Damsel Knight (31 page)

"Have we really gone so far as to involve women in this Mattis?"

They continue to talk, but she can't make out the words. Seconds later their voices trail off into nothing.

The room is small compared to the throne room. In the middle stands a large stone fountain. It burbles happily. Around are various alcoves.

Frowning, she moves closer to the fountain. It rises in tiers of progressively smaller circles. The tiniest stands just above her head. The bottom circle is as wide across as it is tall. There's an impression of depth. It goes deeper than the stone floor, she's sure of that. Parts of it, she thinks, go deeper still.

The next circle up comes to her knees, but it's the one that comes to her chest that catches her attention. The bowl is filled with crystals. Most are clear, hard to make out against the stone. Some are pink, and a tenth are bright red.

Enough crystals to heal everyone in the infirmary, and expand their lifetimes by at least twice as long. She has to fight the urge to scoop them up, see what such power feels like. She daren't touch them in case she doesn't have the will to put all of them back. King Robin and Mattis had been worried about not having enough, so they're likely to notice if one goes missing.

What else had they said? Something about needing more power? How does a person get enough energy to shield an entire kingdom from the world? What would that take?

There definitely aren't enough teeth in the circle for that kind of magic.

Curious, she looks into one of the alcoves. It's a large space, but it's filled almost to the ceiling with objects. Most around the same size and shape. Leaning she picks up one. Rough cloth against her fingers. A shoe.

Cold spreads through her body as she takes in the mountain of similar objects. In her own boots, her feet tingle with horror, along with the fingers of her good hand. A child's shoe.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Chapter 32

Gelert is pleased to see her. He licks her from toe to head with his giant rough tongue. It's more like a cat's tongue than a dog's, and its sandpaper surface feels like it takes a few layers of skin with it.

She pushes him away, and he obeys easily enough. He stands with his head flat to the ground, sniffing her with great gales of air that make her hair go wild. His tail swings rapidly from side to side.

Wiping the foul smelling saliva from her skin, she turns to Angus, who hasn't moved from the gate. His expression is wary as he watches the dragon. His large hand doesn't move from the opening in the two gates. Ready to get back inside should the dragon turn.

"Why isn't Julius coming?"

"Needed elsewhere. The likes of knights are not at your beck and call, boy." Outwardly he seems mostly calm, but his fingers grip the ornate gate so hard his knuckles turn white. "Drust is a good man. When the golden dragon attacked it was he who led us away through the marshland. After the circle is secured he may well be one of your fellow knights."

Drust. Why did it have to be him? She's worked hard at avoiding him, and managed well until now. Her hair is shorn off, and she wears boys clothes, but she's not a fool. There's still the chance he could recognise her as the girl he'd agreed to marry. And if he does, it would lead to no other path than death.

Drust walks through the gate with the same gruff manner she remembers from that day. He eyes the dragon with less fear than she'd thought he would. His arms hold several wooden boxes. "I'll need to secure these. They're needed for the spell."

Boone does most of the work. Drust may be a big man - though not as tall as the bear-like Angus - and have some strength inherent in that size, but his pudgy figure doesn't lend itself to climbing dragons.

She uses Neven's improved harness to secure the boxes to the base of Gelert's neck. Her own harness, she fixes a little behind the dragon's giant head. There's enough distance between them that they shouldn't have to interact much.

Angus disappears, shutting both the ornate gate and its wooden twin firmly. Drust settles in his seat, not looking fazed at being on the back of a dragon. Together they wait.

The sun is still a little way from rising, and her night time travels have settled a deep weariness in her bones. She'd hoped to find Neven or Alice and talk about what she'd found, but no sooner had she settled for a quick doze, than a servant came knocking at her door.

New orders. Something to do with the spell they'd talked about. She supposes that means there are more shoes on that pile in the alcove. She'd thought she'd have more time.

A white figure appears a little way from the city gates. It's small with a vaguely human shape, the edges trail into mist. There are no eyes, but it feels like it's looking at her. She shivers.

"There." Drust yells behind her. "Get this animal in the air."

Swallowing, she does as he says. No sooner than Gelert jumps and stumbles his way into the air, than another white figure appears far away from the city, out past the golden road. "There. Gelert go there!"

