by Linda McNabb
“Just a little trick my mother taught me,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “Who did that to Klel?”
“The king took the scales to remind people how rich his kingdom is.” Toby could not hide the disgust from his voice.
“You do not like the king?” Sanelle peered at him, the lamplight deepening the shadows on her face.
“Not when he hurts Klel,” Toby replied carefully as he didn’t trust her yet.
“And my brother?” Sanelle leaned closer.
“I only met him today.” Toby avoided the question.
“You’ll despise him by this time tomorrow.” Sanelle twirled a small twig between two fingers. “He’s only after Klel.”
“So he’s not really a prince?” Toby asked hopefully even though it would put him out of a job.
“Oh he’s a prince for real but he doesn’t want to be King of the West.” She paused to let it sink in. “He wants to be king of all the Kingdoms, and for that he needs a dragon.”
“So why didn’t he come and claim his birthright sooner?” Toby asked, confused.
“Mother wouldn’t let him,” Sanelle replied as if Prince Blaise were a toddler who could be easily restrained. “She knew he would cause trouble.”
“She must be a strong woman.” Toby wondered how she could have stopped him.
“She was until he imprisoned her in a stone prison that not even she can break free from.” Sanelle let a little bit of anger creep into her voice.
“He did?” Toby didn’t doubt it but he was so surprised that it just slipped out.
“And I intend to make him pay,” Sanelle said with a sneer and snapped the twig, making Toby jump.
As he sat there in the awkward silence that followed she drew a pattern in the air with her finger and muttered a word so quietly that he couldn’t quite catch it. She stood up and started walking to the door of the shelter.
“Thanks again for helping Klel.” Toby followed her progress and she stopped and stared at him, a shocked look on her face.
“You still see me?” She came closer to him and glared as if he had done something wrong.
“I… You’re only a few paces from me.” Toby frowned and wondered if she was playing some sort of joke on him.
“What colour are your eyes?” Sanelle demanded as she took the lantern down from its hook and held it close to his face.
“Sort of a purply black.” Toby shied back a little as she leaned to within a few inches of his face. “Why?”
“And why are you just a page to my brother?” She stood up, ignoring his question, and frowned as if being a page were an insult to him.
“I’ve been kicked out of almost every other trade in the kingdom,” Toby admitted even though he saw no shame in being a page.
“Didn’t your mother or father teach you?” Sanelle squatted down on her heels and stared hard at him.
“Teach me what? I never knew my father, and my mother died when I was born.” Toby had no idea what she was talking about.
“Ah, that explains it.” Sanelle smiled, the kind of smile when someone knows a secret that you don’t. She took a small, folded knife from her pocket and opened it. Without warning she reached out and ran it across the back of his hand. Toby pulled away and put his other hand over the cut it made. Not because it hurt, for it hadn’t really, more so she couldn’t see how fast it healed.
“Why did you do that?” Toby pretended it stung.
“It hurt you?” She seemed confused and then apologetic. “I was so sure. Here let me wrap it with my sash.”
She put the lantern down, pulled her sash from around her waist and grabbed his hand. She was stronger than he had imagined and he let the other hand slip from on top of it. The cut was almost gone.
“I knew it!” she exclaimed with a delighted look on her face. She spoke loudly and a guard came closer.
“Who goes there?” called the guard.
“Hold my hand.” Sanelle linked her fingers with his without waiting for his permission. “He won’t see us.”
Toby frowned again, today had been more than he could cope with already and now there was more. Surely the guard would see them. The guard came over and looked in, directly past the two of them.
“That dumb lad left his lantern,” he muttered to himself and then wandered off again.
“Why didn’t he see us?” Toby felt a headache coming on as Sanelle grinned at him.
“Because I’m a sorcerer and I invoked the rune of invisibility,” Sanelle said seriously.
Toby’s brain refused to accept it but his eyes had seen it happen.
