“Ah, yes,” said Daylily. Her voice was vague, without interest, and she continued to look up and down the passage. Though her expression never varied, Rose Red noticed that her eyes were slowly growing rounder and rounder. Daylily’s eyes had been large to begin with, but they were almost grotesque now, and ringed with black circles.
The poison was getting to her too, Rose Red thought. She’d have to get Daylily out of the house as soon as possible. She’d have to get all of them out if she could. So far there had been no sign of the Dragon himself, only of his work. Some of the windows had been torn from their frames, some of the outer walls knocked in, and the fallen stones had the appearance of having been chewed. But the Dragon was not to be found.
Maybe he was busy in some other part of the kingdom? He had given orders that no one was to leave Southlands. Did this mean he would have to patrol the borders himself?
Somehow, Rose Red suspected this wasn’t the case.
“I’m lost!”
The voice called faintly from somewhere in a different passage. Rose Red turned toward the sound, still holding on to Queen Starflower’s hand. It was a ghostly voice, painfully sad and alone in that gloom. A shudder ran through Rose Red’s body when it came again. “I’m lost!”
“That’s Foxbrush,” said Daylily, her eyes wider than ever.
“He sounds close,” Rose Red agreed. She glanced at the queen, standing woodenly beside her. If she tried to drag her along on a chase after that forlorn voice, they would never catch him. But she couldn’t leave the queen behind.
A third time the voice cried, “I’m lost!”
“He ain’t far,” Rose Red said. “I think he’s only one passage over. Near old Dame Fairlight’s chambers. Do you know where they are, m’lady?”
Daylily nodded. Even in that half-light, with her eyes as large as a ghoul’s and the poison so swiftly settling into her veins, she was beautiful. Her face was set as she struggled to keep her fear disguised.
“Can you get him?” Rose Red said.
Daylily nodded again. Without a word, she gathered her skirts and hastened ahead down the passage, disappearing around a corner. Rose Red followed more slowly, still leading the queen. Their footsteps made no sound on the thick rug. Elegant moldings decorating these walls had the strange appearance of imp faces and monsters; although if Rose Red forced herself to look closely, she saw that they were merely clusters of flowers and birds.
When they reached the end of the hall where Daylily had turned off, Rose Red pulled the queen to a gentle stop, and they waited. Rose Red counted each breath. Long, deep breaths echoing in that silent house like a banshee’s sighs.
One, two, three.
Perhaps Foxbrush was farther off than she’d guessed? Beyond Dame Fairlight’s passages, closer to those kept by the Baroness of Fernrise.
Seven, eight, nine.
That shadowy movement, that flicker behind them, down the passage . . . Only a curtain. Nothing more.
Twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
Once Daylily returned with Foxbrush, they would gather everyone in the kitchen. Then, out the back door and away from this place. It didn’t matter that they had no supplies. They’d scavenge in the Eldest’s City.
Nineteen, twenty.
It was his city, after all. If anyone had a right to scavenge, the Eldest did. Maybe they could make it to the next barony before the Dragon returned.
Twenty-four, twenty-five.
No use considering what he would do when he found them missing, or what he would do when he located them once more. Rose Red shook her head. She’d promised Leo that she would care for his family, and she’d think of something.
Twenty-nine, thirty—
“Where are they?” Rose Red growled. The queen startled at the sound of her voice, made some weak attempt to pull away, then sagged into still greater despair, so heavy was the poison in her lungs. Rose Red patted her hand compassionately. It wasn’t right that the strong queen of Southlands was reduced to this state. Hateful, hateful monster!
Rose Red gently took the queen’s arm and backed her up to the wall until she leaned against it, her shoulders slumped and her head bowed. “Wait here,” Rose Red whispered. “I’ve got to find them. Wait here, and I’ll be right back, see?”
The queen stared into the shadows over Rose Red’s shoulder, but her face was not as blank as it had been. She looked as if she studied someone’s face . . . only there was no one there. Rose Red shivered and patted Starflower’s arm as though comforting a child. “Wait here,” she repeated, slipping away.