The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4) (53 page)

“Leave us!”

“Garrett!” Mrs. Veranu hissed from outside the door, “Garrett, come with me!”

Garrett shook his head. “No,” he said, “I want to know what you’re gonna do about it! That thing is gonna be here pretty soon, and we need your help to fight it.”

He looked at Master Krausse and called him by name, “We could use your help,” he said, “I’ve seen gaunts outfly this thing… I’ve seen it! With your help… I don’t know… I’ll bet one of you could get close enough to take out Graelle at least. Maybe without him being in control, the dragon might just fly off and leave us alone.”

He turned to Master Jannis and called out to him as well. “This city has been good to you… all of you. It welcomed you in and let you live here… I doubt there are that many places around where you could just walk in and have people accept you for what you are… You think the Chadiri would be so nice to you?”

Jannis gave him a sad little smile and then looked away.

“Close the door!” the Valfrei hissed.

“Garrett!” Mrs. Veranu called out one last time as the robed vampire shut the door in her face.

Garrett watched as Valfrei Senzei slowly made her way around the side of the table and approached him with deliberate, serpentine grace. His heart fluttered with fear, but he stood his ground as she bore down on him.

A thin smile spread across her face and she tilted her head slightly as she stopped, only a few steps away.

“You don’t understand at all, do you?” she asked, her voice sweet as honeyed poison.

“No,” he said, “I don’t understand… how you could even think about abandoning your friends like that. Maybe you don’t like me, or maybe any of us, very much, but we’re on the same side!”

She laughed. “You think we are allies in this conflict?” she scoffed.

“Are you gonna side with the Chadiri?” he demanded, “Those guys would kill every one of you if they could, and you know it!”

“It is not a Chadiri that you would have us fight,” she said.

Garrett gave her a confused look.

“You would ask us to slay a
dragon
,” she said, “You would ask us to murder one of the last living children of the great Dragon Queen. Do you really think that we would lift a finger against such a beautiful and ancient being? Kadreaan should be worshipped as a god by creatures such as you! I would rather watch him incinerate a thousand of you, a million! I would revel in the glory of such a spectacle and write songs in praise of his fury!”

Garrett stared back at her in horror.

The Valfrei lifted her hands toward the ceiling. “I would sacrifice this building, this entire city, before I would agree to hinder Kadreaan in the slightest fashion! I would watch your faded race smolder to ashes. I would laugh to watch him vent his wrath on the murderers of his kin!”

Garrett shook his head in disbelief.

“Go, human!” she spat, turning her back on him, “Prepare to meet your doom. We leave this place tonight.”

“No,” Garrett whispered.

“Krausse, prepare your gaunts,” Senzei commanded, “I will be taking the Young Lady Veranu with me along with my retinue.”

“No!” Garrett shouted.

Senzei turned to face him again, her eyes blazing with rage.

“Run, you old snake!” Garrett hissed, frosty vapors pouring out from between his teeth, “Run back and hide in your damned hole, if you’re too afraid to fight, but Marla stays with me!”

The Valfrei’s eyes widened at the sight of the frosted air between them.

“If you leave this city tonight,” Garrett said, his voice reverberating with the power of the thing inside him, “You will never be welcome here again!”

He turned to look at the other elders, his gaze lingering on Krausse and Jannis in turn. “That goes for all of you!” he said, “Don’t think you can abandon us when we need you most and then come slinking back in when the dust has settled… If you go, you
stay
gone!”

“You dare cross me, sorcerer?” Senzei said, “I knew your uncle was a fool, but you…”

Garrett raised his fist, now wreathed in blue flames, before her face. “Don’t ever mention my uncle again! Not ever!”

Senzei’s face twisted into a mask of rage, and she raised her hands suddenly, spitting a Draconic curse. Twisting spears of green light shot up from the floor, arcing towards Garrett’s chest with needle-sharp points.

“No!” Garrett roared, and the green darts shattered like glass, their magic dissipating into nothingness all around him.

Senzei stared back at him, visibly shaken.

“Get out of here!” Garrett growled, “And don’t ever come back!” Frosty vapors trailed down from Garrett’s burning hands, and a lambent blue aura flickered around his face and shoulders.

“What are you?” she gasped, her eyes wide and staring.

“You know what he is, Valfrei,” Jannis chuckled, “You just don’t want to believe it.”

Her gaze flicked toward the tailor and then back to Garrett. “No…” she whispered, but Garrett could see the dawning realization in her eyes.

Garrett sneered back at her and then lifted his eyes toward the ceiling above. “
Be free!
” he shouted.

The wisplight orb above their heads shattered into countless crystal shards that rained down on the floor all around Garrett and the Valfrei. The wisp trapped inside it flew free now, leaping down and circling the room in the ghostly shape of a frightened doe. She dashed past the elder at the door, fluttering his dark robes as she ran by. Then she darted in to stand, trembling at Garrett’s side.

He reached out his hand and stroked the phantom beside him. He felt nothing but a tingling warmth there as he smiled down at the ghostly doe, watching as the blue flames spilled from his fingertips, washing over her back like a gentle rain. She stared up at him with grateful adoration in her shining blue eyes.

“
Songreaver!
” Senzei hissed.

The ghostly doe flickered, casting the room into darkness for a moment before reappearing as a shimmering wisp a second later. She floated up and settled in the air, just above Garrett’s right shoulder.

“We leave tonight!” Senzei rasped, her eyes glittering with the light of the wisp on Garrett’s shoulder. She turned and swept from the room, disappearing through a door in the back.

The other elders stood up, looking even paler than normal.

Jannis began a slow clap of appreciation as the others turned and filed out behind the Valfrei.

