Wanderling's Choice

by D C McLaughlin

  The food turned to sand in her throat. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She remembered what Shayne had said to her earlier, her time was short when he proposed marriage. She fought not to let it rattle her composure. She had to stall him somehow.

  "Why do you even want to marry me?" she asked. "I'm no princess! I'm just a farm girl. You've got five women here who will do whatever you say. Why do you need me?" she managed to choke back the tears of fear as she blurted this out.

  He sipped his wine slowly, rolling it around on his tongue as he assembled the answer as if he had all the time in the world, and he did. His next words staggered her.

  "Shayne loves you."

  Rhi gasped several times before she could trust her own voice. "He hasn't said anything to me about it."

  Nazar laughed. "Because he's a coward, that's why! Most men are when it comes to facing the woman of their dreams. Shayne has always been yellow-bellied when it comes to women. But he's never taken to any woman like he's taken to you and I want to know why. That's why you're going to marry me. Or you're going to be the sixth woman in the line."

  She looked at the five women assembled behind him. They hadn't moved since she walked into the feast hall. Rhi wondered what their names were, where they had come from, what their dreams were, did their families worry about them or were they dead too? There were so many blank pages in the book of their lives. Now they were caught living this un-life, in servitude to a master who could have cared less about the little details of their lives, paused in the seconds before their own death, not dead but not alive either. They were trapped in a cage; blank, empty, unreal, uncaring and unable to dream. Not a real life at all. All the people in this castle needed a knight to come riding up on his white horse and save them.

  But the white knight wasn't coming because he didn't exist.

  "So my dear, what's it going to be? Will you marry me or no?"

  Rhi coughed trying to force her voice to return. "I…I…don't know. I have to think about it," she rasped out finally in a very small, little voice.

  Her eyes looked up and met those of the unseeing women. She found herself transfixed, unable to look away.

  Nazar growled, not happy with her answer. "Fine! Be that way! Think about it. But do not think too long. I am not a patient man."

  In a fog, Rhi stood up, curtseyed and carefully walked out of the feast hall. Once out of line of the king's vision, she fled as fast as her feet could carry her through the hallways, up the stairs to her room. She slammed and locked the door behind her and fell breathless on the bed.

  For the thousandth time she wished she was somewhere else.

  ***

  Rhi awoke to the roar of dragon wings outside her bedroom window. She sat up straight in fright. The dragon hovered in front of her window, looking in. Then it uttered a huge, reptilian laugh which made her bedposts shudder and flew away.

  She remembered the night before.

  Nazar had asked her to marry him.

  "When he asks you to marry him, your time is short." Shayne had said.

  She felt cold inside.

  There was a gentle rap on her door and a servant came in bearing a silver tray with her breakfast. She found herself unable to take her eyes off of his blank, staring face.

  She did not want to become like all the other soulless people in the castle. There had to be some way out of this predicament.

  She thought about her conversation with Shayne the day before.

  She had to find out where Nazar had hidden the dragon. It was a slim chance but a slim chance was better than no chance at all.

  She seated herself and ate her breakfast as she thought. When she had finished, she hailed the servant who had brought her the tray and requested he bring her the woman from the night before. While she waited, she quickly changed out of her dressing gown into her breeches, boots and tunic with a vest. She was brushing and braiding her long hair when the woman stepped into her room and stood waiting.

  Before she remembered, she had asked, "What is your name?"

  But the woman curtseyed and gestured with two fingers on one hand to her eyes.

  Rhi stood there blinking in confusion for a moment.

  "Hazel?" she asked finally and the woman nodded.

  Rhi smiled broadly, pleased with herself. At least she had managed to figure out somebody's name!

  "Hazel, do you know where Nazar keeps his dragon?" she asked.

  Hazel pointed out the window.

  Rhi frowned and stomped her foot in frustration.

  "No! I know the dragon is gone," she growled to herself and thought hard as to how to phrase the question. "I mean where does he keep the dragon during the day? Where does he have the spirit trapped?"

  Hazel cocked her head to the side like a curious dog.

  Rhi sighed again in frustration. She didn't understand.

  Or so she thought.

  Hazel took hold of her arm abruptly and gestured for her to follow. Then she turned and left the bedchamber. Rhi followed wordlessly.

  Hazel led her through a maze of passages to an enormous bedroom three times the size of Rhi's own chamber. Rhi just stood and stared at the murals on the walls and ceiling of hunting scenes and the gilded molding climbing up the corners of the walls like tree branches to the ceiling above. The room was so opulent and rich it amazed her any one person could feel comfortable in it.

  "Is this Nazar's bedroom?" she asked.

  Hazel nodded.

  The serving woman was standing next to a full-length mirror.

  "And where does he keep the dragon?" she asked.

  Hazel pointed to the mirror.

  "The dragon is in the mirror?" Rhi asked.

  Hazel shook her head in denial.

  Rhi came up to stand in front of the mirror.

  "I don't understand."

  Hazel reached out and grabbed her hand and shoved it into the mirror. Rhi gasped in fright for instead of her hand meeting glass, it went through the mirror as if through a doorway.

