Marut nodded, "The people need their future queen to be safe.” He stepped closer to Ty-Leah. “I believe you left this with my mother for safe keeping." He removed the horn ring and gave it to her. “It disappeared for a long time. I thought it was buried and was going to see if the princess could find it. Then last night, it was in my mother’s tea set.”
She beamed at it. "The crown! It still exists. Marut: you are the presenter. It has presented itself to you. When Agne becomes queen, you’ll present it to her. Until then you use it to protect the next inline.” She looked cross-eyed staring at it. “Do you know what the Blood King's rider would do to get her grubby little human hands on this? She would slide this crown on his left horn with her own hand, and he would let her. The thought of a human crowning a dragon king. Do you know what that would symbolize to humans and dragons? Ugh, nothing good."
Agne thought it might symbolize unity, but thought this might not be the time to argue it.
"Are you alright, Auntie?" a light blue dragon pup about two years old asked, peeking his head out from their quarters.
"I am fine, Staunton-to bed with you, no more excuses," Ty-Leah said, moving to shield Agne. The little dragon scampered back in with the other pups. "Grayling," she said to the guard, "Pull all the draperies and extinguish all the lamps but this flame. Send up the nanny to guard the pups' door. I don’t want them prying until we come up with a plan." She picked up an ornate oil lamp with her tail. It balanced perfectly on her tail horns. "This way."
She led them to the rear guest quarters. The guard pulled the draperies closed over a large window, and then headed back downstairs.
"Marut can stay in here, and Agne, you can stay with me in my private den." She led them over to a sidewall that was lined with shelves. "Marut. Your parents would be familiar with this place, they used it on occasion." She moved the wall with her tail to reveal a hidden staircase. "It goes underground and comes out on the far side of the Air Dragon training grounds should the need to escape, or hide come into play. Let’s call that the backup plan. The first plan is to get word to the Water Dragons, and have you out of here by mid-morning.”
"My parents were smugglers?" Marut looked grieved. It was evident to anyone that the look on his face suggested he was clueless. “I just thought that guard misspoke in South Aquaqueia.”
"Oh yes, they served the Air Ministry very well. And their waystation inn was the perfect cover,” she smiled at Marut, “Not all official business is as savory as some of the more glamorous parts. Your parents’ work allowed us to keep the Blood King out of Blue Valley. I just wish they could have succeeded at South Aquaqueia. What a terrible loss of the Water Dragons. I have heard rumor you are not so bad at smuggling. I had sent a team to find you, but they reported that you had disappeared."
"Oh," he said, sounding much smaller than he was.
Agne was confused, "Why would you need an official smuggler?"
Ty-Leah held up the crown. "Do you have any idea what this is?"
"An old crown," Agne sniffed it. It smelled like it had been buried in the ground for a long time. “Obviously, before horn hats became all the rage.”
Marut smiled and then furrowed his brow.
"Go on, you tell her, since it cost you everything," Ty-Leah said to Marut while nodding toward Agne.
"It is the Crown of Shestafa, the Ice Queen,” He pointed to the dragon engraved on the crown, “See, she only has one front paw as a pup here.” He turned the crown. “Here she is older, with her paw. She learned how to heal it. Here she is hiding in human form. She is one of only four dragons in known history to be able to master a changeling spell. Some think it was a side effect of magic gone wrong when she was a hatchling.”
Ty-Leah nodded, “It’s said it was a side effect of the evil magic performed on her.”
Agne nodded, “She is also the only Water Dragon royalty known to exist; the other kings and queens have all been either Air, Earth, or Fire. The Bread Crumb Witch cut her paw off when she was a pup to use it for a wand. Shestafa covered several villages in glaciers trying to find the witch.” She glanced at Marut, who was raising an eyebrow. “Salma would have been the first one…” She sighed. “Well, she would have been the first one in a long time, if Zhao hadn’t...”
“Yet we cast the Dragons Lance of Guilt at Zhao,” he said, sounding haughty.
