Page 4 of The Fire Apprentice (Sylvania #5)

“Y ou can’t really mean to go,” Maryanne said as Jane dug through her clothing chest for the single pair of trousers she owned. Dresses were more comfortable than the heavy pants, but if she was going to be hiking in the mountains, wearing trousers seemed smart.

“What’s the alternative?” Jane asked. “If he goes alone, he might never come back. I’ll go mad waiting and wondering.”

“It’s better than being killed by a wicked fairy in the wilderness.”

“Maryanne.” Jane stopped digging to give Maryanne her sternest expression. “The man’s not a killer. You can’t judge him that harshly for merely being a fairy.”

Maryanne leaned on the doorframe, crossing her arms. “Fine. It’s better than being seduced by an evasive fairy in the wilderness.”

Jane laughed sharply. “He’s not interested in seducing me. I practically threw myself on him at the smithy, and he looked horrified.”

“Now you know what he is, that’s probably a relief.”

Jane didn’t reply.

“I still don’t see why you can’t go with peacekeepers.”

“Go where? They have no idea where the dragon is. You know a fairy will be better at finding it. Ro is the best option.”

“Unless he kidnaps you,” Maryanne muttered.

Would he? Was he luring her into the forest with his offer to help her find Elle, only to... do what? Jane squelched the niggling doubt and turned back to the clothing. She didn’t have a choice.

“You can’t trust them,” Maryanne said. “I know they’re not all bad. But it’s been only a turn of the seasons since they threw out their awful queen. How much can they have changed? We trusted them once and look what happened.”

Jane kept digging.

“You have to admit,” Maryanne went on, “it’s strange he was living in the village and apprenticing with the blacksmith.”

“Maybe the fairies have metalwork fences they need fixed and no one knew how to do it.”

“Fairies don’t even like metal.”

“Maybe human goods are growing on them. Besides, I think that’s a myth about metal.”

“Ask him what he was doing here.”

“I will.” Jane pulled out the trousers, pushing the dresses and fabric that spilled out of the wooden chest along with them back in. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

“And at the first sign of anything odd, you run.”

Jane held up the clothing. The pants were shorter than she remembered, a style that ended mid-calf, but they’d be warmer and easier to move in than a dress. She folded them and sat back on her heels, giving Maryanne her full attention. “Don’t fret. You heard him swear to help me. You know they can’t say things like that unless they mean it.”

Maryanne frowned. “Rowan trees probably don’t even grow in the forests around here,” she grumbled.

But Maryanne’s argument was losing steam. Jane shook her head and smiled.

“Maybe his name’s not even Rowan,” Maryanne continued, “and he was tricking us with that ‘oath.’ Maybe Ro is short for... for Ro-dicchio.”

“ Rah -dicchio?”

Maryanne shrugged. “Ro, rah.”

Jane laughed. “Fairies don’t name their children after vegetables!”

“Rosemary, then.”

Jane stood and slipped her arms around Maryanne. “He won’t harm me. You know if he did, his new queen would have him locked up in those caverns.”

Maryanne melted in Jane’s arms. After Rose had rescued the children last spring, the fairies had overthrown their cruel queen and elected Rose in her place. If there was any way to win Maryanne over to accepting fairies, that way was through Rose. Since they first met her a turn of the seasons ago, they’d seen her a few times. She was a quiet person who kept out of the public view, but Jane and the other women who’d lived in the house when Rose had stayed with them all loved and trusted her.

Maryanne squeezed Jane back and let go. “That’s a good idea,” she said.

“What’s a good idea?”

“I’m sending a message straight to Rose to ask about this Rowan fellow. She’ll know if he can be trusted, and if anything’s amiss, she’ll send fairies into the wilderness after you.”

“Maybe she’ll send them anyway,” Jane said. “I don’t know how the two of us are going to find a dragon.”

“I’ll send a message to Ladi in tomorrow’s mail. And Ladi has that fairy friend who can send a bird to Rose, or whatever they do.”

“Thanks, Maryanne. If he tries to seduce me, I’ll hold out for a rescue.”

“Don’t you dare fall for him.”

“I told you, he’s not interested.”

“But you were. He might change his mind once you’re out in a forest alone and sleeping side by side under the stars.”

