Lost mark 3 The Queen of Death: (39 page)

Kandler swept the woman up in his arms and clutched her to his chest. Gratitude that she would be all right washed over him then, and sobs wracked his body.

"Oh, no,” Sallah said softly as she began to weep with him. "Oh, no.”

Monja glanced at Burch with a questioning look, and he gave her a grim nod. She covered her mouth with her hands, stifling an exclamation of grief. The shifter knelt down and reached out for her, and she buried her face in his shoulder.

Xalt stood watching over the others. "Never before in my life,” he said, "have I wished I could cry.”

After a moment, Greffykor lumbered out of his observatory, framed against the light spilling out through the archway. Kandler loosened his grasp on Sallah and kissed her on her full lips, light and tenderly. Then, arm in arm, they got to their feet.

"What is it?” Kandler said. "Come to tell us that the dragon queen has changed her mind?”

For an instant, he hoped she had. He felt like the one thing he wanted at the moment would be to die trying to pull the dragon’s eyes from her head with his bare hands.

Greffykor’s snout swung from side to side. The dragon didn’t say a word. Kandler thought the creature’s shame in failing to stand up to the dragon queen might have silenced him.

Then a small shape detached itself from the dragon’s silhouette and ran toward the ship.

Chapter

61

As the figure approached, Kandler froze in Sallah’s arms. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him as he rushed down the gangplank. The others raced along behind them.

There on the edge of the wide, flat landing platform— her bright-eyed face lit in warm tones by the airship’s ring of fire—stood Espre.

Kandler and Sallah pulled up just shy of the girl and stared at her. With the tears he’d cried for her still wet on his face, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He reached out with an unsure hand to touch her.

"Are you . . . ?”

He’d just seen her incinerated. She couldn’t be real. Perhaps her ghost had come back to haunt him for his failure to protect her. He knew he deserved no less torment than that.

When his fingers reached her face, though, he felt no chill spirit but warm flesh. At his touch, she grinned and leaped into his arms.

Kandler reveled in the moment, refusing to let her go.

He kissed her cheek and felt her giggle with laughter and relief, and he joined her. He shamelessly wept fat tears of

joy.

"How?” he said eventually, letting her go enough that he could look her in the face.

Espre shook her head, still groggy. "I don’t know. The last thing I remember was fighting with Te’oma. Then I woke up in one of the cabinets near the doorway. I had to knock for Greffykor to let me out.”

The girl looked around at the others staring at her. "What happened to the dragon queen?” she asked.

Kandler gasped. He knew.

He held Espre tight and told her how Te’oma had taken her place.

The girl nearly collapsed in his arms.

"How?” Espre said, stunned. "Why?”

"She told me once she had a lot to make up for,” Burch said, calling from his spot at the wheel.

"She said that to me too,” said Xalt. "I thought she meant to apologize for stabbing me when we were in Construct.”

"By the light of the Flame,” Sallah said. "She redeemed herself.”

"May the spirits bless her,” Monja said before she headed back for the bridge, "wherever her soul may now rest.”

While Te’oma might have won Kandler’s respect and undying gratitude with her death, he could not suppress how he felt about the results. "The dragon queen thinks you’re dead.”

Espre grinned and hugged Kandler with all her might. "Does this mean it’s all over?” she said, her voice filled with wonder.

"I am afraid not,” Greffykor said.

All eyes turned toward the dragon, who had loomed silently over the joyful reunion until now. Burch trotted

up to stand beside Kandler, a loaded crossbow in his hands. The justicar flexed his empty hands, remembering that his fangblade still lay where he had cast it aside in the lower level of the observatory.

"I plan to take my daughter and fly out of here,” Kandler said. "You’re not going to stop me.”

"No," Espre said, standing away from him. "I will.” Kandler narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "Explain.” "The dragon queen thinks I’m dead. She will probably spread word of that far and wide.” The girl looked to Greffykor for confirmation, which she received.

"That’s just what we want,” Kandler said.

"It won’t last,” said Espre. "How did the Lich Queen know where to find me? Or the Keeper of the Flame?”

Sallah frowned. "The emergence of your dragonmark alerted those who keep their fingers on the pulse of the world.”

"Would they be fooled by what they’ll see as a rumor of my death?”

"Got a point,” Burch said ruefully.

"So we go back to the original plan,” Kandler said. "We confront the bastards behind this brewing conflict and put an end to it."

Monja cleared her throat then blushed as the others turned to look at her. "Well,” she said, "that was never all that much of a plan, was it?”

Kandler bristled at the comment, mostly because he could not deny it. "Did anyone have a better idea?” he asked.

"Not at the time,” Xalt said, "but I think Espre does now.”

Kandler’s heart sank as he looked to the girl. "You seem older,” he said. He wasn’t sure who’d changed, though, him or her.

"I hear coming back from the dead can do that to you.” She offered him a weak smile, and he clung to it.

"Tell me,” he said.

Espre frowned, and Kandler braced himself.

"I have to stay here,” she said. "Forever.”

Kandler’s knees wobbled. Sallah put her arm around him, and he leaned on her a bit.

"Of course," said Xalt. "You’ll be safe here.”

Monja stared up at the top of the tower. "Won’t the people who found Espre before just find her here?”

Greffykor shook his head. " My observatory is invisible to magical detection. As long as Espre stays here with me, no one will be able to find her.”

"The dragon queen knew where we were because she followed us,” said Sallah.

Espre craned her neck back and looked up at the silver dragon. "Is that an invitation?”

"I offered before to keep you here,” Greffykor said. "You may stay as long as you wish. My home will be your own.” Kandler grumbled. "How is this going to work? Where will she sleep? How are you going to feed her? What if other dragons come to visit?”

