Chapter 17

Kira stifled a yawn, feeling a delicious ache run through her body as they made their way up the mountain trail.

It might not have been completely sensible to have spent half the night the way they had when they’d both known they had a strenuous hike the next day, but Kira couldn’t bring herself to regret a single moment of it. Sure, her legs had felt like jelly this morning when she’d woken up and her eyes would barely stay open… but it had been worth it.

“I didn’t keep you up at all last night, did I?” Caleb asked her, a wicked grin curving across his lips.

Kira snorted. “If we hadn’t had this hike today I would have been the one keeping you up,” she retorted with a laugh. “But I guess we can always take up where we left off once we’ve collected these mushrooms and broken your curse. Though I didn’t notice anything especially cursed about you last night – I would have said blessed.”

Or maybe that was me,she thought, as Caleb laughed.

“Oh, I was definitely blessed last night,” he said, turning his head to look at her, his eyes filled with warmth.

Kira felt her heart speed up in her chest. Part of her wanted to cringe at the cheesy lines they were exchanging, but most of her just wanted to throw her arms around Caleb’s neck and kiss him until they were both breathless.

Later, later,she told herself. There’d be time for all of that once they’d figured out just what the deal was with Caleb’s curse, and what it had to do with these mushrooms.

Thankfully, despite their slightly late start, they still made good time. They reached the steep cliff face Kira knew they had to head for right before noon, and stopped at the bottom of it to have their lunch.

“So… how do we get up there?” Caleb asked, looking up. “I take it that cave up there is where we’re heading?”

Kira nodded as she brushed the crumbs from her sandwich off her lap. “Yep. It’s not a very deep cave at all, but it’s a bit annoying to get up there – it’s easy to slip, and then there’s not a lot to grab on to once you start falling. It doesn’t look that bad, but it’s deceptively dangerous. During my field training another ranger trainee slipped and broke their leg. It wasn’t pretty.”

“No, I can imagine not,” Caleb murmured. “So I guess you must’ve brought some climbing equipment with you?”

“Yeah. Nothing fancy, but it’ll make us a bit more secure,” she said. “If we fall, we’ll be able to grab the ropes. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Or,” Caleb said, “I could fly us up there.”

“You could –” Kira blinked at him, not comprehending what he’d said for a moment or two. “You could, uh – oh. Right. I see. Fly us up there. On account of you being a dragon and everything.”

Caleb laughed softly. “Yeah. On account of that.”

Shaking her head, Kira threw up her hands. “Well, why did I bother packing all these ropes and climbing hooks then? Why did we bother hiking out here at all?!” she asked in mock exasperation. “Since we can just fly everywhere?”

“Well, to be honest, I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t sure we were completely isolated out here,” Caleb said, grinning. “Being seen in dragon form is a risk I’d really rather not run. It causes all sorts of problems, as I’m sure you can imagine. But if it’s just for a moment to get us easily up to the cave, and we really won’t be seen out here, then I can do it. Usually I wouldn’t think about shifting so close to a human town, though.”

“Oh… does that kind of thing happen very often?” Kira asked. “Shifters being seen in their shifter forms?”

“More often than you’d think, but it usually doesn’t matter,” Caleb said. “No one looks twice at a dog or a cat or a hamster, even a bear or a wolf if they’re places where those animals are common. But a dragon? Or a unicorn? That might take a little extra explaining.”

“Yeah, I can see why that might be the case,” Kira agreed. “But wait, are you saying there’s a chance that at some point in my life I’ve been looking at a hamster running on a wheel, and it’s actually been a guy?”

“Not that likely,” Caleb said. “I mean, most hamsters you’d see would be pets, right? So a hamster shifter probably wouldn’t like to be in a situation where they were stuck in a cage or something like that. I don’t think many shifters would be for sale at a pet shop, for instance.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah, that was kind of a dumb question, I guess,” Kira said.

Caleb laughed. “No – these things take some getting used to. But I’d say there’s definitely a chance you’ve at least seen a few birds who were actually shifters – to my mind, bird shifters lucked out in life. They can go pretty much anywhere, anytime, and unless someone’s a real expert on birdlife, they probably won’t get noticed as being out of place.”

“And being able to fly would be a pretty sweet deal,” Kira said enviously. “I mean, being able to fly freely like that. I guess it’s harder for you.”

“It is,” Caleb said. “But there’s places we can go – big stretches of open country owned by dragon families, where it’s safe for us to shift and stretch our wings. But it’s like I told you – I’m kind of a city dragon. Spending a couple of weeks a year out there is enough for me. Otherwise, I’m happy as I am.”

