Dark Hope of the Dragons Read online

  Wary and curious now, Dephithus lifted her up behind the saddle and turned out toward the stand of trees. They said nothing as she leaned into his back and rested her head against his shoulder blade. When one hand slipped below his waistline Dephithus bumped Hydra up to a trot keeping her occupied with holding on. His hopes that the stand would be taken, forcing him to move on, were dashed as they slipped into the quiet group of trees. The woman set up a small fire as Dephithus cared for Hydra then she sat silent, watching him.

  Seating himself across the fire from her, he reluctantly held out some food and was surprised when she declined. With a shrug Dephithus slipped the food back into his pack. “Who are you?”

  “Daenox Priestess Jadean. Just a witch, I suppose.” She smiled and Dephithus shivered. “The price on your head has gone up a great deal since you stole Lord Allondis’s horse.”

  Dephithus scowled. Someone must have told Allondis that he had been there. Searching his mind, he settled on Suva as the most likely traitor. “Hydra was a birthday gift to me long before Allondis took the throne.”

  Jadean nodded agreeably. “My mule was wounded by a daemon-wolf some way back. The daemon was strong enough to drive her mad and I had to kill her. I have been walking since.”

  Dephithus did not want to seem unsympathetic. Still, his first concern was not for this woman’s lack of a mount. Plenty of people traversed these roads on foot. “Could such a creature infect my stallion?”

  “I would not worry about it. There is no death in his eyes for a long time. In your eyes I see death past seeking to take you back. Death past,” her tone was bemused as she pondered her own words for a moment. “I don’t quite see how that can be right, but that is what your eyes say to me.”

  “How did you know me?” He heard a defensive edge in his voice, undoubtedly due to the unease her words had brought. Would death be driven to reclaim him and right the wrong Vanuthan had done in defying it? He was assaulted by another cold shiver.

  Jadean rose and stepped around the fire to him. She held out her hand in offering. “I am a Daenox Priestess. That power tells me some things. It works differently for different people.”

  Dephithus looked at her hand, long slender fingers with long nails too clean and well-shaped to be those of a traveling woman. He made no move to take it.

  “If it will make it easier, I can work a bit of the daenox so that you will think I bewitched you into it.”

  Dephithus shook his head and took her hand. No one would look badly upon him for seeking pleasure with her even if anyone were there to see. As it was, only Hydra would witness their coupling. Dephithus himself could find no guilt in the want of her warmth and the comfort of another human body next to him. Whatever it took to keep him sane on his journey. Jadean’s eyes promised that she wanted nothing more in return than that same warmth and comfort he was seeking.

  With the fire flickering an enchanted light around them, they came together softly. Nothing of her manner indicated that she was more than a lonely woman. Even knowing that she was a daenox priestess, he could find no reason to dislike her in the gentle passion and tender caresses she divulged upon him. For the briefest of moments, he could almost imagine that she was his beloved Myara and that everything they had endured was a nightmare to be forgotten.

  When they had finished, Jadean sat up and looked on him with sadness in her emerald eyes. Dephithus rolled onto his side and propped his head on his hand. This beautiful woman carried with her an ability for knowing that he could see now was eating away at her.

  “What is it you see?”

  “Dephithus, on the next moonless night you will find yourself in bad company. Take care when the moon does not travel with you. Also,” she hesitated, looking as though her own thoughts were puzzling to her.

  Dephithus touched her arm. “You don’t have to tell me anything more. I know my journey will not be easy.”

  Jadean shook her head. “I want to. You might seek help from an objectionable source, but it will make your journey easier if you do.” In her silence she seemed to be struggling with something. After a moment she took hold of his hand and stared at it as though to avoid his eyes. It seemed odd, when she had shown no such timidity before. “I don’t think you should continue on with this journey you are making. You could leave this place and go overseas perhaps.”

  Dephithus shook his head. “I have to go on. I will never know peace if I don’t. Will you stay with me this night?”

