A Crown of Flames

by Pauline Creeden

  "That is?"

  She started walking toward the dragon stables. "Destroy her forces. On dragonback."

  "You do that," Ibn said firmly. "I will stay here on the ground and do my part."

  Dyrfinna was disappointed, even though she completely understood why.

  "Maybe someday you'll feel comfortable enough to fly together with me," she said.

  Ibn began to speak, but then paused.

  And he looked at her closely.

  His face softened as he leaned to her.

  "Someday, if God is willing, perhaps we can."

  Then he folded her hand in his, brought it to his lips, and kissed it.

  It went straight to Dyrfinna's heart. She gasped.

  But when he went to release her hand, she didn't let go. She held it tightly.

  "You have work to do," he said softly.

  "So do you."

  "We should probably let each other go now."

  Their hands stayed clasped.

  They were very much not letting each other go.

  "We'll talk more when I get back," Dyrfinna said. Her face must have been bright red, it was so hot.

  "Yes. Let's."

  Ibn brought his face close to hers.

  But they didn't kiss. Not yet.

  Dyrfinna just gazed into those delicious brown eyes as they smiled into hers.

  Dyrfinna made as if to go. So did Ibn, but their hands stayed linked. They walked away from each other, still linked, until they let each finger slip away.

  "I'll see you later," he said, walking backward as she called the emberdragon.

  "I'll see you later too," she said.

  Ibn walked inside backwards, bumping off the door frame a few times before he finally made it through. She didn't look away, even when the emberdragon came swooping in with a gust of hot wind that flung her unbraided hair every which way.

  He's not joining us today? the emberdragon said as the door shut behind Ibn.

  "No, I'm afraid not." Dyrfinna sighed as she flung the silk strap around the emberdragon. "It's just you and me, killing off as many of Nauma's spawn as we can." She climbed aboard.

  I hope you can sound a little more excited about it than that, the emberdragon said.

  "Business before pleasure," Dyrfinna sighed. "Up!" she called, and the emberdragon leapt into the air, and she held on to the forward strap as tightly as she could.

  Come, come, he's happier on the ground, said the emberdragon. I'll bring you back safe and sound, and then you may kiss on him as much as you like.

  "Dragon!" Dyrfinna cried.

  Don't deny it. I saw those eyes you were making at each other. I saw how he lost all ability to guide himself through a door.

  Dyrfinna patted the emberdragon on the neck. "We'd only figured it out a short while ago." Her heart filled with warmth. If only she'd known! Or understood. Because now she only wanted to kiss him.

  ”Then let's impress him," Dyrfinna said. "I want to destroy as many of Nauma's spawn as possible. She doesn't want to fight me. She’s a coward. So let's hurt her to her heart, if she has one."

  I will be glad to, said the emberdragon, and beat her wings with a roar.

  24

  Fire and Ashes

  Dyrfinna and the emberdragon were out on the battlefield for a good ten hours straight.

  The dead that were plaguing King Varinn's keep? It took that long to kill them off. And they’d only destroyed a portion of them.

  The other dragons were out there burning the dead, but their fires were not hot enough, as the emberdragon's fire was, to completely dispatch them. Their fires still left ragged bones staggering around. And those bones, for the most part, still had teeth to bite, and they could still catch living frantic humans, take a few bites, and cause them to walk as they did, dead and hollow-eyed.

  So the dragons burned what they could, and Dyrfinna followed behind, cutting down the undead that remained, separating their heads from their bodies.

  Her new spear with its nice, sharp blade at its end was very helpful in this. She quickly learned how to dispatch the shamblers and the skeletons with a quick swipe.

  The emberdragon would fly down and land next to her to check on her occasionally.

  How are you doing? Do you need anything? she asked.

  "I'm fine," Dyrfinna said, though she was hot from the heat rising from the burned land, and she was covered with ashes, and her arms were aching from the endless swinging of her sword, and her legs were aching from endlessly walking from one group of undead to the next. But she was sure that the emberdragon was also tired, for she, too, was working hard against the scourge. Dyrfinna would lay a hand on the dragon's nose, where the skin was so soft, and they'd stand like that for a moment.

