Dragon Blood

Thirty-Eight: Been There Before

The soft ground muffled the sounds of the horse's hooves as they struck the path. The poor beasts were exhausted, but they still had another day of hard riding ahead of them before they reached Draco's castle. They'd been on the road for nearly three days, and they were all irritable.

Skylar glanced over at Orion who had treated her colder than she liked. He wasn't rude, nor less affectionate, but she felt like he was holding back from her. He didn't want to risk their lives to save Jonathan, not in the slightest, but she had made him. She didn't insist that he go with her, in fact she tried to talk him out of it, but Orion wasn't about to let her out of his sight.

There was also the matter of Ashley, who had agreed to get them into the castle if Hal spared her life. She was a constant presence, so they couldn't talk without her hearing, and she didn't know they were dragons. Because of that they couldn't shift, which Skylar felt would help ease some of the tension between her and Orion. Especially Orion, who wasn't used to being cooped up in a castle where he couldn't shift at all. Her dragon understood the importance of their discretion, even if she hated it more than anything.

Olly hadn't joined them, even though he desperately wanted to. Orion told him to stay with the king and queen to plan for Draco's attack. He and whoever volunteered to help the dragons would leave today to head for the Western Clan to prepare for the inevitable fight. Skylar was not optimistic that they would have a lot of takers. She could only hope that they were loyal enough to Jonathan that Draco's acts against him would be enough to blind them to the fact they would be fighting alongside dragons. She also tried not to think about the size of Draco's armies. They would be fighting against the dragons, so there would be no shortage of men. Draco put a lot of time and energy into building his army, and the last she'd heard they were 75,000 strong. The Western Clan had only about 40 fighting dragons. If Kellan and Penelope rallied their clan, Orion told her that would only add another 60 or so dragons, and none of them would feel obligated to fight. Less than 100 dragons against 75,000 men weren't the best of odds, even if they were dragons. Not when Draco was specialized in fighting dragons and he had the powerful weapons and men who were skilled in using them.

She looked over at Ashley, Draco's personal maid. She was shy, would hardly meet Skylar's eye and wouldn't even look at Orion. She had been nearly silent during their ride, and Skylar guessed she wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible.

"Thank you for agreeing to help us," Skylar broke the silence. Ashley's head lifted in surprise and her gaze dropped as soon as she met Skylar's.

"I have to try and make this right," she said softly. "I didn't know that's what he did to those poor men. If I can help save one of them, of course I'll do it."

Skylar smiled at her bravery. She was willing to work against Draco, even though she knew what he was capable of. Skylar appreciated her more than she could possibly realize; there was no way they would be able to sneak into Draco's fortress without someone who knew the castle as well as a servant.

Hal, of course, hadn't wanted to let the maid go. When Skylar brought up the idea of asking for her help, Hal had looked at her like she had grown a second head. He didn't trust her, he no longer trusted anyone associated with the other king, but Ashley had insisted she meant them no harm. Apparently Draco treated her poorly, no surprise there, and no one in the palace cared for him. The chance to hurt him in any way appealed to her greatly, and she'd agreed to help so long as Hal didn't kill her.

Skylar trusted her. She was sweet, and anyone who didn't like Draco was alright in her book. Orion didn't trust her simply because she worked for Draco, and she was human. He had explicitly stated such a thing, but Skylar could sense it. He kept a close eye on Ashley, watching her every move. Even when he rode ahead of them, like he was now, Skylar knew he was listening closely and ready at a moment's notice to defend against the timid young lady.