Daybreak (81 page)

It didn’t take him long to patch up Devin. No sooner had he sealed the last gash than a voice boomed from the door:

“Stop, Forsaken One! Don’t hurt him!”

Kael jumped. Harbinger shrilled as Kyleigh tore him from his sheath.

An old mage hobbled through the shattered doorway. His stare was deep and his gray beard stretched almost to his middle. But it was the men on either side of him that caught Kael’s attention.

“Oh, for mercy’s sake,” he managed to grumble — just before Eveningwing slammed into his chest.

“Kael!” The halfhawk wrapped his arms and legs about him, grinning to either ear.

Jonathan joined in — crushing them both to a mash. “Oh come on, mate! You know you’ve missed us.”

Kael hadn’t missed them
that
much. But before he could say it, there was a loud clattering sound at the doorway, followed by some thumping steps — and then another thick set of arms lifted them all off their feet. “Oh, this is almost as good as the last time!”

“No it isn’t,” Kael grunted into his chest. “In fact, neither time was good.”

Declan dropped them suddenly, spilling them into a pile. He snatched Kael up before the world stopped spinning and fixed him with a gaping look.
 

His eyes were more than a little bloodshot, and the giant’s breath reeked of what smelled suspiciously like pirate grog. “Did you not hear the good news, wee rat?”

“How could he have heard it? We have only just found him!” Nadine called from the doorway.
 

An army of mots spilled in behind her. Several of them rushed forward to grab at a large chunk of wood that’d fallen just inside the room. When they flipped it over, a familiar voice cried out in relief:

“Well, it’s about time! If that giant tosses me again, I’ll —”

“Is that you, Knotter?”

“Ah! Lady Kyleigh! Thank the stars you’re here,” Knotter moaned. “Take me back to my gate. I don’t think I’ll last another moment in the hands of that brutish oaf.”

Declan didn’t look at all concerned about having been called an oaf. He grabbed Kael hard by the shoulders and said: “We’re going to be married! That wee mote has finally come to her senses. Look at her,” Declan added, spinning him around, “look at how she smiles at me, will you?”

Nadine
was
smiling — but only because she seemed completely unable to stop herself. “You are drunk,” she muttered, waving a hand at him.

“Yeh? Well, I’ll just have to say it again when my head’s cleared up,” he said back.

While everyone clustered around to congratulate them, the old mage went after Devin. He was so incredibly frail that Kael thought he might break, when Devin grabbed him by the arm. But he didn’t.

“Are you well, child?”

“I’m fine, Argon. I’m happy to see you again,” Devin added with a grin — one that made him look at once less monstrous.

Kyleigh stared at them, her mouth agape. Harbinger hung loosely in her hand for a moment. But all at once, she swung it up at Argon’s face. “You … I know you.”

He nodded, tucking his hands into his sleeves. “The last time we met, I believe I sent you to do something for me … something very —”

“Important.” She spoke as if the word was some sort of accusation. Her hand twisted tighter about her sword. “You hexed me, didn’t you? You made me forget Kael’s name. You stopped me from killing Crevan. I could’ve ended all this years ago —!”

“No,” Argon said calmly. “No, child. Had you killed Crevan that day, you still would’ve been run out of Midlan for your crimes. Another King would’ve assumed the throne — one not so easily maddened by your tricks. In order for our plans to work, we needed a weak-minded King behind these walls.”

Kyleigh glared at him. “Who’s
we
?”

Argon didn’t reply. His eyes slid over to Kael, and he couldn’t help but be reminded of another dark, bottomless gaze.

He thought he might’ve figured out exactly who
we
was.

“Devin? Why don’t we visit your garden? I know you’ve missed it terribly. I’m sure Kyleigh will be happy to go with you,” Argon said lightly, when the boy hesitated.

Devin turned his eyes upon her, and she sighed beneath his look. “All right, then. But this isn’t over. You’ve got plenty to answer for,” Kyleigh said severely.

“Yes, we’ll be right behind you,” Argon called as they strode away.

Though Devin towered over Kyleigh, he walked a pace behind her — hands clasped against his chest. His pointed ears bent to catch her every word. The mots waved to them as they passed, and Devin smiled uncertainly.

