Kyros Valen's Arc

Chapter 7 of 8

The bell had rung. Luna was in a cell. Kyros had one hour of gray light before Corvus came back to the mill for answers Kyros did not have. He walked the dark road out of town with a lantern low at his side. He did not know a woman called Echoing Willow. He had never heard the name before the wizard spoke it. Corvus would tear the cellar open when he learned that. Kyros stopped at the tree that leaned over the road before the mill. Its branches wept slow black drops that pooled at the roots. He set the lantern down and thought. He could not fight a wizard. He could not run with the dragon in daylight. He could give Corvus one true thing: that Luna had sent him here, and Luna was the one who knew the name. If Corvus went to the captain's cells to find her, the captain would hold him or the witch would talk. Either bought Kyros the day. He went down to the cellar first. The little dragon lifted her head from the straw of the wooden cot he had built for her. Her scales caught the lantern like frost. Her lavender eyes blinked up at him. He knelt and pressed his forehead to hers. In the dark, with no one watching, his voice went soft. "I'm sorry, Pixie. One more hour. Stay quiet." She pushed her nose into his beard. He tucked the crystal toy beside her so the glow would keep her calm. He climbed out and locked the trapdoor. He dragged an empty flour sack over the boards. He waited by the mill door. The sky went from black to iron. Corvus came up the path on foot, black hair in his eyes, hands empty because he did not need weapons. "Well?" Corvus said. "I don't know her," Kyros said. "I never did. Luna sent you here to waste your morning." Corvus's fingers moved. The mill door behind Kyros cracked down the frame. Dust fell. "Try again." "Luna is in the captain's cell," Kyros said. "Taken last night for theft. Her enchantments are sealed. She named me to you because she wanted a debt she could sell. Go to the cells. Make her say the name to you. I can't give you what I don't have." Corvus watched him a long moment. Kyros kept his hands loose. He did not look at the floor. "If you lied," Corvus said, "I come back and I don't knock." "I know." Corvus turned and walked down the path toward town. Kyros stood in the doorway until the wizard was out of sight. Then he shut the broken door and leaned against it. The mill still stood. The cellar was still his. But he had pointed a wizard at a captain's cell, and when Corvus got what he wanted from Luna, he would come back knowing Kyros had traded her twice.