Lind rumbled with a light laugh in response. The blue and silver dragon nodded his large head, nudged Loren with his nose, and took off into the sky, leaving flurries of dust in his wake. Loren knew the dragon would return to the cave in the cliff to rest. Then she realized she was alone. With Kae.
The huntress shielded her face from the wind and dust kicked up by Lind’s wings. When the swirling dust and leaves settled, she looked back at Loren and smiled.
“Alright, you were right. I am scared. Or was.” She said slowly. A blush came on her cheeks and she looked away, chuckling awkwardly. “You’re looking at me with gold eyes…It’s weird. But it’s still you, so I don’t have anything to worry about there, right? I was scared that you’d be locked up in the tower or whatever stone rooms are up in your castle, and I would never see you again.”
Loren’s eyes began to fade back into their normal color after Lind left, and the shimmering gold gave way to dark eyes filling with tears. The princess threw her arms around Kae, burying her face in the huntress’s tunic. She breathed in the scent of sweat and earth, and knew it was her. “I thought I would never see you again. I thought you and Ma’trii would return to the forest.” She said, trying to keep the sobs out of her voice.
Kae laughed, and to Loren’s surprise, hugged her back. “We did come back to the forest, but only because it was the quickest way for us to get back to Markholme. We figured maybe we could beat the royal convoy back to the city and meet you there, but they were faster.” She replied.
“But…why?” Loren said. “Why did you come all the way back here?”
Kae realized that she was holding onto the princess for a bit too long. She let go again, coughing awkwardly. “Well, you were so determined to find Kaiten. I know that the King showing up in Rhodia and carting you off cancelled your plans completely. You would have been furious.” She chuckled, busying herself by putting away her bow and arrow. “Me and Ma’trii decided — well it was more of me, you understand — that we would come back to Markholme, break into the castle, and get you out.”
Loren raised an eyebrow. “You were going to break into the castle?”
“I wasn’t expecting you to be able to climb out of it yourself. But the dragon was the most surprising thing.”
Loren laughed. The sight of the princess looking for happy and carefree brought a smile to the huntress’s face. “I wasn’t expecting him either! Lind saw me dangling out of the west tower window, holding onto rope made of bed sheets. Honestly, if it wasn’t for him, I’d probably have fallen and died on the rocks.”
“Good thing he came by, then.” Kae said with a chuckle. She whistled, and a shaggy gray wolf came bounding into the clearing.
Ma’trii immediately went for Loren, sniffing and nudging her in greeting. He sat obediently by her feet, and nodded his head.
“He’s happy to see you, and glad that you can rejoin us for adventures.” Kae said.
Loren smiled and patted the wolf’s large head. “I missed you too, Ma’trii! Thank you for coming all this way. Where is Cassendir, by the way?”
“We left him at an inn on the roadside. He was slowing us down, so he volunteered to stay behind somewhere with a roof over his head. He’s probably reading books and scribbling while we wait.”
“Which roadside inn? There were a lot between Markholme and Rhodia.”
“Do you remember the inn we met him in? He seemed to really like that one. He should be waiting for us there, if he didn’t decide to leave us and head back to Kespia to sell off his findings. Honestly, with his magic, I was hoping he would spell the horses to Ma’trii to run faster. All he uses his magic for is to make colored fire.”
Chapter Eleven
The trip back up the Imperial Highway was much slower than it was the first time. Because Loren escaped Markholme with Lind’s help, she did not have a horse. Kae did, and she offered the princess the use of her horse, but Loren declined. The two girls set their packs onto the horse and proceeded up the Highway on foot. Ma’trii lagged some lengths behind them to watch for any guards coming up from Markholme.
“So what are you plans, princess?” Kae asked as they walked. She held the horse by the reins and was guiding it. “Back up to the Plaguelands? That worked so well the first time.
“Yes, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Loren replied.
Kae stopped in her tracks, and the horse neighed. “You can’t be serious, princess. That place is cursed and no one ever goes there. Maybe the people that took Kaiten left through Rhodia’s north gate like the innkeeper said then looped back around. No one goes to the Plaguelands. It’s death.”
“That’s what they want you to think, Kae. Going through the Plaguelands is the perfect way to lose anyone looking for you. It’s the only possibility.”
The huntress sighed, and jogged a bit to catch up to Loren, with the horse following obediently after her. “Alright. And how are we supposed to get through? What’s on the other side?”
“Past the Plaguelands are the northern lands. As far as I know there are no kingdoms there. There used to be, In the time of Ylfair the Dragonheart, but the stories were that they died out from the
