by Bianca D’Arc
When they could finally see the outskirts of the city in the distance, Liam judged it to be more a fortified town than what he would call a city, but no one had consulted him when they were naming the place. There were several roads approaching the city, and the one they were on was actually one of the smaller of them. The city had gates on each roadway that led in through a tall wall made of timber and stone that looked like it ringed the whole place.
As they drew closer, Liam could see that each entry was wide open. Probably, the gates were only closed and the entrances manned at night. The dense woods all around the city, which crowned a tall hill, probably held all sorts of wildlife that might pose a danger during nighttime hunting hours. There were farms lower down the hill in what appeared to be very fertile valleys with winding roads that allowed the farmers to drive their produce up to the city.
Liam wondered why the town had been built on top of the hill rather than in one of the valleys but he didn’t really know how such things were decided. Perhaps there had been some kind of hostility that made the people want to live on top of the hill, behind walls. Or, perhaps there was some seasonal weather that made the valleys unattractive for large numbers of people. Whatever the case, the city of Oler had been there a very long time, judging by the condition of the wall, the trees around it and the structures within.
“Liam.” Rivka’s voice came into his mind like a warm caress. “The prince and I will land on the road in the trees and shift. We’ll walk in together. You go with the knights and the other dragons. They’ll land inside the walls. We’ll catch up with you.”
She had dropped back to fly beside Skelaroth to deliver her message, and Liam gave her a hand signal to let her know he had heard and would comply. He wished he could tell her to be careful. He also wished she wasn’t going anywhere alone with the handsome prince, but really, he couldn’t be greedy. She had lain with him twice now, but he had no claim to her heart.
He couldn’t. He didn’t want it. Though, even as he had the thought, it rang false in his mind. Something had changed. Something was happening here that he didn’t fully understand. He wasn’t sure he even liked what was going on inside him, but he was powerless to stop it. Change was inevitable, he had learned through hard experience. It appeared something was changing inside him, and he would have to brazen it out and see where it led him.
Rivka and Prince Trent landed behind the shelter of the trees, just out of sight of the gate leading into the city. They shifted and walked together the relatively short distance to the gate, which was unmanned at this time of day, and into the city. Rivka looked for the subtle signs that would be familiar to all Jinn, telling them which establishments were Jinn-owned.
“The dragons landed that way,” Trent said, pointing toward the northwest, some distance into the collection of buildings called Oler.
“Good. I see signs pointing in that direction where we may find some of the Brotherhood. They will have information, if anyone will,” she told the prince.
Trent shook his head and chuckled as they walked. “You know, even though Nico is my brother, I’ll never get used to all the Jinn spy intrigue. It’s only gotten worse since he married.”
“You must know Arikia is our queen, which makes the Prince of Spies our King-Consort,” Rivka explained. “It was all prophesied a long time ago. Your brother, Nico, was born to be what he is. Just like most Jinn are born into the tradition of keeping our ears to the ground to learn what we can and observe everything around us. It’s one of our jobs. What we were bred for. Particularly those of my lineage who are descendants of Dranneth’s younger son,” she declared. “Just as he helped his eldest brother, we are here to help the descendants of the first king of Draconia. It’s what we were made for, in a sense. So that evil may not triumph over good.”
“It is a worthy goal, and one I understand as a younger brother to the king,” Trent said quietly. “We share that common ground. I would never seek to rule, but I will do all in my power to support my brothers in keeping out land safe and free from evil.”
Rivka smiled. She’d had a good feeling about Trent from the moment they’d met, but this conversation proved to her that her instincts were right about him. She could hear the ring of truth in his words, and her respect for him grew.
They rounded a corner, and the dragons came into view. They were in the large front yard of a lively inn. Rivka saw immediately by the scrollwork pattern on the sign above the door that this was a Jinn establishment. She smiled.
“Perfect,” she murmured as they drew closer.
“What is?” Trent asked quietly.
“This is a Silver Serpent Clan inn. They are closely allied with the Black Dragon Clan and founding members of the Jinn brotherhood,” she told him.
“How do you know?” Trent sounded truly interested, and the members of the royal family should know some of the basic ways to identify Jinn, even though the secretive nature of the Brotherhood would continue among regular folk.
“See the scrollwork on the sign?” she said, not pointing or even looking at the distinctive sign, though she noted Trent’s casual glance upward as they approached. That was well done, she thought. He might be better at the spy game than he thought.
“I see it,” he replied.
“There are certain patterns in decorative work like that. Patterns we are taught to recognize so we can always find members of our Brotherhood in strange places. This is not something I would tell just anyone, but you are of the blood. You and your brothers should have this knowledge.” She sighed, knowing there was no time to teach him, here and now, but at least she’d made him aware.
They entered the inn yard and saw that the dragons were being treated well. Each had access to water and food, and the inn children looked enchanted by the sight of real live dragons in their yard. Especially Skelaroth, who looked quite a bit different from the others.
Rivka spoke directly to Skelaroth’s mind. “Is everything satisfactory, milord?” she asked, knowing she could ask for anything he might need and have a high probability of getting it here in a Jinn establishment.
