I growled in annoyance. “I don’t know why your sister doesn’t just try to get to know a dragon,” I muttered under my breath. Maybe that was what she had always needed – to be able to share her heart and have her mind seen by another being as close as a dragon bond.
But then again, I knew only too well what would happen if Inyene had ever plucked up the courage to actually try and talk to a real dragon. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt the white-hot embers of Ymmen’s anger. They would have seen straight into her black soul and swatted her like a fly!
“But the Lady Artifex took this Stone Crown far away, and attempted to hide it?” I concluded. Both Abioye and Montfre nodded. And something must have chased her along the way, as well, I thought, poring over her zigzagging, backtracking and forward movements.
There was only one question left really. “Why didn’t this new king of Torvald keep the Stone Crown?”
Had the Lady Artifex stolen it, I wondered.
“Those are questions which we may sadly never find the answer to,” Montfre said sagely. “All we know is that it vanished from the history books – and what Abioye has deciphered here is probably the best explanation that any have had as to where it might have gone.” The mage nodded calmly before looking up to the young lordling. “Your plan, Abioye?”
Ah yes, I thought. The plan.
“I realized that the map might lead to the Stone Crown,” Abioye said to us in a quieter voice, “but I couldn’t let my sister have it. That was why I was trying to convince Inyene to send the map to the King of Torvald. If Inyene has the power to summon real, living dragons…” Abioye shook his head.
I suddenly realized the game that Abioye had been playing. Even though he had been unwilling to directly oppose his sister before – he had been attempting to sabotage her plans this whole time!
But now, his sister would be too dangerous to sabotage, I saw. Even Abioye, her brother, could see that. He needed to stay close now, in order to get his hands on the map. And the Crown, I now realized as he continued to explain;
“We go on the expedition. Inyene says that she wants me to lead it – that will give us the perfect excuse to get to the Stone Crown before she can, and then send it to Torvald!” He appeared pleased, before looking at me. “You could even ask your dragon to take it to them! He’ll be able to fly faster than any of Inyene’s mechanical dragons!”
I nodded that all of the above was true. But there was still something that he was forgetting.
“My people. The Daza slaves out there,” I said sternly. “How long will it take to find this Stone Crown, and to send it to Torvald, and for Torvald to do—” To do what with it? I thought. Did Abioye expect the Middle Kingdom to come to his aid, when they had so far apparently ignored Inyene and him completely?
“I know,” Abioye said quickly, “but Torvald has Dragon Riders, and soldiers and armies…” Clearly, he was trying to placate me – but it had completely the opposite effect.
“No, Abioye, you don’t know!” I pointed out, thinking of his plush rooms all around him. “You don’t know that every hour, or every day, there are innocent people down there suffering. Some are losing fingers, toes, going blind, breaking limbs,” I said hotly. “You don’t know what it is like out there on the Plains. There can be dust storms and thunder storms. Wild cats and tar pits and worse. Floods and heatwaves. Every day that we spend out there crossing the Plains is a day that can see one of my people – one of my friends die!” I thought of Oleer and the others. Even sour-minded Rebec.
“But…” Abioye shook his head. “What other option is there!? You can’t suggest you attack Inyene with your black dragon – alone! She has fifteen mechanical dragons now, and the smelting works are running day and night!”
But I’d heard enough. I stood up, tired of talking. “Abioye, you have a good heart, I’ll give you that,” I said. But not a strong heart, I almost added. “And your plan is a good one, even – if we were willing to let more Daza die. And I am not.” I turned to the door as both Montfre and Abioye jumped up, trying to stop me.
“Narissea!” Montfre called as I stormed into the main reception hall of Abioye’s apartments. “You can’t. Even with my staff and your dragon… many Daza could die!” he said.
That thought made me stumble, caught between one evil and another. “I can’t just sit around and talk!” I spat. The fact that I wasn’t doing enough to help my people was eating me up. I would sneak out of here and find Inyene, I thought. Just as Lady Artifex had taken a long and dangerous journey alone, then I would be as brave as well.
All of this Stone Crown business will take weeks, months even. I would find Inyene now and put my blade to her throat until she handed over the scepter. And then Ymmen could free the Daza first, before we went to find the Stone Crown.
My temper flared as I snatched one of Abioye’s rich green cloaks from a stand beside his apartment door, throwing it on to hide the Lady Artifex’s knife at my side as I turned, ignoring Montfre’s and Abioye’s aghast looks.
But just as my hand grasped the door handle, there was a sudden rapping from the other side, and a familiar voice called out. “Abioye – open up in the name of Queen Inyene!”
It was Dagan Mar.
Chapter 22
Anger
Dagan! I involuntarily took a step back from the door, my hand already on the blade handle.
“Open up, Abioye – don’t make me get the guards to kick the thing down!” Dagan snarled through the door.
Had we been discovered? I turned to look at the others, both of whom appeared similarly appalled. But how could Dagan know what we had been talking about? I had no idea, but I prepared myself for the worst. It was surprisingly easy to do.
“Stand back,” I heard an unexpected voice say. It was Abioye, as he strode up to stand in front of me, pausing briefly before he reached for the door. “These are my apartments, and I’m still Inyene’s brother,” he whispered to me. “I said that I was on your side Narissea, and now I guess I have to prove it.”
He pulled the door open to reveal an irate Dagan glaring on the far side, and with two of the largest mine guards that I had ever seen at his side.
“What is the meaning of this!” Abioye bellowed, and for once his voice didn’t raise in anxiety.
The cruel little man on the other side of the threshold blinked, as if confused at this newer Abioye who stood before him. But then a cruel smile of victory took over his face instead. It was one that I had seen him use before, gloating over any misfortune that he had managed to cause to those of us in the mines that he had taken a special dislike to – like me.
“The queen has decided that it is unsafe to have you left alone with these two,” Dagan Mar said, flicking a glance to me and Montfre, but mostly to me. At the older man’s nod, the two guards beside him marched into the room around Abioye. One for me, and one for Montfre.
I growled.
“This is ridiculous!” Abioye shouted as I looked up at the guard who was coming for me, and what he had in his hands. It was a pair of leg manacles. The guard’s eyes were cold and uncompromising, and besides the short sword at his belt he also had a long metal rod – either of which I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use against me. Well, he has another thing coming, I thought, as my hand tightened on the knife.