The Empty Crown

by Georgina Makalani

  She narrowed her eyes, and then her pretty face turned scarlet.

  ‘There is no one else here. Who did you think drew your bath of an evening?’

  If it was possible, she turned an even deeper shade of red. The king stepped between them to shield her dignity, although somewhat too late. A girl had visited with Ana as well, Dray realised as an overwhelming urge to rip the gwelka’s limbs from his little body rushed over him.

  But the little man, still watching around the king to the blonde girl, licked his lips and then started to open his mouth. Dray watched, transfixed, as his mouth continued to open, the jaw unhinging. Then Ende’s hand closed around his throat and it snapped shut.

  ‘You see?’ he said in a sing-song voice. ‘You would have been gone in a minute, and no one would have noticed until you didn’t come down for breakfast. You wouldn’t even have the chance to scream.’

  Dray gulped back his revulsion. The stories might be truer than he gave them credit for. He certainly hoped that Ende would be with them if they came across any more gwelka in the mountains.

  ‘That explains the horses,’ the girl muttered, and Dray snorted. The king turned a surprised look his way.

  ‘Ana needs to be our focus,’ Dray said, trying to remind himself why they were where they were. It was all because of her. The reason he had left his men, the reason they were trying to help a king who didn’t want to be helped. The reason he was travelling with a dragon disguised as an old man.

  ‘Gold,’ Ende said through clenched teeth, his hands closing tighter in their hold.

  The gwelka made a strange squeaking noise.

  ‘He needs to be able to tell us,’ the king said.

  Ende nodded once and allowed the hand around the gwelka’s neck to ease a little, barely enough to notice other than that his knuckles were no longer white.

  ‘I…’ the gwelka started and then stopped again. He pointed wildly in several different directions with his free arm before allowing them both to hang limp. ‘I’m a dead gwelka whichever way you go.’

  ‘You certainly won’t be following us,’ Ende said.

  ‘What if I give you what I have and you let me go home to my brothers?’

  ‘And then you come after us in force?’ It was Belle who asked the question, and Dray wondered why he hadn’t noticed how quick she was before. Ana had said she would help; he wondered if she knew how much.

  ‘Under my bed,’ the gwelka said.

  Ende took a deep breath and, guiding the gwelka by the tight hold he had around his neck, marched him back into the castle.

  Once inside, the little devil tried to escape, but Ende’s grip was too tight. He hung his head as he was led through the castle. The room was no different to any other, yet it didn’t feel right. The illusion of the large, open golden spaces was gone, but something tingled over Dray’s skin.

  Ende sniffed warily at the air as Dray held up his arm, preventing Belle and the king from coming further into the room. ‘What is it?’ he asked.

  ‘Not gold,’ Ende murmured.

  Something growled from the shadows, and Dray moved the king from the room altogether. ‘We can’t risk you,’ he whispered as the king made noises of protest. ‘Watch the girl.’

  ‘More like I would watch him,’ she muttered, and the boy turned disappointed eyes her way.

  ‘That wall juts up to the mountain,’ Ende said, his voice low.

  ‘You have an escape,’ Dray said.

  ‘I would, but I have a dragon problem.’

  Dray glanced back, but the others were outside the room and out of hearing. He looked to Ende, who shook his head. They would need to tell them at some point just who it was that travelled with them.

  ‘What is it?’ the king called out.

  ‘He is trying to get away from us.’

  ‘But we need his help to find Ana.’

  ‘No, you don’t,’ the little man spat, wriggling again to try and get out of the grip of the dragon. ‘You know exactly where she is.’

  ‘How would we know that?’ Belle asked.

  ‘The mage,’ the king murmured.

  Dray nodded. ‘He wanted her dead. Perhaps they think with the king gone that she isn’t the threat they thought, or something has changed. But the mage is the only one who could have taken her like that. The only one who would want her like that.’

  ‘She is just a girl,’ Belle said.

  The gwelka laughed, the hideous sound echoing from the walls even as it was strained by the hold on his neck. ‘She is far more than just a girl. I felt that instantly, as I’m sure the mage did.’

