Cold Hearted Son of a Witch (Dragoneers Saga) (3 page)

“Why would we have to stay?” Rikky asked.

“You have to harvest the caps under the light of a full moon,” Mysterian repeated the queen’s statement. “Zahrellion and I have been over it.”

Rikky didn’t like being dismissed that way, but since Mysterian was a real witch of the Hazeltine, he didn’t dare argue. Jenka understood his young friend’s concern. He also knew Rikky was far more capable than any of them gave him credit for. Rikky was the best of them as far as Jenka was concerned.

“The first caravan of King’s Rangers left here this morning. They will be at Midwal soon and then continue out into the frontier. Jenka, you will be flying guard over them when they move beyond the barrier midday tomorrow. You will stay with them until they reach Three Forks, then you will return to escort Commander Herald’s smaller party north from here.”

“Commander Herald’s party?”
Mysterian asked. “What’s this, Herald?”

“I’m needed at Kingsmen’s Keep,” he shrugged innocently.

“We will speak of this later,” she scolded, but a tiny bit of hurt showed through her angry visage. Not enough to keep her from turning her gaze on Rikky.
 
“You’ll keep your peg-leg on, Rikky Camille. I heard about what happened today.”

Mysterian then turned and started in on Herald about his leaving. Jenka watched as Zahrellion demanded a whispered explanation from Rikky. Soon the map was rolled and the table loaded with honeyed pork and game hens. Before they began the meal, Queen Alvazina stood and thanked everyone for their commitment to saving the Crown Prince. She looked at Linux’s body when she said, “...and I speak for my husband when I say that no matter the outcome of your quest, your efforts will never be forgotten.”

Zahrellion asked Jenka to meet her later at the usual place, so his distaste over the way of things between the king and the druid was soon washed away with eager hope. Underneath that feeling, though, was the ache of knowing that he would have to spend a long while without either of his two companions.

After dinner most everyone excused themselves from the Lair. Rikky rolled over to Jenka’s side. “I have to go work on the portable chair Linux devised for me.”

“Will it roll in sand?” Jenka asked.

“Doubtful,” Linux said as he joined them.

Jenka looked up at King Blanchard’s face. “Herald said you needed to see me?”

“While you are in the foothills, would you find Lemmy and take him to the Temple of Dou? There are drawings that I saw in an old journal written by a woman who claimed to have befriended an orphaned dragon.” Linux hated to lie to Jenka about the importance of that journal, but he saw no other option at the moment. Stuck in fat King Blanchard’s body, he couldn’t return to the temple himself. His vile brother Lanxe would make a mockery of him. “I remember one of them showed the makings of a clever riding saddle. I originally dismissed it as some raver’s scratch, but now, after working with Rikky and Silva, I think that the design may have merit. I’ll send a missive for Lem explaining where in the Librarium to find the volume, and what I want him to copy for us.”

“I told Linux how you fell into the wall that one time,” Rikky grinned.

Jenka laughed, remembering how Jade had saved him from that impact with Dour magic. “Sure, Linux, we need saddles. I have questions for Lemmy anyway. I’ll do it.”

“Am I not the fargin king? Isn’t the proper response, ‘I’ll gladly do it,
Your Majesty
?’ ” Linux did a perfect imitation of King Blanchard’s voice and manner to go along with the body he wore.
 
This caused a laugh that lightened the mood.

Jenka used the awkward moment to excuse himself so that he could get ready to go meet Zahrellion.

Chapter 3

Like the Dragoneers, the dragons were treated well in Mainsted. A large open area, once a park, had been dubbed the dragon bailey. It was set aside for the coming and going of dragons. There were three shifts of attendants to take care of the wyrms' every need. A whole troop of hunters worked to keep fresh meat available. But at night the area was devoid of people.

Out beyond the wavering light of the night fires, there was a pond with stone benches lined around its overgrown shore. Jenka found Zahrellion sitting at one of them. She was fidgeting and looked anxious. He was nervous too, and her manner only made him feel less sure of himself. The words of love and commitment he had been about to spill formed into a knot just behind his sternum.

As he stood there afraid to say what was on his mind, the sound of the cicadas and a low-groaning bullfrog’s repetitious call filled the moonlit silence.
 
To his surprise Zah saved him by stepping up and mashing her mouth against his. The kiss they shared was long and deep. Only after Jenka’s hands cupped her body a little too eagerly did she push away. “No, Jenka.” She wasn’t harsh, but understanding. “When we get back, after Prince Richard is well, maybe then we can think about ourselves.”

The fact that the Crown Prince had just been inserted into the moment sent a flash of jealousy through Jenka. He had to struggle to overcome it. “I’m not thinking about myself,” he pulled her back to him and whispered into her neck.

She gave in to the feel of his hot mouth on that place behind her ear, but only for a moment. “Jenka, I love you,” she said. “And I know you love me, but we are Royal Dragoneers.”

Jenka was too stunned by her words to respond. Her tone had been almost sisterly when she spoke. It was enough that the elation of hearing her say she loved him was set aside for the moment.

“Sit.” She patted the bench as she resumed her seat. “We are leaving on the morrow, just after you.”

That statement registered in his mind. “What? You can’t be. Why?”

