The Dragon of Despair by Jane Lindskold Read Free Book Online Page A

look angry, but Derian felt as tight as a strung bow until the king actually spoke.
    “Firekeeper said something of that, though in her case I have the impression that she is making a visit to family.”
    “That’s pretty much the case for her, Sire,” Derian replied.
    King Tedric ran a finger along his jawline.
    “Do you mean to mark all the graves?”
    “There’s only one grave, Sire,” Derian hedged. Then he decided to continue to be direct. “But I mean to mark it with the names of all the members of the expedition. Lord Aksel Trueheart researched them for me and arranged for them to be cut into several stones I will carry with me.”
    Sapphire interrupted, “You’re hauling grave markers?”
    “Yes, Princess,” Derian replied. “If I’m going to make the trip, I’d hardly like to leave wooden tablets. I’m sure my father will loan me two mules. I’ll take them and a couple of mountain-bred ponies I brought from Norwood.
    “They’re a breed,” he added somewhat inconsequentially, hearing himself the carter’s son, “I’m interested in crossing with riding stock for use in some parts of the kingdom where the land is rough and hilly.”
    “I see,” Sapphire said, looking a touch startled at the change of subject. “Well, I admire your thoroughness. I only wish I could go with you.” She patted her belly ruefully. “But duty calls.”
    Shad folded his hand over hers. “And morning sickness would be a real problem on the road.”
    King Tedric shook his head at his heirs, an old dog watching puppies romp.
    “Derian,” he said, “kindly call on me before you and Firekeeper leave. I would like you to carry a few grave goods with you.”
    Derian tried not to let his astonishment show, but he knew his eyes had widened. It was one thing for Duchess Kestrel to wish to send something to her daughter’s grave, but from King Tedric it was tantamount to rescinding Barden’s disownment—to taking him back into the ancestry from which he had been exiled.
    “Yes, Sire!” he said.
    “And keep your eyes and ears open along the road,” the old king said. “It may be you’ll bring me home new rumors.”
    Derian nodded, but he sincerely doubted it. The road west should be quiet and deserted once they passed the outskirts of tilled lands. They might meet a trapper or a hunter, but otherwise he expected peace and quiet.
    He didn’t know just how wrong he was, or that the old king did indeed have ears and eyes in the most distant points of his realm.

III

    FIREKEEPER MIGHT HAVE FIDGETED more during the days that passed as she waited for Derian to get ready to travel west with her except that she was enjoying visiting with friends she hadn’t seen since late autumn.
    King Tedric had invited her to stay at the castle and she had done so without hesitation. The castle backed onto considerable land—not enough to support Blind Seer were he to live there full-time, but enough to give both of them space to run.
    Steward Silver had assigned them rooms in the same tower they had stayed in before, one with a staircase that opened into the grounds. The servants knew to let her come and go as she wished. She had permission to ask the head cook for food whenever she wanted it and abused the privilege for a day or two, until Blind Seer told her she was getting a belly like a pregnant doe.
    Sapphire and Shad were pleasant to her, but Firekeeper didn’t thrust herself upon them. They were busy making preparations for announcing that Sapphire was expecting. The news had come as no surprise to Firekeeper—pups were always whelped in the spring. What had been a surprise was learning that this human pup, though conceived in winter, would not be born until the following autumn.
    Humans always make simple things hard, she said to Blind Seer.
    Another simple thing made hard was the situation with Citrine Shield. The girl was apparently as unstable as a water-cut stream bank, though the instability was in her mind, rather