He would have given the mats some more thought, however they were not the most interesting thing about the sleeping area. That distinction went to the skeleton that was lying out, still in full armor.
9
The celebration Amelia planned was small and tasteful. It was in part a memorial for those who fell in the battle of Mara but it was also a statement to the villagers that they would recover and be stronger than ever in the face of adversity. Isabella could see the evidence before her eyes that her mother was right. Not only did the people need it, they deserved it.
“This is excellent,” Isabella said to Amelia as they watched the feast from a small table set on a covered veranda overlooking the monastery yard. She would have preferred a table closer to the rest but her mother insisted they must not for reasons of safety.
The main yard of the monastery had been cleared and pavilions had been erected to protect from any change in the weather. Enough tables for two hundred people was a tall order for the small community so crates and barrels were used as replacements. It was an odd scene but decorum was not high on the priority list for group of refugees and invalids, who were just elated to have a brief respite from the normal grind. “Thank you for your wisdom, Mother.”
Amelia smiled and took her daughter’s hand. “It is important to strive for the love and respect of your people,” she said. “If you show them respect, they will love you more for it and will follow you to the ends of the world.”
“That is a lesson you have presented to me many times and I have taken it to heart,” Isabella said then stood and raised her hands to the sky. She let the magic flow through her and fire developed in the palms of her hands. This attracted a little attention but the majority of the crowd was still involved in their own conversations. With a flick of her wrist, Isabella sent the fireballs into the air where they exploded into bursts of fantastic color. In an instant, she had the attention of the entire group. The villagers from Mara were used to seeing the displays of magic from their Dragonblood Princess but it was all very new to the monks and their patients who began to run for cover, much to the amusement of their guests, who tried to quickly explain what was happening.
“My friends,” Isabella said, beginning when she was sure she had everyone’s attention. The crowd before her let out a cheer which widened the smile on the girl’s face. “I hope everyone is enjoying themselves.” Another cheer. “This was all made possible because of you and all your hard work. Give yourselves a cheer.” The group erupted into a cacophony of jovial shouts and whistles which made Isabella beam with pride. “We all have suffered severely at the hands of our enemies but here we are; standing tall and united, together.” The ruckus was deafening. After a moment, Isabella held up her hands and calm crept slowly over the group. “I have a hard choice to make and I feel like it is only fair that I ask for your input as the outcome will affect you all.”
Isabella truly felt the love of her people in that moment. The crowd burst into shouts of empathy and support.
“You all know my friend, Sisera?” She had barely spoken the dragon’s name when the group began to cheer for her as they did for their Princess.
Isabella laughed. “Please, let’s save it or we will be here all night,” she said which sent a wave of laughter and agreement through the crowd. “Sisera’s sister, Caritha the white-red dragon, has fallen very ill because of the disappearance of her bonded Dragonblood, Shayla. As many of you know, Kai and Jaime are working on finding the cause of their disappearance but, unfortunately, we have no idea how long it will take, if at all possible. In the meantime, Caritha has degraded to the point where we are worried she may die of starvation.” A wave of sympathetic moans spread through the group. “Sisera and I have agreed that our only course of action is to find Apophis, leader of dragons, and seek counsel. There is an island off the coast of southwest Droll where the dragons meet and we wish to travel there to begin our search. I know you are all very capable on your own but with our severely depleted numbers, especially in our military, there will be a significant increase in risk while we are away.”
“The Knights of the Tower take offence to that,” came a shout from Sir Hamza which was followed by a cheer from the tables containing the surviving members of the order, all of whom were still suffering from major injuries inflicted at the battle of Mara. A laugh rang through the crowd at the normally stoic knight’s attempt at a lighthearted joke. Isabella could see a smile hidden away under his thick salt-and-pepper beard which had her wondering if he had indulged in too much of the stout ale expertly brewed by the monks.
“My apologies, Sir Knight,” Isabella said with a smile, “And to all you fine gentlemen. All jests aside, many of you are not expected to raise arms in the conditions you are in. You have already done us a great service and we can ask no more of you.
“Yet, the threat of the Sacred Blood still persists and what we have learned at a grave cost is they have that ability to strike us at will, using their dark, underhanded ways. However, they underestimated us and we dealt them a mighty blow. Their leaders were either killed or disappeared in the battle but, from what I am told, the web of the Brotherhood extends wide so retaliation is probable.”
A disturbed murmur spread through the crowd which instantly brought down the energy of the group.
“I’m sorry, my friends, I don’t mean to cast a dark cloud over the festivities this evening,” Isabella said and turned to her mother to reassure her that was truly not her intention. Amelia watched quietly but acknowledged her daughter with a nod and a smile. Isabella continued, “But it is a very real possibility. The two options I have are this. Remain here to defend an attack that may not be coming and leave Caritha to die or go in search of Apophis and leave you, my people, those who love me and trust me to make the right choices, leave you to fend for yourselves against a force I would not wish against my worst enemy, although they are just that.”
