Alaric sank back on his heels.
Douglon looked at him, and his head jerked forward in a quick nod. The dwarf knew it was pointless. Milly held Douglon’s hand with tears streaming down her face.
Ayda shoved Alaric out of the way. “Why did you do that?” she demanded of Douglon.
“Ayda!” Milly said aghast.
Douglon tried to scowl, but coughed, and his face crumpled in pain.
Ayda glared at him. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”
The pool of dark blood seeped into the ground beneath Douglon. The arrow moved less with each breath.
“Ayda, there isn’t much time,” Milly whispered.
Ayda waved away Milly’s words impatiently. “Why?” she demanded again.
“Why?” Douglon’s voice came out in a gasp. “Because you weren’t paying attention.” A spasm of coughing wracked his body. “You are never paying attention,” he whispered.
Ayda stared at him uncomprehendingly. “But why did you do it?”
Douglon groaned. “Any of us would have.”
She glared at the rest of them. “That’s not true.”
“Of course we would, Ayda,” Brandson said.
“I would want to,” Milly said. “I’m not sure I would be brave enough.”
Ayda spun to look at Alaric.
“But you wouldn’t,” she said to Alaric. “You have… a lot of things to do.”
Ayda was genuinely confused. The anger was back in her eyes, and she was leaning toward Alaric with the look that said if he didn’t answer her soon, she was going to step into his mind and rip out the answer.
“I think any of us would try to save each other, Ayda,” Alaric said, stepping back.
“Ayda,” Milly said, watching Douglon’s face grow pale, “I think the time is almost up.”
Ayda dropped to her knees and leaned close to Douglon. She was so slight next to him. A sliver of bright copper next to the stocky dwarf. She reached out and turned his face toward her, her hand small and pale against his red beard. “But why?”
Douglon looked at her directly. “I would die for you a hundred times without regret.”
She drew back slightly and her eyes widened. Milly and Brandson froze. Alaric felt suddenly intrusive, but he couldn’t bear to move back, couldn’t look away. Douglon lifted a hand toward her, but it fell back to the earth.
“But I didn’t ask you to,” she said helplessly.
Douglon rolled his eyes. “Never mind, I regret even doing it once.”
“It might be time to thank him,” Milly said softly as Douglon’s eyes began to close.
Ayda shot Milly an annoyed look. “Stop it, Milly,” she snapped. “He’s not going to die.” With that she reached forward and yanked the arrow from Douglon’s chest.
Douglon’s body lurched up off the ground, and a cry ripped out of him.
Alaric’s whole body clenched. Brandson cried out and Milly fell back. Ayda ignored them all and pushed her hand against the dwarf’s chest. She looked off into the distance for a moment, then lifted her hand. Looking distastefully at the blood on her palm, she wiped it on Douglon’s shirt, then stood and stalked away.
From the ground, Alaric heard a cough. Milly scrambled back to Douglon’s side.
Douglon coughed again, then struggled to sit up. He pushed his beard over and pulled apart the hole in his shirt from the arrow. The shirt was soaked with blood, but the skin beneath it was whole. A jagged scar sat in the center of his chest.
“What is wrong with that elf?” Douglon demanded.
“Douglon?” Milly asked, reaching timidly for his shoulder. “Are you… okay?”
Douglon took a deep breath. It sounded clear. The color had returned to his face. “I’m fine,” he said, staring after Ayda.
Alaric shook his head. The ground where Douglon had lay was saturated with blood. There was no way the dwarf should be alive. What had Ayda done?
Douglon was glaring after the elf. He began to swear colorfully, then added in a few dwarfish terms, some of which Alaric didn’t understand.
Milly still had her hand on Douglon’s shoulder. “She saved your life,” she pointed out.
“She let me lie on the ground bleeding and then tore an arrow out of my chest!” Douglon shuddered. “Do you have any idea what that felt like?”
“Well, n-no,” Milly said. “But she did save your life.”
Douglon let out a growl and continued to glare after Ayda.
