The Girl With Red Hair (The Last War Saga Book 1) (7 page)

Erlen scratched his head and looked at his audience. “Did you know I tame dragons?”

Alexander lost it again, as did the others, save Tannyl of course. It was the seventh story the sprite had told, and each ended the same way: with a reintroduction and reaffirming of the small creature’s dragon-taming prowess.

“I am Erlen the Dragontamer, after all,” he continued with a theatrical bow. “And I tame dragons!”

Sachihiro added a finishing flourish to the story with his lute and bowed as well, grinning ear to ear.

“Hey, Erlen,” Jaydan called, wiping tears from his eyes. “Have you ever… Oh, I don’t know…
tamed
anything?”

Erlen spun in the air to accost the Healer with a wide grin and the point of his wooden sword.

“And what do you know of dragons?” Alexander added, not being able to help himself.

The sprite twirled his miniature weapon, did a midair somersault, and exclaimed, “Why, yes! I have tamed many dragons, young and old, big and small, of all colors and creeds. Once I even tamed a dragon with two heads, and let me tell you how it snapped! Twice its twin snappers snapped at me! But I snapped all the more. For I am Erlen the Dragon—“

“What
is that?
”

The enthusiasm of the performance dissipated as all eyes turned to Adelaide. She stood just behind Alexander, dripping wet, and covered only by Jaydan’s shirt, which draped just past her knees. Her eyes were wide and glued to the hovering sprite.

Erlen wasted no time in flitting over to the girl with red hair. He bowed to his toes. “I am Erlen Dragontamer, milady, and I tame dragons!”

Adelaide stared for a moment, then giggled and held up a finger. Erlen grabbed it with both his hands and made every effort to shake it, succeeding only in moving his entire body.

“You’re cute,” she said. “But dragons are just tales mums and deds tell at bedtime.”

Erlen feigned horror. “I’ll have you know dragons are most certainly real, and I have seen them! For I am Erlen Dragon—”

This time it was Tannyl that interrupted the Dragontamer with a derisive grunt. Erlen frowned and shook his sword, but a smile still played across his tiny face.

Alexander took the opportunity to gather his wits and stood, still drying his cheeks on the back of his hands. Seeing his performance at an end, Erlen darted over to Sachihiro and alighted on the neck of his lute, much to the Teller’s delight. Alexander turned his attention to Adelaide.

“Feel better?”

Adelaide regarded Alexander for a moment, and then looked down at herself. The shirt clung to her damp body, not covering near enough as was proper. She seemed vulnerable. Exposed. Small. Something within him broke.

“Well, I did feel clean for a bit,” she said, looking up again to lock her mismatched eyes on Alexander’s.

Her eyes. Her ears. Her very presence was strange. Unsettling, even. But Alexander could not deny the instinct to protect her. She knew Jaydan and Sachihiro felt the same. That little bit of knowledge let him know they could be trusted. Tannyl, on the other hand… He was a strong protector in his own right; that much was clear. But too much of the elf was hidden behind his strong eyes and furrowed brow. And he couldn’t be sure whether the others regarded him as they did out of respect and kinship or fear.

“Sachihiro, weren’t you working on something for Addy?”

Sachihiro stood so fast that Erlen had to scramble to get his wings moving fast enough to prevent him from hitting the ground. The lute swung back around his shoulder in an instant and, spinning, he produced a rough approximation of a shirt, made from the thick hide of a wolf. The sleeves were grossly asymmetrical, the stitching done with odd pieces of vine and thin rope, but he had assured the others that he had removed all of the flesh. Alexander had watched the whole frantic process and found it charming how excited Sachihiro was as he crafted the piece. And while Jaydan criticized him the whole time, it was clear the Healer had respected the move as well.

Adelaide appeared less impressed. Sachihiro held out the wolf shirt with a wide grin and gave a deep bow. She took a step back, her face twisted with obvious disgust. Sachihiro didn’t seem to notice. Or care.

