The kelpie didn’t wait to see if Lysander meant what he said about cutting off Siofra’s arm. It swerved, and Siofra heard the ping of the arrow as it left the bow. A mere second later, her hand came free, and the kelpie lay at her feet, dissolving into foam, along with the arrow.
“No!” she cried. “We’ve lost our only arrow!”
Lysander pulled her roughly into his arms. “What have I told you?”
Siofra began to blubber. “I know. I know. Everyone and everything is terrible.” She sniffed and hiccoughed, tears running down her face as she clung to him. When she continued to cry, he patted her back as he would a babe. Slowly, she was able to breathe more freely. “I need a handkerchief.”
He pulled one from his pocket, and she wiped at her nose and face. “You could have told me, you know. That was not a beautiful person. I thought it was a helpful horse sent by your father.”
“The red cape is in my pocket. Father probably doesn’t know where we are.”
Siofra shivered. “To think he wanted to eat me. Did you hear his voice? It was ever so cold and harsh.”
“They are without remorse. Good news, though. The river is no longer rushing so rapidly. Perhaps he had churned the water to entrap us. Are you able to continue?”
For the first time, she wanted to go home, where she could sit in the kitchen and eat bread, warm from Mrs. Sgot’s oven. The brownie may not say much, but she showed she cared by providing things that made Siofra happy. Of course, Lysander did that as well.
“I suppose I’m ready.”
“Give me your satchel. I will attempt to hold it over my head so your alternate clothes remain dry.”
“Excellent idea.” She held it out and took her first step off the bank. “Are you sure there are no more of those things?”
“No, but I’ll be right beside you.” He followed her out, and they waded until the water became deep, then began to swim. “Would you really have let me cut off your arm?”
“I thought…” She spit water from her mouth. “I thought you knew what you were doing.” She took several deep breaths as she kicked her legs. “Besides…I just heard that long story from the bard about Nuada and his…his silver arm.” She spat again.
“That magic was lost long ago when the people of the Tuatha Dé Danann passed into the Sidhe. No one since has gotten a silver arm.”
They waded up to dry land, Siofra panting hard and very aware of the shirt clinging to her form. For the moment, she was too tired to do anything about it.
Lysander sank on the ground beside her and rolled the dry satchel her way. “Here. When you’re ready to change, I’ll scout ahead.”
“No, you won’t. You can turn your back. You’re not getting out of my sight until the dragon is dead and you get your ring back. No one is going to eat me.”
“I thought we were getting the ring so you could give it to the queen.”
“It isn’t really hers. I think you should keep it for when you’ve found your princess.”
The look Lysander gave her seemed fraught with meaning, but she didn’t know what. The longer she stared at him, the more she felt as if she were sinking into his eyes.
“Are you mesmerizing me?” she asked, attempting to hide what he made her feel.
He blinked and shoved off the ground. “Not at all.”
He turned his back, and Siofra opened the satchel for the dry clothes. “What will we do with the wet clothing?”
“We could wait for it to dry.”
“That will take hours.” She slid the shirt over her head and tucked it inside the trousers. “What would happen if you stuffed them in your pockets?”
“I would get soaking wet. They are real pockets, though limitless.”
Siofra laughed. Sometimes she felt like a goose. How was she to know when he could magic something away, or not?
Her laughter abruptly died. “Why are your clothes dry?”
“May I turn?”
“Oh. Yes.”
He turned on his heel. “My clothes are spelled. Water falls away when I tell them to be dry.”
But he couldn’t do that for hers. Drats. “We should leave them here. Neither of us needs to carry water-logged clothes and I’ve gone this long without a change. It will be fine. If I’m desperate, I can wear that gold dress that fell from the sky.”
“My father would be gratified.”
They made off down the path. By now, it was late afternoon, and the forest had given way to tall hills, almost small mountains. Would they reach the dragon before nightfall? Would it be better to go into his lair in the dark or wait until morning? Did she really want to sleep in the road again, so near the home of a dragon? From all she’d read, they hunted at night, having exceptional eyesight.
