The Dragon's Prize Page 7

  “Oh, I can burn anything I set my mind to.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Let’s eat!”

  Rather than dirtying a plate, they put an oilskin across their knees to keep from burning themselves and balanced the skillet between them. They set about the stew hungrily, famished from the trials of the morning and the travel of the afternoon.

  Sandra intended to say something about how good it was, but instead couldn’t stop eating. Mira was right, it was simple, but it still tasted good! Woodsy herbs cut through the dry flavor of the meat, and the bread added the right amount of chew to the dish. She blew on the first few bites to keep from burning her mouth, then threw caution to the wind and just ate.

  Afterward, they both used a heel of the travel bread to mop up stray sauce.

  “Good.”

  “Mmm.”

  The meal should have lasted for a few days, but neither regretted finishing it.

  “Was this another of those things that you learned when you weren't always a maid?”

  “Ha! No. I worked in the kitchens before I was promoted to maid.”

  “Promoted?” Unbidden, Sandra used some of the water from her skin to clean the remains of their meal off of the skillet.

  “What would you rather be? A scullery assistant or a maid?”

  “Neither?”

  Mira stuck out her tongue.

  “Right. You have a point. It’s probably much better to toss linens and dust furniture than slave away in the kitchens all day.”

  “Damn right.” Mira was taking her turn to rest. She arched her back and pressed a fist into the middle of it, trying to knead out some of the tension.

  “Here, let me.” Sandra wiped the skillet off with a rag, balanced it on top of Mira’s pack, then came over and sat beside Mira. She reached out tentatively and started to massage some of the tension out of Mira’s back.

  “Mmm.”

  Sandra scooted closer so she could get a better position, then dug her thumbs into Mira’s skin and rubbed them in circles around tense muscles. She was surprised by the strength she felt in Mira, but realized that spending all day doing hard manual labor was bound to help condition a body. Briefly Sandra wondered if Mira would be good at swinging a sword too, but discarded that thought. She was already putting her friend in so much danger, asking her to fight as well seemed too much.

  “You’re pretty good at that. You know, for a soldier.”

  “And you’re pretty good at relaxing. You know, for a servant.” Sandra winked. Mira laughed.

  “Is it always going to be like this?”

  “Like what?”

  “Sore muscles and exhaustion?”

  “Later I’m sure there will be plenty of terror and running for our lives.”

  “And burning?”

  “Yes. I think there will be a great deal of burning too.”

  “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.” Mira leaned back against Sandra, relaxing into the massage. Her voice was starting to drift off and her words were slurring more with each moment.

  “You cook, I put people in mortal danger.”

  “Mmm.” Mira sounded like she wanted to try and find a pithy reply to that, instead her eyes drifted shut and she snored softly.

  Sandra gently maneuvered Mira to the ground, with her back against the log, to put her in a more comfortable position with the least amount of movement. Then Sandra grabbed a blanket out of Mira’s pack and lay it over her. Briefly, she thought of joining her friend in sleep, but practicality won out. She went over to her pack to grab a blanket, and a small black pouch fell out of it.

  “Hey, what’s this?” It was made of fine cloth she didn’t recognize, and embroidered in silver thread on the front was the mark of the royal house. Curious, she opened the catch on the top and emptied the contents into her palm.

  “Oh!” Inside there were several expensive-looking gems, twenty gold coins, a small silver ring with elaborate wings on it, two vials of sparkling green liquid and a note.

  She carefully replaced everything into the pouch except the ring and the note and then shook Mira awake.

  “Hey, Mira?”

  “Gwuh?”

  “Hey! Wake up!”

  “How long have I been…?”

  “Like, a minute. Can you read?”

  “Umm…” Mira scrubbed her hand over the back of her eyes to clear some sleep from it and then blinked up at Sandra. “You woke me back up to read something?”

  “I think it’s from the queen.”

  “Oh… oh! Okay! Yeah, that’s a good idea. Here, give it to me.”

  Sandra nodded and handed over the note. She also showed Mira the ring, but held onto that. She had a feeling it was for her.

  “Okay… umm… D… Dear Sandra and Mira. Thank-you for res… rescuing my son and saving the kingdom. Please take these toke… tokens? Tokens of my app… appreciation.” Mira looked up at Sandra. “Tokens?”

  “Gems, money, what looks like healing potions and the ring.”

  “It’s pretty. Not really… royal, though.”

  “Does the note explain?”

  “No, it just says ‘Warm regards, the Queen.’” Mira shrugged.

  “Hmm. What should I do?”

  “I say put it on.”

  “Alright.” Sandra turned the ring over a few times in front of her eyes, wondering what it was. It must be important if the queen sent it with them, but she’d offered no explanation either. Not having any other bright ideas, Sandra slipped it onto her ring finger.

  Immediately there was a tingling sensation that spread out from the ring, into her hand, and traveled up her arm. As it went it diffused until it reached her shoulder and stopped. She could swear she saw the wings flutter before settling back into their original position.

  “Weird.”

  “What?”

  “Did you see that?”

  “See what?”

  “The wings! They flapped!”

