Chapter 8
As the weeks passed, Ruethwyn fell back into the swing of things. While watching and helping Yalline took more of her time than she would have preferred, she still made progress on her projects and her hope that she might finally have a chance to rescue the others grew. At the same time, a tiny part of Ruethwyn was worried, as she’d noticed that Anara didn’t occupy her thoughts quite as much as she had before.
The enchantment projects were coming along well, particularly the one which froze the air around it. It could only be used a single time, somewhat to her shock, as the first device she used melted after only five minutes, but it was something useful that might just save her life. Replacing her wand was another priority, as well as a mana bracelet, but those were something that she could do relatively easily.
More complicated was Ruethwyn’s relationship with Korima, as the kitsune seemed intent on stalking Ruethwyn, whether she liked it or not. For the most part, Ruethwyn didn’t mind, though some days Korima was certainly sillier than others.
Ruethwyn paused halfway down the library aisle and looked up, honestly bemused. Crouching on one of the upper walkways was Korima, staring at her with a playful grin on her face. Ruethwyn tilted her head as she asked, “What are you doing?”
“Debating on ambushing you and taking you out shopping,” Korima replied promptly, grinning, and Ruethwyn could see her tail was out and swishing behind her.
“You could have hidden more easily on my right, you know,” Ruethwyn pointed out, trying to suppress a smile. “As for shopping… you’re the one who always complains about it being so cold that it feels like your tail will freeze off.”
“If I hid on the opposite side, you wouldn’t be able to spot me, and what’s the fun in that? The entire point of being like this is to see your reaction to spotting me,” Korima replied with a grin. “It’s amusing.”
“I suppose… but what about the cold?” Ruethwyn asked, the smile creeping out despite her attempts to hold it back.
“That’s the bigger problem. It’s the main reason I’m just thinking about dragging you out shopping, instead of doing it,” Korima admitted, her ears drooping slightly. “You still haven’t shown me how to protect myself from the cold, you know.”
“I…” Ruethwyn began, then paused, seeing the way Korima was looking at her. It wasn’t like what she was about to read was that important, really. Changing her approach, she spoke again. “You can’t cast the spells I use, though. You haven’t progressed far enough in the ice or water sphere for that.”
“True… maybe I could get a scarf or something, though? You could walk me through building the enchantments into it,” Korima suggested hopefully.
“Hm, true,” Ruethwyn said, considering for a moment, then smiled. “Alright, you’ve convinced me, Korima.”
“Yay!” Korima exclaimed, almost bouncing over and down the nearby ladder. “Thank you, Rue!”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m not buying you the fabric, and you’re going to have to do the work. I’ll give advice and show you the runes you’ll need, but you’ll have to supply all the mana and do the work yourself,” Ruethwyn warned.
“Aww… well, at least it means spending more time together,” Korima said, smiling broadly. “I’ll go get my hat and coat, and we can go find fabric together.”
“Alright. Let me put these away for now,” Ruethwyn said.
As Korima darted off, Ruethwyn headed back for the shelf. In all truth, Ruethwyn doubted that fire magic would help her find good ways of deflecting Resvarygrath’s flames, but she’d look into it later, probably while Korima was cursing at the runes. Ruethwyn had learned that her friend was middling with a needle and thread at best, even when using the basics of the sphere of cloth to sew. It should at least be entertaining.
Stopping a hair’s breadth short of striking the combat dummy, Essryl paused and asked, “Lissa, whatever happened to you? It looks like you came too close to a hot spring.”
“That isn’t… isn’t far wrong,” Lissa replied, sniffling slightly as tears tracked down her cheeks.
Several spots on Lissa’s left cheek and neck were a bright, painful red, and it looked like one was starting to rise into a blister. Her left hand was worse, and Essryl frowned at the sight of her. Leticia was behind the young woman, looking quite concerned, and Essryl couldn’t blame her as she didn’t like the look of Lissa’s injuries.
“What happened?” Essryl asked again.
