Tears of the Dragon

by Cyndi Friberg

  “You cannot do this. You loved my mother. This is wrong. I’m in love with Dominic.” She was sobbing by the time she finished her objections. He was oblivious to her resistance. His arms tightened around her, holding her close as his lips moved over her features.

  “Don’t fight me, Rowena. I can give you pleasure if you just accept me as your husband.”

  “You are my father!”

  “Nay. I was wed to your mother, but I was only waiting for you to mature.”

  “I have a husband.”

  His responding grin was nothing short of evil. “Not for long.”

  Rowena went wild. She kicked and screamed, tearing at his exposed skin with her nails. He forced her arms to her side and tripped her, toppling them both to the hard stone floor.

  They landed with a grunt, Edwin on top of Rowena. His hot breath fanned her face in ragged pants. “It doesn’t have to be force. I will be tender with you if you only stop fighting.”

  “I despise you. I abhor the touch of your hands upon me. It will ever be force. Nay, it will be incest. This is wrong, unnatural, evil. You must not hurt me. I love my husband!”

  With an angry hiss, Edwin levered himself off her. “Then we will begin again when you have no husband.”

  His words sliced through her like a sword.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “He’s not coming,” Rowena said softly.

  She did her best to sound convincing. There could be any number of reasons for Dominic’s tardiness, but she had just thought of a way to use it to her advantage.

  Edwin turned from the open doorway where he stood, watching the forest for any hint that his adversary had finally accepted his challenge. “That’s ridiculous.” He shot her an angry glower. “Why would he not come for you?”

  “There is no need.” She sat on the floor, leaning against the wall beside the hearth. No fire burned to offer either light or warmth, but she could see the doorway without craning her neck. The torch had sputtered out long ago without Edwin’s notice, and his body blocked what little light seeped through the open doorway.

  Inactivity had taken its toll on Rowena. She needed to do something, anything. She was going mad just sitting here. Carefully easing her legs beneath her, she stood. She moved several steps closer to Edwin before she continued. “Dominic knows that you gain nothing by harming me so long as he is alive. He will simply wait within the protection of the castle until you have tired of this game.”

  “Bah,” he dismissed, turning back to the doorway. “His pride alone will bring him running. I have something that belongs to the mighty Undaunted. He will come.”

  Rowena scrambled for another ploy. She couldn’t hope to win in a physical confrontation, but perhaps she could outwit him. He had nearly buckled to his own superstitions.

  Suddenly, Edwin turned and stalked toward her. “Perhaps he’s here already. Perhaps, as you said, he’s not moved in to rescue you because he doesn’t believe in your peril.”

  She took one step back for every step he advanced. When his hand reached for the long, jeweled dagger at his side, she gasped. If he had meant to murder her, why keep her here all this time? He meant only to frighten her.

  Her back bumped into the dank wall, and Edwin grasped her wrist, cruelly digging his fingers into her flesh. “Scream,” he commanded.

  “Nay.” She automatically rebelled, but the sharp edge of his blade sliced down across her arm and she screamed.

  “Again.” Once more he punctuated the demand with his dagger.

  Rowena screamed and screamed until the stone room rang with the sounds of her terror. Blood ran in hot rivulets from the deep gashes he’d opened on her forearm. She looked down at her crimson-coated fingers and choked back a sob. The stinging pain was nothing compared to the knowledge that she’d aided her enemy.

  Dominic emerged from the shadows, sword in hand. His expression promised death.

  Rowena whimpered with a hysterical mixture of fear and relief as Edwin let her go. Dominic stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the setting sun, patiently waiting while Edwin drew his sword.

  “This has been a long time coming,” Dominic said. “You were a dead man the moment you drew her blood.”

  They moved in step toward the center of the room and each other. Rowena pressed her palm over the throbbing wounds in her forearm, using the fullness of the sleeve to stem the flow of blood. Lightheaded, she slumped against the wall, helpless to do more than watch the drama unfold.

  “So the mighty Undaunted finally shows his face,” Edwin jeered. “How long have you been cowering in the shadows?”

