“You’ve been quiet, Mother,” Myn said. “Is it a difficult cure?”
“Difficult, no. All of the ingredients will be with the royal alchemist. I’m sure of it. But I’m thinking about the Order of the Red Shadow. They are the real thing that needs to be cured.”
“Do you think they may have attacked again? Do you think father is safe?”
“I am certain he is safe, Myn. Unless that horrid place held us for weeks, the toxin won’t have taken him yet. And with the attempt on our lives, the guards will be in full force to protect him.”
“But we still don’t know who among the staff tried to kill us.”
“Do you know Captain Brem?”
“Of course. He’s Captain of the Honor Guard.”
“I am quite certain we can trust him. And given how overzealous he can be when there is no threat, I suspect when this is all over, we’ll have to send him down to the dungeon to release a dozen innocent people who were locked away on suspicion. No, your father is safe. But look here.”
She shifted the book and set it between them.
“Do you see, here? This is the cure and how to craft it. And here, just above it? These are the instructions to distill the toxin.”
“Oh… We know they went to the tower. We know Loci found a way to teach them about the Red Shadow. So they probably got the instructions to make the stuff from this book. So they probably know about the cure.”
“Quite likely. They could destroy the needed ingredients. But that is by no means a certain way to stop us. Knowing what we need, we could send messengers to every corner of the kingdom. But to come as close to taking our lives as they did, they must be clever. They must be exceptional schemers. Too clever to leave this book where we could find it unless they wanted us to find it. And with the book in hand, the there is only one place we would be likely to go.”
“You think they’ll be waiting for us at the royal alchemist’s laboratory?” Myn said.
“The palace wouldn’t be safe any longer. And the alchemist’s laboratory is quite remote. Heightened security in the palace would leave no guards to patrol the laboratory. It would be a fine place for an ambush.”
Myn clutched a little tighter at Halfax’s claw.
“I’m not frightened. We have Halfax.”
Jade smiled. “Indeed we do, Myn. Indeed we do.”
The queen stood and marched to where Halfax rested his head. She crouched before the great beast and looked into his eyes.
“You have been a faithful protector for many years. For generations. But a dragon isn’t a protector by nature, is it? I think maybe the time has come for you to do what comes naturally.”
#
Days later, what qualified as a gentle snowfall was blanketing a stout building just off the road along the foothills of the Daggergale Mountains. A rather portly man sat within the building, warming himself by the fire. Ages ago, in the Era of the Perpetual War, it was said that this place was in constant use. Experiments with magic were common. New defenses against dark magics were concocted. But as the trust in such things eroded, this had come to be little more than a storehouse, and the royal alchemist little more than a do-nothing job that existed simply because it always had. That had changed with the reign of King Terrilius and Queen Jade, but not so much that it wasn’t still a prized position for those who valued a warm fire over a day’s toil in the cold.
The royal alchemist sipped a mug of soup, plucked idly at a lute, and listened to the sound of the wailing wind. The faint crunch of footsteps outside brought a frown to his face. Visitors here were rare, and anything that required him to open the door and endure an icy burst of wind was bad news.
A rapid knock rattled the door on its hinges. He set down the lute and stiffly rose to his feet. The knock came again.
“Would you quit that racket! I have half a mind not to even answer the door. Deliveries are in the mornings, not the evenings.”
He raised the brace and tugged at the handle.
“You are lucky I even answered the door, you daft—good heavens, it’s the queen!” he yelped, stumbling back as a snow-encrusted royal forced her way inside. “T-to what do I owe this immeasurable honor of playing host to the queen. And the princess!”
Jade stomped the snow from her boots.
“Parchment and a quill. Quickly!” she demanded.
“Er, yes! Of course, yes.”
The alchemist nearly tripped over a chair as he fetched the requested items. Jade snatched them and leaned over the table, scribbling down notes.
“It is a rare privilege to have a visit from the palace without announcement.” He cleared his throat. “Or warning.”
She glanced at him. “You are Martin Tresh, aren’t you? As I recall, you worked for the steward.”
“I did, your majesty.”
“Forgive my bluntness, but can you be trusted to measure precisely? Or did the chancellor put you here because you couldn’t be trusted with the wine?”
“I have been trained properly, Your Majesty,” he said, carefully avoiding elaboration regarding the wine.
