Page 5 of Fate and Flame
I nodded and pulled away.
“So, what’s this genius idea you have?” he asked loudly so everyone else could hear.
I smirked, remembering my plan. I stood and tucked my blanket into my bag and wrapped my cloak around my shoulders. “How do you guys feel about skipping the long ass walk home and finding something quicker? Maybe getting back today?”
“Even I couldn’t get everyone home that quickly.” Greeve stretched, his tattoos peeking out from below the cuffs of his shirt.
Kai sucked a sharp breath between his teeth. “If you’re talking about Aibell, hard pass.”
“No, it isn’t Aibell. Let’s just say I know a guy that owes me a favor.”
“Is he single?” Wren asked, rubbing her eyes.
“You can ask him yourself,” I told her, holding back my grin.
We packed up camp fairly quickly and started our journey south. The first—and hopefully only—obstacle was the giant pile of sleeping dragons blocking the Western Gap.
A scattered and scaled rainbow of colors lay before us on the frozen ground of the Wind Court. From a distance, something in my heart told me danger was near, but as we approached, I couldn’t force myself to look away. The deepest purples and the brightest greens. The faintest reds and the richest blues of beasts. They were so very large, smaller only than the mountains surrounding them, yet they curled so far into themselves to slumber, it was a miracle they could untangle themselves to take to the skies.
“How much do we trust that dragon’s promise to let us through?” Lichen squeaked.
“One hundred percent.” I hid my trepidation, though Fen eyed me cautiously.
We edged around the scattered heaps of sleeping dragons, with Greeve keeping his eye above as we moved. My heart thundered in my chest as I sought the one I needed. Thick plumes of smoke and the rancid scent of sulfur permeated the air, but we pushed forward as one until we stood before the yellow sleeping behemoth. A layer of dried dirt nestled below the dragon’s warm belly. Snow would never settle where a dragon hoard lived.
I hadn’t warned the others and when they saw me stop, I heard Kai lean into Wren and whisper, “Want me to find out if he’s single for you, baby bird?”
Wren stuck her nose in the air. “Pretty sure he nearly ate you for lunch and his brother shredded your shoulder, so keep laughing while you can, prick.”
Greeve snorted but Fen was still as a statue.
I sent a wisp of confidence to him before I clapped several times to wake the dragon in front of me. Lichen jumped, then stepped behind Greeve as the beast moved like a snake until his head laid on the ground in front of me. He opened both of his slit eyes and inhaled slowly.
Fen stepped forward, trying to block me from view.
Hello, little liar,he hissed into my mind.
Hello, Pathog the Unyielding.
As I thought his true name, a great shiver of discomfort crawled down his body, his pearlescent-coated scales shimmering in the morning sunlight.
What rank are you in your hoard?
He sat silent for a moment as his eyes narrowed on me. Fen grabbed my arm and hauled me backward when the rumbling within his chest began.
“Don’t piss off the dragon, Ara,” Greeve warned as he drew his curved sword.
“You are an evil little liar,” the dragon said out loud.
“You will answer,” I demanded.
“I think you already know.” He huffed a thick cloud of smoke into my face until I coughed.
“Answer,” I demanded.
“I am the Sengen. The leader,” he snorted.
“My friends and I require a flight to the Flame Court.”
