CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Her lungs burned. They felt like they were tearing apart, each breath an agony, but Enfri couldn't stop running.

Deebee was nestled in the crook of her arm. Whenever the dragon tried to speak, her eyes would flutter and any words came out slurred and incoherent. She was drained beyond exhaustion. Locking the spell that changed Bellamy into a wolf left her completely spent. Enfri knew little of the workings of magic, but she feared that what Deebee did had been a dangerous— even deadly— thing for her to attempt.

Heart hammering and sweat drenching her clothes, Enfri drove herself on. Her brace felt like knives slicing into her skin. She couldn't remember the last time she had feeling in her legs. The walking stick in her hand was the only thing that had kept her on her feet through countless stumbles. Enfri had no notion of how long she had been running. It felt like hours, but she feared it had been only moments. She wasn't far enough away, and the assassins were coming. Head east. Stay away from the road. One foot in front of the other. Listen for pursuit.

"Enfri," Deebee murmured.

Too tired. Enfri's mouth hung open as she panted, desperately pulling in air like a man lost in the desert would drink water. Don't stop. Keep running.

"Girl, please," Deebee said, her voice clearer than the last few times she tried to speak.

Enfri slowed enough to look down at Deebee. Amber eyes stared back at her. Deebee was alert. Rejuvenated.

"How?" Enfri asked. A part of her realized that now she was the one being incoherent.

"You'll hurt yourself," Deebee pleaded. "Stop and rest. Catch your breath."

"No," Enfri said. "Can't stop."

If she did, Enfri thought she would curl into a ball on the ground and do nothing but weep until Jin caught her. Running kept her from bursting into tears, and terror kept her running.

"What's your first and greatest foe, girl?" Deebee demanded.

Enfri slowed her pace. As soon as she did, her legs gave way beneath her. She fell to her knees and leaned against the walking stick. As she thought she would, her body began to shake as she cried.

She felt helpless. Useless. She couldn't think of anything she could do except run, and now even that seemed beyond her.

Deebee clung to Enfri's walking stick, level with her head. "I've heard you say the words often enough that they're burned into my own heart," she said. "You've always said that fear is your true enemy. I want you to tell me why."

"Fear," Enfri wheezed, "makes you stop when you need to act." She sniffed and raised her eyes. "Fear makes you forget what needs to be done."

"It's half of the truth," Deebee said. "We've both carried half, I've come to realize. The mighty use fear to protect ourselves. The sky women spurn it to act. I think we've both been fools."

"What are you saying, Deebee?"

"I'm not sure," she replied. "What I do know is that you can't give in to it. Not yet. Hold on to fear's opposite for now."

Courage. It felt less like a simple word and more like a mountain barring the path ahead. One that once climbed could be used as a talisman against the fear that was assaulting her.

"Are you well?" Enfri asked. "I was worried about you."

"I feel like a wineskin that's just been guzzled," Deebee said. "I... misjudged my own strength. So many spells in so short a time chipped away at my stores of ether. It's starting to fill me again, but it'll be some time before I'm in top form."

Enfri nodded, only half-understanding. "Same for me," she said. "I thought I was a better runner than this."

Deebee winced. "Flames, I'm a dunce. I should have known. It's been so long, and I've forgotten what it's like."

"What what's like?" Enfri asked. It must have been serious, because Deebee only swore by the spirits of fire when she was truly upset.

"First get to your feet, girl," Deebee commanded. "Chew on some of those sprouts I saw you pocket, and I'll explain as we go. Nice and easy, though. We have a head start, so let's use it wisely."

Enfri heaved herself up, her staff digging a furrow into the soft ground as she did. She quested through her pockets until she found the bundle of vex sprouts Deebee mentioned. They were a strong restorative, earthy flavored and moist like alfalfa. Enfri plucked a few out and shoved them into her mouth. She also nagged Deebee until she agreed to chew on one as well.

"Blech," Deebee spat as she gnawed at the sprout. "A dragon eating grass... What would Kimpo think if she saw me?"

"That you're wise not to put pride before what's best for you," Enfri said. "Also that you're the prettiest silver she's ever seen."

Deebee's scales seemed to ripple. It looked rather like a bird ruffling its feathers. "Blustering girl," she muttered.

