Jaekob's voice appeared in her mind, startling her. She had forgotten about the bond they now apparently shared. Whatever you do, don't let them separate us. If they can get you away from me, your fate is sealed.
Bells' eyes never left the unit leader. When his eyes went blank, and he began to mutter under his breath, she knew he was communicating with someone. Not all dragons could speak mind-to-mind outside of their beast form, Jaekob had told her, and she had a sinking feeling it did not bode well.
The leader's eyes came into focus again. He looked first at Bells, then at Jaekob. "You will remain here until we have confirmed that you are free of infection. Do not attempt to move or we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect dragon-kind."
He made some sort of hand signal and the rest of the unit spread out to form a half-circle around her and Jaekob. With a shudder, she realized that gave most of them a direct path to breathe fire at her without hitting one another. Half panicked, she looked to Jaekob. By Creation, he better not let his ego get her killed.
He didn't lose his temper, though. Instead, he shifted his feet until they were shoulder width apart and clasped his hands together behind his back, all in one swift, smooth movement, his eyes locked dead ahead. She remembered from somewhere that it was called "parade rest."
A couple of minutes later, two more dragons emerged from the same street the unit had come down. These two, however, wore no armor that she could see. Instead, they wore boots, shorts, and bandoleers over their chests. They also wore hooded cowls, half-capes that extended halfway down their backs and over their shoulders.
Their expressions kept Bells from grinning at the clothes they wore. Or lack of clothes. Whatever they wore, they looked like important people. The two hooded Dragons stepped up beside the unit commander and whispered with him for a moment, then turned to face Bells and Jaekob. When they did, she saw that small glass jars, vials, and little pieces of parchment were tucked into small cloth loops all up and down their bandoleers.
Mages, she realized, and backed up a step before Jaekob's reassuring hand on her back stopped her. He didn't shift his eyes at all, and once she stopped, he put that hand behind his back again.
When they pulled their hoods back, she was surprised to see that they weren't both dragons, actually. One was an elf, yet they both wore the same yellow bandoleers. That was curious. She would have liked to ask what it revealed about the inner workings of dragon society, but it sure wasn't the right time for that. She waited and watched.
The elf was the first to speak, surprising Bells even more. "Welcome home, Jaekob. Your father sends his greetings, and bids me to tell you that he hopes to see you soon. Before that can happen, however, we must be certain you are free of infection. I hope you understand."
Although his words and tone were nothing but polite, Bells had a vague feeling that he was afraid of the prince. Having seen what the infection did to those it touched, she couldn't really blame him if he thought there was a chance Jaekob was carrying the fungus on him somehow.
Still rigidly at the "POA," or position of attention, Jaekob said, "Very well, battlemage. I understand completely. Neither my companion nor I are infected, however. Every infection we've seen resulted in death in minutes, if not seconds. Do what you must so that we can get on with our mission. Time is short, and I'm not sure you realize just how short."
Both mages began moving their hands in patterns in the air in front of them, their hands trailing yellow light like a sparkler at night. When the light from their weaving hands connected, it formed complete glyphs and seemed to become solid. Then, the mages slapped both their hands together in unison and the motion sent the glyphs drifting through the air toward her and Jaekob.
She braced herself, glancing at Jaekob nervously, but he seemed calm and assured. She didn't recognize the spell glyphs but took strength from his calm attitude and stood her ground.
One of the floating symbols struck her and disintegrated into a shower of sparkles that each flared up brightly before hitting the ground and fading to nothing. She felt a tingle travel up and down her body and could have sworn that it had passed through every nerve ending.
The elf nodded once and turned to the unit commander. "They're clear. You are authorized to escort them to the First Councilor's manor."
Bells said, "I could have told you we were clear." Her fae senses worked just as well for that purpose, and a lot faster.
The elf sneered at her. Apparently, he wasn't going to extend the same courtesy he gave Jaekob to his guest. "As if I would trust the pathetic abilities of a mere fae," he said, practically spitting the last word with utter disgust. "Hold your tongue unless you enjoy latrine-cleaning duty."
