Part 6 (1/2)
”Only if you take a chair and cease to be so formal, Master Bedlam.” She indicated one of the half-dozen elegant and padded chairs situated in the carpeted room. A slight smile played at her lips. ”And you need not fear my husband's presence. He is engaged in some proper time with his daughter, someone he sees too little of considering the great love he bears for her.”
”My thanks, Que-Erini.” Although Cabe's body was tense with anxiety, he forced himself to sit across from the queen.
The warlock waited until she had picked up her book and put it on the tiny table beside her. The ball of light, which had bobbled about during her initial fright, remained situated above her head. Cabe nodded at the magical lamp. ”I see you've been practicing. It's very steady.”
”I only wish I'd practiced years ago. To think of the time I've wasted!”
He shook his head. ”I wish you'd quit thinking that. Erini, if there's one thing I know, you've not wasted time. You have a husband and a beautiful young daughter. You've made Melicard a king more accessible to the people's needs.” Cabe waved a hand at the rows of neatly arranged books. ”You've encouraged learning to read. The only access I ever had to reading was what Hadeen the elf owned. In fact, the only reason I ever learned to read was because of him. Now, you threaten to make Talak second only to Penacles in the education of its subjects.” He folded his arms. ”I could give more examples, but that should be sufficient.”
”I threaten to make Talak second to none, actually,” the slim monarch replied. The smile had not only returned, but it had spread. ”You are correct, Cabe, but I still cannot help feeling angry at myself for all those years I left my power to languish.”
”You'd seen too much death and destruction. It wasn't what you were raised for.”
”Neither were you.”
Cabe shook his head. ”I am Nathan Bedlam's grandson and the birth child of Azran. If I wasn't raised to be in the midst of trouble, I don't know who is. Somehow, trouble generally finds me . . . which brings me back to why I'm here.” The warlock leaned forward, his voice quiet. ”I'd hoped to find Darkhorse here. I can detect traces of his presence, but nothing strong enough to tell me if he is near or where he might have gone. I need his aid, if he's willing to give it, on a journey into the midst of the Legar Peninsula.”
”You are talking about the Crystal Dragon's domain!”
”I am. This is no ordinary trek, either. If it were, I might be willing to travel alone. Under normal circ.u.mstances, the Crystal Dragon would ignore me unless I tried to invade his caverns.”
Erini's gaze was steady. ”And now?”
”And now, there may be an army camped in the very midst of his kingdom. An army under the banner of the wolf.”
”The Aramites? The rumors are true?” She paled slightly. ”I think that perhaps Melicard should be here. Commander Iston, too.” Iston, a native of Erini's homeland, had, for the past several years, been Talak's chief intelligence gatherer.
”Please!” Cabe almost jumped from his chair. ”Not until I'm gone. Then you can tell him everything. The important thing is that I need to discover just exactly what is happening. That's why I was hoping to find Darkhorse.”
”And if you don't find him?”
”Then I'll go there alone.”
Her left hand tightened into a fist and her voice grew deathly quiet. ”Gwendolyn would never accept that.”
”She won't know until it's too late. I'll make certain of that if I have to, Erini. I won't have her coming after me.”
It was clear that she did not agree with him, but she finally nodded. ”As you wish, Cabe. This means that I must help you find Darkhorse no matter what. I would never be able to face Gwen if something happened to you because I failed to locate him for you.”
”She'd never hold you responsible.”
”No, but I would.” The queen rose, smoothed her dress with her hands, and stared off into s.p.a.ce, her perfect features twisting into an expression of intense concentration. ”He's not been here of late and I've not been expecting him. Therein lies our greatest problem. There are two places that we generally meet, though. One lies within the palace and the other far beyond Talak's high walls.”
”Outside?” The notion that Melicard would allow Erini to wander beyond the safety of the city rather surprised the warlock.
”If you think that your relations.h.i.+p with my husband has its tentative moments, you should ask Darkhorse about his own experiences. The only thing that truly holds them together is me, Cabe. Melicard is grateful for what the shadow steed did for me when Mal Quorin, my husband's traitorous counselor, sought to take Talak for his master, the Silver Dragon. Darkhorse knows that I love Melicard. Both of them, however, remember the circ.u.mstances under which they met, when my husband-to-be had poor Drayfitt snare and imprison the eternal and even torture him in his quest to make Darkhorse his servant.”
Cabe s.h.i.+vered. He recalled that. Darkhorse was not a forgiving sort, either, not that anyone could blame him.
”Sometimes, especially when I am around, they are very cordial, almost friendly, but their mutual past always returns. That's why there are times when it is better to visit Darkhorse in a place far from the eyes of my husband. I love my husband but I will not abandon my friends . . . as you know.”
”I do.” Rising, the blue-robed spellcaster readied himself for what was to come. ”Where's the first location? The one in the palace.”
