Zollin recognized the question in Kelvich’s voice. The old man had used the same sort of technique as they had worked on recognizing various plants with magical qualities. He wondered what his old mentor was up to.
“We have things to do,” Mansel said. “We should ride more and talk less.”
He spurred his horse forward. Zollin looked over at Kelvich, who was watching Mansel with a critical eye.
“We need to talk,” Zollin said.
“Yes, but not now,” Kelvich said.
He gave Zollin a reassuring smile and they both nudged their horses to catch up with Mansel. It took a few more hours to finally exit the forest. Zollin immediately turned his horse west.
“What is your plan?” Kelvich asked him.
“I need to find out where the dragon was last seen,” he explained. “It was headed south; surely someone must have seen it.”
“But the farms and villages have all been abandoned this far north,” Kelvich reasoned. “We should ride to the Ruins of Ornak. The soldiers there will know as much as anyone. I’m sure Commander Hausey has scouts out, combing the countryside for even the slightest rumor of the dragon.”
“All right, but we’ll need to ride hard,” Zollin said. “Are you up for the challenge?”
“I think I’ll be okay,” Kelvich said, a little hurt that Zollin would think he might be a liability.
“I’m not worried about your heart,” Zollin said. “I know you would never give up. I just have to ride as hard as possible. I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to do.”
“Just try and stop me,” Kelvich said.
They ate in the saddle and walked their horses once night fell. They slept without a fire. The weather outside of the mountains was warmer than Zollin had been used to, but as summer waned the nights turned cooler. They hobbled their horses and slept a few hours, resuming their journey with the dawn. Zollin wanted to find out why Kelvich seemed so suspicious of Mansel, but there was never a good time to talk. Mansel did seem irritable. He was even less talkative than usual, but Zollin thought he was probably worried about Quinn. On the second day he asked the young warrior to finish telling them what happened.
“So, there were soldiers in Felxis, too,” Zollin prompted. “I suppose my father suggested you head north.”
“Yes, we rode for Lodenhime,” Mansel said gruffly. “We ran into a pair of assassins along the way, and if not for the Prince’s mercy, we’d have dealt with them.”
“What do you mean?” Kelvich asked.
“They came at us as a pair. We killed one, but the idiot Prince released the second assassin. I told him the Mezzlyn don’t accept failure. The one we caught had a poison tooth, just like the one in Brighton’s Gate. But still, the Prince insisted and Quinn wouldn’t countermand him. So we let the devil go, and, sure enough, when we reached Lodenhime, the assassin tried to kill the Prince again. Your father saved his life and received a nasty scratch from the killer’s knife to boot. If it had been poisoned like those darts in Brighton’s Gate, he’d have been killed.”
“So how was he captured in Lodenhime? Was it the Mezzlyn?”
“No, there is a woman in the Castle on the Sea.”
“The what?” Zollin asked.
“It’s a fortress. Not really a castle, but it was built like a castle, and it sits on a small peninsula that juts out into the Great Sea of Kings. The people in Lodenhime call it the Castle on the Sea. She’s building an army. I left your father and Prince Wilam while we were still in the city. After killing the second Mezzlyn assassin we assumed we were safe. I was sent for supplies while Quinn and the Prince saw about booking us passage on a ship heading north,” Mansel lied.
The truth was fuzzy, he thought. He had left Quinn and Prince Wilam in Lodenhime, he remembered that, but he couldn’t remember why.
“They went to the Castle but never came back. I went to find them but realized I couldn’t rescue them by myself, so I came to find you,” Mansel explained.
It seemed reasonable enough to Zollin, but he was completely absorbed in his grief over losing Brianna to the dragon and wasn’t thinking critically. He still had hopes that Brianna was alive, and nothing seemed as important as finding her and rescuing her from the dragon.
They rode on in silence after that, each man occupied with his own thoughts. They passed several abandoned villages, but saw no people. It took them three days of hard riding to reach the Ruins at Ornak. They could see from a distance that the soldiers had rebuilt the ruins once again. There was an air of mystery to the ancient settlement, made even more haunting by the fact that it was, once again, entirely abandoned.
“Where is everyone?” Zollin asked out loud.
“I don’t know,” Kelvich said. “I can’t believe Commander Hausey would have abandoned this post with leaving at least a small contingent of men.”
Zollin rode into the village and saw the statue of gold he had built. It stood forlorn in the middle of the ancient ruins, the gold glinting in the late afternoon sunshine.
“The relic hasn’t been touched. There haven’t even been looters here stealing the gold,” Zollin said.
“It’s as if we’re the only people left in Yelsia,” Mansel said.
“That’s ridiculous,” Kelvich said.
“Well, we won’t find any answers by wasting time here,” Zollin said, spurring his horse forward.
“Where are we going?” Kelvich cried out as his horse jumped forward with the others, reluctant to get left behind.
“We’ll ride to nearest village,” Zollin called back over his shoulder. “Surely someone will know what happened.”
They rode late into the night. The next day they were met shortly after dawn by a group of riders. Commander Hausey was with them. He called out when they were close enough to identify one another.
“Hello there!” he shouted. “Zollin! Kelvich!”
“Commander Hausey,” Zollin said, reining in his horse as the two groups approached each other.
“I have orders from the King,” Hausey said. “He requests that you join him in Orrock.”
“Why?” Kelvich said, not waiting for Zollin to reply. “What made you withdraw your troops from the Ruins at Ornak?”
“We have been invaded,” said Hausey. “Ships landed near Winsome, and soldiers are marching north. The King has recalled the army from Felson and the legion he sent to the Great Valley. Men have been sent to strengthen the forts at Ebbson Keep and Mountain Wind, but every able-bodied man is needed in Orrock.”
“I’m searching for the dragon,” Zollin said. “Has there been news of it coming back out of the mountains?”
“That task must wait,” Hausey said.
“It can’t!” Zollin said angrily. “The beast has Brianna. I must find it.”
Kelvich put his hand on Zollin’s arm.
“The King insists that you come,” Hausey said. “I regret the news about Brianna. She was a special girl.”
“She isn’t dead,” Zollin said.
“Why does the King want Zollin?” Kelvich said.
Hausey looked at Kelvich for a long moment before answering. They both knew that enlisting a wizard to fight with a kingdom’s army broke the treaty signed by all five kingdoms over three centuries ago. They also knew the tactical advantage of having a wizard during battle. One wizard could lay waste entire legions under the right circumstances.
“We must push back this invasion,” Hausey said to Zollin. “Surely you understand that.”
“But is it wise to break the treaty?” Kelvich asked.
“I leave those kinds of decisions to my King,” the Commander answered. “We have been sent to find you and bring you to Orrock.”
“But surely the King’s Army is capable of withstanding an invasion. We can take defensive positions and fend them off. There’s no need for Zollin to get involved and break the treaty.”
Zollin noticed the disdain in the eyes of the knights who were with Commander Hausey. They didn’t like that Kelvich was questioning their orders or the King’s plan, but Zollin understood. If he chose to get involved, he ran the risk of destroying a peace that had lasted over three hundred years. It also gave King Felix precedent for commanding Zollin. The young wizard had no desire to disobey his King, but neither did he relish the idea of becoming someone’s puppet. He had to make a decision soon, he knew that. And if he refused the soldiers, he might have to fight them, which he did not want to do. If there really were soldiers from the south invading, he didn’t want to make matters worse by injuring or slaying five of the King’s knights.