Dralin (32 page)

Pelya walked around and glanced in some of
the open crates and barrels. One barrel had some water in it and
she used it to clean the snot off as well as possible. She managed
to find a box of moth-eaten shirts in another corner and used one
to dry off after making sure nothing inhabited it.

Another box had some crackers in it so she
grabbed a few, sat on another crate and began munching. She had
been down there for a few hours and no one had come to fetch her.
It upset her that Kally was taking so long, but Pelya decided to
take the time to consider everything she had seen.

It was somewhat nice in the basement. The
cool darkness felt good with the way she had been feeling lately. A
rat came nearby to inspect her crackers and she held one out to it.
“Here you are, friend. I don’t mind sharing.” It sniffed the air
with initial distrust, but finally decided Pelya was one of them.
It snatched the cracker and moved a short distance away to begin
eating.

For the next hour or so, Pelya debated the
fate of the dragon, the decision Kally had made, the death of
Bobbell, the academy below Lady Pallon’s manor, her friendship with
Ebudae and various other thoughts that came and went.

The verdict by the weaponmaster that she
learn about life outside of the guard had drastically changed
Pelya’s life in just a couple of short weeks. She shifted into a
cross-legged position on the crate, crossed her arms on top of the
bigger crate next to her and rested her chin. Pelya was already
more mature, but also much more sad at the same time. She didn’t
need to experience suffering to know that life was hard. She
believed everyone when they told her, but now she felt that pain on
a very personal level.

Her heart ached for the people that
suffered. Bobbell’s disappointment in his eyes when he realized he
was going to die hurt her almost as much as losing him. Kally’s
shock when Lord Uylvich demanded sex for favors made Pelya feel
sick to her stomach. Ebudae’s neglect at the hands of her
grandmother weakened her faith in humanity, if humanity deserved
such a thing.

Pelya felt sad for her father suddenly. He
had spent the last eleven years raising a child after losing his
wife. He still mourned Sheela. Pelya could see unbearable sorrow in
his eyes whenever he spoke of her mother and how happy they were
together.

Guilt rubbed Pelya’s heart raw that she had
caused her mother’s death. Pelya didn’t know how her father forgave
her for that. Her daddy always smiled at her and comforted her when
she was down, but she didn’t understand why he didn’t show how much
he must hate her.

Pelya cried silent tears while the rats sat
quietly, showing respect for their miserable friend. She fell
asleep that way. In an odd measure of respect, the rats left her
alone. Perhaps they realized that she had left them alone and were
returning the gesture.

“Pelya?” Are you down here?” Kally’s voice
came to her ears along with the sound of boot steps coming down the
stairs. Pelya’s head jerked up and she wiped the sleep from her
eyes as she stood. When her muscles protested, Pelya groaned.

“There you are.” Kally came toward her with
a smile. She was walking oddly and her hair was matted with sweat.
At some point, she had tried to brush it, but it didn’t turn out
too well. “I see you fell asleep. I’m sorry it took so long,” she
said remorsefully. Pelya ran to her and hugged tightly. “Here now,
what’s this?”

“Are you alright, Aunt Kally?” Pelya asked,
looking up. “I’ve been so worried about you. Did he hurt you?” she
asked, sliding her hand to the hilt of her longknife, ready to kill
her first person for Aunt Kally’s honor.

“Here now. There’ll be none of that,” Kally
said while gently taking Pelya’s hand away from her weapon. “Lord
Uylvich is a master with the sword and in any case, he treated me
wonderfully.”

“He did?” Pelya asked suspiciously, not
believing her.

“Yes. Come now, let’s go to turn in whatever
rats you killed to the cook and then go to the park.” She took
Pelya’s hand and led her to the stairs.

“I didn’t kill any rats,” Pelya admitted in
embarrassment.

Kally stopped. “You didn’t? You have plenty
of skill for it I would think.”

“I kind of like rats and they didn’t bother
me while I slept. Plus I didn’t want to get blood on my
outfit.”

Kally laughed loudly and happily. “I like
that. It was a very wise decision.” They went up the stairs and
through the door at the top. The cook was berating another person,
so Kally put a finger to her lips and they quietly left the
kitchen.

