How long had he been standing there? Did he know prolonging this instant of time wounded me more than any words could? Proving that time flowed after all, his right hand made a fist, it opened, and then he repeated the action once more.
Finally, taking a glimpse at Aranath and making his right hand into another fist, he asked, “Does Aranath know why you’re out here?”
“Mostly.”
He stepped up and stuck out his open palm. I slid the scabbard out and handed it to him. He grabbed it and turned around to walk back to the entrance. I looked up at Clarissa, if only to have something to react to, but she only shrugged. I came close to casting a shield to ascend to the window, but realized that would have been senseless at this point. After giving him time to round the corner, I followed Mercer inside.
Chapter Eighteen
Mercer
The meek girls put our belongings in our room before they headed back out to find a place to wash off the caustic odor coming from their clothes and hair.
When they left, I pulled up the sagging bed sheet and asked Aranath, “Since they were doing their utmost to avoid me, I’m guessing Odet tried convincing you to keep quiet about what just happened.”
“Indeed, though I promised nothing to the girl.”
“Good. What happened?”
“Your neighbors were swindlers, including a young girl who called for aid in the hall. The vampire and princess each responded to the plea, leaving the room vulnerable for the girl’s brother to infiltrate. Fortunately, your companions unraveled the deception in time to catch sight of the fleeing swindlers. They followed them to their lair beneath the city.”
“The sewers.”
“Yes.”
“And the thieves just kindly returned what they stole?”
“Is that surprising? The princess’ skill with spell and tongue should be more than enough to sway a small band of lowly thieves.”
“Then no one died?”
“No.”
“That so? I expected to hear that a hundred people died going the way they stared at me.”
“They worried your trust in them would be diminished.”
Something between a grunt and chuckle left my nose. “That so?”
“Is it?”
I shut the window. “Should it be?”
“The earnest girls have corrected their own infraction, and the memory of prostrating through filth will surely plague their minds for decades to come. That said, I recommend pushing their training harder than usual for a while.”
“I could do that.” I spread the sheet over the bed, making it complete again.
A few seconds later, Aranath’s throat grumbled. “I did not share in your friends’ fearful expectation of your reaction, but I did expect a little more of it.”
“How should I be reacting? I mean, I’m not happy about what happened, but, like you said, they slogged through shit to get our stuff back and they didn’t have to kill anyone.”
“You did not yet have that information to consider when you caught the girls climbing the inn.”
“No, I suppose I didn’t… Well, if you really want to know, I just didn’t like the way they were looking at me. Like they expected me to release my corruption or something. I realize now I exaggerated it in my head, but it caught me off guard all the same. Anyway, if they’re really so concerned about upsetting me, then maybe I’ll be able to play a few mind games with them.”
“Be sure to include me if you can.”
“I think I can get Gerard on this.”
Speaking of the green knight, he and the scholar returned from the basement not long afterwards. After telling me they had won nine percent more than they lost, I told them what we almost lost. Gerard, being the most normal of the three of us, reacted closer to what the girls expected from me. Of course, his main concern did not lie with the staff, but with the fact that the girls elected to chase the thieves by themselves. Ghevont’s interest lied in the fact the swindlers used a young girl to fool otherwise competent people.
I told them I did not want this topic dragged out until after the girls got their rest. To that end, Gerard did not say what he wanted to say when Odet came back. He simply embraced the princess and told her to get some sleep. For his part, Ghevont kept Clarissa up a little longer to get more details about how instinctual it was to trust a child’s cries for help and other particulars during the chase.
Sleep eventually made its way to all of us, its influence affecting me last.
We hiked our way out of town by mid-morning the next day. Gerard and Odet walked behind the rest of us to speak in private for a few minutes.
Clarissa, not enjoying my lack of commentary on the previous night’s events, said, “How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?”
“I don’t think I’m any quieter than usual.”
“Maybe not, but this is a different kind of quiet.”
“Is it now?”
“Come on, how long are you going to stay mad?”
“I’m more disappointed than mad.”
“That’s even worse.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but it is.”
“Okay, then I am mad. Feel better?”
“Ugh, now I don’t know what you are. Ghevont, how mad is Mercer with me?”
Not looking up from the map of Kylock Clay’s southern coastline, he answered, “Oh, quite. Why you yet live is a mystery.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“No, Mercer is.”
“What?”
“Ah, nothing.”
“Mercer! This is cruel.”
“I’m aware.”
“Now I’m mad at you!”
“That’s fair.”
“No it’s not! I deserve the scolding.”
“You’re losing me, Clarissa.”
“I know, I know. It’s just I don’t like not knowing what you’re thinking. Usually something in your face or voice tells me how to treat your moods, but there’s nothing right now. Do you want me to apologize more? Stay quiet? Rub your feet? Give me something to go on!”
I sighed. “Keep talking like that and I’ll really start scolding you. Listen, you and Odet made a mistake, but you fixed it. If I turned the corner a moment later, you two might have actually gotten away with keeping it a secret. Still, if you know me at all, you should be able to guess that you won’t get scolded with words, but with actions.”
