Wanderling's Choice

by D C McLaughlin

  "I do not like the jewels," she replied. "Look King Nazar. Let's get one thing straight between us. You do not like to be told no. I accept that. I do not like to have every aspect of my life dictated and controlled. You need to know this before we go any further."

  She took a deep cleansing and bracing breath before continuing. "Now if anything I have recently said has displeased you, you are free to lop off my head with that sword of yours."

  She faced him squarely her jaw set, her eyes blue steel, almost daring him to do it.

  He just glared back at her, too surprised to know how to respond. The air between them was electric.

  "Fine!" he declared at last, slamming his palms onto the table top. "It seems I am having dinner with a lady postman!"

  Inwardly she breathed an immense sigh of relief. She had survived the first hurdle. Now came all the others.

  "Am I having dinner with the real Rhiannon, then?" he asked.

  "Yes, you are."

  "Then I will speak plainly," Nazar said.

  "I wish you would!" she replied. "All this senseless polite banter and small talk is quite tiring to me."

  He smiled back. "Quite."

  She could see the wheels in his head turning, trying to best figure out how he could use this to his advantage.

  "Tell me about this horse trader who gave you that medallion," he said.

  Rhi swallowed her bite carefully. "There's not much to tell really. He's a horse trader. I bought my horse from him, the horse which has suddenly gone missing and no one seems to know what happened to him. He gave me this medallion. I guess he liked me some. That's it. End of story."

  "Yes, of course," King Nazar replied smiling smugly as if he suspected more than she was telling. "A horse dealer who is in my dungeon right now. A horse dealer with a touch of magic to him. A horse dealer you begged to rescue you from me. A horse dealer whose name is Shayne."

  She took another deep breath and struggled to control her emotions from showing on her face. She tried not to seem too upset by this.

  She calmly shrugged and sipped from her wine glass. "If you know more about him I'd be glad to hear it. He's not much of a talker."

  The king's smile only increased. "You really do know nothing about him do you?" he purred maliciously.

  "Is there a story to him?" she asked innocently.

  He chuckled. "Quite a story my dear. He killed my father. He's also my brother."

  Her fork clattered to the plate, food suddenly forgotten.

  It couldn't be possible.

  Shayne was a kinslayer?

  ***

  "Now I know why you never wanted to tell me about your past!" she fumed at him the next day.

  Shayne's face wrinkled in confusion. "What has he told you?"

  "He told me enough!" she spouted. "He told me you killed your own father!"

  Shayne's face went dark and angry. "No," he whispered.

  "Kinslayer!" she shouted at him. "You're a murdering kinslayer!"

  "NO!" Shayne replied his voice raised in warning. "I never killed my father. I never would do such a thing."

  "He also said you were brothers. Is it true? Shayne, are you a prince?"

  Shayne clutched the bars of his cell tight until his knuckles turned white.

  "I'm the second-born. I'm not important. Just an insurance policy to the throne. Yes, Nazar is my brother. But I never killed my father. Never! He's lying to you."

  Rhi was so upset she was pacing back and forth. "How am I to believe that? Who is telling the truth?"

  She grabbed the bars of his jail cell and spat at him. "You're both lying to me!"

  Shayne raised his chin a bit. "So the lass doesn't like being lied to. Duly noted."

  She sniffed in scorn and turned to leave. Shayne caught her arm and pulled her back. His grip was strong.

  "Don't you dare leave here until I tell you this."

  She tried unsuccessfully, to jerk her arm back.

  "What? More lies?"

  He shook her arm. "No. More truths."

  She hesitated. He had her interest.

  He sighed and released her. His hands pleaded for patience. "If you want to really know who to believe, ask him about his pet dragon."

  Her eyes searched his face. "What's the dragon got to do with this?"

  "Everything! Haven't you ever wondered why you only see the dragon during the day and him at night? Because he IS the dragon! Go to the uppermost parapet where you see the claw marks on the stone at dawn. You will see him turn into a dragon. Then come back and tell me I have no reason to keep secrets from anyone!"

