Page 59 of Crown and Dragon

I can fly to the Witch’s house. Will she help us?Ragewing shuffled his wings and adjusted the lay of his tail, wincing and flashing vicious white teeth.

I would think so. This is her queen’s mission, after all.

But we have the crown already. Will she care that we left a knight behind?

She doesn’t have to know we have the crown, Marius said.The crown’s power worked in two ways from what I saw inthe city. If a human is within earshot, they can be heavily influenced. And the influence seems to spread like an illness, catching from one to the next.

The magic most likely manipulates a person’s energy, then,Ragewing said.

I’m not sure I fully understand any of its magic.

Ragewing let out a plume of fire smoke, which he often did when thinking. Me neither.

Let’s say I enter the city again using the crown to control the humans as I go, Marius said.

Ragewing’s body was very warm, as if he was ready to breathe fire.Will it matter if they stop up their ears? Because I would assume Durniad will be giving orders to do that if it blocks the crown’s influence.

Marius nodded.I think that would keep the crown’s magic from working except in those cases when it already has a human under its control and that human nears the one with stopped-up ears. The virus, so to speak, of the crown’s control would spread regardless.

So stealth would be in order. Durniad could hurt Lady Tahlia if he sees you coming.

Yes,Marius said, We would have to attempt to sneak in again without being recognized…

Ragewing grunted and shifted his weight, adjusting the way he rested on the ground.But you don’t have any more of the Witch’s potion to disguise yourself.

No. Let’s visit her and see if she will help us once more. We’ll pretend we don’t have the crown.

Perhaps you should hide the crown here somewhere,Ragewing said,so you can deceive her more easily since you truly won’t have the crown in hand.

Good idea. But I think I’ll simply hide it outside the Witch’s house. I don’t like the thought of leaving this powerful artifact unguarded here in the woods.

He unbuckled his belt, slipped the leather through the artifact, then put the belt back on, securing the crown to himself. He could remove it upon arrival and hide it in the greenery near the Witch’s abode.

Chapter 29

Tahlia

Tahlia opened her eyes for the third time since she’d fallen from the city wall. This time she was less dead so she actually felt the injury in her side.

“Ugh. Kill me.”

The room was bright because the evil sun was shining through a high window. A bandage wrapped around her torso, a bit of blood staining the linen.

A female human approached the cot she was resting on. “Never saw someone with Fae blood heal in front of my eyes. Amazing.”

“Glad to entertain. Why don’t you stab me with another little something and we can both enjoy the power of magic all over again?”

“Oooh, would you be willing?”

“Kidding, woman. I was kidding.”

She bit her lip and had the grace to look ashamed. Gods, Tahlia wouldn’t be able to murder her in order to escape. She was too sweet.

“Is Durniad around? Where exactly am I? What happened?”

“You were shot with an arrow. It didn’t pierce anything important.”

“I count skin as important.”

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