  Rhi snatched her hand back in shock and examined it. Yes, it was her hand and it was whole and unharmed. She looked to Hazel. The serving maid nodded encouragingly.

  Apparently Rhi was to step through the mirror.

  She looked at her reflection and took a deep breath. Then she closed her eyes and stepped into the mirror.

  She felt like she had stepped through a pane of water except she wasn't wet. It seemed to cling to her and yet it released her gently.

  Rhi blinked. It was darker here on the other side of the mirror. She had the feeling she was standing in a room much larger than the one she had left. She could hear water dripping and feel small gusts of wind buffet her lightly. She gazed about and suddenly gasped in wonder.

  She found she was standing in a huge cavern encrusted in crystal. The walls, the roof above her head, everything was glittering and faceted in every color imaginable.

  And then the crystals began to flash and shine with a light from within as if they were alive. The cavern grew brighter with the flickering of these lights.

  She suddenly became aware there was a presence in the cavern. Rhi felt like she was standing in the center of a room in a mansion haunted by hundreds of ghosts, ghosts who were suddenly aware of her and watching her with unfriendly eyes.

  She was abruptly knocked to the floor with the force of a tumultuous sound. It was the clamor of hundreds of voices screaming. She could hear them inside and outside her head. She clamped her hands over her ears but the screams only grew louder, deafening her with the strength of their sound.

  "Stop it! Stop it!" she screamed back into the din but her voice was drowned out by the cacophony about her.

  And then there came another sound. It sounded like falling boulders in the mountains. It was louder than the screams. Suddenly all was quiet and still. The many voices had ceased and were now waiting, waiting for her to say something momentous.

  The sound of boulders came again and this time Rhi realized
it was a voice.

  "What is this?" said the mighty voice. "You are not Nazar!"

  Rhi looked up trembling but could not see anyone or any creature who belonged to the voice. "I certainly am not Nazar!" she managed to gasp out. "I am…."

  But the great voice cut her off. "No!" it said. "Do not speak your name! For names are an evil made only to ensnare. Names should not exist."

  Rhi climbed carefully to her feet. "Are you too a prisoner of Nazar? Did he catch you with your name?" she asked the air before her.

  The unseen entity made a sound like hot water hissing on cold stones. "Yes, that was how he caught me. But how did you earn such charity from him for I see your soul and your body are still one?"

  It was Rhi's turn to grumble. "Apparently not for long though. If I do not give him the answer he desires, he will separate me from my soul."

  The hundred voices softly began to moan in pain about her.

  "What is that?" she asked.

  The moaning made her bones shiver.

  "That is the sound of Nazar's poor servants. Their souls wail at their injustice," replied the great voice who did not want to be named.

  "But…" stammered Rhi, not understanding. "I thought they were all dead."

  The voice seemed to chuckle. "Not yet. Not quite," it answered. "They were frozen in time an instant before their death. They are not alive and yet they are unable to die. So they scream and moan and wail here in this cavern. Unquiet, restless spirits trapped here with me. Forever."

  Rhi took a few tentative steps toward the source of the voice. "Then…can they be returned to their bodies?" she asked.

  The voice laughed, a sad laugh full of regret. "My dear, if they could be returned to their bodies to live or die, do you not think I would have already done it by now?"

  Rhi smiled as understanding finally dawned on her. "Not if you are without your body just as they are," she replied. "You're the dragon aren't you?"

  Again the rumbling came followed by a hiss like a million angry snakes. "You are very perceptive for such a young thing."

  Rhi looked about her at the ceiling of the cavern. "Nazar trapped the souls of his people in this crystal, correct?" she asked.

  The voice rumbled and boomed before her. "Yes, that is so."

  "Then…if he must have a solid vessel to trap the soul in…then where is your cage?"

  The voice chuckled, echoing all about her. "You are approaching it," it replied. "I will ask the other souls to increase their light so you might see."

  A soft, red glow issued from the crystal overhead. As the light increased, Rhi saw a shape standing in a shaft of clear light in the direct center of the room. It looked to be an enormous stone egg.

  "There. Better?"

  "Yes…" Rhi breathed. She stared at the stone egg in wonder. It was dark in color but streaked with red and black branches across it like veins. The egg was lit from within by a yellow, glowing light.

  Rhi reached out and touched the egg. It felt as hard as polished marble but it was warm to the touch. It stood just a little taller than her and was supported by a pedestal with words carved on it, words in a language Rhi could not read.

  "What does the inscription say? I cannot read it," she asked.

  The dragon's voice laughed. "No one but Nazar can read it. It is in an ancient tongue secret to all but the most learned of wizards."

  She bit her lip in worry. "But you can read it, can't you?" Rhi said urgently.

  "Of course I can read it!" sniffed the dragon. "There is no tongue ancient or recent, that the youngest of my kind cannot speak and read. Your writing is pathetically simple for my kin to decipher."

  The dragon paused. "It is a riddle. It will not rhyme once translated into your words. But it is said to hold the key to breaking the spell which holds me caged in the stone."

  Her heart leapt in hope. "Then out with it!" Rhi demanded. "And let's be done with all this cruelty Nazar has created!"

