“You sure you’re all right?” he asked.
“If someone’s life depended on me reaching the village, I would run all the way there. Is someone’s life in danger?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Then the only thing wrong with me is languor. Sleep is what I need.”
“I’m certain the village will provide a good meal and a good bed as a reward for making the journey.”
“I’m certain it would, but sleeping now sounds even more rewarding at the moment.”
“As you wish.”
The green knight took a step away from me, then stopped to give me an uncertain glance.
“Is there something else, knight?”
“There is. I’m wondering if I should say it aloud.”
“Since she isn’t here, I assume it’s about the princess.”
“Aye… She told me she visited the seer before she set sail. He didn’t even have to try invoking a vision before he realized her future was being blotted out by a great power.”
“And you believe me to be this ‘great power’? You’ve concluded this before.”
“If I’m right on both accounts, then you and Odet will continue finding yourselves together. I trust Odet, and I believe you to be an honorable man, but… What did you two speak of when Bell and I left the cabin?”
I chuckled in my grunting throat as I rose from my rut. “Fear not, troubled knight, I stand a better chance of being Odet’s brother-in-law than your romantic rival.”
“What? How’s that?”
“That’s what we spoke of. Before I sailed for Uthosis, the queen offered me her hand should I bring her father back alive and see the Advent destroyed. Odet wanted the latest news on the matter, but desired to keep things only between us, hence the privacy.”
“Oh, I see…” Half his body weight exhaled out of his lungs as his mind relaxed. “And can you tell me your answer? Are you secretly my new king?”
“Advent and giants should keep me too busy to consider nuptials for a while.”
“But it makes sense. A dragon knight king would be a huge boon to Alslana.”
“So I’ve heard. Tell me, were you really so worried that Odet was planning on abandoning you for me? I think you would know more than anyone else that nothing short of me bringing back her mother would get her to do such a thing.”
“I am aware, but I’ve always had this idea that the gods are preparing to take her to a place I cannot hope to follow, and that’s before she befriended you. Now I’m certain she’s thinking about traveling with a dragon knight to fight primordial giants.”
“I’ve held that same notion the second she asked to fly with me.” I leaned on the tree and slid back down to my former position. “Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“What if I did tell you I had every intention of stealing her away from you? What then?”
“If you were that blunt, we’d draw swords.”
“Good. She’s worth fighting a god for, so you shouldn’t hesitate against a mortal. As it is, you have my word that you have nothing to dread in the times Odet and I are alone together. Really, I’d be surprised if she showed a serious interest in me. I don’t think half-finished men are her type.”
“You’re referring to yourself as half-finished?”
“Aye.”
“Why?”
“Because I enjoying fighting. It’s all that’s defined me. My first memories are of fighting and the new ones I make are more of the same. I fight because the Advent have wronged me, and if I live long enough to see their end, it will be the end of what has pushed me ever since I gained a will of my own. What then? I’ve told Odet I’ll wait until the Advent are destroyed to give the queen my answer, but I suspect kingship will not bring me peace. I only haven’t outright refused it because it sounds stupid to do so. A man who’s nothing without his sword doesn’t sound worthy of a crown.”
“Few who have worn one have deserved it.”
“Yet most have at least wished for it. Look, I like hearing my sword sing through the air. I like training with dragon fire and riding its source. I even reveled in the feral rush my corruption gave me in a fight. Does that sound like a well-balanced person? Ask Odet yourself. Ask her if she’d be interested in someone she must know doesn’t have the balance the gods forever seek. Someone who is well aware they prefer dying fighting giants than sitting on a throne. Her answer should ease you further, knight.”
“Hmph. For someone who considers themselves unbalanced, you at least speak well for yourself.”
“One has a lot of time to reflect while in the air, and I’ve been up there quite a lot the last couple of weeks. Everything I said might be wrong tomorrow, but it isn’t now. Maybe after I wake up I’ll be in a mood to rule your kingdom and steal your woman at the same time.”
