“It feels safer,” Talon told him.
“Oh well,” Ramonda said. “Flying low to the ground will be good practice for us anyway. If we can do it when we head north, we’ll stay out of Karafae’s sight longer.” She turned around and looked for Shaala. “Ah,” she said as she saw her. “Have you spoken to Nera again?”
“I have,” Shaala replied. “Baine was with her too.”
Ramonda frowned. “Baine? I don’t think Baine’s presence is what we need to reassure this dragon that she’s safe with us.”
Shaala smiled. “I know what you mean. But I think he felt a little remorseful about that remark he made to her earlier –”
“About her life being in danger with us?” Ramonda asked.
Shaala screwed up her face. “That’s the one. Anyway, he told me he felt sorry for her and he wanted to make amends.”
“He apologized to her? That’s not like the Baine I know and love.”
“Well, he didn’t so much apologize as stand around awkwardly but I think the sentiment was there.”
“Ah, Baine. He’s a character.”
“There’s still something of the adolescent in him, I suppose,” Shaala said. “Dragons really don’t age in the same way that ordinary humans do so...”
“Neither do mages,” Ramonda pointed out. “You can live to a thousand years or more and yet still have far less experience and wisdom than a man or a woman who’s eighty.”
“But some seem to have more experience than others,” Shaala pointed out.
“Yes,” Ramonda agreed. “It’s not the years. It’s what you do with them.”
“Very profound,” Shaala said with a smile.
“Thank you,” Ramonda replied. “Anyway, we can’t stand around here all day long when we’ve got to work to do. Now, I don’t want Nera trying to change into her dragon form for the moment. I’m mostly certain that I can trust her not to fly off on us, but I’m not absolutely certain and there’s a small but distinct line between the two.”
“Perhaps Baine could carry her in a different manner from the rest of us,” Shaala suggested. “And actually hold onto her.”
“And Baine’s the best dragon for this particular job?” Ramonda asked, giving her a wry look.
“None better, really.”
“Indeed.” Ramonda smiled. ‘All right. Go and tell him the plan and we’ll get under way.”
It was another hour before they were all finally on their way and by the time they crossed the strait, it was dark.
“Will they be worried about how long you’ve been?” Baine asked Nera.
“I doubt it,” she replied. She was sitting on his back between Karn and Shaala. “They’ll only care when they need me. Although they may be a bit suspicious if I’m not back tomorrow morning though.”
“Well, they’ll probably be a bit dead by then,” Baine replied, “so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Nera didn’t reply. It seemed so brutal, but then again, what Savenya and Karafae had done in subduing everyone in the Greater Realms had been brutal too. She tried not to think about it. All she had wanted was a future, the chance to survive. She hadn’t even wanted happiness or contentment. She didn’t know what those things were. Although, after seeing the dragons of I’estre and the people in Saharei, she was beginning to understand. It was a better way of living. She wished she could have had a life like that but now it was probably too late.
“It’s never too late,” Karn told her.
She turned around, although it was something of a strain looking back with the wind rushing past. Still, she was reassured by the little smile he gave her before she looked forward again. Even if she was a bit uncomfortable about the fact that these new companions of hers could scramble about in her mind any time they felt like it. There was something frightening about that kind of power.
“What do they usually do around this time?” Baine asked her.
“Nothing,” Nera replied. “They never do anything now. I think they’re both bored. Actually, I think they’d welcome a challenge from you.”
“Would they?” Baine remarked.
“We don’t need that fight,” Karn cautioned him. “Hopefully, we’ll come across them in their human form so we can deal with them before they can change.”
“Are you telling me you’re going to dispatch Karafae with those short blades of yours?” Baine asked.
“Why is it so important for you to fight Karafae?” Karn asked him, tiring of this obsession of his. “You’ve never even met him.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s no answer.”
“We’ll follow whatever course of action seems best,” Baine assured him. “However, I’d hate to have done all that training for nothing.”
