“They will focus their attack on Elevera,” Trysten said.
“How do you know that?” Prince Aymon asked.
“It is our greatest vulnerability," Mardoc said. “This isn’t a foolish army. They know that killing our dragoneer or alpha would destroy our ability to resist. It would be chaos if a horde this size broke apart. Sone couldn’t take all of our dragons into a horde of her own, and so likely three-quarters of our horde would abscond.”
"Or fall in behind Karno and Ollym," Muzad said.
"Or Rodden and his Maejel," Prince Aymon said. “You should stay behind, Trysten."
She cocked an eyebrow at the Prince.
Mardoc sat up in his chair. “A true dragoneer would never stay behind. It is only a Western coward who would send his horde ahead to fight his battles.”
“We are dealing with the greatest of stakes here. We cannot afford to lose Trysten,” Prince Aymon shot back.
“Unacceptable,” Trysten said with a shake of her head. “I can’t stay back. I have to be in the air with Elevera to control the horde. We’ve already established this. Paege and I tried.”
Prince Aymon rapped his cane sharply against the floor once, then pushed down on the head of it to reposition himself. His face flared red with anger. He looked at the others sitting around him, then turned back to Mardoc.
Trysten braced herself for another round with him, another frustrating row in which he would once again try and convince her as well as Paege and her father that the best thing to do would be to retreat back to the mother city.
But then the fire faded from his face, and his expression softened into a look of resignation before resuming his usual imperious glare. "I suppose you are right."
"Yeah, I suppose," Paege said with a roll of his eyes.
“Now,” Trysten said as she tugged on the hem of her tunic, “As I was saying, we will ignore the enemy horde when they come for us. We will sweep in under them and go straight for the spear launchers as planned. They might chase us, but they probably will not, as that would make them vulnerable to their own weapons. Muzad, when your horde is past the spear launchers, I want you to sweep back, fan out and focus on the alpha and Dragoneer. You know what they look like now.”
“I have an arrow for each of them," the royal Dragoneer pledged. "One for each of my men and their dragons that fell at the hands of that devil horde.”
“Good enough. When my horde sweeps past, we will fall in behind you. If you don’t stop the Dragoneer, then sweep down and start taking out soldiers. My people will finish the Western Dragoneer if you don’t.”
“I will stop him,” Muzad said with a nod. “I bet you my life that I take him out personally.”
Trysten nodded at Muzad and continued. “After that, we will sweep the army with firebreath and arrows. We will focus our attacks on the backside of the firebreak while allowing the villagers to handle the army on the front of the firebreak. Any questions?”
“What of the Originals?” Prince Aymon asked.
“What of them?” Trysten responded.
“What is your plan for dealing with them?”
Without thinking, Trysten’s hand dropped to the hilt of her dragonslayer sword. “They will not show themselves.”
“How can you be certain of that?” Aymon pressed.
Trysten took a deep breath. Her body hummed with anticipation of the battle. Her muscles felt tight and loose at the same time, ready to flash into fire at a moment’s notice.
“They’ve already proven that they can appear in the village, and disappear without consequence,” Trysten said. “If it were a matter of simply getting close enough to do whatever it is they want to do, then they would have done so. Whatever it is they are after, they need me to agree to it. They will not get me to agree by force.”
Trysten’s eyes darted to Paege. His jaw tightened, and he nodded slightly.
Prince Aymon smirked. “If that were the case, then they wouldn't be sending an army to... encourage you. We may very well see them in the heat of battle.”
Trysten’s fingers wrapped around the hilt of her sword. “Their mistake to make.”
Silence dropped over the group suddenly. Trysten looked into the eyes of each of the men gathered. “Any other questions?”
The men exchanged glances, then shook their heads.
"That'll be it, then. I've asked Vanon to make two more reconnaissance flights today. If anything changes, I'll let you all know, but be prepared for battle today all the same. I wouldn't put it past the Western kingdom to have another surprise at hand for us."
The men stood, Mardoc and Prince Aymon both struggling a bit. They exchanged a knowing glance as they each came to their own height.
While Mardoc and Paege made for the door, Prince Aymon stood a moment longer with something to say.
Trysten remained steadfast, her backside against the edge of the table, her palms down on the table top.
The Prince swallowed once, nodded, then merely said, "It is an honor to have you among our fabled warriors."
As the Prince turned away, Trysten's eyes grew wide with surprise, and Muzad gave her a look of shock himself before turning his attention to the Prince. Muzad glanced over his shoulder at her once more before he followed the Prince out of the den. Trysten gave him a single, solid nod, one dragoneer to another.
As the door shut softly behind them, Trysten grinned until her jaw ached with the effort of it. She pushed herself off the edge of the table and turned to the window, her hands upon her hips. She wished she had someone to share her victory with, but it was enough to spend a moment basking in the satisfaction of the open show of respect from the Prince, and in front of Muzad no less.
It was certainly the least important victory in the string of battles facing her, but she was off to a good start.
Chapter 38
As Trysten turned her attention to the details of the battle waiting for her, someone knocked on the door to her den.
