Page 18 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

“Gladly. We’ll send word to the king and alert the soldiers so you can have a proper escort home in the morning. I’ll send someone now.”

My eyes brimmed with tears again. “Thank you. I don’t know how to repay you for your kindness.”

The barkeep gave a friendly smile. “You could always ask the king to lower our tax rates. Times are hard.”

“I’ll make it my top priority when I return,” I promised.

The barkeep assigned a wiry man with iron-gray hair to deliver the message then shooed the rest of his customers out the door. None protested. They were all still talking animatedly about the night’s events, and pondering what part of a dragon would be most valuable when sold, and expressing that this was a story to tell their children the next day. Once the room had emptied, the tavern owner showed me to a small room, apologizing that it wasn’t suitable for royalty.

“I don’t look like royalty right now,” I said with a small laugh, gesturing at my burned hair and torn gown.

“You can get all cleaned up,” he told me, gesturing at the washtub in the room. “I’ll send one of the maids up with some warm water.”

“Perhaps in the morning. I’d like to just rest now.”

I let out a sigh of relief when the door finally closed. It had been some time since I’d made myself cry on command and force hyperventilation. Father never believed me anymore, so I’d abandoned that trick more than two years ago.

The bed wasn’t nearly as inviting as the one in Pollox’s tower, but at least it didn’t appear to have fleas. I sank onto the bed, staring out at the night sky.

Pollox hadn’t given an exact time of when he would come for me; he’d simply said early the next morning. What if he forgot? What if he went to the wrong village? They probably all looked the same from a bird’s-eye view…or dragon’s-eye view. What if the soldiers arrived before Pollox did? Would they force me to return before Pollox took me back to his cave?

Even though my body ached for sleep, I tossed and turned for most of the night. What if Pollox had never actually wanted to team up with me at all and was simply waiting for a way to ditch me? I really didn’t have much to offer him. Was he wondering if I was trustworthy just as much as I’d wondered how trustworthy he was? Finally, I managed to doze off, and once I did, my dreams were filled with knights doing battle against fearsome dragons.

* * *

“Where is she?” Pollox’s deep voice shook the entire room and I snapped awake with a scream, hands clasped over my ears.

Shouts came from beyond the window, and flames licked the dawn sky as Pollox belched a column of fire up to the heavens.

“The princess!” he bellowed, and the bed I was lying on vibrated from the noise. “Where is she?”

Not even bothering to put on my shoes, I ran down the stairs and out into the cool yard. All around, the townsfolk were cowering behind a line of soldiers who appeared to have just arrived. They brandished lances and spears as their horses pranced backward in fear.

Pollox looked even more enormous than I remembered. When standing next to a mountain, he seemed a reasonable size. But here, neck extended far above the tallest building, he looked too large to be allowed anywhere. One sweep of his spiked tail would topple houses.

“I’m here!” I called, running forward to stand in front of Pollox and shield the people. “Leave these people alone; they haven’t done anything!”

“Princess, no!” a woman called.

I put on a brave face. “Everyone here has suffered in the past because of my father’s unjust laws. If sacrificing myself will spare them any suffering, I’ll do it.”

Pollox’s orange eyes glowed in the night’s lingering darkness.

“You can’t have her!” A knight came forward, holding his sword out and stepping in front of me. “Begone!”

Pollox let out a roar that sent shivers running down my arms. He was a little too good at acting. To the knight’s credit, he didn’t back down but jabbed his sword at Pollox, swiping the air between them.

“She belongs to me now,” Pollox growled, spreading his wings so wide that the early dawn rays were blocked out. The knight put his arm out to chivvy me backwards, and I was pushed into the crowd of men.

“Aim for the left wing joint,” the tavern owner told the soldiers in an undertone. All around me, they were taking aim, directing their heavy crossbows at Pollox’s supposed injury.

My gut clenched. I certainly hoped that Pollox had been right not to fear the arrows.

“Fire!”

Arrows zipped through the air, all clattering against Pollox’s left wing in various spots. He reared up, ejecting another long blast of fire that shot upward in a spiral as Pollox thrashed his head. His massive, clawed feet trampled about in feigned pain, and each step sent shockwaves through the ground so I nearly fell over. Women screamed and fled their homes, clutching their children.

It didn’t feel like acting anymore. People could get hurt. Real fear crept into the pit of my stomach. What had I done when I’d teamed up with this dragon?

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