Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper's Golden Shoes

by Keira Gillett

  His voice echoed all around her like a thousand venomous snakes. “Yer mine now, Princess. This is my truest form. I am a night that no light can penetrate. I am invincible. I am everywhere. There is no stopping my darkness from taking over the world. Ye have lost everything.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Zaria said, even as she quaked at his words. She prayed for guidance. If fighting a dragon was impossible, how did one defeat utter darkness?

  “Don’t ye?” he whispered from all around her. “What do yer senses tell ye? I am stronger than ye are. Face it, Princess, yer frail and powerless against me.”

  “I am not weak. I know who I am,” she said, climbing to her feet.

  That amused him. “Do ye, now, Princess? Ye don’t even know where ye came from.”

  “I am a sorceress, like my birth mother. You feared her, and you should fear me, too.”

  “But ye should be afraid… nobody makes it out of my darkness alive. I’ll devour ye. I’ll consume ye whole… like the little morsel ye are.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” she shouted at him. She swung her hands out in an arc around her, feeling for the sword. “You can’t fool me anymore.”

  “Princess, I’m not hiding anymore. Yer the last thing I needed.” He laughed then, and his laughter blew like a tempest, buffeting her about on all sides.

  “No, no I’m not,” Zaria denied, brushing her braids out of her face. She stared hard into the pitch black around her, confident she was right. “You need to lose the shoes.”

  “Helena can’t be the dragon keeper and yer mother. She will gladly take them off me in exchange for ye. There’s no stopping me now. The dragons will be freed at last, and I will be their king.”

  “She would never do that. Keeping you locked up is too important.”

  “She’ll have no choice if she ever wants to see her precious daughter again.”

  “How?” Zaria demanded, shuffling forward and searching, searching, searching. Where was the sword? She had to get it. She had to keep him talking. “How can she help you? Egil’s already swallowed her.”

  “Because when Egil swallows someone, he traps them in fear.”

  “His fear is like your darkness,” Zaria said to herself. “You only have power if I believe you have it, that’s the evil…”

  Koll moved in the darkness, like a barbed threat. “Ye already gave me power. It’s too late. Give up. Give up and serve me, and I’ll spare yer life.”

  Her hands alighted on the sword and she yanked it out of the ground. “NEVER!” she shouted joyously, because she knew how to defeat him.

  She now saw the dragon clearly for what he was. He was terrible and fearsome – vile, evil, and dark, so dark. But he wasn’t invincible. He wasn’t all-powerful. In his railing and arrogance he’d given her the answer to defeating him forever. For what night could ever withstand the radiance of dawn? She saw the light in her mind, felt it in her heart, and felt the magic of it flow through her.

  “WHAT ARE YE DOING?” Koll shouted.

  “STOP!” he commanded.

  “STOP AT ONCE!” he railed, fear leaking into his words.

  “I COMMAND YE TO STOP!” the last so loud, it rang in her ears, drowning out all other sounds.

  The sword in her hands began to glow, and it wasn’t the dim, feeble whispers it had uncurled earlier. It shone bright, a beacon of hope in a dark night. She swung it into Koll’s shadowy presence, and it pulsed, pushing back the tendrils of cloying, oppressive darkness. The pulsing grew and grew, until not even a shadow remained, and Koll’s screams of rage were cut off like a faucet. When the brightness receded, not a trace of the dragon remained.

  A pair of golden wing-tipped shoes thudded to the ground on either side of her. They flashed once, reverting back into their unshaped form. Zaria blinked away the dancing lights from across her vision and stared around her, the Drakeland Sword by her side. She was amazed by the transformation of the blighted land.

  The surrounding park, which before had been smoking, brown, and dead, was now alive and vibrant with green carpets blooming in flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The palace sported shockingly white stone walls, which gleamed like freshly quarried stone. Its windows twinkled merrily in the golden light thrown by the Golden Kings.

  It was this way everywhere she looked. The Under Realm was restored. She bent and picked up the shoes. They were warm in her hands. As she held them the gold flaked off, the magic falling away, revealing a pair of hand-stitched toggle ankle boots in soft, worn yellow leather.

