“Just do it, Ragna! If not for our family and Davin’s, then do it for your High King.”
“What’s he got to do with it?”
Tanis cringed as she realized what she’d let slip. She shouldn’t have mentioned anything about Dash. What could she say that would shut her sister down and get her mind off him?
Perhaps a partial truth?
Or something to distract her?
Maybe the centaurs with Ragna were the rebels and not some of Meara’s troops. Since her father didn’t follow unicorn politics, it was possible her sister didn’t know that Meara was on Dash’s throne.
So, Tanis went with distraction to get Ragna away from the main reason. “I won’t become a dragon again, until I reclaim his skull. Those are the terms that I accepted in order to become human to find him.”
Ragna made a sound of supreme disgust. “How stupid are you?”
“According to all of you, I’m the dumbest creature ever born. But I wanted to be human to take revenge on the dragon slayer who murdered Davin.”
Ragna shook her head. “Can’t you just kill the one who turned you human and be done with it?”
“No. Those weren’t the terms.”
Ragna growled. “This is ridiculous. Where’s the king?”
Why did she care so much? Her insistence was beginning to wear on her nerves.
More than that, it was beginning to make her suspicious.
“What does it matter?”
Ragna turned as still as stone for several heartbeats. It was if she waited for something.
Finally, she moved. “Very well. We’ll march with you to reclaim Davin’s skull.”
Her sudden reversal caught her off guard. Was this for real? She’d so seldom won an argument with her sister that she wasn’t sure how to handle this or react.
It felt...
Weird. Unnatural.
Scary.
“You’re sure?” Tanis asked.
Ragna flicked her tail in agitation. “I can’t take you home inthatbody. Have you any idea what they’d do to both of us?”
She knew what they’d do to her, but Ragna had always been spared that part of their father’s wrath. “Okay. Rest your troops, and I’ll let the others know.”
Ragna sent out the resonating dragon call to the others who were still circling above.
Once Tanis was satisfied that they were landing in the field, she headed back toward the palace to let Dash and the rest know. Which turned out to be a good thing as the landing dragons were making all the elves a bit nervous.
Not that she blamed them. They did look like an invading army.
“Are you all right?” Dash asked as soon as she was inside the inner bailey again.
“I don’t know. It’s not just dragons out there. I saw others hidden in the forest. Centaurs and such.” Tanis couldn’t explain the weird feeling she had. “I don’t know if they’re rebels with her, or what. But Ragna swears my father is on your side.”
“You don’t believe her?”
