Kethril (43 page)

The sound of a sob bursting forth from his
chest surprised him. Anilyia quickly had her arms around him and
pulled his head into her shoulder where he proceeded to let the
grief flow. Sir Danth’s gauntleted hand pressed comfortingly
against his back until the outburst was spent. “Let’s go back
outside,” Tathan suggested, wiping his eyes. He had seen what he
had to and there was no further desire within him to stay.

Outside, Liselle was walking through the
flowers toward the graveyard. Tathan met her at the entrance and
they gave each other a long hug. Then they walked together to their
parents’ headstones.

“This is a place of peace,” Sir Danth said
in quiet surprise.

“It’s a holy place,” Vevin agreed. “It’s a
very
powerful
holy place. I have lizard bumps.”

Anilyia frowned at him. “You mean
goosebumps?”

“No, I’m not human,” Vevin responded
snootily. “I’m a dragon. We get lizard bumps.” He held his arms out
and they all looked. Not only were the bumps shaped like lizards,
they crawled around on his skin.

Anilyia jerked back. “Eww. That’s just
weird!”

“It makes perfect sense. I don’t understand
why humans get goose bumps. There’s no logic behind it, so I think
you’re
weird.”

Tathan had moved to his mother’s grave.
Anilyia let it go and joined her lover. Vevin stuck his tongue out
at her and joined Liselle. Sir Danth stood behind in silence.

After paying their respects, they walked
back to the ship. Liselle relayed what she had learned from the
flowers. “The warrior that rode away didn’t make it far. He made
the mistake of riding into a field of the flowers. His horse fell
and then he was soon dead,” she told them with a glint in her
eyes.

“I never knew flowers could be so vicious,
Milady,” Sir Danth said in amusement.

Liselle glanced over her shoulder. “Now you
know. I recommend you remember it.” Tathan got a chill when she
said it and decided he would remember it as well.

Sir Danth’s reaction was more pronounced. He
leaned over and touched the nearest blossom. “Pretty flower. I like
you very much.” The rest of them laughed at him and continued to
laugh as he touched flowers the rest of the way to the ship. “Sweet
flower, nice flower, beautiful flower, you are all so very
wonderful. I want to be your friend.”

If flowers had eyes to roll, Tathan was
certain they would have.

As Aermoirre rose into the air, they stood
at the railing and waved goodbye to the flowers. Tathan felt a
little silly, but at least he didn’t have tears in his eyes like
his cousin and Anilyia did. “It’s just so beautiful,” the princess
declared as she leaned against his side and continued waving.

When the homestead faded out of sight and
the ship was rising above the mountains in the east, Liselle
gestured for them to come to the bow with her. “The flowers told me
they created an avalanche in the pass to prevent anyone else from
coming up.”

“Flowers created an avalanche?” Anilyia
asked in disbelief.

“Fear the flowers,” Sir Danth said with a
nod. Tathan chuckled as he looked for the pass. His parents had
only taken him to Rothton twice, but he was able to find it. The
small road passed through a canyon between the two highest
mountains in the area.

Liselle pointed. “There, do you see it?”
They looked at a point where the road entered the canyon. A
rockslide had blocked it from the south edge. Tathan noticed an
unusually large patch of flowers above it.

“Fear the flowers,” Anilyia whispered in
awe. The rest of them nodded while Liselle grinned smugly.

Aermoirre sailed over the pass and into the
southern part of the Caaldith Mountain Range. “I want to thank all
of you,” Sir Danth told them. It caught them by surprise and they
turned. “You are the most wonderful friends I have ever had in my
life . . . my existence. You could have left me in that cave, but
you took me with you. I thank you for that. You could have
destroyed me or left me to insanity in the northern reaches of the
Willden, but you took me with, even though you had lost trust in
me. I thank you for that.”

Vevin put a hand on his other shoulder in a
gesture of forgiveness, which the knight acknowledged with a nod.
“Vevin’s father got the best of me. It fought fiercely and without
honor. Had Lady Liselle not healed me, I would have spent the rest
of eternity screaming in pain. I thank you for that,” he said
directly to Liselle who smiled in confirmation.

“I thank you all for your friendship and for
allowing me to travel with you.”

