‘Tell her I don’t blame her.’
Hilde smiled. ‘I’ve already taken the liberty to do that, I hope you don’t mind. It didn’t make any difference; she feels responsible, whether you blame her or not.’
‘Tell her she owes me a big favour, then. Once she carries it out, then things’ll be square between us.’
‘That’s not a bad idea. Do you have a favour in mind?’
‘No, not yet, but I’ll think of one.’
‘Alright. Now, onto your parents.’
Maddie groaned.
‘Look, I don’t begrudge looking after you, but they’re your family. You should be grateful to have people who love you.’
‘I don’t want to go home.’
‘I know, Maddie, you’ve told me often enough, and they know that too, but they still want to visit. You can’t keep saying no.’
‘Fine,’ she snapped. ‘I’ll write to them, and tell them they can come and see me.’
‘There’s no need to write to them.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because they’re waiting in a room along the hallway.’
‘What? But, I said…’
‘I know what you said, but I could hardly turn them away at the door. They threatened to speak to the fortress wardens if I didn’t let them in, and I don’t want all that attention, thank you very much.’
Maddie narrowed her eyes as she watched Hilde. The captain rarely got animated, but she seemed a little put out. ‘I’m sorry. It sounds just like my family to come barging in where they’re not invited.’
‘Can you blame them? They got a letter telling them their elder daughter had been seriously injured. What did you expect them to do?’
‘So, are you going to let them come into my room?’
‘Eh, yes. You can’t exactly go to them, can you?’
She glanced round at the general untidiness of the room. ‘My mum’s going to flip when she sees the mess. Where should I be? Bed or chair; and do I have time to sort my hair and put some make-up on? You’ve been hiding that mirror from me, don’t think I didn’t noticed it suddenly disappear; so I’m guessing I must look a right state. How many came? Was it just my parents, or...?
‘Quiet, please,’ Hilde cried, ‘you’re giving me a headache. Listen, before I go and get them, there are a few rules.’
‘I thought there’d be. Don’t mention the dragon is at the top of the list, right?’
‘Yes.’ Hilde sighed. ‘Go on, then. Guess the rules; I know you want to.’
‘Right, sure, em.. no dragon, no lair, remember to call you “ma’am”, no crying, no complaining about the conditions, no mention of what I do here in any way…’ She paused. ‘What are we going to tell them that we do? And how do I explain the injuries?’
‘I’m an engineer; you’re my assistant. We were surveying the damaged wall by the gatehouse, and part of it fell on you.’
Maddie raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve thought this through.’
‘Of course I did; I didn’t want to spend an hour debating the details with you. Just stick to the story.’
‘Will you be here?’
‘I’d rather not, to be honest.’
‘Well, I’d rather you were.’
Hilde glanced away, looking uncomfortable. ‘Wouldn’t you prefer a little privacy?’
‘Come on, ma’am, don’t desert me now. You know my family are going to ask me loads of questions; for example, why is repairing walls so secret that I had to swear an oath not to tell them? What am I going to say? I’m bound to start making stuff up; I’ll have to. You should be here to stop me saying anything too crazy.’
‘Damn it,’ Hilde muttered.
‘You hate it when I’m right, eh?’
‘And just how am I going to stop you?’
‘Let’s see.. if you mention, um… the weather, then I’ll know I’m about to go too far.’
‘This’ll never work.’
‘It will. Go get them, I’m ready.’
Hilde waited.
‘Sorry,’ said Maddie. ‘Go and get them, please, ma’am.’
The captain strode to the door. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’
Maddie sat, her eyes on the door. She pulled the dressing gown closer round her with her right arm. Her left leg was splayed out straight, the skin mottled and bruised. What a disaster. If only she had been given a few hours’ notice, she might have been able to smarten herself up. As long as her brother wasn’t there, or her sister; or her dad. She hated people knowing she was ill or sick, and had hidden countless illnesses from her parents when she had been growing up. It was the sympathy she objected to, and that fact that they would remember seeing you at your most vulnerable.
