A Bitter Brew

by Greg Curtis

  “Enough to know they don't want to die.”

  That could be, Hendrick thought. But what did it mean? Because he was sure that whatever the ghost dragons might be, they weren't the enemy. Only the servants of the enemy. And yet as he poured the water into the hole, his thoughts kept ticking over. They were servants! That meant they were smart enough to obey their master. But were they smart enough to do more than that? Smart enough to know how broken they were?

  In a heartbeat that terrible shriek of theirs came to mind. A sound so awful that it destroyed bodies and souls. It was the sound of pain and suffering. But suddenly it occurred to him. What if that shriek was so unbearable because it was real? An empathic spell where they didn't feel the pain of others but passed on their own pain instead?

  He hadn't thought of it before. But could it be that they were like the broken timbers of his old house? Torn apart and wrecked, but still not wanting to die? Or – and the word came to him from his time spent studying as a child – destroyed?

  In that moment, in that word, he knew. He knew who they were, or who they had been. And that in turn told him who their master – or mistress – was.

  “Shite! Val, they're the disciples!”

  “What?”

  “They are. The stories say that they were destroyed. Some say that means they died, but most just leave it as they were destroyed. And no one has ever known what destroyed meant. Only that it was a fate far more terrible than death. The disciples made a deal for power! The power of the dragons! And this is what they got.”

  “They are the descendants of those who made that deal. Born with human souls into bodies that are neither human nor dragon. They belong to neither the mortal realm or the underworld. They burn with power they can't contain. They suffer as their bodies are warped and twisted, yet are cursed with the desire to live. And they are doomed to serve the Queen their ancestors made that deal with.”

  “Hendrick? You're saying that –”

  “Who else can live ten thousand years, is immensely powerful, intelligent, magical, and could have an army of deformed dragon like creatures to do her bidding?”

  “And that means the mastermind behind this is Dibella! The Queen of the Dragons!” He said the words out loud and even though he had no proof he knew he was right. Finally he had an answer! A name! The enemy had been exposed. The only thing he didn't have was a reason. And he didn't know how to find that out.

  Chapter Fifty Three

  Marnie was enjoying her dreams. They were nice and safe and fun. And so the last thing she wanted was when someone began shaking her. Gently at first, then a little more vigorously. Forcing them away.

  “What?” Marnie opened her eyes to see Tyrollan standing there. Of course it was him she thought, who else would bother her so soon after she'd picked up three more spells. She was tired.

  She had thirty plus spells now, and they were becoming a problem. Every so often strange thoughts just came to her. Thoughts about power and the need for more spells. They troubled her even though she knew they weren't hers, because she'd never had such thoughts before. Was it the voice of the ancient wizard to whom those spells had once belonged? She didn't know but she didn't like it. When this crisis was over, assuming it wasn't already, she was going to reinstitute the policies about the numbers of spells their members could have. It was back to twenty.

  “We have visitors.”

  “Oh.” She stared at him glumly, wondering why he couldn't handle it by himself. No doubt there was a good reason. She just hoped it wasn't more ghost dragons. It had been quiet in the two weeks since the battle at Callanar and she hoped it stayed that way. And surely the beast couldn’t have a second army of such size? There had to be limits. Didn't there? “I'll be there shortly.”

  Satisfied, Tyrollan nodded politely and left, allowing Marnie to attend to her ablutions. At least they now had hot water thanks to some enchanted stones. When winter came, and it wasn't too many months off, she didn't want to bathe in cold water.

  The bathing chambers were fortuitously empty when she got there, and she enjoyed the brief moment of privacy while she washed her face and hands, and then neatened her hair and clothes. She would have preferred a proper bath, but she obviously didn't have time. Instead she gave herself another spray of perfume. A few minutes later she felt a little more like her normal self. But in sooth she thought, she wouldn't really be happy until she could have her own bed chamber. Living with hundreds of others in a giant dormitory, just wasn't what she wanted. It was like living in a poor house. And they weren't poor thanks to Hendrick and a few others. It was simply a matter of carpentry. They had two barns, and two more buildings were being built, but it took time.

  After that she made her way down the stairs and out into the sunshine where Tyrollan was waiting for her. And with him were two women she hadn't expected to see.

  “Lady Peri, Lady Simone.” She nodded politely to them, more than a little surprised to see them on the front yard of the Guild. But it did explain why there were carriages on the road waiting for them and a full patrol of soldiers in their red and gold. And why Tyrollan had dragged her out of bed.

  “Miss Holdwright.” Lady Peri greeted her in turn. “We wanted to congratulate you on your mighty victory.”

  “What victory?” Marnie was caught by surprise by the idea. She didn't remember any great victory. She only remembered that they had survived. But she doubted that Lady Peri had come to see her just to congratulate her on a battle fought two weeks ago.

  “We should take tea. Away from the noise and dust.” Tyrollan quickly jumped in, making sure no awkwardness arose. “There's a private area behind the buildings we can use.”