“I doubt it.”

“Then promise. Promise you won’t fall in love with him.”

“Fine,” Jane said to end the conversation. “I promise.”

Jane dressed in the trousers along with suspenders to hold them up and a plain linen shirt. She finished packing her satchel with a few items and carried it down the stairs to the kitchen. Maryanne had packed sandwiches for her, along with dried fruits and nuts and a packet of flat crackers that would last a few days, so she added the food to her bag along with a drinking gourd. She found the children gathered quietly in the front hall.

“I’m going to find Elle,” she told them, imbuing her words with a confidence she didn’t feel. She took the wool coat off its hook. If she and Ro were going into the mountains, she might need it, whereas Maryanne would be fine without it this spring. She draped it over her satchel.

“Is she all right?” Amare whispered.

“I think so,” Jane said. “The blacksmith’s apprentice knows about dragons and he says she is.”

“She was smiling,” Deka said as she had earlier. “She was happy when it picked her up.”

Jane held back the shudder that wove through her at the image of the dragon’s claws closing around Elle. Was Ro right? Were dragons truly harmless? How could she trust what he said? She forced a smile at the children before grabbing a scarf and leaving.

Everyone was outside, either watching the sky or watching Jane walk by. They must’ve seen where the dragon landed and known something was up, but they hung back on their porches. Did they know the dragon had taken Elle and that the blacksmith’s apprentice had been a fairy in disguise? Well, they’d find out now. They’d probably think she was reckless to go after the dragon. Or to go off with a fairy. But no, most villagers didn’t have the history with fairies that she and Maryanne had, and so they got along with them fine. Maybe the master blacksmith had even known Ro was a fairy.

But why had he hidden the color of his eyes, the sure sign of a fairy?

No one was trying to stop her from going, anyway. The neighbors nodded from their porches and the crowd in the village square parted before her. A wagon hitched to a tired-looking horse waited in the center, and Ro stood alongside the driver, one of the local farmers. The bed of the wagon was piled with the last of the winter cabbages and crates of spring carrots.

Someone tugged on her pant leg. Shamus, one of the more rambunctious children in the village, was beside her.

“Was it really a dragon?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, but there’s no reason to—”

“Wow,” he whispered, letting go of her. “Can I come with you to see it?”

Before Jane could answer, his mother broke through the crowd and hauled him away.

Ro came up beside her and led her to the back of the wagon. She placed her satchel in and sat on the board before scooching back and pulling her legs up. The wagon had enough room for her and Ro, and she could lean on the crates. He climbed in after her, holding a large pack with straps.

People called out good wishes as the wagon jerked into motion and trundled out of the square.

She had seated herself tilted toward Ro, whereas he’d sat facing straight backward. From the side, his long hair hid his eyes. He wore the same clothes he’d had on earlier and his feet were bare, tucked in front of him with his ankles crossed. Fairies weren’t accustomed to wearing shoes. The soles of their feet grew tough enough to walk barefoot in the forest. He must have put shoes on in the smithy to hide his identity. Or maybe a smithy was dangerous enough that even a fairy would wear shoes there.

She shifted her bottom so she also faced backward. Much of the crowd had drifted away. The wagon continued at its sluggish pace and her shoulders twitched with a longing to climb over the cabbages and slap the reins on the poor horse’s back.

“Do you really think Elle is safe?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Ro’s assurance was all she had. She forced her shoulders to relax. “We could walk faster than this,” she muttered.

“We’ll make it to the crossroads by nightfall.”

She waited.

“We wouldn’t start up the mountain road until morning anyway. It’s better to save our energy while we can.”

The mountain road led west from the crossroads. Jane had passed it last moon when she’d accompanied Liza to her new home in Knotty Knob. It had been overgrown and menacing. And Elle was up it somewhere.

“But Elle will be alone overnight.”

Ro sighed quietly. “The dragon won’t let anything harm her.”

The dragon. Right.

Jane leaned against the crates and watched the village square recede behind the wagon. Soon the waving stopped and only Shamus watched them roll away. They passed the cottages along the northern road, with fields spread out to the edge of the forest. The cottages dwindled in number and the trees came closer.

