Sisera's Gift 2: Sacred Blood

by Robyn Wideman

  “How did I get here?” Tarak started. “How did you get here? Where are we?”

  “Pour me a cup of wine and I will tell you,” said Santaal. “Before you decide to start beating on me again.”

  Tarak went to a table and poured two cups of wine from a large carafe. He handed one to Santaal who finished the entirety with one gulp. He motioned for Tarak to hand him the other cup which he also finished in one swill. Tarak refilled the cups and sat down on the bed across from Santaal.

  “Shortly after you left a messenger came to the castle to see me. He gave me a map and told me I will find you at the marked location. I questioned him but that was the only information that he would give me. I was, of course, skeptical but I just had a feeling that he was telling me the truth. I left for Droll immediately and traveled to the location marked on the map. It led me to a large clearing, deep in the wilderness. In the clearing was a huge stone circle and you were lying unconscious in the middle of it. I packed you on my horse until I found a farmer willing to sell me a cart. We traveled for days but still, you remained unconscious. You are a heavy swine, by the way. We finally reached North Port and have been holed up in this inn for the past four days. You had been perfectly still the entire time until just now when you got up and punched me in the face repeatedly. That brings us to now.”

  Tarak sat silently contemplating the information he was just given by his brother. The last thing he remembered was meeting the witch from the coven in the deep cavern.

  “So, we are in North Port?”

  “Yes. I didn’t want to take the chance of traveling with you in case you were in need of medical attention. I thought that North Port would be the best place to hole up until you got better. How are you feeling by the way?”

  “I feel about as good as you look right now,” Tarak said, trying to keep a straight face.

  “You’re a jester.” Santaal gave his younger brother a sour glare. “So, did you get the information you were looking for?”

  Tarak reached up and traced the outline of the amulet that hung around his neck. He could feel energy surging through it.

  “Yes, I think it did,” he said slowly.

  “Okay then. What is our next step?”

  Tarak thought for a moment. He felt like his mind was filled with cobwebs.

  “First, we go find some breakfast. Then, we begin our journey back to Castle Pornoux. Is there currently a Brotherhood ship in the harbor?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. We need to get back as soon as possible. We have many preparations to make.”

  22

  The sound of a roaring dragon caused many of the villagers to run for cover.

  “They are coming!” Isabella yelled at the top of her lungs.

  Sisera and Isabella had been returning from a training session when the dragon picked up the familiar scent of their friends.

  “Let’s go greet them,” Isabella said.

  Sisera spun and flew up. Soon, they saw the small party below, making their way toward the village.

  “There is only two of them,” Sisera said, nervously.

  Isabella felt her heart rise in her chest. “Who is it?” she asked.

  “Kai and Adina,” Sisera said.

  “Faster.” Isabella demanded and Sisera complied.

  As the dragon approached, the two riders pulled their reins and stopped to settle their horses before the arrival of the flying beast. Before Sisera had landed, Isabella leaped from her back and ran towards her friends.

  “Where’s Oshri?” she called as she got closer to the pair, her voice filled with fear.

  Kai looked and Adina and let out hearty laugh.

  “I told you,” he said with a wink to his travelling companion.

  Adina nodded to her companion and turned to face Isabella. “Don’t worry, child. Oshri is safe. He did not return with us.”

  “What? Why would he not return?” Isabella was in a panic.

  “Well, that is a pretty story,” said Kai. “I think I would only like to tell it once so you must be patient.”

  “Patient?” Isabella could feel some anger rising in her chest. “Why must I be patient? I just want to know where he is.”

  “That’s a little complicated,” said Adina. “Kai is right. It is quite the story and thus, should be told over some food and drink.”

  “I am the dragonblood, you know. You should have to tell me now.”

  “Isabella,” Kai scolded using a fatherly tone. “You must learn to be patient. There is much that needs to be talked about.”

  “How am I supposed to learn if you won’t tell me where my teacher is?” Isabella snapped.

  “Calm down.” Kai tried to use his most soothing voice. “Oshri will come back. He just had some things to take care of.”

  “Oh,” said Isabella, embarrassed with her outburst. “I’m sorry. I really missed you all. How was the adventure?”

  Kai smiled. “Well, it was an adventure.”

  Adina laughed. “Yes, that it was. Let’s get back quickly. I need a bath.”

  Kai and Adina both greeted Sisera warmly before resuming their trek back to the Tower.

  Isabella leapt on to Sisera’s back and the dragon launched them into the air. They quickly overtook their friends on the ground below and reached the Tower within minutes.

  When they landed on their pad at the top of the Tower, Isabella immediately jumped off and quickly removed the saddle from Sisera’s back. She rushed into the tower to find her mother, Lady Amelia, whom she found in the reception room.

  “They are almost here!” she said as she burst into the room.

  Amelia was talking with a group of men from the village. She excused herself from the meeting table and went to meet her daughter.

  “Who is almost here?” she asked.

  “Kai and Adina. They should be arriving shortly.”

  “No Oshri?”

  “Apparently not. They wouldn’t tell me. They said they would tell us the story when we are all together.”

