Jaax considered this, his brow furrowed in scrutiny. A few years ago, Jahrra would have stubbornly fought him on something like this, but now ... Now she was willing to take responsibility for her actions, even though what had happened wasn’t entirely her fault.
Understanding this was a rare opportunity to fortify the bridge they’d begun to build between them, he took a spare moment to consider his words, then said, “I am going to be honest with you, Jahrra.”
She shot him a look that was much more characteristic of her usual self. The Tanaan dragon almost smiled but managed to hold himself together.
“When Dervit came running up to me and Ellyesce two days ago claiming you had gone off to meet Keiron on your own, the first emotion that took hold was betrayal, swiftly followed by anger only to be entirely overwhelmed by fear. I felt betrayed because I thought you had forgotten about the promise you made to be careful around the regent’s son. I was angry for the same reason, but I was afraid because if Keiron had been who I thought he was, there was a chance I’d never see you again. Losing you would be the worst thing to happen to me, not because you are the one fated to overthrow the Crimson King, but because you have become my family. I have no one else but you, even with your tendency to drive me crazy on occasion.”
He gave her a reptilian smile, and the grin she returned was a bit wobbly. Jahrra sniffled and lowered her eyes, which had taken on a distinctive sheen.
“Funny. That’s exactly how I feel,” she murmured.
“Then, are we back on good terms? I thoroughly dislike it when you are angry with me. It’s like having thorns shoved up under my scales.”
Jahrra gave her guardian a sour look, but he only continued to smile at her. After a few moments, Jaax heaved a great sigh and turned his gaze to the darkening sky.
“I’ve got to check the wall now, but I’ll be back later tonight. If you’re up to it, I’d like to talk some more. We’re going to have to make some changes to our plans. Until then, would you like me to tell Ellyesce and Dervit they can come back?”
“Please,” Jahrra said.
Nodding once, Jaax stood and nudged the door shut with one scaly hand before turning back to the street. He crossed the wide lane and told Dervit and Ellyesce their company was desired, then headed to the end of the road where a large field spotted with small piles of snow awaited.
Before he spread his wings to take to the skies, Jaax glanced over his shoulder at the small cabin one last time. Another string of words played through his head, words he could not speak aloud to his ward.
I still worry about Keiron’s keen interest in you, he said only to himself. I fear he means to betray us still, yet his actions at the Round suggest otherwise. He has proven his valor, and although I hate to admit it, there are so many other reasons for the regent’s son to take notice of you.
Jaax paused in his thought process and filled his lungs with crisp mountain air.
“And that’s what frightens me the most,” he whispered to the night, then rose to mingle with the stars above.
-Chapter Fifteen-
Dervit’s Discovery
By the time Jaax was done checking Cahrdyarein and its surrounding peaks, full darkness had settled in. He had circled the city three times, scanning the wall for suspicious behavior, but his dragon’s eyes only picked out the loyal soldiers of Pendric’s guard, doing their due diligence and performing the same duty as himself. Ever since the attack on Jahrra at the Round, the captain of the guard had tripled the numbers keeping watch over the city. Now that it was known the regent’s son had been kidnapped and had not orchestrated the ambush or run off to watch the results of his prank unfold, a frantic pulse of energy coursed through the men and women trained to keep Cahrdyarein and its citizens safe.
Besides those keeping their eyes fixed on the outside world, their crossbows ready to fire at the slightest twitch of movement on the road and within the trees beyond, Pendric had ordered several groups to comb the city, prying into every nook and cranny in case the threat had come from within. The regent had blustered and huffed his unhappiness, still not convinced his son was actually missing, but Jaax hadn’t cared. Fortunately, Pendric had enough sense to pay attention to a dragon’s instincts.
“It is when you let your pride convince you that loyalty can never be broken,” the captain of the guard had told him, “that there is at least one person who will never betray you, that you are bound to one day get caught off guard. As the leader of the soldiers of Cahrdyarein, I cannot afford to think this way.”
