Flight of the Dragon Knight Read online

  Flight of the Dragon Knight

  By D.C. Clemens

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter One

  Alslana’s western coast was finally within view, the crystal spire on the Diamond Palace looking like a second crescent moon. The Lucent Sea had acted choppy throughout the whole voyage. One cold squall in particular almost tipped the whole ship over, but the expertise of the pirates saved us from a drowned fate. A respite on land was now in reach, one I had to relish for as long as I could. A crossing of numerous seas was in my near future, and it was likely I would experience another ship-tipping storm somewhere along that long line.

  Once our battered little cargo vessel docked an hour or two passed midnight, every single member of my group made for the palace gates. Gerard, wearing every piece of his recognizable green armor, led the procession. His presence allowed us to bypass the palace patrols beyond and within the first wall without trouble. He then sent a young footman to deliver the news that the Hadarii party had arrived to speak with the king. By the time we strode under the second wall, three knights with the High Guard’s rearing horse insignia met Gerard in a group embrace.

  “The king is anxious to get things moving along,” said the oldest knight, a middle-aged man whose level eyes met Gerard’s chin.

  “How is the royal family doing in my absence?”

  No knight knew quite what to say. Finally, the same knight said, “The queen’s death still lies heavy over us all. Come, we don’t have to wait for permission. I suspect the king is still awake and will meet with all of you directly.”

  We followed the knights as Gerard spoke to them about what we experienced in the dunes and heat. Except for the clinking of metal as guardsmen and knight moved, the palace grounds were a quiet place. Even entering the main structure felt as though I had entered a recent ruin with all its museum pieces and luxury furniture yet looted. It wasn’t until Gerard began climbing the stairs to our goal did animated life fill the void.

  Accompanied by the stamping boots of her bodyguard trying to keep up with her charge, Odet’s voice shouted Gerard’s name. The knight did the same. The two met in the middle of the spacious room in an embrace, the princess not caring that she hugged more armor than man. She wore a thick white robe to cover what was probably indecent clothes for anyone outside her own room to see. Their kiss made me turn away for a second, but I told myself to get over it. She was happy and there wasn’t a reality that could replace Gerard with me.

  They spoke in whispers for a moment before she addressed us all at once.

  “I’m overjoyed to hear everyone made it safely back.”

  “I think it’s safe to say we all faced worse dangers,” said Lorcan. “A bit of sand and sweat never hurt any halfway decent pirate.”

  “Yes, master pirate, I’m sorry to have doubted your skills for even a moment.” Turning to the older knight, she asked, “Is my father prepared to meet with them?”

  “No official word, your grace, but he should not be long if his recent nights are anything to go by.”

  “Yes, I see. Very well, take them up. I shall join you soon.” As everyone restarted their climb, Odet turned back to catch me watching her go. She parted her lips to say something, but thought better of speaking. She merely nodded her gratitude and restarted her sprint.

  The marbled throne hall scattered the moonlight nicely, and would have provided enough light to feed our eyeballs on its own. Still, hanging metal braziers were lit to illuminate every corner the moonlight couldn’t reach. These intermixing rays of blue and red light revealed what at first might be mistaken for a bear moving toward the line of thrones, but was instead King Eudon doing so. The ruler donned a heavy brown cloak of fur that did indeed once belong to a living bear. He evidently took his daughter’s cue of covering his nightgown with an expedient solution.

  Walking next to him was an armored Bernar Savoy, his lance adding another ringing footfall since he used it like a walking stick.

  On taking a seat, the king waved us over.

  He looked like a different man than I remembered. His once attesting chestnut eyes had sunken deep in his sockets and carried black bags under them. His head also appeared leaner, which I imagined seeped down to the rest of his body, and the gray beard was longer and frayed. Despite his heat trapping attire, I could swear he was shivering. One would think him cursed if they did not know what he had recently lost.

  After everyone bowed to him, a still robust voice said, “So, son of Rathmore, how confident are you in your calculations?”

  “Given all the information I received and its context, as confident as a mortal can become. Everything points to the Vyalts holding the god’s grave we seek.”

  “There are fifteen hundred men ready to sail for Uthosis on my fastest warships, scholar. Are you certain they will not sail thousands of miles in vain?”

  “Oh my. I cannot predict the future… uh, my lord. The grave is somewhere in the mountains, I’m sure, but its depth, defenses, and your men’s persistence will ultimately determine whether it is found.”

  “The persistence of my men will never falter as long as they still draw breath. I will be there to see to that myself.”

  “Father!” said Odet’s voice behind my group.

  I turned to see that she still wore her white robe, but a simple blue dress now came under it. She also sported short black boots. She jogged around the group to reach her father.

  On reaching his throne, she said, “Father, you cannot leave Alslana for a journey so distant. Beatrice is not even queen yet. And what of our people? What will they think when they learn that their king will not dwell between our shores for many months?”

