The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4) (55 page)

He looked for Shortgrass again but was startled to find the brassy little fairy kneeling on the floor at his feet with his head bowed.

“What are you doing?” Garrett asked.

“I am Shortgrass, squire of the Amber Court!” the fairy cried out, loud enough to draw the attention of the other creatures. Slowly, they fell to silence as they turned to look at the fairy kneeling before Garrett. Shortgrass raised his eyes to Garrett then.

“No oath I’ve sworn, save to tha Court, and that only ta serve me people,” he said, “I’ve served many a cause… many a cause worth fightin’ for… Until today, I’ve ne’er believed there was cause worth
dyin’
for.”

Garrett narrowed his eyes as he watched the little fairy lift his hands before him.

“This day… this day I swear m’self to ye, Songreaver… body an’ soul, I am yer knight in faithful service, until tha end o’ time!”

Garrett watched in astonishment as, one by one, the other fairies flitted down to alight on the floor behind Shortgrass, each one bowing their head and dipping their wings toward him. A murmur of oaths rippled through the shimmering crowd as they swore themselves to his service. The lizards and furry creatures looked on in wonder, and even some of them stepped forward to pay homage to their strange new king.

Garrett stared down at them in bewilderment for a moment, and then he stiffly rose to his feet. He flexed the chill from his limbs and brushed the frost from his sleeves. He opened his mouth to speak, and a pale blue mist floated from his lips. He coughed it clear and smiled unsurely at his…
subjects?

“My friends,” Garrett addressed them.

A sea of shining eyes lifted to meet his gaze.

“I could use your help,” he said.

*******

The glow of a hundred fairies cast strange shadows in the streets of Marrowvyn as they flew along beside and behind Garrett. The tiny lambent creatures drew in closer around him for protection as they fearfully eyed the wonderstruck ghouls that were lining up on either side of the lane to watch them pass.

Warren, Diggs, Chunnley, and Scupp trotted out to meet Garrett as he approached.

“Did you get the stuff I asked you to get?” Garrett asked as the ghouls fell into step behind him.

“We got it,” Warren said, “Who are these guys?”

“Our new friends,” Garrett said, “They’re gonna help us out.” He passed the heavy satchel full of essence canisters to Diggs.

The ghoul went a bit trembly as he took it. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked with a reverent gleam in his eyes.

“Pass it out to everyone who knows how to use it,” Garrett said, “Then get to your positions.”

“Are you sure you wanna trust all that to Diggs?” Scupp asked.

Garrett looked back at her as he walked. “Tonight, I have to trust you all to do your parts,” he said.

“We will,” Diggs said.

“Good,” Garrett said, “Did you get in contact with the Lethians?”

“Mujah and Crane will be waiting in the south tower once they’ve finished movin’ the kids to a safe place,” Scupp said.

Garrett nodded his thanks and then he stopped walking and turned to face Shortgrass. “I want you and the other fairies to stay here with Chunnley. He’ll fill you in on the plan… what there is of it. I should be back in about an hour.”

“Where are you goin’?” Shortgrass asked.

“I have to go and talk to Annalien,” he said.

Shortgrass whistled. “A dreary prospect that,” he sighed, “Ya need any help?”

“No, just wait here,” Garrett said. Something in the tone of his voice made the ghouls share a worried look.

“And where do we fit into yer plan, boy?” Bargas growled as he and Lady Ymowyn approached from the direction of Warren’s house.

Garrett sighed. “I need you here,” he said.

“Not a chance, boy!” Bargas laughed.

“All right,” Garrett said, “Bargas, you’re with me tonight.”

Warren shot Garrett a concerned look. “I thought I was with you?” he said.

“No, I’m putting Crane with you in the northeast tower,” Garrett said, “Mujah and Scupp are still in the north tower. I’m going to need to keep moving to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

“What about me?” Diggs demanded.

“You’re in the western tower,” Garrett said.

“Well, who’s my partner then?” he asked.

“You’ll be doing the work of at least two wizards tonight, Diggs,” Garrett said, “Can I count on you?”

Diggs looked taken aback. “Yeah,” he said, “You can count on me.”

“And what of me, Kingslayer,” Lady Ymowyn asked.

Garrett sighed, “Know any tricks that can kill a dragon?” he asked.

She shrugged. “We could send you to negotiate an alliance with him,” she said with a wicked smirk, "That's proven quite lethal in the past."

Garrett gave her a crooked smile. “Actually, I really could use your help down here,” he said, turning to look around at all the other ghouls who had gathered to witness the spectacle of a flock of fairies, “I could use all of your help.”

