by Nathan Roden
“Vehaillion was the first King of—”
“Do not interrupt me!” Magdalena screamed. “I know very well the succession of Kings! And I know of the dark magic that poisons their bloodline—something that you know nothing about!”
Simon scowled, but remained silent.
“The people of Vehallion’s time referred to him as ‘Vehaillion the Cruel’ or just ‘The Cruel One’—not outside of private circles, of course. More than a few lost their heads from loose tongues.”
“What does this have to do with unbreakable magic? The more you speak, the less I trust you.”
Magdalena stood up. Simon raised his sword.
“What are you doing?”
Boone cried out. Simon turned and saw his friend spasm in pain, his back arched off of the table. Magdalena brushed past Simon and took the ladle from the cauldron. She muttered more words as she poured.
“How long before he is well and able to travel?” Simon asked.
“You should have time to run me through with your sword and make your escape before the guards are discovered,” Magdalena said.
“And live as a dragon for the rest of my days? I think not.”
Magdalena stood in front of Simon and stared deep into his eyes.
“You have just answered your own question.”
“What does that mean?” Simon asked.
“The blood seal. The truth of unbreakable magic.
“King Vehaillion learned that an attack was being raised against him by a lord from across the sea. This young lord enlisted the aid of an old and powerful wizard. Vehaillion laid a trap for them on the coast of Islemar.
“Vehaillion captured the lord along with his personal guard. Fifty men were executed in the throne room at Morgenwraithe. Vehaillion bound the invading lord. He forced him to watch as he tortured his wizard. He commanded the wizard to place a spell of protection on the throne of Morgenwraithe. When this was done, King Vehaillion forced the wizard onto his knees in front of the throne. He drew his own dagger and slit the wizard’s throat. The wizard’s life and blood spilled onto the throne and sealed the spell for all time.”
Simon found it difficult to breathe.
“How do I know this to be true?” he asked.
“Perhaps because you witnessed the madness surrounding the throne of Morgenwraithe. Perhaps because you witnessed the power and madness of your own parents. The dark spell that was sealed in blood reaches far beyond protection of the throne. Such a powerful curse carries many layers of poison! Why should anyone believe that King Simon would have escaped its influence?”
“I was only a child—”
“Spare me the lies of your innocence!” Magdalena yelled.
Her eyes blazed with a sudden fury. Simon took a step back and readied his sword. Magdalena waved her hand in the air. The sword glowed red hot. Simon screamed and opened his hand. The sword clattered to the floor and flew against a far wall.
“If you pick that up again, be prepared to use it!” Magdalena said. “Seal your fate forever with my blood, if you dare! Perhaps you would find that easier than hearing the truth.
“You know nothing, Boy! A man who will not use his ears to learn is no man at all. You may as well bear your father’s name.”
Simon stepped toward the sorceress. He pushed a finger behind each of his ears.
“You speak of ‘the truth’ as if you value its importance. The truth means everything to me. If you speak the truth, I will listen.”
Seven
“What do you remember?” Magdalena asked. “We will see if time has softened your memory.”
“I was only a child,” Simon said. “I saw you in the castle almost every day.”
“Naturally. I was your father’s seer.”
“No, Arienna was father’s seer,” Simon said.
Magdalena barked a laugh.
“That’s right! I was replaced as your father’s seer—by my own daughter! My daughter—and your cousin.”
“My cousin? Is this another of your tricks?”
“Lord Sterling Morgenwraithe,” Magdalena spit out the name.
“What about him?”
“He raped me! While I was but a child! And for long enough afterward that his baby grew inside of me.”
Simon said nothing.
“When the child swelled in my belly, I thought it a blessing, at first. Sterling grew tired of me. To this day, he has few interests beyond strong drink and bedding every woman in the village. His central mission is spreading hate and fear throughout the land by using your brother’s reign to spread his vile poison.”
“I only knew Lucien as a baby,” Simon whispered. “A beautiful and innocent baby.”
“To Lord Sterling, your brother has been nothing but a tool—his own means by which to rule.”
Simon raised a shaking hand.
“You blame the woes of the Kingdom on everyone but yourself! In this very instant, I could choke the life from you! I have dreamed of it. You tell tales of all the evil that has befallen this kingdom in the wake of your curse—as if you were not the one responsible! I was to have been the King! I would never have—!”
“You would never have lived to become King, you stupid, stupid, boy!” Magdalena cried.
Simon balled his fists.
“How dare you say such a thing?” Simon yelled.
“I was there, the day that you were born,” Magdalena said. “You were named ‘Simon’, at your father’s insistence. Do you know why he chose that name?”
“What difference does that make?”
“Simon is not the name of any King! It was the name of a court jester—the same one that your father and his brother called to entertain them when they were drunk.”
