The Dragon of Summer

by Patricia White

  They all stunk with the remnants of the dead wizard’s magic, but seemed ordinary enough. Even the bowls, vial, and other oddments arcane that littered the tabletop seemed exactly that, but nonetheless Tessa examined each one and replaced it exactly where she found it.

  Luther said, irritation coloring every word, “What are you doing now? Blast it, girl, we have to do something, not . not check the furnishings.”

  She smiled. “Castles aren’t always what they seem. Kings are known to be suspicious and . ”

  “Spies?”

  Shrugging, she walked to the bed, released the cat to join its mates, and then, taking a candle for light, she peered behind the bed curtains, the headboard, and beneath the bed.

  “The Pearl? Do you think the wizard . ”

  It was Tessa’s turn to stop wandering and glare at him. “Hush,” she said. “Don’t say anything about . ”

  A scratching on the door interrupted her. She whispered, “It’s the slaves with . ”

  The door creaked open. Three people, two women and a man, all carrying burdens, came in, and without a glance in Tessa direction, shuffled to the table. There, they sat down pottery bowls, metal flagons, and a wooden trays piled high with trenchers of bread and cold meat. The savory odors wafted across the room, woke Tessa’s hunger. It growled and began clawing the inside of her stomach, but Tessa paid it no mind.

  Open-mouthed with disbelief, she stared at one of the slaves. Anger won over disbelief. Her brother, King Harl, had lied about that too. Ima, Tessa’s nurse and beloved companion, hadn’t died of the plague. Ima was in Summer, and from the looks of the mark on her brow, a slave. Harl must have sold her—as he had some many others. Tore them away from home and family and .

  Tessa shuddered with the force of her fury, but she made herself retreat to the bed, seat herself with the cats. She didn’t dare run across the room, throw her arms around the old woman, and hug her until both their tears had ceased to flow. She couldn’t. that might be the death of both of them—and Luther. Too many creatures were depending on her for Tessa to act foolishly, but she had to do something. But what?

  Luther turned, was looking at her with real concern.

  Before he could speak, Tessa decided on what had to be done. Returning Luther’s look, she lifted her chin, spoke imperiously, treating him like the servant he was glamoured to be, and launched her new plan. “Order me a bath.”

  His eyes widened in apparent surprise but he did as she asked without raising a single objection. “You heard the wizard,” he said to the slaves, sounding just a bit like the officious official who had ushered them into the palace. “She will require a bath and all that entails. At once.”

  The slaves nodded without speaking and began to back from the room.

  Tessa wasn’t ready for that to happen. “The cats need to be fed and groomed also. I shall require the services of a slave for that.” Pointing at Ima, she continued to play the role of arrogant wizard. “That one will do nicely. Tell her to fetch brushes and food suitable for my sweet pets. When she returns, she will remain to care for the beasts and act as my tiring woman.”

  Paler than she had been moments before, Ima looked at the cats fearfully, and then she looked at Tessa for the first time. For an instant, Tessa thought Ima was going to give her away, but she had either misjudged her or the old nurse was made of stauncher fabric than most. Ima bobbed her head in a gesture of mute obedience, but not before she had given Tessa a look of total disbelief, disbelief that held too much fear to allow even a glimmer of recognition to join it. With a quick anguished look at the magecats, she backed out the door with her fellow slaves.

  The door creaked shut behind them. Luther waited, if barely, until the door was closed before he came to Tessa, voiced his concern. “You’re dead white. What’s the matter?”

  She had to swallow twice before she could find enough of her voice to speak, to explain her brother’s newly discovered perfidy. But, when she was done, Luther’s main concern wasn’t with Ima. His reaction was far from what Tessa expected.

  As was the shudder he gave before he said, “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “What?”

  “Fondle those . Blast it, Prin . ” He stopped, took a deep breath, and started anew. “Those blasted cats are dangerous and you treat them like tame . ”

  One of the magecats had crawled into Tessa’s lap and the other four were cuddled close. Her hands caressed them, soothed them, both without her conscious thought. Tessa looked down at them and smiled. But her smile faded when she turned her attention back to the huge man. He was truly frightened of the cats, and more frightened for her than for himself.

