Chapter 44

THE CROWD PARTED, ANDLailant walked slowly toward them, leaning heavily on her cane. Some had ventured down the Lone Road with the other two Robins, but most villagers hung back. The adults watched warily as she stopped in front of Knox and Eirwyn.

She stabbed her cane onto the dirt twice and tilted her head as if listening to something.

Eirwyn looked at Knox, but he just shrugged and waited. Rope burns wrapped around his torso and arms. She traced the one on his bicep, and he turned to her, pulling her into his arm in a side hug.

Knox" body was stiff and his chin lifted. A surge of pride went through her that he wasn"t afraid to show his face anymore. The scales and horns on the side of his head had reverted to normal along with his tail shrinking in size to how it"d been before.

Lailant nodded, "The king is dead."

The crowd gasped, and Eirwyn felt a weight lift from her shoulders even as a tightness squeezed her chest. She blinked, her mind racing to process and her emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"How–"

Lailant"s rheumy old eyes peered at her. "The how doesn"t matter, child."

Knox cleared his throat, looking at Eirwyn with a frown. "I"m sorry, Eirwyn, I killed him. I stabbed him in the neck with my tail."

She sighed, burying her head in his chest, the pressure on her chest threatening to drown her. "It"s–it"s alright. I"m upset, and it"ll take time for me to come to terms with it. But it"s not your fault he was power mad and always wanted more."

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, drawing strength from Knox even as she was upset with him for killing her brother.

Lailant continued. "The queen is going to have a hard time adjusting. The curse is settling on the castle as we speak."

Knox" arms tightened around her as he stiffened. "What curse? What"s going on? Is the queen alright?"

Lailant nodded toward the city. Still more people were fleeing, several running toward the forest.

Eirwyn"s throat threatened to close up with worry, and she clung to Knox.

Lailant sighed, resting both hands on her cane. Several of the townsfolk listened while still more moved along the Lone Road.

"The queen has unleashed a magic she doesn"t understand and can"t control. She"s gained in her magic lessons by leaps and bounds since moving to the castle. But in her grief, she"s brought down a curse on us all. It"s like an explosion. We"re seeing the immediate impact, but the destruction will spread."

Knox" voice was hard when he asked, "How far will it extend? Is it just the city? Will it extend to the forest?"

Eirwyn frowned. "What about the rest of the country? What about those still in the capital and along the coast?"

Lailant frowned. "I"m not sure how much her power has grown. Knox, you need to change the protection spells on the forest. You can"t brand the entire town that comes in like you did with the Robins."

Knox stiffened and raked a hand over the side of his head. Eirwyn"s heart was heavy, and she bit her lip.

"How can you change them?"

He looked at the castle and city. The buildings immediately around the castle were gone, nothing more than black ash. Even the trees and stones were gone. The blackness still crept through the city, buildings falling slowly but with terrible force.

"I read about it with Leopol, but it"s all in the books. I"m not sure if I can remember it correctly."

Lailant"s eyes brightened. "Leopol, you say? How marvelous. He survived."

Eirwyn frowned and Knox shook his head. "No, he"s a ghost. Or he was. He disappeared after we fought the dragon skeleton."

Lailant blinked and cleared her throat. "Ah, the magic of Hartsgrove is such that I cannot see what happened or what will happen. So you"ll have to tell me all about it on the way to Vidrland."

Lailant pointed her cane and said, "Change the spells as best you can, and we"ll find the books and a solution to stop and reverse the curse. Go on, your majesty."

Knox jerked beside her, his eyes going wide. "King? I"m no king."

Eirwyn put her hand on his chest, feeling the rope burns. Anger at her brother flooded her, and she glared at him. "You"re more of a king than my brother ever was. You"ve organized these people, given them shelter, put out the fire. You"re my king, Knox. Now and forever."

His hard gaze softened, and he dipped his head to kiss her. Their lips barely brushed when Lailant began to walk away onto the Lone Road.

"Come along, Eirwyn. We need to extend the wall around the road to protect the people while Knox takes care of the protections around the forest."

Eirwyn softly pet Knox" chest then smiled, uneasiness settling in her chest.

