Page 3

A sh. What a perfect name for a dragon. Easy to say and easy to remember. Down to earth. The simplicity of his name, along with his demeanor, put Elowen at ease. For some reason, she’d expected all dragons to have fancy names like Sparrow-Wing or Moon-Gleam or Gold-Flame.

“I’m Elowen,” she said, returning the introduction, and smiled shakily at Ash. Hope made the small gesture possible, while fear cut it short. Fear for her brother Cedar in the hands of the trolls, and fear of climbing onto a dragon’s back and leaving behind solid ground to search for him. Fear for her family always won out. “I’m no good at riding, but I’ll gladly accept your offer to help find my brother. Thank you.”

“No one gets away with stealing ... children when I’m around.” Ash had paused for barely half a second as if he’d meant to use a different word, and then he lowered his eyes. The angry rumble in his voice returned, but it seemed aimed at himself this time. “I should have been around.”

“Never mind that.” Elowen understood irrational guilt, but she refused to allow its tendrils to wind around her heart and squeeze her into indecision. “Tell me what I need to do so we can get started while there’s still daylight. We’ll have time for longer introductions and explanations later.”

Ash heaved a deep breath and sighed into the trees, sending a spray of droplets onto their heads. He seemed not to notice the extra moisture as he unstrapped the satchel from around his neck and threw it into the bushes. “Stupid mushrooms,” he muttered.

“I’ve only ever ridden our farm horse,” Elowen said, ignoring the comment.

He snorted. “Riding a dragon is nothing like riding a horse. You ride on a horse. You ride with a dragon.”

“Have you carried many people?” She walked beside him through the trees, unsure where he was going. They were supposed to be searching from the air.

He stopped and squinted into the gloom ahead. “Enough to be able to keep you from falling off. Don’t worry.”

They walked for less than five minutes, but each minute felt like a day as she imagined how much more ground the trolls could cover with their huge, disgusting feet. Where were they taking her brother? Who would tend to him if he took a chill from being drenched?

Ash stopped walking. “Here. Here is good.” He lowered himself to the ground, folded his legs neatly under himself, and looked at her expectantly. “Ready?”

“Now?” Of course he meant now. She wiped her sweaty hands on her trousers, but it didn’t help. Every inch of her was soaked. Ash was soaked. She wondered if his bronze hide would lighten when he dried the same way Cedar’s golden hair did. She smoothed her own chin-length locks behind her ears and nodded. “I’m ready.”

He twitched his left wing away from his side, giving her better access. “I’ve got no saddle, so climb on my neck as best you can, just above the wings.” He wiggled lower into the muddy grass.

Right. No time to waste. A quick jump and swing of the leg, and Elowen was sitting on a dragon. Her heart raced with dread ... and excitement. She’d never dreamed she would actually fly with a dragon, but her reason for doing so now kept her from fully enjoying the moment. Still, she wanted to be able to tell Cedar all about it, so she tried to relax and focus.

She clenched her hands on her knees and tried to peer over Ash’s head. While the base of his long, sinewy neck made an ideal resting spot, his large head rose higher than any horse she’d ever ridden and made it impossible to see without leaning to the side. “What ... I mean, where do I—”

Ash stood before she could ask where to hold on since he had no mane to wrap her fingers in. His muscles tensed underneath her. “Hold on tight!”

“What?” Her voice squeaked in panic, sure he was about to spring into the air before she was ready and send her tumbling down his back and into the waiting mud. She didn’t care about getting even dirtier, but she would rather not waste time fumbling around with the basics. “Wait! Hold on where?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”

She wiped her hands on her trousers and uselessly tucked her hair behind her ears again. “Mind reader,” she mumbled.

He chuckled. “Deep breath, Elowen. We won’t go until you’re ready.”

Reassured, she obeyed, sucking in a lungful of air and exhaling through pursed lips.

“Now, hold onto my neck. You’re going to be looking down past my shoulder, all right?”

She leaned forward and threw her arms around him. If he were a horse, she would be terrified of being thrown over his head, but Ash had given his word. He wouldn’t let her fall. Cedar needed them.

