Cursed Bones (Sovereign of the Seven Isles: Book Five)

by David A. Wells

  “True,” the dragon said, “but not hungry enough to eat a hundred men. Besides, I believe you’re all now well enough to ride, so I suggest we leave this place in favor of a closer position, say the crevasse. That way we’ll be in a better position to make our attack when the illusionary wizard returns with his battle plan.”

  “Fair enough,” Abigail said.

  “We should share the remaining two vials of dragon draught,” Magda said. “Otherwise we could easily suffer injury from exposure over such a long flight in this cold.”

  They packed their belongings and donned their fur cloaks. Then Ixabrax squeezed out of the cave and unfurled his wings, stretching them wide before lowering his neck and allowing the three of them to climb aboard.

  Abigail couldn’t help smiling at the exhilaration of flight when the dragon lifted off the ground. He flew straight for the company of soldiers marching across the snow field toward the cave, roaring as he passed overhead. Most of the men scattered in terror but one man caught Abigail’s eye. Haldir was leading them to the cave, his arms bound to a stout limb resting across his shoulders and tied to his neck. His torso was bare, red from the cold and from the blood oozing out of dozens of shallow slices cut across his chest. He slumped to his knees as he watched Ixabrax soar overhead with a mixture of vindication and awe.

  Several hours later, Ixabrax arrived at the crevasse where Alexander had first found him. They made camp, waiting for Alexander to return and help them plan their attack. After several days, they ran out of food and firewood. Ixabrax left them to hunt. He was gone for nearly a day before he returned with a stag and a fallen log.

  “Now I’m really worried about Alexander,” Abigail said while they prepared their first hot meal in days.

  Anatoly nodded. “This isn’t like him. Something must have happened.”

  “Have faith. He’ll return,” Magda said.

  “My patience grows thin,” Ixabrax said. “I have delivered on my part of the bargain, yet your brother is nowhere to be seen.”

  “Maybe we should think about making our move without him,” Abigail said.

  “We’ve already been over this,” Anatoly said. “Our best chance for success is to wait. Without Alexander, we’d be going in blind.”

  “I know the layout of the aerie,” Ixabrax said.

  “What about the rest of the keep?” Anatoly said. “The best chance your family has is to wait for Alexander to guide us.”

  “I agree,” Magda said. “We’ll free your family, Ixabrax … just not today.”

  Several more days passed, everyone growing more restless and uncertain by the hour before Alexander finally appeared.

  “Where have you been, Human?” Ixabrax demanded.

  “Searching for my wife,” he said. “She’s buried under a mountain and I can’t find her.”

  Abigail, Anatoly, and Magda surged to their feet, but no one knew what to say.

  “I’m still hoping she’s alive but I can’t know for certain.”

  “I don’t understand, why can’t you go to her as you have to us?” Ixabrax asked.

  “She went after the bones of an ancient creature that won’t allow magic to work anywhere nearby. Every time I get close, I wind up back in my body on Tyr.”

  “I’m sorry, Alex,” Abigail said. “I wish I could give you a hug.”

  “Me too,” he said, closing off his emotions and focusing on the task at hand. “I’ve already spent too much time looking for her, knowing full well that the same thing’s going to happen whenever I get close, no matter which angle I approach from. It’s time to focus my efforts where I can be useful and hope she can dig her way out.”

  “So you have a plan then?” Ixabrax said.

  “I do. Unfortunately, the book I sent Zuhl didn’t kill him. I’m not sure why, but he survived, so I plan to distract him while you enter the aerie and free the dragons.”

  He gestured to the ground beside their fire pit and a scale model of the enormous white marble fortress appeared, rotating until the section in question was facing them. It was a huge dome with a hole wide enough for a dragon to fly through in the center of the roof. Six towers rose from the edges of the dome, each culminating in a battlement, and each manned by two soldiers.

