by Lee, Nadia
“Come in!” he said, the words once again steady and strong.
The door opened, and a Toshi lookalike zapped inside with a crystal jewelry box in his foreclaws. His eyes wide and uncertain, he looked at me then at Ramiel then back at me.
Ramiel nodded to me. “Until dinner.”
With that, he left the room, never looking back, as though our encounter hadn’t affected him at all. If it hadn’t been for the sweet male warmth lingering on my lips, I would’ve thought the kiss a figment of a fantasy.
Nine
The banquet was much bigger than I had imagined. It could probably house the entire St. Peter’s Basilica and then some.
The main hall had nine gigantic tapestries, each with a past Dragonlord of Besade. Ramiel, still alive, wasn’t up there yet. The center one also had the crest of Besade, a silver hydra surrounded by five dragons coiled in different shapes. I recognized them as forming letters from one of the ancient scripts, but I couldn’t read what it said. There are so many dragon scripts that people don’t bother to study anything other than the standard one, and that isn’t always what dragons use. I wondered if I would somehow magically know all the dialects when I got my first heartstone. That would be totally cool: magic language osmosis. It was sort of ridiculous to think of a dragonlady who couldn’t speak any dragon tongue except Standard. Not that I was going to be a dragonlady, of course.
Between and behind the tapestries, the bas-reliefs took a break from their battles on the stone walls. Many of them looked awful, although a few seemed quite happy with their progress. I couldn’t tell who was winning. Too many injured and dead strewed the vertical landscape.
I stopped on the lowest step of the three tiers of the banquet hall. Each tier had the same enormous marble table piled with exactly the same types of food. In the center was a heaping pile of General Tso’s chicken, courtesy of Toshi. My mouth watered at the aroma of the spicy-sweet poultry. I guess he eventually found a recipe. Either that or some poor guy named Tso in Hunan province was going to wake up to find his chickens stolen—or purchased, depending on how Toshi had decided to proceed with the “procurement.” From the looks of it, Toshi had decimated China’s largest chicken farm.
The lowest tier had wyrms, about twenty or so. Drakes occupied the middle one, and wyverns the highest. It made sense in a way. Wyrms travel underground, drakes on land and wyverns in the sky.
So, where did I belong? I certainly was a land creature, but there was no chair fit for a human at the middle table.
Toshi flew toward me with his tiny arms spread wide. “Milady, welcome!” He beamed. “You look wonderful!”
I blushed at the compliment. I knew I didn’t look so wonderful. There had been no styling gel for my frizzy hair, which I’d rebraided, or any makeup to even out my skin tone—not that I generally wear makeup. Maybe the rubies and diamonds dangling from my ears were blinding him. But it was nice to hear anyway.
“You saved me, Toshi. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had anything suitable.” I gave him a small wink. “And these shoes are better than any Manolo I own.” It was the truth. If there was one fashion item I splurged on, it was shoes, and I was demanding, a connoisseur. They had to be comfortable, stylish and durable.
Small fans on either side of Toshi’s neck puffed out. “I am honored to have pleased you. I also hope you enjoyed the flowers in your room. They’re called sooths and are grown only by my family. It’s our secret hybrid.”
“They were lovely. Thank you.”
“Now, please allow me to escort you to your seat. If you would, say hello to the wyrms at the table as we pass. They’re the elite of the elite, commanding wyrms who have lived through numerous wars of antiquity. A few words from you would mean so much to them.”
All the wyrms had lowered their heads. I cleared my throat. It felt strange to be honored by those I’d spent years studying and disliking. I hoped they didn’t know that.
What was I supposed to tell ancient wyrms that would make them feel good about themselves?
All of you look brave and wonderful?
All of you look cool?
All of you possess the hearts of—
“Hello. Nice to meet you all,” I said instead, hoping they understood English. Dragons generally speak multiple tongues, but I couldn’t assume. English might be the international language of business or whatever in the mortal world, but to them, it was probably insignificant. “I’m Ashera del Cid.”
