Page 7

E lowen stopped to make camp just before sundown. Ash foraged for dried sticks and arranged a campfire while she gathered damp firewood. Exhaustion was settling into her muscles, so she stopped to stretch a few times when he was busy elsewhere. She didn’t want him to worry.

The dragons flew by again, not quite over their heads this time. Ash flinched and ducked behind a tree. He cast a furtive look at Elowen as if to see if she’d noticed his reaction.

Why would he be worried about dragons, especially while traveling with her? Even if the dragons were hungry, they wouldn’t steal a goose. Would they?

“They’re flying low again,” she said, watching him. “I wonder if it’s the same ones.”

He wiggled his shoulders in a goose shrug and added another stick to the pile as if uninterested.

Elowen let him pretend, wondering why he obviously wanted to avoid their attention. Perhaps she would ask him about it later. At the moment, she was more concerned with starting a fire, her stomach grumbling for a warm meal.

“I’ll get this going in a moment,” she said, striking the flint and steel again with no result.

Ash paced and nodded in an agitated manner, even though the dragons were long gone. He must be starving, as well, but he could forage while she worked. She was doing the best she could.

As the last bit of sunlight faded, Ash groaned and sank to the ground. “I don’t feel well.”

She threw down the flint and steel and rushed to his side. His feathers were hot, as if warmed by a fire that had yet to be lit, and then they began to glow.

The golden light increased, and Ash yelled, “Run!” He lurched to his feet and stumbled away from her as quickly as possible.

Elowen leaped backwards and covered her eyes against a blinding flash of light that disappeared almost instantly. She blinked and then gasped.

Ash stood before her in his dragon form. They stared at each other, mouths agape.

“A friend by night,” Elowen whispered. At least one part of the fairy’s rhyme made sense now.

He patted his chest with one of his front feet and spread his bronze wings as wide as he could without hitting any trees. Swishing his tail, he laughed giddily and flopped onto the grass. “Well, I’m glad that’s over.”

She wasn’t so sure.

“What is it?” he said.

“Do you feel all right?”

“I feel amazing.” His tail twitched. “Why?”

“I ... I don’t think this is going to last.” She sat up straight. “Remember the fairy’s rhyme? ? A gift by day. / A friend by night. ’”

“You think I’m going to turn back into that goose?”

She shrugged. “I fear you might. The golden goose is the fairy’s gift, after all.”

Ash propped his head on his front feet. “She must know something we don’t, but why wouldn’t she tell you?”

She shrugged again and crawled around in search of her flint and steel. “I can’t even begin to understand why fairies do things. I’ve heard too many stories about them, but I never expected to meet one myself.” Hoped and wished, perhaps, but never expected. “I have a feeling she means this to be a good thing, though. Somehow.”

“She wants you to figure it out yourself.”

“Far be it for a fairy to give a simple, straightforward gift.” It was too early to regret letting the fairy choose the wish, but Elowen couldn’t see any good coming from it at the moment. Giving up on the flint and steel in the dark, she sat down near the unlit campfire and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying not to let Ash see her shiver.

He stood abruptly and grabbed a chunk of old fallen log nearby. After splitting it open, he scraped out some dry slivers from inside with his talons and threw them on the unlit campfire. He sat nearby, looking sideways at Elowen, and spit a spark of flame at the kindling.

Elowen sat up in surprise as the fire grew steadily. “How? I thought dragons couldn’t produce flame on a whim.” Unless he was more angry than she’d thought.

“I’m a rare exception to the rule,” he said as if bored. Or sad. “An oddity.”

She didn’t press for details, and he didn’t offer any. Instead, she thanked him and prepared a warm soup using a few of her supplies and the mushrooms she’d gathered. Ash accepted a few bites but insisted he wasn’t hungry after the snails and apple from earlier.

He scribbled in the dirt with a stick, avoiding her gaze. “So ... you’re not frightened ... of me?”

“Dragon Tri-Code,” she said.

“What?”

“You take it seriously, right? Peace, hard work, self-control.”

“Of course. Any dragon who didn’t would be dragged before our queen.”

She didn’t miss his furtive glance upwards, and she remembered the dragons passing overhead as if searching for something.

“I trust you, Ash.” He’d given her no reason not to, and she refused to think ill of him simply because he was different. No matter how dangerous that difference might be.

