“I believe that my wife explained the situation to you,” said Edward. He gestured toward where the clerk had been sitting. “Those letters you saw me dictating. One was a dispatch from a baron who has holdings on the border of our land and that of Weinmauer. He warns me that Weinmauer’s castles along the border are being reinforced. My father-in-law is preparing to ride to my rescue and, in doing so, will swallow me whole. I would almost rather,” he added with a glint in the hazel, “be swallowed by the dragon.”
“I understand,” Draconas replied.
“And you have a solution for this?” Edward asked, regarding Draconas intently. “You can dispose of this threat? Kill this monster or drive it away?”
“Before I answer that, I must teach you something of the nature of dragons,” said Draconas. “ ‘Know your enemy,’ is a common dictum among military men, or so I am led to believe.”
He cast a glance at Gunderson at this, careful to include the soldier in their conversation, guessing—rightly—that in the absence of his father, Edward would look to the older man for advice and counsel.
“I am eager to learn,” said Edward. “Let us sit by the fire. I’ll send for wine.”
“Tell me exactly what depredations this dragon has committed,” said Draconas, once the servants had been dismissed. “That may seem irrelevant, but it tells me something of the nature of the beast.”
Edward took a moment to organize his thoughts. “The dragon began by attacking the village of Apfield in the western part of the kingdom.”
“Excuse me,” said Draconas. “But I believe that we can label the dragon a male. Female dragons rarely commit these sorts of wanton acts of destruction. Female dragons tend to be more subtle and cunning.”
“Women are the same the world over, I guess,” said Edward, the smile returning briefly to his eyes.
Draconas did not comment. “I like to be precise in the details. Please go on.”
Gunderson took over. “After the attack at Apfield, we began receiving reports from almost every part of the kingdom: cattle slaughtered, sheep stolen, people terrorized, homes destroyed. Despite rumors to the contrary, no one has been killed yet,” he stated, “but it’s only a matter of time.”
“I see. And what measures have you taken against the dragon?”
“We summoned His Majesty’s knights and waited for the monster to appear. When it did, we set out in pursuit. Our horses are no match for a beast who can fly with the speed of the winter wind.”
“Wherever we were, the dragon wasn’t,” Edward said with fine irony. “The beast seemed to take delight in striking places either just before we arrived or just after we left, making us look like fools.”
“The dragon can keep track of your movements from the air,” Draconas said, agreeing. “A large mounted force is easy for him to spot and, as you say, he can move much more swiftly than you can. You will never catch him that way.”
“Then how?” Edward demanded, slamming his hands on the arms of the chair. “What can be done? This dragon must be stopped!” He jumped to his feet, began pacing the room restlessly.
Draconas affected to give the matter serious thought. “I would say that you have a very serious problem. A male dragon—undoubtedly a young one—has taken up residence in your kingdom. Probably in a cave somewhere along the river.”
“Residence!” Edward’s jaw dropped. “You mean, he plans to live here?”
“I am afraid so. Dragons are not that much different from humans in how they think and act. Young men are young men, the world over. You yourself undoubtedly engaged in rash or reckless actions from time to time in your youth.”
Edward exchanged rueful smiles with Gunderson, both barkening back to some fond memory. “I may have done so.”
Returning to his chair, he flopped down, thrust out his long legs, and stared moodily at his boots.
“I take your point, Master Draconas. This dragon is young and reckless and foolish.”
“Precisely. He has no idea of the hardship he is causing, nor would he care if he did. He cares only for his own pleasure and to draw the attention of young females.”
“How long will this go on?” Edward demanded.
“Dragons live a very long time, Your Majesty. A dragon’s youth may span hundreds of years—”
“God’s breath! Something must be done, sir! We must find his cave. Strike him while he sleeps. You shake your head, but—”
“Impossible. First, you might search the rest of your lifetime and never find his lair. Dragons are quite cunning in the manner in which they hide their dwellings. Second, an immense force would be required to battle him. A thousand knights would not be too many.”