“What do you need?” Ymowyn asked.

“If things go badly up there tonight,” Garrett said, “a lot of people are going to lose their homes. There’s gonna be smoke and fire and panic everywhere, and maybe even Watchers in the streets on top of all that… People are gonna be trying to find any way they can to get away from the danger, and there’s not really all that many places for them run.”

“You want us to lead them down here?” Ymowyn asked.

A troubled murmur passed through the crowd of ghouls.

“Marrowvyn’s only survived this long because those folks up there
don’t
know we’re down here,” Bargas grumbled.

“If things go bad tonight,” Garrett sighed, “It won’t matter anymore… Marrowvyn might be the only place left.”

“We’ll see to ‘em, Garrett,” Chunnley said, “I’ll get started on some bread, just in case.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said.

“What about the ones that… don’t survive?” Diggs muttered.

Garrett gave him a flat look.

“That dragon shows up tonight,” Bargas snorted, “There ain’t gonna be a skinny ghoul fer a hunnerd miles around.”

Garrett sighed and shook his head. “Diggs, you just worry about getting those supplies to the west tower and be ready… but first divide those canisters up between Warren, Scupp, and you.”

“You need one?” Diggs asked, reaching into the bag.

“I’ve got one,” Garrett said, patting his satchel.

“Is that enough?” Scupp asked.

“If things go according to plan, I shouldn’t need any,” Garrett said, “If they don’t… well, it won’t make any difference anyway.”

The ghouls gave him a grim look and nodded their understanding.

“Meet up with the Lethians and then get into position,” Garrett said, “Good luck, and I’ll see you all again… soon.”

Garrett turned and headed off into the darkness, leaving his friends behind in the wavering light of a hundred frightened fairies. He wondered for a moment if he would ever see them all alive again. He tried to push the though out of his mind, but it wouldn’t stay down.

It is always so before a battle
, the voice in the back of his mind whispered.

How did you deal with it?
Garrett thought.

You must learn to love battle more than you fear it
, the dead king’s ghost laughed.

You’re not much help at all
, Garrett sighed.

Only because you are too foolish to heed the wisdom of my words
, the voice whispered.

Garrett’s thoughts turned to his friends once more as the darkness of the tunnels closed around him, and he pulled the torch from his satchel and lit it. His stomach twisted inside him as he realized the choice he would have to face next.

He paused when he reached the junction of several tunnels, trying to remember something that danced just beyond his powers of recollection. Then he shook his thoughts clear and turned down the dark path to Annalien’s house.

The strange sensation of cold water pouring down her spine roused the Girl in Brown from her slumber. She blinked in the darkness of the cave, seeing nothing with her eyes, but knowing without doubt that her city was in danger.

She sprang to her feet without thought, ready to rush to its defense, but then she remembered… this was what she had been waiting for. This was the doom that her brother had spoken of. Wythr would burn, and all within it would die.

A crawling sort of fear came over her, but she laughed it away. How stupid it was to fear her only chance at freedom.

She looked up at the unseen stones above her head and wondered if she should go up to the surface to await her death. The thought of huddling in the darkness, not knowing when the end would come, no longer appealed to her as it once did. She took a step in the direction of the tunnel leading to the upper world, but then hesitated. She had no desire to watch the city… her city… burn to ash.

What then?

Her thoughts turned to her brother again, but he had asked to be alone when the end came, and she had agreed. She loved him too much to watch him die.

Then she remembered the bright, happy place, the place from the time before, and she remembered the sad little ghost that waited there, not even knowing what was going to happen.

“Annalien,” she whispered.

A twinge of guilt tugged at her heart, and she resolved at once that her last act in life should be to make amends with Annalien and there meet her end at her friend’s side.

The Girl in Brown set out at once for the buried temple, navigating the silent and lightless corridors of the dead city by memory alone.
Memory
, she laughed bitterly to herself. Soon, she would not even be that. She would be erased from existence, and no one would ever even remember that she had been.

She felt herself choking up as she thought of Garrett again, wondering if he was safe… wondering if, somewhere out there on the road, he would turn and look back and almost remember her. Would he ever be sad and not know why?

Stupid… stupid to think like that. No, she decided, she would be glad when the end came. Oblivion was starting to look like a pretty good deal.

At last she wandered out of the eternal darkness, into the dim glow of the distant temple that spilled out into the surrounding halls. The pale glow of sunlight cheered her heart as never before, and she hurried on toward it.

