I debated all morning whether to send the letter. I finally did when the servants brought my lunch on a tray. I was too keyed up to eat most of it, so I shared with my guard. He scarfed it down and gave me a grateful look.
The afternoon seemed to take forever. At about midafternoon, the guard answered a knock at the door.
I looked up from one of Queen Arencaster’s books just in time to see a messenger carrying a silver tray of rolled papers. The guard handed one to me and smiled knowingly.
I blushed a little. Tolliver had replied so quickly! In a way, it was a relief; I hadn’t wanted to leave with him angry at me.
With slightly trembling hands, I unrolled the parchment. The handwriting looked different from Peiser’s, messier with many inkblots and even fingerprints.
Esteemed “Princess Fiona”,
Greetings! With my business in the forest at last concluding, I advance on Autumnstead Village. Meet me tonight at the temple of the First People when the chimes sing midnight, and I shall honor my debt to Queen Arencaster.
It was from Reldion! Disappointment took over my initial excitement. I reread his brief scrawl, trying to get into a business state of mind. This was something I had to do.
An untidy map was scrawled below the trip trotting letters. I felt glad I had seen the temple already with Tolliver; I wasn’t sure the map was good enough to get me there.
Ornate initials filled almost the entire remaining space. I rolled my eyes at the RlV. He was probably proud of the flourishing letters.
I was so distracted by them that I almost missed the postscript at the bottom. The queen has alerted me that you are under guard for your safety. If you have difficulty sneaking out, use this. It will put a grown man to sleep for at least an hour.
A scrap of cloth had been pinned to the bottom corner of the letter. Inside was a paper triangle, and within that, a white powder. I was glad Reldion had specified the powder’s effects. The Wagoner was disturbingly good at killing people. He might not have seen anything wrong with using poison.
Using Reldion’s potion, I easily escaped to the passage again. Perhaps because I had done it the night before, the way seemed easier this time.
What must it have been like for Fiona to grow up this way, I wondered as I left Castle Autumnstead behind me. Any time she wanted to do something for herself, she had to sneak around. That must’ve influenced her not telling me. I wished I had thought to write to her before I left with Reldion.
As I crossed the market square alone, I was tempted not to follow Reldion’s map to the temple, and to go instead to the barracks. It wouldn’t take many inquiries to find Tolliver, I was sure.
Suppose I came upon him while Peiser was reading my letter? That would be rather embarrassing. I wondered how he would react. Would he think I was hypocritical for writing one thing and then doing another?
At this crossroads of my own making, I stopped for a moment. I reached almost to the bottom of Fiona’s cloak pockets and closed my fingers around Gerry’s button and pin. I had brought them to remind myself of what I had to do. Now I took a moment to hold them and be still. When the pull of the easier way passed, I continued on my way.
Without Tolliver, the road to the temple seemed longer and darker, perhaps because of the clouds obscuring the moon. Among the broken columns and crumbled walls, I couldn’t make out any people. Not a sound broke the silence of the night. Reldion hadn’t specified where at the temple, so I just kept going until I reached the stairs leading to the main building. Remembering how Tolliver had told me not to go beyond this point, I stopped. I would wait here, I decided.
The night around me remained still, snow whispering soundlessly down.
I wondered if Reldion were late. That would be funny. I could enjoy a private laugh that I had beaten him to the meeting spot.
A hand came down on my shoulder and spun me around. Before I could scream, another hand slapped my voice back into my mouth.
“No, no, Princess! Or should I say Leah?” The tiny light hovering at Reldion le Valen’s shoulder turned his grinning teeth to sharply-pointed shadows.
“What’s the big idea?” I said growled after Reldion had taken his hands off me. (I’m sure he waited a little extra just to infuriate me!)
“I’ve been watching you for quite some time now! Didn’t you see me?”
“Where were you?”
“I was sitting on the first Temple column. I waved to you from a stair that leads nowhere, then climbed a tree without you ever seeing. So let this be a lesson to you: be more careful! Never travel alone in the dark if you have a choice!”
I crossed my arms. “You would have seen me more easily if I’d had a light!”
“But you would have seen me, and so, been able to fight back.” Reldion snorted. “Possibly. I think a blind, deaf man would’ve been more aware than you just now. And I suppose if you knew your way around weapons, the queen would have asked for directions, not a guide and protector.”
