Page 29 of Dragon Heir

“All of us?” I countered as I looked around our group. “We couldn’t have-Will?”

Unlike the rest of us, his attention was focused on the sky above us. I followed his gaze as did the rest of us.

“This isn’t some joke, is it?” I asked him.

“Merely a conjecture,” he returned as he scanned the darkening horizon. “If she didn’t walk in then she must have ridden or flown.”

Ware frowned at him. “Now surely you are joking! I would have noticed a magic trail had she flown in using such skill!”

“Then she didn’t use magic,” Will countered as he slowly walked down the house following the path the girl took across the front. “Perhaps she used her own power.”

Vargas tapped a finger against her other crossed arm. “Care to explain yourself, Lord Thorn?”

Will stopped where Ware claimed the girl’s trail started and turned to us. “Perhaps she flew in.”

Ware scoffed. “Preposterous. She had not the slightest hint of wings either outside that window or in the woods.”

“Can’t anyone hide their wings?” I asked the group.

Allard shook his head. “We dragons are the only ones gifted with that power. Harpies and such have no such ability unless they use magic to hide them.”

Ware used both arms to gesture about the area. “Which again, I will reiterate we cannot sense around here.”

“Then by that logic, she must be a dragon,” Will insisted.

“You cannot seriously be telling us that you have discovered a new dragon whom none of us know anything about,” Vargas countered.

“The idea does sound slightly preposterous,” Allard chimed in with a reluctantly shaky smile.

“Do any of you have a better solution?” Will inquired as he looked at each of them.

“Perhaps you are being haunted,” Vargas suggested.

My face drooped as I recalled the last ‘haunting’ I’d experienced, that of the amorous corpses in the Grimton below the capital city of Mirum. They’d been a little too clingy for my taste and as much as I wanted to help the little girl I did fear a spectral attachment.

Allard cupped his chin in his hand as he pondered her suggestion. “The idea does have merit. After all, this may be another issue the same as the black worms and the murmurings of rebellion.”

“A child ghost?” I wondered as I wrinkled my nose. “How much trouble could they be?”

The grim expression on Allard’s face dropped all my humor. “The mind does not dare to ponder the implications. Suffice to say, a child ghost is at least as harmful as an adult, and perhaps more so because they tend to use their perceived innocence to their advantage.”

“And this child did appear with one of those black worms,” Ware added.

“But she was afraid of it,” I countered as I tried to fight back a rising tide of uncertainty. However, something deep within me told me that this couldn’t be true. I put my hands on my hips and stomped my foot on the ground. “The little girl doesn’t have anything to do with these black worms or anything else bad. I just know it.”

Ware frowned at me and even Allard gave me a look of pity. “Lady Thorn, we understand your-”

“Quiet,” Vargas spoke up as she glared at the men. Her sharp eyes studied me for a long moment before a faint smile appeared on her lips. “There is no convincing this one otherwise. She speaks from the heart.”

I blinked at her. “Does that mean you believe me?”

She laughed. “Of course not, but I will give you credit for being wise enough to listen to your heart.” Her eyes flickered over to Ware. “Very few are ever wise enough to do that no matter how old they become.”

Ware gave a harumph and turned away. “I still say we are missing something obvious that would tell us the identity and tricks of this strange girl.”

She rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the rest of us. “Well, whatever happened we will not discover the secrets before our supper grows cold.”

“And we have a pub to visit this evening,” Will added as he smiled down at me.

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