The Dragon's Prize (7 page)

When he was done and pulled the now-empty flask away from her mouth, she realized her stomach felt better.  The lancing pain was gone, as was the vivid ache of the bruises.  In their place was a creeping itch.

“Cure serious wounds!  The whole thing!”  The doctor held up the empty flask.  “She’s a tough one.  Most other people would be dead from that injury.”

“Well.  I guess it’s a good thing you’re the one finding my son, then.”

“If you say so, your majesty…”  Sandra was inordinately grateful to this woman she barely knew.  If the doctor was right about the internal bleeding, the queen had just saved Sandra’s life.

“I do!  You are a wonderful candidate.  I would have picked you myself if it weren’t for this morning’s ugliness.  Speaking of which.”  The queen blinked and her eyes moved away from Sandra’s.  She was obviously not happy about this next part.  “After you save my son, it might be better for you if you… don’t return.”

“What!?”

“I am on your side in all of this, Sandra, remember that.  But there are… some in the castle who have other opinions.  The commoner who would be a guard offends them, and their very deepest sensibilities about the role of nobility.”  The queen’s face was grave as she said it.  “No matter how much bravery you show now, no matter how much gratitude you have from my family, you will still be hated for that one fact.”  She sighed.

“Majesty…”  Tears welled up unbidden in Sandra’s eyes.  Leave her home?  Permanently?  She had never imagined it would come to that.

“Take what you can of the dragon’s hoard and go somewhere else.  Buy lands and a title so that your children never have the same experience you do.”

“Surely, we could buy lands here.”

“No.  I’m afraid that, even then, you would still be a target.  For some… many, you are an insult to this kingdom.”

“I don’t know what to say.”  Sandra shook her head.  She was still processing the idea of leaving the only world she’d ever known for good.

“Consider it.  You would have a hero’s welcome when you return with my son.”

“If I succeed…”

“When you succeed.  But you would still always suspect poison in your cup, or a dagger waiting in the shadows.  No.  Getting out of the kingdom is your only option.”

“Majesty.  If you think so.”

“I do.  And you, too, Mira dear.”

“Me?”  Mira looked shocked the queen even knew her name.

“You attacked four noble guards trying to save your friend here.  I think I could have gotten your sentence bargained away, but there will be danger attached to that distinction as well.”

Both women looked worried, shocked and awed to be in the presence of the queen and receiving this advice from her.

“Now get ready.  Horses will be waiting for you when you are prepared.  Normally we would have a feast in your honor, but time is of the essence.  For you and for my son.”

With that, the queen and her entourage left.

Sandra and Mira didn’t say anything for a long moment.  Then, Sandra leapt to her feet.

“No pain!”  She shadow-boxed the air, then threw a bear hug around Mira.  Mira ‘meep’ed and tentatively hugged back.

“Really?”

“Really!”

“Is that even possible?”  Mira poked at Sandra’s stomach, curious.

“I don’t know!  I guess so!” Sandra twirled, then settled down.  The queen’s sobering words rang in her ears.  Leave her home.  Leave everything she knew.  And take Mira with her…  “I’m sorry I’ve ruined your life.”

“Don’t worry.  I was the one who ruined it.”  Mira sighed and collapsed onto the bed.  The bounce of energy from earlier when she was helping Sandra was gone.  She ran a hand along the back of her neck, then across her forehead.  “Although I wasn’t really thinking about that at the time.”

Sandra nodded.  She understood the feeling.  She realized now that running at the dragon with nothing but a borrowed sword should have been a death sentence.  Especially given the amount of damage she’d already sustained.  Somehow, she lived through it.  Somehow, Mira would live through this.

“Alright.  Time to get the gear.”

Sandra opened the wardrobe, shoved the unpacked clothes to the ground and opened the second set of doors hidden at the back.

“Oh!”  Mira perked up and watched as the inner door swung open and revealed a suit of armor as well as a surprising variety of weapons.  “We’re taking all of that too?”

