Chapter 2: The Lament of Sam of Dragons

 

 

“GODSDAMN DIMITRI,” I muttered as we made our way through the Dark Woods. “Godsdamn Dimitri and his not telling me about Resistances or HaveHeart camps or Foxy Lady Brigades. And godsdamn him straight to the underworld for saying nothing about Lady Tina DeSilva. I will have her head on my—”

“What is he growling about?” Katya whispered to Kevin.

“I don’t care,” Kevin whispered back. “I’ve had to hear his angst for the past eleven months. I’m sort of over it. I’m actually not even listening to him right now. Your brother is hot.”

Brant blushed furiously as Katya groaned.

“Rude,” I said. “Also, do you need to be reminded of what I’ve had to listen to for the past eleven months? You were the reason GW made me put on the sexual harassment seminar.”

“I am sexually adventurous—”

“Aggressive.”

“—and it’s not my fault you were the only thing within any distance that I could try and get up on. We were with a child, two lesbians, and an old fart. What else was I supposed to do, since you forced me to go with you?”

“That is not what happened!”

“Sam bewitched me to follow him into the forest,” Kevin told Katya and Brant. “I wanted to stay with my horde and my unicorn, but noooo. Sam here made me leave with him to the land of celibacy. Do you know how backed up I am right now? I could probably impregnate a rock.”

“Oh my goodness,” Katya breathed. “That was more information than I required.”

“You better not impregnate my sister,” Brant said seriously, hand on his sword. “Or me.”

Kevin’s lip curled in disgust. “Don’t be crude. I would never. There is only one creature worthy of carrying my children, and his name is Gary.”

“Gary can’t carry your children,” I reminded him, feeling ill that such words were even coming out of my mouth. “You’re both dudes. He doesn’t have a uterus.”

“Since you’re such an expert at Gary’s insides and all. I told you, pretty, all you had to do was ask, and we’d include you in our—”

“Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I’m gonna stop you right there. You are terrible, and we have other things to focus on. Such as Lady Tina DeSilva and how we’re going to eviscerate her.”

“Are you sure this is Sam of Wilds?” Brant asked his sister. “Because I thought he’d be more… not this.”

“I’m completely sure,” Katya said. She glanced at me. “Okay, a little sure.”

“Hey! I’m not Sam of Wilds anymore. I’m a full-fledged wizard now. Sam of Dragons for the win!”

“They grow up so fast,” Kevin said, smiling down at me.

We were following Katya and Brant through the Dark Woods, supposedly to this Camp HaveHeart. I didn’t trust them, not fully (and how could I after the Lady Tina thing? That was just ridiculous), but I figured it was as good a place to start as any. I wasn’t too worried about them betraying us. If they turned out to be villains, I would make their insides go on their outsides, and that would be that.

The other dragons had stayed in the woods under the guidance of GW. Five dragons descending upon a camp would probably send people into a panic. Kevin had been allowed to come because he was just as much a part of this as I was. The others would come when I called for them.

Katya and Brant had told us haltingly in turn that Camp HaveHeart was a stronghold in what remained of the Port of Verania, outside of the City of Lockes. With the sea behind them, they’d been able to take back the Port from the Darks, who had then holed up inside the middle and upper quadrants of the City around Castle Lockes. They’d regained control of the sea town about six months ago, and they were building an army of Resistance fighters made up of knights and army and civilians alike. It was there Ryan Foxheart and Prince Justin had begun to plot to try and take the City, though it was slow going.

“He’s going to be so happy to see you,” Katya told me. “They all will.”

I had trouble believing that, but I pushed it away. One thing at a time. “Gary and Tiggy?”

Brant groaned. “They’re with them. Gary is… I guess I’ve never met a unicorn before, because I didn’t expect him to be… like that.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Isn’t he wonderful?”

“Uh. Yes. That’s exactly what I meant.”

“The four of them were gone on a mission when we left,” Katya said. “They’re due back in a few days. Most likely we’ll arrive before them.”

“And my parents?” I asked, throat suddenly thick. Dimitri had told me they were okay, but I needed to hear it again.

“Joshua and Rosemary are some of the best fighters we have.”

“They’re the best what?”

Brant and Katya exchanged a look I didn’t quite understand. “Rosemary trains all of the civilians,” Katya said slowly.

