Betrayal

Chapter Twenty-Three Betrayal

It took Dhamon nearly an hour to bind the wounds on the three men they’d brought with them, using what he could salvage from their clothes and his tunic. Even Ragh helped. They would live, though they needed rest and food. Dhamon vowed to make sure the manticores deposited them somewhere reasonably safe and beyond the swamp. That task handled, he turned to the Solamnic Knight. Fiona’s eyes were dull, emotionless. “Rig,” Dhamon began. “I’m sorry about Rig, about him dying. I didn’t always get along with him, but he was a good man, Fiona, and—”

“Rig?” She looked up to meet his sad gaze, illuminated by the stars that so faintly winked down in a lightening sky. “We’ll see Rig again very soon, Dhamon. We’re to be married next month. You’ll have to come to the wedding. It will be grand. I’m sure Rig will want you to be there.”

Dhamon stared deeper into her eyes and saw madness there.

“Rig’s dead,” Dhamon said patiently.

She laughed eerily. “Don’t be silly. Rig’s waiting for me, Dhamon. In New Ports, at the harbor. He’s going to captain a ferry there. We’ll live along the bluff where we have a nice view of the sea. The wedding will be on the shore, I think. Rig will like that. You’ll see how good everything will be for us.”

Dhamon guided her to the larger manticore, helped her up, then helped up the three men up on the other manticore—he’d never bothered to ask their names. He walked around to the front of the creatures, staring up into its too-human eyes.

“I’ve another request of you,” he said. “Another place to take us. You’ll be truly free after that. Though I suppose you can refuse this.”

The smaller beast bent its head down to better regard Dhamon.

“Where?” was all it said.

“These men need to be taken to Schallsea Island. There’s a community of mystics there who won’t turn them away.”

Dhamon climbed up behind Fiona on the larger manticore.

“There’s a Solamnic fortress in Southern Ergoth,” he said, as he grabbed a handful of the creature’s mane. “It’s very far from here, but it’s where Fiona’s from. I want to take her there. The other Knights will help her, take care of her. The people there can get word out for me. About Rig’s death. Palin Majere should be told, and some others. Will you do this?”

Almost in unison, the great creatures flapped their wings, making the hurtful keening sound again. As one they rose from the clearing and headed west.

I will return here, Dhamon vowed to himself. I left Maldred somewhere in that foul town. My closest and dearest friend. I will come back for him.

* * * * *

Not far to the east of the town was a massive cave. The darkness inside it was an almost palpable blanket that comfortably cloaked the creature that laired within. Only its breath gave the creature’s presence away. Its breath was raspy and uneven and echoed against the stone walls. The breeze teased the copper curls of the child who stood just inside the entrance. Nura Bint-Drax appeared as a cherubic girl of no more than five or six, clothed in a diaphanous dress that shimmered as though it was made of magic.

“Master?” she said in her child-voice as she came forward. She knew this cave by heart. As she walked her form changed, becoming that of a young Ergothian woman with close-cropped hair. She was clad in a black leather tunic now, one that had once belonged to Dhamon Grimwulf. “Master.”

Twin globes of dull yellow appeared in the midst of the blackness, casting just enough light to reveal the creature’s massive snout and the dark-skinned woman who was dwarfed by its size. The creature’s eyes were larger around than wagon wheels and laced with murky catlike slits. The thick film on them hinted at the beast’s age.

“I have finished testing Dhamon Grimwulf,” she announced proudly in her temptress voice. “He survived my tests, survived my forces in the town nearby. He is the one. As I am your chosen. Your favorite.”

“One of my chosen.” The creature corrected, its words interminably long and drawn out, words so loud the ground rumbled with each syllable. “The other arrived just before you.”

A sun-bronzed human stepped away from the cave wall, coming close enough so the light from the creature’s eyes could reveal him.

“Maldred,” Nura Bint-Drax hissed.

The ogre mage wearing the guise of a human nodded to her, then turned to face the creature.

“Dragon,” Maldred said. “I, too, have tested Dhamon Grimwulf. I agree that he is the one.”

“He is the one.” The heavy words sent the floor to shaking. “But will he cooperate?” the dragon wondered. It secretly noted with pleasure that Nura and Maldred glared at each other, the hate between them thick and sweet in the air. “Will he do what I require?”

Nura opened her mouth, but Maldred spoke first. “Oh, he’ll cooperate,” he said evenly. “I can manipulate him into following your plan. I’ve manipulated him well enough thus far. Like a blind fool, he trusts me. He believes I am his closest friend and ally. He’ll be coming back soon to find me. What he has left of his honor demands that.”

Satisfied, the dragon closed its eyes, plunging the cave into absolute darkness. Maldred and Nura Bint-Drax waited until the sound of its slumber sent a wave of gentle tremors through the ground, then they left the cave and headed out into the swamp beyond.