Page 39 of Catastrophe

“I understand, Charlie.” His gaze shifted to the group sitting around the fire, their voices a quiet hum as they chattered, unaware I was here. Baelen lowered his voice and said, “I’m not sure what they were thinking, but I don’t think they are a danger to you. Otherwise, I would have left them here and already taken you back to the island.”

“That’s where Clawdia is right now?”

He shook his head. “She’s with your mother, investigating your family on the mainland.”

I raised my eyebrows and laughed. Clawdia wasn’t on the friendliest of terms with my birth mother, so I didn’t imagine they were having a great time. Especially if Clawdia knew what Elizabeth had done to poor newborn Dralie. If she had a special skill, feline passive-aggressive anger was it.

“Elizabeth didn’t argue to have me exterminated?”

His lips twisted. “She doesn’t understand drakorians as much as she thinks she does. I’ve informed her of her mistake.”

It was a nice thought that he cared enough to defend Dralie and me to her. I wasn’t as hurt as I should have been. She was worried I would turn into Fafnir’s dragon minion and had told me that if I ever went dragon, she would kill me. To her, all dragons were bad.

But Dralie. Well, Dralie must have been my inner softie, because he was just … sweet. Sickeningly so.

“Drakorians aren’t sweet. Or soft. They are fierce. And loyal.”

“That’s kind of cute, Dralie.”

He was being quiet, taking everything in and, I assumed, learning. This life—our life—was new to him, so he had a huge learning curve ahead of him, but I didn’t doubt for a second that he would catch up. He was smart … and old, by the sound of it.

My stomach rumbled, interrupting us, and I couldn’t ignore the hungry and gnawing ache any longer. “Tell me they’re making some food over that campfire. I’m starving.”

Baelen pointed me toward the fire, and I stumbled over to it like a baby deer trying to find its legs. When Savida spotted me, he surged to his feet and wrapped me in his arms before I could stop him. He nuzzled into my hair like I was a pet until I squirmed out of his grip.

“I’m glad to see you, my friend. I worried you would be scaly forever.”

“Only half of the time, it seems.” I tried to comb my hair back into some kind of shape, but it was filthy and still probably looked like shit when I dropped my hand.

“You’ve come to an agreement with your other side already? That is good news.”

I didn’t have time to ask him what he meant by that before Daithi joined us. He didn’t hug me, but he nodded and, in his serious, solemn tone, said, “My apologies for attacking you, Charlie.”

“I’ll forgive you as long as you’ve got food for me. I’m so hungry I could eat a scabby horse.”

“Laurence has made a basic but filling meal,” Savida announced proudly and guided me to the log bench by the fire. It didn’t help with the chilly breeze at my back, but it was much better to feel a bit of heat than nothing. Laurence was spooning something into a camping tin and handing it over along with a spoon, and I didn’t even look before I began shoveling it into my gob.

“What happened to you guys, then? The island?” I asked between bites.

Savida, completely in his element, described their escape from hunters through the tunnel which took them through to this island. The tunnel had emergency backpacks full of survival equipment—a tent, flares, lighters, food, water and even a change of clothing. Not that Savida or Daithi could make use of the clothes since they were taller than the average human. But they seemed to fit me okay.

“You went into a dark tunnel?” I asked, setting my tin on the ground, and Savida nodded. I hadn’t missed the shake in his voice when he described jumping into the dark hole. I patted his back. “Proud of you, mate. That must have been hard.”

Savida’s eyes welled with tears, and he pulled me back into a hug and wailed, “I am so sorry we hurt you, Charlie.”

“You don’t need to apologize anymore. Water under the bridge.” I wriggled out of his arms again, flustered and uncomfortable. I was used to people being shitty and hurting others, but I could count the number of times I’d heard a genuine apology.

Savida tilted his head, confused, and asked, “What do bridges and water have to do with anything?”

“It’s just a phrase.” I waved him off and then looked at Sigurd and Laurence.

They were as filthy as I was and looked just as tired as I felt, but they didn’t even try to apologize for mistaking me for Fafnir, so fuck them. In fact, Sigurd was deliberately avoiding my eyes, which was suspicious as fuck, while Laurence just looked guilty.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Plan?” Laurence asked, since I’d been staring at him.

“Yeah. What are we doing tomorrow to get Zaide back, the hunters off our backs, and Fafnir back in the ground?” The silence echoed until I sighed. “Seriously? No one has any ideas?”

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