She had to think about something other than Elle or this slow-rolling pace would make her scream or smash something. How was Liza doing? She hadn’t replied to any of Jane’s three letters. Jane continually noticed Liza’s absence in the house. Of all the friends she’d made since leaving her home and surviving the fairy love spell, Liza was the one who understood her. Liza had understood her longing to have Cedric back, and her inability to let go of the romance of fairy princes and magic, even as the awfulness of what the fairies had done sank in. For many seasons after his betrayal, Jane had imagined Cedric coming to find her and bringing their child, confessing he truly loved her and had never stopped loving her, that he’d been locked away by his mother the queen and physically unable to come back to Jane.

But gradually, the daydream had soured. Liza had moved on, courting a farmer from Knotty Knob who’d come through Woods Rest the previous autumn. After six moons of courting, Jane had traveled with Liza to visit his home—and to ease her own worries that he’d turn out to be another swindler preying on her friend—and Liza had bonded with him and moved to Knotty Knob, leaving Jane alone in Woods Rest. Maryanne had whatever she had with Wells—some sort of mutual agreement involving a lot of tumbling—and Jane had nothing. Unless she counted her failed attempts to flirt with every new man who came to the village.

Of course, she had Elle. And they were going to find her and bring her home. But Elle was a child, not a friend her own age she could really talk to.

She stole a glance at Ro. He sat rigidly, not slumped against the crates like her, and he could have been sleeping for all the noise he made.

“Which name do you prefer?” she asked. “Ro or Rowan?”

“Rowan,” he said without turning.

He clearly didn’t want to talk to her, but they were going to be stuck together for days, if not longer. She couldn’t tolerate things between them being awkward the whole time. Would talking make it more or less awkward?

“Why did you use a nickname?” she asked.

“I didn’t.”

Jane blushed. It was true—Master Smith had been the one to call him Ro, and Rowan hadn’t been present to correct him. She was making this more awkward with every breath.

“Then why did you hide your eyes?” she asked. He couldn’t shift the blame for that .

“It’s easier if no one knows.”

“How so?”

He exhaled and finally looked her way. “Maryanne is uneasy around fairies,” he said. “I’ve no wish to upset her.”

Jane focused on her hands in her lap. After a moment, she said quietly, “Don’t mind Maryanne. She was badly hurt. I know it’s not your fault.”

Another awkward silence followed, interrupted only by the creaking of the wheels on the packed dirt road and the occasional snort of the horse. The grasses alongside the road waved in a slow breeze, and the sun shone in the west over the treetops. As they entered the edge of the forest, leaves rustled and Jane inhaled the cooler air and the pungent scent of growing things. She shifted her seat to stop her bottom from going numb and found herself facing Rowan again.

“How are we going to find the dragon?” Jane asked.

“We’re going to visit another dragon and ask directions.”

What in the skies? Jane studied his profile, waiting.

Rowan didn’t elaborate.

“Another dragon?” she prodded.

“I know the way to his den. He may be able to tell us who has Elle.”

“How do you know a dragon?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time.”

“It’s a long, personal story.”

“Fine.” Jane rested her cheek against the crate of carrots. She tried to stay quiet. The wagon wheel creaked, once, twice as it rolled. A dozen times. “So you can talk to animals?”

“Just dragons.”

“You can’t do birds and things like Prince Dustan?”

“Not well.”

“I thought all fairies could do that.”

Silence.

A worry stirred in Jane’s mind. “What about Elle?” she asked. “If she possesses this fire magic, she can talk to the dragon, right?” If Elle couldn’t communicate, how would the dragon know if she was hurt or needed something?

Rowan’s shoulders tensed. “I don’t know.”

“But if Elle was able to ‘call’ the dragon, she must be able to speak with it.”

He inhaled deeply and let it out. “No one knows how the bond works. Fairies with fire magic used to come along once or twice in a generation, and each time, a dragon would show up to teach them how to use it. But it’s been decades since anyone was taught.”

“Why?”

“Because of the queen.” He obviously didn’t mean Rose. “She wouldn’t let anyone go, even when the supply of fire powder ran low. We didn’t know if the dragons would come back.”

