“Sheelan,” I kiss her forehead, lift her chin, make her look at me.“Please, I need your help.”
She shudders, nods.“The dragon,” she says as she rubs her upper arms with her hands, and though there’s no way she can be physically cold thanks to the humidity, she has gooseflesh nonetheless.“There,” she says, pointing downriver, “to the Dragon’s Spine.”She grimaces.“Obvious enough, I think, even for me.”
It sounds promising and saves us the effort of crossing the water at least.“You’re coming with me,” I say.
Sheelan nods heavily.“Give me a moment,” she says, going back into the stable.I follow her, tense and concerned, but no alarm is raised.We’ve managed it, thanks to her, outside the net that’s surely being widened by the second.She’s disappeared into the darkness, but returns a moment later, pulling on a short tunic over her nakedness, stuffing her fine clothing down a drainage hole, her fancy slippers following, a pair of sandals quickly strapped to her feet.
She can disguise her royal lineage, but not her beauty.“This way,” she says, leading again, already winding her braids tightly to her scalp, head down as we head out into the dusty street and cross to the far side, past a few huts and circling a pen full of cattle, the open road on the other side.
I look back as we crest the low hill that leads out of the other side of the valley, looking back at the shining, sparkling Dominae of the Sun God, the sound of horns echoing in the humid air, growing louder by the moment.
Sheelan’s hand creeps into mine, so small and vulnerable next to me.“They harken the fall and reincarnation of the Sun God,” she says.“Theille has officially taken the throne.”Her lips twist into a grimace before she turns her back on her home and tugs on me.“Let’s go,” she says.“There’s nothing here for me anymore.”
I’m relieved when the bend in the road takes the view of lights from sight, if only to take it out of mind, too.
***
Chapter Thirty-Two
We do end up having to cross water, though Sheelan assures me she’s capable, and when we steal the little boat from the fishing dock, she’s far more confident in it than I am.I hold to the sides of the small vessel with both hands, the Sun God’s daughter raising the small sail with a few tugs of cords she ties off with the expertise of the sailors I encountered on theSea Bladeand Captain Lhanin’s ship.
“Father taught me,” she says quietly as we drift down the river’s small cousin, the flow of it heading for the open ocean behind us, breeze pushing against the sail to carry us against the current at a steady pace.“I’ve always loved the water.”She sighs her sorrow into the quiet night.There’s still no sign of pursuit, though I anticipate it at any second, even if she’s relaxed enough.
I am not afforded such confidence.Not after the life I’ve led, or the time I’ve had in her country.Besides, it’s not just me I have to worry about now.I have her to consider.Not to mention an egg to find.
A princess and a dragon’s daughter, just what I need.
“Do you know where we’re going?”I have a vague feeling of the right direction ahead, though it’s subtle and certainly no drawn and carefully labeled map I would prefer to consult.
“Generally,” Sheelan says, her hand guiding the tiller while I watch the banks for threats.There are ripples as crocodons slide into the water, but they don’t approach, the moonlight enough to shine from their eyes while they watch us sail past.“There are legends enough that the uncanny cliff face we call the Dragon’s Spine must be where we need to go.”She’s managed to add herself to the task, I’m glad to hear.It means she’s given herself a place in this, something to hang onto.“Most avoid it, claiming weird weather and ominous dread.Still, I’ve often wondered if those excuses had cause for concern beyond the natural.Now, perhaps, we have an answer that will lead us to the place the dragon waits for truth.”I’m hardly the right person to comfort her, wishing more than ever that Atlas was here.Zenthris, not so much, which makes me snort at the thought of the redheaded drakonkin rogue offering Sheelan kindness.Then again, he’s done so for me, to the best of his ability, and I underestimate him at times.
Thinking of them does what it always does, and I’m sad, too, when the first light of morning finally lightens the sky to the east.We’re making landfall by then, Sheelan finding an old, abandoned dock, barely a pair of pylons with a few boards still attached, but it’s sufficient to tie up to and there’s a track that leads away from it, etched into the ground as if the earth beneath struggles to erase it despite the time that feels lies between its regular use and our present need.
Even the greenery is stunted where we step off, the dried grasses beyond the water’s gift stretching out and up toward the base of a stunted cliff face.It looms over us, growing more and more visible as the dawn turns to morning, the two of us approaching what looks like the world sheared away from itself in some cataclysmic shift of stone.
“There was a great quaking of the ground a millennium ago,” Sheelan tells me when I comment on the formation.“If you were to ride to the top, there,” she points far to the west, “where the cliff face begins, you’d find lush and fertile lands far different from this.”She points at the dried grasses we walk across.“They say that a massive fountain of liquid fire rose with the peak, and when it cooled, it grew crops like nothing anyone had ever seen.”
“Volcano,” I say.
She’s surprised by that term.“We call itvolcenese, the Sun’s Blood.”
I nod.“Let me guess,” I say.“Your people blamed the dragon.”
Sheelan nods.“The dragon’s battle with the Sun God,” she says, now uncertain.“But it was always just a legend, one few believed past a story that was passed down.And yet, it’s impossible now for me to doubt some part of it was true after all, if only the dragon part and not the god.”She winces as she pauses to look at her heel.It’s bright red and bubbled, a blister formed.“I’m sorry,” she says.“I’m not much for walking.”
I wish we had time to stop and tend her.The best I can do is tear a strip from the hem of her already short robe and bind both of her heels with the cloth, cushioning the raw spots.
Flame.The dragon’s voice is barely a hiss in my mind.I look up as I finish with Sheelan’s feet, turning toward the sound, though it’s in my head.Yes, it’s a direction, too.We’re definitely going the right way.
I’m close, I say.Where are you?
There’s a flash of an image in my head.Is that a cave opening?It’s gone again, far too fast, and no amount of calling to her can raise her again.
“We have to hurry,” I say, rising and helping Sheelan to her feet.“Here.”I turn my back to her, bending at the knees.“It’ll be faster if I carry you.”
She snorts a protest, but my flash of a frown convinces her.She’s lighter than she looks, even, and when I settle her on my back, I set out at a jog.“We’re looking for a cave opening.”
The cliff isn’t nearly as close as it appears, and it takes most of the day to reach it.I’m weary by the time we reach the base, Sheelan insisting we rest when we do.I huddle next to her, the two of us cuddling for warmth.As we drew near, the weird weather she mentioned has made itself known, humidity banished in favor of an odd chill that’s more biting for the contrast it delivers to what we’ve just left behind.A harsh wind blows down the length of the stone face toward us, and for the first time, I miss the heat I’ve cursed more than once.
