Red Dragon's Keep (The Dragon's Children Book 1) Page 9

  “Good morning, Gregory. Simon said that you wanted to talk to me.”

  “I did, my Lord. I’ve been worrying at the question all night. Your weapons practice will take up most of the morning and I don’t think it’s wise to break your routine. I think we should meet today after mid-meal. We need to make some decisions quickly about how to proceed.”

  Thomas sighed. “I agree. I tossed and turned all night. Dreams of Dragons chasing me kept waking me up.” He snorted. “I’ve never had that kind of dream before.” He shook his head. “Please tell the boys and Captain Mathin that we’ll meet after mid-meal in the Library. I’d better get to practice.”

  Gregory patted him on the shoulder. “You’re doing well, Thomas. Just think about training and nothing else, if you can. We’ll see you at mid-meal.”

  Thomas worked up a sweat as he swung his sword against the pells, then reversed and brought his dagger across to attack. His weapons thudded again and again against the wooden target. He would lose himself in the rhythm and then suddenly remember the talisman. His body clenched and he’d lose the smooth flow of the practice.

  He finally stepped back and wiped the sweat from his forehead, sheathed his sword at his side and guided his dagger into its scabbard.

  “My Lord, you’re not done with the pells yet,” shouted the sergeant in charge of squire practice. He strode toward Thomas from the far end of the practice field.

  “I’m sorry, sergeant,” Thomas said. “I’m not feeling well. I think I need to see Moirra.”

  The sergeant frowned as he reached Thomas. He took one look at Thomas’s glassy eyes and waved him toward the Tower. “Very well, my Lord. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Thomas nodded and trudged away from the practice field. He stomach rolled in protest. Maybe I really am getting sick and this isn’t just dodging practice. I don’t want anything to eat.

  He made his way through the kitchen and into the great hall. He turned to the stairs and saw Cameron, Evan and Owen trying to walk casually toward him along the wall. He almost laughed and hoped he didn’t look as tense as they did. Silently they met at the foot of the staircase.

  “Did any of you eat?” he asked in a low voice.

  The others shook their heads.

  “Come on. It will look suspicious if we don’t eat. Breanna will notice for sure.”

  He turned toward the sideboard and took a small bowl of soup and a piece of bread. The boys did the same. They made their way to the head table and took their seats. Breanna rushed into the room, grabbed a bowl and bread as well, and joined them.

  Thomas ate slowly. His stomach refused to settle. He put the bowl down. “What have you been doing, Breanna?”

  “I’ve been working with the new colt from the white mare that Father bought. He’s a beauty. I’ve already got him following me around the paddock,” Breanna smiled and dipped her bread in the soup. She took a big bite.

  “Pretty soon I’m going to put a blanket across his back and teach him to lift his feet on command,” she said around the food.

  Thomas frowned. “You be careful, Breanna. Don’t get hurt.”

  Breanna grinned. “Don’t worry. All of the horses like me, Thomas. It’s almost like I can read what they are going to do before they do it.”

  “Still,” Thomas muttered. “Just be careful.”

  Breanna punched him in the arm. “I will be,” she said.

  He glanced down the table. The others had finished their soup and were waiting for him. He got up and walked over to them.

  “Meet me in the Library. Leave about five minutes apart,” he said quietly. He made his way to the stairs and started up

  Captain Mathin and Gregory joined them as they reached the Library. Captain Mathin carried the book. He placed it on the table. Everyone looked tired.

  “I think we need to include Breanna in this,” Thomas blurted out. “It’s really hard to keep anything from her and she might have some good ideas. Lady Aeden, too. She has magic and can help,” he finished.

  “I agree,” Captain Mathin nodded his head. “We need all the help we can get. The only way we will find that amulet is to do a search room by room and corridor by corridor. Gregory, could you have a skully find Lady Aeden and Lady Breanna? Tell them to meet us here.”

  Lady Aeden and Breanna joined them a few minutes later. The skully had found them in the stable paddock, just starting to work with the colt.

  “What is it?” asked Lady Aeden.

  Breanna looked apprehensively at the boys. “What have you found?” she quavered.