It's been a difficult few days teaching Gelert to follow her directions. He's eager enough, but tends to get confused. This time however, he heads for the figure with razor-like focus. It's as if he's drawn to it.

Another figure appears behind that one, way out in the middle of one of the many fields used to grow crops. It's difficult to distract the dragon's attention from the first one, but as soon as he does, he heads to the next without difficulty.

They go on like that for a while, heading past the crops and grazing land, into the uneven terrain of the marshlands. Five or so figures line themselves up into the distance, then once they pass them, they disappear to blink into existence on the end of the line. Like children playing some kind of game.

Children. That's what they must be. The souls of the children King Robin and Mattis killed for this spell.

Finally she can't take it anymore. Turning to face the pig farmer, she has to shout to be heard over the wind. "Where are they taking us?"

"Barbarians!" He shouts back. He fiddles with the three wooden boxes, steadying them like they contain something fragile. "Can't be long now. Get this dragon flying higher."

Barbarians. It explains the extra cost. She doesn't know much about magic, but locating spells tend to be low cost. Unless what is located is far away, or she guesses, if those located had magic of their own to hide themselves. Both must be the case, or they would've tried this spell sooner.

Five white figures stand in a wide circle in the distance. They revolve around, like they're doing one of those dancing games she's seen girls play when they're young. She can almost hear the words.

"Higher beast! Higher!" Drust shouts behind her.

Right. Boone does her best to urge Gelert higher. The dragon groans. Heights are not something he likes, but if they fly in this low they'll be seen for sure. Their efforts will be for nothing. By the time they fly back and report their findings, the barbarians will have moved elsewhere.

Gelert moves higher, but not by much. The moon is a bare slit tonight. They'll have to hope the darkness will conceal them from whatever lookouts are awake this early.

Boone squints down at the darkness below, but can't see much. The moment they fly over them, the white figures blink out. All that's left is black and the vague sense of shape.

Then the ground explodes with fire.

She starts, the harness digging into her waist and legs. Without it, she might've fallen off Gelert's neck completely.

The flames below are so bright they make her eyes water. Whites and blues. Not Gelert's fire. She would've noticed if the dragon spit fire, sitting so close to his head. And his flames were yellow and red.

Another explosion. Men run screaming out of flaming shapes she thinks must have once been tents. Most of them are on fire.

Spinning around, she catches Drust throwing the last box. "What are you doing?"

"Orders!" He shouts back at her, dusting his hands off in a satisfied way. "Julius was supposed to brief you. We need to make sure none of them survive. Your dragon breathes fire, doesn't he?"

Fire runs through her, hotter than that below. The screams set her teeth on edge. There's been too much screaming lately. "They're dying! They've had enough!"

Throwing bombs on men while they sleep. There's no honour in that. None at all.

Drust's face seems to darken in the light of the flames. "They're like rats scurrying away from their nest. We need to get them all."

"No."

"The King said-"

"I said no!" She holds his gaze long enough to tell him she means it. Tears prick at her eyes, and not all of it is from the heat of the flames.

Eventually he gives her a slow nod. His expression is pure contempt, and something else. Something darker. "As you say. They are dying."

***

The sun is in the sky by the time she gets back to her chambers. She puts her hand on the door and stops. Voices coming from the other side, and not quiet ones.

"Because you're in love with her!"

"You're an idiot if you think that!"

Neven. And the first voice? Ness? She takes her hand from the door, wiping it down her face. It's much too early to walk in on two boys arguing about Alice.

"Then why do you always spend so much time with her? Why go on that fool quest? Admit it. The moment you found her in that marketplace you turned your back on me."

Wait. Marketplace? Not Alice.

"Because she's my friend."

"Aren't I your friend?"

"Of course. But me and you. It's complicated. You know what happened. And uh. You know. And Boone. It's different. It's easier."

Oh Gods, he's babbling. Rearranging her face into something neutral, she barges in the door. They jump apart and look around at her guiltily.

"I don't know what you're arguing about, and I don't care." The truth is she does care very much, but she can care later. "I have more important things to argue about. Like bombs."

Neven frowns. "Bombs?"

