I eased myself onto his lap. “Men are so proud,” I said. “When you’re a girl, no one expects this sort of thing. I don’t have to say things like, ‘I want to be strong for you, Aurekdel. I want to protect you.’ But I do feel that way, in fact. I do admire you for your hard work, intelligence, diplomacy, and how your people care for you. Lots of reasons. I hate that I can’t fight back, and I hate that you can’t even take pleasure in me without so many rules…”
“Even here, women aren’t expected to protect their husbands. Protection flows inward, from man to wife to children. You don’t have to protect me.”
“I still want to! And—if I could protect you by giving you the power to protect us both, with magic…”
His hand tightened around me. “I never expected to care for you this much. Not as a practical alliance, but as a woman.”
“Me neither…not at all.”
“Himika…” His claws were close to tearing the thin fabric of my dress as he held me closer to him. “I don’t want to share all of you. You’re my queen. My girl. I’ll have you whenever I want you, and the others can wait.”
“Mm…” I leaned into him.
Yes, Seron and Oszin were kind, but Aurekdel was the one who never held back. He pushed me to fight, pushed my body to the limit in every way. Oszin and Seron were too protective to understand how much I craved the man who would lose himself in me entirely. Even Aurekdel knew he had to take practical considerations, but that didn’t stop him. When Aurekdel wanted me, I would be his, and as a result, he was the one I think I fantasized about most often.
Maybe he had to be cautious with his movements in unfamiliar places, and carefully feel out unfamiliar objects. But with me, he was familiar where the others were not. He was bold, fearless, unashamed of wanting me with every inch of fluid muscle and skillful hands and lips, and he was right… It wouldn’t take me long at all to beg to feel his scaled cock inside me.
Aurekdel was my husband.
Seron and Oszin were our champions, my two faithful protectors and lovers, and I trusted them all to the core of my being.
My family felt complete, as we got the word that the fog was coming.
It was time to move to Irandal.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Himika
Aurekdel and I rode in the royal ‘yacht’, I guess you might call it. The word in their language roughly translated to “comfort boat”. We were in the center of the caravan, elite members of the guard on all sides, with the most precious cargo boats behind us.
Since the boats had to be relatively small, even the comfort boat was cramped, but it was luxuriously outfitted with comfortable cushioned seats and curtains that were fastened tight to block out the mists as we left Hemara behind, so we didn’t have to wear masks, although I also couldn’t watch the fortress disappear behind us. Seron and Oszin were on the outside of the curtains, our closest guards.
We were sailing the northern canal routes. The journey would take ten days and when we arrived, we would be near to the northern gate. The northern gate was the crucial point that we needed to secure and open again, but it was a problem on both sides. The disgraced elders and sympathizers of the emperor had retreated to the northern gate so my brother couldn’t get the priestess there to open it. On the dragon side, rogue rock dragons roamed the northern caves.
Aurekdel poured wine, trying to relax our nerves. “Wait until you see Irandal,” he said. “It really is too bad we can’t stay there all the time. It’s far more impressive than Hemara. Irandal was really the jewel of the dragon kingdom. It was made to be beautiful. A lot of it is constructed from rare stones and crystals and the ballroom, when lit, is said to be the most stunning place in the kingdom.”
“How do you know?”
“How do I know? Because no one can shut up about how ugly Hemara is in comparison. You’ll see. The phrase ‘even an eyeless fish knows the beauty of a crystal cave’?” he said with some sarcasm. “I guess that applies.”
“Of course you would have a fish related phrase for it. And we don’t stay there because it’s not as defensible?”
“Exactly. We moved to Hemara for good when the mist dragons betrayed the court. It’s really an unfortunate situation.”
“Why on earth did you build a fortress in a spot with toxic fog?”
“Well. The lake, for one thing. It’s the biggest body of water in the realm and it connects to all the canals. But, the farther back in history you go, the less people understand why they’re getting sick.”
