It took her a moment to answer that question and to accept the answer, but she finally took a breath and said, “I’ll do it.”
The arguing had continued while she’d been thinking, and at first, nobody heard her. She cleared her throat and raised her voice.
“I’ll do it,” she repeated.
This time, everyone stared at her.
Tolemek gripped her shoulder. “What are you doing?” he whispered harshly.
“If you’re taking the sword in the box, and General Zirkander is flying, you’ll need someone light,” Cas said. “And I have experience with the sword. Maybe that would help avoid further atrocities.” She closed her eyes, inhaling another deep breath, afraid—terrified—that she would regret this. “I’m the logical choice.”
Since Tolemek was behind her, Cas couldn’t see his face, but she could feel the tension in his fingers. And she could see the expressions of the others. Zirkander’s face crumpled with distress. Sardelle and Kaika looked shocked. Ort barely knew Cas, except by reputation, but he also appeared stunned. Angulus was frowning, though Cas couldn’t tell if it was a frown of rejection or just a continuation of the frown he had worn for most of this meeting. Tylie had left Tolemek’s side to peer into a lute in a corner. At least
she
wasn’t distressed.
“All right.” Angulus nodded to Ort and then Zirkander. “You two have another team member.”
“Yes, Sire,” Ort said.
Zirkander merely shook his head, his expression still bleak.
“Ort, see to getting a dirigible ready. No, make that one of the airships, so fliers can come and go from the deck. Take two with you and leave room for others. Sardelle and Zirkander will try to get a soulblade and those command words, and then meet up with you for the hunt. Everyone else who’s going—” Angulus looked at Tolemek as well as Kaika, “—will go on the airship and start out scouting the skies around the cavern. Scouting
only
. You will not engage until Zirkander and Sardelle are there to help. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sire,” Ort said, with others echoing him this time. Cas felt too numb to say anything.
“And you two—” Angulus waved at Sardelle and Zirkander, “—don’t take too long on this sword hunt. Get the command words. That’s the important thing. If you don’t find a soulblade, go back later, after the dragon has been dealt with.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Dismissed.”
Cas almost bumped into Tolemek when she turned to walk out the door. He raised a hand, as if to stop her, as if to stop all of this, but when she looked sadly up into his eyes, his shoulders slumped, and he lowered his arm. He didn’t want to fight—she saw that. She didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing. She hoped she hadn’t just condemned herself to a deeper hell.
Chapter 4
C
louds drifted past, leaving moisture on Sardelle’s cheeks as they passed through them. The flier occasionally wobbled or dipped, responding to some air current, but Ridge quickly compensated. The Ice Blades loomed ahead of them, wreathed in thick clouds, the top half of the mountains still blanketed in snow, despite spring’s progression in the lowlands.
It’s very noisy
, Tylie informed her.
Not like riding on Phelistoth.
Tylie rode in the back of Lieutenant Duck’s flier. Ridge had picked him for this detour to the mines, though grudgingly so. He hadn’t wanted to bring Tylie at all. Given the rough nature of the mines, Sardelle couldn’t blame him, but she needed to come to pick out a soulblade, to see if they could find one that would waken and accept her.
Phelistoth doesn’t have propellers,
Sardelle replied.
I prefer flying on his back.
Sardelle couldn’t imagine how Tylie even stayed on the dragon’s back when they flew. If not for her harness, there were countless times when she would have been thrown out of Ridge’s flier. Dragons must swoop and dive just as crazily when they battled each other.
Do you know where he is?
Sardelle asked. If anyone could find a dragon, it ought to be another dragon.
General Ort and the airship team had left at the same time as Ridge and Duck had hopped into their cockpits, but they had soon left them far behind. Given the languid pace of that craft, Sardelle couldn’t imagine it catching up with a dragon. Perhaps that was a good thing, at least for now. She and Ridge could finish their errand and join the others before they found Morishtomaric.
