Dragonfire

by Charles Jackson

  “I – I didn’t say that…” she squirmed, not quite ready to open up her innermost feelings to someone she’d barely known more than a few days, regardless of their growing bond. “I just… just… I don’t know…” She ended up blurting, not so much upset or annoyed as she was confused. “He’s… nice… very nice… and he’s kind, and he’s about as gorgeous as any boy has a right to be… but…”

  “But…?”

  “But… I’ve been in this world all of a week!” Nev replied after a pause, eventually finding her confidence once more along with a stream of logic. “I’ve been here a week and already gotten involved in medieval war, political assassination, some bloody crystal that’s magical to the point of being a cliché, and a bunch of cultist lunatics running about trying to overthrow entire kingdoms when they’re not spending the rest of their time oppressing women. There’s too much going on at the moment to even think about anything like that…” she added, working herself around to her real fears in a rather roundabout fashion “…and besides… what if he doesn’t like me…?”

  “Dragonfall take me, Nevaeh…” the queen exclaimed with a soft laugh, completely ignoring anything Nev had said about hating that name “…how could he possibly not like you…? You’re smart, strong, lethal with a blade… and stunningly beautiful as well! Far too pretty for any of them really, and there’s no denying it!” She added, really making Nev blush now.

  “Don’t feel very pretty in this…” she replied awkwardly, unable to meed Charli’s gaze and staring at the floor instead. “I know they tried washing my clothes while we were at Cadle, but everything still feels dirty somehow and I’ve been rotating between the same two outfits for a week now without a decent change. These greens and browns are perfect for sneaking about in the bushes: I’m surprised anyone can see me at all!”

  “Well then, there’s only one thing for it!” The queen declared suddenly, rising to her feet with obvious purpose. “Stand up!”

  “What… why…?”

  “Don’t be a spoilsport… stand up…!” Charli demanded, hands on hips and a cheeky glint in her eye.

  “Oh, fine…!” Nev grumped, wary of being made fun of somehow but complying anyway under sufferance. “Whatever…”

  “Now, you’re a little shorter than me…” the queen muttered to herself, eyeing her up and down “…but we’re pretty much the same shape… more or less… soooo….”

  She turned and headed straight for the nearest of her steamer trunks, flung the lid open and began rummaging around inside.

  “No… no… no… Oh, Dragonfall, no: definitely not that colour… aha…!” She declared finally, hauling something free from the tangled mess she’d created. “Just the thing for your hair and complexion, and it’s been a few years since I wore it so it should be about the right length…” Turning, she held up a folded pile of emerald green silk that she then carefully ‘unfurled’ into a long and clearly very expensive jacket and trousers, looking for all the world like a stylised version of a modern pantsuit. “I have the blouse and some stays for it too… somewhere…” Charli continued, half muttering to herself as she continued to rummage about inside the same trunk. “Ah-hah: here they are!”

  “Oh, I am so not wearing that…” Nev blurted, almost recoiling physically at the sight of something so alien to anything she would even consider appropriate as Charli held up a very brief halter top in white that appeared to have a very plunging neckline.

  “Well, why ever not?” The queen asked with honest surprise as she laid the outfit flat on the bed and wandered off in search of suitable undergarments. “That style is still very much in fashion and the only reason I’m not wearing it any more is that I grew out of it... well…” she relented, feeling an admission was in order as she carried on with her search “…and because it doesn’t really suit my hair or my eyes, but Matron did like it so…”

  “I’ve never worn anything like that in my entire life…” Nev declared obstinately, hands on hips now and determined to make a stand, queen or no queen.

  “Well, if you ask me…” Charli replied brightly, appearing from between two large trunks with a bundle of silk undergarments in hand “…it’s high time you did…! It may still be green – technically – but you’ll definitely stand out in a crowd. Nevaeh, my dear…” she continued, using that despised full name again but somehow managing it in a manner that didn’t sound quite as offensive “…although most of my so-called ‘womanly education’ at Cadle was an absolute chore, one thing it definitely did teach me was how to dress properly in royal circles, and trust me when I say that you will look incredible in this…! That young man won’t be able to resist you!”

