Revelation of the Dragon

by J Elizabeth Vincent

  Han nodded in response to Mariah’s comment and took her hand in his. Although it was quiet, Mariah heard Shira’s grunt. She didn’t like this plan but had agreed to it. Mariah and Han would play the part of a couple, while Shira, whose coloring was closer to his, would play his sister. Their story was that they had traveled all the way from the coast, looking for work and a new place to start. Yes, Mariah knew it was nearly the same the story she had used with Xae when they had pretended to be orphaned and heading to Glenley for work, but it explained why they were unknowns and why they were together. They could always change it when they moved to a new place.

  Mariah forced herself to move slightly closer to Han, laying her other hand on his arm as they walked, and soon, they passed the group of soldiers, who didn’t even bother to look at them or greet them as they went by. The little coil of tension in Mariah’s belly relaxed, and she forced herself to keep looking ahead instead of following the guards’ passage behind her.

  Unlike Kannuk and Glenley, Direstrand had no walls. The village, like the land around it, was rough and hilly and spread out in little groups of houses and merchant buildings. There were still signs of destroyed dwellings and shops, and Mariah remembered Xae telling her that the king had sent Trappers in several years before to destroy an uprising and scare off Ceo San sympathizers. Had the people her mother had sent her to find survived that? Had they fled?

  How could they have remained? Despite its small size, by the time they had reached what she assumed was the center of the village, they had passed more soldiers of all kinds, including three sets of Trappers and slaves. The coil in Mariah’s belly re-formed and became a full-fledged ache. She found herself clutching Han’s hand more tightly as she tried to repress the shudder that went through her, the urge to draw her short sword right then and there. Han for his part didn’t even seem to notice the king’s guards, or he was much too good at playing his role.

  Perhaps her mother had been mistaken, or perhaps things had just changed since that day so long ago. If there was someone here helping Ceo San, they must have been rooted out long ago and killed or taken prisoner. How could they have avoided so many soldiers?

  When Mariah, Han, and Shira came abreast of the lone inn and passed a Trapper attached to a cuffed and pale-faced boy of no more than sixteen, she had to bite her tongue. That could have been Xae. He had come so close to being captured on the day his father had been killed and his mother and sisters had been taken prisoner.

  “Maybe we should just keep going,” she muttered, leaning in toward Han’s ear. “To Westholde, like Shira said. Her grandfather …”

  Shira nodded, her hearing keen, but Han only adjusted his grip on Shadow’s lead and spoke in a low voice, “It will only be worse there, trust me. Westholde has been a military stronghold for years now. Just give me time here to talk, to listen. You said Shira’s good at that too, at ferreting out information. Maybe we can learn something. And if we don’t, we’ll move on.”

  Mariah noted the sign hanging above the inn’s entrance, with its simple carving of a bed and a mug of ale. “All right. But if we learn nothing here, we get out of this place and find shelter somewhere else.” With so many of the guard in town, she’d never get any sleep if they stayed over. Gods, she’d be lucky if she hadn’t done some damage herself by then. The anger smoldering under her skin had become more familiar. What used to be a desire to run and hide every time she saw one of the king’s men had turned into a cold fire, a protectiveness toward the people whose lives he had taken away, especially the children.

  Han conceded, and they started toward the door.

  A young girl, perhaps twelve, with unbrushed wavy brown hair, waited on the wide front porch fronting the inn. As soon as she saw them approach, she bounded down the two little steps toward them and approached Han, offering to tie Shadow out back, give her water, and keep her safe until they were finished inside. “This is my da’s place, no worries,” she said. “You can trust me!” She reached out, and Shadow nuzzled her hand without hesitation; the display earned a dropped jaw from Shira.

  “How—”

  A man on his way into the establishment tousled the girl’s hair as he passed. “Hey, runt,” he said, and she grinned.

  Han looked to Mariah, but all she could do was shrug, so he handed over the reins and a few coppers to boot. “Take good care of her, and there will be more when we’re done. She is one of a kind.”

  Bouncing away and leading Shadow, the girl nodded vigorously. “I sure will!”

  And with that, Mariah, Han, and Shira entered the Knobby Knoll.

  Inside, Han pulled out chairs for Mariah and Shira at a small table close to the middle before walking over to the bar and taking a seat there.

  They enjoyed a good meal, and Mariah was surprised at how little attention they received even though they were strangers. In a low tone, Shira reassured her, “Village on a road like this, situated as it is between Kannuk and Westholde, probably sees lots of strangers.”

  “How’ve you been doing, Bella?” A young man asked the tavern maid as he took a seat at the open table next to them. He made no effort to hide the flirtation in his voice.

  The young woman made her way over. “Jaimus! Well, I’ll be. It’s been a while since you’ve been through.”

  “First time we’ve been able to dig ourselves out in a while. More snow in the hills, you know. It looks like you’ve been keeping busy.”

  Mariah and Shira’s own conversation fell silent as they ate and listened. Shira’s back was to the couple, but Mariah could see them just past her friend.

  “Dragon’s claws, we ain’t had a moment’s peace since the war ended!” the maid replied, her long braids swinging as she set a mug of ale on the table.

