The Dragon of Despair

by Jane Lindskold

  "So you agree?" Columi asked, a suggestion of doubt in his voice, though Torio wasn't certain whether the doubt was at his own wisdom for speaking or at Toriovico's belief in what he'd just said.

  Torio decided to reply to the latter.

  "I don't entirely agree," he said. "Indeed, I insisted that we check into the authenticity of these artifacts. However, Melina says there are advantages and I must agree."

  " 'Melina says,'" Columi repeated and his voice was tight. "Honored One, surely you don't need me to spell this out further. Melina is the heart and soul of this new faction. She has strengthened Apheros's power but only because he is unable to do other than what she wishes. There are others within the Primesùones who would normally be obstructive and cantankerous if for no other reason than the joy of itùwho are now amiable companions."

  Toriovico nodded, though his head was pounding as if a drummer beat upon it. He thought of Dimiria, of the Defeatists, so suddenly placid.

  "Think!" Columi pleaded. "Think on what she is doing… and wonder why on top of it all Consolor Melina has taken to prowling beneath the ancient towers of Thendulla Lypella."

  I DON'T RECALL this being a toll road last year," Derian commented after they were waved through yet another checkpoint.

  "It wasn't," Peace replied making certain they were well out of earshot of any other traveler. "You and your friends should be honored. The change is due to you."

  "Us?"

  Peace pulled a weary, thin-lipped smile.

  "You recall your departure from Dragon's Breath last year?"

  "Of course."

  "As I understand itùand you must understand that my information is secondhand," Peace looked momentarily sad, "your ability to avoid those sent out to search for you was much discussed, as was Baron Endbrook's similar departure somewhat earlier that season. There was great unhappiness over the ease with which the two groups of foreigners had departed when those involved in the national interest were hoping to speak with them."

  Derian remembered that freezing journey with a shiver.

  "Getting away wasn't easy," he protested. "You know that. If the weather hadn't been so horribleùand without Firekeeper's help finding food and shelterùI doubt we would have made it to the border."

  "So it may be," Peace said with a noncommittal shrug. "I was too discommoded to remember much of that journey. In any case, as I understand it, it was universally agreed that the Sword of Kelvin Turnpike, at least within a few days of the capital, needed to be guarded. Such installations as the guard post we just passed cost money."

  Derian nodded. "I'd say so. The horses I saw in the corral were superlative, bred for speed."

  "Better to catch us with, what?" Edlin commented with interest.

  "Something like that," Peace agreed. "An ingenious member of some committee came up with the idea that the guards might as well collect tolls to cover the expense. After all, travelers of all kinds benefit from the greater security on the roads and the guards need to be kept alert. Indeed, this road began as a toll roadùa thing that is recalled in its name. My people are always quick to return to tradition."

  Derian shook his head. There were toll roads in Hawk Haven, mostly roads that crossed private estates, but they weren't either common or popular. He didn't imagine the case would be otherwise here. The New Kelvinese were weird, but they weren't crazy. Then Edlin's words came home to him.

  "I just hope," Derian said, the thought making him quite uncomfortable, "that we don't need to work a quick departure this time."

  "I doubt," Peace agreed, "such would be nearly as easy. I wonder if it would be possible at all."

  POLR SHIELD HAD a tremendous amount to prove. His brother Newell had been a traitorùan assassin who had tried to kill the king. His sister Melina had been exiled for plotting with the Isles against Hawk Haven and Bright Bay.

  Polr didn't know the precise details of what Melina had done. Those were being kept very, very quiet, but his brother Tab's expression when he had returned from meeting with King Tedric had been eloquent. Young Jet Shield, now officially head of what had been his mother's household, had looked shocked.

  No, Tab wouldn't say what the king had confided in him, and Jet was acting as if he'd forgotten he ever had a mother. Then again, Polr wasn't inclined to probe. He really didn't want to hear the details. Melina's flight into New Kelvin and her recent marriage to the king of that very weird land seemed to confirm her guilt.

