by LeRoy Clary
“There’s more,” she said simply, while leaning closer in a confidential and personal manner as friends sharing secrets might do. “Please tell me.”
For a large man with a wicked past, bad disposition, and nasty occupation, he wilted before the interrogation skills of my sister. “There’s some who say mages fly like birds. They use their magic for it. They know where they are because the can see the Waystones from way up high.”
I’d heard enough. The Slave-Master was hard as iron, killed ruthlessly and without hesitation, and he was superstitious when it came to mages. He didn’t like talking about them—and he didn’t know the information we wanted. Emma was still throwing the same stick and running after it. Anna sat under the shade of a stunted tree and watched, a scowl on her tiny face. I sat beside her. “What’s wrong?”
“Emma is a cheat.”
“How do you cheat when throwing a stick?”
“She’s doing something to it. When she throws, if you look carefully, you can see it speed up, so it goes farther.”
I fought to remain impassive. Her simple sibling jealousy had revealed three things. First, she had no idea that Emma was using magic to increase the distance. She didn’t understand magic in the least. And it seemed Emma was doing something Anna was incapable of doing. However, the most incredible thing was that Anna now spoke the Common language as well as me, and even a few of the inflections in her words were mine.
Using just my mind and not my lips, I said, *There are things you can do that she cannot.*
*I know. But she says she is a Dragon Tamer like Kendra, and that makes me angry. I want to be one too.*
I gave her a moment to fume, then continued, *Do you realize we are talking without words?*
She flashed me a know-it-all look she must have learned from my sister. “Of course.”
Emma returned, but Anna was pouting and wouldn’t talk to her. Emma looked at me and said, “No?”
“No, what?”
She grinned and held out her stick for me to take. I realized she still couldn’t speak Common, except for the few words we’d managed to teach her, a thousand at best. However, as of now, Anna spoke as well as me.
I threw the stick, and Emma chased after it, giggling and laughing as I raced to get there first. She beat me by a step, but as she reared back to throw it again, I saw the playful gleam in her eyes. As expected, her throw went farther than mine—with a little help of her magic.
I could have slowed her throw but didn’t. We ran to the stick again, but this time I got there first because I wanted to see her reaction when I used my magic. I comically wound up to throw, bringing both girls to tears with my wild arm waving antics, then I threw it into the air. As it sailed high, I touched the stick with my magic and pushed it along until it passed over the tops of the trees at the far end of the clearing and it disappeared into the forest.
While the girls watched the stick, I watched Emma from the corner of my eye. She finally turned to me and tilted her head as if she had learned something but was not sure what it was. I touched Anna’s mind. *How was that?*
*Good.* She smiled with smug satisfaction.
*You can never tell anybody but Kendra of your powers. You also have to make Emma understand that, too. Nobody must know what either of you can do. It could be dangerous if people find out.*
*The Slave-Master?*
*Especially him. Nobody. Ever. It’s very important.*
*Yes, sir.*
I walked back to Kendra and the Slave-Master and heard them deep into another discussion. However, I also heard the rustle of the approach of Kendra’s dragon. It flew lazily, circling back as I watched as if waiting impatiently. I suspected and hoped the Kaon guard and Flier would emerge from the scattering of trees we called a forest.
Kendra stood and caught my attention. She waited until Flier stumbled into the clearing, hesitantly, as if he didn’t believe what was happening. When his eyes found us, he ran in a shuffling gait. Even from a distance, I could see his raw ankles, and the blood seeping down them.
“Are you okay?” I asked, helping him to sit on a boulder.
His reply was in a defeated voice, tinged with hope. “Those ankle shackles are hard on a man.”
The guard came into view, and I walked to where he stood. “You are free to go. With the Slave-Master or without, we don’t care. You kept your word, and we’ll keep ours.”
He turned and walked away without ever looking at the Slave-Master.
I returned to Kendra and said, “Will you let him go now?”
She shook her head, drawing a look of astonishment from the Slave-Master. “Hey, I thought you were honorable.”
“I am,” she said. “But if I allow you to leave now, that guard will die before nightfall.”
The Slave-Master spat in the sand beside himself and snarled, “What difference does it matter to you if he dies by nightfall today or tomorrow. Either day he will not live to see another.”
“Maybe,” Kendra said. “But I gave him my word. Besides, you might step on a sharp rock or twist an ankle or meet with desert savages who will capture and enslave you. I can always hope.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Will we meet again?”
“Let’s hope not,” she said.
“You would make me a wonderful wife.” He winked at her.
“I’d bury you in a week,” she said with a sharp smile.
“It might be worth it.” His sneer told his innermost thoughts, but Kendra ignored him. He shrugged and said, “Well, if I’m going to be chasing that damn guard all night, I’d better catch a nap. Tomorrow, I’ll find my slaves and continue on my way—unless you have other plans.”
I said, “Take your nap. We may not be here when you wake, so feel free to leave.”
He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them and glared at me. “We’re about equal in our game. I thought I’d beat you.”
