She couldn’t shake the fact that no matter what, poor Zhao wouldn’t be able to stay with her. He had crossed the wrong lines to get what he wanted. He had made the first effort to contact Princess Salma, and then willingly handed over his remaining family fortune to her.
“But, you don’t disagree that intent is intent – his ability, or not, to carry that out won’t spare his spirit,” Mira said, tilting her head to the side.
Ange shook her head, there was no denying anything.
“Zhao, come,” she pulled him back toward the table. “Earth confines Water,” she tapped him with a twiggy wand. “Come, sit. Let’s get you healed before we discuss anything else. You need a clear head.”
He seemed to follow her like he was dead inside. “Drink,” she refilled the goblet, and he drank it. “Now, take a nap.” She pointed to the sofa by the fireplace. Without objection, he walked over, lie down, and fell asleep.
Marut gasped, then said, “I hope you don’t do that to me.”
“You’re an Air Dragon, she would have a hard time doing that to you, because the wind shapes the Earth. You really haven’t had training, beyond an obnoxious vocabulary have you,” Agne asked, wanting to laugh at him, but was still disturbed by what Mira said.
Mira nodded, “Magical humans do have a hard time against equal or opposite Elemental dragons. What you two need to do is get out of here. Healing him will take longer than you have. Not only that, but it will give you time to consider that you may be suffering from a mental condition common to people being held captive; especially with him being of Water, and in direct contact with your scales as he flew bareback. It’s possible you have come to sympathize with him.”
“Water Wizards are also good at flushing things out of their system, such as sleeping potions. And, her father destroyed my village; twice. I had nothing to do with those times,” Zhao said, looking over the couch. “Why do you want her without her rider?”
“Impressive,” She turned around and walked over to Zhao. “See, not as blocked as I thought. And you do share the rider connection, but my original assessment stands. Not only that, but how are you going to ride in with her, when the castle is a human-free zone.”
“She has a point,” Marut said.
“She has to return to the castle alone, claim escape, and then we three will bring up the rear. Right now, I need you to go to sleep, after you drink a glass of water. You must heal your magic if you are going to be of service to her.”
He nodded toward Agne, “Thank you, my future queen, for defending me. Let me help you secure your throne. After that, I’ll leave, if you need me to, and even if you want me to stay, I will leave if my presence complicates your reign. The people need freedom.”
“Zhao, you have to know, Mira is correct,” Marut said, pointing at Mira with his tail. “You can’t help us on the first leg of this mission. You can’t be seen with Princess Agne. It’ll make it that much harder. Please, I promise, I’ll wait here and help you come up with a plan. We’ll help Agne reunify the nation, but you do need to rest because you are very pale right now.”
Zhao pointed at him. “You have done nothing but lie to the Princess since we met you. How old are you? Really? Because you’re kind of big for an eighteen-year-old.”
“Are you calling me fat?” He huffed, blowing the afghan on the back of the couch over Zhao’s head.
Mira snorted. “He’s twenty-two, and he knows it.”
“See!” Zhao flipped the afghan off his head. “You do nothing but lie to her. You didn’t even tell her who you were, her brother. For the sake of the gods, Marut, you cannot be trusted.”
“Don’t blame him for that part. He was hunted; to be killed for being who he is. I can’t say that I blame him,” Mira said walking over to Marut who sat with wide eyes.
“It wasn’t enough to abandoned me; she wanted me dead.”
Mira nodded. “Airyanna abandoned you and your father when the King turned his eye toward her. You were a wee pup of only eight weeks. She contracted an assassin – me – to get rid of you. I couldn’t do it. I took you to a couple who couldn’t have their own pup, then told your father that you were safe. They only knew that there was some political strife your father couldn’t handle. They didn’t know who your mother was.”
Marut sat there like Mira had placed a statue-curse on him.
“So, how did you find out,” Agne asked.
