Dragon Emperor 17: From Human to Dragon to God, page 9
“I don’t need a bribe,” I grumbled. “As I said, I’m looking for someone, and the information I have says you can help me figure out who.”
“You’re looking for someone you don’t know?” The duchess lifted a doubtful eyebrow. “How are we going to know about someone if you don’t know anything?”
“I didn’t say I know nothing about the person,” I clarified. “In fact, I know something very important about him or her, but I don’t know the name. That’s where you two come in. I’ll describe this person to you, and you tell me who it is. It’s not that difficult.”
“And if we give you a name, you’ll leave Copacia?” the duke asked.
“Eventually,” I hedged. “I’ll need to speak with this person, and hopefully, it won’t take long. We’re on a bit of a time crunch, in case you forgot the life-or-death mission part of my introduction.”
“You have all these people with you, and none of them can help you with your problem?” the duke scoffed as he looked over my group. “I sense a few have the power to read nature. Can’t they use them to find your person?”
“Well, they’ve all helped me already,” I shot back. “Now, I’m looking for someone who lives here.”
“And how do you know they live here?” the duchess whined.
“Magic,” I said as simply as I could. “So, if you’d be so kind as to listen, I’ll explain. The person I’m looking for is a noble--”
“Yes, yes, we have plenty of those here,” the duke interjected and rolled his eyes. “As you can see, we’ve ensured our city is very wealthy, which is why we also have treasure we can give you as soon as you promise to leave.”
“Brag much?” Rebecca muttered.
“Yeah, Copacia is nice,” I agreed with a grimace. “Anyway, this particular noble has a certain sword.”
I neglected to give specific details about the Noble Sword to the elf couple. They were already on my nerves with their attitude, and I knew I couldn’t trust them in the slightest.
“A sword?” the duchess laughed. “Everyone has a sword. We live in the middle of a forest.”
“I can understand that,” I said. “But this sword is special, a one-of-a-kind blade. It would stand out, and only one family has been able to use it.”
My last sentence appeared to freeze the couple in their tracks, and they glanced at each other and had some sort of silent conversation while I waited for their response. It seemed I’d struck a chord, but their stiff bodies told me it wouldn’t be easy to move forward.
Then my instincts were proven right.
“We won’t tell you a damn thing,” the duchess spat out.
Chapter 6
My blood started to boil as I stared at the elf couple’s smug faces. All I wanted was information, and they were quick to make a deal and then back out of their side of it. It was apparent the elves had no sense of honor or respect, but they didn’t seem to care. They obviously had no idea who the fuck they were dealing with, and I planned to show them how smart it was to renege on a deal with a dragon.
My fists clenched at my sides, but then I felt the cool, gentle touch of Alyona’s hand on my arm.
“Let me talk to them,” she whispered. “Take a deep breath.”
Her words seemed to breathe ice into the fire that burned my insides, and they tamped down the rage that threatened to boil over. I took a deep shuddering breath to calm myself, but I kept my eyes locked onto the duke and duchess.
“Okay,” I agreed on the exhale. “I suppose they don’t have to meet the gods today.”
The duchess’ mouth dropped open ever so slightly at my menacing words, and her eyes darted between Alyona and me.
“You’ve made a grave mistake,” the princess said in a soft but commanding voice. “Lord Evan released your archer in exchange for information about a citizen of your city. He completed his end of the bargain, but you have fallen quite short on yours. Not only have you disrespected the family of the White Jade Temple, you also risk putting thousands of lives in danger. Is that something you can live with?”
“White Jade Temple?” the duke repeated with wary eyes. “What would we care about the matters of Rahma?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re now in Ecral,” his wife added and pursed her lips. “We have no business with the Rahman royalty.”
“You do now,” Alyona retorted. “I am Princess Alyona, and Lord Evan is my husband, heir to the throne of King Rodion. You have disrespected us with your dishonesty, and you should be ashamed of the disregard you’ve shown for thousands of lives that hang in the balance.”
“Why would we be ashamed for not being able to solve your problem?” the duchess gasped with a dramatic hand to her chest. “We are mere elves, hundreds of miles from your temple, and we’ve never been concerned with our neighboring country’s business.”
“And we have no intention of starting to be concerned now,” her husband chimed in with a smug smile.
“Then you’ll have to answer that when your time has ended,” Alyona said through gritted teeth. “But for now, we need an answer. You know who we’re talking about. What is the noble’s name?”
The elf couple looked at each other again, but the duchess shook her head just enough for her husband to see before they turned back to face us.
“As we said, we’re unable to assist in your search party,” the duke replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have plenty of other--”
“Unbelievable!” Skye cut him off as she stormed forward and stood toe to toe with the Duke of Copacia. “The princess just told you thousands of lives are at risk if you don’t give us a name, and you think you’ll be able to sleep tonight knowing you could have helped save them?”
“I’ll, uh, sleep fine,” the duke said, though his smug smile had begun to retreat.
