He shuddered.

“Everything all right back there?” Astrid called out. “Warm enough?”

“I’m all right. Do you remember where we’re going?”

The dragon was quiet for a moment. Then she cleared her throat. “Errm. Not… quite.”

Dev smiled and told her. Most of the time it didn’t bother him that she and the other ghost dragons forgot things. It wasn’t annoying unless the thing was very important or urgent. And at this point, Dev had nothing urgent on his agenda, which felt strange but nice. “Just don’t go to Grimere,” he said. Then he added, “My name is Dev, by the way.”

“Short for Devastation, no doubt,” Astrid joked.

Dev tilted his head, thinking about that and liking it. “Yes,” he said with a laugh. “Short for Devastation. And don’t you forget it.”

“Ha-ha!” said Astrid with a glorious cackle.

The terrain below was desertlike until they reached a mountain range, where a stream passed through that was lined with trees. Dev was glad he’d asked Astrid to take him. Climbing the mountains would have been a challenge that Dev might not have been up for. His aching ribs seemed to be a pain that would never go away, and he’d only just learned to tolerate it.

The mountains below looked sharp and rugged and difficult. That explained why Ashguard’s palace and the surrounding village was so closed off. There was no way to approach on foot from the north because of these mountains, and the crater lake was a barrier to the east of the land.

“What’s to the south and west of the palace?” Dev asked presently.

“I don’t recall,” said Astrid, not surprisingly. “I’m feeling like it could be… water. Maybe? An ocean?” She paused, sniffing the air. “Or land. I don’t know.”

“Interesting,” said Dev, trying not to laugh. “And beyond the oceans or… or land?”

“I doubt I’ve ever known that,” said Astrid. “But clearly there are dragons beyond, if what you say is accurate about them having come from far and wide in response to the Revinir’s call.”

“They definitely have done that,” said Dev. “Can you tell me why the ghost dragons aren’t affected?”

“We hear the roar,” Astrid said. “We just don’t care. The only call we are willing to respond to is that of the black-eyed rulers.”

Dev blinked. “What, you mean like me? Please. That’s not even funny.”

“You are the Devastator, after all.”

Dev didn’t tell her she’d renamed him wrongly from earlier. The two bantered a bit more to pass the time, and then Dev slept, but not for too long in case Astrid forgot where they were going again.

When she woke him, he sat up and looked down at the terrain. The mountains were behind them. Below, the remains of a city covered rolling hills. Bits of green growth showed through. There were some buildings and houses still standing, like a city that had been destroyed by a natural disaster. Dev glanced to the east, seeing the crater lake in the distance, and beyond that, the tree line of the forest and the promise of Dragonsmarche and Grimere. Astrid dropped lower and circled above a hill that had some sprawling structures on it. She had no problem finding a place to land.