Mariah shifted her feet in the cold, pale morning light. Fog had rolled in during the night, curling around the cabin and Berg’s wagon like a giant snake. Standing several yards away from both, she looked down at the dew-covered brown grass, avoiding Shira’s gaze.
“Are you sure you need to do this?” her friend asked. “I mean, I’m ’sposed to stay with you, remember?” She paused, clearing her throat and shaking her head. “Great Biorna, I sound like a little cub ’stead of a grown woman.”
“No, you don’t,” Mariah said, finally looking up and letting her eyes drift briefly to the raven perched on a branch not far above Shira’s head before meeting her brown eyes. Xae had already said his goodbyes. Mariah adjusted her weight, letting her bow and pack settle evenly across her back. “I’d be just as concerned in your place. But it will take over a week for the wagon to get to the city. We’re still going to the same place. I’m just going to get there faster. That’s valuable time—”
“I know, I know. You already said that, and so did bird boy. Even if I don’t always talk like one, I am an adult.”
“Sorry,” Mariah murmured.
Without warning, Shira pulled her into a tight embrace. Mariah returned the gesture, a heavy weight constricting her insides.
“We’ll find them,” she whispered into her ear.
“I know.” Her friend’s voice was raspy, and Mariah felt warm tears wet her own cheek where it had touched Shira’s. “And when you do, you let ’em know we’re comin’.”
Mariah nodded. No more words came to her. Shira let her go when Midelia cleared her throat. The older woman was standing just off to the side, her hands clasped in front of her and a pack fastened securely on her back over her modest coat.
Stepping back, Mariah wiped her face, giving her friend’s hand one last squeeze before releasing it. She nodded to Midelia and then to the remainder of their group, who were gathered on the wide front porch of the cabin.
When she turned her head again, Midelia had already disappeared, and a small brown mouse was scurrying up Shira’s skirt. Mariah repressed a shudder, but Shira remained still as the little animal ran up her hip and then across her arm and into her waiting hand.
Closing her eyes, Mariah let the magic cover her, travel through every fiber of her body and mind. Her transformation was instantaneous.
She pumped her black and silver hawk’s wings once, just enough to vault herself onto her friend’s arm. As delicately as she could, she picked up the little mouse in one claw, wondering if the other Ceo San felt as terribly awkward about the whole situation as she did. Well, it couldn’t be helped. Midelia was the only one among them that could actually get into the castle without being noticed and that she could actually carry. Although his soldiers were trained to watch for suspicious animals, even the king couldn’t ferret out every mouse living in his castle. And as Midelia had noted the previous night, mice were very good at hiding, especially those with human minds.
So, with the other Ceo San gripped in her talons, Mariah opened her wings and beat the air once more. They lifted her upward, toward the endless morning sky, and as they did, the tightness in her chest melted away. Xae flew to her right wingtip, taking his place beside her. She acknowledged him with a short call, and together, they flew into the rising sun.
* * *
Even avoiding roads, villages, towns, and anywhere they might be noticed or shot down by loyal kingsmen, the little group made good time, and the massive, circular wall of Glenley became visible just as Mariah’s stomach started to growl a few hours later. Even in Berg’s wagon, the same trip would take their companions over a week, but that couldn’t be helped.
Mariah and Xae set down in a thick copse of trees a good mile from the road. Mariah lost sight of Midelia for a moment when she released her among the dried brown needles on the forest floor. There wasn’t nearly enough cover for her liking, even in the woods, but it was enough for the mouse to quickly hide herself. Xae landed noisily next to Mariah a few seconds later. They both waited, watching and listening for any signs that they weren’t alone. The forest remained quiet, so Mariah finally let herself transform. Xae did as well, and as Mariah stretched, twisting her back from side to side, Midelia emerged from behind a nearby tree, a hand covering her heart.
“If it’s just as well, High Chosen, I’d prefer never to do that again.” She was smiling, but her narrow face was pale, and Mariah wondered which had bothered the woman more, the flight itself or being gripped in the talons of a natural predator.
“Please, Mariah is fine. And I’m glad it’s over too.” The fear that she might drop the woman, causing her to fall to her death, had gripped her more than once, but fortunately, her talons hadn’t even twitched the whole flight, and Midelia had remained secure.
Xae couldn’t hide the smirk on his face. He thought it was rather funny.
“Would you like to carry her next?” Mariah asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
The smile disappeared. “No thanks,” he said. “I’m sure you did a fine job. No need to change.”
They found a little clearing with stones wide enough to sit on and prepared to eat a cold lunch. After they ate, they made their way to the road in human form. They’d decided it was too risky to try to fly over the high walls, which were guarded by archers and other members of the king’s guard. Mariah had barely missed being shot down when she’d escaped from the castle dungeon less than a year before.
There were plenty of people on the road, coming and going, and no one seemed to pay the little group much mind, not even the soldiers positioned at the base of the bridge over the wide moat that surrounded the city or the ones just outside the walls.