  Looking slightly pained she nodded and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Until you leave,” she whispered, “I will stay.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  I wander in the darkness,

  Like you I roam the night,

  But I do not wander with you,

  For above you, I am the Moon.

  On the nights you do not see me,

  In darkness will you weep.

  On the nights you do not see me,

  Bad company you will keep.

  Dawn found Dephithus alone again.

  He had suspected it would be so, though her spot next to him was still warm in remembrance of her shape. If she was not long departed, he hoped she at least traveled in a different direction than he did. After the evening they had spent together it might be awkward if they crossed paths again. The words retreated to the back of his mind as memories of Myara drove him back to his journey. She was so clear in his mind this crisp morning that he fancied he could smell her. The sweet almost floral scent of her when she was dressed up for a formal gathering. The delicious salty tang of her sweat when they had been sparring. He would give anything to have her at his side.

  Once they were on the road again, Dephithus pushed Hydra to an extended trot. By noon, the morning dew had dried from his clothes and the sun baked down on them, countered nicely by a soft breeze. Such a beautiful day must be a good omen. It lifted his spirits. At their current pace they would reach Corbent Calid by dark, sooner than expected, and that would be a strong start on his journey to find Myara. Hydra responded to his positive mood as well, his stride picking up in strength and animation.

  As dusk neared, however, the sky began to cloud over and their road angled east enough that they were now traveling amidst the trees. Unease crept through him, making his skin crawl as he watched the sky vanish, and his good mood faltered. Some part of him lifted with the passing of his cheerful mood and he wondered if that were the daemon-seed waking up within him. He scowled. The last thing he needed was to have his thoughts and actions twisted by that evil influence. What good would he be to Myara then?

  The fall of dark found him without the comfort of stars or moon. He took some solace from the certainty that Corbent Calid should be close enough that music from the taverns would soon reach his ears. Many narrow tracks branching off the main road, almost certainly leading to homes, promised of increased civilization. Despite this, Jadean’s words returned to him, playing over and over in his head and haunting him more with each moment. On the next moonless night, you will find yourself in bad company, she had said. Looking up at the thick black of the sky he urged Hydra onward, though he knew the stallion was weary.

  As he expected, he could soon hear the music from inns and taverns and he caught glimpses of light through the thicket. He was beginning to feel confident again when Hydra laid his ears back.

  A man stepped into their path, and the stallion lunged forward unchecked by Dephithus, who trusted the animal’s combat instincts. Caught by surprise, the man was unable to dodge the attack and Hydra plowed into him sending him spinning to the ground with a cry of pain. A second and third bandit dropped from the trees above them, pulling Dephithus from the saddle.

  Before they hit the ground, Dephithus had his dagger free and lashed out at the one who landed next to him, cutting the man across the back as he rolled to stand. The other bandit had ended up under Dephithus with an arm around his neck, seeking to choke him. Hydra was quick to react, rearing up and bringing both front hooves down with
crushing force on the leg of the bandit that had hold of Dephithus. The shriek that followed the strike was unmistakably feminine.

  In the seconds it took Dephithus to recover from the pain in his scar and suck in air through his abused windpipe, the woman drew a dagger and lashed out at Hydra. Before any of the wounded bandits could lay hand to him again, Dephithus was mounted and they bolted from the scene toward the waiting city. After rounding a few more bends in the road they could see Corbent Calid stretching out before them. Dephithus could feel a break in Hydra’s stride. He was favoring his right foreleg rather significantly, but he continued to run toward the city at his rider’s urging.

  Despite his concern for the stallion, Dephithus did not slow them. To slow now would only put them in danger of injury or death at the hands of other opportunistic bandits or daemons drawn by the conflict and the smell of blood. They did not slow until they were in front of the first inn, then Dephithus leapt from the saddle almost before Hydra was stopped and knelt next to the favored leg. The woman bandit had left a deep gash in the stallion’s upper foreleg and blood was streaming freely, making a thick trail of dirty reddish brown down Hydra’s leg.