  Mariah stared at her for a moment. She hadn’t heard anyone use that particular oath, “dragon’s claws,” since … since her days with her father in the smithy. A sudden vision of Magnus hovering over the forge and muttering to himself when a particular piece of metal refused to mold itself to his will filled her thoughts. Shira poked her, and she stopped staring and looked back at her food. She continued to listen, though.

  “Soldiers coming and going … up to Westholde, down to Kannuk, across to Adis Ador. And Adisians too! You wouldn’t believe how many of them think we’ve got a better place for them here or something. Most of them move on once they realize what a measly excuse for a town this is.”

  “It’ll calm down soon,” Jaimus replied. His mind obviously not on their refugee problem, the grizzle-cheeked man reached out, looping his arm around Bella’s hips and pulling her closer.

  A smile spread over the tavern maid’s face, and she giggled before protesting. “Enough now. Thorin’ll throw me out on my backside if he catches me ‘associating’ with the customers.”

  Jaimus let her go, slowly and with obvious reluctance, but not before saying in a husky voice, “Meet me out back when you’re done?”

  Mariah felt her cheeks heat. She missed the maid’s response, but it left the man chuckling.

  “Mari? You okay?” Shira asked.

  “Yes. Sorry. I was just …” Mariah shook her head and forced attention back to her friend as Shira dug back into her food, taking a giant spoonful of the savory stew full of root vegetables.

  Mariah picked at her own food. It made her nervous, being around so many people, especially soldiers. But if she was going to make a point of going against the king, she’d have to get used to occasionally or more than occasionally coming into their proximity.

  So, they continued to eat, talk quietly, and listen more. Several times, Mariah heard Han guffaw loudly as he exchanged jokes or stories with men at the bar, sometimes even clapping one of the others on the back. How had he insinuated himself into their group so quickly?

  They waited until he left before they settled their tab and followed him out. They found him with the you
ng girl who had taken Shadow. She was waiting against the outside wall, rubbing her hands against the cold. Mariah hadn’t noticed before, but the girl’s coat was too thin, and her sleeves were a bit too short.

  “You’ll be wanting your horse then?” the girl was saying. She pushed herself up, her eyes bright despite the chill.

  “Of course, Miss …?” Han began.

  She was already moving. “Oh, everybody calls me Eva,” she said as she disappeared around the corner.

  Han dug into his pocket and pulled out a few coppers, and Mariah added more to his hand. “She looks like she could use it.”

  “I thought she said her da owned this place. It doesn’t look like it’s doing too badly.”

  There had been a steady stream of patrons in and out of the Knoll since they had arrived, so Mariah didn’t have an answer for him other than, “We can spare it.”

  Eva was back with Shadow in short order. “Thank you for taking such good care of Shadow, Eva,” Mariah said as Han handed the girl the coins. She was surprised when the girl frowned down at the little pile of coppers in her hand, but she didn’t say anything and pocketed them after a moment. Han leaned in to ask her a question as Shira muttered into Mariah’s ear.

  “That girl don’t belong here. I mean, maybe the regulars know her, but if her da runs this place, I’ll eat my left paw.”

  Mariah’s eyes widened, and Shira corrected herself.

  “My own foot, I mean.”

  Mariah shook her head and looked up to see Eva running off as Han turned back to them, holding Shadow’s lead.

  * * *

  They headed west on a tip from Eva. Han had asked her where the best hunting was outside the village, hoping to find a more secluded place where they could talk with some semblance of privacy and decide what to do next. Mariah hoped Han had learned more than she and Shira had in the Knobby Knoll. His plan had been to get the men and soldiers at the bar talking about local goings-on and encourage them with questions if he heard anything that might help them.

  Beyond what the tavern maid had said about soldiers and Adisians, Mariah and Shira had learned about a big wedding planned between some guard captain and the mayor’s daughter. The High Keeper from Glenley had declined to oversee it, and it was apparently quite a scandal. However, it had gotten Mariah thinking about her conversation with Dennari Denholm and what the Keepers were and weren’t permitted to do under the strictures of their order. She hoped that there was a way they could help her, but she steeled herself to see her purpose of freeing the Ceo San children through, whatever the Keepers decided.

  She and Shira had also overheard the tavern owner trying to convince a few locals to form a citizens’ group to guard the inn and patrol the houses, where precious winter food supplies had gone missing from several cellars. The locals agreed that it was probably being done by some of the Adisian refugees coming through town. Everyone seemed to believe those people were obviously low enough to steal.

  The refugees weren’t Ceo San, as far as Mariah could tell, and were more likely people from along the border who had been displaced by the war and were now looking for work and shelter as newly minted subjects of Rothgar and thus citizens of a now larger Varidian. She doubted the current citizens saw them as such. There wasn’t much of either work or food to be had in winter, and the new immigrants were generally encouraged to move on, to go somewhere else. Anywhere else.

  After hearing that, Mariah was glad they hadn’t needed to use their story about looking for work, and as soon as they had walked out of town far enough, Mariah told Han that they needed to change it before they got to the next town, wherever that was.

  “Let me think on it. I’ll come up with something.”