  “I didn’t see anything.” Mira shrugged, then stifled a yawn. “Anyway, it was nice of her to do that. How much gold?”

  “Twenty.”

  “Twenty!?”

  “I just said that.”

  “That’s… that’s a Hell of a lot.”

  “I know, right?” Sandra jingled the purse a couple of times to emphasize the clinking inside. “I wonder if she knows the value?”

  “What?”

  “Well. Her doctor poured an 800 gold potion down my throat without even blinking.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Yup. I don’t think she quite understands the value of things.” Sandra shook her head. She hadn’t thought about it until now, but the potion that saved her life was worth more than she’d make in ten years.

  “Wow.” Mira was considering it, too. “How about the gems?”

  “I have no idea.” Sandra opened the purse to show Mira. “I don’t know anything about gems.”

  “Me either. We’d better not try and sell those until we can find someone to help appraise them.”

  “Definitely.” Sandra cinched the purse back up one more time, then replaced it in her saddle bag. She felt a little uncomfortable not having it on her person, but she didn’t want to break the potions if she had to do any fighting. “Anyway, sorry to wake you.”

  “No. No, it’s okay, that was important.” Mira stretched her arms out, then settled back against the log. “Can I sleep now?”

  “Sure. Yes.”

  Mira smiled in thanks and was snoring almost immediately.

  Sandra went back and grabbed the blanket from her saddlebag, then sat on top of the log. The blanket would keep her warm for her watch, but without anything to support her back she wouldn’t fall asleep. Hopefully.

  *

  The first week of travel went quickly for Sandra and Mira. The forest was dense and dark, but the trail remained visible the entire time. They passed through a couple of small towns, but rarely at the right time to stop for th
e night. Once, they considered it, but the pressing deadline they were on kept them moving until night.

  Mira became just as good at setting up and breaking down camp as Sandra was, and Sandra was appreciative of the company. It turned out that Mira was a fair hand at hunting as well as cooking, and after the first meal of trail rations she caught several rabbits to supplement their protein source, which went miles to improving the quality of their meals. They spent the days in amicable conversation, or sometimes friendly silence, and Sandra found herself enjoying the entire experience. She certainly hadn’t expected that going into the endeavor.

  They were coming up on Velmar: the last city in the kingdom before the wilds took over. While there was technically a city at the base of the Riprock mountains, it was under the protection of the dragons and owed allegiance to no king. This was their last stop in friendly territory. Although it was only midday, they’d already discussed plans to stop for the night and resupply so they would be fresh and ready for the road in the morning.

  As they rounded the last turn before the city, they both cried out in horror. Sandra put a hand to her mouth, and Mira leaned over the side of Annie and made a retching sound.

  The last stretch of road before Velmar was dotted on either side with pikes, and on each one a corpse was impaled. They were all in various states of decay, and when Sandra looked closely, they had all been killed gruesomely. Some were missing the entire lower half of their body, with their entrails spilling down to the ground, while others were missing a head or a limb. Some looked chewed on!

  There were twenty in all, spread out in the small clearing between the edge of the woods and the wall of the town.

  “Oh, hon, I’m sorry.” Sandra reached over and put a comforting hand on Mira’s shoulder.

  “No… no… urp… it’s okay.” Mira waved the hand away. “You didn’t know.”

  Sandra nodded. How could she have known?

  Velmar was a smallish city, little more than a town really, but it had a high wall. Sandra was surprised, even the capital didn’t have such an extensive wall. Each side had two towers in the middle, surrounding a gate, and the corners each had towers as well. Sandra could see two guards stationed in each tower, both with bows. At least four of them trained aim on Sandra and Mire as they approached.

  Why did Velmar need so much protection?

  Why had no one come to clean up the bodies?

  “What the Hell’s going on here?”

  “You know, I think that maybe we want to rethink our resupplying plan?” Mira had one hand on her mouth as they walked toward the edge of the town. She had some green in her cheeks and was keeping her eyes trained steadily forward. The smell of the corpses was enough to make even Sandra gag.

  “I don’t know. We need food and feed for the horses if we’re even going to have a chance of reaching Riprock.” Sandra had been looking forward to the idea of a warm bed for the night. Suddenly, that thought filled her with dread. “We might not stay the night, though.”

  “I like that idea.” Mira looked around at the piked corpses again and shuddered. “Something is really off. Should there be so many guards on?”

  “No.” They were nearly at the gate. The closed gate. No one came out to greet them. “I count twenty four at least on the towers. That's twice as many as the castle has on duty at one time.”

  “Wow.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Who goes there!?” The challenge came from the top of the towers. Still no one came to greet them face-to-face.

  “Candygram!” Sandra shouted back.

  “Sandra!”

  “What?” The guard’s head peeked over the edge of the tower. He looked confused.

  “We’re…” Sandra was about to say travelers, then changed her mind. “Royal guards! Here on a mission from the queen!” It was mostly true.

  “I… what?”

  “Come down! I’ll show you!” Sandra fished around in her pack and got out the note and the pouch. They divvied the gold and gems between them, but the mark on the pouch would be useful. Hopefully he wouldn’t be able to read, otherwise he would know that the note had nothing to do with a ‘royal mission’.