  “I see,” said Amelia. She turned to one of the guards and asked him to find the rest of the council members and have them meet in the reception room.

  “We should meet up in my quarters so Sisera can be involved. It concerns her as well.”

  Amelia nodded and sent the guard off.

  Isabella waited patiently as Amelia finished her conversation with the village men. As the men were leaving the reception room, they each took turns bowing to the young lady.

  “Who are those men?” Isabella asked her mother as the group of men left the reception room.

  “They are from the village. They are in charge of building the outer wall. They are in need of more stone than the stonecutters can produce from the tunnels in the tower. Our diggers either need to work faster or we need to look at quarrying more from another source.”

  “The diggers are working as fast as they can. They are already overworked.” Isabella had an offended tone in her voice.

  Amelia began to retort but she stopped before any words came out. She thought for a moment and gave Isabella a knowing smile.

  “Ah, I understand why you are so defensive about the stonecutters. That boy you were with the other night works with them, doesn’t he?”

  Isabella could feel the blood rush to her face. How did her mother know about Makal?

  “Don’t worry.” Amelia smiled. “I think it’s great that you have met someone your own age.”

  Isabella looked her mother in the eyes and saw nothing but sincerity.

  “He’s so funny,” Isabella said. “He and his father came to live here after his mother died. They came from southern Partha. When they heard about me, they decided that there was nothing there for them anymore and came to help us. His father is named Jaers and he also works as a digger.”

  Isabella rambled on about Makal the whole way upstairs to her chamber. Amelia listened intently, a smile never leaving her face. When they reached the chamber, Amelia fou
nd herself a seat on the veranda, waving a hello to Sisera. Isabella continued talking about the boy until there was a knock at the door.

  “Come in,” Amelia shouted.

  Kai entered the room followed by Jaime, Camdyn, and Adina.

  “Welcome back.” Amelia greeted Kai and Adina, giving them each a heartfelt hug.

  “Thank you,” said Kai.

  “So now do we get to hear about what happened to Oshri?” Isabella blurted out when everyone had settled into the couches on the veranda.

  “It seems there is a lot more to our old friend than we actually realized…” Kai proceeded to tell the tale of their adventures. When he finished, he sat back on the couch and waited for everyone to absorb the information he had just presented.

  “He’s married?” blurted our Jaime in disbelief. “To a witch? And she turned him into a frog?”

  Kai and Adina both nodded, trying to contain their laughter.

  “Frida has assured us that he is fine and that they have some things to work out before Oshri will return,” Kai said.

  “Before she will allow him to return, you mean,” Adina said.

  Kai chuckled and nodded. The rest of the group shared in the laughter. Everyone except for Isabella.

  “So, who is going to train me then if Oshri is gone?” she asked, concerned.

  Kai proceeded to tell them about Apophis and the dragons.

  “So, you want her to go off all alone to search out a pack of dragons?” Amelia said, anger beginning to creep into her voice. “She is just a young girl. She is not ready.”

  “I agree,” said Jaime. “We should send a squadron with her for protection.”

  “I don’t see why she needs to go at all.” Amelia pushed herself up and began pacing the room. The rest of the group exchanged concerned looks. They had never seen the Lady Amelia lose her temper in such a fashion.

  “We still have contacts in Prozia. We could easily hire a small fleet of ships,” said Raven then looked directly at Kai. “I don’t think that she is ready to go alone either.”

  “There is no way for us to keep up to a flying dragon,” Kai said, keeping his voice as calm as possible so as to not infuriate Amelia anymore. “The witches made it very clear that this is journey that she must take on her own.”

  “No. I will not allow it,” Amelia said sharply. “I lost her once. I refuse to lose her again, especially for such a ridiculous reason. It is not our war.”

  “It is though,” said Adina. “You know the history as well as anyone here. When the war begins, it will involve everyone. The Sacred Blood are already preparing. We need to as well.”

  “Why is this war on our shoulders? It has nothing to do with us. We will prepare by fortifying our home,” said Amelia, snapping out the words rapidly.

  “It is not enough,” Kai said, his voice betraying the frustration he was beginning to feel. He looked to Camdyn who had been listening quietly. Camdyn returned his gaze with a small shrug and opened his mouth as if he had something to say but no words came out.

  “It will have to be. She is not going. That’s final,” Amelia said sharply, stamping her foot on the tiled flooring.

  Isabella had been sitting quietly, taking in the conversation but finally she could not take it anymore.

  “Stop it. All of you,” she shouted.

  Amelia and Kai both looked at her, stunned by her outburst. The rest of the group gave her their attention.

  Isabella felt like she could spit venom, she was so mad. “Did either of you even consider my feelings? Neither of you even thought to speak to me about what I want to do. I am the dragonblood. I may be young but I am far from a child anymore. I can make my own decisions.”

  Amelia opened her mouth to speak but Isabella threw a hand up to stop her. Amelia backed away in fear as flames began to form around Isabella’s hand.

  “Isabella,” Raven shouted. She jumped up and placed herself between Isabella and her mother.

  The young dragonblood suddenly realized what she was doing and put her hand down.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” she said sullenly.

