Feald — Part 4

I finished the apple sitting on the dirt floor of the enclosure, holding Elda close to me. She shivered, clinging to my arm with painful ferocity.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked, smoothing back her tangled hair.

She shook her head.

“It’s all right,” I reassured her. “You don’t have to tell me about it.”

“My arm hurts,” Elda whispered.

I gently pushed up one of her elbow-length sleeves to display purple bands of day-old bruises, obviously from fingers holding tightly around her arm. Fury beyond my exhaustion soured my stomach and made my head pound, and I couldn’t speak for several minutes. The side of my face where the soldier had struck me throbbed with each heartbeat.

“It’s going to be all right,” I told Elda. “I’ll get us out of here.”

I set her to one side and stood, my legs rubbery and stinging from rock scrapes. Holding Elda’s hand, I examined the limits of our prison. Rocky walls formed the back two sides of the triangular enclosure, steep and relatively smooth. Even if I hadn’t already been tired, there was no way to get Elda up that sheer face. The space we stood in had been cleared as the center of the gardde cluster had died out and new growth moved outwards. It was like most other elderly bush hearts, with old woody roots clustering in the middle where the tap root still resided. The whole space was four feet or so in diameter, and the wall of new growth blocking us in had vicious thorns as long as my little finger. No one tangled with a gardde cluster willingly, and I had nothing to protect our skin if we tried to squeeze through. Our dresses were worse than useless, being more likely to impede progress than block any thorns.

The trees rustled and we jumped away as the bound section drew back. A man in the same uniform as my captors stood in the entrance looking at us.

“I am Commander Thurst Samitsson.” He waited, seeming to expect an answer.

“Feald Jana and Elda Lilla,” I replied. “Daughters of Lord Drakoved Vocsin, nieces to Lord Jereth Vocsin, Head Advisor to Queen Ivana of Aram. Our capture is an act of war against Aram, and will not be tolerated. Release us immediately.”

He nodded. “You are both fighters,” he said. “Good. We need strong souls. You will honor the Sagalia Tinodde in three hours. Prepare yourselves.” He withdrew, and someone pulled the trees back into place.

Elda began to cry again, the tear tracks making the rest of her face look even grayer with dirt.

I sat down, back against stone. Three hours, and we’d be able to speak with someone in charge, if the other Sagalia I had met was any indication of what to expect. It was a relief to know that someone would give me a chance to speak. Surely they would not ignore how important we could be as live hostages. The ‘strong soul’ comment was a little confusing, but my thoughts were too sluggish to grasp at any guesses or implications. Elda’s breathing slowed and steadied as she fell asleep, and I did not resist as my own eyelids closed.

I was awoken by my own shivering as the sun’s light faded and the shadows of the cliffs around us grew deeper. My face felt swollen, and my back and shoulders ached where they pressed against the rock wall. Elda was still asleep in my lap, my skirt pulled over her legs, the skin of my own legs prickled with painful goosebumps. I tried to rearrange us into a tighter cuddle of warmth, but only succeeded in startling her. She cried out, eyes tightly shut, until I woke her completely and she realized who I was.

We drank from the pitcher again, and I convinced her to eat some of the cold, dry bread. My own stomach was still cramping with hunger, and I wolfed my portion down while she nibbled at hers. Then I rebraided our hair and smoothed our skirts as best I could, using what little water was left to wipe the tear tracks and worst of the dust from our faces.

The rustling of the gardde trees told us when our guard was opening the door again.

“Come,” said Commander Samitsson. “The Sagalia is waiting.” He and two footsoldiers escorted us out of the enclosure and up the path towards the camp. Instead of heading towards the main grouping of tents, though, we were led around the side and back of the five ornate tents to descend a second path which led to a small lake with a sandy beach back below the treeline. Several giant boulders lay scattered about on the shoreline, and the Sagalia whom I had first met on entering the camp was standing next to the nearest one.

The Commander led us over to her, then bowed, and without waiting to be dismissed he and the two footsoldiers left us shivering there on the beach with the black-haired woman.

“I am Sagalia Carun,” she said. She looked us up and down, then stepped forward and took my hands, and looked directly into my eyes. A chill ran over my body from my head to my toes, as though I had jumped into an icy pond. I shivered violently, and she let go of my hands. I wrapped them around myself, wishing for a blazing hot fire.
“Every soul presented to Sagalia Tinodde must be examined for defects and sickness,” she said, stepping back. “You are acceptable.” She stepped up to Elda. “Give me your hands,” she said.

Elda promptly put her hands behind her back, and backed up against my leg.

“Tell your sister to obey me,” Sagalia Carun said.

I looked at her. A lone woman on a long beach. Surely we could outrun her and escape. But her eyes were confident and commanding.

“It would be better if she cooperated voluntarily,” the woman said. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

“Elda,” I said, “give her your hands.”

