Eighteen - Scarlette
Ranulf led medown barely-there paths, pointing out native flora—both those with medicinal properties, and the ones that were simply beautiful—as we went. Ranulf’s knowledge of the forest let us take a more direct route, rather than following the river, but we still hadn’t reached the cottage by the time the sun reached its zenith.
“Picnic?” Ranulf suggested, pointing to a mossy area a little way off the path.
“That sounds perfect.” Master Weslet had shoved a parcel of fruit and cheese at us before we left the inn. We could easily have eaten as we walked, but I was more than happy to enjoy this slice of paradise for a little longer instead.
I settled with my back against a tree. Ranulf handed me an apple, took a bite of a second himself, and stretched out next to me, resting his head in my lap.
“How much farther?” I asked after I had eaten half my apple.
“An hour or so. You don’t mind how isolated the cottage is, do you? I know you said—”
I smoothed my hand over his hair. “I love the tranquility of the forest. Now, that’s not to say that I might not be interested in visiting the villages a bit more than is your preference, but it doesn’t feel isolated so much as . . . insulated.”
“Even flying, the trip won’t be as pleasant in the middle of winter. We really are more isolated then.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’ll have a dragon to keep me warm, isn’t it?”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I can’t actually breathe fire, you know. I don’t know what organ allows real dragons to do that, but the best I could manage was the ability to blow smoke.”
I took a sip of water and passed the flask to him. “It’s just as well I was actually imagining you in human form keeping me warm, then.”
Ranulf pushed himself into a sitting position and drank. Then he stood and offered me a hand. I let him pull me up, stumbling against him when he didn’t let go. He kissed me. “I’d offer to keep you warm right now, but that sort of welcome to the forest should probably wait until there isn’t a hunter lurking around.”
“Let’s get home and make a plan to take care of the hunter, then.”
Ranulf squeezed my hand. “Yes. Let’s go home.”
A steady thunkingsound made me slow as we neared the cottage.
Ranulf laughed. “Rosalia must be annoyed about something.”
I looked at him, and he laughed again, leading me down a path that would take us behind the cottage. When we got closer, I saw what was causing the noise. Rosalia swung an ax with unrestrained fury, chopping wood. Though she didn’t have the same muscle mass as her twin—or even her grandmother—she could split the logs with shocking ease.
“She does this when she gets angry?”
“No, Grandmother makes her do it when she won’t stop complaining.”
Rosalia noticed us and lowered the ax to the ground. “It’s about time you two got back. We need to plan.”
“What happened?” I asked. I had never seen Rosalia like this.
“Ortfel had an emergency yesterday.”
“We saw the summons.” Ranulf began stacking the logs Rosalia had split in a holder by the back of the cottage.
“But do you know what the emergency was?” Rosalia didn’t wait for our answer. “That bastard shot a child. A child! All in hopes of trapping you when you flew down in answer to the summons.”
“He did what?” I pressed a hand against my chest. “Is the child alright? Were you or Grandmother Molle hurt?”
Rosalia kicked one of the logs still by her feet. “I healed the boy. The bolt was in his thigh. Even with a healing charm, he could have bled out if it had hit the artery, but luckily, it wasn’t quite that bad. The idiot hunter never even saw me. He wasn’t watching for a wolf.” She tugged her braid over her shoulder. “We need to do something about him before he does any permanent damage.”
I stared at the long black braid hanging down to Rosalia’s waist. Her hair hadn’t been that long the last time I saw her.
“Scarlette?”
I realized the twins were waiting for me to join them. I ignored the mystery of Rosalia’s hair and followed them into the cottage.
Grandmother Molle had four mugs of tea ready on the table by the time we entered the room. She sat at the head of the table. Ranulf took the seat at the foot of the table, and Rosalia and I settled into the other chairs across from each other.
“Clearly, ignoring the hunter and not shifting is no longer enough,” Ranulf said. “But I’m not sure what else we can do.”
“He shot someone,” I pointed out. “Shouldn’t we inform the constables?”
The three healers all laughed.
“There are no constables in Drakona,” Grandmother Molle explained.