  ‘We don’t need your opinions,’ Dray snapped. ‘We need your gold.’

  ‘It is in the mountains.’

  ‘Really?’ Ende asked. ‘You would risk it all and travel back and forth?’

  ‘I really don’t like you,’ the gwelka murmured. ‘It is in the cellar, where all gold should be kept.’

  ‘Unguarded?’ Belle asked.

  ‘Do you see any guards? Do you think I need guards?’ He flashed his pointed teeth, and she shivered.

  ‘We don’t want to take everything you have, just enough to help us reach the capital.’ The king stood straighter.

  ‘Lead the way,’ Ende said, his voice low, and Dray was sure the room rumbled. ‘Or I will snap your neck and we will find it on our own.’

  ‘You will need me to allow you entry.’

  He sighed, and Dray indicated that the king and Belle move back from the door. They travelled again in the direction instructed by the little grey gwelka as Ende’s hand remained tight around its neck. It didn’t take as long as he thought it might, given that the castle was so much smaller now. The door they reached was solid but looked no different from any other door they had come across.

  ‘Open it,’ Ende instructed.

  ‘You could…’

  ‘Open it,’ he said again, and this time Dray was sure the walls shook with his voice.

  Closing his eyes, the gwelka held his hand out and pressed it to the wood. Something clicked, and there was another sound Dray couldn’t quite place, like the unsealing of a jar.

  The door squealed open, and Ende pushed the gwelka in first.

  ‘Perhaps you should…’ Dray said to the king as he made to follow Ende.

  ‘I need to see this.’

  Dray took a breath and was the last to enter the room. He wasn’t sure why, but he kept his hand on the door, holding it open. The room was dry and dimly lit, but there was a glow of something unnatural in the corner. Then the light increased, and Belle drew in a surprised gasp.

  Leaning against a pile of what looked like rocks were the desiccated remains of a man. His hand held a rock, and his fine clothes were almost intact.

  ‘The Lord of the Seat,’ the king said.

  ‘He was,’ the gwelka said in a bored tone.

  ‘Belle, do you think you could take that small token from his hand?’ Ende asked, but the king reached out and took her arm to stop her stepping forward.

  ‘I can do it,’ she snapped.

  ‘It is probably best that Belle does it, rather than one of us.’

  The king released his hold, and she stepped forward slowly to bend over the dried body.

  She chewed on her lip. Although she looked unsure, she prised his fingers from the stone and held it up. As she did, it changed to a lump of brilliant gold. ‘Oh,’ she breathed.

  ‘You are very lucky,’ the gwelka said. ‘And you, sir,’ he said, turning back to Ende, ‘know far more than I gave you credit for. The gold is yours,’ he said with a wave of his hand, looking back at Belle. The gold turned into a pile of coins in her hand. ‘Hold it close. And as it is yours, you may give it whomever you choose. But if it is taken from you, it will appear to be a worthless rock again. One that will pull the life slowly from the man who closes his hand around it.’

  The king took a small step back and clenched his hands. ‘How does this help us?’

  ‘As long a
s the girl willingly gives you the coins, it is safe,’ Ende said.

  Belle eyed the handful of coins and then slipped them into her pockets, although the weight of them appeared to weigh her down more than physically.

  ‘I have a pouch,’ the king offered.

  She nodded slowly and took several coins, then handed them to the king with a smile. Dray could feel the tension in the small room, but they remained as they should. As Belle gave the king a small nod, he put them into the pouch and then secured it to his belt.

  ‘It is time to go,’ Dray said.

  ‘I’ll meet you outside,’ Ende said.

  Belle opened her mouth and then closed it. But when she reached the door, she turned back and bowed her head to the little man. ‘Thank you,’ she said and then was gone, the king not far behind.

  ‘What do you plan?’ Dray asked.

  ‘Only to ensure he isn’t a burden on our travels.’

  ‘He’s coming with us?’

  ‘No, but I need to make sure he isn’t going to follow us with his brothers.’

  Dray shivered at the thought. A whole group of them might be too much for even Ende. They would be devoured before they even knew they were being followed.