“I’m going to jump through this clearing in the trees when you’re ready. Press your cheek close to my neck and keep your eyes closed until we’re clear.”

“I’m ready.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the uncertainty in her voice. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling Ash’s muscles tense again under her legs, her arms. Her sweaty palms pressed against the damp hide of his neck, and she wondered if the pulse she felt there was her own or his. Or perhaps a combination of both. She concentrated on the steady rhythm, imagining each beat was a troll’s footstep taking her brother farther and farther away.

Ash jumped into the air.

Elowen held her breath, anticipating the sting of branches, but his leap took them cleanly through the canopy with only a tickle of leaves against her arms. He might be similar in size to a work horse, but he was far stronger to manage such a feat.

Whump. Whump. Whump.

Wing beats overlapped heartbeats. “Breathe, Elowen,” Ash reminded her. “Open your eyes and tell me where you want to start searching.”

Once again, she obeyed. Her eyes stung and watered from the wind, but she forced herself to keep them open. She looked at Ash’s neck first. Then she took in his shoulder, his legs tucked underneath him, his wings beating steadily as he flew in wide, low circles. Finally, she allowed herself to look down.

She gasped and then choked as too much air forced its way into her lungs. The world was green and blue and gold in a way she never could have imagined. Even with all the paints and colored pencils in the world, Alder would never be able to capture all the hues flowing beneath her. In the distance, the farmhouse alone would need seven, no a dozen colors to bring it to life. She tried to orient herself as if the woods and its surroundings were a map spread upon the kitchen table. There was the river. The farmhouse and fields. A distant plume of smoke in the direction of the town looked like a tiny candle had been snuffed on the horizon.

A spot of red among the foliage caught her attention. “The cherry trees!” She clung tighter to Ash’s neck to stop the impulse to point out the spot. “We should start there and head northeast!”

The wind seemed to tear her words from her, but he must have heard somehow. He banked left, the direction Elowen was leaning along his neck, and she forced herself to scan the ground below them for any signs of trolls. Footprints would be even more impossible to see from the air than they had been from the ground, but there must be something. There had to be. They were too destructive to go unnoticed for long.

The cherry orchard appeared sooner than she’d anticipated, the mauled tree she’d clung to reaching lonely branches towards them as they flew overhead. Ash circled once and then flew northeast as she’d suggested.

Movement. They were searching for movement. Troll-sized waving of the green canopy or a couple of tall figures striding through a clearing. The rain seemed to have weighed down the entire forest, and the world flowed by at the speed of their passage. Ash stayed high enough so that his wings wouldn’t disturb their observations, gliding from time to time, his great head searching from side to side. Perhaps his eyesight was better than hers, because she saw nothing.

They covered more ground than Elowen could have on foot, but she had no idea how far the trolls could have traveled, if they had changed direction, or if they had simply stopped somewhere for the day. Neither of them spoke. Ash occasionally circled back as if to get a better look at something, but Elowen couldn’t guess what he might have seen. She blinked back more tears, her hands becoming numb with cold despite the heat from Ash’s hide. With the urgency of the search, as well Ash’s comforting presence and solid flying, she’d forgotten to worry about falling off. Her worry now was finding nothing and losing Cedar for good.

The leaves gradually changed colors, the greens becoming gold-tinged and then shifting darker to muddy blues and greys. At first, Elowen thought they’d traveled beyond the border of her familiar forest, until she glanced up and realized sunset had arrived. They would see no movement at all soon, whether or not they were looking. Her heart sank, and she bowed her shoulders against the cold wind, trying to sink into Ash’s warmth. They would have to return with no news. Perhaps Father or Alder had found something.

“Ash?”

He rumbled in acknowledgment.

“Can you take me home?” She could hardly hear the words herself, but he stopped in midair and hovered. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything in the dark.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder and huffed out a frustrated gust of air. “Good-for-nothing trolls. If you’re up for it, I’ll fly higher on the way back. It’ll be faster, and we might see a sign of a campfire if they stopped for the night.”

