“Where did you get this scar from?” he asked, the tips of his fingers moving over the lines of the raised flesh along her back.
“Not sure.”
“Izzy, it’s at least eighteen inches long and dangerously close to your spine. How could you not be sure?”
“Do you know how many battles I’ve been in? How many times a healer has worked on me? Sometimes they leave scars, sometimes they don’t. Besides”—she planted her elbow and propped her chin in her palm—“I used to hate sitting around, listening to older warriors talk about all their scars. Comparing them. Bragging. What’s the purpose? All that matters to me is that I’m still here with all me important bits.”
Éibhear chuckled. “Now you sound like Ghleanna.”
“She taught me much. So did Addolgar.”
“My father’s siblings gave us all battlefield lessons. Although I think Aunt Ghleanna stopped talking to me some time ago.”
“Why?”
“Apparently she had greater hopes for me than the Mì-runach.”
“If the queen thinks the Mì-runach serve a purpose, it’s not for Ghleanna to question. Besides, from what I’ve seen so far, there’s no shame in what you lot do.”
“Planning to start your own Mì-runach among your legions?”
“Of course not. We don’t need a gang of crazed warriors charging into battle with nothing more than their rage and a couple of swords.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because we have Annwyl. She is our Mì-runach, we need no other.”
Laughing out loud, Éibhear rolled to his back, Izzy joining him. And the pair continued to laugh and talk and f**k until the suns went down and they could start their journey again.
Chapter 32
For three nights they traveled and slept during the day. The third night when they couldn’t find a cave, Éibhear used his wings to cover Izzy and that stupid dog.
Although he was grateful for his protective scales, he was even happier that he had his fur cape in his travel bag. He didn’t mind the heat much and it cut down on the sand that was getting into the crevices between his scales. Before they took flight each night, Izzy would have to help him clean out any areas that might affect his flying and he just willed himself to ignore the itching in the other places.
Most Southland dragons who came to the Desert Lands—and there were many who loved it here—didn’t travel this way. Usually, they brought protective tents to set up each day. But the tents their group had originally brought with them were back with their stabled horses near the salt mines. Éibhear had no idea how much he’d wish he still had them.
Still, it could be worse. He had his cape, the heat wasn’t destroying his will to live, and he had Izzy. Her constant chatter during the flights made the long nights bearable. She did spend less time talking to him and more time talking to that ridiculous dog, but at least it seemed to keep the damn thing calm. The dog mostly slept during flights and barked warnings during the day when they were sleeping. Of course most of those warnings were about the big scavenger birds that were all over these lands. But once they realized that the dragon carcass lying under the hot desert suns wasn’t dead, they quickly flew off. It was still nice, though, to know the dog had some purpose other than to amuse Izzy with his constant drooling.
Waking up just as the suns set, Éibhear lifted his wings carefully off a still-sleeping Izzy before he sat up and stretched.
He pulled the map out and looked it over. Finally, they were nearing civilization. They were nearing Sefu.
Yawning, Izzy turned over, her arms stretching wide. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at him. She always smiled up at him when she first awoke, and each time she did, the power of it hit him right in the gut. But just as quickly, she frowned, as if remembering she normally didn’t have a good attitude when she first woke up.
“Hello.”
She grunted at him, and sat up.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Well enough.” She reached into her travel bag and took out a canteen. She drank from it while that idiot dog ran off to relieve itself.
“Izzy, if you don’t mind another long night of flying, I’m thinking we should—”
The dog snarled and Izzy held up her hand, cutting off Éibhear’s words. Even stranger, the dog walked backward toward them, teeth bared, hackles up. This was not the same reaction they’d been getting whenever some hungry bird got too close. This was something else.
Since he knew Izzy understood the dog better than he did, Éibhear looked at her.
“Shift to human,” she said low.
“Turn your face away,” he ordered to protect her fom the flames that would come from his shifting. Once done, he grabbed his travel bag and pulled out a pair of leggings, cotton shirt, and boots.
Éibhear had barely pulled his boots on when Izzy stood, her gaze focused straight ahead. By the time he also got to his feet, he could see the riders. They wore light armor and their horses were leaner than the Southland horses. And they were coming right for them.
Izzy stepped in front of him. “Watch out for Macsen.”
Did she really believe that he’d protect that dog before her? Actually, she probably knew that he wouldn’t, which was why she specifically told him to.