“And Joshua was the one who made me my sword,” Brant said.

“So many words,” I grumbled. “We’re going to have so many words when we get back, they don’t even know.”

“This is going to be the best day ever,” Kevin said. “Except for the part where everyone is going to yell at me for being bewitched by Sam. Also, Sam, a question, if I may.”

“No.”

“I’m going to ask it anyway.”

“No, you may—”

“When we get to Camp HaveHeart—which, I don’t know why they couldn’t have gone with Camp DragonCorn, since it sounds so much better—might I regale everyone with a completely true story of how I totally saved your life today so that I may delay any animosity that could come in my direction?”

“No.”

“Follow-up question, if I may. Why are you such a bitch?”

“It’s good to be back,” I sighed.

 

 

IT TOOK us three days to get to what remained of the Port.

During that time, I learned the following:

Brant and Katya were attempting to infiltrate a random Dark camp in order to gather intel. It turned out to be nothing but a mismanaged farm, but before they left, they’d been able to poison the well with a concoction given to them by Letnia of Meridian City, guaranteed to kill anything that came into contact with it. I was glad to know she was still kicking and terrifying.

Letnia was helping Mama and Moishe run the Resistance on the outskirts of Meridian City. Apparently they had taken over Old Clearing and were using it as a base for her army of whores and courtesans. The last they’d heard from Mama was two weeks before, when she’d said they didn’t have any operations planned in the near future, as they were running out of supplies.

Good King Anthony was being held in the dungeons of Castle Lockes, probably being forced to poop into a bucket. Spies inside Castle Lockes said that he was being treated mostly well, given that he was intimidating and had a killer mustache. Apparently Myrin had no need for the King and mostly left him alone.

The Foxy Lady Brigade was apparently made up of the members of the Ryan Foxheart Fan Club Castle Lockes Chapter, and they were the deadliest assassins that the Resistance had. “Apparently you know all those people, don’t you, Mervin?” Katya asked me, and I considered going back to find Caleb and handing her over. I didn’t ask any questions about Lady Tina, because I refused to believe it.

Gary still hadn’t found his horn, which made him cranky as all hell, and he regularly threatened to “cut some bitches, because Gary is about to bring the pain.”

Tiggy had amassed an even larger broom collection for reasons no one understood.

No one knew where Randall was. Castle Freeze Your Ass Off was empty.

Pete was gone.

“What?” I whispered, stopping in the middle of the woods.

Kevin whimpered, wings drooping.

Brant sighed. “During a rescue. From one of the enslavement camps. He went back for some people we had to leave behind and… well. They got out. He didn’t. He saved them.”

“When?” I asked hoarsely.

“Four months ago,” Brant said. “It was a good death. A hero’s death.”

As if that made it any better.

 

 

ON THE night before we made it to Camp HaveHeart, I couldn’t sleep, so I volunteered for the first watch. We didn’t want to risk a fire, and the night air was cool to the point of being brisk. I had a thin blanket wrapped around my shoulders, and it hit me then that I was pretty godsdamn sick of being in the forest.

Brant and Katya were curled up next to each other, a single blanket spread over the both of them. They were apparently used to such conditions, like the soldiers that they were. Verania’s army typically didn’t allow anyone under the age of seventeen to enlist, but given the current circumstances, I wasn’t surprised that Katya was allowed in. It made me wonder how many other children were involved, and that made my stomach curdle.

The stars above were peeking through the heavy clouds, and I was sure I saw David’s Dragon twinkling mockingly at me. I glared up at it, daring the dragon to make any kind of appearance. He didn’t, of course. I hadn’t seen him since that day in Castle Freeze Your Ass Off when he told me that the Northern dragons were mated lesbians. Apparently I had done my part in the gods’ destiny and he hadn’t needed to offer further instruction like a jerk.

I sighed and pulled my pack toward me. It was heavy, but not because of many possessions. No, GW was under the impression that material things were not conducive to a wizard’s training. The fact that that decree had come from a dragon, a species known for hoarding anything and everything, was almost laughable. But unfortunately for me, he was serious and had only let me keep a few things.

We’d argued. Of course we had. I was me, and he was a bitch. He reminded me of Randall in that regard, a topic he refused to speak on. But there was one thing I wouldn’t budge on, one thing that I adamantly refused to discard. A small note, the paper worn and creased, with words that meant more to me than anything I owned written upon it.

