Invading Will Chapter 5
#15 of Invading Will
Invading Will
Chapter 5
By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")
The next morning Raogothcar woke up early, and found he had pulled a muscle in his neck the night before. He had been sleeping on his back in the nest of pillows he had made for himself. Reluctantly he rolled over till he was on his side looking about him. The cut from the day before felt sore as he rolled over it, but he ignored the pain. He could tell it would heal very soon.
Light sprung from different hanging chandeliers around the room, much brighter now than what they were the evening before. Many of the pillows were scattered about the room. Raogothcar couldn't remember tossing and turning so much at night though. He couldn't fathom how he managed to get one by the door on the other side of the room. As he looked around, he decided he liked how the scattered pillows added color to the gray stone room.
He pulled lightly at his long whiskers, As he lay surveying the pattern of the cushions on the large carpet. Finally he yawned, and got to his feet to stretch out in the center of the room. He returned to the fountain, and kicked a small pillow away from the edge, nearly falling into the water. The water still had the odd taste from before. He thought that perhaps there might be some sort of salt in it, but he wasn't sure.
He shuffled his wings on his back for a moment, and then sat down to think for a while. The night before had been full of unexpected events for him. He had enjoyed most of the day, and the thoughts of the parade brought a smile to his face. The smile faded as he remembered all the bodies from the evening. He'd never felt as scared and exhilarated at the same time. There had been people that had died. He remembered that someone had told him that Glenn was dead last night. The man seemed so nice and friendly.
A knock at the door drew his attention away from his recollections. He twisted about so his head faced the door, "Hello?"
Behind the door came the muffled voice of Alicia, "Are you awake sir? Is there anything I can get you for breakfast?"
Breakfast hadn't yet crossed his mind, but he welcomed the idea. He rose from his spot before the fountain and made his way to the door and opened it with a wing. Alicia was dressed much like the night before, plain, simple, and brown. She was holding a large bowl of water and looked up at the dragon. Raogothcar bobbed his head in a greeting.
Alicia curtsied quickly and smiled back, "Good morning sir, I brought you some water if you would like it?"
"But the fountain had water, is this for the fountain?" Raogothcar asked, confused.
"No this is to drink for you sir. Are you thirsty?"
"What is the fountain for then?"
"I suppose it is for decoration, or to make the room look pretty." She giggled and looked back up to the dragon, "Did you drink it sir?"
"Yes and it has always tasted so strange too. Where do you get the water? Do all the rooms have water like this?"
Alicia giggled, Raogothcar liked the sound. "No, most of the people go get water from the kitchen, or one of the small water rooms on the floor. The fountains have minerals in them to keep things from growing in them." Alicia raised the water bowl in her hands, "You should try this, it will be better than the water in the fountains. You should've asked someone to get you what wanted, were all happy to help our guests. Would you like me to set this down somewhere for you?"
Suddenly realizing he had been making the girl hold the large dish of water out in the hall. Raogothcar stepped aside and stretched out one wing in invitation to the girl. Alicia walked into the room and set the water down on a table that had been sitting to one side. Raogothcar hadn't moved from the door and was watching the girl. She was thin, almost wispy, and he wondered how she could carry the large bowl without folding over from its weight. Her eyes were a light gray and shown with a keen take to life. Her face was covered in freckles, which relieved Raogothcar having first thought her face was covered with dirt and grime. Her voice was high and musical, which reminded him of birds.
"There you are," she said as she looked back at him, "is there anything else you would like? I could bring you some breakfast if you want it?"
The questions brought his mind back to her company, "No, I think that this would be fine. It's better than anything my mother and father ever got I think. No one brought them things at their den while I was there. Does everyone get this?"
"No, only the guests and the royal persons, the servants and guards get what they want for themselves. Well sometimes the prince will sneak into the kitchen and get things. He's even cooked in there before, and he made a terrible mess."
"Why are there servants?" he asked as he walked over to her and sat down, "With some getting others to do things for them? It doesn't seem very fair to lots of people."
Alicia paused for a few moments, and put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, "Probably because they are so busy doing other things that they don't have time to go to the kitchen and get their own food, or run little errands."
Raogothcar thought about this for a few moments, but then gave a slow nod, "That makes some sense then. I wonder what it is they do? Maybe I could find out sometime. I'm sure that Deanna would tell me what everyone does."
"Deanna wouldn't. She doesn't like to talk to people at all. I've never heard her say more than two things to anyone."
"She's talked to me a lot. Why wouldn't she want to talk to other people?"
"I don't know. I've heard that she's bitter over Elenor. Have you ever seen the way that she watches the prince and Elenor? She always has her eyes on them, never looks away."