  ‘You can’t kill me. That is not very dragon-like behaviour.’

  ‘Don’t tell me what dragons can and can’t do. Now out, Captain.’

  Dray headed out and Ende followed, then turned back and threw the gwelka back into the room. The gwelka stood and grinned in the dim light as Ende pulled the door closed. Then Ende rested his hand and forehead on the door while mumbling something. He stood this way for some time. Dray wanted to check on the king, for he knew that was where he should be, but he needed to be sure that Ende was in fact keeping the gwelka from following.

  When Ende straightened, he staggered a little and looked to have aged a further ten years. Dray put a hand under his arm and held him upright. There was a solidness to the old man that gave the indication he was more than he appeared to be; Dray wondered if that was because he knew what the man really was.

  ‘That should hold him for a bit.’

  ‘How long?’ Dray asked, worried they weren’t going to get very far very fast at the rate they were travelling and with whom.

  ‘Four or five hundred years.’

  ‘Will he survive that long?’

  ‘He might find another way out, but not for some time. Long enough that he would lose the scent of us.’

  ‘But he knows where we are going.’

  ‘Gwelka aren’t that fond of crowds. Otherwise he might have kept the people around him, not just to eat. How often do you hear of a gwelka in the capital?’

  ‘Rarely,’ Dray said with a smile.

  ‘Let us find this king of ours and take him home.’

  ‘I thought we were to find Ana.’

  ‘It might be that we can do both at once.’

  Chapter 27

  Ed had assumed that with a pocket full of gold, they would head straight for the capital. But it wasn’t to be. They were far from the general’s cottage, and Belle wanted her father. Ende agreed that he would be of help. It took them the best part of three days to make their way back across the mountains to the cottage.

  Despite his concerns that they were wasting time, it was comfortable and familiar in the cottage, and for a moment it almost felt as though he was home.

  Belle and Phillip held each other for a long time, then sat by the fire as she filled him in on all the news. Ed looked between Ende and Dray, who seemed to know far more than they were saying. Ed had a connection with Ana, but she shared a similar connection with Dray, one he didn’t understand.

  Standing in the middle of the cottage, Ed looked over the group and then pushed his way outside. He stepped up onto a large boulder not far from the cottage and looked out over the world before him. In some ways it was like when he stood on his father’s balcony, looking over the city. He had the same feeling of wonder and fear.

  Sensing the two men behind him, Ed turned slowly and sat down.

  ‘She will survive,’ Ende said.

  ‘He wanted to kill her before.’

  ‘And if he still does, she will be dead and it won’t make any difference as to how long it takes us to get there.’

  Dray stared at Ende for a moment and then let out a long breath. ‘He has something to tell you.’

  Ende stared at him.

  ‘He is your king,’ Dray said, as though such a thing would influence anyone. ‘You were friends with his mother. Did she know?’

  Ende nodded slowly, moving to sit beside Ed on the boulder.

  ‘It is not an easy thing to explain,’ he started, looking down on Ed rather than at him. ‘I didn’t have to explain it to Ana,’ he said, looking up at the soldier. ‘Or you.’

  ‘I saw it, in a way,’ Dray said. ‘Ana just knew.’

  ‘Such a clever girl.’

  ‘Ende!’

  ‘I am,’ he said slowly, turning to Ed, ‘a dragon.’

  Ed laughed. Then, as he took in how serious the man was and Dray’s gentle nodding, the laughter died. The words of the gwelka came back to him. ‘That was why you could hold on to him,’ Ed said, making a grabbing motion with his hand.

  Ende nodded.

  ‘A dragon? Like the beasts of the stories?’

  Ende nodded again.

  ‘How?’

  ‘It is not an easy thing to explain. And honestly, I spend more time as a man.’

  ‘How big?’

  ‘Huge,’ Dray said quickly.

  Ende glared up at him.

  ‘Could you… That is how you got to the Lord’s Seat before us.’

  ‘Ana is very persuasive.’

  ‘I don’t think it was all Ana,’ Dray said.

