“It… um,she can tell that?”
“Of course. She may only be a baby, but she’s still a dragon, and she knows her own kind, Garrett.”
He spoke with such authority, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, that Garrett could only nod and agree that of course a dragon still in the egg would be aware of a fully grown dragon flying nearby.
But it sent cascades of shivers down his spine, all the same.
~~~~~
Garrett left Ruell happily poring over the books he’d brought and went to see Tella. The throne room was near the front of the building, designed, presumably, so that arriving visitors could make their way directly from the harbour to the imposing frontage of the palace, and straight into the throne room. The rest of the building was a muddle of violently different styles, but here all was graceful symmetry, with vast marble pillars supporting an arched roof high above, the empty echoing space designed only to impress. Yet even here, the magnificence was tempered by the constant decay. Rotting banners hung from the walls and the sides of the room were ankle deep in decaying matter. The throne itself had to be swept clear of dead leaves every time Tella chose to rest her dainty rump on it.
Today she was seated in splendour on her throne, wearing a gown of the finest silk, her hair loose to her waist and on her head a delicate golden crown. No one could look more like a queen, and were she really so, Garrett would have quaked in his boots at the thunderous expression on her face.
“Where have you been? I ordered you to come straight to me! How dare you disobey?”
Garrett looked around at the array of stewards and waiting women and guards, and the interested audience of Bay merchants and kylerand members, and decided that she was putting on a show for the spectators. Well, he could do that, too.
He bowed deeply. “My humblest apologies, Majesty. I did not wish to appear before you unprepared, so I took a few moments to acquaint myself with island events while I have been away. Now that I have done so, I am entirely at your majesty’s disposal.”
“You are always at my disposal, and do not forget it,” she said imperiously, but he thought there was a gleam of amusement in her eyes.
He bowed again, in what he hoped was a plausibly obsequious manner. Subservience didn’t come naturally to him, so he could only hope he was convincing enough for the ogling audience.
“Very well. I shall overlook your tardiness this once, but beware of my wrath if it should happen again. Come, Captain Garrett, you may report to me in private.”
She rose gracefully from her throne, and the assembled crowds dropped into respectful bows and curtsies with rustles and creaks of silk and velvet and leather. The guards jumped to attention with a thunder of pikes and boots against the marble floor, and with the rafters still echoing, Tella swept out.
Garrett followed at a pace precisely judged to be slow enough to declare his independence, yet fast enough to escape accusations of insolence.
As soon as they reached an ante-chamber and the door had closed behind them, Tella burst out laughing.
“By the Nine, Garrett, you’re on form today.‘Didn’t want to appear unprepared’ indeed! One of these days your impudence will go too far, and I’ll have to chop your head off.”
“Think you could do it?” he said, with a smile, one eyebrow raised. “I’m quite fond of my head, as it happens. We’ve been through a lot together, so I’ll put up a bit of a fight if anyone tries to separate me from it.”
“Think you could stop me?” she whispered into his ear, then spun away from him, her skirts swirling seductively. “You see, this is why I keep you around, Garrett – you amuse me. You’re never afraid of me, never afraid to answer back and you give as good as you get. Whereas Kestimar—”
He waited, but her face changed and she let the thread of thought go.
“Gods, I’m tired today. Can you—?”
“Of course.” He fished around in his bag and pulled out the glass sphere. Eagerly, she placed her hand in his, and closed her eyes expectantly. “Ball, you’ve done this before so you know exactly what I want. Make Tella well and take away all signs of age.”
The ball glowed brightly, its light giving Tella a warm glow. Gradually, the light faded until the ball was just plain glass again.
Tella sighed with pleasure. “Ah, that’s so much better. What would I do without you and your wonderful ball?”
“I can’t imagine, which is why I’m not much afraid of you chopping off my head,” he said, tucking the ball away in his bag.
She pouted. “I suppose that’s true. Strange to think I had that ball for years and never knew what it could do, and now I can’t even touch it. Will it ever run out of magic, do you think?”
