The Danger with Allies

by Meagan Hurst

  Beyond the four narrow tables was another table, but it was shorter, wider and surrounded with chairs. Even from here, she could feel the light spells placed upon the chairs—spells that would keep the chair’s occupant alert and focused during the meeting. It was an idea to apply in the future to any piece of furniture Shevieck ended up sitting in. Though she wasn’t certain any spell would keep his mind from wandering. She moved toward the table without thinking—drawn to the spells she felt inlaid in the wood. She heard Nivaradros move behind her, but the Shade stayed by the door.

  “Curiosity killed the cat,” the Dragon murmured in her ear.

  “Satisfaction brought it back,” she replied with a chuckle. “Nice job remembering that though.”

  “I am a Dragon, when was I going to forget it?” Nivaradros wanted to know in a falsely injured tone. He caught her shoulder as she moved forward. “For the sake of my sanity, why don’t you stay here and examine the table and its spells until I am certain it won’t harm you.”

  “It won’t.”

  “With your record, I don’t trust you. Shade?” the Dragon added as he glanced over his shoulder.

  “I concur with the Dragon, though it pains me to admit it. While this room is without question yours, I would prefer you not touch anything before you have examined it fully.” Crilyne joined them at a lazy pace—his eyes scanning the room with interest.

  Why was it the only time they agreed was when it went against her? Sighing for dramatic effect, she frowned, but inclined her head to show she would allow herself to be talked out of approaching the table they thought would kill her. If they were concerned about a magic cursed table, she had a feeling they would be insufferable during a battle, so she closed her eyes to scan the table from where she was. If she had been in a better mood, the thought of the Shade and the Dragon being concerned over a table would have been amusing.

  She felt Nivaradros grip her shoulders tighter as she fell into the magic she used to feel the power the room contained, and she let him because it steadied her. She still wasn’t used to using magic, so, while it was easy to call, use, and counter magic on an instinctive level, she often forgot other necessary things. Like how to stand or to continue breathing. The Dragon, however, was good at reminding her—or taking over when she was unable to be reminded—and since he had a power level close to hers, he also understood why she fell so deep into what she was doing that she lost track of their world.

  Shaking herself when she went too deep and reached past the walls of the room and into the core of the tree that contained the castle, Z blinked and came back to find the Shade was watching the Dragon with something akin to awe, overshadowed by jealousy.

  “So much magic,” she murmured. Recalling, for a brief minute, the world she had visited more than a year ago and the lower level of magic it contained, she had to force the desire to return to that land away.

  “Magic is only as bad as its wielder,” Nivaradros reminded her. “And we’ve rendered it a common part of life. It is much like a well.”

  “A deadly well,” she remarked without thought as she digested what she had just seen.

  “You do have an issue with water,” Nivaradros teased before she smacked him across the chest.

  “I am thinking,” she chided as he raised a brow. His eyes didn’t even shift, and she felt Crilyne’s astonishment. Reaching out to the Shade while she continued to contemplate what she had picked up in this room, she felt Crilyne respond to her silent call at once.

  He is…much changed, Zimliya. His temper seems to have vanished with regard to you. I am not sure where to stand on him.

  Just wait until I haven’t eaten enough in his honored opinion, he’ll turn into the Dragon you remember. He is a horrible bully.

  And yet, you love him for it, Crilyne pointed out with a hint of resigned amusement.

  She hesitated, recoiling from that word. That word—in her mind—was overused, misunderstood, and abused. Yet she didn’t know how to use it properly herself, and she therefore couldn’t find a way to deny what Crilyne said.

  Perhaps.

  Only you would dissect that word. Do you love him, Zimliya, yes or no? When she didn’t reply, she felt the Shade’s silent curse. It is not a difficult question.

  Yes, I do, she admitted in a very forced even tone. And yes, he has already stated he…

  You can swear like a sailor when you want to without even blinking. You can walk around naked in front of an entire army without even seeming to notice. You can continue to fight with a strike through your heart, yet you cannot say the word ‘love?’

  Oh shut up. Pushing him away from her so she could focus, Z felt Nivaradros’s hand catch her chin and glanced up to meet his eyes. “Sorry,” she apologized.

  “You were deep in your thoughts,” the Dragon observed. “Do share them. I am now beyond curious in what you have discovered. Very little would distract you so immensely for so long.”

  “It never fails to surprise me how much time immortals have to create such in-depth spells, no wonder mortals get so confused,” Z told him with a slight shake of her head. “Take the table: it is spelled to both keep it from being harmed from things as mundane as spilled drinks and food to things much more injurious, like someone attacking it with an ax.” Leaning against Nivaradros again, since she was certain he would be insulted if she left to lean against a wall, she clicked her tongue in thought, and then continued. “It also is spelled against being relocated outside of this room. Since there are spells that can bring up what was placed or written on surfaces I assume that is why the table is forbidden from leaving the room, but there are probably other reasons as well. It likewise cannot be used to contain or support elemental magic—what is behind the need for that spell, I do not know,” she added with a huff of irritation.