“A thousand.” Edward groaned. “I had trouble enough scraping up twenty.”
“Even if you had a thousand, the dragon would hear you and see you from miles away and have time to either prepare his defense or make good his escape. However,” Draconas added, seeing the king sinking into despair, “there is a way to rid yourself of this menace.”
“Yes?” said Edward, hope propelling him forward in his chair.
“It will require courage on your part, courage and commitment and sacrifice.”
“I am prepared to do anything to save my kingdom,” said Edward resolutely.
“And you must put your faith and trust in me,” said Draconas.
Edward glanced sidelong at Gunderson at this, then looked back to Draconas.
“I do not know you, sir,” said the king. “What I have seen of you I like, but as to trust...” He shook his head. “I am not prepared to give that now. Perhaps when I have heard your plan—”
“Fair enough,” said Draconas. Rising to his feet, he gestured to the window. “If you would be so good as to accompany me, Your Majesty, there is something I would show you.”
Mystified, the king did as Draconas asked, with Gunderson ranging closely alongside.
“Do you see those mountains? Those far away, with the snowcapped peaks?”
“Yes. That is the Ardvale mountain range.”
“Have you ever traveled there, Your Majesty?”
“Merciful heavens, no,” returned Edward, amazed at the question. “The Ardvale mountains are outside the boundaries of the realm. Our border ends at their foothills.”
“So you do not know what lies beyond?”
The king shrugged, uninterested. “The mountains are said to be impassable. Nothing but snow and rock. I fail to see—”
“There is something beyond those mountains—a kingdom. The kingdom of Seth.”
Edward struggled to be polite. “I had no idea. A kingdom there, you say.” With a rolling-eyed glance at Gunderson, the king turned away. “Now, Master Draconas, we were discussing this dragon ...”
“The kingdom of Seth was once attacked by a force of dragons,” Draconas continued imperturbably. “More than twenty dragons laid siege to the city.”
Edward halted, turned to stare, appalled.
“The dragons were repulsed. Three were slain. I tell you this, Your Majesty, because the kingdom of Seth is the one place in the world feared by dragons. It is the one place in the world that dragons avoid.”
Draconas pointed back at the mist-shrouded mountains. “There, in that realm, you will find the person you need. The person who can drive away the dragon and keep him and his kind away from your kingdom forever.”
“How?” Edward demanded. “Who is this person?”
“A woman who is gifted with powerful magicks. You must travel to that kingdom and persuade this woman to come back to Idlyswylde with you. Only her magic can drive away the dragon.”
“Magic . . .” Edward exchanged amused glances with Gunderson, who smiled tolerantly. “Are we back to naked dancing, then, sir?”
Draconas cast a significant look at the astrolabe. “Has science helped you so far?”
Edward appeared nettled. “We haven’t tried. I was thinking of importing several cannons. We could place them on the battlement
s—”
“What do you expect the dragon to do, Sire? Wallow in the fields while you pummel it with cannonballs? Or perhaps you propose to knock it out of the skies?”
Edward flushed in anger. He wasn’t accustomed to being ridiculed. “I think it would work as well as shaking a chicken’s foot at the dragon and chanting abracadabra.”
“You do not believe in magic,” said Draconas. “No,” said Edward, but then he added with a sudden flicker of gold in the hazel, “but then, I didn’t believe in dragons, either.” He walked over to the balcony, gazed out at the mountains, and took a squint at them through the telescope.
“I am willing to try anything at this point,” he added, turning. “I will dispatch a delegation to fetch this woman. Gunderson, you will go as my personal representative. We will send gifts. Jewels. Fine silks. Women like that.” He halted, regarding Draconas with some impatience. “What is wrong now, sir? Again you shake your head. Are jewels the wrong sort of present?”
