Before Rina could reach the last of the druids, she was facing Count Vladek. He’d managed to get a horse and swung his sword at her, trying to strike her down. She swept up behind him onto the horse’s back, blending in with the horse, and yanked Vladek hard, unseating him from his mount.

  She leapt down, intending to take him into custody when she saw Artur dispatch the last of the druids. To her surprise, the dark arts knights all collapsed, and she guessed the druids had used a different spell to create them, unlike the other cases she’d dealt with. This was so not good. The other dark arts knights had continued to fight until the end and they’d remained the enemy. But this time, the knights had been on their side and now Rina and her friends had no army of their own. With only the four of them to fight Vladek, Inari, and the men they had left, Rina and her party were way outnumbered. They’d never last.

  Vladek and Inari were smiling. They had them right where they wanted them. Vladek swung his sword at Rina and behind her, Dracolin, Jeremka, and Artur began to fight other elf knights.

  Suddenly, dark shadows appeared against the sky, lightning revealing three dragons above. They swooped down and Dracolin and Persephonice leapt onto one of them. Vladek took advantage of the distraction and cut through the leather and padding protecting Rina’s arm. Artur grabbed her by the waist and lifted her onto another dragon, the men all trying to reach them, but the dragon blew fire and the elf knights rushed back to avoid the white-hot flames.

  Jeremka climbed onto the last dragon that incinerated a few archers who were trying to shoot the dragon riders and the dragons with their bolts before he flew off to join them.

  “What exactly happened back there?” Rina asked Artur, holding her injured arm.

  He hugged her close to him and to the dragon. “Persephonice convinced the dark arts knights to kill the druids. Except you killed one of them instead,” Artur said.

  “And you killed the other.”

  “Aye, but I didn’t expect it to work out the way it did.”

  “With all the dark arts knights reverting to dust? Yeah, that was a shock. The ones in previous cases fought until they died. I really hadn’t expected that. What about Inari and Vladek? They still live.” Rina was in so much pain, she could barely think straight. And then she thought about her horse and theirs. She whistled, hoping her horse would guide the others back to the castle.

  “They will have to manage with the elven forces and not their dark arts forces this time. We’ll return to Castle Grande and the king will send his forces to fight them.”

  “And us.”

  Artur smiled at her. Seated upon the huge, green-scaled beast of a dragon, he kissed her in the pouring rain. “You will not fight. You’re injured. It’s time for you to enjoy the king’s feast.”

  Rina shook her head. “I never celebrate until the mission is done. I always thought Persephonice was the most peaceful sort of person.”

  “She is. The dark arts knights were created out of darkness. They wanted to return to their resting place. She helped make that happen by turning them on those who had created them, giving us the chance to destroy the druids.”

  “You will now be called a dark arts druid slayer,” she said, amused.

  “So tell me about the other two druids you eliminated.”

  “You will think I’m bragging.”

  “If you were a braggart, you would have already told us about the others. As it was, you only revealed to us enough to let us know what we were up against.”

  She groaned in pain and then everything before her, the rain, the feel of Artur’s warm body against her, his arm wrapped securely around her, all faded away.

  Artur was terrified that Rina had succumbed to her wound but was glad Persephonice had called on the dragons to come to their aid or none of them would have made it out alive. He’d continued talking to Rina, trying to keep her awake, but when she passed out, he feared the worst.

  As soon as he saw the castle off in the distance, he called out to Dracolin, “Rina was wounded. She has passed out.”

  “No,” Dracolin shouted, and Artur knew her cousin was duly concerned.

  Once the dragons landed in the courtyard, Artur saw her horse and the others had returned to the castle as he handed Rina down to Dracolin, wanting to take her to see the healer himself, but he knew her cousin wanted to take care of her since he was family.

  Dracolin and Persephonice hurried inside the castle. Artur knew he needed to see the king and tell him what had happened. But he wanted to be with Rina, making sure that she was okay.

  “What happened?” Leogane asked him while Mirabella hurried off to check on Rina.

  Artur explained how Persephonice had used her abilities to suggest to the dark arts knight to convince the others to eliminate the druids. When he got to the part about the druids dying and the dark arts knights who had been fighting Artur and his companions’ enemies turning to dust, Leogane frowned.

  The king ran his hands through his hair. “I thought the dark arts knights would continue to live and fight whoever they were ordered to eliminate.”

  “That’s what we thought. But maybe the druids used a different spell on them,” Artur said.

  “Aye. What happened to Rina?”

  Artur expected the king to gather his men to fight Inari and Vladek at once, but he was glad he asked about her. “Vladek struck her when the dragons came to our rescue, distracting her. I want to see her before I lead our men out to fight Inari and Vladek.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  Artur really appreciated Leogane and was glad he served as the king’s champion.

  They went into the chamber where the king’s healer was taking care of Rina. Her arm was bandaged, and she’d been given medicinal herbs in a drink. At least she had come to.

  “How are you feeling?” Artur asked her.

  “I’m ready to fight Inari and Vladek and their men.”

  Artur smiled at her, but then glanced at her cousin and the king to make sure they weren’t going to agree with her.

