Her grip on my hand loosened. “You’re sure?”
I didn’t have time to answer. The crowd around us gasped. My gaze shot to the sky, and there in the distance was the outline of a dragon, wings beating, rising above the trees. It was too far away to make out any detail. I could just see the enormous wings, long neck, horned head, and the tail that curled slightly as it flew.
The priest beside me broke out into a new chant. Latin words tumbled over one another in loud succession. I squeezed Jane’s hand back. The dragon paused in flight, its wings only moving slightly as it hovered, then it swooped back downward.
None of us breathed. None of us spoke. We waited. I said my own prayer, repeating Tristan’s name over and over again in my mind.
The dragon rose back up above the tree line and I could make out the shape of something in its mouth. Four legs stuck out—was it the pig? It looked too big for a pig. The legs were too long. Then I realized what it was. A horse.
Something had gone wrong.
I squinted at the dragon. Had there been a rider on that horse before the dragon grabbed it? Was there one on it still? I couldn’t tell. A slow moan came from my mouth, a moan I couldn’t stop.
The dragon tilted up his head and the entire horse disappeared into his mouth. The next moment a blast of light appeared where the dragon’s head had been. A clap like thunder went through the sky, and the dragon plummeted straight down, leaving a trail of black smoke to show where it had been.
The crowd around me lifted up their arms and cheered. Some even stood up and clapped, yelling, “Long live Sir Tristan, the brave! Sir Tristan, the mighty dragon slayer!”
Jane turned to me, her face flushed with excitement. “They did it. The dragon ate the pig.”
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what to say, or if I should say anything.
“Look at you,” she said with a relieved smile. “You were as afraid as I was. You’re white as a ghost.”
“Am I?” I told myself that I was wrong, that it had been the pig and not a horse, but my stomach still felt like it had torn open. Tristan and Hunter had both left with bags of black powder in their saddlebags. Had the dragon discovered them before they had a chance to tie the bags onto the pig?
Which horse had it been? It had been so far away—but the shape had seemed dark. Hunter’s horse had been dark brown, Tristan’s a lighter color. Besides, Tristan’s horse had a cart attached. There had been no trace of that in the sky.
The priest said, “Everyone must get down so I can ring the bell. Ten rings—the death of a monster!”
Another cheer went up, and the villagers headed for the ladder. The discussion now turned to the castle feast. What dancing and eating there would be!
I wanted to yell at all of them to stop it, that they didn’t know what they were talking about, that something horrible had happened. I didn’t. There was no point in frightening Jane. No sense in telling her I thought Hunter wouldn’t return to us.
We climbed down from the roof and walked back toward the inn. “What should we do while we wait for the guys to come back?” Jane asked me.
I shook my head, unable to speak.
“Maybe we could help the tailor sew. My dress really isn’t nice enough for a castle feast. Do you think we could get a dress done by tomorrow night?”
I wasn’t planning on going to the castle at all, but it wasn’t the time to mention it. “I think we should be here when . . .” My throat clenched and I had to force the rest of the sentence out, “When the guys get back.”
She shrugged in agreement. “I suppose they might worry if we’re not here.”
She looked so relaxed now, so happy. I thought of how she’d clung to Hunter when they said their good-byes, and how she’d nearly fallen apart up on the roof while we waited for the dragon. If Hunter didn’t come home, if all her worries formed into a hard, relentless reality, how would she cope? How would we tell his parents when we went back home?
My throat clenched again. I wanted Hunter to be okay so badly, but I wanted it for her sake, not mine. She looked at me questioningly. Instead of saying anything I walked over and hugged her. We would do this again, I knew, when one horse returned.
She hugged me back. “I really am sorry about everything. I never meant to hurt you about Hunter.” As though offering me proof she added, “We both came when we found out you were here. We both wanted to get you back.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s all right. Sometimes things happen when we don’t mean them to.”
She laughed, and it turned into tears—tears of relief that I’d forgiven her. Then I was crying too, but for a different reason.
Finally she stepped away from me. “Look at us—we’re a mess. What will the guys think when they get back?”
I wiped my face and didn’t answer.
She said, “I think I’m going to go lie down while we wait for them. I hardly slept at all last night, what with the time change and the worry. Now suddenly I’m exhausted.”
“You should sleep,” I said. “I think I’ll walk down the trail a little ways to meet them when they come.”
Tristan would have told me it wasn’t safe to go off on a trail by myself, but Jane just watched me for a moment, then gave me a half smile. “You like Tristan, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded, still smiling. “I thought so. He’s gotten really cute, hasn’t he?”
“Yeah,” I repeated, then watched her turn and walk into the inn with the smile still on her face.
• • •
As I walked down the trail, I kept thinking about the dragon. In my mind I saw it fly through the sky with the horse in its mouth, again and again. The more I walked, the more I realized I couldn’t be sure the dragon had eaten the darker horse. It was so far away, anything would look dark, wouldn’t it?
Which meant I didn’t know which rider had been attacked.
It was Tristan’s quest; he would have insisted on going first. He would have made Hunter stay behind and wait someplace safe. All along I’d wondered how to comfort Jane, but I was the one who needed to be comforted.
