Mason Crafton's Arc

Chapter 13 of 15

Mason climbed past the last of the pines and came out on bare rock. The slope above the treeline was open stone, gray and wind-scoured. No cover. From the tower platform below, the princess and any watcher with her would see a moving figure clearly. The dragon had not yet appeared. The jewel bird was still climbing somewhere out of sight. Mason needed to speak the three ritual words to seal the summons. Speaking them here, in the open, was the same as painting a target. Mason crouched behind the only shelter left, a shelf of stone the size of a table. Below, two figures had reached the birdbath. The bearded man and his wife stood by the bowl, pointing up the slope. The Hendersons. The wife cupped her hands and shouted toward the tower. The shutter above answered. A scrape of gravel behind. Mason spun with the knife. Emma Rose stepped out from a crack in the rock, Lily behind her. Emma's face was streaked with dirt. She had not stayed in the shelter. "You said nightfall," Emma said. "I sent the bird." "Then say the words." "They'll see me." Emma looked down at the birdbath, then up the empty ridge. "Cover," she said. She pulled Lily by the wrist and walked out onto the open stone. "Get back," Mason hissed. Emma did not turn. She waved both arms above her head. Lily copied her. Down at the bowl, the Henderson woman shouted and pointed. The bearded man started up the slope toward the girls. The tower shutter banged wider. The princess leaned out, hair loose, and called her flock down toward the two children on the rock. Every eye on the mountain went to Emma and Lily. Mason understood. Emma had bought the seconds. Mason pressed both palms to the stone, put mouth to rock, and spoke the three words the prince had whispered at the bowl. Low. Clear. Once. The stone did not answer. The sky did. A shadow crossed the sun. Wide wings, black. The dragon came down the mountain face in one long slide, the jewel bird a bright fleck ahead of it. The Henderson man stopped on the slope. The princess's flock scattered from the shadow. Emma pulled Lily flat against the rock. Something huge moved in the brush below the treeline. Fenwick Hollow, drawn out by the noise, watched from the edge of the pines with orange eyes. Mason stood up. There was no reason to hide now. The dragon banked and turned toward the ridge where Mason stood. The earring caught the light on the bird's leg as the bird looped once and dropped onto Mason's outstretched wrist. Mason had the jewel, the bird, and the dragon's attention. The princess had none of them. The words were spoken, and the mountain had heard.