“Of course my friend.” Tathan gave Sir Danth
a man hug with strong pats on the back. He didn’t even mind the
numbing pats that the gauntleted hand delivered in return.

Each of them hugged the knight except for
Vevin who smiled toothily and patted him on the shoulder again. Sir
Danth put a hand on the dragon’s shoulder and let it go at that. It
was clear Vevin still hadn’t
completely
forgiven him for
attacking Liselle.

Sir Danth took a deep breath and let it out
slowly. “I would know what your plans are and if I fit into any of
them. If not, I have a task I would see to.”

“You wanted to use our libraries to learn
about the disappearance of your people, yes?” Anilyia asked. Sir
Danth nodded. “I will personally see to it that you are granted
full access to them in addition to whatever scholars may know the
most about your civilization.”

“I’ve been thinking about that incident off
and on,” Liselle told the knight. “The entity that controls them is
not of this world.”

“How do you mean, Milady?” Sir Danth
asked.

“It is not a god although I don’t know how I
understand that,” Liselle said with a thoughtful frown. “It isn’t
natural to this world. It’s from somewhere in the stars, but I
don’t know where or how.” She shook her head in frustration. “The
spirits of your people have trapped it just as much as it has
trapped them and it was trying to use my power to escape.” Liselle
rubbed her temples. “I don’t know how that information will help
you, but perhaps knowing will aid you in interpreting whatever
information you find.”

“That helps a great deal, Milady,” he said.
“And what of you, friend?” the knight asked, turning to Tathan. “It
seems that I am going to be alive for an eternity. I would stand by
your side in your travels until your death. That should leave me
plenty of time to get back and finish the task,” he finished with a
grin.

Tathan glared at him. “Ha, ha, very funny.
Anyway, I’m going to be staying in Mayncal with the princess.”

“Tathan . . .” Liselle began
disapprovingly.

“It makes complete sense, Cousin. I’m going
to get a position in the castle and be her secret lover. It’s going
to be very dangerous and I might lose my head.” He grinned. “Just
how I like to live my life.”

Liselle opened her mouth to protest, but
Anilyia interrupted. “We’ve already made the decision and we’ll
live with it. What will you do?”

She didn’t answer right away, looking back
and forth between her cousin and the princess. When it was clear
that their minds were set, she answered the question. “We’re going
to do whatever Vevin wants.”

“We are?” Vevin asked in surprise.

“Yes. You’ve followed me and done everything
I wanted. It’s about time for me to do what you want to do,”
Liselle told him emphatically. “Do you want to stay in Mayncal? We
could go back to Aaltdiin, we could go to the Lost Road Inn if you
like that better, or . . . anywhere else you want to go. You
mentioned wanting to explore.”

Vevin thought about it for a minute. He
began pacing back and forth. “I can’t get my treasure back for ten
years. I like the Lost Road Inn better than Aaltdiin. Maybe we can
buy stuff for it and open it up. The only customers we’ll have
right away are ghosts, but maybe we’ll get others.” His pacing had
become half dance.

“Those ghosts are dangerous,” Sir Danth
said. “They even made Lady Liselle sick and the entity wants her
power.”

Vevin pointed at the knight. “Very true. In
my treasure I have something that can protect the inn, but that
won’t be available now.”

“So what does that leave?” Tathan asked,
curious to know what the decision would be.

“I want to spend our lives together running
naked through green fields while slapping the sky and giggling
wildly,” Vevin said firmly, repeating a suggestion Liselle had made
at the White Tree Inn back in Puujan.

Liselle burst into laughter while the rest
of them stared, dumbfounded. The two embraced each other and spun
around the deck of the ship for a few minutes. Tathan sat on the
railing and watched them with a lopsided smile. He enjoyed seeing
them so happy.

Vevin turned face to face with Liselle. “I
think I want to explore the world and meet interesting people.
Maybe after Mayncal we can go visit some of the places Tathan
visited and find out what he did.”

“Hey!” Tathan protested. “I don’t like that
idea.”

“I do!” Anilyia said excitedly. “I want to
go!”

“I must admit, I’m rather interested as
well,” Sir Danth agreed with a hand on his chin.