Jaax had merely lifted an eyebrow at him, one side of his mouth quirking in a small grin. “And yet, as captain of the guard, you must rely on the loyalty of all your men and women.”
Pendric, despite the dark circumstances which had brought about this conversation, barked out a laugh. “A dilemma I must live with, I’m afraid.”
He had smiled up at the dragon, and Jaax couldn’t help but feel a small bit of admiration for the Resai elf. During their stay in Cahrdyarein, he’d been permitted a few opportunities to observe the captain, and although he was hard on his soldiers, he was fair as well, earning their loyalty and allegiance. In fact, Jaax was almost certain that, should the captain of the guard ever decide to act against Morivan, those same soldiers would follow him despite their oath to the regent. That sort of loyalty was rare and hard to break. He could imagine how Pendric felt, questioning everyone’s motives when his heart told him none of them would ever betray their city.
Sighing, Jaax returned his thoughts to the past few hours. Convinced the city was not about to be overrun by the Tyrant’s men, he had tilted his wings, making a wide arc and straightening out once he was pointed in a southwesterly direction. The sky was a dark, inky sea above him, the final glow of the sun setting beyond the western peaks like a line of faint flame. Despite the darkness, he could see well enough, and when he glided silently over the area where the landslide had occurred, he counted over three dozen sparks of red stretching out in a long line down the road just on the other side of the massive mountain of rubble. If he narrowed his eyes enough, he could make out indistinct patches of darkness, the Tyrant’s soldiers in their black uniforms, gathered around the campfires for the night. Their numbers looked the same as they had earlier that day and the days before. As far as Jaax could tell, there had been no change in their quantity. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he knew better.
Doesn’t mean the Tyrant hasn’t found another way to breach the city. Doesn’t mean there isn’t another contingent approaching from a different side of the mountain.
Ellyesce’s vision at the Round had suggested an army of immense size, attacking within a week. Jaax didn’t know, however, how the landslide factored in. Had it merely delayed the army, or had it lessened their number? Either way, it gave them time, if only a little. The Tanaan dragon shook himself and made a long, smooth turn back toward Cahrdyarein. He should call it a night and return to the cabin, but he checked the perimeter of the city one last time to make sure he missed nothing. With Jahrra being completely incapacitated, he had to be more thorough than usual.
Ethoes willing, her leg will heal up enough to travel before they remove the rockslide blocking their path.
But that wasn’t even the most immediate threat. Until they found Keiron and the men who captured him, Jaax would not rest easy.
Jaax landed in the field not far from the guest huts, then tucked his wings close to his body before turning to head down the street. As the small cabin drew closer, he noticed a dark cloaked figure leaning against the wall. Immediately, the dragon tensed and felt the fire building in his chest. Fortunately, the figure noticed his approach and held up an arm.
“Peace, Jaax, it’s just me.”
The Tanaan dragon released a deep, smoky breath as the fire within him died down.
“Ellyesce, you know better than to remain still and hidden in the shadows after what has happened with Jahrra,” he growled.
Ellyesce step
ped into the light spilling from a neighbor’s cabin window and pulled back his hood. He gazed up at his friend with pale green eyes. Jaax thought his features appeared gaunt and drawn, very similar to the way they had appeared when he’d shown up in Lidien, nothing more than skin and bones wrapped in rags.
“Any news?” the elf asked, crossing his arms and leaning against a road post.
Jaax shook his head. “I detected no difference in the number of soldiers beyond the rockslide, and Cahrdyarein is quiet and still.” Jaax clenched his jaw, his silvery green eyes sparking with suspicion. “I do not like it.”
Ellyesce nodded, his movements stiff. “I can feel it, too, but I cannot put my finger on it.”
“And that is what bothers me the most,” Jaax hissed, switching to Kruelt. “An enemy I cannot see threatens Jahrra. How am I to protect her? I couldn’t even keep her safe during the daylight hours, Ellyesce! How am I to dispatch a threat that slinks around in the shadows and lashes out at her when I least expect it?”
