Chapter Six

"Not at all," Leasharra said with quiet determination. "Loralie guided me to the edge of your territory and waited to be certain one of your scouts found me and took me into the enclave. Her goal—and my own—at that time was simply to find a way back to my homeland. As she thought, I was able to go with the next group leaving for the capital, and from there, I was able to fly back across the mountains with a group returning to Draconia. I got to see my parents and to speak at length with the Prince of Spies. Have you heard of Prince Nico?"

"I have heard of him. Yes," Detlif confirmed.

"When I told the prince that I wanted to go back over the mountains to see what I could do for Penny, he was not enthusiastic. But he did agree to help me. I said goodbye properly to my family and flew back to Valdis with the next group heading that way. I stayed in the capital for a few days, recovering from the long flight, then went back to the spot where I had first met Loralie and Penny. I wanted to see what had happened to them in the time I was gone," Leasharra explained. "Loralie was still in the same cave, but Penny had been moved from the home of a woman who treated her well to a bawdy house."

"A what?" Det was outraged. "How dare anyone put her in such a place!"

"She had only just been moved there to try to get Loralie's cooperation with Gebel's latest bit of evil. I believe Penny was working as a drudge in the kitchen, but it was not a good environment for her. When I saw what was happening, I conferred with Loralie to get her cooperation with my plan."

"Your plan?" Det was surprised. "It was not her mother's plan?"

"No, Captain. I hatched the plan with Prince Nico after my return home. I only had to get Loralie's cooperation because she is such a strong mage. It would have been nearly impossible to pull off without her consent," Leasharra explained. "Something about Penny called to me, and I could not put her out of my mind. I know it was a big step to join my life to hers, but I cannot regret it. The child deserves to be a child, not a pawn in someone's power play. Now that I have bonded with her, I know for certain that I did the right thing. Her heart is pure, and her soul unblemished despite the trials she has been through in her young life. She also has a strong mage energy that needs more training than Loralie has been able to fit in during clandestine meetings in the woods. I am hoping she can get some of that training among your people."

"She can, of course," Detlif said absently. His mind was whirling with all this new information. "So, to be certain, Loralie did not send you here to spy on us?"

"No, Captain. She did not. But after meeting you on my first visit, I was fairly certain that you would not turn away your daughter, which was vital to the success of my plan. We have made it look like Penny died in the storm earlier tonight. We need to keep her hidden, and your enclave is a good place for that," Leasharra told him.

"You do not mean to take her to your homeland, right?" Detlif had to be sure.

"Not until she is well grown, and then, only for a visit," Leasharra assured him. "For now, she belongs with her family, and she deserves time to be a child."

"Then, you have become part of my family, Lady Leasharra. I thank you for your willingness to help my daughter, and I will never forget your kindness or sacrifice in making your life here with us." Det bowed his head to the dragon, offering her the greatest respect a warrior could give to another.

"Thank you for welcoming me, Captain. I know I still have a great deal to learn, and I hope your elder dragons won't mind my red scales among their snowy white." Little smoke rings of amusement lifted into the air as Leasharra chuckled in her dragonish way.

*

As the days wore on in the fair folk enclave, Penny and Petr became best friends, and their dragons did too. Leasharra was a bit older than Petr's heartmate, but they were both younger than the dragons who taught them for part of each day. Leasharra had taken lessons from elder dragons back in the Lair where she had been born, but she found that the snow dragons taught slightly different skills, and she still had a lot to learn.

She had no communication at all from Loralie, but she hadn't really expected any. As far as she knew, Loralie had been freed once Penny was safe, and she'd disappeared as thoroughly as Penny had. Leasharra listened intently to returning scout reports to see if she could discover anything of what Loralie might be doing in the outside world, but so far, she had no idea.

