The Dragon Rises Page 17

  Carlia did not argue, but neither did she shrink away when Reva looked at her. “We were safer,” she said again. “Reva, what lengths would you go to to keep your family safe?”

  It was a cruel question when she knew about Reva’s children, but Reva understood it. While Aron had become hardened over the years, telling himself that there were no other options, his wife had broken in a different way. They had done the only thing they could think to do when they were faced with monsters.

  And having met those monsters, Reva now understood their fear. There had been a hatred in the Ulezi that went beyond anything she had seen before, even in Sister Valeria. The Ulezi were not trying to mete out cruelty for its own sake. No, they had a burning hatred of dragons. Even when the dragons were gone, Reva knew the Ulezi would still be driven onward by their anger.

  She shook her head. “It does us no good to think about the past like this. I know only that I will not hide away. To do so would be to leave the world in the hands of those who would mistreat it.”

  She set off towards the waterfront without checking to see if Carlia would follow, but a few moments later, the other woman caught up with her and walked at her side in silence.

  “I know you may not believe it,” Carlia said quietly, “but I admire what you are doing. Even Sam does, I think. It is part of why he is so angry.” She said nothing more, only smiled to herself as she walked. If she saw Reva’s quick glance, she did not respond to it.

  They searched through many inns, stopping to ask people in the street where three young women might stay and hope to be safe at night. Some of the women they asked only snorted, saying what they thought of that plan without any words, but a few of them mentioned a certain inn or a boarding house, and sometimes mentioned other places in an urgent whisper: and never go to…

  But everywhere they looked, Karine and the others were nowhere to be found. Even Reva, who had known it was not likely that she would find them so easily, was growing more desperate and discouraged by the minute until they finally stopped.

  “We should go back,” Carlia told her. “You have managed to spread the word that you are searching for them. They will know to come to the keep if they hear about it.”

  Reva nodded tiredly and turned up an alleyway, hoping to detour back up the hill as quickly as possible. She was achingly tired, and all she wanted was a good meal and a night of sleep. She had spent so long being hungry at night that the idea of a proper dinner seemed an incredible luxury, and she was still focused on the thought of honeyed figs when Carlia screamed.

  Reva whipped her head around in time to see the Ulezi melt out of the shadows. They drew back the hoods that had shielded their misshapen faces from the world, and their eyes glinted in the twilight. From their hisses and the terrible smiles on their faces, she knew the Ulezi had been following them all day. They had been waiting for a chance to catch Reva and Carlia unawares, and now they had done so.

  Carlia lashed out at one of them and began to transform, but they threw an iron-weighted net over her and she was locked in her human form, struggling to break free. One of the Ulezi brought a heavy club down on her head, and Carlia fell to the ground. Her eyes had rolled back in her head, and although she was breathing, she was clearly senseless.

  Reva screamed as loudly as she could. Perhaps, if someone came to her aid, the Ulezi would run away and leave Reva and Carlia free. But to her horror, no one on the street outside the alley seemed ready to come to her aid. No one in this plague-ravaged place would put themselves in further danger.

  She was going to have to save both herself and Carlia.

  As the Ulezi crowded in, wickedly sharp claws gleaming and their teeth bared in snarls, Reva clasped her hands together and swung them as hard as she could into one of the monsters. She hit him in the gut, and he screamed and hissed. Another grabbed her hands, and a third snapped its teeth. When they pulled her hands apart, there was the familiar bite of the hooked iron lash around her wrist.

  A yell came from the end of the alleyway, a woman screamed, and before Reva could turn her head to see what was happening, a familiar person came charging to her rescue. In shock, she saw that it was the Brother she had met at the council meeting that day. He was not armed, but he lashed out with his hands and feet and yelled at Reva to run.

  She could not simply run, not with Carlia lying there senseless, so she yanked her arm to pull the whip out of the Ulezi’s hands and fell to her knees at Carlia’s side. She scrabbled at the net, and a moment later, Princess Serena was at her side, trying to help her.