“That’s true,” I said. “There was a twenty year plague in Gaermon once that came from pig poop in the aqueduct. I don’t remember how it got there, but anyway.”
“This was, indeed, our pig poop in the aqueduct. They started building the fortress and they knew there was some vaguely irritating mist down on the lake surface, but that was considered a good thing. They didn’t realize that the illness that kept hitting once a year was due to even more toxic fog that rolled in.”
“This seems like an unfortunate place to live,” I said. “I wonder why you don’t live in the sky world?”
“Our magic comes from the elements underground,” he said. “And we do live longer than humans…if we don’t kill each other first, so the toxic fog must not be too fatal. But things weren’t so bad, long ago. Tensions rose once we were cut off from the sky world.”
“So…in theory, peace should be possible, now that you can trade with my world again.”
“In theory,” Aurekdel said sharply. “Not practice. They are a danger to us now and we will not be softening our position.”
I realized I definitely shouldn’t bring this up. Certainly not while we were vulnerable.
The canals were eerie and a little claustrophobic. The interior of this tunnel was carved with murals of dragon lore which caught the lanterns on our boat as we sailed by, with occasional arches of crystal. They looked chipped and in poor repair, but had been built for people coming in to the royal domain.
Although I might have put my fighting practice to rest, I was still carrying my sword Irhonda, along with the ceremonial knife, and I had Kajira on my lap. Her small body was tense. She was just a kitten and had never left home before. Aurekdel told me I must keep all these things close, in case something happened.
The journey was much like my arrival in the dragon kingdom. We traveled through tunnels and canals that grew wider and narrower at different points. We passed by settlements of people who waved at us, and small boats. We sailed through some gorgeous, glittering caves of crystal like being on the inside of a huge geode, and fascinating formations of rock.
In the evening (not that day and night mattered) we came to an actual domain of a dragon lord, a large stone mansion set into a huge cave. The common folk of the court stayed in the boats to sleep, while the inner court were welcomed inside.
For the first time, I saw Aurekdel outside of his usual surroundings, and I did notice the difference. He tapped the ground with his cane, checking all his steps. In Hemara, even when he carried it, it seemed more like a safeguard than a necessity.
“Would it help if you took my arm?” I whispered to him.
“No, my gem, you’re so small, and I’m all right.”
We were welcomed to dinner with Lord Moru and Lady Azina. There was a lot of fuss over me, until I was embarrassed, but they didn’t say much about the failure to break my curse. I started to relax when I realized I was being treated like a proper queen. It seemed like everyone had been waiting for the move to Irandal so they could get a look at me. Aurekdel was a little more formal outside of his own castle, but in a charming way that put everyone at ease. Lord Moru and Lady Azina had two adult daughters who could hardly keep their eyes off my men. Oszin and Seron were allowed to dine with us, at the other end of the table—near the daughters. I winked at Oszin when I saw one of them blabbing on to him about something.
The talk was all of the political situation, of course, and then we had a conce
rt of the court musicians, and then to a sleep that was all too short before we had to get on the move again.
The next night was the same, but this time we stayed at the even grander, amethyst-studded domain of Lord Barbaru, a cocky younger man with purple eyes, with a lovely wife who was pregnant with their first child. “He’s an old friend,” Aurekdel said, and they were laughing over old times before long, drinking and playing a dice game. The pregnant wife smiled at me, and I thought I should ask her about her pregnancy to be polite, but stubbornly, I asked her about the spears the guards were carrying instead.
Oszin and I ended up teaching Seron how to play a Gaermoni card game in a quiet room. I was happy to see them doing something together, and they got along well despite some bristling, like two animals sniffing each other out. None of us got much sleep.
On the third day of travel, we had to pass through the great swamp. I could tell from the mood that this was the most dangerous point on the route.
It was the most alien place I had yet seen in this strange world.
