A Dragon In the Palace

by William King

  “Well, I can’t. But Red can. You want to try?”

  “All we can lose are teeth,” Jay said. He was trying to sound cheerful, but I could tell he was scared. The sight of what Silas had done earlier had frightened him as much as it had me. “Get to it, Little Dragon.”

  I looked at Red and relaxed. Our gazes met. At first nothing happened but then I felt a vertiginous drop, and I was looking out of his eyes. I beamed a message of reassurance at Red over the link we shared, and was rewarded with a surge of warmth. I very gently tried to get him to put one foot in front of the other and move towards Jay. At the first hint of resistance, I stopped and sent another wave of reassurance.

  Red reacted with more warmth. I felt something else too, something like understanding, as if he shared my desperation and need to be free. I moved his eyes to look at Jay’s bonds and began to gently to move his body across the floor.

  We took it slowly, one step at a time, and as we did, I felt a spark pass between me and the dragonling. It was almost as if he understood what we needed. I felt a wave of dizziness again as Red took control of his own body.

  I watched in astonishment through my own eyes as he skittered across the floor, clambered up onto Jay’s lap and began to gnaw at the ropes binding Jay’s hands. After long tense heartbeats, Jay’s hands were free. Red dropped to the floor and studied him intently.

  “That feels good.” Jay said. “Now, if only I had lock pick."

  “What?” I said. I was tense, half-expecting to fall ill again any second as I had in the past. I moved my head from side to side, preparing for an attack of nausea, but nothing came.

  “Just kidding.” Jay reached down into the heel of his boot and began to fiddle with it. A few moments later he produced a long sliver of metal. “Observe, a master at work.”

  He leaned forward and inserted the metal sliver into the lock of his manacle. His tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated. A few moments later there was a click, and Jay opened the cuff of the fetter and wiggled his leg about. “That’s better. It’s a bit numb.”

  “Just like your skull,” Ghoran said. “Get chain off me.”

  “I’m not sure I want to,” Jay said. “If you’re going to be rude about it.”

  Whispering filled the dark round about us. People were wondering what we were up to. I wondered if anybody was going to give us away. Ghoran obviously thought the same thing," Anybody start shouting, I start hitting, and I have chains so you no getting up again."

  As always when he was making a threat, the big Northlander sounded convincing. I wondered how much good that was going to do is dealing with the crew of a slave ship but it was better than no chance at all.

  Red scuttled back towards me. I caught the brief glow of his nostrils and knew that he was thinking about venting fire. I said, “don’t do it, boy.”

  Red looked at me and his jaw dropped open and his tongue flickered out. He looked for all the world as if he was laughing. Small flames lit the inside of his mouth, very visible in the shadows beneath decks. I heard a few screams from people frightened by the sight. Not even Ghoran’s threats could keep them quiet.

  “That’s torn it,” Jay said.

  “Better hurry,” I said.

  Jay rolled across the floor and laid down next to Ghoran’s leg, “I can hardly see what’s going on here. I’m going to have to do this by touch.”

  “Just do it,” Ghoran said.

  “I’m trying,” Jay said. He fumbled at the cuff of the manacle. I heard footsteps clumping along the deck upstairs. The sounds from the hold were certainly drawing attention. I imagined Silas would be appearing fairly soon along with Thomas and maybe a few others armed with clubs.

  There was a click and suddenly Ghoran was free.

  “Me next,” I said. I did not fancy lying there in the dark with a fight raging all around me. I could imagine all sorts of things going on wrong. Under such circumstances it would be better to be free than not.

  “Certainly, Your Grace,” Jay said. “Whatever you command.”

  “Please,” I said.

  “That makes all the difference,” Jay said. He began to work on my fetters and soon I was free as well.

  “Me too,” the woman said. “I want to chance of stabbing those bastards.”

  “How can I resist a request like that?” Jay said. He proceeded with his work and shortly thereafter a number of other people were loose. At that point the door to the deck opened and a heavy weight made the stairs creak. A massive shadow appeared. It was Silas. He was tossing his club from hand to hand lightly. “Which of you interrupted my beauty sleep?”

  “You need it,” Ghoran said. He stood upright with his hand behind his back holding the chain.

  “What the hell?” Silas said.

  He took a step forward towards Ghoran and raised the club. It was a mistake. Ghoran lashed out with his bunched-up chains. The metal caught Silas on the side of the head. I heard the crack of a jaw breaking. Ghoran hit him again as he went down. I had not expected him to fall so easily.

  “One down,” Ghoran said. Thomas stood on the stairs looking at him, terror in his eyes. I could guess why. A slave breakout on a ship like this would be something that the crew must fear more than anything.

  “Hold it right there,” I said. Thomas paid me no attention.

  He turned and scampered back up the stairs screaming for help, that the prisoners were breaking out and that everybody needed to get their weapons now.

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Ghoran said. He kicked Silas in the head when he was down and stamped on him couple of times just to make his point. He picked up the club and swished it backwards and forwards through the air, getting its weight. “Not axe, for sure. Better than nothing.”

  Jay continued to move down the hold. It looked like there might be a few people here who would help us.