  "Go well," Dyrfinna said. "You're doing a great job."

  I’ll be glad when this is finished, she said. And here come some more.

  And the emberdragon would walk forward and blast some of the undead that were shambling toward her, slowly blasting them to ash. But it was such a long process, the endless fire, that Dyrfinna almost preferred the quick beheading. Also, the fire was so hot that she had to take shelter behind the emberdragon, which wasn’t much help as the dragon had blazed up herself, radiating heat like a huge, dragon-shaped ember as she blasted fire on the undead.

  “Please have somebody bring down some water because I’ve been sweating out everything I’ve drunk,” she asked the emberdragon when she was finished and all that remained was blistering heat rising from the ash-covered ground.

  I’ll bring you some, she said before flying up. Dyrfinna followed in her wake, swinging the spear around as Ibn had taught her, and she started taking off heads.

  Dyrfinna had a close call several times. One time she failed to see a dead man lying in a pile of ashes, and had nearly stepped on him. He rose up, and she had to go staggering back as his bony hand grabbed her knee in its grip.

  Frantically, she tried to bring her spear around to get its killing point to bear, but its slathering jaws were open and coming at her. She rammed the side of the spear in its face. She held the spear in its face with one hand, and with the other she drew her sword. She kicked the dead man back hard, and it took her spear with it, but she was already swinging her sword, and at about the third blow its head finally came off and it collapsed. Except for its hand, which was wrapped around her arm as tight as a spider. She cut the hand off at the wrist. The hand did not let go. Frantically, she pried it off with her sword, trying not to slice her leg as she slid it between her leg and the unwanted hand.

  When it finally came off, she had to take a long moment to recover. She was too hungry to throw up, and ended up crying without tears for a short while, slightly hysterical. Then she chopped at the hand with her sword until she felt a little better and could return to fighting the undead.

  Halfway through her work, as the sun was going down, one of King Varinn's dragons landed nearby. Gefjun rode the dragon, and Ibn sat with his eyes shut behind her. When the dragon touched down, his eyes popped open. "It's worse with my eyes shut," he said, shaking his head slightly.

  Gefjun just sighed and slid off the dragon. "Brought you somebody," she told Dyrfinna carelessly. "Also some food. And I need to make sure you're doing okay, though it's not like I care. Are you doing okay?"

  "Well, yeah, I guess I—"

  "Okay then. Here's Ibn. He wanted to help. He also brought food and water. That is very important."

  "Thank you for all this," she said, gazing at Ibn, who was also gazing at her and grinning.

  "Yeah, whatever, you have a bunch of undead stalking in from behind you two." Gefjun strapped herself aboard King Varinn's dragon and said, "Get them!" The onyx dragon sprang over Dyrfinna's head, landed, and blasted about twenty undeads with fire.

  "That was very nice of you," muttered Dyrfinna.

  "I thought it was, too," said Ibn.

  Dyrfinna melted a little bit at his remark. She didn’t intend to. "I'm glad to se
e you here."

  "Eyes up," Ibn said, for the dragon was finished with her fire, and now the undead, in their charred remains, staggered toward them from out of the fire.

  Sickened as she was by the sight, she grimly drew her sword. "I’m ready for a small meal after this, even though this sight is killing my appetite."

  "Agreed," Ibn said, and together they rushed toward the oncoming horde. Dyrfinna's spear slashed, and Ibn sang out, and together they destroyed this group of the shamblers.

  A while later, they sat down on the burned land for a brief meal. The emberdragon circled overhead and gave them the all clear.

  I'm going to eat, she called down to them. You're on your own for a while. I'll be back as soon as possible.

  Dyrfinna waved as the dragon flew off for some larger game. Ibn broke his loaf of bread in half and gave Dyrfinna the slightly larger half. He had some hard-cooked eggs, salted halibut, and some berries. He gave her another bladder of water that he had brought from King Varinn’s for her. Someone had added ginger to the water, which made it smell and taste good. Dyrfinna drank and ate greedily.

