The Princess of Trelian (25 page)

“Did it work? Did you —?”

“Yes,” Serek said. “You should be protected now from any further dreams of that sort. She should not be able to get past the shield.”

“Could you see them? The things she was trying to get me to do?”

Serek nodded. “It definitely appeared to be compulsion magic, filtered through the dreams. Powerful, but you should be all right now.”

“Thank you,” Wilem said, sounding genuinely grateful.

Serek nodded again, and Anders stood up, wiping his hands together. “Fascinating!” he said. He looked at Serek. “We must write up a paper on this for the Magistratum. You know, for when we’re allowed to go back someday. I’ve got to go record some notes before I forget.”

He headed out, murmuring excitedly.

“Where did you say you met him again?” Calen asked Serek.

“I didn’t,” Serek said shortly. He turned back to Wilem. “Let us know, of course, if you do experience any other troubling events.”

“Yes, Mage Serek. I will.”

Serek turned and headed out after Anders.

“Well,” Meg said, “I suppose we should let you get some real sleep now.” She seemed suddenly uncomfortable in the now far-less-crowded room.

“Thank you, Princess,” Wilem said.

Meg gave him a half smile and an awkwardly dismissive wave and then turned for the door, leaving Calen standing there by himself. He and Wilem regarded each other for a moment in silence.

“Yeah, well, good night, I guess,” Calen said finally.

“Good night, Calen. And thank you, too.”

Calen gave the older boy a Serek-like nod and then hurried to catch up with Meg.

M
EG FELT THE DREAM CLOSE IN
around her. She fought it, tried to break free, but couldn’t. She was lost in the forest again, and Calen was lost, too, and she had to find him, but she didn’t know how. She tried reaching out to Jakl for help, but touching him through the link was like touching fire — she pulled back in pain and fear and confusion.
What’s wrong? Jakl, what’s wrong, what is it?

She heard him roar in response from somewhere nearby, but she couldn’t see him. He was so angry,
again,
and she still couldn’t understand what was causing it.
Is it my fault?
she thought at him desperately.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Jakl, please, just come to me and we’ll figure it out. We’ll make it all right again, I promise, just please. . . .

But it was no good — he was only growing angrier. She could feel his rage like terrible twining flames reaching for her, trying to surround her, consume her, burn her away until there was nothing left of her at all. She tried to run, but there was no running that would let her escape the link. Jakl reached for her endlessly, and she could feel herself starting to burn. It was agony, and not just physically.
Jakl, what is it? Please stop, stop hurting me, I don’t understand, I don’t understand, it hurts, you’re hurting me, please. . . .

He could hear her; she knew he could. He understood exactly what he was doing.

And he didn’t care.

She woke up screaming.

Pela was there in an instant, sitting beside her on the bed, trying to soothe her. “It’s all right, Princess, it’s all right, just a dream. You’re here and safe with me now, do you see?”

Meg didn’t respond; she reached out for Jakl, terrified but needing to know how much of the dream had been real. Was he raging again, as he’d been that day he came for her in the garden? No . . . she didn’t think so. He was angry, but she thought he’d been dreaming, too. He seemed more confused and afraid than anything else. She forced herself not to flinch from him as he reached back toward her.
It’s all right,
she thought at him.
We’re going to find a way to make this stop — I promise.

He seemed to be struggling with something; she waited to feel him accept her reassurance, to relax, to let go of his fear, but he didn’t seem able to do so. Instead she felt the confusion growing again, and the anger along with it. Suddenly he wrenched himself away from her, screaming in rage and pain.

“No!” she cried aloud, feeling him slip back into that frightening place where she couldn’t reach him.

She became aware of Pela’s fingers digging into her arm. “Princess!” she was shouting. “Princess, what is it? What’s happening?”

“Pela, I’m — I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I have to go —”

“What is it? That sound, is it your dragon?”

Meg realized she wasn’t just feeling Jakl’s screams through the link; she could hear him with her ears as well. He was closer than she’d thought.

“Oh, no, no,” Meg whispered, pushing herself from the bed and stuffing her feet into her boots. She burst through the door and down the hall.

Pela followed after her, still shouting. “Princess, come back! Where are you going?”

Meg couldn’t stop to explain. She had to get to him before something happened. “Get Calen!” she shouted back over her shoulder. Pela dashed off at once, without another word.

Already Meg could hear other voices in the castle, people crying out in alarm and confusion.

Jakl, please,
she thought,
stop this, I’m coming, please, listen to me. It was a dream, just a dream, you’re fine, we’re both fine. . . .

She let the flow of thought continue, barely even aware of the words she was forming in her head, just trying to reassure him that everything was going to be all right. Unfortunately, she wasn’t at all certain that it
was
going to be all right. This was more than just the nightmare. Something was happening to him. To both of them. She was losing him somehow, but she didn’t know to what, or how, or why.

It seemed to take forever to reach the garden entrance. Meg ran out into the night and looked up. He was there, circling, screaming into the night sky. With horror, she realized the castle guard was already outside. They had crossbowmen with them. She knew they’d all been instructed never to harm the dragon, but they hadn’t been told why. She didn’t know how faithfully they’d keep to the order if Jakl looked as though he were going to attack.

She ran out to the field she and Jakl often used for takeoffs and landings and general lounging and screamed at him through the link to follow her. She couldn’t tell if he was even aware of her right now. He reminded her abruptly of a horse she’d seen once who had trampled a wasps’ nest and been stung so many times that it drove him mad. The horse had broken a fence, wounded two guards, and killed a stableboy who tried to stop him before he was brought down with arrows. He had screamed until the last, kicking and writhing in his pain until he finally died. Meg swallowed and tried to push the image from her mind. That was not going to happen to her dragon.