All that training. All four days of it. Karn shook his head.
Soon afterwards, they glided over the city of Kalishar – silhouetted against the lights below – and up towards the mountains, hoping that no one had seen them. Then, as they approached the ledge near Karafae’s abode, the dragons flew as close to the flat area behind it as they dared so their passengers could leap off without breaking every bone in their bodies. Talon, Natooka and Ishtvan were first and Karn and Shaala came last, stepping down with Nera.
“Shaala,” Karn called out quietly. “You and Nera stay here and keep out of sight.”
He then ran to join the others and what he saw as he reached them looked all too familiar. The memory of Dominicon leaping out into the night to change into his dragon form came back to him at the sight of it. A large man, who he instinctively knew was Karafae, dodged his way between Talon and Ishtvan and ran for the ledge as fast as he could with a look of fury in his eyes. Then he leapt out and changed.
Baine would have his fight, it seemed.
The other dragon however, the one Nera had called Araestae, was cut off from the ledge and had a look of desperation about him. Glaring at Talon and Ishtvan, he moved back to the wooden structure behind him. Then he smashed the door from its hinges with his bare hands. Talon suspected what he was up to as soon as he had started for the building but Araestae was too fast, running inside before Talon could reach him and dragging out Queen Heptapshu and Queen Isabelle.
Isabelle, he threw to the ground, pinning her in place by planting one foot on her. Heptapshu though, he held close, pulling a short dagger from a sheath by his side and holding it just below her chest.
“Get back!” he shouted. “And call your friends off!”
No sooner than he said this though, he screamed as a dragonet swooped down from above, biting his sword arm around the wrist. The shock of the attack made him step back.
At once, Isabelle scrambled to her feet and, along with Heptapshu, she raced to safety. Then while Araestae tried to shake the dragonet off, Talon moved, plunging his sword into the dragon. With a strangled cry, Araestae collapsed.
The dragonet chirped cheerfully. Almost too cheerfully, it seemed to Talon. It reminded him of a dog fetching a stick.
“You did a good job, my friend,” he told the creature. He wasn’t small, he thought to himself as he looked at the dragonet up close. Just smaller than his larger cousins.
As the dragonet left to join his companions, Talon turned to the queens. “Your majesties, are you all right?”
“That was a bit too much excitement for me, I’m afraid,” Heptapshu told him. “But we’re safe now.” Then she had a good look at him. “Wait a minute. You’re Talon Illochir.” She turned to Isabelle. “You’ve met Lorial’s husband, Derin, right?”
“Yes.”
“This is his brother Talon.”
Isabelle inclined her head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Talon.”
Talon bowed in return. “And you, Queen Isabelle.” He then bowed to Heptapshu. “It’s good to see you again too, Queen Heptapshu. I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me.”
The Ilara queen smiled at him and then looked at Ishtvan. “And who’s your brave companion?”
&n
bsp; This time, it was Talon’s turn to smile. “Why, this is Lorial’s son, your majesty. Ishtvan.”
“Ishtvan?” Heptapshu exclaimed. “Look at you! You were only a boy when I last saw you.”
Ishtvan bowed. “Well, I’m still a boy really, your majesty. I’m not yet sixteen.”
Heptapshu reached out and raised his face to her own. “You stood alongside your uncle against one of my captors. You’re a man now and if anyone says otherwise, you can tell them I said so.”
Ishtvan smiled. “Thank you, your majesty.”
Then Heptapshu glanced behind her. “Now, where are the other two?”
“The woman’s with us,” Talon said, “for better or worse. But Karafae is...” He nodded in a direction over Heptapshu’s shoulder.
Heptapshu and Isabelle looked and saw two dragons wrestling in the sky, while three more looked on. Although it was not easy to tell in the moonlight, even with it being as bright as it was.
“There are more of them?” Heptapshu asked. She didn’t know whether to be worried or not, since Talon didn’t seem to be, but the sight of all those dragons made her nervous.
