The bedrolls were placed in a triangle around the fire. Shilayla would stretch out just behind Luc and Lilly to keep them safe and warm from behind while the fire would warm them in front and provide light. With two dragons along, they didn’t really have to set up a watch. Both Shilayla and Zallra claimed they would wake at the slightest out-of-place sound, and Luc seconded his partner’s claim, which was good enough for Lilly. She was just that tired, after making and consuming their first hot meal of the day, to fall in a heap and know nothing further until morning.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The next morning, they were flying again just after dawn. They stopped once, mid-morning for the dragons to drink and the two-legs to walk around a bit. They were coming down out of the mountains on the other side of the Dragon’s Teeth, but they were still at relatively high elevation. The mountain range was much wider at this point than Lilly had expected.
Zallra led the group, finding safe places to land along the Jinn Road. By the third day, they were in the foothills, and the land was turning both greener and somewhat warmer. Zallra brought them down early for the midday meal, choosing to land near a group of brightly colored wagons that were already stopped along the side of the road.
“These are Jinn,” she told them as they landed a short distance from the camp. “Let me go in first. I want to see if they have any news for us.”
Lilly had no doubt the Jinn had seen the two dragons flying above. In fact, she could see from atop Shilayla’s back that several Jinn men had come out to meet them. Or meet Zallra, since it was she they walked toward.
Zallra shifted shape as she moved toward the armed men, showing no fear that they could harm her. She was a dragon, after all, but in her human form, Lilly suspected she was more vulnerable than in her scales. Still, these were her people. Perhaps, showing them this level of trust was necessary.
They spoke for a few minutes among themselves before Zallra looked back at Shilayla and gave Luc and Lilly the signal to dismount. Luc went first, helping Lilly down before turning to join Zallra and the Jinn men.
The news wasn’t good. Once the men accepted their presence and the fact that Zallra vouched for Lilly and Luc, they were all invited back to the Jinn camp. Food was offered, and drinks were passed around the large communal campfire. Some of the women came out to join them, and Zallra led a frank discussion of events in the lands from which they had just come.
This group of Jinn were traveling to Draconia, hoping to settle there if they liked the setup. All Jinn had been invited to gather in the land of dragons, and many had settled there already. Others, like this group, were more hesitant to give up their traveling ways, it seemed.
Zallra was able to give them some contact information for when they reached Castleton, the capital city of Draconia. She was also able to give them her observations of the route they would be taking and the weather conditions she had seen farther along the Jinn Road. In turn, they told her of the political situation, as they knew it, in the domain of the Alchemists, which they had just left.
“It was getting too hot for me with the family to consider,” one young Jinn man said, sitting at the campfire. He was the father of a large brood of youngsters who were gathered around Shilayla, feeding her apples and admiring the only snow dragon they had ever seen. “Since Osmian became the Grand High, things have gotten dicey for honest folk. He’s been bringing in mercs from Elderland and other kingdoms, supposedly to help keep the peace, but the rumor is that he’s gathering an army.”
“Do you know where?” Zallra asked, her brow furrowed.
“They pass through the city and then disappear, but some of our scouts say the mercs are gathering in the wasteland between the Alchemists’ domain and that of the Blind King. No one is sure whether they plan to strike against Alric or the Emperor of Elderland, but if I had to guess, I’d say King Alric,” the man replied.
“What makes you say that?” Lilly wanted to know.
“Alric was blinded by an Alchemist. True, that one was put to death for his deeds, but what was done to the King could never be undone. Some say, for that reason, there is bad blood between Alric and the Alchemists to this day.” The man shrugged, spreading his hands wide.
“Surely, it would be Alric who has the biggest grudge if that is the case,” Luc put in. “By that logic, he would have cause to attack the Alchemists, not the other way around.”
The man shook his head. “What I’ve heard is that the Alchemist who blinded him really wanted him dead. Perhaps, other Alchemists feel the same. Perhaps, they want to expand their control northward, and Alric blocks their path. I know not the reasons, but I have seen the mercenaries marching through the streets. Once I saw that, I started to pack up my family. I do not want to have my children living in the middle of a war field.”
“You were wise to leave,” Zallra said into the silence after the man’s vehement statement. “If any land is truly safe, it is probably Draconia, at this point, though the dragons may be heavily involved in conflicts to come. Still, as long as you are not too close to the border with Skithdron, you should be safe enough.”
The conversation went on for some time, mostly with Zallra describing the situation in Draconia to these Jinn, who had never traveled that far over the mountains. They were invited to stay for lunch, and the dragon party shared their own rations with the traveling Jinn families, who would need the supplies on their long journey. In fact, Shilayla went out and quickly hunted a mountain goat for the travelers, leaving it with them when the dragon party took off after lunch.
That night, they camped along the Jinn road. Things were still awkward between Lilly and Luc. Both did their best to avoid each other when possible and spoke little. Mostly, they spoke to Zallra or Shilayla and not directly to each other.
Lilly felt badly about the tension between them but saw no other way. She liked Luc more than was healthy for her, and denying the attraction was getting more and more difficult as the hours wore on. Now that she knew the pleasure they could find together, it was hard to deny it.
Yet, she must. Being with him could only bring heartache. Of course, being without him was getting to be just as problematic. A little devil on her shoulder kept telling her to grab what she could while she had him, but the saner part of her mind prevailed…mostly.
She couldn’t help the lingering glances that she hoped he didn’t perceive. She caught Zallra looking at them speculatively a few times, but Lilly wasn’t about to bring up the topic with the other woman, even when Luc was off somewhere else. She wasn’t that close to Zallra yet that she would share such intimate thoughts, though it was tempting to talk about her relationship—or lack thereof—with someone. Anyone.
Not Shilayla, though. The dragon was Luc’s heartmate and probably wouldn’t understand why both two-legs were denying something that could be so pleasurable. Dragons probably had very different standards than their riders. Lilly wondered, but there was no way she would ask Shilayla to find out. Better to leave that topic for some other time. Some other time…a long, long time from now.
By the fourth night, they were completely out of the mountains and down among the more hospitable plains. They were passing over farmland now, more often than not, and small villages and towns started to speckle the countryside.