“Aaron, up in Wulfkin, is the closest we have.” Ranulf added. “He’s technically a magistrate, and the most he can do is charge a fine or banish someone from the village. Which he already did.”
“But if a more serious crime is committed, can’t he contact someone else? Someone with the authority to do more?”
Rosalia shrugged. “He’d have to apply all the way to Haiwella for support. Even if the capital sent a constable or two, it would take forever.”
“It would also mean giving Gideon a chance to spread his story.” Ranulf frowned. “As it is, he is keeping the secret because it benefits him. If that changed, he wouldn’t hesitate to tell everyone that the healers of Drakona can shift into dragons. I’d rather deal with him on our own.”
We fell silent. For several minutes, we all stared at our mugs.
“Short of killing him, I just don’t know how we can make him stop hunting.” Ranulf grumbled. “He isn’t going to see reason. Scarlette already proved that.”
Rosalia looked thoughtful, and her grandmother shot her a withering look. “We aren’t going to kill him. We are healers, children.”
“Maybe we can make a deal with him?” I tapped a finger against the handle of my mug. “He must want something besides just killing a dragon.”
Ranulf shook his head. “I wouldn’t trust him to uphold his end of the bargain.”
“But we wouldn’t have to trust him.” Rosalia perked up. “If we make him sign a contract, the Duke of Truthhold can make it magically binding. You could fly me over the Gaboor Mountains without drawing attention, then I can walk the rest of the way and deliver it within a couple days.”
The Truthhold family had a blood-lock on another node, one rumored to be the strongest in the entire continent. The magic was tied to truth-telling. Any contract enchanted with the power of the node became more than just legally binding.
“Would that work?” I asked. “Gideon wouldn’t have to go to Truthhold with you?”
“We wouldn’t even have to tell him that we plan to use the node. So long as he signs the contract, and it is legal, the magic will work. I don’t think we even have to share the contents of the contract if we don’t want to, so Ranulf’s ability will stay secret, too.”
“Wait.” I had heard something about the Truthholder node recently. I tried to remember what. “Didn’t the duke close Rose Castle? He hasn’t accepted visitors all summer.”
Rosalia waved her hand through the air. “I heard that, too, but even if the duke doesn’t want visitors, he must still be enchanting contracts. Whatever is going on with him, it shouldn’t impact us.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Ranulf ran a hand over his face, looking suddenly exhausted. “A coerced signature isn’t legal. We’d still have to find a way to convince him to sign.”
I reached under the table and rested my hand on his thigh. He looked at me, a spark of warmth in his eyes. I kept my hand there.
“What does he hope to gain by killing a dragon?” My question earned me everyone’s attention. “He has to have a reason for refusing to walk away. Why is it worth the hassle?”
“Bragging rights,” Ranulf suggested.
“Dragon scales,” his grandmother added. “Dragon scales are like diamonds. Rare, beautiful, and difficult to destroy.”
“So, we offer him scales and the chance to claim he killed a dragon.” I paused and looked at Ranulf. “Do you shed scales?”
“Not usually, but if Rosalia can grow her hair during a shift, I think I can manage to grow a few extra scales.”
I gestured at Rosalia’s braid. “That’s from shifting?”
She shrugged. “Our magic isn’t really healing, but body-changing. My hair was this length for the last year or so that I lived in Drakona. Since I almost never shift away from the node, I naturally try to recreate that familiar state even years later.”
“Does that mean you don’t age, either?” I looked at Grandmother Molle, who certainly didn’t look old enough to have grown grandchildren, but neither did she look young.
She laughed at my scrutiny. “Healing magic does wonders, but it cannot halt the aging process altogether. We age slowly, but we do age.”
Ranulf placed his hand over mine on his thigh. “Your mother will get some of the same benefit now that she’s wearing a powerful healing charm all the time.”
I looked at him and saw the answer to the question I didn’t ask. I’d talk to him about my own aging later. For now, we had more important matters to focus on.
“So, we need a collection of scales to offer Gideon and a well-worded contract for him to sign.”
Rosalia nodded. “Even if Rose Castle is closed, there must still be a way to enchant contracts. Or I’ll wait in the nearest town until the castle opens again. It’s still our best option.”
I smiled. “Let’s do this.”