  ‘But I didn’t know what I was taking her into. I have lived in these mountains for a long time. How could I not know what he was up to? How could no one else know what had happened to the lord?’

  ‘My uncle appears to keep a close eye on so much,’ Ed said. ‘Yet as long as reasonable tribute is paid, the lords of the kingdom can do as they like.’

  ‘Even if they aren’t really lords,’ Dray said.

  ‘So it would seem,’ Ed agreed, trying not to stare at the old man beside him.

  ‘Would that change?’ Ende asked.

  ‘How could it?’

  ‘Perhaps a king more interested in the people might change the world.’

  ‘It is easier said than done. My father changed very little. My uncle maintains the status quo.’

  ‘Does it need to be changed?’ Ende asked.

  ‘That is a good question,’ Ed said. ‘I haven’t been given the chance to really think about it.’

  ‘What about the tributes offered?’ Dray asked. ‘Would you change that?’

  ‘I think many of the regions offer what they can rather than meet a particular request.’

  ‘Brides for the young men of the capital,’ Belle said, appearing beside Dray. ‘Is that something that should be asked for?’

  He shook his head as a heat rose to his face, unsure where it came from. He didn’t demand these things. But he knew it was because of this request that Belle had ended up where she was. ‘I would stop that,’ he murmured.

  ‘You could only stop that if you were King,’ she snapped. Dray opened his mouth to say something and Ed held up his hand. She was right.

  ‘I might not be the king you need,’ he said.

  ‘You could try,’ she said, her arms crossed. ‘You helped before. You seemed like a man who would help.’

  ‘And then you discovered I was a king hiding from my responsibilities.’

  ‘I thought the crown was taken?’

  ‘But he didn’t try to get it back,’ Dray answered for him. ‘And you still aren’t sure that you should try.’

  ‘My uncle understands the politics, how to make people happy and get them to listen.’

  Belle looked disappointed.

  ‘I�
�m sorry,’ Ed said.

  ‘If Ana were here, you would try.’

  ‘She isn’t here,’ Ed said, pushing up from the rock. She had tried to tell him it was where he needed to be. But she might not be right either. And he wasn’t sure he could get there without her. He’d had strange dreams of getting the crown back, only to hand it to her. She could convince him of anything. Maybe she had tried to convince him for her own needs rather than his.

  ‘Don’t doubt her,’ Ende said. ‘Although there are times that I have myself. She cares for you, and that might be enough to ensure the right thing is done.’

  Belle huffed.

  ‘But she is far away, and the mage may be doing anything to turn her against us. And if my uncle is involved…’

  ‘Why do you think they took her now?’ Dray asked.

  ‘They have realised I’m gone,’ he said. ‘They must have. And if he saw something similar to what Ende thought, that she was dangerous to me, they might think it is their chance to remove me before I become a threat.’

  ‘But would you?’ Belle asked.

  He turned to her, confused by her words.

  ‘Be a threat,’ she replied to his unasked question. ‘You don’t even want to be King. What threat do you pose to the man who not only wants to be King but currently holds all the power?’

  ‘You don’t think very much of me,’ Ed murmured.

  ‘You don’t think very much of yourself. I see why you needed Ana.’ The disappointment was clear on Belle’s face as she swung around, strands of her blond hair blowing from their hold as she marched back towards the cottage.

  ‘Your confusion is contagious,’ Ende said, resting a hand on his shoulder. As he smiled, Ed stared at his perfectly white teeth. ‘Work out what you want and who you are, and we will follow.’

  Dray bowed his head. ‘You just need the confidence. But whether you really want to be King is not a consideration. You are the rightful heir to the throne of Ilia. You are the king.’

  Ed sucked in a deep breath and nodded. ‘My father once said the same.’

  ‘An amazing man,’ Ende said. ‘Better than his own father in many ways.’

  ‘You knew them?’ he asked.

  ‘I am an old man,’ Ende said, smirking a little. ‘I was a young man like yourself… too long ago to name,’ he said. ‘When I was younger, I spent more time in the capital than I should have. Then when your mother…’