Warrior (24 page)

Jason raised a finger, a sign he and Uriel had agreed upon to indicate he was speaking to the Starlighter within. “Cassabrie, I’m tired of playing games. Just tell me. Who is there?”

No matter how many times you ask me, I will not say. I am under strict orders.

“Suit yourself.” Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Jason strode over the ridge toward the castle. With the first step down the slope, an odd sensation tickled his feet and began running up his legs. Was it dread? No. He wasn’t scared, at least not much. Excitement? Not really. Exhaustion had drained that away miles ago. What could it be?

“You’re feeling it,” Uriel said. “I can tell.”

“I do feel something. What is it?”

“The dragon. Whenever he was near, I got so jumpy I felt like hopping right out of my skin.”

Jason shivered, casting some of the sensation away. Should he and Uriel duck under the boughs of the evergreens? If the dragon flew patrol nearby, it would be better to see it before it saw them.

After locating a forested area to the left, Jason strode quickly toward it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid making a trail in the snow, but if they could find some ice, perhaps a frozen river, maybe they could throw off any potential pursuer.

The snow grew so deep, they had to lift their arms and wade through waist-high powder. Jason cut the path, making it easier for Uriel. With Cassabrie providing plenty of body heat, the icy crystals didn’t bother him at all.

Finally, the snow hardened, and they stepped up to a compacted path. With various tracks from deerlike hooves and feline paws, it appeared to be the main thoroughfare for this desolate land.

Uriel pointed. “It leads out of the woods toward the castle.”

“I see. Straight into the open where we’ll look like ink splotches on a sheet of white paper.”

Go to the castle,
Cassabrie said, this time with firmness in her tone.
There is no use wasting precious minutes. If you want help, that’s where you’ll find it.

Jason raised a finger again. “You said I couldn’t get there on foot.”

You can’t. Just go. You will see.

Rolling his eyes, Jason looked at Uriel. “Cassabrie says we should go to the castle—that we’ll see how to get there.”

“If you think that plan is best. I do prefer the comforts of the white dragon’s prison to this exposure. We will not last long out here.”

“Comforts?” Jason asked. “So that place wasn’t as bad as you said?”

“It’s all relative, my friend. I never said my accommodations were uncomfortable, only that I was imprisoned. Whenever freedom is lost, even luxury becomes nothing more than overdressed chains.”

“Was the dragon cruel?”

“No. Not at all. He was … well … I don’t know how to describe it. Magical, perhaps. Mysterious. You would have to be with him to understand.”

“Let’s hope I can skip that experience.” Jason drew his sword and followed the path. As they emerged from the forest, he looked up at the sky, so clear and impossibly blue it seemed unreal. No dragons patrolled the area, only a golden eagle drifting lazily between them and the castle.

After tramping silently for nearly half an hour, with Jason scanning the sky every few seconds, they reached a river capped by a coat of blue-tinted ice. He looked back at Uriel. “Did you cross this river?”

Uriel shook his head. “The dragon flew me over it and dropped me off beyond the ridge.”

Jason set a foot on the ice and leaned his weight forward. It seemed solid. Yet Cassabrie had warned about not being able to go on foot. Falling into frigid water would be a terrible way to prove it.

“Look.” Uriel pointed at a layer of snow over the ice. “Those tracks are from a hefty animal, and they go to the other side.”

Jason walked to the river’s edge, closer to the tracks. Indeed, they appeared to be those of a bear, and a big one at that. It had to weigh at least as much as the two of them combined. “Cassabrie?” he said, raising a finger. “What should we do?”

Well, what does the evidence indicate?

“That we can make it across without a problem.”

Trust your gifts, Jason. They were bestowed upon you for a reason.

“Fair enough.” Jason thrust the tip of the sword through the snow and into the ice. Again, it seemed solid.

“If turning back isn’t an option,” Uriel said, “we should proceed and announce ourselves. We will find hospitality in the castle.”

“You mean the ghosts?”

“Of the friendliest sort.”

“What about the dragon?”

“If he had plans to accost us, I think he would have done so by now.”

A gnawing sensation bored into the pit of Jason’s stomach. Their last meal had been too long ago.
Hospitality
sounded very promising. He exhaled, blowing a thick stream of white. “If you say so.”

