Elam (10 page)

Asher looked at the small dragon, and Elam went to his knees when the others did. His brother was a great man, a better leader than anyone he’d ever known. But this was a task that Elam would be at a lost to deal with. He knew as well as any of them did that Drumple was right. Asher did have every right to kill him.

“You have been a good dragon, Drumple?” The dragon nodded and bowed before him. “I wish you to answer me please. I should like to hear what you have to say for yourself.”

“There was a need, sire, a need to keep the order, and I filled it. I am...I was the oldest of us. At nine hundred and some years, I was turned to when times were bad.” He bowed again, his head touching the dirt. But this time he didn’t rise up. “I knew not that a king had been born. My only thought was to help my family and the families of my friends.”

“Thank you.” Drumple looked up, then put his head back down when Asher thanked him. “Come on, stand. I wish to honor you for your hard work. Without you taking charge, all would have been lost. You did me a great favor by doing what you did. It is my understanding that you and yours, you’re the last of your kind. I must thank you for keeping your family safe so that we might live and grow together here.”

“You’re not mad at me?” Drumple stood up, his chest puffed out like he had a great pride now. “They told me you’d be the one. A great king like King Anthony was. A good man he was. The best we dragons had ever seen. He was kind to humans too. Kept them fed, well clothed, and assisted them in things that were not of his station. And his lady wife, she’d put out sweets for us daily. Planted them roses too, so we’d have a nice scent in our homes.”

“You lived here? In the castle?” Drumple turned to Elam, nodding. “And you know what this is, this crown that we’ve found? Can you tell us who it belonged to?”

“Oh, aye, sir. We all know. ‘Tis the king’s.” Elam looked at the crown with a new respect. To know for sure that it had sat upon the head of the dragon king, King Anthony, all those millennia ago made the find all the more special. “Would you like for us to bring it up, my lord? We can get into places that you cannot with your hands. We’d be as gentle with him as he was with us. Firm, but getting the job done.”

“Yes. Please.” Asher stood and the rest of them did as well. “Just be careful not to be harmed in this. We have no idea what might be under it, or even what traps might have been cast upon it.”

“We’ll be careful, and we’ll make sure that if we find more, we’ll let you know.” The body. They were talking about the body of the king. Would he have had it on during the siege? For some reason Elam didn’t think so, but backed up when the other dragons came to the hole.

There were perhaps a hundred of them, along with brownies and faeries. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to be a part of this, to bring…as he’d begun to think of it…bring the king home. Elam looked around. They all felt it, the need to finish this.

As the dragons worked together, getting as much dirt and debris as possible from around the crown, the rest of them worked on the walls. New stone was being cut by their dragons. Each piece of it was being left where it lay for the time being. The other stones, the ones too small to be used, were being set in piles by size, to be used where they could when the need arose. Elam looked around as Ariannona handed him a bottle of water.

“You’ve done much.” He nodded and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “The lower levels, do you know how you’re going to go about getting them together?”

“I’m not sure. Asher said something about having Essie and Lindsey go in and see if they can get the earth to move things. We’re guessing that is how they did it in the first place. Asked the earth to help.” She nodded. “Maybe you could lend them a hand when it comes time for it to happen.”

“I can do that. And they did work with the earth. On all of this area.” Elam sometimes forgot that she had known the king and queen as well. “When the earth moved to make the rooms below, many people thought the earth was turning inside out. Humans even then understood nothing of the people that they served. Of course, anyone with any magic would have been drained a little. Borrowing from the earth as they’d done made us all a little dizzy.”

“It would have been hard work, I imagine, living and working here. And dark too.” She shook her head and told him how the light had shone up from the bottom. “You mean there is an outside entrance to the lower levels? Is it around here?”

“Yes. Beyond there, the big mountain. It would have been the way that they brought in the servants and food.” He asked her to take him there. Asher came with them, as did Casdon as his dragon, as they walked to the place she’d remembered. “I know that there were great stones put in place. And then wooden ones used to reinforce on the inner walls of it in the event of an attack from this area. I don’t think that anyone but the help knew about it. I did, of course. A woman I stayed with at times was cook in the kitchens that weren’t a part of the castle.”