I found a stone temple bench and sat down, wondering if my heart would ever stop racing. First Reldion had nearly scared me to death, and now he was making me mad.
“You don’t need to change your petticoat, do you?” Reldion said with mock concern.
I hadn’t packed a stitch. “I, er…” It took me a minute to realize what he meant. “No, of course not!”
“Well then, what are you waiting for? You aren’t afraid of the temple, are you?” His voice held a challenge.
“No,” I said. “But other people seem to be. So you actually go inside.”
“All the time, my dear —!”
“Call me Leah,” I said.
“Very well, dear Leah! Darkness is nothing to the eyes of Reldion le Valen. But for you, I shall light our way.” Reldion waved his tiny light away. Tinder cracked against flint, brought forth orange flame that was blinding after the absolute dark. When my eyes adjusted, I saw that Reldion had made a torch from a branch. This, he handed to me and led the way to the temple interior.
My first impression of the temple was an empty open space, like churches back home with the pews removed. Beneath the dust, ghosts of faces and animals peered out at me from the walls. Reldion went all the way to the back, where the floor was hollowed out, forming what resembled a rectangular wading pool with two steps on either end to get inside.
Behind the pool, a travel pack, some colorful but faded and worn clothing, a walking stick, several old swords, and a sack of unknown contents were piled up against the wall.
“Yours?” I said, waving the torch at the stuff.
“The villagers are too afraid to enter here. It’s a very good place to stash lali when I have any.”
“What is —?” I blinked at him.
“Oh. Loot in your dialect. Booty. Plunder. Treasure!” Reldion seemed more enthusiastic with every word.
“You made this place into a robber’s den?” That didn’t seem right. Temples were like churches, right? Places where you were on your best behavior. Places it really wasn’t right to make part of your crimes.
“Oh hell, Leah! Just look at this place! Whoever keeps it up has been gone for ages! They may even be pushing up daisies! They won’t mind anymore than dead men don’t mind being parted from their coin!”
Doubting that Reldion and I would reach an understanding, I didn’t pursue the subject further.
“So what did you come in here to get?” I said.
“Nothing. This is the way out of Autumnstead.”
I’d been in the Other World long enough to realize he knew something I didn’t. “How?”
“Just step into the pool.” Reldion’s eyes and teeth glinted in the torchlight.
“You first,” I said.
His grin widened, but he did as I asked. I slowly counted to ten, waiting for something to happen to him. The silence within remained unbroken, the shadows unmoving. Reldion, realizing what I was doing, beckoned to me, and when I didn’t move, did a capering little dance. “Harmless,” he said when he’d bowed. “Now, dear Leah… Do you have the courage to follow me or not?” His breathy voice recalled Tolliver’s warning, that Reldion was some kind of lady-killer. I wondered if he bathed before moving in on his prey. But this was neither the time nor place.
Steeling myself, I took the first step. During my brief descent, I became acutely conscious of the faded, chipped tiles. Something about them continued to draw my eye, though there seemed to be nothing remarkable about their pattern and hues. The pool bottom held just enough water to make it slippery. I moved carefully so I wouldn’t fall. I had nearly gotten to Reldion’s side when a blinding white light filled the area. I covered my eyes with my hands, and still the light streamed through, until suddenly, it no longer did. I lowered my arms and attempted to look around. The dimness after the glare might as well have been total darkness.
“Reldion?” I said in a voice just above a whisper, unsure who else might be listening.
“I am flattered that you’ve called my name so soon, dear Leah.”
Ugh. Well, we couldn’t be in much danger if he was talking like that.
“What happened?” I said.
“Look around,” Reldion said, deliberately vague.
I wondered if his strange blue-fire eyes that saw so keenly in the dark were also immune to the effects of bright light. By degrees, my eyes adjusted.
“It doesn’t look different,” I said. We still stood in the rectangular pool, with the temple, shadowy and still around us.
“Look again.” Reldion pointed to the back wall where his pile of lali and belongings had been, but now was no longer.
“Did you move it?” I had the gnawing feeling I wasn’t catching on to something.