I pulled Elda’s hands out for the Sagalia, who bent to take them. Elda let me move her, and after a moment I saw the same shiver pass over her. The woman frowned, and gently moved Elda’s sleeve so she could see the marks there. She pulled the sleeve back down and straightened.

“Now what?” I asked her, gathering Elda in for a hug. Her hands and face were turning white with cold.

“They are mostly undamaged,” Sagalia Carun said, one hand on the rock nearest us. “The smaller one has some bruising, but she will not spoil from it.”

The stone rumbled and moved, and I swallowed a shriek of fear and surprise. Elda, clinging to me, could not see it, but she shuddered again at the trembling earth and pushed her face in tighter to my neck. I stood, holding her weight off of the ground, ready to run.

A dragon, fully twenty yards long, uncoiled itself and stretched, wings rising above Sagalia Carun, who did not make any motion except to let her hand slide off the creature’s side.

“I feel them,” the dragon growled, his voice echoing off the cliffs and water.

“This is Sagalia Tinodde,” Sagalia Carun told me, with a gleam in her eyes that I wasn’t sure how to interpret.
“It can talk?” I breathed, squeaking a bit.

“He” she said, emphasizing the pronoun, “is a highly respected and educated member of our society.” Sagalia Carun said, “And the fastest flyer since Sagalia Tottenak died last beyton.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “What is that word?”
“Decade,” Sagalia Tinodde rumbled. “But he was a cheat and a liar, anyway. If he had not died before I was full grown, I would have shown him for a charlatan.”

“As you say,” Sagalia Carun said, without a hint of irony or sarcasm. She knew this dragon, it seemed.

“It is not meet to display these souls to my kin,” the dragon said. “We must remove to a private location.”

“Very well,” Sagalia Carun said. “Bring them.” She stepped towards the dragon, and grasped at what I could now see was a light leather harness strapped to its sinewy neck. She swung herself up into a position just above the wings where the shoulders bulged and created a natural indentation, then I lost sight of her as the dragon opened its wings and a great clawed forefoot came towards me, grasping both Elda and I at once, the second one closing beneath us as the dragon launched itself into the air with a dizzying power that caused my skull to sharply connect with Elda’s and both of us to gasp. My braids whipped around me as I grimly held Elda to my chest, wordlessly praying to the High Soul for mercy.

It seemed a long time before the dragon landed again, braking gently and touching down into a grassy meadow. When it put me back on the ground, I simply fell over, unable to move my limbs. Elda was so shocked she wasn’t even crying, just breathing like a fish out of water, her eyes wild and her hair once again a bird’s nest of tangles and fuzz.

“I will talk to them,” I heard Sagalia Carun say. “Go find something to eat.”

The dragon made no answer, and the silence in the meadow grew until I could bear my curiosity no longer, and I sat up dizzily. We were alone with the black-haired woman, and the dragon was nowhere to be seen.

“We have very little time,” she said, as she met my eyes. “I must speak with your Queen, in secret.” She stood from where she had been sitting on a low rock.

I gaped at her, every inch the gawky village girl. Elda’s fingers twitched, and I took her hand.

“We are fortunate you were captured on Tinodde’s feeding day, or else one of the other dragons would have first right to you,” Sagalia Carun continued.

“What are you talking about?” I spluttered. “Where are we?”

“We are still an hour’s ride from your capital city,” she said. “Tinodde is allowed this night for rest and feeding, but if we are not back by morning there will be questions. You said you are related to the Queen’s Head Advisor. Can you get a message to him?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “He’s my uncle, but I haven’t seen him in years. I would have to -”

She made a sharp motion with her hand. “I don’t care how you do it. But do it quickly. I will keep Elda with me until you return with the Queen or someone authorized to speak for her. If you do not return by the time the sun rises past the top of that mountain,” she pointed at the highest peak in the range to the east, “then I will allow Tinodde to eat her and we will return to our camp.”

I sat frozen in horror. “Eat her?”

She sighed. “I don’t have time for an explanation. Suffice it to say, all Kunnarian dragons must eat souls in order to be Sagalia. I am willing to spare you for the sake of a conference with your Queen, but if I cannot speak with her, if I return to my camp unsuccessful, I will not further endanger Tinodde by refusing him the sustenance he needs. He is hunting now, but using animal meat to sustain his powers is inefficient.”

Among the jumble of words, I picked out the ones that seemed most important to me. “Kunnarian? You are Kunnarian?”

“We are Kunnarians, allied with Rylan. If your Queen is not warned of our coming, we will fall on your villages with the invading Rylan force and her kingdom will fall. Tell her I have this one opportunity to speak, but if she does not come I will not be able to negotiate any further.”

“How will I get there?”

“There is a village two miles to the west, and the main road to Aram Castle goes through it. I cannot help you more than that.”

I looked at my sister. Her eyes were open, but unfocused.

“She is in shock,” Sagalia Carun said. “I will keep her well until you return, bug you must go now.”

I disengaged my hand from Elda’s and stood, swaying on my feet. I oriented myself west, and began to walk again.