  Rhi stared at him for a long moment.

  She then turned and fled from his presence. This was madness! She had no idea who or what to believe anymore.

  ***

  She stayed in her room all day thinking. Her world had gotten very complicated all of a sudden. How did this happen?

  What Shayne had said was ludicrous. No one could turn into a dragon! But not too long ago she had believed dragons weren't real, just fictitious monsters in fairy tales told to children to keep them good. Now she was learning the fairy tales were real and the world could be a very horrible place sometimes filled with very bad people and situations that weren't all black and white. There were too many shades of gray.

  She heaved a heavy sigh and looked through the great window at the road leading away from the castle, a road which was forbidden to her. How was she going to get out of this mess?

  She toyed with the silver medallion around her neck and wished for the thousandth time in the last few days she was someplace else.

  Then the dragon appeared in the sky in the distance. First it was a tiny, spindly speck but it grew steadily larger as it approached. It had something, a dark shape, clutched in its claws.

  She jumped to her feet, meaning to run to the highest parapet. But then she stopped herself. No, she would wait. She told herself. She wanted to hear what Nazar had to say at dinner tonight.

  She waited. The servants arrived exactly on schedule and lit her room. One opened the door on the wardrobe and began to rummage about among all the dresses.

  Rhi uttered a gasp of exasperation and throwing up her hands, left the room. She took herself to the dining hall where the king was waiting.

  He looked at her and growled in disapproval. "Wrong attire and same clothes as last night!" he muttered.

  Rhi shrugged and seated herself. A plate of roast mutton was set before her by a blank faced servant.

  King Nazar glared at her and drummed his fingers in irritation. Rhi took no notice.

  She looked at the meat as if she had never seen it before. "Sire, where do you get your meat?" she asked him suddenly.

  He frowned. "That is an odd beginning to our dinner conversation," he stated.

  Rhi raised her eyebrows and continued anyway.

  "I'm just saying I've never seen any livestock or animals of any kind since I entered your kingdom. I was just wondering where the meat comes from."

  Her eyes turned to the servant. "Are you feeding them to me?"

  He followed her gaze and burst out in laughter. "Heavens no! What an absurd thought! I am no cannibal."

  She smiled in return. "I'm glad to hear it."

  The king shook his head and picked up his knife and fork. "The dragon brings me back game from the mountains surrounding my kingdom. Animals are still plentiful there."

  He took a few bites. "I like meat. It makes one strong."

  Rhi nodded. "So the dragon is like your hunter's falcon?"

  He snorted in scorn. "Dragons are better than silly birds. Besides falcons can only eat other small birds and mice. No one crosses a dragon and they can eat whatever they choose to."

  Rhi nodded again. She was beginning to understand why all the falcon plaques were smashed. "So this dragon is your…pet?"

  The corners of his mouth twitched. "If you like."

  Rhi took another bite of meat while she mulled this over. "And how long have y
ou had this pet dragon?"

  The question seemed to irritate him. "You know what I want to know is, what kind of woman doesn't want fine dresses and jewels?"

  "Um, that would be me," she replied.

  "Yes, but why? From the state I found you in, it's obvious you've never had a fine thing in your life. And yet you refuse my gifts of wealth? I might expect this from a woman who has been raised in finery and grown immune to it but not someone of your background. What is it that you really want?"

  She lowered her knife and fork, knowing her answer would not please him. "A goodly horse and an open road before me. No more than that."

  His eyes narrowed and he shook his head.

  "Wanderling!" he said and sighed, disappointed. "You will not get those things here. You are on my land and in my castle. I own everything you see about you and the lands without. That means I own you as well."

  He sighed and pushed his plate back, looking at her keenly.

  "You are alive only because you have amused me so far. But I will tire of you soon enough like I tire of all things. And then I will expect you to obey me."

