DragonQuest (14 page)

“Couldn’t I stop him?” Regidor grinned at the prospect. “Could I command the dragons to follow me instead?”

Paladin shook his head. “No, Risto has enhanced this dragon’s charismatic personality with a spell. At this point he is capable of gaining dominance over the dragons and causing havoc.”

Bardon placed his hand upon the hilt of his sword belted at his waist. “Then we find and destroy this meech dragon before Risto can use him for evil.”

“No, Bardon, my friend. This is a rescue mission. You are to bring the meech dragon out of the hell he was born into.”

Dar shook his head. “I’d rather fight Creemoor spiders. Simpler.”

         
23
         

L
AST
-M
INUTE
C
HANGES

The sun burned away the morning mist.

Paladin had said they would leave this morning. But for now Paladin sat with Wizard Fenworth and Wizard Cam, Librettowit, Lee Ark, and Leetu Bends. Kale resisted the urge to listen in on their conversation using her mindspeaking ability.

I’m glad we’re leaving. I’m not sure I could stand this waiting much longer.
Kale looked off toward the wood.
But I’m not sure how I feel about going to Prushing.

“I get to go with you?” Toopka asked again.

“Yes.” Kale gave the doneel’s solid little body a hug. “Paladin said you would be helpful in the city. Dar knows about the aristocracy, and you know about the street people.”

“I’m going to call Dar ‘uncle,’ but I am not going to call you ‘aunt.’ No one would believe you’re my aunt. You could marry Dar and be my aunt, but that wouldn’t be believable either.”

“Why wouldn’t that be believable?”

“You’re so different. You’d fight all the time.”

“Not necessarily.” Kale tried to remember something she had read in one of the textbooks at The Hall. Something about Wulder making people different so they could work together more efficiently.

Toopka tugged on Kale’s sleeve. “You don’t know how to cook or sew or play music. Dar can do all those things.”

“Wulder gave different talents to people. Imagine if Dar and I fought over who would fix our meals, what a mess that would be. This way I leave him to do what he does best, and he leaves me to do what I do best.”

“What do you do best, Kale?”

The question stunned her.
I was a good slave. A hard worker, obedient, quick. And I really liked taking care of the children.

Kale looked into the trusting eyes of the young doneel on her lap. With a grin growing on her face, she said, “Tickle!” and gently dug her wiggling fingers into Toopka’s sides, making her squeal and squirm.

The two toppled over on the grass, and Kale pinned Toopka.

“You’re fun, Kale. You’d make a good mommy.”

“I’m a long ways away from being a mother.”

“Wulder could fix it so you could have babies now.”

“Yes, but Wulder wants us to get ready to do a task so we’ll be counted good workers—like Dar and Bardon practice for battle. Wulder would want me to learn more before being a mother. He would also want me to have a husband.”

Kale let Toopka sit up. Kale smiled as she watched the little girl smooth her blouse and pick grass off her breeches, reminding Kale of Dar’s fastidious attention to grooming.

Toopka looked at Kale and wrinkled her nose. “Rules! Wulder should just cross out some. That would make it easier to remember the important ones.”

Kale laughed. “Fenworth says Wulder made His rules for good reasons. He doesn’t ever rearrange His rules on a whim.”

“On a wind? Like a sandstorm? Sittiponder said sandstorms are fierce. They’ll shred your skin like sliding down a gravel pit.”

Kale tried to capture an elusive memory. “I’m sorry, Toopka. I don’t remember who Sittiponder is.”

“He’s the blind wisdom speaker who lives alone under the stairs at the warehouses in Vendela. I used to bring him food, not just because of the stories he’d tell, but because I liked him.”

“How did he get so wise if he lived alone? Did he go to school?”

“He said if he was still, he could hear the words spoken in The Hall, and at night he collected wisdom while he dreamed.”

“Someday I’d like to meet Sittiponder.”

“So Wulder uses wind to change things when He wants to?”

