In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords)

by Tatum, David A

  “Right,” Leno said. “Come on, people, let’s go.”

  “Where’s Forge?” Mogs asked.

  “I don’t sense him, anywhere,” Euleilla sighed. “Although I cannot find his body, either.”

  “I don’t see him around, alive or dead,” Uwelain agreed. “Either he ran, or he was killed. Either way, I’m afraid we don’t have time to find him. Let’s get going.” He walked over, pausing at the circle of bodies surrounding Euleilla, then turned to Tur’Ba. “I apologize for my earlier remarks. Your skills as a Dwarven Axeman matched those from the myths of my childhood.”

  “Thank you, your highness,” the Dwarf replied, breathing heavily. “Though I think I need to do some endurance training to really qualify for the title. A true Dwarven Axeman would be able to run all the way back to the ship after a battle like that... I don’t think I could go for more than an hour.”

  Laughter erupted at that comment, and Uwelain clapped him on the back. “Come on, let’s get going.”

  Chapter 27

  Maelgyn sighed. Euleilla was back, thankfully, but was exhausted to the point of collapse. So were most of the others from that aborted mission, although Wangdu professed to be perfectly fine, but the news they brought was not as good as Uwelain tried to make it. Paljor, who styled himself as “Sword King of the Borden Isles,” knew they were coming. He would be on the defensive for certain, and that would complicate Maelgyn’s plans for dealing with the dragons. Not to mention all hopes of restoring the Borden Isles to Svieda.

  Nevertheless, Maelgyn was duty-bound to try. He’d have to leave immediately, before Euleilla even woke up from her rest, and hope that they made it to the Lair of the Golden Dragons before the whole island was alerted. It would be difficult, he was certain, but they’d manage it. He hoped so, anyway.

  Donning the Nekoji-fur cloak he’d been given, Maelgyn went out on the ship’s deck to meet with the others who would be joining him. Wangdu had declared he would be going, despite having had little rest from the meeting with Uwelain. Maelgyn still hadn’t received a full report about the venture, but the fact that the baron was now aboard the Greyholden instead of hosting Maelgyn’s delegation as planned was telling. Onayari, unafraid of the heat of the caves, also intended to accompany Maelgyn into the lair. Uwelain also would ignore his exhaustion and accompany him as well, representing the Borden Isles and testifying that indeed the rebellion might soon be over. Euleilla had earlier professed a desire to accompany him, as well, but given her current state Maelgyn figured it would be better to let her rest. However, that left him lacking one intended party member – something he wasn’t quite sure what to do about.

  As he made his way to the deck, he passed by El’Athras. “I understand you’re one person short,” the Dwarf said.

  “Well, sort of,” Maelgyn answered. “Truthfully, we’ll probably move faster without Euleilla, though I would have loved to have her with me for this one. But there is no set number of people required for these negotiation.”

  “I would have thought there was,” the Dwarf answered. “Isn’t there some kind of tradition – every meeting of the Dragons with other races, the two ambassadorial teams consist of five individuals? And aren’t Dragons creatures of tradition?”

  Maelgyn hesitated. “Well... yes. But I’m sure they will understand.”

  “Yeah, right, of course they will. And perhaps Paljor will simply surrender the Borden Islands because we ask nicely.” El’Athras snorted. “How about I come with you, instead? I understand you’ve got more of those fancy furs, and while they may not quite fit me perfectly I suspect I can manage in it.”

  “I was under the impression Dwarves and Dragons didn’t get along too well.”

  “We don’t,” the Dwarf agreed. “But then again, neither do Elves and Dragons. And neither do Nekoji and Dragons. And they don’t exactly welcome Humans with open arms, either. So what? Someone’s gotta ease the tensions between us. Might as well be me.”

  “I’m more worried about what the Dragons will think of me for bringing you along,” Maelgyn snorted. “But if you want to come, you can. Get your gear – I need to talk to Ruznak.”

  “Ruznak? I didn’t think he was coming along,” El’Athras mused.

  “He’s not, but I have an important job for him.”

  “What is that?”

  “Telling Euleilla that I left without her.”