A minute later, they were heading toward the
park. Pelya studied her aunt out the side of her vision while they
walked. “Aunt Kally?”

“Yes, Pelya?”

“You look really happy. Did he really treat
you decently then?” Pelya asked.

“He did. I was nervous at first, but he
understood me so well,” Kally said thoughtfully. “Enric did things
I enjoyed . . .” She blushed as she realized what she was saying
out loud. Kally looked down at Pelya sternly. “That’s none of your
business, young lady.”

“Alright,” Pelya agreed. “But you’re going
to break your face if you smile any bigger.”

She laughed. “You little brat! Come along.
I’ll buy you a nice sticky sweet treat that will hopefully stick
your mouth shut,” Kally told her playfully as they entered the park
and made their way to a vendor selling said treats.

They stayed in the park for a few hours.
Neither of them said much, being lost in their own thoughts. It was
nice to sit awhile before walking around the large lake. They
bought bread to feed the ducks and laughed when one tried to bite
their feet.

After eating dinner, they headed back to the
Guard District in silence, still lost in their own thoughts. Pelya
decided to ask her father if she could go to visit Ebudae for the
next week. Part of her reasoning was that she didn’t want to deal
with any more aunts and uncles making side trips, but the biggest
reason was that she wanted to ask Ebudae about dragons. Between the
two of them, maybe they could sneak back into Lord Uylvich’s manor
and rescue the forlorn creature.

She asked her father that night. When he
asked why, Pelya told him that she missed her friend and thought it
would help her get back to normal. She didn’t tell him that she
also wanted to give him a break from her so that he wouldn’t have
to think about how Pelya’s birth had killed her mother.

Chapter
20

The sun blasted down, signaling that summer
was happy to arrive. Pelya was extremely grateful that she would
get to spend the week in Lady Pallon’s cool manor. The walk was
uneventful and the only conversation was when Frath asked four
separate times if she was alright. “I’m fine, Daddy,” she reassured
him each time.

Lady Pallon met them at the door and invited
Frath to breakfast while Pelya went straight up to Ebudae’s room.
Since they weren’t expected, she figured Ebudae would still be in
bed. She ran up the stairs two at a time before slowing down and
taking them one at a time to see what it would be like. After four
steps, she concluded that it was boring, so continued at her normal
breakneck speed.

At the door to Ebudae’s sleeping chambers,
Pelya stopped and slowly went in. As suspected, the young wizardess
was under the covers of the enormous bed that engulfed her
pleasantly. Instead of waking her up, Pelya went to the drawer of
nightgowns Ebudae had given her, put one on and slid into bed.

Ebudae woke up enough to recognize her
presence and smiled happily. They held onto each other and both
went back to sleep. Pelya was exhausted from lack of sleep since
Bobbell’s death. Ebudae’s bed was comfortable, like sleeping on a
cloud, and it was the first time she slept without a nightmare.

Frath came up to say goodbye after eating
breakfast. He stood there for a few minutes watching them sleep.
With a rare smile, he whispered, “I’m so grateful for you, my
beautiful daughter. You are the only wonderful thing I have.” Then
he turned and went to work.

***

“What do you know about dragons?” Pelya
asked when they were in Ebudae’s secret room later that night. She
was sitting on the one bench in the room after having moved some
magical items that were on it to the floor.

Ebudae was working on laying out ingredients
for a new rune ball. She loved making them. Over her shoulder, she
replied, “Dragons? Not much. They’re the most powerful, magical
creatures in the world, extremely dangerous and they fly. Why?”

“I met one,” Pelya answered.

The wizardess froze and then slowly turned
around. “What do you mean by ‘you met one’?” she challenged.

“Promise not to tell,” Pelya insisted
worriedly even though she knew it wasn’t necessary.

Ebudae took out her knife and made a small
nick in her arm. “I promise not to tell.” Then she licked the blood
from the cut.

“Eww,” Pelya stated. “That’s a really bad
habit.” Ebudae shrugged and tapped her foot with hands on hips,
waiting for the answer. Pelya grinned. “I think it was a baby
dragon because it was only as big as a cart. It was in a cage with
magical orbs draining its energy.”