  “I… don’t even know what that means…” Nev admitted bleakly, pausing a moment mid-sentence to think about Charli’s last statement. Concern flashed across her face then as another thought suddenly occurred to her. “Oh, my God… what if he’s gay? I mean… I don’t think… I just assumed… But then, I guess if he was, then he’d have to hide it… for fear of being executed or tortured or something horrible like that…”

  “‘Gay’…?” The queen repeated, frowning. “Why wouldn’t he be happy about it?”

  “Oh… oops…” Nev muttered with a sheepish grin. “Never occurred to me that word might not mean the same thing here… awkward…! Actually, in my world, the word ‘gay’ doesn’t always just mean ‘happy’… it also means… ahh… something else…”

  “Which is…?” Charli asked blankly, making her work for it.

  “Ahh… well, I’m assuming that it happens here too…” Nev tried to explain, not sure why she was suddenly feeling so embarrassed about explaining something she she’d always been so vocal in support of back home. “See… ‘gay’ is one of the terms we use in my world to describe when two people of the same gender like… err… love each other…”

  “Oh, you mean ‘chasing the rainbow’…?” Charleroi replied without hesitation, not even batting an eyelid. “Look, one can never tell… and it’s completely no one else’s business if he is, of course, but I doubt it…” She frowned as she considered something else Nev had just said and fixing her with a quizzical stare. “Why would he be tortured for that, for Crystal’s sake? What kind of backward world do you come from…?”

  “I…” Nev began, then halted, lost for words again and ultimately able to only give an embarrassed shrug as she raised her hands in surrender, inwardly feeling even more confused than ever. “You know what…? Forget I even said anything…”

  “I’m leaving at dawn, brother…” William sighed sadly some time later, seating himself on one of several large crates positioned about a small brazier he’d brought down from the barn for warmth. It filled the cellar with smoke and made it difficult to breathe without discomfort, but it was nevertheless far better than allowing his brother to freeze to death underground during the middle of the night.

  “I understand, brother; we must follow where duty leads…” Roland replied with a vague smile, seated on another crate on the opposite side of the fire.

  “And what of you, Rolly...? Where does duty take you with everything that’s happened?” The words were framed as a question rather than accusation, yet Roland understood all the same that there was a great deal resting on his answer for a number of reasons.

  “This will be a difficult time for The Brotherhood, it’s true…” he conceded, fingers reaching up almost in reflex to touch the talisman that was the Shard crystal hanging about his neck and giving a faint flicker of blue beneath his fleeting touch. “We shall endure, of course… that cannot be in doubt…”

  “Shard Gods willing, I pray so,” William responded honestly, touching his own hand to his forehead in the usual manner of respect at their mention. “But this is not like anything we’ve seen before. Never has The Brotherhood openly allied itself with one nation to topple a rightful ruler of another from his throne... there’s no telling how the Kings’ Council will react.”

  “They will
understand, by-and-by,” Roland assured, almost sounding smug now to his brother’s surprise. “The Cardinal has evidence to present to them that will prove Phaesus a traitor and a heretic, and they will see why we needed to act: why this demonic folly of giving science and education to the masses must be ended once and for all.”

  “Roland, you’re my blood and kin, but what you say is madness…” he replied, feeling slightly heated over such a slight to a king he’d held in such high regard; one he’d watched die as he stood by, helpless. “Phaesus was loved by his people… he wanted only the best for them…”

  “Do you think so, brother?” Roland spat, also angering now. “And what would you say if I told you that he knowingly discovered a witch within the walls of Cadle itself? That instead of denouncing this harpy for what she was, he instead conspired with the advisor, Randwick, to have this hell-spawn escape the judgement of The Shard and taken to some unknown place of safety, far away from Huon and righteous justice?”