“I was summoning for him. This time I only got a water elemental, but one of the formless ones,” Lissa explained unsteadily. “He was annoyed and breathed on it, right next to me. The spray of water hit me, and it burned. I did what he asked, and all he said was… was to find you for healing!”
“Of course he did. My Lord is impatient, and he never admits it when he makes a mistake. I doubt he’ll make that mistake again, but it doesn’t help you this time,” Essryl said, sighing as she sheathed her daggers. She was particularly annoyed that her practice had been interrupted, but that wasn’t Lissa’s fault. Gesturing Lissa over, she spoke firmly. “Come here so I can heal you.”
Lissa quickly approached, almost sobbing. “Oh, thank you, Mistress Essryl! I’ve never felt anything like this before.”
“That isn’t surprising,” Essryl replied, her annoyance fading, then growing again as she saw Anara poke her head into the training room. She’d deal with her later. “Hold still, Lissa.”
“Y-yes,” the young woman replied, swallowing visibly as she held as still as she could.
Despite Lissa’s efforts, she hissed in pain as one of Essryl’s hands cradled her cheek. With a murmured spell, Essryl sent a thread of magic into Lissa to identify the injuries, and as she did, her annoyance grew more pronounced. She would’ve expected Resvarygrath to have more restraint, but he’d obviously hit the elemental harder than he should have indoors. The injuries she could see were merely half of them, and the burns would likely grow infected or scar if Essryl didn’t deal with them. She’d take care of the damage, but she’d also have words with him afterward.
Half-closing her eyes, Essryl decided to take the direct approach to fixing Lissa’s injuries. Most would use normal healing magic, but she rarely saw the point. She had the knowledge necessary to fix them directly, so why shouldn’t she do so? So the Illisyr murmured another spell, feeling magic coil within her, then she unleashed it into Lissa without warning and the young woman gasped. Beneath Lissa’s robes, her flesh rippled under the magic, and slowly the injuries vanished without a trace, turning into perfectly formed skin and flesh, which Essryl then adjusted until it matched the rest of her body.
“There we are, your injuries are dealt with,” Essryl said, opening her eyes fully again and studying Lissa for a moment. She could tell where her healing had been performed, but only because the skin there was cleaner than the surrounding flesh, and she nodded in satisfaction.
“I… I don’t feel any pain. Usually, it takes a few seconds for healing to do that,” Lissa said, looking stunned. “Thank you, but… but how?”
Essryl ignored the question, instead looking at her other guests. “Anara, Leticia? Take Lissa and get yourselves something to eat. Keep her in the heart of the wing.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Leticia said instantly, giving a deep curtsy.
“Of course, Mistress Essryl,” Anara spoke a moment later, her curtsy a bit shallower as she hesitated, then asked, “May I ask why?”
Essryl looked at Anara and smiled thinly. “I want you out of the way when I confront My Lord about his actions. While I’m willing to put up with a great many things, sometimes someone needs to tell him when he’s being an idiot.”
Leticia let out an audible gasp, and Lissa’s eyes went wide as she asked, “Is… is that wise? I mean, he’s… he’s a dragon!”
“Why yes, he is. I’ve known that for quite some time, Lissa, and you seem to have forgotten something important,” Essryl replied softly, smiling as she did so.
&nbs
p; “Um, what’s that?” Lissa asked.
“You’re afraid of many things in this world. I am Illisyr, and there are very few things that I fear,” Essryl replied steadily, looking her in the eyes. “He isn’t one of them. If he desires a rematch, I’m willing to see which of us has improved more over the years.”
Lissa swallowed hard, her eyes wide. After a moment, Anara spoke, her voice trembling slightly. “Come on, Lissa, let’s go do as she asked. I can ask her my question later.”
“Excellent choice, Anara,” Essryl said approvingly and watched the three women leave her training room.
Considering for a bare moment, Essryl decided to head for her room to get her armor. If this did turn into a fight, she’d rather be ready for it.
Chapter 9
The laboratory had seen better days, Essryl noticed idly. There was a large, black blast-shadow across the floor where a summoning circle had been, and that told her a great deal. She’d been fairly sure that Lissa hadn’t been making things up, but certainty was always useful.