  “I hired her to protect Mirabella. So this is where Rina stays,” the king said, smiling a little.

  16

  “I’m going after Inari and Vladek,” Leogane said to Rina and the others gathered in the chamber where she would recover from her battle wound.

  “Go with him. You’re his champion. You can’t do anything here for me,” Rina said to Artur.

  “We’ll look after her,” Mirabella said, and Persephonice agreed that she’d stay for her also.

  “I’ll go with you,” Dracolin told the king.

  The other men left, but Artur looked one last time at Rina, then inclined his head and hurried after the other men.

  By the time Leogane, Dracolin, and Artur made their way to the great hall, Erlig had already gathered their men to do battle with Inari and Vladek and their men.

  “Callie told me what Inari had done to Mirabella, to warn me not to appear shocked when I see the scars,” Leogane said to Artur.

  “Rina told me what had happened to the princess,” Artur said.

  His face an angry scowl, Leogane shook his head. “I will do worse to the cowardly murderer.” He glanced back at Erlig. “Stay here with the rest of my forces in case Vladek or Inari think to attack our people here while we’re trying to catch up to them.”

  “Aye, Your Grace.” Erlig might want to go with them into battle, but he also knew how important it was that he stayed at the home front in case their enemies attacked them there.

  Then Leogane headed outside with Artur and Dracolin and mounted their horses. The dragons were resting on beds of straw nearby. They were too large for Leogane’s staff to give them a place to sleep in the stable, but they seemed content enough. At least the rain had stopped.

  The men rode out beyond the castle walls and Artur and Dracolin guided them to where the encampment had been. By the time they reached it, Inari and Vladek and their elvish knights were gone.

  “They split up,” a scout reported. “Some went to the south, the others in a westerly direction.”

  “Who went which way?” Leogane asked.

  Artur suspected he wanted to deal with Inari first.

  Dracolin said, “Both forces are small. Maybe twenty men apiece. They thought they’d have their druids and their dark arts knights doing all their fighting for them so they didn’t bring a large force with them.”

  “We have forty men, but I don’t want to split our forces,” Leogane said. “Which way did Inari go?”

  It sounded like to Artur that Leogane’s focus was to right a wrong done toward both Mirabella and her father. Artur worried though about letting Vladek get away, should he hire some other druids and create more troops.

  Another scout hurried back to them. “Inari traveled south. But it appears that the notion Vladek and his men are heading in a westerly direction is a ruse. His forces are heading south now, and it looks like he’ll be rejoining Inari’s forces.”

  Leogane smiled. “Good. We head south then and overcome their forces. Maybe we will have the advantage and have only one of the forces to fight if the other hasn’t joined him already.”

  As they traveled through the woods, Artur stayed by the king’s side, but he couldn’t help but wonder how Rina was faring. He also hoped she didn’t join them out here by slipping away unseen. He wouldn’t put it past her. Even though her one arm was injured, she could fight just as well with the other.

  Rina fought the sleepy effects of the drugs the healer had given her for the pain and to promote the healing of her wound. It made her think of the faux healer who had murdered the real healer near Castle Mayden. The princess, Persephonice, and the maid had sat with her for some time, quietly talking about Persephonice’s and Dracolin’s adventures as a nice warm fire glowed at the hearth.

  Rina felt relaxed, safe, happy, yet she struggled against the feeling because she knew she should be with Artur and Dracolin and the king even, helping to fight the monsters in the woods. Then the room grew so quiet, Rina swore everyone had just vanished, the heartwarming fire still crackling in the fireplace. She thought of Mirabella on her wedding night once Leogane returned from battle. Goddess, Rina hoped he returned home just fine. The same with everyone else. Especially Artur who knew his duty yet seemed conflicted about leaving her behind.

  She wondered if Vladek knew of any other dark arts druids he could call upon and then Persephonice would be needed to work her magic again. Rina worried about the king’s reaction when he saw the scars on Mirabella’s back. She thought about Callie’s declaration that she loved Jeremka. Rina wondered if the king would give them his blessing to be married to each other. Suddenly, Rina was thinking about the amount of money the king would pay her. He’d never mentioned an amount. Why she was thinking about that, she hadn’t a clue. But then she was thinking about her parents, who could very well be worried when Dracolin and Persephonice didn’t return with any news of her. Her thoughts were flip-flopping all over the place.

  She still didn’t feel as though she had done anything wrong exactly. Though she supposed some of the reason she hadn’t told them where she was going on this mission was because she figured they wouldn’t have approved her going based on just a rumor.

  The room was dark except for the fire glowing nearby. She was wearing a pretty sleeping gown with an embroidered necklace and sleeves. When had she changed into something so elegant? It wasn’t hers. She sat up in bed and she felt dizzy, her arm shrieking in pain. Gods. She should never have let up her guard when she’d been fighting Vladek. She pulled aside the bed linens and saw her bags on the floor near a chair. Good. At least she could change into something more like what she was used to wearing. The problem was trying to dress with an injured arm. Pulling on her boots was the worst. Then she finally finished dressing.

