"Thank you."
THIRTY-FIVE
The hardest part of making her request came right at the start. Tova did not appreciate being roused again and moved sluggishly enough that Ashyn would almost think he'd taken the sleeping draught meant for her. But she managed to get him moving and then went out and spoke to one of the warriors. He fetched Edwyn, and she told him what Sabre had said.
When she finished, he led her away to sit on a mat by the still-smoldering campfire.
"You say you had never met this girl?" he began.
"No, but she knows Moria and proved it to my satisfaction."
"The fact that she's met your sister does not mean it was under good circumstances, child. Is it not possible Moria and Tyrus were captured as traitors?"
Ashyn shook her head. "The proof she gave would only have come from someone my sister felt comfortable enough to joke with. I do not doubt the girl. Her story makes sense. Tyrus entrusted Dalain with escorting us to Lord Okami. Dalain simply handled it poorly, and we fled before he could clear up the misunderstanding."
"But that does not change the fact that he nearly killed Ronan."
Ashyn paused. Sabre had been emphatic on the matter, but if it had not been one of Dalain's men, then who?
She answered slowly, "It may have been one of Okami's men, but I accept that Dalain himself played no role in that. If I can speak to him, perhaps we can clear this up further."
Her grandfather nodded slowly, his blue eyes troubled, and she braced for him to deny the request, but after a moment, he said, "His father is known as a man of great honor. I trust his son is the same. We will speak to him."
Edwyn took her to the tent where Dalain Okami was being held. The young man lay on his back, his tunic removed, his left arm bandaged, more healing plasters on his chest. When Ashyn gave a small cry of alarm, Edwyn said, "It was a sword fight, child. He is lucky to have gotten off so easily." Then his voice went grim as he said, "Two of our men did not. One is badly wounded. As for the other, I will be asking you to say a few words for his spirit in the morning."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"It was not you who attacked them."
"I'm still sorry that it happened."
He squeezed her shoulder. "You have a good heart, child." Then, to the healer, he said, "We need to wake him. Has he stirred?"
"No, my lord. He is deeply unconscious, and I very much doubt you can rouse him, but you may certainly try."
They did, to no avail. Dalain was alive, but indeed deeply asleep.
It is exactly like Ronan, Ashyn thought. And then, Is that not odd?
When she expressed concern, she said merely that she found Dalain's condition troubling, and the healer assured her that rest was simply the body's way of healing. While Ashyn knew that to be true, he did not appear to be badly injured, and when she asked about that, the healer seemed offended, as if Ashyn was questioning her diagnosis.
"Speaking of rest," Edwyn cut in, "Ashyn needs hers. It has been a very tumultuous night, and that raises concerns about the ritual. It must be done at dawn. If we postpone it, then all the earlier rites must be repeated, which I know you do not want, Ashyn."
She absolutely did not want that. And she could see she would get no further answers here. So she agreed to return to her tent and asked her grandfather to wake her early, so she could try to speak to Dalain again.
When she was given yet another draught of wine in her tent, she repeated the process--feign drinking it and then spit it out. Once the camp seemed to have fallen silent again, she shifted over to Tova, who was already deeply asleep.
T
hat's not mere exhaustion. You know it is not.
Tova had been drugged. Her stomach clenched at the word. No, not drugged. Merely given a draught to help him--
No, he had been drugged.
Could someone be trying to thwart the ritual? This was a group dedicated to caring for, and ultimately waking, dragons. Glorious in its potential. Also terrifying in its potential.
What better way to stop the ritual than to ensure Ashyn was in no shape to perform it? True, killing her would be more effective, but that only meant whoever was interfering wasn't a monster, but simply a person who thought he was doing the right thing for his empire.