"She doesn't like to talk to anyone because she's mad at them? That seems pretty silly to me. Why not talk about it? If you don't talk about it, then nothing can ever get solved right?"
"That might be true, but she's the captain of the scouts, she has an image she has to show."
"What do you mean by that?"
"She's a scout. They watch over the royal families, and protect the kingdom from things within and from enemies afar. I've heard Deanna has people all over the world, even in North and South Mezen."
"That's pretty far away."
"It is!" Alicia sat on one of the cushions on the floor, "All those people need a strong leader, one they can depend on to be strong all the time. So she won't say anything. It might not look strong."
"That does make some sense I suppose."
"I don't like her a whole lot though. Since she never talks to anyone, no one really knows much about her. Or at least I don't know anyone that knows a lot about her. Maybe Nanny knows more about her and just hasn't told anyone yet. Sometimes people just won't tell you things until you ask them."
"Who's Nanny?"
"She's in charge of keeping the tower nice and tidy. She works a lot in the kitchens though, she always says that the heart of any home is in the kitchen. She has to be right though, because everyone loves it here."
"They do?"
"Oh yes, I've not found anyone that doesn't like staying in the tower. It's a lot of work sometimes, but its good work because so many people like what you're doing." Alicia rocked forward and whispered to him, "From what I've heard though, people really like you. Everyone's saying you saved the king last night, and that you caught Lady Elenor, did you really do all that?"
"I suppose I did." Raogothcar took a drink from the dish before continuing, "It's what mother and father would have done I think. They like people like the king, they've told me so often. I never really met that king though, I don't even know his name. But father liked him a lot and I am sure they would have stopped all those men if they came after their king."
"What about Elenor? Did you catch her? Were you scared?"
"My dad and I played catch all the time, I was just catching her." He looked up at the ceiling as he added slowly, "but I didn't like the towers and buildings very much. I thought I would crash into them. I hit a tree once with my wing while I was playing with father and that hurts a lot." He held out a fully stretched wing out for her to see and pointed to a joint in finger at the far end. "Mother said I broke that bone there and she had to work on it. It hurt for several days. I don't know if I could have done that if it was just me by myself."
Alicia and clasped her hands together and she grew more serious, "When I was eleven my cat Neeta hurt her leg and I watched over her till she got better. I could watch over you if you got hurt. I would have all the-"
A knocking at the door interrupted Alicia and they both turned to see one of the guards standing at the still open door looking in. "Raogothcar sir, Captain Deanna has asked for you to see her in the dining hall at your convenience."
"Oh, alright, I'll go see her then." Raogothcar turned his head back to Alicia with a smile, "Would you like to meet Deanna? Maybe you could help me learn more about her."
"Oh no, I should go back down and help with the daily washing I think. I've probably been away for too long now anyway. I'll come around later again if you need something."
He had hoped to have her come along, "Alright. I guess I will go see Deanna then."
Alicia stood, then took the large dish of water from the table. She walked slowly around them and towards the door. At the frame, she stopped and turned back. Raogothcar tilted his head to one side, wondering what she was going to say.
"I'll see you later today if you would like. Its nice to get to talk with you Raogothcar. Hope your audience with Captain Deanna goes well."
She turned and walked slowly out the door. Raogothcar frowned for a moment, he wasn't sure why the mention of Deanna wanting something was so important. It seemed when the guard said Deanna needed something; Alicia immediately tried to make sure he would go right then. Deanna could wait a few moments couldn't she?
When he arrived at the Great Hall, two guards opened the doors for him. The hall had been cleared of the bodies, and thoroughly washed and cleaned. Raogothcar could still smell the faint taint of blood in the air however, but it didn't seem to bother any of the other occupants in the room. The smell made him feel uneasy; the last thing he wanted was more blood anywhere. Since the night before, a large conference table replaced some of the smaller dining tables in the center of the room.
Deanna, the prince, and a man that Raogothcar hadn't seen before were standing at one end of the table looking at a large collection of things laid out in neat order. Several guards stood about the room and seemed to ignore the proceedings mostly shuffling or looking about at each other with bored expressions on their face. Raogothcar walked cautiously towards the table, approaching it with his head high and peering at the things. The three were talking to each other as he approached.
Prince Alan waved at the mess upon the table, "I don't see anything here that would do such a thing to them all. There's no poison, weapons, or magic here that could do that to them all."
The new man stood with his arms behind his back to one side of the prince. He stood to attention as was Deanna. The man towered over the prince and Deanna and the chain mail armor that he wore made him seem even bulkier. Raogothcar thought that the man could beat him in a wrestling match if they had one, his arms and legs were huge. His face was creased with years and experience, a few hints of close calls appeared on his face as light scars. The man's voice was deep and measured as he responded to the prince.