The swamp was a vast body of water that was just deep enough to accommodate our boats, and choked with grass, reeds, and vines. The ceiling of the cave was fairly low in many places, and soaringly tall in others, laced with yellow crystal that glowed very bright and made everyone’s faces sickly. The waters were dark and warm, and they bubbled, throwing up vapors that made everyone sleepy. Strange animals lurked there; fish with sharp teeth and the tumpskin I had heard Aurekdel mention. I finally found out what they were. They looked a little like white, pet-size hippos with webbed feet, and swam in herds, the babies on the backs of the mothers. Although small, they liked to knock into boats and try and turn them over, and had to be swatted and deterred, especially our boat.
“They smell crystal magic in our swords and other magic items,” Aurekdel said. “That’s their food.”
“Hell, they probably smell it in Himika’s bones,” Seron said.
I screeched.
We sailed through the swamps with a constant rocking and thumping from hungry tumpskins, Oszin and Seron hitting them out of the way with oars while the winged cats tried to frighten them off. The tumpskins squawked angrily.
Now I couldn’t see the cave, just the eerie yellow light filtering through the canopy onto Aurek’s face. It turned his beautiful coppery hair a weird sickly greenish color like a tainted coin. His hand was on his sword, and I could tell he was listening hard. I didn’t try to make conversation.
I poured myself a little wine, and kept my own hand on Irhonda.
For hours, this went on, the thumping and the silence and the drips and little splashes of the swamp and the caves. The weird light made my eyes ache. I wanted so much to sleep, but my tension also kept me alert.
And then, Aurekdel stood up, lifting his head to the ceiling. He turned, trying to follow a sound. I heard some sort of skittering. Maybe an echo. Then some shouts far ahead in the caravan.
Something was up there.
It got closer.
“Rock dragons!” Aurek shouted, throwing open the canopy.
We were in a tight part of the swamp. The ceiling was less than ten feet above us. Rock formations reached from water to ceiling in some spots, forming natural choke points. There was no way to change our course.
Everyone drew their swords, and I started to do the same. Aurek held out his hand. “Not yet,” he said. “Stay here with me.” He groped back toward me, the boat wobbling under our feet, and found my hand.
I heard what sounded like fighting ahead. We couldn’t see far between the grasses and rocks.
“Fucking tumpskins,” Seron said, whacking one through the air like a ball. I felt kind of bad for them, especially the babies, but they seemed very tough.
“No kidding,” Oszin grunted. “Look at this thing!” The one Seron hit turned right around to come back for more.
Shrill horns blew up and down the caravan and I jolted. “What does that mean?”
“That’s to wake up anyone who got knocked out by the sleep mists,” Aurek said.
“Push—push forward!” Seron shouted to the surrounding guard boats. “If we get to the lily glade we can form a good defensive position.”
“Yes, sir!”
“What’s—that?” Oszin was the first to notice a low-slung armored ship sailing out of a break in the grasses off to our left side. The front of it was adorned with a gold emblem of grasping claws, that I knew now was the Traitor King’s emblem. We barely got a look at it when huge rocks suddenly jutted up around our boat. The hull was bashed in, Seron thrown overboard, just before another rock struck, forcing the front half of the boat upward, and then the whole boat slid sideways at such an angle that now Oszin was clinging to the deck and Aurekdel and I were thrown against the canopy. I could hear water rushing below the deck, where food stores were kept.
“We have to get out,” Aurek said. “If this goes down we could be trapped in the netting.”
I climbed out carefully, gripping my sword.
Rock dragons were pouring out of the boat now, swimming toward us, while the tumpskins panicked, scattering in all directions. Most of our people were trying to stay on their boats and row toward the enemy but a few turned into dragons and plunged into the water. Some of the rock dragons were frozen in ice.
I saw Seron rise up from the water in dragon form, snarling at the rock dragons, trying to keep them away from us.
The rock beneath our boat kept growing upward, spiking the hull, and suddenly the entire boat was tipping over. I was forced to jump off, in a panic of being trapped beneath it somehow. Aurek tried to keep hold of me but he couldn’t. When I jumped, I felt something hard under the water scrape my ankle and blinding pain shot up my whole leg.
