Page 6 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 6

“Allow me, milady,” Ged said, offering me a hand when I struggled to get up.

“I’m covered with pig shit, Rider,” I ground out, clawing my way over to the fence and then hauling myself up that way.

“While I appreciate your consideration of the state of my armour,” he replied with a wry grin, “it’s not a state I’m unfamiliar with. You should’ve seen this big bastard when he was but a hatchling. His shit would peel the paint from the walls.” A roar from above let us know what the dragon himself thought about that. “Oh, and I wouldn’t bother making a run for it.”

Both Ged and I turned to see one of the lads was edging towards the trees.

“With Cloudy, well, if a suspect runs, you’re fair game for him. He gets to decide whether you live or die as he hunts you down and, I can tell you, it ain't looking good for you right now.”

Ged chuckled when the boy froze where he was. But then the dragon rider turned back to me, eyes widening when he saw my shirt had been torn away, his hands going to his jacket toggles, flicking them open and shrugging off the garment to hand to me.

“My apologies, milady.”

“I can’t—” I started to reply.

“You must, lass,” he prompted, much more gently. “I’d give you one of these bastard’s shirts but?—”

“No, I can’t!”

I yelped out my reply before stumbling away. Away from the hut, the pens, those fucking lads and the knife left to sink into the mud. I ran on into the trees, their canopy in the dappled moonlight a welcome shelter: the only sort of shelter I felt I was likely to get. And all the way, my progress was marked by the heavy beat of dragon’s wings, right till the moment I reached the river.

I threw myself down onto the bank as Cloud Raker landed on the open plain on the other side of the river, but I didn’t have it in me to spend time marvelling at the sight of such a magnificent beast. Instead, I clawed at the earth beneath my hands as my stomach roiled, then convulsed. I hacked up the meagre meal of bread I’d only just managed to get down and then all that I brought up after that was just watery bile. I heard the dragon snuffle, grunting, his snake-like neck unfolding as his muzzle extended, but I held up a shaking hand, as if that was enough to hold him back.

“He won’t hurt you, lass. He can’t.”

I turned to see Ged had arrived not long after me, but I couldn’t deal with his presence, his dragon or anything else. I scrambled forward, pitching headfirst into the shallows.

My hands moved with a frantic energy, clawing at my limbs, raking my ragged nails along my arms and legs. I felt the caked-on mud give way, wash down the river, but that wasn’t enough for me to feel clean. I couldn’t eradicate the feel of them, their hands… No one had ever… I hadn’t… I was nineteen, past the age for courting and marriage, but my prospects of that had all been curtailed once my father married my stepmother. She’d pleaded for Father to delay any attempts at betrothal, citing that it would be a good bonding activity for the younger Arabella and I to find husbands at the same time. That had just been a tactic; one I now knew was an attempt on her part to keep my dowry and anything else I was entitled to. As I shivered in the water, from the cold and from my emotions, Ged stepped closer, though not too close. Cloud Raker growled something when he tried.

“I know, you big lunk. I’ll not hurt the lass. But Lady Pippa, that river water’s got to be freezing you down to the bone and I think you’re clean enough. Clean enough to come back to the estate and bring those bastards to justice.”

“I can’t,” I said, the words ground out from between chattering teeth. “I can’t go back. I can’t.”

“Those three lads aren’t the only ones with a case to answer. Never you fear, those two little minxes will have their heads on the chopping block too.”

I looked up then, really seeing Ged for the first time. His brown hair was cropped close to his scalp, a fine beard gracing his chin. He sat there on his haunches, watching my submerged self with a gentle eye, a small smile forming on his lips as I stared back. Then he offered me the jacket again, turning his head to give me some privacy when I finally stepped free of the river.

In my dreams, I’d imagined returning to the family estate so many times in so many different ways. Sometimes the means were fanciful. A witch or a fae woman posing as an old crone, coming to my door, begging for food. My generosity, despite my own poverty, impressing her so that she’d grant me three wishes. Other scenarios were much more gritty, more bloody. A burning brand in my hand, tossed into the new season’s hay, the dry grass going up in flames that were reflected in my eyes. Or the gutting knife, pressed against Arabella’s ribs, then slipping up and up between the bones to pierce her heart. But in none of my dreams had I ever imagined it like this. I was a drowned rat, barefoot and dripping, clutching a dragon rider’s leather jacket around me, breathing in the scent of dragon and man.

“I’ll notify my wing commander,” Ged told me once we reached the steps of the manor. He patted my shoulder, as if to encourage me to take a step forward, but I just stared at the big door. “Brom knew something was up and all of us have been on alert. No one would dare mess with someone wearing the uniform of a dragon rider. Go on, find some decent clothes and then meet us in the great hall. This promises to be an explosive evening.”

I did as he bade. Everyone did as the dragon riders said in Nevermere. A dragon rider’s word was law, his judgement absolute, and I’d been given my orders. I let the words carry me through the darkened halls as I padded down the corridors, past the curious eyes of servants, until I came to my father’s room. The key was sticking out of the lock, as if recently used, and I frowned as I turned it.

