Dragonmark (19 page)

Jo looked up and gasped. Morgen's dragons and gargoyles filled the sky.

And they were headed straight for them.

 

17

Without thinking twice, Cadegan grabbed his sword from Josette's hip and prepared to fight the approaching army. Even though she was in his male body, he pulled her behind him as the dragons and gargoyles descended to attack them. Illarion moved to shield them both.

The moment he did, a strange red haze rose up from the ground and formed a dome over their small group. A dome that Morgen's soldiers slammed into, and recoiled off. If not for the fact that this could be an even bigger threat to them, it'd be comical.

Scowling, Cadegan looked at his brother. “That you with a shield?”

Thorn shook his head. “Definitely not me.” He glanced to the Adar Llwch Gwin. “Frick? Frack? Can you explain?”

Slack-jawed, they shook their heads in unison.

Illarion pulled back.
It feels fey, but not as dark as Morgen's magick.

No sooner had he pushed that thought to their heads than the ground below their feet opened up and swallowed them.

Cursing, Cadegan wrapped himself around Josette to cushion her fall as they tumbled into a deep, dark cavern.

For a minute, Illarion feared it to be a bottomless pit.

Until they struck a hard, black floor. Though it was dark, the walls around them glistened with glowing vines.

Josette landed on top of Cadegan, a few feet from him.

Cadegan let out a harsh groan. “I'm the one what needs to lose weight, me lady. Oof! I weigh a mighty ton. How do you stand me weight atop of you?”

Her face turned red before she shifted to speak in his ear. “I love your weight on me. But not like this.” Josette slid from his body. He pushed himself to his feet while the others followed suit.

“Well, well, what have we here?” a woman asked from inside the dark.

Retrieving his sword, Cadegan took Josette's hand to hold her near him, while Illarion moved to stand at his back.

“Why have you trespassed upon my lands?” There was a shrill note to the woman's irritated tone.

“We meant no disrespect.” Thorn spoke up first.

“Actions are far more important to me than words that profess intent, as those actions, more oft than not, betray your real heart. Case in point…” A red mist appeared before Cadegan and Josette. “You two protect each other, without a single word. Does this mean that you don't care for one another?”

When Josette started to speak, Cadegan squeezed her hand to warn her not to. At least not until they knew more about what they were facing.

The mist went to Thorn. “Who do you protect?”

“None of your business.”

The mist solidified into the body of a beautiful woman. With long black hair, she had an oval face, and large, dark eyes.

Ah, shit, this was a bitch Illarion knew all too well. They were so screwed.

“You like your words, don't you?” she asked them.

“They've been known to serve me well.”

She scoffed at Thorn before she came over to Cadegan and Jo. A slow smile curved her lips as she danced her gaze over Cadegan's handsome body. Until she cocked her head and studied their locked hands. “Now you,
you
must have significant value for your lady to covet and protect you so.”

Before either of them could speak, Jo was ripped away from Cadegan. Cadegan, still in her body, rushed for her.

As Jo tried to reach him, a twisted golden cage came out of the ground to surround and hold her in a tiny room. Similar cages sprang up to imprison Illarion, Ioan, Talfryn, and Thorn.

The woman moved to confront Cadegan. “Do you know who I am?”

“Queen Cordelia.”

She inclined her head in approval. “So you know of me?”

“Everyone in Glastonbury knows the tale of Gwyn and his wife, Creiddylad.”

She wagged her finger before his face. “Nay, not until All Hallow's Eve. For now, I belong to Gwythyr ap Greidawl, who won me again last May Day.” Sighing heavily, she cast her gaze back toward Cadegan's caged body. “And I grow weary of my place as trophy. There was a time when I would have given up my very soul for Gwythyr. But those days have long passed, and now I long for another to hold. A man worthy of the title, who will always win my hand above the others.”

The queen's speculative gaze went back to Cadegan's body before she returned to face
Josette's
body. “What say we fight for your man and the best lady keeps him?”

