Lady Dragon, Tela Du

by Kendra E. Ardnek

  “I’m glad you’re here with me for this adventure,” she finally said, sitting down next to him.

  “Yep.”

  She laid her head against his shoulder. “And I happen to know you’re glad too, even if you aren’t paying attention.”

  “Yep.”

  “After all, you’re the one who was always hanging out in closets and inventing your own adventures into new worlds,” she continued. “It would have been dreadfully awkward if I had come here without you, and then have to go back and confess, ‘Hey, Reuben, you know how you’ve always wanted to travel to another world? Well, I just went to one without you. Fought a dragon and everything.’ And we’ll not talk about how disappointed you’d be.”

  “Yep.”

  Done with the confession, she peered closer at his book and wrinkled her nose. “You’re right, the spelling is atrocious.”

  “I’m not sure that’s the right word,” Reuben admitted. “The spelling is consistent, so maybe it’s just how people spell here. It’s a new world, so you have to keep your mind open.”

  “So you actually are listening to me?”

  “Yep, but you were handling both sides of the conversation so well, I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Well, there was one thing, but I’m not sure you want to hear it.”

  “I can also probably guess what it is, and you’re right, I don’t want to hear it, not at this particular moment.”

  “So you’re confessing that you may want to hear it in the future?” he asked. “Can I have hope?”

  “We’re in a strange land,” said Petra, giving a half-hearted shrug. “Things are changing. Maybe you can.”

  He reached over and patted her shoulder. “I’ll take that answer. Now where is that Rintaya? It can’t possibly take her this long to talk herself into using that mat, not if she’s been doing it for years like she said.”

  At that moment, as though he had spoken a magic word, the air above the mat shimmered, and the woman appeared. Rintaya surveyed the pair on the floor with a shake of her head and a cluck of her tongue. “Just friends, eh?”

  “Only the very best,” confirmed Reuben. “So what took you so long to join us? Petra was growing impatient.”

  “My intention had been to give the two of you a moment to digest what I’ve told you without my presence to complicate things,” Rintaya explained. “But I see you’ve chosen to read instead. Why am I not surprised? Which Legend is that?”

  “Ear of the People,” answered Reuben, checking the cover. “It’s quite interesting.”

  “That’s the story of Jasmine and Karlos, the young friends of the Water Princess and Fire Prince, isn’t it?” asked Rintaya. “Yes, that is quite an interesting tale and full of good lessons we can apply to this day. Pity no one heeded it fifty years ago.”

  “The Water Princess and Fire Prince?” repeated Petra.

  “They seem to be a pair of rulers who banished the Lady Dragon about a thousand years ago,” said Reuben.

  “They were,” Rintaya confirmed. She scanned through the shelves, pulled out another volume, and handed it down to Petra. “This is the Legend that tells that story. It may do the two of you good to read it.”

  The title read Water Princess, Fire Prince. Petra thumbed through a few pages, though she didn’t actually pay attention to what the pages contained. “Sounds interesting,” she admitted. “You said they also banished the Dragon?”

  “Yes, they fought the Dragon and lived to tell about it,” Rintaya confirmed. “Granted, they had only to banish Amber to her island, but that was no easy task either.”

  “And I have to actually kill her?” asked Petra, shutting the book and climbing to her feet so she could be at eye level with the woman. “It seems to me that I have the short end of this stick.”

  “Perhaps you do.” Rintaya held Petra’s gaze for a long second and Petra thought she saw something flicker in the depths of the woman’s hazel eyes, something familiar. But then Rintaya glanced away, towards Reuben. “But Rizkaland will be so much better off once Amber is dead.”

  “But it’ll be so much worse if she gets to ‘reign unchallenged’ for the rest of her life,” Petra pointed out.

  “Exactly so, and that is the delicacy of the situation,” Rintaya admitted. She turned back to Petra. “That is why, while we do want you to fight Amber, we’re not going to send you against her until you’re prepared, both physically and mentally. We want you to have your best chance. Your best chance is our best chance.”