  There was a moment – a short, tense moment as both siblings stared defiantly at each other across a crackling fire – before pieces began falling into place regarding what had happened at Strahn the last few days and the reality of it all struck William like a sledgehammer.

  “No… no…!” He exclaimed in horror, almost unable to even comprehend what the man was trying to say. “She was taken away for her safety… because of the invasion…” He was almost pleading now, desperate to see some hint of weakness or uncertainty in Roland’s face and receiving nothing in return.

  “And this ship just happened to have docked at Strahn by mere coincidence…?” Roland asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow as a sneer flickered across his face. “It just happened to have several trunks full of the princess’ clothing packed aboard through chance alone?”

  He… Randwick… the general said…” William stammered, trying to find justification in what he already knew but the more he thought about it, the more everything just didn’t add up… the more it seemed that Ocean Breeze had already been waiting for the queen to board even before the invasion… and if that were the case, the question definitely needed to be asked as to why…

  “T’was Garrick who brought it to our attention,” Roland explained, softening his tone now he saw that his brother was hooked. “Obtained the real reason from one of the chambermaids… and before you ask, yes… she was tortured, but we’re convinced of the truth of it all the same. After the initial report was made, an experienced brother was sent to give a second ‘interview’, using a Crystal this time, and there’s no doubting those results. The facts are that soon after their arrival at the Burnii Longhouse, Princess Charleroi was witnessed declaring that she could see a keepsake that had washed up on the beach there during the night… ‘sea monsters’, I think they’re called. This was immediately reported to the king and, not surprisingly, he immediately gave orders for the princess to be spirited out of harm’s way before she might face discovery at the next Endweek ceremony…”

  “I… I can’t believe this…”

  “Then why send her away? Why send her away without visard or proper protection, as the Book prescribes? We’re already receiving reports that the queen, in company with another proven witch, knowingly and openly wore no visard at all during their flight from Cadle to Strahn in direct contravention of the Keepsake Law. You travelled with them, brother… tell me to my face that this was not so… that this did not happen…!”

  “Then tell me this instead…” he continued, having paused long enough to be certain William could give no answer, nor look him in the eye in that moment. “What did the princess do when this other witch used the power of a stolen Crystal to decimate the Blackwatch and destroy one of Harald’s warships? Did she object? Did she forbid this heresy…? Don’t try to deny it, brother: I know you were there!”

  “She…” William stumbled, recalling the desperate reality of that moment at the barricades and finding himself unable to reconcile it with his beliefs as a Gods-fearing follower of The Shard. “…Nothing…” he answered eventually, sounding almost defeated. “She did nothing…”

  “And what did you do…?” His older brother insisted then, instantly turning the tables and putting the younger man on the back foot. “Was it nothing also? As a believer – as one of the righteous – what did you do in that moment as blasphemy was committed before your very eyes?”

  “I protested it! I spoke out against it!” William shot back defensively, knowing he sounded far guiltier than he had any reason to be. “I was ignored! Randwick bade me be silent! I’m a guardsman – a low-born soldier with no title or standing: what else could I have done…?” In his own mind, he wasn’t even lying: under the stress and guilt of accusation, his subconscious had very conveniently forgotten all about how quickly his opposition had folded in the face of Randwick’s ire, and that Charleroi’s had also initially protested Nev’s use of the crystal.

  “And there you have it…!” Roland declared triumphantly, rising from his seat and pointing an accusing finger across the crackling fire. “Condemned by their own actions, they denied you when you tried to speak the truth! When you tried to show them The Way! They are in league, these two harpies – do you not see that now? Baal is no traitor to Huon… he is its saviour, and with Harald’s help, he and The Brotherhood will purge this land of the evil that lies at its very core – that sits on its throne! Let Randwick and the other heretics plead their case to the Council as they will: when the rest of the Oster kings see the truth of what’s happened here, they’ll stand united in cursing the Namur name and scouring it from the pages of history itself!”