  Dephithus pulled up his hood and led Hydra into the stable. The stable boy on duty there jumped down off a bale of hay and trotted over to them. His practiced eyes trained in on the wound even before Dephithus spoke.

  “You need a dressing, and you gotta pay for it.”

  Dephithus scowled and grabbed hold of the boy’s arm when he moved to step back from them. “I will pay. Get my horse the help he needs now and I will see that an extra bit of coin crosses your palm instead of the lashing you will get otherwise.”

  The boy pulled away angrily and glared at him, but the worry in his eyes and the quick trot that he broke into leaving the stable was enough to assure Dephithus that his threat was taken seriously. Alone with the stallion, Dephithus pulled the saddle and packs off to give him a break from the weight. A few minutes later, a lanky, scholarly-looking gentleman entered the stable with the boy in tow carrying an assortment of packs. Dephithus eyed the tall, narrow character with skepticism. He did not look like the type to doctor horses, but he was not going to turn away any help he could get for Hydra.

  The man with his graying brown hair and moustache on a long almost comical countenance frowned at Dephithus with a skepticism that undoubtedly mirrored his own. They both knelt next to the wounded leg and the man snatched a pack from the boy with a hint of impatience.

  “You can pay for this?” The man asked as he rinsed the wound with some clean water, then after a quick examination, pulled out some bandages and began to snuggly dress the injury.

  Dephithus soothed Hydra before responding, though the well-trained animal did not really need it. He could not help admiring that the man had started tending to his patient before getting any guarantee of payment. “Yes sir. Whatever it takes. Just see that he is treated as well as any king’s mount and I will see that you are well paid for it.”

  The older man chuckled to himself then turned a more serious expression on the stable boy. “Leave us. Don’t you have other duties?”

  The boy hesitated, eyeing Dephithus expectantly. With a sigh Dephithus, drew a coin out of his pouch and tossed it to the lad. Grinning at his newfound wealth, the stable boy darted off to attend some other intense chore, like lounging on hay bales. Dephithus turned his curious gaze on the old man then. His tone said there was more to sending the boy away then just keeping him on task.

  The older man glanced up suddenly, catching a good look up into the hood of the cloak before Dephithus could draw back out of the light. With no more than a hint of a smile he returned to tending Hydra’s wound. “Now then, he is a king’s mount, isn’t he?”

  Dephithus said nothing. He focused on soothing the stallion, more to quiet his own nerves than anything and keep out of the way so the elder could finish his work and be off.

  “Don’t expect to keep such a secret from everyone. You will only fool the fools. The rest of us know you, but we aren’t much interested in turning you in.”

  The man’s words surprised Dephithus a little. “Suppose I were who you think I am, why would you not wish to turn me in and get a good pocketful of coin for your trouble?”

  “Imperious has soldiers here, but they are here in pursuit of a daemon army. With the daemons and daenox allies in the area, we need much more help than a pocketful of coin can offer.”

  Finished with dressing the wound, the man stood, perhaps a half-inch taller than Dephithus, and held out his hand. With only a slight hesitation Dephithus took the offered hand and shook it firmly.

  “I am Endre. If you need more dressing on this before you move on again just ask for me. That wound won’t be very sound for a bit. I would wait a few days perhaps before I would risk putting much strain on it.”

  A few days! With Imperious soldiers crawling about!

  The weight of defeat pressed down on him. “I can’t stay that long. Is there any way to speed the healing?”

  The man looked almost sympathetic, which was not exceptionally comforting. “Only if you can use the daemon powers. This inn would be a good one for you to hide out at. No one here is interested in much more than a lonely drink and a place to lay their head for a night. Nobody looking for trouble stops here and nobody looking for friends does either. Maybe because it is too close to the edge of town and only the weariest of wanderers settles for the first offering.”

