Rage of the Dragon

CHAPTER 24

Skylan gaped, his jaw going slack. “No one knows about that! I never told anyone!”

He looked back at the Queen, his voice hardening. “What do you mean, Your Majesty? How do you know me by a name given to me by the gods?”

The Queen sighed deeply. “I must think about this.”

Without another word, she rose and walked away, leaving them to stare after her in astonishment.

“Wait!” Skylan called. “You can’t just walk out! What about the torque-”

But he was talking to no one. The Queen had left the throne room. Swearing, Skylan ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

“Do you know what is going on?” he asked Aylaen.

She shook her head. Seeing guards approaching them, Skylan rounded on them.

“You’re not taking me back to that dungeon!” he said.

“You are to be given quarters in the palace, near your Queen,” said the guard.

“My Queen,” Skylan repeated, smiling at Aylaen. He fell into step beside her, the guards leading the way. “I behaved like a rampaging boar. I am sorry. It’s just … this is all so strange and I feel so helpless. At least our ship is safe. If we could reach it, we could escape-”

“Not without the Vektan Torque,” said Aylaen.

“That’s right,” said Skylan, brooding. “I forgot.”

“So why are you called Torval’s Fish Knife?” said Aylaen.

Skylan gave a shame-faced smile. “Back on the Dragon Isles, I once asked Vindrash arrogantly if Torval thought of me as his sword. The goddess laughed at me and said I wasn’t a sword. I was nothing more than a knife Torval used to gut his fish.”

Aylaen smiled. “You were insulted.”

“I was then,” said Skylan. He added somberly, “I’ve learned a lot since.”

“But not how to hold your tongue,” Aylaen said, grinning.

Skylan shook his head morosely. “I do not understand these people.”

“I remember where I’ve heard that about the fish knife,” said Aylaen. “When we were in the Temple with Garn’s spirit, Vindrash said she was going to bet Torval’s fish knife against her shining sword. I had no idea what she was talking about.”

“You, of course,” said Skylan.

Aylaen blinked at him, startled. “Be serious.”

Skylan took hold of her hand. “I am serious. You are her ‘shining sword.’ The blessed sword of Vindrash.”

“I fear my blade is dull and blunted,” said Aylaen with a sigh.

“And I am a broken fish knife,” said Skylan. “You spoke to the Queen before I arrived. What did you talk about? Why doesn’t she set us free? Why is she keeping us here?”

“She accused us of invading her realm by the command of Aelon,” said Aylaen. “I told her we followed the Old Gods. She said she was a priestess, but she did not say of which god. I do not think, from what we have seen, that she worships Aelon.”

They were climbing the spiral stairs and both paused to look out one of the many windows. The sun was starting to sink. The lagoon’s blue glow was touched with pinks and oranges. Glints of mica sparkled. Aquins walked along the far shore or strolled on the paths that wound up the cliff side or sailed upon the shining water in boats or swam with flashing strokes that sent ripples spreading.

Their guards did not hasten them, but stopped when they stopped. Farinn had charmed one of his guards, a young woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, who could not seem to take her eyes off him. Acronis was talking volubly with his two guards, asking questions about their lives, their city. His guards were smiling, glad that he was taking an interest in their people.

“The Legate is an unusual man,” said Aylaen, following Skylan’s gaze. “We were his slaves with reason to hate him and he made us love him. And now he has endeared himself to his captors.”

“Acronis is a fair and honest man,” said Skylan. “He opens himself to new ideas. That’s why Raegar and his priest friends hated him. They could not tell him what to think.”

“So Raegar is Priest-General now,” said Aylaen. “That will make Treia happy.”

“And the first thing he does is come after us,” said Skylan. He scratched his chin, puzzled. “How did he know we were alive and where to find us?”

“Aelon’s priests have many ways to communicate with each other and he has spies and followers everywhere, even below the sea. They must have passed on the information.”

“So why don’t you think this Queen worships Aelon?”

“When Queen Magali spoke Aelon’s name, she sounded as though she had bitten into a rotten apple. She seemed to want to spit it out.”

“You trust her?” Skylan asked, regarding her with a slight frown.

“I trust her and I like her,” said Aylaen. “I think she is fair and she is honest. What is more important, our gods trust her, Skylan. How else could she know about you and Torval?”

Skylan shook his head, not convinced.

“Our gods are fighting the battle in heaven,” Aylaen said earnestly. “They are battered and bloodied, but they fight on and they are helping us as best they can. Perhaps we were brought here for a reason.”

“So we were nearly drowned and then killed by a kraken for a reason,” Skylan said.

“Everything we do is for a reason,” said Aylaen. “Perhaps you were brought here so that you can learn to care for babies.”

Skylan was about to protest indiginantly, and then saw her smile. He took hold of her hand.

“It is good to see you happy again.”

The palace was quiet. From outside came the sound of the water lapping on the shore. The tranquility of this lovely realm seeped into both of them. Aylaen drew near Skylan.

“Come to my bed tonight,” Aylaen whispered.

Skylan’s body stiffened. He swallowed and stared out the window and then, clearing his throat, he said quietly, “No. Not until we are wed. Our son will be Chief of Chiefs. He must be born in honor. When you are my wife, I will come to your bed.”

“Then let us wed here,” said Aylaen.

Skylan was astonished.

“The Queen can marry us.” Aylaen seemed pleased with her idea. “She is a priestess. She can wed us.”