“Of course.”  Sandra grabbed a mace and hooked it to the pack.  “How else do you think we’re going to kill a dragon?”

“With stern words and a glare.”  Mira winked.  “I actually hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“Fair enough.  Why don’t you go get packed while I deal with all the weapons and extra bits?  I’ll probably need your help with the armor.”

“Oh?”  Mira watched as Sandra expertly stowed knives, swords and crossbows in hooks and catches that she hadn’t noticed on the pack before.  It quickly took Sandra’s bag from looking like a regular travelling pack to a frightening armory.

“Welcome to squiring.”

“Yeah.  Thanks.”

*

“How do I look?”

Sandra was busy packing their horses when Mira arrived in the stables.  The queen had given Sandra one of the big war chargers that they kept around for official functions and actual guard duty, which was kind, while Mira was going to have to make due with a sturdy, older nag.  The war horse had no problem shouldering the burden of Sandra’s weapons, so she’d been busy balancing them on his saddle.  She even had extra room to pack a few bows for hunting.

Sandra turned to look at Mira and grinned.

“I thought you didn’t have pants?”

“I stole some of yours.”

“They look good.”  Sandra nodded appreciatively.   “Though you probably shouldn’t admit to theft around a guard.”  She winked.

“Then don’t tell the guard that I took one of her ribbons, either.”  Mira flipped a strip of white cloth that she’d used to tie her hair back in a ponytail.  Sandra tried to, but couldn’t, stifle a giggle.  “What?”

“Do I look like I use a lot of ribbons?”

“Umm… no, now that you mention it.  But there was a whole drawer of these.”

“It’s a polishing rag for armor.”  Sandra motioned like she was wiping down the front of her armor.

“Oh.”  Mira ran her hand along the ribbon tentatively, then looked at her fingers.  They were clean.  “Well, I choose to think you secretly like putting ribbons in your hair.”

“Okay.”  Sandra shook her head, then checked her horse.  He was standing still and calm despite all of the extra weight she’d just added to him.  She wasn’t particularly equestrian, but even she could tell that he was extremely well-behaved.  “Are you ready?”

“Yup!”  Sandra slung a couple of bags off her back and set about tying them to her nag’s saddle.  Her horse was less well-behaved and danced back and forth as Mira fought to get her heavy packs attached.  One of them clanked and banged with such a racket that distant stable hands turned around to see what was happening.

“What have you got in there?”  Sandra walked over and helped Mira balance the bag, then get it secured to the horse.  Once they’d tied the top and bottom down it stopped making quite so much noise.

“My gear!”

“Your gear?”

“You get gear…”

“For killing dragons.”  Sandra motioned her head toward her horse, which was now carrying enough steel to outfit a small company.  “I don’t see you as being the type to have a lot of daggers stashed in her room.”

“Look.  Gear!”  Mira undid the buckle on a side pouch and produced a small, cast-iron pan from inside it.

“Oh!”

“Yeah.  Didn’t think of that, did you miss dragon-killer?”  Mira stuck out her tongue.

“No.  No, I didn’t.”  Sandra stuck hers out, too.  “Maybe you will be useful after all.”

“Oh, I will.  I will.  Jury’s still out on you, though.”

“You wound me.”

“I’ve got something for that too!”  Mira pulled a rolled-up bandage out of the pack and winked saucily.  Sandra laughed and shook her head.

“Where did you learn to be so prepared?”  Sandra headed over to her horse and slung herself easily up and onto his back.  With the doctor’s potion having worked its magic, she felt better than she had in a long time.  Her muscles were supple and limber, all of the fatigue from the day’s activities was gone, and she felt like she could bench-press a thousand pounds.

“Wasn’t always a maid.”  Mira had a little more trouble with her nag.

While she clearly knew what she was doing when packing for a trip, she just as clearly did not know what she was doing when it came to horses.  Her first two attempts ended up with her on her butt in a pile of hay, and the third would have too if a stable hand hadn’t hustled over and helped boost her up.  Once in the saddle, she settled down alright.

