Halfax

by Joseph R. Lallo

  The boat crested another swell and slammed down, bottoming out briefly. One of the slats of the boat’s bottom splintered. Icy water started to pool and splash against their feet.

  “We are safe,” Jade murmured, holding tighter.

  There wasn’t a flicker of doubt in her voice as she repeated the mantra. Wood groaned and failed. Water crept up to their ankles. The rapids tossed them about. Jade scanned the sky. She watched the mountainside. When the moment came, she nearly missed it. A dark form and a darker shadow whisked across the frost-crusted stone.

  “Hold tight,” Jade called to her daughter.

  She felt her daughter squeeze her, and embraced the girl tightly in return. A distant scrabble and crunch briefly rang out louder than even the sound of the river. Jade shut her eyes tight. She felt a grip close around her. Nothing had ever been so firm, yet so gentle. In a heartbeat, they went from rushing uncontrolled along the river to streaking through the air. The sound of grinding stone and thumping flesh filled her ears as their flight turned into a tumble. As quickly as the chaotic motion began, it ended. Uncontrolled rolling turned int a grinding slide, all the while both queen and princess were held tight. There was a moment of precious stillness, Myn trembling in Jade’s arms, and both mother and daughter held tight to something that rose and fell with heavy breaths.

  Jade felt herself lowered to the ground and carefully got her feet beneath her. After a steadying breath, she opened her eyes. A creature stood before her. A dragon. The beast towered over her. A coiling serpentine neck curved to angle a reptilian head down upon her from easily three times her height. One beautiful gold eye and one milky white eye stared at her. A vicious but well-healed white scar ran across the bad eye and down the length of the neck to a wing that hung like a tattered sail from an ancient yardarm. Stout legs supported a sleek, powerful body, armored with thick green scales on its back and gold across its belly. A long tail swept back and forth.

  The beast heaved a slow breath, nostrils flaring and warm air rushing over the nobles. Its eyes darted to the trembling girl in Jade’s arms.

  “It’s time,” Jade said quietly.

  “What’s happening, Mother?” Myn said, terrified and unwilling to pull away.

  “Myn, in a moment, I want you to open your eyes. And when you do, I want you know that you are safe, with people who love you and only wish to protect you.”

  The princess released a breath and opened her eyes. She looked to her mother, then reluctantly turned. Her eyes widened. She clutched Jade tighter.

  “It’s… It’s a…”

  “It is your protector,” Jade said. “His name is Hal.”

  He huffed a breath.

  “I’m sorry. His name is Halfax,” Jade amended.

  Jade released Myn from her embrace and stepped toward the creature. As she drew closer, tears formed in her eyes. Finally she couldn’t bear it anymore and threw her arms around the neck of the dragon.

  “It’s been so long,” Jade whispered. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  “M-my protector… My secret protector is a dragon!?” Myn said, unblinking eyes trained on the monster before her.

  “He’s so much more than just a dragon,” Jade said. “Halfax saved me from a terrible fate. He raised me. He educated me. This creature is the reason I am who I am today. He’s the reason this kingdom has come this far. He’s…”

  Jade trailed off as she noticed something about Halfax. A thin but sturdy cord was stretched across the base of his neck. She tugged it, and something tumbled from where it was caught between two scales on his back. It slid down along the cord and revealed itself to be a crudely fashioned name tag of sorts. The inexpertly rendered letters spelled “HAL.”

  “You kept it…” Jade said quietly.

  She covered her mouth. Halfax lowered his head and pressed his great brow to hers.

  “There are only two things more precious to me,” he said, his voice rich and sonorous.

  “He talks!?” Myn squeaked, scrambling back.

  She lost her footing and fell. In a flash, Halfax’s tail whipped around and supported her back, nudging her to her feet again.

  “Are you well, little Myn,” he asked. “Are you hurt?”

  “He knows my name!?” she raved.

  “Of course he knows your name. You’re named for his mother,” Jade said.

  “I’m named for…” Myn shook her head. “You told me I was named for my grandmother!”

