by Scott King
"No," Doug said.
"She brings up a good point." Carter hopped over two rocks and took his place on Doug's other side so that he was sandwiched between the two of them. "Back in Agnar when you were in the arena–"
"Nope." Doug cut him off.
"Ohhh, I had forgotten about that." Alex clapped her hands. "You told Kane about a friend of yours, but we couldn't hear it all."
"I know we've been through a lot," Doug said. "I know that by Greker law you are my adopted wards, but I don't talk about the past, and I especially don't talk about her."
"Bellalyn," Alex said. "You say her name sometimes in your sleep. It's always sad or said in a panic. Who was she?"
"No."
"Let him have his secrets," Carter said. As much as he wanted to know about Bellalyn, for the moment he thought it was best if each of them were allowed to have their own secrets.
Doug sped up his pace, taking longer faster strides, making it impossible for them to catch up without running.
They walked in silence for the rest of the morning. At noon, they took a break, divvying up more of the weird Greker food, and in the afternoon, they walked some more.
The silence drove Carter mad because, without the distraction, he couldn't help but think of his own problems. Every fifteen minutes or so, he would breathe deeply, trying to gather his will to make an agyl, but every time he failed to connect.
When they made camp for the night, this time in an alcove between two boulders, he did his best not to focus on himself but thought about Doug instead.
He had seen Doug's cave. It was modest, nothing fancy, or nothing like he'd expect a hermit's home to look like. It was clean and practical, but nothing too personal about it. He had no idea how long Doug had lived there, but it must have been awhile.
"Why don't you want to tell us about what happened with Bellalyn?" Carter asked. "You seem so sad and so lonely."
"I'm fine," Doug said. "In fact I can't wait to be a dragon again so I can be on my own and not pestered by a bunch of teenagers."
"I think you blame yourself," Alex said. "I know what it's like to feel responsible for people. I think you feel responsible for what happened to your friend."
"Of course I do!" Doug punched the sandy earth. “She was captured. We were somewhere we weren't allowed to be, and when I went for help, the other dragons refused to go save her. For years, I've asked myself, what if I had stood up to her so we never went there in the first place? What if I had been a little bit stronger, a little bit smarter? Maybe I could have taken the monster. There were a million things I could've done differently, and maybe one of them would have resulted in Bellalyn staying alive."
"You can play the 'what if' game for hours." Alex didn't use a soft voice, nor did it sound like she was trying to comfort Doug. "Shoot, you've played it for years, and look where it's gotten you, nowhere. Your friend died. That's sad, but there is nothing you can do about it now. You weren't the one who killed her. You tried to save her."
"But I didn't try hard enough," Doug said.
"Sometimes our best isn't enough, and there is nothing we can do about it." Alex rested a hand on Doug's knee. "You need to learn to forgive yourself. If not, your life will continue to be as empty and cold as it has been for all the years you've spent alone."
"I like being alone." Doug brushed away Alex's hand.
"I don't believe you–"
A howl ripped through the air, and all three of them turned to where it had come from. It wasn't deep like a dragon's roar, but still it was loud enough that Carter could feel it in his chest. On instinct, he went to gather his will, and, of course, nothing happened.
"Get low." Doug pointed at Carter while with his other hand he pulled Alex flat against the ground. "Don't move. Don't speak."
"What is it?" Carter whispered.
"What do you not understand about 'don't speak'?" Doug plopped his palm onto his forehead and drug it across his face. "I swear you are broken in the head."
A second howl shot through the air. This one was followed by a spire of flames. The light of the fire reflected off the white ground, illuminating the whole area. Before them stood a beast, as large as a dragon. It was feline with a violet coat of short fur. Along its back were yellow stripes, and protruding from its spine were quills.
The beast licked the charred ground. After a few minutes, it stretched and trundled fifteen parses to the north. It blew out another puff of fire and licked the ground again.
"It's a thylazine," Doug whispered.
Carter hadn't ever heard of one before. Of course, he hadn't known what a wrent was either, so sure, there were other creatures out here that wanted to kill and eat them. Maybe this one liked to drug its victims and then slurp out their brains. Or maybe it had no teeth and, instead of chewing, swallowed its food whole so it could slowly digest it in a super high concentrated stomach acid. The potential ways they could be killed were nearly infinite, and without his magic, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"It's big, but I bet Carter could blast it," Alex said. "Hit it hard with a huge gust and send it flying. Then we run in the opposite direction."
"I don't think I can," Carter said. "I'm still running low from the wrents and fire."
Alex reached down for her knife. "Then we will have to fight it."
"We will do no such thing," Doug said. "Thylazine are harmless, and I think it's moving away from us."
The thylazine howled and unleashed another blast of fire, scorching the earth.
"Harmless?" Alex gave him a sideways glance.
"Mostly harmless," Doug said.
The thylazine licked the burned ground.
"See," Doug said. "If we don't provoke it, it should leave us alone."
A short flame, like a burp, slipped from the thylazine's mouth.
"It's like dragon fire," Carter said.
Doug rolled his eyes. "It's nothing like dragon fire."
