Page 10 of Dragon Heir

“Outside of Raines, the closest human settlement is some ten miles off through dense forest. A girl such as that might be able to traverse it but it isn’t likely,” he told me.

I furrowed my brow as I thought back to her appearance. “And she didn’t look like she’d gone through ten miles of forest.”

He shook his head. “Not at all.”

“And she has no scent,” Ware chimed in with pursed lips. “There is something very wrong with a child that cannot be tracked.”

Vargas gave a very affirmative nod. “Very very wrong! Perhaps it has been corrupted by the influence of the shadow you thought you had destroyed.”

“That is a very wild accusation,” Allard scolded her with a sharp look in his eyes. “We have no hint that the child is at all related to that incident, nor do we know that anything we have experienced has to do with the creature if it survived.”

She scoffed. “Something as old as that could not be defeated by a young dragon and his hatchling wife.”

This hatchling wife was ready to give our ‘guest’ a good talking to but Will drew me tighter against his waist and gave me a look of warning. However, I noticed the corners of his lips were pursed tightly together.

“Is that your design in coming to us?” Will spoke up as his eyes flickered between Vargas and Ware. “To accuse us of having failed in protecting the woods?”

Vargas lifted her nose. “The council was concerned about the reports and wishes to know what exactly transpired there.”

“We killed something that was bothering the elves and the-hey!” Will squeezed me even tighter against his side. I whipped my head up and glared at him. “What?”

Ware stopped his burrowing through the brush and turned to study us with his dark eyes. “You two are doing a poor job of hiding secrets. What else have you not told us?”

“Only that we should continue onward or we may not have this problem resolved before nightfall,” Will commented as he nodded at the way forward. “Would you like me to lead while you rest?”

The suggestion that Ware needed a rest irked the old dragon. He puffed out his chest and scoffed. “I am not at all tired!”

“Then perhaps we should continue onward,” Allard spoke up as he lifted his clawed hands and flexed the long dagger-like fingers. “I am ready whenever you are willing.”

Ware scowled at us one more time before he returned to his work. We traveled through the woods a little longer before I noticed a dark shadow had fallen on Will’s brow. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re headed for one of the roads that traverses my realm,” he told me.

Chapter Seven

True to his word, the trees and brush vanished fifty yards ahead and we stepped out of the thick woods and found ourselves on a narrow dirt road. The thoroughfare stretched from north to south and wound its way out of sight in both directions.

Ware stooped beside the dirt and sniffed the ground. He frowned and backtracked, nearly crashing into Vargas who had pushed Allard out of the way at the first chance of getting out of the rough woods. Ware turned his head and glared at her and she scowled right back.

“I will not stay another moment in that forest!” she snapped as she hurried around Ware and to the middle of the road.

“Is there a problem?” Allard asked our hunting guide.

Ware dropped his nose close to the ground and sniffed the border between the wild grass and the civilized dirt. “The scent has vanished.”

“What do you mean?” Will inquired.

Ware circled the ground in front of him with one finger. “It appears here and begins its travel through the woods, but before this, I smell nothing.”

I looked up and down the road. “Did the thing come from a wagon or horse?”

Ware knelt beside the ruts in the road caused by the countless wagon wheels. He brushed his wizened old hand over the holes and furrowed his brow. “A vehicle passed by here within the last few hours. The mud thrown up by the wheels is still fresh.” He followed the tracks with his sharp eyes. “The wagon may have had four horses, but there has been too much traffic for me to be sure.”

“They could be anywhere by now with that many horses,” I pointed out.

Allard turned to Will. “Do you keep a close eye on the travelers in your domain?”

Will pursed his lips. “Not so thoroughly that I could recognize them all by sight, especially when they wish to elude me.”

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