Silver Dragon Page 7

  Caitlyn nodded. "Not much, but there were a few times." She smiled as her eyes lost focus. "I remember the last time I'd run across a couple of boys while fetching some water. They were neighbors of ours but they were giving me a hard time. Teasing me and doing the things that boys do. Alto saw me crying when I came back because I'd spilled my water and I didn't want to go back and be teased by them again."

  "So he went after them?"

  Caitlyn nodded. "He did. I saw them a few days later and they were very nice to me. Both had blacked eyes and swollen lips."

  Patrina laughed and earned a smile from Caitlyn. "So he's always been saving damsels in distress? He didn't start with me? I'd be jealous but since you're his sister, I guess it's okay."

  Caitlyn laughed and nodded. "We all looked up to him. To Darren, Alto was a hero. Darren used to work so hard to earn a smile or praise from Alto. Our father, too, but mostly Father and Alto worked together."

  "What about you?"

  Caitlyn stared into the fire and blushed again. "I used to dream of Alto and me running our own farm and all of our brothers and sisters were our kids." She shrugged and admitted, "It was a silly fantasy. As soon as I was old enough I realized it, but then I just kept wondering if I'd ever find a man who could be like my brother."

  Patrina nodded and adopted a faraway look in her eyes. "He's trouble that way, isn't he? Hard to find someone to compete."

  "He was," Caitlyn agreed. "But I'm worried about him. About what he's become."

  "What do you mean?"

  "When he was just a farmer, things were simple for him. Chores and family were what mattered. He loved to go hunting with our father, but they always came back and things were the same. Now I'm scared."

  "Scared for him? Why?"

  "For him and of him," Caitlyn said. She reached down and pulled the dagger he'd given her out of the sack she carried with all of her worldly possessions. "He gave me this and told me to be careful. He said it would cut through anything, even rock and steel."

  "May I?" Patrina held out her hand and asked.

  Caitlyn handed her the sheathed dagger. The lady turned it over in her hand and studied it, and then frowned when she found nothing impressive about it. The knife looked plain to her, as though there was nothing special about it at all. She drew it out of the holder and studied the blade, and then reached to test its edge.

  "Don't," Caitlyn warned her.

  Patrina glanced at the young woman. She seemed concerned enough that Patrina turned instead and pressed the tip against the bench between them. It sank into the wood, penetrating it as though it was butter.

  Patrina gasped and pulled her hand away, leaving the knife impaled in the wood all the way to the hilt. "That's amazing," the lady mumbled.

  "Alto said he got it from a friend, a shaman by the name of Thork?"

  Patrina's eyes flew to Caitlyn's. "He met the troll again?"

  "Troll!" Caitlyn's eyes widened and she glanced around to see if anyone had heard her outburst. The men and women moving through the hall ignored her and continued their duties.

  "Thork is a troll shaman we met last spring. I thought he'd left the region after he helped us."

  "He helped you?"

  Patrina nodded. She pulled the dagger out of the bench and slid it back into its scabbard. "I know, a troll. He's large, smells bad, and just looking at him is enough to give you nightmares. But he helped us escape. Later, they found him again and he gave Alto Kevard's Blade, the blade he just turned over to my father."

  Caitlyn nodded. "Alto had two swords after he saved me. The one he wore on his back is the one you're talking about?" Caitlyn paused for Patrina to nod. "Okay. The one at his side was a new one. It looked different, but I never saw it up close."

  "I caught a glimpse of it; it's a long sword, not a broadsword. Alto's not as good with those. The way he fights isn't suited for a narrower blade like that; he tends to break them."

  Caitlyn laughed. "Are you saying my brother's a brute?"

  Patrina smiled. "Your brother reminds me of a draft horse, except he's better looking."

  Caitlyn grinned. "That depends on which end of the horse you're looking at!"

  The two women shared a laugh at Alto's expense. The hall felt brighter for a moment, as though the clouds above parted and promised an early spring thaw. The shadows felt like they closed back in when Caitlyn's smile faded and she sighed.