  No matter what anyone said, she had to join the fight. This was her destiny. She wasn’t sure if anyone would let her out of the castle though. And if she couldn’t leave with their permission, she sure couldn’t take her horse. Fine. She’d climb over the wall and down the other side, and if she found one of the dark arts knights’ horses left behind, she’d ride him to the place where she needed to be. She was not a highly trained warrior elf for no reason. She heard someone walking down the hall outside the chamber and she quickly climbed into bed and covered herself with the quilts and furs, but whoever it was walked on past.

  Then Rina climbed back out of bed, determined to help her cousin, Artur, and the king in dealing with Vladek and Inari and their men.

  She finally made it to the stairs and down them, seeing only one servant who was headed in a different direction and hadn’t noticed her.

  Then she slipped out into the inner bailey and headed to the wall walk. She climbed the stairs and watched for the guards at their outposts. No one was right there, and she slipped over the wall and began her climb down, just liked she’d done at the tower where she’d first seen Princess Mirabella. Though with her injured arm, it was painfully slow going and she slipped twice, nearly giving her a heart attack.

  Fog now enveloped the area in a cloak of thick white mist. She wished she had her horse, but she could run to catch up to the men in time. She kept listening to any sounds that they might be engaged in a battle, but the woods were still, except for the bugs chirping in the night.

  She first went to Vladek and Inari’s encampment to see where everyone had gone to from there. She knew Leogane and his men had traveled to here first, doing the same thing she was doing. Their tracks were all over the place. No one was there now. And no other battles had been fought. The armor of the dark arts knights had been left behind. The dead elven warriors had been taken with Vladek and Inari, it appeared. But she noticed some of the men had left in one direction and the other men had left in a different direction. Still the freshest tracks were from Leogane and his men and they had headed south. She took off that way when she thought she heard something behind her, sneaking up. She whipped around, pulling out her sword, and hurting her injured arm. She cried out. That was not the way to prepare to fight her enemy. But she didn’t see anything for a moment.

  Then something moved, mostly hidden by the leaves and trees and she realized it was the dragon she and Artur had flown on to the castle earlier. Because she was part high elf, she could understand the dragon’s language, thankfully. Her mother was the one who had the ability.

  “What are you doing out here?” she whispered. She didn’t think she needed to, but just in case any enemies were lurking about, she wanted to be cautious.

  “I had the same question for you.”

  “I’m doing what a warrior would do. My job.”

  The dragon snorted, letting out a puff of mist. “Even warriors who are injured need time to heal and rest.”

  “You followed me out here?” She was surprised, glancing around, not seeing any of the other dragons with him. “Alone?”

  “Yes. On my own. We had to decide among ourselves who would bring you back to the castle.”

  She shook her head. “I’m going to search for the men.”

  “Then I’ll stay with you.”

  “You’re…”

  “Too big? You don’t have a horse to ride like everyone else. I’ll take you to where they are before they are in battle, but if Dracolin says you must be returned to the castle, I’ll take you.”

  “You are?”

  “Darksmoke.” He laid down so she could climb onto his back.

  She hesitated, but she knew if she didn’t do it, he might just grab her in his talons and forcibly return her to the castle. She climbed onto the dragon’s back, hoping they’d find the men soon. At first, Dragonsmoke flew in the direction she assumed the men had gone, but then the dragon changed direction.

  For a while, she didn’t say anything, figuring Darksmoke’s hawk-like eyesight could see something she was missing—a campfire, movement in the woods, something. But then Darksmoke turned toward the castle. She didn’t believe the men had ended up back there. She felt Darksmoke had tricked her then.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, trying not to sound so irritated with him.

  “To Castle Grande.”

  At least he was being honest with her.

  “Why? I need to assist the others to fight Vladek and the rest of our enemies.”

  “You need to heal up, like I said before.”

  She let out her breath in exasperation. When she saw the castle, she figured she was going to be confined to her bedchamber this time. She was so disappointed, but her arm was killing her, and she figured—as much as she hated to admit it—she should stay there and recuperate some more.

  As soon as he landed in the courtyard, Princess Mirabella, Callie, and Persephonice hurried to see her. “You are supposed to be in bed sleeping,” Mirabella said right away.

  Persephonice thanked Dragonsmoke for finding Rina and bringing her back to the castle.

  “Traitor,” Rina said to the dragon.

  He responded with a puff of smoke, looking totally satisfied he’d done what he’d gone to do.

  Persephonice just shook her head. “All three of them told me right away that you had left.”

  All three dragons smiled at Rina.

  17

  Artur and King Leogane and his men felt they were getting closer to their enemies. Inari’s men were talking up ahead as if they knew no one would be following them, which was a mistake on their part. But it was good for Artur and their party. Vladek and Inari and their men were heading for Castle Grande and Artur couldn’t believe it. Did they think they could lay siege to the castle? On the other hand, maybe they thought they could wait for more of their troops to arrive. Maybe even Inari believed he could regain entrance to the castle with his men, pretending to have a change of heart and want to celebrate the wedding of his niece to Leogane. He would pretend to offer an alliance, anything to get inside the castle walls again so that he could have his men kill the guards and open the portcullis to let Valdek’s men in when everyone was asleep.