Lady Dragon, Tela Du

by Kendra E. Ardnek

  Petra took a deep breath, folding her hands behind her back as she stepped between her sisters. “Reuben and I plan to figure that out when we get there.”

  “Oh,” said Sarah. “You don’t know, then? The great Petra failed to think something through? I thought you always have a plan.”

  “I do. The plan is to worry about it later. Rizkaland is a much more pressing issue.”

  “Yes, because it’s far easier to tell a country why you didn’t properly kill their greatest enemy than it is to tell your own mother.”

  “Rizkaland is the more pressing issue,” Petra repeated. “It will be several years before we return home. Honestly, I wish we were going back home, but no, we have to deal with Rizkaland first, for however long that takes. And Reuben and I have agreed that it’s best to keep Richard and Sylvia with us, come what may.”

  “Sarah, Petra did what she was supposed to do,” Laura spoke up. “The fates of many worlds were in the balance at that moment. You don’t know what would have been undone had Amber died that day, nor do you know the terror Petra might have become if she had taken on Amber’s immortality. What happened in the Final War was what was supposed to happen.”

  Sarah opened her mouth to say something, then changed her mind and turned away. “We’re wasting time. What’s done is done, I suppose. Get on with what you were doing, Sylvia. As I already said, my survival changes nothing.”

  Petra stayed between her sisters for the rest of the day … which wasn’t hard, since Sylvia stayed at her desk – Laura fetching the items she needed – and Sarah settled herself in a chair, arms folded over her chest as she glared at Sylvia. It certainly wasn’t the ideal reunion that Petra had always envisioned growing up … but at least it was a reunion, and it was far more than she had hoped for that morning. Eventually, Reuben and Richard reappeared with food and the peppermint tea.

  Petra had already told Reuben about this new turn of events, and he’d passed the information to Richard, so there weren’t any questions to be answered. Richard and Sylvia exchanged a few quiet words, and then he and Reuben returned to weapons practice. Sylvia continued her work, while Petra pulled up another chair and sat down next to Sarah, offering her a mug of peppermint tea.

  “I know it’s hard for you, Sarah, since you couldn’t remember her, and considering what she did to you, but please, just give her a chance – she’s changed, she really has.”

  Sarah’s jaw tightened, but she accepted the mug with a half-shrug. “I was happy here in Rizkaland. I had a husband, a beautiful daughter, friends … but then she came. Petra, for the last fifty years, I’ve been waiting for you to come, to set everything right again. And now…”

  “I couldn’t kill her, Sarah.” Petra took a long sip from her own mug. “Maybe she deserved it, but I couldn’t kill her. Nor, do I think, could she have killed me. That battle wasn’t meant to have a winner. That’s why the prophecies were always so ambiguous. Neither of us was meant to win.”

  “The people of Rizkaland aren’t going to accept that very easily.”

  “I know … but I couldn’t kill her.”

  “Fifty years of waiting for my sister to return, only to have her buddy up with the Lady Dragon.”

  “She’s not the Lady Dragon anymore, the Dragon is dead,” Petra insisted, a shudder running down her spine at the memory. “But that wasn’t my battle, either. I couldn’t fight it without Alphego.”

  “Fifty years of waiting for you to make excuses about Sylvia.”

  “I’m sorry, Sarah, I really am, but I couldn’t kill her. That’s why I was the Tela Du. I was the one person who would give her that second chance. I wasn’t meant to kill her – I was supposed to save her. And … I’m really sorry, and I know she is, too.”

  “Sorry doesn’t fix the last fifty years.”

  “I know … but maybe it can pave the way for a better tomorrow? You have your daughter back, the land can heal again, and…” Petra swallowed as something occurred to her. “Rintaya. Ritis remarried.”

  Sarah gave a painful snort but turned to Petra. “I know. I know all about Rintaya. Petra, do you really think I would let my husband marry another woman while I yet lived? When I had the power to change my face and features, when I had multiple gifts that would allow me to create another whole elfin persona for myself?”