“Here y’are, Addy. I made you a nice, warm, wolf… dress… shirt… Well, it should be long enough to warm your legs as well. Try it on.”

She took another step away from the gift. “I am
not
wearing that smelly thing.”

Tannyl let out a dry laugh from his spot, leaned against a tree. “Told you, Sach. She’s too
proper
to wear a skin.”

Sachihiro looked back at Adelaide, seemed to suddenly recognize her refusal, and his joyous mood crumbled around him. The wolf shirt hung limp in his hand and his head seemed to droop even lower.

“I thought it’d be better than a thin shirt,” he said, talking to the ground more than anyone else. “The nights can get cold this time of year.”

“Addy,” Alexander said softly, his eyebrows raised at the small girl. His parents had used the same tone and look a thousand times. “We need to make sure you stay covered and warm and safe. Give it a try. Sachihiro worked hard on it. It may not be the best, but it’s all we can do for now. We’ll get you some new clothes as soon as we can. I promise.”

Adelaide shifted her glance to Alexander and pouted. It, too, was a look he had seen a thousand times before. And given as well. Like his parents, he had long built up immunity to it. He stared back, giving no ground.

“But. It. Smells,” she said after a time. Each word seemed to strike Sachihiro with the force of a punch.

Alexander couldn’t help but wince along with him, but he held his stare on the girl, silently willing her to relent. She stared back, defiant. Suddenly she didn’t seem as small. Or as helpless. But Alexander was not about to be bullied by a child. He narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips.

“You promise to get me new clothes?” she asked at last, her frown softening a bit.

Alexander nodded. Upon hearing the girl was destined for Wolverhampton, Tannyl had informed the group that the city lay on the west coast of the Civil Empire, hundreds of miles to the north. Beyond the Wall. It was clear that the elf had no intention of entering Imperial lands, but the other three had formed a loose pact to see to her safe return. It seemed they had nothing else to care for, and Alexander had made a conscious decision to leave his old life behind. The fact that this new life seemed to coincide so closely to the old was merely a happy accident. There was something comforting about caring for another. Perhaps it was a matter of destiny.

Adelaide mulled the response for a moment and then added, “A nice dress? With lace and silk and pretty flowers stitched into the waist?”

Alexander nodded again.
She’s going to be a handful,
he thought. But after eight sisters, how hard could caring for a single girl be?

“And you’ll get me to Wolverhampton? To see Thiladir? Like Miss Hastings said?”

“Addy, I promise. We’re going to take care of you.” And he meant it.

She peered around him, toward the others, eyebrows arched in expectation.
It takes a village.

“Don’t worry, Addy, we’ll get you there,” Jaydan said on cue.

Sachihiro forced a smile and nodded firmly, the shirt still hanging sadly from his hand. Erlen flitted noiselessly about, dulled by the heaviness of the conversation. Alexander thought for a moment that an animated story from the sprite would help, but quickly decided otherwise.

A silence fell on the group as they followed Adelaide’s shifting gaze. Her gold and gray eyes were fixed on Tannyl, who was leaning casually against a tree and picking at his fingernails with a hunting knife. Sensing the change in mood, he looked up, and quickly surveyed the scene.

“I’m not going to Wolverhampton. Or anywhere near that cursed land,” he said, moving his gaze to lock on everyone else’s in turn. He landed on Adelaide last and continued to stare. It looked as if he wanted to strike her. Alexander felt his hand form a fist.

Adelaide folded her arms and returned the stare, magnified tenfold.

Alexander slowly moved between the pair. He half expected to feel the tension as a physical barrier. He held up his hands pleadingly.

“Look, I know this is a little strange,” he said slowly, trying to find the perfect words. “Us coming together like this. And I know you don’t know me and we’re all a little… unsure of what happened last night, but I think we can all agree that Adelaide needs our help. She’s just a child, and I, for one, cannot in good conscience do anything but give everything to help her get wherever she needs to go. I know you all lost… a lot. And I can’t pretend to know what you went through.” In fact, after hearing them tell of shadows, dragons, and a murderous woman in a black dress, he wasn’t sure he even believed it, but whatever had happened in Woodhaerst… The loss they all felt was very real. He swallowed hard and continued, “But we can help her. And I know we could use your help, Tannyl. You’re the only one that seems to know where we’re going, and you’re a far more capable fighter than I.”