“What? Where did you get such a strange idea? Oh no! I said, ‘whim,’ not ‘wind.’ A whim is a careless idea, one you didn’t think about very much, and it is likely to get you into trouble.”

“Well, Wulder wouldn’t go around thinking whims. I’ve decided you can’t marry Dar.”

Bardon’s shadow fell across them. “Marry Dar?”

Toopka grinned. “But Kale could marry you, Bardon. Then you could adopt me, and Dar could still be my uncle.”

A look of horror destroyed Bardon’s usually guarded expression.

Toopka, you said that on purpose.

“Of course I said it on purpose. How can you say something on accident?”

I mean you said that deliberately to embarrass Bardon—and me!

“Kale is t-t-too young to marry,” Bardon stammered. “And I, I have no profession.”

“You’re a servant of Paladin.” Toopka planted her fists on her tiny hips. “Isn’t that a pro-fes-son?”

“I was training.” Bardon ran his hand along the side of his head, smoothing the dark hair that never seemed mussed or at all uncombed. “I never got to the important preparation.”

Toopka stepped closer to him. “Paladin said I could go on the quest because I would be useful.
I
didn’t have
any
training. So if
I
am useful,
you
must be tons useful.”

Dibl came and landed on Bardon, next to his muscular neck. Bardon jerked and turned his head to eye the bright dragon perched on the brown material of his tunic. The warrior took in a quick breath, and as he released it, his face softened. He smiled. Then his shoulders shook gently, and a laugh escaped his lips. He patted the indignant doneel on her furry head and looked to Kale.

“I came to ask you,” he said, “if you’re ready to go. Paladin says there’s no gateway inside the city. We’ll have to enter the countryside.”

Kale stood as Dar approached with two packs slung over his shoulders. Librettowit followed.

The tumanhofer nodded to Lehman Bardon. “I’m not needed on the Creemoor expedition. Cam will watch after Fenworth. I asked to return to my library, but Paladin sends me with you instead.” Librettowit shrugged, shifting the load on his back. “No matter. I believe the rare book shops in Prushing will be worth the bother of trailing a miscreant meech.”

Regidor trotted over to join them. “I’ll be able to sniff him out. What better person to find a meech dragon than another meech dragon?”

Toopka clapped her hands and bounced on her toes. “A sneaky little doneel. That’s me.”

Bardon scooped the child into his arms. “You are to stick like a rock pine cone to Kale and stay out of trouble. I am your commanding officer, and you are to obey orders.”

Toopka’s eyes grew big. “You’re in charge of all of us?”

“No, Dar is, but I outrank you, little ninny-nap-conder.”

Regidor cleared his throat. “I don’t believe I’ve seen that word in any of Librettowit’s dictionaries.”

“Ninny-nap-conder refers,” said the librarian, “to one who appears to be a ninny, and one who seems to sleep through what is happening, unaware of what is going on. But in actuality, it means a con artist, one who manipulates those around her. In this case, ninny-nap-conder is a term of endearment. Bardon is saying Toopka is a little scamp.”

Toopka cocked her head and frowned. “I don’t think I like being endeared that way.”

Kale chuckled as she snapped her fingers to draw the foraging minor dragons’ attention. “Then you’d best deal more honestly with your friends. Gymn, Metta, we’re leaving.”

The dragons, including Dibl, flew to Kale and pushed their way beneath the folds of her cape to find their pocket-dens. Kale stooped to roll up her bedroll.

In a matter of minutes, the party of questers lined up before Paladin. The second company of adventurers, who would go to Creemoor, stood beside them.

“One more thing before you go,” Paladin said. “Kale, I must see the dragon eggs you still have in your keeping.”

Kale swiftly lowered her pack to the ground and removed the eggs from the pockets sewn into the moonbeam cape. The three minor dragons came out, chittering excitedly.

Paladin crouched on the other side and slowly examined each of the five eggs Kale lined up along the top of her bundle of belongings.

“This one,” he said, picking up the middle egg. He handed it to Kale. “Place this one in your hatching pouch.”