  "When I woke up, after Alto had saved me, I was in the barn and wrapped in some horse blankets. He'd buried our family. I never asked what he did with the other bodies," she finished her earlier story. She gazed into the fire again. "I'm scared for him because he's not himself anymore. He's so angry now. He said he's going to kill a dragon, but how can he do that? How can any man do that?"

  "I don't know, but if any man can, I think he will find out how," Patrina said. She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "Caitlyn, how are you?"

  Alto's sister turned to look at Patrina. Her puzzled expression changed as she considered the question. Her chin trembled and she shook her head, and then looked away. "I've been better," Caitlyn admitted after she took a few calming breaths.

  "I can only imagine what it's like."

  "Don't," Caitlyn advised. "Don't imagine it. It's…I'm so confused."

  "Confused? About what? You haven't done anything wrong."

  She nodded. "I know, but why am I alive? They killed everyone else. All of them, and in such terrible ways. There was so much screaming. So much blood. So much pain!"

  Caitlyn turned to stare at the fire while fresh tears ran down her face. Patrina glanced about, at a loss for how to help her. She remembered her mother reaching out to touch Caitlyn's hand and squeeze it when she'd told her tale that morning. Patrina slid closer to the emotional woman and reached down to take Caitlyn's hand in hers.

  "My sister, Kressa—she was young, only fifteen, but they hurt her before they—"

  Patrina let go of Caitlyn's hand and wrapped her arm around her shoulders when the woman couldn't go on. She pulled her in and held her while Caitlyn's strength crumbled and she broke down. Patrina tried to understand what it must feel like, to be helpless and watching the people she loved being hurt around her. Forced to watch while they were killed and desecrated. Patrina found her tears falling onto Caitlyn's hair while she tried to soothe her.

  "What's this?" Namitus asked in a light tone as he took a seat on another bench.

  Caitlyn stiffened and pulled herself away from Patrina. Patrina turned to Namitus and glared at him. "Don't make me regret the things I said to you when you were laying all but dead."

  The rogue grinned. "Too late, you already said them. I'd know better."

  Patrina scowled at him.

  Caitlyn rubbed at her cheeks and offered them a small smile. "You two act like you're brother and sister even if you're not."

  "Too many years of him sneaking about and always getting underfoot," Patrina said. "He grew on me whether I wanted it or not."

  "I'm like a creeping vine like that," Namitus admitted. "So what are you two doing?"

  "Talking. It's a girl thing," Patrina said. She turned back to Caitlyn and said, "It might not seem like it, considering Namitus here, but we don't just let anybody into our hearts. My father said he would treat you as one of his own and he meant it. It's no secret anymore that I love your brother and have every intention to make him my husband one day. The girl in Portland, Aleena, may be competition for me but it can only help that I'm embracing you as a sister."

  Caitlyn looked back and forth between Namitus and Patrina. Namitus nodded his encouragement and added his rakish grin to it. "This is so confusing," Caitlyn admitted. "Not the part about Alto. I understand that. I'm pretty sure he likes you, too. More than Aleena, I mean. No, I'm confused about my place in all of this. Why make any special consideration for me?"

  "We'd never have heard of you if it weren't for your brother," Patrina conceded. "But that doesn't make you any less of a person. I do
n't know how it is in the Kingdom, but amongst the Kelgryn, every person has worth. Every person is important. We treat one another as equals because the seas don’t care who sails upon them, just as a dagger can be held in a hand accustomed to knitting or fighting."

  "This is crazy," Caitlyn mumbled.

  Namitus caught her eye and nodded. "It is," he added, "but if you're going to be crazy, you'll be in the finest company here."

  Caitlyn let loose a laugh and turned to Patrina. "Um, okay, I guess. What do I need to do?"

  "Well, first we need to teach you how to act like a lady. Not any silly Kingdom nonsense, I mean what it means to be a part of Kelgryn nobility."

  Caitlyn's mouth fell open. "What?"

  Patrina smiled. "Mordrim has sent word to the south about the mines. He believes the dwarves will rebuild them. My father wants to rebuild the city at the entrance to the mountains, Rockwood, but in order to do that, he needed a man to run it. He chose your brother. Alto will be the Thane of Rockwood."

  "That's the same as a baron in the Kingdom," Namitus interrupted.

