Blades of Fate

by Alledria Hurt

  Her eyes rolled and a groaned escaped her lips.

  The thick leathery clap of wings snapped over Warden's head. He felt the rush of wind beneath him along his belly. Wheeling in the sky, he took in the lay of the land. Below him, a mountain sat. He knew the crater at its summit intimately for it was his lair. The village built low beneath it was his as well. It provided him with many a tasty morsel when he desired it. Maidens ran in fear of him and the men occasionally sought to bring him death. So far, they had been unsuccessful. With a roar that split the sky, he dove down and swept low over the water before climbing again into the clouds with a shark in his claws. Craning his long neck, he took a chunk out of its flesh enjoying the salt taste of its blood. With a tuck of his wings, he let himself fall toward the crater where he lived. On the sides of the crater were trees and in its center a depression of rock covered in bones and flesh. He settled there and finished his meal. Blood ran from his jaws. Warden woke with his tongue clamped between his teeth and blood in his mouth.

  He cursed with sleep in his voice. He was awake long enough to realize he was not alone in the room, but then consciousness fled.

  Marchiana looked at her guests with critical eyes. They had come to see the Queen and the Queen would not see them. Whispers came from the walls of the torment she could put them through. Her hand strayed to a dagger at her waist and then she turned from the spare room to the table where her flowers lay. The stripped one Warden had handled lay on the tabletop with its petals strewn around it. She picked up the stem and twirled it between her fingers.

  They were special. In her bones, she felt it. Yet how she could not be sure. The woman wore power around her like a shawl, a deep power full of light. The man seemed less compared to her. As if he were a shuttered lantern beside a bonfire.

  With the point of her dagger, she pierced her finger and drew a sign on the table. It flared with crimson light before fading into blackness. The walls lit with the same transient light. She would keep them there, trapped in their dreams. Let them remain until she could determine how she might use them. The Queen did not deserve such allies.

  Day broke over the city but it barely pierced the veil of clouds. Backaran saw light rarely. It did not desire it. Its secrets were better kept in the darkness of half-day.

  Trapped in her dream, Leviana could do nothing but follow along. The world moved around her. She saw faces she did not remember and felt things foreign to her. These people were not her people. Her heart longed for Vadian and even to a degree for the girl Latanya who served her so faithfully.

  She let out a sigh.

  A tall man with silver-white hair drew her into a hug and said,

  "My daughter."

  Leviana was no man's daughter any longer. Her father had gone the way of the sword before she and Vadian had ever met. In the dream, she came to a mirror and looked into it. Her long hair hung heavy around her shoulders and she wore a cold weather dress, but most striking were her eyes, so brown they may have been black. She closed her eyes. This was not true. Her eyes were blue. They had always been blue. How could they be brown? A young boy ran up to her and tugged on her hand.

  "Sister," he cried. He must have been a few summers younger than she. Who was he? In her spirit someone whispered, Soren. Who was Soren? How had she known him?

  Rolling in place, she tried to wake, but the dream remained firm around her.

  She rode a horse in the dark with a torch held overhead. They came to a stand of trees. Red ropes hung around the trees. She dismounted and entered with fear in her heart. Only steps inside, she saw the man with his sword dug into the ground. Beyond him, the boy lay bleeding. Around them all, red mist chuckled. She fell to her knees and tried not to hear a voice like her mother's calling to her. Leviana remembered her mother's voice quite differently, yet this seemed to compel her. The man yelled something to her and she felt her power rise. It suffused her hands and drew a ring around her skirt. The mist burned off where it touched. She strode forward, sure, and took up a stance over the boy. She would protect him. His life was hers. She called on the spirit within and it answered. Blue falcon wings spread from her back and over him. The mist screamed.

  "Take the child," she muttered in her sleep. In the gray daylight, blue light appeared ringing around Leviana's body. "Take the child!"

  The light reached out to the walls and where it touched the walls glowed red. Marchiana watched with her mouth agape as her spell broke against the wave of power coming from Leviana.

  "What power is this?"

  She pricked her finger again and drew six signs on the table. Red forced itself against blue; one trying to contain the other. Then a sound came from the other room, a dragon's roar that brought Marchiana to her knees. The red struggled. At the door to the spare room, Marchiana stopped. Instead of the bed dominating the room, a dragon lay there with its claws and jaws prominent. She slapped her hands over her mouth as it turned toward her and roared again.

  "By the city!"

  It leapt forward with ribbons of shadow trailing along behind it. At the door, it hit an invisible wall which sparked red and contained it. Marchiana breathed a sigh of relief. It could not harm her. It roared and snarled.

  Outside the goat and horses screamed in fear, scenting a predator nearby.

  Shadows flattened against the red wall and sought to dig their way through. Marchiana chanted under her breath. The red strengthened. The black and blue squeezed it between them. The witch calmed herself.

  "They cannot escape me."

  In her dream, Leviana rode away from the site of the attack with her younger brother thrown over the saddle. She rode as if she expected whatever she had left behind to be catching up. Behind her, the white haired man rode as well. They reached a place of safety together.

