by J. M. Kearl
“Yes but we don’t even know how to change the course of this,” Daelyn says, squeezing her arms tighter around his torso. “We don’t even know where they will come from.”
Boaden rubs her back. “I guess we’ll have to see if we can find some lore on dragons; find out how to kill them.”
Daelyn steps back and this time draws her sword; the one they bought her in Nordia. She would like another, Delhoon made, but for now this will do. Even if her magic is powerful, she still wants to be a skilled fighter. If anyone ever gets a kirune manacle on her again, she doesn’t want to be helpless. “It’s been awhile since we sparred. Since the Gap of Freeole.”
Boaden draws his sword, a much prettier one than hers. “Has it been that long? It will be like we’re starting your lessons all over again.”
Daelyn lunges at him and he swiftly blocks her attack. “I haven’t forgotten everything you taught me.”
Daelyn steps to the side then swings her sword down at him. Boaden knocks her blade away like he isn’t even trying. She goes on the attack and their swords clash high and low over and over until she’s fatigued and he’s barely breathing heavy.
“Not bad,” Boaden says, when she steps back holding up her free hand.
“Was there even once you thought I might hit you?” Daelyn says, sliding her sword back into its sheath.
The side of Boaden’s mouth curls. “Do you want me to tell the truth or make you feel better?”
Daelyn laughs, of course she didn’t get close. He’s Nerendae and a seasoned fighter, she’s an infant in comparison. Training took her mind off what is ahead, but now the silence in between them brings back what they must do. They only have one more day to relax before they’re on the road. “Do you think when we go north, that we can find Ehvas?”
Boaden sheathes his sword. “They are going to negotiate for her release but I plan on looking for her myself in the meantime. I can sneak into their camp.”
Daelyn doesn’t say it aloud but she wants to go with him when he does. He thinks because she wasn’t raised like him, a warrior, that he must protect her but she can help now. She has some grasp on her magic.
Daelyn takes Boaden’s hand and they walk toward the horse stables. “Where is the library? We should find all there is to know about dragons before we leave.”
“There is one in the castle and another city library in Delmar.” Boaden grabs a handful of grass and holds it up to Hess. “Shall we go now?”
“Yes. But with Kyria being angry perhaps we should go to the one in the city.”
Boaden vehemently agrees.
30. Madison
Madison stands at the window in the tower room and watches Boaden and Daelyn ride away. She doesn’t know where they are going but assumes they’ll be back for supper. She’s been up in this room, trying to calm her temper since she got into the spat with Daelyn. She understands Jordane’s anger but she won’t tolerate Daelyn’s disrespect either.
Restlessly tapping her fingers on the windowsill, she doesn’t know if she can sit around for a few weeks waiting for Kyria to allow them to leave on their journey to locate and destroy the kirune mines. Revenge also weighs heavy on her mind. Midlan needs to get what is coming to him; her sword through his heart.
She thinks perhaps when Midlan is dead and the mines are destroyed her restless soul will calm and she’ll be able to live happily with Jordane. He’s been the only person to ever make her want to be better. When he’s around her anger is softened and his presence seems to take the edge off.
The door behind her creaks and Jordane steps in. “Can we talk?”
Madison doesn’t respond, but Jordane walks up beside her.
“I will not permit you to hit Daelyn, no matter what she says to you.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t need your permission.”
Jordane grumbles. “You can act like that with everyone else but not me.”
Madison turns to him. “Daelyn needs someone to be hard on her. When she’s on a battlefield and people are trying to kill her what’s going to happen if she can’t even control her magic?”
“It can be done in a different way,” Jordane argues.
“Fine. I’ll stay out of it. You and her husband can deal with her from now on.”
“I think it’s better that way,” Jordane says. “Now, other things to discuss. Boaden asked me if we wanted to accompany them to the north. I told him we have other plans.”
“Yes, the mines and Midlan.”
“We should leave when Daelyn and Boaden do. There’s no need to wait a few weeks,” Jordane says. “I’m fine. We also may be needed at the front soon.”
Madison turns to Jordane, looking into his deep blue eyes. She didn’t think he’d want to fight. They don’t have to. “Why do you want to go to the front? Once we destroy the mines that is all we need to do.”
Jordane puts his arm around Madison’s shoulder. “She says we don’t have to fight but I don’t think we’ll be given a choice when Hesstia starts pushing their way into Delhoon.”
Madison is suddenly struck with a worry she hadn’t thought about. She’d had complete faith in their victory but that vision of the army and their dragons is bothering her. “What if we lose?”
“I suppose if we lose the war, then we’ll be dead and ‘what ifs’ won’t matter.” Jordane kisses her cheek lightly. “But I don’t believe we will.”
Jordane has always been optimistic. Every time she doubted, he was there to bring her back up. “Did you think that you’d make it out of prison?”
Jordane is quiet for what seems like a long time. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.
“There were days I wanted to die. Days I wished I was dead but the thought of coming back to you kept me alive. And…” he pauses. “And the thought of killing Midlan for what he’s done. I never thought rage and anger were good qualities until in my darkest moments they were the only things keeping me going.”