  “I don’t know what you see, but it is an illusion. These poor things have been treated very badly. They are Silvafells, from Winter, and gentle beasts, not much larger than house cats. Give me your hand and close your eyes.”

  Luther trusted her, that she knew beyond all doubt, but his fear was very strong—so strong that he believed the evidence presented by his own eyes over her words of reassurance. He took one slow step toward her, looking for all the world like a man who was going to his doom, and then breathed a sigh of pure relief when he received an unexpected reprieve when the door creaked open .

  He turned to watch the three slaves drag a tub across the stone floor, fill it from pottery jugs. Then he said, acting the proper servant, “Your bath awaits, Wizard Prin.” He made a small bow in her direction and then walked over to help the slaves position a screen around the copper tub they had filled with warm water. He checked the towels, the bathing crystals, and then ushered the slaves, except for Ima, out the door, closing it firmly behind them.

  Tessa eased the cat off her lap and stood, but she didn’t move away from the bed. Almost holding her breath, feeling little prickles of excitement inch their way slowly up her spine, she stood absolutely still and waited for whatever time it took for Ima to recognize her and to react to the knowledge. But her joy was too great to wait in silence. “Ima,” she whispered, “don’t you know me?”

  Starting at the sound, Ima looked, really looked, at Tessa for the first time. Shaking fearfully, she dropped the brushes she held, clasped both hands at her bosom, and gulped for air.

  Whether they came from fear are joy, Tessa had no way of knowing, but she did know the old woman’s weeping was real. As she watched, tears welled in Ima’s eyes, ran down her face, dripping from her quivering chin to lose themselves in the filthy, ragged tunic that didn’t come close to covering her bent body.

  But tears or not, Ima didn’t take a single step toward the princess. She just stared and finally ask, in a voice as ragged as her tunic, “Are you real? Or a haunting shade like your own mother?”

  “Real.” Tessa took a step away from the bed.

  If anything, Ima’s confusion grew worse. “Oh, my poor, sweet Tessa, what have they done to you?”

  “Nothing. I’m not a . ”

  “This cannot be. My poor Tessa is dead. Killed by her own brother’s acts. Eaten by a dragon.”

  “No, I’m right . ”

  Ima gulped, looked at Tessa again, and began to slowly crumple down, to fold in upon herself. It was almost as if her bones had turned to water, could no longer support her. Luther caught her before she reached the floor, lifted her up, and carried her to the bed. Tessa moved the cats aside so he could lay the woman down and then stood beside him as the waited for the old woman to return to their world.

  Sounding hesitant and unsure, Luther said, “Prin . ah . maybe it would be better if I explain about Herself and . Ima thinks you dead and . Seeing a shade, one that walks and talks, can be a bit disconcerting, don’t you think?” He grinned at her, and for that moment, his ruined face was almost young, nearly handsome.

  A smile tugging at her own lips, Tessa nodded a reluctant agreement and wander over to the table to inspect the food.

  That wasn’t good enough for Luther. “You bath is waiting. There’s a clean tunic and robe with t
he towels.”

  “Meaning,” she said, “you’d rather have me out of sight when you do your explaining.”

  It was Luther’s turn to nod. But he wasn’t finished giving suggestions. “Uh, Prin, you’d better take the cats and . ”

  The thought of the cats’ hunger woke her own. The only enticements she needed were waiting. The cats were purring as they ate and Tessa was hidden away behind the screen, disrobed, and relaxing in the sweet scented water before she heard the soft murmur of two voices. It seemed an eternity before Ima came around the screen, took Tessa’s wet hand in her own, and held it against her warm cheek.

  “I’m sorry, love. I . I was there, in the village, with the rest of the slaves, when you walked into the tunnel and .

  “Oh, Tessa, I couldn’t even cry for you. I couldn’t . ” She swallowed hard before she said, “Nor for Harl when they . ”

  “Harl? Why would you . ”

  “He’s dead.” Ima spoke flatly, without inflection, but for some reason. Tessa’s mind refused to understand what was being said, or perhaps it just didn’t want to. Whatever it was, Tessa had to ask, “Dead? But . How?”

