Page 24

“ D on’t get too excited,” Elowen said to Cedar. She wiped away a few tears that threatened to blur her vision. Relief warred with fear and frustration. They might be out of the castle, but they were still in the kitchen garden. “There’s still a wall between us and freedom.”

The troll in the castle hallway yelled, still throwing bits of ladder. Elowen ducked a piece that made it through the window.

Vale led the way, and they ran between rows of garlic and green beans towards the wall that separated the kitchen garden from the moat. The flames and smoke from the dragon’s handiwork rose beyond the wall. They needed to get Ash’s attention, while still avoiding the trolls.

Ash was nowhere to be seen, but he had to be nearby.

Vale jumped over a rake. “You have an alarming habit of running away from balls held in your honor.”

Elowen replied, “I never asked for either of them.”

Cedar stopped and pulled on Elowen’s skirt, nearly tripping her. He pointed into the sky. “There’s your dragon!”

Ash flew low, barely visible above the castle wall. Trolls stood behind the parapet shooting arrows in his direction and hurling rocks and household items at him, but it was too dark to determine the accuracy of their aim.

Elowen jumped up and down and waved both hands.

“Use your skirt as a flag,” Cedar suggested.

“Pardon me, please.” Vale ripped off a swatch of fabric where it had already been torn by the troll. “Cedar, on my shoulders.”

Elowen took the fabric while Vale and Cedar got into position, and then she handed it to her brother. As Ash flew by again, Cedar snapped the fabric back and forth. Between the lime green flag, Cedar’s gold outfit, and Vale’s orange one, Ash was sure to see them. Elowen continued to jump and wave as well.

The trolls noticed them first. Two of them turned away from the burning fields to face the colorful humans. They shouted and gestured animatedly.

At last, the commotion caught Ash’s attention. He veered towards the vegetable garden, rushing at an alarming rate. Cedar scrambled off Vale’s shoulders as Ash landed in the middle of the plants, scattering greenery and dirt in his haste.

“There are more trolls in this place than I thought,” Ash said, “even with the mushrooms making half of them sick.”

Elowen climbed onto her dragon and clung tightly to his neck. Cedar followed and wrapped his arms around Elowen’s waist, his cheek pressed into her back. Vale jumped on last.

The trolls on the wall threw everything they had at hand. A ceramic flowerpot shattered nearby. They had either run out of arrows or were too afraid of hitting the prince and starting a real war.

Ash flapped his wings and rose into the air slowly at first. When he gained the height of the wall, he let out a burst of flame. Elowen felt the heat on her left side. The trolls scattered, unaware they were in no danger of being harmed.

They flew over the burning fields, where dozens of trolls tried to combat the flames. The flowers had little hope, but the sludgy moat would keep the castle itself safe.

It seemed only a matter of moments until Ash landed near the tree stump with their hidden supplies. Elowen strapped the saddle onto his back, Vale secured the bags, and they all remounted. Ash headed towards Tressl, where they would finally face the consequences of their actions.

ELOWEN KNEW THEY COULDN’T make it to Tressl in one night, no matter how eager they were. When Ash finally landed in a small clearing beside a pond hours later, she told herself that anywhere was better than being surrounded by trolls. Even if they were headed to another castle, at least it was full of humans.

And she was married ... according to the trolls. She was too exhausted and too relieved to have Cedar back to make any sense of her thoughts about that.

Ash spread his wings as a privacy screen so that Elowen could wash and change out of what remained of the hideous lime gown. She put on her comfortable traveling clothes and boots, brushed out the few pink flowers that remained in her hair, and settled by the fire Vale had managed to start on his own.

She wanted to burn the gown, but she’d had enough foul odors for a lifetime.

Cedar sat beside her on one of the bedrolls while Vale took his turn to wash up.

“Where’s your jacket?” Elowen asked.

Cedar waved behind him. “Somewhere in the woods. Let the pixies cut it up for dresses if they want. I never thought I’d get tired of seeing gold.”

She squeezed his shoulders, feeling how thin he’d become through the fabric of his undershirt. A flash of anger coursed through her like lightning, but it passed quickly. Cedar was safe now. They were all safe. She took the linen band from her pocket. She had no need for gold any longer.

“What is that?” Cedar asked.

She handed it to him.

He ran his fingers over the embroidered branches. “Elm, alder, cedar,” he said. “It’s us.”

She opened the pouch that held the golden coin and the bit of bark with Ash’s name etched into it.

“Where did you get a gold coin?” he asked.

“The unicorns,” she said. “I brought it to ransom you from the trolls, but it turns out I didn’t even need it.”