He let out a shaky sigh that threatened to put out the fire.

Hoping to distract him, she said, “And I’d like to travel a while longer tonight, if you’re up to it. You know, since you’re a dragon again.”

He brightened immediately. “Of course! But you need a few hours of sleep first. No arguments. I’ll wake you at midnight, and we can set out then.”

She nodded and shoveled the last few bites of soup into her mouth. After tidying up she unrolled her blanket next to the fire.

Ash, curled up nearby, lifted a wing invitingly. “You’ll be warmer here than wrapped in that flimsy thing.”

Without hesitation, she snuggled next to his side and lay her head on his front leg. She sighed, feeling warm and safe in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time, and fell asleep wishing for Cedar to know such a feeling soon.

BY THE TIME ASH WOKE her, the moon was fully up and unobscured by clouds for the first time in days. Elowen doused the embers and strapped on the pack basket tightly for the flight. The searching dragons passed by once more, but not so low as to shake the canopy.

Ash ducked and looked everywhere but at Elowen. “We should walk for a bit. Let my muscles loosen up.”

She was stiff herself from sleeping on the ground for a few days, so she didn’t argue. Perhaps it was normal procedure for a dragon who’d just woken. “I have terrible night vision,” she said, and reminded him of Alder’s fall in the dark.

“I can carry you on the ground as well as in the air.”

Once she was seated, they made much better time than when she’d been carrying him as a goose. She trusted his sense of direction and tried to enjoy the novelty of riding on a dragon, but although his gait was less jarring than the farm horse’s, she found herself wishing for the smoothness of flight. Perhaps if he’d been walking normally instead of slinking through the shadows, she would feel differently.

The dragons flew by again twice in quick succession, almost as if they were circling now.

“What are they looking for?” Elowen wondered aloud. Could her king have sent help after all?

Ash shrugged, unsettling her balance, and asked his own question. “What will we do once we reach Tressl?”

“We have to be at the smithy by ... noon tomorrow, I think.” The days were beginning to blur together, so she’d better not mess up that part of the fairy’s instructions. “You’ll be a goose at that time, so we’d better find a way to hide your feathers.”

“I agree. I have no desire to be seen in such an undignified form, gold or not.”

“You make a very handsome goose, and not just because of the golden feathers. We’ve owned many geese over the years, so I should know.”

He chuckled, and his bronze hide shone in the moonlight as he entered a clearing.

The dragons were overhead again. “There!” One of them shouted as they circled the clearing.

Elowen couldn’t determine their number, as Ash bolted back under cover of the trees. His head swiveled, searching for something, and she felt herself slipping on his back. Finally, he tipped her onto the ground and shooed her down the side of a shallow embankment. Confused, she let him push her along and wedge them both, and the pack basket, between some bushy trees and the loose earth of the embankment. He was very clearly hiding from these dragons.

“I hope you have a good reason for this,” she said.

“Hush.”

He pulled her so tightly to his side with a wing that she had to wiggle out of the pack basket and push it away from her to make room to breathe.

The dragons landed in the clearing, judging by the sounds, and their voices grew louder as they moved swiftly through the trees. After they passed by the hiding place, Elowen heaved a sigh of relief.

“You there!” One of the dragons had doubled back and found them.

Ash spun around, keeping her tucked behind his wing. She peeked out and saw two dragons looming before them, one taller and one more muscular than Ash.

“Still running, are you?” Tall Dragon said.

“The queen is displeased,” said the other dragon. “You must return with us immediately.”

“I will not,” Ash said, his voice shaky but determined. “I have no intention of returning, and I have no wish to fulfill a role someone else appointed for me.”

“Coward,” Tall Dragon said.

Ash didn’t budge. “I’m not cut out to be a queen’s guard.”

“It’s your duty,” Muscles said and took a step forward. “We’re not returning without you.”

Ash shifted his feet and tucked her closer to him. The air beneath his wing grew warmer, almost stifling. His flames were heating up ... but so were hers.

How dare they threaten her friend? Did they know who they were dealing with?

She pushed her way out from under the shelter of his wing and stood in front of Ash, facing the two bullies. The trolls had already dragged away her brother. These two weren’t going to take Ash from her.

“Get lost!” she shouted.

The two dragons raised their heads in surprise.