It didn’t seem to matter if he knew how I did it. I said, “When you have a good hand, you can’t control yourself. Your left eye twitches.”
At first, he looked ready to leap to his feet and crush me, then he slowly relaxed. He said, “Thank you. That information is worth more than I’d have sold you for.” His eyes slowly closed and soon he snored. We watched to see if he was faking. When a little drool ran down his chin, we believed him asleep. At least, I did.
Kendra whispered, “Is he out?”
“I think so,” I said. “Nothing but losing at blocks seems to bother him. Take our things and let’s go.”
“What about Flier’s legs? Can he walk that distance?”
Flier said, “I’ll crawl if it takes me away from him,” Flier jutted his chin at the Slave-Master as if he were spitting out a spoiled fruit.
CHAPTER SIX
Princess Elizabeth
As a princess with a dangerous and important mission to accomplish, I needed to take a step back and take a deep breath as I pulled myself together. I needed to be calm despite my excitement. The visitor to my ship’s cabin with the information from his dreams about his brother nearly gagged me at the remembrance of my encounter with her—or it. Whatever the blue image was that we called the Blue Woman. The man behind that blue image was responsible for my father’s illness and would have caused his death if Kendra and Damon hadn’t become involved. The entire royal family and court of Dire owed a debt to my servants, as did the people.
The old man standing in my cabin had no idea of what the words he uttered meant or how they would revolt me. I knew their import he as soon as he spoke of the apparition that we called the Blue Woman, the shimmering image from the mountain pass in Dire that had nearly cost our lives. Only a few knew of her. She was evil beyond belief. That she was a projection created by a young mage who was behind the deaths of several kings tore at my insides. He had intended to kill my father, my brothers, and possibly me, even though I sat five deaths away from the throne.
I hated and feared the Blue Woman in the same way some
react to snakes or spiders, but it was not the time to make such admissions to the man facing me. Magic had always been scary to most of us. Perhaps that was why I’d worked with Damon so much as he tried to learn to control his abilities. I envied him and his powers, even though we considered them small. While a true mage might render himself invisible and walk through walls, Damon would adjust his appearance and move within a crowd unnoticed to reach the same destination.
The message from my visitor also answered some of the many questions we had, if it was true information and not another trick. I did not know the man. True, I’d seen him board the Gallant in the Port of Mercia, and in the dining room, and at the rail, but that was not knowing him or his history. Still, I found I trusted him.
When I thought of Kendra and Damon alone in the wilderness desert of Kondor where the Blue Woman might appear to them at any time I felt faint. I didn’t know what she might do or tell them. Hopefully, they didn’t do as she instructed. There was no way to warn them short of turning the ship around and chasing after them—which would place me days behind and do no good at all. My knees gave out, and I slowly started sinking.
He placed an arm around my waist to support me. “Can you stand, Princess? Want to sit down?”
I sat heavily.
“You already know of the woman in blue light? You understand what that message from my brother means, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know more about my message that I do not. I have no desire to know more, but I hope it is of some help to you.” He reached for the door in preparation for leaving.
“Wait, I haven’t thanked you and have more questions. Your brother, can you speak to him in your dreams?”
He hesitated a moment too long for his answer to be the truth. He said, “No, he only speaks to me. Not all the time. They are just dreams, Princess. I should leave.”
I understood his reluctance to admit anything, and how hard it must have been for him to share what he had with me, and to lie as he had. For him, the dreams were more like nightmares. Even the hint of magic tainted a person. He wouldn’t want his friends and neighbors to know of the communication with his brother.
The poor man had probably waited during the entire voyage for the opportunity to catch me alone and pass on the information. I owed him more than just my thanks before he fled from my presence. I said, “Listen. The next time your brother comes to you in the night, I want you to try and relay how much I appreciate what he’s shared with me. Tell him he has a friend in the royal castle at Crestfallen if he ever needs one. All he has to do is ask for me. I know it probably won’t do any good to try and tell him—but promise me you’ll try.”
He gave a single curt nod as he slipped into the passageway as quickly as if I’d threatened him instead of offering friendship.
I stood there in the center of my cabin alone after the door closed. The worst thing was that I had nobody aboard the ship to speak with about his revelations. Nobody to trust. Not on a personal level as I had done with Kendra and Damon for the last ten years. The three of us had never been separated for as much as a single day, until this cursed trip. It made me feel alone and weak. I had to act on my knowledge and instinct—and I feared that was not enough to accomplish the tasks assigned by my father.
Not that there was anything I could change, but I wished that somehow, I could have destroyed the Blue Woman when we first met. Then the thought that she might appear before Kendra and Damon struck me again. I couldn’t think of a way to warn them. I felt lost.
Then realized the Blue Woman might also appear before me at any time or place. In my cabin, for instance. Right where the old man had stood. If she did, I’d flee. My mind made up about that; I felt better.
The feelings of gloom lifted as I considered my two friends who were in danger from the Blue Woman or young mage, or anything else. Damon was clever. Kendra smart. Together, they made a formidable pair that could take care of themselves better than most.