“Excellent. Fetch the items from the stores. I will also require a pair of mortars and pestles, and a clean alembic.”
He took the list of ingredients and hurried to comply.
“Are you alone here?” she called after him.
“I am, Your Majesty.”
“Are you certain?”
“Who else would be here, Your Majesty?”
“That remains to be seen.” Jade turned to the princess. The girl had carefully positioned herself in the corner of the room, far from the door and with her back to the wall. “Have you heard anything?”
“Not yet…” Myn paused.
The alchemist returned and set down the jars containing the ingredients he’d been sent to fetch and the equipment.
“Good. Set up the alembic and light the flame. I need to inspect these ingredients.”
“You, er, you should really leave that to me, Your Highness. It could be dangerous.”
“In light of recent events, this is a matter I wish to handle personally.”
Myn tipped her head.
“I hear something now, Mother,” she said with a grin.
Jade stopped her preparations and listened. She felt a heavy thump, then heard a man cry out. Something struck the wall outside hard enough to knock some dust from the ceiling above.
“What is going on out there?” the alchemist said.
“Nature is running its course,” the queen said.
She waited until the sounds outside died away, then eased the door open again and gazed out. In the dim light of the moon, many more footprints than their own fouled the fresh snow. The deepest of them were a pair of human footprints dashing for the trees, and a set of monstrous ones pursuing.
“We will need to borrow your horse, my good sir,” Jade said, shutting the door. “The steed we rode here seems to have run off.”
#
Six weeks later…
King Terrilius paced the halls of the palace. He supported himself with a cane, and had a telltale waver to his step. As tended to be the case with powerful toxins, the cure was nearly as incapacitating as the affliction. Gulping down the treatment had been the start of an unpleasant month of weakness and feverish sweats, but the worse of it was over. His strength seemed to be returning by the hour, and there was no doubt he would soon be his old self again. He reached the throne room to find his queen waiting for him.
Jade stood and gave him a tight embrace.
“Years of wearing the crown and you’ve yet to master the decorum, I see,” he said, hugging her with his free arm.
“Bah. A cold nod to my husband because some arbitrarily assembled book of protocol deemed it proper? What sense is there in being queen if we aren’t going to set aside the pointless residue of the past?”
She helped him to the throne.
“There will be
land disputes to discuss today,” the queen said.
“Arbitrating the disagreements of lords and ladies. What a splendid way to spend the final days of my convalescence,” he said without enthusiasm.
The king’s eyes turned to the smaller throne to beside that of the king and queen.
“Where is Myn?” he asked.
“Have you forgotten? Today was the day she was to visit Lain’s End,” Jade said.
He leaned back and shut his eyes. “I had forgotten. I suppose my mind is still a bit foggy.”
“It will pass,” Jade said. “A few more days.”
“Myn at Lain’s End…” He clutched the silver handle of his cane and sighed. “You would think that she was the one who had been cured by this little endeavor. Not two months after an attempt on her life, and our little girl is leaving the palace on her own.”
“She isn’t a little girl anymore, Terry. And she’s hardly alone. Six of our best palace guards accompanied her.”
“Even so. I’d feared the day would never come that our girl would feel bold enough to brave the world without us to watch over her.”
“She knows a bit more about the world now. And she knows a bit more about herself.”
He clutched at the handle of the cane a bit more.
“Are we certain she will be safe?”
Jade reached aside to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“She’s perfectly safe, Terry. Now let’s get the day’s business started, shall we?”
#
Myn dismounted her horse and gazed upon the wonder that was Lain’s End. It was unquestionably one of the most breathtaking sights in all the world, and a sacred one that few had the right to visit. A yawning void gouged deep into the mountainside ahead. The pit plunged straight down, so far into the stone that none had ever seen the bottom. Above it, hundreds of stones drifted and shifted in the air. Many were no larger than pebbles, but some were great boulders, and each took on a unique and inexplicable appearance. Emerald green, mossy stones orbited around things that gleamed like gold. Streams with no source trickled down into the pit. It was a thing of mystic wonder, though that was not the reason it was considered hallowed ground.
Ahead, at the end of an outcropping that stuck perilously out toward the center of the pit, a trio of footprints marked the place where the chosen took their stand. Powerful magics had been used here. Their place of union was etched forever into the stone, a place where snow respectfully chose not to fall. Though only three sets of footprints marked the place, Myn knew that on that day, five warriors came to this place.