“Actions?”
“Your ass will hit the ground a lot in our upcoming training sessions. Let’s leave it at that.”
She groaned. “All right, as long as you’re not being so tight-lipped anymore. Is Odet going to get the same treatment?”
“The tight-lipped thing or the ass-on-the-ground thing?”
“Both.”
“Then a bit of both. Don’t say anything.”
“What? That you’re enjoying her guilt?”
“Aye.”
“Fine. I hope Gerard isn’t finger-wagging her too much.”
“I’m sure it’s the normal amount.”
“Which is too much.”
We strolled a mile beyond Enstad’s margins and then walked a couple of miles more to reach the precipice of a jutting cliff. Ghevont chose this place to summon Aranath not only for its relative isolation, but for its natural arrow, which pointed to another island twenty-five miles away. From here Ghevont could instruct Aranath to fly sixty miles straight south until he saw two small islands shaped like triangles. The slightly bigger triangle on the west would be Nim Holm, and near the northern tip of this triangle lied Halod Cove.
As I secured myself to Aranath’s saddle, I noticed four people on horseback galloping in the distance. Two of them wore armor, but the other two appeared to be a nobleman and his wife. They must have seen the dragon, for three of them sped off in the opposite direction while the ushered nobleman could not help but stare. His brave or dumbstruck mind was rewarded by getting to observe the dragon drop from
view before it popped back above the cliff.
Knowing the short trip would be the only one for the day, Aranath and I did not mind pushing his wings faster than their typical gliding speed. A few wing beats pushed the great beast to a swiftness only exceeded by diving falcons. He eased his speed after a few minutes, though not by much. It was thus well under an hour when Aranath said he could see two triangular islands rolling over the horizon. Aranath slowed further to drift his way toward the nigh treeless islet.
The only way to hide his descent in the bright day was to get in front of the sun. With this angle he found a place to land about two miles away from a fishing village that could not possibly contain more than four hundred people in its cluster of stone huts. Much of the population appeared to be floating on their little boats within a mile or three of the coast.
Our landing spot looked to be the start of Halod Cove’s half sandy, half grassy beach. From there we followed it to a wider stretch of shoreline and the first smooth-edged homes of the village. The winds here blew hard, with gusts raging with almost the same stiffness as we experienced riding Aranath, so curved walls were a necessity if a structure did not want to lose a fight against nature. According to my father, his father now lived in one of the larger huts his merchant half-brother, Dumaine Eberwolf, provided.
Since I did not know what “larger” entailed in this place, I decided to ask the first person we saw where the Eberwolf family resided. That plump person turned out to be an older woman working in a raised bed garden filled with spinach, potatoes, garlic, and cabbage. Three tykes tackled and insulted each other around her, one of whom was a girl on closer inspection. A dirt covered boy saw us first, and since the sight of five young adults outfitted with expensive gear was a rare one here, he pointed us out to his compatriots.
With a protective shout, their guardian demanded they keep back from the strangers. Not wishing to make the woman feel too anxious by our presence, I told everyone but Odet to hang back. The two of us walked up to the gardener, who stood up when it became clear we wanted something from her.
On reaching the edge of her garden, her croaky voice said, “That’s far enough. What ye want?”
“Guidance to the Eberwolf household,” said Odet.
“Eberwolf? Who’s askin’?”
“Cyrus Eberwolf,” I said.
She coughed. “Cyrus? Lorcan’s firstborn?”
“Aye.”
Grinning, she said, “And I supposes that makes ye a dragon knight, right?” She laughed. “That’s what he says! His mind is goin’ the way of his father’s, it seems.”
“Or,” began Odet, “he knows none of his neighbors will believe his secret pride, so he feels free to spread such a tale.”
“And what do ya know of it, young lady?”
“Where do the ailing minds of the Eberwolfs live?” I asked.
Eyeing me with her puffier brown eyeball, she replied, “Just a lil’ more up. Sorta by itself, not far from high tide. It gots another room most of us don’t got. The Holly girl occupies it when she helps take care of the elder Eberwolf… Ya really Lorcan’s child?”
“Aye.”
“I imagined ye larger.”
“My brother and I take after our mother more than not.”
“Ah, that’s right. I remember ‘em saying something like that. This your woman?”
As Odet held in a chuckle, I answered, “No, madam, but her sister might be. Thank you for your time.”
A hundred yards farther north had us seeing the described home of the Eberwolfs. Even without the smaller hut attached to it, the main gray structure looked bigger than the others I had seen. Like many of the homes here, this too grew vegetables on a few raised garden beds, though these beds looked rotted and the plants that sprouted did so indiscriminately. No gardener tended to them, so we walked up to the cracked wooden door and knocked.
From behind the door, a girl’s voice asked, “Who’s there?”
“Cyrus Eberwolf. Is this the Eberwolf home?”
“C-Cyrus, you say?” The door opened to reveal a skinny, freckled, short haired blonde between the ages of thirteen to sixteen. Depending on that number, she either stood tall for her age or about average. Fish scales and guts stained her apron. “You’re the dragon knight?”
