by Patty Jansen
The room looked like it had been a servants’ kitchen in times past, but it had been a long time since any respectable family lived in this house. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls, and in parts the plaster had come off to reveal the brickwork underneath. Dark stains marked the ceiling, and the tiles felt gritty under her feet.
But there was a warm fire in the hearth, a wooden table stood in the middle of the room and several people sat around it on a collection of mismatched chairs, hard benches or wine barrels. In the low light, most of them were mere silhouettes, but Nellie recognised none other than madame Sabine, her round-cheeked face gilded by the torchlight. She wore her hair tied up at the back of her head and had again dressed in men’s riding trousers and a man’s shirt.
When Nellie came in, she looked up, met her eyes and smiled. Nellie wasn’t sure whether it was a friendly or an evil smile.
There was some banter between the people in the room and the new arrivals, and someone directed Nellie to a place on the bench.
As soon as she sat down, madame Sabine got up and walked around the table. She came quite close, leaning over Nellie so she could almost feel the warmth of her body and was enveloped in the smell of her perfume.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
“I was invited.”
“Is that so?”
Nellie straightened her back. “Just in case you don’t know, Cornelius Dreessen, who I’ve learned has started this group, was my father.”
Madame Sabine’s eyes widened briefly. “So that’s where you get your impertinent nature.”
“I’m not interested in playing games. I want only the truth.”
Madame Sabine laughed. “Still so naïve. Where is the dragon?”
“I let him go.”
“You—what?”
“I opened the box and set him free, so that he can go back to the east, where he belongs.”
“So that its power is lost to all of us? You stupid maid.”
“The dragon is still around, but he isn’t interested in letting people experiment with him.”
“You know nothing about it.”
“I know that he flies well.”
Madame Sabine grabbed the front of Nellie’s coat. She met Nellie’s eyes, nostrils flaring. “I know you still have it. We have other ways of getting what we want.”
Nellie coolly yanked her coat out of Madame Sabine’s grip. “You can’t treat me like that. I am no longer your servant.”
“I will remember that. In my book, servants of the court are afforded protection by the family they work for. I will be happy to acknowledge that does not apply to you.”
“You could have told your husband some story that ‘proved’ I stole the dragon, but you didn’t. To me, that means you’re hiding activities you don’t want him to know about. Does he know you’re here?”
“How dare you talk to me like that?”
“I respect people who are worthy of respect. Like my father. He wasn’t a very nice person, but he never did anything dishonest.”
Madame Sabine gave her a hard stare but made no reply. She whirled around and went back to her seat.
The man next to her quickly turned away from her to mask the fact that he had been staring at the interaction between her and Madame Sabine.
Her heart was still thudding. It was obvious: she had become more than just Nellie the maid. People knew her and watched her. It was a scary and exhilarating thought.
Nellie looked around.
She was surprised that she knew a lot more people than she thought she would. She recognised the faces of a baker, and the two carpenters she had seen before, a tailor, the cheese-maker, and many other people who provided trades in the city. Many of them she had not seen for a while because they had stopped coming to the markets.
A few more people came in after Nellie did, and more chairs were being carried in from somewhere deeper within the house.
The man at the head of the table was Master Beck, a tall grey-haired man who kept counting the people in the room. He was the head teacher at the city’s College of Knowledge, a place where nobles and rich merchants sent their sons to be taught to write beautifully and without mistakes, to manage a company’s accounts, the basics of the Burovian language and other things that noble sons needed to know.
Eventually, Master Beck was happy that everyone was present, and he began.
“Welcome to our meeting tonight. As you see, we have a visitor here today, invited by our friend Gerard who unfortunately couldn’t make it tonight. Why don’t you introduce yourself?” He looked at Nellie.
Nellie gulped. This didn’t fall under keeping quiet. Had Gisele known this would happen? Did these people even know that their Gerard was a woman?
She steeled herself.
“My name is Nellie. I lived and worked with Queen Johanna since she was a little girl. You will be familiar with my father, Cornelius Dreessen.”
There were several gasps around the room. A few people looked at her with an interest they hadn’t shown before.
Madame Sabine gave her a foul look.
“It is an honour to have you here,” a man across the table said. His hair was white and his eyebrows were fashioned into horns.
Nellie thought he was an account keeper with one of the major importing companies.
“Your father was a dear friend,” another man said. Nellie remembered him vaguely from a time he and she had been much younger.
Several people who hadn’t noticed Nellie before turned to her and nodded or greeted her.
Madame Sabine said in a prim voice, “Nellie has made a bit of a name for herself, because she left the palace in the company of our elusive dragon.”
Several people nodded. The gossip about her had obviously spread.
Had the dragon been part of this group’s experiments? Had Lord Verdonck been a member, too?
“You didn’t bring the creature?” Master Beck asked, meeting Nellie’s eyes.