  “Do we talk or do we fight?”

  Edwin charged. Dominic was ready, deflecting each strike with his sword. Dominic remained on the defensive, but Rowena watched his eyes. He studied every move Edwin made, assessing his strengths and finding his weakness.

  Their swords clashed and scraped and clashed again.

  An impotent spectator to the brutal dance, Rowena refused to be a distraction. She stayed against the wall, well out of the fray, fighting a grimace each time the swords sang out in metallic protest.

  In a sudden flurry of aggression, Dominic drove Edwin back across the room. Apparently, he’d lost interest in the game. His body moved with practiced grace, forcing Edwin deeper into the darkness.

  Dominic sliced Edwin’s thigh only inches from his groin. “That is for Rowena’s mother.”

  Edwin howled, swinging wildly in response to the pain. Before he could recover his balance, Dominic cut a deep cross in the middle of his chest. “That is for Brother Leland. And this,” he thrust his sword up through Edwin’s belly, ruthlessly piercing his heart, “is for my wife!”

  Rowena pressed her wounded arm into her abdomen as blood soaked the front of Edwin’s tunic and painted the length of Dominic’s sword.

  “Rot in hell, you vile bastard!” Dominic withdrew his sword, allowing Edwin’s body to slump to the cold stone floor.

  With mechanical indifference, Dominic wiped his sword clean on the tunic of his fallen foe and returned it to the scabbard at his side. Rowena watched the procedure and shuddered.

  Casting one last dismissing glance at Edwin’s body, Dominic hurried to Rowena and pulled her into his arms. “It’s over, love. It’s finally over.”

  She trembled in his embrace, too overwrought for words.

  For a long time he just held her, sheltering her within his arms. He kissed her temple and whispered her name.

  “Let me see your arm.” He eased her away from his chest.

  “Brother Leland,” she cried. “What became of Brother Leland?”

  “I know not,” he confessed, his dark blue eyes filled with tender concern.

  “We must find him.” Her throbbing arm was forgotten. “He couldn’t have fled without assistance, so he must be hiding somewhere.”

  Milton and several of Dominic’s men hovered near the doorway. Dominic ordered them to light torches, but insisted that he examine her injury first. “It will need to be cleaned and dressed when we return to the castle, but I’ll bind it now.” Ignoring her restlessness, Dominic quickly bound her arm with a strip cut from her other sleeve.

  The men had begun to search, but Rowena wouldn’t be put off any longer. She kissed Dominic and set off across the main room. He fell into step beside her. The monastery wasn’t large, but it was filled with private rooms and prayer closets. Rowena called out Brother Leland’s name.

  “Here! I am here!”

  The cry reached them faintly, muffled and indistinct.

  “We can barely hear you. Call out again,” Rowena urged.

  A small storeroom sat in the far corner of the abandoned chapel. The entrance wasn’t easily visible from the arched doorway at the other end of the room. That Edwin had overlooked the doorway wasn’t nearly so remarkable as the fact that the friar had managed to find the space in the first place. She gently guided him out into the chapel before she asked him how he found his hiding place.

>   “I simply followed the light.” Brother Leland patted her arm with a characteristic smile.

  “What light?” Dominic asked skeptically. “There’s no candle or torch with you.”

  “I saw a bright light and somehow knew I was to follow. When the light faded, I just sat down. I could sense that I was sheltered. Somehow, I knew I was safe.”

  Rowena glanced at Dominic to see his reaction to the friar’s wild tale, but he merely crossed his brawny arms over his chest.

  “Is Edwin dead, then?” the friar asked.

  “Aye,” Rowena said. “He can no longer harm anyone.”

  As Brother Leland recited a prayer for the passing of Edwin’s soul, Rowena guided him down the narrow corridor and out into the common room.

  Dominic’s men had already removed Edwin’s body, but she stared for a troubled moment at the blood-darkened floor.

  “Set the dragon free.”

  Rowena turned to Brother Leland as he spoke the odd command. “What?”