"Carter's right," Alex said. "I've seen dragon fire, and that looks exactly like it."
"Thylazines eat weird things," Doug said. "The flames you see, well at least from what I've seen, they can partially control it, but they make the fire in their bellies or some other organ inside them."
"How is that different from dragons breathing fire?" Carter asked.
"Dragons don't breathe fire." Doug said. "The fire isn't from inside a dragon. It's magic."
"Dragons can do magic?" Carter hadn't considered that. Humans obviously could. He saw Grekers do something during the wedding, though that had been with the aid of the Erediän artifact.
"Why not?" Doug said. "Dragons can speak. Why wouldn't they be able to do magic."
"Can you do magic?" Carter asked.
"Me?" Doug laughed. "No, I left when I was a fledgling. I hadn't been taught. Besides, not all of our kind has a knack for it anyway."
"But how does it work?" Was it different from high magic? Maybe it was more like old magic. There were so many possibilities in how it could work, and the slightest bit of information could help Carter get his own powers back. "Is it different from my magic?"
"From what I know, a dragon can speak a bit of magic. It's all words, but they don't sound like words. More like clicks and noises. Sounds I don't think a human mouth could make, and when done right, fire appears in the place where the words were spoken."
"That's different." It could be like agyls, where any dragon had the knack to breathe fire. Whether they had an affinity to true magic or not. That would make sense, which meant Doug could learn to do it.
"The thylazine is a good sign," Doug said.
"Why?" Alex asked.
"Their diet is rocks and things high in minerals." Doug scooped a bit of sand and let it run through his fingers. "The Plains aren't diverse. It would never wander into the middle of the plains. That means we are at the edge of the plains."
They watched in silence as the thylazine grazed. It stayed for an hour and then dashed away to the north. They made ca
mp, which Carter now knew meant they picked a random spot to sleep. Shifts went smoothly, and when it was his turn, he spent the whole time practicing all eighteen wards. Down the line, he did them the way he knew the town kids back in Hal memorized the names of the kingdoms. It did no good, though, and no matter how hard he focused, he couldn't connect with his power.
I know we are going west, and Kale is west, but how is it you both know where it is?" Carter asked. By late morning, the white plains had turned to brown shrubs and then eventually green grass.
There were no rolling hills or mountains in the distance, only a flat land that stretched as far as he could see. It was a bit unnerving, not as bad as being lost underground, but that sense of not knowing where he was ate at him.
"We don't have a clue," Doug said.
"What?" Carter stopped in his tracks. "You mean, we are walking, and neither of you have any idea where we are going?"
"We have an idea." Alex pointed in front of them. "That's west. Kale is that way-ish."
"Didn't they teach you anything in princess school?" Carter asked. "We could be using the stars at night or timing the movement of the sun instead of blindly walking."
"I learned lots of things from all my tutors." Alex put one hand on the hilt of her sword and the other on her waist. "Want me to show you how to disable an unarmed man in a single hit? You can even try to stop me."
"I'm good." Carter stepped back, making it as clear as possible that he didn't want to see a demonstration.
"If you have a problem with where we are going then you take charge." Doug stretched and lay down. He let out a yawn and closed his eyes. "Which way do you want to go? Wake me once you have decided."
Carter looked back toward the Plains. The once-tall mountains were merely squiggles on the horizon, barely notable. With the nice weather and lack of incline, they were probably making eight to ten leagues a day. He wasn't sure how far the distance was between the Anber Mountains and East Reach Sea, but it couldn't be that much farther than it was from Hal to Compitum. Which meant they had, at worst, five more days of walking. They had to be close to the sea, and that would explain the flat land. Though they had been moving dead west. Chances are Kale was more southwest. "Where exactly is Kale?"
Alex snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "Therein lies the real problem."
"You don't know." Carter looked from Alex to Doug. "Neither of you?"
"No," Alex said. "Do you?"
Carter looked south-ish. "No, I don't."
"We were supposed to get a ship," Alex said. "We were supposed to sail there with people who knew how to get there. At this point we are estimating."
"It's gotta be more to the southwest," Carter said.
"I agree." Alex spun to match his gaze across the plains. "But let's say we hit the sea, how are we going to get to Kale?"
"We'll need a ship," Carter said.
Alex touched the side of her nose. "That's why we are going due west. The whole coast between the Caerkaldor Islands and Yemto is lined with small fishing villages. As long as we don't end up too far south, we will be able to find a place to get a ship."
"Alright," Carter said. "Makes sense."
"It's a good thing they taught sense at mage-school? Medic-school? I'm not sure which thing I should make fun of you for." Alex tapped Doug's side with her foot. "Come on big guy, it's time to get walking again."
"I hate walking." Doug let out a low groan. "Walking is the least efficient way to get anywhere, and all it does is make me more tired and more hungry, not to mention that the three of us stink. I need to bathe."
"The closer we get to the coast, the more streams and rivers we should run into," Alex said. "I'll make you a deal. You up your pace, and not only will I agree to bathe, but I'll scrub down Carter while you hold him. As a princess, it is my duty to do charity work."
