“And will you follow her?” he asked, stomach sinking.
“I don’t want to help her die.”
“Neither do I,” he said, letting his head fall against Chalia’s side. She shifted, her wing wrapping over him, protecting him from the biting wind that was blowing down the mountain.
He didn’t know how long Sofia would stew in her anger before she snapped and came out to take Chalia. She’d find him out here. Find him waiting for her. He wouldn’t let her go. But he also sensed that Chalia, despite her desire to protect Sofia, would follow her into this battle if she asked.
What would happen if he ran away with the dragon? Would Chalia agree to simply leave with him? Sofia wouldn’t be able to confront an army without her.
And then what? Where would he run? Into the mountains to hide away until the war was done so he could later crawl out of his hole, the coward he was. He’d joined the king’s men to save his people. Now he was beginning to think he’d need to save them from themselves. If Harlow got ahold of the dragons, they were all doomed. Either the dragons would turn on him and just kill all the humans, or he’d learn to control them and wipe out the Dragonborn in fear of something they didn’t even want.
Would even Sofia be content once she’d killed Harlow, or would her thirst for vengeance overcome her?
How did Fox become the voice of peace amongst everyone? And did that make him a coward?
No, but running away would. Running away wouldn’t stop this, but he could. If he could get Harlow to see reason—to recognize that the dragons weren’t under some magical spell from Sofia.
Fox hadn’t managed to be a useful spy, but perhaps there was something he could do.
Fox glanced at Chalia. Her wing was still up, protecting him, her eyes meeting his, waiting to see what he would say or do. Something in his mind clicked.
“Chalia,”he said.“What do you say we go on a little trip ourselves?”
“So, you want to die instead of Sofia?”she asked, voice low in his mind. Her eyes narrowed, and he felt her icy breath against his face.
“No,”he said firmly.“We’re going to convince Harlow that the dragons aren’t a threat to the kingdom—that there isn’t some spell Sofia has you under. We’re proof that there isn’t anything magical or controlling about the Dragonborn’s relationship with the dragons.”
Chalia was silent for a moment, eyes searching his own.
“You think this will protect her?”
“Yes,”he said adamantly.
“And they’ll listen to you?”
Fox hesitated.“I don’t know. But we have to try. I have to try before more people die.”
They probably wouldn’t listen, and perhaps this was his own suicide mission. But he had todosomething. He refused to sit around being useless any longer. So, he would take a page out of Sofia’s book and act despite his fear.
It’s what Leon would have done.
“Okay,”Chalia said after a beat.“When do we leave?”
“Now,”he said, standing up and brushing the snow from his pants. He ignored the immediate drop in temperature once he stepped away from her. It didn’t matter. He’d be heading back into the rainforest and warmth soon enough.
He went back to the cave first, keeping his footsteps light and quiet. No one even glanced his way as he snatched a sword from the small store of weapons along the wall. They were deep in discussion, heads bowed.
Chalia stood when he returned, stretching her legs and tail, shaking away a layer of snow that had crusted across her scales as she’d been lying there. He strapped the sword to his weapons belt, feeling whole for the first time in a week at its weight.
“Are you ready?” he asked, the question just as much for himself as for her.
She inclined her head in an approximation of a human nod and bent, giving him access to her back above her wings. He’d just grabbed hold of her feathers along her spine when he heard his name, sharp on the wind.
“Fox,” Sofia said, turning around the rocky outcrop, eyes blazing. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Kings,” he said, letting go of Chalia’s feathers and falling onto his ass. Even Chalia twitched, looking guilty. Fox wondered what exactly she was guilty of—trying to run away with Fox or not telling Fox that Sofia was coming? But Sofia was on him, and he didn’t have time to debate that part.
For the first time in a long time, he felt actual fear as she bore down on him, a dagger in her hand. He threw his hands up even as she straddled him, pressing the dagger into his neck.