The Dragon of Despair Read online

  No wonder. If there was a human Firekeeper hated and despised, it was Lady Melina Shield. She had trouble thinking of the woman by another name, although Lady Melina had been disowned and exiled and so lost both title and right to her House name. Melina had tricked and used Firekeeperùa thing for which the wolf-woman blamed herself as much as she blamed Melina, though this realization made her feel no less bitter.

  Earl Kestrel had raised a hand to still the babble and, with a glance at his mother, took it upon himself to answer some of the questions.

  "First," he said, his tones clipped, "we are certain that this information is correct. The courier came originally from Dragon's Breath, the capital city of New Kelvin, where the information is, apparently, not common knowledge. However, he has a sister working within one of the Earth Spires and she gave him the news."

  Grateful Peace interjected a comment of his own before the earl could continue.

  "Keeping such a marriage secret would be less difficult than you of Hawk Haven might imagine," he said, his Pellish excellent but flavored with a melodious accent, rather as if he expected the words to have more syllables than they did. "The Healed One is a semi-sacred person. He appears in public rarely and his affairs are not for common gossip."

  "Thank you," Duchess Kestrel said. "You have anticipated one of my own questions. I had wondered how such information could be kept from the people. Certainly servants, at least, would gossip."

  "The secret could not be kept perpetually," Peace replied, "but for a few months, perhaps while the Healed One assured himself of support from the Dragon Speaker and some key thaumaturges, for that time it could be kept quietùa thing rumored, but not confirmed. Many of the servants in Thendulla Lypella"ùhe used the New Kelvinese name for the Earth Spires, the towering buildings that held the New Kelvinese governmentù"are slaves and never leave the property. However, as this courier of yours has shown, even slaves have contacts outside of the walls."

  After making certain that Grateful Peace had finished, Earl Kestrel continued his discourse.

  "Not only are we certain that the news is genuine," he said, "we are fairly certain that we are the first Great House to receive the information. The White Water River remains quite swollen. The courier who came to us risked his life in his hope of reward for being the first."

  "As you all must realize," the duchess added, smoothly taking up her son's account, "this information could have serious ramifications for our government."

  "Our government?" asked Derian. "You mean for the king?"

  Duchess Kestrel nodded. "A woman born of Hawk Haven's nobility has married a foreign monarch. Moreover, Melina is from House Gyrfalcon, first among the Great Houses. Even more significantly, Melina is the mother of one of King Tedric's heirs."

  Firekeeper felt herself growling again. Crown Princess Sapphire was indeed Lady Melina's birth daughter, though she had been cruelly used by her mother. Now it seemed that, despite the adoption that should have taken Sapphire far out of her mother's reach, Melina was exercising power over her once more.

  Derian frowned, but Firekeeper thought that his concern was less for Sapphire than for King Tedric. Since the autumn before, when King Tedric had honored him by making him one of his counselors, Derian had developed a deep personal loyalty to the monarch of Hawk Haven.

  "We will tell the king this news, won't we?" Derian asked.

  "Certainly," Duchess Kestrel answered. "Only yesterday I had a packet of letters from Eagle's Nest. Not one mentioned Melina's marriage, nor have the post-riders brought in any news. Therefore, we must act on the assumption that the news has not yet reached the king."

  "I say," Edlin said, straightening slightly. "Why would New Kelvin's king need to keep his wedding secret?"

  All eyes turned to Grateful Peace.

  "A wedding to a foreigner," the former thaumaturge replied, "would most certainly need to be kept secret, at least until the government decided how to present the matter to the public. As you may recall from your visit to our land, we of New Kelvin entertain a somewhat inflated view of our worth in comparison to that of other people."

  "Right-o!" Edlin said, grinning. "Sorry. Overlooked that, don't you know."

  Earl Kestrel shook his head, disapproving as always of his son's casual attitude. He himself, as Firekeeper knew, would never admit forgetting somethingùat least as long as he could pretend otherwise.

  "May I continue with the business at hand, Edlin?"

