The Wings of Dragons: Book One of the Dragoon Saga (25 page)

After killing the Quodivar guards in the
treasure room, Amroth had chased the fleeing thief alone.
Ostensibly, he had done that to prevent the bandit from raising the
alarm. In reality, though, Amroth had merely wanted to buy time and
put space between himself and the others. He’d just reached the
next room when he’d heard the gurgling sound of a strangled and
bleeding man. Stopping short, he’d found Zuberi and Hezna waiting
for him, the thief butchered by the Oni’s claws.

Amroth had bowed low to both of them, hiding
his distaste. “The others will arrive soon. We must act
quickly.”

Zuberi had grinned. “Lord Hezna, if you
would?”

The Oni had snapped his fingers, and a
violent explosion rocked the cavern. “‘The others’ are now buried
in stone,” he’d growled. “Amazing what Feng’s magic can do when
channeled properly. But then, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t
you, Amroth?”

Hezna’s arrogance had only made Amroth want
to tear the Oni’s throat out more, but it had been too soon. “Don’t
get overconfident,” he’d said instead. “Rondel is with them.”

Zuberi had shrugged. “No matter. We’ll wear
her down. Lord Hezna, let us put that vermin you’ve caught to good
use. Use his blood and make it look like we’ve captured our dear
friend Amroth. Then when his comrades come to rescue him, your
Yokai can ambush them.”

They’d all had a good laugh, including
Amroth, although he’d doubted the Yokai could win. “It won’t be
enough,” he had dared to counter. “You both know Rondel’s legend,
and the boy I mentioned in the letter, Iren Saitosan, wields the
Muryozaki. You’ll have to kill them yourselves.”

“
Ah, yes, the Lefts,”
Zuberi had scratched his chin. “Direct them to the fort. There’s no
room to swing here.” He’d tapped the handle of his massive sword,
then disappeared deeper into the cavern.

Hezna had then smeared the dead bandit’s
blood on Amroth’s back and left the room, dragging the corpse along
the floor. Amroth had joined him, walking in front so the Oni’s
giant footprints would disguise the captain’s. At the room with the
lake, Hezna had run his claws shallowly along Amroth’s back to give
the illusion of combat. The captain had feigned unconsciousness in
one of the cages while waiting for the others to arrive.

Amroth had expected Rondel to win against
Hezna easily, but Iren’s stupidity and weakness turned out to be
the new king’s greatest unexpected boons. When Rondel’s desperate
attempt to save Iren had drained her of her magic, Amroth had
watched gleefully as Hezna finished her. He’d never heard sweeter
music than Iren’s anguished screams after checking Rondel’s
pulse.

The Lodian king laughed again, standing from
his chair and brandishing the Karyozaki and Liryometa together.
Flames danced around him with each swing. Soon fires swirled around
his head, a far more appropriate crown, he thought, than Azuluu’s
useless trinket. Elation filled him. Rondel and Hezna were dead.
The Yokai and Quodivar were finished. He possessed the Karyozaki
and Lodia’s throne. He’d achieved complete victory.

“
Not quite,” a growling
voice said.

The king glanced around the room,
frantically eyeing the servants, but none of them reacted. Only he
could hear the words. He motioned for his staff to exit. Although
he knew the voice’s source, he didn’t want to speak to it while
others were around. They would think him crazy, talking to a
sword.

“
Feng,” he barked when
everyone else had left the room, “what do you mean? No one can
challenge us.”

The raspy voice of the dragon laughed, a
cruel, harsh cry that made the sword itself vibrate. “Fool, you’re
either blind or stupid.”

Amroth started to rebuke the dragon when
Balear burst into the room, red-faced and sweaty. The king tempered
his rage at the disturbance. Right now, he needed Balear’s
information above all else.

The young soldier approached Amroth
gingerly, eyes wide in terror. The king frowned, confused by his
subordinate’s reaction, but then he realized he still had fires
surrounding him. He doused them with a gesture.

“
Captain Angustion!” Balear
cried. “What happened? Haldessa is leveled, ashen, the castle in
shambles! Did you arrive too late to stop the Quodivar? And what
was all that fire just now? Has devil magic possessed you like it
did Iren?”

