Twelve

In which the dragons attack again

In the morning, they were picked up by a spice merchant from Grimstone named Barning. He was an easy spoken man with a lilt to his voice, one who turned words around lightly as Jonathan negotiated their contract. This, Daer was able to follow. Though the terms themselves were nothing he was familiar with, the methods were, and he saw when the merchant relaxed and settled back into comfortable bargaining when he found that Jonathan was keen match for him. They argued distance and difficulty against the value of the goods being carried. Barning talked the difficulty down, the ease of the journey, that he really only preferred to get security as a precaution, while Jonathan touted the dangers of the spice trade and listed off all the worst attacks he had seen.

The difficulty finally established, as well as the loss Barning would experience were his goods taken, the two men moved to the value of the sellswords themselves. Daer bristled at first at Barning’s scorn, then realized the merchant was simply talking them down just like anything else he would buy. Jonathan protested their skill, experience, and adaptability - Daer and Emberlace were cultured as well, recently from Ebon Reach, and could be taken as guards into any castle without offending the lord with their backwards mannerisms. Daer spoke up here, carefully putting forth his knowledge of the baronies and their trading preferences under the guise of his employment under Prince Daystar. Barning perked up a little at this, though he still loudly bemoaned Daer and Lacy’s inexperience.

A few hours of wrangling later, Jonathan finally got a final price out of the merchant and began the somewhat shorter argument of when they would be paid. Jonathan demanded the full price now, and Barning settled down on the other side of the argument, saying they would get it when the goods were seen safe through Grimstone. He ended up getting a quarter of their pay up front - an arrangement he was not altogether happy with - but Barning was a shrewd man and used to getting his own way with light ease.

Lacy managed not to wince as she stepped up into her saddle, though her mounting was awkward, and Daer saw Barning’s eyes on them and knew the merchant suspected they were not all the claimed to be. He made a good show of mounting without the stirrups and swinging his horse lightly around with his knees to make up for it, and the merchant shook his head and continued on to his place in the caravan.

Long wagons strung out along the road, pulled by steady-moving but slow oxen. Horses moved the goods more quickly, but drew bandits looking for mounts. The drivers walked along the road beside the animals, kicking up and eating dust as they went. The traders themselves traveled in small gypsy-style wagons driven by servants or apprentices, well out of the sun. The four sellswords strung themselves out along the column, Jonathan taking the lead to scout ahead, Bess in the rear, and Daer and Lacy towards the center. Their positions allowed them to range away from the blinding clouds of dust and watch the road on either side for any sign of bandits.

This close to the city, it was unlikely they would be hit. The area was well populated and well controlled, and the concentration of nobles estates too close for bandits to be tolerated here. Daer continued scanning, just to get in the habit of it, but suspected they would not see any kind of action until they passed the boarders of Deepnight, probably two days from now or more, depending on if Barning stopped at the next castle.

***

They reached Star Frost Castle as the shadows lengthened towards sunset. It was built from the local granite, mined from the nearby mountains, and towered in sparkling gray over the landscape. A chill crept into the air here close to the mountains, and the harvest was drawing on. Daer could see the peasants working in the fields around the towering stone structure and reined in to look up at the pennants streaming from the towers, bearing the sigils of the nobles staying there. He recognized them all, but saw none belonging to nobles who might recognize him too easily and breathed a sigh of relief. The caravan circled their wagons and set up camp while Daer and the others fanned out through the area, ensuring it was secure. They would keep watch through the night, changing out at four hour intervals.

The air seemed to crackle and Daer’s heart began pounding double-quick, leaping at his throat until he forcefully calmed it, settling back in his saddle and breathing deeply. His stomach wriggled, and a tingling ran down his arms to the tips of his fingers and back. Lacy seemed similarly effected - she squirmed in her saddle and rubbed her arms - but no one else seemed upset.

“Have you seen anything?” Daer finally asked Jonathan, pacing his horse up next to the other.

Jonathan shook his head. “All quiet. You look jumpy.”

“I have a funny feeling,” Daer admitted.

“Take the first watch, then. Give you some time to confirm it or spend it out.”

Daer nodded, but somehow didn’t feel as if this feeling was one that could be ‘spent out’ just by waiting to get more tired. A dark pit opened up inside of him, and he suddenly felt both irrepressibly excited and terribly afraid. Lacy grabbed his hands and twined her fingers through his, and they sat close together, unconsciously swaying with the vibrations pounding through them. Daer tried desperately to place the feeling - somehow it was familiar - and rubbed his head, pushing his mind back over his memories.

The transmitting floor. He’d felt something like this while on the transmitting floor, especially if he touched a live cube. But this feeling was far more intense, far more demanding, than anything he felt down in the depths under the castle. He’d always though everyone felt that way down there, but what if they didn’t?

Daer pushed the thought out of his mind and made an effort to settle down, tucking himself up cross legged and eating ravenously, hungry from a full day of riding. Lacy moved stiffly again, though she hid it well, and he was glad to see that the bruises on her neck and face were faded enough not to be particularly noticed.

Night came early this close to the mountains, wrapping its dusky shadows around the castle and caravan as the sun sunk down, gently drawing the light along with it. The campfire surged and sparked up into the indigo sky, and Daystar’s heart quivered violently again.

It came to him easily, like something he’d known all his life, and the feeling lifted and soared, and he fought the urge to throw back his head and yell to the heavens with the sparking fire. The tingling flew down his arms and danced in his fingers, spreading warmth all through him until the darkness opened up again and swallowed it all.