To Mervin:

Don’t worry.

I’m a Sam Girl too.

Our secret?

Ryan Foxheart.

GW had said a cornerstone was a weakness. That it distracted from a wizard’s potential. Look at Randall and Myrin, he’d whispered in my ear. Look at what had become of them.

I told him Ryan was one of the reasons I’d come to him at all, and nothing could take that away from me.

He continued to push.

I pushed back.

I conceded many things.

Ryan Foxheart was never one of them. And he never would be.

I sighed, then folded up the note and put it carefully back into my pack. We’d get to Camp HaveHeart tomorrow and would soon see all those we left behind. Kevin was right in that whatever reaction we got wasn’t going to be good. I hoped they would still be happy to see me, even if they hated my guts. And I didn’t even want to think of Justin and Ryan being all buddy-buddy, going on adventures together, fighting side by side, taking back their country. It’d lead to one night when they’d look across the fire at each other, and then all of a sudden they’re butt-fucking and Ryan is telling Justin he made a mistake with me and that he loves him forever, and they’ll probably have adopted a baby by now and named it something idiotically trendy like Mango or Lima Bean, and then I’ll show up and Ryan will be like, “Sorry, Sam. You left, and now Justin owns my heart and Lima Bean owns my soul, and we are happy working on our organic farm and—”

God, I hated Lima Bean, and I didn’t even know if she existed.

There were four other things in my pack.

A set of spare trousers, because I was always taught you should never go on a trip without a clean pair of trousers.

The other things?

Grimoires.

Mine.

Morgan’s.

Myrin’s.

In the past year, I had never opened either of theirs.

Myrin’s, because I couldn’t get over the anger I felt toward him.

Morgan’s, because my heart still broke every time I looked at it.

GW had said nothing about their Grimoires, only instructing me on my own.

In fact, Morgan and Myrin hadn’t been mentioned much at all.

That was something I didn’t push, only because I was still mired in my own guilt.

“You look troubled, pretty,” a voice rumbled from above me. I tilted my head back to see a glittering eye watching me. I was sitting against his side, my back warmed by the fire that burned within him. “You worried about tomorrow?”

I shrugged, looking away.

“It’s okay to be scared.”

“I’m not scared.” It was easier to lie.

“Okay. I am.”

I didn’t expect that. “You are?”

He rumbled lowly, the tip of his tail twitching where it was curled near my feet.

“Why?”

“We’ve been gone a long time. Things can change. Things have changed. We’re not the same as we used to be. We can’t expect them to be either.”

“What if—” I sighed. “We always knew this day would come.”

“We did, yes.”

“And we’ve been looking forward to it since the moment we left.”

“This is true.”

“Then why do we feel this way?”

He didn’t speak for a while, just kept breathing in deep and letting it out slowly. It was soothing, and it helped a little. He said, “Because we don’t yet know if we made the right decision in going with the Great White. In doing what your destiny expected of you.”

“I still hate that word,” I grumbled.

“I can see why. I think most people that have one grow to despise it. But it’s what you do with it in the end that counts the most.”

“That was pretty lame.”

“And yet, there it is.”

“Ugh.”

“Right?”

I looked back up at him again. His eye was still on me. “What if I’m not me anymore?”

“Who would you be?”

“I was Sam of Wilds before. Now I’m… not that.”

“Do you feel different?”

I did. Magic had always been a part of me, even if I hadn’t known it. And when I finally became aware of who I was, what I could do, it was always flitting along the edges of my vision, those bright colors that only I could see. When I used them, when I pulled them into me and shoved them outward, there was always a sense of force behind it, like I was exerting copious amounts of energy to use it.

Now, though? Now it was the easiest thing in the world. I was mired in the green and gold, moving in concert with it, manipulating it at whim. I’d seen the extent of Randall’s magic, the power of his lightning, and the strength of Morgan’s in his containment and compression, and they had always been drained after, and rightly so. Magic had a cost to it, a price to pay for using it.

A ceiling, even.

And when I was an apprentice, I knew that. I experienced that. Anytime I was forced to use large quantities of magic, having it burst from my head and heart, I was weak and practically useless afterward.