  The entire domed building was surrounded by the main walls of the keep, which also featured manned watchtowers at even increments. The main building, Zuhl’s manor, butted up against one side of the dome with many towers rising high overhead, offering a commanding view of the entire city and keep.

  “As you can see, the place is a literal fortress. His men are vigilant, never hesitating to sound the alarm, so going over the walls is out of the question. They’d spot you before you even got close.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a very optimistic assessment,” Anatoly said.

  “Notice here,” Alexander said, pointing to a point in the outer wall where a small stream flowed through a grate and into the keep. “This stream feeds the main cistern, which in turn feeds the dragon aerie. The grate is stout enough to stop an angry bull, but the Thinblade will make short work of it. Once you’re in, you’ll be up to your armpits in freezing water, so we need to find a way to keep you warm. I was hoping you might have a spell, Magda.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t, at least not until we’re out of the water. Dragon draught would be our best bet.”

  “Where can we get some?”

  “Zuhl’s soldiers were carrying the last vials we got our hands on,” Anatoly said.

  “All right, so the first step will be to get some more dragon draught. Now, there’s a guard tower manned by two men overlooking the stream.”

  “I do have a spell that can deal with them,” Magda said.

  “Good,” Alexander said, gesturing to his illusionary model. It became transparent, revealing the path they would have to follow through the underground waterways. “There’s a magical field here,” he pointed to a place several dozen feet inside the keep. “I’m not sure what it does, but you should be able to cut your way around it.”

  “That’s going to take some time,” Abigail said.

  “I know, but I’m afraid the field might warn Zuhl of intruders. We can’t afford that.”

  “Your plan is starting to sound pretty complicated,” Anatoly said.

  “I know, but I’ve explored this part of Whitehall extensively and I’ve never seen such defenses. Zuhl takes his security as seriously as you would expect from a man who plans to live forever.”

  “All right, so once we’re past the guards and through the grate and around the magical field, all up to our armpits in freezing water, then what?” Anatoly asked.

  “There’s another grate at the spillway into the cistern. Once you’re through that, you can get out of the water and follow the access pathways that run alongside the waterways. This one,” he pointed to one of five passages leading from the main cistern, “leads straight to the dragon aerie. Unfortunately, the access path stops where water flows under the wall into a large pool on the side of the aerie. That passage is grated as well.”

  “So we cut that grate and swim inside,” Abigail said. “Then what?”

  “Then you’ll be in a giant room with six, hopefully sleeping dragons and possibly a number of human handlers. Pick the largest dragon and cut his collar before he wakes while avoiding or eliminating the handlers.”

  “Is that all?” Abigail said.

  “The largest will be my sire, Izzulft,” said Ixabrax. “He is a very light sleeper.”

  “Wonderful,” Abigail said, “so we do this very quietly.”

  “That would be wise,” Ixabrax said. Then he broke off a tooth and handed it to Abigail. “Show him this … he will know it comes from me and hesitate before eating you. Explain your intentions quickly and concisely. He has very little patience for humans, but he will do whatever he can to free our family. Once he understands your purpose, I have every confidence he will assist you.”

  “That’s reassuring,�
� Anatoly grumbled.

  “I need you to help me understand the nature of Zuhl’s control over your family,” Alexander said to Ixabrax. “When you were in the aerie, how much influence did Zuhl have over you?”

  “We were instructed to remain within the aerie without harming his servants or damaging the building.”

  “Good, I was afraid he might leave you with a command to attack any intruders.”

  “I was born into slavery in that aerie and in all my years, he never left such a command, but then there was never a single incident of an intruder entering the aerie either.”

  “Not terribly surprising,” Anatoly muttered.

  “What is my part in this?” Ixabrax asked.

  “I need you to deliver us near the fortress and wait in case there’s trouble,” Alexander said.

  “I would do more.”

  “I know, but you aren’t exactly inconspicuous. We can’t approach from the sky, or Zuhl will be alerted and then you’d have to face your whole family at once. This is the only way.”

