“Quite a ruckus you made today,” Rob observed. “Your friends got away, so you know.”
“Thank the gods,” he answered, shoulders releasing further stress at this news.
“Your parents probably know by now she’s missing, and given how much you’ve protested her placement, it won’t take long before they suspect you helped her.”
Gwain smiled at his sister. “I didn’t expect it to. My only goal was to get her away.”
“You can’t take her back home.”
“We’re going to ride north, find refuge in the mountains.”
Rob nodded. “You both must be exhausted, but I would suggest riding as far as we can under the cover of night. They’re less likely to find us, and we are more likely to see them coming.”
“I agree.” Gwain glanced apologetically at his sister. “I know you’re tired Gwen, but…”
“We can rest later,” she concurred. “As long as I don’t have to go back there.”
“I brought a horse for each of you,” Rob said.
“You should ride out of here,” Gwain urged. “You’ve risked too much already.”
“You’re my friend.”
“Thanks,” Gwain replied, then assisted Rob in the retrieval of the mentioned mounts.
They rode through the night, each mile placed between themselves and the temple allowing Gwain to breathe easier. His elation at their escape finally tempered with contemplating the realities of providing food and shelter for them both.
They approached the forest’s end at sunrise. All three riders were exhausted. They made a crude camp with pelts Rob had brought, and bedded the horses down. Gwen was already asleep as her brother lay down a few feet from her.
He slept for hours, despite the sunlight seeping through the thick branches overhead, but was awoken by a shrill scream. The sound lurching him to awareness, Gwain jerked up and called his sister’s name.
Beside him, Gwen tossed and turned ferociously in the twisted pelts.
He rushed to her side, calling her name as he woke her. “Gwen, it’s all right! You’re safe. Gwen, wake up!”
His words pulled her from the nightmare, another shriek emanating as she scrambled up in a panic.
“Gwen!”
The sharp tone broke through her panic. She looked at him, recognition dawning. “Gwain?”
“I’m here.”
She crawled toward him, pressing her cheek to his chest as he wrapped her in his arms.
Trembling, she clung to him. “I’m sorry,” she spoke on a shaky breath. “I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s all right. A bad dream.”
“The same. Always the same.”
“Same?” he questioned, thinking back to the many nights she had slipped into his room asking for sanctuary. “You mean…the dream of the dragon?”
“Yes. I was scared. There were flames everywhere. I called your name, but you didn’t come. I…”
“I’m here now,” he assured. “I promise, Gwen. I’ll take care of you.”
“I’m frightened,” she whispered, her voice holding the same childhood fear he recalled in his memory.
“I am too. But whatever happens, Gwen, we’ll face it together. I promise.”
“Don’t let them take me back there. I don’t want to be locked in dreams. Please, Gwain.”
“I won’t,” he answered with conviction, running his hand lightly through the golden locks of her hair. “I promise, Gwen. I’ll protect you.”
She curled into him, placing her head on his shoulder as he coaxed her to calm, and eventually back to slumber. Depositing her on her pelt, he sat beside her, rubbing her back.
Watching them from across the fire, Rob’s voice came in soft tones. “Is she all right?”
“I don’t think so. She’s had nightmares since she was a small child. A field burning. A dragon with feathered wings, like those of a bird.”
“What about you? How are you?”
Surprised by the question, Gwain turned to meet his friend’s eyes. The word fine formed in his mind, but stopped short of being spoken. Inhaling, he paused before speaking a more truthful answer. “Terrified and relieved. They were going to drug her.”
“What?”
“They don’t hear the voices of the goddess at all. It’s a sham, Robert.”
“What do you mean?”
“They drug them—the girls too young to transform—and use the gibberish the drugs produce to proclaim hidden prophecies, which are then used to forge laws as they see fit. My sister’s had nightmares all her life, and they wanted to condemn her to eternal dreams. To…” His hands formed fists, rage becoming a living, breathing voice that woke the beast within. His dragon rose to anger’s call, forcing him to draw several deep breaths to calm his other half, his eyes transforming to a green glow.
Rob saw the dragon glinting through his friend’s eyes, but said nothing, trusting Gwain to control his more lethal half.
“They were going to condemn her to a torment so profound…I can’t even imagine what it would have been like for her. I can’t…”
Silence fell. Gwain closed his eyes, corralling his beast with imaginary walls.
Rob’s voice came soft and uncertain as he asked, “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?”
“Why would I lie?”
Rob shifted, shoulders moving as he drew a deep breath.
“What is it?”
“I knew you loved her, but I had no idea she would be so,” he seemed to search for the word, “fragile. Nor so lovely.”
“And?”
“I didn’t think you would escape the temple. Nor did I have any faith you would be there for as long as you were without getting caught. I…”
Tension renewed its path between Gwain’s shoulders, his eyes trained on those of his closest friend, who refused to meet his gaze. “Rob?” he asked through a layer of fresh fear.
“What did you do?”