“Milady!” Nadia rushed forward as I pushed the door open, her eyes swollen and her skin blotchy. “Oh milady, I was seen. I’m so bloody sorry! I thought that Arabella was preoccupied with the dragon riders, flirting with them outrageously as she was, too preoccupied to notice me slipping away. She found me packing you a bag and then she?—”

“And then she what?”

We both turned around to see the woman herself standing in the doorway, her arms folded across the satin bodice of a very nice gown. My fingers closed around the key I’d pulled from the door, slotting it between my knuckles at the sight of her.

“What did I do, Nadia?” Arabella spat out the words as she stepped closer.

I put myself between my maid and my stepsister and Arabella noted my stance and my unconventional attire with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“They know, Arabella,” I said. “I don’t know how they know, but the riders know.”

“What do they know?” she spat back at me. “That we’ve put up their blasted animals in our fields, given them beef and pork and chicken from our own farms to eat? That we’ve bestowed upon them every bloody luxury this estate possesses? And for what?!” Her smile faded and a harsh and terrible expression replaced it. “That egg of theirs didn’t even warm to my touch. Not even a flicker. If anyone was meant to be queen?—”

“Queen?” I snorted. “You won’t even be Lady Arabella after this. The dragon riders know what you did to take this estate and they’re here to right the wrongs.”

“Gods, you still believe those fairy tales, don’t you?”

“One of them stopped those lads you sent to rape me.”

Her face fell at that, her eyes widening, then she flicked them furtively behind her to check who might be within earshot.

“That can’t be traced back to me.”

“It can through me,” Nadia snapped. “You told me in great detail what you’d intended.”

“Your word doesn’t prove anything. You’re just a spiteful maid, angry because you’ve lost your position in this house for the crime of stealing the dead lord’s possessions.” Arabella’s smile was back now as she warmed to the story she was concocting. “An unreliable witness if ever there was one.”

“Miss Arabella.”

We all turned to see Gerald, and several of the farm lads who’d come with him to collect the pigs, standing in the hallway.

“That’s Lady —” Arabella started to say, taking in a deep breath to puff herself up.

“Miss Arabella, the dragon riders have requested your presence, and Lady Pippa’s and Miss Nadia’s.”

It was Nadia that wore the smug smile now as she fixed Arabella with a poisonous glare.

“Lady Pippa will be down shortly, when I’ve found her something respectable to wear,” she informed them.

“Of course,” Gerald said, nodding to the two of us. “ Now , Miss Arabella…”

He held out a hand, but it wasn’t an offer, it was a command. My stepsister’s spine straightened then, her chin jerking up as she considered Gerald’s hand, then sailed past him. He didn’t seem to care, as long as she was moving in the right direction, something he and the lads seemed to manage, much as they had done with the pigs. But when the corridor was empty, when I was drawing in deep breaths that were scented with the faint smell of tobacco and lemon floor polish, that’s when it hit me.

“They know,” I said, mostly to myself, my eyes sinking to the richly patterned carpet beneath our feet, my breath coming faster. “Somehow they know.”

“They always do. That’s what the stories say,” Nadia said, bustling over to my side. “Those dragons can see clear into a man’s heart and they won’t like what they find in the hearts of those two women, I can tell you that for free.” She looked me up and down with an assessing eye. “There’s not many of your old dresses left and those that there are, I’m not sure whether they’ll fit you. You’ve shot up again.”

“I’m not wearing a dress,” I said, peeling off the jacket and leaving it on the bed. “I’ve been wearing Father’s clothes for a year now. I can continue doing that.”

“Then I’ll have a bath brought up for you.”

“A bath?” I stared at Nadia, seeing the familiar pretty face of the maid who’d been doing my hair since I was old enough to have it pinned up, but it was like looking at a stranger. “The dragon riders are waiting. Those boys were going to?—”

“And you’re the last of the Wentworth line.” My mouth snapped shut at that. “You represent your father and everyone else who’s been wronged in this dispute. You can do that in men’s clothes as well as a dress, but you need to walk into this as Lady Pippa, not…”

“…Pig.”

I said the word for her because she couldn’t. So many people had said that word when they saw me, it had become my name. But she was right in a way. I did need to reclaim my heritage, my house and my name, but that wouldn’t be an easy process. My head itched furiously, and as my nails raked across my scalp, Nadia took an instinctive step backwards. Lice were dirty, disgusting things and too easily transmitted from one person to another, hence her reticence to stand close to me.

“Alright,” I replied finally, “send for a bath.” She bobbed a grateful curtsey. But I wasn’t finished. “And my father’s shaving soap and straight razor.”

Nadia’s eyes went up to where my nails still scratched at my scalp, her mouth falling open.

“No, milady, you can’t. We’ll try some kerosene and?—”

“If I am to represent my family again, I can’t do so with a head full of lice and you know it. I’ll shave my hair off and burn the lot, so no one else is infected.” I forced my hand down. “Then we’ll see what these dragon riders have to say about the people who tried to steal my inheritance from me.”