  Reuben shut his book and gained his feet. Without a word, he put an arm around Petra’s waist and pulled her closer to him. “I think that’s supposed to make you feel better,” he whispered in her ear.

  “I’m not sure it’s working,” Petra muttered, debating whether to stay in the relative safety of his hold or to pull away.

  “That’s why I’ve brought you here,” Rintaya continued. “Here at Loray you have this library, containing Legends that you might study, the armory with weapons with which you can practice, and perhaps most importantly, you have Alphego’s Hill.”

  “Who’s Alphego?” Petra asked. “You keep mentioning Him, and you make it sound like He’s important, but who is He?”

  “He’s God, isn’t He?” said Reuben. “Alphego is the name you call God here in Rizkaland.”

  Rintaya turned and gazed at him thoughtfully before she slowly answered. “Yes, it is.” Then she hastily added, “If, by God, you mean the One Who created the worlds, Who guides and directs the lives of the people within them, Who sets the times and seasons, and the rise and fall of kings and empires, then yes.”

  “Yes,” Reuben agreed. “I believe that’s Who I meant. If we have Him on our side, we can be assured of victory, then?”

  “You can be assured of His Will be done,” said Rintaya. “It may not be what we want, but it will be what is best.” Her expression clouded as she turned to the shelves, selected two more books, and handed them to Reuben. “It’s almost lunch time, so if you’d like, I can leave the two of you here to read, or if either of you would like to come help me prepare some lunch…”

  “I’ll help you, I like kitchens,” Petra declared, setting her own book on top of Reuben’s stack. “He can read and catch me up on it later.”

  Reuben nodded slowly. “That’s about how it usually works,” he admitted.

  “You don’t like reading?” asked Rintaya, raising an eyebrow in Petra’s direction.

  “Not as much as he does,” she answered. “And I don’t see the point in reading a book if he’ll just tell me the whole plot later whether I ask him to or not. At least we won’t have to act it out anymore, though.”

  “Ah, very well,” said Rintaya. “So you don’t mind if Petra and I leave you here alone, then?”

  “I guess not.”

  “Well then, I’ll send her after you when lunch is ready. In the meantime, though, I just thought I’d point out that there is a reading corner in this library and the chairs there are far more comfortable than the floor.”

  “Sounds awesome.” And he wandered off in search of the corner.

  “Come along then, Petra,” said Rintaya, turning to Petra with a smile.

  They wound through the shelves, and Petra noticed that a good many of them were actually empty.

  “These shelves are for the Legends that have yet to be written,” Rintaya explained, noticing Petra’s glance in their direction. “Soon yours shall take its place upon them.”

  “Provided that I win the battle?”

  “That would be the better ending for it, wouldn’t it?” said Rintaya. “But, in truth, not every Legend on these shelves was a victory. The role of the Bookholder is to record truth, not just what pleases them.”

  “Ah,” said Petra. “I see. But I thought you said the role of a Bookholder was to read that special Book?”

  “That is his primary duty,” Rintaya admitted. “But when times arise, he is also the one to record the Legends.”

  Rinta
ya finally led Petra through a door and into a cozy kitchen which, in truth, surprised Petra a bit with its level of technology. True, the sink had a pump and there was no sign of anything resembling a refrigerator, but the stove, though a bit rustic, distinctly resembled the one she used back home, and the light overhead was clearly electric.

  “One of the benefits to living within Loray’s walls is that the Eight outfitted it with technology like they had in their own world,” Rintaya explained, noticing Petra’s stare. “Don’t ask me how it works, but it does, and I thank Alphego for it. It certainly makes my life easier.”

  “It reminds me of home,” Petra muttered. She took a deep breath, fought down a wave of homesickness, and gave a determined nod. “So, lunch? What do you need me to do?”

  As Petra settled into the familiar rhythm of chopping vegetables for a salad, she found herself relaxing – even if the “greens” were any color but. Food and kitchens were something she knew, something universal no matter what world a person found themselves visiting.