  Eudon leaned over to kiss his worried daughter’s forehead. “I will not be king once I set sail. Beatrice will have her coronation by then, and she will command me to seek out her mother’s murderers. I will thus become what I have always prided myself to be—a warrior for this kingdom. Look at me! I am wasting away here, doing nothing as your mother’s butchers hide in their hole. I will best serve the kingdom this way, as well as myself.”

  “But we need your guidance. Voreen, Oclor, they will surely test our military strength with you gone.”

  “Perhaps, but before I leave I will request for new army divisions to be formed. This will signal to our enemies that we are more than ready to respond to any incursion with a devastating counter blow. Our people want blood for what happened to their queen, and they will gladly give it to whatever enemy dares show themselves now. Beatrice will also have you by her side. In truth, that heartens me more than anything.”

  “And who shall be on my side? Is Gerard to go with you?”

  “He will remain here, protecting you and your sisters. Master Savoy will stay in the capital as well.”

  “Sire?” said the High Guard captain.

  “I won’t be a king soon, remember? Your job will be to guard the new queen.” Odet was going to say something more, but her father placed a hand on her cheek and said, “Hush now. There is to be no more discussion in fr
ont of our guests. Gerard, take her downstairs.”

  The defeated daughter allowed the knight to lead her back downstairs. When they were out of sight, the king said, “I presume, young dragon knight, that you and the scholar wish to join me in my expedition.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Is the sentiment the same for you and your crew, Master Eberwolf?”

  “Aye. We would be honored to have one of your repute fighting within our humble midst.”

  “Very well, then. I will announce my daughter’s coronation in the morning. Preparation should not take long, but formalities will force us to wait three or so days before the event can transpire. We will set sail for Uthosis the proceeding morning.”

  “And what of Uthosis?” I asked. “Even if I didn’t believe their kingdom to be subverted by Advent worshipers, I would be wary of a nation’s response to seeing a foreign power docking warships by their shores.”

  “That is why my ships will bear the weight of gold and gifts more than soldiers. Their leadership may have been swindled by Advent promises, but my promises can be held in their hands and spent, and all they have to agree to is to stay out of my way. I will not take aid from their meager armies, and I will not trust any information they give us.”

  “Will it just be us, then?” asked Lorcan. “Haven’t other nations suffered from the Advent?”

  “Valkrean families have suffered losses, many of which are nobles of import. However, convincing them to put forth a significant investment of manpower and resources on this distant venture will cost us far too much time. The best they will likely agree to will be to recompense some loses Alslana will take financially, but that will only be if proof is brought forth of the Advent’s demise. For them to help in a timely matter will also require them to admit that the Advent are a true threat to their domestic stability, much less a worldwide peril.

  “Even I, with my beloved dead at their hands and her holy power stolen, have doubts to how truly attainable you say their goal is. Is such a thing even possible? To raise a god from the dead? Do not legends say that Degosal’s destruction came about from trying to bring a god under their control? Who’s to say the Advent will not destroy themselves in their quest? But their goals and the likelihood of their success do not concern me. My wife is dead, and I aim to hand them the same fate.”

  There was little to say after a king’s conviction, so we took our leave once we promised to show for his daughter’s coronation.

  Back downstairs, Gerard and Odet were waiting for us. Lorcan informed her of her father’s plan to coronate her sister as soon as it could be done. She thanked him, then went ahead and thanked every pirate for risking their lives in the desert mission. She even gave Ghevont a hug for his integral work. The flustered scholar only managed to tap the top of her head as he would to Marcela.

  Speaking of girls left behind, when Odet reached me, she said, “Clarissa will be the happiest vampire in the world once she has you and Ghevont back. With little else to do, she’s been helping Marcela train. I wish I could have visited her more often, but it is difficult to find time given my... What is it?”

  She asked the question in response to my shaking head. “Catch your breath, princess. Clarissa will get the chance to update me on the more menial news. It’s late. We’ll talk once everyone gets to rest on beds that don’t rock back and forth.”

  She let go of the breath she had been holding. “Yes, you’re right. I shan’t keep you any longer, then.”

  From here Gerard’s knight friends led us to the stables. We took the horses to the charred manor we had made our home before we left. At least on a superficial level, the manor was close to finishing its renovation. I got little chance to examine the rebuilt guts of the home. The conscious part of me joined the unconscious as soon as I found my first real feather bed in far too long.

  Chapter Two

  I woke myself up with a start when something pinched my left side. I quickly realized a couple of my chain-teeth had cut through the failing wrappings around my left arm and had poked my ribs when I rolled over. Despite the earlier than wanted reveille, the lurid sunlight implied I had gotten plenty of sleep.

  As I ambled into the kitchen to see if any food and sturdier wrappings were lying around, stamping footsteps ran up behind me. I could only brace myself as a cold body leapt onto my back. I caught her legs as her arms embraced my torso. She continued the rearward hug as I walked like a bipedal turtle to a half loaf of bread resting on the table.