  Tyrollan quietly guided the Ladies past the noise of the workmen to the seating area, and on the way managed to get one of the Guild members to prepare some tea. Once again she noticed just how good he was at such things. She only wished that she were more like him. Everything she said sounded like a complaint even though she didn't mean it that way. Some days he made her feel like an awkward child. But only some days. Most days she felt incredibly lucky to have him there by her side.

  “I see your Guild is growing,” Lady Peri commented as she took her seat.

  “Yes. We're not yet calling it that but the Guild of the Gifted houses up to four hundred mages at any one time. Ever since word got out about the war, our people have been flocking to us. And more are coming every day across from the Empire as well.”

  That last part still amazed Marnie. As she sat there listening to the others talk, she kept thinking how improbable it was that the so-called little people were still coming to them, even after the battle had been won. And the other people's of the Empire. They had been the magical races according to their legends. How wrong that had turned out to be. And as the Guild was the only place they could get magic the people of the Empire were now arriving in large numbers. Suddenly the over-abundance of metal fragments had reduced significantly and the guild was struggling to keep up with demand. Without the gold that Hendrick brought them to pay for the fragments people found, they would have been in trouble. And as always she found herself wondering about the great unknown. How many people were still going through the private ceremonies? But she didn't want to mention that to these women. Lady Peri at least would be worried about the possibility of one of the gifted finding the magical engines.

  Though really Marnie thought, that wasn't such an issue any longer. Maybe the chances of one of their people finding out about the engines had grown, but the chances of that person then wanting to put them into reverse and so free themselves from their affliction had decreased. They would always be afflicted to many, but these days having an “affliction” was no longer seen as such a terrible thing. At least not in Burbage. It was hard to judge how things were in the rest of the realm.

  “Well of course they're coming!” Lady Simone trilled happily. “You were victorious in battle. Everyone loves the victor. And the King wanted to show that he
supports the efforts you've made. The courage your people showed in defeating the Queen of Dragons! You saved the Empire!”

  “Maybe we should arrange some medals for everyone who fought.” Lady Simone suddenly stopped in mid thought and stared at them as if something had just occurred to her. “Or a pin perhaps. You could wear it on a hat. People love hats.” The First Wife smiled, completely undoing Marnie's immediate objections to the idea.

  She really was a disarmingly beautiful woman Marnie thought. She must have been devastating when she was younger. There was a reason, she guessed, that the King had abandoned his first marriage and his support of Tarius, to take a second wife and follow Pritarma. But as they said, the gods gave with one hand and took away with another. What had happened she wondered, to so completely twist her thoughts to matters of clothes? Or was it just the way with nobility?

  “I'm sorry Lady Simone,” Marnie tried to explain. “We weren't victorious. We went, we fought, and we must have killed thousands of the ghost dragons. But there were tens of thousands more, and there was simply nothing we could do. In the end we were falling down, at our last, and on the verge of breaking and running, when Sana saved us all.”

  Marnie still wasn't sure how the young woman had done that. Obviously she had had a spell. But a spell that powerful? Something that called the dragons to come even if it couldn’t actually summon them? It just seemed too big.

  Truly though, the thing that stuck with her most about the girl was that she had been healing the injured and fallen. That simply did not match her memories of the rage filled savage she had seen in Styrion Might. Now that the beast that had dwelt within her was gone, it was as if Sana had become a completely different woman. Maybe she had.

  “Yes Sana,” Simone brightened up some more as if she was a young girl being offered sweets. “A true hero. We should have a festival for her! A party! Something big and grand with everyone wearing their finest dresses! Tents filled with refreshments and street entertainers! Silk and streamers everywhere! And of course, a huge golden dragon on a red pennant flying high above everything! Where is Sana? We must speak of this at once.”

  “We don't know Lady Simone. She never returned from the Empire.”

  “Never returned?” A frown came over the First Wife's face marring her beauty just a touch. But it vanished quickly. “How can that be? Was she hurt?”

  “We don't know Lady Simone. All we know is that she ran off after the dragons and hasn't been seen since.” Marnie suspected though that she was still with them. That smile on Sana's face when the dragons had appeared, had stayed with her. Sana had been completely enraptured by them. But it was also possible that she was dead she supposed. Dragons weren’t exactly known to be trustworthy. Or maybe she simply didn't want to return.

  “Besides, Simone,” Lady Peri took over. “She is a traitor to the realm. She helped destroy Styrion Might and the Hold. And she did injure the King. I don't think he would be wanting to hold a celebration for her unless it was a hangman's party.

  “Oh!” Lady Simone's face fell. But then she brightened again. “But he's better now and I can talk to him!”

  “I don't think he's going to change his mind dear.” Lady Peri tried to reason with her former sister wife, while a couple of Guild members finally arrived with the promised tea. Orange blossom. A definite improvement on the Harvest Green.

  “In any case I really came here to check on my son. It has been two weeks and I've not heard a report of him. He wasn't injured?”