  “It’s Zaria!” Christoffer shouted, poking his head over the wall. “She’s down here!”

  Henrik, Aleks, and Filip popped up. They all shouted and waved. Zaria waved back and then she was running. They scrambled up and over the wall, pouring down the side. They met in the middle, in one exuberant group hug.

  “Zar-Zar,” Filip said, running a hand through his blond hair. “Why did you run away?”

  “Because you were going to use the chains on me!” she said, punching him in the arm.

  He gave her puppy-dog eyes. “I wasn’t! I swear! I knew it was you all along. I was only pretending to get close to Koll. He didn’t know that I had the daggers, not the stick. Remember? Remember when I said that? I was testing him. I was hoping to use the chains on him.”

  Zaria relented. “Okay. I believe you, but next time we have to work out a signal or something. You had me and Christoffer worried there for a minute.”

  She wasn’t sure why she looked up – perhaps it was a flicker of movement or a shadow briefly blocking the light. She squinted, and a figure coalesced into the shape of her mother at the top of the hill.

  Epilogue: A Fête Accompli

  Zaria broke away from her friends and ran to the woman she never thought she’d see again. Queen Helena swept her up in her arms, and the two were crying, laughing, and hugging.

  “How?” she asked, wiping tears off her face. “How are you here? You were eaten!”

  “Henrik, Aleks, and Filip rescued me,” she said, turning to the boys. “Filip had the chains, which he gave to them, and with his daggers, together they captured Egil.”

  “He spat her up like a fish,” Henrik said.

  “It was cool,” Aleks added. “But the ropes around her hands were difficult to undo. Slimy.”

  “The daggers worked great,” Filip said. “When I struck Egil with them he instantly transformed back into his human shape. It’s a lot easier to catch a dragon when he’s not the size of one.”

  Zaria clapped her hands. “That’s amazing!”

  “It’s too bad the daggers disappeared after you struck him,” Aleks said.

  “I would have loved to have kept them,” Filip agreed. “Christoffer lost both of his in the fight.”

  “I couldn’t find them afterward, either,” Christoffer complained. “Do you think they disappeared?”

  “Probably,” Helena said. “I’ll look for them later.”

  “I have so many questions,” Zaria told her mother. “Like – what’s so special about my powers? How do I control them better? What are my limits? Why did Koll want me to worship him?” She paused. “Why did you let me go?”

  Helena laughed and cried, wiping her eyes, which were as purple as her own. She brushed a lock of Zaria’s hair, which had escaped her braid, behind her ear. “Zaria, darling. Let us go into the palace. I’ll send word to Silje about what happened. Then I’ll show you around and we can talk. We’ll have something to eat and you and your friends can rest a short while.”

  Zaria nodded, wiping her face. She cleaned off the sword and stuck it back into the sheath. She wanted to see the palace, and she wanted privacy when she and her birth mother talked.

  The group walked through the restored gardens and up the wide palace stairs. Helena waved her hand and the heavy doors swung open. She guided them to an antechamber decorated in buttery pastels. The boys settled into the room, lounging and sprawling out, exhausted and weary.

&nb
sp; Helena picked up a horn from a settee and stepped out into the hall, giving it a blow. From the horn a see-through vision of Silje appeared and the two women conversed for a short time, catching each other up on what had happened. Silje evaporated when their exchange was over.

  Helena tucked the horn into a loop on her dress. “Are you ready for your tour?” she asked.

  Zaria looked at her friends and nodded, feeling oddly nervous. She stood and followed Helena out the door. For a while, Helena spoke about the different rooms they glided through – a ballroom, a library (one of three), a workshop with bits and bobs, a study filled with papers, a salon (one for every color it seemed), the kitchens, where she used her magic to start the meal preparation, and finally to the upper floors, where the bedchambers were. She showed Zaria the nursery.

  White wainscoting and pale yellow walls created a sweet and bright atmosphere. The furniture was also white. There was a crib with a mobile featuring winter-wyverns, reindeer, and foxes. To the left was a dresser; to the right, a bookcase. There was also a toy chest, a rocking horse, a rocking chair, and a sofa.

