A/N: So it's been over a month since my last update...I've been writing something else, and this one was pushed aside, but I will finish it before school starts. I didn't bother proofreading this chapter, as it's quite long and I'm lazy, so I apologize in advance for misspelled words, grammar issues and all the words I know I left out here and there.
It felt strange to be living in a house again, in the middle of a busy city. With so many people both in the house and the immediate vicinity, the noise was unusually loud after the peace of the road, and the crowds felt confining. But what felt even more confining was the lack of anything to do. I didn't know why I was here, other than that I felt I needed to be. At the time I wondered if I was only staying with some fearful hope of seeing Roger, of facing him, even though I knew how unlikely that would be. I certainly made no effort to.
Alanna saw him, however, and reported back that she was convinced he was deranged, and, therefore, twice as dangerous as before. It seemed to be the unspoken consensus in the house, and even in the minds of such nobles as Raoul, Sir Gareth of Naxen, an old friend of Alanna's, now the acting Prime Minister, and even Prince Jonathan himself. But no one seemed able to do anything about him.
So Alanna busied herself with seeing old friends – and proving she was still better with a sword than them – and I grew to know both Sir Myles and George, and to enjoy their company. Bit by bit I realized how tenuous Prince Jonathan's hold on the throne was; how young and inexperienced he appeared to older nobles who were waiting for proof of the young prince before the pledged their support; how easy it was for the people to overlook Roger's alleged past discretions and focus on him as an older, wiser possible king.
I saw proof of that the night we were presented to the court. Dressed in out finest, Thayet, Buri and I were to be formally presented at the same time as Alanna offered the Dominion Jewel to Jonathan. We all hoped the news of the fabled jewel in the ruler of Tortall's hand would give the people a little more faith and confidence in Jonathan.
I'd always hated such formal affairs, that night was no worse than previous ones. Alanna, from her fidgety behavior seemed just as nervous. She kept rubbing her ears, which is when I remembered that she'd had them pierced earlier that day – and fainted from the pain, if Thayet was telling the truth. I had smiled at that.
"Pretty," I told her, brushing her earbobs, "A nice touch."
Alanna, dressed in the gray required for the Tortallans as they were in mourning, glared at my blue-violet outfit. "It isn't fair of to look so good." She snapped.
"I could say the same about you. You think I don't have regrets about is breaking it off?" I replied, surprised at my own honesty. "When you're Queen of Tortall, you'll thank me."
Alanna glared at me, and I turned away. She and Prince Jonathan had spent much time together since her arrival here, and I had no doubt their old relationship was being renewed. I was inexplicably jealous – if I didn't want to be her lover anymore, why would I grudge her and someone else happiness together? Our friendship was reviving, arguments long forgotten, but I was still trying to forget everything I had once felt for her.
Distracted by Sir Gareth with questions about Shang, and then by my official court appearance, I didn't speak to Alanna for the rest of the evening. While my entrance, and Buri's were hardly noticed by the court, Thayet met with much attention and applause. And Alanna – everyone noticed when she stepped forward to present the Dominion Jewel. It had been a well kept secret, so very few were prepared for her words as she held a black box up to Jonathan and announced loudly,
"I bring you the fruit of my travel, Majesty – the Dominion Jewel."
Everyone knew the story, and they all stared, in awe and wonder, before the entire court knelt before Jonathan.
"We thank you, Sir Alanna." The future king replied, "And we praise the gods for sending is this Jewel – and our Lioness – in this time of need."
By placing Alanna's importance with that of the Jewel, Jonathan was also telling the court she was as much a knight as those that were male, and that she had his support. Watching the picture of Alanna, flaming head bent, as she knelt before Jonathan, while he held the glowing Dominion Jewel aloft, one could have taken it for a very good omen of the future for Tortall.
George and I took to riding through the city everyday, though what we were looking for exactly was beyond either of us.
"It's been a right mess since the old king died," Geogre confined on the one of these many rides, "An' I don't think it's all about Jon's throne either. Myles and I can't help but notice how so many of the plots - the people - have somethin' to do with her."
"I don't doubt that our King's Champion," I replied, naming the title Jonathan had recently bestowed on her, a high honor for the first female knight and one that not everyone agreed with, "has many enemies. But who, besides Roger, has done anything to her?"