“Maybe I can be of service?”
All heads turned around to see the face of the man who shouted from the back of the pavilion. Jaime stood with one shoulder leaning on a tent pole. The crowd erupted into shouts of happiness at the return of one of their most beloved leaders which was suddenly cut short by a loud disturbance at the gates.
Isabella jumped up from her chair, sending it flying backward. “Stay here, Mother,” she said as she took off running toward the gate. She regretted diverting from her routine of wearing her battle gear at all times. She had to pause for a brief moment to tear the bottom half of her dress away as well as remove the sleeves as the frills of the formal gown were a nuisance. Her mother had insisted she wear the extravagant dress to give the people a symbol of hope and beauty. A great idea but one that was unfortunately working against her at the moment.
When she reached the gate, Isabella pushed her way through the gathered ring of people to find that Jaime already had the situation under control. He was holding back an old man while the entire squadron of soldiers who were guarding the gate were now all laying spread along the ground.
“Don’t worry, Princess, they are not dead. Just sleeping,” Oshri shouted as he tried to get around Jaime to greet Isabella. “They refused to let me in while you were speaking but I didn’t want to miss out on it. If this idiot here hadn’t just gone over the wall, I could have been patient.”
Jaime let the old man go. “You’re blaming me? Typical,” Jaime said with a sour expression. “He’s been blaming me for all his missteps this entire journey back. It’s bloody exhausting.”
“I blame you when things are your fault,” Oshri yelled, waving his walking stick menacingly at the younger man.
“Enough,” shouted Isabella. Both men halted their bickering and turned their attention to her. “I’m happy that you have both returned in seemingly good health. What happened to Kai?”
“Apologies, my lady,” Jaime said, giving the girl a courteous bow. “Kai is travelling to Evresh to find an a’kil named Sova Zlo. He sent me back to s
ee to the defence of the Tower but when we arrived there, we found it still under construction so we came here. Oshri came back to help, although I now see that was a huge mistake.”
This set the old man off again. “You, whippersnapper. I’ll show you a mistake,” Oshri yelled, raising his staff again but this time it was caught by Isabella who promptly removed it from the old man’s hands.
“That is enough,” she said sharply.
Oshri hung his head like a scolded child. Isabella took his hand and pulled him close into a warm embrace. “Oshri, how I’ve missed you. So much has happened since we last met but it seems you are your same old self.”
“I have missed you as well, my dear. It seems that your beauty has grown with your power,” the old man said, returning her embrace. “The Dragonscale has spread, I see.”
“More and more each day,” Isabella said with a smile. “I can’t wait to show you what I’ve learned but it is going to have to wait. You two should go get cleaned up while I will deal with … all of this. Join me at my table and we will discuss your adventures.”
Oshri bowed to the girl before being led away to the bathhouse by one of the monks. Jaime gave her a crisp salute and followed after them.
“Take these men to the infirmary and post new guard,” Isabella shouted to no one in particular but her orders were carried out promptly.
The celebration was back to full roil when she returned to her table after collecting the scraps from her torn gown she had thrown away in the excitement.
“I’m sorry about the dress, Mother,” she said as she sat back down.
“I should have known better than to insist you wear it,” Amelia said with chuckle. “You still look beautiful though.”
“That was quite the speech you gave,” Adina said, as she had joined them on the veranda after the disruption. “Will you go now that Jaime is back?”
Isabella took a long drink from her cup of water before answering, giving her time to ponder the question. “Between Hamza and Jaime, we will have strong leadership for both the defense of the monastery and the rebuilding of the Tower and village. Mother will be in charge and oversee the whole process so I think I can go,” she said as confidently as she could.
“Is Caritha really that bad?” Adina asked.
Isabella nodded. “Sisera has never seen anything like it before. She has lost all color in her scales. It’s like she is a ghost.”
“I would like to go care for her. Perhaps there is something I can do,” Adina said. “Rosalie refuses to stop working while Kai is away so there is not too much for me to do here and anything I can be doing at the Tower just doesn’t seem to be as important as this.”
Tears welled up in the corners of the girl’s eyes. Isabella jumped up and hugged Adina with such a force it nearly knocked over the chair the older woman was sitting in. “That would be amazing,” she said between sobs. “We just don’t know what to do.”
“I know, dear,” Adina said, patting the girl on the back. “I can’t make any promises but I can try.”
“That means the world to us. Thank you, Adina,” Isabella said. She held her embrace for just a few moments more before releasing the old woman.
“Gods, I thought you were going to suffocate me,” Adina said with a jovial gruff which made both mother and daughter giggle.
“Before I go, I would like to put to rest this situation with Makal,” Isabella said after settling back down in her chair. “I haven’t seen him at all day. Do either of you happen to know where he is?”
“Of course, dear. He is working with the monks in the kitchens. They can keep an eye on him there so he stays out of trouble,” Amelia said.
Isabella sat up with a start. “Do you really think that is a good idea? He is preparing our food? What if he is poisoning it?”