  Mid-swallow, a movement caught her eye. She nearly choked on her water. It was another group of undead, this one bigger than the last, and moving in fast.

  "Where are they coming from?" Dyrfinna asked, clearing her throat, for some water had gone down the wrong way.

  "That's a good question," Ibn said. "I'd wager that if we found out, we could go there and fix our current difficulty at the very source."

  "We'd have to fight our way forward though the oncoming attackers in order to reach the source," she said, drinking the rest of her water.

  "Are you up for that?" Ibn asked.

  “Not really,” she said. “But it’s what needs to be done.”

  This whole reality of people dying for this awful woman Nauma made Dyrfinna's blood boil. She was so tired she could hardly stand, but she added, "I've been ready my whole life."

  "You are well ahead of me, then," Ibn said, pocketing his cheese and remaining bread. "How I hate to leave that cheese for later," he said sadly. "This is very good cheese."

  "You could sit to the side and eat your cheese and watch me take out all the undead for you," she said. "And you can clap and say, 'Oh that was such a good hit,' through a mouthful of cheese every time you think I've done well."

  "No, no, I'm here to protect you.” Ibn sang up a little ball of fire and flung it at some undead. The explosion blew Dyrfinna's hair back. Clouds of dust whirled up where the undead had been. Ashes quietly blew away and settled.

  "Show me how to do that," she said. "I've been striking off their heads all day, and my arm's getting tired."

  "Pff. I'd wager you could continue on for hours with that sword of yours,” he said.

  She gave him a look.

  “Or not," he quickly added. "Don't use that lovely gore-stained sword on me. I am only a poor man whose jokes all go bad.”

  “You should probably fix that.” Dyrfinna followed this with a fierce face. He put up his hands and made a little scream that Dyrfinna found adorable.

  Then Ibn got back to business. “Now, put away your sword. Let me show you how to strike with this song as I was taught today by the court magician. Watch closely."

  He stood at her side and told her what to sing and how to stand. "Do exactly as I do," he urged, and adjusted her hands so she held them before her.

  "Sing with me, but quietly," he said. They sang the song-magic together, Dyrfinna using her quietest voice. But this worked. Dyrfinna flinched from the resulting explosion, thinking that her singing had gone awry again, but then she discovered that the undead had been blasted to dust.

  "That's how you do it," he said.

  Each time she sang the music softly, like a lullaby. Each time, she expected that song to fail. She was astonished but gratified to see it work so well, even at that softest of volumes.

  It wasn’t until very late that Dyrfinna slipped while trying to sing back a group of the undead. She thought she’d been singing quietly, but out of nowhere she felt her song-magic suddenly crank up and spin out of control. Ibn, who was singing on a different group of undead, must have felt the song slip, because as soon as it did, she saw his stoic head-shake, and he brought his arms up in an X before him. A feeble defense. Dyrfinna’s song made a high-pitched screech just before it exploded.

  The next moment, Dyrfinna found herself on her back on the ground, her ears ringing unpleasantly, as dirt rained down on her. In front of her, her explosion had left a huge crater, and the undead rattled around at the bottom of the hole.

  "I believe we are finished for the night," Ibn said as he picked himself up.

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to slip." Dyrfinna had started to stand up, but her muscles had all turned to jelly. She lay back again, staring up at the starry sky. She needed to get up because she knew that eventually the undead were going to climb out of that pit she’d just made, but she wasn't moving at all right now.

  A moment later, she managed to sit up though her head was still ringing. To her relief, Ibn was already up. He came to the edge of the crater and quickly sang the undead down, blowing them into dust.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Always a pleasure.” He grimaced and dug dirt out of his ear.

  Yet another group of undead was shuffling toward them, and Dyrfinna, still sitting on the ground, started to pull power to her that she didn’t have.

  Then, out of nowhere, the emberdragon landed nearby. She was relieved.

  I saw that explosion, the emberdragon said, sniffing Dyrfinna’s face like a dog saying hello. You look like you're in wonderful shape.

