“I brought him some clothes, too—seeing as how his got ate away by the sands.” She has a pair of trousers and a shirt over one arm, and she lays them over the back of one of the two chairs. “Hope they’ll fit. He’s a mighty big one, your man servant.” She raises her eyebrows knowingly at me, but I ignore her crass innuendo.
“Perhaps you could tell me a bit about Thornmere Forest?” I ask instead, lifting my own eyebrows. “I need to reach the center of it where the Sorceress lives.”
“Oh, is that where you’re headed? Off to seek a favor of the Lady of Thornmere, are you?” she says, raising her eyebrows again.
“So I am,” I say, though I have no intention of going through the great, dark forest we’re at the edge of. I’ll have Valen change to his dragon form and fly me to her stronghold instead.
But Maud’s next words destroy my plans.
“I’ve seen quite a few start out on that journey—though not many find their way back to us here at The Slaughtered Lamb,” she remarks.
“Oh? And why is that?” I ask.
“Because the only way to reach the Lady’s stronghold is to follow the path all the way through the forest,” she tells me. “No other way to get to her and yet, it seems that folks keep straying off the path. That’s a bad idea—there’s dark things in the forest—hungry things.”
“Wait—are you saying I can’t find her unless I follow the path to its end?” I ask, feeling dismayed.
Maud nods solemnly.
“Oh yes—for her fortress is hidden in amongst the trees. Some say it’s made to look like a tree—or she disguises it by magic—so no one who doesn’t follow the path can find it,” Maud informs me.
“But if it’s made to look like a tree, how can you tell it apart from every other tree?” I ask, thoroughly dismayed now.
“You’ll know it because it’s at the end of the path, of course,” Maud says, frowning. “How else? It’s like the old poem says?—
“Follow the path to find her magic
Leave the path, the results are tragic
The Lady of Thornmere may grant your plea
If you stay on the path and find her tree.”
I want to ask if there’s any way to distinguish the right tree from the air—but that would be as good as admitting that Valen’s one of the Dragon People and I don’t think she’d like that. Most innkeepers are shy of hosting a male who can turn into a huge, fire-breathing beast. At least, they are in my land, where the Dragon People are our acknowledged enemies.
“Thank you for the food and hospitality and the clothes for my manservant,” I say instead, nodding at her. “Truly, I am indebted to you.”
“Of course you are,” she says nodding and giving me a smile I don’t quite like. “But never you mind, dearie. Stay as long as you like. You must be tired after your long journey.”
That I most certainly am. I couldn’t exactly sleep while I was riding dragon-back and I know Valen must be tired as well, after flying over the Poison Desert.
Maud nods her way out of the room, and I turn to see him sitting in the tub, staring up at me.
“Well?” he asks, raising one eyebrow at me. “Are you going to finish what you started, Princess?”
18
VALEN
Her cheeks go pink at once.
“I am finished,” she says tartly. “You’re all clean—you can’t say you’re not! I, er, washed you quite vigorously.”
“Yes, you did but you didn’t finish,” I say. Or rather, I didn’t fucking finish. I’m still throbbing from the touch of her soft little hand stroking me off.
“I’m not touching you again,” she snaps.
Well, it’s no more than I expected. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to go around with blue balls. I’d prefer her soft little hand, but I can use my own just as well.
