That didn’t sound anything like a wolf. It didn’t sound like a camin, either.
I frowned, listening, but when another peel of thunder came, I started forward.
I had gone another dozen paces or so when the strange growling sound came again.
I turned back toward the forest, looking at the trees, and could have sworn I saw a dark figure glaring at me from within.
Not a wolf or camin. It was too large for that.
What if this was the creature that had made that massive pawprint outside the farm??
I started to jog, but when the rain came, I turned, sprinting toward the King’s Road.
I wasn’t going to be able to get back before the heavier rain started, but I hoped I could stay ahead of the worst of it. I slipped the bow around my shoulder and sheathed the knife into my belt as I ran. If there was some creature behind me, it was going to have to wait. I had no idea what I was trying to outrun, only that I needed to get ahead of the storm.
Thunder rumbled again.
The wind picked up, whipping around me, catching my jacket and pants. Heat slapped me, baking me, and suddenly it felt as if I were standing near the oven while my mother and sister were cooking.
I looked up, and my breath was sucked out of my lungs.
A dragon soared above the forest. This time, there was no mistaking it. It was high in the sky. This one had deep blue scales that seemed to catch the fading light, and glowed with a strange energy. A burst of flame erupted from the dragon. I froze, transfixed as I watched the dragon circling above.
The creature was massive. I caught a faint glimpse of the darkened rider sitting on top, but couldn’t make out any other details.
Was it only a rider—or could it be a dragon mage?
There was a small part of me that couldn’t help but stare. I had always wanted to know what it would be like if I were to ever have the opportunity to sit atop a dragon. To know what it might be like to feel the freedom with the wind whipping around me, heat radiating off the dragon as it swept over the land. It made me think of my father. Some of the stories he’d told of dragons, and how they’d flown over Berestal when the king claimed these lands. And, even some of the crazier talk of the power that he’d felt. All of that flooded me at the sight of the dragon.
Reality suddenly came crashing back down. My family needed me, and I couldn’t stay here, transfixed by a dragon. If I got stuck out in the storm, my sister and mother would worry about me. Chances were that one of them would come looking for me. I didn’t want somebody to risk themselves because I went looking for some wolf and hadn’t been smart enough to let them know where I was going.
I tore my gaze away and began to jog along the road.
Out of nowhere, the rain started in earnest. It poured down, quickly saturating me. It managed to get beneath my jacket and all the way through my breaches. Somehow, rain even got into my boots, soaking my feet, and every step felt as if I were slogging through a puddle.
Everything started to slow.
Then came a burst of thunder, and a crackling of lightning that followed. I glanced up, and for a moment I thought I saw the dragon circling again. I tore my gaze away from the clouds and started running along the road.
At least the road itself wasn’t too saturated. But then rain intensified, almost as if knowing my thoughts.
I swore softly under my breath, trying to shake away those thoughts, to move as quickly as I could, but I began to doubt whether I could outrun this storm.
It was a bad one too. What I wouldn’t do for the heat of a dragon now.
A section of the road in front of me had washed away.
I stopped in front of it. That was unusual. The King’s Road was solid and sturdy. We had enough storms that the road had to be built up with rocks over the years so that it could survive torrential downpours.
The rain ran through a shallow valley, turning it into a rapid river. Without much of a choice I veered off the King’s Road and headed north. I needed to find a place to cross and make my way back to the house.
I started to keep an eye out for a place that I could take shelter. There was a small thicket of trees that might be helpful. But that wasn’t going to be enough with this storm. The wind started to pick up, slamming me back. The rain hammering upon me.
I needed to find another place to shelter.
Joran’s home wasn’t that far from here. It was close enough that I wouldn’t have to try to cross the increasingly wide river in order to reach it.
I kept my eyes peeled, looking for any sign of Joran’s home. It was difficult to see clearly. The rain was coming down with such force and the wind gusting so wildly that I couldn’t see anything other than the occasional burst of lightning that blinded me.
I began to worry that I was going to end up stranded out here.
With the rain like this, it was going to take a while for the roads to solidify again. I thought of my sister and the caravan that had come past, and would have smiled to myself were the situation not quite as dire as it was. She would have to wait a bit longerto head into Berestal.
In the distance, I could see the outline of a building. I veered toward it.
I slipped, stumbling into a puddle.
My face went completely underwater. I sucked in water without meaning to.
I jerked my head back, coughing, gasping for air.
I got to