He turned to her at last, tucking a long strand of hair behind his ear. “Elle is young to be a fire apprentice. After all the winters the dragons were ignored, hers must have been excited to find her. It won’t matter if they can’t communicate perfectly. The dragon will take care of her.”

“What will happen if we don’t find them?”

“She’d finish her apprenticeship and the dragon would bring her home.”

“How long would it be?”

“Maybe a season or two?”

Jane couldn’t believe what she was about to say. “Do you think we’re wrong to take her back?”

He blinked at her before shaking his head. “I’m sure she’s safe. But we should check on her. It might be better to wait until she is older.” He continued quietly. “Unless you don’t want her to learn the magic at all.”

Did she have a choice? Now that she was faced with it, the thought of Elle using magic unsettled her. But if Elle had truly called the dragon... didn’t it show that Elle wanted this? She was only three, too young to make such a decision. But Jane didn’t want to hold her back if she had a skill she loved and could excel at. She didn’t want Elle ending up like her—drifting through life with no skills and no purpose, at least not beyond raising Elle.

“What exactly would she learn to do?”

“With fire magic, someone can touch flames without harm.”

“You mean she can’t burn?”

“No, she can be hurt by fire. But she can use the magic to control it. If a tree were on fire, a fairy trained in fire magic might be able to absorb the flames and save the tree.”

“How do they make the fire powder?” Jane had seen Cedric, no, not Cedric, Larch use it many times, sprinkling it onto a single log that would burst into flame and burn for days in the hearth without being consumed.

“The fairy works together with the dragon. They absorb the dragon’s fire and put it into something that can be carried and used easily—usually sand.”

Dragon fire. Jane had forgotten all about the fact that dragons were supposed to breathe fire. What if it burned up Elle by accident?

“If it’s been decades since a dragon came,” Jane said, “how do the fairies still have fire powder?”

“We’re almost out of it.”

Jane furrowed her brow. If the fairies wanted more of the stuff, they might try to use Elle to get it.

“The last fire magic user is very old,” Rowan continued. “She has offered to try to call a dragon and return to the mountains to work, but it would be a hard journey for her.”

“Maybe the fairies should learn to build fires with firewood,” Jane murmured.

“They know how. They don’t like all the healthy trees it kills.”

Jane glared at him but he wasn’t regarding her.

Self-righteous fairies with their we-do-everything-better mentality. She shifted her seat again, away from Rowan, and leaned her legs against the far side of the wagon. Leaning back on the crates, she held up her bangs and let the cooler, shady air brush her skin.

They passed deeper into the forest with trees thick on either side and only a narrow strip of sky overhead. The sky remained blue but the forest was dark. The sun would set soon, and Elle was out in the mountains all alone. Well, all alone with a dragon. Would she be frightened? Jane shivered and tried not to think of it.

“Why do you call her Elle?”

Jane startled. Now he wanted to talk? She surveyed the woods to gain a moment before she spoke. She’d had enough thoughts of Larch today. But she wanted Rowan to talk to her, so...

“We named her Bluebell when she was born. But when Rose brought her back to me, Maryanne insisted we give the children new names. I chose Murielle but it never felt right to me. Elle loves flowers, and one time in the forest, she ran ahead and led me to a patch of bluebells. I think it’s supposed to be her name. I didn’t want to upset Maryanne, though, so I started calling her Elle. It could be short for either name.”

Rowan had spoken voluntarily. Could she ask him more questions? What other fairy magic could he do, if he couldn’t communicate with animals? He could change his eye color—could he change his whole appearance? Could he make enchanted objects using his magic, like the nearly invisible thread made of spider silk Rose had told her about? And why had he wanted to leave the fairy village and learn blacksmithing?

But she remembered his recent words about the dragon—“a long, personal story”—and her conversation faltered. Instead she asked, “Where will we sleep at the crossroads?”

“Do you have any coins?”

Jane shook her head. “I didn’t like to take them when we always need things for the children.”

Did he have coins? Fairies could always find a way to earn some using their magic to help humans. Did he plan to stay at the inn near the crossroads? Would he pay for a room for her? What if the inn had only one room available?

What if it had only one bed?

Rowan flicked his hair off his face. “I guess we’ll be sleeping in the hayloft then.”