"Come in," Trysten called as she turned halfway around. The smile dropped from her face, figuring Aymon was back to start on her again.
Instead, Kaylar opened the door.
Trysten smiled again. "Kaylar! What can I do for you?"
“There’s a group of people here who wish to speak with you,” Kaylar said, a smile on her own face as well.
Trysten turned to face her friend. “Speak with me?”
Kaylar nodded. “I told them I’d ask you to come down and meet with them.”
“About what?” Trysten asked as she gripped the hem of her tunic and tugged it down.
“Ask them,” Kaylar said as she left.
Trysten followed Kaylar down the stairs and out toward a small group of women who waited around Elevera’s stall. The gold dragon stood tall above them, her head shifting left and right as she seemed to take her time examining and reexamining each of the nine women.
“What can I do for you?” Trysten asked as she approached.
Chellis, a shepherdess who tended one of the larger flocks in the village, stepped forward. She spread her hands out slightly at her side.
“We’ve come to fill vacant saddles,” Chellis said.
Trysten’s jaw went slack. She looked past Chellis to the women who stood and watched in silence, their faces nervous or displaying slight smiles. They were all women Trysten knew, and they ranged in age from near her own to a bit older than her mother. None of them were women she had known to have any interest in riding dragons.
Yet, here they were.
“We want to do our part,” Chellis continued. “We want to ride dragons. We want to defend the village. You need help, and we’re here to provide it.”
Trysten swallowed hard, then covered her open mouth with her fingers. She’d been so used to jousting with words lately that words of kindness and gratitude and appreciation seemed hard for her to find.
She took a deep breath and blinked away the wetness in her eyes. “Oh, my. Thank you.”
Chelli
s’s smile widened. “We’re ready to begin training. Kaylar told us that the first thing was to learn the hand signals. She’s been showing us a few of them.”
Trysten looked to Kaylar, who held her shoulders back. “I wanted them to know what they were in for.”
Trysten turned back to the women. Nine women ready to take up saddles and fly dragons. Nine women who would make a noticeable presence in the horde. They would show others that Kaylar and Alea and Trysten were not mere flukes. These were women ready to do whatever needed to be done to protect their village, to protect the ones they loved. All they needed was an opportunity. It was time to do what they’d been wanting and able to do all along.
Taking another deep breath to loosen the knot in her throat, Trysten ran the butt of her palm beneath her eye to wipe away some of the tears welling up there. Nothing would ever be the same again. Even if she died in battle the next day, the kingdom would still be forever changed. There would still be women ready to fill the saddles, to show the world that they were capable and able and willing. And nothing could stop them now that they had taken a stand.
“So?” Chellis asked through her wide grin. “Shall we start?”
Trysten clasped her hands behind herself to regain her focus. “I’m touched. I really am. And I want each of you to take a saddle. To train and fly with the rest of us. But today is not the day. We are preparing for tomorrow's battle, and I’m afraid I don’t have the hordesmen or the dragons to spare right now.”
Chellis lifted an eyebrow and made a quick glance to the weyr yard.
“All right, I have the dragons, but I don’t have the hordesmen. Which is why the Aerona horde needs all of you. I expect to see each one of you back here in two days, and we will start your training then.”
Chellis smiled, then nodded her head in a slight bow. “We will be here.” She then looked over her shoulder and asked, "Right?"
The rest of the women shouted "Right!" and nodded.
As they began to make their way out of the weyr, Kaylar turned to Trysten. “Isn’t this great! There’s nine of them. They were talking about you. They watched you fly the riderless dragons and instead of thinking they weren’t needed because you can handle the dragons by yourself, they decided they want to fly by your side. They want to protect the village, too. Wow! You have...” Kaylar's voice broke, and she shook her head. Then she wrapped Trysten in a crushing hug, picked her up and spun her around once, before setting her back on the ground.
Kaylar jumped back and clasped her hand over her mouth as her face exploded into a look of shocked chagrin.
“Fish and birds!” she gasped. “I just hugged my dragoneer. I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Trysten laughed and grasped Kaylar by the shoulder and squeezed. “It’s me who should be hugging you. Thank you so much for bringing those women here. We’re going to change the world, you and me. And we’re going to change it for the better.”
“Not me,” Kaylar said with a shake of her head. “I’m no Dragon Lord.”
“It took no courage on my part to be who I was born to be. But it took a lot of courage for you to be the first one to step up, to say that you wanted to fly. You set the example. You are the leader here.” Trysten squeezed Kaylar’s shoulder.
Kaylar let out a little squeak, then turned away as her face reddened. “I... I’m just doing what’s needed. You needed saddles filled. I have a butt.”
Trysten laughed again, and the laugh grew into a guffaw.
Kaylar broke into giggles as well, and her giggles grew into laughter until the two women nearly collapsed and had to lean against Elevera’s stall as they clutched at their bellies. The rest of the people in the weyr did their best to not join in, to keep to the business before them, but nonetheless, chuckles rang out among the weyrmen and hordesmen as the dragons watched it all with their unwavering curiosity.
Chapter 39
When Trysten walked into her cottage, she found her parents sitting at the table, preparing fish to be roasted over the fire.
