Page 78 of Fire in Stone

I did my best to aim and felt ecstatic that the arrow flew out of the bow instead of plopping at my feet when I released it. I aimed at the center of the open lid of the trunk. However, the arrow hit the top right corner of it.

But it hit. And it stayed, its end with the spotted white and brown feathers trembling from the impact.

“Wow…” I stared at it, flabbergasted. “I hit it.”

From less than twenty feet away, at least a foot off target, but I hit it.

“You did.” Isar’s voice warmed with satisfaction. “There’s hope for you yet, little human.” She patted my head through my hood.

“Hey!” I jerked my head, laughing. “Give me the bag.” I yanked the holder with the arrows out of her hands.

“Thebagis called the quiver.”

“Whatever.” I shrugged, sliding another arrow out of thequiver. “This is going to be fun.”

Isar stepped back, taking her usual pose with her arms crossed over her chest. She watched with amusement as I struggled to fit it in just right to nock it properly.

“Do you need help with that?” She stepped closer and showed me how to do it, then adjusted the position of my arms. “Just like this. Ready?”

“Yep… I got it.” I bit my lip, stretching the bowstring back and training the arrow on the target. I held my breath, releasing the arrow, and… It flew straight down, plopping flat on the rocks of the courtyard, barely three feet away from me. “Fuck.”

“Try again,” Isar encouraged, undeterred.

I did. Again and again. I tried until the sun had moved past its summit. I shot arrow after arrow. There were only seven of them in the quiver. When all were gone, I had to run all over the courtyard to collect them before I could shoot again.

Eventually, however, I only had to walk to the lid of the trunk to pull all seven out of the wood because I’d finally managed to send all seven of them into the lid and had them all embedded into the wood in a relative proximity from each other.

“Well,” I laughed as Isar nodded approvingly. “If it’s a very slow dragon with a very big eye who lets me come close enough to shoot him, I may have a chance.”

A shadow suddenly moved over the wall and across the courtyard, as if something obscured the sun for a moment.

Isar grabbed my shoulder.

“Dragons,” she hissed. The relaxed expression slid from her face. Her eyes narrowed. “Go inside, little human. Find Ertee. Tell her to hide.”

I tipped my head back, squinting against the sun that wasn’t shrouded in clouds for once. A large, winged shape circled over the Sanctuary, descending. Another one followed closely behind it.

“Three… Four… Five,”I counted in my mind the winged men gliding in the cool winter air over the courtyard.

“Go!” Isar shoved me through the door into the Sanctuary. “Hide with Ertee.”

“But…What about you?” I swerved on my heel to face her.

“Go, I said!” She slammed the door shut behind me.

Twenty-Two

AMBER

Ifrantically looked around, my eyes slowly adjusting to the dim torchlight inside the hall after the bright sunlight outside.

A woman was scrubbing the floors, and I grabbed her by the wide sleeve of her shirt.

“Please, tell everyone to hide. Dragons are in the courtyard.”

The eyes of the woman grew bigger. She threw the rag she was using into the bucket of the well water, which was still not safe enough to drink for anyone without the protection of a ring like mine but perfectly suitable for chores. Tripping over her feet, the woman ran to the arched entrance to the inner rooms behind the statue of MotherSalamandra.

I had to run and hide, too. But…

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