“If Aurekdel is truly a man of fair deeds and wisdom, I would happily serve a man like that. But the mist dragons don’t have much reason to think so. I can only trust Peri. If she says Dvaro is worse, I believe her.”
As she dried out, I realized she had an alluring smell beneath the scent of swamp water that clung to her hair. At first it was just a hint of something…earthy like sweat, only…very appealing. Maybe this was what they referred to as “musk”.
It stirred my senses and started becoming a little harder to ignore. I felt as if I could smell her very sex.
I’d never noticed that from any woman before. I noticed that everyone had a scent, but never like that.
Rock dragons tended to mate that way. Even though they could speak and understand words, they didn’t talk much to each other, mostly only to high dragons. They made trilling noises when they were mating, and sniffed each other. The men armored their body with the most beautiful rocks they could find to show off their strength. I can’t say it was something I had an urge to do, but Peri warned me once that it was possible I could have mating urges. She struggled to spell it out with words she never had to use.
We don’t know how you will be. You’re different. So you have to be careful. You might feel something about a rock dragon someday.
I would never mate with a rock dragon, I told her. And I definitely didn’t want children. I feared they would be normal rock dragons, alien to me. But even worse, I feared Izeria taking them and warping their minds and bodies. I didn’t know why she had singled me out, out of all the rock dragons. Was she my mother? Or was Dvaro my father? They would never admit it.
You might not have control. The mating urge for rock dragons is strong. If you ever feel it, give yourself pleasure and spill your seed alone.
It had never happened anyway. Sometimes I felt an urge, as I suppose all people do, but it was definitely within my control. I usually thought about one of the young maidens of the court who were sometimes kind to me when Dvaro wasn’t looking. I would never dream of laying a hand on them.
This was a little different. The longer I held Queen Himika, the more uncomfortable I started to feel.
Of course you want to mate with her. She’s beautiful, that’s all. Such a feeling will pass.
I heard something rustle in the tunnel behind us.
“Maybe I should set you down for a moment and keep my hands free,” I said.
“What’s that?”
I could see them coming now, lit by the very soft blue-white light of the crystals in the tunnel. “Tunnel weasels.”
“Oh.” She glanced at me. “Just weasels?”
“Vicious weasels. Nothing to worry about, of course. I can handle weasels, but you’d better stay back. They are possessive of their territory.”
“Eek!” she screeched as the weasels started scurrying into her view. They were about two feet long from nose to tail, skinny and fanged with mangy pale gray fur. The light here was very dim and I don’t think she could see them until they were almost on top of us. I took a handful of rocks from my pocket and they sharpened into blades in my hand. I flung them out, one after another, stabbing weasels that fell into the water and were quickly rushed off by the slow but steady current.
I missed one, which her cat was hovering around growling at. The weasel went still, growling in defense. Himika took her knife and jabbed it with all her strength. The weasel’s corpse was now stuck on the knife and she shook it and then thrust it at me. “Ugh, ugh, get it off, get it off!”
I pulled the weasel’s body off and tossed it in the water to join its fellows, then dipped the knife in the water and wiped it dry. “No big deal,” I said.
She caught her breath, trying to be cool. “I guess not. Thanks. I’d just—never seen them before.”
“It’s—“ I stopped as I heard something much larger slinking along rock behind us.
I grabbed her and started running, putting distance between us while the larger beast was eating fresh weasels. I heard it slurping and grinding up weasel bones.
“What now!?” she cried.
“Those tunnel weasels weren’t after us. They were running from something, probably a licking snake.”
“What the hell is a licking snake? Actually—I mean—it’s self explanatory. Just run.”
“I could easily kill a licking snake,” I said, which was true, but the queen was another story. I didn’t want to take the risk that it could touch her with its venom. “I’m just trying to spare you the experience.”
I reached a juncture. Three tunnels all fed into the same main aqueduct. Hmm. I hadn’t mapped this far, but I had to choose the one that was easiest to defend from a hungry licking snake. I veered left and threw up rock barriers too small for the snake to pass through. As we hurried on, the snake hit the barriers and its tongue probed past, lapping the rock, trying to find another taste of flesh.
Himika stared in frozen horror.
“I want to go home,” she said.
“I will get you home,” I said.
Four hours later, the tunnel led out and upward to a beautiful spring-fed river with an ancient weathered sign that said “Beware: Man Eating Fish”, and it was obvious that we had been very, very lucky, and also that we were lost.
Chapter Forty-One
Himika
“Kajira!”
The little cat leapt out of my arms and flew off into the shadows. I heard her cry plaintively.
“Come back!” I cried.
Another mew, and then I realized what she was doing.
“She knows the way,” I said. “We need to follow her.”
Ezeru coughed, leaning against the wall for a moment. He looked tired. He was definitely lost. He tried to pick me up again anyway, but instead I limped backward.
“No,” I said. “Never mind. I think we’d better rest for now.” I sat down on a rock, finally taking the time to examine my foot. It wasn’t as bad as I initially thought. Maybe I hadn’t actually broken any bones, but the gash could get infected.
I put my head in my hands.
