“They just leave their babies like that?”
“As I said, they don’t view social skills and nurture in the same way we do. Our children must have care and love or they wouldn’t thrive, but dragonlings spend barely any time at all in that infantile stage. Within a day of hatching they are already stretching their wings and learning to bear their body weight in flight.”
Elaina frowned. “So by the time Flappy comes back to me, he won’t be…” She patted her shoulder, apparently remembering him hiding there, in her hair, just the day before. “I thought he looked as though he’d grown some during the night.”
Rainger squeezed her gently. “No, Elaina, I’m sorry, but by the time you see him, he will have grown significantly. They do that in the first few days, but it’s a biological necessity so they can defend themselves from attack.”
Basile said, “Thanks to you, he’s past that vulnerable stage and rather well adjusted to people. Extraordinarily so, in fact.”
“It’s okay. I knew some of this from talking to you last night. I was just…it’s silly, but I’ve grown attached to him, and it hurts to think of him not needing me like that much longer. I thought that was why I was here.”
“You are very much needed. You’re right. He has bonded, or imprinted, with you. When he set eyes on you, you became his.”
“Oh. Well, it’s nice to be needed.”
He leaned down to kiss her. “He’s not the only one who has grown attached to you, sorceress.”
“True,” Rainger murmured. “I hope he isn’t the only reason you stay.”
“I’m here, I guess, until Selena tells me otherwise.”
And I pray the Enchantress dallies a long while before sending you back.
Rainger picked up the thread of the story once more. “The dragonlings were taught our language and tactics of military defense, and the heirs to the dragon throne were taught diplomacy, as well.”
“Wow. That must’ve been something to see.”
Basile’s heart ached even as he smiled at the recollection. “The sky was always filled with dragons, and even some dragon riders, coming and going between our kingdoms. It was in that time that I was born, and I have many good memories of my childhood. But there were people of the Western Kingdom who didn’t possess the ability to communicate with them and remained wary. Distrustful. There were those among them who fomented wild theories because it suited their agenda that, one day, the dragons would rise up against the Western Kingdom and destroy it.”
“That sounds frighteningly like the world I come from, except for the dragon part. Did you and Rainger know each other?”
“We’re the same age and grew up together,” Rainger replied. “My father was the chief of the king’s guardsmen, second only to Lord Violet of the Order.”
“Violet lived in the castle?”
Basile nodded, suddenly struck by how much he missed those early days. “Yes, along with the Order. My mother died when I was born, and one day when I was a young man, training with the knights, my father took me aside and told me he’d wed a woman.”
“Just like that? Wow.”
“It wasn’t a political match or an arranged marriage. He’d met her on his latest diplomatic journey, married her, and had brought her home with him.”
“Draconia?”
Basile nodded. “Everyone adored my stepmother, thought she would be good for the kingdom, but she was terrified of the dragons, or so she said, and spoke against them every chance she got. At the same time, Violet began reporting the disappearance of dragonlings from the training program—even tiny, newly arrived hatchlings, barely out of their shells. Draconia, who had my father’s ear, pointed the finger at the head of his knights, and my father, completely under her spell, had Violet and his chief knights arrested.”
“The Skittles boys?”
“If by that you mean Rouge, Orange, Jaune, Vert, Bleu, and Indigo, yes, the…Skittles boys, as you say. All of them were arrested.”
“That bitch,” she muttered, her little hands clenching into fists.
Basile grinned at her indignation on their behalf. She didn’t know half of the knights were already in love with her, and the rest were fighting it but well on their way. Not that it would do them any good.
“So I went to my father one night and pleaded with him to at least speak with them, to hear their side of the tale. Father refused and even mentioned the request to Draconia, which only hardened her heart. Time passed and the seasons had changed, and on the night of a village festival celebrating an excellent harvest, Draconia went to my father and told him she’d had a change of heart. In order for him to come to grips with the reality that the dragons intended the kingdom harm, she asked him to go to the knights, and to Lord Violet, not to hear reason, but to listen to their confession.”
“Confession? What could they confess to? Hurting the little dragons? Only a fool—”
“He was well and truly under her control by this point. Violet and the others had nothing to confess, but my father did her will. He ruled in name only.”
“What happened?”
“While everyone else from the palace was down in the village, they watched in horror as what she’d predicted, along with her cohorts in the kingdom, became reality…or at least the reality she manufactured.”
“This story doesn’t have a happy ending, does it?”
“She’d sent false word to the dragon king, telling him that his son, and the dragon squadrons in training, had been executed for crimes against King Farald and the royal family. In truth, she’d murdered nearly an entire generation of dragonlings to gain her evil power. Only Zyrsyrrys the Horrific, the heir, managed to escape, eventually finding his way home.”
“Oh, no…”
“Yes. The dragons came in full force, ready to destroy us, but Lord Violet stopped them.”
“Oh, good.”
“No, it wasn’t good at all. When her plan to manipulate the dragons into killing the king, his trusted knights, and even me, and destroying Coeur du Ciel failed, she did the job herself with no one the wiser.