The small dragons zoomed into the air and did somersaults above the assembly. Dibl dove into Wizard Fenworth’s beard and did not reappear.

“Here now,” protested the old man as he patted his beard. “Come out of there. You’re eating, aren’t you? Take care you eat the bugs and not my buttons. I’ll not have my robes falling off because some inexperienced glutton devoured bone buttons instead of beetles. You could be useful while you’re at it and eat that drummerbug that keeps me awake at night.”

A bumblebee buzzed out of the curtain of gray hair at tremendous speed with Dibl right behind it. The dragon snatched it, chewed, swallowed, and gave out a trill of joy.

“Quite!” agreed the wizard and nodded knowingly at those around him. “Sweet. A delicacy. Very filling. But they tickle on the way down.”

         
24
         

T
HE
J
OURNEY
B
EGINS

Kale and her friends mounted the dragons. Paladin took the point, leading them to Brunstetter’s castle. Flying over the countryside reminded Kale that this rolling prairie held animals larger than in any other part of Amara. Traveling on land, they might have seen chickens as large as dogs, dogs as big as cows, cows as tall as horses, and horses she could have walked under without bending.

The sun reached its peak, and the urohm city of Blisk appeared on the horizon. They landed in a dragon field and rode in wagons to the center of the metropolis.

Lady Brunstetter, a dark-eyed, stately woman, served the questing party a noonmeal. Dar and Regidor savored the meal with a good deal of lip-smacking. Kale kicked the doneel under the table after one especially loud slurp of soup.

“Ouch!” He turned to glare at his o’rant friend.

Lady Brunstetter laughed, her eyes twinkling with merriment. “I know exactly how you feel, Kale. But it’s their custom, and doneels think it not rude but complimentary to eat noisily. The problem is when my doneel friends leave after an extended visit. Then I have to retrain our children in the manners of our people.”

As if to prove her point, one of the children took a bite of roasted venison and smacked loudly before dabbing grease from his chin with a linen napkin.

The meal was quickly dispatched. Paladin thanked their hostess for her graciousness and ushered the questing party into a chamber behind the throne room.

A gateway shimmered against a solid stone wall. Kale held Toopka with the little doneel’s arms wrapped around her neck. Librettowit stood in the shadows against a side wall in the small room. Bardon held a position by the door, his posture stiff, his hand on the hilt of his sword, and his jaw rigid. Kale intercepted a glance her way and smiled at him. He looked away without acknowledging her gesture of encouragement.

It’s all right, Bardon. We’re all nervous.

He blinked, but didn’t respond.

Regidor held his tail in one hand. White knuckles gleamed on each scaly finger.

Kale looked at the stone slab floor and wished for Leetu Bends.
She isn’t always friendly, but she sure acts like nothing bothers her. On the last quest, I thought I was safe just because she was there.

Paladin nodded for Dar to go first. The doneel diplomat stepped before his ruler.

“I pledge again my loyalty to you, my lord. May Wulder keep me humbly in your service.”

Paladin rested a hand on Dar’s shoulder. “I commission you to stand strong against the enemy of our high and mighty Wulder, to stand true to His word of hope, to stand with wisdom over His warriors entrusted to your guidance, and to seek justice and mercy in this quest.”

Dar bowed slightly and strode through the gateway.

Regidor marched forward. “Do I get a commission? Do I get special instructions?”

“Your commission is like Dar’s. Each member of the party is to uphold Dar’s leadership and to accept his mission as their own.” He looked around the stone-walled chamber to include each member of the questing party. “You may decline at this moment.”

No one moved to take up the offer.

Paladin turned back to the meech dragon. “Regidor, you will grow in knowledge, stature, and maturity in very short order. Do not think that you outpace your comrades. Wulder has placed each one within your circle of influence for your good and for their own. Be mindful of your rank. You are neither the head nor the tail of this expedition.”

“I understand, my lord. We are dependent on each other.”

“Precisely.” Paladin clapped him on the shoulder. “Go.”