“One day I’m gonna have a lot of different questions for you,” Kira sighed, shaking her head. She felt like she still couldn’t quite wrap her head around all of this. “But for now, maybe we should just focus on finding your mystery mushroom, and get back to town as quickly as we can. We only have a few days before the end of the month now, and then Heit will be able to buy the land.”

“Sure thing.” Caleb nodded. “But, uh, you might want to stand back a little – I need a little space.”

“Oh, right. For your whole… becoming a dragon thing.” Kira laughed, realizing she sounded perhaps just the slightest bit inane. “But… if you’re going to fly up there, how will I get up?”

Caleb grinned at her. “You can ride me.”

“R-ride you?” Kira stared at him.

“Don’t worry – it’ll only be for a moment. And I’ll make sure you don’t fall off. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

I think I’ll be the judge of that!Kira thought as she crossed the clearing, trying to make sure Caleb would have enough space to do what he had to do.

Once again, she watched the shimmer run over his skin, as if the light were shifting over him. And then, once again, Caleb became the magnificent black dragon she’d seen yesterday – all glittering scales, mighty wings, and long, tapering tail. His eyes glowed golden as he turned his head on its long neck to look at her, expanding his wings a little, moving his massive shoulders as if to make them shine in the sunshine. Kira had to laugh – if she hadn’t known better, she would have said the dragon was preening for her!

“Yes, yes, you’re very impressive,” she said, as she approached him slowly, though it wasn’t that she was scared of Caleb in this form. Fear was the furthest thing from her mind! Despite all his obvious power and strength, and the fact that he was, well, a dragon, Kira could tell he’d never do a thing to hurt her. It was more that she had absolutely no idea about how to go about riding a dragon, even if it was only for a moment or two!

“How do I, uh, climb aboard?” she asked, reaching out a hand to run it gently over the dark, slightly iridescent scales on Caleb’s side.

Warm. He’s so warm.

Caleb let out a low, soft growl, before lowering his shoulder. Kira understood what he wanted – she could climb up to his shoulders by clambering onto his front leg.

Well, okay. Here goes, I guess!

Gripping as well as she could on to his smooth scales, Kira hauled herself up. Caleb was so big and strong that she knew she couldn’t possibly hurt him as she put her feet on him, crawling her way up his leg to his shoulder. The back of his neck was just narrow enough for her to throw her leg over and sit astride him.

Beneath her, she could feel a steady vibration as she settled herself.

“Wait – are you purring?!” she asked in mild disbelief. Did dragons purr?!

Caleb let out a low, slightly embarrassed little sound, twisting his neck to look over his shoulder at her.

“Right, well, I guess you are then,” Kira murmured. She supposed that was just what dragons did when they were happy. Lowering herself so she was sitting forward over his neck and holding on as securely as she could, Kira readied herself. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Caleb let out another soft grunt, and in the next moment she felt the air rush past her face, a powerful whoomp! on either side of her as Caleb pulsed his wings, sending them both high into the air.

Kira gasped. She knew the first rule of being somewhere high up was not to look down, but this time, she couldn’t help it. She stared down at the trees below, cedar and shrub alike seeming suddenly very far away.

A dragon. I’m riding on a dragon.

The thought seemed utterly surreal. Kira wanted to laugh out loud – and so she did, as Caleb turned a small circle, back toward the cliff face.

“There!” She pointed, though she didn’t think Caleb could see it. “There’s the cave!”

And so it was – exactly where she remembered it being. It was a shallow cave with only a narrow ledge in front of it, so they’d have to be careful on landing. But Caleb seemed to be able to control his flight precisely, and he folded his wings as they got close, landing with all four feet arranged delicately on the small ledge.

Wow. That was a rush,Kira thought, as she shimmied her way down from Caleb’s back. One day she’d have to ask Caleb to take her out to one of those big dragon estates, and get the full experience.

Once her feet were back on solid ground, Caleb was shimmering and then shrinking before her very eyes, back into the handsome form she’d gotten to know pretty well the night before.

“I really think that’s going to take some getting used to,” she said, shaking her head.

“Understandable.” Caleb smiled at her. “I really hope I didn’t spring all this on you too fast.”

“No! No, it wasn’t that,” Kira reassured him. “In fact, I was just thinking about how I’d love to do that a little more one day. Flying, I mean. Well, if you wouldn’t mind, of course. I wouldn’t like you to think I think of you as my own personal transport system or something like that now.”

Caleb laughed, rich and hearty. “No, of course I don’t. And to be honest… I really liked having you up there. I’d love to take you flying properly one day.”

“I could tell from the purring you probably didn’t mind it,” Kira laughed.

“Right.” Caleb looked a little sheepish. “Sorry. The dragon just wanted to show how much he appreciated you putting your trust in him.”