“The other dragons are from I’estre,” Talon told her. “Karn and Shaala asked them to help us.”
Heptapshu nodded. “So that was their plan.”
Beside her, Isabelle smiled. “A good plan too.”
Then Queen Heptapshu’s eyes widened in horror. “What is that dragon doing?”
Talon frowned as he saw it for himself. “It looks like he’s climbing up Karafae’s neck and using his weight to crush it.” When Heptapshu looked at him in shock, he shrugged. “That’s just my guess.”
They all heard the awful cracking sound that followed and saw that Baine had rolled in the air, Karafae’s neck still held in his talons, then rolled in the opposite direction to the one in which Karafae had tried while trying to shake him off.
As Baine let go and spread his wings to arrest his fall, two of the other dragons flew in to catch Karafae’s carcass. They then carried it away to throw it into the sea.
“Well,” Ishtvan said, “Baine’s had his kill.”
Just then, Natooka came running up a path from behind the building. “I’ve found the path to the Angdar encampments!” she called out. She then nodded to Queen Isabelle and Heptapshu. “Hello, your majesties.”
“I suppose this all comes from the people of Ilara and Maharei,” Ramonda said as they passed around some of the provisions they had found. She glanced at Heptapshu and Isabelle. “They would not object to our sharing in this, would they?”
“I don’t think so,” Heptapshu assured her. “You are, after all, our rescuers and theirs too.”
Ramonda nodded and turned to Natooka, who had just come through the door with Baine and Talon as her bodyguards at her side. Baine looked a little scratched and bruised after his battle but not much the worse for wear.
“What of the Angdar?” Ramonda asked him.
“They shot arrows at me,” Baine told her. “I didn’t like it.”
Ramonda sighed. “I see.”
She would have liked to have had more time to decide what to do about those particular Angdar but there was no sense in dwelling on it now.
“Well then,” she said, “let’s get some rest. We’ll strike Issalia and Wyvern’s Peak tomorrow night.”
“What about the dragonets?” Baine asked her.
“They proved their worth today,” Ramonda said. “We’ll separate them into two groups and bring them with us.”
XV. Issalia
Both groups set out early the following day. They would arrive at their destinations in five or six hours and then wait until nightfall before making their next moves as it was too difficult for fully grown dragons to stay out of sight while flying in broad daylight.
Just before sunset, Helina brought Karn and Shaala to the bank of a river that flowed from a nearby mountain lake, the large lake that fed the three main falls of Issalia. They were then very close to the handful of buildings that Elenskaer and her dragons used.
“How shall we do this?” Helina asked after changing into her human form.
“First of all, I’ll get the prisoners to safety,” Karn said. “Then you and I will take care of the dragons.”
He then looked at the group of dragonets hovering around them. “And you lot keep out of sight, all right?”
They chatted cheerfully in return but thankfully not too loudly.
“And what will we do with the dragons?” Helina asked. “Shall we capture or kill them?”
“Let’s wait until we’ve seen them first,” Karn replied.
He then moved forward, motioning the others to keep well back. As he edged along the river to the little clearing under the mountain where Elenskaer’s modest settlement lay, he made no sound. He studied the buildings. There were lights coming under the doors and through the windows of several of them and he noticed that a couple of the buildings had no windows, just little skylights in the roof. He stretched out to one of them with the gift and sensed Queen Haadeiya’s presence there.
He tried to comfort the Ulak queen through the gift and assure her and the other prisoner, as he didn’t want to startle them when he came through the door.
Then he tried to get a sense of where the dragons were. They each had their own private dwelling, which was interesting. He sensed that two of them were men, and since Elenskaer was the only woman among them, it made it that much easier to determine where she was.
Then he tried to gauge how alert the dragons were. He found that the idea that someone might enter their encampment uninvited hadn’t entered their minds. However, there had been some trouble in their midst. Trying to gauge the minds of both the prisoners and the dragons, he realized that the trouble had happened only a couple of nights ago. Several people had shown their true colors and Elenskaer was one of them.
