my friends. “It gets rough up there in the cold wind.”
“Ready?” Cynder asked. Holding on to his neck, I could feel his booming voice reverberating beneath my hands.
My friends nodded, and I said, “Yes. Cynder, if you please.”
“Hang on, everyone,” Cynder said. “You’re in for the ride of your mortal life!”
The great dragon unfurled his wings, readying to take us back to the place where I first met him and learned how to utilize my powers and my destiny. Back to the White Mountain, where unknown dangers lurked.