Were of the Drakon

by B Cameron Lee

  They all agreed. They would leave tomorrow.

  It was a sober group who gathered outside the Temple the following morning. The weather was fine but very cold, presaging more to come. The sun was rising above the eastern horizon as they said their goodbyes. Zin had declined Cringle’s offer of transport on a flying carpet with him and was the first to set off, striding out purposefully and all alone on his way back to Naejang. They waved until he was out of sight.

  Arwhon and Shiri had met their guide, an older shaman who’d been on the road to Tarkent a number of times. He was fairly quiet but emanated trustworthiness. He’d saddled the horses for them, Duran and Rancid allowing it, Vixen being a bit naughty. They all felt the tension in the air. Vixen had her saddle on as a means of transporting it, the stirrups crossed over on its seat so they didn’t constantly bang her sides.

  Arwhon and Shiri went to Cringle last and Arwhon spoke to him.

  “I’ll miss you Servant and cannot thank you enough for all you’ve done for me and the whole country. Without you, Escarion, Belvedere would have fallen and Cringle, your courage and learning has been invaluable to all our endeavours since you became Servant. We can never repay the debt we owe to you.”

  Then it was Shiri’s turn. She took his head in her hands and kissed him on the forehead. Cringle never knew what she did but all his minor worries fell away and his head was clear and full of joy. The wonder of the Darkwood magic.

  Arwhon and Shiri mounted up and with a final wave, set off with their guide, Duran stepping high and blowing down his nose. Krissi leapt into the air and winged for the heavens. Poor Vixen on a lead rope didn’t understand and kept turning her head and trotting sideways, looking back at Cringle and whinnying as he became smaller and smaller with distance. Eventually there was no more point in doing that so she turned to the front and stretched out to keep up with the other three horses. It took them five weeks to reach Kyto and a very happy reunion with Chalk and Lareeta.

  Cringle stood and waited until they’d disappeared into the distance then accompanied the Head Shaman back into the Temple.

  “Can I purchase a mat from you?” he enquired.

  “After what you’ve done for the Shamans, you can take whichever mat you want. Do you need provisions?”

  “No thank you,” Cringle replied. “It may have taken ten days to get here from Naejang on horseback but I think I can get back there in one full day. I’ll pack my stuff and be ready to leave at first light in the morning.”

  The following day, Zin just happened to look up and catch sight of Cringle high above, speedily flying south on a carpet. He shook his head in disbelief.

  What next?

  16. A Journey by Flying Carpet

  Yletta was pacing, back and forth, back and forth, worried at her son being gone for so long. She’d only just been reunited with him after Cringle and his friends came to Naejang with Nyaka and rescued her from the clutches of Furoshiko. She hoped Cringle, Arwhon and Shiri were all right, the Shamans at the Temple could be an awkward group to deal with, proud and prickly and very protective of their field of Shaman stones although since Geng was defeated, Arwhon and then Zin too had said the stones no longer held any power. That Arwhon, handsome as he was and the beautiful woman with him were odd friends for her son to have, although Cringle claimed to be their servant. Their eyes were strange, even a little disturbing but they were lovely people, gentle too but that gryffon. She had seen Cringle with his arm draped over the beasts neck and she’d worried for his safety. One snap of that vicious beak and he’d be dead.

  She continued pacing, working herself up into a state of almost panic. She’d put up with everything Furoshiko could throw at her for all those years without much difficulty and now, having just been reunited with her son, she was worrying herself to a standstill. It was nearly night time again. Oh, where was he?

  A shout came from outside and she ran out onto the balcony in time to see her son float out of the heavens on a mat. Her eyes didn’t believe what she saw. A mat? Floating? Cringle landed in the courtyard and stretched out his legs before getting to his feet. A circle of soldiers from the Guard had formed around him but he ignored them, instead picking up his saddlebags and sleeping roll and turning toward the Palace before Nyaka, dignity thrown to the wind, rushed out of the building, through the ring of soldiers and threw her arms around him.

  “Hello Auntie. I’d give you a hug but my arms are a little full.”