Jaekob didn't wait for them to get organized or to give him instructions, and he didn't give her a chance to react to the elf. He knew the way home, of course, and so he simply started walking in that direction, leaving Bells the choice of arguing with the elf or following.
Remembering what he had said about not letting themselves get separated, she hurried to catch up. She heard the dragon unit behind her chaotically trying to get into formation to follow them, and smiled. It might not have been proper to take satisfaction in their discomfort, but for some reason, she rather enjoyed it. She was tempted to weave back and forth across the road on the way, just to see if they'd have to march that way, too.
Several minutes later, she and Jaekob were met outside the manor by Mikah himself. He wore a full cuirass of dragon scales which covered his shoulders, knees, and elbows, and bright red metal arm bracers and matching leg vambraces. A bandoleer and shorts completed the outfit. All in all, his suit of armor was the most spectacular Bells had ever seen, but the effect was ruined by the shorts.
She'd heard they didn't even wear those, necessarily, down in the Warrens, just the bandoleer and maybe sandals. At least the shorts were an improvement over that—
Her attention was snatched away by the sword hanging at his hip. She sensed great power radiating from it, almost as much as from the Sword of Fire, incredibly. It didn't look special, but as with everything dragon, looks were deceiving.
Mikah said, "Son, welcome home. I was so worried, but as I told the Council, if anyone could survive out there, it would be you. I also knew you'd put the safety of your people ahead of your own, just as I would have. I missed you, but I'm surprised it took you this long to get back in. You've proven my trust was well-placed, yet again."
Jaekob's eyes narrowed. "Funny you should say that, Fa."
Bells looked at him, startled. Such titles were for the privacy of one's own home. Then again, dragons had no modesty that she could ever tell, so maybe it was different among their kind.
One glance at Mikah's expression, though, told her it was the same among dragons in this case. He couldn't have looked more embarrassed as his eyes darted from his son to her and back.
"Jaekob, don't lose your bearing, son. I shouldn't have to remind you—"
"You don't have to remind me of anything. You want to say you'd do what I did and make it about courage, but the truth is that I had little choice. You locked me out even though you could have had the sky wings allow me to pass. Instead, they tried to flame me. On your orders."
Bells lowered her eyes and wished she could disappear, fighting an overwhelming urge to shadow-walk out of there.
In response, Mikah froze, as stiff as iron for a moment. Surprisingly, though, his expression relaxed and a smile crept across his face before he chuckled. The noise sounded forced to Bell's practiced ears.
"Well,” he said, “we can discuss the safety of our people and our duty as their leaders later. First, though, I'd love to hear how you got in so that we can make sure no one else gets through the same way."
"No one saw us coming in, I assure you,” Jaekob replied. “There's no need to get rid of it. Now, it's my own secret escape route."
Mikah looked sad for a moment and shook his head slowly. "As things fall into chaos more and more ou
t there, many will try to get in to be safe with us. We cannot risk it, because if even one infected person succeeds, then our people will be in terrible danger like the Pures outside our Wards."
Through clenched teeth, Jaekob said, "You won't save them, too?"
Again, Mikah shook his head.
"What if I told you there's a way to halt the infection for good? Would you save our cousin Pures then?"
Mikah looked askance at him. "And just how could you manage that?"
"In private, First Councilor," Jaekob replied, stiffly formal. "It's not for everyone's ears."
Mikah didn't waste a second before replying, "Yes, of course. Let's go home, and you can tell me there." He turned to the soldiers. "Have the fae show you the way they came in, then send her back out through it before you seal off this terrible breach in security." His tone was dismissive.
As Bells' heart felt like it leaped into her throat and she looked pleadingly to Jaekob, Mikah spun on his heels and began to walk toward the house.