Enfri started walking once she put the vex sprouts back in her pocket. This sedate pace made her shoulders itch, though she didn't think she yet had the strength to run again if the need arose. "Are you certain we should be going so slow?" she asked.

"Best course of action," Deebee said through a mouthful of vex sprout. "I've been a part of more hunts than those assassins have seen daybreaks. Though, I'll admit that I'm usually the hunter, not the prey. We put a scare into them. Right now, they're gauging my strength and yours, wondering what else we might be able to do. They'll come after us again, but they'll do it cautiously. It'll be a bit before they make another go of it."

"You were saying something a moment ago," Enfri said. "You forgot something was like this?"

"Being bonded to a mortal, of course," Deebee said. "You've always taken better care of yourself than Yora did, so it's only natural that I'm not used to sharing ether anymore."

Enfri about dropped her walking stick. "Being what to a what?"

Deebee stared at her in bemusement. "Bonded to a mortal," she repeated.

"We're bonded? As to say, magically? Like you were with Father?"

Deebee burst into tiny giggles and covered her mouth with her claws. "Are you being serious? You mean you didn't know? Oh my, I always thought it went without saying. Of course you and I are bonded."

"So, earlier when..."

"I made a serious miscalculation." Deebee sighed as she took her usual place on Enfri's shoulder. "When I locked the polymorphy on that goose, it took everything I had. More, in fact. Fortunate for me, you were there. It made things a bit harder on you, I know, but you were feeding some of your own ether into me."

Enfri rubbed her eyes. She was starting to feel like that spinning kite again. "I... healed you somehow?"

"When one of us needs strength or vitality or ether, the other will provide. You could say that the two of us are sharing from a single cup of water. It's the nature of the bond between a dragon and an Aleesh. Together, we're greater than the sum of either of us alone."

It was starting to make a bit more sense, though Enfri doubted she understood the whole of it. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since your first day in the world. It happened in the same way it did with Yora." Deebee's gaze drifted off to somewhere far away and she smiled. "Precisely in the same way. Enfri, you've no idea how much hope you gave me that day."

"I don't know how I feel about that," Enfri said, indignant. "Shouldn't I have had a choice in the matter?"

"You say that as if I did," Deebee said defensively. "Bonding isn't a conscious choice on my part. It just... happens."

Enfri pursed her lips. She supposed she could hardly blame Deebee for something she had no control over. Also, if she were to be tied to another living creature, she was blessed that it was to Deebee. "Is this why I almost never get sick?" she asked.

"That and all those herbs. Like I said, you're quite good at keeping yourself together."

Enfri smiled despite herself. Through the sparse trees ahead, she saw a faint light flicker in and out of sight. It was a lantern, like those hung in the village at night. Enfri's heart leapt as she saw it. She hadn't thought they would arrive at Sandharbor so soon.

"Carefully, Enfri," Deebee warned. "The assassins aren't sitting still. They would have sent someone ahead on the road."

Enfri nodded. "They underestimated us before, so they won't make the same mistake twice."

"Quite so. It seems you have your father's cunning."

The compliment was appreciated. "If you were hunting me, how would you go about it?"

Deebee winked at her. "Excellent, girl. That's how you should be thinking. Anticipate and circumvent. If the prey can predict how the hunter will act, there's a much better chance to escape. Aurochs are dull as rocks and easy to trap. Goats, however, are smarter than most give them credit for. We must be goats."

Enfri shook her head. "No more shape changing, please."

Deebee clucked her tongue. "Not what I meant, even if I had the strength to do it. Fresh out of beetle hearts in any case."

"So what are you suggesting? Are you recovered enough?"

Deebee hopped to the ground and stretched out like a cat after a nap. "I'm feeling much better, thanks to you. Those sprouts of yours might even have a bit of magic in them. I've never had my ether come back so quickly before."

That was some welcome news. "The cup's filled again?" Enfri asked.

"Oh no, not by a long shot. Enough that I won't pass out if I change forms, though." Deebee changed into a cat as she finished stretching. "I'll look ahead. Stay low and quiet. I'll be back before you can blink."

Enfri looked around and spotted some brush. She crouched down next to the bushes, hoping that it was sufficient to hide her. As she watched Deebee creep towards the distant lantern light, Enfri found herself wishing that the trees could have grown closer together.

