Dragonoak: Gall and Wormwood, page 62
The people called out for their country and my chest swelled. I blinked my eyes dry as people gathered in their thousands behind Kouris.
Varn hung from the window, cheering for the Felheimish and swearing loudly at Rylan’s soldiers as they backed into the castle. Atalanta and Queen Nasrin stood behind her, far more composed in their relief, and Haru-Taiki spiralled down to land on Oak’s head.
“Ah! Look!” Akela called, sprinting to the window on the opposite side of the tower. “Kouris is not the only one who is returning to us.”
Kidira kept her eyes fixed on Kouris while the rest of us moved to the other window.
From the north, pane strode through the forest. Hundreds filtered through the trees, not marching under any flag, not holding any weapons. Instead, they carried barrels of wheat and grain in their arms, dragged carts of bread and cheese behind them, willing to help Thule in the only way they could.
The human army didn’t part for the pane. Instead, the crowd absorbed them. For a moment, no matter how things would change once the threat of Rylan dissipated, they stood together, unified.
And marching at the head of the pane was Sen, carrying twice as much as anyone else.
“Sen! Hah, I am knowing that she is not letting us down,” Akela said. “Every day I am telling her, she is being stronger than she is thinking, she is being capable of more than she is believing, and look! Finally, she is listening to me. Not even Kouris is moving the pane from the mountains alone, but Sen, she is wonderful, yes?”
Claire’s attention was fixed on those rallying in support of her but I didn’t waste a moment. I flew down the stairs, barrelled past piles of furniture, and called for our guards to open the doors for me. I charged across the castle grounds, no longer afraid of Rylan’s soldiers. The solidarity of Thule, of humans and pane, had blunt their blades and dulled their armour.
I crashed to a stop against Oak’s head and wrapped my arms around him. He nuzzled my stomach and growled happily. To hold him was to know how frightened he was, how much strain this had put on him, but his bravery rose above that all. My cheeks were wet with tears and I dried them against his scales, laughing as he knocked me to the cold ground in his enthusiasm to embrace me as best as a dragon could.
A shadow cut across me and I found Kouris blocking out the tired sun.
“Alright, yrval,” she said, tusks gleaming. “Been holding down the fort for us?”
I leapt up and she lifted me high into her arms. I clung to her neck, kissing her, and felt her smile widen against my lips.
“Kouris!” The word burst from my mouth as my heart threatened to do the same. “Did you do all of this?”
“Nah,” she said, nuzzling her nose against mine. “The people did this. I just gave ‘em a nudge in the right direction. Everyone was uneasy with what was going on, to be saying the least, but there was no order. No organisation. We weren’t far off crumbling apart completely, but this ain’t exactly the first time I’ve brought people together for a cause of the sort. Most of ‘em were willing to fight for their Queen. They just needed a little guidance.”
“And a leader to stand behind.”
“And a dragon.”
Kouris chuckled under her breath but her gaze wandered.
Kidira had come down from the tower. I slipped from Kouris’ arms and stepped back, giving them a moment.
“Kidira,” Kouris said, cold air coiling around her lips.
Kidira frowned.
She lifted a hand and gestured for Kouris to bow forward. Kouris complied without understanding the command. She knelt, head bowed, until she was low enough for Kidira to wrap her arms around her shoulders.
Kouris held her arms away from herself, as though wrapping them around Kidira would be like binding her in white hot chains. After a moment, Kidira squeezed tighter, and Kouris allowed herself to cover Kidira’s back with one great hand. I wanted to look away but couldn’t. This was the closest they’d been in thirty years, and it was not the start of anything: rather, it was a conclusion.
“Kouris,” Kidira said, stepping back. “You could not have arrived any earlier, could you?”
Kouris smiled and shook her head.
“Afraid not. You know me. I always like to be making an entrance.”
A ripple spread through the crowd behind us as the pane mingled amongst humans. People who’d never done anything but glower and back away from the pane tentatively took their offerings of bread and cheese from them, murmuring their thanks into their hands.