He shrugged. “Who knows? Not much we can do about it.”
“Does it do everything you ask?” she said, with a sudden switch from coquetry to a more serious expression. “I mean, could you use it to kill someone, if you wanted?”
“Don’t know,” he said uneasily. “I’ve never tried, and never wanted to. If ever I take it into my head to kill someone, it will be openly, with my sword, and not sneakily with magic. So don’t ask me to.”
“No, but… by the Nine, I wish he’d just die! I’m so tired of his carping and whining.”
Garrett didn’t have to ask who she was talking about. “You don’t have to keep him around, you know. Banish him to the top of a tower somewhere with just Savroan for company. That would give him something to whine about.”
“I can’tdo that!” she cried. “You don’t understand! Kestimar’s my penance, my punishment for all the terrible things I’ve done in my life, all the people I’ve hurt. I’ve been a selfish creature, Garrett, doing whatever I wanted, taking whatever new thing took my eye. Or new man. I never thought of anyone but myself. Even when things went badly, I could smile and flirt and get exactly what I wanted.”
She paced across the room, skirts swishing, arms gesturing expansively. “But when I was assigned to Kestimar, I found myself in the power of a man who didn’t care at all about me, so long as he got whathewanted. Gods, he was sostrong in those days, striding about like a giant among men, and he took no nonsense from anyone, and certainly not from me. When he came to me, I never knew whether he was going to fuck me or kill me, and you know what? I didn’t much care. By the Nine, it was so exciting! He’d fuck me all night, until I was raw and bleeding, and I’d still be begging him for more.” She laughed suddenly, but it was a harsh, brittle sound, like the rattle of hailstones. “You can’t imagine it, can you, Garrett? You’re a pleasant enough lover, very gentle and considerate and all those things, and I always enjoyed it, but you could never come close to giving me the thrill that he did.”
“I know that,” he said evenly. “You always loved him best.”
“Love!” she spat. “Hate, too. I hated him for the hold he had over me. But we worked so perfectly together, and we’ve done well over the years. He didn’t mind when I was with other men. It amused him to hear about it afterwards. He even got along with you until you got me pregnant, but those storms were exhilarating. I loved having the two of you fighting over me. So much fun! But now…” She clutched her arms about her waist, head bent down, struggling with some violent emotion.
Garrett waited. Sooner or later this mood would blow over, and she’d be back to her sunny good humour.
“I wish you’d just kill him,” she said in a low voice. “You could, if you wanted to. This… this weakness he suffers… you think I don’t know that it’s your doing? Why do you torment him so? If you think to punish him, remember that you punish me, too. I can’t bear to see him less than a man, all his strength gone, all hispower gone. Free us all from this agony, Garrett, I’m begging you. Either release him or kill him.”
It was the smallest of sounds, more of a sigh than anything else, not much louder than a leaf falling to the forest floor. Garrett spun round, but he already knew what he would see – Kestimar in his chair, a rug over his
knees, his face white with shock and rage. Behind him, Savroan was impassive.
Garrett heaved a sigh. It was inevitable that Kestimar would find out sooner or later, but not now, not like this, just overhearing it by accident.
“Kestimar, I—”
“Don’t speak,scum!”
“Look—”
“Not a word. I don’t want to hear it, all your self-justification, how it was all for Tella. Gods, you make me sick, Garrett. Well, I’ve had enough, you hear? I’ll not put up with you a moment longer. You think I’m helpless, don’t you? Trapped here in this chair. You think you’re safe from me, don’t you? Well,think again!”
He was fast, Garrett had to give him that. Even weakened as he was, Kestimar moved like lightning, reaching under the rug and throwing the knife hidden there with deadly accuracy. Gods, he must have been practising in secret! How long had he been planning this?
Garrett watched his own death approach without fear. The knife spun end over end, flashing as the light caught the blade and hilt. Spinning, spinning towards him. Too fast. No chance to evade.
