Rose gasped. "What's he doing? He'll be killed!"
Alannah snorted. "I should be so lucky."
One glance told her the dragon was in no danger: it had been arrested by William's sudden charge, but it was evading his wild swipes with ease. Alannah turned to the rest of the slaves. She worked quickly and quietly, untying the rope from each one and ushering them away. Each one threw her a grateful glance and disappeared down the trail.
Alannah turned back to the fight and put her hands on her hips. Rose hadn't moved, the slavers were all either unconscious or missing, and William and the dragon were dancing around each other – or, at least, William was dancing and every now and again the dragon stepped out of his way.
This could go on for hours. Alannah cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "William! Give it up already, will you?"
Sweat beaded on William's brow and he was already panting, but he darted a surreptitious glance at Rose and called, "No! I'll never give up!"
"How brave," Rose whispered, starry-eyed.
Oh, please. She switched tactics. she called out to the dragon, "Dragon! Put a stop to this, would you? I have better things to do than wait around in a muddy dress while you two dance with each other."
A snort of amusement. Magic touched her skin, all brimstone and velvet. His reptilian form melted away. This time he'd actually deigned to dress himself, in loose leather breeches with a cream shirt and a jacket that covered the words of the spell on his throat. If possible, he looked even more handsome than before.
William drew up short, face riddled with confusion. "How did you do that? What kind of fiend are you?"
The dragon grinned at him. "Magic, obviously. Oh, and you might want to practice using that blade before you go up against another dragon. Assuming you live that long." Then he bent and offered Rose his hand. "I hope I didn't scare you too much, my dear."
"No – not at all," said Rose and took his hand. She was blushing ten shades of her namesake. "I wasn't frightened."
Little liar, thought Alannah.
The dragon's nostrils flared. "You're a princess." He threw Alannah an arch look and she frowned at him.
Don't you dare, she thought as loudly as possible. That girl is betrothed to our king and I'm not having you make her think she's in love with you only to ruin her and dump her in the forest.
Jealous?
She snorted. Hardly. Just promise me you won't touch her.
Wouldn't dream of it, replied the dragon breezily. He squeezed Rose's hand and let go.
"Are you the dragon?" the girl asked. "I mean, were you the dragon?"
He inclined his head in a graceful salute. "I was, and I am."
"What should we call you?"
"In my language," he said, with a smirk, "I'm known as Deathbringer."
She had to stop rolling her eyes. They were starting to hurt.
"But I appreciate that may not be the easiest name, so you may call me Dameon, Your Highness." He hadn't been this charming to her the other night; no wonder they all fell in lust with him. The enemy of all innocents and their fathers everywhere.
"I didn't know dragons could become human," said Rose, fluttering her eyelashes.
"Do you have something in your eye?" Alannah asked dryly.
Rose blinked at her, but before she could respond, William was at her side. "Here let me check." He threw a glare at the dragon, who looked smug.
"All right," said Alannah, raising her hands. "We're free, the slaves are free and our captors have been punished. That's our good deed for the year. Now let's go home."
"But-" Rose stood, her hands clenched into fists. "I need to get to Fellmere before the king realises I was kidnapped. Only... I don't know the way."
"You can't travel through this forest on your own," William said. "I'll go with you. Protect you."
"So you know the way?" Rose asked, brightening.
"I... well, no," he admitted. "Not in so many words." They turned to her.
Noble idiot. Alannah breathed out, pushed her hands through her tangled mat of hair. "If we take Rose back to the city," she said, "then can we go home?"
"Of course. Absolutely," William said, and his gaze slid over to Rose.
If it would get him his knighthood, she could stomach a few more days with the princess. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "We go to the capitol."
Rose's eyes sparkled. "Thank you. I'll be sure and mention your aid to the king; I'm sure he'll reward you handsomely."
"A carriage home would do," said Alannah, and the thought of riding back to her village in a plush, comfortable coach mollified her a little. She was untying her thread in preparation to cast again when she noticed the dragon hadn't left. "Don't you have other princesses to kidnap?" she asked him.
He shrugged. "Not really."