Amroth simply smiled and stood motionless
for a moment. Then he let fire issue forth in a circle around his
feet. It whipped about, encircling him and rising until it encased
him like a small typhoon. All the while, he maintained his
supremely confident smile. Portions of the room ignited. After
fifteen seconds, he released the magic, and the inferno ceased.

“
My reward,” he said, “for
stopping the Quodivar.” He held up the Karyozaki. “Remember Iren’s
sword, with the power to heal? I now have one too, but with a
rather more useful ability.” He glared at the young man. “By the
way, Balear, you’ll address me as ‘King Angustion’ or ‘my liege’
from now on. Azuluu has died. I am king now.”

Balear looked at once both shocked and
conflicted. “Congratulations, my liege,” he managed. “I grieve for
King Azuluu’s passing, and I hope we’ll have peaceful and
prosperous times under your leadership.”

“
I intend nothing less,”
the king asserted. He stepped past Balear and strode across the
room. He entered the long central hallway of the mansion, moving so
quickly the young officer needed to run to keep up with him. Amroth
asked tersely, “Now tell me what has happened! I assume you brought
Iren with you.”

Balear didn’t answer right away, which
annoyed Amroth. He wheeled around, leaning domineeringly over the
young soldier. Fire leapt around his head.

“
I’m sorry, my liege,”
Balear stammered. “I did as you ordered me to. I caught up to Iren
Saitosan just outside Ziorsecth, but he used some kind of devil
magic on me. He knocked me out. When I came to, he’d disappeared
without a trace. I assume he went into the forest.”

Amroth clenched his fists, fires igniting in
them as he did so. He forced his voice to remain calm. “Well then,
give me Rondel’s letter and go on your way.”

Balear gulped. “I allowed Iren to read it in
order to convince him of Rondel’s treachery. I thought that he
would then return, but he still refused. We fought after that, and
I never got the letter back. I believe Iren has it now.”

The dragon’s cruel laugh filled Amroth’s
mind. “So much for your flawless plan. Nadav would be
disappointed.”

Amroth resisted the temptation to cry out.
It didn’t matter anyway. With Rondel dead, Iren was irrelevant. If
he had gone to the Kodamas and left Lodia forever, so much the
better.

“
Are you so certain he went
alone?” Feng crooned inside his mind. The dragon’s sense of
superiority was starting to wear thin.

“
What do you mean?” he
asked belligerently, not caring that Balear could hear
him.

Balear, apparently thinking the king was
talking to him, started to speak, but Amroth silenced him with his
palm. The dragon replied, “If you have any doubts, why not give
Balear the Liryometa?”

“
What good will that—”
Amroth stopped. He knew what good that would do.

“
Balear,” the king said,
“you have come through many dangers, and I feel you’ve earned a
reward. Please take this dagger, the weapon of the traitor Rondel,
as a gift from me. May it always remind you of the rewards of
loyalty and the penalties of treason.”

Timidly, like the dagger might stab him of
its own accord, Balear accepted the prize. “It’s too short for me,”
he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

The king barely heard him. His breath caught
as he noted the disturbing lack of change in the young soldier.
“Balear, do you feel any different?” he asked.

Balear’s confused expression provided all
the confirmation Amroth needed. If Rondel had truly perished, the
dagger would have tested Balear. The sergeant would either have
become the Storm Dragon Knight or died. The fact that neither had
happened meant that Rondel must still be alive.

Feng mocked the king, “Still so convinced of
your invincibility? All your grand designs, and the woman you most
wanted dead has eluded you. If you have no greater ability than
this, you’ll wind up a more miserable king than Azuluu. Lodia will
crumble in a month.”

“
Stop talking!” Amroth
roared, forgetting Balear and the numerous servants farther down
the hall. He swung his fist, and a plume of flame shot forth,
igniting a tapestry. The elegant fabric went up as easily as an
oil-soaked rag, obliterating years of painstaking work in
seconds.

Balear and all the servants looked at their
new king with astonishment. Amroth glared at each of them, daring
them to question him. Finally, he turned on his heel and stormed
back to the room he had vacated, slamming the door behind him.

Rondel and Aletas stared at each other,
their expressions frosty. Several feet away, Iren and Minawë
watched the spectacle without comment, fearing to incense the two
elders further.

“
We need a place to train,”
Rondel pointed out.