He stood motionless, waiting, completely calm.
13: The Handmaiden's Temple (Garrett)
Tella screamed.
Then there was a great flash, a metallictink and the knife bounced aside harmlessly.
Kestimar went puce. “What thefuck happened? Why aren’t you dead?”
“You can’t kill me,” Garrett said. “Sorry if that disappoints you.”
Savroan gave a deep bark of laughter. “Got you there, old man. Not a bad shot, but Garrett’s put one over on you.”
Even Tella laughed, gasping, hand to throat. Partly it was relief, perhaps, but there was a gleam in her eye that suggested excitement, too.
But Kestimar’s eyes narrowed. “It’s true, then. You really do have some magical power, something that protects you and keepsher looking young. And me… you made me a cripple. Why? Why did you do that? Revenge?”
“Not at all. I knew if I stayed here, sooner or later either you’d kill me or I’d kill you. It was inevitable. But I wanted to stay—”
“Forher, I suppose,” he sneered, jerking his head towards Tella.
“No, for Ruell. For my son.”
“Fuck you, Garrett!” Kestimar yelled. “Fuck you to the Ninth Vortex! Sofucking self-righteous. Maybe I should kill him, then? Can your magic protect him, eh?”
Garrett was across the floor in two strides, his hands pinning Kestimar’s bone-thin arms to his chair. “You touch him,” he hissed into Kestimar’s ashen face, “you touch just one hair of his head, and I’ll tear your ugly body apart one bone at a time, and feed you to the eagles. Vent your spleen on me, but leave him out of it, you understand?”
Kestimar glared at him, and, disgusted, Garrett spun away to the far side of the room. “Gods, Kestimar, don’t you ever change? Is there even one drop of your blood that knows the meaning of compassion or generosity or kindness?”
“Gods, I hope not,” Kestimar said, straightening a little in his chair. “That would be weakness indeed. Fuck it, Garrett, you spoil all my fun. Well, if I can’t kill you, and I’m not allowed to kill the boy, why don’t you killme then? Here… I’ve got another knife.”
He had, too. A quick rummage under the rug produced a twin for the first throwing knife.
“Just kill me, Garrett,” he said more quietly. “The Gods know, you want to, and I can’t stand this life a moment longer.”
“No.”
“Why not? Fuck it, Garrett, why ever not?”
“I’m done with killing. Killed enough people in my time. I won’t do it again. Tella says you’re her penance. Well, you’re mine, too, Kestimar, and maybe I’m yours, who knows?”
Kestimar’s hands clenched and unclenched on the arm of his chair. “Why do you keep me alive but stuck in this fucking chair? You’ve got some powerful magic, somehow, keeping Tella young and making me old before my time. Can you imagine what it’s like, trapped here like a fly in a web?”
“Yes, I can. I’ve been your prisoner, Kestimar, remember? You sold me into slavery, all those years ago.”
“Yet here you still are,” he sneered.
“We’re both still here. I threw you off the ship by Dragon’s Point and you tried to make me a slave, and neither of us succeeded. So let’s call a truce. Hasn’t this gone on long enough?”
Kestimar threw back his head and howled.
“Better go now,” Tella whispered urgently in his ear.
“Will you be all right with him like this?”
She gave a lop-sided smile, but he saw the undercurrent of fear in her eyes. “Savroan and I can deal with him. I’ve seen him worse. Go, now.”
Without a word, he went.
~~~~~
He found Ruell in his room at the top of his tower, sitting by the window gazing out to sea.
“Any dragons out there?” Garrett said conversationally.
Ruell jumped as if stung. “Oh… Garrett! You gave me a shock.”
“Sorry. Were you off with the dragons?”
With a lift of one shoulder, Ruell shook his head, but he blushed all the same. Garrett didn’t press him, taking a chair on the opposite side of the room and waiting. Always waiting. His whole life had been waiting for something. A decent game of bones. A well-filled pocket to pick. The war to end. Tella… he’d waited a long time for Tella, and paid too high a price for her in the end. And latterly, waiting for Ruell to grow up. Well, he was grown up now, and maybe it was time to stop waiting.