“Your Majesty…,” he said, hesitantly. “I am sorry.”
“I’m tired of being kidnapped. I’m tired of making people worry. If what you say is true, you are trying to do the right thing. It better be true. But either way, I’m sick of being so vulnerable. And now you’re lost.” I started to get dangerously close to tears. “I just don’t know what Oszin will do.”
“Oszin? You are wedded to Aurekdel. Who is Oszin?”
“Oszin is my champion,” I said. “And Seron. I have…three mates, and they would all die for me. But what good does it do, when I can’t protect myself. Make magical tea, Oszin said. Well, there’s some energy tea, if you can figure out how to boil water.” I took a sodden bag of tea buds and leaves from my dress pocket and flung it on the ground. Kajira came flying back, rubbing all over me, looking impatient. “Sorry, Kaji. Not yet.”
He picked up the bag, opened it, and sniffed the contents.
“Wait there,” he said. “I’ll keep you within sight, so just shout if you hear anything odd.”
“Oof,” I muttered.
He walked to the shore of the water and grabbed some handfuls of dried grasses and thick reeds along the bank, gathering them up in a mound in front of me.
“Are you making a fire?”
“Yes.” He poked around some of the loose rocks that were around, and shaped one into a small pot with long legs and two more into cups. My eyes widened. I still didn’t know that much about dragon magic yet, but I had never seen anyone do magic like that so easily. He poked around in the shadows and came back with two red-hued rocks that he rubbed together rapidly until they sparked. The dried grass was stubborn to catch, but he blew on it, coaxing the flame, and then he filled the pot with water and set the legs in the fire. My sachet of tea was sprinkled inside.
“Energy,” he said, “would be welcome now.”
“Yes.” I tried not to look impressed. “
Well, it does work. It comes from my own magical tea garden.”
He crouched by the fire, fussing with it. Men could never just leave a fire alone. What a strange person, I thought. A rock dragon… It was very odd to see the ugliness of a rock dragon somehow turned into something…not quite so ugly. Where I might say a rock dragon had beady eyes, his were piercing. Shadowed and strong, rather than hulking and dark. He had high cheekbones, and his skin was like a statue.
“Three mates?” he asked. “And they are all like,” his hand made a gesture, “lovers?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Even healed of the curse of the dragon’s tear, you’re small.”
“I wasn’t healed,” I said.
“Not healed? Dvaro doesn’t have that information. How interesting.”
“So what was this?” I tried to make the gesture.
“It’s not obscene. I don’t know the words for some things. Peri speaks with signs.”
“Oh, yes. I forgot you said…her tongue.” My own tongue hurt just thinking about it. “I’m not at all happy about this, but it is valiant of you to try and escape to help Niko’s mother.”
He thrust the hot tea cup in my hand. I had to put it down very fast not to burn myself. Then he was up again, chasing after some sound deeper in the cave. I tensed again. Kajira paused in grooming her paw to stare into the distance, but didn’t freak out.
I heard some little squawking and muttering noises. It almost sounded like listening to restless chickens. Then a few words I didn’t understand.
Ezeru led two adult and two juvenile rock dragons to the water to drink. Kajira jumped down to sniff them. I started to stop her, but Ezeru said, “It’s all right. They’re not hostile and they don’t even speak the high dialect. I can’t communicate with them very well. But they’re not with him; they just want some water.”
This was the first time I’d ever seen rock dragons just…being, and not attacking. They stayed in dragon form, which was good, because in semi-human form they creeped me out more. In dragon form they were still not the cuddliest creatures around, with sharp teeth and rocky hides. They carried packs on their backs, and filled some water skins. They chittered to each other. The kids got in the water and started splashing each other with their tails.
Ezeru barked something at them which I guess was to warn them about the possibility of man-eating fish. Kind of a “be careful” tone. One of the adults, the father I guess, because he was larger, put his head under the water and investigated, and then he seemed to deem it safe, and the kids played but they stayed by the edge.
They’re definitely smarter than animals, I thought. Just not as smart as us. When I thought about how easily people had killed for the Emperor and believed his lies, I felt bad for the rock dragons. If even a society with libraries and theater could be so easily duped, it was no wonder that the Traitor King could turn them into vicious hoards, ready to die for him.
I glanced at Ezeru, but he was watching them, almost protectively, I thought. I looked at the tea again.
I sort of would have expected him to be ashamed, seeing the other rock dragons. But I didn’t get that impression. I think he still sort of felt like he belonged with them, only I’m sure he was also well aware that he did not.
I was starting to feel really weird around him. My stomach was doing somersaults. It definitely wasn’t like—attraction. I was uncomfortable. But also intrigued. I hope he’s really on our side, I thought. I hope he sticks around. I need to know…more.
Chapter Forty-Two
Seron
“So far, it looks like we only lost one man. A few injuries, but nothing we can’t treat. And the kids barely even saw anything. They really were just here for her.”
“Seron, move ahead of the caravan and find her,” Aurek told me as Raia handed up some sealed wine bottles from the overturned royal boat. He was settling himself on another boat. “I’ll just slow you down.”