“The bakery.” She nodded at his statement. “We have the layout of the castle, and someone had written that there were other buildings to be put in. A drying room, a looming room, as well as a smoke house for meats. But if there were a few off-site buildings, we can’t seem to locate any of them. And the plans don’t talk about them being finished either.”

“Because they were never meant to be a part of the whole. The king wanted to keep his people safe from all that might come to harm them. I don’t think he expected to be attacked through his own front door. Or perhaps he did. I’m not sure.” Just as they rounded the side of the mountain that the castle was a part of, the buildings, now overgrown with trees, came into view. “These buildings were not a part of the castle—not attached, I mean—because the king didn’t want the people working in them to know the workings of the castle. They came and went as they needed. And by the same route, the people working the castle keep would not know where the entrance was either. Guards would bring in the food stuffs, and only them. It was his way of keeping everyone safe.”

“Elbert never mentioned it either.” Ariannona said he might not have been aware of it, as he was working inside the building rather than out. “But how did they think the food came in and out of the castle? Magic?”

“Perhaps. Most of them would have been aware on some level that they worked for and served dragons. They would see them in the skies and know that they were there. But as for the magical part of it, even with the dragons about, they didn’t want to think of what they were, I think. Even back during that time, witches for the most part were burned alive. Only the very strong, as well as the ones that the king and queen used, would have been left to their own business.”

They made their way down a path that was worn but starting to become part of the forest that held it again. Trees that he was sure had not been there when the path was being used by the people working here were now as big as he was. Stones too, large ones, and he was sure pieces of the castle were in the pathway now. When they ended up where he thought the back of the castle would be, he looked at the large stone walls and then at her.

“You cannot see it.” He looked again, as did Asher and Casdon. “It’s because you were not supposed to. Come, I’ll show you what only a very few knew about the stone walls on this side of the entrance. I think...perhaps I’ve been wrong all along, but I thought I got this information from the king by accident. Like maybe a lot of stuff I got from him, which seemed random and useless, was what he really meant for me to have.”

She moved to the walls and touched her fingers to a seemingly narrow crack in it. There were several, he noticed, but she followed one, kept to the path like she knew what she was about. As soon as she ran her fingers down the length of it, he could see a bright light shining from where she’d been. When she stepped back after touching a few of the holes that had formed, they all did as well. And when the stone moved, knocking trees out of its way, smaller stones as well, Elam knew why Anthony had done it.

“If they did not know the path to take nor had any magic, then it would have only looked like a stone that had been injured.” Ariannona nodded. “Do you suppose it’s safe to go in?”

“Yes. I think we have to enter. But we’ll wait for more daylight. And the rest of the family. This is something that we’ll all need to be a part of.” Asher looked at Ariannona and smiled. “You will have to teach this to us. This pattern. It’s not as easy as you made it look, I think.”

“No, it’s not. I did not show it all to you because...well, I wasn’t sure you’d want everyone to know it. I think it smart that you do, but I would, if I were you, limit this knowledge to just your family. When you get the castle up and going, it would do you well to have a point of escape.”

Escape. Yes, they’d need that, Elam thought. If for no other reason than safety. One or two of those reasons might involve them being under attack, but he didn’t think that was any more likely than one of them getting swallowed up by the earth. It could happen, he supposed, but the likelihood of it was low.

“Good thinking. Yes, I like that idea.” Asher asked her to show the three of them how to close then open the door several times. It really wasn’t that easy to follow. What they’d not seen was that her other hand was following another pattern, and you had to keep them both straight as it was unlocked. “How many mistakes can you make before it doesn’t allow you to enter?”

When she didn’t answer him, Asher turned to Ariannona. She had the most peculiar look on her face, and Elam might have thought it funny if he wasn’t nervous about her answer. When she looked at the wall then back at Asher, Elam knew this was going to be great.

“I’m pretty sure that it knows you’re the king.” Asher nodded but still looked confused. “Command it, Asher. Give it a command and I’m pretty sure that it will heed you.”

Asher looked at the wall. He looked...well, Elam thought he looked terrified. And when he backed from it, his hands behind his back, Elma asked him what was wrong.

“I’m not sure, but the thought that I can command a stone to move for me gives me the willies. I think perhaps we’ll table that task for a later date.” He looked visibly shaken by the idea. “So for now, we’ll just use the pattern. All right?”