“I’ll prepare for both occurrences, then.”
“As will I. If I may pry, how did you and the princess form your bond?”
Looking away to remember the fond period, he replied, “She often trained by the barracks with her father. When he wasn’t available, she sparred with the knights. That’s where we first met. We became fast friends. It stayed friendship for about a year. Once I proved myself ready, I joined the High Guard as an official member and protected her family more intimately. I’ll spare you the details, but from there we had the time and the opportunity to learn more about each other. Looking back, I can’t say we ever courted one another. Friendship simply turned into something more.”
“A tale for the ages.”
“Good night, Mercer.”
Sleep came so quickly after hearing those words, they could have been part of my dreams.
Flying northeast a few hours after awaking brought us over waters dotted by a glut of islands large and small. I wished so many weren’t there. Seeing them reminded me I could land to rest my trembling hands at any time, which had me paying too much attention to my unsteady nerves. I wondered why no one warned me about this shuddering side effect, but perhaps no one had foreseen it, or assumed it wouldn’t manifest so strongly. I reminded myself of a drunk a week without his drink, or perhaps a week with it.
By Odet’s insistence, we touched down on the second isle at noon. It was a little place with less than twenty trees growing at its center.
After Aranath’s vanishing act, I said, “I could have kept going.” I made sure to keep my hands under my cloak.
“And you will, soon,” said Odet. “This has nothing to do with you. I merely need to relieve myself and regain my bearings. Anything wrong with that?”
I shook my head and half rolled my eyes. “No, not at all.” The princess and Bell went to find privacy. When they had gotten out of earshot, I told Gerard. “A little fencing should compose my nerves quicker than not. Up for it?”
The girls returned to find us clashing swords at half speed, our armor allowing for an errant blow here and there to ricochet harmlessly. Bell and Odet took the inspiration to swing short sword and spear at one another.
The hot day only let us get half an hour of exercise in, but the point was to loosen muscle and prana reserve, not strengthen them. I only assumed training would help settle me. I had guessed right. The more of my own prana I honed, the less rotten I felt, so I stopped sparring and instead flexed my dragon fire.
Odet and Bell ceased their exercise to watch me whirl ancient fire around myself for several minutes. Odet, foot tapping, asked, “I wonder how my ward will do against your flame?”
I turned to her, watching as the light of dragon fire illuminated her keen face twice as much as the sun. I said, “Let’s have at it, then. Cast your ward, princess.”
As a mirror-like element materialized between her and me, Aranath said, “One of the few neutral clans in the War of Dragon Fire were those who served the night goddess Ylsuna, who congregated in the pre-Alslana lands. So, as far as I can recall, a dragon’s flame has not encountered a ward of Mytariss in many ages.”
>
The encounter he spoke of transpired seconds later. Like most others, Odet promptly learned that dragon fire was as ferocious as avowed by every tale mentioning the creatures. Unlike most others, she had the presence of mind to reinforce the center of her cracking, splintering shield with an outpouring of prana. She let the fringes of her ward evaporate into the ether so she could concentrate on the dinner plate sized area where flame actually touched. This bought her a few extra seconds.
With about a fourth the power I could give to the flame, it shattered the ward with a cracked hiss. She stumbled backward, but I put out the fire well before it reached her.
“Again!” she said with a laugh. “I can’t think of a finer way to fortify my shield.”
“Perhaps once we’re back on the mainland we can waste prana pitting strength against strength. For now, I wish implementing weaker forms of our powers for a while.”
“Weaker forms? Did no one tell you how training works?”
“I grant it might do you little good, but in Dracera I learned a training method that refines my ability to control dragon fire.” I dropped a dragon stone on the gravelly sand. “Please, cast your weakest ward. Form a dome over the stone, then create a small opening facing me.” While she did as I bid, I sat cross-legged. “Smaller, if you can.”