  “How much do you know?” Helena asked softly, sitting on the sofa.

  Zaria strode to the window and looked out over the courtyard below. “I know about Valgard. I know he was killed by Vella the Vaultless in an attempt to get the Drakeland Sword.”

  “Yes,” she said softly. “After her deception, I sent away all the guards. That’s what she’d been, you see, a guard. She was supposed to protect us, but she fell to the lies of the dragons. I couldn’t trust anyone after that –”

  “Not even me?” Zaria asked, hurt.

  “Oh no, darling, no, that’s not it,” Helena said, wiping away a tear. “No, after your father died, I knew it wasn’t safe here for you. I couldn’t risk the dragons finding out.”

  “Finding out what?” she demanded. “Why wasn’t I safe?”

  “You’re the reason Vella the Vaultless failed to release Koll’s brother,” Helena said, running her hand along the sofa’s arm.

  “What do you, mean? How did I stop Vella?”

  Helena’s eyes grew distant as she recalled the memory. “You weren’t even one year old. Alarms were tripping out by Bodvar and Vigrun.” At seeing Zaria’s blank look, she added, “They’re the twin dragons of war.”

  “How were they involved with the escape?” Zaria asked, batting the mobile above the bed, watching it spin.

  “They were the distraction,” Helena said, bitterly, looking down at her hands. “I was on my way with two other giants to settle the matter when I heard the boom. It was so loud it sent the trees swaying. I raced back to the palace, but I was too late.

  “Your father was dead, the sword in his chest. You were beside him, crying. The giant was toppled; her fall, the boom I had heard. I knew immediately you must have done magic. I didn’t think anything of it, until you popped into my arms. I knew then how you accomplished it. I knew, too, what dangers awaited you, my little princess if you stayed with me.

  “I would not have given you up for the world, but you weren’t safe here,” she said, looking at Zaria beseechingly, her eyes wet.

  Zaria’s eyes prickled uncomfortably. “I still don’t understand.”

  Helena looked away and then back, twin purple gazes meeting. “When I discovered your abilities, I knew then and there that you wouldn’t be safe in the Under Realm, and that I had to hide you until you came fully into your powers. Around me, you would’ve sporadically done magic, but you wouldn’t have understood why it would be dangerous to you. So, I hid you in an orphanage and ensured you were adopted quickly and taken out of the country.”

  “My abilities?” Zaria asked, puzzled. “But they’re the same as yours. Why are they dangerous?”

  “Because they’re not the same. If the dragons knew how you thwarted their plans, how you stopped a giant in her tracks, they would have come after you with everything.”

  “But why?” Zaria asked plaintively. “Why? I don’t understand. What’s so special about my powers? Just tell me plainly.”

  “It’s true we’re both sorceresses and possess great magic, but mine is limited. I can only do magic with my hands. If I’m bound, I’m powerless. See?”

  Helena waved her hands and wiggled her fingers. The toys in the nearby chest sprung up and began to dance around. After a moment, she stopped moving her hands and the toys dropped, lifeless.

  “I use my hands, too,” Zaria said.

  She thought about the toys moving and dancing and shot her hand out. “Dance,” she said.

  The toys came back to life and danced about merrily.

  “You don’t have to use your hands, though,” Helena replied, using her magic to stop the toys. “Your grandmother was equally restricted. She could only do magic with spells. If she was gagged, she was powerless.”

  “And me? I use words, too,” Zaria said, indicating the toys.

  Helena shook her head and smiled. “When you understand your magic, you won’t have to use your words or hands. That’s why you’re more powerful than your grandmother or me. Your magic is within your thoughts.”

  “My thoughts?” Zaria frowned. “Don’t you use your thoughts?”

  “Not in the same way. Not in the way you mean,” Helena said. She stood and came to Zaria, taking hold of her hands. She touched Zaria’s temple. “Nobody can stop your magic. How can you block a thought?”