  Thankfully, the hike to the Dragon Caves was far shorter and required far less running than the one Sir Leno’s expedition had to make – they were close enough that Maelgyn hoped he’d be able to get there and back before Euleilla awoke. It was unlikely, he knew, but she actually needed the rest... and he might be in less trouble with her if he got back before she had time to start worrying about him.

  However, as much as he wanted her to rest, he also found her absence disturbing. Maelgyn had grown quite used to having her at his side during his travels, and he missed her even when she went to Iggleton with Leno. Before he could follow that trail of thought further, however, Sekhar began speaking to him.

  We’re nearing a great source of fire, the plant warned him. I’m unable to contain all of my fears even though I was aware we were planning for this meeting.

  Maelgyn adjusted his cloak. Don’t worry – thanks to the Nekoji, you’ll be better protected from the fires then I am. If you want a way to get your mind off of it, though, perhaps you could come up with something for me to tell Euleilla when I get back.

  Oh, that’s an easy one, Sekhar mentally chuckled. Blame it on me being an overprotective parent. I know my daughter would never be able to stand being this close to Dragonfire without driving the both of them crazy. See? Easy.

  Speak for yourself, Maelgyn thought back, but then shrugged. Well, maybe it’ll work. How are the others doing?

  You’re the one with eyesight, Sekhar replied. I can only sense potential threats. What I can tell you is that none of them are lagging behind, so they’re all probably in good shape.

  Maelgyn looked around at the others, trying to see if there was anything more he could see from their appearance. He was not nearly as good at reading or interpreting magical auras as Euleilla, but she had taught him enough to make a few observations which the naked eye wouldn’t catch.

  For example, Wangdu was laboring more heavily than he was letting on. Maelgyn had been told that some Elves sometimes picked up minor Human magical abilities after centuries of experience, and he seemed to have some, but it didn’t quite exceed the strength of a fourth rate wizard. One thing it did do for the Elf, however, was give him a more defined magical signature, which Maelgyn could usually follow... but, at the moment, his energy was so low that it was almost undetectable.

  An odd twist he discovered was that Onayari, the Nekoji, was actually growing stronger the closer they got to the heat. In an odd way, it almost seemed to almost refresh her. Maelgyn also noticed that her magical aura would sometimes flicker into being more focused than it should be whenever they did something that required more than the usual amount of exertion – something he had never sensed before. He would have to ask Euleilla if she had encountered this sort of thing before, but that was a puzzle to be solved later.

  El’Athras, however, was completely unreadable. Dwarves were not magically inclined in the way Humans were, and El’Athras was no exception, but Maelgyn should still be able to detect the kinds of fluctuations which heavy exertion should induce. There was nothing, despite the sweat pouring from his brow, to indicate that he found the journey to be any hardship at all. Apparently, the reputation the Dwarves had for hardiness was well-founded, especially given that after more than two centuries of life, this particular Dwarf was considered past his prime even for his kind.

  “Who enters the Lair of the Golden Dragons?” a voice boomed from above them, interrupting Maelgyn’s thoughts.

  The echoes rattled his bones, but Maelgyn refused to be intimidated. He knew that Dragons of all types sensed fear the same way Sekhar sensed da
nger, and would not respect someone who could not face them with courage. So, steeling himself for the encounter, he raised his own voice as much as he could.

  “I am Sword Prince Maelgyn of Svieda, Duke of Sopan, come to make a request on our treaty of old for this time of war.”

  The “giant” creature landed in front of the group, only to reveal it wasn’t quite so large after all. Despite what Maelgyn had heard about how dragons were larger than some towns, this particular dragon wasn’t much larger than a horse – a large horse, admittedly, but a horse nonetheless. Then again, it was the Red Dragons whose fabled size the legends were based on.

  “And I am Khumbaya, Keeper of the Gates. Tell me, Sword Prince Maelgyn – have you and the masters of Borden Isle returned to your former state?”

  Maelgyn shook his head. “No, we are still in a civil war. That may change soon, however, and when it does we will need your aid immediately. I thought to give warning to you, so that you may discuss this matter among yourselves before we meet again, and to prepare your answer to your summons.”

  Khumbaya snarled. “We do not heed any mortal’s beck and call. We refuse to fight for you until the war with Borden Isle is over. We have no reason to listen to you until then.”