“You keep saying that.”

“It isn’t getting less true.”  Mira reached out gingerly and patted her horse on the back of the neck.  The nag whinnied and started to back up out of the stall.  “Whoa!  What did I do?”

Sandra burst out laughing.  The stable hand was more useful and grabbed Mira’s horse’s reins to steady her.

“I guess in this mysterious past life of yours, you never handled horses very much?”

“No.  Not very much.”  Mira was about to pat her horse again, then thought better of it.  “How do I do it?”

“Don’t worry.  I’m sure she will enjoy following mine around just fine.  Hey, boy.”  Sandra leaned over and tapped the stable hand's shoulder before he could go back to what he was doing.  He turned around, looking startled.

“Ma’am?”

“What are their names?”

“Oh… oh!  You’re riding Lightning, and Mira has Annie.”

“You know Mira?”

“Everyone knows Mira!”

“Hey now!”  Mira pouted from on top of Annie.  “When you say it like that…”

The boy blushed fiercely, turning away from the two women instinctively.

“I didn’t mean…”

“I know what you meant.”  Sandra nodded.  He was right, most people knew and adored Mira.  She had a way about her that could make you immediately at ease.

The boy nodded seriously, then hustled off.  Sandra made a ‘click’ with her tongue and maneuvered Lightning out of the stable and into the bright, late-morning light.  Everything seemed so normal.  The ash and rubble from the dragon’s attack had been cleared, the courtyard swept, so the only remaining evidence of the morning’s events was some broken masonry high up on the keep’s wall.

The two women took a nostalgic look around the bailey one more time before Sandra urged Lightning forward and through the castle gate.  Mira made a noise of surprise, but managed to stay on as Annie followed.  Sandra looked back to make sure Mira was okay and noticed that Annie was listing from side to side and stopping occasionally so she had to hurry to catch up to Lightning.

“Mira?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t grip her so tight.  She doesn’t like it.”

“I… oh.”  Mira looked sheepish.

Annie immediately perked up when the pressure was lifted and she understood what she was supposed to do again.  The horse stepped a few paces closer to Lightning, then happily trailed him, keeping up with his longer gait with no problem.  It helped that she didn’t have hundreds of extra pounds of armor to carry like he did.

The castle sat on the top of a small hill at the edge of a river.  The Riprock mountains lay two weeks’ travel to the west, one ferry journey and a long wilderness trek away.  The road from the castle proper into the capital wound down the side of the hill, switching back and forth to keep the grade reasonable for cart traffic, before reaching the sprawling slums and warehouses of the dock district.  A cluster of noble estates and villas clung to the edges of the road, where they would obscure most of the women’s view, but from up here they could see the entire city spread out before them.

“This is what we’re trying to save…”  Mira’s eyes were misting up at the edges.

“Gives you some perspective…”

“Can the queen really raise a hundred thousand gold if we fail?”

“I don’t know.”  Sandra shrugged.  She wasn’t an accountant, and on a guard’s salary she’d barely ever had more than ten gold to rub together at a time.  “It seems impossible, but I guess she can take out loans from other kingdoms.  Maybe she just has it lying around in the treasury?”

“Maybe…”

“Don’t worry.  If we fail, we won’t be around to worry about the financial situation of the kingdom.”

“Comforting.”

“Wasn’t it?  I’m here to help.  I’m a helper.”

“You sure are.”

Sandra gave Lightning a nudge forward and he started walking down the road.  They would reach the ferry in less than an hour, and once they were across the river their journey would really begin.  The eastern half of the kingdom was well-populated: filled with industry, farms and villages.  The western half was a dark, impenetrable forest pierced by only a few roads and populated by only a few intrepid logging towns.  There were too many creatures in the west for civilization to make a real dent on its wild darkness: goblins, orcs, owlbears, trolls and worse.  Dragons.