It wasn’t like that anymore.

And even though he didn’t say anything out loud, I knew it concerned GW. Whether because of the implications of my strength or the potential to use me as a weapon, I didn’t know. If I turned Dark, there would be no Resistance. They would be wiped out before they could even fight back. I knew it worried him, especially when he tried to drill into my head that I had to depend on myself and no one else. “A cornerstone is a human,” he’d told me. “Humans are fallible. Fragile. They bend and then they break. Or worse, they turn on a wizard and force them into a spiral, taking everything they hold dear away. Why should you have so much faith in a single person? Why can you not stand on your own?”

That had resonated with me for the longest time.

It was bullshit. It had to be bullshit.

Because I firmly believed that Morgan and Randall wouldn’t have encouraged my relationship with Ryan after all they’d been through if they hadn’t thought it was worth it. That it was the right thing to do.

But there were thoughts, late at night while I lay in the hut I’d built deep in the Dark Woods under the Great White’s instruction, where I wondered if they’d lied about that too.

“I’m Sam of Dragons now,” I told Kevin. “It’s not the same.”

“Pretty badass, if I say so myself.”

“Because you’re one of those dragons.”

“Well, yes. But still. It’s a good name for you. But it’s just a name. It doesn’t define you.”

I snorted. “We both know that’s not true. The whole point of this was to be defined. To become this person I am now.”

He shifted a little behind me, lowering his head until he pressed his snout against my forehead, a semblance of a kiss. “A name is a name is a name,” he said.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Or does it make all the sense. I’m quite philosophical, as you know.”

“I do?”

“Above all else, pretty, you are Sam. Whatever title you have doesn’t change that. Maybe you’ve grown since last they’ve seen you, but in the end, you’re still the Sam they know. That will never change.”

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

“I know.”

I then gave voice to words that were thick and sticky, clinging to my throat and tongue. “What if there’s no place for us anymore? What if they’ve moved on without us?”

“Then we remind them why we belong with them. To them. For they’re ours, just as much as we’re theirs. They’ll see. In time.”

“Do you truly believe that?”

“I do,” he said quietly. “With all of my hearts.”

I looked back down at my pack and the Grimoires I knew were inside.

“You ever going to open them?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know. One day, maybe. But not today.”

“He’d want you to.”

I tensed at that. “Don’t.”

“Sam—”

“Please.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

I laughed hollowly. “Then whose fault was it?”

“Myrin’s. Always him. Never you. You are not responsible for his actions.”

“If I hadn’t been tricked by that bastard Caleb, then we—”

“And that was Caleb. Not you. It was him and Ruv and Myrin. Morgan did what he did because he knew you would do the same for him. He loved you, Sam. More than anything else in the world. Of course he would step between you and the Dark. You would have done the same for him, as you would for any of us. And you showed just how strong you were when you let Caleb go. I know that must have been difficult.”

“I’m not like them. I can’t just… kill. No matter how much I want to. But it was close.”

“I know. I felt it.”

“Stupid dragons.”

He chuckled softly. Then, “You’ll have to. Kill. It’ll come down to it, I think. Either you or Myrin. If I could do it for you, I would. Your heart is expansive, Sam, but it’s also soft. I would carry that burden for you if I could. I have no qualms about eating men.”

“Even though you’re a vegetarian?”

“Even though. I can shit out some bones and flesh if it means keeping you safe.”

“That’s… disgusting. Sweet, but mostly disgusting.”

I felt his breath on the back of my neck. “We’re almost home. And then we’ll see what we see. It’ll be okay, Sam. I promise. They’ll understand in the end. We did what we did for them. We’ll set things right. I promise.”

And I wanted to believe him. With everything I had.

Long after he’d fallen asleep and the sounds of the forest at night echoed around us, I looked up and saw a break in the clouds, the inky black sky beyond. I let myself have something that I hadn’t in a very long time.

A moment to wish upon the stars.

I have done everything you’ve asked of me. And I haven’t asked for much in return. I’m not the same person I once was. I know that. But please, let them see me for who I am. Let them love me just the same. I wish for that more than anything. They don’t have to forgive me for everything, not right away, but please. Just let them see me for who I am. I’m Sam. I’m Sam. I’m Sam.