  Ima gripped Tessa’s hand a little tighter. “The High Priest ordered . Harl was carrying on like a crazy man and. He ran across the sand, tried to follow you into the Dragon Tunnel. It was quick, love. The first arrow pierced his heart.”

  Tessa had thought her tears has all been shed, her love for her brother gone, but she had been wrong on both counts. She still had enough love and enough tears left to ache in her throat, to blur her vision. But there was no time to mourn the fallen king, to remember the love and forget the pain. She had much to do and very little time to do it in.

  But nothing could be done before the morrow except plan—and, she told herself with a tired smile, groom the cats, doctor their hurts, eat something, and get some rest. She crawled out of the tub, Let Ima help her dress in clean wizard robes, and was chewing on a healthy bite of venison savory when the thought struck her. The thought that leaped, unbidden, from the bits and pieces of plans that swirled through her mind, drifting and shifting like leaves in the teeth of a winter wind.

  Swallowing the food, she said, “We have to have a ship.”

  Luther wasn’t following her mental leaps. “For what?” he asked, wrinkling his brow, looking at her like she had suddenly grown a horn in the middle of her forehead.

  It was so apparent, she couldn’t understand why he was questioning her. “To take the princesses and the rest of us to the Outer Isles, of course.”

  He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, took another drink of mead from the flagon, and then licked his lips. He was silent for a long moment, evidently thinking about what she had said. When he finally spoke, it was to bring up a new problem. “Okay, say you ask for a ship as part of your reward for ridding Summer of Herself, how are we going to get the princesses to the ship? You can’t bring them through the tunnel—they’d go crazy with fear.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, “but it has to be done.”

  The softness of his answer made it all the more frightening. “Yes, and soon.”

  ~

  Assuming what she hoped was a wizard’s posture, hooded head bowed, hands tucked into the opposite sleeves of her robe, Tessa roamed the castle, examined every object in every room. Silently, scarcely nodding when spoken to, she walked the ramparts, wandered through the bailey, the guardrooms, the stables, as well as the castle proper. By the morning of the third day, she had searched the castle from top to bottom, from wall to wall, except for the king’s private quarters. And she had found nothing even faintly resembling the dragon’s Pearl of Knowing. And it had to be found if she was going to be able to save them from a death.

  She knew what she had to do next, and she knew what would happen if she were caught there. But it was the only place left and there was no time to hesitate. Waiting until King Mythorne was holding court, she went to her own quarters, found Luther and Ima and told them what she planned to do. Or rather, she warned them because if she were discovered, their deaths would surely come shortly after hers.

  Ima was close to tears when she said, “Love, you must not do this. There has to be some other way to fulfill your quest. I have just found you, I cannot bear to lose . ”

  His broken face showing nothing of his own feelings, Luther put his hand on the old woman’s shoulder, gave it a quick squeeze, and his voice was very gentle when he interrupted. “We will do as you ask and wander down to the tunnel. We will escape safely if .

  “Are you sure? Is there no other way? Someplace you’ve overlooked?”

  Fear skittering on her skin, jumping along her frayed nerves, Tessa shook her head. She couldn’t trust her voice not to betray her, but there was still one final thing that had to be said. She whispered, “The cats. Take them with you. I will not have them mistreated more.”

  Then, without giving either of them another chance to dissuade her, Tessa pulled the door open, stepped out, and began her slow trek down the dim corridor and up the final stair that led to the king’s private quarters in the north tower. He feet made little scraping sounds on the stone, and her breathing sounded too loud in the stillness. A trickle of sweat inched down her spine, she expected to be discovered any moment, hauled before the king, and beheaded.

  Despite her fears, she reached the heavy door without mishap, eased it open and peered inside. The room was empty of human occupant. Magic wards wouldn’t see her, so she was safe on that account. She slipped in and pulled the door carefully closed behind her.