Toshi fluttered beside my ear and whispered, “They’re touched beyond expression, milady.”
Hmmm. They were certainly touching the ground with their heads, but I wasn’t so sure about the “beyond expression” part. No harm in letting Toshi think what he liked, though.
The next table was drakes. Again, the elite of the elite, drakes who had fought and commanded in many wars of the past. So I repeated the same thing I had told the wyrms. I hoped it was okay, and nobody compared notes later. I wasn’t the speech-making type.
Finally, the wyverns. They lowered their heads and wings without waiting for me to speak. Oh well. I guess they didn’t want to be “touched beyond expression.”
“Ashera,” Ramiel said from the head of the highest table. He looked perfect up there, presiding over his dragons. My blood rushed to my face and all the other sensitive spots, and the arousal returned, lingering over my skin like the finest raw silk. But I did my best to look cool, like that tempestuous kiss in my chamber had never happened, because, well, he did. I had my pride. Besides, his ability to turn me on without seeming to be affected in turn made me wary. Even Miguel hadn’t been able to do that. He’d been all heat and need.
Ramiel came to my side and extended a hand. I took it and felt it close around mine, warming my cool skin. The physical contact reassured me that everything would be all right…which was odd. I was usually more comfortable when other people didn’t get involved. Things seemed to work out better when I relied on myself.
Then again, he was a dragonlord. It couldn’t hurt to have one of those on my side…assuming, of course, he really was on my side.
He bowed, his gesture courtly and out of place in the twenty-first century, but maybe we weren’t in the twenty-first century up here. This was a scene from one of my silly fairytale fantasies—a royal banquet with me as the queen or some such nonsense—and it made me nervous. Maybe I needed to be careful what I wished for. Without further ado, he led me up to the highest table. The silence of the cavernous hall was so absolute that I could hear the silk of my dress whispering as we climbed.
Once we reached the top, we turned around and faced the dragons, who bowed to us. Looking down at their lowered heads, I thought we must have looked like a feudal lord and lady and their vassals, especially with Ramiel in an emerald silk robe. Still, rituals and the right appearances are important to supernaturals. They’re sticklers for tradition—at least the traditions they think are important enough to keep after all these years. I took a deep breath and we sat down.
Toshi clapped once, and food filled everyone’s plates. In addition to my requested entrée, there was thinly sliced sweet duck breast, lobster in lemon cream and wine sauce, and other dishes that I didn’t recognize but smelled tantalizing. My stomach growled.
Everyone toasted my birthday and wished me a long and happy life. I put a smile on and sipped my wine. If anyone had told me I would be feasting with dragons and receiving their congratulatory remarks on my birthday, I would’ve laughed. The vista before me was surreal, like some out-of-body experience. All the objects in the hall seemed to have a haze around them, and every sound was soft and muted in my ears.
Thankfully, the dragons didn’t try to speak to me. Most of them seemed a bit awed by my presence. I’d like to think they’d been impressed by my hunting skills, but they were probably curious about the new “Dragonlady of Eastvale”. I concentrated on trying to hear their murmured conversations.
“…killed two wyrms from Madainsair…”
“…legacy of her mother’s people…”
I found myself smiling—for real, this time—at my better-than-expected command of Dragon Standard until I realized they were all speaking in English. I glanced over at Toshi, who beamed toothily at me.
The banquet was well under way when a sudden gust of wind rushed into the hall. Smelling like clean mountain air, it whispered and hissed like an angry snake. It burned like dry ice where it brushed against my skin, and I shrank away.
Ramiel shot to his feet as I hugged myself. The sound of the wind was like a spike in my ear. I gasped and clutched my head as it swept over me. The wyverns rose into the air and roared, enormous wings flapping.
Ramiel said something to the wind, but it continued to circle around the room. A thin layer of frost formed over the food, and Toshi let out a pitiful cry. The wyverns snapped their clawed feet closed, but they couldn’t catch air. The drakes spat fire at the icy gust, and the wyrms slithered on the ground and breathed out white poison.