My pace turned from walk to jog. It wasn’t fair. I’d already lost Hunter and now I’d lost Tristan too. I pushed myself to go faster. I needed to know for sure. I ran as fast as I could, my feet pounding into the ground, each step bringing me to a future I didn’t want to face. Cold air rushed by my face, the trees hurried by. But before long my lungs burned and my feet slowed even though I didn’t want to let them, and still there was nothing on the path in front of me but emptiness.
I kept going, now sure I knew the answer to the question I’d asked myself earlier—between the Black Knight and Tristan, I cared about Tristan more. Much more. Otherwise it wouldn’t hurt so much knowing I wouldn’t see him again.
It shouldn’t have been Tristan, I thought. And then I hated myself for wishing death on Hunter. Even after he’d just broken up with me I hadn’t wanted him dead. And now that he’d come back to the Middle Ages to help me, I was hoping it was his death and not Tristan’s that I’d seen.
I couldn’t run any farther. My legs were giving out. I sat down on the edge of the trail, breathless, my clothes clinging to me with sweat, and I waited for someone to come.
None of this was Jane’s fault, it was mine, and I was a horrible person because I wanted to see Tristan’s horse come down the path. I wanted Tristan to live. I wanted to run my fingers through his blond hair and feel his blue-eyed gaze on me. I wanted to kiss him.
I sat there for more than an hour. I called Chrissy, hoping there was something she could do. She never came. Finally I quit trying and just put my head on my knees and cried.
Then I heard horse hooves. One set. It might be someone else, I told myself, but I knew it wasn’t. I stood up and walked to the path, waiting to see which horse would appear around the bend in the road. I kept my gaze down so I would see horse hooves first, not a face.
The rider came on a dark brown h
orse. Hunter’s horse. I lifted my eyes and saw Hunter holding the reins.
Chapter 22
I stared at Hunter and couldn’t speak. Surprise flitted across his face and then concern. He doesn’t want to tell me, I thought.
“What are you doing here?” Hunter asked. “What’s wrong?”
I staggered toward him, my hands balled into fists. “Where’s Tristan?”
And then I saw him. He sat behind Hunter on the horse. He leaned around to look at me, and although his face looked pale and drawn, he gave me a smile. “I’m okay, Savannah.”
If he had been on the ground I would have hugged him. I was tempted to pull him off the horse and do just that. Instead I just stood there, trembling and staring at him.
“What’s wrong?” Hunter asked again. “Where’s Jane?”
I tried to pull myself together. I let the fear and the worry drain away from me. “She’s fine. She’s back at the inn sleeping. I just came because we were watching from the church roof and when I saw the dragon eat a horse—”
Hunter’s voice took on an incredulous tone. “So you were worried and came out to meet us, but Jane went to sleep?”
“She thought it was the pig. I didn’t have the heart to tell her differently.”
Hunter laughed and turned toward Tristan. “See, I told you it was pointless to make me sit in front.” Then to me he said, “Tristan wanted to make sure that Jane saw me first, so she wouldn’t think I’d been eaten. He thought she’d be worried sick by the time we reached the village.”
I looked at Tristan and he returned my gaze with serious eyes. Right then I understood that it hadn’t been Jane he was worried about, but me. He thought I’d want to make sure that Hunter was alive.
I took a step toward them and shook my head. “I knew it was Tristan’s horse.” I kept looking at his eyes, trying to see if Tristan realized what I was saying, but I couldn’t tell. His gaze remained serious.
“How did the dragon get a horse?” I asked. “What happened to the pig?”
Hunter shrugged. “You’ll be happy to hear that Mr. Ogden is running free somewhere.”
Tristan nodded. “It was harder to get to the lair than we’d thought. It’s all rocks and undergrowth once you get close. Not a good place to drag a cart.”
“We made too much noise,” Hunter said. “Before we’d even gotten to a place where we could tie the black powder to the pig, the dragon was roaring and bearing down on us. It went straight for Tristan, and nearly got him, too. He dove off his horse at the last second. Hurt his arm on the way down.”
For the first time I noticed that Tristan held his left arm close to his body. “I don’t think it’s broken,” he said. “Just jammed.”
“When the dragon grabbed the horse, the cart snapped right off,” Hunter said. “And last we saw him, Mr. Ogden was hightailing it through the forest.”
“I’m mad it got my horse but I’m happy we had enough black powder in my saddlebag to do the job,” Tristan said. “Two quests down, and one to go. We’ve got the paw of the dragon inside Hunter’s saddlebag. We’ll take it with us to the castle.”
I looked at the saddlebag and noticed it had turned dark with moisture. “Great,” I said, and then turned my gaze before I started gagging.
Hunter looked back at Tristan. “Do we have room for Savannah on the horse? We ought to get going again.”
“I can walk back,” I said. “It isn’t that far.”
Tristan gave me one of his stern looks. “You shouldn’t walk in the forest by yourself at all. I’ll go with you.”
But Hunter was already dismounting. “Not with your hurt arm. You need to get back to the inn and ice it. I’ll walk with Savannah.”
