55
TREACHERY
Lyll’s prediction of trouble was validated as soon as they walked out of the tent. Dar and Bardon stood with Wizard Cam. Toopka hovered at their heels. All of them looked as though someone had died.
Cam stepped forward. “In the hour before daylight, all the dragons aligned with our camp took flight. It is reported that they headed north.”
“Which would take them to the enemy,” added Dar. “It seems our dragons have gone over to Risto’s camp.”
Bardon looked at Kale only. “And Regidor is nowhere to be found.”
She blinked. “He and Gilda persuaded the dragons to defect?”
“Subterfuge is Gilda’s specialty,” said Cam with a sigh. “I’m afraid her brand of persuasion was too much for Regidor to resist. Remember, Risto enhanced her natural abilities. Once Regidor was converted, the two of them must have been a formidable pair against our dragons’ trusting dispositions.”
“All the dragons?” Kale realized the magnitude of the treason. “Celisse? Merlander?”
Bardon nodded. “All the dragons.”
Kale felt the pressure of Metta’s claws in her shoulder. “Not the minor dragons,” she said. “The minor dragons are still here.”
“Yes,” said Cam, “but the minor dragons cannot carry soldiers into battle or transport wounded men. They cannot deliver supplies or give a commander an aerial view of the battlefield. Risto now holds an unbeatable hand.”
“Will he attack today?” asked Bardon.
Cam looked old and sad. “If he wanted to win just this battle, he would. But he’s smart enough to know we’re amassing a fair-sized army to block him. If he waits a day, instead of crushing five thousand men, he can crush ten thousand.”
Kale twisted the pouch hanging around her neck. “We have to rescue the dragons. If I talk to Celisse, I know she’d come back.”
“Invading the enemy camp would be too dangerous, Kale,” said Lyll Allerion. “I’m hoping Wizard Cam will have a trick or two up his sleeve. After all, he is a lake wizard. And Bartal Springs Lake just happens to be his home lake.”
Cam nodded. “We’ll go to my castle under cover of darkness.”
“What are we going to do all day?” asked Toopka.
“Sleep!” said Cam. “At least some of us. Others will mingle with the new recruits, bolster their spirits and squash rumors.”
“Am I one of the ones who gets to squash rumors?”
“You’re one of the ones who gets to sleep.”
“I slept some in the boat.”
“You’ll sleep more in a bed.”
“I could—”
A bucket of water appeared over the little girl’s head and dumped its contents.
Toopka sputtered.
“That was warm water,” said Cam. “But you shall soon be cold. A nice warm bath and a snuggly bed are the best thing for you at the moment.” He turned to address the tumanhofer servant. “Taylaminkadot, would you be so kind as to escort this little doneel to the tent that’s been made ready for Kale? See to her needs, if you will, and don’t let her out of your sight! Not even when you think she’s sleeping.”
“I won’t be able to sleep,” protested Toopka as she was led away.
Kale didn’t think she would be able to sleep either, but a warm breakfast of porridge and hot mallow, a soothing bath, and a cozy bed invited slumber. She woke up hours later with no more aching muscles, no headache, and a hearty appetite. Gymn rested on her shoulder. When he saw her awake, he perked up.
“Heal their minds?” Kale sat up and contemplated her green dragon. “Whose minds?”
Gymn trilled and the explanation unfolded in Kale’s mind. “The other dragons. They are deluded, and you think it’s an illness. Maybe it is, Gymn. We’ll try almost anything to get them back. How would you treat an illness like that?”
Gymn hummed in his throat and squeaked as he thought.
“Isolate the bad and nourish the good?”
Kale spied a new set of clothes. Forgetting about Gymn’s theories, she jumped out of bed and raced to put them on. The pants and tunic reminded Kale of her mother’s outfit she’d worn to fight the mordakleeps, except they weren’t a flashy pink. The supple boots were black. Creamy soft material made a formfitting undershirt. The breeches and tunic were an earthy brown like the uniforms of The Hall.
Toopka stood in the doorway, pouting. “You’re supposed to come eat.”
Behind her Taylaminkadot nodded approvingly. The tumanhofer followed Toopka with the air of someone who would pounce if the child strayed so much as an inch. Kale grinned to herself as she watched the thwarted mischief maker march to the dining tent.
