by Brandon Mull
They burst into a clearing in the middle of the woods where a large herd of winged deer were grazing. “Startle the perytons,” Eve said. “They’ll provide cover.”
Shrieking, the griffin streaked toward the deer. Roaring clamorously, the herd took flight. Tempest ascended with the herd.
“We’ll look like one of many perytons to the dragon,” Eve said.
Sure enough, after considering the herd, the dragon continued to fly low over the trees, looking downward, moving away from them. Seth held his breath as they climbed higher. The herd did not continue ascending, and the dragon continued to scour the trees.
Tempest gained altitude, and Seth tried to appreciate the afternoon sunlight and the beautiful view. In the distance, a lot of the dragons were flying up into a cloud.
“I think we lost the green one,” Eve said.
“You’re amazing, Tempest,” Seth said, patting the griffin.
“Hey,” Eve complained.
“You too,” Seth offered.
For a long while they flew without interruption. Seth watched their shadow far below, sliding over fields and forests. The skies were mostly empty.
That changed as Blackwell Keep came into view in the distance. Dozens of dragons patrolled the sky near the keep. Whatever had drawn away the other dragons had not diverted these.
“Think we can dodge them?” Seth asked.
“I’ll try to hide us,” Eve said.
As they drew nearer to the keep, a couple of dragons roared and flew in their direction. Others followed.
“I’m sorry,” Eve said. “They spotted us.”
It was still a long way to the keep. “What do we do?” Seth asked.
“We could go to Terrabelle,” Eve said. “We’ll be safe from the dragons there, and I don’t see dragons that way.”
“Terrabelle,” Seth ordered.
Tempest banked into a long turn and set off on a new course. The dragons who had given chase fell away. Seth figured their primary duty was to guard Blackwell Keep.
Terrabelle came into view before too long—a lush valley dotted with farmhouses and windmills. Tempest flew to the walled city at the heart of the valley, built around a stately castle, the buildings old, but clean and tidy. Eve gave some instructions to Tempest as they got closer, and they landed in a courtyard.
“It’s Eve,” some of the guards called. “Summon Lord Dalgorel!”
Seth dismounted and helped Eve out of the saddle. He patted Tempest. “Good girl. You saved us.”
A worried guard approached Eve. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Eve said. “Thanks to my friend Seth.”
“He visited not long ago,” the guard said.
“Yes,” Eve replied.
Dalgorel came running into the courtyard, followed by guards and other underlings. Seth marveled at how tall and attractive all of the Fair Folk were. Dalgorel lifted Eve into a hug and spun her around. Then he set her down.
“I am so relieved you are safe,” he said. “That was terribly foolish of you to run off.”
“I thought you would come back for me,” Eve said.
“You saw the note,” Dalgorel said. “I tried to return. Once you snuck away and I couldn’t find you, I returned to Terrabelle to warn them about the upcoming war. When I tried to fly back toward Skyhold, dragons barred the way. I barely made it back to Terrabelle with my life. You’re unhurt?”
“I’m fine,” Eve said. “I was with Seth.”
“We tried for Blackwell Keep first,” Seth said. “Too many dragons were guarding it.”
Lord Dalgorel placed a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Thank you for seeing my daughter safely home.”
“You’re welcome,” Seth said.
“Unfortunately, you have placed me in a quandary,” Dalgorel said. “The dragons have declared war against you, and our position is one of neutrality. The dragons could raise legitimate grievances if we give you safe harbor here.”
“Are you kicking me out?” Seth asked.
Dalgorel smiled. “I have a better alternative. Caretaker or not, you are under arrest for trespassing.”
When the guards left Seth in his cell, they did not bother shutting the door. Was cell even the right word? Brightly lit by multiple lamps, the room had two sofas, a padded rocking chair, a writing desk, a loaded bookshelf, rugs on the floor, paintings on the walls, and a large four-poster bed.
“The Fair Folk need better punishments,” Calvin said. “This room is great.”