Tannyl closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “It’s too far,” he said. “And we’d never get through the Wyld Wall. Those like us aren’t permitted into Empire lands. Only out.”

Alexander felt his confidence drain with each word Tannyl spoke. The others sensed it as well. As uncomfortable as Tannyl made Alexander feel, he knew they needed his help. Not only for Adelaide’s sake, but for their own as well.

It was Adelaide who finally broke the chilled silence. “Don’t be such a
ninny
,” she spat. “If we can’t go through the wall, find another way around. I
must
get to Wolverhampton. Miss Hastings said so. I will go myself if I must.”

Her eyes were brimmed with tears, but her scowl told Alexander they were the kind brought on by rage. Something about the fire in her eyes and the curl to her lips frightened him. In that moment, she appeared to be something other than a lost girl with red hair. There was purpose behind her strange eyes. And violence.

“There is no other way,” Tannyl growled back, not one to be intimidated by a child, or anyone for that matter, Alexander guessed.

“Well, that is most certainly not true,” Erlen said in his shrill voice. The sprite flew to a spot between all parties and twirled about with grace and skill. “For I am Erlen Dragontamer! And I tame—”

“If you have something to say, spit it out, Fae,” Tannyl shouted. “Before I cut your wings.”

Erlen frowned at the elf, but recovered quickly. “Dragons,” he finished with a smile. “And there is a way into the Empire. A Fae way.” He laughed at that and drew his sword.

Alexander looked at Tannyl, expecting the knife he held to become the weapon it was designed to be. The elf rolled his eyes, but something played at the corners of his mouth. If he didn’t know better, Alexander might have thought it a smile.

“Is there really a better way to help Addy, Erlen?” Alexander asked, hoping to expedite the precocious creature.

“Oh yes! As a Dragontamer who, of course, tames dragons,
I know of a way. A Fae way, like I was saying. A way of Fae to find your way. But you need not stay along the way of Fae. Just pray the clouds turn not gray as lay—”

“Erlen!”

Erlen cleared his throat and spun his sword overhead before slamming it into its sheath. “One need simply cross into the
Fae
Wyld, and then back out again.”

“And how does that help us?” Jaydan asked, speaking Alexander’s own thought.

“Well, naturally, you can enter
here
and exit
there.”
He gestured wildly as if it helped clarify his confounding explanation.

Jaydan slapped a hand to his forehead.

“The northern Fae Forest,” Tannyl said, pushing off the tree.

Alexander saw something glint behind his stern mask. Hope, perhaps, or intrigue. Alexander couldn’t be sure, but the scowl had left Tannyl’s face and his voice had less of an edge to it. It was even more unnerving.

“Oh, just so, Tannyl!” Erlen exclaimed. “You have the right of it! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had some Fae in you.”

Tannyl looked around the group and again his eyes settled on Adelaide. “All right,” he said, and immediately became enthralled with cleaning his fingernails again.

A collective sigh exited all. Alexander turned back to Adelaide. Her frown had vanished as well. The gold in her right eye sparkled in the late-morning glow. Whatever Alexander had seen in her before had vanished like a shadow before the dawn. She appeared radiant.

“Well?” he asked, nodding at the wolf shirt.

Adelaide’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded and gingerly took the skin. Her lips curled with disgust, but she remained silent. Joy returned to Sachihiro’s face, and with Alexander’s assistance, he helped Adelaide into the wolf skin.

They stepped back to survey the result. The pelt reached just past her left knee and nearly to her right ankle. It hung lopsided from her slender frame and fully obscured it at the same time. She held her arms out stiffly at her side, her face locked in a grimace. It looked ridiculous in every conceivable way.