“I suppose there’s a first time for everything,” Randall muttered under his breath.
The plateau was larger than I expected it to be. The mountain still rose high above us, disappearing into the clouds, but the section we stood upon looked as if it had been carved into the side of the mountain. And given that I still knew absolutely nothing about dragons, even though I technically lived with one (though, in my defense, Kevin was the absolute worst dragon ever), I didn’t know if it was natural or if it had been… done. By something large.
The entrance to the cave itself looked as if Castle Freesias could have sat inside it with the topmost tower clearing the ceiling of the cave. And that… well. That certainly didn’t put me at ease.
“You said you’ve seen them,” I said, not looking away from the cave, the whispers in my head getting louder.
“I have,” Randall said.
“Are they… big?”
“They’re dragons.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. Any chance you’ll tell me why you were called Randall of Dragons?”
“It doesn’t matter. Not here. Not for this.”
“Yeah,” I breathed out. “Right.” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “So, Kevin is of the four-legged variety. Zero was a snake dragon monster thing. What kind of dragons am I looking at here? You gotta give me something.”
“They’re… feathered.”
“Feathered,” I said flatly. “That’s what you’re going with.”
He shrugged. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was having the time of his life. But he couldn’t have been that stupid, right?
“Like… birds?”
“Very large birds, yes.”
“Oh my gods. Why are you like this?”
He smiled. “This is your destiny, Sam. I’m just along for the ride.”
Since I figured murdering him was out of the question, I decided to go in a different direction. “Okay, so here’s the plan.”
“I wait with bated breath.”
“Stop trying to be funny!”
“I cannot stop what comes naturally.”
“Gaaah! Okay! Here’s the plan. We are going to walk to the cave entrance. We are going to announce our presence. And then we are going to ask the dragons to come out and we’ll have a nice conversation. They’ll see what a good guy I am, and undoubtedly, since he’s an absolute dick, the star dragon will have already told them I would be coming. Hell, he probably told them a million years ago. There! See? It’s foolproof.”
“I often find that only fools see things as foolproof.”
I had a brief fantasy of him tumbling head over heels after I pushed him over the side of the mountain. “This will work.”
He shrugged, looking almost bored. “If you say so.”
“Well I do say so.”
“Good. You sound confident.”
“So confident. You don’t even know how confident I am. Like, I’m the most confident I’ve ever been.”
“Uh-huh. So. Lead the way.”
I blanched at that. “Uh. Right. Okay. So. Here’s the thing. Maybe you should go first.”
“And why would I do that?”
Because if they were hungry, they could eat him while I ran. He’d already lived a long life. I was just starting mine. He was pale like the snow. I didn’t think dragons would like dark meat. Take your pick. “Because I respect you more than anything in the world,” I said, eyes wide and innocent.
He shoved my shoulder, forcing me ahead of him.
“Dammit. Fine. Since I can’t count on you to do it, I will.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said.
“That doesn’t reassure me like you think it does.”
We started across the plateau. The snow was only flurries, but there was a strong wind that seemed to make it worse. It stung against my cheeks. I pulled the fur-lined collar of my coat tighter around my neck, trying to stay as warm as I could.
The whispers in my head were louder. They said things like wizard and hear us and we have been waiting for you, which wasn’t exactly helping my nerves. I had to remind myself that I needed to be brave rather than give in to the urge to run back down the mountain and find Ryan and the others and decide to take a beach vacation because godsdammit, I’d earned it more than anyone else in the world.
“Stupid fucking dragons,” I muttered. “Godsdamned prophecies. I just want one of those fruity drinks with the little umbrellas in it. Is that too much to ask?”
As we got closer to the cave, the whispers grew louder, clearer. They spoke as one, but I could feel two distinct pulses. One fluttered, almost like a bird. The other felt heavy and weighted. It was the more dominant of the two, and while it wasn’t angry, per se, it most definitely wasn’t happy that I was here.
“You can feel them, can’t you?” Randall asked quietly.
I nodded. “Both of them. They’re… bright. And strong.”
“Still think the plan of yours is going to work?”
No. No, I didn’t. In fact, I thought there was a very good chance that I’d be dragon shit by this time tomorrow, but I didn’t want to say that out loud. So I said, “Totally. You’ll see. You’re going to be so impressed, you’ll probably say something like, ‘Oh wow, Sam. I should never have doubted you. Your plans are the best, and so are you. You are my favorite thing ever.’”
“That doesn’t sound like something I’d say.”
“Just you wait.”
“I can barely stand the anticipation.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, we are approaching a very large cave where there are probably two dragons inside that want to see what Sam of Wilds tastes like, and not in the good way. I would appreciate if I could have some godsdamn support here!”
“You sound stressed.”
“Would you just—”
WIZARD
I put my hands to my head and hunched over, trying to breathe through the building pressure.
“You don’t have to be so fucking loud,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m standing right here.”
Randall put his hand on my shoulder, and he squeezed once but said nothing. It was almost… comforting. But since it was Randall, I assumed he was trying to curse me somehow. Once I was able to focus, I stood upright again, causing his hand to slip from my shoulder.
The cave entrance was much larger than I thought it’d been from the other side of the plateau. Surprisingly, that did nothing to soothe my nerves. My throat clicked when I swallowed as I stared up at the cave ceiling.
It was light enough that I could see partway into the cave. Ice crystals hung from the ceiling, glittering in the low light. They looked like precious stones, diamonds and azurite and agate. They covered the ceiling and the walls, cold and forbidding. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before, and I was in awe that such a place could exist. I could see the beauty in it, even if I would rather have been anywhere else in the world.
Yeah. I was scared shitless. I had no qualms in thinking that.
Saying it aloud, however. Especially in front of Randall?