The bandit Alaric had put to sleep began to stir.
Douglon turned his scowl toward the bandits’ camp. “Why are there bandits this low in the mountains? They never come this low.”
Alaric knelt down next to the bandit “What’s your name. What are you doing here?”
The man blinked up at Alaric and grabbed for his sword lying nearby. Brandson kicked it away and stood beside Alaric, glaring down at the man.
“Name’s Elrich, sir,” the bandit said, shrinking away from them. “And we’re here because we ain’t got no other choice. We had a village of sorts farther up th’ hills. But the nomads have been creepin’ closer and closer. Simmon went scoutin’, and he says there was thousands of them. They were filling all the valleys below the Pass, with more arriving every day. ‘Twasn’t a safe place for us to stay, you understand.”
“And you’re very concerned with safety,” Douglon growled.
“Oh yes. We always tries to eat healthy and keep a double watch on the camp at night,” he said earnestly to Douglon. “You never know what dangers are out there.” Elrich’s gaze flicked to the sky.
Douglon just stared at the man.
Alaric glanced up to the sky, too. “Elrich, are there dangers in the sky?”
Elrich chewed on his lip, then said quietly. “We saw a dragon.”
“When?”
Elrich looked surprised at being believed. “Couple hours ago. Well, I see’d it, but no one else did, and they din’t believe me.”
“What time?”
“A bit after lunch. I was tendin’ to the horses and glad I din’t have the job of hunting because the forest had grown quiet—unnat’rally quiet. The horses was all spooky-like, too. While I was brushing down my own dear brown mare, she got so skittish she almost kicked me! Been together three years, and almost kicked me while gettin’ her brushin’!
“That’s when I sawed a flash of somethin’ in the sky.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “Somethin’ red.”
Alaric nodded. “A dragon.”
“‘Twas, indeed, sir. I ain’t never seen a dragon before, but that’s what this was. Sure as my mama loves me, ‘twas a dragon.”
“Did you see it again?”
“No, sir, just for that moment, flying deeper into the mountains. But I reckon that’s why the woods was so quiet. Ain’t no creature done want to be near a dragon.”
Alaric nodded. “Thank you, Elrich. You can sleep again,” and he raised his hand toward the man.
“And Elrich,” Brandson said, looking down at the man. “When you wake up, it’s time to stop being a bandit. The next group you try to rob might not just put you to sleep.” Elrich shifted uncomfortably. “Go do something useful with your life.”
Milly had walked up next to Brandson.
“Like what?” Elrich asked. “I dunno anything but stealing.”
Milly gave the man a disapproving look. “Then it’s long past time you learned something else.”
Douglon heaved himself to his feet and rolled his shoulders, stretching out his chest. He stepped over to the top of Elrich’s head and scowled down at him. “Did you know dwarves patrol these hills? I’m going to let them know that you attacked me. Your group here is going to wake up one night just in time to see the axes fall.”
Elrich paled and shrank away from the dwarf.
“I think that’s enough,” Alaric said. He set his hand on Elrich’s forehead. “Dormio.”
The bandit sank back asleep.
“Let’s keep moving,” Alaric said. He looked at Douglon. “Are you okay to ride?”
Douglon nodded, stretching again. “I feel fine. Better than fine, really. Whatever Ayda did, it worked,” he said, rubbing his chest.
“Does anyone know where she is?” Milly asked.
Alaric looked around but saw no sign of her.
“She’s over there.” Douglon retrieved his axe from the ground and motioned to the trees. “She’s up in that big, strong oak.”
Alaric’s eyebrow rose. “The big, strong one?”
“I don’t see her,” Milly said.
“Well, she’s there,” Douglon said. “The oak is all excited about it.”
Milly and Brandson turned to Douglon, too.
“It is?” Brandson asked.
Douglon turned slowly to look at them, the color draining from his face. “Good Grayven’s Beard! What did that elf do to me?” He looked around at the forest, his eyes growing wilder. “I can feel them!” he whispered. “I can feel the trees!”