I began to feel faint from the fumes, but Toshi quickly put a small silver handkerchief over my nose and mouth. The soft fabric detoxified the air.
Sword suddenly in hand, Ramiel slashed into the wind. It screeched, and light flakes of red ice appeared in the air like bloody snow. The temperature dropped about twenty degrees, and my teeth began to chatter. The dragons roared with approval and banged on the tables. The fumes and cold had put a hammer in my head that pounded in sync with the cacophony. Ramiel slammed the wind against the wall with his magic, and more sticky red liquid glistened on the stones.
Finally the wind left, twitching and breathy. It reeked of blood and anger, and the stench lingered in the banquet hall.
“What was that?” I asked, rubbing away the goose bumps on my arms.
“Nothing.” Ramiel’s clipped tone said it was anything but nothing.
“If you want me to trust you and listen to you, I think you should share what you know instead of treating me like a kid.” I kept my voice low so that the others wouldn’t overhear.
Luckily for Ramiel—or for me, depending on the point of view—he didn’t have time to respond. Wyvern guards landed around us. More wyverns covered in splendid silver scales rushed inside and surrounded the tables. One of them went to Ramiel and bowed.
“My lord, forgive my troops for our failure to stop Supäi of the North from breaching our defenses.” He lowered his head further. “I take full responsibility and await punishment.”
“Unnecessary,” Ramiel said. When the captain of the wyvern guard remained silent, Ramiel waved at him. “Go. There is a banquet to be had.” As the captain rose, Ramiel spoke to him in a language that I couldn’t decipher, each syllable as unpronounceable and mysterious as what he’d hissed at the wind.
The captain bowed again and exited with his guards.
Toshi cleared his throat. “Shall we?” He clapped his tiny hands. New platters of piping-hot food replaced the half-frozen ones on the table.
All the dragons resumed eating as if nothing had happened, as did Ramiel. Glancing at his face, I knew as far as he was concerned the matter was closed. High-handed jerk.
If there was nothing wrong, why wouldn’t he tell me anything? And why did he speak to the wyvern captain in a language I couldn’t understand?
***
After the banquet, Ramiel asked me to meet him in the courtyard, where I’d first seen his dragons go through their drills. Despite our earlier kiss, I doubted he was thinking of seduction. A man with romantic notions wouldn’t have been so terse.
I caught Toshi’s attention as I rose from my seat. He flew to me immediately.
“Will you take me to my room?” I said.
“Of course, milady.”
We left the hall together. I could hear the dragons rising politely from their tables behind me. It was positively Victorian. When we were in my room, I went to the desk and scribbled a short message for Jack.
Valerie’s been poisoned. I will find an antidote and bring her home.
Short and stark, but that was how Jack liked things. I hadn’t been able to tell him on the phone, partly because I was afraid of what he might’ve said, especially after his strange comment about ripples. You never knew what was going to come out when he got all divinerish. Last time it happened things didn’t go so well, mostly because I couldn’t get his Delphic remarks out of my head. Any time a job was involved it was usually better when I just did what I needed to do, even if some part of me longed for a guarantee. I signed my name and handed the note to Toshi. “Can you send this to Valerie’s father?”
“Yes, milady.”
I noticed he didn’t ask me for Jack’s address or anything…which was interesting. Maybe Ramiel and his dragons were watching Jack because of me. I filed that away in my mind, but there was something else I wanted to know.
“What did Ramiel say to the wind?”
Toshi’s tiny eyes nictitated for an instant. “I…I beg your pardon, milady?”
“Ramiel spoke in a dialect I don’t know.”
“Er…he said something about not failing again.”
Hmmm. “Failing at what?”
Toshi bared his teeth in a wide grin that didn’t fully hide his nervousness. “Forgive me, milady. I’m just a lowly servant and wouldn’t know such things.”