  “Alright! Wait one second!”

  The guard’s head disappeared, and then they could hear heavy booted feet stomping down the stairs in the tower. Now that Sandra was paying attention, many of the towers looked like new additions to the town. They were wood and hide construction where the walls were solid brick and mortar. Interesting.

  Finally, a small person-sized door in one corner of the large gate opened and the guard approached. Sandra presented the note and the pouch emblazoned with the queen’s symbol, but didn’t let go of them.

  The guard made a good show of reading the note, but he clearly didn’t know what was written on it or he would have called them out.

  “Hmmph! You’re telling the truth…” He looked up at them, surprised. “You should see the mayor before you leave. He’ll want to know all about your ‘mission’.”

  “Thank-you, kind sir.” Sandra flashed him a smile. He harrumphed and headed back through the gate.

  As he walked, Sandra noticed that he had the swagger of a seasoned warrior. This was no lazy town guard, grown fat from lack of action in the hinterlands. He seemed more like a mercenary or trained thug. He probably wasn’t great with the sword, but he looked like he had killed with it. This place just kept getting more and more interesting.

  She wanted to leave.

  But, they did have to resupply. When the guard was out of the way, Sandra nudged Lightning forward through the gate and Annie followed. Annie still preferred to walk in Lightning’s tracks, but Sandra had been giving Mira riding lessons as they traveled. Mira wasn’t a master by any stretch of the imagination, but she could handle Annie in most normal situations now.

  Inside Velmar was cheerier than the outside, though only barely. There were no rotting corpses on pikes. There were no people, either. The ramshackle buildings huddled against each other, as if trying to bunch up for warmth, but there was no people moving around between them. Windows were shuttered and doors were locked. Small, greasy fires lined the street, sending a foul-smelling smoke into the air.

  “It’s the middle of the day…”

  “Shouldn’t there be people around?” Mira nudged Annie closer, not wanting to be far from Sandra. “Children playing? Market? I don’t hear anything!”

  “I know.” Sandra kept Lightning at a slow walk through the street. All she really wanted to do was break into a run. Leave this place, and never return.

  “I guess we have to go see the mayor.”

  “I guess so.” Sandra kept one hand on the reins and let the other hand rest on the hilt of her sword. Mira, who’d shown a great deal of proficiency with the crossbow in her hunting trips, loosened the straps on her crossbow. If trouble came, they would not be caught unawares.

  Inside, the town was much larger than it looked on the outside, but still small. The entire thing wouldn’t even fill up the dock district in the capital. It was easy to find the mayor’s house. It was the large estate at the edge of the main square, the only fancy building in town.

  The two of them stopped in the square before proceeding. In the middle was a huge oak tree whose branches scraggled out across the entire square. It towered so far in the air that Sandra imagined it was hundreds of feet tall. Was that possible? Did oaks grow that large?

  The oak was entirely bare of leaves.

  “I’m no arborist, but that doesn’t seem right.” Sandra looked around. No fallen leaves in the square. No indication that the tree was even alive.

  “After the field outside, this is almost normal.” Mira let out a frightened sigh. “Can we go?”

  “I don’t think they’ll let us out without seeing the mayor. And we need feed for the horses.”

  “You’re right, of course.” Mira patted Annie on the neck. “You’re a hungry horse, aren’t you?”

  “They don’t
eat: we can’t ride. Simple as that.”

  “I know. I know. But if a horde of zombies swarms and eats us, we can’t ride either.”

  “That guard didn’t look like a zombie.” Sandra jerked her head back at the tower. Of course, she’d been thinking the same thing.

  “Details.”

  “Let’s find the mayor.”

  They approached the estate, which loomed over the town like an angry canker. There were no lights in the windows, and in the soggy afternoon the entire place seemed to hunker down on itself. The roof sagged, the shutters hung cock-eyed and even the siding seemed like it was ready to melt off. The paint was weathered and much of the fine carving on the posts and walls was wearing away to nothingness. Despite the richness and size of the building, it looked like it was caving in on itself.

  No one came to stop them as they approached the door and there were no guards posted anywhere, so Sandra just shrugged and knocked.

  Waited.

  Waited.

  No one came.

  She knocked again.

  This time she could hear desultory footsteps on the other side of the door and someone half-heartedly shouted “coming!”

  They waited another full minute for the footsteps to reach the door and then an eye slit in the front of the door slid open and two grey eyes stared out at them.

  “Go away!”

  The slit slammed shut again.

  “Wait!” Sandra couldn’t believe someone would spend all that time walking toward the door just to shout at them. “The gate guards told us to come here.”

  The slit opened.

  “Hmmm…” The eyes looked the two of them up and down. Sandra felt slimly, like she should go and wash the grime of that gaze off of her. “You look new to town.”

  “We are.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “Well!” Try to avoid the feeling of the eyes on her, Sandra struck a dramatic pose and drew out the pouch with the queen’s emblem on it. She didn’t dare use the note here, as the mayor or anyone who worked for him were far more likely to be literate. “I’m a royal guard on a mission from the queen herself, and this is my squire!”

  One of the eyebrows raised.