Illarion scowled at her question. Did she not know they'd been exchanged?

Was this a trick of some kind?

“Fight how?” Cadegan asked.

“A joust. You against my champion. If your love and heart are true, you will win back your man. But be warned … if you've spoken falsely of your feelings, all will know you have lied, and you will surely lose.”

Cadegan arched a brow. “Majesty, do you know who I am?”

She gave him an insidious smile. “Do
you
?”

“I know me heart.”

“Then a joust it shall be.”

“No!” Josette shouted in denial as she fought against the gold bars that held her. “I won't have it! What if you're hurt?”

Cadegan took her hand into his and pulled it to his cheek. “I will heal.” He turned back to the queen. “But there is one thing I want for this.”

Cordelia arched a brow. “And that is?”

“Win, lose, or draw, Josette returns to her true home, intact. Body and soul.”

She took a moment to think the offer over. “Only if you agree that should you lose, I shall own Cadegan forever. Body and soul.”

It was a steep price, but apparently he was willing. And that, too, Illarion understood. “Done.”

“No!” Josette screamed. “No! I won't agree to this. I refuse it!”

Cordelia snorted. “Not your bargain to make. The deal is done.” She stepped back and clapped her hands.

A whirlwind swept through the cavern, blowing all of them around. It plastered their clothes to their bodies and forced a severe chill into the room. Suddenly, a golden stallion appeared. It had red eyes and a shimmering mane as it stamped at the ground and eyed Cadegan with malice.

In the blink of an eye, gold armor encased his body, complete with a basinet helm, red plumage, and a war lance.

The horse glared at Cadegan as he pulled himself into the saddle to fight whatever opponent Cordelia demanded.

Borne by fey magick, the lance rose from the ground to hover by his side until he took it into his grasp. As soon as he gripped it, his opponent appeared at the opposite side of the glowing list. Wrapped in silver armor with blue plumage and riding a silver horse, the rider glared through his helm at Cadegan with red, demonic eyes.

Illarion cringed at the sight. This was bad.…

For all of them.

Cordelia manifested a huge, thorny throne at the same time a pixie with wings appeared near the field, holding a flag.

Cadegan waited for the pixie to drop the banner. The moment she did, he kicked his horse forward. He held the lance at the ready for a fair strike and braced himself for the blow.

Just as he should have struck, his opponent vanished into thin air. His horse galloped past and as it did so, Cadegan was no longer on the field.

Nor was he in Josette's body.

Illarion cursed as he realized the game Cordelia played and the test that she'd fashioned for Cadegan.

One that if he failed, would screw them all …

The warrior was now in the distant past. A frightened boy among his king's soldiers.

Cadegan froze as he heard them speaking those words that had no meaning to him. As they cast scornful glances in his direction as if he were a mongrel dog about to shite their shoes.

One of the knights threw a basket of rusted chain-mail at him, and a sword that appeared to have been scraped from the bottom of the Thames.…

And smelted back together as a child's learning project.

Confused, he'd looked up at the man who'd sneered words at him he couldn't understand, but the tone said that it was all the likes of Cadegan deserved.

The others had laughed at his new armor the king had instructed them to find for him since he hadn't any of his own.

Still, they laughed at him.

Alone and homesick, Cadegan had dug through the basket, only to realize the other knights had soaked all the contents with their urine. And they laughed even harder while they watched him curl his lip in repugnance.

Worse, it still bore the blood of the last knight who'd worn it, or rather, given the size of the hole in the side, had died in it.

Unwilling to let the others know how much their words and actions cut him, Cadegan had washed the armor as best he could, and patched it with leather straps he'd cut from the tops of his shoes.

On their first day of battle, he'd donned the armor and ignored their ridicule and disdain, and was grateful he could only ascertain their biting tones and not their actual words. One was bad enough, he definitely didn't need the other.

Since he had no horse, they'd left him to fight on foot, with only the damaged sword and no shield.

