“It’s not as special in my world,” I said. “We make it out of trees. It’s stronger than the reed paper here.”
“So this is your language.”
“Yes.” I handed it to him. “You can look them over if you want.”
He ran his fingers over the tiny letters. I could hardly read them in this light, but I knew dragon eyes were superior in low light. He handed them back to me. “I can read, yes. Peri taught me. But it’s difficult, because there are very few things to read in that place. She used to tell me about a library in Irandal. She said she was only allowed in when the court was gone, but that was ten months of the year. The Shield Maidens used to let her read the papers there.”
“I’ve been reading philosophy,” I said. “It’s about this idea that all men are equal. I thought some of it might interest you.”
He scoffed. “All men are certainly not equal,” he said. “Rock dragons aren’t quite men and they’re not quite animals. I doubt they have a place in this philosophy. No one is very interested in giving them a place anywhere.”
“It would be an interesting debate.”
“Just the thought of that makes my mind hurt. Maybe that’s my own limit. You’d best go away.”
“If you bothered to come here and put yourself at risk, what was it for if you tell everyone to leave you alone? The queen is worried she might have offended you. She’s too nice.”
“Yes, she is,” he said. His pale skin was starting to sweat.
“Do you really want to be alone?” I asked.
“I am alone,” he said. “And I always will be.”
“Why did you turn down that courtesan? I know why I turned her down. I have Himika. But if it wasn’t for that…I don’t suppose you have a woman back home.”
“No.”
He was suddenly on his feet and slamming me against the wall. “I’ve already been grilled by the advisors. Aurek knows what I’m here for. Killing Dvaro. Saving Peri. Not friends, not sex, not philosophy, not reading. Certainly not from a—”
I dropped down, out of his grip, when he didn’t expect it, and threw my arms around his waist, knocking him down.
“Not from a what?” I asked. “Let me wonder what you were going to say. A human? A boy, maybe? Servant, nobody, little punk… I’ve heard it all, things I won’t repeat. Come on. I’m Himika’s champion. Sometimes all that means is throwing a few punches at people who look at her wrong.”
“Ha…” He was breathing harder.
Maybe I’d knocked his stomach harder than I thought. “You all right?”
He glared. “Sometimes my lungs…act up. Lucky for you. If I brought my magic to the fight, you’d be dead, but that isn’t fair.”
“We’ll try again later, then. When you’re having a better day.”
He shot me a sideways look and got to his feet.
“I still want to know what you’re hiding.”
“I’m a rock dragon…,” he said. “No matter what anyone…does to me. I’m not one of them.” He winced.
“We’re not really that different,” I said. “Himika’s ancestors enslaved my people centuries ago. My people lived on islands; they were masters of the water. Fishing, boating, some magic. We weren’t literate. We didn’t have grand houses or anything. Just magic and plenty to eat…and family and music…bad things, and good things. Like anybody. The Gaermoni started rounding people up. Families were torn apart when men were sent off to mines and into construction. Children were sent to schools run by Gaermoni, taught to read Gaermoni languages and learn Gaermoni ideals. They told the Kamiri they were being done a favor.”
He was listening to me intently. “But all humans are the same, aren’t they?” he said. “You don’t have ‘mist’ humans, or ‘crystal’ humans?”
“We have different culture. People will always make trouble with each other, I guess.” I continued, “Until the priestess opened the gate, everyone had to stay behind the walls, close together in the cities, so everyone was stuck in the place where they were born. No one could farm new lands or travel to new places. When slavery ended, people rejoiced—but it never truly ended. The Kamiri were always at the bottom. It kept the Gaermoni from getting too restless at their fate. At least someone was under them. When I was a kid, I vowed to escape my circumstances.”
“So…you were able to,” Ezeru said. “You became the guard of the queen.”
“Yes…but it still hangs over us. In that world, it was forbidden for us to love each other. No matter how much you fight it, the world puts you in your place, over and over. There was a time when I tried to never talk about it. I never spoke of the enslavement. I never mentioned that my parents worked one of the king’s farms. But it didn’t erase any of it, so then I thought…I will talk about it, after all. I respect Himika enough to tell her the truth. Her people might have hurt mine, but we can still love each other.”
“And she…does love you,” Ezeru said. “She loves you, and the king and his champion as well.”
“She seems accepting of the arrangement that she’s found herself in,” I said, a little reluctantly.
“I heard her the other night,” Ezeru said. “You may want to cover her mouth next time unless you intended me to hear.”
I patted the handle of my sword, warningly. “And you might just want to pretend you didn’t hear anything.”
His laugh was rough and faint, like something that was rarely used. “If I said such things to Dvaro and Izeria, they would have cut out my tongue as well.”
“Your tongue is pretty sharp, for someone who had to work so hard to keep it,” I said.
“I already know…none of this is going to end well for me,” he said. “It no longer matters. When they realize I betrayed them, they’ll do anything to punish me. But I half expect that King Aurekdel will punish me first.”
“For what?”