“I think I can track him,” Madison says. She’d been mulling over books in this new home’s library, looking for a tracking spell. Usually the person one wants to place a tracking spell on has to be in close proximity but she thinks she may have found something.
“How?”
Madison pulls Jordane over to the table and points to the page she already had open. “If we have something of his, we can track him with this spell. I think that slave Jershon used this same spell on Daelyn. I don’t know how the Hesstian’s have this spell but they must.”
“I certainly don’t have anything of his,” Jordane says, looking disgusted at the thought of it.
“We can go to his soldier’s quarters here. And if there is nothing then to his mothers.”
Jordane shifts with a look of unease. “We go to his mother’s house to find something so we can kill him? I don’t know--”
“That bastard deserves it even if he has a mother who loves him. I’d kill him right in front of her if he was there.”
“Madison…” Jordane says, disappointed and with a look that says he hopes she wouldn’t do something like that. But this time she won’t relent to his conscience.
“I would. You know I would.”
“His mother doesn’t deserve that pain even if he does. I know her, she’s a good woman.”
Madison grinds her teeth. Jordane usually contained her fire but not this time. “You thought you knew Midlan, too. And look what he did to you-- to us. I’ll use his mother if it gets me what I want, you don’t have to be there.”
∞∞∞
Madison leaves Jordane at the house. He isn’t angry with her but he refused to go to Midlan’s mothers. So as usual she has to do the dirty work.
First she goes to Midlan’s direct lead, a man he’d told her about. He tells her Midlan hasn’t stayed there in months and therefore didn’t have a soldier’s quarters. And that is what leads her to knocking on Midlan’s mother, Nadene’s front door.
After a few moments Nadene answers. The wrinkles around
her eyes crease as she looks over Madison. “Can I help you?”
“Hello, Nadene, I’m Madison—“
“Well good Lord, its high time I finally met you. Midlan has talked about you for so many years.” She wraps her arms around Madison, who stiffens, silently willing the woman to let go.
A smile forces at Madison's lips. “I just got home and haven’t heard from him in a while. I wanted to make sure he is alright.”
Nadene steps aside. “Come in, dear.”
Madison glances around the small but cozy home. She has a painting of Midlan above her fireplace, even looking at it makes Madison nauseous. It makes her think of all the years he lied to her, all the times he whispered “I love you” while he bed her, knowing what he had done to Jordane.
“Please have a seat.” Nadene remains standing. “Midlan would sure be excited to know you were here.”
“When was the last time you saw him?” Madison asks, sitting in a soft armchair.
Nadene tilts her head. Not having magic, her face shows all sixty years of age. She isn’t of Delhoon lineage which is why she isn’t magic born, her husband who is Delhoon, found her in Nordia and married her. Strands of gray fall into her eyes. “It must have been six months ago.”
“Have you heard from him? He hasn’t contacted me which is unusual.” Midlan did contact Madison often when she still believed his lies. He made sure to come by the house usually once a month and sent a letter a couple times a week.
“Yes I have. Is there a reason he hasn’t written you?”
Madison clears her throat. “To be honest, he’s angry with me.”
Nadene shakes her head, holding a wrinkled hand to her chest. “I’m sure things will be fine. Can I get you a glass of water?”
“No, thank you.”
She smiles, “Well, I’m going to grab me one. I’ll be right back.”
Madison watches her disappear into the other room then jumps up to search for something that could belong to Midlan. Her fingers brush over a comb and a book but they probably aren’t his possessions. There is a golden compass but she can’t know if it’s his unless she asks. Madison hears footsteps and turns to find Nadene lunging at her with a dagger. A scream tears from Nadene’s throat as she slashes down. Madison grabs her wrist stopping the blade from reaching her chest and shoves Nadene back so hard that she slams into the wall.
“He told me if you came here it would be to kill me,” Nadene says, standing with the dagger ready to strike.
Madison draws out her sword, silently loving the chance she’s going to have to kill the woman who brought her sick son into the world. “I didn’t come here to kill you but I’ll gladly oblige.”
Nadene picks up a thick, heavy candle and throws it at Madison then runs. Madison knocks it aside and chases her into the kitchen. “What your son did to me, to my husband, is unforgivable.”
Nadene rushes to the other side of the table. “All he ever did was love you,” Nadene says flinging a plate; it shatters on the wall behind Madison.
Another plate flies through the air and Madison waves her hand averting it. “I’m not going to waste my time.” Madison clenches her fist in front of her face and uses her magic to choke Nadene.
Nadene drops her dagger and it clangs loudly on the table. She clutches at her neck gasping for air, reminding Madison what a fish on land does; how it’s mouth slowly opens and closes.
“Ah, hurts doesn’t it?” Madison says taking a step closer. “Not as much as your son hurt me though.” She tightens the hold on the magic and Nadene’s face begins to turn a bright shade of reddish purple. “All you had to do was play nice and let me get what I needed and you didn’t have to die.” Nadene begins to shake and her eyes look like they might bulge out of her head. “Any last words?” Madison asks, holding her free hand to her ear, she releases the magic enough to let Nadene speak.
