Trials of the Twiceborn (The Songreaver's Tale Book 6)

by Andrew Hunter

  “If that is your ideal civilization, then yes, of course,” Marla said.

  “What other ideal could be so worthy as to emulate our fallen masters?” Morst asked.

  “Is that all we should strive for, to simply emulate them?” Marla asked, lifting her hands before her, “Is there no higher goal than that which we might attain?”

  “The Masters ruled the world with benevolence and wisdom,” Morst said, “They crafted living works of art so beautiful and enduring that they survived the very destruction of their world! To what higher purpose could we, their children, aspire?”

  “And yet we are only their adopted children,” Marla said, “Should we not consider our birth parents as well?”

  “You speak of the humans?” Morst said, his eyes narrowing.

  “I do.”

  “And what could that savage race teach us?” Morst scoffed, “It was their kind that very nearly scourged this broken world of our Masters’ race. Even now, they seek only to butcher one another for imagined wrongs or, at best, to lift themselves up in some pale imitation of the Creators’ craft.”

  “And yet their blood flows in our veins as surely as that of dragonkind,” Marla countered, “To ignore that fact invites disaster.”

  “My counter argument arrives, as if on cue,” Morst chuckled, rising to his feet again at Nerrys’s approach.

  The others rose as well to greet the big Haedrian vampire in white armor as she approached the table.

  Nerrys nodded her white helm in greeting as she pulled a crate over to the far end of the table, opposite Morst. The wooden box creaked as she settled atop it, ruffling her leathery wings beneath her cloak as she sat down.

  “We were just discussing the duality of our vampiric natures,” Valganna Morst said as he lowered himself into his chair again, “Wouldn’t you agree that, of the two bloods that pump through our hearts, the draconic will always prove the stronger?”

  Marla couldn’t see Nerrys’s eyes through the jet-black slit that served as a visor for her white helm, and could guess nothing about the woman’s reaction to Morst’s question. She simply sat in silence, giving no sign that she had even heard what he had said.

  “It is evident in each of us,” Morst continued, “We may have been formed in the image of the mannish race at our birth, and yet, over time, we change, drifting ever nearer to the draconic ideal of our true blood... until, after many years, that imperfect human nature is cleansed from our bodies.”

  Marla silently fumed, not wishing to cause further offense to the obviously agitated elder, but unwilling to let the matter slip away without further argument.

  “Cherries,” Nerrys spoke up.

  “Pardon me?” Morst asked with a curious look.

  “It was a bowl of cherries,” Nerrys said, lifting her helm slightly as she looked across the table at him, “The last thing I ever ate before my father had me drink his blood... It was a bowl of cherries.”

  “You were born a human?” Marla asked in astonishment.

  “He let me choose one thing... one thing to taste for the very last time,” Nerrys said, her voice sounding distant and muffled by her helm, “I wanted it to be cherries... I can still taste them now. The last one was the sweetest.”

  Marla looked at Morst. The old arcanist looked a bit taken aback by the Haedrian vampire’s words. He smiled nervously and nodded as though he did not know exactly how to respond.

  “I’ve lost track of how many centuries have passed since I tasted that last cherry, but I still remember it,” Nerrys sighed, “No, Valganna Morst... we are never truly cleansed of our humanity.”

  “Ah...” Morst said, “My apologies, Lady Haedria. I meant no offense.”

  “None taken, Valganna Morst,” Nerrys said, lifting the fingers of her white gauntlet in forgiveness.

  “Would you care for something to drink?” Marla offered.

  “No, thank you, Marla,” Nerrys said, “I’ve taken my meal in private... I did not wish to cause alarm.”

  Marla glanced over at the nearest table of dust miners. The curious vampires seated there quickly turned to look away, guilty at being caught staring.

  “I don’t suppose any of these people have ever met a member of the First House,” Alyss whispered.

  “Unlikely,” Nerrys agreed.

  “You’re not going to keep your armor on the entire time we’re here, are you?” Marla asked.

  “It seems prudent,” Nerrys said.

