Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools

by M. R. Mathias

  ***

  Krenson Rhone, tired and weary from his two day ride, came to the gates of Odava’s keep with high expectations, and even higher hopes. It didn’t seem to bother him that no one asked who he was as he entered. The men there greeted him pleasantly and escorted him to the overlord’s dining hall. It came as a great shock to Krenson that Lord Pa’Stryn’s headless body sat at the head of the table.

  King Jarrek promptly stepped out of the darkness with a malicious snarl showing beneath his red-wolf skull helmet. He chuckled just before he hacked off Krenson’s sword hand. After gathering as much information as he could, Jarrek took his head too. He put the body with Pa’Stryn’s men’s corpses in the cellar. By dawn the keep was empty save for the carrion. The hundred and thirty-five slaves that had been held there were escorted into Valleya and freed. Then, Jarrek and a few of his men delivered their fourth chest to King Ra’Gren.

  ***

  Ta’Ken just happened to be at court the day the fourth chest arrived. He was in the middle of telling the King about his consortium’s generous bounty. Ta’Ken almost laughed when Krenson Rhone’s head was pulled from the chest. His amusement ended when Lord Pa’Stryn’s came out next. In fact, he was appalled. Knowing that his own keep was now the closest to the Valleyan border and the farthest from O’Dakahn, he decided to up the bounty to a hundred thousand golden fangs.

  The whole situation was getting out of hand. O’Dakahn was the profitable seaport cesspool city it had always been, but the other cities of Dakahn were getting edgy. The good folk, the merchants and crafters, the barrel makers and farmers, and especially the river men, were starting to wonder if they were truly protected by the lords they paid their tariffs to. Even the gambling and prostitution rings were losing custom. Ta’Ken had no intentions of losing his slaves to the Red Wolf. He hired a dozen bodyguards and two dozen more men to fortify his keep. Then he left O’Dakahn to go protect his home.

  If Ta’Ken could have seen the look on King Ra’Gren’s face three days later when he pulled the tenth head King Jarrek sent him from the chest, he would have been mortified.

  That day Ra’Gren began to fear. Holding Ta’Ken’s severed head in his lap, and hearing the state of disarray his kingdom was descending into, he decided to make a statement that even King Jarrek and his vigilantes could not ignore. It would be a statement that would put an end to all of it.

  He summoned the main slave traders in the kingdom to his throne room and personally purchased from them a hundred of the youngest and most innocent Wildermont slaves available. The next day, in the vast trading square near O’Dakahn’s shipping center, King Ra’Gren had his hundred Wildermont innocents form a line. Every day, thousands upon thousands of people gathered there to hawk and trade their wares, but they were all cleared back for the spectacle. One by one Ra’Gren had his new slaves beheaded. After the last terrified little girl’s body collapsed at his blood-spattered feet, Ra’Gren had the hundred heads piled into a wagon and then staked a Wildermont flag in the mound.

  “Leave this in the square as a reminder,” he ordered, as he and his retinue rode back toward the castle. “Anyone who tries to move it will join them.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “ ‘... when Sorgisee first landed his ship at the mouth of the Pixie River, he thought his crew was the first to set foot in that land,’ ” Hyden read to them. They were sitting at the booth table in the ship’s little common room. Brady was lounging on the divan barely listening, and Oarly was in his cabin under the blankets. It had been a long two weeks at sea since they left the Island of Kahna. All of them, save for the dwarf, were getting restless.

  “ ‘After exploring up the river Sorgisee found that he was wrong. A village of dwarves greeted them kindly, and though their languages differed, they communicated with hand signals and crude gestures. Further north they found the elves, who could speak to them in the common tongue of the age. The little folk danced at the elves’ feet and fluttered around them like butterflies. The elves told them that there were other men, far to the west, harsh and pale men who sought to own the land instead of share it. The elves also spoke of giants, men as tall as trees that ranged as far south as the Willdee... Willda...’ ”

  “Wilder Mountains,” Phen said. “Your reading has improved,” the boy added encouragingly. “But could you read to yourself for a while. This is tedious work, especially on a rolling ship.”