“We should hurry,” she said. “We need to meet this dragon before dark. Can we make it?”
“Can you not smell the Sulphur in the air? We’re very near.”
She sniffed a couple of times. Maybe she smelled something like the waters of Bath. That, or rotten cabbage. “I believe I do. What now?”
“The cave entrance will be hidden. We’ll have to search the hills for an opening. For that, we leave the path.”
Siofra’s heart sank. She’d done so well not leaving the path, she was afraid to venture from it.
Her face must have showed her displeasure because Lysander reached across to hug her shoulders. “I will be near, and you have the rowan wood.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out the red cape. “Should you lose me, tell my father.”
“If I lose you to a dragon, the last person I’m telling is your father.”
Lysander laughed so hard his eyes teared. “I meant if we’re separated. There is another difficulty. The dragon’s lair is a labyrinth of passages, built over many decades. We could wander for days.”
“What if we called for it? As in offering what it wants.”
“Hold up your hand.”
Siofra lifted her hand and saw the faint blue smudge on her palm. “We must be near. Do you think it will get brighter as we get closer?”
“That really wouldn’t help if there was a solid wall between us and the ring, but it would probably be better not to call out. Perhaps we can find the ring without ever seeing the dragon.”
Not see a dragon? She was torn. How could she pass up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a living dragon? But keeping Lysander and herself alive was much more important. If they found the ring, she would sneak out willingly.
She scanned the rocky hills, but none seemed to have any openings at all. If they were going to search all over, they’d have to leave the path. “Why couldn’t your father draw a huge yellow sign over the cave door?”
Within seconds, Siofra saw a bright yellow smudge of sulfur on the side of a hill. “Do you think…”
“No. He wouldn’t.” Lysander shook his head, sighing. “I don’t understand him at all. To be certain, we should make sure there’s no opening.”
“I don’t see one, but maybe it’s disguised.”
Lysander changed course, but Siofra was reluctant to leave the path for the mossy green grass. Who knew what might hide in grass?
“Why are you dawdling?” he asked.
“There might be rats or…or serpents.”
“I doubt there’s a large vermin problem in this area. The dragon would have exhausted such sources long ago. Nor would they wish to nest near him. Come along.”
Siofra hooked the red cape around her neck. It might protect her from something. With tentative steps, she left the path, walking exactly where Lysander had left indentations in the grass. This required stretching her legs a bit, but she managed.
When she reached his side, she motioned with her hand. “Go on. I’m following in your steps.”
He smiled in that indulgent way, but he continued until he reached the yellow Sulphur. When he rubbed his hand across it, it came off. “It really is Sulphur. Do you see anything that looks like a door or opening?” He stretched his hand underneath to touch the darkened stone, but his hand felt only air.
“That’s it, isn’t it. You found it.”
Lysander stepped back, and they regarded what now looked like a shaded entry. “This isn’t a very large dragon.”
“Good. I was worried.”
“Large, in terms of dragons. A dragon’s skull is jointed so it can squeeze through tight places. This dragon could be upwards of twenty feet long.”
“That’s not small at all.” Twenty feet? All the sudden, Siofra wasn’t as interested in finding the ring. Very large teeth would be snapping at the end of those twenty feet. And fire. Lots of fire.
“Come along, then.” Lysander walked into the cave without even ducking. It was much taller that it appeared.
Siofra followed, hugging her bag. Did she have anything at all a dragon might want, aside from herself? The two rocks in her pockets wouldn’t do heavy damage, or any at all, against dragon scales.
The further they went into the cave, the darker and danker it got. Sulphur permeated her nostrils. “It’s a shame we don’t have some will-o’-the-wisps.”
“Take my hand. We soon turn a bend.”
Siofra felt for Lysander’s hand, which she could barely see, following him past the curve. He dropped her hand as they both gazed at the vast cavern before them. The walls sparkled with some inner light that brightened the entire area. Siofra could clearly see where to walk, and where not to. Bones and fragments littered the ground. What she thought had been rocks and pebbles underneath her boots had been the bones of past trespassers.