  Dephithus nodded, still focused on the problem of healing Hydra. Daemon powers? For the purpose of healing, it seemed odd to mention the daenox. Where would Jadean be now?

  “Thank you.” Digging into his coin he settled with Endre and bedded Hydra down in one of the stalls.

  The odds of finding Jadean were slim, though he was sure she would help him if he could find her. This army of daemons was the most likely place to find her, but he could no more march into the midst of such an army than he could expect to find help among the Legion soldiers. The only fast option seemed to be finding a new mount and he liked that alternative almost less than any of the others.

  With a growl of frustration, he kicked the stall wall and received a painful protest from his scar for his efforts. Hydra snorted as he sniffed at his bandages then leaned his head over the side to find out what ailed Dephithus. Rubbing between the stallion’s eyes Dephithus sighed. Hydra made him much more obvious wherever he traveled, and he would be much better off without such attention. Still, regardless of the wisdom behind getting rid of him, he could not bring himself to humor the idea for more than a moment.

  “Rest and heal,” Dephithus murmured, leaning close to Hydra’s head and slipping his fingers into the black forelock. “We will finish this together.”

  Dephithus hoped this inn was everything Endre said it was. Slinging his packs over one shoulder, which further irritated his scar, he left the stable for the lights and low music of the common room. A somewhat comical sign hung over the door depicting a worried looking man holding a frayed piece of rope as he fell down the side of a cliff. Large letters in faded red paint introduced the building as The Drop Right Inn. He was a bit comforted by the sense of humor. It certainly did not seem an unfriendly place. The worn state of the building professed to oddly light patronage despite what would seem an opportune location.

  Adjusting his hood to be sure his face was hidden, he stepped through the door. The first thing he noticed was that even the minstrel in one dark corner appeared to be contentedly alone with his music. A group of men and one woman sat around a table playing dice, but they said nothing to one another as they went about it and every one of them appeared lost within their own thoughts. He noted that each player was so protective of their solitude that they barely watched to see if any of the others were cheating. Nearly all the good shadowed spots were occupied with lone travelers as well as a few groups who were enjoying their silence together. The minstrel was perhaps the most active in the bunch as he moved with the mour
nful music he played on his lute.

  The music was somehow more pleasant for coming from one instrument. In the palace and even the inns of Imperious where he had spent his young life there, were usually many players and singers melding their talents. This sound was a new and sweet change from the evening’s events and the problems he had yet to face. As he walked toward the bar he peered about for the elusive innkeeper. The serving girls moved between the tables in a relaxed manner, free of the taunts and fondles they would receive in most inns. No one here could be bothered to notice them that much.

  Dephithus opened his mouth to call one over when he spotted the gentleman behind the counter leaning back in the shadows with his eyes closed.

  Gentleman was a good description. The innkeeper, if he indeed were such, was a trim, well-built man perhaps as tall as Dephithus or at least very close to the same height. His chocolate brown hair and moustache were neatly trimmed and his clothes were clean and tidy, not worn at all. In general, he would have looked more at home in a palace garden entertaining a group of ladies.

  He stared at the resting man for a few seconds, trying to decide how best to draw his attention, when one of the girls walked up and poked the sleeping fellow in the ribs rather unceremoniously.

  “Random, you have a customer,” she hissed in his ear as she tipped her crown of blond hair to Dephithus.

  The innkeeper started awake and shook his sleep off quickly. Locking his warm brown-eyed gaze on Dephithus, he smiled and strode over. “Welcome to my inn,” he offered with an accented voice that was deep enough to be clearly heard but pleasant enough not to annoy the patrons. “I’m Random Mayby. What can I do for you?”

  It took a few seconds to fight off the urge to ask if that were the man’s real name. Ultimately, it did not matter, so he moved on. “You own this inn?”

  Random’s smile did not falter. “Yes, sir, unless you want it.”

  Dephithus grinned. This man was no mercenary, that was certain. “No, thank you. I think I would settle for some real food and a room.”