"Not to her – to the ones she cares about." George explained. "You told me people attacked her and Coram in Berat – people I know to be sent by a man known as Claw who's know after my role in the underworld. He endangers the lives of all of Alanna's friends there, and I don't think that's an accident. Claw's real name is Ralon of Malven, a squire Alanna forced to leave the palace long ago. Coincidence?" George's brow darkened with worry and anger, "And look at what Roger's doing to her brother. It might be all Thom's fault this mess began, but his Gift's corrupt now – sick even. And I'll bet Roger's got somethin' to do with that."
I could feel no pity for Thom's troubles. After all, Alanna's twin's arrogance and experiments had started the problems. I didn't understand how Alanna could so easily forgive the brother who brought her enemy back to life.
George was still talking, "And look at the people Jon suspects of bein' part of the plots – Sir Alex of Tirragen, who was once Roger's squire and rival to Alanna; Lady Delia of Eldorne, whom Alanna in Jon's affections years ago, and who has always been very friendly with Roger; Claw, of course, and Roger himself who has good reason to hate Alanna. No, Liam, this isn't just about Roger bein' King next. This goes deeper than that, and I can't figure it out."
"Well, now that you're Prince Jonathan's confidential agent," I pointed out, making George grimace as he remembered the new titles Jonathan had all but forced upon him, "I think it's your job to figure it out, Baron."
"I'll never understand Roger's mind, whether I'm a baron or not." George replied, "No ever could and no one can now."
And that was precisely the problem.
A few weeks after we arrived, Beltane came, and Corus grew ever more crowded and busy with the festivities. Nobles from Tortall and beyond were pouring into the capital for the upcoming coronation, and everyone was just waiting for some kind of assassination attempt or at least an open rebellion.
Nothing came.
Alanna, George and Myles worried ceaselessly, and I believed that Jonathan and his advisors felt the same way. Every night Myles, Alanna and I talked about the state of affairs, about what was going on in both the city and the palace and sometime Myles, whose role at the palace appeared to me to be more than just a history teacher, would share his insightful conclusions on the situation. Most of the time, though, we let Alanna talk.
"She could do harm," Alanna exclaimed one evening, "I'm no expert, but that Josiane is crazy."
"There's bad blood in the Copper Isles kings," I drawled, "They birth a mad one every generation. It comes from being an island kingdom – too much inbreeding."
"I think it might be a good idea if the Provost's spies kept an eye on her," Alanna replied. "I don't trust her."
"He has her watched." Myles reassured his adopted daughter. "Any foreign noble is suspect at a time like this."
Princess Josiane was another one of the possible conspirators that George had referred to – those with a strong grudge against Alanna. It was rumored that Josiane had been Jonathan's lover at one point, and at the time the court thought she would be his bride. Now the same court thought it would be Alanna. Josiane, crazy as she appeared to be, would be jealous.
But with the way the prince has been at the house, asking for Thayet everyday, I thought for sure Alanna wasn't about to become queen. Though I too had initially thought Alanna would marry Jonathan, recently the time he spent with Thayet seemed to mean even Prince Jonathan wasn't immune to her beauty. Of course, Josiane and the court weren't aware of the growing relationship between Jonathan and Thayet. I wondered if Alanna cared that she was definitely not the love of the future king anymore. I wondered if I should care.
Meanwhile, Alanna was still talking. "I wish the coronation was over." She complained. "The waiting is getting on my nerves."
"Once he's sealed to the crown and the land, he'll be hard to dislodge." I agreed, "And if the Jewel's all it's supposed to be, so much the better."
Alanna glanced at me quickly, but she didn't say anything. She seemed surprised that I was admitting what a useful weapon the Jewel could prove to be, after I had tried to prevent her from obtaining it. But I had never doubted the help it could provide. I just doubted even Alanna the Lioness's ability to reach it without dying.
Never underestimate her was a lesson our invisible and unknown opponents should learn.
George entered the library at that point, followed by a tiny old man with the orange robes of a Mithran adept.
"Myles," George announced, "I've another visitor to cast upon your tender mercies."
"Master Si-cham!" Alanna cried, jumping up.
"Liam Ironarm." The old man took Alanna's hands and nodded in my direction. "What a pair of warriors to grace your house Myles."
"You know Liam? Alanna asked, clearly shocked that I would have any connections to a Mithran and Adept of magic. I had met him many years ago when I'd visited the City of the Gods, full of questions; questions even he didn't know the answer too. "You know Myles?" she continued.
"I traveled more when I was younger." Myles explained with a smile. "Si-cham, have a seat."
