Broken Path, Starless Tail - 30. Chapter 30

“To rest you need to sleep. If you want me to sleep now, you need to wake me up so I can take a turn,” Beckett argued stubbornly.

“We are pretty far from the city. Unless they also have a dragon, I doubt they could catch up before midday tomorrow, and we won’t sleep past dawn.”

“So, sleep here together?” Beckett wasn’t against that. It was clear, the actual stars shining over them in a thick blanket in the dark sky. He would probably stay awake from shivering if he wasn’t curled up under Valrinda’s wing in a cozy pocket of body warmth. His dragon was better than a heater, if a little lumpy.

“We might as well.”

“Don’t you dare try to stay awake.” Beckett wasn’t sure what he’d do. “Don’t make me zap you.” He’d figure out how. “Sleep so you can heal.”

“I will,” Valrinda promised.

Satisfied, Beckett shifted onto his side. They were curled in the sand under the shelter of a batch of rocks off the side of the road, so he made a small divot for his hip and leaned against his warm dragon. Each long breath Valrinda took shifted him up and down, rocking him naturally to sleep.

The next morning, Beckett was plastered to Valrinda’s back as they flew through the sky above stormy rain clouds. “Where are we going?” he shouted.

“South.” Valrinda stretched out a scaly arm tipped with a deadly claw. Most of the scratches and small chunks taken out of him had healed overnight, but the bite taken out of his back spine was still filling back in.

“Wait… weren’t we already going south? Why aren’t we headed back to the portal?”

“No, that doesn’t work anymore. It’s broken.”

Beckett leveraged himself up. “What?” he screeched.

“The portal is broken,” Valrinda said loud and slow, like he hearing him had been the problem.

“Then how in the hell am I supposed to get this star back to Parallax?”

“I’m not sure. But I was thinking, with your magic, it would be best to consult the Mage Council. They’ll talk to you now.”

“Now? Like they wouldn’t before?”

“No, they only take on petitions from their own kind.”

Wow, they sounded great. Like the jock bastards who thought they were all hot shit and only cool enough to hang out with each other, but on magical steroids. “Do we have to talk to them?”

“Do you have another idea?”

“Of fucking course not.” Magical jocks it was.

And… of course they had their very own city, with their very own guard, and those assholes wouldn’t let Valrinda into the city.

“No, I’m not going without you.” Beckett crossed his arms over his chest. They’d gone back down the road a good ways so the stupid guards in their gold, purple, and black uniforms wouldn’t hear them.

“We don’t have a choice. This is what you have to do so we can figure out how to find a portal that will take you home.”

Beckett leaned against Valrinda’s chest. “You’re my home.”

“I love being your guide, but you have a destiny.” Beckett was starting to hate that word. His arms dropped to his sides. “I won’t stand in the way of that. You need to go speak to the mages and find out if there’s a way to portal you home.”

“Fine. But you don’t move from here. If you’re still my guide, I need to be able to find you.”

Valrinda ducked his head and leaned it over Beckett’s shoulder, pressing them together in his version of a hug. “I will stay here.”

“Promise?” Beckett’s stomach was churning. He really didn’t want to go into another city on his own. It didn’t go well last time, even if he’d found Valrinda in the end.

“I swear by my scales.”

Beckett took a deep breath. “Okay, then.” He turned and marched toward the guards blocking the gate. When one tried to halt him, lightning crackled off Beckett’s fingertips. He curled his lip in a sneer until the spear blocking his path moved hastily.

“Damn right,” he muttered. All he had to do was out elite the elitist mages. He could do that.

Once he figured out where to go. Then again, where would the top brass be other than at the top? He headed up hill, looking for the biggest building on the tallest hill. The buildings on the side of the road nearest the wall blocked his view, but as soon as he got a few streets in, they started to thin.

And he saw it. “Oh yeah, that’s a dick stroke.” A big building with a huge spire topping it towered above everything. He couldn’t walk straight to it, but even as he zigzagged through the city streets he was able to keep it in view at all times.

He repeated his lightning trick on the four guards protecting the bridge to the grounds the building stood on, but he was stalled at the door to the entrance. No guards blocked his way, but there was a large stone golem. It was three times the size of the ones he’d blown up and felt like it was made of something much stronger. He shivered.

“I am here to speak to the mage council,” Beckett announced in his strongest voice.

“Do you have an appointment?”

Beckett’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”