“What does that matter? I would still have become the Kin—”
“No, you would not,” Magdalena said.
“Most Kings would be thrilled with the arrival of a strong, healthy son. But not your father! In you, he saw his own frail humanity. He foresaw the day that he would grow weak and unable to rise from his bed. He foresaw the day that you would step in and take his power away from him.
“Your birth only fueled his desire to achieve immortality—at any cost!”
“This makes a fascinating story,” Simon said. “But why should you know of it? Were you in the King’s confidence?”
Magdalena laughed.
“Who do you think he charged with discovering the dark magic of immortality? Who was forced to spend their every waking hour in the quest for the darkest of secrets? Only I was charged with acquiring the means for the Mad King to live forever!”
“But you failed,” Simon said. “I was there to see that. Of course, at the same time that I should have become King, I became a Beast. One way or the other, Father got his wish.”
“It’s true that he hated you—in the beginning. But you walked across the floor and into his arms within days of learning to crawl. You learned language quickly. The wisest men and women in the Kingdom marveled at your speech—and your abilities to read and to write. You were a favorite among those who cared for you. You managed to melt the cold heart of your father.
“Many times, I watched him with you, and I saw a side of him that no one knew existed. Unfortunately, the more your father loved you, the more obsessed and mad your mother became.”
“I do not understand. Why should my mother resent the bonding between a father and his son?”
“Her madness was not based on logic! I believe that it was born from the wizard’s curse and fueled by her hatred of the King’s wandering eye. This is where our lives converge, my would-be King.”
Boone stirred again, but only briefly. He snored.
“Go on,” Simon said.
“I knew that Arienna had many gifts—the same as I had,” Magdalena said. “I did everything I could to keep these secret. She was so pure and beautiful—I feared that Sterling would lust after her. But what happened was even worse. Her beauty captured the eye of your f
ather. He sensed that she possessed the gifts of magic. Your father sat Arienna before him and tricked her with questions about the future.
“He moved her into the castle on the same day that he moved me out. Arienna soon told me that the King was visiting her in her chambers. It was not long before your mother found out, as well. That was when the Queen came to see me.”
“Do not think that I hold my mother and father blameless,” Simon said. “I saw their madness with my own eyes.”
“But there is much that you could not know. The Queen burned with rage—and the rage never subsided. It grew with each passing day. Her madness was not of this earth.
“It is true that I hated the King for taking my child away from me. He was ruining her mind and body with his filthy adultery. I no longer cared if I lived or died, as long as I could destroy him. But I was powerless. In my desperation and anguish, I told all this to the Queen. She offered me vengeance—if I agreed to provide her with the same.”
“You conspired with her to destroy my entire family,” Simon said.
“No!” Magdalena said. “No. Your mother betrayed me.”
Simon stared.
“My sixth name day. I was to be introduced to the people as the heir to the throne. Such a magnificent day—bright and sunny. Father addressed the people from the balcony. Arienna stood behind him. Father turned and said, ‘Join me, my Queen’.
“My mother stepped behind Arienna and grabbed her by the hair. She pulled a dagger and sliced Arienna’s throat. My father ran toward them, but Mother plunged the dagger into his chest.
“I watched my mother take her own life—while you placed your curse upon me. She screamed as she died—
“Behold! Your new King!’”
“The bitch deserved a thousand deaths!” Magdalena cried. “She murdered my beautiful daughter! Slaughtered her like a pig! My beautiful, innocent Arienna!”
Simon sank onto a bench.
“The King’s Guard ran at me—screaming, and waving torches and swords. I didn’t know what was happening—but I knew that I was going to die.
“I threw myself from the balcony. I was six years old. I was alone, and hurt, and I was….
“A dragon.”
Boone moaned in his sleep. Simon crossed the floor and looked at the wound in Boone’s side. The wound was closed, and the only sign of the arrow’s entry was a ring of red skin.
“He will wake soon,” Magdalena said.
“You are coming with us,” Simon said.
“To where?”
“I will hear everything—everything that you know. You have nothing to fear from me. Our futures are joined together.”
“Right now, I need to visit the privy,” Magdalena said.
Simon scowled.
“What?” Magdalena scowled, as well. “Do you think that a sorceress does not void herself? Are you that baffled by magic?”
“I will have to come with you.”
“Of course. Bring your sword, if it will make you feel better.”
“Don’t worry. I will.”
Simon followed Magdalena outside. He grabbed her by the arm as his eyes swept across the garden.
Simon opened the door to the privy. He pushed against each board with the tip of his sword.
“Be quick about it,” he said. He let go of her arm.
He held the door open and turned away.
“You cannot be serious,” Magdalena said. ”This is humiliating!”
“Very well. But I shall be right here, with the tip of my sword at the height of your neck. Do not try my patience.”
Simon tapped his toe and counted to twenty.