“Dalgorel was grateful,” Seth said. “I think he’ll let us go if that’s what we want.”
“Might as well get some rest while you can,” Calvin suggested.
“I’m too wound up,” Seth said. “I’m worried about Kendra. And the Somber Knight.”
“Me too,” Calvin said.
Eve had promised to visit him soon, but for now he and Calvin were alone. Seth sat down in the rocking chair and, pushing off with his feet, tipped it back so far it felt like the chair might flip over. But it didn’t. He rocked back harder, and the chair hovered at the brink of overturning, then tilted forward again. Pushing off hard and heaving his body back, Seth tipped the chair over backward and rolled from his seat in an awkward reverse somersault.
“I never knew how dangerous those chairs could be,” commented a man in the doorway.
Seth scrambled to his feet. Lean and tall, the handsome, well-dressed man in the doorway had a dark complexion and a creatively trimmed goatee. “I was horsing around,” Seth confessed.
“May I come in?” the man asked.
“Who are you?”
The man gave a swift bow. “A fellow prisoner. Lomo, son of Targon, outcast of the Fair Folk.”
“I’ve heard of you,” Seth said. “You’re like the only other prisoner here. You’re the guy who didn’t want the neutrality policy. You went out and fought anyhow.”
“There is one other permanent prisoner here, a giant named Pugwig,” Lomo said. “He’s not good company. And a wereboar comes in a few days each month, still trying to resist his feral side.”
“I heard you could leave if you would pledge to stay neutral,” Seth said.
“True,” Lomo said. “I’m accused of no crime other than violating our neutrality policy. If I vowed to follow the policy, I would be released on probation.”
“Why not get out?” Seth asked.
“Neutrality is selfish and unacceptable,” Lomo said. “Neutrality is a refusal to live. For me, no crime outweighs neutrality in a time of crisis.”
“I like how you think,” Seth said.
“Then you join a very small club here in Terrabelle,” Lomo said. “In fact, if you were willing to go public with your support, you would stand alone.”
“The others who agree with you won’t speak up?” Seth asked.
“Nothing more than a grumble,” Lomo said. “I believe our leaders have good intentions. They want to preserve our way of life. They want to protect us as a people. But they have succumbed to the slow, insidious evil of passivity. To be part of the world, we must participate. Otherwise we may as well be extinct.”
“Celebrant declared war,” Seth said.
“I heard,” Lomo replied. “Word of that sort travels fast. I knew it was coming. And still our leaders insist on neutrality.”
“Could the Fair Folk fight dragons?” Seth asked.
“We have in ages past,” Lomo said. “Could the citizens of Terrabelle defeat the dragons of Wyrmroost in open combat? Not likely. We would be exterminated. But one does not engage dragons in open combat. You fight dragons intelligently or you perish. Of course, we currently do neither. We let children fight for us.”
“The Somber Knight took out some dragons,” Seth said.
“He is your greatest weapon in this war,” Lomo said.
“He went to Skyhold alone to demote Celebrant from being a caretaker,” Seth said.
Lomo grimaced. “He may not return from that mission.”
“The dragons have my sister,” Seth said.
“I’m sorry, young caretaker,” Lomo said. “By coming to Wyrmroost, you inherited calamitous trouble. And look what you do!”
“Flip over my rocking chair?”
“You stand and fight! While a nation of ancient adults cowers behind policies of appeasement.”
“Ronodin is here,” Seth said.
Lomo reached for his sword but did not draw it. “The dark unicorn?”
“You have a sword?” Seth asked. “What kind of prison is this?”
“The most relaxed dungeon you will ever inhabit,” Lomo said. “Wherever Ronodin roams, tragedy follows.”
“He told us he taught the dragons a sure way to win the war,” Seth said.
“I’m surprised he revealed so much,” Lomo said. “Do not underestimate his words. I have not known him to make empty threats.”
“Do you know him?” Seth asked.
“I have had the displeasure of encountering him before,” Lomo said. “Ronodin is an agent of chaos, formally aligned to nobody, but routinely on the fringe of the great disasters in the magical world. Did he give any clue as to what he told the dragons?”