“Were the books interesting?” They were open but abandoned on the table.
Another shake of the head.
“Not even the one about dragons?”
Ruell laughed. “It’s not about real dragons. They have some kind of group… organisation in Mesanthia, something to do with children, and each little part of it is called a dragon. I don’t know why, but it has nothing to do with physical dragons.”
“Oh. Sorry. Those were just what she gave me.”
“Famri? Well, I don’t know why she would. They’re not relevant.” A hesitation, then, shyly, he said, “I can talk to several dragons now. And it’s getting easier.”
“Ah.”
“If they’re close enough, I can almost see them,” Ruell said eagerly. “In my mind, I mean. They’re like little glowing stars. The closer they are, the brighter. And I can reach out and talk to them, sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“The ones I’ve met before… dreamt about.”
“But not the others?”
“No. If I don’t recognise them… it’s hard to explain.” He frowned suddenly. “You look tired. Did Mother give you a hard time?”
Garrett smiled and shook his head. “Kestimar. He knows I’ve been behind this weakness of his.”
Ruell’s eyes widened. “Gods! What did he say?”
“A great deal, most of it cursing me to the Ninth Vortex. Then he tried to kill me. Then he askedmeto killhim.” He gave a rueful laugh. “Don’t look so horrified. No one was killed, as it happens, but I shall probably have to leave here.”
“Oh.” Ruell hung his head. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I don’t want to go either, but I think it would be best.”
“Where will you go?”
Garrett hesitated. “I think we should both go to Mesanthia, as we planned before.”
Long, long silence. Ruell’s expressive face melted from hope to unwillingness to fear by slow degrees. Even before he spoke, Garrett knew what he would say.
“I… Ican’t, Garrett. I wish I could, because Mesanthia sounds wonderful, but it would be best for me to stay here, where the dragons are.”
“We can come back here later, but for the moment I think it’s more important to find out something about this dragon caller business before you get too far into it, and Mesanthia knows more about that than any place in the world.”
Ruell chewed his lip. “But everything’s changing! Every
day I can do more, and see more. What if there’s onlyone opportunity, one time when it’s possible to learn? Like Lalla. She was kept in a cellar for her first seven years and never learnt to talk. Maybe being a dragon caller is like that too. One of my books talks about transitioning, but I have to be near dragons to do that. Or so it seems to me.”
It was a good point. Ruell had been keen to go to Mesanthia when the idea was first raised, but now… would he lose the chance to be a dragon caller altogether if he left now? There were no dragons at Mesanthia. It was a risk. Yet so was going to Mesanthia. The journey itself was long and not easy, not for two men alone, and only one of them trained to fight. And then there was the chance that the Keeper would decide that a dragon caller was just what she needed to become empress. Yet if they stayed, calling dragons was not exactly free of risk.
“I suspect there’s a transition period for all connections,” Garrett said slowly. “There was with mine.”
“Was there?” Ruell said, crossing the room and dragging a chair nearer to Garrett. “You didn’t just wake up one morning able to see through others’ eyes?”
“No. It took me a couple of years to understand what was happening to me, and to be able to control it fully, and that was a pretty minor kind of ability. I never found much use for it, actually, apart from gambling with flats and stones, to see what other players held in their hands. I was a very successful gambler. But that all happened when I was about eleven or twelve, much earlier than with you. And I suspect that transitioning into a dragon caller is much harder than anything I had to do.”
“I don’t see why,” Ruell said. “Learning to use a magical ability must be much the same whatever it is. Fire would be the only problematic one, I should think, until you get the hang of it.”
“Anything where thingshappen is going to be problematic,” Garrett said. “Shaping metal or stone, for instance. And mental connections with people – that must be awkward, sometimes. But dragons – that’s the riskiest of the lot.”
The Dragon Caller (Brightmoon Book 9) Page 12