Actually, they were more than a pair. They had managed to befriend and heal a beggar and had found two little girls to travel with them, so there were five of them. Oh, the stories I’d hear when we went home. They would explain it all, from the day I departed from Crestfallen to the end of wherever this adventure took us. They would tell me everything in detail, day by day, exactly what happened, or I’d have their heads. That silly threat made me chuckle but somehow expressed how important they were to me.
I left my cabin, in search of what, I didn’t know. I stumbled to the deck and instantly saw the single wyvern circling above had been joined by another. They flew in high loops and circles, always around the ship—and they made no effort to conceal what they were doing. I knew they watched me.
A male passenger who gambled at the tables too much said as if he was my superior, “What are you doing out here alone?”
His tone was slurred, his piggish eyes squinted against the bright sunlight, and if there had been a lighted torch within reach of his expelled breath, it would have flared in response to the alcohol on his breath. I turned away without answering.
His hand reached out and took me by my shoulder. He spun me to face him. His mouth opened to speak again. Before a single word emerged, my anger took hold. As my body swung around, my left elbow drove up under his chin. It slammed his mouth shut, as the balled fist of my other hand short-punched him in the sternum. I’d done it exactly as the King’s Weapons-Master had taught me. The short punch might not sound like much, but it took the breath from him long enough for my next round of strikes.
Another hand spun me the opposite way. It was Will. He had no right to stop me. In a fury, I swung at him, to have something to strike out at. His forearm easily deflected my fist. His turned hip avoided my knee aimed at his groin. He ducked under another punch aimed at his head.
Will leaned closer to me and wrapped me in a hug that restrained my arms and kept my feet and knees from hurting him. I tried butting his head with mine. “Enough. Please calm down and go to your cabin, Princess.”
Like a child, I obeyed while ignoring the accusing eyes of the other passengers on deck. By mealtime, every passenger, crewman, and officer on the ship would hear versions of the maniac princess who beat another passenger and attempted to do the same with a second passenger. Will was right. It was no way for an emissary representing an entire kingdom to act.
I hung my head in shame. Once back in my cabin, I determined what I’d tell Will on our next encounter. He would hear of my anger and how he had no right to prevent me from continuing with the drunk gambler. After blubbering for a while to myself, I stumbled onto the conclusion he’d been right to keep me from taking out my frustrations on the man. Not that I owed him an apology, but he would keep his hands to himself or suffer my wrath again.
The truth was, I was scared. The Blue Woman was only part of it. Behind her was a mage who killed kings and their families, and beyond that were people who formed councils and ruled in place of the rightful kings—people I believed were more sorceresses than not.
How I came to that conclusion is another mystery, but it made perverse sense. A powerful mage created the circumstances for the council to be formed as a temporary measure, much like a regent sitting in for a young king, and eventually it becomes the permanent ruling body. Seating several sorceresses on a council where they could manipulate the minds of the others to do as they wished made sense. It’s what I’d do if I were the young mage.
Now that I had an idea of what was happening, I paced three steps from wall to wall in my cabin and tried to figure out what to do with the information. My problem was that while I now knew more than before, I had no plan, saw no resolution, and in some ways believed I was in more trouble than before.
And I was alone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Damon
I held my finger to my lips for the girls, my sister, and Flier to all remain silent, as we crept away from the sleeping Slave-Master as if playing a game. Or pe
rhaps better, I acted as the tricky demon he said my name meant. I doubted he would chase after us. It wasn’t because he’d given his word. That didn’t count. What it was about was that he didn’t care about any of us. The slaves he had in chains and that he would sell in Kaon were his only worry unless it was being defeated and humiliated at the game of blocks by the likes of me.
He would probably rush to catch up with the guard that had let him down by allowing Kendra to capture him. Then he’d search for his strings of slaves in chains and be on his way to Kaon. The slave markets awaited his delivery and he has slaves to sell. If we ever met again, he wouldn’t try to take my head, but he would want to challenge me to another game of blocks. That was something I understood and appreciated.
When we had traveled over the hard-packed sand and rocks far enough to feel temporarily safe, we were all suffering the first effects of the lack of water. “Flier, ever been here?”
“No.” His voice rasped.
“Any tips on where we can find a drink?” I continued.
He took the time to look at the mountains where the pass to Trager was hidden to my gaze. He noted the various peaks and must have decided he knew our approximate location. He said as he pointed, “The river is over that way.”
“How far?” Kendra asked.
He said, “It can’t be too far. We walked down from the pass to where the Slave-Master released us in half a night and part of a single day. The Vin river on this side of the pass travels south and east, but we can’t miss it if we keep going in this direction.”
I thought of asking Kendra to use her dragon to fly up there and tell us but thought better of it. The dragon might get a drink but wouldn’t be able to tell us about it. We were still so ignorant of so many things about magic in general, our powers in specific, what information we should share and what we shouldn’t speak of with others nearby. It was better to say nothing until we obtained basic knowledge. The question was, from whom could we learn.