Ellyesce huffed out a breath and answered him in the same dialect, “I do not know, my old friend. But I am certain nothing will be easy from here on out. Let us take this problem one step at a time and deal with the challenges when they come to us. It will do none of us any good to create obstacles that do not yet exist.”
Jaax snapped his teeth together and jerked his head once. His friend was right. Had he not just been inventing extra worry by imagining an army swarming in from all sides?
The dragon exhaled through his nose and closed his eyes, counting slowly in his mind.
“Then we must focus on finding Keiron, if he is still alive, and those who ambushed Jahrra. There is still a chance they have nothing to do with the Tyrant’s army, and if so, we need to know what their motives were.”
Ellyesce quietly voiced his agreement then gazed up at his friend once again. There was something odd in his eyes and his furrowed brow. Something was bothering the elf, something other than the mystery of Jahrra’s attackers.
“What is it?” Jaax asked.
At first, Ellyesce didn’t answer, as if gathering his thoughts and deciding what he should say. Finally, he spoke, this time using that ancient language, the dialect belonging to his own people.
“How much have you told Jahrra, about me?”
His words were so quiet, so devoid of emotion, that Jaax almost missed them.
“What do you mean?” the dragon replied, his own tone bland and hard.
Ellyesce’s green eyes settled on him, and an old emotion broiled within them. Jaax, had he been an elf and not a dragon, would have taken a step back.
“When Jahrra woke up earlier this afternoon, she asked me who I was.”
Jaax blinked, confused by his friend’s words. Before he could press for more, Ellyesce continued.
“She was agitated, and deeply frightened. She then told me she knew who I was and how dare I deceive both her and you. At first, I thought that perhaps she had hit her head in the struggle with the mercenaries and was suffering some memory loss. But then, she told me something that shocked me. She told me she once witnessed a slave auction in Edyadth when she was a young child, and she had seen me there.”
Ellyesce drew in a ragged breath and looked back at his friend. “She remembered my face, and she had thought me to be a slave trader. But how could she possibly remember something, a fleeting glance at my profile, from so long ago, and be so certain it was me?”
This time, his gaze was accusatory, and Jaax couldn’t blame him. But he had told nothing to Jahrra of the elf who traveled with them. Nothing at all, because if he had told her even a tiny detail, then he feared more would spill free, secrets that must remain buried for as long as possible.
Jaax shook his head. “I have told her nothing,” he insisted, and when Ellyesce looked him in the eye, he knew his friend spoke the truth.
“So that is the only secret of mine she knows?” he murmured quietly, relief tainting his words.
Jaax was utterly still for several heartbeats, his emerald eyes, appearing deep jade in the darkness, growing hard and unwavering. Suspicion and caution prickled up Ellyesce’s spine, but before he could puzzle out what had made his friend shutter himself so quickly and so fiercely, the dragon spoke again.
“As far as I know, yes,” he said carefully. “Perhaps the fight loosened some memory, so much so, that it shone in perfect clarity upon waking.”
Ellyesce ran his hands over his face. He had been worried, Jaax could tell, but he needn’t be any longer.
“You know why I must keep my secrets,” the elf whispered, continuing in the dead language.
Jaax lowered his head and answered in kind, “Aye, that I do. The same reason I must keep mine.”
The sound of a hinge creaking forced both elf and dragon to straighten. Their attention darted in the direction of Jahrra’s cabin and the weak light spilling from the small crack in the door. Two large, brown eyes sitting beneath a pair of pointed, red ears gazed at them.
“S-sorry,” Dervit muttered. “I heard voices and wanted to see where Ellyesce had gone.”
“You can return to your guard over Jahrra,” the elf said in the common language, his voice lighter than before. “I was just speaking with Jaax.”
Dervit nodded and made to close the door behind him but paused. “Is there any news of the regent’s son? Jahrra was wondering before she fell asleep.”
Jaax let out another breath and shook his head. As much as he disliked the young Resai man, he hoped they found him alive and well for Jahrra’s sake. He was, however, grateful she was sleeping. The more rest she got, the quicker her leg would heal. And the sooner we can leave this trap of a city before the noose is pulled so tight we cannot work ourselves free.