 

 

THE MAIN roads between Castle Lockes and the Port were empty, and startlingly so. Before I’d left, at this time of day there would have been dozens of people walking, hauling carts either by hand or horse. The air should have been filled with voices talking and laughing and singing about anything and everything.

We kept to the trees, Brant and Katya saying it was safer. While the Darks tended to stay away from the Port after suffering a humiliating defeat there, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be on the road at some point. “We have to keep you a secret for as long as we can,” Brant told me when I tried to object because I could handle a handful of Darks. “It was part of the contingency plan.”

“The contingency what, now?”

“For when you came back.”

I glanced at Kevin, who just shrugged.

“You do know we’ve been waiting for you, right?” Katya asked slowly. “It’s why the Resistance exists at all. Because of you. General Gary and Major Tiggy always believed—”

“General and Major who?”

“Yeah. They picked out their own names.”

“Oh my gods. They’re the worst. I love them so much, you don’t even know.”

She smiled briefly at her brother when he held a tree branch out of the way so she could pass by. “They always knew you’d come back at some point. They’re the ones who pushed for the Resistance.”

“Those idiots,” I said, preening just a little. Then, “Wait. What about Ryan? And Justin?”

Brant coughed.

Katya hesitated. “Um. Justin followed along with Gary and Tiggy. Ryan was… a harder sell.”

I stopped. They looked back at me nervously. “He didn’t think I was coming back, did he.”

“It’s not that he didn’t—”

“Katya,” Brant said. “Maybe this should come from the Knight Commander. It has nothing to do with us.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but she kept quiet.

I had told myself time and time again that I made the choices I had for the greater good. That I was thinking of my destiny and what the gods had asked of me when I left the City of Lockes behind and entered the Dark Woods in search of a great dragon. That even though my heart was breaking at the thought of leaving those I loved behind, I was doing the right thing. That I wasn’t running away.

I didn’t know if I believed that. Not completely. I’d tried to convince myself of the same things back when we’d set off for Mashallaha. Ryan had even asked me then, somewhere in the desert, if I was running away rather than facing my problems head-on.

That was how he must have seen it. He must have read the letter I left for him when he’d woken up from a grievous wound that I might as well have caused myself. I’d told him I was going to come back for him, but I wasn’t even there when he woke up. Of course he didn’t believe me.

“Um,” Katya said. “Why are your eyes so wide, and why do I feel like my heart is breaking?”

“Oh no,” Kevin muttered from somewhere above me. “You’ve gone and done it now, girly. See that look on his face? Like it was Sam’s birthday and then there was a party and a lot of people came and everyone brought Sam a present and all the presents turned out to be puppies and Sam lay on the ground and the puppies crawled all over him and he was so happy and then everyone yelled, ‘Ha ha, we’re just kidding, none of these are for you,’ and then they took all the puppies away? That look?”

“That’s exactly it,” Brant said.

“That’s Sam’s angst face,” Kevin explained. “It means he’s lamenting everything about his life and questioning all his decisions and will probably end up sounding like a fourteen-year-old emo dragon in three… two… one—”

“My soul has become a withered husk, and I feel the need to sit in a darkened room and read poetry by a snake dragon monster thing about the darkness within us all,” I told no one in particular.

“And there it is,” Kevin said. “If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll recite his own poetry, even though he’ll deny he’s written any. Trust me when I say it’s amazing.”

“My soul is black just like a cat. And here I am, and that is that. My feelings consume my mind, but outwardly, I tell everyone I’m fine.”

Kevin frowned. “Did I say amazing? I meant dreadful. My bad.”

“This is your hero?” Brant whispered to his sister.

She squinted at me. “I… think so?”

“You should just leave me here,” I moaned. “I’ll lay down here and die and then become one with the forest. Decades from now, my bones will have fused with the roots of a weeping willow, and legend will say that if the wind is blowing through my branches just right, you can hear me crying out for my beloved. Babe! Baaaaaaaaaaaabe!”

“Oh boy,” Kevin said. “Don’t you worry, people I just met who should be more in awe of me than you actually are. I know just how to handle this.” He cleared his throat before peering down at me. “Hey, champ. Hey. Hey, there. What’s going on in that noggin of yours? Huh?” He tapped a single claw against my forehead. “What’s up in the noodle, my little doodle? Do you need to toss the sports ball around with your old man? Huh? Is that what you need? Or do you just need to be fucked? Yeah, you just need to be fucked, don’t you. Okay. Well, if you insist, Baladush and Kaliope can just wait here—”

“Brant and Katya,” Katya said.