  "You won't be able to figure it out," the dragon's voice dared her.

  Rhi snarled in frustration and balled her hands into fists. "Look here dragon!" she said angrily. "According to my understanding, I have very little time until I join the other spirits trapped in crystal. Now you give me the key to unlock this mystery and you dismiss me without even trying? Maybe you haven't been caged long enough."

  The dragon growled and the room trembled violently.

  But Rhi was not frightened this time.

  "Tell me the inscription! Let me at least try to save myself. Maybe I can save you, too."

  The light inside the egg twisted and turned. There was a great scraping noise as of scales grating on rocks.

  "You would save a dragon who might kill you once released?"

  Rhi laid her hands on the stone egg before her. "Why not? You're caged. So am I. We both hate it equally. We both want to be free. Why shouldn't I help someone with the same curse as myself? Who better understands being trapped than you and I right now?"

  The dragon rumbled in indecision.

  "What have you got to lose? Come on, dragon, take a chance."

  There was an enormous hiss. "Very well. I will tell you the inscription. And if you can manage it, you will free me along with yourself. And when I am free, I will kill Nazar."

  "Agreed!" she answered immediately. Rhi knelt down at the base of the stone egg and traced the foreign letters with her fingers as the dragon recited them for her.

  "The inscription reads as follows:

  The falcon's cry will lay low the lies

  Through blood, a bond is shared

  Wanderling's choice

  Destiny's sacrifice

  The stones will scream,

  Blood will stream

  Chains will be broken,

  Doors will be open

  Dragon chained will fly free again."

  There was a deep, stony grumble from the dragon.

  "See? It makes no sense at all, except for the last line about me."

  Rhi was chewing her lip and shaking her head. "No, pardon me dragon, but you're wrong," she said as she thought. "'Wanderling's choice'? This could mean me. I'm a wanderling. But what is the choice?"

  There was another hiss. "You understand some of this?" The dragon's voice was actually beginning to sound excited.

  "The falcon means the family who inhabited the castle before. Their symbol was the falcon," Rhi muttered as she thought.

  "'Falcon's cry will lay low the lies' I don't understand that part," the dragon said.

  Rhi knew exactly what it was referring to but she held back from saying anything.

  "'Through blood, a bond is shared,'" she muttered. "What does that mean? Someone of a certain bloodline?"

  The dragon grumbled thinking. "What is your bloodline, child?" it spoke to her.

  Rhi shrugged.

  "Me? Well, I'm just a farmer's daughter," she said.

  "Hmmm," rumbled the dragon. "Has your family always been farmers?"

  The question completely took Rhi aback for a moment. "I…don't know. I suppose so. I only know to my grandparents. Are you suggesting there might be blue blood in my family further back?"

  The dragon chuckled. "Perhaps. Anything is possible."

  Rhi had no idea how to respond. "But there's no way to know that."

  The dragon chuckled.

  Rhi coughed. "All right. How do I find that out?"

  For a third time the dragon chuckled.

  "To answer the question, I will need one drop of your blood placed on the surface of the stone egg. A dragon can always sense what is in the blood of a person."

  Rhi stepped back in shock. Now the dragon was asking for her to cut herself. "Is this really necessary?" she asked in a tiny voice.

  The dragon seemed to be enjoying this. "How much do you like having your spirit in its house of flesh?"

  Rhi blinked. She began to look about her. On the floor of the cavern, she found a pile of stone shards. She picked out what looked to be a very sharp p
iece and returned to the stone egg.

  "I hope you're right!" she said and then she took a deep breath, gritted her teeth against the pain and pricked her finger with the sharp point of the broken shale. A large drop of deep red blood welled up through the small wound on her skin. She pressed the drop against the surface of the stone egg.

  The dragon made a sound like a satisfied cat's purr. "'Through blood, a bond is shared,'" murmured the dragon in quiet delight.

  At the exact instant, Rhi realized what she had done. She felt the mistake she had made. Something intruded into her being, pushing her core aside and sharing space with it. Suddenly her body was home to two souls, her own and now the dragon's.

  "You lied to me!" she shouted. She let go of the stone, balled her hands into fists again and began to pound on the stone egg.

  "How dare you! I did not give you permission. Get out of me this instant!"

  The dragon laughed its reply to her. "No," was all it said.

  Rhi wailed in horror. She wasn't sure which was worse, the prospect of being robbed of her soul or having to house another soul which wasn't her own.

  "Why?" she cried and fell sobbing to her knees.

  "Because I am a dragon. And I must survive in any way that's possible to me. You provided an opportunity. Your naiveté gave me access to a living body. I will not deprive you of your soul because I wouldn't deign to copy the same tactic as my enemy. But to achieve my freedom and revenge I need a physical form and since my own has been stolen from me, yours will do nicely."

  Rhi had collapsed sobbing onto the floor before the egg.

  But the dragon's voice continued to mutter as it now had access to her thoughts and memories.

  "'Falcon's cry will lay low the lies.' Ah! Now I understand. You have a lover."

  She hiccupped helplessly. "He's not my lover. Why does everyone say he is?"

  The dragon purred.

  "Because a love between two people yet unspoken is still love nevertheless."