  Captain Mathin waved at Cameron. Cameron looked at him and jerked his head around toward Breanna.

  “We might have found the reason the Demons are here,” he said in a rush. “There’s a talisman that was broken into five pieces. It can control the Dragons.” His voice rose steadily as he spoke.

  Lady Aeden went white in shock. “What?” she gasped. “Of course,” she muttered.

  Breanna stood mute, her eyes huge. She shook off her shock and ran to the table. She braced her hands on its top, leaning toward Cameron. “Do you know where it is?” she cried.

  Cameron shook his head. “It doesn’t say where, just that it was hidden,” he responded.

  Breanna slumped into a chair. “This doesn’t help at all,” she wailed.

  Lady Aeden moved to her and put a calming hand on her shoulder.

  “Yes, it does,” Aeden told her. “These amulets are what the Dark and its minions, the High Sorcerer and the Demons, are searching for like a swarm of locusts. If they can control the Dragons, they will kill them. Without the Dragons, the kingdom is lost. We can’t win without them.

  I didn’t know that Dragons could be controlled. We must find those pieces. Show me what you’ve found,” Aeden demanded.

  Captain Mathin pushed the record book across the table to her.

  Quickly she read the passage and studied the drawing. A frown marred her forehead. “I swear I’ve seen this somewhere. I just can’t remember where.” She shook her head in frustration and gently closed the book.

  “Captain Mathin, Gregory, I would suggest that you hide this record. No one must know about this, at least not yet.” Aeden spoke quietly and carefully.

  Thomas looked grimly at everyone around the table. “I had a horrible thought this morning. What if one of the amulets is at Falcon’s Spire, and it falls to the Demons?”

  Everyone reacted, inhaling sharply at the thought.

  “By the Three,” Captain Mathin exclaimed. “We’d better assume that they will find one there if they take the Spire. It makes sense. I’ll bet there’s one here, one at Falcon’s Spire, another at Windward Stronghold and somewhere in Cathair Ri. Where would the last one be hidden?”

  “With the Dragons,” Lady Aeden whispered.

  Chapter 19

  Hugo, the stableman, called to Jalyn from the open door to the delivery yard and kitchen garden. Heat from the kitchen flowed out the door and he took several steps back.

  “Mistress Jalyn, I have a message for you.” His gap-toothed smile belied the ugly glitter in his eyes. Shaking her head, Jalyn bustled to the door, her enormous hips swaying. Frowning, she stepped out of the door onto the porch and berated Hugo.

  “How dare you come to the kitchen,” she hissed in anger. “We should only meet at night.”

  “Shut your gob, you fat scum. I've been sent by the High Draiolc Mannan. He ‘requests’ a meeting tonight. Come to the stable at the eleventh candlemark.”

  Turning on his heel, he stepped down the rest of the stairs and strode out of the yard.

  Panic shot through Jalyn and her stomach contracted painfully. She turned and waddled back into the kitchen.

  She had nothing to report. Everything she tried had fallen short. She had worked the spells she knew to make someone clumsy or forgetful, hoping that a deadly accident would result. She’d poisoned the food and drink to no avail. Now the Duke and Duchess were gone and she wouldn't have another chan
ce. Plans skittered through her mind.

  She decided to be bold and demand a spell that would kill all of the Arachs at once.

  § § §

  The moon rode the sky like a ghost ship under full sail. At the eleventh candlemark, Jalyn moved as quietly as she could from the kitchen to the stable. Darkness made shadows feel cold and sinister. She swayed along the side of the Keep, scuffing through the frozen leaves exposed after the last scant snowfall melted during the warmer temperatures of day. Winter was coming.

  Reaching the stable, Jalyn pushed the door open along its sliding track. She slid it closed behind her and hurried to the tack-room, the only enclosed area in the building.

  The large room was filled with saddles on saddle-racks, bridles hanging from pegs, halters and other stable equipment stacked on shelves. A very faint red glow filled the room, its source not visible.

  In the darkest corner, a creature from the halls of hell stood in utter stillness. Clothed in black, tall and thin, its face and hands were as white as chalk. White hair crowning a corpselike skull, Mannan, the High Draiolc - darkest of all sorcerers - waited.

