Kethril (10 page)

“You’re almost as bad as he is,” Sir Danth
told Tathan while pointing at Vevin. “However, I managed to keep up
with you.” He smiled as though it was a great accomplishment.

Anilyia kept quiet, waiting to see what
would happen. In the past, she shunned Vevin whenever possible, not
even looking at him if she could avoid it. Now she studied him. He
seemed truly miserable. There was no crafty shift in his body or
evil look from the side of his eyes. It was a mystery to her that
he honestly
did
appear to be good. But that went against
everything she knew. Throughout the history of Ryallon, there
hadn’t been even one myth of a dragon saving a princess. They only
ever ate princesses.

“Can you give us details, Vevin?” Tathan
asked.

Vevin dug a toe into the dirt. Most of the
time he was mature and intelligent, but every once in a while he
acted childlike in manner and speech. Liselle squeezed his hand.
“It’s alright, dear. We can see how much it upsets you.”

Anilyia was about to protest, but Vevin
spoke first. “No, they’re right. You’ve all told me about
yourselves and shown me trust when it would have been easy to hate
me for what I am.” He smiled hesitantly. “I like you and want to be
your friend so I’ll tell you, but . . .”

“Yes?” Tathan encouraged.

“Humans aren’t supposed to know about some
of the things I’m going to tell you, so you have to promise not to
tell anyone,” Vevin said.

“I promise,” Tathan agreed easily as did
Liselle and Sir Danth. Anilyia stayed quiet. Any knowledge of
dragons was invaluable to her country.

“Your Highness, it is a legitimate request
and you must give your royal word should you wish him to share the
information,” Sir Danth pointed out. “I, for one, admit my
curiosity about the matter and hope you
do
promise.”

She huffed. “Fine! I promise.” They didn’t
appear convinced. She raised her right hand. “I give my royal word
that I won’t tell anyone.” Then she stared at Vevin with arms
folded, waiting for him to tell the story. She wasn’t about to
admit it, but Anilyia was interested by that point too.

Vevin began swaying back and forth in a
serpentine motion while he talked. Anilyia realized he was
performing some sort of magic, but was helpless to avoid it. She
also realized the others were just as thoroughly enchanted. Terror
ran up her spine and danced on the hairs of her neck.

“Whites are the most pure and good, oranges
are the most powerful and brave, blacks are the most vile and evil,
and purples are the most magical and intelligent of the dragons.”
Vevin’s voice filled with power as he told the story. It was a far
cry from the nervous toe digging moments earlier. “The four do not
interact for the most part and they certainly do not
interbreed.”

“However . . . There was a time . . .” It
was clear Vevin didn’t want to continue. The enchantment remained
strong and Anilyia realized she couldn’t interrupt if she wanted
to. Liselle squeezed his hand again though. Anilyia grasped that
Liselle hadn’t been included in the enchantment and it made her
jealous.

He smiled and continued. “A young white
dragon did a terrible thing once and was kicked out of his cave by
his mother. He traveled for a long time before being captured by
black dragons. Those black dragons took him somewhere secret and
tortured him. The torture corrupted the weak-minded young dragon
and he became evil, the first white dragon to be so. Both his body
and mind were scarred and twisted.

Pain shown on Vevin’s face. “He then went on
a rampage of chaos that broke laws of dragonkind. Eventually, he
was caught and taken before a Council of Dragons.” Anilyia felt a
tightening of pressure from the enchantment Vevin was performing.
She realized the existence of a Council of Dragons was forbidden
knowledge.

“They stripped many of his powers and cast
him out with a warning not to violate any more laws. He slunk
around the world; an insane, cruel creature bent on harming
anything less powerful than he.” Vevin stopped again, more pain
evident in his face. Liselle squeezed his hand and smiled in
encouragement.