  Petra’s eyes widened, and she drew back. “You mean you’re…”

  “Yes, I’m Rintaya, too. I suppose … I suppose the last fifty years haven’t been as bad as they might have been … but I still lost my daughter, my identity, the life I’d come to love. And even though I have them back now, Ritis is old, and Ashna is stepping into the next stage of her life, as are Delta and Ruklow. Oh, Delta and Ruklow … how am I going to explain this to them?”

  “I don’t suppose it’ll be easy.”

  “Oh, I’ll manage. Just as you’ll manage to explain to Mom and Dad why you’re bringing Amber home instead of killing her.” Sarah took a deep breath. “Petra … there’s something I want you to know about Karyn.”

  Petra tightened her grip on the mug. “What?”

  “For my disguises … I kinda divide my personality between them. Robert does the same thing. Rintaya gained my motherly instincts, the better parts of me. Karyn got my bitterness, my hurt, and pain. And she said some mean things to you about me. I wish I could completely deny them … but they were spoken in bitterness, and I’m sorry for trying to hurt you. You’re my sister, and I knew that then. I was mad because you couldn’t see me, even though I gave you nothing to see.”

  “No, you gave me something to see, and I knew the lines weren’t matching up,” Petra admitted, reaching over and putting a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “But after Ritis told me you were dead, I stopped looking for you. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Sarah handed Petra back her empty mug and stood. “You and Laura seem to have things under control here. I’m going to go report back to Klarand and let them know what’s going on before they start panicking. And I’ll try to be nice about it.” And with that, she vanished in a sparkling cloud.

  Chapter 5

  Ashna gasped as arms folded around her shoulders, and a familiar voice whispered in her ear. “Hey there, Ashes. Don’t panic. Your aunt thinks she has everything under control.”

  “Mother?” Ashna breathed. It should have been impossible. She turned around in her seat to stare into a pair of familiar, sparkling brown eyes, her heart pounding in disbelief. “But … but you’re dead!”

  “Dead is a relative term, you know,” Mother replied.

  “Sarah, it’s good to see you wearing your proper face,” Aunt Adnama spoke up, her voice betraying little surprise. “So what news do you have of Rizkaland and the battle? Robert has already reported that the storm is gone and that the winds have turned downward.”

  “Good.” Mother withdrew her arms from Ashna’s shoulders and stood, placing her fist over her heart as she dipped her head in Queen Jillina and King Brent’s direction. “I’m afraid I must apologize for the façade that I led for the last fifty years. I’m not Karyn, and the world of Ezelie doesn’t actually exist, so far as I’m aware. I’m Princess Sarah the Multigifted, daughter of King Ralph and Queen Jane, wife of Ritis the Bookholder, and mother to Ashna here. And identical twin sister to Petra.”

  “Multigifted?” Queen Jillina repeated.

  “Indeed,” said Mother. “I have more than one gift – you know of a good number of them already. Robert is actually the same way; he just likes to stick with disguise. Well, and age change, though he pretends that it’s just part of disguise. Now that the Final War has been fought, however, and my proper form has been restored to me, we can come clean and admit our skills.”

  “So what do you know of what came of the Final War?” asked Aunt Adnama. “Petra won, I gather?”

  “Not exactly.” Mother pulled up the empty chair next to Ashna and sat down heavily. “It’s complicated, but basically, there wasn’t actually a winner, and they bot
h still live. Well, all four of them, that is, if you count Reuben and Granite.”

  “They what?” King Brent half-stood.

  “Did … did Petra find a way to kill the Dragon without killing Sylvia – was Amber Sylvia?” Ashna asked.

  Mother turned to face her, her eyes widening in surprise and even horror. “You … you already knew that she planned to spare Amber?”

  “They concocted the harebrained scheme right before they left for the battle,” Summer supplied from the other side of the table, where Robert had deposited her, Tyler, and Laura before heading out to gather information about the storm. “Trust Petra … we didn’t want to say anything about it, hoping they’d change their minds and see sense, but…” Summer gave something of a shrug.