“Besides that, you really should try not to die, and stay with your people.”
“You had better not die either,” he hissed.
“What about the kid?” I whispered, jabbing a finger at Himika’s guard. He was still shoving rock dragon corpses aside in the water with a pole, making sure she wasn’t there.
“Yes. You’d better bring Oszin with you. I sure don’t want to deal with him,” Aurek said.
“I hope the queen is okay,” Raia said, chewing her lip. She looked very upset. “She’s already been through a lot and she’s…so sweet. That bastard, coward of a dragon. I want to see his head on a pole. No, that’s too good for him. I want to see him shamed and—” Someone passed her another crate from the water.
“If anything happens to Himika, there will be no end to my wrath,” Aurekdel said.
I cleared my throat. I didn’t need those two feeding off each other.
If something happened to Himika…I didn’t know what I’d do, but in a general sense, all this death just left me numb. I looked at all the bodies clogging the water, the crystal lights shining eerily down. By the time we passed again, their flesh would be eaten, the bones and rocks lost to the shadows.
“C’mon,” I told Oszin. “We’re going ahead after her.”
“You and me?”
“Yes.”
We took one of the sleekest boats, hastily loading it with weapons, rations, and medical supplies, in case Himika was hurt.
We sailed past all the rest of the boats, through the swamp and beyond. It took all day and a lot of slow maneuvering just to get to the front of the line. By the time we got there, everyone else had to stop and rest. No one was making it to the next castle because of the fighting.
I looked at Oszin. “You want to press on, don’t you?”
“I won’t sleep until she’s found.” He already looked exhausted, but also so wild eyed that I couldn’t imagine him sleeping.
“I completely understand.”
We stopped to have some of Himika’s tea, although he tried to refuse it, like it was sacred now.
“You need energy,” I said.
Then we walked on through caves on foot, to the point the boat captain described. An opening in the ground led to the aqueduct. There was no sign of her here, but we climbed down into the water. We walked until we were dead on our feet.
This is crazy, I thought. We’re going to die down here.
But I saw the look on Oszin’s face, and I realized that as much as I loved Himika and Aurekdel and other friends and comrades, I had seen so many people die that I never worried like that anymore. I just went numb and didn’t think. Had I ever? Maybe not. I was just a little kid when everything was torn from me. A part of me was already adjusting to the idea that she was gone.
Aurekdel is like that too, I thought. I think he’s fallen in love with her. I think we both have. But at the same time…we’re afraid to love anyone like that. It’s easier if we just lust after her, but the more she works her way into our hearts…
When I saw Oszin’s face, it was like seeing what passion was like for the first time. What it was really, truly like to surrender your entire soul to someone, to allow yourself to need them with every fiber of your being.
The poor guy, I thought. Look at him.
But deep down, I wanted to know. What was that feeling like?
If I allowed myself to feel that much, I wondered if I’d be as good of a commander.
And then I caught sight of a ribbon. It must have come out of Himika’s hair. Her hair…I could see it in my mind, imagine the feel of it in my fingers, and seeing the ribbon made the danger of losing her feel too real.
“Damn,” Oszin said. “I’m glad you spotted that. My eyes just aren’t good enough in the dark.”
We started hurrying, as much as one can hurry with water tugging at our calves.
Something slithered in the darkness ahead.
“Oszin! Have an arrow ready! I don’t think I have space to turn into a…”
A licking snake ca
me into view, eight feet long with pale, speckled scales on a thick trunk, and a tongue that tasted the air another two feet ahead. Of course I saw it first. I had to wait out an excruciating second or two before it was in Oszin’s view.
Oszin fired and hit the snake’s head dead on with his first shot.
“You have definitely proved yourself tonight,” I said.
“Thanks,” he said. “What was that thing? Blech.”
“You must be pretty homesick for birds and all of that.”
“I am very homesick for birds,” he said. “They don’t attack you.”
“Hm.” I found birds to be very startling creatures. In Gaermon a gull attacked my lunch, and they made it difficult to sleep in the morning. But, to each their own.
When we found a tunnel blocked by bars of rock, I knew we were on Ezeru’s tail. But we couldn’t get through the rocks. I tried to turn into a dragon and bash through them. We banged on them with weapons. No luck.
“Himika,” Oszin gasped. “Seron…gods. I’m so tired.” He clutched the bars. “We’ll have to turn back…rest…damn it!” His shout echoed down the tunnel.
Chapter Forty-Three
Himika
“Kajira’s going crazy…” I stirred from a very uncomfortable nap and tried to grab her before she skirted down into the tunnel. “She wants to go back the way we came now!”
Ezeru was trying to rest, but clearly awake. He got to his feet.
“Maybe…they’re looking for me,” I said. “Aurekdel and Seron and Oszin… You blocked off that gate! Ezeru, please, I’m all rested up now. My foot feels much better. And it seems like the man-eating fish aren’t in the lake anymore.”
He looked apprehensive. Maybe about the fish. Maybe about the moment he turned his back on King Dvaro. Maybe about what Aurekdel would think of him. I didn’t really care. I started walking.
The Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow Box Set Page 26