  Phen wasn’t being rude on purpose. Captain Trant had given him an old unused logbook. With his tongue held at the corner of his mouth, Phen was meticulously copying the foreign text of the old book he had found in the serpent’s lair into it. He wanted a copy he could look at and study that he didn’t have to worry about damaging.

  “I think I’ve had enough reading for the day anyway,” Hyden said, not offended. “How many more days?” he asked Brady. Hyden had asked the question a dozen times already that day, and both Brady and Phen answered in exasperated unison.

  “Four more days!”

  Hyden laughed aloud, as much at himself as at them. “I’m going up,” he said. “Talon wants to stretch his wings, and I might just tag along.”

  “Braggart,” Phen huffed jealously, but with a smile. “If you would let me wear my ring, I might just be able to see through the eyes of a hawk like you do.”

  “Aye,” Hyden ruffled Phen’s hair. “And you might turn into a fat hairy gruek and try to bed Oarly as well.”

  “Ewwww!” Phen made a sour face. “I’m not Gerard you know.”

  “Aye,” Hyden responded seriously. “But I love you as if you were my brother, and if I would have kept the ring he found when he offered it to me he wouldn’t be where he is now.”

  “Aye,” Phen dropped his head, now sorry for bringing up such a subject. The truth was he was sort of afraid of the ring he had found. Not afraid to keep it dangling next to the key on the silver chain around his neck, but afraid to slip a finger through its inviting hole.

  “If Captain Trant is right, then in a few days, you might be able to start deciphering your book,” said Hyden as he started up the stairs.

  “Do you really think it’s pirate code in the book?” Phen asked before Hyden could get out the door.

  “It’s probably recipes for old fish wives,” Hyden said letting the door slam shut behind him.

  Brady laughed from the divan. “Or it’s directions on how to get eaten by a sea serpent,” he said.

  “I hope it’s a spell that tells me how to turn my wise ass friends into toads,” Phen said with a hopeful grin on his face.

  “It would probably turn Oarly into a prince, then,” Brady joked.

  They both laughed at that.

  After the chuckle, Phen dipped his quill and went back to work. Brady resituated himself on the divan and went to sleep.

  ***

  Hyden deftly climbed the mast. He shooed Babel out of the crow’s nest and made himself comfortable. The strange blue monkey hung around in the rigging for a while but soon disappeared from view. Talon was gliding alongside the ship and Hyden closed his eyes, seeking the hawkling’s vision. After a moment he changed his mind and tried to find Talon’s sight with his own eyes open, like he had been forced to do in Dahg Mahn’s trial. The sensation came to him easy enough and the spectral image of the world spread out before him. He could see more than was physically there. He could see the nature of things, their power, and their essence. In the depths of the sea ahead of them he made out a swirling school of little fish and the dark intent of the larger ones darting in and out of the cluster to feed. On the horizon he saw the colors of the wind and the different layers of warmer and cooler air. Out of view to the right of the ship, he knew lay the vast swampy marshlands. They separated Dakahn and lower Westland, and somewhere in those deep marshes was Claret’s abandoned lair. He looked to his left where the maps he’d studied showed nothing but an endless expanse of sea. To his great surprise, something revealed itself out in the beyond. The prismatic color of slow pump
ing wings soared over the sea on a course parallel to the ship’s. Whatever it was, it was powerful and full of both good and evil intent. Its aura was that of a great predator and full of wild powerful magic. As it noticed Hyden’s magical vision, or maybe the radiant power of the dragon tear hanging near his heart, the thing veered its course closer to the Seawander.

  Long before the men of the crew saw it, Hyden knew it was a dragon. Young and lean, and full of life, it flew through the air with such powerful sinuous grace that even Talon felt inferior at the sight. It was aquamarine in color, and its glittering turquoise scales reflected the afternoon sun like a pile of polished gemstones. It made no move to attack, and it didn’t venture nearer then an arrow shot. Hyden could sense its reluctance to be so close to the destructive humans. It feared them. It was probably twenty paces long from tip to tail, but Hyden knew that someday it would be big enough to grasp a ship the size of the Seawander in its claws and carry it away just like the great blue dragon Cobalt had done with Barnacle Bones’s ship.