  “Go!” Reva yelled at her. The princess could not be hurt. This was far too dangerous a place for her.

  Serena did not stop what she was doing. Her mouth was set in a determined line. She wrenched the net aside and helped Reva pick up Carlia’s limp form. The three of them began hobbling away, the whip still dangling from Reva’s wrist.

  They heard Raphael’s warning shout just before the Ulezi slashed at Serena. Reva screamed and shoved the monster out of the way. “Run!” she screamed. She was grappling with the monster, terrified of its claws, but she had noticed that it did not seem to want to kill her. If that had been all it wanted, she and Carlia would already be dead.

  That gave her courage. Reva went for its eyes and nose, trying to hit it anywhere that might hurt it. She fought like a woman possessed, and when it hit her full across the face, she struggled up to try to fight it again.

  Its claws raked her arm, and it hit her in the throat, the stomach, the head. She was dizzy and falling to the ground and she could hear Serena crying out. Dimly, Reva saw Brother Raphael struggling to tackle the Ulezi. He was bleeding heavily from wounds on his chest, but he was not bowed by them. He was still fighting.

  The Ulezi were dragging Carlia back into the shadows of the alleyway, and another one grabbed Reva’s ankles to do the same. Three more had overwhelmed Brother Raphael, and he was sinking to the ground with blood soaking the front of his robes. Reva reached out in a weak effort to grab one of the three Ulezi and pull him away from the priest, but a moment later she felt something hit her on the head and the world went dark.

  Luca

  Luca practiced with Josef until he could barely stand. The mage left as Luca sat in the throne-like chair one of the past kings had used to receive visitors in his private sanctum. The silence was welcome. All day, he had dealt with people asking him for favours and arguing with him. He longed for the open air of the Menti camp in Xantos. There, he was Ludo, and he could get lost amongst the others. He missed lying down on the earth, gazing up at the stars.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Your Highness, Lord Tinian is here to see you.”

  Luca groaned softly, but he knew he could not send Tinian away as he had sent Feryn away. He should at least see what the Xanti lord wanted.

  “One moment,” he called back.

  Tinian entered as Luca was cramming the golden circlet back on his head. To Luca’s surprise, he was not alone; instead, he had Tania with him. She was dressed as she had been in Gold Port, in a red dress that set off her colouring to great advantage. Though she seemed uncomfortable in such clothing, the effect was beautiful. Luca was suddenly aware of the fact that he was drenched in sweat and exhausted from his training.

  “Prince Luca.” Tinian smiled as if he did not notice the sweat at all. “It has been quite an eventful day, and I thought perhaps you would like to have a quiet evening with a friend.”

  “Oh.” Luca looked at Tania. “I, er…I can call for food.”

  “There is no need.” Tinian snapped his fingers, and the door opened to admit servants bearing a feast on silver platters. They moved quickly to lay the meal out on the table. “A young man needs not just business, but companionship.”

  At his side, Tania fidgeted and fussed. She could not stop frowning, and Luca got the sense that Tinian had ordered her to come here. She was a Xanti noble, he remembered. Tinian must have said something to make her agree to
this. He looked across at her, and she immediately stared down at the table. Perhaps she was worried that he was still angry about her betrayal in Xantos.

  He was not, he realised with surprise. He had no energy left to be angry at her for what she had done. She had blamed him for the attack on the Menti camp, and if Luca were honest, he would say that he blamed himself as well. If she had not turned him in, he might have come back to Estala anyway, but he would not have had the backing of the Gold Council. He would not have met Josef, who would help him defeat Stefan, and Estala would be ruined.

  Perhaps things had worked out for the best.

  Luca smiled at her to reassure her. “Would you like something to eat?” he asked them both.

  “Oh, no. I will leave you two,” Tinian protested.

  Tania looked even more uncomfortable at this, and Luca shook his head at the councillor. “Please, I insist. I am sure we all have matters to discuss. You can tell me all about Xantos. I should know as much as I can if we are going to be allies.” He was embarrassed by how little he knew.

