Four men with weapons drawn and ready seemed to materialize out of the shadows.
“Captain Wyatt?”
“Report,” Wyatt said.
The men sheathed their weapons, and the lead man stepped forward. “Our position is secure, and Princess Ayela has arrived, along with a dozen of her men. We’ve gathered ample supplies and replenished our stock of arrows.”
“Good. I’ll need a bow before we leave,” Wyatt said. “Take us to Ayela.”
“Yes sir.”
Lacy felt like she was floating in a river, at the mercy of the currents around her and powerless to change them, so she decided to accept her situation while she looked for a way to impose her will on it. She was a princess, a title that had taken on a whole new meaning the day her father had entrusted her with her family’s greatest charge. She decided anew to start living up to her duty rather than allowing fear and circumstance to dictate her course.
They led her into a cave that flowed into another, larger cavern. A soldier held back the blanket hung across the narrow entrance, and the sudden light of lanterns and a cook fire made her eyes hurt.
The cavern was filled with men, most dressed in leather armor and armed with bows and swords, while the rest wore light clothes fashioned from leather and were armed with spears, javelins, and blowtubes.
A beautiful young woman with dark eyes and hair, rich golden skin, and a bright unabashed smile approached.
“Captain Wyatt?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Ayela Karth. We came as soon as we received Lady Reishi’s message. My men and I are prepared to help you in any way we can.”
By the time Lacy lay down to sleep that night, she felt warm and full and safe for the first time since she’d left her home. She had spent the evening listening to Ayela and Wyatt recount their experiences fighting beside Lord and Lady Reishi. More than anything else, their loyalty and love for the sovereign and his wife shone in their eyes, a testament more compelling than any words.
Lacy questioned them relentlessly, piecing together the puzzle of what had really happened to her home, her family, and her life. She was dismayed to discover just how thoroughly Phane had deceived her and relieved to hear how Lady Abigail had routed the barbarian horde rampaging across her homeland.
She fell asleep with growing confidence in her new allies. They had pledged to help her recover the box she’d been entrusted with. More than anything else, that simple fact gave her hope.
***
“I will go alone,” Tasia said.
“No!” Lacy replied, a bit more forcefully than she would have liked. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice of caution was warning her to be careful, but she ignored it. “Protecting that box is my responsibility.”
“Yes, and look how well that’s worked out,” Tasia said.
“Some backup couldn’t hurt, Tasia,” Wyatt said.
“I agree, yet in this circumstance, who would you send? You? The witch would turn you in a glance. Look around you. Everyone here capable of fighting is a man. You would ask me to take two women and a girl into battle? What of their safety? And what could they possibly do to aid me against the Sin’Rath?”
“Please take me with you,” Lacy said. “I can’t fail in this. There’s too much at stake.”
“Indeed, there is,” Tasia said. “You have no idea how fortunate you are, human. Lady Bragador had a plan that would have ended this threat, but she let young Alexander talk her out of it … and the cost has been terrible.”
“I don’t understand … what plan?”
“Bragador was going to send Aedan to kill you and your brother, thereby ending the threat of that infernal box ever being opened. And now Aedan, my friend and my kin, is likely lost to the darkness, and all for the sake of two fragile and ephemeral human lives.”
Lacy stared in shock and dismay while possibilities tumbled through her mind, all of them leading to one inescapable conclusion.
“Oh, Dear Maker … Bragador was right. With my brother and I dead, the world would be safe.” She walked away from the fire into the shadows.
“Huh,” Tasia said, openly appraising the princess.
Lacy spun around quickly. “Why would Lord Reishi risk so much to protect me?”
“He wasn’t protecting you,” Wyatt said. “He was protecting the Old Law.”
“At what cost?” Lacy said, a haunted look filling her eyes. “As long as my brother and I live, the Seven Isles are at risk.”
“You’re wrong,” Ayela said. “There’s another way to open the box-the Goiri bones. Your death would be meaningless.”
“Sounds like we’re back where we started,” Wyatt said.
“Indeed, we are,” Tasia said. “I shall go retrieve this box and bring it back to you, Princess.” With that, she turned on her heel and strode out of the cave.
“Wait,” Lacy called out, following behind her. “Take me with you.”
Tasia ignored her, transforming into her true form and launching into the sky as soon as she had the space to unfurl her wings.
Lacy raced back into the cave and started gathering her pack. Wren began packing her things without a word.
“What do you intend to do, Princess?” Wyatt asked.
“I’m going after her,” Lacy said without looking up.
With a nod from Ayela, her men began to break camp. Wyatt just shook his head, gesturing for his men to make ready as well. Within half an hour they were on the move through the jungle. It didn’t take long for Lacy to realize just how foolish it would have been for her to set out alone. She didn’t know the first thing about the jungle. Were it not for the guidance of Ayela’s men, she would have quickly fallen victim to any number of seemingly benign dangers, from quagmires to poisonous flowers.
By midafternoon, the Rangers had acquired Druja’s trail. While Ayela’s soldiers knew their jungle intimately, they were no match for the Rangers when it came to tracking. From the looks of the witch’s stride, she was moving slowly, probably due to her many deformities.