  “You shouldn’t have to hide like that!” Marla said.

  “It is my father’s wish,” Nerrys said with a shrug of her white pauldrons.

  “Well, we shan’t be here long at any rate,” Morst said, “I’ve spoken with the foreman, and he believes that the storm will have subsided enough that we might chance an excursion tomorrow night.”

  “Do you think we can risk a flight?” Claude asked.

  “Oh, no,” Morst said, shaking his head, “Gaunts are out of the question. It’s far too dangerous to take them down into the basin.”

  “I’ve faced danger before,” Claude said darkly.

  “As I’m certain we all have,” Morst said, “but I will not risk the safety of these noble ladies by taking them into the skies of this place. I’ve seen gaunts torn to pieces by the things that rule the air here.”

  “Then how are we to search for the island?” Marla asked.

  “We will travel by boat, Lady Veranu,” Morst answered, “The foreman has arranged for us to take one of the dredge boats out in the evening. He assures me that the flying creatures, he calls them chimeras, will not trouble us, so long as we remain in the boat.”

  “Thank you, Valganna,” Marla said. She felt a strange tingle of anticipation as she considered the possibility that she might finally be nearing the end of her strange dream-quest to find the sunlit island.

  “Will you be joining us, Master Moonwing,” Morst asked Claude, “or, would you prefer to remain with your gaunts?”

  “I’ll go with you,” Claude said, his eyes on Marla as he studied her with a concerned look on his face.

  “Excellent, and you, Lady Arkadi?”

  “I’ll be there,” Alyss yawned, “if you’re able to wake me up in the evening... I’m exhausted.”

  “Indeed,” Morst said, “We should all get a good day’s sleep... We have a long, and potentially fruitful night in store for us.” He stood and waved for the faun girl to come and clear the table as the others rose as well. “I’ve arranged for more private quarters in another section of the Shard, if you will all follow me.”

  Morst’s bodyguards fell into step close behind him, and Alyss chatted quietly with Nerrys as they followed after, leaving Marla and Claude to bring up the rear.

  “Are you excited?” Claude asked.

  “Of course!” Marla laughed, “I mean, can you imagine what this would mean to us... to the world, if we could really find out what happened here... what happened to the Dragon Queen?”

  “But she can’t really still be alive, can she?” Claude said as they followed Morst into a passageway in the wall of the central dome.

  “What if she is?” Marla asked, “What if we really find her and convince her to come back to us?”

  “But, if she is still alive, why hasn’t she shown herself before this?” Claude asked, stepping around a pile of crates stacked against the wall of the shadowy corridor.

  “I don’t know,” Marla whispered, “but we have to find out, don’t we?”

  “What if there is nothing there?” Claude said.

  “But my dream...”

  “May just be a dream, Marla,” Claude interrupted, “You have to be ready to face that possibility.”

  “I know,” she sighed, “... to be honest, I think that part of me is hoping that it will all be a mistake, and then we can all just go home again.”

  Claude smiled.

  “What’s so funny?” Marla asked.

  “You think of the city as your home now?” he asked.


  Marla fell silent for a moment, considering it. “I don’t know where home is anymore,” she said.

  Claude tugged at the sleeve of her jacket, pulling her to a stop as the others continued on ahead. He leaned close, smiling, and she could feel his warmth as he pressed close to her.

  “Wherever you call home,” he whispered, “I want to be there.”

  Marla smiled back as she looked into his crimson eyes. She saw a reflection of golden fire there as she leaned close and shared a lingering kiss with the dark-haired boy. She closed her eyes and lost herself in his embrace, hearing the faint moan of the wind outside, finding its way in through some crack in the ancient stones of the draconic structure.

  She started suddenly at the anguished howl of some distant creature, carried upon the wind.

  Claude laughed nervously, and Marla gave him a blushing smile.

  “I’m just hoping that you don’t decide to make this place your new home,” Claude chuckled.

  “I don’t know,” Marla said, “I think you would make a splendid chimera-tamer.”