“There is a reason that you have never heard of the kingdom of Seth,” Draconas said in reply. “I am one of the few people in the world who has heard of it and that only after years of searching for clues to its existence. The kingdom is held in thrall, its borders enchanted by this very woman. Thus she keeps out the dragons and all others who might do her people harm. Your delegation could spend years searching those mountains and they would never be able to penetrate the magic that hides the entrance to its borders. And even if, by some miracle, they did happen to stumble across it, they would not live long enough to profit by their discovery. Warriors guard the borders, with orders to slay all who attempt to enter.”
Edward stared, amazed. “I seem to have fallen into some sort of fairy tale! Enchanted kingdom. People held in thrall. Borders hidden by magic.”
“The man is mad,” said Gunderson, frowning. “This nursery tale has gone on long enough, Your Majesty. I am sorry I wasted your time with such nonsense. Let me toss the fellow out on his ear,”
Edward waved him to silence. “I find this hard to believe, Draconas.”
“Then let me ask you a question, Sire. Has science been able to prove the existence of God?”
“Of course not,” said Edward shortly. “Yet you believe in God?”
“I am a man of faith. And, yes, I understand what you’re saying.” The hazel eyes were quite dark, with glinting flecks of green. “You hand water to a man dying of thirst and then dash the cup from his lips. You tell me in one breath that in that far-off kingdom lies my only hope and in another that my hope must rest on the supernatural. And what does it matter anyhow,” he added, with an impatient gesture, “for it can’t ever be attained?”
“I did not say that,” said Draconas. “A delegation would not be able to enter that kingdom. They would all be killed. But one person might, provided he is armed with the proper magic. One person to plead his cause.”
Edward gazed long at Draconas. “Armed with magic. Merciful mother of God. If I sent Gunderson—”
Draconas was again shaking his head. “The Mistress of Dragons is exalted by her people. High and puissant, she is worshipped as a god. Only you, a king in your own right, would have any chance of obtaining an audience with her.”
“You’re not seriously considering this, Sire,” said Gunderson, eyeing his king.
He drew Edward aside. They spoke in low tones, but Draconas had quite good hearing. Turning his back, he gazed out the window, pretended to be absorbed by the view.
“I don’t like this, Your Majesty,” Gunderson told him. “What do we know of this fellow? Nothing! And he proposes that you go with him on some wild-goose chase of a journey. Magic!” He snorted. “It is likely a trick of Weinmauer to lure you away.”
“Whatever it is, I don’t believe it is that,” said Edward dryly. “My father-in-law could never have made up such a tale—a priestess with magical powers hidden away in some enchanted kingdom.” He sighed softly. “If it is true, what an adventure, Gunderson! Think of it!”
“If it is true.” Gunderson laid heavy emphasis on the “if.”
“First there is this business of the magic. Your Majesty knows, as do all educated people, that it is not possible for humans to possesses supernatural powers. That what these charlatans who call themselves warlocks and witches pass off as ‘magic’ is really nothing more than trickery—sleight of hand, illusion, gimmicks.”
“True,” Edward admitted.
“Second, I do not like his arrogance. He does not show you the proper respect.”
“You know, Gunderson, that’s the one reason I tend to trust him. He has made it clear that I must take him as is. If he were up to some nefarious scheme, wouldn’t he be slavering and fawning all over me, like those toadies sent by my father-in-law?”
“Unless he thinks that is what you would think—”
“Oh, come now, Gunderson, this is getting a bit thick!” Edward smiled. “I’m rather considering going with him.”
“Your Majesty can’t be serious!”
“You were the one who recommended I meet with him—”
“Meet with him, yes. Hear what he had to say. Not go off alone with him.”
“I have an idea,” said Edward. “You spoke of the magic. Let us make a little test.” He raised his voice. “Master Draconas, you say I must be ‘armed with magic.’ What sort of magic? Who is to arm me?”
“I will, Your Majesty.”
“I trust you do not think it untoward of me to ask for a demonstration?” Edward cast a sidelong glance at Gunderson, as much as to say, “We have him now.”
