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22
Tolliver and Angus are hauling buckets of water up the fortress of Ellery for evening meal and drinking. That way we don’t have to come down for any reason until we pass the volcano. I’m not sure it matters, seeing how high the plume of ash is in the air. It seems unavoidable.
I carry Hollis back to her bed and bend to lay her on the crinkled blankets.
“Can I go see Tristeh?”
Stopping shy of the surface, a pain shoots through my back. I groan. “Today?”
She nods looking into my eyes. My back gives out and I plop her onto the bed awkwardly. “Let me rest for a minute. We just walked the whole castle. I think I deserve a break, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, really. My servants never rest.” She joins my playacting.
“Yes,” I rub my back and fall to my knees on the floor near her bedside. “Please, Your Royal Bossiness.”
She waves laughing snobbishly, as I spasm on the floor holding my back.
“Ready now? Or do you need an official reprimand?” she asks with a silly tone. I stand and stretch toward the high ceiling.
“I’m ready.” I rub the knot in my lower back before scooping her up in my arms. The knot tightens again as I lift her slender body, but I don’t show the pain. Hollis hugs me hard, choking me a little with her embrace.
I anticipate her yelling, to the dragon! But she doesn’t. She faces the door in expectation. I carry her to the dark stairwell.
“Grab that torch,” I say.
“We don’t need a torch. Just go,” she says, jerking toward the stairwell as if I’m some pack mule she has to prod.
“It’s dark.” I catch myself whining and change my voice to a manlier tone. “I need to see where I am going so I don’t hit your head on the wall.”
She looks at me unamused with one raised eyebrow. “Stop being afraid of the dark.”
We have a staring stand off and I lose.
Taking my time, I feel for the first few steps before I gain a good rhythm descending into the depths of Ellery. I slow for the gate, being sure not to bump Hollis into it in the pitch black. We round the corner, coming into the light of the dragon’s cave.
“Tristeh,” Hollis whispers.
With a loud screech and gust of air, Tristeh bounds into the air before us and circles the ceiling once before following us down the rest of the stairs. Hollis wriggles in my arms, urging me to come near to the cage. She grabs a bar and yanks us close as Tristeh lands before us. My stomach wrenches standing this close to the dragon.
Tristeh pushes her body against the cage and Hollis places her small hand on the rough scales. She pets her shoulder and down her back as she slides past.
Panic rises in my throat. I worry she will smash her arm or hand against the bars. I really want to pull her away, but the two are reacquainting themselves. I stand still as a rail, holding my breath until it’s over.
“Look at you,” Hollis coos at her giant scaly baby. “You are such a big girl. Healthy and well taken care of.” She turns to me with a big grin. I start breathing again as her smile disarms me.
The dragon makes another pass against the bars and nuzzles into Hollis’s touch until I hear her low growl. I yank Hollis out of reach of the beast as Tolliver and Angus come traipsing through the upper doorway into the pale torch light.
I suddenly remember the mutt I kept in the hollow and how Tolliver admitted killing it. I’m not sure if Hollis knows what he is capable of. As they round the corner, I notice the bow in Tolliver’s hand and the quiver on his back. My insides ache at the oncoming conflict. Surely Hollis will not let it die without a fight.
“What are you doing?” Hollis demands, lurching in my arms. I nearly drop her as she goes stiff.
“Something you should have done weeks ago.” Tolliver pulls an arrow from the quiver and places it on the bow.
“What? No,” she squawks.
The dragon echoes her cry and fills the room with a deafening shriek.
We all jerk away from the dragon as it nears the cage bars, except Hollis. She yells, “Fly, Tristeh!” She waves and the lizard leaps into the air with one powerful gust.
“It has to go, one way or another,” Tolliver says, right eye trained on the swooping beast, the bowstring pulled taut.
“She doesn’t deserve to die!” Hollis furrows her brows. “I’ll release her.”
“You said that before,” Tolliver says, “And yet, it is still here eating our food supply.”
“I’ll do it right now then,” Hollis puts both hands in the air in surrender. “Please, Tolliver, please.”
Tolliver lowers his bow and eyes her with suspicion. “Then do it. Right now, so we can all see it,” he challenges.
I open my mouth to interject about the fact that we are over an ocean and who knows where the nearest land is but clamp it shut. This isn’t my fight. I don’t have to choose sides.
“Okay,” Hollis says lowering her voice, as though she is taming my brother. “Take me to the gate, Ledger,” she murmurs. Her blue eyes are full of sadness.
I carry her to the tall metal gate at the far end of the cave and stop at the latch. She pushes away from my body and I set her on her feet. The dragon lands on the other side of the gate and whines at Hollis. She sighs and puts her weight on her healing leg. Taking a small limping step to the gate, she slides the latch. With drooping shoulders, she pulls the gate open several inches and hobbles backward. She isn’t going to be able to open it the entire way limping like that.
“Get on my back,” I say, kneeling beside her. She climbs on wrapping her arms and legs around me. Her hands pull the gate, as my legs carry us backward. The large metal door swings all the way open, blocking the dragon from entering the walkway and opens to the cavern leading to the outside. The gate clangs against the stone. Hollis whimpers as the dragon takes a slow step over the threshold of her prison.
Tristeh stops to look at us, or just Hollis. She sniffs the air and continues walking. With the click of talons, she warily tiptoes toward freedom. The scaly red dragon looks back at us several times, inhales the strong breeze coming from outside, then rounds the corner. We hear her talons several more times, then a loud whoosh and all is silent.
Hollis opens her mouth and weeps without holding back. I lower her to the ground and face her. I have no words that can help. I just hug her. Hollis goes stiff and screams at Tolliver. “I hate you! Now she will die, because there is nowhere for her to go over this endless ocean.”
“I’d rather she dies than you,” Tolliver says and walks away.
I can tell from the way he walks, shoulders slumped, head down, that he is affected by what just happened. He isn’t a monster. He believes it had to happen. I do too, in a way. But Hollis can’t see the fact that Tristeh needs too much. Her sobs echo off the walls. I am betraying her by thinking it, but it’s true. We must survive at all costs.
As soon as Tolliver and Angus disappear from the dragon’s cave, Hollis wipes her face and attempts to stand. I see her wince only once. She pushes the gate and limps weakly down the corridor following Tristeh’s exit.
“Where are you going?” I follow close behind, reaching for her but not touching, just in case she falls.
She hobbles the entire way without a word, supporting herself on the wall and turns the corner with determination. She angrily wipes away her tears. Stepping beside her, I ask softly, “What are you doing?”
When we reach the opening in the rock overlooking the choppy waters, she lowers herself to the ground. She sits with her legs outstretched, shoulders drooping and breathes deeply. I stand and watch her for a moment unsure of what to do.
Do I leave her to have her sad moment? Or do I sit with her? Am I supposed to comfort her? I wish I could ask my mother what to do. She always has good advice. Hollis won’t be able to make it up all those stairs her first time walking in weeks. So I join her on the ground and allow myself to feel the absence of my mother. My heart sinks at the thought and Hollis’s tears agree. I resign to wrapping my arm around her and she leans into me. It is surprising how high we are suspended above the ocean. I get a strange dizziness looking down into its murky depths.