  “Add to it that nothing can be forged upon its surface nor can it be altered illegally, and you have a table that was created by or for the very paranoid; I am glossing over about fifteen other enchantments.”

  “Fifteen others?! What else could be put on it?” Nivaradros exclaimed.

  “A spell to detect poison in anything offered to those sitting at the table, something to keep outside magic from being able to influence any seated here whether or not the spell maker was in the room at the time, another one to expose any treasonous plots. Shall I continue, or can your imagination come up with the other twelve?”

  “I believe I have enough of an idea,” Nivaradros muttered. He glanced at Crilyne. “How about you, Shade? Do you need her to continue to elaborate?”

  Crilyne raised a brow. “You did not get so distracted off of just the table, what else did you pick up in the room?”

  “Testing me again? Haven’t I become a little old to be tested?”

  “When you get to be my age maybe, until then I will continue to test you.”

  Shades. Rolling her eyes to the ceiling, Z muttered under her breath and sighed. “The chairs are spelled to keep their occupants awake, and they are unable to be removed from the room. They likewise will not pick up stains. And they cannot be spelled to harm anyone, nor can items that would cause injury be attached or placed upon them.”

  “What if I were to pick up the chair and attempt to impale someone upon it or beat them senseless with them?” Nivaradros inquired.

  Z glanced at Nivaradros with concern. “Does that happen often in meetings between your race?” she wanted to know.

  “Every so often, yes,” Nivaradros replied with a careless shrug. “Can it be done?”

  “What do you think?”

  “That whoever designed this room has no sense of entertainment and was very, very paranoid.” Nivaradros glanced at the Shade. “Do you agree?”

  “It does take away the possibility of entertainment, yes,” Crilyne admitted to her.

  She would never, ever understand immortals. “Moving on, the walls are unable to be breached by any spell. No one can eavesdrop on conversations held here, though that protecti
on is also doubled by the fact the room moves throughout this hall and can only be entered by the current ruler of these lands and those he or she has granted entry to. The floor and the ceiling are on a similar spell chain, they likewise cannot be breached, but they can be activated to retrieve information from another source outside the room—outside the castle—if the ruler so decrees—”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Nivaradros protested.

  “—provided the outside source has proper levels of security and cannot be accessed by anyone else.”

  “I take it back, that makes perfect sense,” the Dragon said with a snort.

  She continued to list the spells in the room for another twenty-five minutes, and by the time she had finished she could tell both the Dragon and the Shade were amused. Paranoid didn’t even begin to cover what the creators of this room had been. It was impressive, yes, but that didn’t make it any less concerning. Nursing a sore throat after so much talking, Z took a seat in one of the chairs at the main table and watched as Crilyne and Nivaradros fenced off with stares about who would take the seat at her right. In the end, Nivaradros ended it by taking the seat on her left; Crilyne stared at him in wordless amazement before settling on her right.

  “Alright you two,” she growled at them. “I’m just making sure no one draws blood. Nivaradros, what did you wish to speak to Crilyne about?”

  Nivaradros’s eyes brightened a shade or two as he regarded Crilyne. “I wanted to discuss what he had learned during his time here while he was busy poisoning the minds of everyone who wouldn’t have direct contact with us while you were recovering.”

  She hit him. “Play nice,” she snapped. “And I am not supposed to be here, remember? You two are fond of pretending like I am not even there, use that talent of yours now.”

  Nivaradros chuckled. “I have permission to ignore you? Fantastic!” His sarcasm was overdone, but she let it pass. “Shade?” he asked of Crilyne.

  The Shade coughed to hide a laugh. “I learned little. I am neither Zimliya, nor do I have her talents at making everyone divulge information they would normally hoard. While they were more than willing to question me about her health, they were less than willing to be as forthcoming about what I was after.” He glanced at her for a moment. “I would have liked to have been a larger part of her recovery.”

  “I did try to include you. You were stressing her condition with your words and anger, and I feared you would end up harming her greatly. I likewise tried to keep you informed, but you were unwilling to listen to the words I was offering.” Nivaradros glanced over at her as well, and then leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Now, as for what I seek, your people were known to have an extensive library before the destruction of your city. Did it survive?”

  Crilyne hesitated for a moment. “It did,” he admitted. He seemed to dislike his admission the minute he offered it. “Did you ask Zimliya about it?”

  “No. I did not want to place her in the position where she felt torn between loyalty to you and loyalty to me. Besides which she tends to grow suspicious when I inquire on something of that nature.”

  “Ah, well she’s been around immortals long enough to know when to get suspicious with our actions.” Crilyne’s smile was borderline cruel. “And why are you so curious about the library?”

  “That question is beneath you, I am unwilling to answer it.”

  “As you say,” Crilyne agreed. “Then my answer is yes, you may visit the library, but you may have to put up with some of the other Shades, and I would require that you accompany Zimliya to the hidden city.”

  “Well since only those who have been there before can return, and I have never ventured there, Zimliya would have to come with me regardless of your request.”

  Crilyne chuckled. “Indeed. As we have never been amicable toward one another, it is to be expected.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop and eyed the Dragon as though he were following a path of thought. “I am going to try and phrase this tactfully, but if I fail please know I am making the effort to question you politely. Due to the subject I may not succeed.”