  Hugo, for all of his bravado, stood as far from the sorcerer as he could get. His eyes shifted from side to side, as if seeking a way out of what he’d agreed to do.

  A sound like the rattling and rubbing of large insect wings filled the air.

  “What have you done to carry out my orders?” rasped Mannan’s voice.

  “My lord, greatest of sorcerers, I have tried everything that I know,” Jalyn whined. “Poisons, spells to entangle feet and hands, spells of forgetfulness. Every one of them has been fruitless. I don't know what else to try. I don't understand why nothing is working when it should have. Give me a spell that will kill them all,” she demanded.

  The rubbing whine of insect wings grew louder as the temperature in the room began to rise.

  “The taste of Dragon magic saturates the very stones of this Keep. Have you not seen or felt any of it while you have been here?” Mannan’s low voice snarled.

  “No, my Lord. I've felt nothing. I've checked as much as I safely can with both spell and scrying. There has been nothing,” Jalyn whispered in a shaking voice, finally realizing she’d made a mistake.

  The temperature in the tack-room soared, mirroring Mannan's anger. With a gesture of his hand, Jalyn was thrown from her feet and pinned to the floor. Another gesture instantly muffled her agonized scream of pain and fear.

  “Woman, you have failed yet again. Your value is decreasing by the moment,” he growled. She shrieked again as he closed his hand into a fist and twisted. Blood began to seep from Jalyn's ears. “The only reason I don’t kill you now and drink your blood is because you are too entwined in the life of this place. You will carry out my orders.”

  “Lord, Lord! I swear I will do whatever you want of me. Please, please!” Jalyn choked in terror on her own blood.

  § § §

  Hugo shrank against the wood of the wall. His fear was growing beyond anything he'd ever known. He hadn't recognized the power of the sorcerer to whom he had pledged his soul in exchange for a small portion of that power. His ragged pants grew damp as a hot stream of pee trickled down his leg. He began to tremble uncontrollably.

  Mannan slowly turned toward him. Hugo hurriedly dropped his eyes.

  “Have you at least carried out my orders?” asked Mannan.

  “Lord, I shaved the wooden pins that hold the wagon wheels to the axles. They will not last to the capital. I put weevils in the supplies and pin holes in the water barrels. The barrels should be dry by Great Falls, and unfillable.” mumbled Hugo with a quaver in his voice.

  “Good. At least the ambush that I have arranged should produce results,” Mannan snarled.

  “Move this trash back to the kitchen. I will give you instructions to pass to her. Should she fail again, the instructions to you include killing her and disposing of the body. You will find another minion to take her place.” Mannan waved in disgust toward the weeping woman huddled on the floor in front of him.

  “Yes, Lord.”

  Mannan whirled away, his cloak billowing. He raised his arms toward the ceiling. A glowing rune grew in the air as he moved his hands in a complicated pattern. A step toward the rune, and the sorcerer was gone. The rune-glow slowly faded. The room was plunged into darkness.

  Hugo shuddered and dropped to his knees. Minutes passed as he shook in reaction. He crabbed over to the hysterically weeping Jalyn and jerked her up to her knees. He slapped her across the face. “Come on, you halfwit. Get yourself under control. You need to get cleaned up,” he muttered hoarsely.

  § § §

  Thomas pulled on old trousers, a shirt and warm tunic. He belted his sword to his waist and stepped into soft leather boots. He ran down the stairs and turned toward Gregory's office. He and Gregory had agreed to meet as soon as Thomas awakened to plan the search for the Dragon amulet. A shout of rage stopped him in his tracks as he turned through the doorway.

  Gregory's face was red with anger. One of the cooks stood in front of him, twisting his apron with shaking hands, shivering with fear.

  “Sir, I'm sorry. I don't know where the flour disappeared to or when the last load of grain spoiled. I checked myself and all was in order ten days ago. No one was near the granary or the storeroom as far as I know,” the distraught cook choked out. “The spoilage is too quick to be fungus.

