Alexander nodded, motioning to a nearby chair.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’m sorry I was right.”
“Indeed. Aedan is, or perhaps was, a remarkable dragon,” Bragador said. “He is very dangerous, resourceful and experienced. As for the shade, I don’t understand his behavior. Why not just take the keystone?”
“I’ve given that question a lot of thought,” Alexander said. “The shade was on that ship for some time, but he didn’t take the keystone and he left Lacy alone as well. I believe he knows something about how the box is opened … and Lacy plays a necessary part. If I’m right, he won’t harm her until the box is open. It could be that he intends to let Phane’s ruse play out.”
“So he would definitely move against us if we attempt to bring the princess and the box here,” Bragador said. “I don’t want to harm Aedan or the dragons I would have to send against him. For the time being, I believe that inaction is the best course. We are watching him and the ship, and we’re prepared to move when the opportunity presents itself.”
“Aedan is one of your own,” Alexander said. “I wouldn’t expect you to give up on him, but I should warn you, I was possessed by a shade once … they don’t let go easily.”
“How did you survive?” Bragador asked.
“Isabel,” Alexander said. “Her magic saved me.”
Bragador nodded thoughtfully.
“Another time I would like to speak with you about this magic your wife can wield,” she said, “but right now, I’ve come to have a much more personal conversation with you.
“My daughter has bonded with you. That is something we dragons try very hard to prevent. A dragon that bonds with a human will have a difficult life.
“First, the child will wish to live in the world of humans in order to be near to the one they have bonded with, a world hostile to them, unwilling to understand, and afraid. Being a child, she …” Bragador closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “the child bonded with a human will not have the wisdom to see the danger. Humans are violent and warlike, some are driven by an unquenchable thirst for power. Dragons are potent and fearsome, so those who lust for power will seek to control any dragon in their midst, usually through control of the human they are bonded with, while the rest of the humans will simply try to kill her out of fear.
“Second, humans are short-lived creatures. When you die, Anja will be devastated. She will survive, but as a shell of her former self, left to live the majority of her years brokenhearted and suffering.
“I’m grateful that you saved her life, Alexander, but I need you to understand the price. I don’t blame you, but I wish you had never come to my home.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Alexander said. “The last thing I want is to hurt her.”
“I believe you, and I’m grateful for that as well,” Bragador said. “She will want to accompany you when you leave. I would have her stay here.”
“Me too,” Alexander said. “As soon as I can walk, I’m going to Karth to find my wife. And quite honestly, I expect to have to cut a pretty bloody swath across that whole island to get to her. That’s not going to be any place for a child, even a dragon. Anja should stay here with you.”
Bragador let out a deep breath. “I’m glad we’re in agreement on that point. Convincing her may prove more difficult.”
“She doesn’t have to agree with us, she just has to obey,” Alexander said. “Where I’m going, what I’m planning, I can’t have her with me. My feelings for her would just make her a liability and put her in even greater jeopardy than you’ve suggested.”
“So you intend to take your war to Phane,” Bragador said.
“He’s taken my wife from me,” Alexander said. “I’m going to find a way to make him bleed.” He fixed her with his golden eyes and didn’t flinch … no easy feat holding the gaze of a dragon, even in human form.
“While your daughter must stay here, I would welcome your company,” Alexander said.
Bragador chuckled softly. “My place is here. When your war is done and everyone who fought in it is long dead, I will still be here. We have watched humans war with themselves for as long as we can remember and the story is always the same-a deceiver convinces others to fight for his glory, that he may rule over others by force and lies, taking what he wishes for his own comfort and perceived greatness while the masses suffer and die.
“Yours is a sad tale, one that we’ve chosen to avoid.”
“I can’t fault your wisdom, even if I could really use your help,” Alexander said.
Bragador stared into the fire for several minutes. Alexander was content to share the silence with her. Jack sat at the desk, furiously scribbling notes while they spoke, now stopping to wait patiently for the interchange to continue.
“Do you know the history of the Reishi War?” Bragador asked.
“Some of it.”
“I suspect we see it very differently, given our part in it,” Bragador said. “Malachi Reishi and the wizards under his command created a magical collar that had the power to bind a dragon to the will of the wearer of a matched ring. He captured hundreds of dragons, enslaved them to his will and fielded an army to battle the forces arrayed against him.
“The first attack of the dragon legion was devastating. The northernmost island of Tyr, now called Almeria, was burned to the ground, scorched black from coast to coast. Malachi’s enemies were preparing a naval invasion of the Reishi Isle, using Almeria as a staging ground. He discovered their plan and used his newest weapon to terrible effect. There were no survivors.
“The free dragons of the Seven Isles became aware of his presumption. That he would enslave dragons was an affront worthy of death. That he would use them to murder the population of an entire island could only mean war.