Kyleigh grabbed him around the wrist. “Move your hand back and forth — no, open it up! Don’t go waving your fists at people, or they’ll think you haven’t got fingers.”

Under her instructions, Devin wound up hailing the mots with a grimace and a panicked, spread-fingered wave. It looked as if he was trying to sling hot coals off his hand — and Kyleigh lost her grip.

She stumbled out into the hallway, laughing like a madwoman.
 

Devin hurried after her. “Are you all right? Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t know! What in
blazes
were you even doing?”

“He has a child’s heart,” Argon murmured as he watched them go. “Devin will be more a
caretaker
than a King, which I think suits the Wildlands rather well.”

Kael wasn’t so sure. He knew the sort of greed that’d consumed the King’s rulers. “What if someone comes after him? What if they try to take the throne?”

“Then it won’t be
Devin
they meet — it’ll be Dorcha. And I daresay he’ll staunch any battle before it begins.”

“The wildmen aren’t going to be pleased,” Kael said, and just the thought of the argument ahead made him groan.

“True … but I’m sure you’ll think of something. In my experience, these things have a way of working themselves out.” Argon regarded him with a deep-pitted stare. “You have the look of a man who’s seen the one I serve.”

“Yes, though I wish I hadn’t.”
 

“And you know what it is you’ve done?”

“Well enough,” Kael muttered, though he didn’t much care about what he’d done: he was just glad to have it all finally ended.

“You’ll understand, then, that Fate wishes you to help convince the others that Devin should be King. Since your choices led them here, they are your responsibility — and Fate will hold you accountable for their actions,” Argon added with a weighted look.

More than anything, Kael didn’t want to spend the rest of his days running Fate’s errands. But when he remembered how she’d threatened Kyleigh, he knew he had little choice. “All right, I’ll convince the others.”

“Very good. This is your final task,” Argon promised. “Fate won’t trouble you again.”

Kael wanted to believe him … but for some reason, he doubted it.

They stood in silence for a moment. Just before them, their companions were locked in a heated argument over whether or not Jonathan should be allowed to play his fiddle at the wedding. But here, the world was cold.

“Did you really make Kyleigh forget my name?” he wondered aloud.

“In a way, I suppose. Though all I really did was
hide
it from her. Just a simple muddling spell.”

“Because Fate wanted us apart?” he guessed.

Argon shook his head. “No, Fate wanted you to stay trapped atop those cursed mountains, where you could never interfere with her plans. A man with all the powers of a Wright, completely freed of her will? She was terrified of you, child. She was afraid to set you loose.

“But I thought the Kingdom needed its Wright — and hiding your name from Kyleigh was my one great defiance. Though you were only an infant at the time, she spoke as if she’d known you for ages. I suspected then that she might have a dragon’s love for you. A fascinating bond,” he added with a slight smile. “I thought you might find her peculiar healing abilities to be rather useful.”

He had. She’d pulled him from the edge on more than one occasion. But there was still something he didn’t understand. “If you wanted us to find each other, why did you make her forget my name?”

“Timing is everything, when you intend to change the future. Yes, I wanted you together — but only once you’d grown strong enough to contend against her will. Had she found you when you were an infant …”

“She would’ve stashed me away somewhere,” Kael whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. “She would’ve sacrificed the whole blasted realm, just to keep me safe.”

Argon smiled slightly. “Yes, and you would’ve been happy in the glow of her love — unaware that the Kingdom suffered beneath the chaos of another one of Fate’s wars. It was a terrible gamble, letting a Wright with no future loose upon the realm. And one way or another, the Kingdom would’ve been set free. Perhaps, in the end, my defiance didn’t make much of a difference.”
 

Argon turned to smile at their companions: Jonathan screeched across his fiddle, Eveningwing danced an odd jig with the mots — Nadine laughed at them from within the gentle hold of Declan’s arms.
 

“But though they’re never sewn with the grandest strokes, small things
can
make a difference. If there are enough of them, the whole tapestry can be changed — and in the end, when you step back to see it, you find that all of those little threads matter very much.”

They didn’t make it far beyond the shattered room. No sooner had they gone down the next hall than Argon and Kael ran smack into the pirates.