“—and you and I can find a nice clearing next to a brook where you can punch my junk for a little while.”

“We’re not normally like this,” I told Katya. “But honestly? You’ve just basically told me the love of my life hates me. If anything, this is your fault. Well, actually, I take that back. Not the part about this being your fault, because it is. But the part about how we’re not normally. This is how Kevin is all the time, and no, Kevin, I do not want to find a clearing next to a brook to punch your junk.”

“Your body is saying no, and your heart is also saying no,” Kevin purred. “You know how I like a fight—you know what? That crossed a line. I apologize. I would never do anything to take away your autonomy. Forgive me, pretty?”

“You’re forgiven,” I said, patting him on the nose. “Just don’t say anything like that again.”

“You know I can’t promise you that.”

“I know.”

“We good?”

“We’re good.”

We looked back at Katya and Brant expectantly.

They gaped at us.

“Why are we just standing around?” I asked them. “We have places to go, people to yell at us and hate us and break our hearts, in case you forgot.”

“It’s so hard to find good help in the middle of a forest,” Kevin said, frowning at our new companions. “So far I’m not impressed. And to think I was going to offer to fly them the rest of the way. I think not.”

“Oooh,” I said. “You guys are on the Suck List now. That was capitalized, so you know it’s true.”

“I also have a Suck List.”

“Kevin, not the time.”

“Right.”

“I mean, he looks like Sam, right?” Katya asked her brother.

“I think so?”

I rolled my eyes. “You guys are hysterical. Really. Chop-chop!”

 

 

WE BROKE the tree line near the Port, after making sure there was no one else on the road. I looked east, and at the horizon, I could make out a faint outline of the City of Lockes and Castle Lockes itself. Seen from a great distance, it was hazy and seemed as far away as it’d been when I’d been with GW and the others in the woods. It was just a glimpse, but it caused my heart to climb into my throat.

There, behind those walls, was my home.

My King, trapped in the dungeons.

My mentor, and all the memories that came with him.

My enemy, sitting upon a throne that did not belong to him.

Did Myrin already know of my return?

If not, it’d be soon. Caleb would see to that.

Part of me wanted to demand Kevin fly me to Castle Lockes now just so I could face Myrin and get this over with. I had the dragons. I had my magic. GW thought I wasn’t yet ready, telling me there was still much I needed to learn, especially in the face of Myrin having Morgan’s magic combined with his own.

But that didn’t matter in the end. Because while the Great White had been able to slow Zero’s cycle, we had perhaps a month left before he would feel the call of his kind and return to his home in the desert to sleep away the next hundred years. And if the gods were right, I needed him just as much as I needed the others.

The clock was ticking.

Within the next month, this would be over, one way or another.

“All right?” Kevin asked me quietly as Brant and Katya crossed the road.

“Yeah,” I said.

He followed my gaze to the City of Lockes. “We’ll get it back, pretty. All of it. I know it.”

I nodded and crossed the road toward the Port.

 

 

THE PORT had been a center of commerce for Verania, a bustling extension of the City of Lockes. It was always a little grimier, and stank of fish and salt, but it was an important part of the economy. Trade routes led through the Port by land and sea. Ships of all sizes sailed from faraway lands, bringing wares to trade: spices that made smoke leak out your ears, fabrics that felt like the caress of a lover, alcohol that caused one to believe that one was a fantastic singer and led one to regale anyone within earshot with the joys of “Cheesy Dicks and Candlesticks,” no matter how many times the audience had heard it before. (“Why does Ryan get that disgusting dreamy look on his face every time he hears that song?” Justin had demanded. “It’s like he’s been enchanted by a godsdamn siren. And Sam, do you really have to sing it again? I am going to harm you irreparably!”)

The people of the sea town were of the hardworking sort, rising even before the sun to head to the docks, fishing vessels sailing out while the stars above started to fade and a light appeared in the east, passing the ships of the night fishers coming back after hours at sea. They’d be met by others on the docks, ready to pack the haul on ice for transport to the markets in the Port and the City of Lockes.