  "I say!" Edlin said. "Of course you can, Father! I'd be the last to stop you."

  Blind Seer was the only one to snigger aloud and only Firekeeper knew the wolf was laughing.

  "This news has the potential," Norvin Norwood continued, "to have severe ramifications for our entire kingdom. Princess Sapphire is new to her position. Her mother is feared. This strengthening of Melina's position could greatly weaken the crown princess's support. Therefore, it is important that the news reach the king and his heirs as quickly as possible. The more time they have to prepare, the more wisely will they react."

  His pale grey gaze came to rest on Firekeeper and for the first time she understood why she had been included in this gathering.

  "Firekeeper," the earl said, "do you think you could get Elationùthat peregrine of yoursùto carry a packet to the king?"

  Firekeeper stiffened. She had dreaded a request like this since the winter before when Elation had deigned to carry a report to King Allister of Bright Bay. For hundreds of years, since before the Plague that had sent the Old World rulers back across the sea and left their colonists to fend for themselves, the Royal Beasts had sought to hide themselves from a humanity that had initially treated with them as friends only to later attack them as enemies.

  Her own emerging from across the Iron Mountains with Blind Seer and Elation had been the beginning of the end to that secrecy. True, few knew that the tales that were now widely told were true, not merely a minstrel's fancy, but among those who suspected the truth were some of the most powerful men and women in Hawk Haven. They would not hesitate to use whatever tools they might if those tools would stay a crisis.

  "No," the wolf-woman replied bluntly. "I will not. Elation will not. The Royal Beasts are not your servants, any more than King Tedric is their servant. Why not send a pigeon?"

  Duchess Kestrel answered for Earl Kestrel, who was frozen with displeasure.

  "There are three reasons that sending a pigeon would not be wise. First, it's a bad season for the birds as the weather is very changeable. Second, we have only one bird left who will return to Eagle's Nest and, by our contract with the king, we must keep one in case we need give warning of invasion. Third, this information is too serious to trust to a potentially insecure courier."

  Saedee Norwood smiled in a fashion that Firekeeper thought was more akin to a baring of teeth.

  "Indeed, the courier who brought this information to us is being detained for a few days. We have him quite comfortable, but have taken care that those who wait on him are the least likely to share gossip."

  The duchess turned a kinder smile upon the wolf-woman.

  "But Firekeeper, I don't understand your reluctance. Princess Sapphire is your friend. You stood for her at her wedding. Surely you should help her now."

  Firekeeper growled, but an idea was taking shape in the back of her mind. She let it grow and answered the first point.

  "Sapphire is her own friend first, then Shad's, and the king's, then her family's. Maybe then she remember a few others. No matter, that." Firekeeper bit her lip, for making speeches in human talk was still hard for her. "Everyone know Sapphire's motherùeven King Tedricùwhen she is made crown princess. Why… Melina matter now that Sapphire belongs to king?"

  What followed was a long discourse on politics, alliances, and the rest, begun by the duchess and her son, but with Grateful Peace adding a few words here and there before it was ended.

  Most of what they said went over Firekeeper's head, but she gathered that what Melina had
done was so terrible because she had placed herself at the head of another government. At least this would be how many in Hawk Haven and Bright Bay would interpret Melina's actions, though Grateful Peace was quick to say that Melina would not be nearly as powerful in New Kelvin as a monarch's spouse would be in Hawk Haven.

  "If she was any but Melina," Firekeeper said to Blind Seer, "I would be comforted by what Peace says, but Melina will rule where others think themselves the One."

  "So you will have Elation carry their message?" The tilt of the wolf's ears expressed wariness, as if he had scented a puma lurking in the trees.

  "Not quite," Firekeeper replied.

  She waited until the humans had finished their lecture, then offered the compromise she had come up with a few minutes before.

  "Elation not carry message," she said, "nor will I ask her, but I will carry."

  She held up a hand to forestall the protests that began almost before she finished speaking.