"The ones Drust dropped from Gelert today, setting fire to sleeping men who had no chance to fight back." She crosses her arms across her leather vest. "I know you better than anyone Neven, and I know what your inventions look like."

"Oh." Neven sits down suddenly on the end of her bed. The blood runs from his face, leaving it pale. "Oh. I mentioned an idea early on when I was modifying the harness, but I didn't think." He puts his head in his hands. "I didn't think."

Some of the anger drains out of her. She wishes it didn't. She feels weak and shaky without it. "And the children. Alice showed me the way to the fountain. How long have you known about them?"

"Since after Ness got hurt. Claudia came to me disguised as the head druid. She told me about them. I didn't believe her at first, so she told me to talk to Alice. Alice knew all about it. That's why her father sent her away. They had this plan, and wanted me to help. Alice stole a crystal from the druid, and Claudia used it to heal Ness."

Ness rubs a hand along his stomach, where the wound had been. "You never should've let that witch use me against you."

Neven shakes his head. "It wasn't like that. What happened to Timon changed her. It took her whole house to bring him back partway. She realised how poorly she acted. She offered to help you."

"Because she knew you had a soft heart, and would feel like you had to pay her back." Ness paces the room, kicking at the rubble left from her cabinet.

"I know what you think of me." Neven sits forward, most of his colour recovered. "That I'm weak. I heard you that day. Saying I'm not cut out to be a soldier, or a farmer. I may not be as strong as you, or brave like Boone, but I can do things. That's why I didn't tell you. Boone had too much to lose. And I thought if we did it right, we could fix it so you wouldn't have to risk yourselves. And you'd know I wasn't as weak as you thought."

Boone suddenly needs to lean against the wall. "Gods, Neven."

Ness takes up the passage of thought, expression horrified. "We didn't mean it like that."

"You shouldn't be a farmer or a soldier."

"Because you're better than that. You're something special. That mind of yours."

"It's terrifying, but also brilliant. So you should do something brilliant with it."

"Or else it'll go to waste. And I never ever want that to happen."

Boone digs for a laugh and comes up with a half-smile. "To think I was convinced you were avoiding me because the King chose to pair Alice with me instead of you."

Neven looks up at her, seeming more at ease than before. His face is tinged pink. "I was glad about that. You're the better match."

"I 'm the wrong..." She gestures at her body.

"I don't think that matters as much as we think it does. Claudia was talking about before King Robin brought in that 'women must be protected' creed, and before they got so many Roman slaves and their culture kind of took over, that kind of thing was normal. Men could be with men, and women with women. Why should it be so important now, when it wasn't back then?"

Ness clears his throat, scuffing his boot on the marble floor. His face is flushed. "Can we get back to the part where we actually communicate instead of team up with shady people and make rash decisions?"

"Right." Boone starts them off by telling them the things she's found out so far. Important, unimportant, she tells it all. From Julius's involvement with her father's death, to her mother's dresses used as markers, to the conversations she'd overheard between the druid and the King, and the druid's pictures with the many different page boys.

Neven gasps when she gets to the part about his father being in several of the druid's pictures. "I guessed my mother worked in the palace from her note, but I thought my father was only a soldier."

Ness perches on the edge of her bathtub. "I can't really add much, except it's true that children are going missing from the cellars. The biggest topic in the barracks is where they've gone to. Some think they're being fed to the dragon."

"I think from what we know, it's more likely they're being sacrificed by the druid for magical energy." Neven shrugs. "My guess is the boys in the pictures had the same fate. Only, what my father is doing there I don't know."

Boone pushes herself away from the wall. "So, we find out."

"And what?" Ness asks. "What about the sacrifices?"

Boone crosses her arms across her chest. "We stop them."

Ness chuckles dryly. "Got a big opinion of yourself, don't you Boone?"

Boone's about to answer when the door swings open with such force it almost hits her. She sidesteps just in time. "Hey! Careful."

Angus steps into the room with two soldiers behind him. He scans the chambers, eyes settling on the broken cabinet, and then each of them in turn. They stop on Boone, take her in as if he's never seen her before. He seems, nervous, conflicted. It's a strange expression on his usually glowering face.