Page 1 of When Ashes Fall

CHAPTER ONE

Briar

Knox kept his hand on my elbow as he led me through the hallways, past the tree of unity with its multicolored leaves, and on toward the front door where Pierce and Lyra waited for him. Dromon’s boots tapped against the floor as he followed us.

Knox moved so fast that I had to jog to keep up with him or risk faceplanting. “Aren’t you going to dress before going out there?” I asked breathlessly.

He glanced down at himself as if just realizing he was still nude, but his steps didn’t slow. Gizzi remained perched on my shoulder, his tail around my neck and his tiny claws digging into my skin as he hung on. His claws were sharp but not painful, and I was glad for his reassuring presence.

Zephyr bobbed up and down as he flew beside me, his blue and gold dragonfly wings buzzing as he went. Paler than normal, his gray eyes kept darting to the side like he was contemplating fleeing, but he remained by my side.

Taking pity on the sprite, I handed my basket out to him and stumbled as the motion caused me to trip over my feet. I managed not to fall when I staggered behind Knox; I was pretty sure if I fell, he’d keep dragging me along.

“Here, take this,” I said to Zephyr.

Zephyr grasped the basket and pulled it away from me to clutch it against his chest.

“Take it to the healer’s room,” I told him. “I’ll see you there in a bit.”

Maybe.

I had no idea how any of this would go, but from what I’d learned in life, it probably wouldn’t work out in my favor. Still, I couldn’t drag Zephyr along for this; there was no reason for us all to suffer.

“You should go with him,” I told Gizzi through my mind.

“I’m staying with you.”

I wasn’t going to argue with the tiny lowleeto. He was small, but he could kill someone with one bite. Zephyr wasn’t quite as lethal, and I worried he’d get hurt if he continued with us.

“Are you sure?” Zephyr asked me, his voice containing the beautiful, lilting accent of the sprites.

“Yes, go on,” I assured him.

He fell back and hovered a few feet behind us. His wings fluttered lazily before he surged forward to fly beside me again.

“I’ll stay with you… for now,” he said, his chin set stubbornly.

I decided not to fight with him. “Knox, you need clothes.”

“The fuck I do,” he snarled.

My eyes widened at this as Bertie and some of the other sprites fluttered down from the rafters to float beside the door. He shouldn’t be out there with my mother while looking like this.

After everything she did to him, does it matter if she sees him naked now?

No, it didn’t, but I’d still prefer that it didn’t happen. Unfortunately, he didn’t agree with me as he continued heedlessly onward.

Lyra opened the door before we reached it, and Knox stormed through. Our feet thudded down the stairs, and I continued jogging to keep pace with him as we crossed the bailey.

“Open the gates!” Knox called as we got closer to them.

I couldn’t see the sprites gathered on top of the castle walls; they’d chosen to be invisible to hide themselves from these new arrivals, but the handles on the pulleys that maneuvered the gates started spinning. The massive doors creaked open to reveal the road and town beyond.

On my shoulder, Gizzi’s claws bit deeper into my skin before he relaxed. Zephyr stayed beside me while Lyra, Dromon, and Pierce flanked Knox.

Through the open gates, an entourage of riders trotted down the road, past the empty houses and rosebushes. The horses’ hooves, and those of the creatures carrying the cyclops, clip-clopped against the red bricks.

The giant beasts the cyclops rode were at the back of the pack. Those creatures stood at least twelve feet tall at the shoulders, had tusks over six feet long, and were the color of the sun that didn’t shine in this kingdom.