  “Somebody need to hold stairs,” Ghoran said. “Otherwise we trapped down here.”

  “That would seem to be your job,” I said.

  “Yep,” Ghoran said. He raced up the stairway. I didn’t see anything else for it. I was going to have to follow. From up above I heard the sound of Ghoran shouting. I scampered up the stairs, hampered by the fact that my legs were still numb from all the lying about in chains.

  Red followed me as I tripped at the top of the stair. I ended up lying on my belly on the deck, then I rolled behind a pile of ropes to watch what was happening. Half a dozen sailors had drawn weapons and were advancing towards Ghoran. He did not look in the least bothered by the prospect.

  All eyes were on him. The sailors advanced cautiously. You would have thought he was the man with a sword and they were the ones with a wooden club. Looking back on it now, I can understand their reluctance. They had not expected a breakout. They had not expected to face a confident madman either. No doubt they were wondering what had happened to Silas. Thomas was spreading the panic manfully as well.

  A big man stood on the sterncastle but he was not looking at us. His eyes were focused on the distance, as if he could see something that disturbed him. That was not reassuring. I would have thought that the breakout of his slaves would have been the centre of his attention.

  “Come on,” Ghoran asked. “Who first?”

  I looked around the deck to see if there was anything I could use as a weapon. There were a few lanterns. I suppose I could toss them. The thought of what might happen if burning oil spread across the pitch infused decks kept me from doing that.

  There were a few water barrels but not much else. A few moments later people began to emerge from below decks. One was the woman with the scary eyes. The other was the man who was missing some teeth. They weren’t armed but they looked angry. I manoeuvred to get behind them, put them between me and the armed sailors.

  I glanced around wondering where the rest of the crew was. Surely there were more than this. Even as that thought occurred to me, I saw some men emerge from the forecastle. They were strapping
on swords and drawing them from the scabbards. They looked as if they’d been hastily aroused from sleep. No doubt this was the dayshift.

  “Nobody want fight,” Ghoran said contemptuously. He sprang forward and the club dropped a man to the deck. The others backed away, trying to circle round him and come in from the flanks.

  While they were doing that the woman rushed forward and grabbed the unconscious man’s sword. She plunged it between the shoulder blades of one of the sailors. Two of his friends turned and cut her down. I turned around feeling like I was going to be violently sick. I managed to control myself.

  “That showed her,” the sailor said. While he was gloating Ghoran smacked him on the side of the head with a club, dropping him. He leaned down and picked up the man’s sword and the woman’s. Now he had a weapon in each hand. With his bruised face and his mad confident eyes, he did not look like somebody you wanted to fight on the blood slick deck of a ship. He looked like some demon god out of the old legends.

  “Never like slavers,” Ghoran announced. “Kill you all.”

  He sounded like he meant it and more to the point, like he was capable of doing it. One of the sailors was less than impressed. “What are you waiting for? There’s only one of him and more than a score of us. He can’t kill us all.”

  More and more slaves were emerging onto the deck. Some of them carried sticks, I wondered where they got them. Jay came out as well. He glanced around, saw Ghoran but did not see me. He waved over towards the fight, looking for more weapons.

  “I no can kill you all?” Ghoran bellowed. "“I no can kill you all? We see about that!”

  He leapt forward, weapons flickering. The sailors leapt back. Several of them screamed. It would have been comical if it had not been so serious. The sailor who had been shouting orders strode forward, blade held high. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”

  Swords flickered. The sailor was much better with blades than his friends had been. He managed to stop Ghoran’s berserker assault for a few moments. This reassured his companions. They circled around, stabbing from each side. They were beginning to gain confidence now, chanting abuse, mocking Ghoran as he twisted and turned to avoid the strikes.

  I could see things going south soon if nothing was done. I picked up the lantern and Red flew along beside me. Flames sputtered from his nose. People backed away when they noticed.

  The captain stood by the wheel, as a steersman held it. The captain still stared behind us, watching something. Perhaps he was seeing his awaited rendezvous, the Black Ship. Perhaps help was about to arrive. “Get in there,” I shouted over my shoulder. “Fight!”

  Jay had found a dagger somewhere. I noticed that there was more blood on the deck and a man had his throat slit. Could plump smiling Jay really have done that? I looked at Ghoran as he leapt around the deck striking and dodging. Of him I could believe it. But Jay?

  All the while I was making my way towards the stairs leading up to the rear deck. I still had the lantern. Red was still with me. Briefly I wished I had the power of my mistress. I might as well have wished for the power to pull down the moon.

  All I knew was a light spell and the healing spell and I could not see how either of those could help me. Then I remembered the confidence with which Mistress Iliana had confronted the shadowland monsters outside Ghazan. She had told me that was theatre. That it was mostly a bluff.

  I raised my hand high and concentrated on the rune of light. It came much more easily than the healing spell I had cast earlier. What was so different now?

  Maybe I had just recovered from my earlier beating. I held my hand aloft and a golden glow circled around it.

  Red circled me, wings beating the air.

  “Halt!” I shouted. Somehow there was a world of confidence in my voice. All eyes focused on me. Or rather on the sphere of light surrounding my hand. “Stop fighting or I will destroy this ship.”