“Only another sorcerer or a dragon would be able to see us,” Sanelle added.
“But I saw you. Does that mean I’m…” His sensible mind refused to finish the sentence and he just stared at her.
“A sorcerer,” she said with a smile.
“Is Prince Blaise one too?” Toby tried to sort his muddled brain into some sort of order.
“No, for some reason he never gained the power,” Sanelle said with a sigh of relief.
“So if you’re more powerful then you can easily get revenge for your mother’s imprisonment,” Toby concluded but she shook her head.
“He has a talisman stone. We don’t know where he got it but it has the rune of null-magic on it and as long as he has it near him I have no power over him,” Sanelle explained. “I need to get it before I can free my mother.”
“Was that what you were looking for in his rooms?” Toby asked and she nodded. “He put it in his pocket.”
Sanelle looked disappointed at the news and Toby wanted to help.
“I’ll get it for you,” he declared suddenly, making the decision and speaking at the same time. He didn’t believe in magical runes but he wanted to do it in payment for her tending Klel. “If I can’t get it away from him I’ll make sure it’s destroyed.”
“No!” Sanelle exclaimed, but kept her voice low. “You mustn’t destroy it!”
“Why not?” Toby asked, he didn’t see what was wrong with the idea.
“The stone prison that Blaise has put my mother in… is the talisman.” Sanelle spoke so quietly that Toby had to lean closer to hear her.
“She’s inside the stone talisman?” Toby tried to imagine a person stuck inside a stone that was so small it could fit in a pocket, but he failed completely.
“I don’t know how he did it, since he has no magic, but she’s inside the talisman and she can’t get out.” Sanelle was staring off into the darkness and Toby wondered what was worse, never knowing your mother or having her trapped against her will and not being able to help.
“I’ll find a way to get it,” he promised as he picked up the lantern.
“Be careful, you may heal quickly but not even a sorcerer recovers from a fatal wound,” Sanelle advised as she walked off into the darkness, straight past a guard who did not see her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHO IS MASTER?
It was almost two days before an opportunity came up to search for Prince Blaise’s talisman. Toby still wasn’t sure if he believed Sanelle about the powers it held, but surely someone wouldn’t make up tales like that about their own mother? He had been brought up sensible and logically minded so people trapped in tiny stones or disappearing by drawing pictures in the air didn’t make sense to him. As for him being the same as she was, he doubted it.
“Toby, take these clothes to be cleaned.” Prince Blaise threw his clothes over the privacy screen and Toby heard him sink into the hot bath.
Toby felt like he needed a bath too after carrying that much water up and heating it over the fire. But only fools bathed in the winter and he wouldn’t be surprised if his master fell ill tomorrow. He took the clothes and realised that this was his chance to search for the talisman. He tried to get Sanelle alone in the last few days to ask her what it looked like but she was constantly with the queen and her circle of royal companions.
He looked through the clothing but found not
hing. He hadn’t really expected to find the stone talisman among the clothes. If it were so powerful the prince would be unlikely to let it out of his sight. Toby realised that he was starting to believe Sanelle’s strange tale.
After delivering the clothes to the women in the laundry he raced out to check on Klel. Sanelle had been visiting him each day but he did not seem to be improving. The wounds were healing but he just lay in the corner and slept most of the time. Today he looked no better and Toby had to shake him gently to wake him up.
“Klel, how are you?” Toby tried not to sound worried but it was hard.
Tired. Klel went to tuck his snout under his tail again but Toby caught it and forced the dragon to look at him.
“You have to start getting up and moving around,” Toby said gently. He wasn’t sure why but whenever he had been injured Aggie had always said he shouldn’t stay in bed too long.
No. Klel replied flatly. He was nothing like the glowing golden dragon that Toby had grown up knowing. He was a pasty brown colour and his eyes were pools of the palest yellow, almost white. Klel sleep forever.
“Forever?” Toby repeated, shocked as he realised what Klel was saying. “No! There must be something I can do. Something Sanelle can do.”