  “Rintaya, there you are. You didn’t say anything about having guests tonight.”

  Petra looked up to see an elderly man standing in the doorway. His hair was white, his skin, paper-thin, and he had the distinctly pointed ears of an elf. And his eyes … those were Ashley’s blue eyes.

  He stared at her, at first in confusion, but then his eyes widened in surprise. “Sarah?”

  Chapter 6

  “Dear, this is Petra, the Tela Du,” said Rintaya, “Petra, this is my husband, Ritis.”

  “Sarah?” Petra repeated, her stomach churning. “You know Sarah? How? Where? When?”

  Ritis took a step back and shook his head. “I’m sorry, the memory is incomplete, and, truth be told, not even there until a moment ago when I saw you. There is a lot of fondness in the memory, I can say that, but not much else.”

  “Ritis, my love,” said Rintaya, setting down her soup spoon and rushing to his side. “Do sit down, you look faint.” She glanced back at Petra. “Who – who is this Sarah?”

  “My sister,” Petra answered automatically, her mind whirring. “Reuben and I were both born in sets of identical triplets, but with the exception of one of his brothers, all of our siblings disappeared, and no one can remember them except Reuben and me. So Sarah did come here! Reuben speculated that she had. When? Where did she go?”

  “I – I’m not sure.” Ritis shook his head as he lowered himself into the chair at the head of the table.

  “You said that no one could remember her, Petra?” Rintaya asked.

  “No, even that Laura was evasive on the topic, though from the way she avoided the question, I rather think she did.” Petra shrugged. “She did promise answers.”

  “Ritis’s gift is forgetting, and it’s an exceptionally strong gift, which means that he can also make other people forget what he forgets.”

  “Gift?”

  “Every elf has a gift,” Rintaya explained. “Remember when I said that elves are inferior to humans, at least physically and mentally? Alphego gives us gifts to bring us to equality. Mine is speed, his is forgetting.”

  “And you’re saying that Ritis forgot Sarah, and made everyone forget her, too? Why?”

  “I did, but I don’t know why,” said Ritis, shaking his head. “But given that you are the Tela Du and that your sister looked just like you, I’m willing to say that I forgot her for her protection.”

  “From the Dragon?” Petra swallowed.

  “Most likely,” said Ritis. “Her life would certainly have been in danger had the Dragon heard of a girl who looked like her. Perhaps we mistook her for the Tela Du and…”

  “Ritis, don’t scare the poor girl. Today has been hard enough for her as it is,” Rintaya snapped. Then she softened her tone as she turned back to Petra. “Perhaps your sister came and went before the Dragon did, and Ritis merely forgot her so Amber wouldn’t hear of her and make the wrong assumption.”

  “So does this mean that Sarah might have become the Tela Du?” Petra asked, not sure if she liked either way this question could be answered.

  “No, she … no” Rintaya began, a wave of frustration clouding her face. Then she shook her head to clear it. “What I mean is, did she wear purple like you do?”

  “Nope, Sarah’s color was blue. Mum put Sylvia in pinks and reds. It was so people could tell us apart at first glance. That’s also why I use Mum’s British accent, and Sarah used Dad’s Texan.”

  “And your other sister?” asked Rintaya, an edge creeping into her voice.

  Petra shook her head. “She and Richard disappeared together when we girls were five. The boys had just turned seven. Sarah and I were nine when we made the decision about the accents.”

  “I see.” Rintaya nodded slowly, a smile briefly tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Well, almost every prophecy clearly states that the Tela Du wears purple, and many mention those glasses you’re wearing. If Sarah wore blue, then she could not have been the one to face the Dragon.”

  “Guess that means I’m still stuck with the position, not that I wished it on Sarah.”

  “Petra, if I … if … I’m sure that your sister hadn’t wished this on—” Rintaya gave a sudden gasp of pain.

