The Dragonstone

CHAPTER 73

Babbling incoherently, Alos turned to flee, but he was fastened by rope to Aiko ahead, and Egil stood immediately behind.

In the lead, Delon called out, "Why should you not kill us, O Mighty Raudhrskal? Because we have something to offer, a special gift just for you which will be greatly to your liking, most pleasing, in fact, and we ask but a trifle in return."

Some eighty feet from snout to tail, massive Raudhrskal shifted his weight, his long, saberlike claws scraping against the stone of the ledge, his wicked fangs gleaming. And in a voice sounding like great brazen slabs clanging one on the other, Raudhrskal bellowed, "Pah! Did you think that bringing a few cattle would allow you to trespass into my domain? To actually step here upon this ledge? Imbecile! Cattle are mine to take as I choose. Bah! I am being assailed from all sides by fools who surely come seeking death."

The Drake inhaled a deep breath.

Arin clenched her fists. "He readies his flame."

A savage chuff came from Aiko's throat.

Alos fell to his knees and covered his face.

As the others braced for the annihilating fire, Delon straightened his spine and threw back his shoulders and called, "Wait! I demand you hear us out!"

Raudhrskal's eyes flared wide in anger. "Demand? You demand? You who brought a foul beast winging into my domain, you who encroach upon this very ledge, you demand of me?”

Delon unclipped the rope at his waist and shrugged out of his pack, then swept low in a deep bow. "O Mighty Drake, the beast was not of our doing. In that as well as in all other things we are innocent of malice. And yes, we do humbly come into your domain, for there is a boon we would ask, a boon for which we will more than recompense you. O Great Raudhrskal, do you not wish to hear what we have to offer? 'Tis not only cattle we bring-for they are but a minor tribute-but something much greater as well, something more fitting to one of your grand potency."

Now Raudhrskal narrowed his eyes and suspiciously peered through slitted pupils at Delon. "Your voice is most persuasive, man. Is it enhanced in some fashion? Ah, yes, I see. There is a talisman about your neck. Do you attempt to cozen me with a charmed tongue? If so, you will fail."

"Cozen you?" Delon stepped back, aghast. "Nay, O Mighty One, for that would be the height of folly."

"You speak of a grand gift, puny man, yet but for a few paltry coins and gems you and your companions bear, I do not sense any great bounty of treasure. Do you think to ensnare me by guile?"

Delon shook his head. "Ensnare you by guile? Never, Dragonlord, for we know that cannot be done. Nay, we do not bring you common treasure, for it is nought but a material thing; instead we offer you something even more precious, a thing that will pleasure you dearly." The bard glanced back at his companions, then turned once more to the Drake. "May we approach?"

"You pique my curiosity," rambled Raudhrskal. But then the Drake raised his great head and glared down at the group entire and hissed, "Yet seek to trick me and I'll slay all of you where you stand."

Delon stepped forward, then gestured for the others to follow. Egil raised Alos to his feet, the old man sissing, "Don't look in his eyes, don't look in his eyes, don't look in his eyes, don't, don't," over and again, Alos shuddering and turning his face aside. Egil had to haul him forward, as all followed Delon.

They came out onto the great shelf of smooth dark stone, the mountain to their left rearing up toward snowy heights far above, the precipice to their right falling sheer a thousand feet down to the Boreal Sea below. Two hundred or so paces wide, and just as many deep, the ledge itself cut back into the mountainside, an enormous cavern yawning at the rear. Here and there sat huge boulders, as if deliberately placed in some arcane pattern, but as to the purpose of such an arrangement… who could say?

Raudhrskal studied the rest of the band coming onto the ledge-the six yet roped together-his gaze passing over each of them swiftly, all but Arin and Aiko. "You, Elf, there is something strange about your aura. Are you a Mage, perhaps?"

The Dylvana turned up her hands and said, "At times I ‹see›."

"As I thought: wild magic."

Now the Drake bent his glittering gaze upon Aiko. "I have not seen your kind before, you and your companion."

Aiko glanced at Burel.

"No, no," said the rust-red Drake, "not the fool of a man, but the hidden companion, instead. She paces and lashes as if enraged… and now crouches and would leap upon me"-Raudhrskal's laughter boomed-"but changes her mind."

