Streams to ashes, p.13
Streams to Ashes, page 13
The white-haired wizard stared at her. “I know you. You were the little girl who came with Ian, weren’t you? The girl whom I saved from drowning. I recognize that nose.”
“You do? I mean, you recognize my nose?”
“I think he means the little brown spots. What was your name? Elisa?” Whomticker asked.
“My freckles? Yes. No one can forget your face either, Silvio.”
“Is that the dragon from the portal chamber?” Whomticker scratched his chin and gave the dragon a closer look.
“You didn’t hurt him, did you?” Elisa asked.
“He looks happy enough. I’m Jimmy,” the redhead said and offered a handshake. “What are you doing riding a dragon?” he laughed.
“I’m looking for my brother Brad.”
“I don’t know a Brad,” he said.
“Well, do you know Ian and Abbi Wilson?”
“Cassie’s folks? Yes. We’re headed for their camp now. Come with us.”
“What about Stenhjaert?”
Everyone looked at the dragon. His enormous body seemed to sink into the earth where he had fallen. His scales appeared as rocks in the moonlight and his tail stretched out and disappeared over the bridge.
“We won’t be able to move him. He won’t even be able to move himself until morning, I fear,” Whomticker surmised, sucking his lower lip. “Let’s leave him here.”
Before Elisa could protest, Jimmy lifted her onto his horse and the wizards bade old Stenhjaert farewell.
Reunion
Ian was one of the first ones up the next morning, stoking the fire and helping Elena cut roots from a plant he had never heard of but which, when boiled, had a nutty aroma.
“Maybe these are like turnips?” he asked.
“I don’t know turnips,” she answered and then, pushing her black hair over her shoulders, she turned to him.
“You are going to Taikus?” You are taking Jimmy?”
“I’m not sure if Jimmy is coming.”
“I hope not. Always you people endanger his life. He should stay home. We need him here.”
“I’ll make a point of mentioning that.” To whom Ian wasn’t sure. “But Jimmy is his own man. If he comes with us, I can’t stop him.”
“Always they say that. Look, he comes back.” She dropped what she was doing and hurried out to the edge of the forest where Jimmy and others were tying their horses.
“Mission accomplished! And we made it back before noon!” Jimmy announced, his arms wide open in triumph, and ready to receive Elena. His voice rang out through the woods, waking the Gitanos, and Abbi, and others in the camp.
“You brought the Shaman,” she said. “And another magic one.”
“Silvio and Whomticker,” Jimmy answered as they trudged up the hill to the campfire.
At the name of Silvio, Claudia screamed and stumbled over her skirt to get to him. “My son!”
“Mother?” Silvio cried. It was odd to see the old wizard run, tripping over his cloak, his silver hair flying. Even from where he stood, Ian could hear him panting and wheezing, yet Silvio did not stop until his mother was in his arms. They embraced and tears even trickled down Ian’s cheeks as the entire camp looked on.
“I’m so happy for them,” Cassie whispered and wiped her cheeks. After a long sigh, she smiled at Ian. “Pardon me, Dad. I’m going to change my clothes. We have work to do.” She ran into her tent.
“And who is that?” Elena nodded toward a soldier helping a young lady dismount from a horse.
“Oh, she came up to us as we crossed the bridge. I don’t really know who she is. Says her name is Elisa.”
“A stranger?” Elena gave Jimmy a jealous frown.
“Honest.”
The horses caught Ian's eye and he gasped in surprise.
“Elisa!”
Stunned by her sudden appearance, questions raced through his mind as he hurried to meet up with her.
“How did you get here?” Ian asked her.
“I flew,” she laughed as she slid off the horse.
The reunion caused such commotion in the camp, and so many friendly greetings and slaps on the back, that there was no time for Ian to get answers to all his questions. Elena dragged Jimmy to the campfire and went back to cooking. Silvio and Claudia disappeared into her tent and the Gitanos surrounded Whomticker with adoration. The Magic Thief received their admiration with a polite smile, but he looked around him anxiously.
“I must be gone,” he kept saying, trying to avoid their inquiries.