“It is three days from Gull’s Reach to Fisherman’s Isle, not from here.” She shrugged as if she might change it if she could. “If we start from Gull’s Reach in the next few days we’ll be able to make the island during the coming full moon. If we dally any longer we will have to wait until the next.”

He let the bad news sink in and then the contained feelings over hearing her words burst forth. “You really love me?” He took her hands in his. Her liquid lavender eyes said she did.

She didn’t answer with words. Instead she leaned into him and pressed her head against his. Jenka felt the shape of the tattoo on her forehead. It was like a triangular piece of ice. “Yes I do,” she said, before giving him a quick brush of her lips. “Rikky and I will be back soon enough.” And with that she hurried away.

Jenka heard her sniffle and could feel the wetness from the tears she’d cried on his cheek, but the strange icy feeling that was still chilling his dome was the sensation that kept him from going after her. His mind was numb, and now he was more confused than ever.

The memory of when he and Master Kember first met Zahrellion up in the Orich Mountains flashed through his mind. “Fargin women’ll twist your thinker till it pops,” the man had said.

Jenka couldn’t agree more.

***

Zahrellion was sick to her stomach. She’d just done something she didn’t want to do. Jenka loved her, and she knew she loved him too. She also knew that it could never be. They were Dragoneers, not villagers. They would never be able to share what lovers have. She’d intended to make that clearer this night, but instead she’d left him thinking that when she and Rikky returned, if they returned, she wanted the romance to continue.
 
She could only hope that the time apart would distance his feelings. She had more than she could handle ahead of her.

Rikky was a responsibility she wasn’t sure she was ready for. His disability wasn’t really the issue, it was his age. Since the troop of men she was supposed to be guarding had been killed by the swarming goblin kin, she’d been overly committed to her duty as a Royal Dragoneer. But she was afraid to be responsible for others. That’s why she volunteered to continually fly messages from the mainland to the islands. She could do that alone. Saying that Crystal needed the flying time to get ready for the quest was no more than a pretense. Crystal could fly from Mainsted to the serpent’s island with ease. She was taking Rikky because it was the king’s order for her to do so, but she also knew that the plan was sound, and that resting on Fisherman’s Isle was smart. It was also smart to have Rikky there to guard the sky while she was gathering the mushrooms they needed.
 
Still, she would have rather been going it alone on the quest, especially after Rikky had brought up at dinner the embarrassing
subject
 
of
relieving oneself while flying oversea on a dragon’s back.

She forced Jenka out of her mind and let her cheeks dry in the cooling autumn air. There were things about the coral serpent that only she, Mysterian, and Linux had discussed. The creature’s venom was supposed to be deadly poisonous. It was ejected through its long, spiraled horn.
 
The captain’s log of an early exploring vessel described seeing the long, eel-like creature leap skyward to great heights as it tried to spear low-flying sea dactyls in the bay. Zah planned on telling Rikky all of this after they were well on their way. She wanted to tell him now, but Herald and Linux had forbidden it.

The secrecy was to keep Jenka from going off like a half-cocked crossbow, as they all knew he would. If he found out how truly dangerous the creature was, Zahrellion knew Jenka would go as much to keep her from having to face the danger as he would to save the prince. He was selfless, and that’s one of the reasons she loved him so much.
Arghh! Stop it!
She told herself.

Ssstops whatss?
Crystal responded in her mind.

Nothing, to worry about, friend,
Zahrellion answered.
Rest yourself. Before the morrow breaks we leave on our quest.

Yessssss
, Crystal hissed. The excited sound sent shivers down Zahrellion’s spine. By the time she recovered, Jenka was far from her thoughts. She needed to check the packs and the rigging, as well as make sure Rikky’s special equipment was ready. She also needed to rest, though she slept quite well when Crystal was flying, so it wasn’t a priority. She decided that they wouldn’t wait for dawn. If they left early enough, they could make Gull’s Reach by midnight next. They could rest the dragons there and gain a day in their race against the coming full moon.

If she could have stood to be in the room with Linux, she might have gone and helped Rikky finish his rig. She decided to send a message runner instead. Linux was mad. The Order of Dou, she had learned, was less a devout sect and more a cruel bunch of experimenting scholars with few scruples. All of it irritated her. She still prayed to the essence of Dou, and her druidic magic still obeyed her when she commanded it. But she was a Royal Dragoneer now, and all of those ways had to be behind her. Just like her love for Jenka, she had to let it go.

***

Jenka didn’t sleep well, but he was up at the crack of dawn eating gruel with Herald and the men who attended the dragons. Jenka was almost as hurt as he was angry at Zah. She and Rikky had left before dawn. He didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.

He was disappointed in Rikky. He imagined that the boy was so excited that he just forgot to tell him.
 
Still, it hurt Jenka’s feelings that they left the way they did. He had half a mind to go off after them, to tell them what he thought of their departure.

“They
be
gone, boy,” Herald said in an understanding way. “Now that you ain’t gotta come back to see ‘em off, you can get them rangers all the way up to the keep straight through. When you know they’re safe, come back to Three Forks and fly guard over my group.”

“I have to take Lemmy to the druids’ temple, and more importantly to me, I have to make sure my mother is resting properly.” Jenka’s emotion showed in his narrow-browed scowl. “I will try to do what you need, Herald, but I wasn’t born in this kingdom. I don’t owe it my service.”

“Your father were to hear that he’d crack the
—
”