“Seron!” I cried, flailing. I needed something I could hold onto or the pain would overwhelm me and I would drown. I needed Seron’s healing. “Aurek!” He had to be close by.
My hands found one of the tumpskins, swimming steadily away from the wrecked boat. Its skin felt sleek and soft, and it didn’t seem to care if I grabbed it. Then I remembered, the tumpskin might drain crystal magic out of my bones! I took my hands back in another wave of panic. I could feel the sword at my waist. Although light, it was still dragging me down a little. The pain from my ankle was hitting me in flashes.
“Himika!” I turned to Oszin’s voice. Somehow he’d ended up past the prow of the boat, Aurek nearby, while I was closer to the center point. When he saw me, he grabbed Aurek’s hand. “There she is!”
They were both swimming toward me together. Even through the horror of the moment, I was overjoyed to see that when things got really bad, Oszin didn’t hesitate in helping Aurekdel.
I tried to swim toward them. Moving hurt too much.
“Help me,” I sputtered. “I hurt my foot—!”
“Just keep your head above water,” Aurek said. “We’re coming.”
“Himika! Behind you!” Oszin shouted.
I turned just in time to see Kajira dive bomb a rock dragon as it snapped his jaws at my long hair, which was trailing in the water. It started dragging me backward by the roots. More pain. Kajira was trying to scare the thing off, and it wasn’t working. For a moment I felt fear more potent than almost any moment in my life.
I guess the only thing that saved me was that it wasn’t the first time. I had seen my kingdom fall, my father’s corpse carried out into the court of my home, where I was ordered to say goodbye. In the city of Capamere, I was dragged to the Emperor’s feet. They asked me to bow to him. I refused. I thought he might kill me. When he offered me kindness instead, just as I started to crumble and offer him some trust, that was when he wanted to marry me. When he pulled down the sleeves of my dress and took my breast into his mouth. I’d never forget what he said. I need this. I’ll be your husband tomorrow, so don’t give me a hard time.
All these moments had shown me fear, but they had also shown me the path to getting past fear. To fighting back.
&n
bsp; Under the murky water, I found the hilt of Irhonda and pulled it out of the scabbard. I gripped the blade in my fist and pushed it back behind me, seeking the body of the rock dragon who had me by the hair.
I heard the beast shriek and immediately, it let go of me.
“Ahh!” I cried out partly from relief, and partly from another wave of pain.
Then I felt a hand grip my wrist from below.
It yanked me down, into the dark water.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Himika
All I could feel around me was water—and a man’s body. I couldn’t breathe, but soon I would have to. I was pulled against him, and he swam forward. I could feel the water churning around his legs as he hit the bottom of the water. I remembered how shallow it was. It was easy to forget when it looked so murky. I had probably just hit my foot on some rock on the bottom…
I had to shut my eyes. The water stung them. He lifted me into his arms, carrying me under, and I was still holding my sword. I tried to thrust it at him and struck something hard.
Suddenly, I felt the ground open up beneath us, and he jumped down with me in his arms. We fell through a passage, in a few jarring descents. He was gripping me tight and everything was black. It felt like Kajira was clinging to my head. And then we dropped into another tunnel of water. Some swamp water spilled onto our heads from above before being carried off down the tunnel, where the water was perfectly clear and only went up to my waist.
It took me a second to process what the hell had just happened.
I was standing in a tunnel of gently flowing water next to a man who was patting the rock above us.
Somehow, we had actually dropped through a hole in the ground.
A hole that was now closed.
Kajira was soaking wet. She clung pathetically to my shoulder, shaking her wings, scattering dirty water all over me.
I looked up into the face of Ezeru. I recognized him. His form was unmistakable. He was tall, gaunt but unmistakably strong, his skin almost alabaster pale but tight with wiry muscle visible when he lifted his arms and his long sleeves fell back to his elbows. His shoulders were a little stooped, his eyes deep set and dark, his lean face surprisingly regal, framed by his long black hair.
The Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow Box Set Page 24