"And yet you're still here." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Fellmere isn't very fond of dragons," he murmured.
"I can't imagine why."
His eyes gleamed, acknowledging the hit. Then he glanced up at the thick canopy of trees, at the golden rays streaming through the leaves. "I... think I might come with you."
"No," said Alannah immediately, cutting off William's outraged squeak. "A knight and a witch are more than enough; we don't need a dragon as well."
"I've seen how competent your knight is," he said, smirking. "If nothing else, you could use a third pair of eyes."
All right, he had a point, but she wasn't going to cave that easily. "Why? What's in it for you?"
"Does there need to be something in it for me?"
"Yes," muttered William, behind her.
He showed a glint of teeth in his smile. I haven't spent time with anything but sheep in over three years, comes the voice in her head. "Let's just say this is a lot more interesting," he added, aloud.
Something about the tone sounded almost... genuine. Gods, she was going to regret this. "All right," she said, "you can come."
"Alannah!"
She threw William a look and the knight subsided. "You can fly us there," Alannah told the dragon, "right? It'll be faster."
"I can't carry all of you. I could take you one at a time," he added, "but I'm not sure you'd appreciate that."
Leaving you alone with Rose or William is not my first choice, Alannah sent, frowning at him.
That's what I thought. "Besides, every outpost between here and the capital is stationed with Dragonslayers. They'd shoot me down as soon as I came in range."
William inhaled audibly. "We should walk," he said. "It's safer that way."
"I can help you hunt for food," the dragon said. "Or would you prefer nothing but courage to sustain you?"
"Dameon's right," said Rose and she even blushed a little when she said his name – honestly. "And he did save us all from those slavers. I think he should come, too."
The dragon had no intention of saving them when he'd attacked. It was only pure dumb luck that none of the slaves had been injured. She was the one who'd done all the actual freeing.
Dameon grinned as if he'd heard the thought. Alannah wrinkled her nose at him. "Fine. You can come. But no eating anyone." And no seducing of innocent young girls, she continued mentally.
"As you wish," he conceded. But you should know that I don't consider you an innocent young girl.
Her flighty heart skipped a beat. Down girl, she told it privately. Those teeth are not just for decoration.
"Glad we're agreed," she said out loud. Alannah pulled her thread tight and murmured the incantation. Dameon watched closely, his gaze on her hands. The thread fell in a line – straight, this time, thank the Goddess – pointing north. Alannah nodded, pleased. "That way."
William turned to the princess. "After you, your highness."
"Call me Rose, please." They fell into step side by side, following the path her thread had laid.
Alannah picked up the silk and wound it around her second finger, leaving the other half on her index finger just above her first knuckle, like a ring.
"That was quite impressive."
She jumped. The dragon stood at her elbow, staring at her hands – which were covered in mud with uneven, torn fingernails.
Oh, well. She brushed them together. "Hardly. It's just a location spell," she said.
"But the thread." He took her hand, then, and examined the piece of string. His touch was gentle and there was something unselfconscious about the way he did it, so she didn't immediately pull away. It didn't feel like the game that he was playing with her before, or with Rose. "It's silk, but I assume you can use other material as well?" His gaze flicked up to her face and she nodded. "Deceptively simple. Most people would go out of their way to use something more elaborate than thread, to show off their power." He let go and Alannah struggled not to rub her skin where he'd been touching her.
"I'm good at sewing," she answered, "and thread is something I'm bound to have on me no matter where I am. It's easy to get hold of."
"Smart," he said and she glanced him to see if he was being facetious, but his expression held only mild curiosity.
"Come on," she said, uncomfortably aware that the distance between them and the others was growing, "we should get a move on."
He stepped back, gestured at the path before them. "After you."
"Oh no, you first."
He looked wounded, then. "You don't trust me?"
"Not even a little bit, dragon."
"Dameon," he said, the expression dissolving into a tiny smirk. "Unless you'd rather I call you Witch?" She made a face and he laughed. This will certainly be an interesting journey he thought at her and Alannah sighed.
That's just what she was hoping it would not be.