  Someday this dragon would know no fear. Hyden wondered what that would feel like. To be the greatest creature in the land was beyond his fathoming.

  After awhile the dragon trumpeted a shrill warning and veered away back to the south. Hyden watched its aura fade into the wind, and finally caught his breath. Talon fluttered down onto the lip of the crow’s nest and cawed his satisfaction to Hyden. The bird also perceived more when they shared their vision. As he climbed back down to the deck, Hyden wondered just what it was that Talon sensed through their bond.

  Phen and Brady stood near the mermaid bowsprit figurehead grinning at him as he approached. Word of the dragon flying alongside the ship had reached them and they dared not miss such a sight.

  “Did you speak to it?” Phen asked excitedly. “Like you did with Claret?”

  “Aye,” Hyden nodded. “I told it if it got hungry we would throw a young mage overboard for its supper.”

  Phen’s expression went blank for a moment then he slugged Hyden in the arm. “Really, did you speak with it?” he asked again.

  “It was young and wary of us,” Hyden answered. “It was only curious, I think, but no Phen, I was too mesmerized by its grace to find words.”

  “Aye,” Phen understood that feeling completely.

  From somewhere toward the middle of the ship a loud bell clanged twice.

  “That’ll be our supper,” Brady said flatly. “Hard biscuits and even harder meat.”

  ***

  Three nights later the cry of “Land Ahoy!” woke them with a start.

  The lighthouse of Salazar was on the distant horizon, and the welcome idea of being on land again caused Oarly to make his way up to the ship’s rail. The dwarf was standing on tiptoe peering into the night for a glimpse of the great magical fire that burned to guide ships in to Salazar’s port. Without the added height of the crow’s nest, it was impossible to see, though, so Oarly begged a pint from the Deck Master and grumbled his way back down below to drink it. The others couldn’t have slept if they wanted to. They stood at the rail feeling the warm ocean breeze and speculated on what Salazar might be like.

  When dawn broke they were rewarded with a grand sight. The greenish beacon of the fire had topped the horizon and guided them through the early hours. It was an odd feeling having land to their left now.

  The tower stood over four hundred feet tall. Its base was as big around as four or five of Xwarda’s great towers, and it gently tapered as it rose.

  “It’s huge,” observed Phen.

  It was made of grayish-white granite blocks that sparkled in the sunlight, as if the tower were coated with frost. At its top, a green-tinged blaze fought the bright light of day in order to be seen. The tower jutted up from an uninviting rocky shoreline that was infested with screeching sea birds. Strange looking fanged creatures lazed about the rocks bellowing their irritation at the birds. The ship didn’t pass too close, for fear of the unseen reefs hidden under the water. Talon shot out toward the swarming army of birds with excited vigor, only to pause and hover about halfway across the expanse of emerald sea. A great winged shadow leapt from the shore. A long, sharp-beaked sea dactyl, with a wingspan of maybe fifteen paces flew out toward them, calling out a warning cry. “Cooo Cawww! Cooo Cawww! Stay Away!” Hyden heard its intent. Talon quickly found the ship’s rail near Phen and hid the embarrassment of his fear by preening himself as if nothing had happened.

  Soon the rocky shoreline grew greener and softer, eventually turning into a beach of silvery sparkling sand. They passed several fishing vessels and a pair of cargo ships that seemed to be undergoing modifications while at anchor. The land beyond the beach was a rolling green that was speckled with lush patches of forest. Herds of great brown furred beasts roamed aimlessly with their heads down in the grass. A few modest homes, built of stone, with red tiled roofs could be seen here and there. As they sailed further around the northeastern face of the crudely triangular shaped island, the evidence of people grew more frequent. The size and height of the homes and stonewalled keeps grew as they went. Many of the roofs here were tarnished copper. When the shoreline broke so that they were sailing due west, the group was awe-struck by what revealed itself before them.

  Ships, hundreds of them, both big and small, and a few that were enormous, littered the bay. Some of them flew the black sword banner of Highwander like the Seawander. Others flew the rising sun of Seaward, or the red and yellow checked shield of Valleya. Many of the ships flew an unfamiliar black banner with a wicked looking yellow lightning star emblazoned on it, and even more ships were anchored there under the Dakaneese trident.