Deanna was in a simple light green tunic and dark brown pants, but wore her dark blue steeled sword at her hip. Her hair was tied back, and seemed damp. Raogothcar guessed she must have washed after the fighting from last night. He thought he should take a swim soon too.
"Your majesty," The large man said with a deep voice, "despite that fact, all the men captured were found dead this morning. There were no obvious uses of poisons or other foul play. Only magic could have done the deed sir, and Benjamin couldn't find evidence of that either. All we know is that the five men we captured are all dead and they all died about the same time as well."
"There's no evidence of break-ins or visitors." Deanna added without a pause, "All we have left is what we have here on this table. It might be possible that all the prisoners had some of this hidden on them and took it as a poison." She held up a small collection of green leaves with exaggerated jagged edges, each edge bordered with bright red. "No one seems to recognize it. The plant seems harmless actually. Maybe one of my scouts in the field could tell us, but that might take too long. Regardless, I can't see how they could kill themselves with this."
"Ah, Raogothcar, good morning." The prince spread his arms as Raogothcar came closer, "This here is Brandon Gedual, the captain of the guard."
"At your service." The large man said, "If you ever need anything, let me know."
"Thank you," Raogothcar replied, "And good morning too. What are you all doing?"
"We're trying to find what killed all our prisoners last night." Deanna snarled, "All we're left with is this stuff, and no clue as to what really killed them. We think it might be on the table."
"Yes, so we were hoping," The prince said, "That there might be something you could find in all of this. Especially since you've been so helpful for us all so far."
"I don't know." Raogothcar walked to the edge of the table and looked over everything, "There are so many things. I don't even recognize some of this stuff. What is that smell?"
Raogothcar noticed the bitter foul smell from the meat the night before. It seemed to come from the pile of folded and partially crushed leaves near Deanna. He saw the other three look quizzically.
"Raogothcar, what smell?" Brandon asked.
"I think it's those leaves. They don't smell very good. It smells like the meat from last night."
Deanna swept the leaves back into a small cloth bag and tied a string around the neck of the bag. "Then we'll have to learn what this is. Raogothcar do you remember smelling this anywhere else? Have you see these plants before?"
"No, I don't think I have. I can't think of anything else that smells like that. Can't you smell that?"
"No we can't." Deanna waved over the table, "Is there anything else you can tell us about any of this?"
"Well, that looks like a sword, a sharp one. That looks like some sort of scissors I think. I don't know what that is, it looks like a little knife or something. I don't recognize all of these human tools."
"That's a shaving blade sir," Brandon said, "It cuts beards."
"Really? Wouldn't that be dangerous to do? Why would anyone want to do that?"
"Dragon," Deanna sounded louder from before, "is there anything else that you might be able to tell us? Anything important maybe?"
Raogothcar looked across the table. There were several piles of clothes, neatly folded, but they didn't look important. The pile of swords all looked like simple swords, there were no markings on them or anything. Raogothcar thought he had seen a few of the castle guards with weapons that looked exactly the same. There were piles of rope, hooks, knives, bags, small pieces of metal that looked like needles, but nothing that Raogothcar thought was important.
Then he noticed a small black sphere. It had been placed near a set of bags and a pile of clothing, and was nearly invisible with all the cloth. It looked like it might be important. He knew that sometimes people would draw circle magic on small things like that marble to use a spell sometime later.
He pointed with the thumb on his wing to the globe, "What is that?"
"We know nothing about it." Brandon said, "We can't scratch it, have found no use for it, seems to be of no real value. Benjamin has explained that it seems to have been used for some magic in the past, but it seems completely useless now. That's about as much as we know about it."
"Did you recognize any of those attackers, Raogothcar?" Prince Alan said, "Did they look like some other people from another land that you've been to?"
"I don't think so. Unless you mean from far away, because I saw several from far away. I flew over a few small cities and things. Once I slept near a road and watched people as they went around on it too. But I never saw anyone that looked like they did. They're different."
"We don't really have much to work with," Deanna said, "and they've silenced any other way to find more out."
"Prince Roland," Brandon waved at the evidence scattered over the table, "Perhaps this is all we really need. I could inform the city guards to start asking for information with anyone with things like this. Perhaps we can make a few connections in the mean time."
"That's better than waiting for these people to strike again." Alan said, "Is there anything else that we might be able to gather from all this."
"Perhaps there is," Deanna said as she lifted the bag with the bitter leaves, "this bag is some sort of plant they were using in their second attack. It wasn't towards the king or the prince directly, but still part of their plan. In their first plan they used another plant to try and poison them. The only people that I have heard that use plants in nearly everything, are the druids."