  Nyaka signalled to one of the soldiers who took Cringle’s burden from him.

  “Take them to the room Cringle previously occupied. If you don’t know which one, ask the domestic staff.”

  The soldier hurried off while Nyaka gathered Cringle into another warm embrace.

  “I didn’t believe it when someone told me a flying mat had arrived. But it is so. Where are your friends with the gryffon?”

  Cringle broke the embrace and stepped back, looking Nyaka up and down. She had changed. Gone were the utilitarian clothes she had worn as the leader of the resistance, now she wore the garb of a Queen. He approved, she looked every inch a leader.

  “They wanted to go home. It was what we agreed to do after I’d found my mother. They went directly to Tarkent from the Shaman’s Temple to save time. I waved them off yesterday morning.”

  “But it’s a ten day ride from there to here,” Nyaka exclaimed.

  “Usually, but I left there early this morning. Carpets are fast.”

  Nyaka looked about.

  “Where’s Zin?”

  “Coming on foot. You know what he’s like. He didn’t trust flying and said he was quite happy with the peace of walking.”

  Just then Yletta came out into the courtyard, dressed in silk with her blond hair unbound. She looked even better than he remembered. Cringle excused himself to go and give her a hug. She was trembling slightly.

  “I was worried Jonsan. Sorry, I keep forgetting you’re Cringle now. I thought something tragic would befall you and I’d never see you again and here you are floating around on a mat.”

  “Mother. I tried to tell you I was a powerful Mage but you chose not to listen. We have to talk soon about what I am and where I’m going. I’ll have to leave soon.”

  Yletta clung to him.

  “Where are you going?”

  “South, to Lynbrook, I have a duty to report to the Kin of S’Ria.”

  “Well son, I’m coming too.”

  Cringle searched his mother’s face. Now wasn’t the time to have this discussion. It would have to be later.

  It was a marvellous meal after the sparse fare the Shamans provided and Cringle reacquainted himself with his two cousins, Nyaka’s sons Chenko and Zoran. He could never remember who the eldest was and to be truthful, it didn’t really matter to anyone except them. He related the events surrounding the unearthing of the sentient rock and the casting of it back into the heavens and the strange voice in his head which thanked them. Cringle also said the goodbyes for Arwhon and Shiri, who he explained needed to get to Kyto in Tarkent before winter was too far gone in the north of Cheshwon.

  As dinners went, it was excellent. He heard that his aunt’s rule was drawing no resistance from the Warlords and most had pledged allegiance to her, as she was full sister to Tarsega who’d been the rightful king before Furoshiko killed him. The populace in and around Naejang appreciated some of the rules and regulations being relaxed and also a cut to the rate of taxation. Everything seemed well.

  Cringle was happy. Truly happy. Possibly for the first time in his short life. He had found his mother, something he’d once never thought possible and she’d turned out to be more wonderful than all his imaginings of her. On top of that, thanks to the essence of Escarion, he was a true Mage and even better, along with Arwhon, Shiri and Kuiran he’d helped bring peace to the whole land, from the Western Ocean to the Wyalonian Ocean. Cringle sat back, fairly glowing.

  The next day he went to see his mother. She was lying on the couch with the curtains
partially drawn, dimming the light in the room. Cringle sat comfortably on a large cushion and addressed Yletta.

  “Hello Mother. I came to ask you what you meant, when you said you wanted to come with me?”

  His mother raised her head and considered him through pain filled eyes before answering with a shaky voice.

  “You’re heading south. If the maps I found are correct, the place you mentioned, Lynbrook, is off to the east of the Inland Sea. Apparently the Reavers control both sides of the Wardang Straits, the entry to that sea. I was hoping you would take me with you to Lynbrook then I could make my own way south and west. I’m sure my brother is somewhere in that area although the drugs the Reavers gave me all those years ago have taken away most of the memories of that time.”

  “But why would you risk it mother. To see a brother you haven’t seen for nearly forty years. A brother who hasn’t tried to find you?”

  Yletta looked at her son tiredly.