  The island lay to their left, but ahead they could see a long stretch of built up land that extended north for a great distance. It curved back toward them, off to the right, wrapping the bay on three sides. The mass of buildings, dock-houses, and towers was easily three times the size of Xwarda. The sheer immensity of the place left them all speechless. Phen tried counting all the towers he could see rising above the warehouses and packed together homes, but lost interest when he reached a hundred and could tell that he wasn’t even halfway through them.

  “I never knew it was like this,” said Brady. “My father came here once and said that the city of Lazar was bigger than two Castlemonts, but I thought he was just teasing me. It seems it’s thrice that size, if not bigger.”

  After ordering the sails to be rolled, and giving the water mage the helm, Captain Trant joined them at the rail. Babel the blue monkey was perched on his shoulder fiddling with the Captain’s hair intently.

  “It’s a hell of a place,” the Captain said. “They make everything a shipper needs here on this island, from boxes and crates, to water-tight barrels, or wooden packing drums. They build the greatest ships that sail the seas,” he chuckled sourly. “With the great forge fires of your people temporarily extinguished, Brady, the price of metal work is higher than the clouds.”

  “My Wilder Mountains are full of iron,” Brady said proudly. “We will rise again. King Jarrek will make it so.”

  “The guilds of ship builders here will be thankful for it,” said Trant. “Every nail, clamp, davit bracket, and fitting on the ships you see is made of Wildermont steel, even the bands on the barrels crowding the decks.”

  “Does Salazar openly do business, dark business, with Dakahn?” asked Hyden. An idea had formed in his head out of nowhere. It was a powerful idea, one that might go far toward King Jarrek’s cause.

  “The trade?Slaves?” Trant asked.

  Hyden nodded.

  “Not that I know of,” mused Trant. “Maybe in an oblique sort of way they do. The Dakaneese, like all of the kingdoms of the realm, buy their ships from Salazar. Dakaneese pirates steal a lot of them from the trade routes and re-fit them for resale at O’Dakahn. Dakahn is less dependent on Salazar’s work than others.”

  “Do you know anyone with authority in the ship-building guilds?” Hyden asked.

  “Of course, of cou
rse. I think if you’d like to meet some of them while we are here I can arrange it. They would love to meet the man who stole the Dragon Queen’s dragon.”

  Hyden’s mind was churning with possibilities.

  “When will we get to see if your pirate friend can read my book?” Phen asked excitedly.

  “Sooner than you think, lad.” Trant laughed at the boy’s eagerness. “If Sir Hyden Hawk will allow it, you may accompany me to the office of the harbor master as soon as we’re secured. The Rulers of Salazar are wise men. The harbor master here is an old sea dog. He was a grand scoundrel in his day. What better way to keep your harbor safe from pirates, than to have a pirate running the harbor?”

  The wink Trant gave them, and the look on his face, left a lot unsaid. After the Captain returned to the bridge, Phen turned to Hyden with a whisper. “Do you think Captain Trant was a pirate too?”

  “It takes a pirate to know a pirate,” Hyden answered. He gestured at the floating city of ships, and the mass of hustle and bustle going on all across the bay. “I imagine that a lot of those people are pirates.”

  A few minutes later the Captain ordered the anchor to be dropped. He came back down to the rail then. “Get your things, Phen,” he said. “Leave the book with Sir Hyden Hawk, but bring the copy you’ve been working on.” Trant snarled roguishly. “If it turns out to be some great valuable bit of information, we don’t want the old bastard to steal the original from us, do we?”

  Phen giggled and felt an eerie sensation in his gut. Nearly three weeks of anticipation while on the ship had him giddy with expectancy. He couldn’t wait to find out what the ancient book said. He was glad, though, that he, Hyden, and the others had agreed to keep the secrets of the Serpent’s Eye to themselves. The crew of the Seawander thought that the old wooden box had been empty. Only the four who went into the cave knew of the jeweled ring that was dangling from Phen’s neck.