  “Very well, Human, if I had a better plan I would offer it.”

  “Once the dragons are free, then what?” Abigail asked.

  “You fly away and regroup at the crevasse,” Alexander said.

  “And then what? We’re still stuck on this cursed frozen rock of an island.”

  “If you free my family, I will carry you back to Fellenden myself,” Ixabrax said.

  “Now that sounds like a plan,” Abigail said.

  “Good. See about getting some dragon draught and I’ll check back tomorrow,” Alexander said, fading from sight.

  Back on Tyr, he opened his eyes and groaned softly from the throbbing pain behind his forehead. He’d been pushing too hard lately … with Isabel missing and Abigail preparing to attack Whitehall, there was just so much to do and all of it required his attention.

  Anja was sitting in a chair next to his bed, transformed by a shapeshift spell into a young woman of about sixteen years old with shoulder-length, coppery red hair that flared out just over the shoulders, bright golden-brown eyes, and a swath of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She smiled brightly.

  “Mother has agreed to let me spend more time with you. I still have a thousand questions. If you’re feeling well enough, that is.” She added the last when she noticed his pain and exhaustion.

  “Of course, I’m always happy to see you.”

  “You need to rest,” she said, frowning, “and not the kind of rest where your mind is off wandering around the whole Seven Isles. Lay back and close your eyes. I’ll make you some tea.”

  Alexander looked over at Jack, who was sitting at the little table he used for a desk, but all the bard had to offer him was a smile and a shrug. He just nodded and lay back, closing his eyes and resting his mind. There was still so much to do, but he knew that his best chance of success was to pace himself. He wouldn’t do anyone any good if he was too exhausted to use his magic when he needed it.

  He spent the rest of the day talking with Anja, or more to the point, answering her seemingly endless questions. She was insatiably curious, her quick mind seizing on any new questions that Alexander’s answers raised. By late evening he was exhausted. Sleep came easily and he woke the following morning with a clear head and a long list of things to do.

  Chapter 41

  First, he went to the site of the cave-in on Karth, carefully approaching the section of collapsed ceiling within the passage, manifesting only as a floating ball of light. What he saw caused him to snap back into his own body and sit bolt upright, breathing heavily.

  Along the top corner of the cave-in, where debris filled the corridor the least, was a three-foot-by-three-foot tunnel dug through the dirt and rock, shorn up with pieces of stone pulled from the floor of the Goiri’s crypt and used to form a ceiling and walls for twenty feet.

  “She’s alive,” he said when Jack looked up.

  “Did you see her?” Jack asked.

  “No. But they dug out from under the cave-in. They’re probably trying to escape the island. I need to find her.”

  Jack just smiled as Alexander lay back down and cleared his mind. After several failed attempts to find Isabel by focusing on her, Alexander returned to the crypt passage just outside the cave-in and quickly moved his awareness up the passage to the black-and-white room. From there, he followed the passage leading to the ghidora, moving more quickly than any person could run but maintaining clear awareness of his surroundings. Finding the ghidora frozen in place and the remains of Horace where they’d left them, Alexander blinked back to the black-and-white room where he took the passage leading to the crystal chambers.

  Floating down the hallway, he saw Isabel a few feet inside the threshold of the chamber beyond. She was saying something to Trajan, but Alexander couldn’t make it out. Once he got within ten feet of Isabel, he suddenly found himself back in his body on Tyr.

  “She’s alive and she has the Goiri bone,” Alexander said, sitting up and smiling to himself. Of all the decisions he’d ever made, marrying Isabel was by far the best.

  “Impressive,” Jack said. “What’s her plan?”

  “I’m afraid she plans to stab Phane,” Alexander said, his smile fading into a frown. “Without magic, she thinks he’ll be vulnerable enough to kill.”

  “She could be right,” Jack said.

  “I’d rather she didn’t bet her life on it.”

  “What would you do in her place?”

  Alexander hesitated, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I’d kill Phane.”