As the trio made their way across the bridge and through the tunnel that brought them under the double portcullises and through the wall, Mariah thought of Shira, who by now was traveling with Han, Teneth, and Berg toward the city via road and wagon. Hopefully, Mariah and her two companions would be able to use the precious time they had gained by flying to the city to find out exactly where Shira’s parents were being held and plan an escape route for them.
Mariah suppressed any hope of getting the Cadens out before the others arrived. With just the three of them, there wasn’t much chance of that. Han had already given them a plan, at least for getting into Draydon Keep, if that’s where Shira’s parents were indeed being held, but it wouldn’t work without him, so unless they came up with something else, she would have to be patient.
Her mind wandered to thoughts of how Mellar was doing organizing his invasion force. How long would it take him to get to the camp? She wanted to be there with him; this was her mission after all. She took comfort from her father’s letter, brushing her hand across the pocket where it was stowed. He had trusted Mellar, and she would do the same. Pushing all of her distractions away, she focused on her new surroundings.
Beyond the walls, the streets of Glenley were cobbled and crowded. Just inside, the city was mostly in shadow. The cold, shady streets sent chills up Mariah’s spine, and she pulled her cloak around her more tightly. Although it was further from the open countryside and the freedom that she preferred, she felt a tangible sense of relief pass through her when they emerged into the sunlight in the main part of the city. The tension she had been holding between her shoulder blades released, and she was finally able to take a decent breath.
Although there were open areas, including at least three markets that Mariah had counted so far, most of the roads they walked were narrow affairs sandwiched between buildings of various sizes.
There seemed to be no organized structure, and when she asked about it, Midelia told her that the city had grown haphazardly over the centuries. At one time, Draydon Keep, under a long forgotten name, had been a lone structure. When the Draydons had taken power, they had brought more trade and prosperity to the kingdom, and the city, as well as the entire kingdom, had increase
d in both size and population. It was strange to hear another Ceo San talk about the Draydons as if they had been benevolent rulers, but Mariah remembered that Rothgar was only one among many in the line. His father had been ambivalent at best, but many of his predecessors had been gracious monarchs, generous to their people and faithful to the Althamir. It was one reason her father had been so disappointed in the current king.
Alleys and cramped stairways led away between many of the buildings to gods knew where. Despite her brief study of the rough city map Berg had provided the night before, Mariah was soon lost. She wished she could fly overhead to get the lay of the land, but she dared not risk it here, at least not during the day, so she was forced to depend on Xae, who had grown up in the city, and Midelia, who stood nearly a head shorter than her but had spent much time there as a spy for the Sovereign.
The slender woman, with her slightly wrinkled, thoughtful face, was quiet, speaking only when she was asked a question or when she needed to pass some essential information to them. She led them deeper into the city, up streets and down alleys, until they were close to the northeast quadrant.
After a good hour or more of walking, the three companions reached the end of one road, only to come upon a wall that stretched high above them and side to side in either direction as far as Mariah could see.
“The walls of Draydon Keep,” Xae murmured.
Mariah remembered her map. Outside the towering city walls, these lower walls surrounded the castle itself and had probably served as its original defense.
Another narrow road hugged the thirty-foot-high structure along its base. In the distance to either side, Mariah spotted round towers rising from the walls. Did one of them contain the dungeon she had been kept in? Her stomach twisted, and she looked back to the wall in front of her.
A strange tugging pulled at her, and Mariah reached out to touch her palm against the rough gray stone. It warmed, and a pulse of recognition shot through her. She pulled her hand back. Neither of her companions seemed to have noticed, and Mariah rubbed at her hand, trying to dispel the odd sensation.
After swinging her head back and forth several times to check the road, Midelia chose to turn right, and the little group made its way southward, passing more narrow streets that abutted the walls but no openings that Mariah could discern.
Their guide finally stopped when a short stairway descended into the street beside the wall. It was so narrow that Mariah had first mistaken it for a crack in the road. It was just barely wider than her own body from shoulder to shoulder.
“At the bottom of these stairs is a postern gate that leads inside the grounds. There are two more along the walls, one to the north and one to the south, but this one is not formally guarded because it opens into the back of the barracks’ garderobe.” Xae wrinkled his nose. “Just beyond is the castle bailey and the barracks itself. I do not need to use the gate because there is a crack in the wall close to it that I can wriggle through, but you may need to make use of it to get in or out when the time comes.”
“Thank you for doing this,” Mariah said.
“It is my honor,” the other woman said simply. “I will meet you at the soldier’s home tomorrow night.” She looked skeptically at Xae. “Are you sure you can find the way?”
“I grew up here, remember?”
Midelia didn’t look convinced, but she nodded.
Before the other woman could turn away, Mariah put a hand on her arm. “Midelia, I hate to ask, but if there is time and it’s not too dangerous, would you look for something else?”
Wrinkling her forehead, Midelia considered Mariah for a moment. “What is it?”
Mariah described the items. “I don’t know if they’re even in there, but if they are … well, it would mean a lot to me.”
The old woman nodded before bowing briefly to Mariah and turning to hurry down the stairs. Mariah felt a little hum run through her as Midelia transformed. The woman’s magic was unique—different from her own and from Shira’s and Xae’s as well—and Mariah stood at the top of the stairs, transfixed with the new sensation as the little mouse disappeared.