She pondered it for a time. Not even her guards were permitted to view this place. She was alone, deep in the icy mountains. She never would have dreamed she would have the courage to be in such a place without people to protect her from her terrible, accursed luck. But then, she wasn’t truly alone.
The quiet crunch of snow signaled the visitor she’d been waiting for.
“It’s nice to see you again, Halfax,” Myn said politely as she turned.
The dragon strode up and stood before her, eyes focused on hers.
“Aren’t you going to lecture me about how it’s dangerous to be here alone?”
“You have too much of your mother in you to listen to such things,” Halfax said. “Have you come to admire Lain’s End, or do you have other reasons?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Very well.”
“How do you like living in the Daggergale Mountains?”
“That does not matter.”
“It matters to me. Now tell me. How do you like it?”
“I stay fed, and I stay close to you. That is enough.”
“But when we traveled through the forest, you seemed more at home there. The hunting must have been easier.”
“Ravenwood is thick with prey,” he agreed.
“And the cold? You don’t mind it?”
“I have lived in the north all my life. I am accustomed to it.”
She folded her arms. “You are a difficult creature to get to know, Halfax.”
“Why do you ask these questions?”
“Not so long ago, we took a trip to New Kenvard. Down south. I saw an academy there. A place where they taught new magic. I’ve spoken with my parents. I think I wish to go there. To be educated there for a few years.”
“After what happened in the wizard’s tower, you still wish to do this?”
“I wish to do it because of what happened in the wizard’s tower. If magic is dangerous, I need to understand it. And besides… you’ll come along, won’t you? You’ll stay close.”
“I will. Always.”
“Then I will be safe.”
She turned back to the shifting stones again. He matched her gaze.
“Your mother, my namesake, was here. She saw this happen.”
“She did.”
“Did she ever tell you about that day?”
“Many times. She lost someone very important to her that day.”
“Lain…” Myn turned to Halfax. “Is it really true? Was he the Red Shadow? The real one?”
“He was that and much more.”
“And now people try to assassinate the royal family in his name.”
“Not anymore,” Halfax said simply.
“You’re sure?”
He looked to her. “I was thorough.”
“There will be others. And there will always be my luck.”
“I will always be watching. I will always protect you. And you won’t always need me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are strong. You are wise. You are brave. You used your greatest weakness to defeat a being neither your mother nor I could best. Just imagine what you can do with your greatest strength.”
“Halfax…” She shut her eyes. “For most of my life, I didn’t truly know you were there. But, in a way… I always did. In the cold nights, after a close call, while I lay in my bed and tried to sleep, I would think of the coin my mother showed me, and I would whisper to myself not to fear, because there was the protector. And just knowing that there was someone out there, beyond all of the palace staff, watching over me. That was what could chase away the fear and finally let me sleep. You were the one who helped me carry on. Even the thought of you. I’ve always needed you, Halfax.”
She stepped forward and threw her arms around the base of his neck.
“And I always will.”
###
From the Author
Thank you for reading! If you liked this story, or perhaps if you found it lacking, I’d love to hear from you. Below are links to some of the places you can find me online. For free stories and important updates, join my newsletter.
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Discover other titles by Joseph R. Lallo:
The Book of Deacon Series:
Book 1: The Book of Deacon
Book 2: The Great Convergence
Book 3: The Battle of Verril
Book 4: The D’Karon Apprentice
Book 5: The Crescents
Other stories in the same setting:
Jade
The Rise of the Red Shadow
The Redemption of Desmeres
The Adventures of Rustle and Eddy
The Big Sigma Series:
Book 1: Bypass Gemini
Book 2: Unstable Prototypes
Book 3: Artificial Evolution
Book 4: Temporal Contingency
Book 5: Indra Station
The Free-Wrench Series:
Book 1: Free-Wrench
Book 2: Skykeep
Book 3: Ichor Well
Book 4: The Calderan Problem
Book 5: Cipher Hill
Collections:
The Book of Deacon Anthology
The Big Sigma Collection: Volume 1
The Free-Wrench Collection: Volume 1
Other Stories:
Between
Fallen Empire: Rogue Derelict
Structophis
The Other Eight
Halfax Page 8