She began at the beginning and explained everything that had happened since Cedar had been kidnapped as if she were telling him a bedtime story. Vale and Ash joined them. Cedar asked questions, Vale added his part of the tale, and Ash filled in details where he could.

Cedar’s story was much shorter. Carried through the woods by trolls for days and days, he finally arrived at the troll queen’s castle in the middle of the night. He’d never expected a castle. The food was good, but everything smelled terrible and he wanted to go home. He’d looked for a way out every day, hoping someone was coming for him. When Elowen arrived with her prince and her dragon, he suddenly felt like he was in a fairytale that might have a happy ending.

With the storytelling over, Elowen settled Cedar into her fur bedroll. He fell asleep almost immediately. She stroked his golden hair, eager to see him curled up in his own bed at home. Perhaps she would use the golden coin to buy some fresh cherries and make him a pie.

She rejoined Vale by the fire.

“You left those mushrooms for me to find, didn’t you?” Vale said to Ash.

“What mushrooms?” Ash said.

“Don’t act innocent. You knew the trolls were sick because of mushrooms.”

“I never gave the trolls mushrooms,” Ash said, drawing in the dirt with a burnt stick. “I was too busy hiding my ... golden hide.”

Elowen saw the grin he tried to suppress and giggled. “You did!”

“Did what?” Ash said. “How was I to know Vale and the trolls would be out hunting? How was I to know I wasn’t invited to your wedding?”

Vale squinted suspiciously at him. “How did you know all that?”

Ash shrugged. “By the way, thank you for freeing my ... uh ... little pink friend. Knew you would. Didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Vale slapped his knee. “The pixie!”

Elowen laughed. “Didn’t mean for her to get caught or didn’t mean to get caught yourself?”

Ash lowered his head onto his front feet, his eyelids growing heavy. “Didn’t mean to ... well, I couldn’t sit in a tree and do nothing.”

“Even after you agreed to it?” Elowen asked, her fondness for him growing. He seemed to have lost her blue ribbon somewhere along the way. She would give him a better token, something more permanent, when they returned home.

“Mm hm,” he mumbled and then yawned. “Even ... after ...”

She watched him breathe deeply and peacefully. Her dragon. She looked at Cedar with his fists curled up under his chin. Her brother. She turned to Vale. Her ... her ...

“Trying to figure out what to do with me?” he asked softly.

She grinned, quite certain by now that she knew what she wanted.

“You’ll have to return me to my father, no matter what.”

Her grin disappeared. Did he mean—?

“I have to explain to Father why I ran away during the ball.” He moved closer to her. “But that doesn’t mean I want to be parted from you.”

“I could never live in a castle, Vale.”

“I know.” He smiled and studied his hands. They were the hands of a blacksmith, but also the hands of a prince. “I have a proposal. A real one.”

She waited. His last proposal had been to run away together to rescue Cedar. She couldn’t imagine what he was thinking now.

“I want to join you on your farm, make myself useful. And perhaps, if you’re agreeable, become part of your family ... someday.”

Oh. She hadn’t expected that. “Actually, I—”

“My father would probably disown me for stepping down as heir.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But I’m confident Briony can fill my place, if she hasn’t already. I would be coming to you and your family empty-handed. You’ll probably have to teach me everything, like a child.”

Relief flooded through her, warming her cheeks. He was asking to join her family, not asking her to leave them. She kissed him on the lips. “You interrupted me, so I’m interrupting you.”

He chuckled, a bit breathlessly. “I should interrupt you more often.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re already a part of my family, Vale,” she said. “You left everything you knew and risked your life to help me rescue my brother. And besides ...”

Elowen stared into the fire. She thought about how to word her thoughts. How to say her feelings. Even after traveling to another kingdom, there were still many things she didn’t know. One thing she had learned, however, was that she could rely on everyone around this small fire in this big forest. She didn’t have to be strong all the time, and somehow that made her feel stronger. They were all stronger together.

“Elowen?” Vale prompted after a few moments of silence.

“I don’t need a child on the farm,” she said, looking into his black eyes flickering with reflected firelight. “But I could use a partner.”

He smiled tentatively. “A ... partner?”

“What I mean is that you said a troll wedding was as valid as any other.” There. She felt brazen, but she’d said it, and hopefully he understood.

His smile was big enough to light the forest. “You mean ...” He laughed and then glanced at Cedar and pressed his lips tightly together. He whispered the next words. “You mean you want to stay married to me?”

“I’m not looking for an annulment,” she said with a grin, “but you might want to wait until I’ve broken the news to my father before we head off on our honeymoon.”

Vale almost leaped up with excitement, and Elowen couldn’t help laughing quietly at his enthusiasm. They ended the night with a kiss ... or two ... and fell asleep in each other’s arms.