“Are you defending him? Shestafa had Council permission; the villages in question had the opportunity to turn the Bread Crumb Witch over and did not. Zhao engaged in kidnapping and revenge without even so much as an elder in his village knowing.” She snorted. “There is a huge difference in criminal youth gang activity, state-sanctioned terror, and a proper Declaration of War.”
“Yet you took him as a rider?” Marut curled his lip. “No, I am not defending him. All three went to the same lengths to get what they wanted. That’s the part that worries me. This crown can easily be used for evil as much as good.”
“It is said to be one of the most powerful magical artifacts known,” Ty-Leah said.
Marut nodded. “Legend says, it possesses the ability to bestow untapped elemental powers on the wearer. I have read that it is because the Water Dragons made it, and their healing powers were infused with the crown, making it heal the missing powers. The Blood King is Earth and Fire, and the most dangerous element of Air, strategic logic, can be mastered by anyone, so Water is the only thing missing from your father’s Portfolio of Destruction. Even the myth of this crown inspires fear in the people. It's too much power.”
“If it worked it would make Father a master dragon of all four elements. He would be unstoppable.”
Marut nodded. “I tried it on once to get Firepower. It is just an old piece of jewelry with the blood of treasure hunters on it. It’s something for people to kill each other over – something that is useless."
Ty-Leah shook her head. "Not to the Blood King; never forget that. He has burned and sunk villages on his own, without the help of his armies, trapping and killing everything in his path to get this." She held the crown up to eye level, showing off the happy images of Shestafa’s life. “He must never get his claws on this. His belief in it alone would send ripples of terror throughout the lands. For the sake of peace, what my sister ever saw in that dragon is beyond me. His scales are the color of an autopsy." She put the crown on her right front paw.
“Why keep such a dangerous artifact,” Agne asked, ignoring the dig on her father’s scale color.
Ty-Leah shook her head. "This isn't the most dangerous thing out there, it's that damned book of spells his evil rider keeps. And that, dear Agne, is why you need a good smuggler. That book must be taken, and hopefully destroyed. No army can take it, but a single, unassuming official smuggler-not to be confused with a petty thief, can sneak in and carry out orders and burn that bloody book."
“I think what we mean to say is that Marut is a spy.” Agne stared at the crown. "I have seen that book, at least, a thousand times. She keeps it on her, she writes in it regularly. Getting it would be difficult.” She stared at the floor for a second, before looking up at her aunt. “Ja Hua has a cot at the end of my father’s bed that she sleeps on. My first memories of flying with my father are with her hands on my back to keep me steady. She is never more than a few feet away from him, and I have only seen him twice without her."
Marut nearly snorted, "It's a suicide mission."
“It’s one an unridered dragon can pull off, because, despite his relationship with his rider, the Blood King is a humanophobe,” Ty-Leah said, looking at Marut. She smiled, “Well, young Marut if you want a noble position you have to convince the incoming queen you can do it. You will see that you can overcome what your hatch-mother has done to you. You can overcome her. She should have left you with me.”
She put her tail around Agne, and led her out, “Come you must tell me about your rider. Your mother’s letter didn’t indicate that you had one. I can’t imagine your father approved, especially if what Mar
ut said is true …Don’t worry about Marut, dear, he will either be here in the morning or not.” She glanced back at him. “Marut, the bounty for the crown will be in the top drawer of the chest by morning. Hopefully, you will see fit to stay. And that my dear is the difference, spies stay, smugglers or mercenaries will normally do whatever you have paid them to do; for hire per job with payment being the loyalty motivator.”
“I’ll never leave her. She is perfect,” Marut whispered in a low tone, seemingly unaware that Agne heard him.
Zhao had said the same thing after touching her. Did she have an additional dragon power? Air and Fire, logic and love, she thought letting the idea slip as soon as it entered her mind; it was ridiculous.
She followed her aunt through the dark main living space into her private den. A spare bed of hot coals had already been set up in the corner for Agne. Ty-Leah set the lamp down on a table and then sat on her hindquarters while she quickly wrote out a message to Airyanna at a desk. She tied it to the leg of an eagle and sent it off.