“Ewww. Look at the ground,” she whispered.
Lysander nodded. “There is no gold in this cavern. We’re in the wrong place.”
“Retreat or move forward?”
Lysander pointed to the fore, and they continued on. They passed around the outer rim of the cavern and reached another corridor. He pointed, and Siofra shrugged. This one had the same glowing walls as the cavern, so she didn’t mind as much.
She peered at her hand, but it hadn’t changed color at all and might never.
They wandered so long Siofra felt certain night had come. Her body ached for sleep, her lids drooping and her head bobbing as she fell asleep, walking. If Lysander didn’t pull her along, she’d have dropped where she stood.
When he prodded her yet again, Siofra growled at him. “I wasn’t asleep that time.”
“Look at your palm.”
It glowed as brightly as several lit matches or a warm ember from the fireplace, a much brighter blue than before.
“See that curve up there?” Lysander mouthed the words, pointing, and Siofra nodded. “Let’s proceed slowly. There could be another cavern.”
From the horrendous smell of Sulphur, Siofra imagined they would soon meet the dragon. Would it be sleeping? Her legs quaked as they walked forward, and her hands were shivering so badly, she gripped them together.
One step at a time, she told herself she could do this. Two more steps, and they’d round the corner. Warm air lifted wisps of her hair. Before an expected battle like this, she should have braided her hair. What if it caught fire? What if she snagged it on something? What if the dragon grabbed it?
Lysander reached the corner first, and his jaw dropped. “You should see this.”
Siofra forgot her fear to rush forward.
They’d reached another cavern, much brighter than the last because of the reflections from all the gold and jewels. Siofra’s satchel dropped to the ground, forgotten. She’d be rich forever! She could buy the most expensive house on Park Lane between Hyde Park and Mayfair. She could wear a crown that rivalled the king’s. She could get eaten by a dragon.
She glanced at Lysander and retrieved her satchel from the ground. He seemed as awestruck as she. A quick glimpse of her palm showed the blue spot still alight, but no brighter. What if the ring wasn’t in there?
Lysander moved forward, and she followed, not willing to let one step get between them. They skirted the cavernous room, made difficult by the sheer volume of strangely shaped objects, including many jeweled swords. One thing Siofra recalled from her childhood fairy tales. Touching the dragon’s treasure brought swift disaster.
She slid and fell to her knees in a pile of gold coins, but shook her hands lest any piece of coin stick to her. She went so far as to check her pockets. Nothing but the stones.
It wasn’t easy sneaking around piles of gold and jewelry. The dragon had stolen a few chests as well, laden with all manner of jewels. There really was no way to find a single ring in this mess. Siofra sighed. Lysander pushed on.
From time to time, she heard a faint rustling sound. An avalanche of coins? Mice? Though she agreed with Lysander that no mouse or rat would brave a dragon in his den.
They passed several other passageways, and Siofra realized she hadn’t kept count. She hadn’t done anything to ensure she knew the way out. Once again, she had blindly trusted in Lysander when she should be just as reliable.
“I’m lost,” she whispered.
“I know where we came in. See that flash of red high on the wall?”
Siofra craned her neck and peered at the wall in question until she saw the red twinkle. It had to be some type of jewel that reflected light. She nodded.
“Look just to the left of it, and you’ll see a stockpile of shiny armor. If you look even further to the left, though you can’t see it now, you’ll find the corridor through which we entered.”
She nodded again. Considering how long they spent wandering around, she wasn’t sure if even going back through that tunnel would help her find her way out. They simply must stay together.
“I’m fairly certain we’re being stalked,” Lysander said, decimating her hope that they would leave there alive. “You heard the rustles? The dragon’s tail as he slithers toward us. He’s getting closer.”
“What should we do?”
“Keep looking for the ring. I’ll watch for the dragon.”