Ebudae came and sat down on Pelya’s left and
pulled up her right leg. “You really did see a dragon?” she asked
incredulously.

“Yes.” Pelya turned toward her and pulled up
her left leg so their knees were touching. “Aunt Kally had to make
a stop at Lord Uylvich’s house in the Noble District. I think she
had sex or something.” They both made faces of disgust. “The cook
told me to go down to the basement and kill rats. I don’t have a
problem with rats, so I explored instead, even going down to a
sub-basement. Then I used that rune ball for finding secret
passages.”

“Neat! You found one?” Ebudae was clearly
excited.

“Yeah! There was a hidden door that led to a
well-used passage.”

“Interesting. Go on.”

“There were stairs going up on the left,”
Pelya explained. “I didn’t want to go up, so I went to the right
and found steps going down. It went down six flights of stairs and
to another passage.”

“Aha! That’s how they got it into the city.
They didn’t,” Ebudae exclaimed. At Pelya’s confused look, she
grinned and explained the contradiction. “Dragons can’t get into
Dralin. They can’t even be brought into the city by someone else.
When you first told me you saw one, I wondered how. But you went
down far enough that you passed the wards underneath the city. It
must have been smuggled below somehow.”

“There was another secret passage in the
room with the dragon. There wasn’t a trigger that I could see,”
Pelya stated excitedly. “It was easily wide enough for a dragon
though.”

“Maybe it has a magical trigger. Did you see
any runes on it?”

“There were runes all over the walls and
floor, a lot like here.” Pelya gestured at the markings in the lab.
“Some of them were on the secret entrance too.”

“Then we just need to figure out which ones
open it,” Ebudae said eagerly.

Pelya grinned. “Does that mean you’re going
to help me rescue the dragon?”

Ebudae’s face fell. “I want to, but I don’t
think we can.” She leaned forward. “I probably know more about
magic than any other eleven-year-old girl, but if someone can
capture a dragon, then they’re much more powerful than me,” she
said sadly.

“Yeah,” Pelya admitted miserably. “I
couldn’t figure it out. I was hoping you could tell me something
though. The other problem is that you can’t leave the manor without
your grandmother and I can’t leave the Guard District without an
escort, so I don’t know how we would get back there. Even if we
did, getting past everyone would be difficult, then there’s the
chance we might get caught.” She exhaled in frustration.

“Then there’s the fact that the dragon might
kill us. They
are
dangerous, you know,” Ebudae pointed
out.

“It wouldn’t hurt us,” Pelya stated
confidently. “It understood what I said and wanted to be rescued.
It did sneeze on me though,” she said, still irritated by the fact.
Even a bath the night before hadn’t completely gotten rid of the
musky smell of the creature.

Ebudae laughed and Pelya joined her. “I
think there were a couple of books about dragons in the academy
library. Maybe we can figure out some things,” the wizardess
suggested.

“Let’s go!” Pelya stood and rushed over to
the table where their supplies were. Ebudae was right there and,
within a few minutes, they were on their way down. Both girls were
excited and Pelya filled her friend in on many of the details about
the adventure in the basement and the death of Uncle Bobbell.
Ebudae hugged her warrior friend fiercely when they reached the
staging room and it helped Pelya to feel a little bit better.

When the wizardess lit a second lantern,
Pelya asked, “Why does a breeze ruffle your hair every time you
cast a spell, but I don’t feel anything?”

Ebudae answered as though reciting a lesson
learned from a book. “When an individual casts a spell, they
collect energy around them. It creates a magical gust only the
caster can feel. When releasing the energy, it blows past the user
from behind the spell. The more it looks like the caster is being
hit by wind, the stronger the spell will be.”

“Oh, alright. I remember hearing some of my
aunts and uncles talking about magic wind in battle,” Pelya
stated.

Ebudae nodded. “It’s a good way to tell when
magic is coming. If you see wind whipping the wizard’s hair, get
out of their way as fast as possible.”

Everything was quiet except for the sound of
their voices while they walked through the theatre and hallways.
Ebudae was pulling out her ring of keys shortly before they reached
the library when a shrieking roar blasted through the hallway.