”My private rooms.” She took his hand. ”Please. Allow me.”
Even as the queen finished speaking, the scene around them s.h.i.+fted. They now stood in the midst of a vast, elegant suite of the like that made Cabe stare in open awe. Huge columns stood in each corner of the chamber, the white marble decorated with golden flowers so lifelike he at first thought them real. The floor was also marble, but of different colors arranged in a beautiful abstract pattern. Long, thick fur rugs ran from the ma.s.sive wooden bed to each of the four doorways. Where there were no doors, gay tapestries decorated the walls. A row of closets spoke of the volumes of clothing royalty wore, as did the wide mirror to the side of the closets.
The bed and the rest of the wooden furniture in the suite had all been carved from the now-rare northern oak. The wood had not been so rare at the time of their creation, but the winter of the Ice Dragon had created enough damage that the oaks had still not yet recovered. Despite the magic that had been used to reverse the effects of the magical winter, the most northern places had still suffered much too much.
As impressive as his surroundings were, they paled in comparison to what the queen had just done. ”You did that without flaw, Erini! I waited, thinking I'd probably have to help you along, but you brought us here as if you'd been practicing for years.”
”No, for some reason I find that spell easier to perform. It only took me three or four attempts to master the proper concentration for it. Why is that, do you think?”
Cabe shrugged. ”Gwen is the one who usually has the answers. With me, magic came almost full-blown. That saved my life in the beginning, but it means I never really had the incentive to learn why spells work the way they do. Gwen's taught me much since then, but that still doesn't mean I understand completely.” He gave her a rueful smile. ”Which is why for the fine points, my wife has been instructing you.”
”You have both been excellent teachers.”
”I muddle through.” The warlock again glanced around at the sumptuous apartment. ”A room definitely fit for a queen, Erini.”
”It is exactly the way it was when I first arrived in Talak. Such a waste of a room,” the queen commented dryly. ”Since I do not sleep here, the only use it usually gets is when I must be dressed for yet another interminable ball for some amba.s.sador and the necessary gown is not among those in my closets in our royal suite. Still, there are times when it's nice to be alone . . . and it gives Darkhorse and me a place to talk. The library is too cramped, too.”
”Then why do you need the other location? This seems private enough.”
”Darkhorse rarely talks below a roar, Cabe. You should know that.” Erini strolled around the room, visibly recalling memories. Cabe knew that this was where she had first stayed after her arrival in Talak. This apartment had been her refuge in the days when she had first struggled to be accepted by the disfigured king, whose torn mind had been further turned to the dark by his malicious counselor. He did not doubt that she kept it as it was rather than alter it to some other use simply because of those precious memories.
As loath as he was to interrupt her reverie, he knew he had to. The day was advancing quickly. ”Your Majesty . . . Erini . . .”
”Yes, he is not here, of course.” Her memories put aside for now, the slim monarch pondered the matter at hand. ”That only leaves the hills. I wish I could be more help to you. Can you not follow his trace?”
”Too old and too faint. It also crosses itself so many times, I couldn't tell which way he went last. If he teleported, that makes it even closer to impossible.”
”And I thought magic made everything easy.”
”Sometimes it makes things more convoluted and frustrating, not to mention life-threatening. There're times when I wish I was back in that tavern, still waiting on tables and getting threatened by half-drunk ogres. Dragon Kings, Seekers, Quel . . . I could do without all of them.”
”But not without the Lady Gwendolyn, I imagine.” The queen moved to the center of the room and reached out a hand to him.
”Makes everything else worthwhile.” Cabe took her hand and steadied himself, more comfortable now that he knew that Erini was adept at this spell.
”I hope you tell her that on occasion,” Erini responded even as their surroundings s.h.i.+fted from the planned elegance of civilization to the raw beauty of nature. She released his hand and stepped away from him in order to better survey the region. The hills were actually the beginning of the Tyber Mountains, but somewhere in the planning, they had been cheated of the great height of their brothers. While few folk ever cared to make the journey through the treacherous chain, the hills did garner some traffic of their own. There was good grazing land here, not to mention the only decent wood within a day's ride of the city. Talak, for all it had, was forced to go to its more outward lands to fill its wood needs.
There were dangers here, of course, but generally only the ordinary ones such as wolves and the rare wyvern or minor drake. Since the death of the Dragon Emperor, Melicard's vast forces had worked hard to clear every corner of the kingdom of the monsters and larger beasts that had once preyed on travelers. For the most part, they had been quite successful.
”I was afraid of this, Cabe. I doubted he would be here, but it was the only place left that I could bring you.”
He nodded, his smile one of resignation rather than pleasure. ”I didn't think it would be easy. I've got a few other ideas, but I was hoping that I'd find him with or near you.”
Erini was downcast, but then her face brightened. ”I can help you search for him! The teleportation spell is my best. I should have thought of that before. It will cut your searching by nearly half!”
”No.”