“Apples?” I asked in disbelief.
“I brought everything I could lay my hands on,” he growled. “I don’t exactly know my way around the kitchen, much less what a dragon eats.”
Sure enough, the dragon dug through the pile until it found what it had smelled—a chunk of bright red raw meat. It also ate the cheese, but ignored everything else.
“She feels much better now,” I said.
“She?” His eyebrows shot up.
“Yeah,” I said, a little confused. “I’m not sure how I know that.”
Breyard shook his head. “The next thing you know, you’re going to say you want to keep it as a pet.”
“No! Definitely not! We need to get her out of here, first thing in the morning. Or sooner. There’s no such thing as a tame dragon, no matter how cute and sweet she is right now.”
“You think she’s cute and sweet? You’re pathetic.”
I ignored him. “Not to mention what would happen if you got caught with her.”
The dragon curled up on the cot, which was littered with bits of egg shell, the food she hadn’t eaten, and the juice of the meat. Her eyes were already half closed.
“Guess you’re not sleeping in your bed tonight.” I grinned at the dismay on his face. But I was still curious about something. “How’d you get hold of this egg anyway?”
“My chore group had market duty yesterday, and on the way back, we came across an old carter stopped on the side of the road. The tongue of his wagon had broken. I helped him fix it, and in exchange, he gave me the egg. I didn’t believe him when he said it was a dragon egg. Honest.”
“You accepted a gift for a favor? You know that’s against the rules for novices.”
Breyard rubbed his eyes. “I know. But the old man wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He almost cried when I first refused. What was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, but it strikes me that accepting a gift that could get you executed wasn’t the best choice.”
“I told you, I didn’t think it was really a dragon egg,” Breyard insisted. Then his face blanched as what I said registered. “Oh, no,” he whispered. “What am I going to do?”
“Well, as soon as she wakes up, why not just take her outside and let her go? She’ll know how to take care of herself. Reptiles do. And she’s a sort of reptile. I think.” I looked again at the sleeping dragon. “In the meantime, clean everything up. It’s not as if you’re going to get any sleep anyway.” I moved towards the door.
“You’re not going to leave, are you?”
“I’ve already lost enough sleep tonight. I’m going to bed.”
“Donavah, please! Don’t leave me alone with . . . with
. . . a dragon in my bed.”
“Maybe it’s fate’s way of getting you used to the idea.” That left him blushing and speechless, and I had a hard time not laughing aloud as I left his cell to sneak back to my own.
Next morning, I was doubly careful to use the right candles for meditation. Everything had seemed off-kilter since the previous afternoon, and surely this would set things back to rights.
At breakfast, I could tell even from a distance that Breyard hadn’t had any sleep. The dark circles under his eyes and the untidiness of his hair and robe gave him away. He’d shaved, but that was probably only because it was a rule for male novices and he would’ve been in trouble if he hadn’t.
I wondered if he’d managed to get rid of the dragon yet. As if he could read my mind, he looked over and gave me a small, relieved nod. I smiled back at him.
Despite having gone back to bed the night before, I hadn’t got much sleep myself. I kept imagining over and over what would happen if Breyard got caught with the baby dragon. Only the king could have dragons, and he used them for what he and his hangers-on called ‘entertainment’ and everyone else called ‘executions.’
He was a brutal man, was King Erno, Thirty-Second Absolute Monarch of Alloway. I tried to put a stop to that treasonous line of thought, but I couldn’t stop the stories I’d heard coming unbidden into my head. He’d as soon execute an innocent man, they said, as bother with a trial. He kept slaves in chains, regardless that slavery had been outlawed hundreds of years ago. I’d even heard it whispered that he drank babies’ blood at high feasts. Being in possession of one of King Erno’s precious dragon eggs was not exactly the best means one could contrive to avoid coming to his attention.
But Breyard must have gotten rid of the “evidence,” and now that I knew all was well, the smell of porridge and buttered toast suddenly awakened my appetite. I ate ravenously, much as the dragon had the night before.
Soon Marileesa sat next to me with her breakfast tray. Today she wore her dark, curly hair loose, and her deep blue eyes danced in pleased excitement. She still couldn’t seem to stop smiling, and her mood—combined with my relief over Breyard getting rid of the dragon—made me grin, even if I couldn’t follow her chatter about rehearsal schedules and special music sessions.
Before long, Loreen and Sira joined us. Sira was darker than the rest of us, with brown eyes that snapped and sparkled as she watched everything going on around her. She was the quiet one in our little group, never saying much but often pulling a small quill pen and bottle of ink from her bag to jot things down in a special calfskin-covered book. Lore was her best subject, and I knew that some day in the future, other novices like us would be poring over her words and trying to understand them.
Loreen was the only one of us interested in boys, and it was my bad luck that it was Breyard on whom she was keenest. She could’ve been the prettiest one of us, if only she’d put in a bit of effort, and it seemed ironic to me that she didn’t. When she kept her mind on what the spells master was teaching and not on the male members of the class, she could cast any spell set before her. Sometimes I wondered why she didn’t just cast a love spell to get what she wanted.