  The blue began to subside. Marchiana blessed it with her lips. The red would prevail. Scarlet began to creep into the front room, taking over from the blush of blue that remained. Tendrils of dark power were however working their way through the wall keeping them into the spare room.

  The dragon shattered the air with another roar and Marchiana flinched. The crimson fought the darkness burrowing through it not entirely successfully. The darkness reached for the blue light and where they met, they twined, braiding together.

  In their connection, Marchiana saw tiny links of black and blue chains. She twirled some of them around her fingers. They sparkled against her skin.

  "The power to end kingdoms and it will be mine."

  Stepping into the center of the maelstrom, she brought her hands together as a prayer. Floating around her, waves of light battled. Her hands lit with ruby fire and she clapped throwing waves of her own to drive back the darkness. The horses whinnied and reared. The dragon snarled. Marchiana continued to draw energy from the walls of her home to keep them captured.

  Leviana's eyes rolled behind her eyelids and she flopped to one side before one hand settled on the floor and she began to sit up.

  Marchiana, caught as she was in the throes of keeping them locked, did not see her move.

  In her dream, Navar stood against her with his sword drawn. Leviana at least knew him. Her feelings for the first among the Voices were mixed. She had trusted him with everything in the wake of her husband's death. He had been her closest companion, yet she could not say she had affection for him. Things between them often went cold and unsaid. Her power flared as she fought and around her the blue strengthened. It sought the darkness and the chains became thicker and bolder.

  Waking by degrees, Leviana's eyes flickered and sought to open.

  Seeing this, Marchiana cried out and drew the blade across her palm. Blood poured to the floor from the wound. The red power grew in leaps, engulfing the blue as it seemed to grow.

  "You will not escape me," she said. Drawing closer to Leviana, she placed her bloody hand on the woman's face.

  The dragon snarled and hit the wall with its claws.

  "Neither of you will escape me."
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br />   Leviana's eyes rolled and opened to slits. The air flashed the blue-white of ice and the scarlet began to fall back. The darkness grew and engulfed the wall keeping the dragon in. The wall turned solid black and then disappeared. Marchiana stepped back as the dragon Warden had become shifted forward into the space.

  "By the city," she said. "Such power."

  It sniffed the air and licked its chops with a long tongue. She tried to sidle away only to be pinned down by a ruby eye. It blinked and snorted before opening its mouth wide. Marchiana backed up again and felt the heat of the grate crawling along her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she readied a spell to drive the beast back to sleep. She could not lose, not now.

  "You will not escape," she whispered, then began to sing in low tones. The beast's head swung back and forth. It nudged her with the tip of its nose. Her voice rose. Then she choked.

  Dream walking Leviana had stabbed her with the sword she kept near at hand. Her fight with Navar had lasted only moments and now she sought another opponent. Leviana's hand snarled in Marchiana's hair as she bore her to the ground. The witch choked on her blood growing in her throat.

  "How?"

  "We are not for the likes of you," Leviana said with her eyes closed.

  The dragon leaned forward and closed its jaws around Marchiana's head. Her neck snapped and blood sprung from between its teeth. With its tongue, it coaxed her head further into its gullet. The body, still bearing Leviana's sword, lay on the floor.

  Leviana turned to the grand lizard and put one bloody hand on its snout.

  "Return to me, beloved."

  The ruby eye turned toward her and blinked.

  "Return to who you are," she said, caressing his scales. It closed its eyes in pleasure. Back in the bedroom, his wings flared in the small space. "Came back to me."

  It opened its mouth and let out what might have been a sigh. Retracting its head, it moved away from her. Then it lay down on the floor. Leviana watched as it shrunk then became paler losing the gloss and sheen of scales. Beneath it, Warden's clothes lay shredded. The magic complete, he returned to his human form. Shivering and naked, he laid in the broken and shredded bed. Leviana walked in and laid down beside him.

  "My love."

  He didn't respond. She laid a kiss on his lips. His eyes opened and they were the color of garnets.

  "Leviana," he said. Turning, he opened his arms to her. Crawling into them, she laid her head on his shoulder.

  "Vadian."

  "I have until morning," he said. "Perhaps." She kissed him again.

  "Then we shall have until morning."

  He drew her shirt over her head and kissed her neck.

  "Until morning."

  On the Queen's Mission

  Warden woke with Leviana's arms around him and he stiffened. In their travels, he knew her not to be an affectionate person. He turned his head and tried to take in the room. The window out into the dooryard was broken. The table sitting beside the bed had collapsed and the candle lay on the floor. Beneath him, the bed felt uneven. A chill settled on his skin from exposure.

  He carefully extricated himself from her arms and stood up. The bed had collapsed. He noted the blood spilled on the front room floor and then seconds later, the headless body. Their hostess lay on the floor without a head. Walking up to the body, he knelt down. Feeling, she was cold.

  "What happened here?"

  Standing up again, he felt unconsciousness at the edge of his mind. Looking back, he let his eyes rest on Leviana. She seemed so calm now, as if she had lost something in the night, some great weight. He walked back to the bed and picked up what was left of his shirt. It was shredded and dangled from his fingers.

  She stretched.

  "Vadian."

  He stiffened.

  "I'm not Vadian."

