Page 43 of The Dragon Queen
Her hard eyes softened with a glimmer of affection. “Hold on to that feeling, Calista. You’ll get through this.”
I gave a slight nod in agreement. “I wish I could be more like you.”
“Why?” she asked, dead serious.
“You’re so strong, so fearless, so…focused.”
“And you’re brave, courageous, and, despite horrible suffering, still so deeply loving and warm.” She gave me a slight smile. “Why be me when you can be you, Calista? The Death King is one of the few men I’ve encountered who’s indifferent to my beauty because he’s completely and utterly under your trance.”
Her compliment was like fire in my veins, a warmth that relaxed every muscle in my body.
“He’s the only male friend I’ve ever had, and that friendship means a great deal to me,” she said. “I’ve already lived a full life many times over, and yours has just begun. Don’tcompare your youth to my wisdom, and certainly don’t do it in disappointment, because you’re much wiser than I was at your age.”
“You flatter me.”
The slight smile remained on her lips. “Are you ready, Calista?”
I pushed the memory of that horrible goodbye from my mind. I knew I needed to focus on the dragons just the way Talon needed to focus on his task. There was no room for emotions and misery. “Yes.”
“Then let’s go.”
A stone wall surrounded the Southern Isles with a large gate down the main road. The wall was manned with soldiers along most of the length, and they were posted outside the gate. Queen Eldinar found an unprotected portion of the wall and walked up to it.
“When I’m on the other side, I’ll toss a rope to you.”
“How are you going to climb this side without the rope?” It was completely flat, the blocks having very few grooves for a handhold or a foot.
She didn’t answer the question and instead did a short sprint, running up the wall and jumping until she gripped the edge.
My eyes snapped wide open at the unbelievable dexterity she showed on a whim.
With impressive upper body strength, she pulled herself over the edge then disappeared.
I waited for the rope to drop on my side, but after several minutes, nothing happened. Crickets chirped in the night. I even heard an owl somewhere in the trees. But there was no sound of commotion or the clashing of swords. I wanted to call out to her, but that could give away our precarious position.
Before I became too worried, the rope silently flew over the edge and dropped down beside me. I wrapped the rope around one of my wrists then gave a tug to test the tension in the length. When I felt resistance, I knew Queen Eldinar had it in a tight grip or had secured it to the stump of a tree.
I climbed over the wall as quickly as my weak arms could manage then slid down to the other side. When I got there, I saw Queen Eldinar near the base of one of the trees, dragging a soldier into the brush that surrounded it.
I pulled the rope with me as I joined her, seeing two soldiers piled together. It was unclear if they were dead or just knocked out. The queen had managed to disable them both without making a single sound.
When she used the rope to bind them in place, I knew she’d spared their lives.
“Come.” She took the lead, sticking to the trees instead of the path that headed toward the village at the base of the cliff. Keeping our cover took us away from the center of town, but it also kept us hidden from the guards who remained on patrol in the public spaces.
I should be afraid behind enemy lines with only one ally, but I trusted the queen as much as I trusted Talon.
She stepped out of the tree line and gazed upon the city, lights visible from the torches mounted outside the stone buildings. The cliff was a shadow in the darkness, but lights from the distant castle were visible like stars in the sky.
In silence, she examined the city, poring over the details of the place she’d never been, searching for the place where the mighty dragons were stored. “I thought this would be more obvious. There are very limited places to keep so many dragons.”
The city seemed to sit at the bottom of a basin at sea level, the harbor accessible at the same level. The cliff that rose up to the top was steep. When Talon and I had made the journey to the castle through the secret passage, it took hours to reach the top. I stared at the dark cliff and remembered how cavernous it was inside, how we could step into rooms with twenty-foot-high ceilings then emerge into a narrow passage. The rising cliffs were massive and grand, making the castle at the top a spectacular pinnacle. “I have an idea.”
We stuck to the outskirts of the city as we made our way to the cliffs. When Talon and I had come here before, I’d noticed the path that the soldiers took to the castle. It was winding, turning then circling back on itself as it rose in elevation. The slant was steep, so the horses probably struggled to carry goods to the top.
It was the perfect—and only—place to hide such beasts.
As we approached the base of the cliffs, a line of torches became visible farther up the stone. Sconces of fire were placed against the wall, and soldiers were visible in the darkness. The closer we got, the clearer it became that they were guarding something.