“He’s not mine. He doesn’t obey me.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Not if you don’t try to harm him, or the things he cares about.”
A man laughed. “Whatever does a dragon care about?”
“He likes children and animals. He will protect those.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard.” The speaker was an old man with a big bushy beard.
“Who should he listen to, then?” Nellie asked him.
He missed the cynical tone of her voice. “It will obey a proper magician. A dragon is a strong magical creature. You will need magical artefacts to control it.”
“You speak as if you know everything about dragons. Do you have experience?” She thought of the scratches on Madame Sabine’s back.
“I have studied dragons in the literature.”
“With a real dragon?”
He gave her a what-do-you-think look. “They’re dangerous creatures.”
“They are dangerous only if you try to harm them or the things that are dear to them.”
The man snorted.
Nellie said, “As I have already said, the dragon doesn’t listen to anyone. He does as he pleases. I believe he may only obey the rightful owner, but none of us.”
Now the man turned to her, his expression somewhat annoyed. “Do you have any magic of any kind?”
“Of course I don’t.” Nellie’s cheeks grew warm.
He spread his hands. “Well, there you have it. That’s why the dragon won’t listen to you. If you were to pass it to us, we could make it obey.”
“The dragon chose to stay with me. He hasn’t tried to attack me or the children or any of the animals that we have with us. I can give him to you, but it is up to the dragon to accept a master.”
It was Prince Bruno’s dragon, and of course he would never listen to just anyone who said they owned him by paying money for the box.
Master Beck said, “I would strongly urge you to let us try to gain control of it. If you show
ed us where it is, one of us could accompany you to entice the dragon to come with us. We, the entire city, are in dire need of it, now that the fire dog prowls the streets at night. We can cope with the guards and their raids to obtain every little magical trinket in this town, things that were never much use to us anyway. But now we have bigger concerns, and we should use everything in our power. We need this dragon to fight evil.”
There were a lot of nods around the room.
A feeling of frustration came over Nellie. No matter how many times she said that the dragon didn’t listen, they still believed that they could control him. Well, look at what had happened to Madame Sabine when she tried.
She was sick of these people. Science Guild or Church, they were all the same: only after fame and riches for themselves, over the head of a dumb kitchen maid. But, if they didn’t want to believe her, maybe they should learn their own lesson. This kitchen maid was not going to take this without getting her own fair share of the bargain.
She said, “Much as you will be surprised to hear this, I have no use for a dragon. I am happy just to take my friends to safety. If you can help me leave the city, I am happy to hand the dragon on to you, providing that you will look after him and that he will be treated properly.”
Madame Sabine’s eyes widened. Oh no, she didn’t buy it.
Master Beck asked, “So what do you want in return?”
“I live with a number of women who have lost their husbands, and children who have lost their parents. We have very little, especially for the children. We could use food and winter clothing and blankets. I also want the advice of a wind magician.”
“For what?” a man asked. His voice sounded suspicious.
“We’re planning to leave the city as soon as the weather turns warmer and the roads are open. I want to know where the bandits are.”
“Is that all?” Master Beck said.
Madame Sabine shot him a furious glance. Oh, she wanted that dragon, just as badly as Nellie wanted to keep him out of her hands.
And Nellie grew even bolder. “We could use a cart and a horse, and a crate of liquor, wine, beer or gin, to bribe the guards.”
“That’s asking a lot. The horse and the cart, I hand you that, but getting the guards to look the other way? That amounts to treason.”
“Someone else has made that offer to me.”
His eyes narrowed. “Who, if I may ask?”
“I bet it’s that witch Julianna or her wayfarer friend,” someone said behind Nellie. “I heard a story that a councillor’s wife got the most terrible skin rash from a concoction that was said to have been made with dragon excrement.”
Oh, the glory. Nellie had suspected that Julianna and Zelda might be friends. Here was her evidence.
“She didn’t say her name,” Nellie said.
“And you would give a magical creature to someone who doesn’t give you her name?”
“I didn’t say that. I said I’d had an offer. I have to think of the women and children in my group and I’ll take the best deal. I don’t think you can handle the dragon anyway, but if you will give me things in return for a free creature, then I’ll take the best deal.”
“We want the box, you stupid woman,” Madame Sabine said.
“The dragon is not in the box.”
“Give us the box, and the dragon will come.”
“I don’t have it with me. I can bring it when I see you fulfil your side of the bargain.”
“How do we even know it’s the real box?” the man opposite Nellie said. “She could be trying to lead us all astray.”
“Heavens, she is Cornelius’ daughter. Will you lay off it?” Master Beck said. “Or would you rather that she gives this treasure to the witches who will do goodness knows what with it?”
Silence. A few men shook their heads.
“What do you intend to do with a dragon?” Nellie asked.
“Study it, and use it to fight the fire dog. And learn about magic because that study has been sadly neglected in this city.”