  They took their seats, and Luca’s mouth watered as the servants made plates for each of them and withdrew. He wanted to tear into his food at once, but instead he held up his cup of wine.

  “To friends.”

  “To friends,” Tania echoed, and Luca saw the shadow of her smile. She met his eyes at last, and he felt warm all over.

  “To friends,” Lord Tinian said smoothly. “So, Prince Luca, what is it you wish to know?”

  Luca, who had just taken a massive bite of roast boar, chewed hastily and swallowed. “I know the important things—or what my father would say are the important things. How the Gold Council works. All of that. But I do not know much about the land itself. What do you grow? What are the trades that benefit Xantos most? Why are your doctors so much better than ours, for instance?”

  To his surprise, it was Tania who answered the last question. “Xantos has herbs that are found nowhere else in the world,” she explained. “Around the time of King Mithrin, many healers had fled the violence of the wars, and they settled in Gold Port because that was where they could find patrons. With patrons, they could focus simply on researching for the sake of knowledge, not brewing medicines to sell.”

  Luca was familiar with the concept of patronage, but in his experience, nobles sponsored artists or musicians. Usually, part of the price of patronage was that the artist must paint a portrait or compose a song about their patron. A great deal of very misleading portraits had been painted this way. No artist wanted to risk their living by offending their patron, after all.

  “The Gold Council also supports a guild of healers,” Lord Tinian interjected. “We understand that such research is beneficial to Xantos, allowing us to respond quickly to outbreaks like this one.”

  “I wish we could say the same.” Luca thought of his father’s court, where anyone who shut themselves away in a laboratory would be open to accusations of being a Menti.

  “Estala is prosperous,” Tania argued. “Before the plague—before Stefan—things were not so bad.”

  “King Davead’s wars against the Menti crippled the country,” Lord Tinian argued. “If he hated the Menti so much, he had the answer at his fingertips: the Gardens of Anios. The wars were unnecessary. Pure ego, unfortunately.”

  Luca did not want to think about the Gardens. “How is everyone doing over in the ambassadors’ wing?” he asked Tania hastily.

  “Well….” Her gaze flicked between Luca and Lord Tinian as if she was wondering what Tinian had been about to say. “Geraldo is like he always is. He will not shut up about gathering a proper Menti army now that there is a Menti on the throne of Estala.”

  Luca had a sudden thought. “Have you ever heard of people learning to use Menti powers they were not born with?”

  “Mages, you mean?” Tania looked as though she was trying hard to be casual. “No. You’re born with your powers or not. If people could learn to use Menti powers, there would be a lot more Menti. They wouldn’t fight us. They would be us.”

  Luca considered this. Could Josef be wrong about what he had seen?

  “People like to say they can make Menti stronger, or teach people Menti powers,” Tania continued. “But they cannot, really. It is like people who read palms. None of it is real. They are little more than scam artists.”

  Luca had the sudden sense that Tania knew about Josef, and he felt a wave of anger. She did not understand what she was talking about. He knew his powers were growing stronger under Josef’s tutelage. He took a gulp of his wine and considered what to say.

  “Have you had any word about your brother, Prince Luca?” Lord Tinian asked. He seemed eager to keep the evening from growing more heated.

  Luca shook his head. “There are no reports of any army. The Order of Insight might be hiding him, though. He gave them a lot of money to build temples, and maybe they are sheltering him in one.” He frowned. “I would have told the council if I had learned where Stefan was, you know.”

  “Messengers come and go at all hours,” Tinian suggested. “Perhaps you have learned of it since the meeting and are considering your course of action.”

  “What would I know about picking a course of action?” Luca gave a bitter smile. “I am not a general. I need my advisors to tell me what to do.”

  Lord Tinian nodded gracefully. “We are happy to advise you, Prince Luca. You are wise to seek our counsel. In time, you will have the experience to act on your own.”