  Caitlyn's eyes widened further.

  "Yes, I suppose." Patrina glared at Namitus for interrupting her. "And that makes you a lady of the court of Rockwood."

  Caitlyn's eyes could get no wider; instead, they rolled back into her head and she slumped over in a faint. Patrina yelped and grabbed her, stopping her from falling off the bench.

  "You're supposed to be winning her favor so you can woo her brother, not kill her," Namitus joked as he hurried over to help stabilize the poor woman.

  Caitlyn moaned as she was propped up on the bench. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked about the room, and then focused on Patrina and Namitus. "This is really happening?"

  "The good and the bad," Patrina agreed. "But focus on the good; the bad will sort itself out."

  Caitlyn nodded. "I believe you."

  "Good, now let's go. There's lessons to be learned and Lady Kenna will want to see how you're doing."

  "Lady Kenna?" Caitlyn asked with a smile. She stood up and followed Patrina. "She's been so nice to me."

  Patrina grinned. "She is nice, so long as you stay out of her bad side."

  Namitus nodded to support Patrina. "Ladies," the rogue said with a flourish, "if you'll excuse me."

  "Where are you off to?" Patrina asked.

  "I came to find you, but you’re busy."

  "Why?"

  "Well, to talk about how we're going to find that thickheaded man of yours."

  "Oh!"

  "Just tell me where to go. I can find my own way," Caitlyn said after a glance at Patrina.

  Patrina frowned. "Nonsense, I'll show you myself," she said with a reassuring smile. She turned on Namitus. "Wait here, I'll be right back!"

  Namitus bowed again. "Of course, my lady."

  Patrina turned away and led Caitlyn towards a door that led out of the hall. "I hope we end up in the mountains again," Patrina muttered.

  "Why?"

  Patrina smiled sweetly and said, "I want to push him off a cliff!"

  * * * *

  Patrina pulled her boots on and tied the laces tightly. She was excited and anxious to be on the road. Namitus had confirmed her thoughts. He wanted to go after Alto, too, and if he was up for it, she knew the others would be as well.

  Patrina turned to the stand in the corner where the dwarven chain mail rested. Before, she'd worn it without thinking about it. Now she looked at it more closely and remembered how it had felt on her. It had been comfortable to wear, something she rarely found in metal armor. Smiths had a hard time sizing armor to fit a woman, no doubt because so few women took up the sword.

  She picked up the chain mail and hissed in surprise. It was heavier than she remembered. Patrina scowled, wondering if she'd gotten weaker since she hadn't been training with her sword regularly. She slipped it over her head and pulled it into place, and then gasped anew when she felt it move of its own accord on her.

  The metal links squeezed and shifted, moving just right so that they rested comfortably on her shoulders and chest. She glanced at her mirror and saw the gleaming silver metal fit snugly, even closing about the base of her throat. It wasn't possible; she'd just put her head through that hole, but there was no denying what she now saw. The chain mail sleeves came to an end at her wrists, allowing her to wear gauntlets or gloves. She glanced down and saw the bottom of the hauberk fell three-quarters of the way to her knees, offering her protection without impeding her legs. She grinned at the dwarven magic.

  "I've got magical armor," she said to herself while buckling greaves on her legs. "Nothing can stop me from finding you now!"

  Patrina turned and buckled her belt and sword around her waist. Her sword was new, too, but something she hadn't used much since leaving the mines. She drew it and stared at it, examining the fine details engraved into the hilt and the emeralds that looked like eyes. The blade itself seemed normal enough, but she had already used it in combat and knew its edge knew no burrs and the blade was well made. Not as sharp as Caitlyn's dagger, perhaps, but it was a fine sword for her.

  Patrina turned and grabbed her helmet. She sat it upon her head and turned to regard herself in the mirror. The smiling warrior maiden she saw appealed to her. "He can't deny me," she said to herself. "You're a stubborn fool, Alto, but even I couldn't fight against what we have forever." It didn't matter that Alto wasn't standing before her; she was facing the truths she felt deep in her heart. "I won't lose you again."