The trees had enough distance between them that it would be a stretch to call them a forest. This near to the desert, plants tended to be small and hardy, rarely growing together when water wasn't always in plenty. The latest drought made what greenery there was turn brown and brittle. There was little to conceal a fugitive, though it was leagues better than being on the open road.

Deebee returned, her feline face wrinkled in deep thought. She was troubled, and it made Enfri's pulse quicken.

"What's wrong?"

"We're not where we should be," Deebee sighed. She turned back into her normal self and picked agitatedly at her scales. "We must have veered north after I made you stop running. That isn't Sandharbor ahead. It's the Smiths' forge."

Enfri felt panic begin to eat at her. "That means we're right next to the road."

Anyone on the road would pass close to her if they were coming to Sandharbor from Enfri's home. The assassins could see in the dark, so she would be spotted within moments.

"Easy, now," Deebee soothed her. "This might work in our favor."

Enfri shook her head. "No, I won't ask Haythe to hide me. I can't put his family in danger. His sisters. His children."

"I'm not asking you to," Deebee said, "but it speaks well of you that you think of them before yourself. You told me that when the older Smith daughter returned from the army, she came with the crown's gift?"

Enfri nodded, though she grew suspicious of Deebee's intent. When Teela came back to Sandharbor after her service, she brought with her a veritable herd of horses. It was the talk of the town for months, how Teela earned a prize ten times greater than her father's. It had made their family the wealthiest people in the village by a wide margin.

"I will not steal a horse," Enfri declared. "I'm a sky woman, not a thief."

Deebee pranced anxiously from foot to foot. "This is no time for moral objections. The assassins have steeds. We can't hope to outrun them on foot."

She was right. Enfri wrinkled her nose in displeasure over the thought of stealing from people she cared for. True, they couldn't remember her face to save their lives, but they were the closest thing she had to neighbors. She felt especially protective of the Smiths, because they once thought to make her a part of their family before the ward took that away.

A thought came to her and Enfri smiled.

"I see that look," Deebee said. "What's brewing in that head of yours."

"I said I won't steal a horse," Enfri replied. "I never said I wouldn't buy one."

"Buy? Girl, it's the middle of the night."

Enfri went through her pockets until she found her purse. She was fairly self-sufficient on her homestead, so there was little cause to spend the coins that trickled into her possession. From everything between the coins Goodwife Smith gave her years ago to the pile of silver marks Jin mockingly used to pay for her supplies, Enfri had enough to buy any three horses she could want.

"Here. Six gold marks. Half of my fortune should be more than enough for a horse and tack."

Deebee staggered beneath the stack of coins Enfri placed in her little claws. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Get going, Deebee. Put those in their house, somewhere they're sure to find them. I'll pick out a horse, and we can be off as soon as it's saddled."

Deebee wobbled as she tried to keep the coins balanced while she walked. The top coin slid off, and she picked it up with her tail before moving on. The whole time, she muttered about the trouble she went through to satisfy mortal morality.

Enfri picked her way carefully through the brush towards where she remembered the Smiths' new stable to be. That's where she would find any horses ready and trained for riding, as well as saddles and anything else she'd need.

She remembered the previous year when Haythe called for as many helpers as were willing to build the stable and barn for Teela's horses. Enfri had come to help as well. It took some time to get everyone to remember who she was, of course, but Enfri was soon laughing and working with everyone as if the ward never existed. Good thing, too, because before the job was done, two of the Tanner boys came down with mild heat stroke and Goodwife Cobbler twisted her ankle. Maladies aside, it was a happy memory.

I wonder if it is for everyone else, too, Enfri wondered. I guess even if it is, I'm not a part of it to them.

As she cracked open the barn door and stepped inside, Enfri felt a sudden pang of loss. Once she was gone, no one in Sandharbor would ever likely think of her again. She would be no more than an empty house at the end of the road and a faint memory that the village once had a sky woman.

Only three horses were stabled in the barn, and the five other stalls were vacant. The other horses would be out in the pasture. These three were the ones the Smiths used most often to ride into Sandharbor or hitch to their carts.

Enfri looked them over. The gray mare was a sickly thing, likely kept stabled so she could be tended to. There was a roan stallion, strong and fiery. Enfri doubted her ability to ride even the gray, let alone that beast. He also reminded her a bit too much of the horses used by the assassins.