“Right before she sends us to Raegar,” said Skylan with a grim smile.

“I do not think she will do that … Oh, Skylan, listen to me. I feel like our wyrds are like balls of yarn rushing down a hill, unwinding as they go. We will reach our end far too fast. Because I did not know my own heart, I have already missed too many moments of joy with you. I would not miss any more.”

Pain darkened Skylan’s eyes. Aylaen’s voice faltered. “If … if you want to wed me…”

The pain was gone, replaced by almost blinding joy.

“I have made so many mistakes in my life,” Skylan said. “Loving you is the only thing I got right. I will speak to the Queen tomorrow.”

“No,” said Aylaen. “I will speak to the Queen.”

Skylan laughed. One of the guards ordered them to keep moving. They had been standing there long enough. Arms twined around each other, Aylaen and Skylan continued slowly up the stairs. Acronis and his guards followed, still talking companionably. Farinn, conscious of the admiring gaze of the young woman, lost his footing, tripped, and stumbled. She was at his side to steady him. Blushing and self-conscious, he did not know where to look and tripped again.

The mood was shattered by Wulfe, who came running into the palace with a couple of guards in pursuit. He was half-naked and wet and slippery as an eel. He raced up the stairs, his bare feet slapping.

“Hey, Skylan,” he shouted gleefully, “I’ve been running all over the palace looking for you!”

* * *

The Sea Goddess, Akaria, stood in a hidden alcove, covered by a decorative frieze, and looked down upon the group on the staircase. From her vantage point, she could hear and see all they did and said. Another goddess, wearing a dented breastplate stained with blood and chain mail whose links were pierced and broken, stood beside the Sea Goddess looking down on the mortals below.

“I do not think much of Torval’s Fish Knife,” said Akaria. “Any number of gods must want him dead.”

“As Skylan concedes, he has learned a lot, though his lessons had to be beaten into him.”

“So Sund is seeking to kill him. Why did no one tell me Sund had turned traitor?”

“If you had not been off sulking in your grotto, you would know what has happened in the world,” Vindrash admonished.

“I was mourning the death of my daughter,” said Akaria sullenly. “What has this arrogant and rebellious mortal to do with our future?”

“Sund was the only one of us with long sight. He could look into the future and see what was to come. Of course, since our wyrds are bound with the wyrds of men, Sund saw many futures, all constantly shifting. He chose among the many, finding the most probable, and relating that future to us. In the beginning, he chose wisely. But when we foolishly did not heed his counsel, Sund grew angry and embittered. The darkness in his soul caused him to see only those outcomes that are bleak and unhappy.”

“And what did Sund see that sent him running to Aelon?” Akaria asked.

“Sund foresaw that if Skylan Ivorson recovers all Five of the Vektia Dragons, he will use them in the battle against Aelon. The Five would destroy Aelon and save the world from the tyrant god.”

“And that is bad?” Akaria frowned.

“So it would seem,” said Vindrash somberly. “For if Skylan recovers the Five and drives away Aelon, Sund sees nothing for us.”

“What does that mean, Dragon Goddess?”

Vindrash gave a small shrug. “Impossible to tell. Perhaps the world is saved, but we are no more.”

Akaria stood brooding. “You want me to give them the third Vektia spiritbone.”

“Sund gave Aelon the spiritbone of the Vektia in the belief that Skylan and Aylaen would not fail to obtain the Five. Aelon’s ambition led him to use the Vektia dragon to try to defeat the invading ogres and strike a blow at his rivals, the Gods of Raj. Aelon nearly ended up destroying himself and in an ironic twist of the thread, the Vektia spiritbone fell into Aylaen’s hands. The very fate Sund had attempted to avoid came to pass. Your Sea Queen has in her possession the Vektan Torque, the second of the Five.”

“And you want me to tell them where to find the third,” said Akaria. She turned to face Vindrash. “If our doom and theirs lies in the Five coming together, why do you want to bring this doom about?”

“We are not very good gods,” said Vindrash.

“Speak for yourself!” Akaria snapped.

Vindrash shook her head. “I was wrong to hide away the power of creation. I did so because I feared other gods might seize it, use it against us. But that left a void, and creation’s opposite, destruction, rushed in to fill it. Once, long ago, the races of the world prospered and lived in peace. Now they are at each other’s throats.”

“There has never been war among the Aquins. Never has one Aquin shed the blood of another in battle,” Akaria said. “If Queen Magali refuses to give into the demands of Aelon’s followers, our long-time peace will end in bloodshed. This Fish Knife is expendable. There are always more where he came from.”

“The evil was slow in finding its way to you, Akaria,” said Vindrash. “But it has come. Turn Skylan and Aylaen over to Aelon, and we are doomed.”

“It seems we are doomed no matter what we do,” Akaria said, and she burst out crossly, “Why did you bring them here, dump them in my lap?”

“I did not,” said Vindrash. “I was trying to help them reach Vindraholm.”

“Aelon’s work, then.”

“Aelon sent the kraken to kill them. It was your people who saved them,” Vindrash pointed out.

“Force of habit,” Akaria muttered. “We are always saving land walkers, and small thanks we get for it! But if not you and not me and not Aelon, then who?”

“The Gods of Raj,” Vindrash suggested.

Akaria gave a bitter laugh. “Their ogres lie dead at the bottom of the sea.”

Vindrash was silent, then she said quietly, “There are those we have forgotten. The dragons.”