Not long after they found her tracks, they heard the roar of a dragon in the distance and made for the top of a nearby knoll that offered a vantage point above the canopy. Lacy caught her breath when she saw two dragons launch out of the jungle, one dark green, the other brilliant silver.
Even at this distance she could almost feel the ferocity of the battle taking place. It reminded her of two cats fighting, with all of the speed, viciousness and intensity … yet this fight was taking place in the air, between two creatures each as big as a house. The fury of the battle shattered the relative calm of the jungle, sending every other creature to ground, even the most fearsome predators.
As furious and frenetic as the fight was, it lasted only a few minutes before the shade-possessed dragon pinned Tasia’s wings to her body and drove her into the ground. He burst from the jungle moments later, roaring into the afternoon sky in triumph.
“Tasia,” Wyatt whispered.
“We have to see if she’s still alive,” Lacy said.
Ayela nodded, gesturing to three of her men to run ahead. They vanished into the jungle a moment later. It took the better part of an hour before the rest of the party reached her. She was sprawled out awkwardly in a trampled patch of jungle, blood staining her brilliant silver scales.
Wyatt ran to her, closing his eyes in relief when he felt warm breath at her snout.
“Tasia, how badly are you hurt?”
“Bad enough,” she said weakly. “The shade is protecting the witch. He left me to die slowly-said it would hurt more that way.”
“Can you transform into a woman again?” Ayela asked.
“To what end? I’m more vulnerable as a woman.”
“Yes, but we can care for you and shelter you as a woman. As a dragon, we can’t move you.”
“I guess I don’t really have much choice,” Tasia mumbled, closing her eyes and whispering words in some ancient tongue. A few moments later, she morphed into a
woman, severely injured with a deep set of gashes across her side and one arm broken so badly that bones were protruding from her flesh. She gasped in pain and fell unconscious.
Ayela’s men were already busy preparing to carry her to safety, lashing several blankets to two stout poles they’d cut and stripped bare. Ayela knelt next to Tasia, examining her wounds before opening her bag and setting out several jars.
“This is going to take some time,” she said, “but it has to be done or she’ll die.”
“If the shade is protecting the witch, we’re going to need a plan before we do anything, anyway,” Wyatt said, kneeling next to her. “How can I help?”
“Help me roll her onto her back … carefully.”
Tasia moaned but didn’t wake. Ayela opened a jar of white powder and poured half its contents into the gashes along her side, packing it into the wounds. The bleeding began to subside as the powder mixed with blood and started to clot. Next she scooped out a generous dollop of salve made from deathwalker root and carefully applied it over the powder before dressing the wounds with clean bandages.
“That should keep her from bleeding to death,” Ayela said, turning to the broken arm and sprinkling some of her white clotting powder on it. “I’m glad she’s unconscious, because this is going to hurt a lot.”
She gently dabbed healing salve on the jagged ends of the protruding bones. Then she took a deep breath, seeming to settle her nerves.
“Sit beside her,” she said to Wyatt, “then put your foot into her armpit and take hold of her wrist. When I tell you to, pull her arm straight and don’t stop until I say so. We need to set the bones or she’ll heal wrong.”
Wyatt swallowed hard, but nodded, getting into position and looking to Ayela. She knelt beside the arm and examined the break closely one last time before nodding to herself.
“Wren, I need you to be ready with the clotting powder. Pour it onto the wound when I say, then hold the wound closed until the bleeding stops.”
Lacy watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as Ayela went to work. When she nodded to Wyatt, he began to pull gently but firmly, extending Tasia’s arm while Ayela guided the bones back into place, her delicate fingers reaching into the gashes, guiding the jagged ends back together. Blood flowed freely, dripping into the dirt. Tasia moaned.
“Slowly ease off the pressure,” Ayela said. Once Wyatt had released the arm and Ayela was satisfied that the bones were set as well as possible, she nodded to Wren and pulled her fingers from the wound.
Blood began to gush. Wren quickly dumped the jar of clotting powder onto the wound and covered it with her hands, trying to stem the flow of red while Ayela smeared some healing salve onto a bandage. On her order, Wren let go and Ayela quickly pressed the bandage into place, tying it firmly around Tasia’s arm. Blood seeped through but seemed to be subsiding. Ayela wrapped another bandage around the first and set the arm in a splint before her men carefully lifted Tasia onto the makeshift litter.
“She needs better care than I can give her,” Ayela said, worry in her voice.
“What more can we do for her?” Wyatt asked.
Ayela shook her head, shrugging helplessly. “Just take her someplace safe where she can heal.”
“If that’s all we can do, then that’s all we can do,” Wyatt said. “We’ll leave four of my men and two of yours to carry her to safety and tend to her until she heals.”
When they set out tracking Druja once again, it suddenly occurred to Lacy that she would probably be very dead right now if she had accompanied Tasia. A fact that reminded her yet again just how little power she had in comparison to her many enemies. And yet, here she was, surrounded by soldiers risking their lives in pursuit of her goals. It was a sobering thought that made her reconsider the nature of power itself. While she couldn’t hope to stand against Phane or Rankosi or Druja alone, she could build alliances and forge relationships that would bring allies to the battlefield in defense of their common interests.