Yeah right. I bet it had something to do with the “vow” Ramiel had supposedly made, and it was getting really annoying that nobody wanted to tell me exactly what this stupid vow was, because obviously it entitled him to order me around. And I knew Toshi would never tell me even if I squeezed all the breath out of him. Damn it. So I asked about something else I wanted to know. “That wind wasn’t natural.”
“You’re correct, milady,” he said, displaying much more eagerness for this new topic. “That was Supäi of the North, hailing from Windgar, Lord Nathanael’s dragonhold. Lord Ramiel was upset because the guards weren’t supposed to let her through.”
I didn’t know much about the Four Winds except that they’d betrayed the slayers. But why would Nathanael send something that couldn’t even scratch me? Surely his plan hadn’t been to freeze me to death.
Then I remembered something I’d read. “The Four Winds can drive one mad with their moaning.” I almost laughed. If Nathanael had wanted to drive me crazy, he shouldn’t have bothered. Ramiel was doing a fine job all on his own.
“Yes, milady, but this isn’t their hold so they must leave if Lord Ramiel insists upon it.”
“So what was he saying to Supäi?”
“Uh…” Toshi shook his scales out. “He ordered her to leave.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“Milady!”
Fine. I changed the subject. “Why does Nathanael want to kill me?”
“Did Lord Ramiel not inform you already…?”
“I want to hear it from you. Is it the Advisors’ words and nothing more?”
“Well…you’re half-slayer.” Toshi frowned. “I don’t think there ever has been a half-slayer dragonlady.” He scrunched up his face. “I don’t mean to offend, milady, but I’m not overly fond of slayers.”
I smiled. It would be ludicrous to expect Toshi to like them. Slayers and dragons had been mortal enemies forever. “Do you know anything about…my mother?”
“She was a slayer and a Harmonia Singer at Windgar. But I don’t know much beyond that.” His voice dropped. “History and current affairs are my two worst subjects.”
Oh, I doubted that. “What’s a Harmonia Singer?”
“An honored position only a few have held. Have you ever heard the howling of the Four Winds?”
“No.”
He shuddered. “You’re very lucky, milady. As the old books say, it will drive you mad. The Dragonlords of Windgar have employed singers with the finest voices to drown out the noise. But of course no one can do so forever. The Four Winds have always menaced Windgar, over some ancient g
rievance nobody remembers anymore, and not even the alliance Lord Nathanael struck with them could get them to stop. I’m still not sure—”
I didn’t need to hear the entire history of the supernatural here. “So a Harmonia Singer is…?”
“Oh. A singer who is so pure in heart and voice that she can open the Harmonia Chamber. There’s never been more than one at a time. It’s a great honor to hold that position.”
He wasn’t really answering my question. Time to rephrase. “Why is it such a big deal to be a Harmonia Singer? Why do you care about a singer?”
He blinked. “Only the voice from the Chamber can quiet the Four Winds, milady.”
I paced, my eyes on the floor. So my mother the slayer had served Nathanael. I didn’t know how I felt about that. Maybe Nathanael was upset because she had left him to have a baby. Paid maternity leave probably wasn’t part of the benefits package for the Windgar staff. Going to see her seemed like walking into a trap. What if she still worked for Nathanael?
I raised my head to glance at Toshi, but he was already gone. Guess he didn’t want to stick around for any further inquisition. At least he’d left me a set of more comfortable clothes before disappearing.
I changed into a shirt and a pair of pants and sneakers before going to the courtyard. It was bigger than I’d initially thought, stretching away in the moonlight. Well, it had to be big to accommodate Ramiel’s troops. I wondered how many dragons he had in his military.
A few wyrms and drakes loitered around the perimeter, while wyverns flew patrol patterns overhead. Their bodies were enormous, some the size of 747s. The ridges of their lower bellies rippled as they swished their tails, silver spikes glinting on the tips. Their wings snapped the air like whips, and the area was ripe with anticipation and uncertainty.
Ramiel stood in the center of the field. He had a pair of naked swords, one in each hand. They reflected the silver moonlight like mirrors. He no longer wore the ceremonial robe. Only simple leather armor covered his torso and legs.