"Well, tell me about your rider? Did your father choose him? He isn't the spawn of that thing he calls a rider is he? I was unaware she had a child."
“She doesn’t.” Agne smiled and shook her head. "No, he is quite the opposite. I am sure Zhao would sentence both of my parents and Ja Hua to execution. He hates all three of them. I think more than you do."
"I’m sorry, I didn't mean to sound bitter. It was just the way your mother/ my sister swooned and ran off with him. Then she stayed with him when he found other females who could bear pups when she could not. It is a sad testament to what a female will do to ruin her own life for the love of a male who only wants her for his own purposes; such as building a team of dragons fluent in all four elemental powers; making his house an invincible House of Four. She even threw away her beautiful son as soon as he was hatched. Marut. His real father was going to keep him and raise him, but your mother wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Marut is my brother? Half-brother?” She would keep that to herself. “I can’t believe it.” Anger boiled in her. Why didn’t he tell her?
“It’s true. She was set to marry him but ran to your father as soon as he waggled that awful tail of his by her nose. She wanted the power and authority; she made quick work of the other queens with that unholy alliance of theirs. She even made him doubt that the other pups were his. She wanted the crown and was going to take it – you were going to be the next queen, not Salma. I have no doubts you would have been enrolled in the Royal Military Academy when she finally took over. Ja Hua was the only thing keeping her at bay.”
It was true, her mother had mentioned expanding her education. Zhao had been right: again. "Auntie? I am the product of that unholy alliance. I may not condone my father's behavior, but I love him just like any daughter would. And, honestly, it isn't Zhao you would have to worry about betraying us. It would be me, you do not understand how badly I want to run home and hide in my canopy bed of hot rocks surrounded by my fine things." She burst into tears. "I want my daddy back, not the murderer who burns innocent villages. I want my tea party – storytelling daddy back." She put her ears back, then perked them up straight again.
Ty-Leah walked over and hugged her with both her tail and neck. "I am sorry, sweetheart. You are so much like your mother when she was young, so full of patience and understanding with everyone."
She couldn't stop the tears from flowing, "She's a monster too. She killed a guard trying to help me. She said only she could know where I was. Then she sends a message - which means more than just she knew…what is that? Through whom did she send it? Why not just use the loyal guard? Why did she kill him? Trust me, auntie, my mother is my father's beloved and faithful wife, the others are just surrogate mothers reaping the benefits of palace life. She has helped him do anything and everything he has done."
"You're alive because of your mother's actions; which were against your father.”
“But she heartlessly killed that guard.”
“Your father would have tortured the guard to death, and then hunted you down, and eliminated you from his memory. And your mother knows this, it is why she sent word by an eagle and not dragon messenger.”
“Eagles do that?”
She nodded. “I knew something was wrong when that eagle showed up yesterday versus a palace messenger; and that he showed up before you since you would have been able to out fly the eagle." Ty-Leah patted Agne on the back with her tail.
She sighed deeply, "Agne, you are right, when it comes down to the line, both of your parents love you. But, you understand why we cannot allow them to continue their rule, don't you?"
Agne nodded. "I do. And I will tell you the same thing I told Zhao, I will help you get justice, but not revenge."
"I understand. Now, let's settle down, and you tell me why you would make such a conditional oath to your rider, considering rider relationships are based on being unconditional."
She told her aunt everything that happened. Ty-Leah looked scandalized. “And you took him as a rider instead of eating his legs and arms off so he could flop home to the ashes of all that he worked for? Why?”
“My sisters did this, and we both know it. You said so earlier; Only an unridered dragon can get into the castle. We both know there is no way Zhao and his bungling friends could have snuck into a dragons-only castle. Besides, once Zhao realized the truth, he helped me. He stood guard over me while I rested, and he defended me to Marut. Not only that, but he, a Fire based villager who is a Water student agreed to attend temple here in an Air village to make himself appropriately tame for an Air Dragon.”