Stabbing the ice with the sword before every step, he walked ahead, setting his own feet in line with the bear tracks. With each footfall, the snow crunched against the underlying ice, but it held firm. Stories came to mind, tales of brave men on dangerous journeys who always encountered pitfalls along the way, like falling into an icy river, but the storybook heroes never had bear tracks to follow. After all, who would be insane enough to follow a bear … in a frozen wasteland … while being hunted by a dragon?

He grinned. Jason Masters would. Sure, he might end up facing a dangerous bear with sharp teeth and claws. That wouldn’t be anything new. But at least he and Uriel would be dry.

After another minute, Jason’s sword plunged deeply into the snow. Holding a hand up, he stopped. “No ice.”

Uriel leaned over Jason’s shoulder, so close his hot breath warmed Jason’s cheek. “Is the river below?”

Jason pushed the sword deeper. “We must be past it. The snow is hard enough to walk on. The bear made it.”

“I say we keep following the bear. Who can tell where a pond or a chasm might be hiding underneath?”

“True.” Jason visually followed the trail. It continued straight toward the castle, now looming much closer than before. The red turrets on the third floor looked like three scarlet sentries ready to warn of approaching intruders, and the doorway at ground level, bordered by ivory columns on either side, seemed to open more widely as he watched. But would he and Uriel be guests … or someone’s dinner? Perhaps the dragon kept bears as pets, which would explain the tracks heading that way.

After taking a cold draw into his lungs, he held his breath and listened. Not a sound, save for the lightest breeze brushing his ears and Uriel’s clothes shifting. With only a field of white in every direction, no one could attack without warning, yet something in the air pricked his skin, an ever-so-slight gap in the breeze. Someone was near. Could the white dragon be lurking, camouflaged by the snow? The jumpy sensation crawled up his leg again, faster and more intense.

“Cassabrie,” Jason whispered. “Do you see anything dangerous?”

I see only what you see, but I interpret differently. There is great danger, but I am not at liberty to warn you. The king’s orders.

He spoke through clenched teeth. “The fate of the entire human race hangs in the balance, and you won’t even tell me what you’re seeing with my own eyes?”

No, Jason. If I tell you, all will be lost. I will say no more.

Jason kicked the snow, sending the sparkling powder flying. When the flakes settled, he glared at the castle. Now the entire structure seemed red. Was it anger? If so, what had gotten him so riled up? If that jumpy sensation took over, his training would be useless. He had to stay in control.

He took another deep breath.
Settle down. Remember your training. Don’t let anything take you by surprise.
After counting silently to ten, he nodded toward the castle. “No more delays, but keep your eyes open for a dragon hiding in the snow.”

As they followed the tracks, the ground dipped toward a swale, perhaps two hundred feet from front to back, before rising again toward the castle. Jason slowed his pace and peered ahead. The tracks stopped at a point about a dozen paces in front of them.

He halted just before the final track and touched it with the point of his sword. “Where could he have gone?”

Uriel looked up. “A bear with wings?”

Jason crouched and studied the marks. “They’re perfectly formed. If this bear could fly, I think we’d see evidence of pushing off.”

“I see what you mean. Some kind of smearing or elongation.”

Jason guided the sword over the snow at a point ahead of the tracks. “Let’s see how deep this is.” He sent the blade plunging down, but nothing resisted the force. His momentum pulled him forward, but Uriel caught his arm and jerked him back.

Gasping for breath, Jason stared at the gap. “It’s nothing but air!”

“White air, to be precise. It looks exactly like snow.”

Sliding his feet, Jason edged closer, then knelt and reached down. His arm disappeared up to the elbow, but his fingers detected nothing below, only emptiness. It seemed warmer than the air above, more like autumn than winter.

He handed Uriel the sword. “I’m going to have a look.” Pressing his hands near the last of the bear’s prints, he lowered his head into the “snow,” keeping his eyes open. Nothing. Nothing but whiteness. Yet a strong odor filled his nostrils—rotting flesh.

A sharp pain streaked across his chin. He shot back up, dabbed a wound, and looked at his finger. Blood.