  “That’s why Koll –”

  “Yes,” she said. “That’s why Koll was scared of you. Unless you willingly served him or another dragon, they had no control over you. So you see now why Koll wanted you to submit to him, to bind your thoughts to him so your magic would become his own.”

  “Thought magic?” Zaria asked.

  “Thought magic,” Helena confirmed. “It’s so rare, there hasn’t been a sorceress with thought magic for generations. When the dragons discovered the last one, she was killed. She was only twelve. I wanted you to live.

  “Growing up, you would have exhibited some magical tendencies, but with the dragons always watching, always plotting, it wasn’t safe. I’m so sorry about your father. Had I been a better dragon keeper, he might not have died. It’s not your fault, you know. His death. Nor is it your fault that I gave you up.

  “I couldn’t think of an alternative. If I left my post and went with you, treaties would have been broken, the dragons would have been left without a keeper, and it might have been even more dangerous to you.”

  Zaria squeezed Helena’s hands and took a step back. “I understand. It sucks, but I understand. I like being alive, and I love Merry and Colonel Fierce. They’re my parents.”

  “I know, and I’m so grateful to them,” Helena said with a tremulous smile. “I would never try to interfere, but I want you to know you always have a place here with me. If you want it. Whenever you might be ready for it.” She gave a little laugh and indicated the room at large. “Of course, we’ll have to do some redecorating. This is not a suitable bedroom for a teenage girl. You might even want another room. I have dozens for you to choose from.”

  “Thank you,” Zaria said. “I’d like that. Aleks has a stargazer, so I could borrow that and turn it on when I wanted to visit. I don’t really want Merry or Colonel to know that we’ve reconnected. It might hurt their feelings.”

  “Of course, you tell them when you’re ready,” Helena said. “I love you. I love you with my whole heart.”

  Zaria gave her a hug, not ready to say the words back. “It’s nice to know that.”

  “We should rejoin your friends, before they wonder where you disappeared,” Helena said, brushing her cheek and stepping back. “You’re so beautiful. Your father would be so proud of you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m proud of you, too,” Helena added. “You were very brave. What you did – eliminating Koll – not even I could have done that.”

  When Zaria and her birth mom rejoined the group, something had shifted between her and Helena.
There was a sense of peace and acceptance. They knew where they stood and were better for it.

  “You’re glowing,” Henrik said, running a finger along the skin of her elbow when she sat down beside him.

  “I am,” Zaria said, surprised. “Maybe it wasn’t just the power of the sword that destroyed Koll. Maybe it was me, too.”

  “It was you,” Helena said, waving into the room a teacart filled with lefse, which was a type of flatbread, cheeses, and sliced vegetables.

  “I thought they couldn’t be destroyed,” Christoffer said, putting a slice of cheese on a piece of lefse and piling it with cucumbers.

  Filip nodded. “Wasn’t the sword supposed to wound and not kill?”

  Helena smiled at Zaria. “It shouldn’t have been possible. My daughter has done something her grandmother and I could never do.”

  “This is great news,” Henrik said. “If Zaria can destroy the dragons, we can eradicate them all. Forever.”

  “We’ll save that for another day, I think,” Helena said as Zaria covered her face with a yawn. “For now, let’s get these shoes off of you.”

  “What’s the secret to that?” Zaria asked. “I feel like I should know.”

  “You always had the power to remove them,” Helena said. She waved her hand at Henrik and Aleks. Their shoes grew, and fell from their feet.

  “As simple as that?” Christoffer asked. “I thought it would be something more complicated.”

  Helena smiled. “They automatically resize to fit the wearer’s shape and preference. This made them ideal for dragons, because whatever form they took the shoes would follow. My magic simply locks the shoes in place.”

  “Do I just enlarge the shoes?” Zaria asked.

  Helena shook her head. “It seems that way, but you actually remove a lock. Only our magic can do that, because that is how I designed the lock. Without the lock, the shoes would never allow someone across the river from the Norwegian side. With the lock you can never take the shoes off, and therefore can’t go back to Norway from here.”

  “Where’s the lock?” Zaria asked, peering down at her shoes.