A second rumbling claimed the ground, angrier, this time. Kouris pushed herself up, ears folding back and twisting this way and that, until the crowd parted to allow a pair of Agadian soldiers to be thrown through. Their weapons had been stripped away and they hit the ground hard, staring up at Kouris and pleading in a language that meant nothing to her.
She towered over them and turned back to the crowd. The people had pulled together behind a pane but tensions were running high; they needed to harness their righteous anger at their castle being taken and their Queen being threatened in a way that didn’t lead to more violence.
Sen made her way through the crowd, murmuring apologies to each person she pushed past. Grinning through her exhaustion, she dropped a bag of potatoes at her feet and clasped Kouris’ shoulder as she moved to greet her.
“I w-went to help Kouris, and… w-when Oak came for us, we knew something was wrong. It wasn’t hard to guess. Ah. I explained what was happening to the pane in Jindval and they wanted to help. They d-didn’t want to… sit in the mountains while Thule was under attack,” Sen explained, still catching her breath. “Of course they’ll never fight, but… But we found our own way to help.”
Kouris grinned at Sen as she climbed onto Oak’s back.
“She’s selling herself short. She made a damn good case to them,” Kouris assured me. “Still, guess it helps when a tribe isn’t so close to what I did, all those years back. Makes ‘em a little less reluctant to act.”
With a pat on the side of his neck, Oak took to the air. Any unrest in the crowd settled as all eyes fixed on the dragon drifting overhead. Kouris leant over his side and bellowed at the top of her lungs.
“Listen here! We’ve come this far together and we’ve kept everyone safe in the process. As long as we’re sticking together, no one will touch us. Not Rylan. Not the Agadians!” Kouris called, met with a burst of cheering. “This is where we make our final stand. We’ve got ‘em scared and there’s nowhere left for ‘em to run! All we have to do is stand our ground and work together, human and pane alike. We wait. We wait for Rylan to go crawling to Queen Claire!”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Oak flew on, so she could address another portion of her makeshift army, spreading the message with more enthusiasm each time. I heard people cheering from the other side of the castle and headed back to the tower with Sen and Kidira at my side.
Sen was welcomed back with a hug that would’ve knocked the breath out of a human from Akela, and Claire looked away from Thule for long enough to put a hand on her shoulder.
It would be easy to mistake what had happened for a victory, but Claire and Kidira ensured it wasn’t so. Claire didn’t dare to smile and understood that more than ever, it was time to be cautious. To remain focused. We’d backed Rylan into a corner but Agados was still there, ready to strike.
The people of Thule stood watch over the castle all night, torches held high and as they sung, deep and hopeful, Haru-Taiki extinguished his own fires.
It didn’t take long, after that. The curtain had fallen and Rylan was free to cross Kondo-Kana’s invisible lines.
Aren arrived in the morning, without an escort, without a sword or scroll.
“Mother,” Claire said. She rose to her feet but did not move to meet Aren. “Did Rylan send you?”
No one in the banquet hall dared to breathe. I shifted in my seat, causing a chair leg to scrape against stone, but it wasn’t enough to draw anyone’s attention from Aren.
“Send me?” Aren asked with a hollow laugh. “My darling, I have spent the last five days begging Rylan to speak with you. I do not recall when I last slept. My nights have been consumed by imploring him to be reasonable. To surrender. You have proven yourself the ruler he never could be, yet with all forces pressing in around him, he still presumes to have something to hold over you.”
“He’s still trying to bargain?” Reis called from the other end of the table. “Here’s a bargain: he personally apologises to every last person in Thule and we don’t cave his sorry skull in.”
Aren’s gaze lingered on Reis for half a second. She curled her lip in distaste and didn’t grace them with an answer.
“Are you coming, Claire? You will not have this window of opportunity for long,” Aren said. “He has been utterly inconsolable all night and insists on covering it with his anger. What a foolish boy he has turned out to be.”