  Patrina turned, grabbed her cloak and set it about her shoulders. She turned away and hurried out of her room. Namitus would be waiting for her in the hall. That or she'd have him drawn and quartered for making her wait.

  She found not only Namitus, but Karthor and Kar sat with him as well at a table. She joined them and looked at the assembled men. "Is this all you could find?"

  "By the saints, you mean to stumble into the wilds straight away?" Kar grumbled. He shook his head and reached for a bowl filled with walnuts.

  "Do you ever stop eating?" Patrina asked the wizard.

  He smiled at her and cracked the shell of the walnut in his palm, and then began to pick out the pieces.

  "So he went to kill a dragon. Sarya," Namitus said. "Anyone know how he might get away with that?"

  "Sarya's old, if my guess is right," Kar said around his mouthful of food. "Three hundred years since he was last seen, and he was a big and scary thing then."

  "Sarya is a he?" Patrina asked. The others looked at her, even Kar, as though she was crazy. "It's a feminine name, that's all."

  Kar was the first to nod. "You may be right. I don't know that anybody has ever commented on it. Namitus, you were there when the dragon spoke. Did you get a chance to check?"

  The rogue laughed. "Sorry, looking up a dragon's skirts was the last thing on my mind at the time!"

  "Fair enough," Kar admitted.

  "Even Alto knows he doesn't stand a chance against a dragon," Karthor said. "He's angry and hurting right now, but he's not one to just throw his life away."

  Patrina's thoughts flashed to what Caitlyn had told her. She nodded. Angry and hurting were an understatement for how she imagined he felt. If only he'd have shared his thoughts and pain with her, she could have helped him. She could have borne some of it, perhaps, and helped him come to a cool-headed decision on what came next.

  "Thork!" Patrina cried out. The others looked around, fearing the troll had somehow gained entrance to the hall without anyone knowing it. Patrina shook her head as they cast about searching for him and added, "No, I mean that's where he'll go."

  "And where, exactly, is that?" Kar asked her. "The troll wanders wherever he wants to. There's no telling where he'll end up."

  "And that is why Alto will have a hard time finding him."

  "Alto and us," Kar reminded her.

  "Yes, but Alto's always been the one to find him."

  "That doesn't bode well for us," Namitus pointed out.

 
; Patrina shook her head. "We're not looking for Thork; we're looking for Alto."

  Namitus stared at her and blinked. "How's that help?"

  "I don't know, other than if Thork can't be found by most people, that's fine. We're not after him, we're after Alto. That should count for something."

  Kar chuckled. "You might be onto something."

  Karthor nodded. "None of us knows how to track. You're talking about picking a direction and trusting to faith."

  "Isn't that what you specialize in, boy?" Kar teased.

  Karthor nodded. "This is a different sort of faith."

  "Is it?" Patrina asked. When she had their attention, she explained herself. "We pray for all sorts of reasons. To make good choices, to earn a good harvest, to return safely from a voyage. That is the common man's prayer, for simple things. Karthor, your prayers are heard and answered. You can do miraculous things because you've proved yourself to Saint Leander. But maybe Saint Leander isn't who we need."

  "There aren't many priests in the northern reaches beyond Portland," Namitus pointed out.

  "We don't need another priest," Patrina said. "I will pray to Saint Syllenia every night to guide me to him."

  "Your ship's missing a few sails," Kar declared. "Do you have any idea of the odds of such random guessing?"

  "I don't need sails, I've got oars," Patrina said. She looked at Karthor and tried to let him see the strength of her heart in her eyes.

  Karthor nodded. "I'll go with you."

  "By the saints!" Kar cried out in dismay.

  "Beats sitting around here getting splinters from these benches. Why does nobody ever think to smooth them?" Namitus said.

  The clanking of metal interrupted them. Mordrim walked into the hall and stopped. He looked around, his helm tucked under his arm, and then he saw them and hurried over to them. Garrick followed behind, wearing his furs and armed for the trail.

  "Heard you was heading out after the boy," Mordrim said. "I pledge my hammer at your side, my lady. I can't rightly let you take off without me."

  Patrina smiled and mouthed a thank-you to him, and then turned to look at Garrick. He scowled and said, "I won't let it be said that stumpy dared to go where I would not."