He grinned and shrugged. "You heard the medicine woman. I"ll see you in a few minutes?"

Her chest tightened, loathe to see him go. She"d lost her brother and her best friend today, although she wasn"t sure if Bella was truly lost or not. She didn"t want to see him walk away, especially with her stomach so tight.

The pregnancy hovered in the back of her mind, and she worried that the battle had caused a problem. She only had Lailant to ask, and now wasn"t the time.

He cupped her cheek, his eyes serious as he said. "By the gods, we"re alright, Eirwyn, and we"ll be fine as long as we"re together. I"m not going to leave you again, but I do need to protect the forest. I love you, and the thought of leaving you makes me want to scream."

A rush of heat flooded her, and she smiled as a small breeze blew past them. "I love you too, Knox. Don"t take too long, alright?"

Lailant turned and jerked her chin, a group of children running in a circle around her and trying to get a rise out of the old woman. "Come along, princess. We"ve work to do."

Eirwyn let Knox" hands fall from hers as she stepped onto the road and pulled out the borrowed wand. One child took her other hand as she began to extend the wall of trees down the road.

She looked down at him, and the small thing pulled his thumb out of his mouth to ask, "Are we really going to live in the forest now?"

She nodded, the crowd beginning to thin as they followed her further into the forest. "For a while, yes. It seems like it. It"s going to be a great adventure, don"t you think?"

The little boy nodded and stuck his thumb back in his mouth.

She ushered people past, loathe to lose sight of Knox. The little boy dropped her hand and said, "I"m going to my Mama, but when you"re done with the wand, I want it back. Mama says it"s the most expensive thing we"ve ever bought."

Eirwyn promised to return it, then he continued on with his parents as everyone followed Lailant behind her.

Eirwyn worked quickly, her forehead beading with sweat. When the crowd was spread out, she walked back the way she"d come, weaving a wall of trees along the other side of the road.

She knew this part of the forest, as the secret entrance to the castle was just ahead. She focused on the excitement of learning new magic. So many questions popped into her mind.

Was it all because of their mate bond or had some of it been because of the apple? Or was it simply because her brother was no longer poisoning her? Her chest ached at the thought.

Lailant walked over and began asking questions about Hartsgrove, the apple, and more. Eirwyn bit her lip as she finished cocooning them with the magical wall.

She turned to Lailant, frowning and facing away from the crowd. "One question though," she said softly.

She put her hand on her stomach, pulling the loose over-sized dwarven shirt tight.

"Is this going to be alright, with the battle and stress today?" Eirwyn asked.

Lailant"s eyes softened as she smiled, then she stepped up to put a hand on her stomach. Her eyes shifted to solid white, then back again so quickly Eirwyn wasn"t sure if it had actually happened or not.

"Aye, this is the start of a new era. The scales of justice are shifting in our favor."

Eirwyn tilted her head and tried to make sense of Lailant"s cryptic words.

Sure enough, Lailant continued, "What do you know of dragon pregnancies?"

Eirwyn shook her head. "Just the little that I read in the book, and all it explained was why this happened." She snorted, pursing her lips.

Lailant laughed, her hand dropping and resting back on top of her cane. "The pregnancies are longer than normal human births."

Eirwyn groaned and sighed, but Lailant grinned and shook her head.

"Now, now, don"t worry too much. For most dragons, once the mating ritual is complete, they will have a week honeymoon. During that time, the egg will grow and be fertilized."

"Fertilized?" Eirwyn asked, her brows rising. "Haven"t we already done that?"

Lailant frowned. "Perhaps. I can"t quite remember. We"ll need to consult the books. What I do remember is that it"s just a few weeks. Then you will give birth to the egg."

Eirwyn"s jaw dropped. "Weeks?"

Several of the townsfolk looked over at her sharp tone, but Eirwyn smiled at them and turned back to Lailant.

"The egg will need to incubate for almost a year. During that time, you won"t look pregnant, but you"ll have all the same symptoms of a dragon pregnancy. Your life still is tied through magic to the babe"s."

A movement over Lailant"s shoulder drew her gaze, and Eirwyn shifted to peer around a tree. She saw someone coming through the secret entrance to the castle.

