The handle was vacant of magic. Inside the leather-wrapped handle was the same.
My mental inspection moved along the flat of the blade, where a minute amount of an unknown power concentrated. It felt like a sound just slightly above what a man can hear. The sword blade constantly vibrated and that caused a keening too high-pitched to hear.
When it came into close proximity of the other sword of the pair, the harmonics that were ever-present joined together like tuning forks placed beside each other and the swords sang.
Kendra joined me at the railing. “Feeling down? Or ready to stab someone?”
“Just the opposite. I’ve figured out a few things,” I told her. Then I went on and explained my thoughts. She was the kind of person who listened without making judgments.
When I’d finished, she said, “You have been doing some serious thinking. Now, if you could solve my problem.”
“Going into Landor scaring you?”
She chuckled. “It should. But no, my problem is the dragon we have not named. It now refuses to even fly to feed itself.”
“Have you considered it is hurt? Or that it’s so old it cannot fly?”
“That is my problem. If either of those things is true, I have to go to it. This is my way of asking if you’ll go along.”
“Of course, I will.” There was no hesitation in my answer, and she smiled softly. We were in some things together.
Anna joined us as if she sensed our private conversation had ended. She said, “Sorry to be so quiet for the last couple of days. I think my mind has discovered a new trick.”
“Trick?”
“Instead of words, I can form pictures,” she said. “Since Damon makes me learn the letters, and by the way, I’m ready for the next one, I’ve been practicing.”
It didn’t sound impressive to me. I did it all the time.
*A forest with pine trees filled my mind. A deer grazed, sniffed the air, and bounded away.*
The image was so perfect, I could smell the scent of pine trees, the air was chill on my cheeks, and I heard the twitters of chipmunks. It turned to her in awe.
“I saw that forest when we crossed the mountain pass when we left Trager. I added the smells and sounds as I remember them.”
Kendra asked me, “You saw, heard, and smelled what she described?”
“And even felt the chilly air.”
Kendra said, “I wish I could sense that with you.”
Anna smirked, “And I wish I had my very own dragon, one so powerful nobody would ever cause harm to my family, which is you two. Oh, and it would fly to Kaon and eat the Young Mage. But he’d probably hop into one of his Waystones and escape.”
We laughed at her youthful exuberance, but there was truth in her every word. The sun was setting, the sky turned shades of reds and oranges, and the light grew dusk. Captain said, “Land up ahead.”
“Landor?” Elizabeth asked.
“Better be, or you need to find a boat with a superior sailor at the helm.” Captain laughed at his own joke.
Elizabeth still sat beside Will and asked Kendra, “Do you have any idea of what you’re going to do in Landor?”
Kendra said, “No. Not one thing, but I will listen to people talking, be nosey, and stay out of trouble. I’m not going to talk to royalty, cause any trouble, or anything to draw attention to us. I’ll search for anything that might help when you and Damon get there. I’ll be listening for anything to do with magic or the health of the king and avoid anything that reeks of the Young Mage.”
Elizabeth said, “That might be one of the most useful things that can be done. Did I hear your dragon is ill?”
“It won’t talk to me, fly or eat,” she said.
A few lights appeared in the distance, not ships, but houses on the shore. They helped guide us as we turned north. Ever since rounding the bottom Dead Isle, we’d sailed north and east, so Landor wouldn’t be far away.
I went to sit beside Will. “Take care of them.”
“You really don’t want to be separated, do you?”
“Not for a moment. The idea of going to Malawi has me excited because of my sword.”
He said, “I know yours is special, both because the king gave it to you and because it sings, which is amazing and wonderful, but I have a request too.”
“Anything.”
“As a soldier, I value fine weapons.”
Before he could finish the request, I did it for him, “If there are swords for sale made of good steel like mine, I’ll bring one to you.”
Before reaching Landor, we passed five other fishing boats, all small and much like the one we were in. More lights appeared on the shore and it was getting later, full-dark behind us. Ahead, a massive display of light, candles in windows, cooking fires in fireplaces, oil lamps, torches, and probably other things displayed a stone wall high on a hill. Castle Landor.
It was a city in itself. Outside the wall, far below the top of the ramparts, were more lights, smaller and fewer, which were the overflow of people. We sailed directly for all of that and started hearing the sounds of civilization.
First, we heard two men shouting at each other. Shortly after that the sounds of a group singing, or trying to sing, the same song drifted over the water to us. They were a ruckus, out of tune, and it seemed only a few knew all the words until it came to the chorus when everyone joined in, sprinkled with drunk laughter.
I said with feigned enthusiasm, “It sounds like you three are going to have fun.”
Captain sailed unerringly to the docks, and in the gloom, eased the boat to the end of one. Kendra, Anna, and Will quickly climbed out. We handed them their things and almost before we could say good-bye, Captain pushed us away and used the tiller to push the boat out from the others.
He released the sail and pulled it back to gather air. He was a master in maneuvering the boat without help and quickly had us sailing into deeper water where nobody would see or remember us having been there.
It felt like something had gotten stuck in my throat. My breath came hard, tears flowed and dripped from my chin. I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. I refused to turn and look back.
Later, the lights grew smaller in the distance as I imagined the three of them entering a city where they had never been. I tried and failed to imagine what they’d encounter in the next few days.
Elizabeth was at my side, not talking. Her arm was over my shoulders, her body next to mine. She understood my feelings. We stayed that way for a long, long time.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The boat sailed on into the unknown sea and dark of night. We watched the few lights on the shore, but Captain kept the boat safely out in deeper water. Twice he examined charts by moonlight. As the night grew on, I started to wonder if he ever slept.
When I offered to relieve him, he refused, telling me he’d doze where he sat, and if the sail or tiller changed position, he’d awaken. He assured me our boat would find Malawi around mid-day. His charts revealed the coastline, with the information a fisherman or sailor required. They told nothing of what lay inland, or what the cities looked like, their size, or political makeup.
Elizabeth fell asleep and I remained on my feet. The known problems we faced worried me, but there were other things, too. One, in particular, had taken hold in my mind and refused to let me sleep.
It concerned me. My magic. And what little I knew of the world of magic. My magic had been with me since I was a small boy. Later, when Kendra and I went to free the dragon, my magic increased or waned depending on the distance to that dragon—or to Wyvern. The dragon provided far more essence, but my magical abilities were so small that even when they were close, I could only move a few drops of water or similar feats.