They’d filled the passage from its edges to its end, staring with wide eyes at Kyleigh and Devin. More than a few of them had their cutlasses drawn.
 

Captain Lysander paced at their head. His wavy hair was a mad tangle of sweat and gore. His white tunic was stained beyond repair. Still, he barked as if he stood aboard his ship: “No, I’ve seen what’s he’s capable of, and I can’t in good conscience allow him to —”

“He isn’t dangerous anymore. The King’s curse is broken. So there’s no need to get your skirts in a bunch, Sandy,” Kyleigh added, earning herself a rather potent glare.

But before Lysander could retort, Kael stepped in. “Yes, and that’s no way to speak to your new King.”

Lysander’s chin nearly touched his chest.

Devin whirled around like he’d taken a shock. “A King?”

“I’ll explain it to you later, child,” Argon assured him. “For now, we must simply —”

“No,
no
!” Thelred shoved his way to the front of the crowd and fixed his burning scowl directly onto Kael. “There’s no way you’re going to make him King. In a long list of ridiculous things you’ve done, this is by far the most ridiculous. We won’t let it happen.”

“Then you’re welcome to fight him for it. One quick blast of flame, and I think you’ll all know who the King is,” Kael said. He struggled not to laugh when Thelred took a step back.

Lysander, who’d been quietly watching Devin for a long moment, waved his cousin aside. “There’s no need to get all testy about this, Red. We haven’t even given the boy a chance.”

The pirates leaned forward when Lysander marched up to Devin. It was clear that they didn’t want him to get any closer — but it was also clear that none of them were eager to follow.

Devin bent nearly double at Lysander’s gesture, until they stood face to face. The Captain regarded him with a stony-eyed look. “Before we agree to make you King, there’s something I need to know.”

“What is it?”
 

“How will you handle the taxes?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know what a
taxes
is.”

“They’re horrible, nasty little rules used to chain decent men beneath an unjust burden of gold.”

Devin’s dark brows snapped low at this. “Then the taxes will be destroyed. I don’t want anyone in chains.”

“Well, he’s got my vote,” Lysander said with a grin.

Thelred dragged his hands down either side of his face. “You don’t
vote
for a King,” he grumbled.

But the pirates’ cheers quickly drowned out his protests.

Once they’d picked their way through the crowded hall, they got a few moments’ peace. Then they found the giants.

“Ho there, you scrawny wee mountain rat! Don’t think you’re getting by without giving the Prince a proper greeting.”

Kael didn’t have much of a choice. The moment he turned the corner, the damp stains of Brend’s tunic were right at his eyes’ level — and the giant pressed him tightly against their reeking folds.

“And who’s this? Not the great black terror who was chasing us around the forest, eh?” Brend glanced at the streaks of iron that crusted across Devin’s chest before he reached over and ruffled him on the top of his spiny head. “Giants don’t like to be chased. We’re likely to trip, if you force us to move our legs like that.”

“I won’t chase you again,” Devin swore.

At Argon’s sharp nudge, Kael gave the giants the news. He was expecting Brend to snort and say
never
. But surprisingly, he only shrugged.

“What you manfolk decide to do with Midlan’s throne is your own business. The giants already have their Prince,” he said, to a collective grunt from the soldiers behind him. “As long as your King stays away from our crops and out of our lands, you’ll have no trouble from us.”

“That seems fair enough.” Kyleigh looked up at Devin. “What do you say?”

The boy frowned at Brend. “What are
crops
?”

His question brought on a roar of laughter from the giants — while Brend looked as if he’d just been slapped. “What are …?
Crops
are the lifeblood of your clodded Kingdom, I’ll have you know. If it weren’t for the giants growing all of your food, you’d have not a thing to eat.”

“I have a garden,” Devin offered. “Would you like to see it?”

“Oh, a
garden
, he says.” Brend snorted and rolled his eyes. But after a moment, his scowl softened a bit. “I hope you’ve got some barley growing in there. Well, it’s a shame if you haven’t — the soil’s perfect for it!” he said when Devin shook his head.

“Have you at least got some rosemary, or sage?” one of the giants called.