“No, foolish girl, I did not.” Reldion laughed. “You are in for a surprise.”
He exited the pool and started down the center of the large, empty room. I hurried behind, not wanting to be left alone in the strange place.
Reldion opened the temple door on a diamond-dusted snow plain.
“How beautiful,” I murmured. “But where has the temple brought us, exactly?” I asked, looking around for Zellia.
“We are at the border of Ivenbury and Autumnstead,” Reldion said.
Just as he said it, I found Zellia at my left shoulder.
“We are nearly to Ivenbury,” Reldion added. “Not bad for less than an hour of traveling.”
“I don’t get it. The temple could be really useful. Why are Autumnstead people so afraid of it?” I said.
“There are tales of Wagoners, vagabonds, and others who camped in here and other places like them. They all just…disappeared, most agree, to a terrible fate.”
“But no one knows what really happened to them?”
“No. They assume the worst, and why not? Is not death the most feared event of our lives, and the greatest unknown?”
I had to agree with the Wagoner. Still, I felt very curious, even excited about the identical temples. When we had found Ger, I would have to write to Ben, if not go to Valeriya myself. Maybe the temples could show the way back to California.
“I must say, I’ve never seen the tiles shine like that before. Like sunlight upon a mirror, it was.”
That remark gave me chills, and not just because of the pool’s possible reaction to my mirror magic. I’d forgotten that on top of everything else, Reldion was was a storyteller whose voice had the power to transport listeners to places they might get lost in.
The nickering of horses brought me back to the moment. “They’re ready to ride,” Reldion said, leading me to the trees where he’d tied them. The two horses were brown to Bella’s soft gray. I wondered how the mare had fared among Latule. “How did you get these two all the way out here?” I asked to take my mind off her.
“It was part of my business in the forest.” Reldion smirked. “Latule had a generous selection. I chose the ones I wanted and brought them through the portal.”
I sighed, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Then it occurred to me. Two horses. Uh-oh.
“Can I ride with you?” I asked, my cheeks burning as I did so. “I’m still not up to speed on the whole horse thing.”
I had expected Reldion to give me a you’re kidding, right? look. He smiled alright, but it wasn’t the condescending, pitying look I’d come to expect from Faxon (well, Fiona). Instead, it was distinctly wolfish. “You’re more sly than I thought.” Reldion chuckled to himself.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your timidity to ride is a fine cover for getting near me.”
I should’ve known Reldion would twist it around. “It’s not like that…”
“And protesting! I haven’t played a game of virtues in many years. This should be a most interesting journey.”
With that, Reldion helped me onto his horse (which he called Marksman). He secured the other unnamed horse to ours with a rope and tied his pack onto the empty saddle. Then we were off, with Reldion riding in front of me.
To take my mind off the Wagoner (I still wasn’t sure if he were just teasing or actually making advances), I thought of possible names for the second horse: Chocolate, Mocha… All the names made me hungry, and none seemed to suit him.
Reldion didn’t talk much during the ride. He seemed lost in his own head, keeping silent most of the time and sometimes singing snatches of songs to himself.
“And the First People, ne’er to return…”
The song of Mersania. How long it seemed since I had heard it, and yet, it was barely a season. I could see why it came to Reldion’s mind: the First People’s attempt to ally with humans had ended tragically in a snowfield.
The plains gave way to hills studded with stone houses, a sight that made me shiver with a sense of déjà vu. But just where had I seen them before? The answer came to me at an area of three hills and their shared valley. Humble cottages and huts with steep roofs dotted the the gentlest two hills. A formidable stone house, the closest to the traditional castle fortresses I knew from books occupied the steepest. Before the snow had fallen, I had seen this vista with Tolliver! I was sure of it!
“Reldion, are we near the village of Tarra?” I said into his heavily-jeweled ear.
“Why, yes we are! You are more worldly than I expected.” His voice deepened, I guess to indicate a double entendre. I made a face at Reldion’s back. But silliness aside, why had Reldion brought me here?
A cold feeling grew in the pit of my stomach as we entered the village’s empty, snowy lanes. Tolliver had told me that most people in Tarra had evacuated to Ivenbury. Every window Reldion and I passed was dark. Not that I expected the people to be out in this weather, at this time of night. But I hadn’t expected Tarra to feel so…abandoned. It made me feel sad and vulnerable. Wind whistled between the buildings, a creepy sound that made me tighten my grip around Reldion’s waist, despite my mental discussion on the snow plain about not doing anything to give him ideas.