  “I’ll stick to gaunts, thank you,” he said.

  “Marla?” Nerrys called from further up the hallway.

  “We’re coming,” Marla called back, pulling Claude with her as they hurried to catch up with the others.

  Alyss greeted Marla with a sly smirk as she and Claude joined the others in the dimly lit storeroom that someone had converted into sleeping quarters for the Valganna and his guests.

  “You always have to be the last, don’t you?” Alyss teased.

  Chapter Five

  Marla stood on the shores of the sunlit island with her bare feet ankle-deep in the surf. She looked down at her pale white legs as the cool morning breeze whipped at her nightgown and hair. She lifted her hands to her face, tasting the sweet droplets of spray on her fingertips. The water swirled around her legs as she turned to face the effervescent waves of green water that rolled in from the misty lake.

  She knelt, feeling the icy chill as a wave crashed over her knees, soaking her thin gown. Without knowing why, she reached down and scooped up a handful of water and brought it to her lips. It poured down her throat like liquid light, washing away every doubt, every fear. She laughed as she waded out further, letting the bubbling swell of the lake rise up and wash over her body.

  “It is time,” Nerrys said, shaking Marla gently awake.

  “What?” Marla asked, her eyelids fluttering as she returned to her senses in the gloom of the musty storeroom.

  “What did you dream?” the ancient vampire in white armor asked.

  “I don’t remember,” Marla said, trying to grasp at the fleeting images of sunlit shores now fading from her mind’s eye, “I think I was drinking water from the lake.”

  “I would not advise it,” Valganna Morst chuckled as he scratched absently at his bald head. The arcanist looked a bit comical with his spindly white limbs sticking out of his long gray nightshirt.

  “It was just a dream,” Marla said.

  “Even so, I would caution against even trying to touch the waters of the lake,” Morst said as he collected his neatly folded leather garb from atop a nearby crate.

  “Why is that?” Alyss asked, smoothing her tangled braids with her fingers as she sat up in her cot.

  “You’ll see the reason why soon enough,” Morst laughed.

  Alyss rolled her eyes as she leaned forward and climbed out of bed. Marla glimpsed Kaelin’s tooth through the open throat of Alyss’s gown, suspended from a thin silver chain around the girl’s neck. She wondered if the girl would ever forgive herself for her friend’s death.

  The men excused themselves to the hallway while Marla and Alyss dressed themselves in their protective gear.

  “A bath would have been nice first,” Alyss grumbled as she slipped into the musty leather garb that she had worn for the past several nights of travel before arriving at Shard. She looked at Nerrys curiously then. “Do you sleep in that outfit?” she asked.

  Nerrys tilted her white helm a little to the side as she looked at the Arkadi girl. “I do not sleep,” she said.

  “What? Never?” Alyss exclaimed.

  “Not as you do,” the ancient vampire answered.

  “But I thought that all vampires slept during the day,” Marla said, “I’m not sure I could even stay awake all day if I tried now... I could when I was a little girl, but now...”

  “I have... transcended sleep,” Nerrys said, “I am not completely awake, but I am still aware of my surroundings.”

  “What do you do, just sit there and stare at us while we sleep?” Alyss demanded.

  “Something like that,” Nerrys said.

  “I’d be bored out of my mind,” Alyss scoffed, “Can’t you read a book or something?”

  “My thoughts are not idle,” Nerrys said.

  “What do you think about?” Marla asked as she pulled on her jacket and began to button up the chest flap.

  “I listen to the Song,” Nerrys said.

  “What song?” Alyss asked as she fumbled with her own row of buttons.

  “The Song of Creation,” Nerrys said, her voice subdued.

  “Never heard it,” Alyss laughed.

  “You will... someday,” Nerrys answered sadly.

  Something about the tone of her voice discouraged further questions, and even Alyss seemed content to let the subject drop. Marla and Alyss looked at one another and fell silent.

  “Almost ready in there?” Claude called from the hallway.

  “Yes,” Marla said, picking up her goggles and then pulling the leather skullcap down tightly over her thick black hair.