She glanced at Knox, still straining as he created a wall to slow the spread of the curse. Then she nodded to the entrance.

"We have more refugees," she told Lailant.

She walked through the small gap in the wall and through the familiar woods to the no longer secret hole in the ground.

She stopped on the edge of the glen, her brows raising in surprise. A man knelt on the ground, his hand extended down to help someone up the ladder.

Her jaw dropped. He was bigger than Knox and looked to be made of solid stone. He even had stone wings on his back. He was slightly familiar but she couldn"t put her finger on it.

He glanced over, then grunted, "Ah, you survived. Excellent."

Her mind reeled. "Um, do I know you?" she asked.

He turned away from the entrance, stood, and offered his hand.

She shook it as he said, "Name"s Ashur. I"m a Robin, Knox" second in command. He was anxious about you. Did he survive too?"

Ashur frowned and looked around. Eirwyn nodded, and he sighed, his face relaxing slightly as he knelt in the dirt once more.

"Great, that"s good. Now I don"t have to handle this mess. He can." He began pulling people up the ladder. Eirwyn gasped as the first one up was the downstairs scullery maid at the castle. Except she"d been changed by magic.

"Oh Molly, you poor dear." Eirwyn hugged her, the feathers on her head making Eirwyn sneeze, as Molly began to complain so quickly Eirwyn could barely understand.

Eirwyn walked her to the edge of the glen and pointed to the gap in the wall of the road. She directed Molly through then turned.

Ashur led more and more people through. Eirwyn kept directing them, checking on them, seeing what they needed and reassuring them they were safe now.

She kept a calm smile on her face even though each person who came through was cursed with twisted features that mixed objects with their bodies. One had table legs instead of real legs, and one had a torso twisted like a wardrobe. There was even a little boy who seemed to be made entirely of wood. Several looked like animated caricatures of furniture.

The more people came through, the more she worried about their lives. How would they eat, how long could they live like that, how quickly could they find a cure or curse reversal?

And she worried about Bella. If the state of these people was any reflection on the mental status of her friend, she needed to be there to comfort her. She smiled and listened to the next person, offering reassurances.

She kept glancing back at Knox to see if he was alright. Her gut told her he was growing weaker, spending too much magic.

A familiar woman stepped up the ladder, her round cheeks red from exertion. "Heavens preserve us," she muttered, her eyes wild.

Eirwyn raced over to her. "Helga, you"re alive," she said, wrapping her arms around her former nanny.

Helga grunted, then hugged her back. "Oh Eirwyn, I"ve been so worried about you. You"re alright?"

Helga pulled back, inspecting Eirwyn. "Well, you look right enough. Unlike myself."

Helga pulled the cap off her head. Her hair fell down around her shoulders, but it wasn"t actually hair. Instead, it was leaves. Eirwyn frowned and ran her fingers over one.

"It"s tea leaves, dear. What am I supposed to do with tea for hair?"

Eirwyn snorted, her brows rising. "Make tea?"

Helga rolled her eyes and stomped after the last of the people moving through the forest to the road. "There better be some type of civilization in this god-forsaken forest, or I swear..."

Eirwyn shook her head and turned back to the stone man.

The man ducked his head into the hole and said, "Hurry. We need to collapse this tunnel to prevent the curse from entering the forest."

Eirwyn frowned, worry eating at her. She wasn"t sure if collapsing the tunnel would work, but it was a different thought that nagged at her. "Scarlet! Have you seen Scarlet? She was with you earlier when you stormed the castle, yes?"

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Yes, she took the brunt of the curse, and it"s affected her worse than most of us."

"She"s alive then?" Eirwyn asked, her brows rising as she looked around. "Where is she?"

Grimly, he nodded and pointed, but the next person he helped up wasn"t Scarlet. "If she"s in the crowd, we"ll find her. She told me to lead them out, so maybe she"s bringing up the rear."

Eirwyn felt her heart race, and she bit her lip. The line of people no longer needed her direction so she stepped closer to meet Knox at the end of the Lone Road. She could feel that he was almost done, and he needed to know about Scarlet.