  Two traitors out of the Shield family would be enough even if the pair's deeds had been stretched out over the history of the kingdom. Two within a year was a shame the family might never live down, not evenùor maybe because ofùtheir descent from the near kin of Queen Zorana the Great herself.

  The Shields knew better than anyone, maybe better even than the Eagles, Zorana's own immediate descendants, that Zorana Shield hadn't been quite the upright and stainless ruler everyone portrayed her as these days. You'd think that the story of how she won the castle now known as Eagle's Nest would be hint enough, but no one seemed to take it.

  Polr had thought about what hints other people might take from recent actions, though. He knew that if his family didn't straighten up and do something notable then they were destined to be looked at slantwise by everyone. There'd been a rumor going around the House that when Sapphire ascended to the throne she was planning to displace Tab's heir and put one of her siblings in as duke or duchess. They were Shields, after all, merely a cadet branch.

  It wouldn't be like the current House was being displaced, just shuffled around a bit.

  So Polr felt that the honor of his house and continued dominance of his immediate line rested on his shoulders as he rode out on this mission for the king. He suspected that King Tedric knew just badly House Gyrfalcon needed to prove itself. Polr just hoped that the whole escapade wasn't meant to provide yet another example of his family's disgrace. It would be so easy, after all, to send him on a task in which he was destined to fail.

  Polr resolved to succeed and studied the situation to find his best advantage. He and his immediate band had camped outside of New Bardenville for several days now, and if Lord Polr Shield was certain of one thing it was that Ewen Brooks was an odd one.

  Commoner-born Ewen might be, but he didn't act it. From the records Polr had been invited to inspect before leaving Eagle's Nest, he knew that Ewen was a miller's son, nothing more. Ewen carried himself like he thought he was king or at least the mayor of some great city rather than an unofficial leader of a settlement whose proudest boast was a collection of half-built cabins.

  Ewen had all but ordered them to camp outside the palisadeùthis when he should have been falling all over himself to welcome a noble to stay beneath his roof.

  He'd told them where there was a stream with good water, but when Polr had offered to pay a few of the settlers to carry water and help with camp choresùa friendly gesture, he'd thought, given that they'd all be heading back east, where a few Gyrfalcon tokens could go a long way toward helping the former settlers set up housekeeping againùEwen hadn't only refused to send anyone, he'd seemed insulted.

  At his royal briefing, Polr had been warned to expect some resistance on the part of the settlers. That was the reason for the seven-day waiting period, to give them a chance to adjust to the idea of leaving. However, Polr hadn't seriously thought they'd resist, not once they had a chance to mull over what they were up against. He'd thought resistance even less likely after he'd gotten a look at the interior of their rude fortification.

  Though the settlers had cleared a good bit of land around the palisade, they hadn't come close to getting rid of all the trees surrounding them. Numerous sturdy oaks and maples offered safe vantage points from which Polr and his scouts could inspect the interior of the palisade.

  New Bardenville appeared to consist of a dozen or so structures grouped around a central square. One log longhouse looked quite solidùPolr would have bet anything that it had been the settlers' first fort, before the
exterior wall was built. The other sides of the square were flanked with a mixture of tents and log cabins. A couple of the cabins weren't even roofed yet, relying on canvas tops, doubtlessly scavenged from former tents.

  The settlers kept goats and hens, a few dogs and cats, but there were no horses or mules, and only a few cows. This was odd, because Derian Counselor had reported precise numbers and types of livestock present in the settlement and there had definitely been more domestic animals than they could now account for.

  The size of the population seemed about what had been reported, but the balance had shifted. Polr saw no one who matched the description of Ewen's wife, Dawnùa person who he had been told might be convinced to be on the side of reason if some within the settlement chose to resist the king's will. A few other town leaders seemed to be missing as well.

  Then there was the matter of the fields outside the walls. Derian Counselor's report had described tended areas prepared for a variety of grains and other staples. The open fields were there, the plow ridges still discernible, but there were no crops. The only gardens were comparatively small patches within the palisade.