"I'm sorry to be so long in answering your summons, George Cooper." Si-cham said. "I had a thousand loose ends to tie up once they realized I was truly going."
"But why are you here?" Alanna asked bluntly.
Si-cham's smile faded, and he looked at Alanna, his face worried and tired. "George tells me your brother is ill – desperately so, perhaps. He asked me to come to Master Thom's aid."
"Now all we have to do is convince Thom he needs it." George said dryly.
I was told later that Si-cham had been on of Thom's masters when he was in the City of the Gods, though Thom has shown little respect for anyone beside himself. And now he refused to listen to both George and Alanna, insisting he was fine while we all knew he was anything but. I had only seen him once, but he looked like a skeleton, and I could feel his magic radiating from him – twisted, sick magic, not the magic I felt when Alanna used her Gift. Being around him for those few seconds scared me more than anything else I had ever felt.
When Thom finally gave in and agreed to see Master Si-cham, they spent days in his rooms, investigating whatever was wrong with him. The solution, though no one explained it to me, seemed fraught with difficulties and danger – Thom had given Alanna half of this Gift. Even I knew the risks with such a spell. And I saw how week and dizzy Alanna was, overburdened with the extra Gift, and too busy with the coronation in less than a week to rest. She couldn't do any magic either, but I could see the magic glowing around her, fainted than before. Where there once had been a violet glow there was now reddish-orange mixed in.
I tried to occupy myself that last week before the coronation. I tried to decide what I would do afterwards. I knew, somehow, that after the coronation this threat would subside and I would no longer have a reason to remain here - if I even had a reason now. That feeling that I had a purpose here, that this is where my destiny lay, would not leave me. And it was more than just the usual knowledge of an imminent battle that all the Shang are given to know. Years ago a Doi woman, one of the fortune tellers revered and respected in their tribes, had told me that I would now when my time was coming. Perhaps that's what I felt now, as I waited uneasily for something – anything – to happen that would end this feeling. I had long felt draw to Corus, to Roger, to a deeper purpose. Was it death that drew me here?
No Shang ever prepares for battle without thinking of the possibility of death. I had no material possessions to worry about, no family and friends to say goodbye to. And, besides, no one would understand that I just knew something was about to happen to me.
There was only one person who I felt I needed to write to – my old master, the Wildcat. I wrote her a letter, short and impersonal, explaining what I was doing here and what I felt was going to happen. I was about to send it when another person occurred to me – Alanna.
I had loved her. After all we'd been through, after all that was still left unsaid and unsolved between us, perhaps she too deserved a last attempt at an explanation. Besides, if I died, she'd torture herself with guilt. Sitting down again, I wrote:
Kitten, Knowing you, you think it's your fault I got killed when I did. You're thinking...if you hadn't dragged me along...Forget it. Years ago I was told I'd know when it was the Black God's time for me. I think this is it. If I'm wrong, and I live, my old master, the Wildcat, will burn this letter anyway, so you wouldn't find out that I wrote this. If not...well, I guess she found you and you're reading this.
Don't blame yourself. When could you ever tell me what to do? I chose my life. I accepted Dragon rank knowing no Dragon has lived to be forty. As it is, I'm the oldest Dragon in almost a hundred years.
The truth is, we never saw death the same (among other things), so I didn't talk about it with you. There's a lot I never had the chance to tell you about, but it's too late now. All you think of death is ending. To me, it's how a person goes. Dying for important things – that's better than living safe. Dying to protect you and your friends and all of Tortall from someone as evil and manipulative as Roger – that's dying for something important.
I often visited Tortall, though we never met there. The last two times – the first before I found you, and the second when we sailed into Port Caynn – I felt a change. Like the land when spring is coming. Bazhir talking to northerners, not fighting them. Commoners and nobles planning the future. Even you, my kitten, your great disguise – it's part of something that centers around your Jonathan. If I can protect this beginning, I will have died a Dragon. You should grow old, and testy (testier), and raise lions and lionesses with a man who loves all of you. Even your Gift, and your independence, and your stubbornness.
Practice the kicks off your left side – I don't care if they tire you out more than the right-side kicks. Remember to rub that balm I gave you into the scars on your hands.
The scars left over from her defiant refusal to give up and listen to sense. She had been right, and no doubt her stubbornness would help her country. I could be pushed aside for such a price. Perhaps mentioning them was my way of reminding her of the cost she had paid for the Dominion Jewel.
Was it worth it, Alanna? Or did I never matter that much in the first place?