  “That’s what the voice kept saying as I waited in that room. ‘Solve the riddle and set the dragon free.’”

  Rowena glanced again at Dominic.

  “So, I pondered the riddle as I waited in that room.”

  “What is always lonely but never alone?” Rowena recited.

  Dominic watched them intently, but didn’t comment.

  “Possesses nothing, but has riches untold?” Brother Leland took up where Rowena had left off. “Speaks only silence, but shares tales far and wide? Remains hidden forever in the shadows of night?”

  “Edwin died believing you could solve the riddle,” Dominic spoke at last. “Was he right? Do you know the answer?”

  “I didn’t when he held me captive, but I’ve spent endless hours in meditation as I recuperated and just now everything seemed to fall into place.”

  “You’ve figured it out?” Excitement bubbled within Rowena. So many elements of the legend had proven to be true. Why not the riddle? Her heart pounded with anticipation. “What is the answer?”

  “Not what, but whom. No one was ever sure who penned the riddle, but I have always believed that it was Tyrus.”

  “Lady Fiona’s husband?” Dominic asked.

  “Aye. The ballad tells the tale from the perspective of Fair Fiona. I think the riddle is just the opposite. It is Tyrus’ contribution to the legend.”

  “But what does it mean?” Rowena tried not to be impatient, but her being hummed with enthusiasm. She felt like a child about to receive a precious gift. “To whom was Tyrus referring?”

  “To a Carthusian monk, or more specifically to who he became after Lady Fiona left him,” said Brother Leland.

  “Carthusian monks took vows of poverty and silence. So, he would be lonely, but not alone,” Rowena agreed. “Tyrus walked away from vast holdings to join the order, so he would have possessed nothing, but what about the riches untold?”

  “Lady Fiona came to Tyrus with a priceless treasure on their wedding day. I have heard that it was one large, perfect diamond, and I have heard that it was a chest filled with sparkling jewels, but one thing is certain—Tyrus refused to part with the treasure when he entered the monastery.”

  “If he took a vow of silence, then how could he share tales far and wide?” Dominic asked.

  The friar smiled, apparently enjoying himself as they worked together to unravel the mystery. “A scribe often copied the Holy Scriptures, and who among us has not heard a tale from the Bible?”

  “There is another possibility,” Rowena cut in. “The legend itself. Tyrus’ and Fiona’s tale has been shared far and wide.”

  “Very well. That still leaves the last line,” Dominic said.

  “Tyrus is dead, so he remains hidden forever in the shadows of night,” Brother Leland suggested.

  “And even before his death, he lived here,” Rowena reminded. “Except for the front door, there is no natural light in the entire monastery. Every cell here is hidden forever in the shadows of night.”

  “Then Tyrus is the answer to the riddle,” Dominic announced rather skeptically.

  “I believe he was referring to himself, aye,” Brother Leland agreed.

  “Then that leaves only the dragon,” said Rowena, her mind already two steps ahead of the conversation. “The voice told you to solve the riddle and set the dragon free?”

  “Aye, but only that—solve the riddle and set the dragon free.”

  She turned to Dominic and smiled. “We’ve already found Tyrus’ dragon.”

  “Bring torches,” Dominic ordered as Rowena turned and headed across the room.

  She reached the cell just before the men and stood to one side as they filed in behind Dominic. He handed a thick torch to her as he moved closer to the doorway to examine the stone dragon.

  “What is it? What are you looking at?” the friar asked. One of Dominic’s men led him into the room, but no one had explained what was happening.

  “There’s a sculpted dragon’s head mounted above the doorway. Dominic and I found it when we were here tending you. We even speculated that it was a legacy from Tyrus, but there didn’t seem to be a latch or lever, so we dismissed it as decoration.”

  “A dragon decorating a monastery?” Brother Leland’s brows knitted together in speculation. “That is passing strange.”

  Stretching up onto his toes, Dominic ran his hands along every edge of the statue, searching again for a latch or lever. He pressed on the fangs; he examined each detail. “I still feel nothing.”

  “Can you break it off?” Rowena suggested hesitantly.