Espre cut Kandler off with a hand laid across his lips. "Greffykor is a powerful sorcerer. He can care for me here.”

"Why?” Kandler said, eyeing the dragon. "Why would you do that for her?”

"It would give me a chance to study her dragonmark,” Greffykor said. "It is an unparalleled chance to research the effects of such a mark on the Prophecy. Perhaps I might even be able to determine if it is, in fact, the Mark of Death.”

"It’s not?” said Kandler. Hope warred with outrage in his head. "Then what’s all this been about? You can’t tell me we’ve gone through all this because of some sort of mystical case of mistaken identity.”

"The Voice of the Silver Flame herself sent me to Mardakine to find the Mark of Death,” said Sallah. "I do not believe that she would make such a mistake.”

"Did she say 'the Mark of Death’?” Monja asked. "Those exact words?”

"I_”

"I remember Deothen saying you came looking for a 'lost mark,’ ” said Burch.

"Only one mark has ever been lost,” Sallah said, struggling to keep her tone even.

"That you know of,” said Xalt.

Sallah opened her mouth to respond, but Greffykor cut her off. The dragon snorted puffs of icy air from his snout. "There are other dragonmarks beside the true marks. Sometimes these aberrations resemble the true marks. There is something unusual about the mark on this girl, but I am no expert on such matters. Whether or not it is the Mark of Death is not important. No one has seen that dragon-mark for centuries, and most of those souls have long since passed on. While the memories of dragons are long, they are not always without fault. It may be impossible to tell for sure.”

"If it’s not the Mark of Death, then Espre can come—” "If it is the Mark of Death, nothing changes, boss,” Burch said. "Even if it’s not, it’s still something everybody wants, and nothing changes again.”

Kandler closed his mouth. "Why do you always have to be right?” he asked.

"Force of habit.”

"I’ll be safe here,” Espre said. "I can study sorcery under Greffykor. We can research my dragonmark together and learn how to harness every bit of its powers.”

"It may only be a century or two before we learn enough to set you free,” Greffykor said. "The time will pass swiftly.” "I’ll be lucky to live another forty years,” Kandler said softly.

The dragon stiffened then gave Kandler a woeful look. "I can barely imagine a life so short. Other than elves and dwarves, you people seemed doomed from your hatching.” "I’ll miss you,” Espre said, reaching out and caressing her stepfather’s unshaven cheek.

Kandler refused to mourn losing the girl in front of her. "It’s all right, Espre,” he said, his voice brimming with affection. "We both knew I’d end up leaving you sooner or later. I just always hoped for much, much later.”

He leaned down and kissed Espre on the cheek then used his thumb to wipe away the single tear that rolled down her face. He smiled at her as his heart shattered inside him. "Your mother would be so proud of you,” he said.

Chapter

62

As dawn rose over the Dragonreach, Kandler stood on the bridge of the
Phoenix,
staring toward the rising sun behind them as it chased the night away. The wind ruffled his hair and curled around him like an old friend that wanted to carry him away to show him all the new things it had discovered since he’d been gone.

Burch and Monja were sleeping in the hold. They’d been up for most of the night, letting the spent Kandler and the battered Sallah get some much-needed rest. Xalt had orchestrated the switch between shifts when he noticed Monja falling asleep on top of the wheel.

"You did the right thing,” Sallah said, curling an arm around him, keeping her other hand on the airship’s wheel.

With Espre and Te’oma gone, only she and Monja were left as decent pilots. Kandler or Burch could handle the airship in a pinch, but they were rank amateurs when compared to the skill the two ladies showed with the
Phoenix.

Xalt had no aptitude for flying the airship at all. The one time he tried, the craft bucked so hard that Monja had almost been sent flying off the ship to drown in the surf far below. The others never let him near the wheel again.

"I know,” Kandler said. "At least I think I do. Who can tell for sure?”

"Do you regret it already?”

"I regretted it the moment I agreed to it. I just didn’t see any other way.”

Sallah stared out at the fading stars toward which the airship ran. "Time will grant you the perspective you need.” "How do you know that?”

"I have my faith. It serves me well. You were not the only one to lose a loved one on this quest.”

"Was that what it was?” Kandler asked. "It seemed more like a chase to me." He kissed her on the cheek. "I’m sorry about your father.”

"So am I. At least I know his troubles are over and that he has found rest in a better place.” She gave him a sidelong glance then pecked him on the lips. "Perhaps you could say the same of Espre.”

Kandler nodded silently as he held the woman in his arms and tried to enjoy the moment. It would be at least two weeks before they would see the coast of Khorvaire. There was no need to bring up any burning issues now. It would be better to let them lie, to savor what he had right then instead.

He just couldn’t do it.

"She’s not quite as unreachable as your father, though,” he said, testing the waters.

"True enough,” Sallah said. "I don’t know how wise it would be for you to arrange a visit with her soon though. The less contact you have with her, the safer she’ll be.”

"Good point,” Kandler said. "That’s not exactly what I meant though.”

Sallah pursed her lips. "Speak plainly then. Please.”

Kandler took a step back from the knight. "I need to— What do you plan to tell your superiors back in Flamekeep?”

Sallah lowered her eyes. "I wondered when you might consider that question. Do you not trust me?”

Kandler searched for a hint of anger in her voice but found none. "I do. I would put my life in your hands, but this is Espre’s life we re talking about, and keeping her location—or even the fact that she still lives—a secret means you would have to lie to your superiors in your order.”

Sallah grimaced. "Perhaps even to Jaela Daran herself.” "Can you bring yourself to do that?”

"Do you expect me to?”