It had been the right thing to do. She would save her country, and I would die anyway. There were no alternate situations here.
The whole letter seemed hopelessly inadequate, glossing over our arguments and differences, not mentioning how much she meant to me or what I knew about Roger. But there was no way to include that in a letter she would only read when I was gone.
To most the thought of death is terrifying; even more so if you know when you're going to die. But I was oddly calm about that. It was the waiting that stressed me. And the worry. There was something missing here. We were all prepared for rebel armies, assassination plots. But what if something deeper was about to occur?
Everyone, even Thom who knew Roger best, was so sure that Roger's Gift was gone. But I couldn't believe that. With little to do in the days before the coronation except worry, I pored over books in Myles's library, seeking whatever was missing from this equation. The talk of powerful magic and mind-controlling spells in such a flippant way frightened me, but over the years I had discovered clues of what Roger might have been looking for that night, when he killed my family. And the night before the coronation it all came together.
Sorcerer's Sleep. A powerful spell that requires more magic than one person could ever control by his or herself, but if done will create the appearance of death for as long as desired. A complicated spell, yet simple in comparison, can revive the sleeping and return them to life. Roger, brilliant sorcerer that he was, would have known of this spell. No doubt he researched it, perfecting it and saving it if need be. Then the time came when Alanna threatened his position in Tortall, and even his life. So he took the easy way out, fooling everyone into thinking he was dead.
And the power needed for such a spell? Well, he found a natural source of magic, hidden in the back of my family's property. I doubt they even knew it's full potential; just that such a source couldn't fall into the wrong hands. Yet it had – I had led such a man to that place, causing him to kill my family is his desperation for such power. I wondered if Thom had known as he, encouraged by Lady Delia and Roger's other followers to read Roger's notes and follow his last instructions, brought Roger back what he was really doing. He wasn't raising the dead – that was impossible. He was using his life source to wake Roger off, giving Roger complete control over Thom. Roger was pulling Thom's magic from him, sucking his soul out of the young man, until Thom would be no more and Roger had even more power than before.
Perhaps, after all, this was not all Thom's fault. I had started it by being an innocent, gullible and naïve child. I had enabled Roger to do everything he threatened to do – take the throne and all but destroy Tortall in the process.
Alanna, Myles, Jonathan – they all had to know this. Roger had a plot here, and it couldn't be defeated with swords. True, Thom, and maybe even Alanna and Jonathan together, was a match for Roger, but Thom and Alanna had little magic they could work with, and Jonathan would be swept up in the coronation process. It was already morning - perhaps it was too late.
I realized that the house was now completely empty, the coronation was probably about to begin, and I was supposed to be there. Without bothering to change into something more formal, I rushed to the palace. The halls were deserted, I was paying little attention to anyone's existence anyway.
So I was entirely unprepared to come face to face with the last person I expected to see.
"Why, it's the Shang Dragon." Roger's smile glinted evilly in the shadows. "What an honor."
I moved, to knock him down, to prevent him from ever creating this kind of mess again, but my hand only bounced off the reddish-orange glow that surrounded him.
"Oh, you didn't think I'd be here unprotected, did you?" he laughed softly. "I'm not that much of a fool, Liam Ironarm. In reality, this is only a shadow of me – if you want the real me you'll have to look elsewhere."
"So you couldn't come out and face me by yourself? Too busy plotting the deaths of others?" I retorted.
Roger's smile didn't falter. "Still angry about that? You were just a boy. I needed that power more than your family did."
"And you made others pay the price?" I demanded. "Do you ever accept responsibility, Roger, or do you run away each time, playing dead or whatever you did all those months?"
Roger raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I am surprised. Strong and brave you may be, but I never put you down as intelligent. Not even my cousin Jon or your lovely Lioness have figured it all out yet. Thom didn't even know what he was doing."
"And now you're going to destroy them to be King?" I snapped. "An assassination? An open rebellion? Or a mysterious illness for the poor king?"
Roger only shook his head. "Not intelligent enough, I see. You think this about the throne? I've seen what lies beyond – I don't need to rule Tortall. I just came back to show them that I'm not that easily beaten. Alanna will suffer for ruining all my plans."
I wondered then if he was going to let me live. Could a shadow of a man possess his power too? This wasn't how I wanted to die.
"Ah, don't worry, I'll be nice. They can have you for protection." Roger seemed to read my mind. "An apology, if you will. I just wanted to see the man that boy had become. I always thought you had potential, you know. Perhaps it would have never been seen by anyone else if I hadn't done what I did."