“Is my gossipy father home or not?”
“Uh, no, he’s still out at sea with his wife. He should return in an hour or two.”
“Is anyone from his crew here? Or Dumaine?”
“I think most of his crew is in Kylock Clay. Master Dumaine is in Goodryke. He might return at the end of the week.”
“Then it’s just you and Thorvald?”
“For the moment.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Today looks to be one of his better days, though he’s usually pretty sensible after he wakes up. Do, do you wish to meet him?”
“Might as well. Are you Holly?”
“Yes, Holly Switte. Um, please, follow me.”
We entered a room that took up most of the hut’s space, a room which encompassed a large table, half a dozen chairs, a small stove, and a shelf holding spices, books, and knickknacks. An open door at the back of the room led to the auxiliary hut. We headed for a closed door on the left wall.
Holly knocked and said, “Master Eberwolf, can I come in? We have guests.”
A dry voice answered, “Huh? Guests? Yes, come in, girl.”
The creaky door opened to a small bedroom only Holly and I could fit comfortably in. Wearing a white nightgown and sitting up on a big white bed was my father a quarter century in the future. His mind might have been going, but his large physical form did not follow it. A big gray beard and long white hair hid much of his wrinkles. Above his pointed nose and behind leather framed spectacles he needed to hold were two big dark eyes that had been reading a book. Now they squinted at me.
“This is Cyrus, sir,” said Holly.
“Cyrus? You say that as if I should… Ah! Cyrus! You’re supposed to be my grandson, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And a dragon knight, or so says my son.”
“Yes, sir.”
He laughed with his podgy gut, not his raspy throat, giving it the bombastic resonance of a man my age. “My son also says you and he fought alongside Alslana’s king not so long ago.”
“You don’t believe your own son?”
“I would have in my more lucid days.” He rose his book. “Now it’s harder to tell between this and the real thing. A healer suspects reading helps keep the mind sharp, but I’m finding that the stories on the page sometimes sneak into my memory.”
“You’re in the real, Grandfather.”
“I’ll have to see it for myself, then. Can you summon your dragon?”
“It’s how I got here. I’ll show you and everyone else my father wants to assemble before I leave. For now…” I unsheathed my sword. “Meet Aranath.”
Thorvald took hold of the hilt and pointed the blade to the ceiling. He started laughing several seconds later. After listening to the dragon a while longer, he handed me back the weapon. “At the very least, this voice in my head is more interesting than the others. Girl, is Lorcan here yet?”
“No. Maybe in another hour.”
“I see… Holly, why are there other people standing behind you?”
Answering for her, I said, “My companions in my journey.”
“Is that so? Then let’s meet them as well! Are those lovely young ladies I see, or are my eyes that withered?”
“I fear your eyes are indeed withered.”
Taking Holly’s place, Clarissa kicked the back of my knee and said, “Ass.”
“I like this one already!” said Thorvald.
Rubbing the back of my leg with my other foot, I said, “Her name is Clarissa. I’d say her last name, but she doesn’t like it. She’s a vampire, if that interests you.”
“A vampire? Been a long time since I met one of those. He was a pirate capta
in from Dracera. Might still be sailing the seas this very day. Care to make me a denizen of the night, Madam Clarissa?”
“Uh, that probably won’t-”
“I jest, young vampire.”
“Of course. I knew that.”
“Any other vampires among your companions, Cyrus?”
“No, even if my scholar friend there has the skin of one. His name is Ghevont Rathmore. The one in green armor is an Alslana High Guard knight named Gerard Safrix. His charge is first princess of Alslana, Odet Astor.”
Thorvald coughed and squinted harder. “Eh? An Astor princess? Then you’re really an acquaintance of Alslana’s royalty?”
“Your grandson is a friend to the royal family, sir,” said Odet.
“Is that so? Hmm, vampires, dragons, and royalty… Don’t be surprised if you have to keep reminding me of at least one of those things during your stay. Will you be staying?”
“For a day or two,” I said.
From here I explained a little of our mission to find the nismerdon and his other grandson’s association with the cult.
When I finished with my brief explanation, the old man asked, “Where’s that girl? Holly!”
“I’m right here,” she said from behind my group.
“Is there enough food for our guests?”
“If they don’t mind small portions. If Lorcan returns soon, then we should have a few more fish to offer.”
“Well, get ready what you can. I tend to think clearer after sleeping, so I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up once lunch is prepared or my son comes home, whichever happens first.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s see how much I can remember in an hour. Cyrus, right?”
“Aye.”
“In case I do forget, let me say I’m pleased you’re continuing the Eberwolf tradition of not just letting Orda do what she wants to ya. We’re fighters! Maybe you’re not a mariner, but I suppose a dragon knight is the next best thing!” He leaned sideways and pulled the tattered curtain over the little window by his bed. “Keep an eye out for your father for me.”
“I will.”
Closing the bedroom door behind me, I asked Holly, “How forgetful does he get?”
“Well, he’s forgotten his own name a few times. He definitely forgets me and my brother by the end of the day.”
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