“For a decade, one of the bloodiest periods in the history of the Seven Isles, dragon fought dragon. The enslaved dragon legion fought the dragons aligned with the Rebel Mage to a standstill … until our kind was nearly extinct.
“Since then, we’ve kept to ourselves, preferring to keep our own company and live in peace, without the inevitable complications that humans bring.”
“And here I am in your home, complications and all,” Alexander said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
“Some humans are more tolerable than others,” Bragador said, laying her hand atop his. “You give me hope for humanity, but for every man like you there is a man like Phane, and for every man like either of you, there are a thousand who will take the path of least resistance, flowing like water to whichever side will offer the greatest reward for the least effort without regard for principle.”
“And yet, day in and day out, most people live honorable lives,” Alexander said. “They raise their children, work to provide for their families, help their neighbors and try to do the right thing even when the choice is hard. Human beings are essentially good. We love our children, honor our elders, protect our vulnerable, and give charity to those in need.”
“I don’t question any of that,” Bragador said, “but your history isn’t written by those people, it’s written by the ambitious and the power-hungry, those who crave rulership over others, those who will do anything for their own glory, those who would kill simply to prove that they are better than their victims.
“The saddest fact about humanity is that good, honest, honorable people fall prey to lies told by convincing deceivers and unwittingly work to undermine their own futures, all so that a handful of evil people can rule over them with an iron fist, and by the time the masses realize their folly, it’s always too late. That is the story of human history, Alexander.”
“History unfolds one day at a time,” he said. “We always have a chance to do better. The Reishi guided the Seven Isles honorably for eighteen hundred years, protecting the people against the power lust of those who would rule and ensuring peace for countless generations. We can live up to their example. I know we can.”
“Perhaps, b
ut you fail to see the folly of the Reishi,” Bragador said. “The concentration of power that allowed them to ensure peace for so long was the very thing that made them such a potent threat to peace when their power corrupted them, as power inevitably does.”
“So what’s the solution?” Alexander asked, a bit more defiantly than he would have liked.
“Simple … humans must learn to live without government,” Bragador said. “Government, organized force, is the repository of evil. It is the source of corruption, the enemy of civilization and the problem with the world. As long as there is a place where concentrated power resides, it will attract evil people like dung attracts flies. The only solution is to remove the pile of dung.”
“What about crime? What about other countries with powerful governments bent on war? How can there be peace without authority?” Alexander asked.
“Therein lies the human dilemma,” Bragador said. “There will always be those who call for greater and greater control, out of fear or ignorance or greed. Until humanity learns restraint in governance, learns how to limit the power it grants to its leaders, learns that those who crave power over others are always deceivers, your kind will know only war and despair.”
“If we haven’t learned that lesson by now, I doubt we ever will,” Alexander said.
“Some will, most won’t,” Bragador said. “Selfish interest is a powerful motivator. Governments can always be bought or manipulated or blackmailed to set rules that favor some at the expense of others. Evil people see government as a weapon to be used for their own purposes while spreading the lie that it exists to protect the innocent or ensure fairness or defend against some distant threat. The truth is, government has always existed for one single reason … the profit and power of those in government. Of course, there are always those working within government who are good and decent people. But those who vie for power, they can never be trusted.”
“So where does that leave us?” Alexander asked.
“Right back where we started,” Bragador said, “you are a guest in my home, my daughter is smitten with you, and it breaks my heart because it will surely break hers. I will not fight this war for you, Alexander. When you are well enough to travel, I will bid you farewell and hope that you and your complications never return.”
Bragador got up and turned to the door that was not there. Alexander willed it to open with a thought and she started to leave.
“Bragador, I would like to be your friend,” Alexander said.
She stopped, turning to face him again with a sad little smile.
“Alexander, you are my friend,” she said. “If you weren’t, I would have eaten you by now.”
***
She was red with a hint of gold that glistened in the setting sun. Three rows of spikes ran the length of her back beginning with the crown of three horns that swept back from her brow. She banked hard, cutting into the evening breeze and turning impossibly sharp before losing her center of gravity and tumbling through the air out over the ocean.
Alexander held his breath as Anja rolled in the sky, falling out of control. Her wings flared out and started to right her but she tried to gain thrust too quickly and wasn’t strong enough to pull out of the free-fall.
Bragador floated overhead, barking orders to her daughter in the guttural language of the dragons.
Anja spread her wings again, quickly folding them straight up, then gradually spreading them out, inducing a spiral that slowed her until she was able to turn into a dive, lock her wings and begin to ride the air currents back up to the level of the platform where Alexander stood, assisted by a cane, watching her flight practice.
Bragador was a stern taskmistress, running Anja through a grueling series of aerial maneuvers over and over again. Her exacting demands combined with Anja’s hard work paid off with remarkable gains in her ability to fly safely, even while performing some very complicated aerial stunts.
Several days prior, Jack had presented Alexander with a beautiful cane, hand-carved from a piece of driftwood.