  His eyes turned to the empty faced servant who was refilling his wine glass.

  "And you will obey me one way or another."

  It was an unspoken threat.

  Rhi felt like someone was starting to strangle her slowly.

  "I know you spoke to Shayne today."

  She tried not to look concerned but failed. Her eyes turned to the servants. His gaze followed her own.

  "Yes, they told me. If you phrase the question properly, they have no choice but to give the correct response. They are incapable of deceit or lies."

  His gaze turned back to her. "It makes no difference to me that you spoke to him. You can talk all you like to him. It won't help you. Neither of you is ever going to leave here."

  Rhi swallowed with difficulty.

  She felt her world was getting smaller and smaller with every word he said.

  ***

  Rhi shivered in the predawn cold wind no matter how tightly she wrapped the heavy woolen cloak about her. It was very windy atop the highest parapet even though it was still summer.

  She hadn't been able to sleep after her dinner with the king. Her mind was spinning so much with all the things which had been told to her. She could only catch sleep in brief snatches.

  She hardly knew who or what to believe anymore. Maybe life as a simple farm girl was better. Maybe her decision to run away was a bit too hasty. If she had stayed at home and married Brody even if she didn't love him, she certainly wouldn't have had to deal with magic, and cruel kings who thought they could turn into dragons and such.

  She took a deep breath of cold wind and shut her eyes. No, she told herself firmly. She had chosen this life with all its glories and perils and this was what fate had dealt her. Good or bad she had to look it in the eye and face whatever the challenge was. She had to believe the open road was still there waiting for her. If she could only figure out this one riddle, she could have her old lifestyle back once again. She just had to see this through somehow, some way.

  Rhi sensed she was no longer so alone on the castle top. She opened her eyes and looked about. She huddled closer to the shadows in the pile of stone rubble she was hiding behind.

  King Nazar had stepped out from behind a wooden door which led to the top parapet. One look in his face and Rhi knew he did not suspect her presence. He never glanced her way, or looked to the right or left. He just strode to the claw marks in the stone and climbing up, stood on the very edge of the parapet's lip looking down, so far down, at the ground far below. His red cloak billowed out behind him as the wind caught it like wings, his black hair was tousled by the rough gusts.

  The first rays of the morning sun broke over the horizon and lit his body up in a golden fire. Rhi blinked. No, she wasn't dreaming. King Nazar had burst suddenly into golden flames! He raised his head and faced the dawning sun. His dark eyes had become red faceted gems which glittered and flashed, returning the sun's brilliant rays. Wide-eyed in disbelief, Rhi watched as his skin began to ripple like ocean waves and red, reptilian scales erupted out of the goose-bumps of his skin, like a cat's retractable claws. Nazar reached out his arms as if to embrace the sun. As he reached out, his red cloak swept forward and attached to the back of his arms and their composition changed from flapping cloth to fibrous red skin. His fingers lengthened and melded with the forming wings like a bat's webbed fingers.

  Nazar cried out, a cry which resembled some weird blend of lion's roar and eagle's scream. It was so loud it made the rocks tremble and Rhi clapped her hands over her ears. Then Nazar just seemed to faint and allowed himself to fall forward into the wind and off of the parapet. Down he fell out of Rhi's line of vision. She stood up so as not to lose sight of him. She blinked twice against the harsh wind in her eyes.

  An enormous, red golden dragon was beneath her, hovering, glowing with new magic in the air right below her parapet. It reached out its long, red armored neck and gaped its cavernous maw filled with spear-like teeth and cried aloud again. Then its wings flapped downwards once pushing its great bulk away from the castle and knocking Rhi end over end in the rush of wind from its wings.

  She looked up to see the enormous reptilian shape quickly grow small in the sky as it raced away from the castle on its morning rounds.

  Rhi collapsed in shock on the cold rock of the parapet's walkway.

  SHAYNE'S STORY

  "So you are a prince and your brother can turn into a dragon."