The other buildings were looked at, but none of them wanted to go inside the buildings, nor did they seem inclined to even venture too close. It wasn’t as if they were afraid, Elam thought, but sort of overwhelmed by it all. He knew that he was a little. There was so much to learn about this place, the people that worked here, even the things that they’d done to keep their lives, for the most part, simple and safe. Elam wondered if, when they finished the castle and all of the surrounding buildings, they’d use some of the old ways or keep it as modern as they could. He was all for a mixture of both, really.

They made their way back to the keep, and Ariannona said she’d have Izic check out the other buildings for them. She knew that one of them would have been a drying house, and thought perhaps there might be some things still there that they could use.

As soon as they were at the keep again, Elam knew that something had happened. And whatever it might have been was where the dragons had been working. He was almost afraid to go and see.

Chapter 9

Ralph caught himself several times over the next couple of days simply staring off into the woods. There wasn’t anyone there, and he’d not heard anything that he knew of to make him just stand still and look, but he still found himself doing it. And the slightest sound or movement in the camper had him screaming like a kid and running for cover.

His mind wandered to the note again. It was simple in its message, but no less scary. “See ya.” That was all it said, just those two words. And for some odd reason, it made him all jumpy and out of sorts.

He’d been outside of the camper for most of the morning. Twice he’d had to go to the bathroom, and had simply pissed on a tree. He was afraid of the place. Not the camper so much as being caught inside it. Ralph was going over the edge and he knew it.

To call his mobile home a camper was really downgrading what it was. It had so much more in it than his house had had, and it was all new and modern as well. The bedroom had a king-sized bed with a dresser big enough to hold all his clothing. Even a closet if he put his mind to hanging things up in it. The big screen television was hooked up to satellite that was coming from the dish on the top. He had his own bathroom. There was a second bedroom as well, with a set of bunkbeds that held one twin and one double sized mattress. Two built in dressers as well as a television were in there, and a game system that hadn’t been out of the box yet. The living room boasted two large recliners, a love seat, and an entertainment center that housed not just a fine stereo system, but another big screen television and game system that he had opened and had enjoyed on rainy days. The hardwood floors were beautiful, and it had several windows he could open if he didn’t want to use his air conditioning.

The kitchen was state of the art, with a microwave unit, oven, and stove top. There was lots of cabinet space too, as well as counter tops. He had a coffee maker, blender, and anything else he might want to use stashed over the table cabinets. Even a washer and dryer was there for him to use. Which he had recently, staying inside only long enough to put in a new load and to bring out the wet things to dry. Two full baskets of folded dry clothing were waiting to be taken in and put away, as a matter of fact. Just getting up the nerve to stay inside long enough to do it was the problem.

He was being stupid, he knew this. But it didn’t make him any less afraid of going into his home. Ralph thought seriously about just leaving, giving up his dream of killing a dragon. But he was so broke that if he didn’t do something soon, he was going to even lose the house he had now. Things were beyond critical. It was nearly massive destruction phase. Sitting on the chair that he’d set out from the dining room table this morning, he looked at the map he’d been using.

“They’re out there. I know it.” He had seen them; one he’d even managed to kill, but that too had lost its appeal for him. He no longer wanted to be rich and famous. He wanted.... “What do you want? A warm bed? It’s in that thing if you do. You want money? Sure who doesn’t, but what will it get you other than more shit?” And now he was talking to himself as well as answering his own questions again. Plus, he was sounding whiney and old fashioned.

He sounded like his mother. She had told him, even as a child, that more did not necessarily mean better. She had lived in the house he grew up in right up until the day she’d passed. The garden in the back of the house was planted every spring and harvested every fall. His mom had even canned things, frozen what she could, and ate from it instead of going to the store and buying things. Which, in his opinion, was so much better.

When he went to let the police in after not hearing from her for several days, he was surprised to find the house exactly like it had been when he was a child. The same couch, same old giant microwave, which he was sure she’d never used, and even the table and chairs that she’d told him once were a wedding gift from his dad’s parents.

Newspapers that the Boy Scouts collected were bundled up and tied with butcher’s string in the garage. Even her one dish was clean and put away, no draining them overnight for her. She used to say that a washing up needed to be complete. Any fool could leave out a dish to dry all night. It took a clean person to dry them with a towel and put them away when done.

