“Is it okay if I take my harp? I know it’s extra, but—”
“I’m taking a dog. I think you can take your harp.”
“He’s going?” Immediately, Marco brightened. “All right! I feel better about that, too, after seeing how he went for that guy who came at you last night. I know it’s still early, but—”
“Better early than late.”
She brought light to guide their way, and they crossed into Talamh, into the cool and thinning mists of dawn.
She heard voices, and the jingle of bits as travelers saddled horses, and saw the movement of those already gathering.
As they crossed the road, she saw her grandmother in her hooded cloak standing with Sedric.
She went to them, embraced them. “I saw you in the fire. I saw you fight,” she told Sedric. “I’m glad you’re on our side.” She gripped his hand an extra moment. “I’m glad you’re safe and well. Are you going to the Capital?”
“I’m needed here. But we’ll see you on your way. Stand tall, Breen Siobhan. You’re your father’s daughter.”
She looked over as Harken led Boy to her. “Safe journey,” he said.
“Thanks. Will Boy have a problem if Bollocks rides with me when he gets tired?”
“Not a bit of it, but it’ll crowd you considerable. Keegan rides Merlin, but Cróga travels as well. He’d carry our lad here.”
“Oh, I’m not sure that’s…” Even possible, she thought.
She let it go as others rode or led horses to the road, as dragons glided and circled through the wakening sky.
She watched Keegan ride out of the mists. “We’re all of us here and ready, so we’ll go.”
He leaned over to tap Harken’s shoulder, murmured something to him. Mahon embraced Aisling and his boys before he took to the air.
Sedric took Breen’s tote bag and hooked it with the saddlebags on the horse.
“I packed the scrying mirror,” she told Marg.
“I’m here when you need me.” Marg kissed her cheek. “Find the pleasure in the journey.”
“I will.” Or try, she thought. She mounted, and with Marco, fell in line, and into a brisk trot. Bollocks, already finding the pleasure, trotted along between them.
They rode toward the east, where the sun painted the sky with light and color, where the hills rolled and rose, where lakes glimmered and rivers snaked.
She saw children trudging or riding toward a building perched in a field and realized it was the school for that end of the valley.
Here and there cottages huddled closer together, then spread apart again. Stone fences ran between fields where sheep, horses, or cows grazed. Gardens burgeoned with cool weather crops; flowers splashed color wherever they willed.
When she sensed Bollocks tiring, she veered to the grass between road and wall. Before she could dismount to help him onto the horse, Cróga glided down—scattering sheep like tossed cotton balls. He folded his wings as he landed in the field.
“Come on back over here, girl.” Marco turned his horse to the other side of the road. “Maybe Mr. Big-Ass Dragon wants to take a nap. Let’s just keep going awhile.”
“As soon as I get Bollocks up with me.”
Again, she started to dismount, but Keegan circled back.
“Tell him to get on Cróga. He won’t leave you otherwise.”
“I’m not sure he should—”
“He’ll be fine, as you’ll see for yourself. It’s not the first dog he’s carried. We’ll stop to rest and water the horses in another hour, but the dog’s flagging. Show her what you’re made of,” he told Bollocks.
To Breen’s surprise and worry, Bollocks leaped over the wall, and when Cróga dipped a wing, scrambled right up it onto the dragon’s back.
“You don’t baby a warrior, and he proved himself one only last night I’m told.” He signaled to Cróga, and with the dog perched on his back, the dragon glided into the air.
“Now he’s a dragon rider.” Satisfied, Keegan galloped away.
“That dog’s getting a piggyback ride from a dragon.” Shaking his head, Marco rode over to watch with her. “That’s something you don’t see in Philadelphia.”
“He’s loving it.” Breen felt the dog’s delight in the flight, in the wind, the speed.
They rode on through the green.
The land gentled in wide, deep patchworks of that green and gold and brown. Forests rose with trees so wide it would take three with arms outstretched, hands joined, to circle their trunks.