“He found an immature purple dragon, just
come of age. Her mother had cast her out early to make way for new
dragonlets. She found a cave to live in and took what little
treasure she inherited. Just a day after being there, the outcast
white dragon found her. He raped her.” Tears flowed down Vevin’s
cheeks. They were liquid silver and stained the skin. When they hit
the ground, they turned into silver dragonflies that fluttered
clumsily with their new wings. Anilyia had tears of her own running
down her cheeks, as did Tathan and Liselle. If Sir Danth had
cheeks, tears would have been running down his too. The sight of
the silver insects was breathtaking. When Anilyia felt the
tightening of pressure from the enchantment again, she realized it
was another thing she would never be able to mention.

“Dragons don’t rape each other, whether they
be good or evil. It’s just not done.” Vevin took a deep breath to
compose himself. The last of the tears fell and transformed into
dragonflies but there were still silver streaks down his face.
Anilyia counted eight of the insects in all.

“After mating, a father normally leaves the
mother to take care of the baby on her own. Dragons are very
solitary creatures.” Again, there was a tightening of pressure. “He
didn’t leave though. He stayed with her, raped her frequently, beat
her and dominated her.”

“After a while, a dragonlet was born.” Vevin
took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “My mother did everything
she could to protect me from my father. She would cover me with her
body whenever he beat her.” More tears turned into dragonflies.

Anilyia stopped counting them because her
own eyes were too blurry. There was great sorrow in such
magnificent -for even with her prejudice against them eating
princesses, she recognized dragons as magnificent- creatures
behaving in such a human manner. Contemplating his words, she
realized he was the child of the twisted white dragon and the
immature purple. The pressure tightened again and she realized the
enchantment wouldn’t let her tell anyone that either.

“I didn’t get a lot of treasure growing up.
My father kept it all, for he was greedy.” Vevin’s head hung in
misery. “I grew up in fear of him, hiding behind my mother. She was
so brave and protective of me.” He smiled fondly. “Then one day,
not too long ago, I finally stood up to my father. He was surprised
and ran away at my show of bravery. My mother and I did a dance.
Father didn’t come back for months and we became stronger. He had
left most of his treasure, so mother took a small share for herself
and gave me a share too. We didn’t take all of it, as dragons don’t
steal each other’s treasures. It’s against the law of
dragonkind.”

The pressure tightened again. Anilyia was
getting frustrated. She wanted to talk about all the fascinating
things she was learning. Vevin took yet another deep breath. “Then
he came back. I thought I would be able to scare him off again, but
my father is dangerous and crafty. He did this.” Vevin pointed at
the scar that went down the left side of his face from crown to
chin. “It hurt a lot. Then my father killed my mother.”

Great sobs wracked Vevin’s body as Liselle
stood and hugged him. The trance was broken and the others could
move again.

Anilyia was in a quandary. If the story was
true, Vevin was both white and purple, meaning both good and evil.
Anilyia concluded that Vevin was good. After all, his mother had
shown him bravery and compassion, which Vevin had turned into
courage and the noble act of defending his mother.

By that point, there were silver dragonflies
flitting all about the area. Anilyia was stunned when one went into
the water and turned blue. Another landed on a leaf and turned
green. One by one, they would touch something and turn the color of
whatever they touched. One landed on a violet flower that was
craving Liselle’s attention. The flower wiggled its petals, making
the dragonfly fly away, but not before it had matched the brilliant
purple color.

“My father left us both for dead. I keened
over my mother’s body for hours upon waking.” Vevin had regained
control, but still looked miserable. “One of the punishments my
father received was having his healing ability taken away. They
also removed it from any children he might have. As a result, I
wasn’t able to heal my cut.” He ran a finger down the scar.

Liselle comforted him. “I wish I could have
been there to heal it then.”

“Oh no, I’m glad you weren’t there. My
father would have killed you too and that would have been
terrible.” Vevin’s eyes swirled rapidly. “As it was, he came back.
I stood over my mother’s body as he took her treasure and mine,
putting it back with his. Then he attacked me again. I struck out
with lightning to distract him and took to the air. It was the
first time I had ever flown. It’s wrong not to let dragons fly, you
know.”

They all nodded sympathetically. Vevin
realized they weren’t enchanted anymore. “You can’t tell anyone
that. I put a geas on you before to make you keep your promises
because I have to.” Everyone turned to stare at Anilyia. She put
her arms out. “What? I said I promised! I don’t break my promises
even if I want to.” Vevin nodded and smiled. His teeth were still
intimidating, but she didn’t feel like he wanted to eat her
anymore.

