Prophet of Moonshae

boring up here all by myself!'

'Newt?' asked Alicia, recognizing the name though she had never met its owner. 'Newt, the faerie dragon?'

'I suppose you thought it was 'Newt the firbolg,' or 'Newt the water snake'?' His voice was still a whine, but he looked at the young woman with keen interest. 'And you're the daughter of my friend Tristan, I know.'

'Yes, I am. My father has told me much about you-how your courage and ingenuity helped in the Darkwalker War, and how he was fortunate to have a companion as bold as yourself!' She also remembered, but did not remark about, tales of Newt's practical jokes, which several times had come close to getting Tristan or his companions killed.

'He did? I mean, of course he did!' The little dragon's chest puffed outward. 'Why, if it hadn't been for me, that lad would have gotten his beard trimmed more than once. Say, did he tell you about the time he was stuck in the mud and-'

'I say,' Keane interrupted brusquely, 'we should have a nice chance to reminisce, but we have drifted quite far from our trail. If we are to travel back through the pass before dark, we had best be moving.'

'Back? Through the pass? Tonight?' Newt digested each bit of news as if it were a tough piece of meat. 'But you can't!'

The dragon suddenly vanished, popping out of sight with uncanny suddenness.

'Where'd he go?' Keane demanded quickly. 'I don't trust that little-'

In that instant, Newt reappeared, hovering in the same place he had been, and then blinked away again. He repeated the process several times as the humans stared.

'He always does that when he's agitated,' Tavish explained. 'Faerie dragons spend much of the time invisible, and I think he forgets which is which.'

'I do not!' huffed the dragon, exerting the effort to remain visible. His hover, however, became less steady. Indeed, he bounced up and down like a puppet on a string.

'Tell us,' Alicia said, keeping her tone friendly. In truth, she found herself liking the little dragon, despite the shocking nature of his introduction to them. 'Why did you surprise us like that? How did you know who I am? And what do you mean, we 'can't' go back through the pass?'

'That's just it. I've been waiting here for you, for a long time. I've got something to show you, but now you're going away before I even have a chance! It's-it's not fair!'

' Waiting for us? For how long? How did you know we were coming? My parents told me that you lived in Myrloch Vale, on Gwynneth!'

'That was years ago,' said Newt, a trifle pompously. 'When the king moved to Alaron, to the palace in Callidyrr, why naturally I moved to this island as well.' He looked at the humans as if he was amazed at their stupidity. 'But I suppose news travels slowly when you're not of the Faerie Folk.'

'Tell us, then-why did you frighten us? One of the horses could have fallen, and the poor beast-not to mention the rider-could have been badly hurt!' Alicia kept her tone friendly but put a note of rebuke into her voice.

'I–I'm sorry,' the dragon surprised them by saying. His head drooped, and the color of his scales faded from bright blue to a deep purple, but then quickly brightened again as he smiled. 'But I got you to come all this way, didn't I? And I fooled you! It was a good illusion, wasn't it? Were you really, really scared?'

'I saw through it right away,' Keane pointed out. Alicia remembered the magic-user trying to halt their headlong flight. At the time, she had thought him mad. 'Still,' the man admitted, 'you fooled my horse, and I guess that was enough.'

Newt sniffed, cocksure again. 'Well, anyway, it serves you right. You're late. I've been waiting here for six winters.'

'Six years?' Alicia stared at him, shocked. 'But what if we'd never come this way?'

'Oh, you would. I knew that. I just don't know why you had to take so long about it! Say, do you have anything to eat? It's been a lot of goat meat and mountain berries for me! How about some cheese? Tristan always fed me cheese, you know. He would bring me the best- Say, you wouldn't have any Corwellian sharp, I don't suppose?'

'Wait a minute,' said the bard as the companions looked at each other in astonishment, still reacting to the dragon's initial statement. 'You say you knew we were coming. You mean all of us? Or one of us?'

'Why, her, of course. You really are a silly bunch if you didn't know that! I've been waiting here for the princess of Kendrick, daughter of my friends, Tristan and Robyn!'

'Very well,' Tavish noted, trying to keep the dragon on track. 'Now, why were you waiting for her?'

The dragon blinked, as if astounded by her stupidity. 'To show her, of course!'

'Show me what?' demanded Alicia, growing exasperated.

'You'll just have to come with me to find out!' sniffed the dragon, petulant again.

Alicia looked at her three companions, then back to the dragon, who vanished just as she opened her mouth. 'I know you're there, Newt, and I want you to listen to me!'

'Hah to you! I'm over here!' The voice chirped from behind her, but she didn't give the faerie dragon the satisfaction of turning to face him.

'We've learned something very important. Our neighbors, the northmen, are going to war against the Ffolk- against the kingdom of your friends, my parents. We must take word of this invasion back to Callidyrr so that the militia can be mustered and we can be ready for the attack when it comes.'

'Oh, that.' Newt clearly was not impressed, though he did reappear to float before Alicia again, his gossamer wings buzzing. 'But I have to show you something important!'

'Then tell me what it is!' snapped the princess, growing increasingly irritated.

'If that's the way you're going to act, I'll just go by myself!' Abruptly the dragon became invisible one more time.

'Ahem!' said Tavish, speaking loudly enough that the dragon could hear if he was still in the area. 'If Newt has been waiting here for six years, he undoubtedly has something of great importance to show us … to show you, my princess. Perhaps, however, one of the rest of us could carry news of the invasion back to Blackstone and hence to Callidyrr.'

'I'll go,' Hanrald said immediately. 'I'm the fastest rider, and the two of you can remain here to protect the lady Alicia.'

The princess scowled at the notion that she needed protection, but then she realized that the duke's son had meant no offense. Indeed, his suggestion made sense, although she realized that she didn't wish to part with any of her companions.

'Very well,' she agreed, thinking for a moment. 'However, we still haven't gained concrete proof that the northmen intend to attack Callidyrr, and it seems surprising that if this was their plan, they would send a small force rather than their entire mass of warriors.

'Have your father's men stand at the Fairheight Pass and bar the road to the northmen if they should get that far. But don't attack them unless they give you absolute proof that their intentions are warlike.'

'Yes, lady,' replied Hanrald with a bow.

She felt a sudden rush of affection toward this young nobleman. For the first time, she thought about him as the heir to the mighty duchy of Blackstone, before she remembered, with a bitter sense of regret, that the crude brute, Gwyeth, was his older brother and hence first in line for his father's title. If not for that, in their later years, and with the pleasure of the gods, she would be monarch over all the Ffolk, and Hanrald might become her most powerful subject lord on the island of Alaron.

'May the … goddess watch over you,' she said.

Smiling grimly, Hanrald whirled his horse through a circle and spurred the steed back toward the path. Riding over the rolling highland in an easy canter, he swiftly shrank into the distance.