"Deanna, mushrooms aren't plants." Raogothcar said, then smiled.
"Fine. There aren't very many left in these parts. Perhaps their leader has gone mad. They've never bothered the kingdom before, but there aren't any other groups that my scouts have encountered that use plants as much as this. Especially groups that have the resources to make mushrooms and plants."
"You think these plants were made as well Deanna?" the prince asked.
"I've not heard from anyone in the Tower that has seen these before."
"They don't seem like they are magical," Raogothcar shifted and began pulling softly at another whisker, "It doesn't feel like the other mushrooms from the cave."
"Do you have a better suggestion, dragon?"
"No Deanna, um..."
"Then the best we have to go on is that it was some sort of druids that are against the royal family."
"I don't know if I want to jump that far Deanna." The prince scratched at his chin in thought, "Still though, maybe one of your scouts can tell us some more about any druids we might have in the kingdom. Also Brandon, see about getting the guards to look for more information about these attackers as well. We'll need anything we can learn."
Brandon brought a large hand up in salute. Without a word he turned and pointed at two of the guards near the hall's main doors. The three men were marching up the stairs within moments. Raogothcar watched them all go and listened to the echoing footsteps as they left.
As they left Raogothcar felt his stomach complain from missing his meal the day before. Turning his head back to the table, Raogothcar tapped his thumb gently on Deanna's shoulder. She turned and looked up at the dragon. He leaned his head closer to her.
"Where can I find something to eat here?" he whispered.
"The kitchen is right over there." Deanna said as she leaned away from his mouth, "Don't whisper so close to people. That many teeth so close to someone's head is disturbing dragon."
"I'm sorry," Raogothcar moved his head back and as his spines drooped, "I'll try not to do that again. I didn't realize it was disturbing. Thank you though Deanna, I' going to get something."
Deanna didn't respond, so Raogothcar got up to his feet and walked towards the kitchen. Behind him he heard Deanna and Prince Alan continue to talk about the things on the table. As he neared the large double doors at the end of the hall, Raogothcar could smell a tapestry of herbs, meats, and other scents, all getting stronger with every step.
The doors before him, stood much wider than he was and as tall as the ceiling, Raogothcar felt small for the first time since entering the tower. The door had been carved long ago, and was showing many marks of age and from heavy use. Depicted on the door was a great feast, Raogothcar thought it looked similar to the one from the night before. Perhaps later he could ask someone in the castle to carve in a dragon on the door. Then he wondered if he was the first dragon to have a feast with the king, none of the artwork in the tower had a feast with a dragon present. There were several dragons, but never at feasts.
Amusing himself with the artwork on the door, Raogothcar caught by surprise as it swung open quickly. A stocky woman had pushed the doors from behind. Alicia was saying something, and the other lady was laughing. When Alicia saw Raogothcar she put a hand up to stop the woman. As the other woman turned, the laugh in her throat died to a small squeak.
For a moment she stepped forward and Raogothcar looked down at her as he leaned away from the door. The woman's face went from a cheery pleasant, to panic. The large mugs in her hands smashed into small chips, their contents splattering around the floor. Her scream tore through the open hall, causing Raogothcar to shrink back even more.
Alicia ran forward as the woman turned back to the still open door. Without any thought the woman knocked Alicia aside and ran for the safety of the kitchen. The screams continued as the door slowly swung itself shut, leaving Raogothcar looking down at Alicia. Raogothcar felt the eyes of everyone in the hall staring in his direction, and felt the spines on his back raise in self-conscious embarrassment.
"Would someone go in there and tell the kitchen about our dragon visitor?" the prince asked out loud. "It seems they need reminding again."
"Yes your majesty" the nearest guard said as he marched past Raogothcar into the still screaming kitchen.
"Are you alright, Alicia?" Raogothcar asked as he pushed Alicia into a sitting position with his head. "What happened?"
"Yes, I'm just fine. I'll have to go dry off later though." She stood up in the puddle of water from the mugs and sighed, "Nanny really wasn't expecting to meet you like that. I was a little surprised to see you there too."
"They didn't expect me? I was here all last night, why wouldn't they expect me to be here somewhere?"
"Oh Nanny knew you were here, I'd guess she didn't expect to meet you right outside her kitchen. She nearly ran into you, I'd probably scream too."
"But you didn't scream when you met me."
"I didn't try to crash into you carrying drinks for the prince and everyone either. Are you thirsty though? I could get you some more water if you'd want?"
"No, I'm a little hungry though. Well, maybe some water too, water is always nice. She's not going to be mad at me though will she? I didn't mean to scare her like that."