  "I am fast as usual post-horse," she said, "not the gallop relays, no, but as horse jogging on roads, and I not need stay on roads. No great rivers is between here and Eagle's Nest. I can go if not as fast as peregrine flies, as straight."

  She stopped, pleased with the image.

  Earl Kestrel frowned.

  "Blysse, it is time you realized the less than suitable impression such behavior makes. My suggestion keeps your dignity and position in mindùas your own does not."

  Firekeeper smiled at him, knowing well that it was his own dignity, as her adopted father, that Norvin Norwood was worried about. What parent doesn't wish to control his children?

  "Either I go," she said with polite firmness, "or message no go fast."

  Earl Kestrel didn't immediately cease trying to convince Firekeeper to do things his way, but eventually the duchess put a hand on his shoulder.

  "Norvin, as easily make water run up hill as try to change her mind. You can't do it. Let us accept this compromise. Firekeeper, when will you go?"

  Firekeeper shrugged. "This now, if you wish."

  The duchess gave a gracious nod. "Within an hour or two will do. I wish to write out a report and to request that Grateful Peace dictate one regarding his perception of the New Kelvinese reaction when this news becomes widely known."

  Derian Carter, who had listened attentively, clarifying terms for Firekeeper during the more theoretical political discussions, now cleared his throat.

  "I can't travel as quickly as Firekeeper," he said, "but I could follow on horseback. I'd been intending to go south soon anyhow, to place an order with my father for mounts for the Norwood stables before he heads to the spring market in Good Crossing. I could carry another copy of the message and speak for you, clarifying points as Firekeeper might not be able."

  Earl Kestrel nodded, some of his sourness vanishing.

  "We had intended to ask you to do much the same," he said approvingly. "As a ring-wearing counselor to the king, you will be able to gain a private audience."

  Derian inclined his head in a bow of respectful acknowledgment.

  "He's not as intimidated by our Norvin as once he was," Blind Seer chuckled. Like Firekeeper he was fond of Derian, and like any wolf he enjoyed seeing a cub grow into his fur and tail.

  Blind Seer's comment made Firekeeper think of something new. Although it didn't pertain precisely to the matter at hand, it was related and she thought she might as well raise it now.

  "Blind Seer and I go to Eagle's Nest, then," she said aloud, "and from there when telling king is done and questions answered, then Blind Seer and I, and maybe Fox Hair if he wish, we go west across the mountains and see my pack."

  She didn't phrase this as request, but Earl Kestrel chose to reply as if she had.

  "That would be fine," he said. Clearly, if the wolf-woman wouldn't serve him, she might as well be out of sight. His annoyance at her was apparent in how he quickly changed the subject. "Mother, I was thinking, Derian could carry with him a coop of our carrier pigeons. Therefore, if the king needs to reply he can do so that way as well as by courier."

  "I say," Edlin interjected, speaking in Firekeeper's ear so as not to interrupt the duchess's reply to the earl. "I say, Firekeeper, can I go with you to see the wolves?"

  He looked so eager Firekeeper almost hated refusing him.

  "No," she said. "Even Fox Hair will be a problem, but I know he has oath to fill and I would guide his steps. Two humans may be too much."

  She stopped then, realizing she had almost said more than she had intended. Edlin, happily, had fixed on the first part of her statement.

  "Oath to fill? What?"

  Derian nodded. "I vowed at the end of King Allister's War to return to the place where Prince Barden's expedition died and set up a marker for all the dead. Lord Aksel Trueheart has agreed to research the names for me and even to help with preparation of gravestones."

  Earl Kestrel, finished with his private discussion with the duchess, had heard Derian's explanation.

  "You never mentioned this to me," he said sternly.

  "It was a private vow," Derian replied almost apologetically. "When I lettered temporary markers for the battlefield I kept thinking of those graves we left. As you know, we listed the names of those we knew among the deadùPrince Barden and his wife, a few othersùbut we didn't have a full list of the expedition with us."

  Norvin Norwood nodded. Although he had led the expedition to find a prince, he had not been concerned enough about the commoners in the group to carry along their names.