  “I lost my own family when I was much younger than you are now, Myn. Halfax was as near to a father as I had for most of my life. His family is my family. His mother is my grandmother,” Jade explained.

  Myn crouched down and hugged her knees. “I’m named after a dragon…”

  “She is a downside,” Halfax said.

  It was a statement, but Jade confirmed with a nod regardless.

  “She is cursed by fate and you took her on that frozen river!”

  He spoke with the controlled force of a creature who knew that his full voice would terrify the princess.

  “Things are dire. We needed you quickly. And we couldn’t simply go to Tus Point because…”

  “Assassins…” Halfax said.

  This too was a statement. In a life defined by watching and waiting, there was little that escaped his notice. Again, Jade nodded.

  “I felt that something was wrong,” he said. “But it was within the palace grounds.”

  “They’ve already struck. They made an attempt upon all of our lives. If not for Terry, Myn would have been pricked with cutleaf poison,” Jade said.

  He quaked with a barely controlled flare of anger. “I cannot protect her within the palace. But I am sworn to project her.”

  “I know. I know. And it is worse than that. It is possible…” She shut her eyes and shook her head. “No, it is likely that the assassins are either lurking among the palace staff or they have influenced them in some way. We need you now. At this point, you’re the only one I trust to keep her safe.”

  “I will defend her with my life. As I have promised. As I am sworn to do.”

  “Tell him about father,” Myn insisted.

  “The king is not my concern,” Halfax rumbled.

  “What do you mean?” Myn snapped.

  Jade sighed a bit. “Halfax and Terry don’t have the most pleasant of histories. Your father arrived with the intent of battling Halfax and… It is all a ridiculous bit of misunderstanding and old thinking.” She turned to the dragon. “He’s changed since then, Hal.”

  “Men don’t change,” he rumbled.

  “Y-you are a subject of this kingdom and you will honor my father!” Myn said, trying to shove her fear aside.

  Halfax looked wearily to Jade. “She is her father’s daughter.”

  “Halfax, Terry has been poisoned. He took the needle intended for Myn,” Jade said. “Though I need you to keep her safe, this above all else is a mission to rescue the king.”

  “Cutleaf is a terrible poison,” Halfax said.

  “But I read of a cure. I know I did. It was in the books in the tower. In our tower,” Jade said. “We need to go there. We need to find the book and bring it back to the king before he perishes.”

  “I have no obligation to the king,” Halfax affirmed. “To take on this quest is to endanger the very ones I have been sworn to protect in service of a man whose mighty palace and horde of men could not keep them from danger.”

  “Halfax, this isn’t a matter of duty or service. I am asking for your help. I am asking you, on behalf of myself and my daughter. Don’t let me lose a husband. Don’t let Myn lose a father. Don’t let the kingdom lose a leader. Don’t let the assassins win.”

  A sigh hissed from Halfax’s nostrils. The tiniest wisp of smoke curled from them.

  “Has he been the man you desired?” he asked.

  “He is the love of my life,” Jade said without hesitation.

  The dragon
shifted his gaze to Myn.

  “Has he been a proper father?”

  “N-no one could ask for better,” Myn said.

  Another hiss. This time with a lick of flame.

  “The tower is in the heart of Ravenwood. That is half a kingdom away.”

  “It is,” Jade said.

  “You have no horses.”

  “We can’t risk the roads. It is my hope that the shattered boat will convince the assassins we have been killed, but it will only work if we stay hidden.”

  “You would have me carry you both,” Halfax rumbled.

  “I see no other way.”

  “I am not a pack animal. I am not a steed,” he said.

  “It wouldn’t be a favor if it was something you wanted to do,” Jade said.

  He released another hissing sigh. Jade placed her hands on her hips.

  “If you need me to beg, I will. And I’m a queen now. An impassioned plea from the queen of Vulcrest is nothing to sneeze at.”

  Halfax shook his head slowly. “Keep your plea. I did not teach you to beg.”

  He lowered himself and raised a forepaw to help her climb to his back.

  “Come,” Jade said, beckoning to Myn.

  “You’re sure?” she said, holding her ground. “It’s safe?”