“What kind of training is this?”
“I’m going to ignite the stone and try to pull the flame out the dome without breaking it. I fail at this even when I’ve wasted most of my prana, so expect to keep reforming it.”
“Not exactly productive for me.”
“It isn’t supposed to be, but I promise to go all-out when we get you home. I’d rather neither of us waste too much energy before then.”
“Very well, since you promised to aid me later, I’ll help you now.”
So for the next hour I revisited my training in Dracera. Bell chatted with Odet to keep boredom from pervading the princess. Gerard, meanwhile, waded in the water to seek fish to eat. With no good fishing poles lying around, the best the knight could do to catch skittish fish was to use his meager water spell to pull in a ragged bubble on to land, hoping the fish came with it. The imprecise fishing technique netted him six small fish, which he finished roasting minutes after I called off the training.
In the middle of eating my somewhat overcooked morsel, I said, “Let’s get this out of the way, princess. Are you hoping to join me in my hunt for giants?”
Odet lowered her fish on a stick and finished chewing the piece in her mouth. “My mind has conjured such a notion, yes, but I have not settled the matter within myself yet. Leaving my home, my family, to fight beings only heard of in old tales is no easy thing for me. I also have to convince you to stay your journey until my father returns, as I do not wish to leave without speaking with him first.”
“If your father returns before I fly off, then I suspect it will be he that joins me. I don’t think either of you wishes to leave your sisters without the other present, and your father makes a lot more sense to bring. You’re a fine warrior, princess, but your father has a soul stealing bow as a weapon, not to mention the experience and raw power. Furthermore, he doesn’t require bodyguards. If you come, then I imagine so will Bell and Gerard, and Aranath’s saddle doesn’t have the room for all of you.”
“All valid reasons, which is why I haven’t brought up my idea with you yet. I’m also hoping the situation will become clearer on my return.”
“I hope it does as well.”
We started again for her home minutes later.
The break, while well-meant, did little to curb the unraveling of my nerves after an hour in the air. At least it gave me the chance to learn of a way to mellow those nerves once returning to the ground.
Chapter Three
We visited another island when dark clouds and a darker night encroached the sky. It was a small tropical islet floating alongside two larger ones. Odet believed the isle to be part of the Stingray Atoll. If so, then we were less than three hundred miles away from Alslana’s mainland. Ha! I loved that hundreds of miles no longer sounded so daunting. A sand hut made from Gerard’s earthen spell kept out the rain that came.
Clear skies returned by the time I awoke. Leaving in the predawn hour meant I expected Odet to be eating a hefty lunch befitting someone of her status instead of the overdone little fish and hard biscuits she carried in her food pouch. Becoming more common than islands were ships sailing up and down a still distant coast—at least “distant” as far as the wingless were concerned.
For those riding a sky lord, a glinting unlike the sea’s shimmer soon informed an excited Odet that we neared her homeland. The mirrored spire of the Diamond Palace sparkled in the crisp sunlight like an enamored firefly calling for its mate. Aranath shifted to a northeastern path to head straight for this tall twinkle. As he had been told beforehand to land in the field outside the outer wall, he also ascended higher into the sky to dive his way to solid Orda. His presence was going to be known no matter what, but he didn’t want to cause too much of an uproar by lingering in the air for too long. Even now griffin patrols must have marked him.
With enriched effort behind his flaps, the dragon rose two miles above the palace towers before narrowing his wings. The dive had me forgetting about nervous nerves and harrowing worries both old and new. An emphatic thud bounced our brains once or twice when the dragon’s limbs met the ground. His passengers dismounted in haste so that he could be unsummoned without incident.
Alarmed soldiers on horses galloped their way toward us, soon discovering the invading group comprised of their princess and her allies. They offered us their horses so we could ride the couple of hundred yards to the gate. I declined, wanting to walk off the side effects. In a show of unnecessary solidarity, the others refused the steeds as well. Really, I was planning to let them all be for a few hours, but perhaps it was best I cleared what palace matters I could while I had the chance. On top of that, the prospect of fine cuisine and a hot bath lured me inside.