  “Once Reavers take you as a slave, you can end up anywhere in the known world. Once sold, a slave can be used wherever the owner sees fit at whatever task they are ordered to do. I was extremely lucky to have blond hair and blue eyes which made me somewhat exotic to those from Cheshwon. My brother might have thought his chances of finding me were extremely slim. Then there is the problem of sailing out of, and back into, the Inland Sea through the Wardang Straits.”

  Yletta lay back and rested for a moment. Cringle was worried about her, his mother did not look well.

  “What’s the matter, mother?”

  “That brother of mine is somehow linked to me. I don’t know how or why. He feels guilt at not being there to save me from the Reavers and knows I’m not dead. The bond must go both ways. His guilt hammers in my head when he thinks on it and causes me pain. I have terrible headaches. If nothing else, I have to find him so he’ll stop these terrible thoughts.”

  “I’ll help you find him mother. After I’ve been to Lynbrook. The Kin of S’Ria are the people who kept the arts of Airmagic alive and I’m one of the most powerful Mages they have. I need to report back to them of all that has occurred since I left there well over two years ago.”

  The look on his mother’s face was a mixture of surprise, concern and disbelief at this revelation.

  “Mother. When I met Arwhon in Crossroads I was a skinny, fearful and uneducated street urchin, barely surviving on my own. There was something about him, and Shiri too, which attracted me and I chased after them when they left Crossroads and begged to be his servant. With Arwhon, servant has a whole different meaning and I eventually met his first Servant who told me I was personally responsible for his protection and if anything happened to Arwhon, the world could be plunged into evil times.”

  Yletta had moved to sit up and was taking an interest in what Cringle had to say. This was her son and anything important in his life was important to her, who had missed so much of it.

  “So where did the magic come from?’ she asked.

  Cringle didn’t want to just blurt out the source of his magic; he thought his mother needed more background before that revelation.

  “I’ve been in the Darkwood, that’s where the M’Herindar, the people with the strange eyes live. Arwhon isn’t one of them but he was healed there, inside a tree and his eyes were changed in the process. Shiri is the daughter of their Queen, Vehrin’del, who changed me with magic to make me less frightened and gave me the ability to learn things quickly. I’ve been trained by the best thief and assassin in all the lands and lived in a mansion in Belvedere with Arwhon’s grandmother. Last year Arwhon went off to fight the evil Q’Herindam Mages on his own. We shouldn’t have allowed it but he ordered us not to come with him. He got into trouble and Shiri asked me if I would take the essence of Escarion into me. Escarion is the other part of me now. He was, is, an Air Mage, fatally wounded by a powerful Q’Herindam Dark Mage during the battle for Belvedere. He only just had time to put his essence into a large sapphire which he entrusted to Arwhon before he died. Arwhon later gave it to his grandmother for safe keeping. It was Shiri who remembered it and gave me the choice. No one knew whether I would still be me or if Escarion would just take over when the transfer was completed. Maybe having been magicked by the M’Herindar Queen helped. Who knew? I was given the choice of whether I would go through with the transfer or not. How could I refuse? I was Servant and for Arwhon that’s what a Servant does, lays everything on the line. The man is a legend. So I took Escarion into me and he and I worked it out over time. In Lynbrook he will be in charge of us as he has a lot to do there.”

  Yletta slowly breathed out. She was so enthralled she had hardly taken a breath and her headache had vanished. Her son, helping to defeat evil in the west and being an Air Mage. Wonder upon wonder. Cringle continued.

  “Which brings me to my next point. You saw how I arrived here from the Shaman’s Temple, well that’s how we’re going to travel. We need to find a large, fairly stiff carpet, as that makes it easier for me to keep aloft. We’ll travel on that but it’s essential you keep me awake over the ocean. For if I fall asleep, we may well plunge into the sea. Don’t look so alarmed. It’s a swift way to travel but we have to dress warmly as it gets cold up high when you travel quickly. You’ll have a chance to get used to it on our flight south to Mandoran. I have cause to speak with Kenjida. He should be deposed for his duplicity, greed and all the problems he’s caused but the people in Mandoran seem to think he’s a good king. I’d like to leave here in a few days. I suggest you ask Nyaka if you could have some of the clothes she wore while she was in charge of the rebels. They were pretty utilitarian.”