“Very good, thank you,” Skelaroth replied immediately. “Liam and the knights have gone inside. Don’t worry about us. The folk here seem familiar with dragons, though they may never have seen my variety before.” His dragonish chuckle came without the usual ringlets of smoke rising into the air. A stark reminder that Skelaroth was not a dragon of Draconia, but a stranger to these lands and its ways.
Still, he was fitting in rather well with the others. Rivka had nothing but the highest respect for Skelaroth, who had been nothing but stalwart and brave on this entire journey. She wondered what the lord of the sea dragons thought about his distant cousins who flew over land and hoped this was the beginning of more cooperation and contact between the two varieties—as Skelaroth had put it—of dragons.
“I’ll be just inside if you need anything,” she told him as she went inside with Trent.
The inn was large and well kept. Large windows allowed a lot of natural light into the common room, where Rivka easily spotted the two knights and Liam seated near the hearth, enjoying bowls of what looked like some hearty stew. Trent went right up to his knight friends and sat down while Rivka held back.
She made a subtle signal to the man behind the long bar and he nodded once, putting down the mug he’d been cleaning. He went immediately into a room at the back, which she figured had to be the kitchen. A moment later, a woman came out and walked directly over to Rivka.
“Are you with those men?” the woman asked in a conversational tone that would not carry.
Rivka nodded, returning the hand signal the woman had just flashed casually, as if gesturing toward where the men were sitting. “Yes, ma’am. I am Rivka. My father mentioned this inn to me and suggested I stop by when we passed through Oler.”
The carefully chosen words gave more information than face value, containing code phrases that would help one Jinn recognize another. The woma
n smiled and stepped a bit closer. “We are Silver Serpent Clan,” she said, testing Rivka’s knowledge.
“The Serpent is an Ice Dragon,” Rivka replied to the challenge. “I am a black dragon.”
The way she phrased it meant more than her Clan affiliation. It was an acknowledgment that she was one of the rare dragon shapeshifters known among the Jinn, and nowhere else…until they’d encountered the royal family of Draconia, that was.
The woman’s eyes widened. “I am Leis,” she said, bowing her head respectfully. “My husband, Daan, tends bar, but he is a quiet man and prefers to leave the talking to me.” She smiled fondly at the man who had retaken his place behind the long bar. “How can we help you?”
“I travel with those knights and another of my kind who is not of the Brotherhood,” Rivka said urgently.
“Not of the…” Leis’s eyes widened again as she looked at Trent. “Then, he is royal?”
Rivka nodded. “I tell you this to impress upon you the importance of our quest. We are following a band of cutthroats who entered this city several hours before us. It is likely they provisioned here and may have split up into smaller groups. They came in on abused and likely half-dead horses. They probably hired or bought new mounts. Their leader is pirate sea captain named Fisk, and he travels with a pet mage from Elderland. Do you know anything of this?”
“Not yet, but I will,” Leis said, her eyes narrowing. “Sit and eat. I will send out my scouts, and we will know what can be known before you finish your meal. This, I swear.”
Rivka took the woman at her word, sensing the depth of her honesty. Besides…with three dragons outside and two in here, even if Leis wanted to betray them, there was little chance that any attack might actually succeed.
All the men stood as Rivka approached the table and took her seat. She chose the empty spot next to Liam and was gratified by his smile of welcome. A bowl of stew was placed before her in short order by the young woman who looked after the common room, and Rivka ate with good appetite.
“I saw you talking with the landlady,” Liam said quietly at her side. “Any news?”
“Not yet, but she’s gathering it, now,” Rivka replied casually. “This is a Jinn establishment. She didn’t know anything of our quarry, but she is finding out. I’m confident we’ll have news shortly.”
Trent looked over and shook his head. “I envy your people their network. My brother does tend to go on and on, extolling the virtues of the Brotherhood’s network, but I’ve never really seen it action before. I hope it’s every bit as good as Nico claims.”
Rivka shrugged. “It’s probably even better.”
All the men chuckled at her words, and a platter of sliced ham was laid before them as the bowls were removed and trenchers were handed out. They were getting a full meal, which probably meant Leis had taken matters into her own hands in the kitchen, as well as with the spy network, now that she knew she was entertaining royalty in her common room.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Liam and all the men were duly impressed when, in less than an hour, Leis had eyewitness reports from all the city gates where Fisk’s men had passed. Her people were also able to recreate the pirates’ trail, to some extent, within the city. The bad news was that Fisk and all his men had already left, and as Liam had predicted, they had split up into multiple groups. Each group took a different route out of the city.
The pursuers would have to break up into groups, as well. Unfortunately, even though they had witnesses reporting what they had seen at each gate, none of the accounts sounded like Fisk and his pet mage. Perhaps the Elderland sorcerer had something to do with that, but there was no way to be sure.
All they knew, for certain, was that the same number of men had both arrived and left. The counts tallied. Their horses had been abandoned. They hadn’t even taken the time to try to sell them to anyone. They’d procured new mounts and had bought provisions as quickly as possible, then set out, again.
It made sense. Fisk knew they were being pursued. The mage may have hit Skelaroth, but Fisk had to know that the black dragon would be hot on their trail. He didn’t know about the others, which might give them some advantage.
