Sianim 01 - Masques

the ae’Magi’s castle as fast as possible.” Aralorn knew she was being too abrupt, but she was desperate and couldn’t find courtesy when she needed it. The dragon tilted its head back in offense.
    Myr’s grip tightened warningly on Aralorn’s shoulder, as he said, “Dragon, the only one of us who stands a chance of facing down the ae’Magi is hurt and fighting alone at the castle. We need to get there to help him, or the ae’Magi has won. You are our only chance of doing so in time.”
    Aralorn started at the “we,” but decided not to protest as it was likely to offend the dragon even more.
    The dragon hesitated a minute, then asked, “Speed is important?”
    “Very, sir,” Aralorn said carefully, keeping a respectful tone.
    It nodded, once. “I can travel much faster than flying, but it means that because of your safeguards against magic, I cannot take you, King Myr. The shapeshifter half-breed I can take.”
    Myr looked unhappy, but he nodded his acceptance. When the dragon lowered its belly to the ground and folded its wings, Myr helped Aralorn up as she was hampered by the necessity of keeping the sharp claws at the end of Wolf’s staff away from the dragon.
    The scales on the dragon’s back were slick, but otherwise it was no worse than riding a horse bareback—until he began moving. The wings beat steadily until they caught an updraft, then flattened and spread wide—letting the wind pull them south.
    Abruptly, the dragon lurched forward, and Aralorn felt a familiar dizziness seize her and clutched the fist-sized scales reflexively. He’d transported them the same way Wolf had sent her back to his library. When she was able to focus her eyes again, the castle of the ae’Magi lay just below.
    Shouting, so that the dragon could hear her past the sound of the wind, Aralorn said, “Land wherever you can find a safe place, Lord. I can find my way in.” She still had that little follow-me spell on Wolf’s boot. He’d changed his clothes preparing to face his father, but not his boots.
    In acknowledgment of her words, the dragon changed its angle of flight until it was losing altitude fast. Aralorn’s ears popped painfully, and she tightened her grip on the dragon’s scales until they cut into her hand. When the dragon landed, the jolt loosened Aralorn’s grip, and she landed with a thud next to an impressively armed forepaw.
    She rolled to her feet with more speed than grace. She turned to face the dragon and bowed respectfully. “My thanks, sir, and apologies for my clumsiness.” Without waiting for a reply, she shifted quickly into a goose and flew as fast as she could to the castle.
    The moat didn’t smell any better than it had before, and it took her some time to find an intact pipe that was not plugged with grime. Once she found one, maybe the same one she’d used before, she balanced precariously on it until she could turn into a mouse. Even in mouse form, she had trouble negotiating the tricky business of crawling into the pipe from the top, but she managed. All the while, part of her wailed that she was being too slow.
    The corridor she entered was only dimly lit by wall sconces, and from what she could see, it was not one that she’d been in before. She considered staying a mouse but decided that she would have a better chance of recognizing something familiar if she were in human form since she’d been in human form while she was following Wolf.
    When she took her own shape again, the staff appeared beside her (she hadn’t been sure that it would). She wondered if it had changed with her, like the sword and her clothes, or if it was following her on its own. She remembered how Wolf would just reach out and it would be there, under his hand. She’d thought it was something Wolf had done. The idea that it had been the staff all along caused her to pick it up gingerly as she started down the hallway.
    There were still Uriah posted in the halls. As before, they allowed her to pass without bothering her though they followed her progress with their eyes. She kept a steady, rapid pace, hoping that she would find a clue to where she was soon enough to be of some help to Wolf. The spell on Wolf’s boot was harder to follow in the ae’Magi’s castle than it had been in the caves. She could feel it, but it was a faint whisper instead of a call.
    The castle was eerily silent, so that when she heard sounds coming from inside a room, she stopped impulsively and opened the door.