“He loves you. It’s not his fault that Jordane messed up--”
Madison doesn’t let her finish that sentence. She uses her magic to snap Nadene’s neck, ending it quickly. Nadene’s body collapses to the floor and Madison steps over her to search the house. She pushes the door open to what must be Midlan’s room. There’s a single bed with a beige comforter. A painting of himself in his academy uniform on the wall above his wooden dresser. On top of that rests his sword. Seeing it makes her pause. Why would he leave his sword? She checks the rest of the house but he’s not here. Then she comes back to his room and picks up the sword, her eyes stopping on the familiar green jewels worked into the handle. Maybe he left in a hurry, maybe he’s still in the city.
Madison doesn’t even look down at Nadene’s body as she steps over her to leave. Her mind is on the spell that will track down Midlan. Her mind is on the sweet revenge she’ll soon have.
31. Boaden
People fill the tables of the library, silently reading and others wander up and down the book filled shelves. Boaden turns to Daelyn who is staring up at the seven levels of the library. To someone who’s never seen it before he supposes it is spectacular. “Let’s split up. You check for books, I’m going to the scrolls room.”
Daelyn barely takes her eyes from the spiraling staircase. “What floor should I go to?”
“Legends and lore should be on the fourth floor. The scrolls room is on the seventh if you need me. There are portals to each floor. See where that man is standing by that white stone archway?” The magical archway is rare even in Delhoon. There is another in the castle that only Kyria and those she allows may use. They are powered by magical stones and there are only two of these stones in all of Delhoon.
Daelyn glances ahead. “Yes.”
“Tell him the floor you want, and when you step through, you’ll be there.” Boaden thumbs toward the spiral stairs. “Or you could always go the old fashioned way.”
Daelyn marches toward the archway. “I have to try it at least once. See you soon.”
Boaden takes the stairs. He’s been slacking on his training lately and could use the exercise. Another thing he will do today is spar with Rorin if he has time. Daelyn isn’t at the level he needs to give him a real challenge. He passes by a few people who smile at him, recognition crossing their faces but no one stops him. He loves that whenever he comes to the library no one wants to talk to him or asks for advice because of the reverent atmosphere.
The scroll room only has two other people. One is a library worker and the other a woman in a dark purple robe. She’s one of the professors at the academy but she never taught him personally and he can’t recall her name. The library worker, in his light gray suit, looks up from his desk. “Good morning.”
“Hello,” Boaden says, striding to the man’s desk. If the room had been empty, he planned to go through the scrolls on his own but it appears that he may have some help. “I’m looking for personally written accounts on dragons. I figured if there are any they’d be here.”
The man presses his gold rimmed glasses high on his nose. “Dragons, you say? Is this for a project of some sort?”
“Something like that,” Boaden replies.
The woman in the purple robe is watching him. She tucks her auburn hair behind her ear. “Boaden Exavior looking for lore on dragons. Can’t say I’m surprised.”
The library worker, a small man whose strengths appear to be in his mind rather than his physical body, stands and holds out his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you Boaden. A Nerendae doesn’t walk into my scroll room often. I’m Lenix.”
Boaden shakes his hand with a warm smile. “Good to meet you, Lenix.”
Lenix shuffles away from his desk and waves for Boaden to follow him into another room. “I have a couple of first hand written accounts on dragons but they are quite old, you’ll have to be extremely careful.”
Boaden watches Lenix carefully unravel a scroll and lay it flat against a table. He places smooth black stones on the corners to hold it in place. Boaden’s eyes scan the words and he soon realizes it's written in old Delian.
“Can you read it?” Lenix asks.
Boaden reads the first line;” I Judore Neighma have-” Boaden doesn’t know the next few words so he moves on “dracoa” he assumes is dragon, “everyone is dead.”
“Old Delian isn’t something taught at the academy. From the first few lines I gather that the dragon killed everyone.”
Lenix nods. “Indeed. Shall I read the entire thing to you? Old Delian was something I was required to learn to work in this room.”
Boaden sees how long the account is and decides against it. He doesn’t need to know everything. “I only need to know one thing. How do I kill one?”
Lenix glances up at Boaden his hands pressed against the table holding the weight of his upper body. “Well,” he pauses his eyes scanning the page. “In this account they weren’t able to kill the dragon.” He holds up a finger. “Although.” He pulls out another scroll and rolls it out. “This is the most recent from three hundred years ago. Now, it’s not clear exactly how they killed it but it does read:’ justo heni magica’.
“Its weakness is magic,” Boaden says, rubbing his scruffy chin. “Maybe a magical weapon?”
Lenix smiles at Boaden’s translation. “They were able to bring down the beast with magic but it doesn’t say a particular weapon. In fact, it doesn’t even say that they killed it only that it’s ‘reign of terror ended.’ I assume that means the beast died. Possibly that the magic weakened it enough they were able to spear it through the heart. I know from reading these accounts that dragon scales are harder than any metal we possess and our weapons break against them.”
“What else can you tell me about them? Do they breathe fire?”
“They do,” Lenix says, rolling the written accounts and placing them on the shelf. “The dragons in these accounts came from the north. They thrive in the cold and snow, so that can’t be a weakness. And yet they breathe fire so I doubt fire would harm them.”