She stood in the center of the field and stared up at the sky, watching him. She reached for him again through the link, trying to push past the swirl of confusing emotions that seemed to block her way.
Jakl, listen to me! Nothing is wrong! Come down here and let me try to help you!

She felt a glimmer of response and pushed harder. He was in there, some part of him wanted to come to her, she could feel it. She had to help him find his way through the anger and fear.
I’m right here,
she thought.
I’m waiting for you, I’m not going anywhere. Come down. Please come down.

A flicker of motion caught her eye, and she saw several guards approaching her, some fixed on her position, others looking warily upward. She pointed at them and shouted, “No! You stay back! I have to take care of this.” The guard nearest to her hesitated, and he was close enough that she could see him trying to decide whether to listen to her. For a moment, she opened herself up to Jakl’s anger and willed some of it to flow through her, adding to what she was already feeling on her own. She lowered her voice slightly and spoke just to the closest guard. “If you do anything to make him worse, I swear I will make you very, very sorry.”

Something in her expression must have convinced him. With a wave of his hand, he started back and beckoned the other guards to follow.

Siphoning off that bit of Jakl’s anger had seemed to help. There was more of him trying to reach back to her. She wondered suddenly why she had even had to
try
to take on his anger; it should have come through relentlessly, overwhelming her, whether she wanted to feel it or not. What he was feeling now was far too strong for her to try to block, even if she had dared to consider it — and she couldn’t have; she needed the link wide open for her to be able to try and help him right now. So she should have been feeling all of his anger, but she wasn’t. Somehow he was experiencing all of it, alone, as if the link had become one-way, taking her dream-emotions and sending them through to Jakl and not letting him release them back to her.

Could that be what was happening? Could Sen Eva — if the nightmares were truly her doing — be directly affecting the link, interfering with the way it worked? The thought made her sick inside. It was like having a traitor inside her own heart. Jakl needed that link to reach back to her. If he couldn’t . . . gods, no wonder he was going crazy.

Meg closed her eyes and tried to draw off more of the dragon’s anger. If she could take more of it, maybe he’d be able to calm down enough to come back to himself. Whatever was wrong with the link, it wasn’t blocked entirely. She could pull some of Jakl’s emotions back to her if she thought consciously about it. He hadn’t been able to share with her on his own, but she could help him, now that she knew what was going on.

It’s all right,
she thought at him again.
I see what to do. I’m going to help you.
It was maddening, that someone should intrude upon their private connection in this way. Jakl was
hers,
they were each other’s, and for someone else to touch that, to interfere in the way they were joined together, to hurt her and especially to hurt
him
. . . She thought she already hated Sen Eva as much as it was possible to hate another person, but the woman kept finding new ways to be loathsome. When Meg found her again, she would not miss her opportunity a second time. She was going to make her pay, to hurt her for everything she had done, for everything she was trying to do. The woman was evil; she was barely even human. She deserved to suffer, to be in pain and torment and to die horribly, and if Meg had the chance, she would — she would —

The rage inside her became too much for rational thought, and she opened her mouth and screamed up at the stars, hating them for shining down as though nothing were wrong, as though nothing were happening. She hated them — she hated
everything.
She —

She heard something, but she couldn’t seem to focus. It felt like someone was touching her, but she didn’t . . . she couldn’t . . . she felt —

“Meg!”

There it was again. Her name — someone was calling her. . . . In that moment of realization, she felt Jakl suddenly there again, back to himself and trying to reach her as well. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She felt . . . she was so angry, she didn’t know what to do with it, how to stand here without bursting into flames of rage. Like the dream — oh, gods . . .

“Meg, can you hear me?”

She turned, and there was Calen, standing beside her, his hand on her arm. His face was bleeding.

“Calen?”

“Yes, I’m here.” He seemed immensely relieved to have her attention. She noticed the guards standing back several yards behind him, all of them watching her.

“What happened to your face?” She reached out toward him and then froze, staring at her outstretched hand. Her fingernails were bloody.

“Did I . . . ? Oh, gods, oh, Calen, did I do that?” Her voice was a whisper. She couldn’t seem to look away from her fingers.

“It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t worry about that now.”

The ground shook as Jakl landed as close as he dared. He was next to her instantly, his head pressing against her side. She reached down to touch him, reassured by his warm presence, both here and in her mind again, clearly, no longer muddled and distant.

“What happened, Meg?” Calen asked gently. “What happened?”

“I think . . .” Her voice hurt from screaming. She swallowed and tried again. “I think it’s Sen Eva. Through my dreams. She did something to the link, Calen. Or was doing something. The link wasn’t working. Jakl was trapped, alone with all that anger . . .” She could still feel the remnants of it inside her, embers waiting to be fanned back into flame. She tried to take deep breaths and calm herself down.

“It’s all right,” Calen said. “We’ll figure out how to stop it. Serek is here, and Anders, and we can go with them right now and explain, okay?”

“No,” she said. “No, I need to stay here for a little while.”

Calen’s eyes went to Jakl and then back to her face. “Of course,” he said. “Whatever you need. That’s fine.”

Serek came up behind him then. Meg wasn’t sure how much he had heard, if anything. She saw Pela standing nearby, as well, looking worried. And then her parents were there, too. Her mother knelt in front of her and looked searchingly at her face.