“When I was arrested in South Aquaqueia. The Fire Dragons who took me in said I looked like the Lost Pup, even had the Queen’s silver eyes.” He stared at the carpet. “If she wanted me dead, why did she ask for my help?”
“She wanted the crown there’s a difference.” Mira poured more water for Zhao.
“Um, dead is dead. So, for me there is no difference.” He put his ears back.
“They are evil,” Zhao said, still leaning over the back of the couch. “Are you sure you can trust him? That’s a huge emotional hurtle. He could leave here with you.”
“Excuse me,” Marut snarled at him, showing fangs. “I can tell the difference between my kind and loving sister and tyrannical mother. And- I am not the one who kidnapped her in the first place.”
“Yes,” Agne said, nodding, “And, he has also protected me. And, we can have a small planning rest bit, because of his contacts. If you don’t’ believe Marut, then believe me. I will be here when you awaken. I promise, on my crown. Now please, drink the water and go to sleep. Marut and I need to talk, alone.”
Zhao nodded and drank more water before lying back down.
After a few minutes, Mira walked over to him and checked him. “He is sleeping. Let me get my ginger clay, so I can bless it, and put it on his face while he sleeps. It’ll help draw out the toxicity of his emotional turmoil. It’s literally poisoning him. It’s one of the drawbacks of Water magic.”
She went over to the fireplace and pulled a silver pot down from the mantle, taking some of the lighter color clay off the earthen walls before crushing ginger root into it. “Can you spit on this, it’s not for me. It’s because the potion needs saliva of the person wronged. In particular, the innocent who was wronged. Then you might want to drink some water yourself,” she pointed at the empty jug on the table, “So you can get started on payment. Marut will take a few minutes before he’s verbal again, then you two can talk.”
Agne nodded and drank water from a large barrel with a pipe running to it from above. Marut carried the jug over and set it next to her. It was a really amazing, yet creepy place. She had never seen this side of Earth magic. Her father always concentrated on the conquest parts of it. She drank, swished, and spit while looking around. She wished she could have grown up here. Her Earth Magic probably would have been stronger if she had.
“My own mother wanted me dead: not adopted out. Yet, I am the first person she hunts down when the crap hits the ceiling fan.” Marut didn’t sound like the confident dragon Agne had met a couple of days ago. He sounded wounded.
“Marut, you told me yourself, when you refer to your parents it’s the waystation inn owners. Mother was unworthy of you. She was unworthy of me, even if she did help me escape, she was nothing but a pirate who had power. You grew up loved and cherished by parents who wanted you. I grew up as a royal toy. There is no way my father would have let me become an adult. I shudder to think of what he would have done when I finally tried to push for my own family.” She smiled, “Besides girlfriends come and go, a sister is there forever. And, now you know your father helped Mira to save you, he can now hold his proper place in your memory. I can also see to it that you have all of his assets since he had no official pups of his own.”
He stared at her blinking. “I am not alone anymore.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “And, you can stop being weird, or I’ll start acting like a bratty little sister and give you a taste of sibling rivalry.”
THE DRAGONS LANCE
Agne stretched, pulling her forelegs up and her hind legs out. She had slept s
ound, and her sleep had been dreamless. There was something warm on her back. She cleared the grogginess of sleep out of her head, realizing it was only the fire, yet something felt thick all over her. It was warm, baked on.
“Clay, I am covered in clay.” She sniffed at her paw. “It smells fabulous.” She picked up her head and felt the clay cracking off her. “What is going on?”
“Healing, Your Highness. You, too, have been through a traumatic event,” Mira said, getting up from the bed. From the looks of her, she had slept clothed on top of her covers. “You cannot allow the emotions to poison your life. You have to give yourself permission to acknowledge that what happened was horrific and tragic, then further give yourself permission to mourn it. Only then can you move forward with a productive plan. But, I fear, I must remind you that your plan must be queen based.”
“Queen based?” she asked, standing up and slowly wagging her tail. The clay fell off, leaving her scales shinier than the gold dusted polish had.