  “No Lady Peri. He's just been busy as I understand it, rebuilding his home – again. He dropped some gold off a week ago, but I never saw him.”

  “I did though.” Tyrollan spoke up and surprised them all. “He said he had uncovered the enemy's identity.”

  “Yes, Dibella. The Queen of the Dragons. Everyone heard that.” Lady Peri looked dubious. “I'm not sure I believe it, but it makes sense in a way. Duplicity and power are her hallmarks.”

  They were in agreement on that at least, Marnie thought. She didn't know everything Lady Peri did. But she had simply never thought that the Queen of Dragons was real. Or that dragons were for that matter.

  “No. He meant that he knows the face she is currently wearing in Styrion. He said he knew who she was and that it was just a matter of obtaining the proof.”

  “The face she wears? Is that like clothes?” The First Wife didn't understand.

  Marnie didn't understand either – but for a different reason. Hendrick had a window into the past. He could simply take a look back in the past and see the Dragon Queen's history and what she'd done. All he needed was a name. So why hadn't he told them? Shown them the truth? She had the horrible thought that the reason he hadn't revealed the name was that he had something planned. Something else that would no doubt turn her world upside down again just when it was starting to make sense.

  “I told you about this Simone,” Lady Peri sighed a little as if she was tired of explaining it to her. “The Dragon Queen has the ability to appear as other people. Many other people. And then she lies to people and gets them to do terrible things.”

  “Yes, but you didn't say anything about wearing faces. And anyway, isn't she enormous? Even if she looked like a woman, wouldn't she still be knocking things over everywhere?”

  “She doesn't actually come in person Lady Simone.” Tyrollan tried to explain. “We assume she sits in her lair and projects a visage across the worlds. Like when the Mythagan projected the bronze visages of themselves that wandered around the Hold for days before they actually visited.”

  “Then wouldn't she be bronze?”

  “No Lady Simone. The Mythagan don't have a spell as powerful as hers. Dibella can project a visage of herself that looks completely normal, that can touch and be touched, see, speak and hear and even shake your hand. It is completely convincing.”

  “Oh. That sounds …” The Lady concentrated as she searched for the word. “Powerful. Wouldn't it be dangerous to upset her?”

  “Yes. But Hendrick says we have to find out why she's been doing what she'd been doing, even if there's a risk. And he's right. Otherwise this will never end.”

  “But she's been defeated! We won!” Lady Simone suddenly looked upset. Suddenly her victory party was looking threatened. Not to mention her pins.

  “And she's immortal and immensely powerful. She brought a volcano across the gulf between worlds. Destroyed two of our cities. Killed a million or more Mythagan with an army of her disciples. Even if she's lost her army, it's only a matter of time until she builds another. Or does something worse. We need to at least find out why if we are to try and stop her.”

  “Why? Because she's a dragon of course.” Lady Simone stared at him, confusion back to the fore. “A monster.”

  “Forgive me Lady Simone, but that's not why.” Tyrollan dipped his head a little out of respect. “Hendrick thinks and I believe he's right, that she's angry about something. Everything she's done is out of rage. Hatred and fury so powerful that it's driven her for nearly ten thousand years.”

  The Lady stared at him blankly for a bit, possibly wondering if he was serious, and then she sighed heavily. “Things were so much simpler when she was just the beast!”

  “If she'd actually been the behemoth, we'd all be dead, Simone.” Lady Peri pointed out. “Now drink your tea. It's really quite good.”

  “Marnie, Tyrollan, I did want to ask you about your people in the Empire.”

  “Yes?” Marnie braced herself as she realised that this was the actual point of the visit. It had nothing to do with celebrations and medals.

  “You still have them coming to your ceremonies?”

  “We do.” She wondered what use that was to the Lady. “Not as many but still a few hundred every day.”

  “I was hoping perhaps that I could meet with some of them. Conduct some business.”

  Marnie tried not to cringe when she heard that, but didn't completely succeed. Did Lady Peri want to start up a new spy netwo
rk through the Empire? Was she trying to extend her power? She was just beginning to realise that even when she was no longer part of the Court, Lady Peri was a force to be reckoned with because of her spies. Marnie suspected it was the Royal way. After all Lady Marda had also employed a small army of assassins and agents, and Marnie had experienced first hand the power that that had given her. Did Lady Peri have the same? Or did she intend to acquire some? Because it occurred to her that an army of spies and agents with magic would be a very powerful army indeed. By the gods, she might even make herself Queen in time!

  “Business?” Marnie asked.

  “Trade deals. The Vordan Empire has a lot of goods that the people of Styrion might want. And Styrion has a great many things the people of the Empire might want in return. But since the war, the people I was speaking with from the Empire seem to have disappeared.”

  “They've all grown quiet, Lady Peri. Some of the Mythagan and the other people from the Empire worlds still arrive for the ceremonies, but they don't stay, and they don't talk. I also don't think that our people who live among them would be of much help.”