Phel is in the mountains. I think he’s hiding. He’s not answering me when I call to him. I hope he’s not injured. What if Morishtomaric is hunting him? He’s mean. Why would he want to fight when there are only two dragons in the entire world?
I don’t know, but Morishtomaric sounds like a stoat’s hind teat.
Such foul language
, Jaxi said.
Should you be teaching a young woman such profanity?
Aren’t you busy monitoring the ground down there, Jaxi? Ridge asked for a warning if the sorceress shows up and starts flinging fireballs.
I can watch for her and monitor your profanity at the same time. I have an expansive mind.
You have a nosy mind.
Many words can be used to describe the cornucopia of wealth that is a soulblade.
I’m not going to argue with that.
“Sardelle?” Ridge called over his shoulder. “Any sign of trouble?”
Jaxi?
I don’t sense any dragons or evil sorceresses.
Sardelle leaned forward and rested her hand on Ridge’s shoulder as a warning that she would answer telepathically. He rarely seemed surprised by that anymore, but she did not like to presume too much.
We don’t sense anything
, she told him.
You’re sure? Because this didn’t happen that long ago.
Ridge stuck an arm out of the cockpit and pointed toward the ground ahead of them.
Sardelle had to fight with her harness to lean far enough to the side to see what he was pointing at. As soon as she did, a knot of worry tightened in her stomach. Several columns of black smoke rose from a farm village surrounded by a patchwork of fields. From this height, she couldn’t see any flames, but the destruction must have been recent if the destroyed buildings were still smoldering.
“General?” came Duck’s voice over the communication crystal in the cockpit.
“We see it, Duck. Looks like Prinvale had an incendiary visitor.”
“Is the visitor around?”
“Sardelle doesn’t think so, but keep an eye out,” Ridge said. “This is farther out from the mountains than any of the towns that were circled on the king’s map.” He lowered his voice to add, “Of course,
our
house wasn’t circled, either. The king’s map seems to be out of date.”
Sardelle appreciated that he’d called it their house. He’d been out there so seldom since they signed the rental agreement that she’d wondered if he’d been thinking of it as the out-of-the-way place where he stashed his strange magical friends rather than his home.
She squeezed his shoulder, letting her hand linger. Given the dire circumstances, she shouldn’t find this outing with him appealing, but it felt good to be heading off together again.
Should we go down and see if they need help?
Sardelle asked.
Ridge hesitated. “We’re still within communication range of the city. I’ll send word back, so the army can get some people out here to check on the village. We better not deviate from the mission. I already got the feeling Angulus wasn’t pleased that we wanted to detour to the crystal mines before joining the dragon hunt.”
Sardelle waited for him to send his message before responding.
If we can learn more about Kasandral while we’re here, he won’t be displeased. My people’s library had a great deal of information. It seems likely there would be a record of that cavern of criminal dragons too.
You don’t have to justify the trip to
me
. I’m always pleased at the chance to go off alone with you.
Ridge turned and gave her a quick leer, though it didn’t last long. The clouds were thickening, and he had to pay attention to the air ahead.
Not
quite
alone.
Sardelle glanced toward Duck’s flier, though she shifted her hand to stroke the side of Ridge’s neck, sliding her fingers under his scarf.
A general ought to warrant a private room there. We’ll arrive late enough that I think we can justify spending at least one night. Keep playing with my ear, and we might not make it to nightfall, though.
Sardelle suspected work would pounce on Ridge as soon as they arrived, and he would be more likely to end up cloistered in a room with Colonel Therrik than with her, but she allowed herself to hope otherwise.
He’s here
, Tylie spoke into her mind.
Phelistoth?
Sardelle asked, but Tylie’s tone had lacked the exuberance it always held when she spoke of her companion.
The other one.
Over in the other flier, Tylie shrank low in her seat.
Sardelle understood the feeling. If they encountered a gold dragon, what could they do? The fliers’ guns would be useless. It would be up to her and Jaxi, and they wouldn’t have a chance if it picked a fight.
We’ll try to avoid it
, Sardelle told Tylie.