  So the settlers had met trouble, possibly from deer or rabbits, whichùso said one of Polr's soldiers with the relish of a man who had escaped a farmer's lifeùcould strip a field of young crops overnight. The settlers had to be short of food, perhaps of other necessities. If they were hoping for supplies from the east they now knew they weren't coming.

  So why didn't Ewen make arrangements for his people's departure? Why didn't he invite Polr and his troops in so they could lend a hand? Surely he didn't mean to fight.

  Lord Polr seriously considered this last possibility for the first time since his initial briefing. Well, if they wanted a fight, he'd give them a fight, for the good of king and countryùand for the honor of the Shields.

  SETTLING INTO HASAMEMORRI'S HOUSE should have been easy and peaceful.

  Their enormously fat landlady, dressed as ever in something floating and pink, her facial ornamentation in shades of the same color, was delighted to see them. Clearly, as far as Hasamemorri was concerned, they were not foreigners of questionable character who had been forced to flee the city on rather short notice. They were valued clients.

  I wonder if Hasamemorri ever figured out that Edlin and Derian doped her and her maids the night we left, Elise thought, recalling the tea Doc had blended. Probably not, judging from this welcome. And, of course, that welcome has more to do with Doc than with all the rest of us combined.

  Indeed, they had barely finished dinner their first evening in Dragon's Breath before Hasamemorri had plunked down in a chair in their former consulting room, propping her plump leg up on a footstool so Doc could check on her perpetually aching knees.

  Doc had just knelt to examine the tormented joint when a loud scream of raw, unornamented terror came from the backyard.

  Elise bolted from her place at Doc's side and dashed down the center corridor to the kitchen. She arrived just as Wendee pulled open the door into the yard. The action admitted a thunderingly angry Firekeeper, who was alternately kicking and shoving in front of her a New Kelvinese in kilted robes. Although he was at least half again as tall as Firekeeperùand apparently in the prime of lifeùthe wolf-woman was having no trouble herding him as she wished.

  "Thief or bandit?" Firekeeper demanded sharply. "What is it when a man is in the dark listening at windows? Do I cut his throat or not?"

  The man wailed in such wordless terror that Elise felt a sudden wash of pity for him. Thief or not, meeting Firekeeper in the dark was not something she would wish on anyone.

  "Let's ask him," Elise suggested. "Is he armed?"

  "Two arms," Firekeeper said, contemptuously letting go of her captive, her Fang blossoming in her hand as she did so. "You see if more."

  "Don't do anything threatening," Elise advised the man in her most formal New Kelvinese. "I won't answer for my companion otherwise."

  The man turned his face up to her imploringly and Elise saw clearly defined on his right cheek the stylized spindle that was the mark of the Sodality of Sericulturalists. Otherwise, he wore minimal paintùjust a few dark lines defining brow and jaw. Elise recalled that the Sericulturalists usually wore less paint than the majority of New Kelvinese, lest they mar the exquisite fabrics that were their pride and their responsibility.

  Certainly the man's robes seemed to confirm him as a member of the Sericulturalists. Elise couldn't recall when she'd seen such magnificent silk. Its dark blue dyes were deceptively simple, doubtless to show off the quality of the weave.

  "I am," the man replied, also in New Kelvinese, his voice trembling, "Nstasius, least Prime of the Sodality of Sericulturalists. I beg you, do not let that mad creature kill me!"

  "Lady Blysse," Elise said slowly, "has had a very difficult visit here in New Kelvin. She did not expect to find such an honored personage prowling in our back garden. Neither, for that matter, did I. Do you wish to explain yourself?"

  Elise was aware that the rest of their company had joined them, even Peace, who hovered almost unseen in the partially open kitchen door, Citrine clinging to his robes.

  Demonstrating the tact and prudence that had made her such a fine landlady during their former visit, Hasamemorri was lumbering up the stair to her own apartments. In a few moments, the door that separated the two portions of the house was heard to firmly shut.