“Nothing,” Seth said. “He wanted Bracken’s first horn from Kendra.”
“Bracken entrusted his horn to your sister?” Lomo asked. “She must be an impressive girl.”
“I guess so,” Seth said. “She killed the Demon King.”
Lomo rubbed the whiskers on his chin. “That was the day the real trouble with the dragons began. The day the demons failed. You were there. And here you are now. Perhaps we still have hope.”
“We’re going to try,” Seth said.
“You came here alone?” Lomo asked.
“I flew here with Eve on a griffin named Tempest,” Seth said. “Kendra was captured by the dragons. My friend Tanu turned into a gaseous state to survive a dragon attack. He’s a potion master, but since he was gassy, we had to leave him on the road. And I have my secret friend.”
“Secret friend?”
“Calvin the nipsie.”
“I wondered if you would let me speak,” Calvin said. “Sometimes he keeps me a secret. I like your thoughts on neutrality, Lomo. Good job following your heart.”
“Can I see him?” Lomo asked, coming closer.
“Sure,” Seth said.
Calvin climbed from Seth’s pocket onto Lomo’s palm. “Hello,” Calvin called.
“Amazing,” Lomo said. “So small and well formed. A perfect little man. I have beheld only one other of your kind.”
“He would have been smaller,” Calvin said. “I am under a spell that turned me into a giant. Well, a giant compared to my people.”
“The other I met was a female,” Lomo said. “And she was your size.”
“Do you remember her name?” Calvin asked urgently.
“I believe it was Serena,” Lomo said.
Calvin looked up at Seth. “That’s her! My true love!”
“You know Serena?” Lomo asked.
“I adore her,” Calvin said. “I would swim oceans for her. Scale mountains. Cross deserts. Where did you see her? When?”
“Perhaps five years ago,” Lomo said. “I was part of an organization dedicated to resisting the Society of the Evening Star.”
“The Knights of the Dawn,” Seth said.
“Yes, I almost forgot you are affiliated,” Lomo said. “By habit I mention it carefully.”
“Do you know where Serena went?” Calvin asked.
“She was with a woman of human size,” Lomo said. “I never got her name. They were investigating demonic curses, if I recall.”
“That fits,” Calvin said.
“I believe they were going to the Titan Valley sanctuary,” Lomo said. “I was to investigate rumors at Soaring Cliffs. Back then we thought the demons would be the end of us. We did not anticipate the dragons becoming our main threat so quickly.”
“Titan Valley,” Calvin said reverently. “A dragon sanctuary as well.”
“One of the three with a temple,” Lomo said.
“Thank you for the news,” Calvin said.
“How did you end up back here?” Seth asked.
“I have the Sphinx to thank,” Lomo said.
“I have him to thank for plenty too,” Seth said.
“The Sphinx wrote a letter to Dalgorel complaining that my involvement against the demons violated the Fair Folk’s policy of neutrality. He threatened that if Dalgorel did nothing, he would call the neutrality policy into question. So Dalgorel dispatched some talented agents who found me and brought me in. I tried to evade them but was unwilling to fight them.”
“How long ago?” Seth asked.
“Nearly three years,” Lomo said.
“Have you tried to escape from here?” Seth asked.
“Not in earnest,” Lomo said. “My incarceration is a way to protest. My countrymen know I am here and why. It promotes thought and discussion that might not happen otherwise.”
“I can’t stay here long,” Seth said. “There’s a war.”
“Dalgorel placed you here mostly for your safety,” Lomo said. “It enables him to shelter you temporarily without being accused of playing favorites. You will not be held long.”
“If you got out, would you help us?” Seth asked.
“Until I am apprehended,” Lomo said. “Dalgorel would have to try to catch me to preserve his claims of neutrality. For now, let me introduce you to the food here. It is outstanding.”