Tolliver’s words played again in my head. Be wary of him, Leah.
Had Reldion brought me to Tarra for perverted reasons? But if that was his intent, he’d had plenty of opportunities, starting with meeting at the abandoned temple.
As far as I could tell, it was sound logic. But my emotions were not convinced. Something darted between buildings, quick enough to startle me, but not so fast I couldn’t make out yellow eyes and a shaggy pelt in the light of the setting moon. One became several as we picked our way through the steep streets.
“What are those?” I whispered at last.
“Wolves.”
As if on cue, howls sounded around the village.
Now I knew how curiosity killed the cat; it scared it to death. Learning they were wolves settled it: Reldion might have questionable morals, but there was no way I was getting off the horse and finding my own way.
“Aren’t you worried about the pack attacking?” I said, remembering a TV show I’d seen once, featuring various animals attacking hapless campers in national parks.
“We are about to take shelter,” Reldion said. “I doubt they will give chase. There is plenty for wolves to eat in an empty village. That is why they are here.”
We passed houses where the parts of the roof had caved in, clotheslines, some with the laundry frozen stiff where it hung, porches where wolves lounged as if they owned the house.
“I had a pet wolf once,” Reldion mused.
I didn’t think that was a tall tale. They did say pets and their owners resembled one another.
We rode on for a while longer. Reldion stopped Marksman in front of a building that, though it resembled its neighbors, I now saw was more spacious and somewhat set apart from the others. The wooden shutters were closed, and no footprints disturbed the front yard’s snow covering.
The place seemed so familiar, but I didn’t recognize it right away. While I tried to remember, Reldion swung down from Marksman to knock on the door. Predictably, no one answered. “We can still sleep here,” Reldion said. A wire appeared in his hand, and he began to pick the lock.
Now the memories resurfaced, of Lady Ariana bringing me to her cottage and treating the cut I’d gotten when I fell chasing a dragon. I recalled thinking that her house likely had the only lock in the entire village.
My old fears resurfaced. I had hoped we were to meet one of Reldion’s Wagoner friends, who would have information about the dragon rider. But judging from the state of Tarra, there was no one left, and I knew Lady Ariana was in Autumnstead.
“Why did you think she would be here?” I said cautiously. “She evacuated to Autumnstead with Lord Ivenbury.”
Reldion looked up from the keyhole. “Rumors do not reach your new room, it would seem. Have you not heard that Lady Ariana is wanted for questioning? Many think she has fled Autumnstead.”
I couldn’t believe it. “Why would Queen Arencaster question her?” I said skeptically. “Ivenbury and Autumnstead are allies.”
“Precisely,” Reldion said. “Lady Ariana doesn’t usually involve herself in intrigue, either.” Reldion gave the lock pick an expert twist. An unmistakable snick was audible in the soundless winter night. Reldion pushed the door open and beckoned me after him. “My eyes and ears tell me Queen Arencaster has been investigating for traitors since the early days of the war and has redoubled her efforts since the attempt on her daughter’s life. Or would that be your life?”
“Mine,” I admitted. Reluctantly I followed him into Lady Ariana’s fragrant herbal retreat.
“I would like to believe the queen has become hypervigilant and lost her ability to see the big picture. But even if she is right to accuse Lady Ariana, I believe in solving things between people, rather than involving heads of state and trials. That is the way of the free people. Man to man. Or man to woman. And so forth.”
“So this is a detour, then? You came all this way to check on Lady Ariana?” It made less sense the more I thought about it.
“No,” Reldion said. “Queen Arencaster enlisted me to help you find Gerry. That is what we are here for.”
I lit a candle with shaking hands. “How? I don’t understand.”
Reldion dumped a stack of dried herbs from the top of a barrel and seated himself on it. “In our time together, I learned Lady Ariana lives a double life.”
“You mean this cottage, where she practices herb lore?”
“Your innocence borders on ignorance,” Reldion said, so low I wasn’t sure I was meant to hear him. “No, young Leah. In the course of her life, Lady Ariana has tamed several dragons, and made them hers to ride.”