“The dragons tried to stop her as she laid waste to the palace with the dragon magic she’d absorbed from the dragonlings, by eating their hearts. They pursued her, attempting to destroy her, but she evaded them. Because of their sheer size, the dragons succeeded in doing even more damage, making it seem from the vantage point in the village below as if they were in fact laying waste to the kingdom, just as the ignorant had feared.”
“You were there?” she asked, clutching Basile’s arm with cold hands. He could practically sense the empathy in her touch.
“We were. The dragon king and his army saved Lord Violet and the knights from destruction and removed them to the safety of this abbey, but I stayed out of duty to the Western Kingdom, what remained of it. They couldn’t find Rainger in the rubble, and for a time, we thought he’d perished.”
Elaina turned to Rainger and touched the copper tattoo on his arm, hissed, and pulled away. “It’s hot.”
Consternation growing, Basile tilted his head and looked at Rainger but didn’t say anything, and didn’t have to, as Rainger glanced guiltily at him.
“It’s not that bad. The summons came last night, but you know it’ll take time before she forces it.”
“What? Forces what?”
“I’ll explain more of that later. Anyway, Draconia’s guardsmen found me in the rubble. After the attack, she was justified, she said, in creating a legion of Dragon Huntsmen, with the sole purpose of hunting down any dragon that dared leave the Eastern Kingdom. She placed an especially high bounty on baby dragons, captured before they could fly or breathe fire. They were not as great of a hazard for her huntsmen, she claimed, but the truth was that the magic was also greater the younger they were.
“She forced me into their ranks, warning me that Farald was dead and no one would be the wiser if she killed Basile. She could simply accuse me of his murder if I didn’t do her will. She held t
he same threat over Basile’s head to make him stay. We knew she was serious and decided to do as she bid.”
“How awful. You are here in the abbey, so I assume you escaped?”
Basile’s skin crawled at the recollection of how that had come about. “I did. I was nearly old enough to take the throne, and she wouldn’t hold power for long as regent. So she—” He shuddered at the memory of her sharp nails dragging across his bare chest, thinking she could entice him.
“Oh, eww. Are you about to tell me what I think you’re about to tell me?”
“I take it by your expression that you understand she was as willing to wed the son for power as she had the father?”
“Exactly.”
“Yes, she tried to seduce me with her wiles and then with her evil power. I withstood her long enough that she grew weary of me.”
“Well, that sounds ominous. What did she do to you?”
“She thought I was firmly within her power,” Rainger said. “She ordered me to take him into the forest, kill him, and remove his heart. I was to make it look as though he’d been set upon by wild animals and bring his heart back to her.”
“All this talk of eating hearts is making me ill. Is that what she intended to do, even though it wasn’t from a dragon?”
Rainger chuckled and dodged when Basile would’ve knocked him on the back of the head. “The heart of a virgin also has strong magical properties.”
“A virgin’s heart?” Elaina asked with a big smile when she turned to look at him. “How sweet.”
Basile rolled his eyes and willed away the heat in his cheeks. “As I said, I was young. I certainly was too busy avoiding her clutches to be bedding willing wenches in the village. That was years ago. The matter has long since been rectified.”
“How did you pull off your escape?”
“Selena met us in the forest. She would’ve killed me, thinking me under Draconia’s spell, but Basile convinced her not to. And she took us to the abbey, to Violet and the others. I was more valuable to them if I remained in Draconia’s good graces, and Selena brewed a dragon-shell-infused tonic that would protect me from her ability to invade a person’s mind, and to compel them to speak the truth. When I returned to Draconia, I told her that when I tried to kill him he escaped, but in the process of escaping, he fell from a high cliff. His body bounced many times off the rocks before landing in a deep ravine. There was no way he could’ve survived, and his body was irretrievable. She believed me incapable of lying to her.”
“That’s a good thing. But you hunted dragons for her?”
“I did. Prior to Basile’s escape, I had fallen under her spell, believing the lies she spread even though I’d seen what had actually happened with my own eyes. I thought the others were dead. To be honest, I wanted to be dead, too, especially once I captured my first dragon. It was a tiny hatchling dropped from its mother’s armored pouch during a battle with the other dragon huntsmen. Draconia promoted me for bringing one to her that wasn’t even completely out of its shell. The shells have magical medicinal properties and are very valuable. I watched her—”
“That’s awful.”
“She ate the heart, which only increased her magic. The tattoos are her means for recalling the huntsmen, and for punishing them if they don’t come. In the past, she has even used them to execute huntsmen.”
“She murdered her own men?”
“The tattoos grow hot when she summons a huntsman. If he doesn’t return to her within a reasonable amount of time, they glow gold, signaling to other huntsmen that he is disobeying orders, and a bounty is available for his return to the queen.”
“How does she kill with them? If she knows that you are here, is she going to kill you?”