This solution didn’t appear to make Tristan happy, but he didn’t argue about it. He just nodded in my direction, took the reins in his right hand, and rode past us down the path.
• • •
There are many awkward places to be alone with your ex-boyfriend. Meandering through the forest in a medieval fairy tale gone wrong is high on the list. We hadn’t walked for two minutes before he was apologizing again about the way things had ended and for hurting me.
I would have loved to tell him that he hadn’t—he’d never meant that much to me to begin with—but it’s hard to pull off that sort of aloofness when a guy knows you wished for a prince to take his place as your prom date.
Finally I just came out and said, “Look, Hunter, I appreciate the apology, but you can stop now. I know it’s only been a few days for you since this happened, but I’ve been in and out of the Middle Ages for the last month. A lot has happened since then and I’m over you.” I didn’t add that I’d just been hoping for his death.
“Oh,” he said with surprise. “Well, good. That will make things easier between us.” And it did, immediately. He visibly relaxed and the conversation felt almost normal as we walked. “So what did you do here for a month?”
“I learned to appreciate the twenty-first century.”
“Really? I think it’s pretty cool here—well, except for almost getting eaten by a dragon.”
“Two words: indoor plumbing.”
“But they’ve got awesome weapons here—look at this.” He unsheathed a sword that had been by his side and I recognized it as the one I had unsuccessfully tried to fight the cyclops with. “Tristan gave it to me. I hope I get to take this home with me.”
I should have known Tristan wouldn’t give it back to me. Apparently he didn’t want me anywhere near a sword.
“And we get to ride horses,” Hunter said.
“And smell like them too.”
The time passed quickly as we walked and before I knew it the village was back in sight. I didn’t know when we’d ever be alone again so I said, “Hey, Hunter, I’m really glad you didn’t die back there.”
He laughed like I was joking, but it was the truth.
• • •
We found Tristan sitting at a table in the inn. He had his arm in a bucket of water. “It’s the closest thing I could find to ice. Feels cold enough anyway.”
I sat down beside him, but he didn’t look at me. When I’d first come in, Tristan’s gaze had ricocheted between Hunter and me as though searching for something, but now he was pointedly ignoring me.
“When I go to the castle tomorrow, I’ll see if there’s a wizard around with some healing potion. I can’t face the Black Knight with only one arm working.”
With the mention of wizards I remembered that I hadn’t told Tristan about Simon and the poison. I’d been so occupied with the cyclops, Jane and Hunter’s arrival, and then the dragon, it hadn’t crossed my mind at all.
“About wizards,” I said. “You were right when you told me they couldn’t be trusted. Do you remember that red bottle I had when I went to meet with the Black Knight? The wizard’s apprentice, Simon, told me that if I drank it, the Black Knight would do anything I asked—but it was poison. The next day when I saw the wizard’s cart, he had a new apprentice and Simon had been turned into a goat because he’d stolen a bottle of poison.”
For the first time since I’d sat down beside him, Tristan looked directly at me. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. Somewhere out there is a goat who wants me dead. That’s why I’m not going with you to the castle tomorrow—if he licks me, I’ll turn into a goat.”
“If the wizard licks you?”
“No, the goat.”
Tristan looked at me blankly. “Why don’t you just start at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened during each of your meetings with the wizard.”
I tapped one finger against the table. “I can’t. Not for another four days.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t tell you that either, but the point is, I don’t want to go to the castle because that plotting little goat may still be there.”
Tristan ran his hand through his hair and turned to Hunter. “Did any of that make sense to you?”
“Nope.”
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Tristan nodded philosophically. “Just checking.”
“There’s one more thing I meant to tell you,” I said.
“Am I going to understand any of it?” Tristan asked.
I leaned closer to him. “I bartered a gold hibiscus ring to Simon. Then the same day I saw it on Princess Margaret’s hand.”
Both Hunter and Tristan waited for me to continue. When I didn’t, Hunter shrugged as though trying to guess my meaning. “So you think Princess Margaret bought the ring from him?”
“Why should I know about that?” Tristan asked.
I didn’t have a good answer. “It just strikes me as suspicious.”
Tristan took his hand out of the water, stretched his fingers, then balled them into a fist. “Well, you’ve never liked my future fiancée, have you?”
“And you refuse to think she’s dangerous because she’s pretty.”
His gaze returned to mine. “That’s not true. I think pretty women can be very dangerous.”
I sat back in my chair with a humph. “She’s sneaky and vindictive. I’d watch her if I were you.”
He smiled over at me. “Oh, I will. I’ll watch her very closely as we dance together tomorrow night.”
After that, I went upstairs to check on Jane.
• • •
The next day Tristan slept in until midmorning. None of us woke him; we figured he needed the rest. After he got up, he hardly spoke to me and he watched my reactions every time Hunter said anything. I wanted to just tell Tristan, “By the way, I’m over Hunter,” but I didn’t know a good way to work that into casual conversation, especially since Hunter and Jane were always around.
He planned to ring the bell for the Black Knight tonight when he went up for the king’s celebration. It bothered me that I wouldn’t be there for it, but then, perhaps that was for the best. I didn’t want to see the Black Knight.