Silver Dragon (2 page)

"Caitlyn, stop," Alto said when her voice cracked.

Caitlyn shook her head. "No, she has to know!"

"Why?" he demanded. "Why does she have to know? Why does anyone need to know? We know, isn't that enough?"

"Know what?" Aleena persisted.

"They killed them, all of them," Caitlyn whispered. She swallowed before continuing. "Our brothers and sisters. All of them. They killed them."

Alto threw his hands up in the air and turned away.

"Oh saints," Aleena said, her hand going to her mouth. "At least they didn't find you!"

She shook her head. "They found me," she breathed.

Aleena looked confused. "Why didn't—"

"They wanted my parents to see me getting hurt."

"Hurt?"

"That's enough," Alto turned back and insisted. He wasn't sure if he said it to help Caitlyn or himself. He didn't want to relive what she'd gone through any more than he imagined she did.

"No, it's not. They used me and beat me. They hurt me."

Aleena's eyes widened as she realized what it was that Caitlyn was telling her.

"Then they killed my parents and left me tied up in case any of them were in the mood again until Alto got back."

Aleena's eyes shifted to the young warrior. He shook his head. "Come, Caitlyn, it's time to go."

"No!" Aleena grabbed his arm. "Tell me. What happened?"

Alto stared down at her but couldn't make his mouth work.

"He killed them," Caitlyn said. "He killed them all.
He punished them for what they done and he burned their bodies."

"How many?" Aleena breathed.

"Five. A knight and his four warriors."

Aleena stared into Alto's eyes. "You killed them?"

Alto broke his gaze away from her. "Forget you ever knew me. You'll sleep better and live longer for it." He gathered up Caitlyn with his arm around her shoulders and pulled her with him towards the bridge and away from Aleena.

"It wasn't your fault," Aleena said. "You avenged them!"

Alto stopped moving and felt Caitlyn trembling beside him. "They came looking for me. I wasn't there, so they punished me and they waited for me."

Aleena's silence was the answer Alto had hoped for.

"If anybody asks about me, pretend you never knew me," Alto said. "Live a long and happy life. Good bye, Aleena."

Alto pulled his sobbing sister along with him, ignoring the foolish vows of youth behind him. Aleena was his age but she hadn't seen what he'd seen. She hadn't done what he'd done. She was just one more child he would do anything to keep from getting hurt. Even if it killed him to do it.

"We're done here," Alto told his sister. "I'll get us some horses to ride to Holgasford where you can be safe."

"I'll never feel safe again," she whispered.

Alto winced. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Caitlyn nodded and buried her face into his shoulder, slowing their walk. "I'm glad you killed them," she whispered. "I hope you made them suffer."

They walked on in silence through the afternoon crowd.

Chapter 2

"I'll show you, Alto," Aleena called out after he led his sister away. "I'll prove myself to you!" Alto didn't turn around or look back. She saw Caitlyn lean into him a moment later, convincing her that her words had been lost. It didn't matter
; that didn't make them any less important to her.

Alto wasn't a childish crush. He wasn't just some handsome man in her father's tavern she'd taken a shini
ng to. Alto was something else entirely. She knew he'd been interested when they met, when he was just a farm boy lost in the big city. He'd shown her he still was, but he'd been so hard for her to be sure of. He'd resisted her time and again, even when she'd all but thrown herself at him. She'd teased him by pretending she liked his friends; they'd even played along at first. But Alto had been so stinking noble it had made her scream! He smiled and encouraged them, of all things! But she saw how he looked at her; she knew he wanted her for himself, too.

Aleena watched the man she'd decided she was going to marry walk away with his sister. She wanted to go after him and hold him to her and comfort him. Such a terrible thing, to lose so many people! But he still had her, didn't he realize that?
She could help him, like she'd done before. Nurse him back to health like she'd tried to do after the fire.

Aleena wiped the tears off her cheeks and stiffened her back. No, of course not, he didn't realize it because he had his sister. He had to protect her. Just like Alto had rushed into that burning building to save people he didn't even know. That was just the way he was. He was a hero. Her hero
too, but he didn't see it that way. Not yet. She'd show him what he meant to her. She'd show him that he could let himself need her, too. She could do things for him, things no other woman would do. Or at least things no other woman had a right to do.

But in order to show him, she had to have him around her. Right now he didn't want that. He wanted to be alone. Stupid boys, always thinking they could figure things out on their own! Her mother had showed her early on that people needed to talk
; that's why so many men came to their tavern. They knew they needed to talk, too, but they were men. They couldn't do it unless they got a few drinks in them. Then they forgot how they were supposed to be tough and they could talk a little bit. That's also how Aleena had saved up so much money from tips. She'd learned to have a sympathetic ear.

It wasn't enough to buy her own place but with Alto at her side
, they could have done anything! She frowned. How would she get him to let her stand at his side long enough so he could see what he meant to her?

The Lady Patrina, she was a warrior and he valued her as a companion. Aleena's eyes narrowed at the thought of the beautiful blond woman. And she was a princess of her people. How could Aleena compete with that?

"By being better than she is," Aleena said. She nodded her head as she considered her options. Alto protected people. Alto believed in doing the right thing. Alto was willing to risk his life to help others. She admired him because he believed so much in those things and because he was just Alto. He was handsome, strong, and so likeable!

She turned and rushed back inside her father's tavern, passing by him and barely giving him a wave. She retrieved her sack of coins from her chest and split it amongst three pouches at her belt
and then hurried back out.