Ian picked up Elisa’s pack and he and Abbi took her to their tent.
“How did you get here?” Ian asked again, setting her things by their blankets.
“You won’t believe me.”
“Of course, we will. You’re here. Did you walk?”
“No. I rode a dragon.”
“Stenhjaert?” Abbi asked.
“You released him?” Ian dropped the bedroll and spun around to face her, shocked. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
“All the years we spent trying to keep the dragon contained and you let it loose?”
“I had no choice, Ian. He threatened to burst out in either direction if I didn’t let him go. But he agreed to help us. I think. Where is Brad?”
“What do you mean ‘he agreed’?” Ian asked.
“That must have been horrifying for you. Where is Stenhjaert?” Abbi interrupted.
“When Whomticker saw us flying over the bridge toward him and the soldiers, he put a spell on the dragon, and we fell out of the sky. With a rather difficult landing, I might add.” She rubbed the back of her neck and looked mournfully at Abbi. “I’m sorry, but Stenhjaert’s threats scared me. I couldn’t imagine a dragon turned loose in Seattle.”
“What do you mean by threats?” Ian asked.
“He talks. Or rather, he talks to my mind. I’m not sure if anyone else can hear him because we haven’t been around anyone else. Kind of like Pern, isn’t it?” she asked Abbi. “When I was little, I dreamed of being a dragon rider, and now I am!”
“Grief,” Ian moaned. “Where is he now?”
“Whomticker’s spell left him unconscious by the bridge. We couldn’t move him. Where is my brother?”
Ian grabbed his coat. “Brad went to the Kaemperns to muster up what soldiers he could. We need to get the dragon before he gains consciousness. You can talk to him?”
“In a way. But I really need to see Brad.”
“At the moment, that’s impossible. Are you coming with us? Abbi?” Ian asked.
“On it.” Abbi followed Ian out the door and grabbed Elisa’s hand as she exited. Sanchez and his soldiers stopped them before they could get beyond the tents, though, waylaying their rush to find the dragon.
“Ian,” Sanchez waved him over. “We’re leaving for Taikus.”
“Now?”
“Now. There’s no other way to save Martim but to approach the one who holds him prisoner, and we must do it quickly. Scouts have reported that the Taikan ships have docked on the western shore of the island. Martim’s life is in danger. We can’t stall any longer.”
Confused, Ian studied Sanchez and the others.
“We’ve been waiting for the wizards and they’re both here. Abbott knows his way around Telamande and the castle. He’s a Taikan and we asked him to be our guide. We were hoping his daughter would talk to Ivar, but she seems to be gone.”
“Yes, I will be your guide.” Abbott looked off into the woods.
“Promise disappeared.” Sanchez repeated, suspicion written on his face.
“I know,” Ian whispered.
“Because she’s a spy,” Cassie blurted. “And she knows our plans.”
“She’s no spy,” Abbott argued.
“I saw her leave your tent last night and make for the woods fully armed.” Ian said. “What did you talk about that made her leave?”
Abbott looked away; his face flushed. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?” Cassie asked.
“It was a family matter.”
“Let’s not waste any more time,” Sanchez picked up his belongings. To Ian he uttered in a muted tone, “We should go forth with our plans even more quickly now that we might deal with spies.” He nodded to his soldiers and marched down the trail that led to the coast.
“I’m going too.” Cassie told Ian. She wore a soldier’s uniform, a rifle slung over her shoulder, and a smile of confidence on her face. She waited for Ian’s reaction and when he didn’t give her one, she turned and caught up to Sanchez.
“What about the dragon?” Abbi asked Ian.
“We’ll have to leave the dragon to his own mischief for now. What would we do with it, anyway? He won’t fit on the boat.” He turned toward the tent. “Elisa?”
“The blond girl? She’s gone,” Jimmy said, grabbing his pack. “Headed back toward the bridge.”
“Ian?” Abbi asked. “What do we do? We can’t just abandon Elisa.”
“No. But she’s on an island with friendly people and we can ask them to take care of her.”