“We don’t have to explain ourselves to a puny human,” Tall Dragon said, clearly not intimidated.

She crossed her arms, ready to let them have the full force of her anger.

Ash stepped forward next to her, his voice no longer shaky. “You should watch your tone around my human.”

Muscles snorted. “ Your human? You couldn’t possibly have found a human to take you as a companion. Not this quickly.”

“Not ever,” Tall Dragon said. “You’re too dangerous.”

“He’s not dangerous!” Elowen said, unsure about Ash’s implication that she was his companion. His real, honest-to-goodness life companion.

Golden coins and fairy wishes and dragon companions didn’t come to farm girls.

“She is my companion, and I’m helping her on an important quest.”

At this point, Elowen didn’t know if Ash was defending her or using her as an excuse not to return to his queen. And she didn’t care. She would face that later. For now, these dragons were slowing down her search for her brother.

“That’s right,” she said. “I am his human, and he’s my dragon, and you can fly back to wherever you came from and leave us alone. Unless you want to help with our .... ” What had Ash called it? “Our quest.”

The two dragons glanced at each other and then looked at her incredulously. They stared long enough for her to start sweating. They were dragons, after all.

Muscles frowned and spoke to Ash. “The queen won’t be happy to hear this.”

“What a waste,” Tall Dragon said. He turned and began walking away, speaking over his shoulder. “Mind the Tri-Code, coward, or we will forcibly bring you in.”

Neither Elowen nor Ash moved until they heard the dragons depart through the clearing. Elowen sat hard on the ground, her legs no longer able to support her. She wiped a hand over her brow and sighed.

Ash sat in front of her, a sheepish look on his face. “I ... can’t thank you enough for your help just now.”

“I don’t like bullies.” She shrugged. “But don’t worry. I won’t hold you to any of that companion stuff. Once we’ve figured out how to free you from this golden goose transformation, you’re free to do whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?”

She nodded, fighting against tears. She probably just needed more sleep, but her heart ached at the thought of him not being around anymore. Life before Ash had been lonely. She’d only realized how lonely after meeting him. Life after he’d gone would feel doubly so.

Ash cleared his throat and looked at her shyly. “In that case, what I want is to not leave you, if it’s all the same to you.”

She stared at him, mouth agape. Had she heard him right? He wanted to stay with her? She shook her head, trying to convince herself that of course he only meant that he would fulfill his word to help find Cedar.

“I want you to be my human, Elowen, if you’ll have me. I want to be your dragon.”

“You ... you’re serious? Do you know what you’re asking? I’m just a farmer’s daughter, and a poor one at that.” A sob threatened to escape. She’d always thought of herself as strong, just as Mother had instructed her to be, but she didn’t want to be strong at the moment. She wanted a companion.

“You kept me safe, just now.” He scooted closer to her and lowered his head to her level. “Be my life companion. Let me help you find your brother, and then we can go back and farm and hunt mushrooms and chase unicorns off the land to our hearts’ content.”

The sob turned into a snort at the mention of unicorns.

“I could never use my flames to hurt anyone, even in defense of my queen. Peace and quiet, Elowen, that’s all I want.” His voice held a pleading tone. “Family by my side. We found each other for a reason, I think. We’re meant to be together.”

She bit her fingernail and frowned.

“Think about it? Please?”

She nodded, unable to find words. Yes, she wanted to say. Stay strong, her Mother’s voice echoed in her memory. Could she really accept him?

They scrabbled back up to the clearing, Ash carrying the pack as Elowen walked by his side. With the searching dragons dealt with, they could fly at ease now, and Elowen was eager to make up for lost time.

Ash must have been itching to fly, as well. As soon as they entered the clearing, he dug out the cloak and slashed two small holes into it. Before she could protest, he slipped her arms through and settled it around her shoulders like a sleeveless coat.

“This way you can put the pack over the cloak,” he said. “Flying is cold when you don’t have a thick hide like me.”

His thoughtfulness warmed her, and she tied the cloak securely around her neck. He helped secure the pack basket on her back. What would it be like to fly home with him after rescuing Cedar? Arriving in triumph at the farm, seeing the look on Alder’s face. Cedar would love to fly. And Ash ... he needed somewhere to belong.

She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be your human, Ash.”

He stopped fussing with the pack straps. “You ...”

“Will you be my dragon?”