“The dragons are coming,” he whispered hoarsely.

Everyone stared at him, though Lacy’s gaze was different, as if she’d come to the same thought in the same moment and wondered if he’d read her mind.

“They’re coming,” Daer repeated, gripping his knees and breathing deeply to control the quivery tingling still hustling through his blood.

The teamsters started to contradict him, and then they heard thunder in the mountains.

“You see a storm coming in?” one of the men asked Jonathan, who shook his head.

“Nothing,” the sellsword replied. “Doesn’t feel like a storm.”

The rumbling and cracking continued, drawing closer until the hair on the back of Dar’s neck stood up and the thunder cleared and turned to wingbeats.

Shadows passed over the camp, blocking out the stars, and an awful roaring shook the ground under their feet. The oxen tossed their heads and bellowed loudly, and the teamsters dropped their food bowls, swearing furiously as they ran to bring the big animals under control before they stampeded. The horses screamed and dragged at their picket lines, and Daer and the others ran for their mounts, pulling them in and trying to calm their wild trembling.

Daer looked over his shoulder to see the first fireball strike the castle. The night slowly lit as the building began to burn, and they could see the dragons in the firelight, sweeping close, shattering the stone with their tails, rolling away from the huge arrows sent in their direction. A tower leaned and tumbled downward with an awful rending sound, and they heard it shatter across the stone below, bringing down whatever stood below it.

The ease with which the castle tumbled drained all the tingling excitement out of Daystar. He saw three, perhaps four dragons soaring around the battered castle, unaffected by the arrows sent at them by its desperate inhabitants. A small party on foot broke from the gates and fled towards the small village, and the dragons let them go, focused on the destruction of the castle itself, and not its people.

Another warning, Daer realized. The barons were likely behaving aggressively - they would have called for their armies by now - and this was clearly another attack meant to discourage an invasion of the Cinderstrand. The barons would not understand it, Daer thought with sinking heart. This action would only make them more angry, more eager for war, and they would attack an enemy they could not defeat.

“Would you look at that,” a teamster breathed in horror.

Daer turned away from the destruction of the castle and saw other pinpoints of light spread out across the country below them. Other castles, he realized as he matched the country to the map in his head, all of them burning. The moon was rising, and he could see the dragons sweeping through the sky around their targets.

Barning came out of his caravan to watch the spectacle in silence. They could see the road they intended to travel from here, and the destruction wrought along it. The caravan leader rubbed his chin and waved Jonathan over. Daer trailed behind him, hoping to catch some of the merchant’s thoughts.

“I think we’ll turn around in the morning,” Barning said quietly. “And head for Ebon Reach.”

“Ebon Reach?” Jonathan said in surprise. “I would think that would be the dragon’s next target, if they’re angry and invading.”

Barning grunted. “The nobles will head for the capitol, and we must as well. This country won’t be safe with these castles destroyed. The reports of raiding parties has me worried as well. I’ve heard too many of them. So many, so widespread,” the merchant shook his head, “it’s more than is reasonable.”

“There are always bandits,” Jonathan replied.

“You were captured and interrogated,” Barning replied, glancing at the tall sellsword, who raised an eyebrow at the merchant.

“I’ve heard the stories about you,” Barning explained. “You don’t find it odd that someone up north wanted to know about the Drageklek?”

Jonathan folded his arms and settled back, deep in thought. “Bess and I didn’t think of much else but escaping, but there was someone in that castle riled up to invade and conquer Upper Vale.”

Daer and Barning stared at him. “And you told no one?” Barning demanded in amazement.

“We were focused on escaping at the time, and that particular chapter of our existence isn’t one we like to revisit often. Besides, we figured the Northmarch would hold them.”

“What would be easier,” Daystar mused aloud, drawing the startled attention of the other two. “Invading a kingdom in a full frontal assault along a border they were prepared to defend, or invading slowly with your men disguised as common bandits, sustaining themselves like common bandits, and given no more thought than common bandits? If you could get the dragons on your side, the land would be yours for the taking.”

“The armies of Northmarch and Eastmarch would be marching to Ebon Reach as we speak,” Barning said. “The barons would prepare from there for the invasion of the Cinderstrand. By the time a large enough invasion reached the capitol, they would have massed a force large enough to hold it off.”

“Provided that they don’t invade the Cinderstrand first and destroy their own force,” Daystar countered.

“All the more reason for us to get there quickly,” Barning replied. “Jonathan can tell them of what he saw.”

“The barons won’t listen,” Daystar sighed. “They have one thought in mind, and one thought only: energy. Anything else is of little concern to them.”

“They may think differently now that the dragons are attacking them,” Barning said reasonably. “In any case, Ebon Reach is the safest place for us to be at the moment.”

For you perhaps, Daystar thought. I am the supposed-to-be-dead prince, now stripped of my rank and title. They wouldn’t mind humiliating me further if they got the chance.

Or you could knock some sense into them.

Daer scoffed at the thought, wondering how the barons would react if he walked in and tried to claim the throne for himself again. Laugh him out of the room, they would, and probably have the guards beat him and throw him out of the castle. He would keep a low profile in the city, and hope to go unnoticed.

Barning withdrew to his caravan, and Jonathan caught Daer by the arm and pulled him aside into the shadows.

“Will you be safe?” he demanded quietly. “You make it sound like the barons are out to get you.”

“I doubt they’ll be looking for me,” Daer whispered back, “and won’t take much notice of a commoner. If I keep my head down, no one will recognize me.”