By the time we made it to the kitchens and found some fruit and cheese, it was near midnight. When we returned to her room, Princess Esmelda’s mood had lightened, and she had started chatting about flowers and tea parties. I did my best to make replies when necessary.
As I walked down the hall back to my room, I wondered if I’d been too optimistic to think that Kull would take me back again. If I told him he needed to stop punishing himself for his father’s death, would it really do any good? I was certain others had tried to tell him the same thing. I’d already told him that his father had accepted me right before his death, yet Kull’s attitude persisted.
I made it to my room and changed into a dressing gown. After tossing from one side to the other on the bed for several hours, tortured by my thoughts, I finally fell asleep.
Chapter 26
I woke before sunrise. Unable to get back to sleep, I dressed quickly, found my mirror box, and made my way downstairs and outside the castle.
My dreams had haunted me throughout the night. Kull’s confession that he felt we were being misled had brought me to some wild and probably unfounded suspicions, but still, I needed answers.
The chilly air made me grateful the Wults had given me leather pants, a thick wool shirt, and a cloak to wear. My soft leather boots slipped on the dewy grass, but I managed to make it away from the castle and toward an open field.
I knew of only one creature who had the answers I sought.
Stopping on a small hilltop, I opened my box and removed the dragon statue. Magic warmed my hands as I gripped the pewter figurine. A dragon’s scale had been placed inside the metal, and I focused on it as I summoned my stepfather.
The dragon lands weren’t far from the Wult keep if one were flying. After I released my magic into the statue—thankfully not blowing it up, or worse—I found a boulder to sit on. Then, I waited.
Time seemed to pass slowly as I stared out over the Wult keep, its towers gray against a pale sky, monotony where I had once found light. Kull was on the other side of the mountain in Grandamere’s cottage. He would be waking soon if he hadn’t already. Perhaps Grandamere was preparing breakfast. I longed to be back in the cottage once again, warm and happy in a place of refuge, but those times never seemed to last.
The sound of beating wings came from overhead, so I stood as Fan’twar arrived with the rising sun. Massive wings stretched from one end of the sky to the other, a site that never ceased to inspire me. Glittering scales reflected in the sunlight, making me shield my eyes as he descended. Wind gusted as he beat his wings, controlling his descent until he landed not far from where I stood.
His scales glittered a bright, coppery gold. I gave him a gentle hug around his neck. Warm scales seemed to melt my ever-present chills. He bowed his head as I backed away to face him.
“You came quickly as usual. Thank you.”
He nodded. “I only come so promptly because you call me when I have nothing better to do. If you were to summon me when I was indisposed, for example, or throwing logs in the lake, then you would be waiting quite a while longer.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Throwing logs in the lake?”
“Do you not know the meaning of the expression?”
“No. I’m also not sure that I want to know.” Fan’twar had a sense of humor sometimes—not always a good thing.
“Well then, how shall I put it… watering the flowers, laying brown eggs, sinking the log cabin—?”
“Yes,” I interrupted. “I’ve got it. Quite well. No need to explain more.”
“Very well, then.” He cleared his throat, then gave me a small smile. “My point is, you’ve got very good timing, for when you summon me, it always seems to be when I am extremely bored.”
“Somehow, I doubt it. You seem to know when I need you—and today, I definitely need you.”
“I understand, for I, too, am troubled over the bloodthorn.”
“He still has the stone despite our best efforts to retrieve it, and now he is headed for the portal that will take him to the undiscovered land. The only thing working to our advantage is that we will be able to use the light-rails, which gives us a little time to catch up. I am waiting for my companions, and then we will travel to Dragon Spine Mountain, where we hope to intercept him.”
Fan’twar seemed to ponder for a moment, his round, coppery eyes staring into the distance. “Dragon Spine Mountain,” he said slowly. “You are sure this is his destination?”
“I’m certain. He tried to make me take him there before the others showed up and stopped him.”
“It is good you alerted me when you did. Olive, a great evil exists atop that mountain. There is a reason why none travel there. Many ages ago, it was discovered that a dangerous portal existed in a cave atop the mountain. To protect mortals from discovering it, one of my kind was sent to be its gatekeeper.”
“One of your kind? A dragon guards the mountain?”
He nodded.
“But if that’s so, then will the dragon be able to prevent the bloodthorn from accessing the cave?”
“No. Her powers only affect mortals such as us. They have no effect on the bloodthorn creature.”
My shoulders slumped. Had we come so far only to fail?
“There has to be a way,” I said. “Isn’t there something we can do? You know the consequences as well as I do. If the bloodthorn succeeds in removing the fairies’ stone from our world, the fairies will become dark creatures. Our world will no longer be protected by their magic.”
“Yes,” Fan’twar said,