"How dare you imply that -." I snapped. Roger chuckled.
"It seems the action is beginning." He said, pausing as if listening to something. The smile returned. "I have an appointment with your lioness – an appointment we both will enjoy. It seems she's on her way. Goodbye, my friend."
With a chuckle, he disappeared, a faint orange glow all that remained of the Duke.
Was that a dream, I wondered, or did I really talk to a shadow, a fake Roger?
It was then that the earth began to shake.
It was only a slight tremor to start, but as I neared to Hall of Crowns, it grew worse. The ceiling shattered, collapsing, and the walls began to follow, the floor shook. I could sense the reddish-orange magic around me, the color of blood. How very appropriate of Roger, to turn his magic into blood. Was his plan to have the entire palace collapse?
I was in the hallway above the hall when I saw Coram and George, fighting at least twelve of what I assumed was a rebel attack. There was no chance that an attack now and an earthquake was a coincidence. Clearly I had come just in time.
Throwing myself into the mess of people, I put all of those years of practice to work, taking down six of them almost immediately. The other half ran. Glancing back at Coram and George I saw that George was bandaging a wound in Coram's side. The manservant didn't seem too hurt though.
"Ye're late, Dragon." He greeted me.
"I was delayed." I replied, remembering my real purpose. "Where's Alanna?"
"Back there." George said tightly, motioning not down the stairs to the hall, but back up the stairs in the opposite direction. "I have to get to the Hall of Crowns." He explained, holding up the Dominion Jewel.
I glanced at stairs, wondering where Alanna had gone and if there was a chance I could find her before Roger did. Then I sighed, knowing I would be no use to her now.
"The Jewel's the important thing." I said. "Let's go."
Coram leaning on George, we headed down the stairs, into the mêlée below. When I arrived it seemed as if the pandemonium had been going on for quite awhile. Men in what I knew to be Eldorne and Tirragen colors – George had been right about the conspirators - were attacking anyone and everyone, no doubt intent on reaching Jonathan. The King's Own was defending him from both the attack and the collapsing walls and ceiling, and everyone else was fending for his or herself. Jonathan himself, the crown upon his head tying him to the land, was glowing with the blue Conte gift and the white gift that belonged to the kings of Tortall alone. He was vulnerable to the attackers, and the entire country depended upon his magic.
Appraising the situation, I grabbed a pike off the wall and went to aid Raoul, who was attempting with the help of a few of his men to prevent more Tirragen and Eldorne men from coming into the hall from an outlying chamber. I grabbed a pike off the wall and went to aid Raoul, who was attempting with the help of a few of his men to prevent more Tirragen and Eldorne men from coming into the hall from an outlying chamber.
The quakes began to stop, but there were still small shakes. Jonathan and the Dominion Jewel were clearly holding the palace together, but for how long? There was no sign of Thom or Alanna, and I would have been worried about their whereabouts if not for the men trying to force there way past me. With the help of King's Own, we brought them all down. The other men rushed to help the Provost and his men, who were desperately pushing the enemies out of the main aisle, but I turned to see the King. He was surrounded solely by George, Coram and Sir Gareth of Naxen. Where had the other men – Myles, Raoul – gone, I wondered, as I rushed to his side.
It was then that the Tirragen men broke through the Provost's barrier, all aiming for Jonathan. Sir Gareth and Coram threw themselves at the men, swords flying, but the Tirragen men were too good for such distractions. Archers rushed forward, searching for an opening, and as George and I took them down, we barely noticed how defenseless the king now was.
It was then that I saw the two archers, off to the far side, bows raised and pointing straight at Jonathan. Without thinking, I threw myself in front, both attacking and defending, as the arrows flew threw the air.
A/N: And that, we all know, is the end. However, it seems incomplete to me, so I think I'll do an epilogue – thought what that will be I don't know yet. This chapter turned out a lot longer than I planned, but I really did want to address the Sorcerer's Sleep that Roger mentions, tie up lose ends, explain what Liam was doing during the last 3 chapters of the book, as he's barely mentioned, and answer a question that has long bothered me - where Liam was during the coronation, and just what was so distracting that it kept him from being there? Now we know.
Reviews are much appreciated, as always.
Edit 8/19/04: The epilogue was posted separately under the title The End of the Dragon. Suggestions for better titles for that and Dragon Eyes would be very, very welcome!