No. Only band will heal. Maybe gems. Klel sighed as he laid his head on his front legs and looked up sadly at Toby.
“Your band. You were talking about that the other day.” Toby lay down on his stomach so that his head was level with Klel’s. “What is it?”
Goes here. Klel raised one front leg and pointed at Toby’s neck.
“Oh, like a necklace… a neckband?” Toby asked and Klel nodded.
Many gems. Large crystal in centre. Klel’s eyes brightened slightly as he spoke of his neckband but Toby’s heart sank.
“There are no gems in the West Kingdom so your neckband cannot be here.” Toby said sadly. “The king does not allow gems or crystals at all, only coloured glass.”
Knew that. Would feel if band or gems close by. Klel’s voice was so soft that Toby had to creep closer to hear.
“Would they heal you? Are they magic?” Toby wondered if that was why the king had banned them, because they had magical powers like Klel’s scales.
Yes, heal me. Draw magic from them. Live forever… Flame strong… Find home…
“Find home?” Toby was worried that he sounded so weak. He had never spoken about his home before.
Band… neckband lead me home. King took it. Klel must stay.
Toby’s mind began to race. If the king took the neckband then it would still be here. King Herat did not part with anything valuable.
“Can the king draw the magic from the gems?” Toby thought that maybe the king had drained them.
Only dragons… Sorcerers… Klel’s eyelids were beginning to close.
“I’m a sorcerer,” Toby blurted out. Until that second he would have never believed he would say those words out loud. “Well… Sanelle says I am.”
Klel’s eyes opened wider and stared at Toby.
Knew that, he said in a quiet voice. But who is master? Every apprentice need master.
“Prince Blaise is my master,” Toby replied automatically.
No master. Never real sorcerer. Klel sighed as he tucked his snout under his tail and shut his eyes.
“Klel?” Toby gently shook his friend but received no answer.
He laid a hand on Klel’s side and felt the slow rhythmic beat of his heart. Relieved that he was just sleeping, Toby slowly stood up and walked out of the shelter. There had to be a way to help Klel and what had he meant, never a real sorcerer? He had to talk to Sanelle, and soon. Toby hurried back to see if Prince Blaise was out of his bath yet and breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t.
**
“How is the dragon?” Prince Blaise asked the next morning at breakfast, as he had for the last two days.
“No better, Your Highness,” Toby replied and only just managed to keep his voice clear of emotion.
“Bring that horse man up here again,” Prince Blaise ordered and thumped the table. “Doesn’t anyone realise how important that animal is?”
All the royals were eating in their private dining hall and room had been made to include Sanelle at the table. She looked different in the fancy clothes the queen had insisted on giving her, almost royal, and certainly nothing like the girl he first met.
“I could look at him for you,” Sanelle offered sweetly and Toby looked up from the floor just enough to see Prince Blaise’s face go white and the muscle in his cheek begin to twitch.
“It’s a dangerous animal. Keep away from it,” he managed to choke out. Obviously the thought of his sister near the dragon made him nervous. Did he think she would steal Klel?
Queen Lisan looked delighted at the effect Sanelle was having on the new prince but Prince Rory barely looked up from his food. He seemed content to let things carry on without him having to get involved. As they finished eating Toby worked his way around to Sanelle.
“I need to talk to you,” Toby whispered just as Prince Blaise came up behind them both.
Prince Blaise grabbed hold of Sanelle’s arm and almost dragged her over to the window. He had a pleasant smile on his face but it did not reach his eyes and the muscle in his cheek was still twitching.
“Take care, little sister,” he said putting his other hand up to his neck and drawing out a stone hanging on a strip of leather. It was no more than two inches long and half as wide and he waved it tauntingly at Sanelle. “Just remember what this is and who is inside it. If I crush it under my boot you’ll never save her.”