None of them had allowed him to be part of the army group. One by one, they'd pushed and jostled him until he'd been relegated to the side of their forces, to fight alone. No one at his side.

No one at his back.

It was the worst moment of his life. Because all the soldiers had refused to train him, he'd known nothing of war. He'd barely known how to properly hold his sword. But the moment the Mercians had attacked and blood had flowed thick on the field at their feet, Cadegan had held his own with everything he had. Determined only not to die that day.

However, his opponents had mercilessly sought to lop his head off and knock him to the ground.

He'd refused to give them their desire. He had no intention of going down. Not this day or any other.

As he fought, he'd seen one of the Powys knights fall from his mount. The Mercians had set upon him like a pack of starving wolves. Ferocious. Merciless. They had hacked until they knocked his helm free.

It was the same man who had cast the soiled armor at Cadegan and laughed while he did so.

For the merest heartbeat, Cadegan had gloated at seeing the man's fate.

Until his mind flashed on Brother Eurig, who'd used his hands to lovingly and patiently instruct him on decency and mercy.
Honor is what separates man from beast. The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to actually be what we pretend to be. Let others laugh and mock those of us they perceive beneath them, but remember, good Cadegan, honor lies inside our hearts and it is that which makes us act with mercy and compassion against those who have most wronged us. Even if the jackal wounds your pride, do not reward such knavery by surrendering your honor to him. Only then have you truly lost all. Never let anyone take your soul, for they are not worth your eternity or your heart.

Instead of walking away and leaving the knight to die as cruelly as he'd lived, Cadegan had charged forward and bravely sought to protect him from their enemies.

Though the knight had survived that encounter and Cadegan—wounded himself—had carried him to the physicians to be tended, the knight's injuries had been such that he'd died the next day. But an hour before his death, he'd summoned Cadegan to his bed.

His gaze warm, he'd offered his hand to Cadegan and had given him his own sword, armor, and helm, and told the soldiers with him that he wanted his horse to be Cadegan's as well.

It was that knight's sword that Cadegan carried to this day. A reminder to himself that even those who appeared the cruelest and most evil in the world were never above salvation. That, by the right actions, anyone's heart could be changed. And a reminder to Cadegan that
all
people deserved the utmost respect. To remind himself that he never wanted to be the one who brought such pain to another living creature's misery.

As Brother Eurig so often said …
No one ever gets over great pain, of any sort. It merely carves the soul into a stronger, better person.

He would never dishonor Brother Eurig or his teachings.

“Would you give your honor for your love?”

Cadegan froze at the queen's disembodied voice. “Pardon?”

“What do you value most?” she asked him.

“Me lady. Always.”

“Then prove it. Remove your clothes.”

Cadegan shook his head. “I am in her body, and I will not dishonor her. You asked if I would sacrifice me honor, and so I would. But what you ask of me now is to sacrifice hers, and that I will not do.”

“Not even to save your life?”

“Nay. Me life holds no value to me. I will never dishonor me lady.”

Cordelia grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “I will rip out your heart!”

“You promised me that you would not harm Josette. Win, lose, or draw, me lady goes home alive and intact. Your word to me.” A strange fissure went through his body.

The queen narrowed her gaze on him with rancor. “And now?”

“Now what?”

“You have your body back, Lord Cadegan. Will you give me your honor for your lady?”

Cadegan looked down to see that she was correct. He was himself again. “I will give anything for her freedom.”

She inclined her head to him. “You will have three passes at my champion. If you are unhorsed, you will surrender yourself to Morgen. No questions asked. No escape. If you lose, you belong to me as my slave. Forever.”

Cadegan would rather they kill him. But he had no doubt that he would win. He'd never once lost in a joust. “Done. But are we going to actually complete the match this time?”

She clapped her hands.

Cadegan was again on his horse. It was the moment right before they would have crossed lances, when his opponent had vanished. This time, his opponent's lance slammed into his shoulder.