No! He had to be lying! Lady Ariana, the dragon rider? Lady Ariana, who had tended my wound, kept my secret, had said she didn’t believe in dragons!
“It was two decades ago that we were together,” Reldion said in his storytelling voice. “I would not have ended it, not for a new woman each year for the remainder of my life. But I had no choice…it was what she wanted.”
How could they have been together? Reldion was so much older than she was! Even if he oozed charmed from every pore, I couldn’t see him winning the love of the glamorous, wealthy Lady Ariana.
“Since then, I have watched my Lady from afar as I performed like a dancing bear for the amusement of the nobles. She has not aged a day. The eyes of Reldion le Valen do not lie, nor can love trick them.” His voice actually cracked. And yet…
I shook my head. “I can’t believe it. Why would she come into my world?” I said to myself.
“I cannot say.” Reldion leaned his chin on his hands, suddenly seeming younger and somewhat vulnerable. “All I know is she is beyond compare in beauty and charm. She knows many things…things beyond mortal ken.”
The conversation pretty much died after that. Reldion and I remained lost in our own thoughts for a few minutes. He emerged first and said, “We will ride again tomorrow, early. It'd be best if you got some sleep.”
“Lady Ariana didn't exactly leave a note where we can find her,” I pointed out.
“I have a feeling I know her location,” Reldion said. It was odd to hear him speak absent his usual bravado and bluster.
“Where?” I said, trying not to get my hopes up too high.
“North of Autumnstead lies Edonai: a land of forests and mountains. Ariana told me that the dragons' dwelling was in a cave among them.”
“That would be so wonderful if we could find her…and Gerry there,” I said.
Reldion held up his finger. “Don't get too excited, now. The way is treacherous, to say the least. The mountains alone span hundreds of miles, and most of those unexplored. Upon the foothills, Edonai Forest guards the way like a vast army. Within their ranks, brigands and creatures unknown by the people in these peaceful lowlands make their home. Many of the forest's inhabitants are as dangerous as dragons themselves.”
Reldion's dramatic account almost made me consider going back to Autumnstead. Before I could think about it too hard, the flame-haired man added, “Still, you must not give up. I would not bring you all this way for nothing. And for my honor and the Wagoners’, if there is a way through Edonai Forest, if a single dragon cave can be found in the towering northern peaks, I will find it, as sure as my name is Reldion le Valen.”
A shiver went through me as Reldion showed me the power of one's word and name. It was yet another thing we didn't have in my world. “I believe you,” I said at last. “And I'm grateful.” It sounded so simple after Reldion's grand, sweeping statements.
Regardless, Reldion seemed pleased.
I spent the night restless, barely managing to doze. Reldion was kind enough to give me the pallet while he remained on the barrel and leaned against the wall. This gave him a view outside the window (“There may be more than wolves skulking in this village,” he'd warned.) and kept him from falling should he nod off. The entire time, he kept his hand on a wickedly-curved dirk shoved into the purple silk sash that served as his belt.
While it is true that our lodging was uncomfortable — the pallet offered little cushioning from the hard floor, and the night was quite cold around me, despite our shelter — racing thoughts were the main thing keeping me awake. To begin with, no matter how I tried not to think of Ariana and Reldion sleeping on this pallet before me, well, you can guess how that went. Then there were my feelings of betrayal. Lady Ariana had seemed like such a good person. That's what it boiled down to when you took out factors like other worlds, dragons, and magic. Lady Ariana had kept my secret, but she'd had a far bigger one. I'd been mistaken about her all along.
When I finally did sleep, I dreamed of the difficulties ahead: an endless forest maze, with a murderer behind every tree; mountains with peaks like razors; and cave entrances guarded by dragons.
I awoke to the sound of neighs, clopping hooves, and the scuff of boots across the floor. “Whoa, Marksman!” Reldion called, but it was too late. A horse nose nudged me where I lay, and hot breath settled on my face. I sat up and stared around groggily. During the night, Reldion must have brought the horses inside to protect them from wolves and the cold.
“I guess Marksman is telling you good morning,” Reldion said.
“Is it time to go?” I asked.