Alexander never realized how much he cherished the ability to walk. His leg hurt when he tried to put any weight on it, but he felt exhilarated at the same time. It took a few days of work before he felt confident enough to venture out of his Wizard’s Den.
Once he had mastered using his new cane, he went to watch Anja fly every afternoon. When he wasn’t watching her, he was practicing his clairvoyant illusions, using Jack as his observer, but try as Alexander might, Jack could always find something wrong with the illusion. On top of that, he was still unable to integrate movement, let alone speech.
He needed a way to act. The winter was just beginning, but it would be over all too soon and then the killing would start in earnest. Phane was poised to strike a terrible blow to Ruatha, while Zuhl would almost certainly reengage on Fellenden. These days of reprieve during the winter were vitally important for coordinating a strategy between his allies, and yet, his magic was failing him.
Alexander turned to the sovereigns for counsel.
“What’s transpired since we last convened?” Balthazar Reishi asked.
Alexander gave the sovereigns a full report of his healing and his limited success with his illusion magic. He also told them of his conversation with Bragador, as well as his growing fondness for Anja.
“First and foremost,” Balthazar said, “you must not take the dragon child with you when you depart. I cannot stress this enough. Bragador has forgiven you much, but if Anja accompanies you to war, she may well die. Dragons are not invincible, especially very young dragons. And they’re very hard to hide.”
Alexander cut him off with a raised hand.
“I agree, Anja will stay with her mother when I leave. What I need is help with my magic. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’ve visualized myself from every angle and I can even project a pretty good image, but I can’t make it move without losing clarity.”
Balthazar nodded to Constantine.
The Third Sovereign leaned forward.
“I recall a conversation I had with Benesh late one evening a very long time ago. He confided to me that his illusion magic was unworkable when he first discovered it within himself. Only after he learned to be the illusion rather than see the illusion was he able to create the visions he was so renowned for.
“In your practice, are you seeing the room from the perspective of your illusion or from elsewhere?”
“Always from a third point of view,” Alexander said.
“Try it from the perspective of your illusion,” Constantine said. “It’s now clear that the magic of my brother lives on in you. That fact may be just simply helpful, or it may be of great significance.”
“There have been so few adepts,” Balthazar said, “for you to possess a link to the firmament from two such wizards is unique. Such a thing cannot be without risk. Be vigilant. Record your magical experiences with extra care over the coming weeks and consult your notes frequently.”
“Thank you, gentlemen,” Alexander said.
Chapter 15
“That was almost unsettling, Alexander,” Jack said. “You were right there in front of me, carrying on a conversation, and at the same time you were right there in bed, lying still like a corpse.”
“It’ll work for now,” Alexander said. “I’ll be out for a while. There’s a lot to do.”
It took the better part of an afternoon to get used to seeing through the illusion. Then it just snapped into place and Alexander was there, seeing and hearing everything as if standing in the place his illusion occupied. He could move and talk and hear and be there in every way except the real way.
But it worked. He had the ability to act.
He methodically followed the well-worn path in his mind that led to the firmament and then he was in the endless ocean of creation-a moment later he was floating in a room half a world away, looking at his wife. He willed a perfect image of himself into place.
Isabel gasped, putting her ha
nds over her mouth and looking at him with wide eyes as she stood frozen with a mixture of hope and surprise.
“How? Is it really you?” She reached out, taking a step forward.
Alexander shook his head. “Illusion.”
“So you’re still on Tyr, then,” Isabel said, then flinched like she’d been slapped. “Wait! Don’t answer that. In fact, don’t tell me anything of any interest to Phane. I can’t be trusted, Alexander.” She stopped again and looked at him with longing. Approaching slowly, she reached for his face but found only emptiness. A tear slipped from each eye as she closed them in pain.
“I’m safe, well and healing,” Alexander said. “Why did you leave?”
“I had to,” Isabel said. “I was a threat to you. I couldn’t live with myself if I killed you. I won’t, no matter what. This is how it has to be for now.”
“We could have found another way,” Alexander said.
Isabel shook her head.
“This was the only sure way.”
“And what if you get yourself killed?” Alexander asked.
“Better that than killing you,” she said.
“You can’t die,” Alexander said. “I need you.”
Isabel reached for him again, then stopped, turning around in frustration.
“I wish you were really here,” she said. “I miss you terribly. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to. You don’t know what it’s like, always second-guessing your own thoughts, questioning if it was really your thought. I can’t trust myself with your life right now, so I can’t be anywhere near you until I can.” She turned back around, facing him sternly with tears running freely down her face. “Deal in what is, not what if. This is what is.” She motioned to the locked room that had become her home in Karth’s secret fortress.
“You’re right,” Alexander said, drawing himself up. “Report.”
Isabel looked at him quizzically for a moment before smiling slightly and beginning a full accounting of her journey from Tyr to this place and time. She was thorough, yet concise, and delivered the entire summary without a hint of emotion.
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