  Nivaradros’s eyes went neon. He did, however, give a curt nod. Placing his hands on the same tabletop, he eyed the Shade for a minute before sighing when it became clear his nod was not permission enough. “Proceed then.”

  “Are you having sex with Zimliya?”

  Nivaradros tensed, glanced sidelong at her, and then met the Shade’s cold stare without a blink. “Does it matter?” he inquired in a tone that was too neutral to be safe.

  “It matters.” The Shade’s voice was colder than a winter blizzard, and the snap that word contained could have drawn blood.

  The Dragon didn’t answer for a long time—Z was astonished by his hesitation—and his silence was the type that brought to mind the distant rumble of thunder.

  “I claimed her,” he reminded the Shade.

  “I am aware of that, but that is not what I asked,” Crilyne retorted.

  “And I am aware it is not, but Zimliya is present whether we have permission to ignore her or not, and she is touchy about the subject you have decided to discuss.”

  Now the Shade glanced at her frozen expression. “Zimliya?”

  “You didn’t ask me,” was her short reply. “It is the Dragon’s question to answer. I am, as he implied, displeased at the question.”

  “Will you give him permission to answer it?”

  “He doesn’t require it.”

  “Perhaps not, but he seems to have decided it is yours to give.” Crilyne held her gaze; she was certain her expression had caused the room temperature to drop.

  “Didn’t you ask the Mithane?” she snapped at him before pressing her lips together to keep further words behind them. She glanced at the still silent Dragon. She wanted to be furious with him, but since his silence was a gift to her—one she was grateful for—it was hard to maintain any anger in light of his offering. “Oh fine,” she snarled at Crilyne. “Yes, damn it.”

  He didn’t need clarification to her answer. Turning back to the Dragon, the Shade traced a rune on the table, not that it showed. “At a later time, I would like to ask you a few other questions.”

  “Ask them now, Crilyne,” Z ordered. “Hearing them won’t break me. I may decide to break you, but that would be a personal problem, and it wouldn’t be mine.”

  The Shade chuckled in the face of her rage, but he did incline his head to her—which infuriated her further—and then turned to the Dragon once more. “Since I have permission to continue, Nivaradros what are your plans since Zimliya is in a position to be ruling an empire?”

  Nivaradros shrugged. “It depends on what kingdoms she ends up being placed in charge of, but I plan on standing beside her no matter what.” He glanced over at her and smiled. “I will not, however, in case you are foolish enough to ask, answer any questions regarding the future of those kingdoms in any matter that would be relevant if something were to succeed in harming—or killing—myself or Zimliya. I have a feeling that question would not end well for either of us, and since I share a room with Zimliya, I would like to be able to feel I could survive her company for a few months.”

  Crilyne raised a brow. “As you say. Let me then ask you something else; what will you do in regard to the Dragon Council?”

  “That depends on how foolish they decide to become. If they intend to offer me war, I will give it to them. If they pay attention to the fact I am with Zimliya, then I will remain as polite to them as I have always been, or just a hair politer. Have you informed them of my change?”

  “No, I have not. Although I wouldn’t have minded telling them, I was almost certain Zimliya would end my existence if it endangered you at all; it was not a risk worth taking.”

  “Wise.”

  “On occasion I am known to be.”

  Chapter 10

  The meeting between the Dragon and the Shade ended well, but as Z was present, she had expected it to. Nivaradros allowed Crilyne to ask
him a few other questions, and he answered them without withholding information. In return, the Shade offered the Dragon a small amount of information Z knew the Dragon had been intrigued by, and Crilyne promised to forewarn his ‘brothers’ of their eventual visit to the ruins of his city. They ended the discussion on that note, but Crilyne joined her and the Dragon as they exited the room.

  “Zyrhis has made his desire to formally declare you Queen quite clear. You will have to put up with a ceremony,” Crilyne warned her as Nivaradros allowed him walk to her right and took up a stiff position on her left.

  “I don’t suppose either of you would be willing to kill me?”

  The two immortals exchanged a glance over her head, she decided to ignore it. “With the threats Nivaradros delivered regarding your health and my part in it, no I am not,” Crilyne informed her with false cheer. “Nor—due to his attachment to you—will you be able to convince him to end your existence at this time. You are, if you so desire it, welcome to try though.”

  Glaring at the Shade, Z muttered under her breath but declined to voice a response. “Anything else you want to let me know about before it gets thrown at me?” she asked in a clipped tone.

  “I am sure there are a great many things; however, at the moment I am disinclined to inform you as to what they are.”

  Immortals. Dead and living. Cursing him in fifteen languages, Z glanced over at Nivaradros. “Not. One. Word.”

  “I haven’t said a thing,” the Dragon protested. His deep green eyes were flashing, and she could see the hint of a smile he was hiding.

  “You don’t have to, I can sense your amusement.”

  Nivaradros smiled. “You will have to accept some form of ceremony, Z. You are the ruler of three kingdoms at this time, after all. You have to award your subjects something.”