The people here weren’t like those in the King’s Court. They worked from sunup to sundown, while still others worked the entire night away. It was a never-ending cycle, and it kept the wheels of Verania spinning smoothly.

They were of the rough sort, the dockworkers and the fishermen and women. Maybe not so much as those that skulked in the shadows of Meridian City, but they’d probably feel more at home there than they ever would in the City of Lockes. But they loved their King as much as the rest of us, and rarely had issues with the Crown. Aside from the time where there was the threat of a strike that the King had stepped in and mediated, I’d never known there to be any strife.

It probably helped that out of all the cities and villages in Verania, the Port had had the lowest number of people signing the petition to have me removed from my position as the apprentice to the King’s Wizard and banished from Verania. I tended to like people who didn’t give a shit about things like that.

Speaking of.

“So, hypothetically,” I said to Brant and Katya as we approached a set of large gates at the entrance to the Port—something that hadn’t been there before I’d left. “Let’s say we arrive at the Port—I mean, Camp HaveHeart—and I come face-to-face with a teenage girl I deem not fit for living. Would there be consequences if I were to, hypothetically, explode her in front of everyone with nothing but the power of my mind?”

“You can do that?” Brant asked, eyes wide.

I smiled reassuringly at him. “Hypothetically.”

He didn’t look very reassured. If anything, I thought maybe he walked farther away from me, pulling his sister along with him. Which, rude.

“Hypothetically, you’d probably get arrested,” Katya said.

“Interesting. Follow-up hypothetical. What if said teenage girl was the incarnation of evil, and by eradicating her, the world would be a much better place?”

“He’s talking about Lady Tina,” Kevin whispered to Brant. “In case you couldn’t figure it out on your own. And he’s not being hypothetical. He’s being for real.”

Katya bristled a little. “Lady Tina has been instrumental in helping the Resistance get as far as we have. The Foxy Lady Brigade has taken out more high-ranking Darks than any other group, including the knights. She’s second-in-command for a reason.”

“Yeah,” I said. “About that. Is there any possibility that all of you have lost your godsdamned minds? Do you know what she did? Aside from starting the whole movement against me, she always accused me of having dry muffins! My muffins were not dry, no matter what she said or how they tasted like sandpaper.”

“She also played a part in leading you to Ruv and Myrin,” Kevin added.

“Oh. Right. That too.” I glared at Brant and Katya. “She betrayed us. To Myrin. You expect me to believe that Ryan and Justin, both of whom she is obsessed with, forgave her for everything she’s done? I refuse to believe it, and to you I say good day.”

“Maybe you should just—”

“I said good day, Brant. What part of that do you not understand?”

He frowned. “All of it?”

“She’s changed,” Katya said.

“Snakes shed their skin but are still snakes,” I retorted.

“Oooh, burn,” Kevin said. “You all just got third-degree burns. How does it feel to have burns that destroyed your epidermis and go farther to affect deeper tissue?”

“This guy gets it,” I said.

Katya shook her head. “She regrets many things. She knows the mistakes she made and is doing everything she can to fix them. If the Knight Commander and the Prince can trust her, don’t you think you should give her a chance?”

“They don’t make the best decisions. They were probably lost without me, and she whispered her sweet poison in their ears about how Rystin is so much better than HaveHeart, and that—wait a minute. Were you part of the We-Hate-Sam-A-Lots?”

“I wasn’t,” Katya assured me.

“Um,” Brant said.

“Traitor!” Kevin gasped.

“Kevin! Make me billow!”

“Now? Are you sure this is the right time for billowing—”

“Kevin!”

He sucked in a great breath and blew it in my direction. My cloak billowed around me, my hair flopping dramatically. I squared my shoulders and held my head high. I thought about pulling my hood up, but I didn’t want to overdo it. “I am Sam of Dragons, returned to my people to save them from the darkness and defeat the evil wizard Myr—dude. Kevin. What did you eat? Your breath is terrible. God, it’s like the inside of one of those rest stop outhouses on the way to Meridian City where it’s basically a hole in the ground in which to do your business. My gods.”

“You don’t smell like sunshine and roses yourself, pretty,” Kevin snarked at me. “You’ve been living in the woods for a year. I’m pretty sure your eyebrows are starting to rival Randall’s.”