One interesting development was that after Leasharra settled in to life in the enclave, some of the Draconian dragons flew north, with permission from the enclave's Council of Elders, to visit. The Draconian dragons and their knights spoke at length with the Council and arranged for periodic visits by the Draconian delegations to Valdis. Leasharra took this as a very positive sign and a chance for her homeland's dragons and knights to make friends among the snow dragons and their heartmates.

Plus, that way, Leasharra wouldn't be the only colorful dragon these snow dragons would ever see. It would make her a little less of an oddity, and Leasharra thought only good things could come of reuniting all the different kinds of dragons. If the time came that they had to fight together, it would be good if they all understood each other's strengths and weaknesses.

All dragons were sworn to protect the Citadel. It was one of the main reasons why dragons had been created by the mage Dranneth the Wise in the first place. If the Citadel was truly threatened, the dragons would have to know how to work together to prevent the worst from happening.

Leasharra and Penny had settled in nicely to the fair folk's enclave, and both were learning from the others. Penny was taking instruction, along with her twin, from a talented group of mages who built on the early lessons her mother had given her. She also had regular lessons with the rest of the enclave's children during the morning hours where she learned all the things a well-educated person should know.

She learned her letters. How to read and write. How to calculate sums and do some higher mathematics appropriate to her age. She learned history and, on the lighter side, had a music class with one of the fair folk bards. She also played games with the others, including strategy games and some that were just for fun. The dragons had adapted the game Lea had seen played at the glass shop in Valdis Maj where a sturdy leather ball was kicked by the children while two dragons guarded opposite goals, so they could all play together.

And they took flight classes together where the scouts taught the younger pairs how to fly safely. As they progressed, they learned tricks and more daring maneuvers so the rider would be able to stay on their heartmate's back, no matter what.

The fair folk artisans had gifted Leasharra with a lovely leather harness and saddle that Penny could use to make their flights much safer. The arrangement of straps they'd used to come here was make-shift at best, but everyone agreed it had worked in a pinch. Even though the child had been hopelessly tangled in the straps by the end of their journey, at least she hadn't been able to fall off on her very first flight.

Detlif had been nothing but kind and patient with his daughter, but there was one subject he refused to discuss… Loralie.

Leasharra had given up even trying to bring up the North Witch's name in front of Detlif. So had Penny, though she answered her brother's questions about their mother when the children were alone together. None of the adults in the family seemed to want to broach the subject of Loralie either with or without Detlif, and Leasharra respected their silence.

If Loralie wanted to come out of hiding—and Leasharra suspect she would have to do so at some point—the issue would be resolved, or not, then. All Leasharra could do was keep watch over her heartmate and do what she could to learn everything she needed to know.

*

Loralie made her way north little by little. She'd gone first to Valdis Maj to regroup and hide in the multitude of city dwellers after Penny had been flown to safety. Much as Loralie would have liked to follow Penny and Leasharra's path to be certain the dragon and girl made it safely to Detlif, Loralie knew she could not. Just in case she was being tracked somehow, she had to lead pursuit away from her daughter.

Free from the threat of bad things happening to her child for the first time in years, Loralie took a room at an inn on the outskirts of the capital city and walked around during the day to learn what she could of current events. She even stopped by a glassmaking shop to watch a game played by dragons and the child apprentices of the shop one evening. She watched only for a few minutes, lest the dragons realize her magical potential and start wondering about her presence, but what she saw charmed her.

She hoped Penny was having as much fun with her new dragon heartmate as those little apprentices were having with their dragon friends. It had been so hard to let Penny go, but she knew in her heart it had been the right thing to do.

Now that Penny was safe, Loralie had some planning to do. She was going to have to end the threat of Gebel to the lands and shore up the protections on the Citadel in order to stop the sleeping wizard from recruiting any more helpers. She wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish that second goal, but she had time. First, she had to kill Gebel. Once and for all.