There were a hundred things Claire could’ve said to her mother, but she saved all that roiled within her for Rylan. Cane in hand, she made her way around the table and all rose, intent on accompanying her.
“This is to be a negotiation, Claire. You are not partaking in a circus,” Aren said, sighing heavily. “You do not need this rabble of spectators.”
Claire only half-listened to her mother. She gestured for most of the table to sit back down, but Kouris and I remained either side of her, while Kidira and Akela followed closely behind.
“Oi,” Reis called after Aren. “You got Eden over there?”
Eden’s name made Aren take notice. She turned to Reis, looked them up and down, and said, “Eden was so very willing to spill Claire’s secrets. All of them imaginary, of course. She has half of Rylan’s soldiers heading north of the wall to put down the supposed army of half-dead dragons your necromancer has raised in preparation for his return. Smart thinking, honestly.”
Something akin to pride and relief spread across Reis’ face.
Aren tapped a hand against the doorframe and said, “Rylan had been gone from Thule for a long time. The rumour was easily encouraged. Do not think that any of you would still be standing, if not for how stretched his forces have found themselves.”
She caught Claire’s eye.
“She has never let you down, my darling. She has done more for you than you can rightly see. Ensure that she is treated well, after this, for you will certainly not allow me to set things right.”
Claire was about to reply but Reis placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear. Claire considered it, nodded slowly, and Reis headed through the doors, taking their own path to Rylan’s side of the castle.
We headed into enemy territory but there was no threat in it. Not anymore. If Rylan lashed out against us and we were forced to put an end to him, there would be no real repercussions. His second in command could not stand against Kouris’ army. Especially not with so many of his soldiers chasing dragons that didn’t exist.
Haru-Taiki caught up and led us to a hallway with a high, arched ceiling. I recognised the doors to the throne room immediately and knew that Rylan had spent the night sat on a throne that would never be his. The soldiers scattered along the hallway were worn in a way no battle could account for, sleep-deprived and silenced. They’d wanted to surrender a long time ago.
It was over for everyone, save Rylan.
Aren refused to open the doors to the throne room, still believing it ought to house her throne. Two soldiers, as weary as all the others we’d passed, jumped forward and opened the double doors for us. They were almost as eager as us to get negotiations underway.
The throne room was lit by a dozen torches held against the walls with golden hooks. Rylan had taken Claire’s throne for his own and was sitting slumped in it, legs hooked over an arm. He’d outdone Claire, when it came to having been awake for too long, and shook his head at the sight of us.
It was hardly becoming of a King.
He didn’t look the part, even with the crown propped crookedly atop his head. His hair had come loose and twisted with the golden branches of the crown, and his cloak hung around him like a blanket.
“Mother,” Rylan said, sighing. “What did I tell you? I do not wish to speak with her.”
“She is your sister, Rylan, and you are the root of all this trouble. You will find a resolution and you will find it now,” Aren ordered, but did not dare approach the throne.
Behind it, Katja was as prim as she wanted people to believe she always was. Her hair was combed perfectly into place, held back with a golden clasp, and I’d no doubt she’d stolen her dress from some noble’s wardrobe. Not that mere theft stopped it from fitting as though every inch of the fabric had been measured for her and her alone.
Katja caught Kidira’s eye from across the room. They stared at one another, fighting to keep their expressions neutral.
“Rylan,” Claire said gently, and approached the throne. “This has to stop. You’ve lost and there’s nothing more you can do. Please. Do not continue to punish Thule.”
Claire stopped at the shallow steps leading to the throne and Kouris and I remained at her side. Kidira and Akela stood with Aren, making themselves part of the background, and Rylan rose to his feet. He was surprisingly composed once he was moving. He stood straight, adjusted his crown and cloak, and clasped his hands behind his back as he paced the room.