He shook his head, glaring at me again. “Guard Oszin, it does give me some hope when I hear that some men think this way. My people might be ugly, and they might not have all the skills of men, but they also have families. They are capable of love; their hands are quick; they work hard. They also enjoy music and dancing. Unlike your people, they truly are barbarians. But they…deserve fairness. When I’m dead, I hope someone will speak for them.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to mark yourself off as dead.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to plead for my life, if I were you,” Ezeru said. “I don’t know what you want out of me right now, but—”
“I don’t want anything!”
“Of course you do.” He slammed his hand into the rock behind me. “You want to talk of philosophy? This is what I know. All people are selfish. You, I believe, want someone to stand with you in your own fight. You know my strength would be useful.”
“I don’t have a fight.”
“Of course you do.” Now his expression was withering. “Why are you telling me these things if you don’t resist the idea that your own life is worthless against that of the woman you’ve pledged yourself to? You’re kidding yourself,” he said.
“Actually…I think I’m being extremely realistic,” I said. “And I can hardly help loving Himika. She feels bad for you, and she doesn’t know why you won’t talk to her anymore, and I don’t like seeing her confusion. I guess that’s what I want out of you.”
He looked down. “Himika triggers…a mating instinct, within me. So I will not be speaking to her again. I do have enough of a man’s mind to know better, believe me. This is not something I want to feel. It’s involuntary.”
“Mating instinct?”
“I don’t want it!” he snapped back. “Do you think I made an enemy of Dvaro just so I could get lose my head for anything inappropriate toward Queen Himika? I’m not going to act upon it, but I can’t seem to help it either! Izeria can make me smarter but she can’t beat my instincts out of me, so it seems. Well, I am not going to lose control, but I will most certainly avoid her.”
Himika was
so…glowy lately. She must be putting out some kind of magical lust scent or something.
“And you can’t bleed off the urge with a courtesan?”
“I don’t feel for others. When rock dragons mate, they only want a particular partner. Someone compatible. My body must be too confused by everything it’s been through. I’m well aware that Himika and I are not a match. Like I said—I don’t want this. I’m sure it will fade.”
“Have you ever felt it before?”
“No.”
“I believe you. If you planned on acting on these feelings, I’m sure you wouldn’t have told me, so…”
“You’re correct,” Ezeru said. “I didn’t come here for romance.” His posture hunched, withdrawing. “Don’t tell her that. Just tell her I’m rude and antisocial.”
“She’ll believe that,” I said, nodding. “But…I’m not sure it’ll end her curiosity…just to warn you. Or her cat’s.”
“Sir Oszin.” A sharp female voice echoed down the corridor. “What are you doing here?”
Two of Aurekdel’s ministers were approaching. Viruta was an attractive but troubled-looking woman, with pale skin and golden hair. She seemed rather fragile for a dragon woman, but her eyes burned with determination. Just behind her was a similarly fair man with glasses and draping robes with a short cloak, Tanair. They were both metal dragons.
Her tone made me bristle. “I’m talking to Ezeru.”
“I have a few more questions to ask him,” she said. “Please return to your post.”
“My post. Right.”
“You are Himika’s head guard, aren’t you? You have a post, don’t you?”
“Didn’t you already question him?”
“We’ve thought of a few more,” Tanair said. He was carrying a metal slate for writing. “I imagine we’ll be having new questions for years to come. His existence is unprecedented. This might be the only time we can ever truly know how rock dragons think, unless the process that made him could—and should—be replicated. Both of which are huge ifs.”
“You’re talking about him like he’s a creature in a…menagerie.”
“I don’t know this word,” Viruta said. “But I assure you, King Aurekdel wants to be welcoming to our guest. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strictly follow a process for finding out just who and what he is. Sir Oszin, if you please, you are dismissed.”
Up until this moment, I’d known my place in the dragon kingdom, and it was a better place than I had at home. King Aurekdel gave me a tremendous amount of freedom with Himika, and to the other dragons, I was just a human, not a Kamiri.
I’d rarely come in contact with Aurek’s advisors, much less had reason to clash with them. Viruta was looking at me like I was overstepping my place, and I’m sure I was.
I nodded curtly. I had no grounds to challenge them any further. But I felt a little weird leaving him with them.
Chapter Eight
Himika
“It’s in view! Irandal…!” I heard the excitement ahead as the caravan of boats sailed through a wide canal. Some wild poposas were swimming around the boats, lifting their sleek gray noses and chittering. Aurek petted them idly and handed them some dried fish. Kajira flew into the air, sniffing. My cat had never even been to Irandal before and even she seemed to know it was special.
I stood up, eager for a sight of it. We sailed into an open cavern and my mouth dropped open. Although it was almost as large as the lake at Hemara, this cavern had a much brighter ceiling, shot with glowing pink and white crystals, like several Milky Ways criss-crossing in the world’s brightest night sky.
And then—the palace Irandal itself was the most stunning thing I could imagine. It was a palace indeed, unlike any human palace—glowing faintly blue and gold within, almost thrumming, the light warm and inviting, like seeing candles glowing in windows on a dark night, but much more organic. As if a building could come alive and become a beacon.
I clutched Aurekdel’s shoulder as the boat swayed.
“It really is beautiful,” Seron said. “I always forget just how much.”