Jaxi? Do you sense it yet?
I’m looking. She has amazing range for someone from this time period.
Ridge?
Sardelle asked.
You’ve stopped fondling my ear. Should I be concerned?
Yes.
Damn. Sorceress?
Dragon.
How far?
Ridge’s head swiveled, scanning the horizons. The clouds limited visibility.
Forty miles
, Jaxi said.
I can sense him now.
Which direction?
Ridge must have also heard her comment.
Maybe we can avoid him.
He’s to the east. Which way are we going?
East.
Ah.
Will he be looking for us for any reason?
Ridge asked.
Or will he see us as insignificant?
He won’t see
me
as insignificant.
Jaxi sniffed.
Sardelle?
Ridge asked, apparently wanting a second opinion.
I’m not sure
, Sardelle said.
He’ll definitely sense that we have a soulblade, and he may be able to tell that Tylie and I have dragon blood, at least when he gets close. He may also be attracted to her.
What? Why?
I’m not sure exactly, other than it would have to do with her gift, but he spoke to her earlier, when he came for Phelistoth. Tylie said he wanted her to come with him.
Wonderful. Well, let’s do our best to avoid him. If we can get to the crystal mines first, we’ll at least have artillery weapons to shoot at him. I don’t have a lot of faith that bullets will damage a dragon, but maybe cannonballs.
Sardelle didn’t have faith that either weapon would bother Morishtomaric, but she kept the thought to herself. If they had to face him, she also would prefer to do it with the assistance of a couple hundred soldiers and their weapons. If nothing else, cannonballs might distract the dragon so that she and Jaxi could come up with something else.
Like what?
Jaxi asked.
I’ll let you know when I figure it out.
“Duck,” Ridge said over the crystal. “Drop down in elevation. We may have a dragon up ahead. We’re going to hug the ground and hope the contours of the land keep us out of sight as much as possible.”
“I thought the
other
team was supposed to be hunting the dragon,” Duck said.
“It is. Little did they know they should have stayed with us. That reminds me…” Ridge switched to broadcast mode with the crystal as the flier dipped in elevation. They were passing the last of the cleared farmland and would be cruising over a forest of deciduous trees. “General Zirkander to base. Lieutenant Salvant, are you still in range?”
From the back seat, with the wind whipping past and the propeller buzzing, Sardelle always had to listen closely to hear the responses over the crystals, but this time, the response was so broken up that she could barely make it out. Someone had responded to Ridge, but only every third word came out, and they were softer than usual.
“Can you repeat that, L.T.?” Ridge asked.
Even fewer of the words came through.
“Sardelle?” Ridge called back. “Is that because we’re at the edge of the range, or is something else going on? I haven’t heard the crystals do that before.”
Sardelle hadn’t, either, and even though she had designed them, she wasn’t positive what was going on.
I think the dragon is getting closer to us and that his aura might be strong enough to affect lesser magic
, Jaxi suggested.
Jaxi thinks it might be something to do with the dragon
, Sardelle told Ridge,
but I don’t remember having trouble before when Phelistoth was nearby, so I’m not sure. It is true that Morishtomaric is more powerful and might exude even more of a magical field of energy. But we’re just guessing.
All right. Thanks.
“To Lieutenant Salvant or whomever might hear me,” Ridge said, “Wolf Squadron has encountered the gold dragon between Prinvale and Triumph Mountain. Please relay this message to the king’s airship team.”
The king said something about setting up Tolemek with a lab on that airship
, Ridge added silently.
I hope he’s busy creating dragon-destroying potions.
So do I.
Sardelle did not know whether Tolemek could come up with something that would be useful against a dragon, but if anyone could, he could.
She lifted her gaze toward the sky ahead of them. A faint pressure was building in her head, the same type of pressure she had experienced when they had first come near Phelistoth in that jungle. He could dampen his aura when he did not wish to be noticed—she could barely sense him when he was in human form—but the gold dragon had no reason to bother. He clearly wasn’t worried about being noticed.