  “Of course you would, given the chance. Isabel has that chance. And she knows it. More to the point, she’s the one on the battlefield, in harm’s way. Doesn’t it have to be her call?”

  “Of course it does, but I don’t have to like it,” Alexander said, lying back and closing his eyes.

  It took some time to find the calm necessary to once again escape his body. After a brief conversation with Abigail, he appeared in Lucky’s workshop.

  “Ah, there you are,” Lucky said, smiling amiably and getting up from the table and an early lunch. “I’ve prepared the material according to your specifications and I’ve begun to process a second batch.”

  “Good. Once you learn the entire process, you’ll need to start production. That means you need a place with better security.”

  “Kelvin suggested the same thing,” Lucky said. “We’ve begun construction of a suitable workshop with adjacent quarters in the subbasement of the new Wizard’s Guild Lodge.”

  “Remember, only you and Kelvin know this is happening. Keep it that way.”

  “Absolutely,” Lucky said. “We are both extraordinarily cautious when discussing this matter.”

  “Good, so you have orange-red granules …” Alexander spent several minutes explaining the next few steps, detailing how each step should unfold, how the result should look, what failure looked like and how to recover. When Lucky could recite every step, Alexander said his goodbyes and vanished.

  The process of making Wizard’s Dust was long and complex—it would require several more visits with detailed instructions before Lucky learned the entire formula, and even then, the most difficult and delicate parts were yet to come … Lucky would have to apply his magic in just the right way at just the right time. If he failed, the batch would be useless. There was still a long way to go, but they were making good progress.

  Alexander lingered on the firmament, listening to the song of creation, but also listening for any hint of Siduri. Memories of his brief encounter with the strange little man intruded into his mind with maddening frequency. The ramifications of his story were terrifying and breathtaking all at once. Alexander couldn’t help but wonder if Siduri was the key to it all, so he searched for him and listened for him and called out to him every time he visited the firmament, but all he ever received in return was silence.

  He opened his eyes to find Anja sitting in the chair beside his bed, watching him inte
ntly.

  “You’re staring,” Alexander said.

  “Is that wrong?”

  “Not wrong, just impolite.”

  “I wanted to make sure I remember what you look like.”

  “You’ll remember,” Alexander said, reaching for her hand.

  She looked down. “Will you teach me how to fight with a sword?”

  “Huh?”

  “I want to learn how to fight with a sword.”

  “Anja, you’re a dragon, why would you need to fight with a sword?”

  She shrugged, shaking her head, still looking down. “I just want to learn.”

  “Ask your mother. I’ll teach you if she agrees.”

  She smiled excitedly and raced out of the Wizard’s Den, looking for her mother. It wasn’t long before Alexander felt the approach of Bragador just moments before she appeared in the doorway of the Wizard’s Den, Anja trailing behind her.

  “May I?”

  “Of course, please come in,” Alexander said.

  Bragador took the chair next to the bed. Anja stood at her side, struggling not to smile.

  “Anja tells me you would teach her to fight with a sword. Is this wise?”

  “I don’t see how it’s unwise, even if it is pretty unnecessary.”

  “Please, Mother,” Anja said. “I really want to learn.”

  “Very well,” Bragador said, “but do not aggravate his injury, Anja.”

  “She won’t,” Alexander said. “Jack will play the part of her opponent while I talk them through the steps.”

  Jack looked up from his papers, his eyes slightly wider than usual, but he recovered quickly, standing and then bowing with a flourish to Anja. “My Lady, it will be my honor to serve as your practice mannequin.”

  Anja giggled. Bragador frowned, but made no move to leave. “Perhaps you should close the door,” she said.

  Alexander nodded, willing the door to the Wizard’s Den to close.

  “I have word from Tasia. The Regency ship is a week from the northern coast of Karth.”

  “I’ve looked at that ship. The shade is aboard and he still has Aedan,” Alexander said, holding Bragador’s gaze. “We don’t have a move right now.”