Laika Belle's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

The splinted dragon slept in a basket by Laika's cot. Three days had passed since the blue-eyed man walked out the gate. Four days remained until he came back. Laika sat up in the dark and counted them again. He would collect the dragon. He would say goodbye at the fence. He would go, and she would still not have said her name. At dawn she found Felicette in the yard, brushing down the staghound. Felicette was small under those wide antlers, her green scarf knotted at her throat, her canine teeth showing when she worked a knot from the animal's coat. She did not look up. "I need to find him," Laika said. The brush stopped. Felicette's ears swung forward. It was the longest sentence Laika had spoken to her in a week. "The tiefling." Laika's hands twisted in her sleeves. "Before he comes back. I want to speak first. Where he can't just walk away again." Felicette set the brush on the top of the stable supply crate. She studied Laika's face for a long moment. "You don't know his name. You don't know his road." "He said the market. Someone at the market told him about this place." "That's three days east. And he had a limp. He won't be moving fast." Felicette's tail flicked once. "You want to ride out and hope you cross him." "Yes." "And if you miss him on the road? He arrives here. You are gone. He waits an hour and leaves for good." Laika had not thought of that. Her stomach dropped. She looked at the stone walls of the sanctuary, the ivy, the crooked lanterns still lit from the night. She looked at the road. "Then I stay," she said. Felicette waited. "I stay, and when he comes, I speak." Laika's voice shook. "First. Before he can hand me the cage and go." Felicette picked the brush back up. "Good. Practice on me till then." "Practice what?" "Your name. His questions. Any answer you please. Out loud, every morning, until the gate opens." She turned back to the staghound's flank. "You don't chase a man three days east because you couldn't say hello. You get ready for the door he already told you he'd walk through." Laika stood in the yard a long time. The little starry dragon called from the basket inside, thin and hungry. Laika went to feed her. Her hands were steady on the scoop. Her mouth moved as she worked, shaping the word she would say first. Her name. Then his question, whichever one he chose. Four days. She had four days to learn how to open her mouth before he opened his.