“She does not know that I am here. She thinks I’m on an extended hunt near the eastern border. Early in her reign, she recalled an entire company of huntsmen because she’d had reports of a dragon downed by a bolt of lightning. She summoned the whole company because it was an adult dragon, and in addition to his wings and his heart, she wanted his head for a trophy. The huntsmen didn’t return fast enough, and the dragons collected their deceased kin and returned him home, costing her the prize she wanted. In a fit of anger for the missed opportunity, Draconia dispatched all of them at once.”
“For not returning in time to claim the dead dragon?”
“Yes. They died right where they stood, on a ledge, cut off from returning to her because of a tremendous flood. She was furious when she learned the truth, but she couldn’t blame anyone else because she’d done it in the presence of too many witnesses in order to make an example out of them. Since then, the dragons have grown wily and the dragon huntsmen have been bringing her fewer and fewer dragon offerings. She said she’d never use the tattoos in such a preemptory fashion ever again. She is a horrible, evil woman, but she has grown patient with her years.”
“How old is she?”
“No one knows. She hasn’t aged a day since she first appeared in the kingdom. In fact, some say she looks even younger and more beautiful. Ultimately, she is a vain creature. All of her purposes and goals revolve around possessing the greatest power and beauty in the kingdom.”
Basile touched her shoulder and said, “That is just one of the reasons she must never set eyes on you, Elaina.”
Elaina looked at him as if he was crazy. “Why?”
“Draconia is not half as beautiful as you are.”
“Whatever,” she said with a snort and a giggle, but then she looked into their eyes. “Wait, you’re serious.”
“And if she learns of your backpack and the many secrets…the magic it contains? She would dispatch you at her earliest opportunity.”
She glanced at her belongings on the bench and then gaped up at both of them. “Seriously? For being decent-looking and being prepared?”
“As you say, sorceress. In her world, you are a rival.”
“Well hell.”
“Don’t worry, we will protect you.”
Elaina pointed at Rainger. “She thinks you’re out hunting dragons?”
Rainger nodded. “As far as she knows, I am her loyal dragon huntsman.”
“But she can kill you with these?”
“She could, yes, but I don’t think she will. I report to her regularly.”
“And she can’t do some kind of mind trick thingy with you?”
“Thanks to Selena’s potion, Draconia can discover only that which I choose to reveal to her. Baby dragons are increasingly rare in the kingdom, so a huntsman returning with no prize is not uncommon, though aggravating to Draconia since she requires their hearts to maintain her power and their wings to use in her beauty spells.”
Rainger rose and held up her backpack to slip over her shoulders. “Lord Violet will be returning soon with your charge. I’m sure he will be tired and seeking your care.” He glanced guiltily at Basile. They needed to discuss his imminent return to Palais de Lune de Sang, as well as why Rainger hadn’t told him sooner, although Basile was certain he knew the answer. Had he been in Rainger’s shoes, he would’ve put the inevitable off, too.
Elaina turned a slow circle with a chuckle. “Who would ever have thought that a daycare worker and student from Seattle would be the Dragon Nanny?”
“The what?”
“Never mind. I guess I’d better get up there.”
When they emerged from the cavern and made their way back up the passageway to the main floor of the abbey, the oddest sound greeted them.
Whooooooooo-ooooooo!
Chapter Ten
Queen Draconia breathed in and out slowly, conserving her strength. Still in recovery from the last spell she’d cast, she reclined on her divan, gazing at the mirror she carried everywhere with her. She tapped at the black surface with a sharp nail, enjoying the tiny whimpers Vermin made in his unconscious state. If one couldn’t have action, one could still find things to amuse oneself. But even tormenting the buffoon gave way to boredom.
“Wak
e up, dog. I wasn’t that hard on you. At least open your eyes so I can see.”
Incredulity made her sit up when, a moment later, the treacherous mutt refused. Outright refused her. She raked her nails across the hard crystalline surface, and he howled, a singularly delightful sound.
“Once more with feeling,” she whispered as she dragged a nail across the mirror more slowly.
“Whooooooooo-ooooooo!”
“Very nice, Vermin. Now that you’re awake, do my bidding. Open.”
The black image changed to shifting gray smudges.
“Better. Now stop fighting me. It only makes this more painful for you. Just do your job.”
A flickering red tinged the outer edges of the unfocused image, and she smirked. “If one is to bake, one needs to crack a few eggs. What’s a little pain compared to serving your queen? Now, where are they?”
Blinking. More blinking, and then the presence of—
Legs? Feet? Boots? “What is this?” she asked, realizing that he was surrounded by men clad in the gear of men of the forest. A face peered down close to his, and she smiled as the image focused. “Well, aren’t you a handsome one. I remember your face but not your name.” One of the Knights of the Order of the Dragon. For all his numerous faults, Vermin hadn’t deceived her about finding them.
Vermin moaned, but the sound translated as another howl. In his simple, bewildered mind, trapped in her mirror, he implored, “Get back, milord, before she taints you, too.”
“Oh, you’ll pay for that one later, Vermin. Now shut up. I can’t hear them because of your whining.”
The man scratched behind Vermin’s ear. “Odiferous, wake up. What is wrong with you?”
Dance of the Dragon Sorceress Page 11