“Thousands of men, women, and children are at stake!” Skye continued her rant as she lifted a defiant chin toward the couple. “Children whose lives could be gone from this world because you’re a couple of stubborn, selfish assholes with no compassion for anyone outside your stupid forest! It’s absolutely disgusting! I left my home city to venture past its walls and find something better than I knew, to find my purpose in this world, and you two can’t even see past your stupid silver architecture to realize there are millions of other lives around you that deserve to be lived!”
The naiad-Nepin’s chest heaved as she stared at the couple, while the duke and duchess watched her with open mouths and wide eyes. It seemed her speech had left them, well, speechless.
I swore I could hear a cricket chirp as we waited for the elves to respond before the duke finally shook his head and looked down to his feet.
“You’re right,” he mumbled. “We keep to ourselves and have forgotten--”
“Davinder!” his wife interjected and grabbed his hand. “Wait.”
“No, Magdalene,” Duke Davinder insisted. “Let me finish. We’ve forgotten about the rest of the people in the world because we’ve stayed to ourselves and don’t need them anymore, like they haven’t needed us. I do apologize for our cold response.”
It was the most either of them had spoken at once since we’d arrived, and the duke looked completely defeated as he finished his declaration. I was relieved Skye had been able to get through to them, and I reached forward to squeeze her hand with reassurance.
“Good,” she said. “Now, who is the noble with the special sword?”
“I’ll tell you,” Davinder answered with a grimace. “But I’m not sure if it will do any good for your mission.”
“Why not?” I asked as Skye stepped back to stand with Alyona and me.
“His name is Lord Barrington,” Magdalene said and narrowed her eyes at her husband. “He has been ill for several weeks now.”
Damn, a male heir to the sword threw a small wrench in the plan, but we’d have to talk to Lord Barrington to find a female heir for the binding ceremony. I hoped it wouldn’t be a huge problem.
“We aren’t afraid of catching a cold.” I smirked. “I have healing magic. I’ll help him, and then he can help us.”
“I hope your healing power is strong,” the duchess muttered as she gestured toward the door. “We’ll take you to his home.”
“It is,” I grunted. “Lead the way.”
The duke and duchess begrudgingly led us out of their palace and back into the city of Copacia. The streets were still empty of other elf citizens, which made me wonder if they were all really that busy or if they truly didn’t care about any outsiders who showed up. Or maybe their royal leaders didn’t want the rest of the elves to be involved with anyone.
Either way, the city looked dead, and it was almost as eerie as Juntralago with the lack of life that was supposed to flow throughout a city.
“I hope I didn’t offend you, my lord,” Skye murmured as we walked along behind the slow-moving elves. “I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn.”
“I’m not offended at all,” I chuckled. “You gave them the swift kick in the ass they needed to finally see what had to be done. You did great, Skye.”
“Thank you,” she replied as her sapphire cheeks darkened with a blush.
“I agree,” Alyona said and smiled. “We couldn’t have convinced them without your passion. It was brilliant.”
The rest of my lovers joined in with their appreciation for Skye’s speech, and her flushed cheeks turned almost black as she accepted their gratitude. Though she was the newest to join our family, she already fit in perfectly.
The duke and duchess came to an abrupt halt in front of a small silver house with a stark white door. The door was adorned with blue and red jewels in the shape of a bird, and I couldn’t hear a peep from inside.
Magdalene knocked on the door and waited less than a second before she turned the knob and walked inside with Davinder on her heels. I turned and gave Nike a questioning look, but the noble shrugged his shoulders as we followed the elves inside.
The entry was lit only by a single candle on the wall, and once we shut the front door behind us, it was still nearly pitch-black until the duke lit a small lantern and picked it up from the floor. The flickering light revealed his grim expression as he continued further into the house.
We followed them down the hallway and into a bedroom at the end of the hall, and I took in a sharp breath when I saw the Noble of the Sword on the bed.
Lord Barrington was a bit older than I was, but he wasn’t old by any standard. Dark auburn hair flowed gently across the pillow beneath his head, and a thick beard laid across his torso. His face was tanned and rugged, and he wore a blue tunic with the same bird from his door stitched onto the chest. He was sprawled out on top of the blankets, and his eyes were closed as though he was asleep.
A chill rippled through my body as I soon recognized the situation the noble was in.
“He was found like this on his last mission,” Davinder explained. “No one had heard from him in several days, and the search party discovered him lying there. They brought him back straight away, and he’s been in this state for several weeks.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “His vital signs are all normal, but he can’t be woken up?”
“Yes,” the duchess breathed. “How did you know?”
“We’ve seen this before,” I replied with a frown. “Good thing you brought us here. We’ve already helped a few people with this, but it’s not easy.”
“I have the ingredients from the spell,” Alyona said as she reached into her spatial storage. “That part is easy enough.”
“That’s a good start,” I agreed. “I’m still concerned with his memory.”
“What do you mean?” Magdalene demanded.
“The ones who we healed before never regained their memories of how they became like this,” Alyona explained. “We tried several things, but all we could do was wake them up.”
“Well, he needs to be woken up, but I don’t want his memory damaged.” Davinder rubbed his chin in thought. “Maybe we should wait.”