  Heart thumping madly. Scarcely daring to breathe. Tessa was inside, but there was no time to rest, to calm herself. She had to search, and search well. The royal chamber was round, and it was far from poverty-stricken. Colorful tapestries cover the walls. Thick rugs deadened even the shadows of sounds as she scurried across to the littered table that sat under one of the narrow slits that passed for windows.

  Hand-drawn maps, scrolls, drinking horns, jugs, and a heap of chains, brooches, arm bands, and other things she couldn’t name were heaped on the polished surface. Her hand trembling, she reached out shoved aside a bit of parchment, and caught her breath. Her quest was over.

  She whispered, “The Pearl of Knowing. I knew it had to be here. It was the only place . ” Her hand closed over it, and knowing it would relay to the dragon every word she said, Tessa brought the huge pink pearl close to her mouth and spoke quietly, “It’s me, Tessa. I have it, Your Grace. You can . ”

  She stopped, listened. The murmur of voices and the sound of approaching footsteps were right outside the chamber door. “Someone is coming,” she whispered. “I have to hide.”

  Suiting action to her words, she ran to the large wardrobe—the only real hiding place in the room—and slide inside. Pulling the door nearly closed behind her, she was just a fraction short of being detected. And just in time to overheard a conversation centered on her upcoming demise. Which seemed to be scheduled as a court entertainment two days hence.

  Carefully, inch at a time, she eased the Pearl of Knowing into the deep pocket of her robe, but she didn’t dare wipe the sweat from her hands. Even that motion might betray her hiding place and move up the date of her execution. Besides that, she needed to hear what they were saying. She listened intently, but she didn’t hear anything to soothe her nerves, slow her heart, or give her hope for a bright future. Or even a very long one.

  The king’s lackey, whoever he was, said, “Sire, I entreat you. The Wizard Prin has upset the whole court with her poking and prying. Something has to be done, or, I fear, all the other mages will . ”

  Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the king’s harsh, wheezing laughter.

  “‘Tis no laughing matter, Sire, as well you know. Without our wizards to guard our shores, we will just be a goose sitting here for the plucking. They want her disposed of, or they will find employment elsewhere. And, as they say, there are things worse than a dragon.”

>   King Mythorne said, “Cease and desist this useless chatter. It will be as I have proclaimed. The great and mighty Wizard Prin rids us of the dragon in two days’ time and receives the Outer Isles Kingdom as her reward. Or she dies.”

  The other man said, “But, Sire, the Outer Isles is guarded by the shade of King Harl’s mother. She will allow no one to pass.”

  Laughing and wheezing as if he saw the whole thing as a great joke, the king said, “That is no concern of ours.”

  The lackey wanted to say more. “But, Your Majesty, Prin . ”

  “This bores me. Call the jugglers to the great hall,” the king said coldly and then he laughed again as he added, “And have Wizard Prin brought before me.”

  “As you wish, Sire.”

  They left without more being said, slamming the heavy door on their way out.

  Unaware she had been holding her breath until her chest began to ache, Tessa let it out in a whoosh of sound. She pushed the wardrobe door open and started to step out. Her legs refused to hold her. She went down with a loud thump. Sat on the wardrobe floor amidst boots, old cloaks, and other rubbish and tried her best not to cry.

  But she couldn’t keep from whimpering a little. “Two days? I can’t . There’s too much to do and I . I can’t let them all die, but . What am I going to do now?”

  She gave herself a stern mental shake, knew she wasn’t going to accomplish anything by sitting on the floor and feeling sorry for herself. Struggling to her feet, she straightened her spine, and told herself, in no uncertain terms, that whatever she did, she sure wasn’t going to give up.

  Whatever the rest of the world might think to the contrary, she was still Tessa, Princess Royal of the Outer Isles. If she couldn’t save the dragon, Luther, Ima, the other princesses, and the five magecats, then no one could. With that thought firmly in place, she marched out of the royal chamber and down the tower stair, ready to face whatever had to be faced, and to face it without flinching.

  By the time she pushed open the door to her quarters, she had devised a plan. The room should have been empty—it wasn’t. Luther, Ima, and the Silvafells were there, but it was only too obvious that they were not there willingly. Nor were they alone.