  “We have him…” De Lisle nodded sagely, pleased with what the vision had shown as Percy had severed her shared link with Roland’s crystal and collapsed onto the huge bed behind her, casting aside her newly-made sword and the shard buried within its hilt. Upon arrival at Cadle, she’d claimed Charleroi’s old bedroom, seeing it as only fitting after all that she should be treated as she deserved: like a princess.

  “We’d better have…” she growled softly, rising to a sitting position once more and straightening her dress, her chest still heaving with exertion. “Connecting multiple targets at long distances like that is exhausting… I’d prefer not to have to do that again for a while…”

  “Trust me on this, girl,” he declared with confidence, standing by the nearby fireplace as the burning logs within popped and crackled softly. “I know how minds work, and we will own that one in time. Brother Roland has sown the seed well; we need only bide our time as it grows.”

  “He’s a clever one, that Roland,” Percy conceded, not sounding impressed. “I sensed a lot of ambition there: you might want to watch out for him.”

  “I’ve faced challenges from stronger minds than his and prevailed,” the cardinal replied without concern. “Better I keep you under my eye than some zealous novitiate from the western shires.”

  “You think I’m more dangerous?” She asked with a smile, trying to sound innocent and not managing it in the slightest.

  “I know you are…” De Lisle countered with honesty, intending to give a compliment.

  “I’ll try not to disappoint then,” Percy grinned back, receiving the praise in the spirit it was given.

  “Just so long as you’re useful…” he smiled thinly in return “…and that I cannot deny. Whether through practice or by Their design, your powers are growing, girl: what we just did would’ve required the presence of at least two experienced brothers, yet you used the Crystal with exceptional subtlety and control.”

  “Cardinal, my name is Persephone Koutroulis… Percy to my friends…” she began slowly, tone firm but level as she stared directly at him, her gaze smouldering with its intensity. “It’s true that I’m still young – clearly much younger than you – but I think the one thing we can all agree on is that I am not a ‘girl’. I don’t expect us to be friends but I think you’ll also agree I’ve made a big effort to show you a great deal of respec
t these last few days. I would ask you at least show me the same in return, and a good start would be to call be something less demeaning than simply ‘girl’…”

  Standing by that fire with arms crossed, Cardinal De Lisle stared at Percy for a long time, his face an impassive mask as he gave what she’d just said a good deal of serious thought.

  “It’s rare to see such courage in the face of danger…” he observed eventually, a thin smile quirking at one corner of his lips. “There are few who’d show such bravery that it bordered on foolishness. Even Silas in his most ‘adventurous’ moods rarely made demands of me…” he added quickly, almost as an afterthought “…and a demand is exactly what that was, regardless of how pleasantly it was worded.

  “Yet, it’s true that you have made significant effort to restrain your usual levels of sarcasm and general impudence, and it’s also true that you have been of great use to me – of great help – since we left Rapier at Bridgeport. I know that assistance is only provided for reasons of self-interest, but that’s of no matter: you are helping The Brotherhood nevertheless, and I will acknowledge it. We shall never be ‘friends’, as you put it – the word ‘inappropriate’ would not even begin to describe that idea – but you’ve proven that we can at least work together in a civil manner.” He raised an eyebrow, barely giving her a wry smile. “Would you not agree, sister…?”

  “I…” Percy began, then halted as she actually thought about what the cardinal had just said, and about the great concession he’d clearly just made in his own mind to accord her a title at least the equal of any Brotherhood member. “…I’m going to accept that…” she decided eventually, the pair of them – with those words – reaching an accord on far more than a simple name. “Have you considered my other request?”

  “For a larger Shard…?” He asked quickly, his features impassive. “What makes you think such a thing exists?”

  “I know they exist…”