Page 13

CHAPTER 13

I couldn’t stop myself from checking the sky every few minutes the next morning. When would Pollox come? The captain of the guard had called for me and was waiting in the courtyard with several bleary-eyed knights and squires, each looking more somber than the last. Griffin wouldn’t look at me at all.

“We have a proposition,” the captain told me in a tone that suggested that whatever he was about to say was an order rather than a suggestion. “The dragon is due to arrive and demand payment any time now.”

“Right.” Surreptitiously, I looked around, keeping an eye out for catapults or steel netting. What did they have in mind?

“We need you to go back with the dragon.”

I blinked, shocked that they would suggest such a thing.

“I know what you must be thinking,” the captain went on in a hurry. “But we have reason to believe that the dragon won’t harm you, and we need an insider for the mission we have in mind.”

Still, Griffin wouldn’t look at me. Had he told them all how Pollox had claimed me for his hoard? Griffin told me that dragons didn’t harm what they took possession of, but if there had been deaths, was he really willing to gamble my safety?

“We are working to secure some dragonsbane,” the captain continued. “It’s a drug that weakens dragons, but it has to be in very close proximity to work. The plan is that you will deliver Drake’s ransom to the dragon, who will, unfortunately, probably take you into his possession once more. Once we have secured the dragonsbane, Griffin here has volunteered to deliver it to you. When you get it, you simply put it where you know the dragon will inhale it or somehow get it into or onto him, and it will weaken him enough that he can be killed.”

“How long does it weaken him? Forever?”

“No, a few hours at best, depending on how much is inhaled or how long it is in contact with his hide,” Griffin said, speaking to my shoes. “It’s very rare, so not much is known about it.”

“When will it come?”

“We don’t know yet,” the captain answered. “As soon as possible, but it could be a few days to a few weeks. I’m sorry to put this on you, Princess, but we couldn’t think of any other way to kill the dragon.”

I put on a brave face. “I’ll do it.”

It was just as well. I had questions for Pollox, many of them. For whatever Griffin had said, I hadn’t ever seen Pollox behave cruelly, and I’d certainly never seen him kill a person, even if he joked about eating them occasionally. But were they just jokes? Was Pollox the monster Griffin claimed, or was he the friend I trusted? If he was trustworthy then he wouldn’t harm me, and if he was the possessive dragon Griffin described, he still wouldn’t harm a part of his hoard. I was safe either way, right?

The alarm gong sounded, and a cry came up from the soldiers standing watch. “The dragon! The dragon is coming!”

“This is it,” Griffin said. Even though there were people watching, he reached for my hand, then after hesitating for a fraction of a second, crushed me into a tight hug. “Stay safe.”

A shadow briefly passed over us as Pollox came soaring out of the sky, with Drake squealing beneath him, trapped within the confines of his claws. Pollox circled the castle then plummeted straight down toward us. With a cry, Griffin threw his body in front of mine, trying to protect me, but Pollox’s wings flapped open at the last moment so he landed just beyond the moat.

“Bring me the princess,” Pollox bellowed. His voice vibrated the very stone. “I know you have her. And fetch the ransom if you want this piglet back.”

Two servants came into view, tugging a heavy treasure chest on a small cart as the captain took me by the upper arm and led me over the drawbridge. A small crowd of people all clustered close behind us, including Griffin, who kept his hand on the small of my back. The moment I came into view, Pollox’s orange eyes fixed onto my blue ones.

“Give her to me. Now,” Pollox snarled, smoke furling from both his nostrils.

“Send the knight over,” the captain called. “We have your ransom.”

“I’ll take the ransom and the girl before I release him.” Pollox’s tail curled around Drake’s middle and turned him upside down so he turned purple in the face. “I assure you I have no interest in keeping a prisoner as obnoxious as this one, and if you don’t send the ransom, I’ll let you have him back as soon as I’m in the air again. How good are you at catching?”

“Send her over!” Drake spluttered. “Hurry!”

“My hero,” I grumbled before stepping forward.

Pollox swiftly dumped Drake onto the grass, wrapped his tail around me, snatched at the treasure chest, and launched himself into the air, all within a few seconds. I closed my eyes as we rocketed upward. The takeoff was always the most unpleasant part, and I had to endure the few moments of nausea while my stomach took time to remember it hadn’t been left behind.

From far below, I heard Griffin call out, “Rapunzel!” but his voice was soon lost to the roaring wind.

Pollox’s powerful wings beat the air, rushing us away from the castle. As soon as it was out of view, Pollox deposited me onto his back, where a rope encircled his neck like a large necklace. I wrapped my hands around the rope and straddled the spot where his neck curved into his back, reveling in how my skirts flapped back in the wind, pushed up so that the brisk air around us chilled the outermost part of my thigh while Pollox’s heated body warmed my inner legs. Glancing down, I saw the treasure chest still clutched in his claws.

“You got it!” I called.