  "My sister, Eirene," the earl said, his voice breaking slightly, "was Barden's wife. I would like to send some small trinkets for her grave."

  "I would also," the duchess said so quickly that Firekeeper was certain she was swallowing tears. "Sweet Eirene…"

  Firekeeper sensed the duchess's gaze resting on her and shifted uncomfortably, knowing what the old woman was wondering. Part of the reason Earl Kestrel had convinced his mother to adopt the wolf-woman into the Kestrel line was that there was a good chance that Firekeeper was Barden and Eirene's daughter, Blysse.

  The wolf-woman had no idea whether this was true or not but the idea, as always, made her vaguely uncomfortable. She leapt to her feet, suddenly eager to be away.

  "I get my things," she said, "and come back for these letters."

  No one stopped her as she darted out the door.

  Chapter II

  As he rode south in the company of a small group from various small holdings in the Norwood Grant, Derian Carter couldn't help but enjoy watching spring unfold. A moonspan before any blossom, even the little white ones that bloomed out of the snow, was a rarity to be treasured. These days it seemed as if every plant that could flower was doing so, from tiny grass flowers in blues and pinks, to the trumpet-headed glories in their mixed costumes of yellow, white, and orange. Fruit trees, too, were bursting into flower: apple, peach, and cherry all rejoicing in the coming of summer.

  Spring's spreading wash of color seemed to accelerate the more days he was on the road, for Derian's journey took him not only south, but somewhat east, away from the looming presence of the Iron Mountains, which cradled winter a bit longer in their folds and clefts.

  He wondered if Firekeeper, making this journey in advance of him, saw things the same way. She was an odd personùhuman in shape but sometimes hardly human in her perceptions of the world around her. Would she see the flowers nestled in the grass as he did, bits of bright color that made him smile almost involuntarily after winter's grey, or as useless foliage, poisonous to eatùor as something else he couldn't even imagine?

  Certainly she wouldn't have stopped in the towns and villages along the road, luxuriating in the gossipy company of folk glad to see fresh faces and hear the news after winter's cold had kept casual travelers close to home. One thing Derian knew that many city dwellers did not was that winter didn't seal country folk onto their farmsùnot unless the snow was very deep. They simply traded wheels for sled runners and went about their
business.

  Indeed, as Derian had learned working with his family business from an early age, for some types of commerce the dead of winter was a very active time. Large loads, whether stone or grain or tuns of wine and ale, were more easily slid across snow and ice-packed roads than hauled over dirt or bogged down in mud.

  So Derian listened carefully at every inn and tavern where his group paused, dropped a hint or two, guided a conversation, but nowhere did he catch as much as the slightest hint that anyone had heard of Melina's new and potentially disastrous marriage.

  Events from six months before were still being hashed overùthe assault on the pirate headquarters in the swamps to the far east, the heroic deeds of Princess Sapphire and Prince Shad, the tragic madness of little Citrine Shield. When Derian's companions boasted that Derian himself had been among those who assaulted the Smuggler's Light, he found himself the center of every circle and used his novelty to probe for other gossip.

  But he heard nothing of Melina or New Kelvin. Indeed, none in these relatively isolated towns and farming hamlets knew that little Citrine had been left with the pirates as hostage against her mother's good behavior to allies Melina had later betrayed. Most simply thought Citrine had been kidnapped and held for ransom. After all, wasn't her eldest sister to be the next queen?

  Derian didn't enlighten them. If what the courier from New Kelvin had told House Kestrel was true, then there was no need to blacken Melina's name further. Such gossip would only make more difficult the king's attempts to manage the situation to his advantage.

  The news would get out in time. Too many of the soldiers who had fought at the Smuggler's Light had grasped some inkling of the truth. Derian simply would not help it spread. Still, his joy in the frolicking of newborn lambs and foals was diminished when he thought of the little girl he'd first metùa girl who had been as lively and enthusiastic as any young creature and who now, by all reports, was driven to extremes of sullen brooding and frenetic activity.