Prince Danny's Arc

Chapter 6 of 11

Danny pressed his ear to the iron door. The bells still rang behind him, but here the sound was muffled by thick stone and tangled vines. He stepped back and saw it now — the door was set into the base of an old watchtower, its walls hidden under ivy and moss. A blowhorn hung beside the door on a leather cord, polished gold, ready to sound. Allee had left it for him. She had known he would come. He lifted the horn, then stopped. A sound from inside — a soft knock, three taps. Their old signal. Danny tapped back twice. The bolt slid. The door cracked open. Allee pulled him in. Her crown was crooked, her dress smudged with dust. She gripped his arms hard. "Danny, listen — " she started, but the children pushed past him into her skirts, crying her name. She bent to hold them, her eyes still locked on his, wide and urgent. Danny saw the ring on her finger. It was new. The stone glowed warm, orange and red, with shapes like scales worked into the band. It did not belong to her. He stared at it. "Allee. Where did you get that?" She opened her mouth. Boots crashed in the corridor behind them. Shouts. The guards had found the side passage. Allee shoved the door shut and threw the bolt. "There's no time," she said. "The dragon — Danny, the dragon isn't — " A heavy fist slammed the iron from the other side. The children screamed. She pressed the glowing ring into his palm and closed his fingers around it. "Wear it. Trust me. Whatever happens next, do not raise your sword." Danny looked down at the ring, then up at his wife. The door shook again. He slid the ring onto his finger. The metal grew warm against his skin. He did not understand yet — but he had found her, and the family was whole inside one room. The secret was in his hand now, burning quiet, waiting for the moment it would have to speak.