The riders at the front reined their horses in, stopping dead in front of them. The others circled around back. Although where they thought Izzy and Éibhear would escape to, out here, in the middle of nowhere, Éibhear didn’t know.
One of the lead riders barked something at them, but neither Izzy nor Éibhear understood him, so he tried again, this time speaking in the common language of these lands.
“Who are you? Speak!”
“Name’s Iseabail. This is my travel partner, Éibhear.”
“What province do you come from? Who are your people?”
“I’m not from here.”
The soldiers looked her over. “You’re not?” the leader asked.
“No.”
“Why are you here?”
“We’re heading to Sefu. I need to meet with the Nolwenns.”
“You?” The men laughed.
“Well, that’s where we’re going so if you’d just—”
“You’re very well armed,” another soldier noted.
“Just for safety.”
“And him?” the leader asked, motioning to Éibhear.
“My protection. A slow-witted mute, but he’s good at destroying things with his head.”
Rude cow!
The leader looked them over again, and Éibhear immediately knew that the man didn’t like what he saw. Probably a good decision, too, since they were lying.
“We’ll escort you to Sefu.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It is for us.”
“In other words, we have no choice.”
The leader smirked. “Not really.”
Izzy looked over the bars on the cell door she was currently locked behind. “That went well.”
She heard snoring and knew it was her dog. Bastard could sleep through anything. She faced Éibhear. “Don’t you think?”
He pointed at his mouth, shook his head.
Izzy rolled her eyes. “You take everything so bloody personally. I was only joking.”
“Ha,” he said. “Ha. Ha.”
“It was the slow-witted part, wasn’t it?”
“What do you think?”
“They’re very paranoid,” Izzy noted, looking back at the bars. “You are frightening to look at, but it seems a little unreasonable that your terrifying demeanor alone should get us thrown into a cell.”
“Did you notice when we got here? The city gates had to be opened for them. I’d always heard Sefu was an open city, with visitors able to come and go as they please.”
“They’re preparing for war?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe it’s all that civil unrest among the humans the salt mine commanders kept talking about.”
“I guess it could be a lot of things, but I’m not sure it matters at the moment. I think there are bigger issues.” Izzy again faced Éibhear and motioned to the wall behind him. “Well . . . get to work.”
Éibhear blinked. “Get to work doing what?”
“Tear the wall down so we can go. I’m this close to finally meeting that treacherous bitch. I’m tired of waiting.”
“They haven’t done anything to us, Izzy. At least not yet.”
“So?”
“So I’m not going to bring the prison down around their ears just so you can go confront some old cow.”
“Where’s your loyalty?”
“Where’s your rational military thought?”
“What does that mean?”
“I can get us out of here, but that doesn’t mean I can destroy the entire city. At least not this city. Didn’t you look at the ramparts? They have those catapults that are built like giant crossbows. Something tells me those are for dragons that may attack the city. If you think I can handle those all on my own—”
“Fine, fine.”
“If you weren’t so obsessed with your grand—”
“I’m not obsessed.”
“When the guards come back, just tell them the truth. Tell them who you are. What you want. They obviously know you’re lying.”
“Fine.”
“It’s just a suggestion—”
“Zazazaza!” Izzy waved her hands in Éibhear’s face to keep him quiet.
“What was that noise you just made?”
“Don’t irritate me.”
“I’m not trying to irritate you, Izzy. You are just really tense. You’re expecting a fight and you haven’t even gotten one yet. So you’re looking at me for one.”
“Well . . .” She shrugged. “You’re here.”
When Éibhear laughed, she felt relief. She was tense and she was being a complete bitch to the easiest target. A big blue dragon. Targets really didn’t get easier than that. But it was unfair to him. Even after she’d told him what Rhydderch Hael had said to her, he hadn’t displayed one moment of anger toward her. Didn’t blame her for anything. Or tell her she should have told him about her talk with Rhydderch Hael when she was still with her army. Instead, he’d taken her and her dog—or “damn dog” to use his words—to the Desert Lands.
So to quote Annwyl on more than one occasion during their time together as queen and squire, Izzy knew she needed to “Stop being a twat and remember who’s covering your plump ass.”
“I’m sorry, Éibhear.”
Éibhear blinked, not sure he’d heard correctly. “Huh?”
“I said I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m very stressed and I’m taking it out on you. I shouldn’t be, and I’m sorry.”
Looking around their cell, Éibhear asked again, “Huh?”