Maybe it would be better if we let the vines take everything. For us to let the world itself destroy us all and save ourselves from the pain of watching the Fate Maker do it anyway. That way it would at least be our own choice.
“Mercedes,” I said quietly. “We should just burn it. Everything. We should destroy it all. That way the Fate Maker won’t be able to take it from us.”
“We’re not going to let him take it. Not on my life. Or yours for that matter,” she muttered as we reached the soot-blackened trunk of the Silver Leaf Tree. There at the bottom, barely visible under the soot, was a rune carved into its bark.
Mercedes kept her hand in mine and reached down to brush her fingers against the carving. “Come on. Let’s finish this. Then we can come back and give them the memorial they deserve.”
“You’re right.” I pushed away from her slightly, standing on my own. “No one will ever forget what they gave up for the rest of us.”
“No.” Mercedes shook her head. “We’ll make sure that no one ever forgets how brave they were. I promise. You and me, together, we’ll make sure that they’re remembered. Forever.”
“Right.” I nodded.
Rhys took Mercedes’s free hand, and I clung to her fingers in mine. Then I bent down and touched the rune.
“Take me to Dramera. Take me to Dramera so I can find my army and end this once and for all.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Your Majesty!” Kitsuna yelled, and I sat up, turning toward the sound of her voice through the forest.
“I’m here.” I pushed myself up and saw that Mercedes and Rhys were getting to their feet as well. “We’re all here.”
“Go.” Mercedes pushed me forward.
I ran in the direction of Kit’s voice, still calling for me, and put my hand up to knock branches and leaves out of my way. I didn’t take too much of a beating before we found each other.
“Oh, thank the Pleiades,” Kitsuna said as we broke from the edge of the forest and reached the field behind the red dragon clan’s lodge house. “You’re not hurt. Thank goodness none of you are hurt.”
“Forget about us.” I hurried over to her and took her face in my hands, grimacing at the sight of the deep gash on the side of her face and the dried blood around her nose. “What happened to you? And Winston. Where is he? Is he safe?”
“He’s fine. We’re fine,” Kitsuna reassured me, and then her face crumpled as tears started to flow. “I just set fire to my clan’s lodge house, burned half my village, battled a wizard who was intent on killing me, and almost lost the queen I’d sworn my life to protect. It’s—”
“It’s okay.” I tried my best to sound like my mother always had when I’d come to her with my problems. “Everything is okay. As long as everyone is safe then we’re all okay.”
Instead of helping that only made Kitsuna cry harder, and I hugged her. I closed my eyes, remembering that for right now we were safe and that had to count for something.
“Your Majesty,” Rhys said quietly. “We’re going to go find the rest of the army.”
“Do you want us to—” I squeezed Kit again, breathing in the smell of dragon and sweat that came from her hair.
“You can find us when you’re done here.” He led Mercedes away as I turned back to comfort Kitsuna.
When her sobs slowed I lifted my head and looked at the destruction in front of me. Half the rooftops in Dramera were smoking, and patches of air existed where once thatched roofs had been. It looked as bad as my palace had. Trying to save all that was good in our world had led to us burning it to the ground. Nothing was safe unless we’d turned it into ashes first.
“We can rebuild it,” I said as the walls of a nearby half building croaked. Three large, male dragons circled it, and the largest blasted one of the walls with a fireball, and the other two beat at the house with their wings. A moment later the house groaned and another fireball caused it to collapse on itself. “We will rebuild it. Bigger. Stronger. Fire-resistant.”
“They’ll never forgive me,” she whispered. “The others, they won’t forgive me.”
“Yes, they will.” I patted her back. “We’ll all pitch in to rebuild the lodge house and the rest of the village. Everything will be fine. No one will blame you.”
“They will.” She sniffled.
“No, they won’t.” I stepped back from her and gave her shoulders a quick shake. “You fought a wizard all on your own. That was incredibly brave. You saved all of us. You saved me. When we were faced with a wizard you did what needed to be done. If anyone doesn’t like it you tell them to come see me.”
“To come see you?” Kitsuna asked weakly.
“That’s right. I’m the Golden Rose of Nerissette, and I’m saying you did the right thing. And if anyone else doesn’t like it, they can deal with me.”
“What are you going to do? Scold them?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But you did the right thing, and no one is going to punish you for that. If they try, I’ll…I’ll banish them. I’ll banish them into Bathune, and they can try life out there living under my aunt’s rule.”
Kitsuna sniffled, her eyes bright with tears, before she laughed, her voice high-pitched and slightly hysterical. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” I gave her shoulders another shake before pulling her close. “I was so worried about you. Don’t ever do something as stupid as saving my life ever again, do you hear me?”
“Or what?” She trembled against me, and when I looked down I could see that the brat was actually laughing.
My own lips twitched upward and a panicky, freaked-out giggle slipped free. “Or I’ll banish you along with all the people who think I should banish you for fighting a wizard single-handedly to protect me.”
“Where are we supposed to go?” Kitsuna giggled. “All these people you’re going to banish. You can’t send us all over the White Mountains. The dragons in Bavasama’s kingdom won’t allow us to just take over their hunting grounds. So if you’re banishing us, where are we supposed to go?”
I laughed harder, my brain going a bit fuzzy as the nerves from the past few hours started to unwind. The adrenaline coursing through me made me slaphappy and I realized that, for at least right now, I was safe.
“There’s got to be a crappy part of this world. I’ll send all of you there, and if it’s not crappy enough I’ll find a portal and send you into my world. I can make you settle somewhere that sucks enough for you to realize that I’m right.”
“You’re going to banish us to your world?” Kitsuna giggled again, and I felt my knees weaken with relief. “But I thought this whole war was to keep the Fate Maker from going back to your world? Remember, find the relics, destroy them, and stop the Fate Maker before he destroys us all?”
“Okay, so maybe I’ll wait to banish you until we’ve gotten all that done, but I swear if you ever do something that stupid again I will banish you. Somewhere really crappy. Really, really crappy.”
“Sure you will.” She pulled away from me a little bit and smiled. “Okay, come on.” She wiped the tears from her face. “Time to go find Winston and everyone else. We’ve got a battle to plan.”
“Right.” I felt my good mood evaporate at the mention of battle. The Fate Maker was trying to take over our world, and it was time that we stopped him. “And as soon as that’s done, I’m going to find that portal and that crappy place to banish you.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Just you wait.” I tugged her braid as we started toward the square. “Oh, and Kit?”