Page 10 of Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice

Carrying the candle, Phoebe briskly crossed the room and knelt before what I could now see was a fireplace carved into the stone walls of this chamber. Perhaps it was a trick of the low light, but I couldn’t see any seams from the individual stones of the fortress. Everything seemed to be smooth, solid rock.

Of course the fire hadn’t been lit when we arrived. That would have been too much light, risking that I would accidentally look at the dragon’s face.

Phoebe picked up the poker, then stirred the coals to reveal the glowing red layer beneath. She set to work coaxing life out of the coals with kindling, lighting a few pieces with the candle to further encourage a fire to life.

The sight was so strangely, soothingly normal that the tension in my muscles eased. I peeled my fingers from the bowl and picked up the spoon. The stew proved to be pleasantly warm and just as savory as it smelled. That first bite settled into my stomach, spreading warmth through my whole body.

When she had a fire going bright and crackling in the fireplace, Phoebe stood and turned to me. “I’ve a nice thick nightgown for you. Would you like to go straight to bed or would you rather warm up with a soak in a bath first?”

Thinking of the elders’ wives and their perfunctory dousing of me, I shivered and shook my head. I reached for the blanket again, pulling it around my shoulders.

Phoebe’s eyes softened still further. She set the candle on the table beside the bed, then pulled a folded nightdress from the bottom tier of the cart. She set it on the foot of the bed before she collected my empty bowl. “I understand. The nightdress is here if you want it. We should take a look at those wrists in any case.”

Right. I’d torn the skin up trying to escape, but I’d nearly forgotten about the constant sting in my fear of getting eaten by the dragon.

Phoebe pulled out another bowl, this containing hot water. She perched on the bed before me and gestured.

Mutely, I held out a hand to her.

She dabbed at the rope burns and raw skin. I sucked in a breath at the stinging pain, but I didn’t pull away. Once she had cleaned my wounds, she rubbed them with a balm that filled the air with a sweetly floral scent, then wrapped my wrist in a bandage.

When she had finished tending to both wrists, she stood. “I’ll leave you with the candle. If you need anything, my room is just down the hall. It’s the blue door, second to the left. Don’t hesitate to knock, all right?”

I gave her a nod because it was all I could muster. There was no way I’d wander this castle in the dark, not even just down the hall. The dragon had left, but there was no way of knowing where he might be prowling.

Pushing the cart before her, Phoebe bustled from the room just as quickly as she had swept inside, though she paused at the door. “There’s a lock, if you wish to bar the door after I leave.”

With that, she softly closed the door behind her.

I was alone. I was very nearly warm.

And I wasn’t dead. That was unexpected. I had definitely expected to be dead by now.

I’d have to figure out what to do with that turn of events tomorrow.

Forcing my shaking limbs to move, I climbed off the bed and tiptoed across the room. By the light from the fire, I found the wooden bar leaning against the wall next to the door. Hefting the bar, I slid it into place on the brackets. A bar would do little good against the dragon, but having the door locked still tricked my mind into feeling safer.

Tottering back to the bed, I curled up in the blanket, not bothering to change into the nightdress or wiggle underneath the covers, and collapsed into sleep.

Chapter Four

As you might imagine, waking in a dragon’s lair was a disconcerting experience.

Almost as unnerving as being carted off by the dragon in the first place.

But most bewildering of all was the fact that I was alive and unharmed. A sacrifice isn’t supposed to see the morning. Yet there I was, very much alive, watching the dawn.

Isuppose I could have huddled on the bed all day, hiding. It was tempting.

But I was alive when I shouldn’t be. I didn’t know how much longer that status would last. I might as well make the most of this reprieve.

I forced myself to get up with the sun, investigating my room. Throwing open the shutters, I leaned against the windowsill and took in the dawn breaking over a landscape unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

Gray stone peaks pierced the sky, slicing across the horizon as far as I could see. Snow laced the crags while mist clung to the slopes. Evergreens marched along the valleys between the mountains.

I wasn’t on the same mountain I’d walked up the night before. Not sure how that was possible, but clearly it was.

With the light of dawn spreading through the room, I took in the space. The fireplace filled the wall across from the window, the embers from the night before still glowing. A fireplace poker leaned next to it. Perhaps I should use that on the dragon when he came tonight, if I dared.

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