  "I feel splendid," Dyrfinna grumbled. She crawled over to the dragon’s leg and used it to pull herself to her feet. "Come on up on this dragon," she said to Ibn. "Go for a ride with me. Can't leave you behind." She crawled up on the emberdragon’s back and flopped across her back and just lay there.

  Ibn ducked his head, but climbed up behind her and tied himself in. She sat up when he joined her.

  "If you don't mind," he said, laying his hands gently on her arms. “Maybe you can help me stay balanced on this dragon’s back, so I won’t be afraid.”

  “Go ahead. I don’t mind.” Actually, Dyrfinna's heart started pounding, to feel his hands resting gently on her arms. She wanted to lean back as if Ibn was the most comfortable chair in the world and she wanted to snuggle down in that warmth.

  Instead she pulled herself up so her voice wouldn't wobble.

  "I don't mind at all," she added, resisting the urge to grab his arms and wrap them around her like a scarf. "Up!"

  The emberdragon lifted up into the air, laying down a line of fire at the approaching dead. Ibn threw down a final song to blast them into dust, and they lifted off, flying back to King Varinn's castle, but staying close to the ground for Ibn's sake.

  Dyrfinna wasn't sure if he noticed how carefully the dragon flew. She was very aware of him at her back. She fancied she could feel his breath on her neck now and then, as the wind eddied it to her. She wanted with all her being to lean back against him, but was almost afraid to move. He, too, was holding very still.

  When they landed, he slid off first as he always did. This time, however, when Dyrfinna slid down, he caught her in his arms.

  The night wind stirred the tail of his turban, and he bent his eyes to the ground for a moment, but then looked at her again.

  "We are standing here like a couple of fools," Dyrfinna said, hardly daring to move, afraid that she might break this enchantment.

  "I know," Ibn said with the most beautiful smile. "Isn’t it wonderful?"

  So, she caught his face and kissed him.

  It wasn't a very long kiss. It was glorious and yet awkward. They broke apart and laughed.

  "What do you call that?" Ibn teased.

  "That was a kiss," Dyrfinna said. "You know what a kiss is, right?"

  "I have not actively pursued these arts," he said, smil
ing, but even here, in the starlit dark, she could see his face coloring.

  She felt hers doing the same thing. "I'm in the same place you are, if it helps."

  Ibn was all seriousness. "We should try again, then, and not let our initial awkwardness put a damper on this."

  "I am with you, even though, for some reason, you speak as if you are a learned man," she said mock-formally.

  "It is part of my appeal," he said.

  "You might be right about that," she said.

  They kissed again. This second kiss was much better. Dyrfinna was enjoying being lip-locked with Ibn. But she also wanted, very badly, to wash up and sleep. She was very afraid of disgusting him with her smell at that moment.

  "Let's do this some more," she said, "when I'm not covered in gore and ashes and I don’t smell like death and fire."

  "But that's how a goddess smells," he said.

  Dyrfinna sighed. “You’re nothing but trouble, nothing but a headache.”

  "Also part of my appeal.”

  “Really?”

  “Let’s do more tomorrow, when you're fresh as a lily."

  "Okay. But,” she added, “Let’s take some time tomorrow to train my army to do this work. I don’t want to do this alone.”

  “If it’s all right with you,” Ibn said modestly, “I already have been. I’ve been working with your army today, and I’m pleased to say that now, most everybody can manage a simple spell for rendering the undead immobile. The advanced singers are able to sing them into dust. Everybody has been equipped with arrows, spears, and other implements of war, and we have our dragons ready to go. Every soldier has a task and purpose for tomorrow’s mission, and we are going to go out there, rescue civilians, and end Nauma’s scourge on this land.”

  A man who thought ahead! How amazing!

  “I need you to survive all this,” Dyrfinna said. “There are some definite long-term possibilities here.”

  “Yes, I really hope to work as a commander in Varinn’s army.”

  Dyrfinna sighed. She didn’t roll her eyes. She just looked straight into Ibr’s eyes, both hands on his chest. “No, Ibr. I mean as a couple.”