“It grows late,” Jaax said, then turned to Ellyesce. “I think you should return to your cabin. We can continue our discussion tomorrow morning, and perhaps by then, we’ll know more.”
Ellyesce nodded his head. It could be no more than an hour or so after sunset, but it wouldn’t hurt to get some extra rest tonight. Ethoes knew what challenges tomorrow held for them.
Jaax watched to make sure his friend got inside for the evening before curling up around the circular stone cabin, his head and tail meeting in front of the door. He would sleep lightly, as he had done for the past several evenings, and anyone plotting to do harm to his ward would end up either incinerated or pulverized between his teeth.
As the earth turned beneath him, and as the wheel of stars above crawled across the sky, Jaax thought of what Ellyesce had told him about Jahrra’s sudden accusation. So, she had seen him long ago, among a crowd of people taking part in a slave auction. Where on Ethoes would she have witnessed such a thing? He wouldn’t ask her. There was no need to stir up any more trouble or lingering doubts about Ellyesce. But it still niggled at him. Had she been with her foster parents at the time? Or had Hroombra been with her when she’d seen such injustice? If so, the old Korli dragon would have told her, no matter her age, what she had witnessed. Her parents would have spoken words of half-truths to save their daughter’s innocence, but not Hroombra. He would have been gentle about it, but he would have told the truth.
Jaax sighed. He was confident enough in himself to make his own decisions, always had been. In fact, some might tell him that was his greatest fault. But tonight, as the approach of dawn drew nearer and nearer, and as the frustration of not knowing exactly which path to take from this point on, Jaax would have given anything to have a few moments with his old mentor, if only to take comfort in whatever advice he might have to offer.
“I used to fight you on every front with Jahrra,” he murmured to the stars. “If only I had been more willing to swallow my pride and let go of my stubbornness, it might have brought us to an easier path than this.”
On that somber note, Jaax stopped fighting his exhaustion and allowed his mind to drift off into the place between wakefulness and dreams.
* * *
Dervit
couldn’t sleep. In fact, he hadn’t been able to sleep for the past few days now. He hadn’t told anybody, they would simply call him crazy, but the strange inkling which had begun as an unsettled prickle in the pit of his stomach had gradually grown worse. It was the natural born intuition common to all limbits; the reason why his race was so superstitious. The morning of Jahrra’s attack, that warning spike had grown so sharp he finally cracked, chasing Jahrra down to issue a warning. Unfortunately, she hadn’t listened to him. In her usual, stubborn way, she had told him to mind his own business and not to worry. But he had worried. That was exactly why he had run the entire way back to the cabin to get Jaax. No, he hadn’t actually seen any signs of trouble, but gods and goddesses above and below, he had felt something wrong in the pattern of his emotions. It had weighed him down, made it hard for him to move through the shallow snow, but he had pushed on. And because he hadn’t ignored his instincts, Jahrra was still alive.
The limbit let out a frustrated breath and sat up on the couch where he rested. His first thought was to check on Jahrra. She slept peacefully on her bed, her breathing deep and even. That was good. At least at the moment she was safe. Perhaps the thing that had him on the verge of panic was somewhere inside the cabin. Dervit stopped breathing for a moment and narrowed his eyes. The room was nearly dark, only the last embers in the fireplace burning like tiny, wicked eyes. He listened for several seconds, hearing nothing but his own heartbeat. The room was clear, yet the horrible, dark feeling with fangs and claws continued to tear at him. Suddenly, the spacious area was stifling, and Dervit felt an overwhelming need to escape.
Kicking his blanket to the side, the limbit sat up and glowered at the cabin door. The soft, slow breath of a dragon just outside informed him that Jaax was finally asleep. Dervit desperately needed some fresh air, but he could not escape through the door. Waking a sleeping dragon who was primed to flame anyone so much as blinking in his direction was a very bad idea.
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