And there his mom had been, in her old night gown, on her side of the full-sized bed. Her comforter was folded neatly at the bottom, her robe lying on the chair near the vanity that held her brush, mirror, and perfume. Ralph had thought it the saddest thing in the world to see that not one thing in his mom’s life had moved on after he’d left home. Now he found he wanted to go back to those simpler times.

The sounds in the forest had him tensing up, but he didn’t run this time. Instead he watched with his hand on his gun for whatever might come out of the woods for him. And he was sure as he was sitting there that something would. When nothing appeared, he went back to his thoughts. This time he thought of the man who had come by to see him about moving on.

The man, Asher, had told him there were faeries and witches. He was pretty sure that the woman in white had been what she’d told him, and she was now living with Asher and the rest of them. Faerie? He wasn’t so sure about them. Not that he thought the man would lie to him, but Ralph wasn’t sure. He thought it stupid that he’d believe in dragons but not faeries, but he hadn’t really been known for his intelligence.

“Like it matters in the long run.” The note fluttered in the small breeze, and he captured it with his fingers. Putting it under his glass, he thought of the vampire and her thug. “See ya…like that’s supposed to make me feel better. I don’t want you around.”

It was daylight now, so that was one of the reasons he’d been spending most of his time out. That and the fact that he really was afraid of getting trapped. The feeling, even in his bed, had him opening windows wide and not shutting any doors in his place when he was in it. Even the cabinet doors had been left open. He felt off his rocker.

“Hello.” Ralph held his breath when he heard the small voice. Looking around, trying to gauge if he should shoot or run, he didn’t see anything until the voice sounded again. “Down here. I’m on the table.”

Lowering his head, he looked at the little man standing on the map. Blinking several times, afraid to move his hands to wipe at his eyes, Ralph let go of his breath when he realized that his head was hurting. The little man sat down, his legs crossed in front of him, while Ralph continued to stare at him.

“I’m Izic.” Ralph nodded slowly. “You met me the other week. My mistress and I came upon you in the clearing. She had Bear scare you.”

“The woman in white.” Izic nodded. “I’m not seeing you, am I? You’re my mind going over the edge of Xanadu, and I’m never going to be the same again.”

“Xanadu? I’m not sure where that might be. But then I’ve not traveled much beyond these lands. Where is that Xanadu place?” He said it as if it were three different words. “It matters not. I will not be traveling anymore anyway. I’ve a job now. Watching over things that are going on. Even the few I have working for me are all but jealous of my new.... I’m to stay focused, she told me. All right then. I have come to ask you to dinner.”

“Dinner?” Izic nodded. “Are you going to eat me? Or do you...I don’t know, are you going to serve me up to someone?”

Izic stood up and put his tiny little hand on Ralph’s cheek. Ralph was so startled by the action that he stayed where he was, even leaned down a little to let him touch him. When Izic seemed satisfied with whatever he was checking, he sat back down.

“You are not feverous or looking ill. I don’t know what sort of creature you think might want to eat a human such as yourself, but I don’t know that many humans. They are, in my opinion, a quite odd group. Once when we were about town, I saw a man take a lady’s handbag. Just ripped it off her arm as if he’d a right to have it. Then one time there was.... Focus, Izic. Focus.” Ralph nodded. “Nay, no one is to eat you. You are to eat with us. I was sent to invite you to dinner with the family. It is a celebration of sorts. We have found the king’s body, you see.”

“King?” Again Izic nodded, smiling this time. “And this king, he’s a what? A little person like you are?”

“Oh no, he’s the former dragon king.” Of course, Ralph thought, dragons needed a king. “And I am not a little person. I’m a brownie. I have...my mistress, she thought you’d be less...I believe she said freaked out if I didn’t appear in my real form. Brownies are the most beautiful of creatures if you were to put the question to me. If you don’t mind, I can change back now.”

“Yeah, okay. Go ahead.” The little man stood up but before he did anything...like changing to his true form, whatever that might be…Ralph wanted to make something clear. Lifting his hand up, to show the man he had a question, Izic nodded at him. “I’m already freaked out, just so you know. I have a vampire lover and the man who watches over her watching me, I think. Dragons flying overhead almost all the time that aren’t supposed to be real, according to a man by the name of Asher. I’m terrified of my home for reasons I can’t really understand myself, and a man, Asher again, came by the other day and told me that he smelled of faeries and witches. Having you as a brownie is beginning to sound sort of normal.”