  Red chose that moment to belch forth a gout of flame. It might have been an accident that it looked like it was coming from my hand but it was almost as if he had planned it.

  Looking back on it, it seems ridiculous to me now that anyone would have paid attention to a fifteen-year-old boy. Still I did have that sphere of glowing light around my hand. I commanded the power of magic. A small fire-breathing dragonling circled me. At very least it gave everybody pause.

  The sailors backed away from Ghoran. He even took time out from hacking at them to stare at me. He did not look as surprised as I had expected him to. The slaves were even more panicked looking than the sailors. People often feel that way about magic.

  The captain turned to look at me and said, “what the hell?”

  “I will burn this ship to ashes,” I said. “If you don’t put down your weapons and surrender.”

  For a moment, I thought it might work. He considered what I was saying. Then he glanced over his shoulder and whatever he saw back there convinced him to do otherwise. “If you’re such a mighty sorcerer,” he said, “what were you doing down in my hold?”

  It was a good question and I knew that if I give him time to think about it, he would have a whole bunch of others.

  “I was taken by surprise.” I said. “As you can see, I am not surprised now.”

  Red breathed more flames. Somehow he managed to avoid setting the pitch-soaked deck alight. They passed close enough to the captain to make him flinch. “Surrender,” I said. “Or your ship burns and you with it.”

  “Why not?” The captain said. “Things could not go any more badly this evening.”

  There was a certain fatalism in his voice and I wondered why. I glanced in the direction he had been looking and I saw that there was a warship there, closing with us. It was a galley, long and low and sleek. Oars rose and fell driving it through the waters. The ram on its prow looked as if it could do a terrible amount of damage

  I heard movement behind me and turning I saw that one of the sailors had taken advantage of my distraction to come up the stairs. He had a sword ready. There was not much I could do. I swung my arm down with the light blazing on the end of it. As I did so Red leapt at him. Wings fluttering, jaws biting, flames spurting. The man’s hair caught alight; he fell back down the stairs screaming.

  As if a signal had been given, full-scale violence erupted. Ghoran leapt amongst sailors, chopping left and right, dropping someone with every blow. That put some heart into the escaped slaves. They surged forward in a tide of human flesh. They tore down some of the sailors and ripped their weapons from their hands.

  I turned to face the captain. He clearly had not understood what had happened. He’d seen the man attack me and watched me swing my burning hand and the sailor's hair catch light.

  “What’s it to be?” I said.

  The captain drew his sword. Behind him the galley approached. A white-faced figure was standing on the prow beside the ship’s figurehead. A glow surrounded her hand.

  “I would not do anything if I were you,” I said. The captain seemed determined to chop me down and I understood his despair. The galley belonged to the Duke. My mistress was on board it. Spider was there as well the whole bunch of marines.

  The best the captain could hope for now is to be hung for his crimes. He was determined to take me with him. I turned and vaulted back down the stairs into the crowd. Red followed me.

  I heard the sound of wood hitting wood. Grappling hooks chunked into the side of the ship and sailors swarmed over her sides. The Duke’s soldiers knew how to fight. The battle was soon over.

  Spider strode through the crowd. Mistress Iliana clambered on board. People moved away from her as if propelled by some invisible field of force. She strode over to where I was, put her hand on my shoulder in a proprietorial manner then turned around and said, “this ship is now the property of Duke Marco of Solsburg. Cease fighting at once or suffer the inevitable and fatal consequences of disobedience.”

  She raised her hand into the air. Green balefire surrounded it. She was a much more convincing
threat than I had ever been. The fighting stopped at once. Ghoran pulled himself clear of a pile of bodies and strode over to us. Spider looked at him and said, “might have guessed I would find you at the centre of all the trouble.”

  “No trouble at all,” said Ghoran. “I just about to capture ship.”

  “How did you find us?” I asked and added “mistress.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” she said. “But I still have the contract you signed and your little friend knew the way.”

  She did not need to say any more. I had signed that contract in blood. With her magic, she would be able to locate me wherever I was. This was proof of it. "When you didn’t return and the dragonling disappeared I knew that something must be wrong so I invoked the spell of finding. I was greatly surprised to discover that you were not in the city and were in fact somewhere to the north, in the sea.

  “I requisitioned this galley and set off after you. You and your friends did well here. If you had not provided a distraction, we would not have been able to come upon you. In fact, the captain might have been able to slip away from us in the darkness though I would have found him eventually.”

  She looked at the captain and said, “You are being taken back for trial.”

  The marines spread out through the ship, separating the sailors from the slaves. I’m sure some of the sailors claimed to have been slaves. None of the slaves claimed to be sailors.

  Jay stood to one side and watched everything as if he could not quite believe what was happening. Ghoran smiled cheerfully. He was bleeding from half a dozen small cuts. Mistress Iliana led me up the steps and back onto the command deck. “Tell me what happened,” she said. “All of it, as best you can remember.”

  I was reassured to hear her voice and by her usual brusque manner. I told her everything that happened since the last time I saw. “She stared at me and said, “I suppose it could be worse."

  Red nodded his head as if in agreement.

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