Page 154 of Ash

He sighed, considered digging in his heels and then decided to humor her. Moments later, she climbed aboard and slapped his neck.

“Take us up.”

He launched himself into the sky.

It was just as beautiful from the air. He rose over mountains, but these weren’t like those he was familiar with at home, which rose fifteen thousand feet and were capped permanently in snow. These were only a few thousand feet in elevation and mostly clad in dense rainforest.

The island was long but narrow enough that he could see the ocean on each side of the dense jungle. Giant sinkholes pockmarked the land; many were filled with deep blue water. Cara tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to a higher peak. “Take us down on that one there.”

Tyrez embraced his impatience by folding his wings and diving without warning. Cara gave a little shriek and clung to his spikes, but a glance backward showed her grinning like a fiend.

Oh, well.

“That way.” She pointed again.

How she could navigate in this forest, he had no idea, but when he swooped low over it, he saw a deeper shadow among the foliage and heard the rush of water.

A fissure in the underlying stone of the mountain spewed a waterfall that dropped a few hundred feet to a pool below.

“The ledge above it,” she shouted against the water’s roar.

About two hundred feet above the waterfall, Tyrez dropped neatly onto another opening with a ledge of stone.

As he shifted to human, he noted the interior wasn’t dark. Fissures zigzagged through the overlying rock, letting sunlight filter in without permitting rain to gain access.

The cave was extensive, with many offshoots. A few startled fruit bats exited as they walked in. They weren’t frequent visitors; the floor beneath was relatively clean.

Cara led the way deeper into the cave. Tyrez followed her around a corner and froze, his mouth dropping open.

The ceiling had caved in long ago, permitting sunlight to cascade onto the stones below. Epiphytic plant life grew on most surfaces, and there were even a few trees, roots pushing through the stone as their branches reached for the sky. A small, permanent pool had formed at the lowest point.

It was stunningly beautiful. With the rampant plant life, the entire thing would be invisible unless you hovered directly over the opening.

Cara stood with her hand on her hips, watching his reaction. When his eyes finally returned to hers, she spoke.

“We need someone to watch over this lodestone.”

Tyrez arched a brow. “To protect it from what? Bats?”

“I diverted a Manticore away from here only three months ago.”

“A Manticore?” Tyrez’s brows rose. A mix of lion, reptile, and insect, Manticores were nasty, bad-tempered critters that could do a lot of damage when they wandered from their home realm.

She nodded. “Came through the gate. I could close it permanently, but I am loathe to do that unless absolutely necessary. Closing a natural gate can cause energy to build up and erupt at the lodestone. It is best left alone.”

“This may be a tropical paradise, but I am not going to spend my time sitting and watching over a gate. I am a Dragon, not a Watcher.”

Cara snorted a laugh. “Sometimes Watchers need Dragons. Or at least a muscle-bound idiot who can lend a hand. I’m not suggesting you watch the gate. But if you lived near it, you would know if something went amiss.”

If he lived near it? Tyrez opened his mouth to protest, but then he looked around and closed it.

He realized that a part of him still thought he could go back to what he’d been. Kill Rindek, become a hero. The Emperor could rescind his exile, and he could go home.

But the reality was, even if that happened, he’d never be a Legion warrior again. To uphold the rules, you had to first live by them. No matter how some might regard the rule he’d broken, it was one of the oldest and most prevalent.

It likely didn’t matter. He’d seen the anger in his father. The Emperor would never forgive him. And Taran’s bid on the throne had been shaken to its foundations. Even if Taran or Razir took up the throne, Tyrez couldn’t allow them to rescind the exile. It would leave them far too vulnerable to criticism.

It was time for him to face his future. He was a Dragon without a home, or a job.

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