The final stall in the stable held an old acquaintance, the Gaulatian won by Goodman Smith for his service in the army. The monster horse dwarfed even the stallion, and his breed was prized throughout the known world for their strength and endurance. As Enfri recalled, even Gain praised Gaulatian horses.

Enfri tentatively put her hand to the beast's muzzle and felt the velvety coat around his nostrils. The horse snorted and bent his head to her, eager for more scratching. Renowned warhorses or not, Enfri had always found this particular Gaulatian to be a sweetheart.

"I don't think Deebee's ward works the same way on beasts," Enfri whispered, "but if you don't remember me, you and I go back a ways. I could use your help tonight."

The horse's ears twitched. He tossed his head and nickered softly as if to say he'd be pleased to be of service.

Enfri unlatched the gate to his stall, and the Gaulatian came out. He nuzzled his nose against Enfri's waist, sniffing at her with great interest.

"Not a bad idea," she said as she pulled out a handful of vex sprouts. "Is this what you want?"

The happy manner in which the horse snapped up the sprouts was all the confirmation Enfri needed. She left him to chew his snack and gathered up a saddle from the wall.

Enfri had never saddled a horse herself, but she felt she'd seen it done enough times to manage. It took a few tries before she figured out how to get the saddle buckled on securely. The bit and bridle were more straightforward, the horse accepting the metal bit into his mouth without a fuss.

A tear drop fell onto the dark leather of the saddle as Enfri finished. She felt at her cheek and was surprised to find that she was crying. It had snuck up on her without her realizing. The task at hand kept her occupied, but she couldn't keep it down any longer. Enfri leaned against the horse's side and stifled a sob of regret.

They won't remember me, she thought. Even the dead get to be mourned.

"I did as you asked," Deebee said as she flew into the barn and landed on the horse's saddle. "Blustering silly, if you ask me, but it's done. Took a while because that new babe of theirs is keeping her poor mother... Enfri, what is it? What's wrong?"

"It isn't fair, Deebee," she said through her sobbing. "I paid the price. I spent my whole life like a ghost, and it didn't work. Everyone forgot me. Everyone except for Jin and the others."

Deebee reached out and put a claw on Enfri's arm.

"Why can they remember me, Deebee? Why them and no one else?"

"What are you talking about?" Deebee asked. Her eyes were wide with shock.

"The ward doesn't work on them," Enfri explained. "Jin knew who I was. She greeted me by name and remembered everything about the last time she was here. They figured it out. Me being Aleesh, and even about you. How could that be?"

Deebee stood open-mouthed, and her eyes darted about as if searching for an answer. "No, that's... That's impossible. No mortal should be able to hold on to memories of you, not even if they have an elder bloodline. Enfri, this is like you telling me that the sky is red or that things fall up. Wards are inviolable. They can't be ignored like this."

Enfri sniffed and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "My animals always know who I am. Even this horse does, I think. Sometimes I can get people to remember me for a time. It's like pulling teeth, but..."

"That's different," Deebee interrupted. "The ward affects mortal creatures invested with ether by the spirits. Most animals don't have magic of their own. As for other humans, you're right there in front of them, and your ether is guiding the memories back through your shared imprint. I had assumed that's what happened with the assassin, but if what you're saying is true, then something is..."

Deebee froze and went still. "Enfri, your eyes."

"I know. I've been crying like a baby, but we need to know why..."

"No, girl. Your eyes!" Deebee put her claws on Enfri's cheeks and got uncomfortably close. "They've changed. They're not brown anymore. They're green, like your father's."

Enfri jerked back as if stung. She frantically patted her pockets in vain search of something to use as a mirror. "What? Why? How?"

Deebee was poleaxed, taken by complete surprise yet again. "It must be our bond. We've never used it like we did earlier. When you shared your ether with me, it must have changed your eyes to match your Aleesh blood. Your heritage and mine have always been closely linked to one another."

Magic was bound to the blood and reflected in the eyes. Deebee had called that a silly axiom with little truth behind it, but it stood to reason that a dragon's bond was a special case.

When it rained, it poured. Too many questions were being asked, and the lack of answers was starting to get irritating.

"Deebee, I'm sick of not having any idea of what's going on. All of this... It's too much."

"I understand you must be frustrated," Deebee said.

Enfri took a deep breath to settle herself, then awkwardly put her foot into the stirrup of the horse's saddle. She once said that she was clumsy as a bear with bourbon while on horseback, and she had little reason to believe that had changed. Still, she was older than the last time she rode. Taller, stronger, and even a bit less crooked. Enfri surprised herself with how easily she got into the saddle.