“I understand what you must think of me. I know that you believe me to be remorseless, unfeeling; you no longer remember me as the brother I was. You can no longer reconcile me with the memories of the young man who would take all sorts of blame, that you and Alexander might go unpunished. But I am still your brother, Claire. I have missed you. I have spent long nights awake, tormented by the thought of what became of you in Isin,” Rylan said. “I do not want to fight you. All this bickering amongst family members is most untoward. There are ways for us to work together. Even now, there is still hope for us both.
“What I did to Kastelir was unforgivable. I see that now. Whether Queen Kidira speaks the truth or not is far beyond the matter. People died in their millions. There is no going back from that. But what we can do is help repair Kastelir. My attempts to rebuild the country over the last two years have been in earnest. With your phoenix, we can forge something greater from the fire.”
Behind him, Katja didn’t blink.
Claire tilted her head to the side, piecing together what Rylan had said.
“You mean to say that you would work alongside me to restore the territories?” Claire asked, not daring to believe it. “You have not promised them to Agados?”
“I have not,” Rylan said, lifting his chin proudly. “That deal is no more. I saw the error of my ways long before I admitted to them, and saw that part of the bargain ground to dust, on the condition we give the Agadians something greater.”
For a moment, there was a spark of hope.
Knowing her words would banish it, Claire didn’t speak.
“Surrender to me,” Rylan said, and everything slipped between our fingers. “I will give you the position of power you crave. I will allow you to oversee Kastelir’s restoration. I will send the Agadians back to Soldato.”
Claire took a deep breath and bowed her head. As desperately deluded as Rylan had become, she felt genuine sorrow for him. He reached for power that wasn’t his to offer and his composure slipped at what he took to be a slight.
“You have some better plan, do you?” Rylan snapped. He darted down the steps with haste enough for his cloak to billow behind him. “The people enjoy making a spectacle of themselves. That’s all their support is. Return to me in a handful of days and we shall see how many of them have abandoned their Queen in favour of their beds.”
Claire said nothing and Rylan snarled, green eyes flashing as he stormed back up the steps.
Katja stepped around the throne and placed a reassuring hand on Rylan’s shoulder. He shook her off, eyes fixed on Claire and Claire alone, determined to get a rise out of her. Determined to prove that she was as desperate as he was; that there was something of equal footing here.
“What did you promise the Agadians, Rylan?” Claire asked quietly.
Rylan said nothing but finally broke his gaze to turn to me.
“The Agadians aren’t interested in the burnt-out husk that is Kastelir, not as they once were, and that land isn’t Rylan’s to offer,” Katja said, delight tinting her words in lieu of desperation. “They’ve all they could ever need behind their walls. A necromancer, however, is enough for them to part with entire platoons for.”
“So how’s that going to happen?” Kouris asked when I could find no words of my own. “Reckon you’re just gonna take the necromancer in question and we’re all gonna let you stroll out of here with her?”
Me. It was all about me. After all this time, everything Katja did revolved around me. Something worse than fear spiked in my chest.
Rylan removed Claire’s crown and ran his fingers through his hair.
“No,” he snapped. “You are going to hand her over.”
There was more he wanted to say but his teeth were fused together. He made for the far end of the room, shaking his head as he went. Kidira and Akela stepped forward and Kidira didn’t stop until she was on the first step, staring up at Katja.
“Does Agados not realise that they already have a necromancer, and that she is here?” Kidira asked. “Or is that it? Is Halla so beyond their control that they have no choice but to let her come here? Does Agados intend to treat Rowan as a blank slate and start over?”
Katja’s mouth quirked into a smile but when she spoke, she did so over Kidira’s head. She could not meet her gaze and retain her calm at the same time.
“Halla is loyal to the King of Agados. She may be here but it is only because her leash is long. She is trusted,” Katja explained. “I am a healer; I can ensure Halla goes only where she needs to be. She is here to convince Rowan that it is a worthy bargain.”