“Is this dinner?" Trysten asked. "Do you need some help?”
“It seems that you should have something better to do,” Caron said. “Something more important.”
“I always found that it’s nice to have something to do the night before a battle. To take one’s mind off of it,” Mardoc said.
Caron grinned as she picked up a knife and began to chop an onion into slices. “I must have missed that,” she said. “It seems to me that you never did anything but prepare for battle.”
Trysten took a deep breath, then batted her eyes against the sting of the onion.
Mardoc put his knife down, picked up a rag, and wiped off his hands.
“You all right?” Caron asked.
Mardoc dropped the rag, then reached over and wrapped his thick and calloused fingers around Trysten's hand, which suddenly looked and felt so pale and small engulfed in his.
“You will be fine,” Mardoc said, his voice more strained than usual. He was assuring himself, not her.
“I will be fine,” Trysten said and squeezed his hand. “By the wisdom of the dragons.”
"I don't doubt it. Not for a moment do I. But if it's all the same, please be careful tomorrow. Confidence is like any finely-crafted sword; it cuts both ways."
Trysten squeezed her father's hand again, gave him a reassuring grin, then pulled her hand away. She curled the fingers under the neck of her tunic, snagged the chain, and pulled the pendant out and over her head. The tooth twisted before her, turning slowly one way, then the other.
"The Original who came to see me was surprised to discover that I had this."
The steady chopping motion of Caron's knife slowed to a halt.
"He wanted it back."
Mardoc cupped the tooth in his hand and pulled it closer as if this new information might allow him to discover something that he'd missed before.
"By the dragon's breath," Caron said. "That's not what they're after, is it?"
Trysten shook her head as she took a seat at the table. "No. The army was coming before they knew I had that. It has nothing to do with what is going on. Except that I was wearing that when I hit him."
Mardoc lowered his hand suddenly. The tooth clattered against the wooden table. "You hit him?"
Trysten looked to the tooth, then shrugged. She felt a bit like she was in trouble and her parents were about to give her a stiff warning and send her off to bed without any dinner. She almost chuckled at the thought.
"I can't explain it," Trysten said as she looked up to her father again. "I just got so angry. I don't even quite remember about what. I just became enraged, and I wanted to tear him to pieces. I lashed out and struck him on the side of his head with my fist, and he dodged away. I seemed to have caused him great pain."
Mardoc chuckled, then looked to Caron. "I told you that she'd need to know how to fight with her fists one day."
Caron furrowed her brows at her husband, then nodded to Trysten, encouraging her to continue.
"He tried to take the pendant from me. He reached out to grab it, and I swatted his hand away. He recoiled like I'd burnt him. And his skin was discolored where I had touched it."
"And this was when you encountered him in your den the other day?" Caron asked.
Trysten nodded.
"Why didn't you tell us then?"
Trysten shrugged. She looked down at her father's hand. She tugged the chain of the pendant taut and Mardoc lifted his fingers. She slid the pendant out, then pinched the setting between thumb and forefinger and held the tooth upright until her mind began to bend with the sight of the tooth being two things at once.
She shook her head. "It's hard to say. So much of that didn't seem real. He was... He was like the tooth."
Trysten looked up at her mother. Caron kept her head low, deliberately focused on the onion before her, which had been chopped finely enough for her purposes at least a minute ago.
"The way he looked. The way he moved
. His smile. It all had the quality of being a dream. A hallucination. And then the horde came out of the west..."
"I understand," Caron said. "But then why are you telling us now?"
Trysten squeezed her eyes shut to rest them, and then placed the pendant on the table before herself. Once she pulled her hand away and was no longer touching the vaguely translucent bone, she looked up to her mother, then over to her father.
"The pendant has some kind of power. They can't harm me while I wear it, apparently."
"Then perhaps you should put it back on now," Mardoc said with a nod.
"It's not just that," Trysten said. "They also need Elevera. They need us both. They have to get me to agree to go with them because that is the only way that Elevera will go. You can't make a dragon move if she doesn't want to, right?"
Mardoc nodded knowingly. "Indeed. That's for sure."
"Whatever it is the Originals want, they can't take it from me. I have to agree to give it."
"What do you think they want?" Caron asked.
Trysten let out an exasperated sigh. "I wish I knew. But as sly as they are being, I can't imagine it is something that I would agree to."
"That seems certain," Mardoc said.
"But if you have it, and they can't get it..." Caron began.
Trysten nodded. "They can't touch me. But if what they want is so important that they are raising an army to march on us, then they aren't going to let anything happen to me. I could walk right into that army tomorrow unarmed, and I don't think a single soldier would raise a weapon against me."
"Let's not be so quick to assume that," Mardoc said.
"I agree with your father on this one," said Caron.
Trysten slipped the chain around her neck and allowed the pendant to fall into place against her chest. But this time she left it dangling on the outside of her tunic, the silver chain dancing in the light of the lantern glowing above them.
"The Original said something about me not recognizing him and blamed it on the centuries being hard on me."
The Dragoneer Trilogy Page 74