The Witch and the Dragon - Beta

Chapter Ten

Alannah clambered over another root. It'd been hours, and the forest looked the same as it had when they left the slavers. If it wasn't for her thread, she'd swear they were going around in circles.

Rose stopped, cupping her arms around her stomach. "I'm hungry. Is there anything we can eat?"

"There are mushrooms," William said, glancing around. "Maybe we could-"

"Absolutely not," Alannah said, drawing level with them. "Those mushrooms are poisonous."

"I'm sure we can find something," he reassured the girl.

Alannah examined the nearest tree. Willow. "There's a river nearby. Once we reach it, we'll be able to set up camp and catch some fish."

Rose nodded and started walking again, but the knight stayed. "Surely we can find something," William whispered. "She's not used to this kind of travel."

"So I gathered." That wasn't a difficult assumption to make. "But there's nothing here we can eat, so we don't exactly have much choice."

William pressed his lips together and stalked after the princess. Alannah sighed, then realised the dragon was standing next to her.

"You're quiet," she told him, falling into line behind William.

"I've never spent this much time with humans," he replied. "It's... different."

"Why not?" asked Alannah, with honest curiously. "You have the power to look human whenever you want. What's stopping you?"

The smirk that touched Dameon's lips was self-deprecating. "Humans aren't too fond of dragons."

"You're not doing yourself any favours by stealing gold and kidnapping princesses," she pointed out.

He snorted. "Semantics."

She had nothing to say to that, and they walked on in silence. The sky above the canopy was marbled with cloud but empty of birds. Or dragons, for that matter. "Why aren't there more of you out here?" she asked. "Don't dragons have... families?"

"Dragons aren't susceptible to intimate relationships," he said, purring the words. "Once we've hatched, we make our own way in the world."

"Sounds like fun," Alannah muttered. "You ever meet, later on?"

"By accident, if our territories overlap. But we rarely recognise other hatchlings." He said it breezily and Alannah wondered if he meant it. "And you?" he asked and she blinked.

"Me? Me what?"

"You and this knight," he said, gesturing ahead to William. "You seem close."

"William and I grew up together. He's... his heart is in the right place," she said, carefully.

"I don't doubt it, but his mind doesn't seem to be there at all." She smothered a grin. A tree had grown over their path and Alannah stopped to climb it. Dameon's hands slipped around her waist. "Although I'm glad to hear that the two of you are not betrothed." He flashed those sharp teeth and lifted her clean over the tree.

Alannah wobbled a little when she landed and frowned, annoyed at herself. Dameon leapt nimbly over the trunk after her and she turned away, spoke over her shoulder. "Well, you've been around here for a while," she said. "You know anything about this forest?"

"Not much," he said. "I don't fly over this place often: there's something at the centre, some kind of dark magic. I'm not skilled enough to tell what it is, but - perhaps you are."

"So the tales are true; dragons do have a silver tongue."

"That's not all our tongues are famous for."