“Mari?” Xae asked.
“I’m all right,” she replied after a moment. She hadn’t discussed the fact that she could sense the magic of other Ceo San with her friends. She was afraid that it would be just another thing that made her different from the others. “Lead the way, oh mighty city master.” Something familiar tugged at the edges of her mind, but she pushed it away.
With a forced smile, she gestured to Xae, but his grin made her own come more naturally, and they started back toward the inner city with the goal of finding Han’s quarters before dark.
* * *
As they walked, Mariah became more comfortable, realizing that with all of the people coming and going, working, and talking or downright arguing in the street, she and Xae were mostly overlooked. Her companion did, however, make a special effort to avoid places that tended to be rife with soldiers as well as those he remembered his mother and father forbidding, places they had told him were not safe for children. Mariah had read about those sorts of places in one of the books that were still back in Firebend.
In addition to markets, merchants, artisan shops, and taverns, the cities of Varidian were full of loud gambling houses and places where people could be sold or sell themselves for coin for the pleasure of others. Glenley was no exception. Mariah shuddered. The thought of people selling their bodies reminded her too much of the slavery practiced regularly on the Ceo San. According to her books, the Althamir and their Keepers did not approve of such things, dictating that people should be free, save for their responsibilities to their gods and their king.
It was not the first time that Mariah wondered whether those kinds of dictates made Rothgar believe he had the right to do what he wished with the Ceo San.
Before she could follow that thought further, Xae stopped at the head of one alley, where raucous laughter emerged from a nearby building about halfway to the next crossing. Women dressed in less than half of what Mariah had on hung out of windows and doorways, seemingly heedless of the chill. With leering smiles on their faces, they beckoned to potential customers.
“I always wanted to see what they were like, though. You know, just to look,” Xae said. Lost in her own thoughts, Mariah had missed whatever he had said before, but she noted the look in his eyes.
Mariah reminded herself that he was almost an adult. His curiosity was natural. She had been about his age when she had started itching to be free of the confines of her own hidden life. Although he had grown up in Glenley and could hide his double nature better than she had been able to do, she realized that he must have felt much the same since he had probably hadn’t even been able to have many friends, let alone get into much trouble.
A man walking down the alley approached the den, gesturing lewdly and calling out to one of the women, and Mariah took the opportunity to grab Xae’s arm and steer him away.
“Another time,” she muttered. Or never. She herself didn’t see the appeal. “How far are we?”
“Huh?” Although his feet were moving forward, he kept looking back over his shoulder.
“Xae!” When he still didn’t respond, she stopped and stepped on his foot, not too hard but enough to get his attention.
“Hey!” His head whipped back around so he was facing her. “What are you doing?”
Enunciating each word slowly, she said, “How far is Han’s home?”
“Oh.” His cheeks reddened, and he looked around, orienting himself before pointing ahead. “Just a few blocks this way, I think.”
He said nothing more but led her along without further distractions. After the first block, the clanging of metal against metal began to echo through the street. After another block, the smell of molten iron drifted into Mariah’s nostrils, and she smiled at the familiar scent. But her heart const
ricted as she inevitably thought of her father. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she continued to follow Xae until he stopped just before they reached a small smithy tucked between buildings.
It was housed in a tall, narrow building with a forge sticking out on one side and sheltered by a thatched roof. A wooden sign carved with the name Neiman Jein swung from the rafters near the front.
Xae nodded. “This is it.”
A short, swarthy man, perhaps forty years old, and a boy not much older than Xae worked the glowing forge together, the boy handing tools off to the big man and taking the things he no longer needed. As they watched, the older man held the long billet he was working on and directed the boy to strike it with a hammer that seemed too large for either of them to wield. Mariah’s heart jumped as flashbacks of her father’s injury invaded her thoughts, but the boy proved confident and capable. They watched for several more moments before the man finally took notice of them, but he and his apprentice finished their task before he laid down his tongs.
“Can I help ya?” The smith asked, stepping out from under his roof to meet them.
“Are you Jein?” Xae asked.
“Indeed.”
“My sister and I, see, we’re friends of Hanas Vasdaf—”
A sudden smile erupted on the man’s face, transforming it. “Han, old boy! Haven’t seen him in ages. Is he still on holiday in that little village down south? What was the name of it … Something to do with a bird? Anyhow, what can I do for you?”
Xae didn’t offer any information about where Han was. Instead, he got to the point. “When Han found out we were coming to the city, he offered to let us use his room here, so we didn’t have to rent one. He even sent an advance on his rent with us.” Xae pulled a coin purse from his belt and held it up. “He said we could stay only if it was okay with you. But he did give us the key.” He held that up in his other hand.
Still smiling, Jein appraised them and apparently found them harmless. “’Course you can. That boy’s done me so many favors, I’m always happy to lend him—or his friends—a hand in return. You know, he’d make a fine smith if he wasn’t so busy soldierin’.” He accepted the purse from Xae and turned around. “Follow me.”
Revelation of the Dragon Page 26
