around them, making sure the knots were tight. Connor grabbed the rock and hurtled it toward the beast. After four tries, the rope looped over its back, dangling down to the ground from the other side.
“More!” Connor yelled. “Make three more, quickly!”
Tressa did as she was told, tying the rope as fast as she could. Bastian and Connor tossed them up over the beast, its head whipping around violently as if something far away held it in a leash.
Connor and Bastian each grabbed two of the ropes hanging from the beast. They yanked hard, pulling it down, closer to the ground. The beast sputtered, its head hanging down.
Udor stomped out of the village hall, waving his arms in the air. “Are you crazy? We need to find a way to get it away from here, not bring it closer!”
Bastian and Connor ignored him, dragging the beast ever closer to the ground. Its clawed feet scrabbled on the dirt and rocks, not far from the dead villagers who’d been all but forgotten in the chaos.
Connor stalked closer to the beast, laying his hand on the muzzle. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
The beast’s eyes drooped to the grass beneath it. Its chest heaved up and down, slowing with each breath.
“What is it?” Tressa whispered to no one in particular.
Carrac, the oldest person in the village since Granna’s death, emerged from the village hall with a book in his hand. “It’s a dragon. I remember Sophia telling me stories of them when I was a wee boy on my momma’s knee.” He opened the book, pointing to a colorful drawing, made with dyes they no longer had access to in the village. Another relic from before the fog.
“Dragon?” Connor leaned into the beast. “Is that what you are?”
It didn’t respond, but it didn’t burn Connor into a crisp either.
The dragon opened one eye, pupil slitted like a cat’s and an iris as violet as the setting sun in the dark of winter. Smoke puffed out of the nostril opposite of Connor. Warily, it eyed Bastian, standing next to Tressa, his sword at the ready.
Then it took one big breath and exhaled in one final gush of air.
It no longer moved, lying prostrate on the ground, joining the dead of their village.
Chapter Twelve
Everyone stood in shock, staring at the dead dragon in the town square. A creature of myth that none one of them had ever seen before and few believed was anything more than a figment Sophia's aging imagination.
Connor rubbed the silent creature's muzzle. "Do you need more proof that the outside is knocking on our door? Yet we cannot answer their call. We have no way to defend ourselves."
"What defense is needed against a dead dragon?" Udor countered. "It came here to die, not to fight us. It's chance, nothing more."
Tressa looked around at the gathered crowd. It had swollen after the dragon died. Children crept out of their cottages to get a look at the fabled beast, while still hiding behind their mothers' skirts. Their eyes betrayed their new belief in Connor and Bastian's theory that a world might exist beyond their borders. It wasn't so easy to discount anything as a wild supposition anymore.
"Send them into the fog," one voice from the crowd shouted. The chant began quietly, growing with each repetition.
Connor nodded at Tressa, and took her hand. They stood in front of the crowd, determined. Out of the corner of her eye, Tressa saw Bastian advance toward them. She hoped he would think better of throwing away his life with Vinya and his daughter. Instead he walked right up to Connor's side and clapped his best friend on the shoulder.
"We are prepared to make the sacrifice," Connor said. "Tressa and I were supposed to leave, along with Geoff. But he's fallen ill, so Bastian has volunteered to join us."
A cry rang out from the crowd. Tressa cringed inside, knowing it was Vinya, Bastian's wife. "You will do no such thing. We are bonded and you have responsibilities here." She pushed through the masses, elbowing anyone in her way. "Don't do this. Please." But she wasn't looking at Bastian, Vinya stared at Tressa. The weight of the reality of his choice weighed on her.
Tressa looked over to Bastian, but he stood stone-faced, looking only at Vinya. "This is my decision. If Connor believes our families are in danger, I will stand with him. If I don't go, who will?" Bastian turned to the crowd. "Who among you will