Princess Before Dawn by E D Baker

Author:E D Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

They flew for two more hours, landing only when Francis announced that he needed to use a shrub. When Audun set down, Annie was so tired that she fell asleep with her back against a tree while she waited for Francis. She woke long enough to hear that they would spend the rest of the night there and was asleep again in moments.

Annie woke, groggy, when Francis declared in a loud voice, “What do you mean Zoë’s not here?”

The sun was peeping over the horizon, bathing the landscape in otherworldly light. They had slept on the boundary between forest and farmland with hay growing in a field only yards away. Swallows dipped and soared over the hay while butterflies fluttered from flower to flower.

“She went foraging a few hours ago and hasn’t come back yet,” explained Audun. “I told her I’d keep watch, but I didn’t expect her to be gone this long.”

“Do you know which way she went?” Francis asked.

“That way,” Audun said, pointing toward the field.

Francis frowned as he gazed across the field. “We have to go look for her. Something must have happened to keep her from coming back before now.” Taking the acorn out of the pouch, he twisted off the cap and took out the black dragon scale. He muttered under his breath, turning the scale until it flashed red.

When Francis started walking, Annie scrambled to her feet to follow him. Before stepping into the hayfield, she glanced back at Audun. In the few seconds she’d been looking the other way, he had changed back into a human. She found the sudden change a little disconcerting. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” she murmured to herself.

The hay was waist high and the ground beneath it uneven, so Annie had to give each footstep her fullest attention. Birds shot out of the hay at their approach, and a rabbit suddenly bounded away in front of her, making her heart pound and her thoughts turn to whatever else the tall grasses might hide. She was relieved when they finally reached a country lane and Francis started down it.

They hadn’t gone far before they spotted a barn and a small cottage. A little farther and they could hear someone shouting over the barking of dogs. “That’s it, boys! Tell the wee beastie who’s boss around here.”

Annie hurried to walk beside Francis. She glanced at the dragon scale. It was glowing red and was aimed directly at the spot between the cottage and the barn.

Francis looked grim as they came in sight of the farmer and his dogs. The man was holding a big stick, watching while two dogs barked and lunged at something small and dark caught in a net strung between two poles. When the dogs backed off for a moment, the man swung his stick at the net, hitting it so that it swayed and bobbed. The little creature inside it cried out.

Suddenly Francis was grabbing the stick from the man’s hand and tossing it aside.

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