16. Tahlia

Tahlia bolted upright on her bedroll and whipped her head toward where Marius had been sitting when she’d finally given up and fallen asleep. He was still there. Phew. She hated the idea of sleeping while he was up, but she and Fara had both been far too tired to stay awake.

“How are you feeling?” she asked Marius over Fara’s snoring.

The dawn was just over the horizon and the sky had begun to lighten.

Marius looked at the last dregs of the fire, the smoke rising around him like he’d been on fire too. “I’m fine.”

“Sure.”

He had the look of a man who’d been hit on the back of the head by something very heavy. Like someone who had memory issues from an injury.

“I am,” he insisted.

“No missing pieces from your watch? No lapses in memory?”

“Not that I can recall.”

He was hiding something. It was obvious in the way he wouldn’t look directly at her. “What’s bothering you, then? I mean, besides whatever is going on with your ability to tell me things and this whole dark adventure.”

“My hands are dirty.”

“Who cares? We are miles from anyone who might change their opinion of your tidy arse.”

“I washed them before sleeping. Now look at them.” He splayed his fingers and she walked closer to look.

Dirt lined the spaces between his large fingers and his nails held a line of mud too.

“Hmm. Well, it is muddy here. Maybe you just picked something up? Like your bedroll?” He had already packed it away apparently. “Perhaps you didn’t notice when it was full dark. Or you tried to write more in the mud when you were out of it? Anyway, I’m awake now, so if you want to return to the creek to wash up, it’s certainly fine with me.”

He turned and grabbed a parcel wrapped in waxed linen. “Eat this. You and Fara. I already had my share.”

When he lobbed the package, Tahlia caught it neatly and opened it up. A square of honeyed bread dotted with pieces of fig sat inside. Tahlia’s stomach growled.

Marius walked away, Ragewing trailing him.

“What is that?” Fara was suddenly sitting up and wide awake.

“Oh, just a little treat Marius has offered us.” Tahlia handed a corner of the bread over.

Fara gobbled it down, groaning in ecstasy. Tahlia laughed and they worked their way through half the square.

“I’m going to give the rest to Vodolija.”

Fara grumbled but nodded and began to tie up her bedroll.

Fog crept across the dark green and gray landscape, the tops of the distant trees poking up through the misty white like fingers from a shallow grave. A chill wrapped around Tahlia, but it didn’t alarm her. This place was haunted and she would have been more worried if she hadn’t felt the chill. At this point, fear and fretting were the norm.

Vodolija stood over a cluster of large and mossy stones. She eyed a ferret-like creature that was darting between the rocks and nibbling greenery.

“How does that wee thing not even notice the massive predator staring down at him hungrily?”

The Seabreak grunted, a dragon’s version of a shrug. Then she moved, her head lashing out like a great arrow, and the ferret was gone.

“Ew.” Tahlia turned away to let the dragon finish her breakfast. “I was going to offer you a bit of honey and fig bread, but you seem to be just fine.”

The dragon bumped her back and she spun to see expectant eyes.

“Fine. I suppose it can be your dessert.” Tahlia opened her palm and Vodolija nibbled the bread with the tip of her smooth, scaly snout.

“She’s going to take a finger someday,” Fara said from behind.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen any riders missing fingers. Oh, wait, I do think there was someone who was missing a thumb.”

“Exactly. With you being part human, you’ll probably be the next victim.”

“Gee, thank you for that.”

“Just warning you. Not saying I want it to happen. I’m not Ophelia.”

“She doesn’t just want my finger. She wants my life.”

“Fair. Then maybe I should have said I’m not Maiwenn.”

“Accurate.”

Fara laughed sadly and offered Tahlia a steaming cup of what smelled like pine needle tea. They drank in silence as the fog circled Vodolija and their view of the slope that led to the creek.

“He’s been gone a while,” Fara said.

“Not really. Let’s pack up and be ready to move on when he returns.” Tahlia said, leading Fara back to the fire.

“What is the plan exactly?” Fara finished her tea, shook the cup, and tucked it into the middling-sized satchel they’d brought along with the smaller ones they could affix to themselves if needed. They also had a larger bag tied onto Vodolija.

“I am really not sure,” Tahlia said. “I guess we’ll try to get Marius to return.”

“And if he refuses?”

“We’ll follow him wherever he feels led to go.”

“So we are putting the madman in charge of the quest.”

“Only way to see what’s happening.”

“You sound so nonchalant considering you’re wandering a dead kingdom full of ghosts.”

“Don’t forget. You chose to come with me.”

Fara bunched her lips and whispered something that was most likely a gentle curse aimed in Tahlia’s direction.

Marius returned and Tahlia didn’t want to admit how relieved she was to see him. Was he really fine now?

“How was the creek?”

“I spotted a ruined fortress. We should explore it.”

“Why?” Fara asked. She closed her fist over her mouth. “I meant, what do you expect to find, High Captain?”

“I’m not certain, but I feel led to visit it, so if you refuse to leave, you might as well come as backup.” Marius gathered his things and they tied their bags to the dragons.

“How does it feel?” Tahlia asked, eyeing him. He seemed distracted and nothing about that put her at ease.

“The pull?”

“Yes.”

“Like extreme curiosity.”

The craving to go to him, to hold him, to feel the heat of his body against hers, hit Tahlia like a punch to the heart. She took a shuddering breath and he looked up from checking Ragewing’s girth buckle.

“Or you can remain here?” he asked softly.

Fara had moved to the other side of Vodolija to apply some poultice where the saddle rubbed. She’d already done so on this side.

His scent wafted through the air. She fought the urge to go to him and the desire to let go of worrying about whatever was going on with him. She forced her feet to remain where they were.

“No, we are going with you.”

He nodded and climbed onto Ragewing’s back, his movements quick and easy. Fara came back around Vodolija and they mounted the Seabreak and readied to take off.

The dragons soared out of the fog and into the dull light of the morning sky.