“What are we waiting for?” I demanded to Brant and Katya. “I need to pluck before I attempt to woo back my beloved! Lead the way, you cretins!”

“This is going to be a nightmare,” Brant muttered. “Are you sure we have to tell everyone we found them? Maybe we can just act like we’re arriving at the same time.”

“We might as well get this over with,” Katya said, patting her brother on the arm. “I mean, how bad could it possibly be?”

 

 

ALARMS STARTED ringing as soon we approached the gates.

Guards along the walkways on the walls around the Port began to shout and scramble, pulling their weapons.

Someone shot an arrow at us.

It bounced off Kevin’s scales and fell to the ground.

“Huh,” Kevin said, looking down at it. “I do believe someone just tried to kill me. Permission to destroy everything?”

“Permission denied. For now. Wait until we get closer to see who did it. If it was Lady Tina, then you have my permission. If it wasn’t, we’ll renegotiate depending on who it was. I have a feeling I dislike many people here already.”

“Understood. Also, you are very sexy when you take charge.”

“Fuck off.”

“Copy that.”

Katya and Brant were shouting something up at the guards, but I wasn’t paying any mind, because I thought I recognized one of the men standing above us. He was wearing an ill-fitting uniform and clutching a spear like his life depended on it, his ears sticking out adorably. I knew those ears.

“Todd?”

“Sam?” he squeaked, staring down at me, eyes wide. “Holy shit, is that Sam of Wilds?”

Everyone fell silent almost immediately.

I grinned up at him. “Dude! Look at you! Being all manly and awesome. Have you stabbed anyone with that thing?”

“Of course not!”

“Oh. Wow. That’s… strangely disappointing.”

“Where the hell have you been!”

I cocked my head. “In the woods. With this guy.”

Kevin grinned at him. He had many, many teeth.

The guards didn’t seem to like that very much.

“How do we know you’re the real Sam of Wilds?” a man next to Todd shouted down. “You could be a fake! And that dragon could be… fake. Also.”

“Todd knows I’m not a fake,” I said, winking at him. “Don’t you, Todd?”

He sputtered. His ears turned a little red. I wanted to pinch them.

“Still as charming as ever,” I said.

“Are you—are you flirting with me?”

“What? No! I mean, I’ve got my boo and all. But if he’s left me for Justin or some other floozy—not that Justin is a floozy or anything, because best friend 5eva—but if he’s left me for my best friend 5eva, then I will probably break down emotionally and need someone to lean on, and in a moment of weakness, we might accidentally have pity sex that we’ll both regret. The next morning we’ll wake up and I’ll offer to make you pancakes, even though I want nothing more than for you to leave and you’ll say, ‘Sure, I love pancakes!’ because you won’t get the hint. And then I’ll say, ‘I’m not making you pancakes, get out.’ And then years down the road, we’ll pass each other on the street and wave awkwardly at each other and you’ll think about how awesome my deep-throating skills are and I’ll think about how I’m late for an important business meeting—because apparently I have business meetings in this weird fantasy of yours—and then we’ll go our separate ways.”

Everyone was staring at me.

“Sorry,” I said hastily. “I haven’t had a lot of human interaction in a very long time. I’m a little rusty. I also might have forgotten about societal norms. Do we make sexually aggressive remarks now, or is that just a dragon thing?”

“I’ve trained him so well,” Kevin said fondly.

“That’s Sam of Wilds,” Todd sighed. “I would know that nonsense anywhere.”

“Ooh, acting familiar, are we? Todd, you saucy minx—oh look, the gates are opening. About damn time.”

And they were. With a great groan, the gates parted to reveal—

A group of heavily armed women.

All of whom squealed when they saw me.

Well, most of them did.

And I would have recognized them anywhere. Especially since I had infiltrated thirty-two of their meetings dressed as a bearded man named Mervin.

Deirdre.

Wanda.

Mary.

Crissy.

Nicole.

Courtney.

Griselda.

The ladies of the Ryan Foxheart Fan Club Castle Lockes Chapter.

And at their center, the only nonsquealing one of them, stood Lady Tina DeSilva, dressed as if she were some kind of warrior princess, sword gripped firmly in her hand, her blonde hair curled in ringlets.

She narrowed her eyes at the sight of me.

“Vengeance,” I hissed.