Rage of the Dragon

CHAPTER 22

Skylan’s experience of the City of the First Daughter was not nearly so comfortable or awe-inspiring as Aylaen’s. The dungeons were located in a part of the caverns separate from the city and consisted of a few rooms gouged out of the stone walls. No prison door slammed shut behind him, and no iron bars blocked his escape. He was not chained to the wall in iron manacles. The Aquins kept their prisoners inside nets suspended from a hook in the ceiling. A soft glow filtered down from skylights.

Skylan had been angry before his arrival and now, left trapped in a net like a mackerel, he was raging. His hands and arms and feet were scratched and bloody from trying to claw through the net. He was hoarse from demanding to know where Aylaen was and shouting challenges to fight that fell on deaf ears. The female Aquin guards standing in the entryway outside the prison cells paid no heed to him except to occasionally glance at each other and roll their eyes in amusement, which only infuriated Skylan more.

“You might as well relax, Skylan,” said a familiar voice. “You are only wearing yourself out.”

Skylan glanced around. He had been so intent upon trying to gain his freedom that he had not paid any attention to his surroundings. He saw with relief that Acronis and Farinn were in the same cell, trussed up in nets of their own. Skylan shook the net in frustration and then slumped down. His gyrations caused the net to spin and swing from side to side.

He had been on the ogre ship when the kraken attacked. He asked what had happened on board the Venjekar. Acronis explained that the kraken had attacked the Venjekar and the Dragon Kahg had attacked the kraken.

“Not much of a fight,” said Acronis. “The dragon sank his teeth into one of the kraken’s arms and the creature let go and swam off. The mast fell on Aylaen, but she was not badly injured,” he hastily assured Skylan. “Farinn flung himself on her.”

“I owe you a debt I can never repay,” said Skylan, looking at Farinn, who lowered his eyes and blushed.

“You should be grateful to the Aquins,” Acronis was saying. “They saved our lives. Both Farinn and I would have drowned if the women hadn’t put those amazing masks of theirs over our faces so that we could breathe.”

“They saved us only to make us prisoners. Do you know where they have taken Aylaen?” Skylan asked. “I tried to find out, but that she-devil of a guard refused to tell me.”

“Perhaps because you were threatening to rip off her head,” said Acronis dryly. “The commander took Aylaen to the palace for an audience with the Queen.”

“Then I should be with her!” Skylan said, starting to grow angry all over again. “I am Chief of Chiefs! Here, you: I want to see your Queen!”

Two Aquins had entered the prison cell. The two were male, Skylan realized after a moment. He had difficulty telling them from females because they were dressed in long gowns with flowing sleeves. The men carried baskets and drinking flasks made of fish skin. One had a bundle strapped to his chest.

“Finally!” Skylan exclaimed, seizing hold of the net and staring eagerly down at the men. “Tell those women of yours that I demand to see your Queen! I am Chief of Chiefs of the Vindrasi and yet these women treat me like a slave!”

The two men looked at each other and began to laugh.

“He demands to see the Queen,” said one in mocking tones.

“I am certain Her Majesty will be highly honored,” said the other.

“I will rush over to the palace at once and tell her,” said the first, and the two laughed again.

Skylan’s face burned. He shook the net. “I am Chief of Chiefs of my people. That means I am king. They have taken Aylaen, my woman, to see the Queen. If anyone talks to the Queen, it should be me.”

The men grinned and shook their heads, then handed the prisoners flat cakes made of ground wheat and gave them each a flask of fresh water. Skylan was parched, his mouth seemed coated with salt, and he drank thankfully. When the man drew close to the net, Skylan saw that the bundle the male Aquin carried was a sleeping baby.

“Now I understand,” said Skylan bitterly. “You, too, are a slave.”

The man smiled. “I am sorry. You use that word for a second time. I am not familiar with it. What does it mean?”

“A person who is owned by another person,” said Skylan. “Someone who is not free to do what he chooses. He must do another’s bidding.”

“Such a concept is unknown among my people,” the Aquin said, “though it occurs to me now I have heard that you land walkers commit such atrocities.”

“If you are not a slave, why must you carry around that baby?” Skylan asked.

The man appeared mystified by the question. “He is my son. I carry him because I am his father.”