  It was her turn to stiffen. She sat up and looked at him with wide eyes.

  "Warden."

  "Leviana--"

  "Don't."

  "What happened?"

  "I wish I could explain."

  "Who is Vadian?"

  "My lover."

  "I thought your lover was the Black King."

  "That was his name before he achieved that title."

  "You knew him before his 400 year reign?"

  "He and I lived together for years before that."

  Warden stared. "How is that possible?"

  "The Queen will explain it."

  "No, you explain it."

  "I can't."

  "Why can't you?"

  "Because I don't completely understand."

  "You're 300 years old. What do you not understand?"

  "Many things."

  She rose from the bed and gathered up her clothes from beside it. "She has much to answer for."

  "So do you," Warden said. "So what am I supposed to do for clothes?"

  "Don't you have a change in your saddlebags?"

  "That's dirty."

  "Then wear it until you can find something else. I think we need to go see if the Queen will see us. I don't like this waiting." She slipped her shirt over her head and he couldn't help but watch. Shaking his head, he decided it would be best if he simply left the room. She needed space and he needed to find his clothes. Their saddlebags were in the front room near the body and he stepped over it to reach them. Rummaging through, he found another shirt and pair of pants. Then with a sigh, he went back into the room to look for his boots. Leviana had finished dressing.

  "Have you seen my boots?"

  "Most likely under the bed," she said. Everything else in the room had been moved, so that left under the bed the only place. With a grunt, he lifted the edge to look under and there they were, crushed.

  "Can you get them?" He held up the edge of the bed. She fished the boots out and left them on the floor.

  "Thank you." He sat on the edge of the ruined bed to pull them on. "So we're going back to that cathedral?"

  "Yes." Leviana walked past the body on the floor and out the front door. When he came upon her again, she stood next to her horse.

  "How did our host end up with no head?"

  "You bit it off," Leviana said. "You turned into a dragon and bit it off."

  He gaped. Looking from the dooryard to the body and back again, he didn't close his mouth.

  "That's impossible."

  "No, it isn't. And it isn't the first time you've shown a dragon's characteristics," she said. Brushing the mane of her horse, she shook her head. "But it's too much to explain, so we will talk about it another time." Leviana saddled her horse and mounted, leaving him to do the same.

  "Why can't you explain it to me?"

  She didn't answer him, but kicked her horse into a trot leaving him to catch up. When he did, she gave him stone silence. They rode through the city together and caught in their separate worlds.

  The square before the cathedral was lit by the rose window with Fae colors. The only spot of color in the gray city. Leviana rode to the bottom of the steps and dismounted. Warden waited at the bottom. She knocked. The door was yanked open by a man wearing head to toe scarlet. His peaked cap brushed the top of the door frame.

  "She will not see you now," he said.

  "You told us that yesterday," Leviana said. "I refuse to hear that excuse." With one hand, she pushed him back and stepped into the doorway. Warden swung down off his horse and started up the stairs. The man sputtered and attempted to stop the woman from manhandling him. Meanwhile, she kept pushing.

  "Backaran, hear me!"

  Several quiet servants appeared in the hall behind the man and shored up his defenses.

  "Backaran, hear me!" Leviana cried. "I would speak with your Queen."

  The servants made shushing signs with their hands. The man in red hissed through his teeth.

  "Be quiet," he said. "No one speaks here. I will take you to the Queen."

  The walls of the cathedral fluctuated in color becoming shadowed then bright. Leviana stood in the doorway until Warden
joined her. Then they moved further in.

  The man in red walked silently through the halls and then down into the bowels of the building with his companions close behind.

  "Have you been here before?" Warden asked.

  "I have been here twice. Both times have led to hardship."

  "Shush," the man in red said. "Silence in these halls."

  They turned a corner and issued into a cavernous room with a throne above a set of stairs at one end. The entire room hung with mist and smelled of burning cinnamon. On the throne sat a woman or perhaps the statue of a woman. Warden couldn't tell. She didn't seem to be breathing.

  "Queen of Backaran, come down. I would speak with you."

  Warden waited. Doubt crept in as nothing happened, but he looked to Leviana who watched the statue on the throne with imploring eyes. Finally, it moved.

  At first, he wasn't sure exactly what he saw. The hands twitched. The head slipped from its place and her long hair lay over her shoulder. One hand came to its face with a long object. Every motion was slow and deliberate as if he were watching a puppet. It breathed out a plume of smoke. The mist gathered in closer. She stood up and came down the stairs. Before she reached them, she said,

  "Leviana of the Burning Island, to what do I owe the pleasure again?"

  The words were pleasant enough, but a hardness existed in the woman's tone.

  "I have come for your council, Queen."

  "You have traveled far to hear little," the Queen said. Eyes of crystal green pierced Warden as she turned to him. "He is your own."

  "That is what I have come for," Leviana said. She ducked her head as if in deference of the Queen who now stood before them. "He would have answers."

  "Answers I do not have," she said. "They are yours. What does he seek?"

  "I seek to understand," Warden said casting a glance at Leviana. She seemed to settle back with the intention of letting him talk. "Who is Vadian? What is this I hear of dragons?"