Page 69 of The Sun God's Prize
Whatever chills the air—dragon magic or natural influence, I can’t say—that sweeps through this part of the landscape makes us both shiver as we try to rest.I do sleep, but it’s brief and in short and broken moments, and we’re both still tired by the time the sun rises again.
I’m despairing as we set out again, no whisper or word of the dragon.Worse, I’ve lost the sense of direction that was my guide, and now I fear very much that I’m too late.
It’s Sheelan who finds the crooked pathway up the cliff, though only because I have to stop and set her down for a moment, to catch my breath and stretch.She turns back toward the way we came, leaning into the stone, and lets out a soft gasp that has me spinning, staff ready for the inevitable chasing attack.
But she’s hurrying on her sore feet without fear, so I follow her, and when she stops at the crack in the cliff, stepping behind the clever little outcrop that hides the entry, I’m frowning.
You’re still there, I say.You may not be able to speak to me, but you’re guiding us still.I’m coming.Please, wait for me.
“It’s a stairway,” Sheelan reappears from the crack, eyes wide.“How did I even see it, Remi?”
I shake my head at her with a grim smile.“Climb,” I say.“Let’s get this done.”
She leads again, slow and steady, with many breaks as the staircase winds up the cliff face.We stop at every switchback, even my thighs straining, and it’s long past afternoon, twilight threatening, when we finally look up and see an opening ahead.
“There,” Sheelan pants, her sandals hanging from the straps in her hands, choosing to walk barefoot to save her the straps chafing.“The cave mouth you saw?”
It has to be.“Let me go first,” I say, slipping past her on the narrow stairs.“Just in case.”
I feel her hand on my back as we climb again, ignoring the burning in my legs, the tightness in my chest, the fear I carry.I’m here, I say.I’m finally here.
There’s no reply.And I know what I’ll find when I stop at the landing, looking back over the way we’ve come.There’s no hurry now.The time for that is gone.I squint into the wind that buffets at this height, glare at the distant city I can just glimpse in the valley down the river.
Too late.I feel it when I turn and walk through into the dim, quiet darkness.Not that it will stop me.
My eyes adjust quickly, the path ahead rough-hewn, though not natural, almost scooped out rather than carved.By magic?Or dragon talons, whichever, it matters not at all.Because I see her ahead, the bulk of her at the end of the tunnel, something ponderous and immobile stretched out on the rock.
Her snout is turned toward the opening, as though she had lain down in that exact spot to wait for my arrival.Each nostril arches high, just as big as the tunnel’s exit, but no air passes from them, no grumbling greeting.Giant teeth curve upward from her lower jaw, over the scales of her mouth.She’s a massive golden statue covered in dust, eyes the size of ponds closed over, wings folded like giant sails furled across the spikes on her back.
Her chest is motionless, no breath stirring her ribs.She’s exactly as I pictured she might be, only more so, grand and beautiful and still.
So very still.
I’m weeping as I look up at her, my heart breaking despite myself.I did my best, I say, knowing she won’t hear me.I’m sorry, I tried.
Her scales are cold under my touch when I stop in front of her snout and lean into her, the texture like pitted leather and steel bonded together.It’s so quiet, like a tomb, the nothingness heavy on my shoulders, in my chest.Wrapped around my aching heart.
I failed her, then.But I’m not done, not by a long shot.“Aurous,” I whisper, look up at the dragon whom I have only known as a voice.“Dragon, where is your egg?”
***
Chapter Thirty-Three
I turn away from the dragon’s snout, grim as I face off with Sheelan.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, weeping again herself.She’s equal parts stunned and reverent, both little hands pressed to her chest while she looks up at the massive, silent creature who has breathed her last.
“We need to find her egg.”I’m already marching down the length of the golden behemoth, choosing to distance myself as best I can mentally from the fact that she used to be alive, so recently, too, enough to save us, giving the last of her to help us escape.Magical, powerful, dead.
I can do nothing but choose to fulfill the last request she made of me.
“It’s here somewhere.”The chamber where she lies stretches back into more darkness, though when I reach her hind leg, I feel a faint breeze and look out over a gap, faintly lit from above.It seems there are breaks in the roof to the sky overhead, though it’s growing darker outside and will soon be impossible to see.I’m not looking forward to spending the night with a dead dragon as a companion, but we’re not going to have much choice.
“There’s a way down, look.”Sheelan followed me and points at a rough path that circles the cave, descending into the gloom.I set out, waiting for her at the last moment, noting how steep the walk is.
“Stay here,” I say.
“Not for anything,” Sheelan says, staring me down.“I’ll manage.I’m not leaving you alone, Remi.”