  It was a statement from Rhi to Shayne, not a question.

  Shayne nodded as he greedily gulped the water from the skin she had brought him.

  "I think you now need to tell me about your family. I will not take no for an answer," she told him.

  She seated herself comfortably on the floor next to the iron bars of his prison cell.

  Shayne considered her as he tore off some hunks of bread and hungrily consumed them as if he hadn't eaten in weeks although it had really only been a few days.

  "You saw him turn into a dragon?" he inquired between bites.

  She nodded wordlessly. "How does that happen? Did an evil sorcerer enchant him or a witch curse him?"

  Shayne laughed. "Were it was all that simple! Then there would be a good person needing to be rescued underneath. But no, he did that to himself. He wanted to become a dragon. He always did dream about dragons."

  His gaze drifted off into the black space of the darkness around him. He then jarred himself back to the present and turned back to her with an apologetic smile.

  "Remember when I told you our family had elf blood?"

  She nodded.

  "Well that's the part I lied the most about," he told her shrugging helplessly. "Many generations ago, one of the princesses of my family met and fell in love with an elfin suitor. My ancestors welcomed him with open arms, believing him to be a prince who had fallen out of favor with his family."

  Here in the story Shayne grinned mockingly. "He was no kind of a prince! If only they had known," he sighed sadly. "The elf suitor was no one in particular, in fact most elves shunned him like the plague and wouldn't even admit they knew of him. I wish they had been more forthcoming. You see he was just a common elf but much more, he was a thief, a vagabond and a willful murderer. My grandmother, many times removed, did not learn the truth until she had already borne him several children. When she discovered who he really was, she sent the children away for safekeeping and then confronted him. He killed her in cold blood. Then he went searching for his estranged children. He was caught and put to death long before it ever happened and my family thought that was the end of the matter. But it wasn't."

  His voice lapsed into silence and he stared blankly off into space while his hands busied themselves with tearing off a chunk of cheese.

  "From generation to generation there has been something wrong with the children of my family, something which has been passed down in the bloodstream t
o this day. Sometimes it's no more than magic flows easily to them and through them."

  "Like your ability to talk to horses?" Rhi interjected.

  Shayne nodded. "Yes, exactly. But then there is the flipside of the coin. There are children in my family who just act wrong no matter how well they are raised,"

  Here Rhi's brow wrinkled in confusion. "How do you mean 'wrong'? How can a child act 'wrong'?"

  He sighed and paused eating. "Certain children in our family seem to be very fascinated with violent acts and bloodletting. And no amount of scolding or gentle nurturing seemed to be able to guide them to the right path. Take Nazar for example. All during our childhood together, he was very competitive. No matter what I did, Nazar had to do the same thing bigger and better. He was always vying for my father's affection. I seemed to be the favorite and Nazar was insanely jealous of this fact. I didn't understand why then but I think I understand better now."

  He took another hasty gulp from the wineskin, wiped his mouth with a sleeve and continued. "Nazar was the firstborn, so this meant he was first in line to the throne. His life was already planned out for him. But me being the second-borne, meant I could live a somewhat freer lifestyle if I so chose. I had the heart of a wanderling. I wanted to renounce the throne and live life on the road, traveling and exploring the many lands about me."

  "Wanderling…" Rhi repeated softly remembering Nazar had said the name to her the night before. She remembered more the tone of voice he had used when he said it; one of disgust, ridicule and utter revulsion.

  "What is a 'wanderling' exactly?" she asked.

  Shayne smiled gently at her. "A wanderling is an adventurer or an explorer, a sword for hire. They live by their own rules and follow their own laws. Their code of ethics is very high and it is not wise to cross them. Their only master is the open road. I am a wanderling."

  Rhi smiled, happy to hear he shared her dream of the open road.

  "My father always wanted to do that too but he couldn't. He was the king. He had responsibilities which could not be ignored. He had a kingdom to rule. He could not just up and leave for adventure on the road. I could but he could not."