The Last Dragon: Book One

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Princess Elizabeth had spoken. Her word was law as much as if the king had told us the same. We would depart the campsite in the morning. Only the details remained. Who would go, and how? That was the critical question that neither Kendra nor I wished to ask. Neither did we want to suffer her ire, because we’d seen it before in similar situations.

However, Tater hadn’t.

He said, “How are we going to take those three and us when we don’t have enough horses? Who’s walking?”

“Walking will slow us too much. There is important work to be done in Mercia. We’ll take the one who speaks with us because he may be of temporary use. For the other two, we will leave them food, blankets, and their lives. That is more than they were going to allow us.”

A flash of relief flooded Stata’s face. He said nothing to the others.

“The wolves or bears might get them,” Kendra said.

“Better than them eating us, as they are doing just down the hill from us this moment. We have five horses, four riders. Begin sorting what we will take with us.”

Her tone offered no room for question. She was right. After getting over my initial shock and reluctance to leave wounded men on the mountain where they would probably die we got busy. If they had not attacked us, all would be alive. If they had things their way, all of us would be dead. Us or them. They had named the tune, and we were singing it.

I carried a burning stick to the edge of the meadow to inspect where they had dumped much of our belongings. I could sort through them and find anything we required. On the way, I had passed close to Kendra with my two fingers signaling her. She picked up a blanket and followed me, making it appear I needed it.

When we knelt and began our search, she said quietly, “The Blue Lady returned to speak with me last night.”

“What did she say?”

“That we were doing well. Better than she expected. She didn’t expect us to survive the ambush. She warned me against the forces of darkness again.”

That stilled me. “She knew about the ambush and didn’t warn us?”

“She asked if we were now traveling to Kondor.”

The burning stick fell to the dirt from my limp fingers. She knew too much. “What else?”

“Two things. First, a dragon approached, and the Blue Lady faded away like she was scared of it.”

“And?” I prompted.

“All of it happened right beside the fire. When she left, the firelight reflected in Tater’s eyes. He was wide awake. I don’t know how much, or what he saw and heard.”

“Of course, you couldn’t ask.”

She shook her head. “Maybe we can blame it on fever and bad dreams. Look busy, here comes Elizabeth.”

I stood and said, without turning to face the princess, as if I was only addressing Kendra, “There is nothing here we need to take. We should load the packhorse with blankets and food.”

Elizabeth snapped, “We can purchase all else we require with the silver we recovered—and the refund I intend to get from the storekeeper.” Her tone was angry, but not directed at us. She said to Kendra in a softer tone, “Are you sure Tater can ride?”

“He may need a rest break or two, but yes. I’ll keep watch on his dressings.”

Several snarls of large animals sounded from the darkness as a fight erupted. Either bears fighting over the same body or bears and wolves. Maybe other animals were involved. By morning a feast between the carnivores of the mountain would be in full swing.

Elizabeth said, “Let’s get to the fire and keep it stoked all night. We can take a final look around in the morning, but I’m fairly certain there won’t be much to find that we need. Anyone hungry?”

I was not. Despite only a handful of nuts and dried fruit while returning to camp, my appetite had fled with the grunts and growls. My mind told me human bones were getting crushed as animals ate their fill. Kendra reacted to another growl from the darkness and shook her head that she didn’t want to eat, either. Our minds were imagining the terrible scene a few hundred steps away.

Tater was sitting up beside the fire, chewing and spitting and seemingly happy. A sling held his broken arm. I’d anticipated using some small magic to relieve his pain but held off. Who knows how much essence the world possesses or how it’s replaced—if it is. I wouldn’t want to be accused of wasting it like my sister does with her dragons. I chuckled to myself, finding myself in a better mood than there was any right to.

The bruises on Taters face had taken on the hues of a rainbow, the swelling may have reduced slightly, but his eyes were still puffy. “How are you doing?”

He started to smile and winced in pain instead. “Can you talk to that princess of yours and tell her that the guide needs a raise?”

His joke didn’t strike me as funny. “Yes, I will.”

“No, that was a joke.”

“For your help, we will pay you more. Far more.”

He spat near me, and while I saw it coming, I didn’t bother to deflect it. It missed, and that’s all that counts. Elizabeth and Kendra came and sat near us.

Kendra said, “We need to set a guard tonight. Bears and whatever else is out there tearing those poor men apart.”

Stata was a few steps away, listening to every word uttered and trying not to let on. I went to him and sat. “We’ll have to tie you for the night. Same with your friends.”

He shrugged. “Barely know them.”

“You’re not from Kondor?”

“Father was. Never been there, myself.”

That was interesting. “How did you get mixed up with these?”

“They paid me. Should have kept my old job and walked away. Any chance of you letting me go, or maybe joining up with you?”

I shook my head. He was not going with us. The conversation seemed to lag. He was right if he told the truth. Kendra and Elizabeth had their heads together, so I decided to move on. “Why were they here? The other men?”

A sheepish expression he couldn’t conceal told me shame would come with the answer. He said, “They were hunting for the treasure of the Dragon Queen.”

“Treasure hunters? Up here?” The answer didn’t make sense. They had no digging or mining tools, were not the sort to search for gold and jewels, and why had they searched at the top of a mountain pass? Well, not the summit, but near enough. In late spring there was still snow on the ground, and water froze at night.

Stata said, “Not a treasure in the usual manner, no gold or jewels. They hunted the Dragon Queen and hoped for the reward in finding her.” He paused, then continued, in his clipped accent, “That’s what they told me. Maybe not the truth?”

“Who is she?”

“No one knows. Mages sense when she uses her powers and they grow scared. She is a new arrival, and they say she absorbs all the essence of the world, way too much. There were six mages in Mercia waiting for her to arrive and more coming. The Kondor have all routes into the city blocked, to kill her first and collect the reward. But they are not alone.”

The explanation chilled me more than the frozen air. A queen meant a woman. However, it was the remark about using all the essence that turned my thinking to my sister and the conversations with the Blue Lady. For the first time, I knew true fear. “How will they know her?”

“By her dragon, of course.”

“Her dragon? You’ve confused me.” My heart began beating again. Kendra might attract wyverns, but she had no dragon, so perhaps it was a different person. Since there were no dragons in the world, even if there ever had been, my twisted mind could almost relax because Kendra didn’t have a dragon.

Stata continued as if taking me into his confidence like we were friends, “The woman called the Dragon Queen will recall the last dragon to life. It will break free of its bonds and obey only her.”

“Where do you get this nonsense?”

“The mages know it, at least the older ones. There is a ceremony told in old books,” he defended himself.

Disbelieving he told anything but lies and half-truths, I’d about lost my patience. A guide and translator for a dozen invaders starving to death might tell any story in order to survive. I persisted, “But, how did you get the information. You’re not a mage.”

He smiled as if tired, but his eyes were locked on the women. His hand slowly lifted, and his fingertips slid across the bloody bandage on his thigh. A sprinkling of blue light surrounded his wound and quickly dissipated. The dried blood was no longer on the bandage. He gently peeled it off and tossed it aside. Not even a sign of where the arrow had penetrated remained. I scooted away from him, as scared as I’d ever been.

Stata’s image fell away. He stood on two uninjured legs, drawing the attention of all. His nose grew wider, his skin lighter, his hair turned the shade of Elizabeth’s—and most of those people from Dire. He took a single step closer to my sister and Elizabeth and said in a strong, clear, unaccented voice, “Which is her?”