Sapphire Crystalline's Arc

Chapter 9 of 12

Sapphire left the cold forge with a clear task and no way to reach it. Dreadfall keep lay three valleys away. Last time the necromancer's glass sphere had carried her there in a blink. That debt was paid. The sphere was gone. Now she had only her feet, and the full moon rose tonight. On foot she would still be walking when the change took her. She went to the refuge gate. Lyra met her there, one hand resting on her sword hilt, her armor dented at the shoulder. A shadowbeast crouched quietly near the wall, watching them both. Lyra did not flinch from it. "I need to reach Dreadfall keep before moonrise," Sapphire said. "Three valleys. I can't walk it in time." Lyra looked at the sky. "No. You can't." "Then help me." Lyra was quiet a moment. "There's a way. You won't like the cost." She turned and led Sapphire inside. Shr'va waited in the yard, coiled on her serpent's length, jade armor dull in the gray light. A boy's sword rode her back. She had sealed Sapphire in the warded cell once. She spoke like someone who wasted nothing. "You want speed," Shr'va said. It was not a question. "Yes." Shr'va's tail uncoiled toward a low shed. Inside stood a dwarven steam carriage, riveted metal and runic trim, its firebox cold. Beside it, chained to an iron post, lay a wingless dragon plated like armor. It lifted its head and fixed one orange eye on Sapphire. "The carriage runs the valley road," Shr'va said. "Slow. The drake cuts straight over the ridges. Fast. But it answers to me, and I need it back." "Then lend it to me." "No." Shr'va's voice stayed flat. "I ride the drake. You come with me. If you turn on the ridge, I put you off and leave you. I don't die for your errand." Sapphire's chest tightened. Moonrise would catch them somewhere in the open. But the carriage was too slow. The drake was her only chance. "Agreed," she said. Lyra tightened the drake's harness. "Bleed on the flower the moment you cut it," she said. "Don't wait. You'll have minutes, not hours." She stepped back. "Go." Shr'va mounted. Sapphire climbed up behind her and gripped the plated ridges. The drake surged forward, off the road, up the first slope. Wind tore at Sapphire's face. Valleys fell away beneath them. They crested the third ridge as the sun touched the hills. Dreadfall keep stood below, its broken walls dark. Purple blooms grew thick in the courtyard. Sapphire slid down and ran to them. She cut one stem. The curse burned her palm, the same searing bite as before. She pressed her bleeding thumb to the petals at once. The flower glowed. It turned in her hand and held, pointing north. A living compass. And behind the hills, the moon began to rise.