“Near enough,” Reldion said. “Did you get enough rest?”
“Not really.” I didn't add that the past few nights had been almost as bad as High Summer at Portalis Park. I’d earned a good chunk of overtime working that season, but I’d practically never slept.
“Well, take care you don't fall asleep in the saddle,” Reldion said. “If you fall off, I won't have time to go back and get you.”
I rolled my eyes at him, deliberately and dramatically. Reldion chuckled and began saddling Marksman.
The journey to the Edonai foothills alone took far longer than I thought it would. Nearly a week passed while we crossed snowfields and smaller woods that we passed through in a day or less, topped and descended rises that felt tall to me, but, according to Reldion, had nothing on the grade in Edonai Forest.
When we stopped to eat, once or twice a day, Reldion hunted, and foraged for anything edible among the snow and small frozen ponds: cranberries, cattail roots and shoots, nuts, and watercress. The first few times, I wasn't much help, but then the Wagoner showed me what to look for and where. After that, he left the foraging up to me. Reldion still did all the cooking, though, not trusting me not to scorch his hard-won meat. I had to laugh as we huddled by the fire. Despite all the efforts I had undergone to avoid it while with Gerry, I was camping now, and how!
Normally it wouldn't take this long to reach the Edonai, Reldion told me. However, we were taking the long way to avoid the conflict in Autumnstead.
The third day, I happened upon a name for the other horse: Rolly because of his appetite. He always gobbled through his feedbag, finishing well before Marksman. He also had a knack for finding food at the water’s edge such as watercress and a tendency to stray when there were pine trees near so he could nibble on their needles.
Reldion laughed at first when I told him about it. Eventually he mellowed out and said, “It is a good name.”
The fifth night, I asked Reldion what Queen Arencaster had done for him and his people. I inquired partly because I had become curious what things the Wagoner valued enough to undergo this risky journey for a girl he barely knew. Also, I felt bad about not being a more extroverted conversationalist. To his credit, Reldion didn't seem to mind my quiet. He could go on for a long time when telling one of his stories. I’d bet that he talked to himself when alone on long journeys. It was probably nice for him to have a listener. Still, working in customer service had trained me to feel guilty for any and all silences when I was in the presence of others.
“Queen Arencaster is an official civilized ally of the Wagoners,” Reldion answered. “She permits us to roam the Autumnstead Woods freely and pays us a small amount of gold for performing during castle gatherings.”
“Oh. I see. Those things…well…” I trailed off, figuring I was probably about to put my foot in my mouth rather than add anything to the conversation. These were the actions to which I owed my thanks for his companionship for finding Ger? They didn’t seem like much.
“They are not so great as this journey has become,” Reldion said, finishing my thoughts for me.
“Oh,” I said, feeling as though I'd been punched in the stomach.
“Queen Arencaster will make it worth my while for undergoing this quest.” Reldion gave me an uncomfortably piercing look.
“How will she do that?” I asked, sensing too late I was going to regret the question.
“You see…” Reldion paused dramatically, without ever taking his eyes from my face. The shadows from the firelight made his grin look positively wicked. My heart beat a little faster. “Queen Arencaster promised me Princess Fiona in marriage. Since she is missing, I expect the queen will want you to fulfill the match instead.”
“Oh my God!” I said without thinking. How long had she planned to wait before telling me? When Reldion had kidnapped me for the wedding?! (I had no basis for this idea; it just seemed like the sort of thing he’d do.)
“We were going to tell you, after we looked for Gerry,” Reldion said, as though he’d read my mind.
“But Gerry! I, er, we’re…” What word had Tolliver used to describe us? “Intended!” Yes, that was it! There was no way I was mentioning the fact that I wasn’t sure about him anymore! “I can’t get married to someone else!”
“A past agreement is inconsequential,” Reldion said. “Queen Arencaster can easily dissolve it.”
I fell silent. This just couldn’t be happening! Marry Reldion le Valen? I had just gotten comfortable traveling with him!
I was debating outing Fiona to Reldion and wondering if he’d believe me, when Reldion laughed, a rich baritone storm, that swept me up and utterly disoriented me.