“Listen,” Tathan continued more seriously.
“I’ve been in some bad places. If you want to explore the world,
find your own adventures to experience.” He pointed a warning
finger at Vevin. “This world eats up people as wonderful as
Liselle. You keep her safe, is that clear?”

Vevin agreed. “I’ll keep her safe,
Tathan.”

“Alright then.” Tathan summed things up, as
he liked to do. “I’ll go live at the castle with Princess Anilyia
where we’ll have a secret affair and hope I don’t get my head cut
off. Sir Danth will go to the library and read books. Vevin and
Liselle will go explore the world and . . . hope they don’t get
their heads cut off.”

“Hear, hear!” Sir Danth shouted, raising his
fist in the air. They joined him in the cheer.

Aermoirre set them down at the outskirts of
a small town just before dawn, seven days after leaving the valley.
The buildings were different than anything Liselle had ever seen
before, made from mud and stone with thatched roofs. It was much
warmer than Kethril even at the early hour. The instant the
companions were off the boat with their packs, Aermoirre pulled in
her gangplank and sailed away, leaving them to stare at her in
bemusement.

They began walking toward the town, but were
interrupted by a rumbling sound. To their surprise, a herd of
cattle was moving toward them. They began mooing and then broke
into a run. “Stampede!” Tathan yelled and began running. He only
got a short distance before realizing everyone else was staring at
the charging cows incredulously. “Stampede! They’re going to run us
over and kill us! Hurry, they’re almost here!” he yelled over the
din.

Anilyia took a few steps toward him before
going to stand behind Sir Danth instead. The stampede was almost
there when Vevin waved his arms, spoke words of power and cast
lights into the air. The multicolored lights glittered and danced
just above the cows, causing them to stop and watch raptly. The
dragon clapped. “I like pretty lights. So do cows. That’ll keep
them busy until sunrise.” He began dancing toward the town
again.

As Liselle passed Tathan, who was still
staring at the lights with a slack jaw, she patted him on the arm.
“Hopefully, there are no attack cows at the palace. Otherwise
you’re in trouble.”

***

By the time the sun rose, they were on
horses Tathan had purchased for the ride. It would take them about
a day to reach the capital city of Oimryi. Anilyia wore a silk hood
purchased at a clothing store. They had decided to keep her hidden
until getting to the palace in order to lower the risk of agents
from the Iynath Empire trying to kidnap her.

The companions could probably handle anyone
that attacked, but they were tired of fighting, especially Liselle.
Ideally, she would be able to rest for a month or so before using
any more major magic. Even Sir Danth seemed to have lost his taste
for bloodshed. Apparently, being stepped on by a dragon was bad for
morale.

Farms and ranches lined the road for the
first half of the day. Peasants were busy with their harvests and
ignored the travelers for the most part. Every once in a while,
children would come near a fence and wave. Liselle, Vevin and Sir
Danth always waved back. Vevin had altered his illusion just a
little bit so that people would notice there was a person there,
but wouldn’t look closely at him.

“Your people seem happier than a lot I’ve
seen in my travels,” Tathan remarked to the princess.

“Daddy treats them well. He says peasants
have a right to happiness and health. Daddy’s a very good king.”
Anilyia smiled proudly.

Orchards seemed to be popular. Children sold
sweetened lemon drinks at a small stand outside the fence of one
lemon orchard. With the exception of Sir Danth, the companions each
bought a cup at Anilyia’s recommendation. There were five kids of
varying ages and they were stunned when they all got silver pieces
instead of the individual coppers they were asking for the
drinks.

In the late afternoon, the farms gave way to
ramshackle houses made of mud bricks. People were dressed in ragged
clothes while half-naked children played on muddy streets “The
poorest peasants of Oimryi live here. There is also a fair amount
of crime,” Anilyia told them.

“Is it possible that these are downtrodden
people?” Vevin asked hopefully. Anilyia nodded at him in confusion.
“Oh good! Downtrodden people for you to help, Sir Danth. You’ve
been wanting to find some of those!”

A smile flashed across Sir Danth’s face. “I
shall help them and crush any who try to oppress them. It will
provide an occasional pleasant break from doing research.”