Not only that, but my skin still felt tight, the way that it had when I had been around the dragon. The burning in my belly remained, the hot coals sitting there, as if serving as a reminder.
That was new.
I hadn’t felt either of those before. Which meant something was changing.
The only time that I had felt that way before was when I was near the dragon. Could I have come upon the dragon without realizing it? The glowing persisted in the distance, and as I stared, I tried to make out the signs of the dragon , but I didn’t see it. Just the faint light that persisted.
The ground sloped down slightly. I followed it, weaving around the trees, and then heard a rustling nearby. I froze.
I slowly turned— I feared coming face-to-face with a wolf or one of the forest creatures, or possibly even the mesahn— when something grabbed me from the other side. I spun, ready to strike, knowing that I didn’t have the necessary skills, when a band of fire seemed to wrap around my fist before easing.
“Easy,” Elaine said.
She was little more than a shadowed form in the darkness, but I could make out the surprise on her face, mostly through the glowing light coming off of her hand, using the power of her dragon mage magic.
“Elaine? How did you find me?”
“I’ve been tracking you to keep you from wandering too deep into the forest. What do you think you’re doing, you fool?”
“Why were you following me?”
“After you freed your friend and your sister, I heard you back by the caravan. I went to find you, but you’d already run off. I snuck after the Vard pursuing you, but had more trouble finding you.” A distant rumbling came out of the forest, that of the mesahn, and Elaine perked up, listening for a moment. “It’s a wonder you didn’t come across that creature.”
“I haven’t seen anything like it.” Not since the Djarn city. At least, the remains of the Djarn city. “Is my sister safe?”
Elaine studied me. “She’s safe.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Elaine stepped toward me, and enough of the moonlight drifted through the trees where I could see her, but I could also see flames coming off of her, the power that she held through her magic illuminating her face. “She’s back with your friend. We need to get moving. ”
“I heard one of their names. Does the name Barton mean anything to you?”
“He’s a dangerous man. You were lucky to get away.” She watched me with a strange expression in her eyes.
Was it luck, or was it something else?
I doubted she had a better answer than I did.
There came a glowing light behind me, and I debated whether or not I wanted to head toward it. It was the dragon. I was certain of it.
I couldn’t do anything about it, though.
“I freed a dragon from the Vard.” I watched her, waiting to see what she might do or say and how she might react.
“Freed it?”
I nodded, looking around me. “It disappeared into the forest.”
When I turned back to Elaine, she had clenched her jaw. “Damn.”
“Why?”
“The Vard will hunt the dragon. They will find it.”
“What happens if the Vard have a dragon?”
“They can use it against the dragon mages.”
That didn’t fit with what Joran had said about the Vard. I could understand wanting a dragon—they were powerful, even as small as that one had been—but Joran said they viewed the dragons as abominations.
Elaine grabbed my arm, guiding me through the forest, away from the glowing light. Did she know that she was guiding me away from the dragon? There was a part of me that wanted to linger there to see if I might be able to follow the light and find the dragon, but the rational part of me knew that wasn’t the right answer. It was a mistake. I couldn’t do anything to help the dragon, and didn’t know if I even wanted to. All I wanted was to get back to my sister and leave the forest so we could return to the plains and our farm.
As we walked through the forest, an occasional shout caught my attention. I paused to try to look through the trees, but Elaine continued pulling on me. Eventually, we reached a Djarn path heading through the forest. She motioned along it. “Go this way for about half a mile and you should come across your sister and your friend.” Distantly, the rumbling of the mesahn came from someplace deep in the forest. “I must find the dragon.”
“I could help.”
She glared at me. “You wouldn’t be able to help. Go to your sister. That is the reason you came, after all.”
She disappeared into the trees.
I lingered in place for just a moment before jogging along the Djarn path. Every so often, I heard a shout in the forest. The sound was muted, though it suggested to me that the Vard were still actively searching for me. I rounded a small turn and the trees grew dense, making the path even narrower than it had been before. Two other figures made their way along the path, and I slowed, ducking off the path for a moment. If they were the Vard…
Creeping forward slowly, carefully, I moved toward the figures. It wasn’t until a little more moonlight spilled through the canopy when I could make out the outline of my sister and Joran.
Darting forward, I caught up to her.
She spun, jerking her head around, and then let out a soft gasp. “Ashan. You made it.”
“Elaine found me. ”
Joran was in front of Alison, and he glanced back at me. “She found us too. Sent us along the road. Said she would get you and send you out here too.”
“We should get moving.” I