Now Loreen was mooning, as usual. Over Breyard. What could she possibly see in my brother? Couldn’t she tell that he was more of a bother than anything else? Trying to act nonchalant, she asked me, as she often did, what he was doing these days.
With a pause that must have seemed melodramatic, I looked at each of my friends in turn. Really, I knew I shouldn’t—but, “Can you keep a secret?” I whispered. Surely I could trust them. They exchanged curious glances, nodded their heads, and leaned forward conspiratorially.
I plunged in and told them all about the dragon egg and last night’s events. We sat huddled together, and I spoke quietly to make sure that not even a syllable could be heard beyond us. Marileesa even seemed to forget about Summer Solstice.
When I finished my tale, the others sat in stunned silence for a moment. Then Loreen let out a shaky sigh and said, “But what’s Breyard going to do with a baby dragon?”
Far too loudly.
It seemed as if her words echoed and re-echoed off the refectory walls. Everyone must have heard. While the others shushed her, I looked around to see if anyone was watching us. Not a single eye caught mine. But the words seemed even now to fill the air.
Loreen had her hands clamped over her mouth while tears welled in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked between her fingers.
Sira shook her head, but Marileesa put a hand on Loreen’s arm. “I think it’s all right,” she said. I stared at my three friends, unable to say anything. It felt as if my stomach had turned to stone and dropped to the floor. My heart either had stopped beating or was racing, I couldn’t tell which, while my ears pounded and my face burned.
If anything happened to Breyard, I wasn’t sure who I’d have to kill first: myself or Loreen.
After an interminable time that was probably actually less than five minutes, the bell rang for the end of breakfast. We gathered up our things to go to our classes. I tried not to scowl at Loreen, who was still wi
ping her eyes.
My first class after breakfast was Ancient Lore. I set my translation of Galina’s Travels on the table and reread it whilst waiting for Master Tenna to arrive. If I concentrated hard enough, perhaps I’d forget about that stupid dragon.
“Donavah, what did you get for line 1,782?” Balon plopped down in the chair next to me.
“Oh,” I grimaced when I found the line he referred to. “That was the hardest one. I’m still not sure I got it right.”
“Same here. So what did you get?”
I frowned at the page as I read, “‘And in Stychs, Galina found her soul’s anguish.’”
Balon groaned, but before he could tell me his translation, Master Tenna entered the room.
“So,” she asked, once everyone had settled down for the lesson, “how did you all get on with the assignment?” She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, as if in anticipation.
Balon, always bold, spoke first. “It wasn’t too hard until near the end.” Nods of agreement from all around. “But I couldn’t figure out the correct translation for cinnerai, and after that, I couldn’t make much sense of it.”
“Ah, yes. Cinnerai.” Master Tenna smiled. “How did you translate it, Donavah?”
I swallowed. She never called on me first. “Um, ‘soul’s anguish.’”
“Yes? And how did you come up with that?” Her voice was neutral, not giving me a clue whether I’d got it right or wrong.
I blushed a little. “Well, the word wasn’t in the lexicon, so I tried to figure it out from the context.” The master nodded encouragingly. “In the next stanza, Galina speaks of finding no one like herself, her feelings of isolation. There was even that bit about pain.”
One of the other girls cut in. “But it wasn’t her own pain she was talking about.”
Master Tenna asked her, “And how did you translate cinnerai then?”
“Happiness. She’d just traveled to Stychs away from the war raging on Hedra—”
This time, Balon interrupted. “But how did she get from here to Stychs, anyway?”
And so we went on. No two of us had translated the word the same: paradise, torment, joy, true love, magic, truth; the list went on and on. Master Tenna always encouraged us to debate freely, and she obviously enjoyed moderating our discussion. Finally she raised both hands into the air, her signal for us to stop talking.
“You have all done an excellent job.” Balon and I exchanged confused frowns. “This is the most difficult passage in the saga, and scholars have never been able to agree upon it.”
“Why not?” Balon asked.
Master Tenna smiled. “That is the crux of the matter. No one knows what Galina meant by “Stychs.” There is no such place on Hedra. Of course, the saga was composed long, long before it was ever written down. But no known lore other than this from anywhere in the world mentions a place named Stychs.”
“So it was in her imagination?” asked a boy in the back of the room.
Someone else said, “I bet it was dolg powder.” Sniggers at that suggestion.
“No one knows. You will have to draw your own conclusions.” The tocsin rang out. “Translate the next fifty lines for next class.”
“Well, that’s a first,” Balon said to me as we left the room. “No one got it wrong.”
I chuckled. But before I could reply, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to find Isol, Headmaster Foris’s assistant, beckoning to me. My stomach plummeted as the memories of last night’s and this morning’s events rushed back into place. Surely, though, it couldn’t be anything to do with Breyard. Breakfast was scarcely two hours past.
But as we passed through the corridors, I began to feel a strange vibration in the air. A master I didn’t know came towards us, and when she saw me, she bit her lip and hurried past, eyes averted. A chill went through me.