  Grabbing the loaf, I said, “I hope you didn’t feed on people while I was gone. You’re getting heavier.”

  “Well, maybe a few louts no one will miss.” Sliding off me, Clarissa asked, “How are you? No secret wound you’re hiding from everyone?”

  “You ask that after leaping on top of me? I’m fine.” After getting my first look at her, I said, “I was joking about the fat thing, but you do look, um, healthier.”

  “Thanks. Sitting still has given me more time to fill up on the red stuff. Honestly, being in a city with this many nice smelling people is quite tempting for my vampire side. Lucky for them, there are as many rats as there are people.”

  “Sometimes they’re hard to tell apart. Try not to get confused. How’s everyone else doing?”

  “They’re well. Everyone is working hard in the guild or training. Makes me feel kinda useless. You’re not gonna make me stay here when you go to Uthosis, are you?”

  “No. We’re gonna need a good rat exterminator, after all.”

  Clarissa started warming up a soup to go with my bread. In the meantime, Lilly joined us to prepare lunch for her crew. Forty something minutes later and the house added more guests when Marcela, Catherine, and Ethan stopped by to eat and catch up.

  A lot of this “catch up” happened when Ethan stepped up to Clarissa and kissed her. The tickled vampire then peeked over to get my reaction, which was a raised eyebrow and freezing of all movement after leaning back in my chair. Louder reactions came from the pirates when they teased Ethan with jesting hollers and whistling.

  Walking up to me, holding Ethan’s hand with her gloveless one, Clarissa asked, “So, what do you think?”

  “You didn’t tell him yet?” asked Ethan.

  “I wanted to see his reaction. I know, naughty of me. Are you okay with this arrangement, Mercer?”

  “Why wouldn’t he be?”

  Standing up, I said, “He’s right, Clarissa. There’s no reason for me to object to anyone who makes you happy. He does, right?”

  “Of course! He acted very cute and chivalrous when he finally figured out I was a vampire. He joined me in my little hunts at night and stayed with me as I drank our catches dry, more curious than disgusted. One thing then led to another.”

  Placing a hand on his shoulder, I said, “Do everything you can to make her happy, Ethan. Do so and you’ll be like an annoying brother to me. A brother I’ll gladly watch waste away as she sucks you dry if you do anything to hurt the first friend I ever had.”

  “I realize hurting her means hurting you and all her friends, Mercer. More than that, I care for her. I’m not bothered by her vampiric, uh, state. She’s strong-willed and sweet, and I like letting her absorb my warmth when we-”

  “All right, the painting is colorful enough.”

  “Aww,” said Lucetta. “I want to hear more lovebird talk.”

  “Then sit on my lap!” said Lorcan. “I’ll whisper all the sweet nothings you want!”

  “I do not believe you to be capable of whispering,” said Thoris.

  As usual, the swashbucklers’ chatter became more absurd and garbled as the conversation bolted onward. I let it hang in the background as I moved into an adjacent room to find a desk to write a letter to the Equine Manor. It described myself as alive and well, but soon off to start another lengthy expedition.

  Knowing my time at sea would deliver all the opportunity I needed for training, I chose to spend my free time on a bed or napping on a plush purple couch
I liked. This languidness led to having more time to think.

  At first the thinking dwelled on the new couple and how its development bothered me. It wasn’t anything as strong as an emotional frustration like jealously or envy in the heart, but a slow burn under the mind. I eventually linked the feeling to the grand goal the Advent wanted to accomplish—raising their deity from the lifeless. In spite of the difference in scale, their symbol of change was the same. It was the sight of change that perturbed me.

  Clarissa and Ethan changed by getting closer to that singular being pairs of people seemed to wish to meld into. Lorcan changed into the father he always wanted to be when he found me. Alslana and the ruling family grieved a loss of a queen. I beheld these changes, yet I did not sense a change within me. Was it normal to stay the same as I observed happiness and grief occur within people I had attached myself with? Or would I have to experience great love and great loss myself before something in my soul quivered? Or was the quiver too small to sense?

  Preventing these unanswerable thoughts from floating to the top must have been the motive for my tendency to train during lull times.

  Another change arrived three days after the king announced the news. The official transition of power came with a morning ceremony at the top of the outer palace wall. All Alslana citizens were invited to witness the coronation, meaning a dense crowd of thousands filled the flat field between the wall and nearest noble households. My group had been granted access to view the ceremony from behind the first wall. It was still a mass of humanity, but most of these consisted of orderly soldiers and nobles who required personal space, giving us more air to work with. To hide our riffraff clothing, Bell had delivered lavish mantles for us to wear.

  Not part of my band was Marcela, Clarissa’s new beau, and Clarissa’s potential sister-in-law. The guild had been hired to add their swords in the effort to safeguard the coronation, so the trio were around, I just didn’t know where. Marcela stayed with Braden to act as his helper while the older youths did their job.