“Scratched your face?” Uriel asked.

“A sharp rock, I guess, but I couldn’t see anything. I smelled something dead, though.”

Uriel propped the sword on his shoulder and nodded. “Then the bear fell in along with any other animal that happens to—”

Long talons reached out of the snow and clawed at Jason, ripping his pant leg. Uriel slashed with the sword and severed three wiry fingers from a black hand. A muffled scream sounded from below. The hand jerked back into the field of white, leaving behind the fingers and a trail of dark green blood.

Jason slid backwards. Another clawed hand, this one reddish, broke the surface and swiped, but it quickly submerged again. As if awakened by the others, more claws lashed at the open air. For a moment it looked like a pot of bubbling milk, but the field soon settled into a meadow of pristine white once again.

His hand shaking, Jason pinched one of the severed fingers and drew it close. Although it appeared to be a dragon claw at first, mammalian flesh covered the bone instead of scales.

He flung it away and stood again. “Cassabrie wasn’t kidding when she said we wouldn’t make it on foot.”

“Has she offered a solution?” Uriel asked.

“No. She got huffy and decided to be quiet.”

A shaky feminine voice drifted into Jason’s ears. “Are you ready to cross, My Lord?”

“Ready to cross?” Jason shifted his eyes upward as if trying to see into his own head. “Cassabrie, you know we want to cross. And when did you start calling me ‘My Lord’?”

Cassabrie laughed.
That wasn’t me, Jason.

“Not you?” Jason swiveled his head. “There’s no one else around except whatever those monsters are, and I don’t think they would—”

“I heard it as well,” Uriel said.

“I am here.” The trembling voice returned. “If you are ready to cross, please let us go. The moat is very frightening.”

Jason located the source, a sparkle in the air that glittered a few feet above the snow just beyond the bear’s final tracks. He slid a step forward. “Who are you?”

Like a wisp of light, a girl curtsied, hovering inches above the snow, and when her movements stopped, she vanished. Yet, with every word she spoke, sparks of light flew from her vapor-thin mouth. “I am a servant of the king. My name is Resolute, but I think this place is threatening to shatter my confidence. We should cross immediately.”

Jason pondered the odd name.
Resolute.
With her tremulous voice, she didn’t present the best image for the word.

“I’d love to cross,” he said. “But how? We’re not floating spirits.”

“We have tested this fake snow cover,” Uriel said. “I don’t think it will hold a shoe, much less two men.”

Resolute’s hand appeared as it swept in an arc near the false snow. “My boat will carry you.”

“I don’t see a boat.”

“Nor do you see me, but I am here.”

And me,
Cassabrie said.
Resolute is my friend from the castle. I can’t see the boat either, but she always speaks the truth.

“Has any other human ridden in this boat?” Uriel asked. “I do not doubt its existence, only its capacity.”

Resolute touched her finger to her chin, making both appear for a moment. “Not that I have seen, but the king told me it will carry you, and his word is always true.”

“And what of the creatures that lurk beneath?” Uriel’s shivers made his voice shake. “Is the boat impervious to their attacks?”

“Certainly not.” Resolute trembled, making her entire body visible. Still merely a faint wisp, her hair brushed against the shoulders of a calf-length dress. Her face appeared to be that of a teenager, perhaps fifteen or younger. “We have to be very careful or they could capsize the boat.”

“Is there another way?” Jason asked, training his eyes on the smear of green blood.

“No,” Resolute said. “This moat encircles the castle. Your only other option is to return the way you came.”

Jason looked back at their path—a long furrow leading from the forest to where they now stood. They couldn’t go back to the dragon realm, not without help. His mind zoomed through the field of flowers and flew into the land of the Zodiac. A wolf dragged Koren and dropped her in front of Zena, and the black-hearted witch laughed. Then Elyssa appeared in his mind. Where was she now? She would never rest in safety as long as she knew he was still in the dragon world. And knowing her, she would ignore any danger in order to find him. She personified courage.

He glanced at the trembling girl, still hovering over the moat. Resolute. Although terrified, she was here, ready to do whatever needed to be done. The name suited her perfectly.

Jason reached for the sword and pulled it from Uriel’s hand. “It’s time to go.”