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

than her body. Right now she was going through a phase where she wanted to see no one and so Firekeeper was kept away.
    A friend who was always ready to see the wolf-woman was Queen Elexa. The queen was being kept in bed, but she was recovering and it amused her to have Firekeeper come and sit with her.
    The wolf-woman had taken longer to warm to the queen than to the king, for Elexa’s subtle ways of handling her myriad responsibilities had been more difficult to appreciate. Now, however, especially after seeing the very different ways in which Lady Luella and Duchess Kestrel managed their households, Firekeeper could appreciate how neatly Queen Elexa balanced the times she needed to intervene and when her best managing would be to step back and let those like Stewart Silver or the head cook or gardener run their parts of the castle without interference.
    Queen Elexa liked asking Firekeeper for tales of the wolf-woman’s adventures, sometimes about those things that had happened since Firekeeper came to the human lands west of the mountains, more frequently about Firekeeper’s childhood among the wolves. Firekeeper was happy to tell the queen what she could and learned not to be astonished by what amazed the queen.
    In return, especially as her cough began to heal and she could talk more easily, Queen Elexa would tell stories. She shared Firekeeper’s fascination with the comet and told her stories that purported to explain its presence in the skies.
    One story said a comet was a giant horse with a burning mane and tail that had broken from its place pulling the wagon that hauled the sun through the sky. It ran and ran, hoping to get free from the harness that still trailed behind. In another story, the comet was a dragon, breathing a steady stream of fire.
    This last tale prompted a long discussion, for Firekeeper had never really thought about dragons, though she’d heard them mentioned frequently, especially in New Kelvin. She’d seen dragons depicted in heraldry, but had believed that they were just poorly drawn lizards. Queen Elexa told her otherwise, showing her brilliant paintings in bestiaries.
    “But are these real things?” Firekeeper asked, looking at the drawings of dragons and other fantastic beasts.
    “I never thought so,” the queen admitted, “but then I never thought that there were wolves like Blind Seer.”
    The Royal Wolf woke from his drowse in front of the fire to comment:
    “But what an impressive revelation I have been!”
    Firekeeper must hide a grin then or explain. Months earlier she had decided—encouraged by the wolves themselves—that it was best that the humans believe simply that Blind Seer and Elation were fine animals, but animals nonetheless. Her early efforts to explain otherwise had mostly been frustrating. Now she didn’t even try.
    A few of her friends, Derian, certainly, and probably Elise and Doc, had their suspicions. Firekeeper didn’t mind, but she no longer made any effort to represent Blind Seer as anything other than a wolf. She didn’t even protest—though not long ago the thought would have sent her into furies—when some mistook the blue-eyed wolf for a dog.
     
    ALTHOUGH FIREKEEPER ENJOYED HER VISITS with the king and queen—and with Citrine, when the girl was sane—first among her friends at the castle was Holly Gardener.
    Holly was an older woman, retired from her position as head gardener of Eagle’s Nest Castle. She had passed on the responsibilities of acting as head gardener to her son Timin, but she remained busy about the various gardens.
    Even now, with spring providing more rain than warmth, Holly could usually be found outside, leaning on her stick as she moved from bedding area to bedding area, encouraging the young growing things—so at least it seemed to Firekeeper—with her very presence.
    Gardening in all its forms impressed Firekeeper to no end. As a human art, it ranked right up with music and dancing in her estimation, and perhaps