Jaekob didn't follow, instead stepping between the semi-circle of warriors and Bells. "No. You will not take her, or if you do, I go with her."
Mikah stopped mid-step and turned around. "Don't be ridiculous, son. She's not one of us, and she's a security threat." He started walking toward the house again as he barked, "Do as I said, son. Now."
Jaekob looked at Bells intently and she heard in her mind, If they come for you, hide. Run. I'll find you. Then he said in a booming voice, "That will never happen, father. She saved your life. She has saved mine, and I hers. We share an obligation for each other's lives, all three of us, and I expect the First Councilor to honor his debts."
Mikah stopped again. He clenched his firsts. Without turning around, he said, "Then we'll give her some land for her family somewhere nice, somewhere without a foreman—"
"She's the only one who can stop the infection. If you send her out to die, you kill us all. Don't be a—" He stopped himself mid-sentence. More quietly, he added, "Think carefully, Mikah. She has knowledge vital to any chance we might have to end this threat before it dooms us all. I can't allow you to endanger my people by forcing her back into the chaos outside our Wards, whether you call it sending her on her way with land or you call it what it is—exile."
Mikah turned and glared at his son. "Bring her, then. I'll hear this new information you say she has, and if I agree, then she can stay in our district. If I disagree, however, I won't be responsible for what happens to her afterward. Are you sure you want to take that risk with her life?" He walked away without another look back.
Jaekob tugged Bells’ arm and then strode after his father, leaving her to scurry to catch up. Once she did, though, she caught him stealing glances at her more than once as they walked into the manor, but she couldn't read his face. His aura was no help, either, because it was a mix of several colors all floating around each other like a lava lamp. The colors shifted in slow-motion, meaning he was deep in thought. She would have paid her weight in pixie dust to know what he was thinking.
"Father, stop." Jaekob's voice rang out suddenly, pleading. "I have something to tell you, something I didn't want anyone else to know without talking to you first."
Mikah glanced up the path to the house, sighed, and then turned back to Jaekob. "What?" he asked, snapping his fingers. "Can't it wait until we get home?"
"There are ears there," Jaekob said simply.
Mikah waited a couple heartbeats before he said, "Well, go on, then. Tell me about it."
Bells watched the two stare into each other's eyes, neither speaking, for nearly a minute. At the end, Mikah finally nodded.
Jaekob said, "We retrieved Shmsharatsh, the Sword of Fire."
Mikah frowned. "Fairy tale. It doesn't exist. I only let you go on that ridiculous wild goose chase to get you out of town and away from the danger. And it is dangerous here, boy. Our mages have been working on the barriers and empowering the new Pool of Life we created here for the Philadelphia settlement, but it is slow work because we're using our pool here to restore the Safeholme pool's waters, too. We may need to retreat into the Warrens again, if things get worse up here."
"I must tell you, on my honor as a dragon and as your heir, the sword is no myth. It exists and we found it—"
"Then where is this supposed blade?" Mikah snapped, but then his features softened. "I don't question your honor, son, but isn't it possible you were tricked? After all, it was an elf and a bunch of fae who set you off on that ridiculous quest. It seems more likely they used you for their own ends."
"I assure you it was real—"
"Then where is it? Or must I ask a third time?"
Jaekob clenched his teeth, but his voice was calm when he replied, "We were ambushed by an elf I have never met, who was accompanied by his fae and a werewolf. After I was gravely injured, they took the sword for themselves."
"One elf, one were, and a swarm of fae injured you of all people? You look... fine." Mikah looked at his son from head to toe.
"I wasn't fine at the time, I was nearly dying. And now, the elves have Shmsharatsh. With the sword, the world soon will belong only to them."
Mikah actually rolled his eyes without even trying to hide it. "That's proof it isn't this mythological artifact, then. If it were, they'd have retrieved it themselves instead of waiting all this time for you to come along to be duped into fetching it for them like a house fae."
