The Queen of Death

61

As the figure approached, Kandler froze in Sallah’s arms. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him as he rushed down the gangplank. The others raced along behind them.

There on the edge of the wide, flat landing platform— her bright-eyed face lit in warm tones by the airship’s ring of fire—stood Esprë.

Kandler and Sallah pulled up just shy of the girl and stared at her. With the tears he’d cried for her still wet on his face, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He reached out with an unsure hand to touch her.

“Are you … ?”

He’d just seen her incinerated. She couldn’t be real. Perhaps her ghost had come back to haunt him for his failure to protect her. He knew he deserved no less torment than that.

When his fingers reached her face, though, he felt no chill spirit but warm flesh. At his touch, she grinned and leaped into his arms.

Kandler reveled in the moment, refusing to let her go.

He kissed her cheek and felt her giggle with laughter and relief, and he joined her. He shamelessly wept fat tears of joy.

“How?” he said eventually, letting her go enough that he could look her in the face.

Esprë shook her head, still groggy. “I don’t know. The last thing I remember was fighting with Te’oma. Then I woke up in one of the cabinets near the doorway. I had to knock for Greffykor to let me out.”

The girl looked around at the others staring at her. “What happened to the dragon queen?” she asked.

Kandler gasped. He knew.

He held Esprë tight and told her how Te’oma had taken her place.

The girl nearly collapsed in his arms.

“How?” Esprë said, stunned. “Why?”

“She told me once she had a lot to make up for,” Burch said, calling from his spot at the wheel.

“She said that to me too,” said Xalt. “I thought she meant to apologize for stabbing me when we were in Construct.”

“By the light of the Flame,” Sallah said. “She redeemed herself.”

“May the spirits bless her,” Monja said before she headed back for the bridge, “wherever her soul may now rest.”

While Te’oma might have won Kandler’s respect and undying gratitude with her death, he could not suppress how he felt about the results. “The dragon queen thinks you’re dead.”

Esprë grinned and hugged Kandler with all her might. “Does this mean it’s all over?” she said, her voice filled with wonder.

“I am afraid not,” Greffykor said.

All eyes turned toward the dragon, who had loomed silently over the joyful reunion until now. Burch trotted up to stand beside Kandler, a loaded crossbow in his hands. The justicar flexed his empty hands, remembering that his fangblade still lay where he had cast it aside in the lower level of the observatory.

“I plan to take my daughter and fly out of here,” Kandler said. “You’re not going to stop me.”

“No,” Esprë said, standing away from him. “I will.” Kandler narrowed his eyes at his daughter. “Explain.” “The dragon queen thinks I’m dead. She will probably spread word of that far and wide.” The girl looked to Greffykor for confirmation, which she received.

“That’s just what we want,” Kandler said.

“It won’t last,” said Esprë. “How did the Lich Queen know where to find me? Or the Keeper of the Flame?”

Sallah frowned. “The emergence of your dragonmark alerted those who keep their fingers on the pulse of the world.”

“Would they be fooled by what they’ll see as a rumor of my death?”

“Got a point,” Burch said ruefully.

“So we go back to the original plan,” Kandler said. “We confront the bastards behind this brewing conflict and put an end to it.”

Monja cleared her throat then blushed as the others turned to look at her. “Well,” she said, “that was never all that much of a plan, was it?”

Kandler bristled at the comment, mostly because he could not deny it. “Did anyone have a better idea?” he asked.

“Not at the time,” Xalt said, “but I think Esprë does now.”

Kandler’s heart sank as he looked to the girl. “You seem older,” he said. He wasn’t sure who’d changed, though, him or her.

“I hear coming back from the dead can do that to you.” She offered him a weak smile, and he clung to it.

“Tell me,” he said.

Esprë frowned, and Kandler braced himself.

“I have to stay here,” she said. “Forever.”

Kandler’s knees wobbled. Sallah put her arm around him, and he leaned on her a bit.

“Of course,” said Xalt. “You’ll be safe here.”

Monja stared up at the top of the tower. “Won’t the people who found Esprë before just find her here?”

Greffykor shook his head. “ My observatory is invisible to magical detection. As long as Esprë stays here with me, no one will be able to find her.”

“The dragon queen knew where we were because she followed us,” said Sallah.

Esprë craned her neck back and looked up at the silver dragon. “Is that an invitation?”

“I offered before to keep you here,” Greffykor said. “You may stay as long as you wish. My home will be your own.” Kandler grumbled. “How is this going to work? Where will she sleep? How are you going to feed her? What if other dragons come to visit?”

Esprë cut Kandler off with a hand laid across his lips. “Greffykor is a powerful sorcerer. He can care for me here.”

“Why?” Kandler said, eyeing the dragon. “Why would you do that for her?”

“It would give me a chance to study her dragonmark,” Greffykor said. “It is an unparalleled chance to research the effects of such a mark on the Prophecy. Perhaps I might even be able to determine if it is, in fact, the Mark of Death.”

“It’s not?” said Kandler. Hope warred with outrage in his head. “Then what’s all this been about? You can’t tell me we’ve gone through all this because of some sort of mystical case of mistaken identity.”

“The Voice of the Silver Flame herself sent me to Mardakine to find the Mark of Death,” said Sallah. “I do not believe that she would make such a mistake.”

“Did she say ‘the Mark of Death’?” Monja asked. “Those exact words?”

“I_”

“I remember Deothen saying you came looking for a ‘lost mark,’ ” said Burch.

“Only one mark has ever been lost,” Sallah said, struggling to keep her tone even.

“That you know of,” said Xalt.

Sallah opened her mouth to respond, but Greffykor cut her off. The dragon snorted puffs of icy air from his snout. “There are other dragonmarks beside the true marks. Sometimes these aberrations resemble the true marks. There is something unusual about the mark on this girl, but I am no expert on such matters. Whether or not it is the Mark of Death is not important. No one has seen that dragonmark for centuries, and most of those souls have long since passed on. While the memories of dragons are long, they are not always without fault. It may be impossible to tell for sure.”

“If it’s not the Mark of Death, then Esprë can come—” “If it is the Mark of Death, nothing changes, boss,” Burch said. “Even if it’s not, it’s still something everybody wants, and nothing changes again.”

Kandler closed his mouth. “Why do you always have to be right?” he asked.

“Force of habit.”

“I’ll be safe here,” Esprë said. “I can study sorcery under Greffykor. We can research my dragonmark together and learn how to harness every bit of its powers.”

“It may only be a century or two before we learn enough to set you free,” Greffykor said. “The time will pass swiftly.” “I’ll be lucky to live another forty years,” Kandler said softly.

The dragon stiffened then gave Kandler a woeful look. “I can barely imagine a life so short. Other than elves and dwarves, you people seemed doomed from your hatching.” “I’ll miss you,” Esprë said, reaching out and caressing her stepfather’s unshaven cheek.

Kandler refused to mourn losing the girl in front of her. “It’s all right, Esprë,” he said, his voice brimming with affection. “We both knew I’d end up leaving you sooner or later. I just always hoped for much, much later.”

He leaned down and kissed Esprë on the cheek then used his thumb to wipe away the single tear that rolled down her face. He smiled at her as his heart shattered inside him. “Your mother would be so proud of you,” he said.