Page 133 of Grave Situation

“Of course,” I croak. My throat is parched from the heat of the fire, but that’s not important. I incinerate the remaining zombie parts, keeping half my attention on the stranger, taking in as much detail as I can. Dark hair, somewhere between my mid-brown and Jaimin’s black. The front is pulled off their face in a braid, but the back is loose, and the stick-straight locks brush their shoulders. Brown eyes, smooth tawny skin, and a hooked, blade-thin nose that keeps their otherwise almost delicate face interesting. If they try to kill us, at least Leicht will have a description.

“I’ll know who I’m looking for, and that’s what’s important.”

Personally, I think me staying alive is the important part, but now isn’t the time to argue.

“W-Who are you?” Arimen asks shakily. I want to look at him, get visual confirmation that he’s okay, but there’s no way I’m taking my eyes off the stranger. They might have helped us, but I don’t know who they are or why they’re here.

Though I have a strong suspicion.

“I could ask you the same thing,” they say. “Why would those men who seemingly don’t die attack a mage? And what’s a mage even doing here in the dead city?”

“Thefloating city,” Arimen corrects, missing the point entirely. He must be okay, though, if that’s what he’s fixating on. “The people here didn’t all die, you know.”

The stranger blinks, then looks at me as though asking if he’s serious. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” my naïve friend insists. “Theyleft. Because of drought.”

I sigh and shake my head. “He’s young,” I say by way of explanation. “We’re just passing through. This seemed like a good place to rest for a few nights.” I deliberately don’t say anything about the attack.

The wary expression shifts into disbelief. “How does one ‘pass through’ a city that’s famous for being inaccessible… and abandoned?”

“On horseback,” I reply blandly. “And why are you here?”

“Just passing through. Is that dragon yours?”

“Dragons are sentient and a highly independent species. They don’t belong to anyone.”

Their eyes narrow. “Mages can’t bond with dragons anyway.”

“That’s what they teach us,” I agree. “Personally, I’ve never tried.” That’s the absolute truth.

“Perhaps there’s a dragon rider with your group.”

I fight the instinctive wince as my loss hits me afresh. There’ssupposedto be a dragon rider with us, dammit. And it’s not supposed to be me. “No,” I say flatly, and they immediately pick up the change in tone, posture stiffening.

There’s a little pause, and Arimen shifts restlessly beside me. Either this is the most coincidental encounter that ever was, and this person really is just a stranger who was in the wrong placeat the wrong time, or they’re the person we’re here to meet and we’re both too wary to give away our hand.

Luckily for me, I can cheat.Is this our new traveling companion?I ask the stone.

~Yes~

Heaving a sigh of relief, I say, “I’m Talon Silverbright, and this is Arimen…” Uh. I don’t think I ever asked Arimen the rest of his name. Tia would be so ashamed of me.

“Arimen Loordine,” he supplies. “Hi.”

“Peiris.”

That’s it. Just the one name, nothing else. But then, they don’t have the source of all creation sending them waves of reassurance.

“Nice to meet you, Peiris. I’m not sure how much you know, but we’re here to meet you.”

Instead of looking shocked, like I expected, they tilt their head in challenge. “Oh? You have the wellspring?”

That throws me off-balance for a moment, until I remember something I learned as a second-year student. The accent, the features… referring to the stone as the “wellspring.” They’re from the Baswich Empire.

“Yes. Do you want me to show you?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

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