“Yes, you are unseating a king; you are the Crown Princess, you will be Queen of Shestafa. Your plan must include what all queens must do.”
“What is that?”
“Rule, Your Highness, you must rule.” She looked at Agne with a much different look in her eyes. “Agne, can you do it? Your father, horror that he is, rules…we cannot have chaos break out over the lands. You must plan for this. You’re of the Monarchy, not of a cave family. How do you intend to set up land distribution, taxes, schooling…rider contracts? The day to day things a queen or king does. Have you given any thought to a King Consort? And, you cannot name your brother as your heir, he will take over. He has too much of his mother in him.”
She looked around, Marut was sound asleep on his back with all four legs in the air, and his tongue hanging out. His tail sprawled out. He was also covered in clay.
Mira smiled at him, “I was there when he was introduced to the village elders by his parents. He was about three months old, and trying to snap everyone’s fingers or paws off. They were so happy to have him.”
“Not so much different than now,” she said, smiling. “He seems to enjoy snapping at people.”
She smiled, “What did he tell you about himself?”
She nodded, “Who is he really working for? Why does he lie like that?”
“To protect you, and his cover, I am sure. You cannot tell your father anything about him. The King thinks he’s dead.”
She nodded, again. “Who does he really work for? I thought it might be my mother.”
She shrugged, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him since just before his parents died, he was still a pup then; not working for anyone. I would guess you’re right that he answers to your mother: after all the need to be wanted by one’s mother never goes away. Have you tried asking him?”
“Several times.” She carefully, and gently stretched to break the rest of the clay off her back. “I have not given King Consort any consideration. And, you told Marut you loved him, why would you poison my mind against him? To warn me that he would not be a suitable heir – I’ll need someone, and he is my nearest blood relative. The crown would default to him for that reason alone.”
“I do love him. He is a capable spy, but I love country first. And I knew your father when he was just coming of age – before his mind was poisoned by my fellow villager, Ja Hua. Marut suffers from the sort of self-ambition that will eventually overshadow his feelings for you – just like Tiakical’s feelings for Airyanna,” she explained. “You have read stories, fairytales about a queen who took over…”
“I have never heard anyone use his real name.” She nodded, “In my stories, I only read one about a king with eight wives, each one gave him only one daughter, except his first wife; his most beloved wife, the one he married for love. Her love for him turned cold when she didn’t have pups right away…,” her voice trailed off as she realized, her father was terrible, yes, but it was her mother who took over. Her mother who ruled in his stead. “How sure are we that my mother is dead? I mean, I heard my father announce he was looking for a queen. I assumed because my mother was dead. But she has a hard time with her eggs… Apparently, she can bear pups…” She used her tail to point at Marut.
“I know of two eggs in her pouch that were crushed in battle. I know the scar on the face of his Fire Queen was because your mother taught her who ruled. I know she controls Ja Hua, and Ja Hua’s magic was bestowed by your father’s Water Queen at the behest of your mother, as a reward for helping the king take over the Southern region of Rothelande in a battle that destroyed this village and half of our home in Sea An’Tia.”
“In other words, you know a lot more about what is going on than I do. How can my mother control his rider?”
“See, that is what I mean. What is your plan to rule; to maintain your rule. To keep control over your court. Did you have a betrothed – official or unofficial?”
She shook her head, then remembered. “Chactau. He is the son of my father’s late Earth General.”
“He was the brother of Tiakical’s Earth Queen, was he not?”
She nodded. “What really happened to him? I was told he was killed in battle.”
Mira shrugged, “I only have my earth pool to scry the future, but if I can heal Zhao, I can properly scry – since strictly speaking it is Water magic. I can use the earth to pull out the images, but it would be so much easier with Zhao in full control of his magic. And…”
“A final test of his worthiness to be my rider. We ask him to scry the future, and with you pulling the earth up under the water, he will not be able to lie to himself anymore- about why he wants to help me.” She frowned.