"I'm not that dirty." Carter leaned down and sniffed his shirt. At one point, it had been a cream color, but now it had not only brown smudges, but dark bits where ash from the under city had gotten on him. He smelled smoky, like a campfire. It was a nice smell that brought back memories of sleeping in the woods with Dale and Allison.
What would happen to him if his magic didn't come back. Dale was destined to take over his family business, and Allison was already skilled in running her family's farm. By that train of thought, he guessed he would finish his medical training with Owen and be the town healer. It wasn't glamorous, but at least he could still help people.
"Let's go, stinky." Doug patted Carter on the back and pushed him forward.
"You smell too!" Carter sniffed, catching a not-quite-citrus scent. "What is that?"
"I've been smearing the juices from those weird fruits under my armpits."
"Why?" Carter asked.
"It helps neutralize the funk," Doug said.
Carter disagreed. To him it smelled way worse.
Doug skirted ahead and both Carter and Alex fell in behind him. They walked side by side, and Carter watched the way Alex took her steps. She moved like a hunter with a quiet grace, her hand always near her sword. He had seen time and time again that she could handle herself, but for the first time, he thought about what it must mean to be a princess. Being a princess was her defining trait. A month ago, he thought that meant snobbery and royalty stuff, but he knew her well enough now to know that it had more to do with a weight on her shoulders. Being a princess to her meant responsibility, and if that title was taken away from her, she wouldn't change. She would still care as much about her people, and she had the skills and knowledge to be anything she wanted.
Who was he without his magic?
35
Promise of Revenge
Ornsday, 6th of Winewen, 1162.111
Cooke heard Medrayt talking, but when she walked into the temple chamber, he was seated alone on the stone dais. "Only you freaks can see the future," he said. "I only meant, I expected one last attempt where you tell me the error of my ways."
It had to be the Sisters Three. They had done this before. Visited and not allowed themselves to be seen by her.
"Then that is your mistake," he said. "I do what I feel I must. Now begone."
Medrayt slouched forward, releasing a long sigh. Whatever they had been doing, they must have left.
"The Sisters?" Cooke sat down beside Medrayt.
He nodded. The simple act made him sway left and right as if dizzy.
"What did they want?" Cooke guessed they wanted him to cease his plans of attack, but knowing what she did of them, it could be something completely random, like to eat more meat.
"They want me to not attack Elene."
"But you are doing this because of what they showed you!"
"And they said that was an error on their part," he said. "They miscalculated, and paths diverged in ways they didn't intend."
"What do we do?" Cooke laid her hand on his knee. Knobby bones nearly poked through his skin.
Medrayt looked at her with bloodshot eyes. The whites were so red that she had trouble making out the veins. His cheeks were sunken. "We need a united front."
"Is there a chance that they are right and that attacking is a mistake?" she asked.
"They do not see the future, only possibilities," he said. "They misjudged the attempt on my life. They could be doing the same here. Or this is a game. It might be that they want me to attack and are goading me into it by telling me not to do so. They have a skewed perception, and we have no way of knowing their true intentions."
"There are the Red Hounds," Cooke said. "I have over three hundred active members across Majerä. We could send them instead."
"Against an army of thousands in a fortress that has never fallen?"
"A single Red Hound is worth ten ordinary soldiers."
"I know, but let's hold them back for now. Gather them. Prepare them, but we will save them for the final fight." Medrayt put his weight on her, leaning hard into her shoulder. "If we want humanity to survive, I need to follow throug
h with the dragons."
"Can you handle it?" Cooke asked before she had time to process the words, and she regretted them the moment they passed her lips. Angering or offending Medrayt was not productive.
He met her eyes. The wrinkles around them were deep, and a milkiness clouded his pupils. He took in a deep breath and then dropped his gaze. "I don't know if I can, but I have to try. There is no one else who can do this for me."
Cooke didn't like that. She didn't want to fly south. She wanted to care for him, now, when he would be pushing his skills to their max and would need her the most. The toll the magic was taking on him was brutal. She wished she could have a do-over, and instead of allowing Medrayt to sacrifice himself to take over the dragons, she would do it. Of course, she might not have been strong enough, but it would have been worth trying. Now she had no choice. She had to go and be his voice, his public face. "How long will it take to reach Elene?"
"A bit longer than we planned," he said. "I will send you back to Stobnyk Kol to make preparations and then to stall the shoel. Neither will be much out of your way."
"You promise to care for yourself while I am gone?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I will."
She ran a hand across his cheek. He was young enough to be her grandson, and because of the magic, he now looked older than she did. It tore at her heart. "Please do. We all need you."
She stood, not willing to say any more than what was already spoken.
Before leaving the temple, she double-checked the dried supplies and jugs of water. There were several months' worth. As long as he took the time to care for himself, he should survive.
When Cooke exited the temple, the dragons stirred from their hibernation state. They shook off the sleep, and their bones cracked and popped, some moving for the first time in over a year.
Cooke made her way to the black and silver female that regularly carried her. It was stocked with a decent saddle as well as supplies. Every dragon she passed sat on its haunches with its head raised to the sky, awaiting orders.