  Elise felt vaguely strange when she realized that no one was going to take over interrogating Firekeeper's catch, but she pressed on.

  "And what, Nstasius of the Sericulturalists, were you doing in our back garden?"

  "Actually," he said, looking a trace calmer, "I was around the side of the house when this… Lady Blysse took exception to my presence. She brought me around to the back."

  Elise repeated the gist of this to Firekeeper, who nodded.

  "That is so," Firekeeper said, grinning wickedly. "I think it not good for Hasamemorri if I bring this in front door. Blind Seer," she added apparently as an afterthought, "is seeing if there is more."

  "Nstasius," Elise said, "tell me quickly. Did you have any companions in your spying?"

  "Spying!" he protested indignantly. "I was not…"

  "Later," Elise interrupted. "Answer my question. Any companion of yours may be in grave danger."

  Nstasius shook his head.

  "I was alone," he replied, "but I was not spying. I was trying to learn if you had retired for the evening. I had no wish to draw your landlady's attention if you had done so."

  Derian, his New Kelvinese understandable if unpolished, interjected, "Well, you've failed there, and I hope you've told the truth about companions. Lady Blysse isn't the most formidable of our guards."

  Nstasius looked unbelieving, but reasserted that he had been alone. Shaking down his kilted robes, he added, "I wished to speak with you of Hawk Haven about matters that would benefit us both, but I wished that our audience be private."

  "Wait a moment," Elise said, "while I translate your request for those of my companions who do not speak your language."

  She did so. When she had concluded Doc spoke for the company.

  "I don't see what harm listening will do. Does our visitor speak Pellish?"

  "A little," Nstasius answered when Elise put the question to him, "but for such complex matters I would be happier speaking my own languageùespecially since this lady speaks it so well."

  No one argued that this should be otherwise and so everyone except for Grateful Peace and Citrine adjourned to the consulting room. The kitchen was public space shared with Hasamemorri and even the most tactful of landladies should not be tempted beyond reason.

  Elise wished they had reason to include Peace in the conference, but prudence dictated that no undue attention be drawn to one who wasùafter allùsimply a hired guide.

  "I represent," Nstasius began when all of them were settled, "a group vitally interested in better, more open relations with those lands that neighbor our ow
n. My associates and myself hold progressive views regarding how New Kelvin should best advance. For too long have resources been diverted to antiquated and arcane interests that benefit none but a few researchers. We would see that change. We see Hawk Haven as a strong ally in our cause."

  One of those, then, Elise thought as she translated for the others, who oppose the policies of the current Dragon Speaker. King Tedric spoke of such.

  "This is interesting," she said aloud. "Why do you bring this matter to us? If you have heard rumors that Lord Kestrel and myself represent a potential market for your country's goods, you are correct, but our finances are not vast."

  Nstasius did not look disappointed. Indeed, he looked rather pleased.

  "You might find that your resources buy more than you had imagined possible," he said delicately, "if you were to make your purchases through those with whom you have established friendly ties."

  "Isn't that always the case?" Elise replied blandly, being deliberately obtuse.

  Nstasius looked momentarily frustrated, then said, "Let us say, then, if your friends were in positions of power within the government and so able to grant trade concessions."

  "I begin to understand," Elise said. From the look in Derian's eyes, the horse trader's son did too. "That would be very nice, but how could we assist you to promote yourselves and your allies into those positions?"

  Nstasius tugged sharply at the end of his braid, twisting the coordinated blue ribbon around the end of his finger.

  "Consolor Melina," he said abruptly. "She is a new power among us. She is your countrywoman. Our hope is that you can help us to understand her."

  Understand? Elise thought. You would not like at all what we could help you to understand, Prime Nstasius.

  Aloud she said, "Lord Kestrel and I are not close associates of the lady. She is of our parents' generation. Still, if you tell us what you know of her and what she has done to make herself a power hereùfor we understand that a Consolor is not the same as a queen in our own landùthen perhaps we can be of some assistance. Surely, there can be nothing wrong with promoting understanding between such different cultures."