Chapter 10
EDEN
I ran all the way from Bramble Cottage to the town square, slowing as the crowd of townsfolk thickened.
The main road was already crowded with traveling carts and tourist wagons.
Merchants had set up temporary stalls for the migration season, selling everything from painted dragon tapestries to rings with stones polished to look like dragon eggs to wooden pendants in the shape of claws.
I slipped between two stalls, inching closer to the square.
“What is it?” a woman asked, pressed up on her toes, trying to spy between shoulders. “Who is it?”
“Kingsguard,” someone replied. “Looks to be an entire section of them.”
My stomach plummeted as I wove through the bodies. What was an entire section of kingsguard doing here?
A group of kids giggled, darting between people faster than I could, wearing cloaks sewn into the shape of dragon wings.
The closer I got to the front of the crowd, the better I could see.
It wasn’t just one section of kingsguard.
There were eighteen of them in total. They rode into the center of Ember Ridge on jet-black horses with feathered hooves, braided manes, and long glossy tails.
Their tack was laid with silver and the sigil of the king, one yawning dragon’s head spitting blue fire.
The hottest fire—draconflame.
A fire that only existed in myth.
“Halt!” a voice cried. There was another short blast from a horn, and the company halted, the horses stopping in three perfectly ordered lines. The kingsguard wore the same sigil on their chestplates, those blue flames burning bright over their hearts.
My pulse skipped a beat. Surely Vaela hadn’t actually summoned the kingsguard because of a little smoke.
Whether she suspected it or not, she hadn’t actually proven what I was doing.
And even if she’d been certain, surely they wouldn’t have sent a contingent like this all because some burn nurse was messing around with dragon scales?
There had to be some kind of warning process. A slap on the wrist or a strongly worded letter delivered to my door by a grumpy soldier.
I was jostled from behind as the crowd converged, merchants and vendors all drawn in by the commotion. Small children squeezed between legs or hung out windows of buildings, hoping for a better view of the soldiers and their broadswords.
“Eden!”
I glanced down the row, spotting Matty’s massive shoulders rising above some of the other infirmary staff. He waved me over, and I slipped through the crowd, stopping between him and Nisse.
“What do you think they’re doing here?” I asked. “Has anyone said?”
Matty shook his head. “I’ve never seen this many all at once.”
That didn’t bode well. “This isn’t normal for the migration?” I clarified.
Nisse tucked her short black hair behind her ears. “We see the odd soldier now and then. But they usually don’t bother with us. This is… Well, they clearly have something to announce, don’t they?”
I swallowed hard.
“That’s too many for just an announcement,” Matty said. He lifted his hand, pointing beyond the ranks of horses. “Look what they’ve brought with them.”
I stretched up on my tiptoes to gaze over Reo’s shoulder.
Another horse lumbered in the background.
This one was stocky and muscled, built for endurance, not for speed.
It heaved a massive supply cart into the square.
Piled on the cart were thick layers of netting, chains, and crossbows with arrows that had blunted tips.
I’d seen those before. They were sometimes used by sharpshooters to scare off pesky dragons when they were getting too used to roosting on buildings.
I frowned at the nets and chains, wondering if instead of scaring off a dragon, the arrows were meant to knock one from the sky.
“They’re hunting something,” I said. My stomach sank at the thought, but a flicker of relief flared as well. If they were here for a dragon, then it had nothing to do with me and my armor.
“You think they’re looking to catch a dragon?” Matty said, brushing his curls back with an intrigued look on his face. “Must be a pretty big one.”
Nisse shook her head. “Why would they come all the way out here to do that when they could catch one near the capital?”
“What else would the nets be for?” I said.
“Room and board,” one of the soldiers boomed, climbing off his horse. He had a red and black stripe painted across his helmet. He was likely in charge.
“Captain Sharpe!” another soldier called, dropping down from his horse with a salute. “We have a volunteer.”
The captain glanced over the crowd. “You!” he barked. “Come forward.”
A man shifted to the front of the crowd. He had a round belly, covered with an apron, and very little hair as he tugged his hat off, nodding at the captain. “Aye, we’d be happy to host you.” He lifted his hand. “We’re at the inn across the square.”
The captain barked an order, then all at once the kingsguard fell out of line, some dismounting their horses, others setting off in groups of two, patrolling the perimeter of the square.
Small children darted after them, gaping up at the sheer size of the horses.
They easily dwarfed any of the horses stabled in town.
“That’s Seamus,” Nisse whispered, nodding in the direction of the man speaking with the captain. “He and his wife run The Clawfoot Inn.”
“Bad time for the Wiggly Dragon Tooth to be out of business,” Matty muttered. “I bet they’d make a fortune off these guys.”
“You think they’re staying long?” I wondered.
A woman darted through the crowd so quickly she almost crashed right into us. She shoved a mop of frizzy hair back from her face, and I realized at once that it was Seraphine. Her cheeks were flushed like she’d jogged all the way from the mountain pass.
Nisse clamped onto her hand. “What did you find out?”
“I overheard a couple of soldiers whispering about the Wretch,” she said, eyes darting around, deliberately keeping her voice low. A chill zipped through me, and I didn’t know why. “They’re here to capture it.”