They rushed through supper. The winter sun had already set, and dusk shrouded the camp. Kale and Bardon, Dar and the two wizards, Brunstetter and Lee Ark, Taylaminkadot, Toopka, and several kimens marched down to the lake. The hike covered at least three miles of rough path through timber and rocky hillside. No one spoke unnecessarily, but concentrated on where to place the next step.
Two kimens guarded the boat tethered to a shoreline pine. Azalone took the point position, sitting astride the prow.
Dar sat on the next seat with Dibl on his knee.
Kale sat with Wizard Cam.
Brunstetter took the rowing bench and wielded one oar while Lee Ark and Lehman Bardon plied the other.
In the back sat Taylaminkadot with Lady Allerion and a half-dozen kimens.
The remaining kimens on the shore untied the line and shoved the boat out onto the lake. Gentle waves rocked the boat. The oars dipped in and out of the water. The three men propelled the skiff toward deep water.
“Where to?” asked Brunstetter.
“Oh, toward the middle in clear sight of the enemy camp, I should say,” answered Cam.
Kale hoped they would not have to set up their fortress in full view of Risto’s henchmen. “Is that where your castle is?”
“Well now, it’s anyplace I want it to be, isn’t it? But we do want to draw Risto’s attention.”
“We do?”
“Yes, we do. I must ask you to be quiet now, Kale. I am plotting all sorts of devious surprises for the wicked wizard and his cohorts.”
Kale didn’t mind being quiet. Fenworth would have been more blunt in ordering her silence. She found she missed the old wizard. A dozen topics of conversation sprang into her mind, but they all led to what would happen tomorrow and who would win the battle. How did she get in the front line of a war?
The quest was to find the meech dragon and save him—her—from Risto. To rescue those dragons already under the influence of Risto. And to thwart Risto’s evil plans. We found Gilda, but didn’t lure her away from Risto. Not only did we not rescue any dragons, we lost the ones we still had. And as for thwarting Risto—
Her eyes surveyed the western shoreline where the camp of bisonbecks sprawled for miles.
If Wulder sends Paladin, Paladin could obliterate the whole army. What can we do alone?
She glanced back at the shore. Were soldiers gathering on the banks of the river? Had they been spotted?
We certainly aren’t doing much to hide. Azalone is lighting the prow. At least the kimens in the back are subdued. The moon’s path across the water seems to be pointing right at us.
The mural! This is the painting on the wall of the Gander!
“Bardon!”
“That has occurred to me as well, Kale, but remember you’re being quiet.”
Bardon!
“It doesn’t really mean anything that I can see.”
But it’s happened to me before. On the last quest, there was a point when we looked just like the mural in the River Away tavern.
“I still don’t see that it means anything for us today. What would be significant is if you were to see another mural that has us all doing something else. That might mean we’ll live through tomorrow.”
Oh, Bardon, do you think it’s possible?
“We work for Paladin, Kale. Anything is possible.”
“This will do,” said Cam.
He stood and looked at the water some distance ahead of them. “There it is.”
A spire broke the surface of the water and pushed upward. It was attached to a central turret, which soon became visible. The white stone edifice shone in the moonlight. Water cascaded out of the windows and off the balconies. The castle continued to thrust toward the sky, revealing a massive structure as it rose out of the water.
The eruption of a castle in the middle of the lake attracted attention from the shore. The water pouring from the building formed a roaring waterfall. If the bisonbeck soldiers hadn’t seen the spectacle, they surely would have heard it.
Cam turned and handed Dibl to Kale. “Thank you for the loan of him, Kale. He has inspired many interesting events to unfold within the next twenty-four hours.”
The rush of falling water subsided. The whole castle sat, apparently, on the lake.
Cam signaled the rowers to proceed. “To the front door, if you please.”
They hitched the boat to a dock and climbed damp stairs to an ornate double door. Cam turned to frown at the sky.
“Feels like snow, wouldn’t you say?”
Kale looked at the stars shimmering in a clear sky and thought, Not in the least.
“Well, there are extra blankets in each bedroom. You’ll be warm enough. Shall we get some sleep? Big day ahead of us, you know.”
From the shore a flaming arrow arched over the water. It fell far short of the castle target and sizzled as it plopped into the lake.
Cam put his hands on his hips. “Now that was optimistic. Had the fellow actually been able to shoot the arrow that great distance, did he expect one lone firebrand to demolish a castle still dripping water?”
He looked again at the masses of bisonbeck soldiers milling around on the shore. “On the other hand, it does portend well for us. They don’t seem to solve problems well on the spur of the moment, do they? Yes, that bodes well for us.”