“Ah, Essryl. You’ve come at a good time. Fix the floor for me,” Resvarygrath ordered. The dragon was in his human form as he flipped through a book, a scowl on his face. “The new summoner is nearly useless, and I was forced to destroy the elemental she summoned.”
“No,” Essryl replied, reflecting on how easy it would be to stab him in the back at that moment. He was much more vulnerable in human form… but he wouldn’t lower his guard around her if he didn’t know she wouldn’t do that. It was unfortunate in some ways.
“What did you just say?” Resvarygrath demanded, spinning around and tossing the book onto the table with one of the elven corpses that he was obsessing over.
“I told you no,” Essryl replied, her arms folded in front of her, her tail swishing slowly and precisely.
“Essryl…” Resvarygrath began, smoke seeping from his nostrils, then took a deep breath as he paused. A few moments later, he growled. “Explain yourself.”
“I’ve been cleaning up the pieces of your mistakes for over a century, Lord Resvarygrath. I have never once complained about that, and I never will do so. However, that was when your obsessions weren’t causing you to make foolish mistakes,” Essryl said calmly, slowly sashaying over to the blast marks on the floor. “Tell me, what truly happened here?”
“Foolish mistakes? If anyone made mistakes, it was the summoner that you brought me!” Resvarygrath boomed angrily, and his body suddenly seemed to explode as he transformed from a golden-eyed, black-haired human to an immense dragon with gold-washed black scales who stood twenty feet tall at the shoulder. His voice was even louder as he continued. “That incompetent wench summoned something completely different than I commanded. I should have just eaten her and been done with it, rather than destroying the pathetic—”
“That’s enough,” Essryl’s voice was incisive as she interrupted the dragon’s tirade, turning back to him as her anger flared. “My Lord, you are infinitesimally close to prompting me to invoke the Rites of Ascension.”
Her words finally caused the dragon to pause, his eyes widening, then narrowing again as he growled. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t I?” Essryl asked, looking back at him steadily, her anger now cool as she prepared for potential combat. Instead, a faint… thrill ran through her as she smiled at him. “I haven’t faced a true challenge in over fifty years. You should know that I enjoy a challenge that pushes me to my limits, but even so… while I may have sworn my fealty to you, that fealty has its limits and it follows Illisyr standards, not those of any other species. An unfit ruler has no right to my service, and you’re treading perilously close to that line.”
For a long moment, the chamber was silent, then Resvarygrath asked, “What brought this on? You’ve never objected to my actions before this, Essryl.”
“Before this, you haven’t been quite so idiotic,” Essryl replied bluntly, arms still crossed and her eyes narrowing as she saw smoke leave his nostrils again. “You ate the summoner before Lissa. I didn’t object, because she did attempt to steal from you. However, she was at least trained. You then ordered me to kidnap Lissa, a young mage who had barely discovered her talent with summoning magic. I want to repeat that, My Lord. She’s an apprentice that you are expecting to act as a master mage.”
Essryl paused for just a moment, then continued icily. “You burnt her when you dealt with a water elemental. No matter, I don’t care about that. What I care about is how careless and unreasonable you’re being. Lissa can’t easily perform the actions you expect, and it takes time to build up the skill you require. All of this is the product of your own impatience, which started about the time you got ahold of that corpse.”
“That’s none—” the dragon began, but Essryl interrupted.
“I’m not finished. Yes, I know it isn’t any of my business, and I don’t care about the woman’s body, My Lord. I don’t even care that you captured her soul as you killed her, either,” Essryl said, and smiled thinly as his eyes widened in surprise. “What, you didn’t think I noticed? I have a very good idea of what you’re doing, and I’ll repeat myself. I. Don’t. Care.”
“Why do you bring it up, then?” Resvarygrath growled, looking surprisingly unsettled by this point.
