How to Slay a Dragon - Bill Allen [52]
“What are you looking at?” he asked her.
“We need to get back to the castle so we can send you home.”
“If you’re waiting for me to disagree, we could be here a while.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.” He exhaled deeply. “But first I have a plan to save your sister.”
Priscilla’s face brightened. “You do?”
“All we have to do is make sure Ruuan never gets hold of her,” Greg explained.
Priscilla looked skeptical. “How would we do that?”
“Easy. We hide her. Ruuan can’t take her if he can’t find her.”
Priscilla frowned. “No. People around here take this prophecy stuff pretty seriously. We can’t interfere.”
“What?” Greg practically shouted. “But you know the prophecy isn’t true.”
“Of course not, but that doesn’t mean we can go around changing it.”
“Wait, you were the one talking about running off to fight Ruuan yourself.”
“That’s different. Once we’re away from the castle no one will know what we do. As long as we bring Penelope back, we can tell people whatever we want. They’ll have no reason to doubt us.”
“How about this, then?” Greg said. “We go to the castle, hide Penelope and tell everyone Ruuan took her. We can still go off for a while and pretend to rescue her. No one else has to be the wiser.”
Priscilla grinned, and it struck Greg how pretty she was. “I like the way you think,” she said. “You know, that could just work.” But then her smile disappeared.
“What’s wrong?” Greg said.
“How do we get them to go along with it?” she said, indicating the sleeping forms of Lucky and Nathan wrapped up tight in their bedding and flower petals, respectively.
“I know,” said Greg. “We’ll tell them you’ve come to your senses and decided to return home. Then they’ll have to see you safely back to the castle. After all, what’s the point of us saving one princess if we lose another in the process?”
Priscilla shook her head. “No, they know I can handle myself. Besides, Lucky and I have known each other for as long as I can remember. I doubt he’s ever seen me change my mind about anything. He’d never believe I’d change it about this.”
“Wait, that’s it.”
“What is?”
“You’re stubborn, right?”
She scowled.
“And you’re a princess, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Then you tell them you want to go back, and if that doesn’t work, you order them.”
Fey Field
“EEEEE!”
Greg burst awake and jumped to his feet. “What’s going on? Who screamed?”
“Get it off! GET IT OFF!” Priscilla thrashed about on her mattress, punching and kicking an invisible foe.
Lucky and Nathan both jumped awake and rushed to her side.
“What is it, Princess?” said Nathan.
“Yeah, what’s up, Prissy?” Lucky asked.
Priscilla paused in her contortions long enough to scowl. “Sasha.”
Greg was about to offer a hand when Rake jumped up and landed delicately on his shoulder.
“Eeeee!” Priscilla screamed. “There it is again.”
She snatched up Greg’s walking stick and leapt to her feet, the stick poised over her head to strike. Nathan shot out a hand so quickly Greg nearly missed the movement. An instant later he held Greg’s stick at his side.
“Is that what all the fuss is about?” he said. “The shadowcat?”
Priscilla blushed. “Sorry, I thought it was a rat.”
Rake raised his fur and hissed defiantly from the safety of Greg’s shoulders. His long tail flittered around nervously, beating Greg about the eyes.
“This is Rake,” Greg explained. “He’s my . . . pet.”
“Don’t be silly. Shadowcats can’t be pets. They don’t like people.”
“Well, he seems to like me,” Greg said, pointing a thumb at his own chest. The movement caused Rake to lose his balance and dig his claws into Greg’s neck, causing Greg to scream.
“Yeah, I can tell,” said Priscilla. She studied Rake a moment. “He is kind of cute though, isn’t he?”
At this, Rake’s mood softened, and he allowed the princess to scratch behind his ears and stroke his soft fur. Only then did Greg notice the cold. Lucky obviously felt it too, and searched his pack for heavier