“You wouldn’t!” Sanelle exclaimed and she glared at her brother in horror.
“Or I could arrange to have you join our dear mother?” Prince Blaise suggested with a raised eyebrow and an evil smile that barely lifted the corners of his mouth. “She’s been in there for one full moon already, just another week or two and she’ll be stuck there forever. I’m sure she’d like the company.”
Sanelle didn’t answer him. She just stared at him as he let go of her arm and sauntered out of the room as if they had been discussing the weather.
“What did he mean when he said she would be stuck in the stone?” Toby asked.
“If she stays in there for more than two full moons nobody can release her,” Sanelle said sadly.
“I’ll try to get it tonight when he’s sleeping,” Toby promised as he knew the full moon was less than two weeks away.
“Thanks Toby.” She fixed a smile on her face as the queen returned to the doorway to see what was holding her up. “Come see me later.”
An hour later Toby was worrying about Klel, and trying to think of an excuse to go to see Sanelle, when the trumpet of the wall guard rang out and shattered his thoughts.
The trumpeter played a single note in a variation of long and short blasts. It was supposed to be a secret code, but Toby hadn’t lived his whole life at the castle without learning what they meant.
He remained still, listening, while Prince Blaise rushed to the window and looked out to see what was happening.
“Go and find out what’s going on!” Prince Blaise snapped at Max who ducked out of the room without hesitation. “Is the dragon missing?”
So he really was worried that Sanelle would steal Klel.
“The king is returning,” Toby said as it finished and then realised that hadn’t been such a good idea. The prince turned on him with a suspicious look.
“You eavesdrop on official messages?” His face had darkened and Toby took a step back.
“I…” Toby grasped for a way out and almost sighed with relief when Prince Blaise stepped away from the window allowing a clear view of the Great North Road. “I see them on the road, Your Highness.”
Prince Blaise turned back to the window and squinted at the small figures on horseback. He seemed satisfied by Toby’s explanation. “You have good eyesight, lad.”
Toby followed Prince Blaise down to the main
reception hall and Max joined them, out of breath from running all the way to the captain of the guard and back.
The queen and Prince Rory arrived a few minutes later and they all waited in silence for the arrival of the king. The queen looked ready to do battle with her husband over his new son but Prince Rory simply looked blankly at the wall at the far end of the hall.
They did not have to wait long and the king strode in through the huge, ceiling high, double doors with a grin from ear to ear. Behind him came three men, dressed as elegantly as King Herat himself.
“You are back early, Herat.” Queen Lisan inclined her head politely as she spoke. The firm set of her mouth had gone and she smiled warmly at the kings. “I did not know you were bringing guests.”
“I convinced the other kings to move our meeting here.” King Herat looked immensely pleased with himself and he turned slightly to include Prince Blaise in his smile. “I wanted them to meet Blaise.”
“There is plenty of time for that later, dear.” Queen Lisan cut in before he could make any formal introductions. “Our guests have travelled a long way and must be tired.”
“Of course.” King Herat turned to address the three kings. “Please allow my servants to show you to the guest suites. We will have a banquet tonight, in my son’s honour.”
The kings left the hall with a short bow to the queen. King Herat remained in the reception hall and walked over to embrace Prince Blaise, ignoring his younger son completely.
“The dragon is ill!” Prince Blaise waited only until the visiting kings had left the room before pouncing with an accusing tone.
“Ill?” King Herat looked taken back by his son’s manner. It clearly wasn’t the greeting he expected.
“You took too many scales and made it sick.” Prince Blaise snapped and Toby wondered how the king was going to react. Nobody ever spoke to King Herat like that and got away with it.
“We’ll discuss this later,” King Herat replied firmly and narrowed his eyes as he glared at Prince Blaise. “This is neither the time nor the place.”
Queen Lisan looked from her husband to her stepson and a smile played on her lips. It looked as if she wouldn’t have to do much to convince her husband that Prince Blaise was a troublemaker.