  “It’s not a harebrained scheme,” Laura inserted, standing up, eyes flashing. “Amber and Granite are Sylvia and Richard, they really are. Petra and Reuben weren’t meant to kill them, but to save them. Honest! This – this is what I’ve been wanting to tell everyone, this whole time. But I couldn’t until things had come about. But now I can! Amber and Granite weren’t meant to die in that battle – not really – they were only supposed to discover who they really were, and to gain freedom from the Dragon!”

  “Well,” said King Brent, a minute or so after Laura finished her outburst. “Much as I don’t like the sound of Amber still alive, with such an emphatic declaration from the Doorkeeper, well, I suppose we’re going to have to trust her.”

  “Indeed,” said Mother. “Petra and Reuben decided on a lesser punishment for Amber. Basically, Amber has to destroy any and all of her magical items that she has used to torment us. That’s how the storm disappeared, and how I regained my proper form.”

  Aunt Adnama slowly nodded. “That is consistent with the Legends. For instance, after Lady Jill Anna exposed Amber to the poison of the Ia Beetles, all effects of the poison completely vanished, as though it had never existed in the first place.”

  “Indeed,” said Queen Jillina. “And good it was that it happened. Otherwise Jill Anna could not have become Upper Klarand’s Lady.”

  “Yes,” said Mother, standing again. “Now, I believe that’s everything important, and I personally don’t trust my sisters alone, so I need to get back to them. Ashes, would you like to come with me?”

  “You mean, to Amber’s castle?” asked Ashna, her voice small as she stood up. Her mother intended to teleport, and that was best done standing.

  “Yes, of course, where else?” said Mother, reaching to take Ashna’s hand. The world exploded in the burst of glitter that Ashna had known well as a child. When the cloud dissipated, they stood in an office containing shelves and shelves of books and trinkets. Directly in front of them, Petra stood over – was that Amber? – who was seated at a desk.

  “I have returned, sisters dearest,” Mother announced, letting go of Ashna’s hand. “How are the two of you coming on the list?”

  “We’re down to Winsot,” said Petra glancing over her shoulder. “But Sylvia thinks that it might be a better idea if we wait until winter for its destruction.”

  “Is she that loath to part with it?” Mother asked.

  “It isn’t that,” said Sylvia, straightening in her chair. “This is the star that I used to turn people to ice … and I fear that if we destroy it now before winter comes and the statues have reformed, I might kill the people whom I froze … and melted.”

  “Are you sure of this?” asked Mother. “Are you sure you aren’t just making up excuses to keep your precious magical item? So you can continue tormenting the people of Rizkaland?”

  “No!” Sylvia flew out of her chair, amber glare flashing.

  Ashna instinctively drew back – that glare was frightening no matter which sister was wearing it.

  “No!” Sylvia repeated, taking a step forward. “I have put those days behind me. I’m not going to endanger my marriage or my walk with my Lord ever again. But neither do I intend to risk adding another thousand deaths to my account when I don’t have to.”

  “But you said that destroying your items destroys their effects, as though they never existed,” Mother pointed out.

  “But it can’t reverse death,” Sylvia retorted. “Look, Prince Theodore wasn’t incorrect when he hypothesized that the statues did age, and the Fire Prince was on the right track when he modified the theory to say that they aged at a slower rate than they would have, were they among the living. Truth is, they only age when they’re frozen. I’ve had much more time and opportunity to observe and study the statues – I had little else to do on that island – and even I don’t completely understand how the statues exist. But my current theory is that the people, when the statues are melted, are in a deathlike state and aren’t strictly alive. Yes, it’s a theory, and yes, I could be wrong and destroying Winsot now would be completely fine, but there are people’s lives in the balance here.”

  “Including your own husband, Austila.”

  Ashna turned to see the Doorkeeper sitting behind her. Laura’s expression was serious, but there was a sparkle in her eye.

  “And Robert’s wife,” Petra added. “This is one of those cases when you need to err on the side of safety rather than hasty. Isn’t that right, Ashna?”

  “I brought my daughter here so I’d have someone on my side of things, not bent to your insanity,” said Mother, stiffly, pulling Ashna closer to her.

