When the last of the leaves had burned away, she lay back. Her damp cloak was lying across a rock by the fire, so she just curled in on herself and closed her eyes. Her clothes needed to dry before they took their next steps. For now, she’d rest.
She hadn’t planned on falling asleep, but before she realized it, the fire was gone and the cenote was dark as pitch. She sat up slowly, body groaning with every movement of her muscles. The only light came from the faint glow of the moonbeams coming in through the crack in the ceiling.
Disoriented, Sofia could only blink, trying to understand what time it was and why it was so dark. She shifted and realized her dry cloak was draped over her, as well as a thin wing. Chalia snorted in her sleep, and Sofia felt the dragon behind her, pressed against her back. Her scales were cold, but Sofia didn’t move away. She smiled, closing her eyes and embracing the comfort for a little longer.
Her mind moved through the past day and everything that had transpired. She’d killed an innocent woman. Flor and Lumi were alone in the city. She’d failed at saving Eha, even with the dragon standing before her. She’d learned where Fox was, and that only made her feel more hopeless. She’d failed. Over and over again.
She was weaponless. She was alone.
A damp breeze rustled the air, and Sofia realized she’d been crying, the tears turning icy against her cheeks.
“Never alone,”Chalia said, voice a soothing balm against her racing thoughts.
“I failed you,”Sofia said, feeling her emotions unravel further witheach passing second.“I failed everyone. I should have found the keys to unlock Eha. I could have threatened Harlow. Instead, I killed an innocent woman.”
Chalia’s voice turned firm, and the dragon shifted against her.“Hekilled that woman.He’sthe one who chained Eha and turned her prisoner. YoufoundEha. She and her son went missing sun cycles ago. We thought she had died or flown across the ocean, abandoning our flock.”
“He’s had her for that long?”Sofia felt sick at the idea of it. And now he’ll have her for longer.
“Not forever though. That’s because of you.”
“Where do we go from here?”
“You know.”
Sofia did know. Both the resistance and the dragons were completely unaware of the army marching their way. They needed to know. She should be excited—ecstatic. It had been her dream since she was a child to find the dragons. But now she just felt sick at the thought. She was leaving so many people behind.
“You’re not abandoning people,”Chalia said.“But we can’t do this alone, and you know it.”
Sofia nodded into the blackness. She couldn’t do this alone. She didn’t need to do this alone.
Her heart raced at the journey ahead of them. She had furs and boots in her bag for the trip, but she was supposed to be making it with Flor and Lumi.
But she had Chalia. She had a dragon. And she knew this forest perhaps better than any Dragonborn from Suvi.
“How long will it take?”
“It takes a couple of days to fly to the mountains.”
“We should head out,”Sofia said, standing.“The sooner we get to the resistance and the dragons, the better. We have some gods to speak to.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
FOX
The blood monkey attack had given Fox exactly what he needed—a way to slow the army down, and if he was lucky, convince the general it was too dangerous to keep up this death march toward the mountains. His secret little book had an entire list of faeries that lived in the woods, and from what he’d read, the scent of blood drew plenty of them.
The biggest problem was that Nesto was too afraid to let Fox walk into the forest alone after the attack. Even when Fox insisted he needed to relieve himself, Nesto would follow, keeping watch on the other side of the tree. Fox had gotten good at nicking his wrist just deep enough to bleed, smearing it across the tree and relieving himself before Nesto got suspicious.
Thank the dragon gods the weather was just getting colder and colder, allowing Fox to hide the new set of bandages he’d taken to wearing on his arm. He didn’t know how he’d explain them to Nesto or the others.
It had become a ritual every night after dinner; most mornings they woke up to the screams of soldiers. Sometimes it was more blood monkeys, but there were other faeries, too. One morning, the two men who had died looked completely untouched, as if their souls had simplybeen sucked from their bodies. The next day, Fox glimpsed the four soldiers who’d been killed. Their chests had been flayed open, their hearts gone.
After that, Fox had purposefully stopped looking at the bodies, unable to face the reality of what he was doing. It wasn’t just the creatures of the forest killing these men—it was Fox. Fox was using them as a weapon. He’d taken to praying every night to Quelia and the dragons. He’d never been a religious person, but he’d seen the dragons for himself, and out here, it was hard to not believe.
He even dreamed of them sometimes—of feathers and wings and soaring above the icy peaks of the mountains. And always the smell of the sea, as if his brain couldn’t comprehend what the mountains might smell like. The sea was all he’d ever known.
“We’ll be hittingthe foothills by the end of the day,” Nesto said, coming up behind Fox as they walked. It was approaching midday, and the sun was warmer than it had been in a few days. Not enough to take off his cloak, but enough that he hadn’t needed to tuck his hands away in his pockets.