“Are you leaving too?” Garrett asked, looking up as the blue flames surrounding his body flickered and faded.

“I don’t think you understand, Garrett,” Jannis sighed, “We cannot disobey, no matter how much we might want to. The Valfrei holds the authority to tell us to leave, and we must leave… all of us.”

Garrett’s heart sank.

“We can drag our feet, if we choose,” he said, “but, in the end, we can no more disobey the order than we can refuse to sleep… eventually, we must go.”

“I’m sorry,” Garrett sighed.

“You still want to be a vampire?” Jannis chuckled.

Garrett gave him a wry smile.

“Well, good luck, Garrett,” Jannis said, “I hope you win.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said, “and good luck to you.”

“I’m going to need it,” Jannis sighed, “I still have to find a wagon big enough to hold six dozen rather large arachnids.”

Garrett smiled and nodded.

Jannis looked at the wisp hovering over Garrett’s shoulder. He whistled appreciatively. “You really are the Songreaver, aren’t you?” he said.

Garrett shrugged.

“Well, you’d better go say goodbye to Marla,” Jannis said.

Garrett turned to find the robed elder at the door was already gone. He waved goodbye to Master Jannis and let himself out.

Mrs. Veranu and Serepheni were waiting for him outside. The looks on their faces told him they had already heard.

“Come with me,” Mrs. Veranu sighed.

“I have to go back to the temple,” Serepheni said, “Garrett, you can find me there if you choose to stay and fight. If not… I will see you when you return.”

“I’ll be there,” Garrett said with a nod.

Serepheni took her leave as Klavicus appeared again to show her out.

Garrett followed Mrs. Veranu back to her apartment, and Marla was waiting for them inside with tears in her eyes.

The wisp on Garrett’s shoulder fluttered off to a corner as Garrett ran into Marla’s arms.

“Garrett!” Marla sobbed.

“I know,” Garrett said, “I know…”

“I’ll come back, Garrett,” she wept, “I swear I’ll come back as soon as I can!”

“It’s all right,” he whispered, “It’s all right.”

She squeezed him tighter still and wept softly into his shoulder.

“I’ll leave you alone for a bit,” Mrs. Veranu said, her voice sounding soft, almost defeated, “I have some arrangements to make.”

She closed the door behind her as she left.

“I’m so afraid, Garrett,” Marla whispered, “I’m afraid I’ll never see you again.”

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her, “Don’t worry about me.”

She stepped back to look into his eyes. “You have to get out of the city, Garrett!” she said, “Just go, Garrett! I’ll find you later.”

“You’ll find me right where you left me,” he laughed.

“No, Garrett,” she said, “The dragon…”

“The dragon’s been lucky enough to get away from me so far,” Garrett said, “but his luck is about to run out.”

“This isn’t a joke,” she said, shaking her head.

“I know,” he sighed, “but it helps to laugh at it.”

“You’re really going to stay and fight?” she asked.

Garrett nodded. “I imagine it would be a lot easier with you at my side and an army of gaunts,” he said, “but we’ll figure something out.”

“I’m sorry, Garrett,” Marla said, “We’re not allowed to fight against a dragon unless ordered to by the Council.”

“I just talked to the Council,” Garrett said.

“No, I mean the Council in Thrinaar,” she said.

“Oh.”

Marla looked away, as if something troubled her.

“What is it?” Garrett asked.

“I can’t help you,” she said, “but, perhaps, my father could…”

“What?”

“My father was a dragon slayer before he became a vampire,” she said, “He talks about it in his journal.”

“Really?” Garrett gasped, “Is there something in there that can help?”

Marla looked away again. “I’m not allowed to help you, Garrett,” she said, “It’s forbidden.”

“Oh, uh… would you mind if I looked at the journal then?” he asked.

“Oh, my father’s journal?” she said, mocking surprise, “Of course…”

She motioned for him to follow her into her room.

Garrett stepped inside, sparing a dark look for the little black cat that rumbled at him from the corner, swishing its tail.

“Lovecraft!” Marla hissed, “Be nice!”

She opened the small wooden box on her nightstand beside her bed and pulled out her father’s notebook, handing it to Garrett.

He flipped it open, anxious to read some ancient secret of dragon slaying. He closed it again a moment later, feeling rather stupid.

“I can’t read Draconic,” he said.

“Oh… yes,” she sighed.

“Could you maybe… translate for me?” Garrett asked.

“Oh… of course,” she said, obviously still struggling with the morality of her actions.

Garrett opened the book again and sighed. “I don’t know where to even look,” he said.

“Oh, perhaps a passage at random?” she said.

“Could you… suggest one?” he offered.

Marla bit her lip, her eyes going toward the door. She took the book from him and riffled through it a moment, stopping at a certain page. She held it open with her finger and passed it back to him without a word.

“Ah,” Garrett said, “would you mind helping me translate this section here?”

She reached out and tapped a different passage with her fingernail.

“Oh, uh, what about that part instead?” he said.

“Oh, that passage?” she said, taking the book from him, “Let’s see… ah, it’s something to do with a poison the dragon slayers used to kill larger drakes.”

“That sounds interesting…” Garrett said, trying to control his excitement.

Marla paused, working up the nerve to betray her race for him. “It says,” she whispered at last, “that by mixing one part ground
sephoriim
with two parts rendered lamb’s fat, you can make a poison deadly to dragons. It can be used to coat the blades of your weapons and will keep its potency for up to a week after its preparation. Unfortunately, since weapons have a difficult time penetrating the hide of larger dragons, a killing blow must usually be struck through the thinner skin of the throat or mouth or through the soft spot at the base of the wing…”