  “Sarah, I get that you’re upset,” said Petra, stepping between them and Sylvia. “But we won’t be destroying this star until winter. Sylvia says there’s less than a month left before it snows, and then she has every bit of confidence that destroying the star then will restore all of the lost loved ones to us.”

  “Mother,” said Ashna, not wanting to get in the middle of things, but realizing that she already was. “Mother, I’m as loath to trust Amber as you are, but if Petra is convinced … look, I trust Petra and Reuben. I really do. They wouldn’t let harm come to people they love if they can help it, and that means Rizkaland, too. I just wish there were easy answers.”

  “But there aren’t,” said Petra, quietly.

  “No, and … and I trust the Doorkeeper, and you yourself once said that when she gives a direct order, it’s best to follow it.”

  “High praise,” said Laura. “Please don’t swell my head – I’m as fallible as any person. I just have more sneak peeks than most.”

  “I … I just wish Father were here,” Ashna concluded. “He always knows what to do in confusing situations like this.”

  “Actually,” said Sylvia, who had been staring at Ashna curiously during the whole outburst, “the Bookholder’s situation is not as … fixed as my other victims. He’s in one of my torture chambers.”

  “What!” cried Mother, stepping forward. “Ritis is where?”

  “All of my prison cells double as torture chambers if I so choose,” answered Sylvia, calmly. “I didn’t design them – there were ten eternal queens who ruled in this castle before I passed through the Room of the Knife, and all of them added in some way or another to this collection of magic. To be honest, I’ve always despised the thought of torturing prisoners simply for the sake of torture.”

  “Oh, I see,” said Mother.

  “I’m sorry, Sarah … I wasn’t myself when last we met. The Dragon took control when I realized you knew the Tela Du.” Sylvia glanced at Petra. “But whether or not you believe me, I still had respect for the aged. A small bit of respect. Yes, he’s in a room that I could have used to torment him, but I didn’t do that! Not only that, but it wasn’t my idea to put him there. It was Granite’s because Ritis asked for a window and the towers are my only prisons with windows. Look, my point was, I can control the temperature in that room. I can make it cold enough so that his statue will refreeze.”

  “And then I can use the fire that Mum gave me,” said Petra, nodding. “I knew there was a reason Laura insisted on that.”

  “Yes, it wasn’t just so you can hand it back to me so I c
an use it fifteen hundred years ago,” said Laura, closing her book and standing up. “Also, if it’ll make you feel better, Austila, I’ll be taking custody of Winsot until Renee’s month brings the winter.” With that, she took the small, golden sphere from Sylvia’s desk and slid it into her pocket. “Now, if everyone agrees that it’s a good idea, let’s go visit a tower.”

  And with that, she skipped out of the room.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” said Petra. She glanced from one sister to the other. “Now, I don’t trust either of you to behave out of my sight, so you two start walking. Ashna, what you do is up to you. You’re harmless.”

  Ashna bit her lip, fingering the flute in her pocket. “Are you sure of that?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Because I could always summon some trees to … I don’t know … kidnap everyone.”

  Petra laughed. “Please don’t. Come on, sisters mine. Let’s go free Ritis from the ice.”

  Mother frowned and held out the hand that wasn’t gripping Ashna’s wrist. “Take my hand, Petra, and grab Sylvia’s. I’m not touching her, but physical contact is required for me to teleport people and things other than myself.”

  Petra and Sylvia did as they were asked, and the next moment, they stood in a starkly-furnished room with one window. The view from the window indicated that they were pretty far from the ground.

  There was a puddle in the middle of the room. A chill ran down Ashna’s spine. Her father.

  “Well, get on with it,” said Sarah, nodding towards the puddle. “Work your magic and bring him back to me. Alphego knows that it’ll pale in comparison to everything you took from me, but it’ll be a fair start.”

  Sylvia nodded and stepped to the wall, pressing a hand against one of the stones. Immediately, the temperature began to drop, and Ashna moved instinctively closer to her mother. Slowly, the puddle drew itself together and began to reform.