  They emerged into the hallway to find Valganna Morst chatting with the foreman. The foreman’s dust-crusted coat lit the corridor with the tiny grains of sun-bright sand trapped in its seams, and Marla quickly pulled her facemask closed against the faint discomfort the light caused her.

  “You’re in luck,” the foreman said as he turned to face the ladies, “It looks like the storm has cleared up, and it should be a lovely night for a boat ride!”

  Valganna Morst chuckled politely. “Yes, well, let us be about it then,” he said, “We’ve no time to waste.”

  “This way, Valganna,” the stocky foreman said, waving for them to follow.

  They gathered before the stone disk that blocked the main entrance as the Valganna and the foreman checked the fit of their protective clothing. Morst had to rebutton Alyss’s jacket to fix a small gap at the neck of the facemask.

  “Oops,” Alyss murmured from behind her leather mask.

  “Can’t be too careful, can we?” Morst said, patting her gently on the shoulder before stepping away. Satisfied at their preparations, he nodded toward the caretaker.

  The caretaker shouldered into the stone disk and pushed hard, rolling it back from the mouth of the tunnel.

  Marla’s breath caught in her throat as the last glow of sunset spilled through the tunnel’s mouth, filling the antechamber with purple light. The scent of rain whistled in with the cold mountain wind.

  “Anyone uncertain of our purpose should turn back now,” Morst said, his words muffled by his mask.

  “We’re with you, Valganna,” Marla said, and the others nodded their assent.

  “Then let us make history tonight!” Valganna Morst cried as he strode forward into the dying light of day.

  Marla made a point of stepping in front of Alyss on the way out the door.

  “Why do you always have to be last?” Marla scoffed as she glanced back over her shoulder at the girl.

  Alyss poked Marla hard in the hip with her thumb.

  “Stop it!” Marla giggled.

  Claude shook his head, falling into step with Marla as they followed Morst and the foreman down the winding trail toward the basin.

  “Have either of you ever been on a boat before?” Claude asked. Even through the mask, Marla could hear the tension in his voice.

  “I ride the canal boats all the time,” A
lyss said.

  “I mean a real boat,” Claude said.

  “They float on the water and go places,” Alyss replied, “I think that makes them real boats.”

  “You know what I mean,” Claude sighed.

  “No, then,” Alyss said, “Have you?”

  “No,” Claude answered quietly.

  “You’ve never been on a boat?” Marla asked.

  “No.”

  “Oh,” Marla said as they turned a switchback in the mountain path and traversed a series of dusty steps hewn into the rock of the mountainside.

  “I thought you Moonwings were trained to do everything,” Alyss laughed.

  “In the air, yes!” Claude grumbled.

  “What’s wrong, Claude?” Marla asked.

  “I just don’t like being unprepared for whatever could go wrong,” he said.

  “It’s just a boat ride,” Alyss said, “and the foreman said that the monsters wouldn’t bother us as long as we stayed in the boat.”

  “But what happens if something goes wrong with the boat?” Claude said.

  “What do you mean?” Marla asked.

  “I can’t swim, Marla!” Claude hissed.

  “You can’t swim?” Alyss laughed, “Haven’t you ever been to the baths?”

  “Of course I’ve been to the baths!” Claude snapped back.

  “Well, what did you do there?” Alyss demanded.

  “I took a bath!”

  “That’s it?” Alyss scoffed, “They have something like seventeen different pools! Most of them are just for swimming! What did you do, just splash around in the children’s pool?”

  “Seventeen different pools?” Claude said incredulously.

  “Yes,” Alyss said, “My favorite was the pool that looked like a canal with the current that pushes you around while you float.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to the same bath house,” Claude said.

  “Well, how many pools does your bath house have?”

  “Just the one... for bathing,” Claude answered.

  “That’s just... sad,” Alyss said.

  Marla hopped down a particularly rough section of the path and turned to help Alyss down as well.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about not being able to swim, young master,” the foreman called back as they rounded another switchback.