  “You do not need them to tell you what to do,” Tania argued. She frowned at Lord Tinian.

  “Prince Luca is new to the throne. He has not yet learned how to anticipate the various consequences of his policies.” Lord Tinian shrugged. “There is no shame in that. Every new king faces the same problem. As I said, we are happy to advise.”

  “Advise, yes, but Luca said he needs people to tell him what to do.” She turned to Luca. “You are the king. You choose what to do.”

  Luca gave her a small smile. Tania was trying to encourage him, but she did not understand how complex these issues were.

  “You can choose,” she continued. She seemed to sense his hesitation. “You know a lot about Estala, and you know a lot about Stefan, too. What do you think he is going to do?”

  Luca shook his head in frustration. “I wish I knew. All I know is that he will try to get the throne back. Stefan always wanted to be king.” He frowned. “I think he killed my father. Stefan would kill anyone standing between him and the throne. I saw that in Xantos when he attacked the Menti camp. I saw his ferocity and ambition.”

  It was a hard thought to have about your own brother. In the back of his mind, Luca had still harboured a hope that Stefan could be made to see reason. He had hoped that Stefan would come back and turn the crown over to Luca without a fight. But now he could see the naivety in that wish.

  It was a ridiculous wish, and it showed just how little Luca was suited to ruling.

  “Stefan wants as much power as he can get,” Luca said. “Estala will not be enough for him. He will want Xantos, too.” He saw Lord Tinian go very still. “That is why our alliance is good. If we stand together against him, he cannot get a toehold in either country and then strike at the other one.”

  Lord Tinian was very grave. “Is that true, Prince Luca? Will he try to take over Xantos?”

  “If he is able to take over one throne, he will try to take the other as well,” Luca replied. The more he thought about this, the more he realised it was true. “He has Brother Mikkel with him, and Mikkel believes Stefan can do no wrong. Their obsession with Anios has developed into a zealous worship. If they think they are doing the work of a god, why stop at one country?”

  “Where will he strike first?” Lord Tinian pressed.

  Luca blinked. “I do not know.”

  “Is that why we have not seen his army?” Tinian demanded. “He is making ready to attack Xantos, not Estala?”

  “I do not know,” Luca said again,
raising his hands in frustration. “I was just thinking aloud. What if I am wrong? Remember that he was very sick. Perhaps he is simply recovering.”

  Lord Tinian sank back into his seat, considering this, and Tania and Luca exchanged a look. Tinian took everything seriously when there was a threat to Xantos, but he had not been so upset when he thought Stefan was preparing to attack Reyalon.

  Luca smiled at Tania and reached out to pour her some more wine. “I am glad to see you,” he said honestly. “It has been too long since we last spoke, and I am sorry for that. There are so many meetings to go to that I have little time for myself. Geraldo is welcome to attend some of them if he wishes.”

  Tania laughed, and her voice echoed around the room delightfully. She was beginning to relax when a clamour arose outside. Soon, shouts were travelling up the stairs, and all three of them looked at one another, alarmed. Was this it? Was this the attack?

  But the guard who burst through the door was alone.

  “Prince Luca, come quickly.” He was panting. “The Princess Serena has been injured. She’s at the gates with a Brother of the Enlightened. She says she was attacked by monsters.”

  Lord Tinian snorted. “Monsters?” he asked derisively.

  The guard’s expression did not even waver. “If you saw the wounds, you wouldn’t doubt it,” he said seriously. “The claws must have been as sharp as knives. They’re calling for healers. The Brother with her isn’t expected to live the night. Prince Luca, will you come?”

  Luca swallowed. Serena had been hurt while she was out in the city, and he could only think that this was Stefan’s doing. “At once,” he said, and he followed the guard out of the room and ran for the courtyard.

  Serena

  The surgeons worked so slowly on Serena that she wanted to scream. They were very careful as they cleaned out the shallow wounds. The monster’s claws had barely caught her, and in her opinion, the wound was not as serious as it appeared, despite the fact that it had bled profusely.