Sunlight dazzled her eyes as the Girl in Brown stepped through the door. She smiled in spite of her heavy heart to feel its warmth on her skin again. Then her smile faded as she saw Annalien sitting with her back to the door, her shoulders slumped in despair amidst the ruins of her garden.

The Girl in Brown moved cautiously into the room, surveying the damage. So much of the garden was dead now, and it made her sad to recall those happy days when she had helped the ghost gather and care for the plants. Her heart ached with guilt to realize that she had robbed Annalien of her hands for a second time when she had run away and left the poor ghost to watch her only remaining friends wither and die.

She walked silently around the perimeter of the room, coming to the racks of vines, now completely choked by the thorny firevine. The Girl in Brown had never dared taste the foul fruit of it, too afraid that she might enjoy the flavor. She couldn’t bear the thought that she might be nothing more than just another war-bred monster like the goblins.

She pulled the knife from her belt and began to trim the firevine back once more, ignoring the tiny scratches the thorns left in her skin.

Annalien turned her head to look at her. The ghost’s eyes were filled with sadness.

“Sorry I’m late,” the Girl in Brown said with a faint smile.

“He’s going to take the blood rose,” Annalien whispered.

“What? Who?” the Girl in Brown demanded, rushing to Annalien and kneeling before her.

“Garrett,” Annalien sighed, “He’s going to use it as some sort of poison to kill another dragon.”

“Garrett’s gone!” the Girl in Brown cried, “I sent him away!”

Annalien shook her head. “He’s not Garrett anymore, child…”

“Garrett’s here?” the Girl in Brown gasped.

“He came to me, asking about the rose and if he could use only part of it for his purpose of slaying the dragon,” Annalien said, “I refused to help him… I told him that it was monstrous to even consider such a sin against creation… but he
commanded
me… he…”

“Commanded you?” the Girl in Brown asked, “What do you mean?”

“I swore an oath to him,” Annalien sobbed, “I named him my king and swore an oath!”

“Why would you do that, Anna?” the Girl in Brown said.

Annalien looked back at her with a half-crazed look in her eyes. “You don’t understand… You don’t understand what he’s become… He
commanded
me to tell him, and I told him… I told him
everything!
”

“He’s going to destroy the blood rose?” the Girl in Brown asked.

“He’s gone to use it to fight the dragon,” Annalien said, “It’s too late to stop him now.”

“What dragon?” the Girl in Brown demanded.

“The Chadiri dragon,” Annalien said, “It comes to destroy the city tonight.”

“No…” the Girl in Brown gasped, “No, Garrett… You can’t do this…”

“It’s too late,” Annalien wept, “He’s already gone.”

“Where’s he gone?”

Annalien gave a bitter laugh. “Look for the dragon,” she said, “He’ll be there waiting for it.”

The Girl in Brown got to her feet. “I have to stop him,” she said.

“It’s too late…” Annalien whispered.

“No,” the Girl in Brown said as she looked away toward the door. Then she looked at Annalien again and reached out to touch the ghost’s hair, her fingertips passing through the insubstantial blue glow. “I’m sorry I left you, Anna,” she said, “I’m sorry for everything.”

“I’m sorry too,” Annalien said, “I’ve watched everything I ever loved fall to ruin and then built it up from the dust only to destroy it again myself. I am the greatest fool to ever live… and then go on living, I know not why…”

“No,” the Girl in Brown hissed, “The greatest fool to ever live is the boy that ignored my warning to get out of the city… and if he harms a single leaf on that rose, he’s going to regret it for the rest of his very short life.”

“No!” Annalien gasped, reaching toward the Girl in Brown with her missing hands, but the girl was already gone, racing out the door and into the darkness beyond.

*******

“Is everyone safe inside now?” Garrett asked as he stood on the parapet overlooking the gardens below. Away to the east, the spires of the temple glowed with an unearthly green light. The priestesses were going out of their way to make certain that, if he did arrive tonight, the dragon would take notice of it.

“Everyone is inside the lower wall now, except Crane and Mujah,” Hetta said. Garrett could hear the tension in her voice.

“Good,” Garrett said. A warm breeze was blowing in from the mountain tonight. It whipped at his robe and hood and smelled faintly of sulfur. He leaned against Uncle Tinjin’s staff as though it was his only shelter in a storm.

“A strange wind,” Hetta said, “an ill omen.”

Bargas barked a harsh laugh. “Problem with omens is you never know which side they’re bad for.”

“We need those two boys, Garrett,” Hetta said, “Sometimes I think Crane is the only thing still holding us together… holding
me
together.”