"Oh, I think Nanny won't be mad at you for very long. But whenever someone gives her a good scare, its usually best to be scarce for a while. She'll make you feel bad about it for a while."
"I already feel bad about it." Raogothcar said as he hung his head apologetically.
"Don't worry," Alicia said as she patted his neck, "She's been talking about meeting you all day just about. She knew you'd be hungry and was hoping to see you later today to bring you something. You know, she also wanted to know what you like to eat. The cooks said you didn't touch a single bit of food last night, was it not any good?"
"I thought it all smelled too bitter. But I think that the people from last night did something to it. There are some plants over on the table that all smell bitter; just like the ham did last night."
"Well, you should've said something to a cook last night, we'd have brought you something different."
"Deanna said it would be rude to do something like that, and then-"
"Oh, Deanna thinks everything is rude."
"She does?" Raogothcar tilted his head slowly.
"Just talking to her is rude." Alicia said as she looked back to the now quiet kitchen. "How about I get you something and take it up to your room? You shouldn't alarm too many people if you stay up there."
"I'd like that. I should write in my journal about everything. I would like some company though. Will you stay with me when you bring up food?"
"We'll see what Nanny says. I'll be there soon." She turned slowly and cracked open the door. With a little wave she slipped through and the door swung shut behind her.
Raogothcar stood back up and turned back towards the table Deanna and the Prince were still working on. A quick trot found him at the foot of the table looking over the contents once again, where he could smell the bitter thickness from his food last night. He bent his head over the leaves and smelled them for a moment.
Deanna and the Prince looked at each other as Raogothcar slowly walked away from the table without another word to them. He climbed the stairs and then returned to his room once again. The guards stationed nearby nodded to him from across the wide hall. Raogothcar nodded back as he fumbled with the handle to the door.
Once inside he walked to the table where he laid his bag. Within moments he had pulled out his journal and laid it on the floor. He began turning the thick pages and skimmed through passages and diagrams of magical circles, herbs, maps, and illustrations, memories he had written down years ago. His concentration broke with a soft knock on his door. He gave a soft sigh as he rose and went to see who it was.
Alicia was standing outside, holding a serving dish with a large serving of meat. Raogothcar stepped aside to let her into the room, and sniffed at the plate as it passed by. Alicia stopped when she neared the book. She knelt down and set the plate on the floor absently.
"Is this your journal?" She asked peering over he journal, "I've never seen a book like this before."
"Oh yes," Raogothcar said as he lay beside the plate with his meal. "I was looking through it to see if I had written anything about any of the things that Prince Alan and Deanna were showing me in the hall. They had several different things I haven't seen before. Sometimes I can't remember things I've seen or heard, but its usually in my journal. If its not I write it in pretty quick."
"How could you make a book so big? I've never seen a book so thick. Its bigger than the pillow I sleep on! "
"Well, I can't write in the small books humans make. Not very much room on the pages to put anything on those, and the big ones never seem to stay together with so much use. I had one my father gave me once, it had a whole lot of human stories, and it fell apart pretty quick."
"What was it about?" Alicia turned to face him and sat down cross legged on the floor.
"Oh it was a bunch of things. Little stories lots of humans wrote about things that never happened. Some were a little exciting, but some of them didn't seem very exciting at the time. I wish I still had the book, I might understand parts of it better now. Is that how most human books are?"
"Most of the one's I've read are yes. Adventures, and love stories, and tales of heroes doing great things for the world. Some of my favorite are tales about Christopher and his explorers. How they fought the Elvish manticores out of the wilderness, trying to find safe places for people to live. They were always in trouble it seemed."
"It's strange," Raogothcar said putting down a scrap of meat, "that so many humans have someone else write their story. How could you be sure they would get it right? You couldn't be well remembered through someone else, it wouldn't be you when someone else read the journal."
"I don't know, I'd never thought of it like that. Most people seem to do fine writing down things about other people. I'll show you sometime if you would like? My friend Mr. Veen has a small shop for books and scrolls. Maybe I can help you find a really good story there."
"I'd like that," he said as he finished the last chunk of meat on the plate, "I've not really seen a lot of Ravenstone. That parade didn't give me much of a chance to go looking about. By the way, thank you for the food, I was pretty hungry." He stretched his wings, "Do you have any pine cones here?"
Alicia giggled then said, "I don't think so, why do you need a pine cone?"
"They taste good. Mother always said they were good for the teeth too. She would always tell me if I didn't have pine cone after a meal I'm make my teeth fall out. I don't want to be without teeth, I don't know how I'd eat anything."
"Well, I'll go look around for some for you. But I should be going, Nanny still needs me in the kitchen I think. So let me know if you need anything else alright?"
