Page 75 of To Touch A Silent Fury

I couldn’t fathom how many men they would have needed to haul her such a distance, but such was their greed for her scales and teeth that it was worth the manpower. It could not be more than an hour away from the barracks, but I knew I was near dead on my feet.

Shadow trotted around the perimeter of the clearing, and then snorted at me, and I took that to mean it was safe enough. I hobbled into the centre, into the hole they had dragged her out of. I pulled the loose dirt down around me, packing it for shelter. I kept my leg elevated and free, using my waterskin to wash it clean of any debris and pressing some of the salve I hadn’t used earlier against it. Then I leaned back against the edge of the hole. It was rudimentary, but it was some protection from the elements, and I didn’t have the strength in my body to make any sort of more permanent shelter.

Tomorrow, I would find Langnathin, and I would pledge my loyalty to him. The idea left a sour taste in my mouth as Shadow settled against me, providing some well-needed warmth. I fell into a poor sleep, waking often.

At dawn, my leg had stiffened, and it was even more uncomfortable. But after I had moved for a few minutes, and stretched as much as I could bear, it was clear the rest had helped. More than it should have, after only five days.

Once I’d found a few grubs for the baby and got him to quiet down, I started following the dirt scar, the corpse of my new ward’s mother. The dragon’s food wasn’t my only score on our brief walk.

Nestled in the roots of a dying pine tree, I found a cluster of closed red flowers with small jagged leaves. They were native to this forest, and I admit, in the shivering sleepless nights in the darkest depths of Domin, I had considered their alternative. Holding only the stems, I carefully cut several of the plants, stowing them under my shirt, tucked into the top of my trousers.

There was value in having a quick death at your hands, and carrialwort would act nearly as fast as a blade to the chest. If everything went wrong, I wouldn’t suffer for long.

Soon, the smoke of the barracks curled above the treetops. His guards would be close.

I turned to Shadow and held out my hand. “Thank you, my friend.”

He nudged into it, staring up at me with his amber gaze.

“This is where we part ways,” I said. “You cannot follow me.”

He whimpered, and trotted a few steps ahead of me. He turned back to look, and I shook my head.

‘Stay.’I signed the words as well as speaking them, though there was no indication he understood either language. “This is yourhome. This forest is where you belong.”

He bounded back up to me and licked my hand.

“No,” I said. “If you come in there with me, they could kill you. You need to be wild.” ‘Free.’

He stared up at me.

I repeated the last sign.‘Free.’

Shadow ducked his head.

I pointed towards the forest. “Go. Go and befree.”

He made a small noise and took a few steps back, towards the trees.

“Be free, Shadow.” A cold feeling dropped over me as he sniffed up at the sky.

Then he disappeared behind a tree, and I had to crouch down to breathe. I could not cry. This was the right decision. He was a friend, but one who should be wild. A thing of nature, not a thing of carved barracks and stone.

I breathed in and out as I blinked back the tears.

Then I stood back up and moved. I cared less for my noise now, knowing I was in the land of the cacofs. Even from here, hundreds of feet away, I heard their ruckus. The edges of a shout, the tumbling of timber. Crude people, filled with sounds but saying nothing.

I shifted my hunting knife into my hand as I followed the dragon’s trail. A branch snapped beside me so carelessly I knew the man’s position like the back of my own hand.

I spun to him. Two guards waited behind a tree, no doubt ready to jump out at me. One held a bow, not yet pointed, and the other had yet to unsheathe his blade. “If you kill me, the prince will be angry.”

Taken by surprise, they moved out from behind a shrub. The one in front with a patchy blonde beard clicked his tongue at me. “Who are you?”

I watched them intently, holding my knife out before me. “I have business with the Dragon Prince.”

“Business with the Dragon Prince,” he repeated, tonelessly. “What business would one of you have that the prince would want to hear?”

I flicked my head in the direction of their barracks up ahead. “He’ll want to hear this.”