“We don’t have time to wait,” my wife said. “We don’t know how much damage has already been caused by the magic that put him in this sleep. We need to wake him immediately.”
“You just said the other ones you healed were damaged,” Magdalene argued. “We can’t risk a Noble of the Sword!”
“They weren’t damaged because of our healing spell,” I said. “Whatever hurt them damaged their memories of it. That was the only part we haven’t figured out how to heal yet.”
“Then we should wait until you figure that out.” The duchess crossed her arms over her chest with a petulance that made me want to toss her out a window.
“No,” I growled. “We can’t wait. He has to be healed from the sleeping curse now.”
“And if he can’t remember what happened to him?” Davinder asked.
“Then at least he’ll be awake and healing,” Alyona said gently. “It’s the best thing to do for him right now. We have no idea what’s going on while he’s asleep. The ones we healed before were only asleep for a few days. You said he’s been asleep for weeks. This poor man could be near death by now.”
The elves looked at each other with obvious dismay, and I could tell they were torn between trusting us and avoiding our help, which would end with terrible results. I wanted to just shove them both out of the room and solve the problem our way, but we had to at least try to keep the elf rulers on board with us. If nothing else, they could explain to Lord Barrington who we were and how we had helped him, though I knew that would likely be a whole other argument.
“Fine,” Magdalene finally sighed. “Do the spell. He should be healed, but if he’s upset about his memory loss, you will be the ones to explain it to him.”
“We can do that,” I said before I turned to Alyona. “Can you do it without Naomi?”
“For one person, yes,” she replied. “I’ll still need to channel Miraya.”
“I’m ready,” the spirit declared as she stepped forward and took Alyona’s hand.
The princess and Miraya began to gather the ingredients from Alyona’s spatial storage and recreate the reddish-brown paste they’d made on the airship. Alyona swiped the paste across Lord Barrington’s forehead, and his eyes jolted open, which was no less creepy even though I expected it this time. It was only a few seconds later when they stepped back and joined hands.
“Spring of life and mountains free, awaken from your deepest sleep,” Alyona chanted while Miraya gripped her shoulder to give Alyona access to her power. “Autumn fires and rivers gold, remember what your stories hold.”
The same gust of wind that had blown through the airship infirmary burst into the noble’s bedroom and nearly carried the lantern from Davinder’s hand.
“Oh!” He clutched the handle and looked around wildly.
Suddenly, the elf noble sat straight up in his bed and stared at the wall across from him. “By the end of the second scourge, he will rise. Before the last moon is in the sky, you will bow before the Demon King!”
Then he flopped back onto the bed as the wind screamed through the room and disappeared with a clap of thunder.
“That’s just as weird the second time,” I muttered.
“Oh, my gods!” Magdalene gasped and rushed forward to take Lord Barrington’s hand. “Are you alright? What were you talking about?”
“What?” the noble mumbled and looked around. “W-What, uh, wait, I-I can’t… I can’t be here!”
Lord Barrington began to thrash and writhe as though he was trapped by some sort of binding, but nothing held him to the bed. He tore at his beard and his hair, and he screamed a guttural cry that sounded like a madman.
“Grab him!” I yelled to Nike.
We shoved the stunned elf rulers out of the way to take hold of Lord Barrington’s arms and pin him to the bed.
“Should I bind him?” Alyona asked in a worried tone.
“No, just put him in a normal sleep!” I ordered her as Barrington struggled against our grasp. “Hurry!”
Without another word, Alyona strode forward and placed her palm on Barrington’s face. Then his body went limp, and his eyes drifted closed as he fell asleep once more.
“What in the name--” Davinder started.
“Shh!” Alyona admonished him. “He’s really asleep right now. We should discuss this outside.”
Magdalene narrowed her eyes on the princess but turned around to leave Barrington’s house. We shuffled out behind her, and I gently closed the door to avoid waking the sleeping noble.
“Now, someone tell me what in the name of the gods just happened in there!” Davinder bellowed.
“You don’t need to raise your voice like that,” I whispered. “I know it was difficult to see, but we warned you it wasn’t easy.”
“That was quite disturbing.” The duchess was visibly shaken as she wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I understand,” I assured her. “We had no idea what to make of it when it happened with the group of researchers we found.”
“What about now?” Davinder asked. “Do you know what it means now?”
“We believe there is a very imminent threat to our world who attacked the people we rescued and Lord Barrington,” I said carefully. “We don’t know much about the Demon King just yet, but we will. Now, you said Lord Barrington was found after a mission, so I need to know where he was.”
“He was at the northern border to Rahma,” the duke answered. “We don’t know much about why he went.”
“How did he get a mission you don’t know about?” Nike chimed in with a frown. “You should know what the lords of your city are doing.”
“Normally, yes,” the duchess said with a nod. “Most of his missions are brought to us first, but this one he received on his own. He said it was urgent that he leave immediately, and then he was gone.”
“How long was he gone?” I pressed.
“He sent word upon his arrival two days after he left, then nothing,” Davinder said. “When no one heard from him for three days, we sent a few guards to check on him. They brought him back like that.”