After a few weeks' sojurn in Valdis Maj, Loralie had ordered new clothing suitable for colder weather and provisioned herself for a long journey. She had also bought and befriended a pair of the furry pack animals, known as pacas, that could also be ridden. Bigger than a mountain goat and smaller than a horse, pacas were native to certain parts of the Dragon's Teeth and were best suited to cold weather. Their thick fur was ideal for keeping themselves and others warm, and they had agility in rocky and icy terrain that horses lacked.

Loralie had gotten lucky at a stock sale when a northern trader had brought a string of the creatures down from the mountains to trade. They had already been trained by the folk who lived in the foothills of the mountains. Such animals were domesticated in those areas though herds lived and grazed all along the mountain slopes. Pacas were an oddity in the city, and nobody had wanted to bid on the last two of the trader's string, so Loralie had been able to pick them up for a very good price.

They were both white, but one had a little bit of gray in his coat, so she named them Salt and Pepper. Not very creative, but their last owner hadn't even bothered to give them names, so she figured anything was an improvement. They were sentient creatures, after all. She enjoyed their quirky personalities once she set out from the city with only the two pacas for company.

When they stopped at inns, the pacas were easily stabled in the barn with other people's horses, and when there was no village inn nearby to sleep in, the pacas kept her warm, allowing her to sleep between them, buffeted by their furry coats and warm bodies.

She made her way slowly toward the north, keeping to the back roads that were less traveled. She kept an eye on her backtrail for signs of pursuit or surveillance but didn't see anything. When she got into the foothills of the mountains, the temperature dropped, and she was even more grateful for the pacas' company.

Loralie had planned her revenge and bided her time, but she thought she knew just how to accomplish her goal. There were two parts to it. First, she dreamed of killing Gebel for everything he'd done to her and Penny. Then, she needed to find a way of reinforcing the Citadel's protections so the wizard who was somehow communicating with Gebel through his icy prison could not do so any longer. It would not do to kill Gebel, only to have the evil wizard find another stooge to raise up to do his bidding in the real world with the ultimate goal of freeing him and his brothers from their icy entombment.

But, first things first. She had to deal with Gebel as her initial goal. The second part would be even harder, but she would deal with that when she got to it.

For now, she was heading north to hopefully intercept Gebel. He had run to the southern stronghold after the Draconians had reinstated the rightful monarch in the Northern Reach on their side of the mountains, but he'd left there, according to the traders she'd spoken with in Valdis. He'd taken the small group of soldiers loyal to him over the mountains at the end of a trading caravan not too long ago.

Loralie could only suppose that meant he was going to try to breach the Citadel from the Western Gate. He'd been in the Northern castle for years without finding the way in from that Gate, and he'd been driven from that castle by a combined force of dragons, knights, fair folk and snowcats. He wouldn't be able to regain that position with the small force he had now.

But he might think he had a shot at sneaking in through the Gate guarded by the fair folk enclave on this side of the mountains. Which was why Loralie was heading in that direction, even though she was hesitant about getting too near Detlif's home ground.

The last thing she wanted to do was run into him. Despite everything that had happened, she still felt a hollow place in her soul where he belonged. She pined for him but knew she had killed any chance at a relationship that could possibly have blossomed between them.

She had betrayed his trust. She had seen no other choice, but she had still been the one making the decision to cut off their relationship before it even had a chance to really take root. She had left their brief encounter with two gorgeous children, of course, but she had given him no say in her choices, which she knew had to rankle a man otherwise so in control of everything in his sphere.

He wasn't the Captain of the Guard for nothing. He was used to giving the orders, and she had enjoyed him taking charge of her pleasure. She had never known a man could make her feel such things before. In fact, he'd been her only relationship. Ever.

An all-too-brief affair that ended in despair when she was forced to leave him behind.

While her heart yearned to see him once again, she knew he would not welcome her presence. Better to stay away. Let him have this time with their children while she did what she could to end the threat to them, and everyone else. If she lived through to the end of her plan, she would deal with Detlif and her unresolved feelings for him then.