  He chuckled. “I offered to slay it for you then. Everyone stand back.”

  Rowena guided Brother Leland as far from the doorway as the narrow room allowed. Dominic drew his sword and stepped to one side. Raising his sword in a wide arch, he slammed it down against the dragon’s neck. The statue groaned, but didn’t move. Dominic swung again and the dragon separated from the wall. He jumped back as it crashed to the cell’s floor and obediently split open.

  “Is the treasure there? What does it look like?” the friar questioned excitedly.

  “I’m not sure, Brother Leland. There seems to be something bundled in oilskin or…” Her description trailed away as Dominic unfolded the bundle across the stone floor. An inner layer of thick black velvet became a pillow for the sparkling jewels. Brilliant diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts and golden amber, each stone was identical in shape and size. Rowena reached out and picked up a perfect, teardrop-shaped diamond. “Dragon’s Tears.” Such a hush had fallen on the room that she whispered the words.

  She picked up a fist full of the stones and held them over the friar’s open palm. “They’re beautiful.” She spilled the jewels into his hand. “Every color of the rainbow, and each one is shaped like a tear.”

  He laughed and explored the smooth, cool stones with his fingertips. “I knew it was real. You have finally done it. You have lifted the curse and freed the dragon.”

  Rowena glanced at the shattered stone sculpture and then at her husband. Her body thrummed with happiness and relief. They had fought a great battle and emerged victorious.

  I love you. She mouthed the words and he grinned, his eyes glowing with responding warmth.

  “Are you ready to go home?” She smiled invitingly.

  “Aye, my love.” He stooped to gather the jewels into the velvet bundle, purposely ignoring the fact that Brother Leland still held a handful.

  “You can come back to the castle now, Brother Leland. There is nothing more to fear,” Rowena invited.

  “I would welcome your hospitality. But in a few days, I want to return to my cottage and my work. Brother Samuel is lost without me.”

  “You are free to do as you wish.”

  He held out his hand, offering her the jewels within his grasp.

  “Keep them. Put them to use however God directs you. I already have everything I need.”

  Hearing her statement, Dominic beamed. He mo
tioned one of his men forward and placed Brother Leland’s free hand on his arm. “Albert will see you safely to the castle.”

  Brother Leland nodded.

  The same instant Albert cleared the doorway with Brother Leland, Rowena flew into Dominic’s arms. They kissed deeply, repeatedly, hungrily. She understood the urgency in his touch. She was desperate for more of him.

  “It’s over, my love,” he promised. “It’s truly over.”

  He couldn’t stop touching her and Rowena felt the same. They needed to get back to the castle or they would end up on the cold stone floor.

  “Take me home.” She whispered the words against his mouth, and he chuckled, understanding her unspoken request.

  * * * * *

  They met the twilight arm in arm, their hearts soaring, and Fair Fiona watched it from the trees.

  “Your father will be pleased,” Fearsome Dragon concluded.

  “I hope you’re right, my friend. They are glorious. I’ve never seen human hearts so entwined.”

  “You sound surprised.” He hovered near her as the mortals started down the steep trail.

  “Not surprised,” she corrected, “relieved and impressed. Their lives will be rich and full.”

  She said nothing for a long while, and Fearsome Dragon grew restless. “You will not be satisfied until you’ve said goodbye.”

  Her eyes gleamed with Fairy mischief and she could not help but smile. “My father discourages me from interacting with mortals.”

  The dragon laughed, shaking his noble head. “And that has kept you from it all these years. I will meet you in the sky.”

  The human couple finally reached their castle. Dominic set Rowena on the ground as Milton led Majesty away. Fair Fiona waited for just the right moment and then gracefully stepped through the veil.

  Rowena’s head suddenly turned in Fiona’s direction. “Look.” Her tone was hushed and reverent.

  Dominic followed the direction of her nod and smiled. “Fair Fiona, I presume.”

  “This is the first you have actually seen her?” Rowena remained within the loose circle of her husband’s embrace.

  “Aye. But she kissed me once, and I heard her sing.”