“Everything that’s been said about it…and I never imagined this,” I said. “I never could imagine.”
Even Oszin looked awed. “This is the true home of the dragons, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” Aurekdel said. “We don’t even know when it was built, exactly. It’s been here as long as anyone knows. It never even needs to be repaired.”
All around the palace were smaller settlements with a network of canals running through them to the palace. Torches glowed throughout the buildings, indicating some people still lived here, but clearly this was no longer the bustling place it must have been in earlier times. Our boats sailed past some abandoned homes and shops, although market stalls still hung on the canal-side, with many wares on offer: produce and fish, pots and lanterns, oil and alcohol, jewels and trinkets made from gold and silver. But right now, everyone stopped to cheer on our caravan.
“King Aurekdel! Queen Himika! Lord Seron!” The people tossed flowers at our boats and called our names. As we got closer, the palace was suddenly lit with hundreds of torches in all the windows almost at once, and little firecrackers shot off from the roof. The winged cats all practically dropped out of the sky in terror. Kajira huddled in the cargo hold.
“Oh, dear!” I laughed. “Is that the best idea?”
“It’s Irandal’s way of shouting out a welcome,” Aurek said.
“Is Irandal alive?”
“Not…precisely,” Seron said. “But it does feel that way.”
“The Shield Maidens are just never ones to shy away from noise,” Aurek said.
During the ‘off season’, the palace was held by retired Shield Maidens of Arhor, Aurekdel told me. They were an elite band of warriors, all female, who were especially skilled at fighting in their human forms in the close quarters of buildings and small tunnels, and excellent at defense. They also followed a very strict code of honor, and so even the Traitor King and other mist dragons had left them alone. It would be considered extremely bad form to attack elderly Shield Maidens.
“I’m still surprised he doesn’t try to conquer this place,” I said. “If it means that much to you and isn’t as defensible as Hemara.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be any more defensible to him,” Aurek said. “It’s much more of a danger that he’ll try to take over Hemara while we’re gone. That’s what happened before. But the mist makes the rock dragons sick, too. The more he’s relied on them, the less he would want to be there during fog season either.”
“We have to leave Hemara, so we might as well enjoy it,” Seron said. “I, for one, have been looking forward to the boating.”
“Ah, yes, farewell, old friend,” Aurek said.
Seron gave me a look. “Well, maybe I won’t disappear quite as often this year.”
“I like boats,” I said.
“I love boats,” Oszin said. “Being the queen’s champion, I think I ought to have a boat.”
“Sure, I’ll find you a boat,” Seron said, like it was the sort of thing you could just dig out of a closet.
“Oh, great,” Aurek said. “I still have to run the place while you’re all jaunting around on your boats, you know.”
“I know,” Seron said. “Good luck with that.”
We were all in a good mood as we sailed into a magnificent sort of harbor area where all the boats were brought in at numbered docks. There was a lot more room here. Even though Hemara had so much water, all the boats there were jammed into a lower level of the fortress for protection. Seron helped me hop out onto the dock. All around us, people were unpacking and chatting happily, greeting the older women who came out of the doors. Other people were coming up pathways from the villages, some reunions tearful, arms clutched. It was obvious that the weeks spent in Irandal were like a grand vacation to the dragons, and a time to see some old friends and relatives.
It took us forever to actually reach the doors, wi
th all the greetings and introductions. Word spread quickly that the curse had been lifted. Everyone was congratulating me and wishing for babies until my hand hurt from being shaken, my cheeks hurt from smiling, and I was almost shaking with nerves.
I might enjoy this more if I didn’t know Seron was really the king, I thought. I guess it didn’t really matter, but it added a strange tension. I hated secrets. I couldn’t imagine how my father had managed not to tell anyone about the Dragon’s Tear for all those years.
Inside, my eyes were completely overwhelmed and delighted by the interior.
“It’s so bright!” Golden doors stamped with floral crests swung open to a hall made of amber stone that glowed in arches, alternating with ordinary stone. The warm color matched Aurekdel’s hair and skin. He petted the wall like it was a beloved horse. “Oddly enough, right here in the entryway is my favorite stone, citrine. But you still haven’t seen anything yet. The hall of rose quartz and rubies is one of the most famous. And if Lady Minna was correct, you will particularly enjoy the moonstone baths…”
“This is just incredible,” Oszin said. “Even I can feel it.”
“Magic…?” I whispered.
“Yes. It feels too grand to touch. But then…”
“It’s cozy, too. Like it wants us to touch it.”
“I’d say it feels haunted but it’s too nice. How am I going to explain this when I write home?”
Servants slid open paper-thin doors made of thin leather stretched over frames of gold, leading us into interior rooms. Columns wrapped in designs of gold and silver dragons with eyes made of jade and ruby danced from floor to ceiling. Smooth pale stone was surprisingly soft under my slippered feet. Low blue light emanated from statues of deities and I saw the bells that began the day. The ceiling was high, and above us was the niche where Aurekdel would light the candle for the first King’s Hour. Doors branched off into other rooms. The layout seemed different from Hemara, but I could still guess that the throne room was straight ahead, and rooms for entertaining and dining branched off from the hall.
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