“I bring it up because your absence has been noticed. Captain Gardner has been laxer with the discipline of his new recruits, and I had to make an example of one who attacked Leticia a couple of weeks ago. You haven’t been seen flying over the domain in four months, and rumors are starting to spread that you might have been injured,” Essryl explained calmly. “I’ve done what I can, but I’m not in charge of your domain and I will not rule in your place. I also will not have Lissa killed because of your unreasonable expectations and poor temper. I kidnapped her and promised that she’d be released in a few years, once her work was done. If it means invoking the Rites of Ascension and seeing whether or not I’m able to kill you is necessary, so be it, but I have had enough of your carelessness, My Lord.”
For just a moment, Essryl could see the thought of attacking her go through Resvarygrath’s mind. It was foolish, but predictable. Dragons never liked being contradicted, and Resvarygrath hadn’t been confronted in this way for longer than she’d known him. If he attacked her, though, it would prove that she’d been right, that he was being foolish. Attacking her without making the proper preparations would cost him every shred of respect she’d ever had for the dragon.
Fortunately, Resvarygrath didn’t attack, though smoke was still seeping from his nostrils as he growled. “Your points are noted, Essryl. I had not realized that rumors about me were being spread, and I suppose I shall have to deal with them. I’ll take your words under advisement. Now, is there anything else?”
“No, My Lord. However, I will not be cleaning up this mess for you,” Essryl said, nodding at the circle pointedly. “I consider it a reminder that while I respect you, everything has its limits.”
“Fine. Go, then,” Resvarygrath ordered.
Essryl didn’t delay in leaving, not wanting to push him any further than she already had. While she was willing to confront Resvarygrath over his foolishness, she wasn’t going to betray him. She had sworn an oath to serve him, and so long as he wasn’t outright incompetent, which he’d been approaching, she would continue to do so.
Besides, if they’d started fighting right then, it was possible that even if all the girls had been gathered in the center of the west wing, that they wouldn’t be safe.
The small dining room in the middle of the wing only had a handful more women in it than Anara, Leticia, and Lissa, and considering that they’d broken out some sweets, Essryl was honestly surprised there weren’t more of them gathered. She tried to keep a few things to make the girls happier on hand, and most of the women were wise enough to ration them.
“Mistress Essryl! I’m glad to see you’re safe,” Leticia said, relief in her eyes as she bowed her head.
Essryl looked at the
wrappers from the caramels and smiled, nodding in return. “I see that you chose to have something a bit nicer than I anticipated. I almost would’ve thought that you might make a cake, Leticia.”
“I considered it, but I was afraid that we might not have time,” the elven woman admitted, glancing at the others.
“I… may I ask how things went, Mistress Essryl?” Anara asked, frowning as she put the lid back on the caramel tin.
“You didn’t hear roaring, no walls have been broken, and the palace isn’t in flames. That means it went well,” Essryl replied simply, taking the tin and retrieving a candy for herself. Unwrapping it, she tossed it into her mouth before continuing. “I wasn’t certain it would, mind you. Still, no matter how powerful one might be, occasionally someone needs to be willing to tell you when you’re being foolish.”
Most of the girls were staring at Essryl as if she’d grown another head. Lissa swallowed hard, then asked, “Do you think I’ll be… be safe?”
“Yes. For some reason, My Lord forgot that he ordered me to acquire an apprentice summoner, not someone with years of skill. He’ll hold his temper in the future,” Essryl said, though she wasn’t quite as certain as she made out. Oh, she wouldn’t take it lying down if he did hurt or kill Lissa, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t do so anyway.
“Oh good. Thank you,” Lissa said, letting out a breath of relief.
“You’re welcome. I promised to release you once your work was done here, so it was only proper,” Essryl replied, then turned her gaze to Anara. “Now, Anara, you were looking for me earlier. What was it that you wanted to ask?”
Everyone’s gazes turned to Anara, and she flushed slightly, but otherwise kept her poise. Clearing her throat, she spoke hesitantly after a moment. “I… well, I just was considering what happened to Leticia the other day, and I was going to ask you if you’d be willing to teach me to defend myself, whether unarmed or with a dagger.”
Queen of Ice (Through the Fire Book 2) Page 7