On being told the queen resided in her throne room, Odet led us to an indoor hall on the first floor of a tower, the same sunburned tower bearing the crystal spire. The High Guardsmen opened the heavy wooden doors to permit us entrance to a cozy hall filled with thirty knights and a few dozen nobles. Everyone became hushed when they noticed their princess had returned earlier than expected.
Taking over the mounting silence was the squealing giggles of a girl yelling “Odet! Odet! Odet!” Scampering feet leapt off one of the mahogany thrones and made a beeline for Odet’s slower pair. Almost as fast as I could go, Elisa ran up to Odet’s arms, burying her face into her shoulder. Since I stood behind her sister, Elisa caught sight of me next. Whispering, she asked, “Odet? Is that Mercer?”
“Of course. Didn’t you see him before he went to pick me up?”
“We didn’t get the pleasure,” I answered.
After a quick second to confirm her sibling’s assertion, Elisa said, “You look different, but in a good, scary way.”
“What every warrior wants to hear, little lady.”
We continued our walk to the eldest sister, my potential bride-to-be. Gods, that sounded so funny and terrifying at the same time. Beatrice, dressed in a light blue gown outlined with white leaves and vines, asked the young nobleman she had been speaking with to make way for her sister. Odet set her shorter sister on the ground so that she could embrace her taller one. For the first time since I knew her, Beatrice sported a smile untarnished by embarrassment or stipulation. The premise of marrying her suddenly seemed easier.
Splitting from Odet, the queen said, “I’m glad your miscalculation didn’t cost you too dearly.”
“Oh, so you know about Prusal’s surprise attack?”
“Your fleet’s Delivered was able to link with my own yesterday. I thank the god of madness for blessing your high-risk plans.”
“You shouldn’t say such a thing aloud.”
“You force me to, dear sister. We’ll
talk more of your lucky lunacy in private, and when you smell less like seaweed. As for you, Master Eberwolf, that’s yet another relation of mine you’ve helped safeguard.”
“I wouldn’t thank me quite yet, Your Grace. Your sister’s frantic mind continues churning wild hopes that only one person in this room can quell.”
“Is that so?” She gazed at Odet, who, in turn, glared at me with a betrayed frown on her lips. “I’ll begin the quelling once everyone has had a chance to revive themselves. Master Eberwolf, I request an audience with you after we eat in an hour. You may use the same guest room from before. Please wait for me there once you have feasted.”
I was glad the pirates weren’t around to give me the smirks I knew they’d bear after hearing the queen’s demand. With a bow, I said, “As you wish.”
Separating from the others, my first stop after so much time over water was soaking within a salt free variant of the element. The steaming bath did better than anything else yet to lessen the taut tension in my limbs. The bath servants wanted to take my clothes for washing, but since I did not find them objectionable, I told them to leave them alone. I was also being protective of the dragon scale armor. Once I soaked for as long as I could get away with it, I put on my valuable armor and made the brief journey to lunch.
I entered the main dining hall to see the large central table filled with nobles and military personnel garbed in their ornate attire. Forty or so High Guardsmen bordered the room.
Standing up from her head seat, the queen said, “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Mercer Eberwolf, summoner of Aranath the Sky Lord and friend to Alslana. We’d yet be ignorant of our true enemy and their intent were it not for his unwavering actions. Please, cordially welcome the first Veknu Milaris in five centuries.”
“Yay!” shouted a clapping Elisa, who started the chorus of other clappers.
I would have either stood there dumbly or turned around to leave if left to my own willpower, but a hand on my shoulder forced my upper half to bow. It then guided both halves toward the queen’s side of the table.
The Dragon Knight's Soul (The Dragon Knight Series Book 4) Page 2