Isol led me to the antechamber of Master Foris’s office. She motioned me to sit on the padded bench, then disappeared out the door through which we’d entered.
I’d waited long enough to break out in a cold sweat and for my stomach to tie itself into knots before I finally heard voices from the inner chamber. The door opened.
Master Foris and a soldier came out. The soldier, dressed in the purple and scarlet accoutrements of the Royal Guard, clicked his heels together and bowed slightly, then strode out of the room, never even glancing my way. I’d never been so close to a Royal Guardsman before, and even though I couldn’t help but notice how handsome he looked in the impeccable uniform, something in my gut told me that things were very, very wrong. Master Foris’s serious expression when he faced me didn’t make me feel better.
He gestured me into his office, which I’d never been in before. I looked around at the shelves filled with old books and scrolls. A telescope next to a window was pointed at the sky, a half-played game of Talisman and Queen sat on a sturdy oak table, and where bookshelves didn’t cover the wall, tapestries and masks did. If I hadn’t been so scared, I might not have been able to resist looking around more, but now I couldn’t take my eyes off Master Foris.
His red master’s robe billowed behind him as he swept around his desk. He sat down and motioned me to do so as well. I dropped down onto a chair facing his desk, glad that I wouldn’t have to try to stand, what with the way my knees were shaking.
I looked down at my hands folded in my lap, unsure of what I was supposed to do or say. Master Foris cleared his throat.
“Thank you for coming, Donavah.” His voice was kind and gentle, a deep bass voice a lot like Papa’s. I licked my lips and nodded, then looked up as he said, “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
I just nodded again. My heart pounded so hard that he must have felt the vibration himself. I clenched my fists until the knuckles turned white. My mouth went dry, and I didn’t think I’d be able to speak even if Master Foris expected me to. Then, when I thought my head must explode, he finally spoke again.
“Breyard has been arrested.”
My son~
I trust that all is well with you and that your share of our task is well in hand.
Our “esteemed” leader believes himself to be growing stronger as he and the people fall prey to our deceits. I never weary of concocting some new tale of his terrors to whisper amongst his subjects, though I confess I weary greatly of hearing him crow over his supposed conquest of the kingdom’s heart. It will not be much longer now.
We have played our Talismans well, and the trap will soon be sprung.
Convey to me as soon as you can news of your own status. We cannot Secure the Queen’s Heart until we are sure that you have readied all.
I look forward to the pleasure of seeing you again after all these long years.
~Your father
My vision seemed to go black. The pressure that had been building inside me finally burst as I jumped to my feet and shouted, “NO!”
Master Foris also rose to his feet. He raised his hands, palms towards me, and slowly lowered them as if he were pressing on my shoulders. I felt a sense of calm come over me, spreading through my chest and up into my brain. Master Foris dipped his head slightly, and I noticed how grey and haggard his face looked, especially in contrast to his bright red hair.
“Sit, my dear.”
I took a deep breath and did as he said. He followed suit.
“I realize you are distressed. But you must believe me when I say that you are scarcely more so than I.”
“But . . . but . . .” My voice was so tense it practically cracked. I paused a moment to get control of myself. What was all that meditation for if not this kind of situation? I tried to clear my thoughts. Then I spoke as calmly as I could. “What could Breyard possibly have been arrested for?” Of course, I knew the answer but felt some peculiar need to carry out the charade.
“For stealing a dragon egg,” came the expected reply.
Another calming breath. “But he doesn’t have any egg. Surely they must have checked his cell and seen that.”
Master Foris raised his eyebrows. “They did indeed. But I’m sorry to say that the hounds led them straight to Breyard’s room with no assistance on our part at all, and not even I could deny the presence of bits of egg shell on his cot covering and meditation mat.”
I closed my eyes against the guilt that washed over me. If only I hadn’t told my friends. If only Loreen hadn’t blurted it out to the entire school. If only . . . if only. There was but one truth to cling to.
“But he didn’t steal a dragon egg. You know he couldn’t have.”
“I don’t know it any more than you do, my dear.” All of a sudden, I hated being called that.
“Well,” I said, my voice shrill, “I do know it more than you, then. I know Breyard could never steal anything, much less a dragon egg. How could he have? He’s been here, and the capital is far away.”
Master Foris put the tips of his fingers together. “I asked the same question. It appears that the egg was in transit from Prince Havden of Ultria to our Princess Rycina, as an engagement gift. As a subterfuge to keep it safe, it was sent in a plain carter’s wagon.” My heart sank. “This carter says he was robbed of the gift yesterday by a young man of Breyard’s description. So you see,” and his voice grew even more gentle, “I had no choice but to let them take your brother away.”
“Take him away?!” I leapt to my feet again. “He’s already gone? But I haven’t said goodbye.” I took a step towards the door.
“Donavah.” The master’s command stopped me. I turned to face him, almost against my will. He stood up and walked towards me. “He is gone. There is nothing you can do. The egg was very valuable—a variety of dragon only newly developed. I doubt the king’s court will be lenient.”
AutumnQuest Page 2