“My father chased me through the sky, trying
to kill me. I wasn’t good at flying, but I think that helped
because he couldn’t predict where I was going. He cast magic at me
and breathed white flames. I can’t tell you how scared I was.
Finally, I crashed in the Willden a short distance from Aaltdiin
where I went to hide and sleep. Tathan and Liselle showed up a few
weeks later and that was the really, really, really, really,
really, really best thing that ever happened to me.” He smiled and
hugged Liselle.

“Where was that cave, and where were you
flying when your father was attacking you?” Tathan asked
thoughtfully.

Vevin shook his head. “A dragon never tells
where their cave is or any other dragon’s cave. I don’t mind that
you know where my new one is, but I can’t tell you where my
father’s is, plus I don’t think it’s his only one even though
dragons aren’t allowed to have more than one cave.

“Can you tell me if it was to the south of
Aaltdiin, if you were over a valley and if it was late at night
with Siahray three quarters full and Piohray half full?”

Vevin thought for a moment and then nodded
with a puzzled look on his face.

Tathan smiled. “I saw a burst of white
flames in the sky and thought it was dragons playing. I’m sorry I
didn’t know at the time.”

Vevin let go of Liselle for a moment and
came over to give Tathan a big hug. “Thank you for being my
friend.” They patted each other on the back. Vevin went back to
holding Liselle, while Tathan took Anilyia in his arms.

She buried her face in his shoulder for a
minute then looked at Vevin. “So you’re really not evil and you’re
not going to eat me?”

“I promise,” Vevin said holding up his right
hand. Anilyia nodded and went back to hugging Tathan.

She felt Tathan’s voice in his chest as he
spoke. “Let’s get our things together. Liselle, for the next couple
of days you’ll lie on a stretcher we have that Sir Danth and Vevin
will carry. We’ll take it easy to start with. There’s a decent size
city called Neveel a week’s journey from here. That’s our next
stop. From there we’ll rest for a good while as we decide where to
go next.

The journey to Neveel took nine days. There
were occasional houses in the distance to either side of the road.
Each one excited Liselle, as she wondered aloud what the people who
lived in them might be like. After the first couple of days,
Liselle was well enough to walk on her own, though they kept an
easy pace so as not to fatigue her.

One rough house near the road had children
playing outside. When Liselle started walking toward them, Tathan
warned her it was a bad idea. She waved him off, eager to meet new
people. It stunned her when the children screamed and ran inside.
Their mother came to the door with panic spread across her face.
“We aint got no valuables!” the plain woman yelled at them before
slamming it.

“Adventurers tend to treat peasants poorly.
We look dangerous to them,” Tathan told her.

Sorrow filled Liselle’s expression as she
glanced back over her shoulder. Frightened faces looked from behind
a leather flap covering a window opening.

Four days into the journey, they rested at a
small inn on the corner of a muddy intersection. A light drizzle
had washed the bright day away by noon and didn’t appear to want to
let go. Liselle spent hours talking to the friendly innkeeper and
some of the local peasants. They were wary of her and the others at
first, but Liselle’s charm got to them and they became enamored of
her. Tathan and Sir Danth restrained Vevin from killing a few that
flirted with her in vain. In her innocence, Liselle didn’t notice
the flirting or her lover’s angst.

The rain cleared the next morning, but
clouds on the horizon hinted that more could come at any time.
Three days later, they made good on their threat and began to
drizzle again. Liselle looked around at the cold grey skies and
droopy plants.

She felt bad for the bent flowers with sad
drops of rain falling off like little tears. Autumn was present in
full force and they knew they were going to go into hiding until
spring. Liselle would be able to sense them under the ground in the
winter, but she missed their colorful petals.

The thought crossed her mind that it might
be possible to part the clouds and stop the rain. Liselle
considered how to do it. Looking up, she could see the moisture in
the clouds and even came to realize how they worked. She could part
them by reorganizing all the water and changing of some
temperatures.