  “Dear, are you all right?” said Ritis, leaning forward with concern.

  “Oh, I'm all right,” she whispered. “Just my old shoulder.” To Petra’s stare, she explained, louder, “I injured my shoulder when I was younger, and it flares up at the strangest times. How is the salad coming? The soup is almost done.”

  Petra glanced down at her cutting board, rocking the knife back and forth as she compared the amount of salad in the big bowl to what she hadn’t cut, the people who would be eating it, and the soup and bread that was also available.

  “I think there’s enough,” she decided.

  Rintaya glanced at the bowl. “I think so, too. Run and get your friend and let him know that it’s time to eat.”

  While Petra was reluctant to leave Ritis and what little information he had about Sarah, this was his house. He probably wasn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon, so she could probably have another chance later to ask more questions. Besides, she was bursting to tell Reuben the news that they finally had a lead on Sarah – proof that they weren’t insane for remembering her.

  She navigated through the bookshelves and got turned around a few times, but she finally found a corner with some large, fluffy chairs. Reuben was sprawled in one, nose buried in one of the books, the other three on a small table beside him.

  She hesitated a moment, reluctant to interrupt him as he looked like he was enjoying the book so much. But since she knew that he would never forgive her if there was food involved and she didn’t offer it to him, she marched over, pulled the glasses off of his face, and deftly tucked them into his shirt pocket. She had long ago discovered this to be the quickest, most efficient method to bring him back from the realm of story.

  He blinked and looked up at her, though his mind was clearly still miles away. “Have you any idea how to get through the Mountain?”

  “No. I don’t. Are you hungry?”

  He blinked twice, and this time, she saw him pop back to the here and now. “I am, now that you mention it.” He snapped the book shut – allowing Petra to see that the title was Water Princess, Fire Prince – and stood up. “What is there to eat?” he asked, setting the book on the top of the stack.

  “Soup and salad. Follow me, and we’ll see if we can get out of this library.” She turned and walked away, and was satisfied to hear his step behind her.

  “I’m just going to leave the books there for now,” he declared. “I’m sure they’re going to let us come back and finish them later.”

  “Probably,” Petra agreed. “So, what was that about getting through a Mountain?”

  “Oh.” She could hear the grin in his voice. “Apparently on the Island of Klarand, which is where the Water Princess and Fire Prince ruled, their main castle – they have five al
together – is called simply ‘the Kastle’ and is built into a mountain that is just called ‘the Mountain.’”

  “Creative.”

  “And the Water Princess and Fire Prince have to – I mean had to – go through the Mountain instead of through the main gate, because the main gate was besieged by Amber.”

  “Have you discovered any information that will help me fight this dragon queen?” Petra asked, cutting to the chase, and frowning as she realized that she had taken a wrong turn.

  “Not yet,” he admitted, “but I haven’t gotten to their great battle against the Dragon yet. Give it time. Hey, are you lost?”

  “Nope,” she declared, turning and marching past him. “Just trying to get you lost.”

  “Gotcha. You’re lost.”

  “You think you know your way around better than I do?”

  “It’s a possibility,” said he. “But I think I’ll just follow you around until you find an exit. It’s fun to watch.”

  “Sarah was here,” Petra mentioned, ready to get onto that topic.

  “Really?” There wasn’t any shock in his voice, but there was enthusiasm, and she’d take that. This was Reuben, after all.

  “Really. Rintaya’s husband, Ritis, knew her. He can’t remember how or when, but his gift is forgetting, and that’s probably why no one else can remember her!”

  “That’s awesome.”

  “You’re not going to ask about the gift?” She glanced back over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

  “I read about the elves’ gifts when I skimmed through Alphego’s Hill. They’re interesting things, though, to be certain. The kings and queens of Rizkaland used to have gifts, too, from what I gather.”

  “I see, and the kings and queens were human, right?”

  “Yeah, they were. Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we could get gifts like that? The Dragon wouldn’t know what hit her!”