End Times in Dragon City (21 page)

I came to in a big white bed in the hospital up near Wizards Way, which I recognized by way of having been in it far too many times. The evening sun shone in through my window, and I could hear birds chirping outside. I felt like I’d been run over with a red-hot roller and then tossed into a freezer for storage, but those sensations seemed more like memories than facts. 

I looked down at my hands, which I’d felt blister and crack the last I knew, and the skin on them was fresh and whole. In fact, they looked better than I remembered them. I stretched my arms out too, and my back no longer felt like it might come apart at any wrong move. 

Awake? 

I glanced up and spotted Spark perched atop my high brass headboard. He stretched his wings wide and gaped down at me. 

Awake! Awake! Awake!

He dove down at me and landed on my belly. I let out a loud, “Oof!” and laughed as he flipped around and nuzzled up hard against my neck. 

“Ah, you’re back.” Belle stood up from where she’d been sitting in a high chair in the corner of the room and came over to brush the hair back from my face. Her smile lit up the place. I just wanted to bask in it until it gave me a tan. 

“I’m not dead,” I said. “I was pretty sure I was dead.” 

A hint of sadness passed across Belle’s face, like a cloud moving over the sun. “It was a close thing. You probably would have been burned to death if Kai hadn’t shot you right there at the end.” 

That widened my eyes. “He shot me?” 

“With one of those freezing shells that Kells made. It cooled you and the ground around you off enough that it snuffed out the flames.” 

“What happened to him?” I stroked the top of Spark’s head as I looked up at her.

“Kai was a bit chewed up, but nothing the healers here couldn’t handle. I think he’s down at the Quill, telling Thumper how much you owe him.” 

I laughed. “He’ll drink me dry.” 

“He and everyone else down there celebrating. You’re the toast of the town.” 

I sat straight up in the bed, and Spark climbed up my chest to drape over my shoulders once more. “How’s that? They don’t blame me for killing the Dragon anymore?” 

“After you destroyed the Ruler of the Dead, the fight went out of all the zombies, the Dragon included. They all just fell over where they were. The threats are over, and Dragon City is free — for the first time ever, really.” 

I took a moment to absorb that. I had a hard enough time imagining the city without the Dragon ruling over it. The thought that the lands around it might be safe to travel now stunned me silent. 

Then I asked the question I’d been dreading since I awakened. “What about the others?” 

Belle frowned hard enough to bring tears welling up in my eyes. “We didn’t all make it. The Dragon’s breath aged Kells and Cindra to death. Moira and Danto died in the palanquin’s crash.” 

My heart sank. Sure, I’d survived, as had Belle and Spark, but so many of my friends were gone forever. “What about their kids? Kells and Cindra, I mean?” 

 “They’re in good hands. Kells and Cindra left them with Johan’s family when they joined us in the fight.” 

“And Johan?” I winced. Everyone else on the palanquin had died. 

“He’s in the next room over. He was thrown clear of the crash and broke both his arms, but he’s going to live. Wait until you see him. His beard is white as a sheet.” 

I wanted to laugh at that but couldn’t quite muster it. 

“Thumper made it, but it was a close thing,” Belle said. “Zombies broke into the bar, and he fought them off until the very end. He was about to take a leap out of that high window in the main room — the one that overlooks that long drop — when they all fell over instead.

“And Yabair survived, of course. After the Dragon fell out of the sky, he flew down and scooped you up and brought you and me and Kai straight here. Without his help, you probably would have died.” 

I reached out and held her hand. “It seems like I owe a lot of people my life.” 

“Too true,” she said. “But we all owe you a lot too. There’s one other person I haven’t mentioned yet, someone who’s been here since you arrived, working hard to make sure you got the absolute best care.” 

“You?” 

She gave me a modest smile. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t in the best shape myself.”

“Then who?” 

She turned toward the door. “You can come in,” she said, raising her voice. “He’d love to see you.” 

The door swung open on well-oiled hinges, and my father crept in. He walked over to me as if any vibration on the floor might hurt me, then reached out and grasped my hand. “It’s so good to see you,” he said with a hesitant smile. “You don’t know how worried you had me.” 

“I’m fine.” As I said the words to comfort him, I realized they were true. The healers had done an excellent job with me. I felt like I could walk out of the place as soon as I could find my clothes. 

I decided I would do just that. As I stood up, Spark fluttered up to perch back on the headboard, right where I’d found him. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Earnest concern colored my father’s voice. “Earlier today, you were almost dead. I think you deserve to take it easy for a while.” 

“I might deserve a break, sure. I might even need one. But I’m not sure I can take one quite yet.” 

I walked over to the wardrobe on the far side of the room and found my clothes, which had been shredded and scorched in that final battle. The Dragon had torn long slits in the back of my jacket and shirt, and every bit of them were covered with blood and ash. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to touch them. 

A fresh set of clothes hung next to my ruined ones, though, and I took those out and held them up. They were of elven make, much finer than the rough-cut rags I usually wore. I raised an eyebrow at Belle, who made a grand gesture presenting them to me. 

“My gift to you,” she said. “I didn’t think you could leave here in the rags in which you arrived.” 

“Where do you intend to go?” my father asked as I slipped behind a screen and started to change. The clothes fit me as if they’d been tailored for me while I slept. Knowing Belle, they probably had been. 

“Yabair wants to see you before too long,” Belle said. “He claims the two of you have a great deal to discuss.” 

“I think he can find me when he wants me,” I said. “He’s never had a hard time at that.” 

“You’re welcome to stay with me,” my father said. “Until you’re back on your feet, that is. Or as long as you like.” 

The idea warmed my heart. I hadn’t lived in my old home for decades, though, and I wasn’t about to go back if I could help it. “Thanks,” I said, “but I think I’d be more comfortable at the Quill.” 

“Not at Danto’s place?” 

I stuck my head around the screen as I pulled on my pants. “Why would I stay there?” 

My father glanced at Belle and then back at me. “I thought she might have told you. He left it to you in his will.” 

I stepped out from behind the screen, gaping as I buttoned up my shirt. “His tower? I can’t —”

“Everything,” my father said. “He left you everything.” 

I walked over to the bed to slip on the new shoes Belle had bought for me, and I found that I needed a moment. Belle sat down next to me to put her arms around me, and I leaned my head on her shoulder. My father reached out to take my hand, and Spark slinked over to perch on one of my shoulders and nuzzle my cheek. 

Are you okay?

“I’ll be fine.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “Thanks.” 

I stood up then, and offered my elbow to Belle, who took it and leaned into me. I took a deep breath and strode out of the room. 

“So where are we going?” my father asked as he scrambled to catch up with us. 

“To the Quill, of course,” I said. “We have a victory to celebrate and lost friends to remember, and I can’t think of a better place to toast them both.” 

THE END

Special Thanks

This book — this entire series — would not have been possible without the support of the many people who backed the Kickstarter drive for the trilogy of
Shotguns & Sorcery
novels. Each and every one of you has my gratitude for your faith in this project. 

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