The door opened, and her mother walked in, closely followed by her father and Rosie. Hilde came in last, and closed the door behind them.
‘By the sweet breath of Amalia,’ her mother said, raising her hands to her face as she saw Maddie.
‘Hi, mum.’
Her mother rushed over, then paused, as if unsure which bit of her daughter it was safe to approach. She leant over and kissed her on the forehead.
‘Must have been some wall,’ her father said, shaking his head. ‘My poor little petal…’ His eyes welled a little, and Maddie watched him suppress his tears. Please don’t cry; please don’t cry, she muttered to herself.
Her mother turned to Hilde. ‘How could you let this happen to my daughter?’
The captain frowned. ‘She ignored my instructions and failed to secure the site before she began work on the wall. It was a lesson I don’t think she’ll forget in a hurry.’
‘I knew it’d be your fault,’ said Rosie. ‘How many bones did you break?’
Maddie glowered at Hilde for a second, then turned to her sister. ‘I see you’re still an annoying little toerag.’
Rosie leaned in close, flicked Maddie’s ear, then skipped back out of range.
‘Quit that!’
Rosie smirked at her. ‘Or what?’
‘Girls, enough,’ said their father. He glanced at Maddie. ‘So, how many bones was it?’
‘Eh, seven, I think. Maybe eight. Ribs, leg, arm.’
‘And this is the room,’ her mother said, ‘where you’ve been living these last few months?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then tell me what’s so wonderful about it that you didn’t want to come home? I’m not sure which was worse; hearing you had been hurt, or hearing that you had decided to stay in your battalion quarters. Maddie, do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? It should have been me looking after you this past month.’
Her father put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. ‘It’s not too late, Maddie. You still have at least another twenty days before you’ll be fit again; come back with us now, we have a carriage waiting in the forecourt.’
‘I can’t.’
Her mother glared at her. ‘Why not? Why can’t you come home? Is it her? Is this officer making you stay?’
‘Of course not.’
Her mother glanced at the captain with suspicion in her eyes.
Hilde shrugged. ‘I’ve offered her the choice; she can go home if she wants, or she can stay here.’
‘You should have made her go home.’
‘Maddie’s eighteen. I figured she was old enough to make up her own mind.’
‘She’s still a child.’
‘She’s my assistant and I’m her commanding officer; that gives me a duty of care over her as well.’
‘It sounds like you’ve been negligent to me.’ Her mother’s eyes scanned Hilde’s uniform. ‘Captain, please order Maddie to return with us immediately.’
Hilde’s eyes hardened a little. ‘No.’
‘It’s not her fault, mum.’
Her mother turned to glare at Maddie. ‘Stay out of this, girl.’
‘No, I won’t. Captain Hilde has told me a thousand times that I should go home, I but told her I’d rather sleep rough in the castle forecourt, and
so she had to let me stay…’ Maddie’s mouth froze as she realised what she had just said. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I…’
‘I don’t want to hear your excuses,’ her mother said, raising her chin. ‘At least we now know what you really think of us.’ She turned to her husband. ‘We’re leaving.’
Her father shook his head at Maddie. ‘Take a good, long think about what you just said, and about everything this family’s done for you.’
He nodded to the captain and opened the door, letting his wife walk out before following her. Rosie was the last to leave. She shook her head. ‘I’m taking your room when we get back. Mum wouldn’t let me before, but I bet she does now. See ya.’
Maddie stared at the door as her sister slammed it behind her.
‘Oh my,’ said Hilde. She took a fresh hanky from her pocket and handed it to Maddie.
‘I’m not going to cry; I’m too stunned to cry. Did that really happen? What did I say?’
‘You told them you’d rather sleep rough in the forecourt than go home with them.’
‘Oh. Yes. Whoops.’
‘I don’t get it,’ Hilde said, walking over to the bedside cabinet and extracting a bottle of gin. ‘Your family seems normal. Your mother was upset, but who’d blame her? Why in Malik’s name wouldn’t you want to go home?’
