The Royals

Chapter 12

As she examined the room, she realized for at least this one moment that anxiety sat lightly on her shoulders and the shouting in her ears had diminished to a whisper. Maybe Roslin concurred with her after all - or maybe the witches had induced calm. Regardless, it was welcome respite and Ginni was exhausted enough to allow herself to savor it.

She sat back and relaxed into the chair. She let her eyes close and her breath even out. If the witches wanted to harm her, they would. So be it. She'd come to them, and for the moment Ginni was content to put herself at their mercy.

Willam strengthened Lyda just as she had always sup ported him. As a new bride, she had faithfully followed him halfway across the Ash Kingdom. Now they reversed the journey and their roles. The weather had been mild then; so now they must endure it at its most severe.

They stopped behind a tree and watched the snow whip past. Willam wrapped his arms around her. Lyda, I promised m'self. We'll come through okay. Even if we have to cross the Dunavs.'

She looked into his eyes then down at the child huddled against her knees. 'Her lips are blue.'

'We'll find shelter.'

He spoke as if he believed it.

This new mission of hers was so very different from her trial during the Elfwitch's Autumn. That journey had begun in anger and given way to serenity. This one started where the other left off and the Sisters only knew where it would lead.

And yet to travel with a family gave her a feeling of completeness she had never expected to glimpse.

And yet

And yet they suffered.

She had not completed the test.

The elves had given her a quest and a will to see it through. They had not promised she would survive it; only that she was worthy of the journey and it was worthy of her. It was up to her to complete it. 'Yes, we will find shelter,' she 'echoed. Together the three turned and walked into the blind ing storm.

Kate sat her chestnut mount uneasily. Her every bone and muscle ached already. 'I hate horses. They're stupid, smelly beasts.'

'Would asked. you prefer to run along beside mine?' Maarcus asked.

We'd likely move as quickly.'

The Shoreman laughed. 'Care to place a wager?'

'Don't be ridiculous. We haven't time for such non sense."

What's put a crimp in your riding-pants? I'd've thought you couldn't wait to be away from all that.'

What could Kate tell him? Last night someone tried yet again to kill me and he may have been ordered by my brother? Or, I dumped a dead body over a cliff rather than see him discovered? Or, gee Maarcus, have you ever slain a man by accident?

In her mind's eye, she saw only an anonymous body falling over a cliff. His final words floated up behind him.

'The prince won't let you live. He dares not.' Echoes drowned out by the crashing waves.

Kate could barely stomach thoughts of the evening's other encounter. Could that meeting have been simple happenstance? Had he stalked her on Henry's order? Her brother had said he sent someone looking for her. Could Henry have changed so much since his transformation from that poor furry dragon? Had the elfwitch found a way to command his soul?

'Kate!'

The shout jolted her so that she nearly fell out of her saddle.

'What?"

'I was saying-' 'I hate horses,' she muttered again.

'So you've said. What's the matter with you? It's perfect riding weather. A cloudless, afternoon sky as stunning blue as any I've ever seen.'

'You're facing north. That's a witch-cursed storm coming from the east.'

He glanced over his shoulder. 'So we're in for a little wind and snow.'

'Maarcus, I'm serious. There will be more than just a delicate sprinkling of snowflakes.'

'What you got against horses?'

'You'll do anything rather than discuss magic. Fine, I'll humor you. Just remember, magic hovers all around you whether you realize it or not.' And whether I confront it or not, she thought. She patted her mount's neck, but it didn't soothe either of them. 'Horses always shied away from my brother when he was a dragon,' she said, answering his question. 'I never got much of a chance to master them.'

'They aren't dogs, Kate.'

'Says you, horse-lover. We'll debate the Sisters' beasts and creatures later. I've got trolls to chase and a blizzard to outrun. In case you haven't noticed, it's closing fast.' She dug her heels into the chestnut's haunches and shot ahead.

Abadan shook his head sadly. 'It's a waste. Kate could be a great asset if she had the discipline.'

'But …' Walther wanted to say. But what? The magician was right. Kate would have to find things her own way.

'We begin again. Tell me the healing properties of dragon's claw, both leaf and stem.'

'It serves as a strong purgative and therefore should be used with caution,' Walther recited. 'It was given to women to cleanse the body for conception but seemed just as likely to harm the child.' He slowed. However, old hags' tales claim it induces twins in those the Sisters deem worthy . . .' He trailed off. 'Do the prince and princess know?'

'Know what?' Abadan looked down to fuss with the magicks set out for the day's lesson.

'Do they know their mother was given dragon's claw?'

The magician didn't answer the question directly.

"What of it?'

'You manipulated events to fit the prophecies.'

'Again, what of it?'

'They are not true.'

'That they were influenced has no bearing on truth," the magician snapped. 'Are you less alive because your village has been destroyed?'

Walther felt a rising anger he had not allowed himself in many weeks. He spoke through gritted teeth. 'Do not mock me."

'Any more than you mock me. The Forty-nine Witches predicted twins. The seers mention parentage not at all. The two could as well be dragons as humans. They could be dwarves. It matters not at all so long as our twins seek to reunite the Ash Kingdom.'

Abadan's smug expression dared Walther to argue. The dwarf tried and found himself tongue-tied by the magician's logic.

In her sleep, Ginni could feel the pull and tug of the three witches. They were seated around a scrying bowl. Their conversation came to her as clearly as if she stood in the room with them.