“You are too easily played, Leah.” Reldion flicked tears from his cheeks. “You didn’t really think the royal family would accept a Wagoner as their son-in-law, did you?”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak; I was still reeling from the mental whiplash.
“It’s all a joke?” I said in a small voice.
“Yes of course,” Reldion said with mock gravity. “Among the free people, I am a prince and honored warrior, but it means nothing when I enter the prison the willing call ‘civilization.’”
As often happened, the spell of Reldion’s voice made me forget my indignity, and I found myself wondering if Fiona had someone she loved.
“Do you know Fiona? I mean, the real Fiona?” I asked.
“Yes,” Reldion said. “She is a woman of amazing strength and courage, as you have seen when she protected you in the woods.”
“Then you knew all along…”
“That she and Faxon were one and the same? Yes.”
Time had dulled the sting of Fiona’s and my fight. More and more, it had begun to feel less personal, as though it had never been that. Not intentionally.
“I have often thought Princess Fiona had the soul of a Wagoner.” Reldion went on. “I invited her to travel with me many a time. Alas, even among our people, women are not equal to men. In some Families, such as mine, they have more rights, but… I believe that is part of the reason Fiona chose to stay near Autumnstead, aside from her deep love for her kingdom, of course.” Reldion took a swig from the silver flask that hung from his belt, then held it out to me. As I had since the first time he offered it, I refused. Not only did it seem unwise to drink with him, given his reputation, but the smell from the flask smelled like rotting fruit on a roasting summer day. So gross!
“People call me a rake, young Leah. Some songs say I’ve used over a hundred women. But it wasn’t always that way. Ever since Ariana left me, I’ve tried to forget her, but no other woman could measure up. Princess Fiona is the only one who can hold a candle to her.”
I marveled silently at what the flame-haired man had just told me. Who would’ve thought Reldion, potentially psychotic badass, would have a tragic, romantic side?
“It’s strange because Lady Ariana and Princess Fiona are such different people. Somehow, still, they strike the right chords in the medley of my heart,” Reldion rambled on, with another slug from his flask. That was another property of his rotten fruit drink; it worked fast.
“I do not know if Fiona would accept a partner in life,” Reldion mused. “She is proud like her mother, in case you haven’t noticed. They are both individuals who stand alone.”
That was true enough.
“Despite what I dream of, I’d be afraid to be with her,” Reldion said, soft as the last notes of a wistful song. “Suppose, even with Fiona, my heart could not forget Lady Ariana and the golden days of my youth? I care for Fiona too much to wrong her like that,” Reldion said. Then, like a stilled music box, he went silent.
I left him to his thoughts and pondered my own under the bright winter stars.
{****}
Three days more, we followed Reldion’s unseen path north. Each night, Zellia seemed brighter, closer.
On the third afternoon, we encountered a Family of Wagoners with the same fiery hair as Reldion. We shared their fire, food, and protection for a night. I put on my best facade of confidence (without seeming princess-like) and exchanged pleasantries with them in their broken sentences and heavily-accented words. Much of their talk with Reldion occurred in the Wagoner dialect, a powerful, passionate language that made me think of Russian. Reldion translated the important bits: that we were two days’ ride from the forest we sought and that he was trading Rolly to the Wagoners to buy more feed for Marksman. The horse would need all his strength in the foothills, to say nothing of the mountains, and it was only practical since there wasn’t time to teach me to ride. I was still sorry to bid Rolly farewell, but at least I knew he was among caring people who would feed him. I still wondered about Bella and hoped her fate had been kind.
To Reldion’s delight, his fellow Wagoners had a whole barrel of the rotten fruit drink. The almost ceremonial refilling of his foul flask needed no explanation. Much rotten fruit drink was imbibed after the evening meal, I guess to honor Reldion’s presence. (I discretely poured mine out.) Though I couldn’t understand the Wagoners, I enjoyed the dancing and music.
With considerable reluctance, Reldion and I left the Wagoners the next day. Eating our fill (and in Reldion’s case, drinking it), having the comfort and protection of other people had been a wonderful change. However, they were going south and, from their account of their travels, they’d been avoiding the forest all along. Also, though I’d been focused solely on finding Ger, there would be danger involved: the dragon, the rider, possibly the forest journey. It wasn’t fair to involve the Wagoners, despite Reldion’s being prince over at least one Wagoner family and renowned among the others.