"What are you up to?"
her father called as she made her way to the door. "It's nice to see a smile on your face again, but what are you up to?"

Aleena stopped when she realized she was grinning. "Lady Patrina was wrong," she said.

"Now Aleena, a lot of things are said in here when people have a few drinks in them; that don't make it right to call someone a liar."

Aleena shook her head. "No, I just talked to Alto.
He made it out! He's okay, well, sort of. I'm going to go see him again."

Her father raised his eyebrow
and then chuckled. "All right then, if that's so, tell him he's earned a free meal on me for the story of what happened."

Aleena nodded and skipped out the door. Her next stop was a few streets over at the Blades of Leander headquarters. Namitus had given her a key he'd made so she could come and go more easily to see Alto
; he'd just never been there or allowed her to show the kind of interest she'd wanted to.

With the building deserted
, she made her way upstairs and took some of Namitus's clothes. She left a few coins in his trunk and then made her way to Alto's room. She stripped out of her peasant's blouse and skirts before slipping Namitus's pants on. She used a dagger Alto had in his room to cut her skirts and wrap them tightly about her chest, and then slipped on Namitus's shirt. Finally, she used the dagger and a mirror to cut her hair as short as she could.

Aleena squared her shoulders and stared at the results. She thrust her jaw forward and scowled a little,
and then nodded. She could do it. In the right light, she just might pass herself off as a boy. She swallowed down her grin and reminded herself to scowl, and then hurried out of the building and walked straight in the Church of Leander that was next door.

She found an acolyte tending candles and asked him in the gruffest voice she could manage where she could leave a donation to the church and perhaps ask a favor. He directed her to a priest at a smaller
altar in a side room.

"How can Leander's grace shine upon thee, young man?"
the priest asked with a smile when Aleena remembered to drop to her knees before the altar.

With her head lowered respectfully
, she asked, "I'd like to give up all of my worldly belongings and give myself into Leander's grace."

"You seek to become a member of the clergy?"

"No, uh, Father," Aleena stumbled. "I meant I wish to become one of Leander's knights."

The priest paused a long moment before he looked down at her. "That's an unusual boon to ask."

"I have money!" Aleena blurted out. She grimaced and roughed her voice up. "I mean, for a donation, Father. To prove I don't take this lightly." She reached and untied each of her pouches and tossed them in a basin in front of the altar for offerings. One of the pouches opened and spilled out several coins. Aleena heard the priest's intake of breath but she forced herself to keep scowling.

"What is your name, young man?"

"Aleen, uh," she stammered, realizing she hadn't thought her disguise through all the way. "Excuse me, Father. Alin."

She could almost feel his frown as he looked down at her. After a painfully long moment of silence he said, "Come with me, Alin. I will take you to
Sir Amos. He is the Chief Protector of Leander's Portland church."

Aleena jumped to her feet and had to bite down on her tongue to keep from squealing in excitement. She was pretty sure boys didn't squeal. She followed the priest out of the offering room and down a hallway. He took her up some stairs and then down another hallway to an office. He knocked and
waited until they were bid to enter.

"
Sir Amos, pardon the interruption but you've just received a young man who expressed considerable interest in becoming a Knight of Leander."

Amos was a bald man Aleena guessed to be half again as old as he
r father. He lifted his eyes to look at her and saw right away that they were clear and skilled at picking out deception. She dropped her head in submission and shame. He knew she was a girl, he had to!

"What is your name?" Amos asked her.

"Alin, sir."

"And you wish to become a paladin? The right hand of Leander, striking out against injustice and evil?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Why?"

Aleena hesitated. Telling the priest she wanted to impress a boy was probably going to get her kicked out of the church so hard Leander himself might strike her down from the heavens above. But it wasn't about that. Not really. Sure, being with Alto promised an exciting life filled with grander things than she'd ever imagined, but there was more to it.

Standing ther
e in the bastion of Saint Leander, she felt something inside her. She remembered all the times Alto and Karthor had spoken of his church in her presence. She'd pretended to be working or paying no mind, but she'd listened close. Recalling them now, she heard the words again and found new meaning in them. She admired what Leander stood for, or at least what Karthor had explained Leander stood for. It seemed to her that Alto personified a lot of those traits, but that didn't mean she couldn't do the same. She lifted her head up until she was staring at a painting on the wall of Leander's crest, a blazing yellow sun with an all-seeing eye in the middle of it.

"I admire what Leander stands for. Purity, growth, protection
, and justice. I want to help to fight darkness and cruelty. I want to help people."

"That is what serving Leander means to you?"

Aleena nodded. "Yes, Sir Amos."

"You will be tested. Should you fail any of the tests you will be turned away. Do you understand?"

Aleena nodded.

Sir Amos
turned back to the other priest. "I will take this from here."

"Of course, Sir Amos
. Thank you. And good luck to you, Alin. Place your faith in Leander so that you may grow from this as well."

Aleena nodded
and offered him a tight-lipped smile. She turned back to Sir Amos and stared up at him. He watched her for a long moment and then grunted. "Rise, child. I sense a hidden strength in you. Let's see if your body has surprises in wait for us as well."

Aleena tripped on the smooth floor but caught herself. She stepped out of the door and followed closely behind the priest. Did he know after all? She had surprises all right, but they weren't surprises she wanted the priest to find out about!