'She's perfect!' said the one who'd admitted Ginni at the gate.

The second woman looked up at her, annoyance plain in her features. Premature, don't you think, Dita?'

'No, no, I'm sure of it. She won't need much work at all. All of her mother's talent as well as a more proper dose of humility.'

The other pushed her chair away from the scrying bowl with a loud scrape of wood on wood. 'Nothing worthwhile is that effortless. She came to us. We did not summon her. She will have her own expectations, ambitions which likely have nothing to do with our plans.'

The third sat between her companions and let them argue. 'You are each partially right, partially wrong. You speak more from your own hopes than from any true knowledge.'

The two reddened as if slapped, seeming to shrink in on themselves.

'Yes, of course, Revered Mother.'

'My apologies, Revered Mother.'

Their meek voices did not mask their mutual dislike as they fidgeted and glared at each other over their leader's bent form.

She ignored their discomfort and continued to peer into her sorcery.

Ginni had the startling sensation of watching her own dreaming face flicker with flashes of emotion. But I thought it was f*******n to study current time, she thought.

.'An interesting case, no question,' said Revered Mother. She smiled into the bowl where no one could see save the young mage herself. Her expression suggested kitchen vermin might be equally valuable.

"A mage and a mouse are both animals of the Sisters' making to be used as best we can.'

Had the Revered Mother spoken aloud or were her words for Ginni alone?

She didn't wait for the answer. Ginni fled back into herself.

She woke immediately, still trembling at the vision. True or not - and her dreams never lied - she would stay until she got what she came for. Revered Mother had yet to decide what to do with her. In the meanwhile, Ginni would learn what she could and then she would leave.

They could not keep her against her wishes. No one could.

The euphoria from Notti's audience with the One passed quickly. He spent his day watching over the goats and occasionally poking under the snow for a blade of grass. They would all starve if they stayed where they were. First the goats, then the elves.

Absorbed in his misery, he didn't notice Tabor and Theron until they dropped a wood-handled brazier at his feet. Notti stared as the hot metal hit the frozen ground with a heavy thud, which immediately became the hiss of melting snow.

'Th-thank you.' He was so startled that his stutter surfaced.

'Don't th-thank us, Goatboy,' mocked Tabor.

“The One said to give you this.' And this.' Theron dropped a thick quilt atop the smoking brazier.

Notti snatched up the blanket and inspected it to be sure it hadn't caught fire. When he looked up again, the boys were halfway back to the main camp. For once, the wind carried their ridicule away from him.

He carried the brazier into his tent and carefully placed it two hand-widths' from the canvas wall. Next he brought in the blanket and set it down close enough to let it gather in some of the heater's warmth. Finally, unable to resist, he pulled off his gloves and held his palms over the coals.

Notti hadn't felt so serene since he'd first met the malformed dragon. Perhaps his desire to escape was misguided. Perhaps it was only the need for intelligent companionship which drove him to plot a route across the Dunavs during the deadly time of deepsnows. At last he thrust his fingers back into the worn gloves and returned to his dwindling herd.

This night he did not tell himself stories of small, cour ageous dragons. Instead, he climbed into the cozy tent, checked the brazier, and wrapped himself in blankets. He was warm, oh he was the most wonderfully warm he'd been in weeks.

Notti instantly fell asleep with a rare smile parting his lips. Heat wound through his dreams. A tall, calm elf called him by his true name - not Goatboy, not even his mother's secret petname, but the name his father had given him on his birth, the name he would have built upon during his manhood ceremony had he been allowed such last autumn.

He tossed and turned until he became knotted in the unfamiliar bedding. This man might wish Goatboy well, but his stares to the very core of the boy's soul frightened him. The elf would discover Notti's plans for escape. He would

'Be still,' said the voice. What I know, I keep to myself. When you are freed of those here, the Sisters will call to you to travel far. If you are brave and deserve to live through your crossing of the Dunavian Mountains, you will find me. I will teach you more than how to tend goats.'

Even in his sleep, Notti's heart sank. The elder could teach him, but there would always be the diminishing of himself, of having had the weakness of enjoying the chores of an outcast. This elf offered more than most, and he had seemed less severe than his father.

But when would the boy be called upon to be simply as he was?

Then it struck him, this elf had come to him in his dreams! Did he need any more proof than this that he was worthy? That he had something that merited cherishing?

Notti had never been through the Dunavs, had never ranged past the patch of ground where his goats grazed. In his dreams, he ran through a checklist. He would need as much food and clothing as he could carry. The brazier he would keep so long as he had coals, and then discard it. The goats would help him. He would pick his finest and together they would find the pass in the mountains and cross it.

Notti would prove his worth. He would show them all.

Jedrek collapsed against the carved straight-back with a 'whuff' of exhaled air. Whatever the benefit of contacting the goatboy, disembodied travel over such long distances took a lot out of him; and he wasn't getting any younger. Soon he would need to name a successor. The elf absent mindedly drummed three fingers on the chair-arm. None of his students would do. They simply lacked the boldness of vision to go beyond their prescribed duties.

The goatboy, Notti, did seem encouraging.He'd have to give the child's mother credit there. However, his talent was far from proven. He lacked experience. He was young, so very, very young. And he lived in Alvaria's shadow where she would taint him with barren promises.