Turning away from Aiko's astonished gape, Raudhrskal glared at Delon. "And now, little man, this boon you would ask, this trade you claim will please me, I would hear your words."

"Honeyed Ogru eye, deliciously aged," declared Raudhrskal, his long forked tongue sliding 'round his wicked fangs. "Have you another?"

Aiko shook her head. "No, Raudhrskal, I do not. Getting that one nearly cost us our lives, my mistress and I. Yet I do have this…" Aiko reached into her pack and pulled out the peacock feather she had carried since finding it in Queen Gudrun the Comely's pool. She presented the iridescent plume to the Drake, saying, "It comes from an exotic bird not found in these parts."

His eyes glittering, Raudhrskal reached out a forelimb and managed to take the lustrous plume from Aiko between two saberlike talons. The Drake held it up in the sunlight and twisted and turned it, the brilliant feather shining in the afternoon rays. "This came from a bird?"

"Yes. 'Tis named peacock."

"When I choose, I shall hunt such a bird for me."

Aiko nodded. "They come from islands south of the Jinga Sea."

Delon cleared his throat. "There's one in the citadel gardens of Gudrun, the Queen of Jute."

Raudhrskal turned his eye to the bard and smiled. "Ah, then, that is much closer. Perhaps I will go there to get my bird."

Delon turned to Aiko and smiled a toothy smile, and she returned his grin, both of their faces filled with guileless innocence.

"Have you anything else for me?"

Delon shook his head. "No, O Mighty Raudhrskal. Lady Arin and I have sung you our gift of song; Master Burel has invoked the name of Ilsitt on your behalf; Lady Ferai has performed her acrobatics for your pleasure; Master Egil has told the saga as to why Dragonships are so named; and Lady Aiko has given over the honeyed Ogru's eye and the iridescent feather you now hold. In addition, there are four cattle to assuage your hunger when the deed we propose is done."

The Dragon swung his head toward Alos, and as the oldster cringed, Raudhrskal hissed, "What of him? Does this craven bring no tribute? Has he no respect for me?"

Alos moaned and fell to his knees and groveled with his head against the stone.

"O Mighty One, the cattle are his gift," said Delon, then pointed to the rent harness and saddle and saddlebags lying at a distance beyond the Dragon on the stone of the ledge. "And indeed, you took his horse two nights past."

"I took the horse to demonstrate that your fate is mine to determine, and not the other way about."

"Yes, O Raudhrskal, without question what you say is true." Delon glanced at the others, then took a deep breath and risked all. "Yet it is we who offer you that which is perhaps otherwise beyond your grasp." Fire flared in the Drake's eyes, but Delon plunged on: "What of our overture? Will you accept what we would give you in return for what we gain?"

Raudhrskal visibly seethed, for to suggest that anything was beyond his grasp was bordering on contempt. Even so, he hissed, "This silver chest, indeed I sense it in the cavern below. What does it hold?"

Delon shook his head. "It is empty, we believe, the chest itself but an old heirloom, precious to none but Lady Ferai and her family. Lost untold years past when the ship went down. Thought to be gone forever until Lady Arin had her vision. Taken, we believe, by Krakens to the cave."

Raudhrskal roared in rage, and all flinched before his fury, Alos shrieking in terror. The Drake fixed a wrathful gaze down upon Delon. "Do you take me for an utter fool, puny man? You would not have come here if the chest is nought but an old heirloom. Now speak the truth!"

Alos moaned, and began to weep, hissing, "He knows. He knows. The Dragon knows."

All the others braced as Delon took a deep breath and lowered his head. "O Raudhrskal, it is clear that we cannot keep our petty secrets from you. Forgive me for not being forthright, but here is the truth"-Delon turned and swept his hand toward Ferret-"Lady Ferai can prove her right to the barony of the Alnawood if she can but recover the chest."

The Dragon grinned wickedly and hissed, "I knew there would be greed behind this mission of yours. My question was but a trap, for I have known all along that the chest was empty; I discern nothing within. Ha! If you were expecting it to be filled with treasure, think again. As to Krakens"-Raudhrskal's tail lashed in frustration-"I sense them as well, vexing to one of my potency."