  “I'm not blaming you, man. I'm appalled that it's not been noticed until now. This means that we have another traitor in our midst and we must ferret him out or face disaster,” Gregory growled in a low voice.

  “Tell no one what you've found. We don't need a panic. Check all of the other supplies yourself and report back. I want your ideas on what needs to be done. Be quick.”

  The cook nodded his head. “Yes sir.” He turned, bowed to Thomas and scurried out of the room.

  Thomas stood frozen and looked at Gregory. Gregory shook his head and motioned Thomas into the room.

  “Close the door. We don't need any more gossip.” He turned toward the large window that looked out on the south approach to the Keep and started to pace, his hands clasped behind his back.

  Thomas closed the door quietly and quickly, after glancing both ways down the hall. No one lurked or lingered. He turned back to Gregory. “What do we do?” he asked.

  “First, don't say a word to another soul. If they know that supplies are short, there could well be a panic.” Gregory turned to face Thomas, running his hand distractedly through his hair. “I'm sorry, my Lord. This should never have progressed so far.”

  “Gregory, this isn't your fault. It's the fault of whoever is stealing from this Keep, from the people who depend on us for their very lives. How we catch him is the question,” Thomas spoke slowly. He was thinking furiously. “This may be bigger than we know. I've heard things during training and clean-up that make some sense now.”

  Gregory grabbed his shoulder. “What have you heard?” He gave Thomas a quick shake, released his shoulder and held up his hand. “Wait, I'll send for Captain Mathin. He should be involved in this.”

  Turning to his desk, he jotted a quick note on a scrap of paper he found there, then strode to the door and shouted across the hall, “Jago, front!”

  Short and plump, Jago, Gregory's clerk, charged out of his room across the hall. “Master, what do you need?”

  Gregory thrust the folded paper into his hands. “Find Captain Mathin as quick as you can. This is urgent.”

  “Yes sir.” Jago turned and jogged down the hallway. Gregory hurried back into the room. He scrubbed his hands on his cheeks, shook his head and moved to sit behind his desk. “Please, sit, Lord Thomas.”

  Thomas hastily took a seat on one of the chairs in front of Gregory's desk. He turned toward the doorway as he heard booted feet striding down the corridor. “Captain Mathin, we have a problem,” he said as the captain swung into the room, moving fast.

  “What’s wrong?” Mathin demand
ed, making his way to the other chair.

  Gregory told him about the missing supplies and spoiled grain. “It’s too quick for mold or fungus,” he finished.

  Mathin turned to Thomas. “What have you heard?”

  Thomas leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped between his legs. “There's been muttering among the skullies about something in the undercroft, something that has them terrified. They mutter about strange smells from there and the stables. Even Cameron has heard tales of ghosts under the Tower. Has anyone said anything to you about skullies disappearing?”

  “No, no one has said anything.” Mathin turned cool grey eyes on Gregory, one eyebrow raised.

  “No one has spoken to me about missing skullies,” Gregory said with a frown.

  Thomas rubbed his chin as he sat back. “I think it was last week that I heard two of the soldiers talking about something they had heard at the market. The villagers are telling tales of food rotting in their cellars and going missing from storage.”

  Captain Mathin surged to his feet. “This is the work of some foul traitor or mage who is bent on betraying us. Who would or could do this without anyone noticing?”

  Thomas shook his head. “We need Lady Aeden.”

  Gregory stood and walked to the door. “I'll send Jago to fetch her.”

  § § §

  The sun had passed mid-morning when Jago returned with Lady Aeden. She had just returned from a scouting patrol. Gregory dismissed him with a curt order to get his mid-meal.

  “Can you discover if there has been spell-work done in the Keep?” demanded Captain Mathin of Aeden. “If you can’t, do you know someone who can?”

  Aeden gave them a puzzled look. “Why? What’s happened?”

  “We think someone has tainted the food stores and skullies are missing. It’s happened within the past fortnight.”

  “I can certainly try to see if someone has left traces,” Aeden declared. “Who told you? How many people know?”

  “The undercook reported it to me this morning. The only others who know are in this room, and my clerk, Jago,” Gregory told her.