  “Ending the war with Borden will be my task,” Uwelain declared, stepping forward. “I am from Borden Isle, and I may have a way to reunite Svieda peacefully. I ask that you grant us this preliminary meeting for all our sakes.”

  “No,” the dragon growled. “You are an ignorant whelp of no consequence, and unless you actually have ended the wars already we care nothing for what you have to say.”

  “Please,” Wangdu intervened. “Your leaders would be well advised to talk with us, they would. You must be informed, you must, of what will be asked of you.”

  The dragon turned its eye on him. “Is that so? And just why should we trust you, Elf?”

  “This Elf is trustworthy,” Onayari insisted. “If he were not, would we of the Nekoji grant him – and these others – with coats of our furs?”

  “I will also vouch for him,” El’Athras snorted. “He’s just about the only Elf I’ve ever met with a real sense of honor any more.”

  The dragon stepped back slightly, looking as amused as an intelligent scaled beast could look. “A Dwarf respecting an Elf?” he snorted, smoke spewing from his nostrils. “Unheard of! Well, perhaps it may be worth listening to you, Elf! A Dwarf, two Humans, an Elf, and a Nekoji, eh? An odd gathering, to be sure. I will discuss this matter with the elders. Await here for word of our response. Proceed no further, lest we slay thee.”

  Without even giving them a chance to reply, the dragon leaped into the air. Maelgyn had never seen a Golden Dragon in flight – in fact, the only dragons he had ever seen before were the great beasts which were Red Dragons, and those were from afar. To see one of the Golden Dragons soar into the sky was a different experience altogether. Golden Dragons were smaller, yes, but also a lot sleeker as well. It was very difficult for him to compare a creature like the Red Dragon he had seen in his youth with the magnificent being that had just left. Truthfully, they were so different from one another he had a hard time thinking of them both as even being related races.

  Khumbaya did not return quickly. No-one seemed to feel like speaking as they waited, yet the silence dragged on oppressively. After a while, Maelgyn started looking around for something that might ease their discomfort.

  “El’Athras,” Maelgyn began, finally breaking their silence. “I was informed that my ship’s blacksmith, the man who is known by the crew best as ‘Forge,’ disappeared during the expedition to meet with Lord Uwelain. I understand that even those Dwarves who do not specialize in smithery have some skill in the craft. Do you believe you or Tur’Ba could handle the duty until we find a replacement?”

  “We Dwarves are skilled in a limited understanding of mining and metallurgy at birth, much as Elves know the science of plants and Merfolk know the ways of both swimming and walking. However, I would suggest your wife or Sir Leno fill the role, instead. My own skill has greatly diminished in its old age, and Tur’Ba is too impatient to truly understand the art. Your wife or Sir Leno would have their magic to help them.” El’Athras fell silent, and for a moment Maelgyn feared the silence would return, but then he seemed to recognize the need for a distraction. “We should have found one of the Merfolk to bring with us instead of you, Baron Uwelain.”

  “Oh?” Uwelain said.

  “Yeah. If we had, then it would have looked like an appeal from the united races,” the Dwarf explained. “Though I’m not sure we could have brought one with us; I understand the shapeshifting abilities which allow them to function on land – and to impersonate people, at times – will only last them for a few short hours. Then, if they don’t return to the water, they transform back into a Merfolk, which cannot walk on land easily.”

  “It’s still possible,” Maelgyn said. “My uncle, the late king, once received a Merfolk delegation at the Royal Castle. They had to construct a water-storing wagon to manage the journey, but with one they can travel just about anywhere and remain healthy. They don’t usually use up the water as they travel.”

  “They would not have wanted to come, they wouldn’t,” Wangdu mused. “Deathly afraid of dragons, they are.”

  “And with good reason,” Khumbaya mused, flying back in. “They cannot bear to be near us, for our inner heat will kill them whether we desire their death or not.”

  Maelgyn straightened his posture, and turned to address the dragon. “So, will your people see us?”

  Khumbaya puffed some smoke out of his nostrils. “They wish more information. What is it, Elf, that you believe we will be so interested in?”

  “The Sho’Curlas Alliance has trained as many as fifty Black Dragons to sweep through all nations, they have,” Wangdu answered. “Surely, the assemblage of so many under one power at least deserves the honor of your leaders’ attention, it does, whether they take action or not, they do.”