“This city is your home now too,” Garrett said, still not looking back at her, his eyes searching the clouds above. The pale light of a full moon lent a ghostly glow to the gray ceiling above.

“What good will it be to us if we lose them?” Hetta asked.

“Crane and Mujah know the risk,” Garrett said, “They know what’s at stake.”

“No they don’t!” Hetta scoffed, “They’re just following you on some crazy adventure… We can’t afford to lose them.”

“You won’t,” Garrett said. He thought he saw a shadow move across the clouds, but it might have been just a trick of the eye.

“You can promise me that?” Hetta laughed.

Garrett turned to look at her. “You know it would be a lie if I did,” he said.

She held his gaze for a long moment and then lowered her eyes, looking very afraid. “Please don’t take them from us,” she said, “We don’t have much left to lose.”

“If the city falls tonight,” Garrett said, “there won’t be anything left to win.”

Hetta struggled to control her emotions as she looked out over the moonlit garden. “I’d better get downstairs,” she said, “The little ones will be afraid.”

“This is a good story, Hetta,” Garrett said, turning his eyes to the sky again, “It has a happy ending.”

“Promise me that, Garrett!” she said.

“I promise,” he said, his eyes still on the clouds above.

She sniffed, fighting back tears as she fled back down the steps into the tunnels inside the wall.

Bargas put his hand on Garrett’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’ve grown, boy,” he said.

“Thanks,” Garrett said.

“Your uncle would be proud of you,” Bargas said.

Garrett smiled at him and nodded.

Then a green flash in the clouds drew Garrett’s attention toward the north tower.

“They’ve seen somethin’!” Bargas said.

Garrett ground his teeth in frustration, trying to see anything through the thick clouds that hung perpetually above the city. He wished for a moment that he was atop one of the towers above the cloud layer, like Warren and Crane in the northwest tower or Mujah and Scupp in the north, but he needed the mobility afforded by the curtain wall that ran between the towers. So many things could still go wrong. He had to be able to move quickly if necessary.

Suddenly, a great black shadow passed over the clouds and a distant rumble like thunder echoed through the sky.

“This is it,” Bargas growled.

The thunder rumbled again, and then the wall itself began to tremble beneath their feet.

“
City of Death!
” the voice of the dragon lord roared out to every corner of the city, “
Your hour of reckoning has come!
”

The shadow passed fast overhead again, and Garrett heard a shattering boom from above. Suddenly, the stones of the southeastern tower began to tumble down through the clouds to crash upon the wall to his right and into the shadowy gardens below. A wave of panic washed over him, as he feared for his friends huddled inside three of the remaining towers.

“
You are judged by the true god of this world and sentenced to death!
” Graelle shouted, “
The earth itself cries out against your sins!
”

Garrett heard the dragon lord shout something in Draconic, and the dragon Kadreaan roared with him.

“Noisy devils, ain’t they?” Bargas grumbled.

The stones of the wall trembled again, and Garrett turned in disgust to see the wall behind him grow dark as blood began to seep through the mortar of the stones and trickle upward toward the sky.

Bargas reached over and dabbed his claw in the stuff and then licked it.

Garrett stared at him in horror.

“Don’t even taste good!” Bargas spat, “I ain’t impressed.”

Garrett let out a laugh and Bargas grinned back at him.

Then a flash of green light shot skyward from the Temple of Mauravant, and the voice of the High Priestess boomed out from somewhere inside. “
Show yourself, coward!
” her voice shouted, “
Show yourself and prepare to meet your false god in hell!
”

Graelle’s mocking laughter echoed from every bloody wall of the city. “
Show myself?
” Graelle laughed, “
I am no worm that I should cower and hide! Let us then meet one another… face to face!
”

Garrett heard a noise like pebbles in a drainpipe as the shadow passed overhead once again.

“Oh, no,” Garrett said, sinking to his knees behind the guardrail, “Mister Bargas, you might want to get down.”

The dragon’s breath poured out like the winds of a hurricane, tearing a hole in the cloud layer above as he passed. Garrett could now plainly see the dragon lord astride the back of the great, black-scaled dragon.

Kadreaan circled again and again, boiling away the clouds above the Chapel Ward revealing the temple below, perhaps for the first time in its history, to the star-swept sky above.

Garrett forgot about his fear, rising slowly to his feet again to stare in wonder at the terrible beauty of the sight. The hot wind pushed the clouds further west still, revealing the tops of the towers where Garrett’s friends had hid themselves.

Kadreaan beat his wings and climbed higher into the sky above the temple, seeming almost to hover there as he looked down contemptuously on the sanctum of the Worm Mother below.