“I’ll ask Elena to find her,” Jimmy offered.
“Good. And if Elisa somehow gets atop that dragon again, we’ll know where she is. We go with Sanchez. That was the plan to begin with.”
Promise
Father or not, Promise hadn’t known Abbott for long, and aside from being a blood relative, what close bond could she claim if he hadn’t raised her? Hacatine and her servants had been her parents. Abbott was a ghost from the past. He certainly had no right to prevent her from making her own decisions about life. No one did. She felt angry and betrayed when Ivar tried to manipulate her. She didn’t need Abbott to do the same.
After pushing the boat into the reeds along the swampy shore of southern Taikus, she tied it to a protruding stump, took a deep breath, and stepped ashore, the smell of the desert air familiar to her. Even though the sky was still dark, the white sand, and driftwood glowed in the starlight, lighting her way.
No one came to this barren part of the island because of its heat and arid terrain, which is exactly why she chose these shores to hide. From here she would hike to the caves, don her warrior apparel again, and then prepare to go back to the man she loved. She knew in her heart that the choice she made was the right one. To return to him alone. He would accuse her of treason if she appeared to him in the fellowship of the Lisbons. He would execute her, her father, and whoever else he captured. But it wasn’t only death that frightened her. The misunderstanding between them scared her more than anything else. She didn’t want to break Ivar’s heart again; she wanted him to know she loved him.
Promise would come as a Taikan and warn him about the approach of the Lisbons and the things they accused him of. He might show mercy toward Abbott. He might not. Still, Abbott represented her past; Ivar was her future. No longer would she hide her feelings. Whenever Travis or someone mentioned Ivar’s name, she suppressed the growing ache inside and denied her love for him, not because he repulsed her, though he acted like a child too often, but because he confused her. Not wanting to admit the love she had for him, she kept her feelings in the shadows, terrified of judgment. But when Abbott voiced his disapproval of her marriage to Ivar, she realized she’d been living a lie.
She gathered her bundle, strapped it on her back, carried her bow and quiver and started up the hill just as dawn lit the sky. As she made her way towards the rocky cliffs, the trail began to twist and turn through a landscape of low growing mesquite trees and tangled bramble brush. The rugged countryside mirrored how rugged her life had been ever since she met Ivar, full of thistle and thorns flanked with wild-rose blossoms, a touch of pain, and flavored with a scent of sweet perfume. If only Silvio could persuade Ivar to abandon the power that had taken hold of him, it would restore the goodness in him. The relationship between Promise and Ivar was flawed, but it was not solely Ivar who made mistakes. She left when he offered her his world. She refused his kindness.
Why?
What was she running from?
Promise assumed it was because she had never had a relationship before. Hacatine had not allowed her servants to be friendly with men, much less marry them. The warriors were the fighting arm of her monarchy. They were obligated to Hacatine. The concept of marriage to anyone but the Crown was alien to them. How could Promise agree to enter such a contract with a man?
Ivar came from a different culture. Kaemperns believed in faithful marriages and valued lifelong commitments. The warrior women used to laugh at them for their silly vows of loyalty to one another, but maybe the Taikans were mistaken. Maybe there was something to be said about having a lifetime mate.
Ivar had been sincere in his efforts to bring her into his family, despite how clumsy his delivery was. Should she have overlooked the awkwardness of his proposal and accepted? Perhaps she could have been a steady hand for him. Maybe she could have helped him be a king. He knew nothing about Taikus, and he could barely control the powers he possessed. By leaving, she made his erraticism worse.
What she feared was that maybe his despondency over her absence caused this war.
Still, why would Ivar imprison the king of Alisubbo?
It made little sense.
Lost in her thoughts, she failed to hear voices in the distance until the movement of people on another trail nearby startled her. She ducked into the mesquite to hide as Donis and her Serpent Whisperers in all their costumed glory passed. Gold and silver bangles adorned their necks, their arms, their feet. Bronzed by the sun, the women carried more weapons than Promise had ever seen them carry. The curved sword of the Taikans hung on their hips, and the cruel poisoned daggers dangled from their belts like oversized jewels. And Donis, of course, wore her hideous crown of asps.