"After we escape," Enfri said, "will you teach me?"

Deebee swooped to the barn door and pushed it open wide enough for the horse to pass through. "Everything I know. Until you beg me to stop and even after."

I guess I will become an arcanist in the end, Enfri thought as she tapped her heels against the Gaulatian's flanks. I might have to.

The horse moved gently, perhaps sensing that Enfri wasn't the strongest or most steady of riders. He went slowly at first but steadily increased his speed as they left the barn behind.

"We'll move south," Deebee said as she flew in pace with the horse. "After a few miles are behind us, we'll turn east towards Sandharbor."

"Then what?"

"Whichever road has seen the most travelers recently. The assassins will lose our trail. Once you're free, we can turn our noses towards any destination you could dream of." Deebee flapped her wings and soared ahead.

Enfri urged the horse to go faster. She was gripping the reins so hard that her fingers ached, and the motions of the horse beneath her threatened to pitch her right out of the saddle. Still, she thought she could feel the assassins' malice growing at her back. Enfri didn't dare hold back no matter how much she feared falling.

Courage, she thought. I must have courage.

There was no path through where Deebee led her. Though the dragon altered her course to avoid brambles and roots the horse might stumble over in the darkness, it remained a perilous route. Little more than dim moonlight lit the woods.

Minutes passed. Enfri counted the seconds to herself for a while, but stopped herself. It was just adding to her tension.

Enfri tried to shrink back into her shawl. The trees around her were shadowed phantoms. Each one became Jin or Dashar when they first appeared on the edge of her vision. Enfri felt as if her head was on a swivel as she looked around.

Frightened of what might appear, she focused on the horse's breathing. That was about the only sound in the night. Enfri hadn't heard so much as a cricket's chirp since running from Tarlus. Even the boughs of the trees were silent.

The glitter of starlight reflecting off Deebee's scales gave Enfri comfort. She flew several paces ahead, guiding and watching.

Deebee alighted on an elm branch. "Enfri, look," she whispered. "Sandharbor. We made good time."

How long has it been since we left the Smiths'? Enfri wondered. Judging by where the moon sat in the sky, it had been a little less than an hour. Enfri had probably been riding for five or six miles. A fair distance, but not nearly far enough for her liking.

"We should be near the southern road to Nadia," Enfri said softly as she stopped the horse next to Deebee's perch. "Do we take it, or should we go through the village and take a different road?"

Deebee drew back her head and moaned softly. "No, girl. We'll not be taking the road."

Enfri looked ahead through the branches. Sandharbor lay in the distance, just a mile away. Oil lanterns and a handful of prized Althandi gaslights lit the houses and streets of the village. Enfri squinted as she peered ahead.

Figures moved in the lamplight— many more than should be about at this time of night. The lights glinted off of steel helmets and spearheads. Dozens of men walked in step with each other up and down the lanes and between buildings. Men in plate armor rode astride tall horses while banners waved.

Nervous faces watched the soldiers from shuttered windows. The villagers kept in their homes while what looked like an entire legion walked the village.

"I know those banners," Deebee murmured. "Your father fought beneath the Scarlet Sun at the Siege of Drok Moran. That's the heraldry of the Merovech, a powerful wizard and a hierarch in Althandor's magocracy."

Enfri's dress clung to the sweat on her back. The Althandi army was in Sandharbor.

"Why are they here?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Not leaving anything to chance, are they?" Deebee snarled. Her claws scratched furrows into the branch she sat on. "Winds, but I even liked the Merovech. He tells funny stories when the army makes camp. He dotes on his granddaughters and boasts about his son the actor. I liked him!"

"Deebee," Enfri said through her teeth, "we can't stay here. Where can we go?"

"The road south is being patrolled," Deebee said as she pointed towards torches moving up the road from Nadia. "We'll find the same on the roads north and east. The Merovech's outriders will be scouring the countryside. That leaves one course left to us."

Enfri felt her heart sink. She looked over her shoulder and saw only shadows and danger to the west. The assassins were still lurking somewhere in that direction.

Courage, she thought. As a talisman, the word left much to be desired.

"I hope you filled your water skins, Enfri," Deebee said. "We're going into the desert."