As the Wagoners had said, Reldion and I reached Edonai Forest at noon on the second day. It had been in sight since late afternoon the day we parted from the Wagoners, a patch of dark green that resolved itself into tree shapes as we neared. Close-up, this forest towered like gods over the Other World woods I’d been in. If the Autumnstead trees had been children, these were elders many times over, possibly with the First Trees in their ranks. I’d been to the Redwoods once when I was very young. I didn’t recall much on my own; the pictures remembered for me. But if I ever returned, I was certain I’d find similarities.
“So this is it,” I said to Reldion when we’d stopped for lunch.
“Edonai Forest,” Reldion said through a mouthful of one of the flat cakes the Wagoners had given us.
I looked back at the lands behind us. Over the past few days, the snow had melted, and the hills and meadows had lost their pristine Winter Wonderland quality. The brown patches that shone through were frequently muddy. I was grateful for the colorful silky pants Reldion had gotten for me from the Wagoners; they made riding and walking easier. Still, I had no illusions that the mud and slush wouldn’t cover them within a matter of days. That was a price of outdoor living.
Despite the muck, I found myself gazing with longing to the south. This is foolish, I told myself. My eyes could discern no immediate danger from Edonai Forest. Why, then, did I want to turn back?
“Do you sense it too, this forbidding feeling?” I asked Reldion.
Reldion looked puzzled. “No. I feel nothing.” He licked the last crumbs from his fingers with an appreciative smack. “What magic training do you have?”
“I learned a little elemental commanding at Valeriya. And they say I have an aptitude for mirror magic. Well, you knew that already.”
“I only know practical tricks passed down from generations of Wagoners that seem like magic to the uninitiated. So perhaps your abilities are allowing you to perceive something that I cannot.”
That made sense.
“In any case, this forest and the mountains beyond were old in the days of the First People,” Reldion said. “It is a timeless sanctuary for magical beings. If a legend still exists, it will be here.”
That explained why the dragons had their cave here.
“So now that we’re here, what’s the plan for finding the dragon cave?” I said, still reluctant to mention Lady Ariana’s name in conjunction with what we were doing. If I encountered her at the cave, I still wasn’t sure if I’d shun her or demand to know why the hell she’d gone into my world and done what she had.
“We will continue northward,” Reldion said, pointing to the mountains. “Zellia will continue to be our guide at night. By day, we will watch the skies for dragons. Any sightings of them will help modify our direction.”
I sighed. It was better than nothing, but it still wasn’t much of a plan. Maybe the palpable menace emanating from the forest had something to do with my pessimism.
My dread only increased as we neared the trees. If I hadn’t been on horseback, I don’t know if I could’ve made myself enter. Hissing voices filled my head, their words indistinct, but their meaning unmistakable: get out! I cringe to admit it, but I huddled close to Reldion for at least the first hour. When I finally found my courage to look around, it was disorienting to say the least. The leaf canopy was so thick, it was more like riding through a cavern than a forest. At the massive, gnarled tree roots grew mushrooms as large as computer chairs. Sheets of moss that gave off a faint blue, pink, or yellow light hung like ghostly shawls from lower branches.
I’m not sure if the bad feeling lifted by evening or if I’d gotten used to it. Reldion lit the fire just enough to cook or thaw out our hands for a minute. Even this brief period drew unfriendly eyes to us, and the sounds! They were a whole different class of scary: skittering, growling, crunching, snorting.
“What is that?” I asked Reldion when I couldn’t stand it any longer (about five minutes total).
“There are big animals in this forest.” Reldion didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “Bears, bigger wolves than we saw in Tarra. Probably creatures we’ve never heard of before, either. You’ll have some stories to tell when you get back to Autumnstead.” Despite his nonchalance, I didn’t miss how Reldion slept sitting up, with one hand on his dirk.
Though Reldion and I had the help of a four-footed animal, the going was slow on Edonai’s slopes. Our obstacles included roots, boulders, and treacherous patches of snow and mud that I named ‘slush slides.’ My neck ached from craning it to look up between trees for dragons.
Two days passed. Zellia became a beacon drawing us north. But we had yet to see a dragon.