CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
K endra gripped the railing hard enough to turn her fingers white. Learning that a dragon was sharing its eating habits with her was enough to put a scare into her. Finding out she also knew where it dined, was enough to create panic. My suggestion that she might also be sharing information with it took her totally by surprise. Worse, the idea that she might somehow give commands to the dragon increased the panic. She didn’t seem to care that while it ate in the mountains, no matter how far away it was, I still had my magic—and that magic seemed stronger than ever.
“I don’t know what’s happening.” Her voice was weak and soft. He eyes were glazed as she considered the importance of all we’d discussed. “I don’t know what I can do.”
“Tell the dragon to fly. Not that there is danger, but just suggest to her to fly and return to her goat in a few moments.”
Kendra remained calm. After a short while, she said, “It flew. Now it is eating again.”
That was the answer, but not the end of the subject. Well, it was for me. It was time to back out of the conversation and allow my sister to think over the implications and advantages. It also didn’t answer the basic question that had started the conversation. Where did the power come from for the mages to create intense storms that lasted for days if it didn’t come from Kendra’s dragon?
In the last ten days, we’d learned magic draws on power created by dragons. That power was called essence. Essence is created by the same dragon that is now eating a goat and is nowhere near the ships behind the storm. The story fit the circumstances of the mages chaining the dragon in a cave for years and years—a story we’d thought almost beyond belief.
Perhaps it was beyond belief. While we knew a little about essence and had not even known of its existence ten days ago, we didn’t know the entire story. I leaned on the railing with Kendra and said, “Essence is the key. Where are the mages getting the power for the storm?”
“Waystones are involved, too. And Wyverns.”
“It seems we don’t know any more than ten days ago,” I muttered more to myself than to her.
“Not true,” she said in the same soft tone. “Perhaps it is not what we know, but that now we are figuring out what we do not know. So, we are learning where to look for more information.”
“All very confusing.”
She turned to me. “Think of it this way, we are eliminating possibilities, so what is left over is more likely. Essence is involved. That is a fact. Dragons and Wyverns, too. Mages harness that power in ways we do not understand and use it to create or magnify their magic. Sorceresses, too. Mages communicate over long distances, and we think they travel over them in an instant, but that is not a fact, only speculation. We do know the egg in the cave where we released the dragon disappeared after we discovered it. It went away in an instant.”
“We also know from your sensing powers that a mage returned to the cave, then disappeared just a quickly. It is a Waystone, and he may have gone anywhere, like a transfer point. Or nowhere.”
“I don’t think so. Waystones also use essence for their power, and if that dragon is creating the power, it is reasonable to think the longer the distance of the transfer, the more essence is used.”
I snapped my fingers. She was right. “Otherwise there would only be a few Waystones, none close to another.”
She grinned. “We also know Waystones are old because of the weathering of the icons. Very old. If they are powered by essence from dragons, whatever we’re getting into has been around hundreds and hundreds of years. Maybe longer.”
I have always liked her grin, but not now. While her words rang true, they also hinted that our opponents had hundreds and hundreds of years to prepare for the likes of us. “The gambler at the table said I’d never see Dagger. Then he realized he’d spoken out of turn and fled. I think he knows something.”
Kendra said, “See? Now you’re starting to put things together. We’re on a ship with him. He can either sail with us or swim. Here come Flier and the girls. You stay here with them, while I go talk to Will, who is hiding behind those barrels on deck.”
“What are you going to tell Will? I’m not comfortable sharing anything about us. Not yet. Only with Elizabeth.”
“I will simply mention that statement, that others heard it too, and that what he knows may endanger everyone on the ship if we are not going to reach Dagger,” she smiled sweetly, like a cat ready to snatch a butterfly from the air.
“In that case, he will have to find out what the gambler knows.” Before the words were fully out of my mouth, she had spun and walked confidently away as Flier caught my attention. I nodded that it was okay for them to approach, and the three of them rushed ahead.
He said, “They laugh a lot. At me. The ship. Sailors. Anything.”
“You’re not limping.”
His smile grew wider. “Now and then a touch of pain, but that’s from the incision and stitches. From what it feels like, my knee is going to be like when I ran messages. Hell, I might run again.”
Imagining what life for him as a cripple must have been like, the pain, the use of the crutch, the pity and scorn from others, all combined to allow me to forgive his foul language in front of the girls. He must be tougher than I believed. He hadn’t said how many years he’d survived with no money, little food, and the abuse others sent his way, but it had to have been six or seven.
I said, “Run?”
He chuckled. “Not yet. The knee is still sore. The muscles are weak from lack of use. But it bends without pain. Give me ten days, and we’ll see if I can beat you in a foot race.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t know that arrowhead was in there.”
“I assumed it was just a wound that wouldn’t heal, or the knee was broken or shattered by the arrow. There was no reason to think otherwise.”
Anna pointed to the mainsail and said, “Sail.”
Emma pointed to her foot. “Shoe.”
Did she mean the shoe or the foot inside? Our game of point and name had flaws. However, as time went on mistakes would be corrected. That tickled the back of my mind with what we were going to do with them if we didn’t find relatives or a home for them.
Flier said, “I saw the sword in our cabin.” He opened his shirt enough for me to see the handle of a sturdy knife inside, the blade in a scabbard tucked inside his waistband. “You should wear one.”
“Where did that one come from?”
“Will,” he said shortly. “He told me you have enemies on this ship and to protect you.”
He was right. On my next trip to my cabin, I’d conceal a knife and maybe wear my sword in plain sight. It might delay or prevent an attack. Anna reached out and touched my nose with her forefinger. She named it.
A nasty idea sprang to mind, the kind brothers have towards sisters. I could teach the girls false words for common things and watch Kendra try to correct my wrongs. I could point to a beautiful woman and say in a kind voice that carried approval, “Ugly.” They would certainly end up calling Kendra ugly, and I could pretend innocence. She would do no less for me.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in similar acts of discovery and identification. We ate, watched the crew and passengers carefully, and ate again, the evening meal together. Afterward, my knife was hidden near the small of my back, but my sword swung at my hip in full view, I went to the lounge alone.
When I started to sit, one of the regulars, a tall, thin man who had always acted friendly to me, pointed at my blade and said, “I’d rather you remove that if you’re going to sit and play. No offense.”