"Thank you. But I think I'm just going to write for a while. I might go up to the balcony upstairs, the sun might feel very nice."
Alicia took up the plate and stood. She smiled at him, and Raogothcar smiled back. He noticed that she didn't seem to mind a dragon smiling at her with all the teeth, and was glad she wasn't scared of it. He thought Alicia was very friendly as she left the room. She wasn't like Deanna, she seemed to like to talk and would tell him things. He hoped he could meet more people like her.
Hours later found Raogothcar upon the large balcony that he had rescued Lady Elenor the night before. He lay comfortably in front of his journal propped on the stone guard rail. He scratched symbols on the pages as he thought about the meeting earlier in the day. He spread his wings wide on the balcony floor, and the fun on them felt very good. The morning sun and crawled its way to a noon day sun and Raogothcar found some satisfaction in the warmth falling upon him.
"Dragon, have you learned anything?"
Raogothcar jumped and drew in his wings quickly, as he jerked his head around. Deanna stood behind him at the open curtain of the balcony, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"Deanna, you scared me," he said as he relaxed from the startle. "I haven't thought of anything about all the things that have been happening. I looked through my journal in case I'd forgotten anything, but I've not seen anything like those plants, or anything. Haven't heard about bad druids here either."
"I was afraid of that. We have nothing to go on, and the search in the city has given us nothing." She walked to the edge and leaned on the guard rail, glaring down into the city before her. "These people just come from nowhere and start making attempts at the royal family. It doesn't make much sense to me. One of the guards did find a place where we're pretty sure the assassins stayed for a while. There was a bag with more of those strange plant leaves, and they found another bag with mushrooms similar to the ones in the cave."
"It's good we stopped them though," Raogothcar said cheerfully, "I bet they won't try to do anything like that again. We make a good team."
Her expression didn't change. Raogothcar hoped his comment might cause some sort of effect. She seemed he hadn't said anything. Deanna was very strange, and she was hard to talk with. Nothing like Alicia, seemed to always have something to say or was interested in something. Perhaps he would have to talk to Deanna about things she liked.
"Deanna, how is it that you can throw your sword like that?" He scratched the stones slowly with his claws.
"I told you already, it's a magic that I was taught." She said, then looked down at him before she continued, "I sort of hold it with magic. I wrap it in a shell and then spin it where I need it to go. Then I do the same to bring it back."
Deanna drew the sword and held it out for him to see, "It doesn't have any magic at all, but its not a normal sword either. The weight in it is different so it flies evenly, rather than a normal sword to help in striking. The sword is old, my instructor told me that it was made long ago to fly better than a normal sword. I've not seen one like it before."
"Maybe its from the Elvish war?"
"Maybe."
He had hoped she would continue, but she put the sword back in its sheath then turned back to the city below them. It sounded to him, like she wasn't really much of a flash mage, she didn't really focus on any magic, just used one thing. His mother had told him a lot of humans did that, it was easier for them to master one small thing in their lives than to learn a great deal about magic. Dragons could do that so much easier living for so much longer. His father did have several friends that were very old for humans. Something about the magic sometimes helped them live longer, but not always. Raogothcar wondered if Deanna might be able to learn whatever the trick was.
"It sounds like some strong flash magic to me." Raogothcar said, hoping she might continue.
"I don't know anything about that. All I know is that I focus on what must die, and then it does. That's one of my duties to Freeraven, when it needs my blade, I send it."
"Why is that your duty? Killing things doesn't seem like a very good thing to do."
Raogothcar waited for an answer, but none came from Deanna. She only looked out at the city before her a while longer. It was hard talking to her, everything seemed to lead nowhere. It almost seemed like she didn't want to talk to him. He frowned and sighed.
"Let me know if you think of anything dragon." Deanna said as she turned from the balcony and started back inside. "Also be careful from now on. You've helped the prince and the king twice now. If whoever is behind this knows that you've helped us, you'll be a target for them now too."
Raogothcar couldn't think of anything else to say to her as Deanna walked towards the stairway in the center of the balconies. He wanted her to stay and talk. Then he wondered why he wanted to talk to her. She never seemed to have much nice to say, and always kept things as short as possible.
He turned back to his journal and looked over his scratches. He had recorded nearly everything that he could remember seeing or hearing. He thought it would be a pretty good record, his mother always told him to keep a good journal. But it was hard to describe humans still. In some ways they were understandable and similar, but then they seemed confusing. How they treated each other and talked to one another seemed strange to him.
The assassins and the poisons in the cave confused him the most. Why would anyone want to hurt someone else so much as that. How could there be such anger to each other, as to try and attack and kill another?