  Yletta smiled at Cringle’s advice. He was so fervent. The enthusiasm of youth.

  “I think I can manage to dress warmly in useful clothing Cringle and I realise we’ll be travelling light. I’ll also take care of the food for the journey, one thing less for you to think on.”

  Cringle was happy to see his mother’s improvement in demeanour. This trip would be good for her and he was pleased he could do something to improve her life. Fate knew she had gone through many trials since her abduction by the Reavers all those years ago. Privately he wondered what her brother was like. Did he look like Yletta, tall with blond hair and blue eyes or was he totally different. He would be Cringle’s uncle. Now there was a thought, yet more family.

  Time passed swiftly and the days flew by. Cringle took the carpet Yletta found for him on a couple of test flights. It was ideal. The stiffness in the backing meant he didn’t have to concentrate on the supporting air currents so much which freed up more of his magic. At first the populace in Naejang were fearful of the floating carpet which zoomed around over the city as Cringle practiced his fine control but after a short while they realised there was a man on it and it was a form of magic which wouldn’t harm them. The children started playing a game of who could spot the carpet first and running around holding the corners of a mat while one of their number sat on it. Everyone else just relaxed.

  Soon it was time for Cringle and Yletta to leave. The morning was fine and a little chilly with light cloud and everyone turned out into the courtyard for last minute hugs and to bid them farewell. Cringle was surprised at how little Yletta had brought with her, expecting a number of large bags but she had only fetched a medium sized one plus a bulging shoulder bag. He helped her sit comfortably and tied the end of the rope that trailed from his waist around hers. They were not going to become separated high in the air, he’d only just found her.

  They settled and with a final wave, Cringle concentrated and the carpet rose into the air. He circled the group below waving goodbye before causing a wind to build up behind them and push. They shot off. Yletta hadn’t realised what travelling at this speed would do and managed to take a scarf out of her shoulder pack and tie it around her head to keep her hair confined and her head warm. The countryside shot by below. It was like looking at a highly detailed map. When they went over mountains, Cringle tried to follow passes where po
ssible but sometimes he had to take them even higher. Yletta was exceedingly glad she’d taken Cringle’s advice and dressed warmly, especially when they went through clouds. ‘So that’s what they’re made of,’ she thought as she wiped her wet face once again.

  Cringle was enjoying himself, had been all day but now dusk was setting in. Why hadn’t he thought of this mode of travel before? It was so easy for an Air Mage, quick too. He saw the border between North and South Cheshwon appear below and descended so they could overnight at the inn. The Border was unmanned now, as Nyaka had no objections to a reunification of the country, even though it was being managed from two separate centres. They landed and got off the carpet, taking up their bags before Cringle picked their carpet up with a waft of air and parked it on the roof. The carpet should be safe up there until morning. He could use any mat or carpet of course but he particularly liked that one.

  They entered the inn, the interior dimly lit by a couple of oil lamps and the innkeeper motioned to the stable boy to get out and see to their horses. Cringle stopped him as he went to pass by.

  “There are no horses. We came by other means.”

  The innkeeper was dubious.

  “Don’t tell me you walked. You don’t look tired enough.”

  This could get awkward Cringle thought so he motioned the innkeeper forward and whispered in his ear.

  “Magic. A flying carpet brought us.”

  The innkeeper straightened, ready to laugh then realised Cringle was serious. He covered his mistake by suddenly becoming businesslike.

  “One room or two?”

  “Two please.”

  “Evening meal?”

  “Yes please.”

  “Breakfast?”

  “Thank you.”

  The innkeeper named a reasonable price and Cringle paid it. Apart from pleasantries, the innkeeper gave them a wide berth that evening, as did the other patrons after the innkeeper passed on the news. They probably thought he was crazy.