‘I don’t know if I can explain it.’
Hilde poured a large measure for herself, and a smaller one for Maddie. ‘I’m sure you’ll give it your best.’
‘It’s like, I feel I belong here. I know that sounds weird, because I’ve never felt like I’ve belonged anywhere before. And I know this last month’s been tough, but I still felt better being here, close to… well, her, I guess. I don’t want to be too far from her. Does that make sense? No, it’s stupid, I can see that. It’s not like I can see her or anything, so why would it matter where I was? It’s just that it does matter, to me. It matters to me.’
Hilde sipped her gin.
‘And now my stupid need to be near a dragon that I can’t see, and who despises me anyway, has made my family think that I hate them. I told you I’d sleep in the forecourt because it would still be close to Blackrose…’ She lifted the hanky to her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘Damn it. Do you know that I never used to cry before I met that stupid dragon? It was like nothing could penetrate my armour, and now everything does.’
‘I feel partly responsible.’
Maddie glanced at her. ‘Why?’
‘What you described,’ she said; ‘it’s what happened to me. Before Blackrose arrived ten years ago I was out-going, lively; I even had a man I was going to marry. But then I got this job, and the beast got her claws into me. Me and my fiancé drifted apart, because I started to prefer coming here, rather than being with him, and he knew it. Over time, the same thing happened with my friends, and before I knew what was going on I was alone; alone with her. I should have warned you, but I was too eager to see you settle in after so many assistants had come and, eh, gone.’
‘Do you think she does it…?’
Hilde held up her hand. ‘Wait. Something’s wrong. The air, it’s warmer.’
‘Is it?’ She turned as Hilde strode towards the door. ‘What would make the air warmer?’
A roar rumbled through the thick walls, and Hilde broke into a run. She flung the door open and sprinted in the direction of the lair.
‘What about me?’ Maddie cried after her. She heard the gate to the lair swing open, and the sound of Hilde’s boots fading into the distance.
She was going to have to go. Hilde might need her help. She caught herself and almost laughed at the thought. Her body was in no fit state to help anyone. Nevertheless, for some reason she found herself lodging her crutch into place. She gripped the side of the table with her good hand and pulled herself up. It wasn’t too far to the lair. On a normal day she could be standing next to Blackrose in less than a minute after leaving her room. She had timed it.
She leaned to her right, moved the crutch then shifted her body forward a pace. That wasn’t too hard. Just another hundred to go. Another roar came through the open door, and Maddie could hear the pain in its cry. She hurried her pace; lean, crutch, swing. Sweat began to appear under her nightshirt as she reached the door to her room. She peered out, and saw that the gate to the lair was lying open. Just a few steps to the gate, she thought. Lean, crutch, swing. Onwards, as the pain ran down her left side and the sweat started to blind her. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve as the cries from the lair rippled through her. She ignored her own pain. Blackrose was suffering, and that was all that mattered. She passed the gate without pausing, entered the lair, and kept going, her body refusing to give up.
She reached the small door cut from the massive black gate, leaned through and was nearly overcome by the rancid stench of burnt flesh. Hilde was by Blackrose, who was lying on the floor of the lair, foam at her mouth; her eyes closed. At the rear of the deep alcove where she usually slept, the chain that linked her limb to the wall was glowing red-hot, and her flank was covered with blistered scorch marks. Her jaws opened and she let out another cry of agony.
‘Blackrose!’ Maddie cried.
Hilde turned, her mouth falling open. ‘By Malik’s ass, what are you doing here?’ The captain ran over to the door and took Maddie’s arm as she started to sway. ‘You should be in bed, girl.’
A deep groan came from the dragon. ‘Bring her here.’
Hilde turned to the dragon. ‘She needs to go back to bed, Blackrose; look at her. Listen, I’ll back in a minute after I take her…’
‘Bring her here.’
‘Fine.’ Hilde turned back to Maddie, a frown creasing her lips. ‘I’m not impressed, young lady. You could have seriously put back your recovery, and I need you fit. Now, take my arm.’