Pollox let out his sawing laugh. “We’ll have to open it first to make sure they didn’t fill it with rocks instead of gold, but odds are in our favor. Having human hostages is the best idea I ever had. I don’t even need to pick many arrows out of my scales now. They are too scared to do anything that might hurt whoever I’m holding.”

“Getting you a human hostage was the best idea I ever had,” I corrected him. “I was the one who came to you, remember?”

“Ah yes. That entitles you to what, one tenth of the treasure?”

“Try to cheat me and find out what happens! I’m not afraid to put you in your place.” Even as I teased him, I couldn’t help remembering Griffin’s warnings.

“Cave or tower?” Pollox asked, turning smoothly to catch a different air current.

“Cave first,” I decided. “I’m hungry.”

* * *

The meal was much more sumptuous than anything I’d had at the castle. “You’re very quiet,” Pollox commented. “Did any of the humans bother you? I can eat them for you if you’d like.”

My stomach lurched, and my pudding looked much less appetizing. “No, nothing like that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Have you actually eaten people?” The question sprang from my mouth. “Truly?”

Pollox fixed me with a beady stare. “No. There’s too much fabric on people. Then the metal plating on knights would get stuck in my teeth, and dragon-sized toothpicks are hard to come by.”

I studied my plate. “Have you killed any humans, then?” I felt sick even asking.

“Why do you ask?”

My stomach convulsed. “Someone told me that you had.”

“And you trust their answer over mine? I thought we were friends.”

“You haven’t given me an answer,” I pointed out. “You only said you hadn’t eaten any.”

“Would it matter if I had?”

“Yes! It matters a great deal to me.”

Pollox looked at me a long time. “No,” he finally responded. “I’ve never killed any humans.”

Far from making me feel better, the sinking feeling in my stomach grew. Either Pollox or Griffin was lying, or else Griffin had been misinformed. Who was right? And how was I supposed to tell the difference?

“I don’t kill humans,” Pollox told me, as gently as possible.

“Have other dragons?”

“Yes.”

A tiny flame of hope held out. Griffin could have heard about another dragon and assumed it was Pollox. Pollox had never lied to me before that I knew of, but neither had Griffin.

“This troubles you?”

“Of course. I don’t want humans to be killed.”

“Humans have killed dragons before. Should I believe the worst of you because of what other humans have done?”

I pressed my hands against the sides of my head. It was exhausting to try to work out who was right and who was wrong. But then again, who was I to judge when I was swindling everyone I met?

“Want to come with me to put the ransom away?”

“All right.” I followed Pollox, arms crossed tightly across my chest. Pollox placed the ransom into the treasure room and I stared around at everything. No matter how many ransoms we were paid, the hoard never overfilled.

“Where is that necklace with pink gemstones?” I asked suddenly. “I don’t see it.” In one of the previous sacks of treasure, I’d found a set of jewelry I particularly liked, but now, it seemed to have vanished.

“I moved it.”

“To where?”

“To my collection.”

“You mean it’s in the room you won’t show anyone?”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of ?”

Pollox’s tail twitched, flicking from side to side like a cat. “Do you consider me part of your hoard?”

“Yes. Just as I’m part of yours.”

“So I can trust you with my secrets?”

I hesitated. What sort of secrets was he talking about? “Yes, you can. We’re friends, aren’t we? Friends tell each other everything. I was interrogated when I was at the castle, but I made sure to protect you and not to divulge anything important.”

“Then follow me. I think you’ve proven yourself worthy to know.”

About to burst with curiosity, I followed. At the very end of the hall, Pollox pressed his muzzle against the last door. The moment it swung open, I looked inside, prepared to see fabulous treasures beyond my imagination. Instead, the room was dim and filled not with gold or gemstones, but with an odd assortment of everyday items—a farmer’s hat, a pair of shoes, some worn books, and a crocheted blanket.

“I don’t understand.”

“You said you considered giving away part of your treasure to the people in need, correct?” he asked.

“Right. I just don’t know how to do that while pretending that I’m imprisoned.”

“I do something similar. I will occasionally give things to those I deem most in need, and that is what I did with the necklace.”

“Wouldn’t people be scared of you when they see you?”

“They don’t know it’s from me, and I go at night. Most people have wishing altars in their gardens. They place a small offering on it when they are in need. I take whatever they have to give and leave something in its place. I’ve been seen a few times, but who would believe them if they said a dragon was parting with its hoard?”

My heart warmed. “You’re giving away your treasure?”

“Sometimes. Other times it’s livestock. I didn’t realize that you had such a strong attachment to the necklace or I wouldn’t have given it away. I got this for it instead.” Pollox nudged a homemade doll. “I gave the necklace to a young girl and she offered it as a trade.”

I picked up the doll and stroked the coiled hair. “I’m glad you did.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t give away any of your things.”

“Please do next time. I’ll even come with you.”

“What?”

“A dragon protects its hoard,” I told Pollox. “And I’m still the crown princess. It’s my duty to take care of them, and this is a way I can.”

I laid my head against his warm side. Griffin, however well-intentioned, must have been misinformed. Pollox wasn’t a monster at all.