Delon swept a low bow to the Dragon. "You have seen through our subterfuge, O Mighty One. And even though the chest is bare, still it will prove Lady Ferai's claim to the barony. And so, we yet offer our trade: the company of a Kraken for you; an empty chest for us."

The Drake's triumphant gaze swept over them all.

"Very well, I accept. If and when you lure a Kraken out from under, I will cede the silver chest. Yet heed, fail and your lives are forfeit to me."

As the sun lipped the horizon, all but Alos lay on their stomachs peering downward, gazing over the precipice and surveying the sheer drop below; the old man himself remained well back from the fearful fall. But Egil, belly-down, looked over at Delon and whispered, "Well done, Delon. Now I can see why you are a bard, charming a Dragon with nought but your voice."

Ferret, lying at Delon's side, murmured, "The barony of Alnawood, eh? You lie so well, my love. When the Drake demanded you speak the truth I thought we were done for, yet your tongue, sweet Delon, is fast on its feet."

Ferret's mixed metaphor brought a chuckle from all… all but Aiko, who pointed downward and said, "Though sheer, there are many cracks and ledges between here and the sea below. We should have no trouble rappelling down, or finding a place to set rescue."

"And the Drake says the crack is directly below where we lay, below this very spot?" asked Ferret.

Burel grunted, "Indeed."

"As Alos would ask, can we trust Raudhrskal's word?"

Delon looked at Ferret. "In this case, I believe so. It's to his interest to tell us the truth, else he will not get what he desires."

"Ah, young love," said Egil, smiling.

Aiko felt her face hotly flush.

Delon and Burel and Aiko spent the eve sorting ropes and loading their climbing harnesses with snap rings and rock-nails and jams, getting ready for their early morning descent, for according to Alos the tide would be at full ebb some eight candlemarks ere noon, and they needed to be well ensconced before then. Likewise did Arin and Egil and Ferret prepare, loading their own climbing harnesses with gear, and adding lanterns as well, for they were going down through the mountain and needed to bear their own light.

That night after all was made ready, they bedded down on the ledge, though sleep eluded them until the wee marks before dawn. Yet in the few moments he slumbered, Egil had his ill dream, and Arin held him tightly in his throes, for not even the presence of a Drake nearby could stay Ordrune's foul curse.

"Eh, eh," meeped Alos, his face illuminated by the lanternlight in the last candlemark before dawn. "You just can't leave me alone with the Drake. He'll snap me up like a tasty morsel when all of you are gone."

"Stringy morsel, you mean," said Ferret.

Arin turned to the oldster. "Alos, thou canst neither rappel down the face of the stone nor clamber down through the rigors of the mountain. I would have thee stand watch here instead."

"Watch?" groaned Alos. "Stand watch? Watch for what?"

"Should we fail altogether, someone needs to bear word to the Mages."

"Bu-but, Dara, should you fail, the Dragon will kill all the rest of us."

"Nevertheless, my friend, shouldst thou survive, I would have thee bear testament to what we tried here today."

Ferret snapped a last hank of rope to her belt. "What makes you think he won't just run away?"

"Unlike before," quavered Alos, "I'll not desert my shipmates in their time of need."

"Oh, right," growled Ferret. She looked up at the old man, tears streaming down his face. "Ah, Alos, I'm sorry. It's just that I'm a bit nervous, stalking into a Kraken's lair. -Do the best you can, old man."

With a chill wind blowing down from the ice and snow above, dawn came at last, though where they stood in the shadow of Dragons' Roost the light was mostly in the sky. Both teams were set, and with a final embrace of one another, an embrace including weeping Alos, they each turned on their separate courses: Delon, Burel, and Aiko heading for the place marked on the lip of the ledge; Ferret, Arin, and Egil striding past Raudhrskal and into the dark of the vast cavern behind.

As she reached the back of the great cavity and came to the split where a narrow passage led inward and down, Arin turned in time to see Aiko, last in file, her swords fixed across her back, grasp the anchored line and step hindward over the rim.

Then, leaving moaning Alos alone on the ledge, hostage to the rust-red Drake, Arin turned and followed the bobbing light down into the blackness below.