The dragon was silent for a long moment.
Rhi managed to control her sobbing and dashed the tears away. "Am I your slave now?"
The question seemed to startle the dragon.
"Hmmm. Slave," repeated the dragon slowly as it considered the words. "It is a harsh word, 'slave'. No, I do not want you to be my slave. Not after what I've been going through. I am, however, very interested in acquiring a spy. I'm sorry I had to force this upon you but I could not take the chance you might say no. I will not ask your forgiveness. Dragons have no use for human forgiveness. I will humbly beg you to allow me to eavesdrop on your conversations with Nazar. Perhaps I may discover something which will benefit both of us."
Rhi sniffed and said in a very small voice, "You could have asked permission."
The dragon rumbled knowingly. "No, I could not. And you know that very well."
Rhi forced her mind away from what she was feeling to concentrate on the job at hand and thought more about the inscription.
"'Wanderling's choice, destiny's sacrifice'…" she repeated. "Then shouldn't you be free now? I made a choice and a sacrifice."
The dragon only laughed louder. "You gave me a gift, not a sacrifice!" it replied.
"Yes, one you tricked me into, I might add!" Rhi said with some heat.
The dragon only continued to laugh. "My dear, do you even know the meaning of the word 'sacrifice'? It means to give up something. Not a gift or a meal or even a drop of blood. It means to give up something which before you had no intention of giving up, something you don't want to give up ever. But you do it for the greater good, because it's the right thing to do. And it's hard and it hurts a whole lot and you usually don't get anything out of it. But everyone else does. That's a sacrifice. And that's what you have yet to make: a great sacrifice."
"And what must I sacrifice?" she asked.
The dragon gave a long, drawn out sigh. "This only you can answer. Be assured you will know it when the time comes."
***
Rhi was breathless when she showed up in the dungeon with food and drink for Shayne.
"What's happened?" he asked and then he peered intently into her face. "What's wrong with your eyes?"
"Hello, prince!" boomed the dragon's voice right above their heads.
Shayne jumped back against the wall in shock. His eyes darted about the room, searching for the source of the voice.
Rhi hissed in irritation. "I told you not to do that! Can't I have a conversation with him in private?"
The dragon only chuckled in amusement.
"Rhi, what just happened? Who is that?" Shayne asked.
"I am the dragon. I now share this vessel. This means I can talk to whoever I wish, however I wish."
Shayne's gaze went back to Rhi. She shrugged apologetically. "Apparently I now have two souls, my own and the dragon's. It's a little crowded in here."
Shayne blinked several times as he digested this new bit of information. "And…how is it possible?"
"It tricked me. Look. That's not what I'm here to talk about. I need to know something and I wanted no interruptions!" she growled with an angry backward glance over her shoulder.
The dragon purred. "She wants to know about name magic. And if that is the case then you need to talk to both of us," the dragon's voice answered.
Rhi sighed and put her head in her hands. "This is going to get very confusing!" she muttered.
Shayne relaxed somewhat and sat down on the cold, stone floor, turning his attention back to Rhi and the food. "I'm listening. Ask away," he said uneasily.
"Well, why is it I don't have a soul name?"
"You're a commoner," both Shayne and the dragon said at once.
Shayne bowed to the air and motioned the dragon to continue as he tore off a hunk of bread. The dragon spoke as he ate.
"Soul names are a practice of the bluebloods. Common people never adopted the custom. Their call names are their soul names."
Rhi nodded as she took this in. "Do different family members know each other's soul names?" she went on.
Shayne nodded and spoke around a mouthful. "Usually. Nazar has known mine and I have always known his."
"Then all I have to do is find out Nazar's soul name?"
"No!" they both responded.
"It's not simple." Shayne went on. "Nazar has spent many years in magic study. Trapping someone with his soul name is a very complicated thing."
Here the dragon sniffed in derision. "For humans maybe. All that is required to ensnare someone is to say the name with clear mental intent to do so."
It was here Shayne had to interrupt. "That's how you control someone by using their soul name. But Nazar does more than control. He has separated the soul from the body. That's high magic. I don't know how he does it."
Rhi's thoughts spun. "Then if you said it with the right intent, could you just kill someone? Just by speaking a name?"
"Hurt yes, to the point of death? No," replied the dragon.
"It needs a more physical action than that," said Shayne and then he added. "Are you planning on killing my brother?"
Before Rhi could respond, the dragon cut in.
"Yes! Of course!"
Shayne looked meaningfully at Rhi. She remembered his previous words to her.
"It is never right to kill your own brother even if he has done everything to deserve it."
His gaze reminded her of these words.
Rhi frowned and hung her head as if she had been scolded.
"What's going on?" said the dragon, suspecting there had been a divergence of agreement. "You agreed you would help me kill him!"
Rhi sighed in frustration. "It's not that simple."
"What do you mean, it's not that simple? After you free me, I kill him. What could be simpler than that?" sputtered the dragon in confusion.
Here Shayne spoke up to defend her.
"He's not your brother, dragon. He's mine. I cannot condone murdering my sibling so lightly."
"Don't dragons have brothers and sisters?" Rhi had to interject.