Her mind wandered to thoughts of her father and his customary style of leadership. He always sought to include those with a stake in the outcome of an enterprise, whatever that may be, from delivering clean water to the people to establishing trade relations with neighboring territories. By presenting his interests honestly and without apology, he gained the trust and respect of those he dealt with. By respecting the interests of the other parties at the table, he earned their loyalty and friendship. While they walked, she tried to glean lessons from his many negotiations that she could apply to her current situation.
The trouble was, she faced threats greater than any he had ever faced, with the sole exception of his last stand against Zuhl-the outcome of which didn’t bode well for Lacy’s hopes that she could find a way to protect her people and the Seven Isles through alliances and negotiation alone.
A Ranger’s hasty appearance from out of the jungle brought her back to the present.
“We’re being followed,” he reported to Wyatt.
“How many?”
“Dozens, maybe more. They seem to be keeping their distance.”
Ayela sighed, shaking her head sadly. “It’s probably my brother.” She motioned for two of her men to fall back and confirm her suspicions.
“Do I need to be concerned?” Wyatt asked.
“I don’t think so,” Ayela said.
“I’m going to need more than that, Princess,” Wyatt said. “Is he a threat?”
“I don’t think so,” Ayela said, helplessly. “Ever since he brought that cursed bone back, he’s been paranoid and irrational, spending more and more time in the jungle with his most loyal soldiers.
“I went to his camp a few times to try to talk him into coming home, but he wouldn’t listen to me. It’s like he’s becoming a different person. We used to be close, but now he doesn’t trust me anymore, doesn’t trust anybody except his men, and they all seem to be losing their minds as well.
“When I suggested that he destroy the Goiri bone, that it was making him crazy, he became furious, accusing me of plotting against him. He said it was the only weapon capable of scouring magic from the world once and for all. After that, his men escorted me back home and told me never to return.”
Sadness filled her voice and clouded her eyes, a sense of helplessness seeming to settle over her. “I wish I could help him.”
“We can’t let him get anywhere near the box as long as he has that bone,” Lacy said.
Wyatt thought for a moment. “This might be an opportunity. If this Goiri bone functions like you claim, we could use it to destroy the keystone itself.”
“We’d have to take it out of the box first,” Lacy said. “What if it doesn’t work? What if we open the box, but the keystone still can’t be destroyed? Phane would come for it … he’d win.”
“I agree with Lacy,” Ayela said. “The risk is too great.”
Wyatt nodded to himself. “In that case, we may end up in a confrontation with your brother.”
“I know,” Ayela whispered.
Wyatt regarded her for a few moments. “Lady Reishi chooses her friends well,” he said.
One of Ayela’s men materialized out of the jungle. “It’s Trajan with nearly forty of his men. They’re staying about five minutes behind us.”
“No sense in provoking them” Wyatt said. “We stay the course.”
“I agree,” Lacy said.
Ayela just nodded, worry creasing her brow.
They traveled for the rest of the day, with Trajan trailing behind them, though never too closely. From the tracks they were following, the Rangers were able to determine that they were steadily gaining on Druja.
By nightfall, Lacy was so exhausted she fell asleep within moments of lying down and without the usual struggle to quiet her mind. She woke with a start sometime in the dead of night, a hand clamped over her mouth. Panic surged into her belly, only subsiding slightly when she heard Wyatt’s voice.
“We have to move, quietly,” he whispe
red, waiting until she nodded her head before taking his hand from her mouth.
“What’s happening?”
“Soldiers are coming. Gather your things quickly.”
Within minutes, they’d broken camp and were moving through the jungle in four single-file columns, each person walking with a hand on the next person’s shoulder for guidance through the pitch black.
When Lacy looked back, she caught a flicker of torchlight in the distance but then it was gone. They moved slowly but steadily for over an hour before the sky began to lighten and they could pick up the pace. Lacy was sore and tired but determined to keep up no matter how much she hurt. They ate on the move and didn’t stop for a break until the sun was high in the sky and even then only because there was a small butte rising up out of the jungle that offered a good view of the surrounding area.
“It’s hard to tell for sure, but our scouts estimate there are a thousand men moving toward us from the Regency fortress,” Wyatt said. “Also, we lost the witch’s trail in the night.”
“Why would he send so many men?” Wren asked.
Lacy looked up sharply, a thought occurring to her suddenly. “What about Trajan? We didn’t warn him.”
“No, he warned us,” Ayela said. “I wouldn’t worry about those soldiers finding my brother.”
“You don’t understand,” Lacy said, alarm building in her voice. “Phane has a magic mirror. He could be watching us right now, which means he knows about Trajan … he knows about the Goiri bone. Those thousand soldiers aren’t here for us, they’re here for your brother.”
“She’s probably right,” Wyatt said. “If I were Phane, I’d have sent wraithkin after Lacy and Wren, but they’d be useless against your brother.”
“My brother may be losing his mind, but that hasn’t diminished his knowledge of the jungle. If my family has had one advantage against the Regency, it’s always been the jungle. They won’t find him unless he wants them to.”
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