Michael Stackpole - When Dragons Rage

At her comment, Resolute growled, “This is my fault.”

“How, Resolute?” Augustus regarded him with a serious expression. “You could not have anticipated this turn of events.”

The Vorquelf’s silver eyes became cold crescents. “But I could have. I heard him rush into the corridor. I was here, resting, right there in that bed. I knew his tread. I heard him hesitate and assumed he was playing some game. By the time he burst into the room and shouted at the arachnomorph, I should have been on my feet with Syverce in hand. I was late, seconds late. He’d been bitten before I could act.”

Dranae growled from the corner. “You did what you could, Resolute. I was in the common room below, warming myself with ale and fire. I saw him rush in, but thought him up to childishness, too. Not only did we mistake him, but we remained unaware of the theft.”

Augustus raised an eyebrow. “Theft? I had assumed the attack had been an assassination attempt.”

Alexia shook her head. “The Draconis Baron entrusted a portion of the DragonCrown to Kerrigan. Kerrigan told no one but Crow and me—though later he must have entrusted Will with the information. They hid it in Kerrigan’s room and set a trap for a would-be thief. It worked, but Will got hurt when he discovered the theft in progress. Chytrine sent one of her creatures. Resolute thinks, and I agree, it was likely a new-formed sullanciri created out of the Azure Spider.”

“It’s dead now; it doesn’t matter.” Resolute snorted, then stretched out his arms. “My failing is writ here in my flesh. All these sigils. All this magick, and not a healing spell to be found. Just one and he would be well.”

The king frowned. “What of Kerrigan?”

Alexia shrugged. “He’s missing. Lombo is searching for him.”

“And the Spritha?”

Qwc’s head came up. “Here, here, Qwc belongs here. Noplace else but here.”

The adamance in the little creature’s voice underscored the desperation they all felt. The Spritha were known to have a magickal ability to be at the very place they were meant to be, at the given time they were meant to be there. That ability did not dictate every aspect of their lives, but if Qwc knew he was meant to be there with Will, suggesting he be anywhere else was for naught.

The door opened again, this time with no knock to preface it. King Scrainwood slipped into the room and two mailed guardsmen crowded in the hallway behind him. They sought admittance, but Resolute reached out and slammed the door in their faces. Scrainwood opened his mouth to complain, but Resolute towered over him, glaring.

Augustus stood and looked at Scrainwood. “Did you bring Crow?”

The Oriosan King shook his head. “I took your request under advisement and decided to investigate myself. I brought soldiers to keep him safe.”

“We don’t need them.”

Scrainwood snorted in response to Resolute’s comment. “His current state would indicate otherwise. Had you been enough to keep the Norrington safe, he’d not be here like this, would he?”

Resolute raised an eyebrow. “And your soldiers would be more effective keeping a sullanciri out of here than they were keeping one out of your palace?”

Scrainwood’s eyes blazed with outrage. “How dare you?”

The Vorquelf continued. “Did you choose to have your son lead the Tribunal before or after Chytrine told you she was sending Nefrai-kesh to testify at Crow’s trial?”

The masked king pointed a trembling finger at Resolute. “Beware, Vorquelf, for this is my nation and I will not be impugned.”

Augustus reached out and laid a hand on Scrainwood’s right shoulder. “Easy.”

“No!” Scrainwood’s nostrils flared. “I am sick of this, I am sick of all of it. The lies, the innuendo. I am the king. Oriosa’s welfare is mine to safeguard and I need no homeless elfwhelp to suggest impropriety in things he knows nothing about. He’s fighting for his homeland, but he’s late come to all this. Had he been with us a quarter century ago, we’d not be in this fix. We would have been done with Chytrine.”

Augustus shook his head. “It is unfair and simplistic to blame this on Resolute. He could not see the future. None of us could. You could just as easily accuse me of having abandoned Norrington when I went to Okrannel.”

Scrainwood’s lip curled in a sneer. “I’ve never made that accusation, my friend.”

“No, my friend , you have not, which is why I still consider you a friend, though you sorely tax my patience.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You know quite well.”

“Enough!” Qwc buzzed into the air and hovered there between both kings’ faces. “Go, go, go, now. Go, now, now, now. Out, out, out.”

Scrainwood flicked a hand out to swat the Spritha from the air, but missed as Qwc dodged back swiftly. The little creature pointed all four of its hands at the Oriosan king, then it spoke. Whereas its voice previously always had a high, keening quality, it dropped several octaves and throbbed out in bass tones.

“Drotha car est jynda pros!”

“Aaahhhhh!” Scrainwood screamed hoarsely and dropped to his right knee. He clutched his right hand to his chest, his left hand around his wrist. The ring of state on his right hand pulsed red, as if molten. Scrainwood had a spell worked into it that would warn him of another’s hostile intent, and the magick clearly was working.

Resolute rested a hand on Scrainwood’s shoulder and let his voice slide into a whisper. “Anger not the wee ones, Highness. When a Spritha laughs, all is right with the world, but when one snarls, even the most mighty is brought low.”

“Out, out, everyone out!” Qwc’s voice returned to its normal soprano pitch as he flew around the room. He drove the others before him. Peri crowded in behind King Augustus, and Alexia squeezed close to Resolute as the Vorquelf opened the door and propelled the king into the hallway. They exited the room and Qwc managed to shut the door. Peri opened the door to Kerrigan’s room and they entered it, with Scrainwood’s two guards leading the way.

The two men gasped and drew back as they saw the arachnomorph hanging there by one hand. The light from the DragonCrown fragment still splashed against the inside of the roof, painting it red save where black splotches of sullanciri blood had been sprayed.

Scrainwood rubbed at his hand. “That is the thing?”

“Yes.” Alexia stepped closer to the sullanciri’s remains—not because she had any real desire to do so, but because she knew Scrainwood would keep his distance. “We think Chytrine fashioned it out of the Azure Spider.”

“The thief.” Scrainwood looked up. “To what is it clinging?”

The princess hesitated, then looked at King Augustus. The Alcidese leader nodded. “It is a portion of the DragonCrown, Highness. It was brought from Fortress Draconis by Kerrigan Reese.”

“A portion of the crown here , and no one told me?” He flexed the fingers on his right hand. “I am the king, and this is most important. Why was I not informed?”

Alexia lifted her chin. “The information was imparted to me in strictest confidence. I deemed that the fewer the people who knew about it, the better.”

“I am not people , Princess Alexia, I am the king .” Scrainwood shook his head and flicked a finger toward the fragment’s hiding place. “Get it for me.”

The two guards looked at each other, each one shaking his head at the other. They hesitated, then slowly moved forward, as carefully as if they were crossing thin ice over the Reydo River.

“Hold for a moment.” Alexia’s raised hand stopped them. “Highness, there are spells worked on the fragment to prevent its theft. They stopped a sullanciri . They will stop these men.“