Maddie reached out with her right arm, and Hilde helped her over the lip of the door. The captain placed her left arm under Maddie’s shoulder and supported her as they walked over to Blackrose. The dragon opened one eye a sliver and stared at her.
‘Well, I brought her,’ said Hilde.
The dragon didn’t respond.
‘Look, my arm’s getting sore; I’m going to rest her against your forelimb, alright?’
Hilde edged Maddie towards the dragon’s enormous limb, and Maddie stared at the claws as the captain lowered her to the floor, her back against the jet black scales. Hilde stepped away.
Maddie glanced at the red-hot chains. ‘What happened?’
‘She tried to burn her way through the chains again. Dragon fire’s hot, but it’s not that hot. I need to get back to our quarters and raid the stores for ointment and balm for her burns. Are you going to be alright on your own for a bit?’
Maddie glanced at Blackrose. ‘I’m not alone.’
Hilde nodded, then turned for the gate. Maddie listened as the sound of her footsteps dwindled into nothing.
‘Why did you do it?’
The dragon’s eye turned to her. ‘I know you’re here to mock me. I wounded you, and now you have come here to be satisfied by the sight of me in agony. I hope it was worth it; I hope you are sufficiently pleased by my suffering.’
‘You don’t really believe that, do you?’
‘I do. I am not a liar and if you think I am then you should hobble or crawl out of here now.’
‘Alright then, you’re mistaken.’
‘Oh, how mighty you must feel right now, attempting to chastise your better. The woe of this life embitters me, but I still see and speak the truth. Perhaps I should make you do so also.’
‘No! Please, let me lie. Let me keep that.’
‘So you’ve come to the realisation that I was correct at last? You have finally accepted that your kind is beholden to lies as fish are beholden to the sea?’
Maddie shrugged. ‘You have your fire and claws; we have our lies. We need them, but we don’t have to use them all the time. I’m telling you the truth when I say that I’m not here to mock you
r wounds.’
‘Then perhaps you would deign to enlighten me as to the true reason?’
‘I came here because I heard your cries, and I wanted to help.’
The dragon laughed, but it wasn’t a joyful sound, and Maddie shuddered.
‘You could hardly help me when you were healthy; how do you expect to help me when the frailty of your body is so evident? I snapped your bones like you would snap a twig. You are broken, girl.’
‘I will heal, and I can help you heal. We can heal together.’
The dragon tilted its head. ‘Those burns I inflicted upon myself will heal, but there are wounds you cannot see that time is useless to repair.’
‘Were you trying to escape?’
‘I could escape any time I wished; you said so yourself. All I would have to do is demean myself for a few moments, pledge my allegiance to some self-important maggot, and I could lift my wings and simply… fly away. Or maybe I would turn, and send a wave of fire over the fortresses and walls of this cursed City; blast their gates open and allow the greenhides to enter. Yes, burn the tower of Duke Marcus, and raze this pit of sickness and death to the ground. Let it all burn! How the humans would flee in terror as the greenhides overwhelmed the walls; this was your desire too, wasn’t it, girl? Close your eyes and picture it in your mind; the annihilation, the destruction, the glory.’
‘That’s not what I want,’ Maddie said, her voice sounding weak and thin next to the dragon’s.
‘Lie to me then, go on. Tell me a human lie.’
‘No, I won’t. I want to help you, that’s the truth.’
‘There is only one way you could help me, but you are too weak.’
‘How?’
‘By helping me end my life.’
Maddie’s eyes widened.
‘As much as I feel the shame of the words as I say them,’ the dragon said, ‘I cannot achieve it on my own. I cannot burn myself, or claw myself, as my skin is too thick, and it heals too quickly. However, if you weren’t lying, and you truly wish to help me, then help me end it.’
‘I’ll never help you do that.’
‘So, you were lying.’
‘No, I wasn’t. Ending your life isn’t helping you.’
The Mortal Blade: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Magelands Eternal Siege Book 1) Page 22