Promise hated that headdress. She disliked Donis. The woman was more ruthless than her sister if that was at all possible. It was Donis who had overseen the arrests of the wizards and had kept the prisons filled. Promise had volunteered for the navy to avoid being drafted as a sentry or worse, a Serpent Whisperer working under Donis’ charge. But she had no fear of the woman. If the Whisperers were here in the desert, they had an ulterior motive. The caves were a hiding place, a refuge for outlaws and rebels. The only individuals who frequented this area were those with evil motives.
Promise watched as the fifteen women hiked up the hill, talking with one another. They smelled of the sea, and Promise caught a whiff of smoke on their clothes. They were not clean. The women's clothes were torn and dirty, and one of them had her arm bound as if injured.
Promise trailed them, staying hidden in the brush, her footsteps as light as a hare, careful to keep a safe distance. Curiosity drew her near, yet she stayed camouflaged as she listened, hoping for a clue what Donis’ party had planned. Farther up the hill, gray slabs of stone stretched upward, forming the mountain that housed a labyrinth of caves and tunnels. At the mouth of the entrance to the underground maze stood two Whisperers waiting for Donis and her clan to arrive.
“How fares our prisoner?” Donis asked.
“He’s alive though I had to gag him.”
Donis laughed as she waved her friends into the cave. “Too much talk?”
“He tried to educate me as to the proper way to treat a prisoner, as if I cared. How is the war coming?”
“I believe they’ve taken the bait, but there’s a little more work to do. Not enough ships are following us. This false king would never believe it was a raid if we didn’t have an entire fleet pursuing us. We’ll remedy that. Have you heard from Cepha?”
“A runner came yesterday. Kaemperns showed up from the north!”
“What news! Was there a battle?”
“They are engaging now, and Ivar lifted his flags of war thanks to Cepha blowing up a Taikan ship.” The woman laughed. “Soon we can all sit back and watch them destroy each other. I hope it happens quickly. I would love to get out of this desert. Even in the caves, the heat is torment.”
“Soon enough.”
“What about our prisoner? Do we kill him yet?” The women spoke with muffled voices as they met each other on the hill, turned, and walked into the cavern, but Promise heard the reply and her heart raced.
“Not yet. We still need him, depending on the outcome of the war. The plan is for the Lisbons to assassinate Ivar and then we step in and offer to exchange their king’s safety for the throne of Taikus. Come, get him and let’s head for Telamande. Once we arrive in the city, We’ll hand him over to Cepha and she can guard him. You will have the privilege of reclaiming the palace with me.”
Promise burned with anger. So that was her plan! To fool the Lisbons into killing Ivar! How close they were to seeing it succeed!
She huddled in the shadows and watched as the troops went in and soon marched out of the cave; the king secured between them. He was bound, gagged, and bloody, his clothes tattered. Pale and weak and probably half starved, he did not seem healthy at all. There were too many Whisperers surrounding him. They were an intimidating force with a power she could not match. If she tried to rescue him, they would both die. Even if she secured his escape, in his condition, he’d never make it back to the Isle of Refuge. If Donis meant to keep him alive until they crowned her queen of Taikus, she had better feed him and give him water.
She must connect with her father and the Lisbons in Telamande for the sake of both their king and Ivar. To do that, she had better hurry, find them, and tell them the whereabouts of their king, although once Cepha had him, he might be harder to find. That would be Lisbon’s worry. She would go to Taikus herself, approach Ivar and alert him to Donis’ treachery!
Elisa finds Stenhjaert.
“Stenhjaert if you don’t show yourself, you’re never going to get another pork roast from me. I don’t care how hungry you are!”
Elisa pushed through a thicket along the trail, weary from a restless night and upset that he wasn’t where they had left him. All she could think about was the poor dragon buried in a pile of leaves and sprawled across the bridge. What if someone found him? In the state he was in, he had no defense. Anyone could have attacked him while he was unconscious. Someone could have killed him. Do people in the Realm eat dragon meat?