  “The elders will be informed. However, even so great a force to you is insignificant to us. I doubt they will be interested,” the golden dragon proclaimed before once more taking off in flight.

  “That was rather abrupt,” Onayari mused.

  “Dragons are an impatient lot, they are,” Wangdu answered. “And that one is also cursed with the affliction of youth, he is – possibly no more than twelve or thirteen centuries old.”

  “He’s older than most of us,” Maelgyn pointed out.

  “The youngest golden dragon hatched is a thousand years old, it is,” Wangdu answered. “Our history tells us that the first Ancient Dragons’ eggs took almost a thousand years to grow to maturity, they did. It took another two hundred for them to learn to speak properly, it did. Golden Dragons may be different, they may, but even so he’s fairly young, he is. There’s a reason there are so few of them, there is.”

  Maelgyn sighed. “I think we can be glad there are so few of them – they are quite hostile to mortals, even when those mortals are actually immortals like yourself.”

  “Ah,” Wangdu replied darkly. “Well, we Elves have done worse to dragons than most mortals, we have. Before the days that Humans, Dwarves, or Nekoji were anything more than wild animals, they were, the Ancient Elves, our Ancient Enemy, and the Ancient Dragons fought their great three-sided war, they did. While true that no Elves or Dragons from that day are still alive, they aren’t, stories of them exist still, they do. Our people were quite vicious, they were.”

  Maelgyn perked up at that, wondering at several things. That the Ancient Elves fought wars was no surprise – many of their relics and surviving creations were centered around warfare – but he had been unaware their wars went back that far in their history. If Humans, Dwarves, and Nekoji had not been their enemy, than who was?

  “Dare I ask what those things your people did to them were?” El’Athras hesitantly inquired, voicing the other question that rose in Maelgyn’s mind.

  “
Ask the dragons,” Khumbaya said, once more appearing silently from above them. “Ask the eldest of the Golden Dragons. Their parents, known to you as the ‘Ancient Dragons,’ lived through those wars at their worst. They know better than any alive how evil the Elves can be.”

  “I agree, I do,” Wangdu said. “Modern Elves do not understand, they don’t, just how horrific our Ancient brethren were. I had to go to Ancient Elven libraries long thought lost to learn the whole story, I did.”

  “Ancient Elven libraries?” Khumbaya growled out, incidentally throwing a few sparks of fire. “You are Wangdu, then, aren’t you?”

  Wangdu bowed. “At your service, I am.”

  The dragon returned the bow, displaying a great deal more respect than he had before. “Perhaps you may actually be able to fulfill the condition that the Elders have demanded of you if Master Wangdu, Savior of the Golden Dragons of the Northern Plains, is on your side.”

  “Oh?” Maelgyn asked, unaware of what Wangdu may have done in his long past to be named a hero of the Dragons, but set it aside as yet another question for a later date. “And what condition is it that they have imposed?”

  Khumbaya shook his whole body like a wet dog, then turned to Maelgyn. “My apologies, your highness, but the Elf distracted me from my message. The Elders have asked me to deliver this proclamation: They will not meet with you now. However, if you kill the human styling himself as Sword King Paljor, whether you end the breach between Svieda and the Borden Islands or not, they will agree to meet with you. And they feel that, while the treaties of old are negated by the breach, they might be willing to negotiate a stronger alliance than before.”

  Maelgyn’s eyes widened. No individual Golden Dragon – much less an entire nation of them – had ever even hinted at an actual alliance before. Perhaps, before the days of recorded history, there was an individual Ancient Dragon or two who had allied themselves with a mortal power against the Elves, but that was only in myth. An entire nation of Dragons doing anything more than fighting with other Dragons on behalf of any other race was unheard of, even in the wildest of those myths. What made it even more incredible was that the Golden Dragons of Borden Isle were the largest nation of Golden Dragons still in existence – and one of the last. The Golden Dragons of the Northern Plains who Wangdu had been the ‘savior’ of had since left their lands to join them, as had many other Dragon colonies throughout the world. Sviedan scholars had noticed that the past century or two marked a growing Dragon gathering, of sorts. Every Dragon in the world, even those from parts of the world not on Human maps, seemed to be giving up their homes in order to join the den in Borden Isle. There had been some concern about that, but if what Khumbaya was saying was true....