He could understand why Deanna would be so angry with them for trying to kill the prince. Prince Alan seemed like a nice person, and there shouldn't be any reason to try and hurt him. Raogothcar frowned when he thought that Deanna might kill the people that were trying to kill the prince and king. Everything seemed to end up in fighting, and he didn't like it.
Raogothcar rolled onto his side and looked up at clouds in the sky. For a moment he thought about taking a short flight over the city. Then he decided he felt too lazy. He lay watching the clouds drift and listened to the distant hum of humans wandering about a city doing things he didn't know about. Maybe they were trading things, or talking to each other. Raogothcar realized he had no idea what humans really did in cities.
"Raogothcar?"
He lifted his head and saw Alicia at the edge of the thick curtain. She smiled when he looked at her, and started walking towards him.
"Hello Alicia."
"Did you need anything?" Alicia said as she sat with her back on the stone railing across near him, "Nanny didn't need me in the kitchen for a while."
"No I don't think I need anything. I just wish I could understand what has been going on. Everything's been a little confusing. I don't know how to write it down very well."
"What did your parents do when they had trouble understanding something?"
"Well, they had a collection of different books on different things. One set of shelves for my father, and my mother kept her books in a large chest. I don't have anything like that though. I couldn't bring a whole lot with me to make my den, the circle magic that my mother did for me could only do so much. I wish I had books like they did though."
"Like a book shop?"
"No, I don't think that would work." Raogothcar said as he turned to lay on his stomach upright, "I need a whole lot of books. I'd need books about humans. Maybe a book to find out some of the things that Deanna is looking for.
"I was thinking," Raogothcar said as he closed his journal and drew it close to him, "That maybe if I could think of something that might help Deanna she wouldn't be so..."
"Cold?"
"I guess so. She doesn't seem to want to talk ever. She's strange, but she thinks I can help and I don't want to disappoint anyone. I just can't think of anything that she would like. If only I knew more about those people that attacked..."
Raogothcar trailed off as a thought of his father came to him. His father had mentioned several times about a library, the most books he had ever seen. When he described it Raogothcar always imagined a cave filled with chests and shelves of books, some spilling onto the floors in colorful piles of papers, covers, and bindings. He remembered his father then telling him about visiting the library several times before meeting he met Raogothcar's mother.
"A library! That's right! Alicia, I could go to a library and find all the answers that Deanna's looking for. Then maybe she can find the assassins and make them stop. Maybe I could find them before she did and make them stop so she wouldn't have to kill them all."
"You should tell Deanna, I'm sure she'd like to know. Well, she'd want to know, I don't know if she'd like anything."
"Thank you Alicia, I'll go tell her right away."
Raogothcar stood quickly, and then stuffed his journal into his bag carefully. Walking down the stairs wasn't comfortable, and he frowned at the stairway in the center of the open chamber inside the tower. Flying down to the ground might be easier he decided and turned back to the edge of the balcony. He leapt and let his body fall part of the way back to earth. As he neared the ground, he opened his wings and angled himself to twist around the tower once and land at the open main gates.
Raogothcar made his way to the large dinning hall once again. As Raogothcar walked into the room, there were a few people eating at the different tables in the room. The large table in the center still held all the things from the morning. Deanna had her back to him talking to another guard on the opposite side of the table.
At the table nearest to him, one of the youngest boys waved to him. Raogothcar kept his wing furled, but rose the wing arm and waved with his thumb and smiled. He liked that the people in the tower liked him. As Raogothcar slowly approached the table, the guard Deanna was speaking to nodded in the dragon's direction.
Deanna turned slowly and idly brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She spoke with no hope in her voice, only a matter of fact manner, "Have you found something dragon?"
Raogothcar sat down in the center of the isle and drew himself up proudly, "I know where we can get the answer. My dad told me about the library in Palitos, he said it has everything. I am sure we could find anything out there. It wouldn't take long to get there either. Just over the," Raogothcar tilted his head in thought a moment, "The Marol Mountains."
"I'll go talk with Prince Roland about sending someone to the library." She pointed to the table, "See if you can find anything else we've missed over all these things while I go and talk with him."
* * *
Deanna walked out of the great hall, thinking she would have to tell the prince of the dragon's idea. It didn't seem like a bad idea, and so far it was about the best she had heard. The notion of Freeraven looking outside of its own borders didn't settle with her well she decided, but it was better than trying to untangle a mass of threads by one's self.
She would have felt slightly better if she had come up with the idea. She still saw the dragon as an outsider, since he'd only been in the nation for a few weeks. One couldn't trust someone that fresh and new in any position. Granted, the dragon had helped Freeraven on two different occasions now, which is more than many people do in a life time.