“We have to split up,” Liam said as the last of the witnesses finished his report.
The Jinn informant was a young city guardsman who was barely old enough to shave, but he had been wily enough to trail the strangers and alert others of the Brotherhood to help when the main group split into smaller ones. Liam fished a gold coin out of his purse and flipped it through the air to the young man with a nod of thanks. The youngster grinned and made the coin disappear into his pouch, like magic.
“I’ll take the northwest road,” Trent said immediately. “If nothing else, it leads directly to the capital. If I’m on the wrong track, I can at least summon more help to the cause.”
Liam nodded his agreement. “I’d like to follow the north road. It is the most direct route toward the Citadel, which makes it the obvious choice for Fisk to have avoided, but I’ve never seen him throw caution to the wind as he has recently. He just might be foolish enough to go for the fastest route.”
“I concur,” Skelaroth backed Liam up as they all stood in the inn’s wide front yard, where they had gathered after their meal “The path we have followed, to this point, does not indicate subtlety. He’s making a run for the Northern border. I will carry you North, Captain.”
“And I’ll go with you two,” Rivka put in. “No sense breaking up the team now.”
“I go with Leem,” Ella added from her perch on Liam’s shoulder. He reached up to scratch her head, and she moved into his hand with gentle affection. He’d come to value Ella’s presence at his side even more on this journey, though she continued to surprise him.
“Trevor and I will take the Northeast road,” Lord Klathenor said in a booming voice in Liam’s mind.
“While Boros and I go due east,” Lady Wyndimira added.
“We have all four groups covered,” Trent said, satisfaction in his voice, though his expression remained troubled.
“We really should leave as soon as possible,” Rivka reminded them all. “Leis is having her people pack provisions for us all. I think we should depart as soon as we have them.”
“Agreed,” Trent said, shaking his head as if to clear it. “I can’t say that I like splitting up our forces this way, but I see no alternative.” He went around to the two-legged beings and shook everyone’s hand, wishing them good fortune and adding last minute words of advice.
He was just finishing up when Leis’s kitchen staff arrived with four parcels. Three were about the same size, but one was larger, and Liam realized that Rivka must have explained their needs in detail. The larger pack came to him, and would serve himself, Rivka and Ella, as well. The others went to the knights and Prince Trent, whose magic would take the provisions into his shifted form and allow them to reappear when he once again took his human shape. Liam did know how it worked, but he’d seen the way Rivka’s belongings returned after every shift.
Once they were all packed and ready, one by one, they left the inn’s yard. First, the knights mounted their dragons and took off, one at a time. Then, Liam got on Skelaroth’s back and did the same. Trent and Rivka shifted, with only the other Jinn as witness, and took the sky a moment later. Each of the dragons wheeled around to their chosen direction and then…the hunt was on again.
Rivka was glad that Liam had not objected to their group being the largest of those sent out to track the pirates. The honest truth was that Skelaroth—impressive, though he was—was not particularly skilled in land operations. Rivka had been teaching him what she could over the past few days, and he was a quick study, but he lacked the experience and knowledge to act effectively.
Likewise, Rivka had little doubt that Liam was an accomplished fighter, but like Skelaroth, he didn’t have the skills that knights trained years to acquire. He couldn’t help Skelaroth spot things from the air the way each trained knight coul
d. Liam and Skelaroth had partnered only a few days ago, and just for this expedition. They weren’t a true fighting team. Not like the knights who had each taken a route to check on their own.
Trent was also a fighting man, and he had taken the Northern route where he would be likely to find help easily, if he happened to be the one to corner Fisk. The simple fact was, Rivka thought the road that Liam and Skelaroth would be following was the most likely route for Fisk to take. She wanted to back up Skelaroth and Liam, and it just made sense to put more people on the path that held the most promise.
Either sea dragon or sea captain could have taken offense, but they were both sensible beings, thank goodness. Neither dragon nor man had made any comment about her continued presence with them. Perhaps they thought they would be protecting her, but she knew her skills would be needed to fill in the gaps where theirs were lacking. Still, both could fight, and neither lacked courage. They were good companions to have along if combat became necessary.
In fact, she hoped it would. Rivka wanted nothing more than to be the one to find Fisk and stop him. Perhaps it would take their combined efforts to defeat the mage and get to Fisk. Whatever the case turned out to be, she felt in her bones that they were following the right group. They had to be the ones to confront the pirate captain who had caused so much pain to so many.
Rivka did all she could over the next hours to track the much smaller group that had left from Oler. They were very good at hiding their tracks, but Rivka wasn’t Jinn for nothing. She’d been taught how to track the most difficult prey from the time she was a small girl, and her inner dragon’s instincts for the hunt were unparalleled. She would find them. Already, she saw minute signs that others would likely miss.
“We’re getting close,” she told her companions after taking a moment to study the ground in human form. This was the fourth time she’d landed to check the road, and the most profitable, by far. “See the damage to these branches?” She pointed to a spindly bush at the side of the road. “One of them brushed too close and broke these stems. The damage is fresh. They passed this way within the hour.”