  The grade of the road became steeper the further west they traveled. Soon after, with the borders of the village behind them, the road forked, with one branch going northwest and another more to the south. They followed the southward trail, looking for shelter where they were less likely to be spotted. The south fork soon started to follow the curve of the hills, becoming dotted and then covered in thick trees, some bare and some covered in green needles. Mariah imagined they would be beautiful in spring, all green and lush, and although spring should have been only weeks away, it seemed as if winter might last forever.

  The stone of the road soon turned into packed dirt. The path narrowed and switched back and forth as the gentle slopes turned into ravine walls that rose up to surround them. The walls grew until they were well above Mariah’s height, with trees and boulders clinging precariously to their sides, and she began to wonder if they had taken the wrong fork. It would do no good for them to be sheltered if they were also completely lost.

  The hair on the back of her neck prickled as they ventured deeper into the pass. With the steep walls to either side, there was no way out except forward or back the way they had come, and her nerves began to hum.

  “We should get through here as fast as we can,” she murmured. There was no end in sight. In fact, the rough walls got only higher and the road narrower. No wonder they hadn’t seen much traffic on this road. It didn’t seem to actually go anywhere. Would it finally dwindle to a dead end?

  She spared a glance at the others and saw that Shira looked about as jittery as she felt. Their eyes met, and after they shared a nod, Shira transformed.

  Time seemed to slow as the magic of Shira’s change flowed over Mariah. She inhaled, preparing for her own transformation as Han put his left foot in the stirrup of Shadow’s saddle. There was a sudden hiss in her ear, and Shira roared, rearing up on her hind legs. Something small and red was sticking out of her neck, but before Mariah could figure out what it was, the large brown bear tumbled to the ground in a graceless heap.

  Before she could raise a hand or run to her friend, a strong, thick arm came around her throat, cutting off her air. Several figures surrounded Han as well, pulling him from his horse before he could even get fully seated.

  Mariah dug at the arm that pushed into her neck, letting talons extend from fingers, but it was no use. Thick leather covered the limb, and her talons couldn’t pierce it. Her lungs screaming for air, she kicked backward at her attacker and tried to twist away, but her assailant held firm, like a huge, immovable boulder.

  Change! Fly away!

  The thoughts were carried away as her vision blurred and darkness descended.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The Sovereign

  The throbbing of her head brought Mariah awake. Before she could even open her eyes, her whole body shuddered, and nausea washed over her. The floor beneath her was cold, hard, and uneven, and her side ached, something sharp piercing it.

  Her stomach twisted hard, and she scrambled to her knees as the remains of her lunch came up and splattered onto the floor.

  Moaning and panting, she tried to get herself together, but the pain in her head made it impossible. She turned away from her sickness and collapsed back onto her side, only to have the jabbing thing bury itself more deeply into her lower ribs. She squinted into the darkness and grabbed at her midsection, searching for the offending object. Something small and soft with a rigid rod at its center was indeed sticking into the muscles between her ribs. Her mind registered it as a dart, like the one she had seen sticking out of Shira before she had passed out.

  She pulled it out, gasping, and threw it. It clinked against something across the room and then clattered to the floor. Mariah gently let her head sink back down to the floor. Squeezing her eyes shut against the meager light, she thought only of taking one breath after another, and soon, unconsciousness claimed her once again.

  * * *

  When she woke again, the stiffness and aching of her body told her that she had been sleeping for some time. She took a slow breath, and the smell of loam and rocks filled her nostrils.

  Her headache had subsided to a dull pulsing, but she was reluctant t
o open her eyes. As her hand came up to rub at her forehead, she wondered whether she had fallen and hit her head or the blasted dart had caused the pain. Had the thing been poisoned? The one that had hit Shira knocked her out almost immediately, even in her massive bear form.

  Shira!

  Mariah’s eyes snapped open, and she sat up carefully. It was so dark, she could barely see anything except flickering lamplight from somewhere nearby, and her eyes slowly adjusted until she could make out a bit of her surroundings. She rubbed at the goosebumps on her arms, trying to warm them against the persistent chill.

  She was in a cave of some sort. No, not a cave, a windowless cell. Or maybe a cell in a cave. The walls were rough and uneven, and there was a door wedged into the rock across the room, its heavy open grid letting light bleed in from the space beyond. To her left, there was a dark mound on the floor. A person! She inched toward them on her knees, being careful as she remembered having been sick somewhere nearby.

  The form turned out to be Shira, thank the gods. She was on her side, unconscious but breathing steadily, and relief filled Mariah. Shira’s dark hair was a knotted and tangled mess over her face, and Mariah started to smooth back the sweat-soaked locks, whispering, “Shira. Shira, wake up.”

  Shira shook her head, causing the hair to fall back, but her eyes remained closed. “Please, Goddess,” she moaned.

  Goddess? Was she dreaming of Biorna again?

  “Shira!” Mariah raised her voice, but the woman didn’t respond or show any more signs that she was actually awake. Mariah tried brushing her hair back again, and it was then that she noticed the two darts in Shira’s neck. “Damn it!” she hissed, but as gently as possible, she pried the offensive things from Shira’s skin. The woman still didn’t stir.