“He could be a liar.”
“He truly had no idea that my sisters were the ones he needed to fear, not me. I would be able to smell the hormonal change in him if he were lying. One of the few useful skills I picked up from the Air tutors.”
Ty-Leah offered a half-grin, and a light snort that up-heaved her little scrolls, “I think it was your sisters who had no idea their own father would butcher them over the loss of you. And, my dear, you are a hybrid, so if Zhao is willing to do this for you rather than pulling one way or the other, then you could do worse for a rider.”
“I think I should focus on Air too. The Fire is too painful.”
“Never pick one part of yourself over the other. You mention justice versus revenge…may I suggest you don’t take revenge on your father by cutting the fire out of your personality? Be who you are, and do good in who you are that is how you bring peace to yourself, justice to your father, and then rule the nation.” She patted Agne’s shoulder with her tail. “Marut mustn’t know about your mother. You understand, right?”
“He’s older, he should be king.”
“He isn’t royal, and he isn’t trained. You are the Blood King’s heir. But – you can trust him to help you with this one incident. Later: all bets will be off until you cement your reign.”
Marut didn’t know. Agne smiled and nodded, but didn’t want to talk about herself anymore, and the topic of her reign was premature. She was nothing but a fugitive at the moment. “Auntie, I didn’t think you had pups. Who are the little ones in the pups’ room?”
“War orphans from Sea An’Tia. I have four of them now.” She smiled, “I think I didn’t have my own pups because these pups were meant to be with me. They, along with some others, were rescued by the Blue Valley forces. I took them in when I realized that orphaned pups were randomly being assigned riders. I could not tolerate it, so I adopted them. They are now proper noble dragons, and as such, they will choose their own riders, or not. I don’t have a rider, and I am perfectly fine with it. One doesn’t need a rider to be whole, but pups sure can have their lives ruined by having adult human riders assigned to them.”
Agne smiled, “Well, now I suppose you have five pups.”
Ty-Leah smiled, “I now have three daughters, two of them are pups. You, my dear, are too big to be called a pup. Come, let’s get to bed. I have a resource in the West. I
’m sure Marut knows her, so I am hoping I can talk him into taking you to Glacier Plains.”
She nodded, stepping into her bed, and turning around three times before plopping down. She paused for an instant as she realized she had never trampled her own bed. Her father had always done it for her. She fought back the tears. There was no sense in allowing the emotion to pour out now. She needed to rest.
She had read about Glacier Plains. It had been the village Shestafa buried under a mile-high glacier five hundred years ago. The ice was gone now, replaced by a lush northwestern woodland. She drifted off to sleep looking forward to seeing the fabled village.
HIDDEN PLACES AND INTENTIONS
Agne awoke to a violent shaking. It took her a minute to remember where she was as she looked around at her aunt’s den. It was very ornate in its decor, with a dragon’s desk. It looked as though some talented dragon had used his claws to carve the little dragons into the side.
“Agne, wake up.” It was her aunt.
Agne rolled over to look at her. “What’s going on?”
“A small contingent of the King’s forces has arrived. They are questioning the village chancellor. He is a strong-willed human, but he won’t need it since he doesn’t know you are here. I am going to send you out the secret door with Marut. There are some caves to hide in, to the northeast of the village. My Water Dragon friend lives in the upper lake near the opening of the first set of cascading falls. She can hide you there.”
“What about Zhao? I want him to come with us, especially since Marut has done nothing but lie to me.” She forced herself to wake up as she got off the bed and stretched.
“He went to temple this morning, Grayling and his rider will go with you if you are nervous. Hurry, you have to go now. They will surely come directly here,” her aunt nudged her out of the room and toward the secret passage in Marut’s guest room. “I think Marut is okay, the bounty is still in the drawer, and he was asleep in the guest bed. He may have exaggerated who he is, but he comes from a long line of trusted agents who serve the Air Ministry. And please remember, he doesn’t actually know who he is.”
The Lilac Princess and the Blood King Page 10