“You’re kidding!” Nisse said, sounding equal parts amazed and horrified. She turned to me. “I guess you were right.”
Matty snorted, crossing his arms, biceps bulging. “As if. They’d have to be delusional to go after the Wretch.”
“Then why do they have enough netting to cover this entire square?” Seraphine said, putting her hands on her hips.
Matty opened his mouth, then closed it. He huffed a laugh of disbelief. “It’s just not possible. Even with this many kingsguard, we’re talking about the Wretch.”
“Will someone please tell me what the Wretch is?” I begged.
“A dragon like none of us have ever encountered. Folks say its fire burns so hot it can melt any metal,” a voice said.
I turned to find Vaela just behind us. She leaned against the front of an abandoned fruit stand, hands tucked into the pockets of her trousers. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips, and I tried not to stare.
“I’ve heard that too,” Nisse said.
“If that’s true, then what good are chains?” I asked, my words sticking at the thought of dragon fire that could melt through any metal. A shiver prickled at my skin, sending an uncomfortable row of goosebumps climbing my arms.
“Perhaps it is only an old wives’ tale,” Vaela said. She held my gaze, those thin eyebrows knotted in concern, and I knew at once that she didn’t believe it to be a tale.
“They say a lot of things about the Wretch,” Matty cut in. “That it’s the biggest dragon this land has ever seen. That it’s the oldest and wisest and fiercest dragon to make the migration.”
“I heard that its scales are so thick no magic can pierce its hide,” Seraphine whispered.
Matty hissed. “Watch what you say around the kingsguard.”
“They’re not going to toss you in a jail cell just for mentioning the word magic.” Nisse laughed. “Be serious.”
“I am being serious,” Matty said, lowering his voice. “There are an awful lot of them here.”
My gaze flitted over the group. He was right.
The kingsguard wouldn’t take kindly to mentions of magic, however innocent they might be.
Cai’amar was a land without magic. We had dragons, we tamed beasts, and we believed that everything we needed was born of the land—food, water, medicine.
But, as it was told, the neighboring lands could cure illnesses with a whisper and a flick of their wrists or by using spells crafted into bottles.
There was no limit to what they could accomplish.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious to see some of their healing spells in action.
To meet people who bled healing magic from their fingertips.
But those wishes were only fantasies because talk like that was enough to get you hauled in front of the king for treason.
The royal family despised magic, which was understandable.
Our people had no sense of it. No control over it.
No real way to fight it. And that made magic feel dangerous.
Meanwhile, the neighboring lands stole dragon scales and teeth and horns and claws to craft into enchantments.
Eggs were the most coveted of all, and there were always a number of kingsguard stationed along the borders to prevent the illegal smuggling of dragon properties.
But none of that mattered right now because this group of kingsguard weren’t here because of magic. They were here to catch a dragon.
“You think we’ll get to see the Wretch if they catch it?” Nisse asked.
“You haven’t even seen it before?” I said, confused. Nisse shook her head, as did Seraphine.
“I got a glimpse of its tail once,” Matty piped up.
I frowned. A dragon that big making the migration and yet no one had seen it before? That didn’t make any sense.
“It flies too high to be easily spotted,” Vaela said. “Using the clouds as cover. Some people who track the migration say it flies at night.”
“How do they plan to catch something they can’t even see?” I said, looking back at that cart full of netting.
Vaela’s face pinched in concern. “Their best bet would be to track it and catch it when it lands to rest. That way, the beast is too tired to put up a fight.”
Matty nodded in agreement. “With that kind of firepower, I bet the thing could raze an entire forest in one go.”
My stomach roiled at the thought, my mind filled with nothing but flames. Horrible, red, inextinguishable flames. “Is that why it’s called the Wretch?” I asked, voice small. For a beat, I thought I might be sick. “Why would anyone want to catch such a dragon?”
“Why indeed,” Vaela said, her narrowed gaze following a patrol of passing kingsguard.
Now that I was imagining it, the thought of humans trying to ground such a beast was horrifying.
I imagined its thunderous roar and the angry wall of flame that would swirl at the back of its mouth.
I imagined a dragon so big I could look straight down its throat, past rows of sword-like teeth, and see the organ where dragon fire was born.
I thought of the vortex that had swallowed my father and of the armor that had smoldered in the oven in Bramble Cottage. I thought of the kingsguard and their pretty painted armor. How impractical metal and leather were when hunting a dragon of this presumed enormity.
How useless.
How many of them would be hurt in pursuit of the beast?
And why?
The questions ricocheted around my head to the point of pain. I lifted my hand, pressing my fingers to my temple.
“Eden?” Vaela said, her words getting lost among my own thoughts. I envisioned nothing but burns, and my stomach ached with something sharp and acidic.
I didn’t want to hear anymore. “I have to go,” I said, shoving past Matty and Nisse.
“Eden, are you okay?” Seraphine called after me.
Her voice rang clear, but I didn’t stop to answer. I didn’t stop until I was back in Bramble Cottage and the muted whispers of the Wretch and its all-consuming fire were far behind me.