Bells couldn't contain herself any longer. Even ignoring his attitude about her people—she had a lifetime of training in how to ignore that—this was a pointless discussion that only wasted time they couldn't spare. She stepped forward and bowed.
Before the startled First Councilor could react, she said "If I may, sir, that's not entirely accurate. We discovered that part of its defending enchantments meant that retrieving it required a fae and a dragon, both working together."
He rubbed his chin, lips pursed, and then muttered, "It would explain why it took this long to get the sword. Dragons don't use servants in Safeholme since we sleep so much."
She continued apace. "I think it's possible the ones who took it from us first started the infection just so we could lead them to its location. Then, after we'd overcome the old-magic defenses that required a partnership of fae and dragon, they took it from us."
Mikah said, "If so, then you were played from the beginning." He looked at her for a couple of seconds, scanning her face, but then he smiled wanly. "That might be a very good assessment, however. I wonder why the mysterious Sword Society you spoke of didn't go get it themselves. They are the sword's keepers, supposedly, and since they hid it and protected it with magic, why couldn't they get it back? Or did they never plan to move it again?"
Jaekob said, "There is a rival to the Sword Society, a group dedicated to getting the sword for themselves and conquering both worlds with it, Earth and beyond the Veil."
Bells said, "So, the Sword Society made it so that only someone who literally met the myth's requirements could get it."
"No self-respecting dragon would have helped the Society's rivals get to it, so it seemed safe?" Mikah asked.
Jaekob cut in to reply, "I think Bells is suggesting that's why this infection was unleashed on us, where it could swiftly spread through the world. They hoped to force the Society's hand, and it worked. I would never have gone if not for the threat."
Mikah's expression changed from one of parental patience with a stubborn and ignorant child to one of worry, and he began rubbing his hands together. "That actually makes sense. We have to advise my council about this. Both of you, follow me to the council chambers."
Bells' eyes went wide. She was going to meet the Dragon Council... She had never heard tale or legend of such a thing happening and it scared her out of her wits to be the first fae to do so.
Bells followed Jaekob into the council chambers just after Mikah. As the sentries closed the double doors behind them, she peered out from behind Jaekob and her heart raced. Mikah was the mo
st powerful person in the world, but the Dragon Council came in second, all of whom Bells had never met.
She didn't expect them to think highly of a fae farmer, and if the Council had the ability to override Mikah, she had no way of knowing how this meeting would turn out. She hoped they didn't have the power to do that, but as an outsider, she had no clue.
Mikah walked to the head of the table. Without sitting in the large, luxurious chair there, he rapped his knuckles on the table. "Council members, thank you for coming on short notice. I would not have hauled you away from your important duties for anything less than a truly urgent matter."
A well-dressed dragon sitting at the far end of the table said, "I must say, I have my doubts about the importance of whatever it is you have to say, First Councilor. Since you obviously failed to grasp the urgency of sending our armies out to restore peace on this world when we first Awakened, your priorities are suspect, and I'm only saying what some of the others are thinking."
He looked around, and there were a few almost imperceptible nods. He continued, "I'm here only out of the respect your rank is due."
Peering out from behind Jaekob, Bells saw the First Councilor clench his jaw before smiling a tight-lipped smile. "Thank you, Darren. The usual reluctance of the opposition party is duly noted. Now, does anyone here actually object to this meeting or can we get on with addressing more important issues?"
Bells got the impression that he didn't expect anyone to speak up, like they'd been through this back-and-forth a hundred times before. She had just now learned that there was an opposition party among the dragons, and when none of them spoke up, her suspicions were confirmed.
Mikah looked at each of them, meeting their gazes and nodding to them individually, then said, "We now face what may be the most urgent matter of our times."
The one named Darren chuckled—how rude! —and said, "Let's smelt down the drama, shall we?" All the other dragons turned their heads and stared at him, some with mouths gaping, even among those who had nodded at his earlier barb. That certainly didn't bode well.
Embers of Darkness (Through the Ashes Book 2) Page 3