  “There is nowhere safer than in Halfax’s care.” Jade held out her hand. “Come.”

  Myn’s legs were shaking as she stepped forward. Jade gave her a boost. The girl scrambled a bit and nearly pitched over the other side of the dragon’s back, but again the tail lashed up to steady and position her. Jade climbed up behind her daughter. When they were as secure as they were likely to get, Halfax stood.

  #

  Myn involuntarily whimpered at the sudden motion. Her mother had always been strong willed and spirited, but never had she dreamed that she would see the Queen of Vulcrest speak to a dragon as thought she were speaking to an equal. She held tight to the smooth scales of the beast’s hide. It had a row of spines running down its back that, if not for the thick clothes she’d worn to ward against the cold, they might have been a problem. Aside from them, though, riding the dragon was surprisingly… pleasant. The delicately folded wings served as a place for the queen to hook her legs so as to not slide or be thrown free. The dragon’s strides and bounds were so long and graceful, the ride was smoother than even the impeccably trained palace horses. And he was warm. She leaned forward and held tight to his neck. Every now and again, Halfax would huff a breath of flame and a lovely surge of heat would travel down his neck, keeping him toasty. Astride the creature, she could almost forget the biting cold of the Daggergale Mountains.

  Perhaps it was her mother’s assurances, or perhaps it was simply that her mother was present and completely at ease, but Myn found the abject fear of the massive beast wicking away. She’d done her best to show strength before they’d left, but inside she’d been on the verge of collapse. Now, with each long bound, she felt her heart slow its rattling pace. Since the moment before her parents had burst into her room and spared her the poison barb, Myn’s chest had been burning with fear. Now, though the assassins were still after her, and though her father was still in terrible danger, she was beginning to feel the grip of doom beginning to loosen. And there was something else. Something distantly familiar about those eyes that had gazed down upon her.

  “I hope the mountains have been treating you well,” Jade said, as pleasantly as though she were catching up with an old friend. “You seem in good health.”

  “There is little prey, but there are no hunters. I eat well enough,” Halfax said.

  “I’d worried about that. It must be so lonely in the mountains.”

  “Solitude is an old friend. What worries me is how I must be kept from my task when Myn is in the palace.”

  “So it must be,” Jade said sadly.

  “So it must be,” he replied.

  “All he does is watch me all day?” Myn said.

  “You can ask him yourself, Myn,” Jade said.

  “Do you… Is that what you do?”

  “I watch and I wait, in case I am needed.”

  “But… I’m so seldom anywhere but the castle. This is the first time you’ve ever had to protect me.”

  “No. I have fought for you many times.”

  “When?”

  “It is best if you don’t know,” Halfax said.

  “Hal, there are only two things we have kept from Myn, even in part. I scarcely see the need to hide them anymore.”

  Halfax leapt a narrow crevasse and started to intersperse controlled slides with his strides and bounds. They were heading down the slope now. Their destination seemed to be the smattering of trees to the south that formed the very most northerly fringe of Ravenwood.

  “Now isn’t the time for such talk. I don’t want to scare the girl.”

  Halfax reached a long stretch of stone that had been swept free of snow by the wind. He slowed for a moment and raised his snout high to sample the air.

  “A storm is coming,” he said. “I can smell it on the wind. We should find food and shelter.”

  “Can’t we keep moving?” Jade asked. “There is no telling how long the king has.”

  Halfax turned his head to eye the princess.

  “How does your hand feel?” he asked.

  Being directly addressed sent a quick jolt of fear through her, but it passed. And oddly, that he knew to ask the question felt like a bit of an invasion. Only her mother and father knew about the feeling in her hand when her luck was about to get the better of her.

  “It… tickles a bit.”

  “It is going to be a blizzard,” Halfax said.

  Right now, the worst that could happen would be for their journey to be delayed. And so, precisely that would happen. It wasn’t pessimism. It was reality, at least for Myn.

  He quickened his pace. They’d been moving fast before, but when the great beast leapt into a sprint, the speed was terrifying. Despite the smoothness of the strides, Myn found she had to shut her eyes to quell her fear.

