Chapter 6
"Do you get the feeling we're forgetting something?" Bonnie asks as they skirt around the field of bones. The dragon stands between them and the castle, its black eyes wide and curious.
"Your senses," Neven says without hesitation. He leans back, putting all his weedy strength into tugging at the makeshift halter around the zombie cow's head. It stares at him vacantly, chewing its cud. "But I think you lost those a long time ago."
Bonnie uses the flat of her sword to tap the cow's hind end, and it finally walks forward again. However magic brought it into the world, it didn't include any wits. It manages a shambling monotonous walk once it gets the momentum, but all it takes is a stone in the wrong place, or dips and humps in the terrain and it freezes.
She thinks of the long path of hills and slopes she'd traversed to get here and sighs. This wouldn't be an easy journey, but she could think of no other way to get the dragon to follow them.
"It's not working," Neven says, frustration burning in his voice. "How are we going to get back to the boat in time, if your stupid dragon won't come?"
She can hear the answer he wants behind the words. We can't, so leave him here. Anger may have pushed away most of his fear, but that doesn't mean he wants the dragon to come with them. He knows just the same as she does, that whatever is stopping the dragon from harming them is a spell, and spells can be broken.
"Here dragon, dragon, dragon," she says instead, fighting against the heat that rushes to her cheeks. At least it's only Neven she's making a fool of herself in front of. "Come get the nice zombie cow."
"Nice side of beef!" Neven calls out in the kind of voice sellers use at the market. "As fresh as you can get it!"
The dragon moves a giant foot, making the pile of charred bones clatter with the impact. For a moment she thinks that's it, then he makes another step, closing the distance between them. The footsteps are giant, but still manage to look shuffling compared to its size. Every time a clawed foot comes down the cow is the only one not to jump.
One moment he is far away, the next he towers over them, blocking out the sunlight. Her heart skitters in her chest like a frightened animal as his giant head descends toward them, its lethal smile spread wide.
She scrabbles for her sword at the same time Neven squeaks, dropping the cow's halter. Then the head is flying upward again, the cow gazing nonchalantly from between its jaws.
"My rope!" Neven says in a voice somewhere between hysterical and indignant.
A moment later there's a stomach turning crunch of bone, along with the wet ripping of tissue. A splash of blood and stringy tissue sprays all around them. The cow's severed head falls to the ground, bounces twice, then rolls to rest at Neven's feet. The halter is still attached.
"Thanks. I think." Neven stares down at the cow's head with its roughly torn neck. His tanned skin takes on a shade of grey, then decides to add a splash of green.
The cow's dull eye rolls toward him and blinks.
Neven screams at the same time Bonnie jumps. Both move back several hasty steps.
"That's it!" Neven shouts, a spray of red exiting his mouth with the words. His face and clothes are covered with it, and several chunks of flesh stick to the folds of his tunic. "I'm done! You've done some pretty stupid things Bonnie, but this one takes the biscuit. What made you think you can kill it? It's as big as a castle, and even if it weren't, you're a maid and I'm a farmer's son. You should be home with your new husband, and I should be training to be a soldier. Neither of us is right for this kind of thing."
Bonnie shakes her head stubbornly. "Ness said-"
"Ness is as pigheaded as they come, but he wouldn't actually try to kill a dragon. Or if he did come, he'd turn right around once his feet hit the shore and be happier for it. I never thought I'd say this, but he's got more sense than you. This is knight's work, and the work of royal sorts who have hours to waste learning how. The ones with great big manly beards and armour with enough shine to blind their enemies. Not an orphan girl and some boy like me."
"My father was a knight," Bonnie says, her blood starting to boil. "The greatest dragon slayer the circle ever saw. They recruited him from beyond the barrier itself because he was so good at it. I'm his blood."
"You're a girl!" Neven shouts. "It should be me protecting you. Instead you run off and try to kill dragons, then end up bringing them back as pets! Which is beyond stupid because by all rights you should be dead now. It's a dragon, Bonnie. You know the tales. You heard Jack. Dragons kill. That's all they do. I don't know what spell caused it to stop, but the moment it ends we're both dead. You know that."
He's right. That's the worst thing. She knows he's right. Tears choke at her throat. She blinks, and takes a deep breath to chase them away before she speaks. "What would you have me do?"
"Leave it," Neven says firmly. "Knighthood, riches, even the kingdom isn't worth your life. If we hurry we might still make the boat. Leave it here with its castle, and its-"
He breaks off, mouth gaping open and closed like a fish.
"Neven. What is it?" She glances at the dragon, but the massive beast is doing nothing more than crouching on the grass, lapping blood from its claws like a giant cat.
He turns back to her, eyes sparkling. "I think we're the only people to storm a castle to kill a dragon, and forget to rescue the princess."