“You are most odd. Has anyone said that to you?” Ralph nodded and watched as Izic shook his body. “There. Much better.”

For who, he wanted to ask him. A small...being, he supposed was the best way to describe him, was standing in the middle of his table, with wings. And not just any wings, either. They were sparkly, like someone had dunked the little creature in a bowl of mixed up glitter and it stuck to him everywhere. His face, hands, even his bare feet were bright with it. And then there was his body.

Every inch of it—well, the whole three inches of him—was covered in leather clothing. His boots were a dark brown, his shirt a little lighter than that, and his pants were some color in between. He had no hair on his head, but his arms, which were bare, seemed to have enough for both of their heads. There was a scabbard at his side but Ralph didn’t see a weapon, though he figured, since he was looking at a brownie, that he’d just make one appear and cut Ralph’s throat out. When he bowed at the waist, then stood up again, Ralph just stared.

“You’re not human.” The little thing said of course he wasn’t. “Okay, yeah, not human. And you have wings. Little bitty wings. You’re only about three inches tall and you sparkle like you’re one of those disco seventy lights.”

“Much larger wings would not be good for one so small, you think? And I am wee, yes, but it’s a perfect size for a brownie, don’t you think? As for the disco thing you speak of, I’ve not an idea how to answer that one. I’m no different than most, wouldn’t you say?” Ralph nodded, feeling more and more like one of those bobble head dolls that were all the rage a few years back. “You are looking puckish.”

“I’m feeling a bit off my feed, yes.” Izic asked him if he was going to make it. “Make it? Oh, to the dinner celebration. Okay. Yeah, sure.”

He realized that he’d said that several times now, and tried to think what other way he could convey his approval. There wasn’t one as far as he could see. Ralph was certainly going to need professional help when he got out of this nightmare. He followed Izic to wherever he was leading him, and Ralph decided that when he returned to his camper, he was heading out. There was nothing worth what he’d been going through in the last several days.

~~~

Ariannona could not believe how much food had been made for this thing. She’d never been to a picnic before and had assumed, like she’d seen in movies or the television, that they’d have a few items in a basket and a cooler for drinks. Then someone would break out a flying disc before they headed to their cars.

“You should really close your mouth.” Ariannona did so now with a snap of her teeth. Zak, the dragon to Jed, sat down next to her on the big porch. “You’re overwhelmed.”

“Yes. Very much so. There are just so many of you.” He nodded and tossed a small stone to the gravel drive that led to the garage out back. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to have the slayer coming here? What if he decides to harm us all?”

“He won’t be able to cross the boundaries of the land’s magic if he does.” Ariannona knew that but had forgotten. “Besides, sending Izic to get him might wear him out a little. He will have to keep up with him.”

“Izic thought it a great honor to have been asked to get the human.” Zak said he’d figured that out. “Yes, he can be very vocal when he’s happy. I think that is why when I found him he was alone but for his flowers.”

The slayer was coming here. And if he even harmed her friend in the smallest of ways, she was going to kill him. But come he was, and for reasons that boggled her mind.

Asher had said he felt badly for what they’d done to the man. First they’d lied to him. Then they’d set upon him with more lies in the form of magic. The man was human, and if they pushed him too far, which Asher thought they had, then there would be no stopping him from bringing other men smarter than the slayer to them, and the dragons would not be safe. Ariannona looked at Zak when he cleared his throat.

“I know there is a difference between faeries and brownies—I mean, other than appearances—but how do they differ in the world as we know it?” Zak flushed slightly. “You’d think someone who has been around for a long time would know that, wouldn’t you?”

“Not necessarily. There are many beings that have been here longer than any of us. The mountains know nothing about the sky other than that it warms their backs when they need it and helps the plants on them grow and propagate.” Ariannona watched the new dragon hatchlings playing in the dirt by the main house. “It depends on what sort of faerie it is to know what differences there are. Some wake the flowers with dewy kisses. Others put them to bed…you know, close up the blooms for them. Other faeries, they work with the trees and grasses. Some the water. The brownies only have one function as far as I can see, and that’s to be with the dragons. And since there are so few of them out in the open, brownies numbers have declined a great deal.”