Rob’s eyes squeezed tight before he forced himself to look up and meet Gwain’s worried expression. “I’m sorry,” he confessed. “They expected you would try to free her at some point. You’ve made too many requests, and your behavior these past few months…they knew, Gwain.”
“Knew?” The blood in Gwain’s veins was replaced by icy fear.
“I’m sorry, Gwain. There was no choice.”
With that contrite apology, hands laid siege to Gwain’s arms.
He cried out, screaming for Gwen to run.
Too late. Far too late.
Chapter 19
Amelia stared at the captain as he wiped a tear from his pale cheek. “They caught you.”
Gwain nodded, but did not speak.
“What happened?”
Words failed, requiring several additional breaths before Gwain was able to speak. “They told her she was wicked for attempting to run. Sinful for risking not only her own future, but mine as well. Selfish they…”
26 years ago
“Let her go!” Gwain screamed. “Please, for the love of all the gods, she doesn’t want this! Please!”
“Silence!” a feminine voice interrupted his cries. The same woman he thought he had deceived the night prior stepped between the siblings.
Arms bound, Gwain was held on his knees by four men. “Please don’t harm her,” he pleaded. “She knew nothing.”
“Highly doubtful,” the woman replied. “Were the two of you anyone else, punishment would be harsh indeed.”
Penelope extended her hand to trace a line along Gwen’s high cheekbones, and down her chin. “A shame to mar such exquisite beauty.”
“Don’t touch her!” Gwain screamed, thrashing.
The man on his right punched his side, the blow landing painfully against Gwain’s ribs.
“Do not fear,” the priestess said, continuing to run her hands over his sister. “I will not harm her. Guinevere is, after all, destined to speak for our most revered goddess.” She turned to him. “You, on the other hand...”
“Such a noble spirit.” Penelope gave a crude laugh. “No wonder you were chosen for the queen’s personal guard.”
“Please,” he whispered. “Don’t harm my sister.”
“Harm her? I’m going to honor her.”
“You’re lying. She doesn’t want this. She’s never heard the goddess’ voice.”
“But I have,” the woman cooed. “Kamar has told me your sister is to be her chosen vessel. Her words will be from the divine herself.”
“If my sister speaks for the goddess, listen to her! She doesn’t want this, so to force anything upon her, against her will, is to directly challenge the goddess’ authority.”
“Guinevere is too young to understand the goddess’ desires,” the priestess defended. “I am here to assist her in interpreting Kamar’s will.”
“Are you deliberately cruel, or completely delusional? She doesn’t want this!”
The woman leaned forward and placed her hand on the side of Gwain’s face.
He jerked from her touch, drawing a cruel laugh from the powerful woman.
Walking back to his sister, Penelope stepped behind Gwen. Gathering her golden hair, the priestess yanked Gwen’s head back.
“Gwain!” the girl cried out, more from fear than pain.
His dragon roared at the sound, bursting forth, his eyes changing to vibrant, glowing green, while his pupils narrowed to thin slits, and scales rose from his skin. He was unprepared when one of the men moved forward, pushing something sharp deep into his skin.
The transformation stopped instantly, the dragon within screaming as a searing pain also caused the human to cry out. The men let him fall, pain spreading with a touch so cold, it burned. He tried to speak, but could only manage a second unbidden scream.
“Gwain!” his sister yelled. “What did you do to him? What did you—”
“Never fear, pet. His status is temporary, thanks to a concoction that controls unruly dragons.” She clucked her tongue. “Did you not anticipate we’d plan for every contingency?”
“I’ll go with you!” his sister promised. “Please, I beg of you, don’t harm my brother. Please, don’t!”
“Enough of this,” a second, sharper voice called. “Get on with it, Penelope.”
“Yes,” the woman replied, turning back to Gwen. With the help of another woman, who tipped back Gwen’s head, Penelope forced Gwen’s jaws apart as she brought out a flask. Small enough to be concealed in one’s palm, the vial was slender, and Gwen’s eyes widened in recognition.
“For you, a taste of the dreams to come.”
Gwen struggled against the women to no avail, her eyes flying to her brother as the vile, bitter liquid was forced between her lips.
“Swallow,” Penelope instructed, “or your brother won’t survive the night.”
“No!” Gwain pleaded from where he writhed on the ground, agony wracking his body, every muscle tightening in painful spasms.
Tears streaming, Gwen allowed the poison to slide down her throat.
Once certain of her compliance, the women stepped back.
Surprised to be free, Gwen rushed to her brother’s side, pulling him against her as she called his name. “Gwain! I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No.” Gwain shook his head, an unsteady movement that involved his entire body. Another spasm caused him to cry out in spite of his best efforts not to.
The unseen priestess instructed, “I suggest you say goodbye. Soon, she’ll know only the will of the gods.”
“Let her go,” Gwain bargained. “Take me. I’ll be your voice. I’d do anything. Please, I…” His words failed, burning cold creeping further through his body, numbing his limbs while clamping down on his throat. Suffocating, words and breath becoming harsher, the cold surrounding his dragon in a sheet of ice even its fire could not melt. Blackness descended from a lack of oxygen, vision blurring as his hearing dimmed.