“
Train in Lodia,” Aletas
retorted. “I won’t have you blowing up my forest.”

Rondel rolled her eyes. “You know we can’t
go there.”

“
Well, you can’t stay
here!”

Iren shifted his gaze between the two,
confused by the change in their demeanors. They’d seemed fine back
in the house when Rondel was explaining about Amroth. Now Iren
wondered which of them would throw the first punch.

Minawë didn’t share his disbelief. She
whispered in his ear, “Didn’t you notice before? Mother and Rondel
didn’t make the friend sign when we entered the guest room. Also,
when you attacked Rondel, Mother didn’t intervene.”

“
What do you suggest,
then?” Rondel continued, oblivious to the pair whispering next to
her.

“
Go to Serona. He should
see it anyway. He needs to know the danger he poses.”

Iren’s ears perked up at that. Minawë had
mentioned Serona during their journey. It was the homeland of the
Maantecs, and the place where they met their demise a thousand
years ago. She’d told him that it lay west of Ziorsecth.

Rondel whined about the distance,
complaining that she would likely break a hip along the way, but
she finally acquiesced, “Very well, but we can’t wait that long to
start his training. We’ll begin on the way there.” Aletas shot her
a contemptuous look. Rondel raised both hands innocently. “Just the
basics!”

The queen didn’t look happy about the
situation, but she turned away and left them without further
argument.

“
Guess we’re done here,”
Rondel said. She glanced at Iren, her stupid grin rising to the
surface. “Look lively! We’re bound for Serona!” She started walking
west through the forest, not bothering to wait for a
response.

“
When did she get so
enthusiastic?” Iren grumbled. He didn’t dare ask how far Serona
was. He was sure he’d rather not know.

Iren and Minawë now stood alone in the
woods. Suddenly, Iren felt uncomfortable. He couldn’t meet the
Kodama’s eye. Instead, he dug the toe of his boot into the soft
forest earth.

“
I guess I won’t see you
for a while,” Minawë said at length. Her voice trembled.

“
Yeah,” Iren managed. The
word was flat and woefully inadequate, but he couldn’t think of
anything to say.

“
I never got to thank you
before,” the princess said. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead
now.”

A lump formed in Iren’s throat. “You don’t
have to thank me. Anyway, I could say the same thing to you. I’d be
at the bottom of the Yuushin Sea if you hadn’t dived in after
me.”

“
That’s true,” she
admitted, “but all the same, I wanted to thank you.” She wrapped
him in a tight embrace. Unused to such close contact, his first
instinct was to recoil, but slowly he relaxed and let her hug him.
Her hold was soft, yet strong as well. He smiled. It made him feel
secure in a way he’d never experienced before.

They stayed like that a few moments before
off to the west a high-pitched, sarcastic voice called, “Pick up
the pace, slacker! Serona won’t come to us!”

The pair separated, and Iren felt his face
redden. Nervously, he asked, “Will I ever see you again?”

Minawë smiled, but Iren thought he saw
sadness underneath the expression. “I’m sure,” she said, but the
waver in her voice told him more than the words.

Then she was gone, leaving Iren alone in the
woods. He sighed. He had no idea what kind of training Rondel
planned for him, but he knew he wasn’t going to like it. Still, he
supposed he shouldn’t keep the impatient hag waiting. Following
Rondel’s voice, Iren raced to catch up to her.

“
About time,” Rondel spat,
glaring up at him.

“
Just because I had someone
to say goodbye to,” Iren retorted. “I wasn’t really expecting to
get kicked out of Yuushingaral. What was all that with Aletas,
anyway? Something happen between you two?”

Rondel shrugged. “Nothing in particular.
Aletas lost her husband to Iren Saito’s curse a thousand years ago,
and she still bears a deep grudge against Maantecs because of
that.”

“
So then, she didn’t fight
that day?”

“
No. In Kodaman culture,
the king leads the army, but the queen truly rules the race. She
oversees all non-military affairs. Even before the curse, Aletas
almost never left Ziorsecth. She never fought in the Kodama-Maantec
War, as far as I know. However, her husband, Otunë, did. He wielded
the Chloryoblaka, the bow of the Forest Dragon, Dendryl. He also
fathered Minawë.”