As she climbed the long spiral stairs, she thought that so far the dragon's presence had been more welcome than Heraseth. She wouldn't have lifted a wing or a thought in the defense of Freeraven. At this point Deanna guessed the old snake would have flown off to find someplace that wouldn't seek her help, if she had been in the dragon's place. That dragoness was nothing but trouble every time she came into Ravenstone.
She walked from the landing towards the open doors of the expansive audience chamber. The doors stood open with two guards posted at either door; the extra guards she had requested for the king's safety. Blue carpeting lead straight into the room and ended at the steps to the stage at the back of the room where King Roland and the Prince sat.
Pillars stood on either side of the carpeted walkway, each with a large glassy mage light giving off a cool white light. Behind the pillars sets of chairs had been set for the larger matters that required the king to preside over. At the head of the room next to King Roland's throne were Prince Alan's small throne, and what would have been her's but now belonged to Elenor in the future.
Scattered through the room, Freeraven guards stood at attention, and Deanna noted each of the extra ones that she had requested. She doubted anyone could make another assault on the king with these men and women in place.
The king and the prince were presiding over some city border dispute between two different lords and their representatives. Usually the courts at the tower were taken care of quickly so the king could focus his attention on more important matters. Today, it appeared that the king's attention was being pulled back and forth between the two sides of the argument. Neither the king nor prince Alan appeared very interested.
Deanna strode past the guards, who saluted to her, and walked up the left side of the room towards the Prince. The king and the four disputing gentlemen paid no attention to her, but the prince leaned forward as if expecting some good news. Deanna leaned slightly to whisper to Alan.
"Our dragon guest believes that we'll find answers at the library of Palitos. He seems quite certain of it."
Alan sat back slowly in his throne and scowled for a moment in thought. He began nodding slightly and bent forward once again, his eyes on the men talking with raised voices. Deanna wondered for a moment if the nod was al she was going to need from him.
"He's young," Alan said finally, "but he's not wrong. Palitos has a library, one of the best I've heard. I don't believe they would like Freeraven marching in to gain some answers though. Perhaps just a small band looking for answers would do best. I don't want trouble though, definitely no one should go alone."
"Yes, it would only be prudent to send several, preferably well armed ready for any potential-"
"The nation of Nyland is still wary of us from the last war. While Freeraven isn't part of the Northlands anymore, they still suspect any coming from the west. I don't think though it would be wise to go in with a scout force armed for war Deanna." He settled himself into the throne, "They are good allies regardless. We both know that the Dominance war ended a long time ago. If we went as just a small group of officials or something, they wouldn't mind I'd imagine."
Deanna didn't like the idea of a smaller group only armed for self defense. These assassins had proved to be well equipped, with a fair bit of magic at their disposal as well. Prince Alan made sense though, the last thing they needed to do was to make Nyland an angry neighbor by threatening them by accident. She decided to wait for Alan to make a decision rather than push for an armed group of scouts.
"I could have just three scouts go." Deanna suggested, "They wouldn't be too obvious, but would be able to handle themselves should the assassin's try anything."
"I agree," Alan said "and I think it might be best if you went as well. You've been paramount to the stopping of these attempts these last two times. But I think you of all would need whatever news we could find there as soon as possible."
"Prince Alan," Deanna closed her eyes, she had been afraid he would suggest this, "I believe that another attempt will happen soon. Groups like this will have several methods to get to their targets in case the first and second attempts fail. Especially ones as well equipped as these."
"I understand, but now that we know they're trying to get to us we've put all the tower guards on alert. The city watch has been patrolling day and night to keep an event like last evening from happening. You know just as well as I do that they are more than capable of handling anyone that will try their hand at us again. What we need most now, is answers. I know you are the one that will hunt them out as fast as possible. That's what I need."
With a short bow of her head, Deanna stood, "I'll prepare for the journey then. Anything else Prince Alan?"
He watched the proceedings for a few moments longer before he looked up at her, "Yes, when you get back I think we'll hold a council meeting. We might not have everyone back by the time you return, but we'll try. My guess is that they'll at least want to know what you've found. Even if you've found nothing, we need to start discussing what to do about these people.
"Oh, and take the dragon Raogothcar with you. He seems eager to help, and might be able to glean more from the library than we might see. Besides, it was his idea."
"He'll only get in the way." She frowned as she said it, her hand sliding to the hilt of her sword.
"I think this'll be the best. My best scout and my savior working to stop a threat to the kingdom. See to it Deanna." With his dismissal he turned his attention back to the court once again.
She stood for only a brief moment to watch, then stepped down off the platform and strode out of the hall. She had many things to prepare, and she wanted to be underway as soon as possible. The feeling that the trip would not be a good one nagged at the back of her mind.