“There we go, Princess, you rule.” Mira smiled, “Well, it would appear my Earth Magic has successfully grounded some of the Air magic fueling some of your dangerous naiveté. Tell me about Chactau.”
“I don’t know that much. Only rumors. I have only met a few dragons outside my immediate family. When I was about six, and Chactau was about eleven or twelve at the time. I didn’t get to talk to him, I was hiding at the palace. I did overhear his father telling him he would one day be my betrothed, and that he couldn’t engage in foolish behavior.” She shook her head and arched her back up. “I don’t know what he was doing. It was just a fleeting, non-meeting; an overhearing of a private conversation. That is the only firsthand information I have. The rumors are that his father was a monster to him. He is now one of my father’s enforcers, given the horrific reputation of his army battalion, I can only imagine how horrible he is.” She heaved a sigh. “I got the distinct impression he didn’t want to marry me.”
“You only know nothing about him. After all, look at you; what do the people think about? So far you have only met nobles – except for a village messenger in South Dragons Ridge. How did he react to you? How do commoners view you? You’re a myth of hope and sacrifice. Chactau is a myth of obedience to the crown, as was his father.” She walked over to Agne, reaching out, removing some of the clay from her horns. “I am always so impressed with the work the clay does on dragon horns. It’s so beautiful.”
“What are you trying to say to me? Be plain.”
“Forgive me, I know plainness is an Air trait. My point is that the little peace the people have is based on those two myths. Marut is an unknown, which is the sign of a good spy; or smuggler. After all, famous spies, are no longer spies. And Zhao will no doubt go down in history as what? A hero who freed the Lilac Princess, or a criminal who started a war with dragons poised against a village with human families….” Her pitch changed as she raised her eyebrows. “Plain fact one: You cannot unseat your father by sneaking into a dragon’s only castle with a rider on your back, period. Plain fact two: You have to leave him here, but you made an oath you would not leave him while he slept. Plain fact three: That is going to make this emotionally painful, and complicated. Four: You’ll have to find a way to keep the emotion out of your magic if you stand a chance against your father- or he wil
l crush you, and any hope the people have.”
“She still has me. I don’t have a rider,” Marut said, rolling over, and trying to scratch the clay off. “What is this?”
“She cannot give up her only spy. You cannot return with her, and you know that. We'll go back to the Rouker Oasis and wait for her father’s troops to find her. She will go back to the palace at North Dragons Ridge with them.”
“What!” Marut’s eyes nearly popped out. “That butcher killed his own daughters. And you, want to return the remaining daughter?”
“Yes, because he only views one,” Mira pointed at Agne, “as his daughter. You said so yourself, he asked her aunt if she had seen the crown princess.” She walked over and sat down at the table. “He won’t kill her for that reason. Otherwise, he would have simply offered a reward for the return of her dead body. I know Ja Hua, and I know she and her dragon are one in their ridership. She rules the same as he does. That means, dead or alive- Queen Airyanna is still influencing the King.” She pointed at Agne.
Agne nodded. “Someone needs to wake up Zhao. Marut, you have to promise you will care for him, and bring him back to me. You have to actually mean it.”
“I have not failed when it comes to your safety. I will not fail you in keeping Zhao for you. He will be returned to you safely, or I’ll cut my own throat,” he said, looking directly at her, with all four paws planted firmly on the carpet.
He hadn’t looked her in the eye like that before. Her throat tightened. She took in a cleansing breath. “I expect both of you to arrive alive, and on time. If you really want the Blood King unseated, you’ll not only keep him safe but treat him as your rider in my stead. I so, very, desperately need you two to cooperate with each other. I need you both to grow up. I need the help of adults.”
“It’s time to wake up Zhao,” Mira said, walking over to Zhao. “Marut, please demonstrate your ability to treat his person with respect and wake him up. Please do so without cracking the clay.”
The Lilac Princess and the Blood King Page 15