Putting the revelation aside, he turned and signaled for Helina and Shaala to come over. Then he crept over to the building where Haadeiya and the other prisoner were being held. There was a rudimentary lock on the door but he had expected something like this.
Producing a small instrument, he picked the lock and opened the door, something he hadn’t done for quite some time.
“Karn,” Queen Haadeiya exclaimed. “This is a surprise.” She gestured to the woman standing beside her, an attractive woman with luminescent red hair. “This is Daphne. She’s the governor of Carcasia. We think the governors of Illisden and Un’vari are next door. And Lord Falk’s either with them or one room farther down.”
Karn nodded. “I see.”
Haadeiya then looked startled. She saw Shaala enter the room, followed by a stark naked woman who closed the door.
Seeing where her gaze had drifted, Karn looked at Helina and then turned back to Haadeiya and Daphne with a smile. “It’s quite all right. This is Helina. She’s a dragon but she’s from I’estre, not Drach’nsvoiya. And she’s here to help us.”
Helina made a slight bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“No, the pleasure’s ours,” Queen Haadeiya said, bowing in return.
“No,” Helina said, taking Haadeiya’s hands in her own and lifting her back up. “A dragon is no more worthy of honor than a human. That was a mistake the dragons of Drach’nsvoiya made, thinking it was otherwise. Honor is earned by our actions and how we treat others. From what Karn and Shaala have told me, you’ve both earned honor in this way and have helped many people. I myself have not yet earned my honor.” She then smiled. “However, I hope to earn some degree of it tonight.”
“You’ll earn it, Helina,” Karn said, stepping in before the conversation strayed too far from more urgent matters. “Now...” He turned back to Haadeiya and Daphne. “There’s a matter that needs to be decided. As of this moment, all three Drach’nsvoiya dragons here still live. Shall we allow them to continue to do so?”
Daphne hesitated. “I can’t speak for all of them but if you’re asking us, then plea
se don’t hurt Elenskaer.”
Haadeiya stepped in. “One of the dragon men... tried to do something to Daphne. Elenskaer stopped him. And considering the fact that she was physically no match for him, she risked her life to do so.”
Karn nodded. “All right. We’ll take her prisoner. And the one who tried to harm Daphne has forfeited any right to mercy from us but what about the third?”
“I don’t know,” Daphne said. “Elenskaer was clearly misguided and it’s obvious she’s not interested in power. She acts as if it’s some kind of duty. The third dragon might be the same. You know, from our conversations with her, it sounds as though Elenskaer’s actually trying to manage her new domain properly.”
“That can’t be easy for her,” Karn said.
“No,” Daphne agreed. “Carcasia, Aracea, Illisden... Araseu. All these places were supported by nearby countries, the western coast... But Elenskaer’s trying to run her lands independently, like Karafae and Savenya are.”
“Well,” Karn said, “like Karafae was. He’s dead now, along with one of his companions.”
“And the other?” Daphne asked. “I think each of the orchestrators had two companions.”
“The other’s with us now,” Karn told her. “She’s on our side. Elenskaer might be given that opportunity as well, but as Helina said before, these things must be earned.”
Haadeiya’s face then paled. “Karn. Whatever you plan to do, you should do it quickly. Elenskaer comes here around this time every night to bring our dinner.”
“She brings you dinner herself?” Karn shook his head. “Well, I can definitely see why you want her spared then. And she comes around this time, does she?”
“Yes.”
Karn thought about it. “So how much time do we have before she comes through that door?”
Daphne shrugged. “I don’t know. Half an hour. Maybe a little more. Maybe a little less.”
“That should be enough.”
“What do you want us to do?” Haadeiya asked.
“Just wait here.” Karn turned to Shaala. “You can wait here too, just stay by the wall, so when Elenskaer comes in, she won’t be able to see you.”
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