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Geh. Gunter really didn’t know which was the case here.
But Alric seemed ready to take the chance. “Lisette?”
“I’d like to test your magic, Lina. A quick test, here. Is that alright? It won’t be invasive or hurtful in any way.” Lisette gave her a reassuring smile.
Lina nodded cautiously. “Okay, fine?”
“Good. Melissande, give me a hand.”
The two linked magics, holding hands, and out of their bags each drew a vial of something earthy-smelling. With perfect unison, they spoke a quick spell. “Sana gev anti.”
Gunter couldn’t see a damn thing, of course. Most magic was invisible to anyone aside from a mage, except the offensive magics. But he could tell from the looks on their faces they didn’t like what they were seeing.
To Lina, Lisette kept the smile on her face. “It’s good you came to us. It’s true your core isn’t in good shape. But it isn’t life-threatening to you. We’ll get you properly examined back at the castle with our best healers, I promise you.”
Lina didn’t look surprised at their reaction. Just grim and resigned. “Thanks.”
Alric gave a nod to Gunter. “Miss Lina, if you’ll hop on board. I’ll strap you in for the flight back to Burkhard.”
“Um. I, uh, I’m flying back with you?” Lina looked at Gunter and visibly gulped.
Her nervousness reminded him so much of Nikki in that moment, Gunter sort of melted a little. She might be from an enemy clan, but he truly had a hard time seeing her as one. She was just a scared teenager in his eyes. And Gunter decided, after a moment, to treat her as such. He’d be cautious with her, of course; he had no idea if he could take this situation at face value. But it wouldn’t hurt to treat her with courtesy, either.
He gave her a slight smile—making sure to show no teeth—and a reassuring nod. “I’ve never dropped someone. You’ll be safe on my back. And it’s liberating to be up in the sky.”
Lina sucked in a breath, managed a nod, and went for him.
He’d worn a harness just in case, and it turned out to be fortuitous. Gunter crouched down on his belly and waited patiently as Alric guided her on how to strap in. She did so, and Alric gave Gunter a pat on the shoulder, a silent signal she was fine and ready to go. Only then did he retreat back to Baldewin and resume his own seat in the saddle.
Lina asked quietly, “Um…why isn’t he flying?”
Gunter tilted his head to look up at her. It probably did seem strange to her that the king of the Fire Dragons wasn’t in dragon form. “Hoheit was injured during the Dragon War. It left him unable to fly long distances.”
“Oh.” Her eyes went to Alric and studied him carefully. “My clan did that to him? And he’s still nice to me?”
“He’s a gentle soul, my king. He’s not going to hold your ancestors’ poor decisions against you.”
She looked back at Gunter, so many emotions darting and tangling over her face. “You don’t seem to, either.”
“If you’re really here because you hate what your clan is doing, and you want to be free of that evil, then I’ll help you. I won’t hold something against you that you had no choice over.” Gunter found he meant every word of it.
Her eyes burned bright for a second, and she turned her face away, visibly fighting back tears. “The old tales always said the dragons were nice. I guess that hasn’t changed. Will your king really help my family, though?”
“Given a choice, yes.” Gunter felt confident in his answer but was equally aware Alric couldn’t always move as he liked. Circumstances sometimes dictated otherwise.
Baldewin lifted up in the air, signaling the rest of them to do so. They all took off as well, Gunter more carefully than some, aware of his nervous passenger.
It was only when they were mid-flight he realized they hadn’t seen what Dimitri had found. He shifted a little on the wind, coming in closer to Dimitri to call out, “What did you find?”
“What?” Dimitri responded, pale blue eye blinking at him.
“You said you found something along with Lina!”
“Oh! Yeah, found a device. Looks broken, though. But it smelled like magic.”
Ah, no wonder he’d picked it up. Well, maybe the twins would be able to do something with it. They seemed perfectly capable of conquering any sort of broken machinery.
Although if it was magical, maybe Lisette could figure it out? Gunter had to assume this thing harmless if Dimitri was willingly carrying it about. So odds were against it being a bomb of any sort, but it did leave him wondering just what it was.
In any case, the device was a secondary consideration. Lina was definitely the priority. And he wasn’t sure how they could gain her trust enough that she’d be willing to divulge any information. Pretty promises would only get them so far.