There was a long silence from the dragon. "Yes," was the final answer.
"And what would you do if the tables were turned?" Shayne asked.
There came another long silence. "Dragon justice is very… complicated."
Rhi's eyebrows hopped. "Exactly!"
Rhi made a growling sound. "We have to give him a chance."
The dragon scoffed. "What sort of chance?"
Shayne nodded. "Yes, he must be given one last chance to redeem himself."
There came the sound of tumbling boulders. "And if he refuses, then can I kill him?"
Rhi looked at Shayne for permission. His face was clouded and dark as he thought.
Finally, after many minutes had passed, he nodded.
"Then I'm okay with it."
Rhi moaned and shook her head. "This means one more one-sided conversation with Nazar. Erg! How I hate these dinner dates with him!"
Shayne crept close to the bars, reached through and stroked her face gently. "You're being very brave. Hopefully this will all be over soon," he consoled.
She nodded without looking at him. "Yes, either we'll all be free or," here she paused and met his gaze. "Or I'll be a zombie and you'll be dead."
She swallowed with difficulty as tears sprang to her eyes. Shayne's hand squeezed her shoulder in encouragement.
"Shayne, I need to know one thing before the end."
He smiled easily. "Of course."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And then she just blundered ahead with the words.
"If these could be my final hours…well the dragon and Nazar have both said…ugh! This is ridiculous! Shayne, do you love me?"
The last words had barely left her mouth when she felt the wall between them go up again. He removed his hand and his gaze from her face and physically withdrew a bit from her, back into the safety of his jail cell.
Rhi dropped her eyes and immediately regretted her w
ords to him.
"What difference does it make?" he finally said to her. "I'm sure my brother has told you I'm a yellow-bellied coward. And he's absolutely right. I run away from everything, my responsibilities to my people and even my own feelings."
Rhi ground her teeth in frustration at his non-answer. "That was a long time ago. You've changed."
Shayne laughed a short, mean laugh. "Have I? You don't really know me. Who wants to be in love with a coward?"
Rhi grabbed the bars of the jail cell and pressed her face up against the cold metal. "The man who defended me from getting raped and killed by those robbers was no coward! Now answer the question!"
Her words forced him to look at her. He just stared at her for a long moment. Then he came back to sit beside her on the other side of the bars, reached through and held her face in both hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his forehead up against her own.
"Yes. From the minute I saw you I loved you although I didn't know why at the time. I have always loved you, Mara."
The dragon had been silent until now. Now it made a sudden, soft hiss. "So she does have a soul name after all! Interesting."
Rhi shuddered and felt tears spring to her eyes when he said the strange word. The mere utterance of the name caused a strange blend of emotions inside of her. She felt he had laid bare all her innermost secrets and yet, at the same time, she felt safe showing him her secret self, as if he could be trusted with anything she dared to tell him.
The dragon's voice rumbled above her. "And do you know his name?"
Rhi's thoughts whirled like dried leaves blown by an autumn wind.
"I…" she began but Shayne covered her mouth with his hand.
"Don't!" he warned her. "If you do know, don't speak it! Wait for the right time."
Rhi was afraid even to try to discover his name. If she knew of it, then Nazar might use it against her. She drove the thought of Shayne's soul name far away and tried to bury it deep. The curiosity of such a thing might well prove dangerous for everyone involved.
"The day grows old," she said with a difficult swallow. "And I have many things to say to Nazar tonight. I must plan out this conversation to come. My life might depend on it."
Shayne took hold of her hand and squeezed it tight. "Be careful," he whispered softly to her.
Rhi nodded, took a deep breath and forced herself to leave. She felt his eyes following her as she walked away. She forced herself not to look back.
CONSEQUENCES
Her thoughts were a million miles away as Rhi made her way back to her room. She requested a hot bath be drawn of the vacant eyed servant who met her at the doorway to her room. He silently nodded and left to do as she bid.
She thought hard as she bathed and brushed out her long locks. Then she plaited her hair into one long braid which hung down her back. She was still thinking. She requested a dress be laid out for her but a plain one this time. She returned in a robe to her room to find the requested clothing had been brought to her. There was a white tunic with a simple leather bodice and a plain green skirt laid out on the bed for her. It was perfect attire for a commoner.
It met with her satisfaction.
She dressed quickly and awaited the servant to appear at dusk and light her room.
She noticed the dragon return in the sky at dusk. Soon after, the servant appeared and lit the candles and the oil lamps in her room. Then a finely attired man-servant, one she had not seen before, entered her room.
The dragon had been silent until now.
"You will not be dining in the usual feast hall tonight. Nazar has planned the evening meal someplace else. Go with him, Rhi."
Rhi sniffed. "So it's tonight?"
"It would appear so."
Rhi took a deep, bracing breath. "Very well then. Let's get this over with."
She stood up and followed the servant obediently.
He led her through a maze of hallways she had never seen before to a smaller, more private table set on an open air stone porch positioned to offer a beautiful view of the valley below.
King Nazar stood there awaiting her. He was dressed in fine velvet and brocade gilded clothes and wore a bejeweled dagger at his hip.
Nazar looked her up and down and sniffed in disapproval of her simple attire.
