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“Hyto’s collar.” I motioned Hanna over to sit beside me. “This woman saved my life. She’s to thank for me escaping.”
“We’ll take you home as soon as you’re ready to travel. And we’ll get that collar off you.” Roz stroked my hair back away from my face. I pressed my lips together.
“Where’s Smoky?” I looked up at him, dreading yet needing to know the answer.
“Looking for you. He’s on the rampage. He went to the Dragon Reaches to find out what he could about Hyto . . .”
I turned to Vanzir. “The other night . . . I don’t know when—I’ve lost track of the time—you came to me . . .”
“I still don’t know how I got out there, but when you told me you were in a cavern near the Skirts of Hel, I remembered what Iris had said about her journey and thought that maybe . . . just maybe . . . so Roz and Shade brought me along with them.”
“We weren’t quite sure where to look, so we have been looking as we came up the mountain from the portals,” Roz said. “You told Vanzir near the Skirts of Hel, but we weren’t sure in which direction. It took some doing to get our bearings, but it helped that I’d been here before.”
“We have to get out of here.” I struggled to sit up. “I can’t let my presence put Howl’s people in danger.” The Elemental Lord would be able to handle Hyto, but his people weren’t quite as powerful as he was.
“Lady Camille, it is true you are a threat here, but we will not ask you to leave until you are ready,” Kitää said. She pressed a mug of soup into Hanna’s hand and gave us soft bread and meat. We both gulped down the food, along with big steins of heady beer.
I wiped the crumbs off my mouth. “I need to get home. Hanna—you’d better come with me. If Hyto finds you, he’ll kill you. I don’t know if you can adjust to life over Earthside, but until we’ve somehow managed to destroy Smoky’s father, you need protection.”
“I’m not the one he’s after,” she said, softly brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. “My dear, I’ve done what I set out to do—help you escape. I really haven’t thought further than that. I thought I might search for my daughters . . . in hopes they still live.”
I grabbed her hand. “You don’t dare run off now. Hyto will seek you out, and he will kill you for your part in this. Do you want to chance your daughters’ lives to him? At least come with me until we’ve found a way to deal with him.”
She smiled softly, then knelt by my side. “You are a caring woman. I hope I can call you my friend.” Then, after a pause, she added, “Yes, I will come with you. Warn me of things I need to be aware of. I’ve heard that Earthside has wonders unheard of in the Northlands and in Otherworld, but I will miss my home.”
I pressed her hand against my lips and kissed it gently. “It does, my friend. And terrible troubles, as well.” Forcing myself to stand, I turned to Shade. “We need to leave. I would not put Howl and Kitää’s people in any further danger. How are we going to manage this? Can you carry two of us?”
He glanced over at Rozurial. “Let me take Vanzir. My travel is better suited toward those not of mortal stock. You . . . do you think you can take two of them at once?”
Rozurial bit his lip. “I don’t know . . .”
Kitää stepped up. “I will go with you and carry one of the women. I can also travel through the Ionyc Seas. I will make the portal jumps with you to Elqaneve, where you can all travel through the portal back to Earthside. My husband, do you mind?” She turned to Howl, who nodded gruffly.
“Aye, woman, go ahead, but do not tarry on the way home, and be cautious. Dragons are wily, and dangerous, and too clever for their own good. Meanwhile, I will send a runner to the Dragon Reaches in search of Iampaatar, and bid him head homeward to his woman.”
They found some clean clothes for Hanna and me and, with Kitää’s and Hanna’s help, I dressed. Then, after Hanna had changed into a clean outfit, we gathered in the main council chamber.
Shade slid his arm around Vanzir, Rozurial took me, and Kitää gathered Hanna to her. Without another word, we slid into the Ionyc Seas.
I was going home.
At the portal to the Northlands, we quickly jumped to Dahnsburg, then to Elqaneve. I was so dizzy from the change in altitude that I leaned against Roz most of the way. At the Elqaneve portal, I turned to Kitää.
“Bless you and your people, for giving us shelter. May the Moon Mother shine down on you in all her glory with all her blessings. I will not forget the debt I owe you.”
She smiled gently. “You owe us no favor, save for to do your best to destroy the monster on the mountain. We knew a dragon had taken hold up there but weren’t sure just who. That it is Iampaatar’s father is a deathly knell. He is truly mad. And Camille—be cautious. If he catches you again, I dread to think what he’ll do.”
“I know what he’s capable of,” I whispered. “In the long run, I think I got off easy . . . but it wouldn’t have been long before the real pain would have begun. I don’t think I could withstand it.”
“Just be careful, please. Remember the wolf people when you next go hunting with the Moon Mother.” Then, before we could say another word, she ducked back inside the portal and vanished.
I turned to Roz. “Home. Let’s get home. It will take Hyto some time to follow the signature in my collar, but we need to get it off as soon as we can.”
And so we entered the portal, ignoring the stares of the elves filing in and out, and jumped back home, Earthside.
Grandmother Coyote was waiting for us. One of the Hags of Fate, she watched over the worlds, as immortal as the Elemental Lords and the Harvestmen. I began to kneel before her, but my aching joints wouldn’t allow it, so I opted for bowing slow and deep.
“Camille, you live. I thought you might when your threads began to untangle from those of the white dragon.” She gazed at me, long and deep, from within the folds of her hooded gray cloak. Grandmother Coyote’s face was lined with more rivers and valleys than a topographical map, and her eyes were a streaming flow of whirling clouds and stars. When she smiled, her teeth gleamed—sharp steel. She was truly one of the ancients.