As soon as the lights in the gateway faded from Regidor’s passing, Paladin held up his arm as a falconer would to invite his bird to land.

“Come, little ones.”

The three minor dragons crawled out of their pocket-dens and flew to him. They perched on the elegant sleeve and gazed studiously at Paladin. After looking each one in the eye for several moments, the ruler gave his small subjects permission to fly through the gateway.

Kale realized that some of her anxiety had drained away.

I don’t know what he said to them, but it must have been wonderful.

She heard Paladin’s rich chuckle in her mind.

“I told them to behave.”

Kale grinned.
That’s all?

“I did remind them that Wulder cares whether they do well or not, and will always be with them.”

Ah, that comforts me as well.

Paladin gestured for Librettowit to come forward. The librarian shuffled to his position in front of the ruler. Paladin placed a hand on each shoulder.

“My friend, you are always the reluctant hero. What would we do without you?”

Librettowit’s head snapped up, and he scowled.

Paladin’s face showed no humor, only sincere respect. “Go, my learned comrade. Mind these young rapscallions.”

Librettowit jerked his head in an affirmative nod and pushed through the gateway.

“Bardon,” called Paladin.

The lehman stepped forward and saluted. “At your command, my lord.”

“Trust in what you have already learned, Lehman. Your foundation will serve you well.”

Paladin nodded his dismissal, and the young warrior drew near to the gateway. He hesitated only a moment before striding through.

Kale looked at Paladin, wondering if she would be called next.

The ruler’s face looked unusually stern. “Toopka!”

The small doneel hopped down from Kale’s arms without a word and ran to stand before the ruler of Amara, king to some, bane to others.

She remained silent but looked cautiously at Paladin.

What’s going on?
thought Kale.
I’ve never known Toopka to be at a loss for words.

“I am not so pleased with you as I would like to be,” said Paladin.

Toopka ducked her head and stared at the floor.

“I commission you from this day forward to walk in truth, not only in spoken word, but unspoken as well. In deed as well as word. Even in your thoughts, for you deceive yourself as often as you deceive others.”

Toopka’s small furry head bobbed in acknowledgment of the command. She sniffed and, with one furry hand, wiped a tear from her cheek.

Paladin scooped the child into his arms and embraced her with a warm hug, kissing the side of her face as she sobbed. Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he said, “You must not use your sad beginning as an excuse to travel the wrong path. Wulder has given you much. Give back, dear child, give back. Don’t hoard in fear that this is all there is. Give freely, and you will be given to. Wulder has an abundant supply.”

He stood her on the floor, pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket, and dabbed away her tears.

He then smiled and kissed her on the top of her head. With a gentle hand on her back, he scooted her toward the gateway.

“You will be fine, Toopka. Trust and be trustworthy.”

The doneel disappeared through the gateway.

“Now, my child and friend, servant and keeper of the dragons, it is your turn. Come forward.” He held out a hand, and Kale stepped forward to take it.

“Tell me what you are thinking.”

“You already know.”

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know my friends as I thought I did. Dar is much more important than he appears, isn’t he?”

“I agree.”

“Toopka and Bardon have secrets, don’t they?”

“Yes. You will need to be a friend to both.”

“Librettowit is tired.”

“As is Fenworth. We are all tired of the fight against those like Risto. But still, we will persevere.”

“What do you charge me with, Paladin? Tell me exactly what you want me to do, and I will do my best.”

Paladin smiled and tenderly cupped the side of her face in his warm hand. “As always, Kale, I ask for you to do the good you see right in front of you. That is all.”

Kale blinked hard, trying to keep tears from spilling down her cheeks. “Why can’t you just tell me?”

“Because then you would know
my
strength in Wulder instead of discovering your own.”

Not really understanding, she nodded and turned toward the gateway. She hesitated. “Is there anything else?”

“Enjoy the journey.”

Kale took a deep breath, stepped into the thick air exploding with light, and stepped out of the gateway, straight into the arms of Granny Noon.