Rhi dipped in a small curtsey.
"Sire," she said.
He said no greeting in return, just nodded in acknowledgement.
"Is there a reason for the change in dining areas, my Lord?" she asked.
He frowned darkly. "You have a decision to make tonight," he said flatly.
Calmly, Rhi nodded. "Yes, I do."
Her quiet manner and self-control seemed to surprise him somewhat.
"And?" he said. "What is your answer?"
"First I would like you to ask the question properly, my Lord." Rhi heard the dragon chuckling quietly in her mind.
Nazar sighed in exasperation. "Will you or will you not marry me?"
"Hmmm," murmured Rhi. Slowly she seated herself at the table. "Well, let us discuss marriage negotiations, shall we?"
Nazar's frown increased. "It is a simple question with a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer. What is there to negotiate?"
Rhi sipped her glass of wine slowly, taking her time in replying. "Quite a lot actually. But you, being a royal, should be used to all sorts of negotiations. So this should not be a big an issue. Be assured you will have a definite answer from me this night on this matter."
Having said this, she gestured to the chair across from her.
Nazar hesitated, then grudgingly, seated himself.
She considered him for a moment. "What if I would agree to marry you if certain requests were met?"
Her words took him aback for a moment. "That all depends on the nature of the requests. Which are?"
She took another sip of wine to steel herself and tried to act nonchalant. "First, I would like you to return your servants' souls to their bodies."
He smirked. "They would drop dead the second I did!"
Rhi made a guttural sound which warned him not to interrupt. "Second, I want you to free your dragon from its bondage to you."
She felt the dragon's hopes soar.
Nazar guffawed at this but Rhi held up her hand in a scolding manner.
"Third, I want you to release your brother from your dungeon."
There was a long silence as Nazar sat across from Rhi, staring at her as if he had just seen her for the first time.
Then he burst out in laughter.
"Are you mad?" he managed to choke out.
Rhi felt her hopes and the dragon's plummet.
"Those are the most ridiculous things I have ever heard! Why would I want to free my servants? Who would cook and clean for me? Do you expect me to do such things myself? And why would I free the dragon? It would kill me the moment I released it! And as for Shayne…"
Here he lapsed into an amused chuckling as he shook his head, thinking of such a prospect.
"Do you mistake me for an imbecile? I marry you and release him so you two can carry on behind my back? Do you really think I'm that foolish?"
His laughter suddenly stopped and he leant forward across the table towards her. He gently stroked the side of her face with a finger.
"Marry me Rhi and I promise you, when I do kill my brother, it will no longer matter so much to you."
Rhi withdrew her face from his touch with a look of utter disgust. "You're a horrible, cruel man!" she told him. "Why do you do these things to people? Why can't you just let them be?"
Nazar's face became hard and cold. "Because people make no sense at all. They say things which aren't true, they make promises they never keep, they change their minds. It should all be simple. But it's not simple. Except here. I make them simple."
He paused, considering her for a moment. "You see my dear, everyone lies. Every single person who walks this earth lies. You were lying to me the day you met me. But not here. These people don't lie. The
se people I'm able to understand. These people never hurt me. It's paradise here."
Rhi raised her chin in defiance. "Only for you!" she told him with some heat. "You can't judge people so quickly. Life is like rolling hills, lots of ups and downs. And people are…complicated. Situations in their lives change and that transforms the promises into lies. Situations they didn't plan on or they couldn't see happening. How can you blame people for that? It's out of their control. People are not meant to be simple. And you forcing them to be a way you can understand better is wrong. Nobody is happy here but you. Can't you see that?"
Nazar growled at her words. "You're wrong. It's different here. I control everything. Therefore I control the outcome of things."
Rhi shook her head. "You can't control everything, Nazar," she told him.
He sniffed in derision of her words. Then he waved a servant over and whispered something in his ear. The servant nodded and left. Nazar turned back to her.
"Oh no? I control everything in this kingdom, even you. Just watch me!"
His words made her shiver. Again she had lost her taste for food and drink. Her stomach lurched at the prospect of what unknown thing was to come.
"I know exactly how this will end. I know the decision you will make and how things will end up. I know the end of your story already and we're not even there yet. Would you like me to tell you?"
Rhi swallowed with difficulty. "I prefer to let my tale just play out."
He nodded and shrugged. "As you wish. It makes no difference to me."
Rhi heard the tread of boots behind her and turned around in her chair. What she saw made her gasp and jump to her feet.
Four blank faced soldiers were leading Shayne. His wrists were shackled with heavy iron manacles and his clothes were dirty from the dungeon. The soldiers pushed him forward and stepped back, ready and waiting.
"Ah! How nice of my brother to join us for dinner. Funny. He doesn't look as gaunt and starved as I expected him to be. I wonder why that is?" Nazar said in a mocking tone of voice.
"What are you up to, Nazar?" Rhi demanded.
King Nazar just smiled maliciously as he stood up and approached Shayne. Shayne stared straight ahead, refusing to look at his brother. For one breathless moment, Rhi thought Nazar had removed his soul like all the others. But a soul-less person had no need for manacles.
Wanderling's Choice Page 10