Despite the greed in this group, Nellie trusted Master Beck’s intentions. It was tempting to agree, because a rogue dragon might cause all kinds of problems for her, but there were many reasons she couldn’t give in.
She asked, “What do you think these witches would do with him?”
“It’s hard to say. There are many possibilities. Already, one of them has been peddling ‘products’ based on the dragon. They might continue to extort people who have money and really should know better, or they may do a range of other things, including selling the box to people we definitely don’t want to gain control over it.”
“Such as?”
“King Leopold, Baron Uti’s family.”
No. Nellie shuddered, thinking of the round-waisted, big-bearded baron, who already had far too much dark magic at his court. If she had to pick between giving the dragon to him, or to Master Beck or Zelda, there was no choice. But the dragon wasn’t hers to give.
A merchant said, “I could bring blankets and child’s clothing. I have no more use for those now that my children have grown up.”
“I can spare a cart,” said another.
Oh, they wanted this dragon. Their naked greed was ugly.
Then another man said, “If you had any wind magic, you’d know that the stories about bandits are highly exaggerated. Yes, there are some rogues, but not nearly as many as the palace wants us to believe.”
Nellie found the speaker at the other end of the table. “Are you a wind magician?”
“I am. I can tell you which places are the safest.”
Another man said, “With regard to this dragon, I have a worry. I say we keep everyone relating to the creature within the city walls, including this woman. We will give her some food and blankets and shelter them if they want, but I am not happy to let them leave the city. We may need her later on.”
A few people made noises in agreement.
Nellie hated how these people kept talking over her head. “Excuse me, but what would you need me for?”
Master Beck said, “Do you know anything about dragons?”
“Aside from having lived with one?”
“Do you know about their biology? About their needs?”
Nellie’s cheeks grew hot. She hadn’t even figured out what the dragon ate.
From the other side of the table an older man said, “We cannot judge her like this. She’s unaware of the knowledge we have.” He looked at Nellie. “In the lands in the far east, dragons appear in times of great need, when towns are threatened by evil. There are many stories of towns and even great cities saved by the appearance of a dragon. Each town has a dragon magician who can use dragon stones to summon the beast to the defence of the people.”
Nellie was wondering where he got this information. These learned people always seem to be so certain of themselves.
As far as she understood, dragon magic was a type of artisan magic, just like wood magic or water magic. And children with magic in the east received a box which they then filled with a magical object, like a tree or a dragon. And as far as she knew, the thing in the box only protected its owner in extreme need.
These people were just full of nonsense. They made it sound like they knew what was going on, but if there was any science in this group, it had long since been overtaken by politics and scheming.
They didn’t know what dragons were for. Whatever Madame Sabine had done to the dragon, it was not how dragons were meant to be treated.
These people wanted to keep her here, because they were afraid of handling the dragon, and they wanted control over him at the same time.
These people knew nothing.
She thought of just giving them the empty dragon box in return for food and clothing, but that would be deceitful, and she did not like that at all. In the end, they could flee the city without extra food and clothes, and she had the information she needed. She left them with the illusion that she was desperate for their help, and s
at quietly while the members of the group discussed the uses of a dragon against the fire dog—seriously, did they really think that spreading “dragon stones” around the city was going to help? These stones looked suspiciously like river pebbles.
Nellie said she’d think about their offer. She had the information she needed about the safety of leaving the city, and no one had yet offered the horse she had asked for, although Master Beck said procuring it wouldn’t be a problem.
Soon enough, the conversation moved to different subjects.
A woman set a wooden box on the table and proceeded to hand out little satchels to all the members. This happened without many words, and without discussing the contents.
Nellie asked her neighbour what the satchels contained, and he said they held pills that kept the mind clear when one was threatened with magic.
One of the men had travelled to Lurezia to study some phenomenon of the sky and gave a lengthy talk about it. He set a wooden box on the table and unpacked a selection of instruments from it and explained how one could use the instruments to determine the position of stars in the sky.
The talk was rather boring. Nellie was tired, and it was stuffy in the room. She had trouble keeping awake and wished she could leave.
Chapter 19
IT WAS GETTING LATE, and people were still talking.
Nellie’s eyes were gritty with fatigue. She was looking for a way to leave the gathering, because she had the information she needed, she wanted to avoid making any further agreement about giving the dragon to these people, and she had quite a long way to go back to the barn. The talk about the fire dog prowling the streets had made her nervous. She wasn’t normally prone to seeing things in the dark, but she had seen this creature before and knew it wasn’t a trick of her mind.
In the middle of a discussion, one man in the group got up. He walked to the window and looked out. Because they were on a level below the street, the window existed for little more than letting in light from a tiny sunken courtyard.
He then went to the door and opened it. A blast of cold air came in.
Several people shouted at him to keep the door shut.
“Whatever is going on?” Master Beck asked, casting an annoyed look at the door.