“I’m sorry, Gwen,” he managed to whisper, her tears falling on his cheeks. “I wanted to save you. I’m sorry.”
“I love you, brother. I love you.”
Gwain did not bother to wipe away his tears as he finished the tale.
“I awoke in a cell, a failure. My sister had been taken back to the temples, destined to spend her life speaking incoherent rubbish, to be interpreted as the high priestess saw fit.”
“I’ve never heard of a poison that prevented us from transforming before. What did they inject you with?”
“I don’t know its name.” He drew a slow breath. “It prevented my dragon from emerging. If I’d been given multiple doses, I think it might have done far greater, and permanent, damage.”
He shook his head. “My best guess? It’s one of the elements in the drug concoction given to my sister, based on how it paralyzed my dragon. As you know, when one transforms for the first time, the creature is young, and weak. It must be given time, and room, to grow, as our human halves had before the dragon emerged.
“And like a human child, young dragons are more vulnerable. What the drug did to me was terrible. If they administered a stronger dose to a dragon that hadn’t hatched, it would prevent the creature from ever emerging. That’s why, I suspect, it’s so important for the girls to be given the drug at a young age. Far easier to destroy an unhatched dragon, than an adult.”
Amelia stared, digesting both Gwain’s story, and the horrifying information he’d conveyed. Finally she asked, “What happened next?”
Chapter 20
26 years ago
Gwain sat in his cell, a blanket wrapped around him as a shield against the dank, stale air. He was beginning to lose count of the days, the dungeon far enough underground sunlight could not penetrate its depths. Torches flickered from the room’s corners, casting a constant mixture of light and shadow.
Broken hearted, the young knight did not bother protesting his imprisonment. His failure to protect his sister had left him defeated. The knowledge of her fate, because of his failure, a crushing weight. He had spent numerous nights screaming against the temple’s actions before those cries devolved to pathetic pleas and, finally, silence.
I deserve to be imprisoned.
A few weeks into his captivity, a temple official had come to speak with him. Without entering the cell, the man had trained his golden eyes on the younger man through the rusting iron bars. “Have you come to see the error in your ways?”
“I was a fool,” Gwain answered.
The corners of the official’s lips curved upward.
“To ever think the temples were anything but a horrifically corrupt institution. For failing to save her years ago!”
The official’s smile never faltered; a perfect reflection of the brainwashed status the temples had instilled. “I see you have not learned your lesson.”
Gwain moved closer to the other man, wrapping his hands around the cold cell bars. “Let my sister go,” he begged. “Please, she’s done nothing to deserve what is being done to her.”
“I assure you, young man,” the visitor’s voice remained sickeningly cheerful, “she’s in the best of hands.”
“Bullshit! What you have done to her is worse than a death sentence. Do with me what you will, punish me, but release my sister! If you require a voice, let it be me. I’ll take your drugs. I’ll do anything you want. Please, I beg of you, let my sister go.”
The official shook his head. “It’s admirable, how you fight for her. To do so showcases all the qualities of the profession for which you have been trained; the promise of a remarkable future knight. But now you must call upon the discipline instilled in your training, and trust in the goddess, who has chosen your sister for personal service. I’m certain, in time, you will see the truth in my words. May the goddess bless you with peace and understanding.”
The official offered a brief bow before turning to leave Gwain to his solitude.
Once a month, the official returned, each time leaving
the younger man with the same words. Gwain refused to yield, welcoming the punishment. If his sister was to be confined, surely he should face the same fate for his failure.
He was frequently dosed with a milder form of the strange concoction he had been injected with when they’d taken Gwen from him. Not enough to cause the searing pain of the first instance, but sufficiently potent to suppress his dragon form. He had recently been medicated when footsteps alerted him to a disruption in his preferred solitude.
“Go away,” he preemptively rejected the expected official. “My answer remains the same.”
“I can’t do that, Gwain.”
At the familiar voice, Gwain turned, jaw tightening. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Gwain,” Rob replied, “I must speak with you.”
“I don’t converse with traitors.”
“Gwain—”
Seized with overwhelming rage, his dragon attempted to push past the sedative, screeching through his mind as the beast thundered against his narrow confines. Gwain walked to the bars and wrapped his hands around them, glaring at his former friend through eyes flecked with green. “What could you possibly say that would help?”
“I came to explain.”
“Explain what? How you betrayed me, condemned my sister to…”
“You made too many requests, Gwain. They knew you’d try to rescue her.”
“And your best solution was allowing us to walk into a trap?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Know what? That you’re a backstabbing conspirator?”
Rob drew a sharp breath. “Against everything we’d been taught, everything we’d been trained to defend, you claimed the temples were corrupt. Decided your sister was in trouble…because of a flower.” Rob shook his head. “Do you know how ludicrous you sounded? Because of a dried flower—a name day gift—you had to break into the temples and steal her away.
“I was raised under the same values as you, Gwain. The temples are a source of all good. They speak for the goddess. Your ravings went against everything we’ve been taught to believe.”
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