  “Okay. We all just need to calm down,” Jaime said as he got to his feet and took a position in the middle of the conflict. “There must be a happy middle ground that we can all agree on.”

  “The witches were insistent that Isabella finding Apophis was of the utmost importance,” Kai said as he regained his seat.

  “She’s too young,” said Amelia, still angry.

  “Enough,” Sisera said as she emerged from her cave. The entire group looked to her in surprise. The dragon emerged fully from her shelter and sat facing the group. Isabella immediately walked over to stand by the dragon’s side. “The witches are right. We must find Apophis. She is a wise dragon who can help us.”

  Sisera turned to look at Amelia. “I will take care of her. She is your only daughter. I know. But, she is strong. Stronger than, I think, any of you realize. All dragons were taught from a young age about the war and the horrible things that took place. Most of the dragons were wiped out by powerful magic. The rest were banished to the Isle for a hundred years. There is a group of dragons that blame humans for what they consider to be imprisonment, even though the Isle was a beautiful place to live. Apophis knows that war is inevitable. That is why she spread us out all over the world. Her goal is that we will not be perceived as a threat by the humans. This group of dragons wishes that things were as they used to be, with dragons as the rulers of this world. Apophis always tried to make it clear to us that our time is over, that we must co-exist with humans lest we become extinct. Her focus is the survival of dragonkind.”

  The dragon paused for a moment, letting the group digest the information.

  Even Isabella was taken aback by Sisera’s speech. She wondered exactly what kind of a telepathic connection they truly had that the dragon could surprise her with such monologue.

  “Isabella is special. We are bonded. I am her and she is me. I want what she wants and she wants peace. You have all been forced into battle so you know that in order to attain peace that you must fight for it. Isabella is ready to fight and she can handle it. She killed a griffin all on her own. She has the skills and the power but she needs to learn to refine it. To use the power she has been given to its full advantage. To do that she must learn to use it. None of you can teach her that. Not Kai. Not Raven. Not even Oshri. I cannot teach her. This is new territory for all of us. Apophis is our best chance. If she doesn’t know then we will have to come up with another plan. We won’t know until we try, though.”

  Everyone sat in contemplative silence for a moment.

  “How can you guarantee that you will always be there to protect her?” Amelia’s voice had a shudder in it.

  “I cannot. What I can guarantee is that she is capable of taking care of herself. None of you have seen the full extent of what she can do,” Sisera said. “She has battled a griffin on her own and came out victorious. Not an easy task for even a dragon.”

  Isabella turned to stare at the dragon, a look of horror across her face.

  “We said we weren’t going to tell them,” she screamed telepathically at the dragon.

  “I know,” Sisera said aloud, turning her head to look at the girl. “But this is important. You said yourself that you wished that they would stop treating you like a child. How are they going to do that if you are always hiding what you are capable of?”

  “Wait. Griffins are real?” asked Kai, his jaw dropping slightly. He looked at Isabella. “And you fought one? And killed it?”

  Isabella nodded slowly.

  Amelia could no longer contain her emotions and burst into tears. Raven put an arm around her friend’s shoulder to comfort her.

  “Well. This got intense,” Jaime said. All stares fell on him. He smiled nervously and took a seat next to Camdyn, who just shook his head.

  “The best thing might be to sleep on it,” said Adina.

  “I don’t need to sleep o
n it,” Isabella said quietly. She lifted her head and turned to each of her friends, looking them in the eyes so they could be sure that she was being deadly serious. “I want to go. I must go. Not just for the good of the world or whatever. I have to go for me. I have this power inside of me and sometimes I feel like I cannot control it. It is a part of me now so I need to nurture it and if that means finding Apophis then that is what I am going to do.”

  “If you insist then I will not stop you,” Amelia said, pushing stray tears from her face. She broke from Raven’s protective grip and walked to her daughter. She pulled the girl close and hugged her fiercely. “I know you have it in you. I cannot help but fear the worst. I am your mother after all.”

  Isabella returned her mother’s embrace. It was like a weight had been lifted from her. Tears began to stream down the gold-purple dragonscale on her face.

  “Thank you,” she managed to whisper as she buried her face in her mother’s shoulder.

  Sisera straightened up and addressed the group again. “I will take good care of her as she will of me.”

  “She will need new armor and weapons,” Raven said.

  “And supplies,” said Jaime. “The saddle must be altered to attach a bigger pack.”

  Kai nodded. “Let’s all get some rest. It is getting late in the day and I could use a long bath. We will begin preparations first thing in the morning.”

  Everyone agreed.

  Isabella was elated. “Thank you,” she said to Sisera, using their mind link.

  “You’re welcome,” the dragon said.

  “Okay. Good. Everybody’s happy again,” said Jaime, a boyish grin returning to his face. “Now tell us about this griffin.”

  23

  Tarak Kader looked up at the effigy of Garron that stood in the main hall of the basilica. He whispered a prayer and leaned over to kiss the altar. He turned around and spread his arms wide open, the loose arms of the ceremonial robe making him appear to be even bigger than he was in reality.

  “Please stand.” He addressed the congregation of robed men that filled the pews of the church. The men rose to their feet in unison.