Draconas shrugged. He drew the leather pouch from the end of his staff, thrust in his hand, and brought out a yellow topaz. As large as a hen’s egg, the topaz had been cut so that it was smooth upon the top, beveled about the edges, and flat on the bottom. Draconas walked over to the table the king had been using for his work and laid the jewel flat upon a sheet of vellum.
“A lovely gem,” remarked Edward, coming to inspect it. “Are we going to see it levitate? Go floating out the window?”
Draconas made no answer. He held his hand over the jewel, spoke a soft word. The topaz began to gleam with an eerie yellow light. The king and Gunderson stood staring with some amusement at the glowing jewel, neither approaching it.
“Remarkable,” Edward said. “What is it supposed to be doing?”
“You mentioned the window,” said Draconas. “This jewel is a window. A magical casement that I alone have the power to open. Come forward and look through it.”
Edward glanced at Gunderson, whose expression was very dark. “It’s some sort of trick.”
“If so, it is a very good one,” Edward remarked. He looked up at Draconas. “Come, sir. How do you cause it to glow like that? Ah, I know. Is this one of those prisms that has the power to store up sunlight?”
“It does more than glow,” said Draconas. “Look into it.”
With a laugh and a shrug, Edward bent down, gazed into the jewel.
His eyes widened. He gave a soft gasp, moved closer, staring intently. The eerie yellow light cast a radiant glow upon his face.
“There’s . . . there’s someone in there!” He lifted his head, awed and incredulous. “Who is she?”
“I do not know her name,” said Draconas. “All I know is that she is a priestess who serves the Mistress of Dragons. She is beautiful, isn’t she?”
“I have truly never seen the like,” murmured Edward, drawn to the jewel. “Her lips move. She’s starting to say something ...”
Draconas swiftly clasped his hand over the topaz, and broke the spell. The light vanished and with it the image of the priestess who had looked into the magical stone bowl and seen the dragon Braun, and had spoken to him. Draconas had no intention of permitting the king to hear that conversation. Although the kingdoms of Seth and Idlyswylde had been separated for hundreds of years—so many years that each had forgotten about the other—once there had been traffic between the two. They shared a c
ommon language.
“I want to hear what she says!” Edward stated.
“Now is not the time.”
“It was a trick, Your Majesty,” Gunderson said gruffly. “Here. Let me see that thing.”
Draconas handed the topaz to the steward. Gunderson shook it, peered at it. Fetching a jeweler’s glass, he inspected the gem from every angle. “It is an ordinary topaz,” he said at last. “Not even very valuable. The gem is flawed.”
He offered it to Edward, who shook his head. Gunderson handed the gem back to Draconas, who dropped it into the leather pouch.
“How did you do that, sir?” Gunderson asked again.
“As I said, magic.” Draconas shrugged. “My magic. The magic that will carry you inside the enchanted kingdom.”
Edward sucked in a breath, let it out slowly. “What is your plan?”
“All in good time. There is first the matter of my payment. One hundred gold pieces. Fifty now and fifty on completion of the dragon’s removal.”
Edward blinked, amazed. “That is an immense sum, sir.”
“One might almost say, ‘A king’s ransom,’ “ said Draconas. “Or in this case, a kingdom’s ransom. The dragon is costing you much more than that in lost revenues every day.”
“Very well,” said Edward, wincing. “And now that we are agreed, I ask you to tell me how this magic of yours works.”
“Magic is not a waterwheel, Your Majesty. I cannot draw you a diagram or show you the mechanism. It is what it is. If you could send someone for the gold ...”
“Gunderson, go and fetch it from the strongbox.”
“Your Majesty, I beg you to consider what you are about. Your kingdom is threatened from without and from within. The barons on the border are preparing for war. The merchants cry that their businesses are failing. They have no money to pay the taxes, which means we have no money to pay our soldiers, much less money to pay this man. As for his so-called magic, I don’t know how the trick was done, but there must be some rational explanation!”
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