  The wind came before the snow. The near constant breeze across the Daggergale Mountains took on an angrier, more chaotic swirl. Even without fresh flakes falling, it kicked the half-frozen powder along the slope and scoured the faces of mother and daughter alike. They each pulled up their scarves and pulled down their hoods, hiding their faces almost entirely. In no time at all, they were into the foothills. The sharp, fresh scent of icy pines joined the indefinable aroma that seemed to hang in the air in the hours before a storm.

  Halfax slid to a stop in the shelter of the first truly dense patch of trees. He dropped low and waited for his riders to dismount.

  “We won’t find a better place to rest until morning. Do you have food? Water?” he asked.

  “Plenty of both,” Jade said.

  “I must hunt. I will not be far. Keep your eyes open. Call if you need help.”

  Halfax turned and launched himself into the night. Myn watched him go. Until now, she’d not seen the way he moved without riding on his back. It was a fearsome sight, but not for the reason she expected. He was not this rampaging beast, snapping trees like twigs and razing the landscape. He was graceful, and nearly silent. Despite his size, he moved with the lithe precision of any other woodland hunter. From the sound he made, one wouldn’t have imagined anything larger than a deer.

  She strained her eyes until the dragon had vanished among the trees in the distance. When his disappearance broke the spell that had her transfixed, Myn turned to her mother.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she said.

  “When would you have liked me to tell you, my dear?” Jade said.

  There was little delay before she answered. It was clear she’d been waiting for the question.

  “Had I told you when you were a little girl, it would have folded into the myriad of other stories. Out in the mountains, there is a dragon who watches over you
and you alone. By now you would have dismissed it as a story to chase away childhood fears.”

  “You could have warned me before we saw him.”

  Jade grinned weakly. “What words could I have used that would have prepared you for Halfax?”

  “Dragon,” Myn snapped. “The word is dragon.”

  “Does the image your mind conjures when you say that word really match what you see in Halfax?”

  “I…” Myn looked to the ground, where a great clawed footprint still marred the snow. “No. He’s… He’s a lot more than that. And… I don’t know… A lot less.”

  “Less?”

  “He’s not snarly. He’s not some thundering thing. He’s… I don’t know. He’s not an it. He’s the sort of thing that should have a name.”

  Jade smiled wider. “I’m proud of you, Myn. There are plenty of people in this world who would never see Halfax in that way. It means your mind is open, your thinking is clear. You’re a good judge of character. As big as Halfax is, his heart is bigger.”

  Jade put an arm around Myn.

  “I wish you could have seen him in the old days.” She laughed. “I truly think he was afraid of me.”

  “Afraid of you?” Myn said. “But you must have only been a child.”

  “Halfax’s life was set in its direction at a very young age. He’s a bit like your father in that way. Just as Terry was born to be a noble, before Halfax even had a name, he had a purpose. He would protect the bloodline. And he did so faithfully. But until me, it was always something simple. Protecting the others was a matter of claws and fire and vigilance. Then here was this helpless little creature who didn’t just need a bodyguard. She needed a family. Can you imagine? In hundreds of years of life, now he was asked to provide something he’d never prepared for. After centuries of certainty, he was lost.”

  She shook her head.

  “I almost feel sorry for him just thinking about it. But come. Let’s prepare to spend the night. The better we sleep through the storm, the faster we’ll be able to move when it relents.”

  Myn nodded and each dropped their bags to dig out bedrolls, canteens, and other supplies. She tried to focus on the task at hand, rather than the swirling confusion of the larger mission. Smooth the snow where the bedroll would go. Drop the oilskin first, so that the melting snow wouldn’t seep through. She’d done it a hundred times before. It was something both her mother and father had been quite firm about. If she was to be educated, she would be educated in all of the matters of life in her kingdom. Yes, she would learn Varden, Crich, and even Tresson, such that she could speak the languages of her land. But she would also ride a horse. She would pitch a tent. She would know the way the hunters and the farmers lived. They were the people of her land, and to know how best to lead them, she should know their ways.