Stingbulb
Kendra stood frozen, staring at the hulking brown bear. She had not yet traveled far from the creek where she had separated from Raxtus. Stepping out from a grove of aspens, she had found herself less than thirty feet away from the golden-brown beast. Humps of muscle rolling, the bear stood up on two legs and faced her direction.
What if she had survived dragons to get mauled to death by a bear? What was she supposed to do? Play dead? Where had she heard that? Was it reliable advice? Or would the bear just come pounce on her? Had somebody once told her to run in a zigzag? Or that bears did not do well running downhill? There were no hills nearby.
She had her bow. But would arrows stop something so massive? It was half again as tall as her, with a shaggy hide and a thick body. Could arrows penetrate deep enough to matter?
Then again, she was supposedly in the kingdom of talking animals. Raxtus thought they were her firmest allies.
“Hello?” Kendra tried.
Staring in silence, the bear dropped down to all fours and started coming her way. The creature seemed to be in no hurry.
“Is this the Zowali Protectorate?” Kendra asked. “I need help.”
“And you hope I can talk,” the bear said in a deep, serious voice.
“Yes!” Kendra exclaimed with relief.
“What if talking bears still attack people?” the bear asked.
“Do you?” Kendra asked.
The bear stopped near her and sat on his haunches. “Not ordinarily.” He scratched his side. “Almost none of us would eat another talking animal. Including a human. But watch out for the crocodiles. They have been known to bend the rules.”
“What do you like to eat?” Kendra asked.
“Fish—especially salmon and trout,” the bear said. “I can also do beehives, ants, moths, berries, fruit, acorns, worms, roots, carrion, voles, turkey sandwiches, waffles, quiche, crème brulée, and so forth.”
“Do you have a name?” Kendra asked.
“Gorban,” the bear said. “And you must be Kendra Sorenson, our new caretaker.”
“That’s right,” Kendra said. “Hardly a week on the job and already at war with the dragons.”
“War started brewing as soon as Celebrant became a caretaker,” Gorban said. “You’re bold to come here alone, and not by any road I know. I see no griffin.”
“A dragon dropped me off,” Kendra explained. “We were on the run.”
“You have a manacle on your ankle,” Gorban
said.
“He bit through the chain.”
“What dragon carried you here?”
“Have you heard of Raxtus?”
“Sure, the little one. Helped you, did he?”
“He risked everything for me,” Kendra said, checking the sky. She could see a few dragons in the distance. None looked like Raxtus.
“I’m glad he did you a good turn,” Gorban said.
“Are there lots of talking animals here?” Kendra asked.
“Many species, yes,” Gorban said. “Some more social than others.”
“Are only the crocodiles dangerous?”
“I’m dangerous,” Gorban said. “Especially if you’re a squirrel’s nut cache hidden within reach of the ground.”
“You seem nice,” Kendra said.
“Watch out if the crocodiles seem nice,” Gorban said. “They’re only nice when they’re hungry. Who should you really avoid? The snakes are seldom up to any good. The vultures want you to die. Coyotes can be punks. Most of the animals are amiable enough.”
“I should try to find your leader,” Kendra said. “There is a war coming.”
“We have a large territory,” Gorban said. “It’s a fair distance to Shelter, where Raj lives.”
“Can I ride you?” Kendra asked.
Plopping forward to all fours, Gorban shook from side to side, loose hide sloshing. “I don’t get that request often. Ever, really. But hop on. Let’s give it a try. We’ll get word out and maybe get you a proper mount.”
Coming to the side of the bear, Kendra could not figure out where to grab to mount up. “How do I do this?”
“Don’t be shy,” Gorban said. “Take hold of my fur. Scramble up. I’m not fragile.”
Reaching up and over his broad, furry back, Kendra grabbed hold and pulled while swinging a leg up. With a little grunting and struggling, she managed to lie across the powerful back. After some shifting, she straddled him. Gorban started walking at a reasonable pace.
“I can’t believe I’m riding a bear,” Kendra said.
“I don’t recommend trying this without permission,” Gorban said.