“So… is the dragon like… something separate to you then?” Kira asked, as together they made their way inside the cave.

“Yes and no,” Caleb replied. “I mean, it is me – we’ve never been separated. The dragon’s always been there, even before I learned to shift. But we don’t always agree – he still has a dragon’s instincts, and wants to do things the dragon way. But I’m human, and I know we can’t always do things like that. So it’s a balance. It’s very hard to describe.”

“I’ll bet,” Kira said, fascinated. She felt like she had so many more questions for him, but she knew she’d better concentrate on not falling over in the cave for now – the inside was dank and fairly dark once they got beyond the reach of the sunlight. Taking out a flashlight and turning it on, Kira shone it around, paying close attention to dark crevices and corners.

“The aurum lacunosa likes dark, damp places to grow,” she explained. “We might have to peep into a few corners before we find them – and also hope we’re not too late. They die off in fall when it starts to get cold, and then spawn again in spring. But hopefully we’ll find some.”

Together, they made their way deeper into the cave, until the only light was the flashlight, and even that seemed feeble in the darkness. The cave was deeper than Kira remembered it, and a lot wetter. They’d have to be careful.

And she wasn’t very encouraged by the fact they hadn’t seen a single sign of a mushroom yet. This fall had been unusually cold – was it possible they’d all died off already? Kira felt a chill down her spine. If that was the case, then Caleb would have to wait until next year to have a chance to break his curse.

“Kira – is this what we’re looking for?”

Caleb’s voice on the other side of the cave snapped her attention back to the task at hand. Carefully, she hurried over to him, shining the flashlight where he was pointing.

“Wow,” she said, crouching down to look at the small golden mushroom with its holey cap, sitting just next to a damp rock. “How’d you spot that?”

“Just lucky I guess,” Caleb told her, flashing her a grin. “And I can see in the dark pretty well.”

“Is this another dragon power?” Kira asked, before she remembered something that, until now, she hadn’t given any thought to, what with everything else that had been going on recently. “And wait – is that the reason the coffee I spilled on you didn’t burn you? Because you’ve actually got dragon hide for skin or something?”

“Pretty much,” Caleb said. “Not exactly, but I’ve always been immune to heat, and I heal up quickly too. It’s just a shifter thing. We tend to be a bit hardier than regular humans.”

A lot more stamina, too,Kira thought, feeling a hot shiver in her belly as she remembered last night. But I better keep my mind on the job for now!

“You said they were poisonous,” Caleb said as they looked at the mushrooms. “But is that just to eat, or also to touch?”

“Hm. I think it’s just to eat. But maybe it’d be better to be safe than sorry,” Kira said, taking out her pocket knife. Reaching into a pouch of her bag, she took out a plastic bag and opened it, holding it beneath the mushrooms. Carefully, she cut the mushrooms away from the patch of soil where they were growing, so they fell, untouched, into the bag. “How much do you think we need?”

“The parchment didn’t say,” Caleb replied. “But maybe we should get as much as we can. I’m still not sure what we’re supposed to do with it – only that if I get it wrong, there’s going to be some kind of death and horror beyond imagining situation.”

“Well, let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.” Kira stood, sealing the bag. “For now, let’s just see if we can find a few more of these bad boys.”

Carefully, they made their way through the cave. The mushrooms were few and far between, but every now and then they spotted them – small and brilliantly yellow, growing amongst the rocks that littered the floor of the cave. Finally, the plastic bag was filled.

“I hope that’ll be enough,” Kira said, holding it up to inspect it, before sealing it tightly.

“I guess we can only wait and see,” Caleb said. “I’m afraid I don’t really know that much about any kind of plants though, and the only other clue I have for what to do next is that line about ‘consumed with flames’ – I kind of assumed it had something to do with baking the mushrooms, or preparing them in some way that would make them safe to eat.”

“Hmm. I think you’re right. That’s what I heard about them too – but I wouldn’t have the first idea how to go about actually doing that, since we were told to not even try it. It wasn’t worth the risk. You’d have to be some kind of plant expert to –”

Kira stopped mid-sentence as a thought struck her – and it felt exactly like a lightbulb suddenly appearing above her head.

A plant expert! I know just who to ask!

“Kira?” Caleb asked, cocking his head. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing at all,” Kira said, looking up at him with a grin. “It’s just that I just thought of someone who might be able to help us with our problem – two someones, in fact.” Hope surged in her heart as she tucked her bag of mushrooms away securely in her bag. “But we have to get back to Girdwood Springs, as fast as we can.”

And I have to hope I’m right, she thought, as together they set off toward the mouth of the cave.