“Do you really think he is capable of that?” Amelia said with a laugh.
Isabella looked to Adina for support but the old healer shook her head and smiled.
“I had a good talk with him,” Adina said. “He was kind enough to tell me all his secrets. He’s a good boy.” She ended her statement with a wink.
Isabella was taken aback. She still had feelings for the boy but after everything that has happened, there was no way she could trust him again. Her mother and Adina didn’t know him like she did but yet they were willing to trust him with the lives of everybody.
“How can you be sure he’s telling the truth? It could all just be more lies,” she asked.
Adina laughed. “I, sort of, gave him a special tea to ensure he wasn’t feeding me tall tales,” she said.
“You can do that?” Isabella asked with surprise.
“It’s not something I normally condone but I know how much he means to you, so I made an exception,” the older woman said. She quickly held up her hands. “Don’t tackle me again,” she said with a laugh as Isabella began to move toward her.
“We know how hard all this is for you,” Amelia said. “Whatever we can do to help, we will do.”
“I second that,” Jaime said as he and Oshri appeared in the doorway of the stairwell that led into the building.
“You sure have a knack for that, don’t you,” Amelia said after the surprise wore off and she embraced the man. “Welcome back.”
The happy reunion quickly turned into Jaime recounting the tales of his adventures while Oshri stuffed his face with roasted meats and fresh bread. When the younger man was finished with his tale the women’s attention quickly turned to the old wizard.
“So, there is a chance Raven and Shayla are alive?” Isabella asked hopefully.
“I would say there is a pretty good one if Kai can make the journey,” Oshri said with a mouth full of chicken which sent bits spitting out across his beard. He continued as if he hadn’t noticed, “Evresh is a harsh place but I think he can handle it.”
“Oh, it would be good have them back,” the young girl said with a smile which was accentuated by the candlelight reflecting off her gold-purple dragonscale. “It seems like fate has made the decision for me. As soon as we can, Sisera and I will leave to find Apophis.”
10
“I will kill you with my bare hands. I will tear the still-beating black heart from your pale, sunken chest. I will stomp your skull and grind the shards beneath my boot heel.”
Raven willed her body to allow the venomous promise to escape her lips but, instead, she could only produce noises resembling the grunts of a domestic pig, a fact that was brought to her attention by the slim, balding man dressed in deep crimson robes the younger, more well-built one called Tarak referred to as Santaal. She thought him to be a cruel, petty man and she longed to teach him a lesson about how to treat prisoners but, unfortunately her puppet strings were still firmly held by his hand.
“Hurry up, wench,” Santaal barked, throwing a handful of small stones at her to emphasize his order, which was one of many he had given her that day.
Her first task was to move a still unconscious Shayla from the cavern to the caretakers house. She accomplished the difficult task only to be immediately ordered to convert one of the rooms into a holding cell to house the dragonblood girl. She stripped a room of all its meager contents and fitted the door with a thick timber bar. Once Shayla had been chained away, Raven was set about converting another room which turned out to be a cell for her. When she was finished, Santaal ordered her in and barred the door tightly behind her.
Raven looked around the small empty room and settled herself on the floor with her back against the wall. She tucked her knees deeply into her chest and buried her face between them. Hot tears began to stream down her face, a sensation she had forgotten after years of holding them back. She did not have to be in the cell to feel like a prisoner.
Thankfully, her tears faded into a light, restless slumber, curled on the barren floor of the empty cell she had built for herself. It did not last very long as the voices of her captors shook her awake.
“The control is holding stro
ng for the time being.” Raven recognized the voice of the cruel, slim Brother. “Did you happen to find any components on your walkabout?”
There was a lot of rustling and banging so she could not make out the response but she knew from Santaal’s disheartened tone following that the younger Brother had not been successful in finding the necessary ingredients to replicate the mind-control ritual. If Raven was capable of letting out a sigh of relief she would have then. She would now have a chance, once it wore off.
Unless they kill me first. The thought chilled her. To die anywhere except in the heat of a just battle was a poor death. She deserved better. She had worked hard to correct the mistakes of her youth and she had paid her debts. She deserved a warrior’s death, under her own cognizance instead of under the control of these monsters.
“I am going to take her with me tomorrow.”
Raven’s ears perked up.
“Do you think that wise?” came the response from Santaal.
“This is her land, or at least the land of her people. Maybe she knows where in Solotine we are.”
“I don’t see why you have to risk taking her with you. If something goes wrong, then we lose her and the advantage she gives us.”
The logic was sound but Raven was betting the big one did not use that part of his brain. She was hoping anyway. She strained to hear as the conversation seemed to move away from her earshot.
“What am I to do while you are gone?”
“Practice your spellcasting. We are solely relying on your abilities for the time being so sharpen your skills. Any offensive spells would be a priority.”
Dragon Flight: Sisera's Gift 3 (Dragonblood Sagas Book 5) Page 7