The Aquins picked up the empty baskets and made ready to go, promising to bring them more food the next day.

“Why is the child in your care?” Skylan persisted. “Are you a widower? If so, there must be women who can tend to the boy.”

The man caressed the child, stroking his head tenderly. “We believe it is only logical that the strongest in society protect the weakest.”

“Our women care for our children,” said Skylan.

The man raised his eyebrows. “It is a wonder your people have managed to survive.”

As the two left, they stopped to exchange some words with the female guard on the way out. The woman kissed the child the man was carrying, then kissed the man on the cheek.

Skylan sat down in the net. Trying to find a comfortable position and failing, he ate his bread in silence.

“A matriarchal society,” said Acronis.

“A what?” Skylan grunted.

Acronis smiled. “Matriarchal. A society run by women. Women are the rulers. They are the warriors. The men stay home to guard and nurture the children. He was right. Their way of living makes sense, if you stop to think about it. The strongest protects the weakest.”

Skylan found this concept baffling. “Yet their women claim to be the warriors. Do the women fight battles while the men stay home to suckle babes?”

Acronis yawned widely and made himself as comfortable as was possible trapped in a net. The light was fading, night falling. Farinn, with the ease of youth, had gone to sleep long before this.

Acronis closed his eyes and gave another yawn. “Perhaps these people are peace-loving and need no warriors. Perhaps there are no wars for them to fight.”

Skylan pondered this notion. He recalled that the Aquin warriors had not killed the kraken. They had driven it away with jabs from their spears. Thinking of the kraken made him recall those hellish moments when he thought he was going to drown. He shook the thoughts from his mind and tried to find some sort of comfortable way to position himself in the net.

That being impossible, he settled himself as best he could, thinking and worrying about Aylaen, and drifted off into an uncomfortable slumber.

* * *

Skylan woke with an aching back, a stiff neck, and itching all over. The prison cell was dimly lit with the coming of dawn. Guards entered, lowered the nets, and escorted the prisoners one by one to a pool where they were allowed to bathe and perform ablutions. The women took away their clothes, which were stiff with salt water, and gave each of them one of the odd-looking robes and a loincloth to wrap around their hips. Farinn was abashed in the presence of the women, who grinned when they saw him blush in shame for his nakedness.

Once they were dressed, they were not returned to the nets. They were given food and drink and informed that the Aquin commander was coming to speak with them.

“I would advise you to be diplomatic,” said Acronis. “If you want to see Aylaen.”

Skylan grudgingly admitted that this was probably sound advice, but all his good intentions went up in smoke the moment Commander Neda entered the prison cell. Skylan jumped to his feet.

“I want to see Aylaen. I want my ship. And the fae child. The boy who was with me? Where is he?”

“You make a lot of demands for a man who spent the night in a net,” said Neda coldly. “Your Queen is in the palace. She is safe and well. As for your ship, it is harbored outside the city. You need not worry about it. We are hardly likely to steal it,” Neda added wryly. She shrugged. “The last I saw of the fae child, he was with the oceanaids.”

“I want to see Aylaen,” Skylan said insistently.

“Your Queen has requested that you attend her; our Queen has approved her request,” said the commander. “You and the others will accompany me to the palace.”

“Queen?” Skylan was puzzled. This was the second time she’d referred to a queen. “What Queen-”

Acronis gave a cough. “She means Aylaen,” said Acronis.

“Aylaen? But she is not-”

Acronis cleared his throat with a loud argh-um.

Skylan took the hint and did not speak again to the Aquin commander. He smiled reassuringly at Farinn, who was looking frightened and overwhelmed, and praised him again for his bravery in saving Aylaen. Farinn smiled, pleased, and relaxed.

The commander went to summon her warriors.

“What is this about Aylaen being a queen?” Skylan asked Acronis.

“As I said, in this society, women are the rulers. Aylaen must have said something that led them to believe she was a Vindrasi ruler. You need to support her,” Acronis admonished him.

“Even though I am Chief of Chiefs, I should pretend that Aylaen is my ruler?” Skylan frowned.

“Does that bother you?” Acronis asked with a slight smile.

“Women rule the household and raise the children. Men govern and fight the wars. That is how the gods intended,” said Skylan. “These people have got everything backward.”

Acronis was now chuckling. Skylan wondered why.