Elowen’s arms were already tight around his neck, but she squeezed a bit harder, hoping he’d understand it for a hug at his thoughtfulness. He climbed higher in a matter of moments, and they headed back the way they’d come. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the farmhouse, the light from the windows was the only indication of life they had seen.

Ash descended quickly and landed several yards away from where Alder sat on the woodpile Cedar had been working on that morning. Alder looked up in surprise but remained slumped where he sat as if too weary to be alarmed that his sister was riding a dragon.

Elowen unfolded her freezing limbs and slid off Ash’s back. She chafed her hands together and stomped her boots on the solid ground. “Nothing. You?”

Alder shook his head, still staring at the dragon.

“Ash helped me search from the sky.”

He nodded once and sighed. “I’m afraid it’s gonna take a king’s soldier to get Cedar back now.”

The door opened, and Father emerged from the kitchen with a steaming mug in his hands. He passed it to Elowen. “We’re thankful for your help,” he said, nodding at Ash.

Elowen did her best at making introductions, the unexpected mug of tea warming her hands and her heart.

Ash flashed a sad smile. “Under any other circumstances, I would say I’m glad to meet you. All things considered, I’d like to offer my assistance. I’ve been to the capital, and I can take a letter to the king for you. If you’d like.”

Elowen bounced on her toes, sloshing hot tea onto her fingers. A letter to the king? “Yes!”

Father interrupted her. “You’ve already done more than enough.”

“I can fly the soldier back here myself in no time at all.”

Elowen knew how fast Ash could fly from their return journey, and she was sure he hadn’t been going top speed during their search.

Alder crossed his arms. “Not that we’re ungrateful for your offer, but ... why would you want to help us?”

Ash glanced at Elowen as if confused by the question.

“Because he’s a good, decent dragon—and he’s fast! Let him help, Father! Please!” She set her mug on the woodpile and grasped her father’s hands, unsure about her own insistence to let Ash help them as if the two of them were best friends after sharing one flight together. She whispered, “We’ll find some way to pay him.”

Ash cleared his throat and recited, “Peace first. Work hard. Self-control.”

Father pulled his hands away and crossed his arms, his look of confusion mirroring Alder’s. “I beg your pardon?”

“The Dragon Tri-Code.” Ash glanced at them each in turn as if that explained everything. When no one responded, he grinned sheepishly and said, “I would never take payment for helping you, even if you had a mountain of gold. You’ve been kind to let me stay and study mushrooms in your woods, and I’ve grown fond of hearing your family’s daily activities as I wander around. Alder scolding the chickens for pecking his boots. Father humming dancing tunes in the field. Elowen splashing in the river to cool off. Cedar chopping wood so fast I feared for his fingers. Almost like ... like I’m a part of ... things.”

If dragons could blush, Elowen was sure Ash’s bronze cheeks would be bright red as he finished speaking. She remembered his outrage when she’d told him about Cedar. They had to let him take a letter to the king.

“I’ll write the note myself,” she said, a headache already threatening at the thought of hunching over the table to scribble and smear a letter good enough for the king. She was the one who had flown with Ash, so it should be her decision whether or not he helped further. “You can leave as soon as I’m finished.”

Ash’s expression brightened and he smiled.

Father and Alder turned to Elowen, their looks of confusion replaced with shock.

“You’d best write the letter, Alder,” Father said, a hint of relief in his voice. He turned to Ash and wiggled his fingers. “Elowen writes like Cedar chops wood.”

Ash had refused to linger once the letter was finished and set off for the king’s city immediately.

After a cold supper, Father excused himself to check on the animals before bed, but no sooner had he stepped foot outside the door than he jumped back over the threshold with a yelp. “They’re back!”

Elowen bolted to her feet, ears burning and fists clenched. Had Ash been that fast? Or had the trolls returned? Alder put a hand on her shoulder.

Father cleared his throat and opened the door wide.

The unicorns stood in the farmyard, glowing in the moonlight.