“I’m opening the door now. That should have been long enou—”
The privy was empty.
Simon looked and looked for every conceivable way that the sorceress might have escaped, but he knew the answer to that question.
The privy was bewitched. Simon felt like a fool.
He hung his head.
Simon heard a voice from the back doorway of Magdalena’s house. Boone slumped there against the door frame.
“What have I missed?”
Eight
A cock crowed as Simon and Boone searched Magdalena’s bedroom.
“We need to get out of here,” Boone said. “When the guards fail to report in, this place will be swarming with the King’s men.”
“I know,” Simon said. He grabbed hold of a bag beneath the mattress. He dumped the contents onto the bed.
“What are these?” Simon asked.
Boone picked up a piece.
“This is a copper.”
He sifted through the coins.
“That is a silver. Those three are gold.”
“How much does a suit of man’s clothing sell for?” Simon asked.
“You mean, like a suit for a wedding? Or a burial?”
“No,” Simon said. “Clothes for working in. Trousers and a shirt. And a pair of boots.”
“You mean to go shopping? Surely you don’t mean to do this today.”
“How much?” Simon repeated.
“Ten coppers. No, you’d better make that fifteen, with the boots.”
“How many coppers to a silver then?”
“A silver?” Boone said. He struggled to count in his head.
“About fifty coppers to a silver I think.”
Simon nodded. He put one silver coin in his pocket and put the rest back into the sack.
“Why not take it all?” Boone asked. “Throw it down the privy, if nothing else. The witch stole your life from you.”
“I hope to one day be your King, my friend. Is that the actions of a King?”
“A real King, no. The one we have now, who knows?”
Boone picked up the sack. He pocketed a silver coin and then put the sack back under the mattress.
“I see that you have no such reservations,” Simon said.
“After tonight, there will be a bounty on my head, as well. I’ve heard whispers that a wizard from across the sea has set up shop in the market. He sells a form of magic called ‘spyglass’.”
“Spyglass? What is that?”
“A hollow stick. The stick contains a type of magic that makes far away things appear close. Something like that may save our skins for one more day.”
“I should have asked the witch more questions about our dear King Lucien,” Simon said.
“All I know about your brother are the rumors told by old women,” Boone said. “Even the drunkards in the pubs know better than to speak ill of the King. He has eyes and ears all around the village. I have heard that there is a bounty for information about any who would disrespect or be a threat to the throne. And you wonder why I stay to the woods and the mountains! I should have become the dragon.”
The cock crowed again.
Simon and Boone ran into what remained of the night.
Just before dawn, Simon and Boone lay waiting near the road into the village. When the first of the traders’ wagons rolled past, they fell in behind them—just another pair of traveling merchants.
Their faces were not known—other than by the sorceress.
They passed by only two of the King’s Guard at the walls surrounding the village.
“They haven’t fortified the entry,” Boone whispered. “Nor does it seem that they are on watch for strangers.”
“If I didn’t know better, I would think you were disappointed,” Simon whispered.
“Surprise is not disappointment, Your Majesty,” Boone said.
Simon elbowed Boone in his side.
“Be careful with your words, Boone. Such references are far too dangerous. If someone were to hear you, we could be surrounded within moments—and this day would prove to be our last.”
“Sorry,” Boone said. “Since you’re the smart one—tell me again why we’re inside the village, and where we’re going.”
“I’ll need to relearn the layout of the village and the castle if I’m ever to make this place
my own,” Simon said. “I doubt that Magdalena has yet taken her story to the King. She will be thinking of how to use the information to her advantage. She is no fool.”
Boone studied Simon’s face.
“I am quite curious about the conversation the two of you had, standing above me while I nearly died,” Boone said. “It is as if you have gained respect for the witch! If you are mistaken, and she has already informed Lord Sterling, today could be the end of us. You might never sprout wing again.”
“What if that was the end that I sought, Boone? For an end to my cursed existence?”
“You don’t frighten me,” Boone spat on the ground.
“If I die at the side of my rightful King, then my life is not wasted. It is fulfilled!”
“Well said, but let us be quiet. We are within the hearing of the castle’s little birds.”
Simon and Boone stood in front of the castle gates. They heard the carrion cries above their heads. They looked up.
A row of vertical iron spikes displayed three human heads. Crows fought each other, and picked at the few remains of flesh that clung to the skulls.
Simon and Boone stared silently at the horrible sight.
“So, you have come to gloat—and sing the praises of your kingdom!” said the voice behind them.
Simon and Boone jumped. They pulled their cloaks up high on their necks. Boone stepped in front of Simon and turned around. A young maid stood glaring at him. She carried a basket of fruit.
“No, My Lady,” Boone said. “We are strangers to your village. It is our first trip here, aboard a merchant vessel.”