Forged in Ice (16 page)

“We need a few dragons.” Talen asked for exactly what I knew he would.

“Dragons?” Denny coughed.

“Who is this guy?” The Kenset watched Denny warily.

“Ignore him. He does not get out much.” Talen shot Denny a look to tell him to keep his mouth shut.

“You look familiar.” The Kenset leaned toward me.

“We have never met.” I tried to stay calm. Not everyone knew who I was.

“Why should he lend you dragons?” the Zale asked. “There is no chance any of you have the funds necessary to cover his losses if something were to happen to one of his animals.”

“Nothing will happen,” I explained quickly. “And we do have access to the resources.” I knew the coins in my pocket were nowhere near enough to borrow a dragon whose worth was nearly immeasurable now that there were so few left. “We have means to promise safe return and payment.”

The Kenset made a rumbling sound I assumed meant he was thinking. "Wait, I know who you are." He squinted through his beady eyes.

I waited with baited breath. "Do you?"

"You are his son." The Kenset’s face darkened and his hands balled into two large fists.

"He is a Guardian." Talen jumped in to defend me. "He is recognized by the Essence."

“Then the Essence has lost her mind.”

“Do not speak ill of the Essence.” I felt my blood boil. “Say what you will about me, but not her.”

The Kenset appeared to mull it over. “I still cannot trust you without proper collateral.”

“Wait.” The Zale rose to her feet. "You owe me a quarter of the worth of one dragon already when you add in the interest you have piled up, and do not pretend you doubt they will return home. The beasts are stronger and smarter than any man.” She had changed her tune.

“My debt has nothing on the price of one of my dragons, but the price to borrow it for a few days runs close. Do you mean to take on this potential debt?” The Kenset narrowed his eyes. “For what possible reason?”

"I will take him." The Zale stood and approached Denny. “He can be my collateral.”

“Uh….” Denny looked between Talen and me.

"How do you know he is worth enough?" The Kensett squinted again, this time to get a closer look at Denny.

"Wait, you can't be serious?" Denny turned to us. "You can't leave me here."

"He is very valuable,” Talen explained. "One of the last of his kind."

"What is his kind?" The Zale ran her hand down Denny’s arm.

“He is a Dire Wolf.” Talen pointed to Denny. “Very rare.”

Denny bristled. “Ok. So yeah, I’m not available for collateral.”

"Oh my." The Zale ignored Denny’s protest. "I will take responsibility if you let me have him." She turned to the Kenset.

"As collateral." I quickly added.

"Of course." She smiled broadly, revealing teeth that sparkled as bright as the rest of her. She ran her hand down Denny’s arm again. “I have never met a Dire before. I have heard stories about what they were like.”

“There used to be Dires here?” Denny asked with a surprised inflection in his voice.

"Not in Alak that I know of,” the Zale explained. “Your type usually prefers the countryside.”

“But near here?”

“Close enough I could take you for a visit to where the pack used to live.” She smiled again.

“I will agree to be collateral.” Denny nodded. “You need to get to Ainsley.”

I knew the true reason for his cooperation had little to do with Ainsley, but I would not look a gift horse in the mouth.

“It is decided then. I also require the sum of ten thousand gold coins.” The Kenset opened one of his large hands and held it out palm up.

“Absolutely.” I nodded. “I will send payment back with your dragons.”

“That is ten thousand per dragon.”

“We only need two,” Talen pointed out. “Since Denny is staying behind.”

“You will come back for me, won’t you?” Denny asked. “I still want to help you.”

“We will, but you are helping us already.” Hopefully Denny got something out of the deal. Maybe he could learn more about others of his kind.

“I have a few dragons at the Kenset embassy in town,” The Kenset pointed toward the doorway.

“Perfect.” Talen punched the table top. “Pleasure doing business with you, Mr.? I am sorry. I am afraid I missed your name.”

“I go by the name of Stronghull.”

Talen opened his mouth and then closed it, as if debating the right response. “Ok, Stronghull, lead us to these dragons.”

I
approached
the winged creature with trepidation. Covered head to toe in iridescent scales, she had a certain beauty to her, but she was also enormous with the capacity to breath fire. Anything that could produce fire was dangerous.

There were half a dozen dragons being stabled on the roof of the Kenset embassy. Our business partner so far was true to his word. He offered us two for our journey.

One glance at Talen told me he was worrying about the same things I was. He had barely moved since we stepped out on the roof.

“Have you ridden one of these before?” I asked him.

“No.” He glanced over his shoulder before answering. We were being watched, but no one was within earshot. “You?”

“Once. But it was Kevin’s, so it is very tame.” Or tame for a dragon at least. The dragons in front us did not appear tame at all. They were staring us down as though we were meat.

Talen laughed. “These do not look tame.”

“Yet you are laughing. I suppose that should be impressive.” I was still unused to his upbeat attitude. It threw me.

“We have both tackled worse situations before.”

“Indeed, we have.” I made a slow and steady path toward the orange striped dragon that had been selected for me. The dragon picked up her head and stared me down. Her large black eyes looked like endless pools one could drown in.

“Hello.” I held out my hand in the way Kevin had showed me to do it. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Talen copying my movements with his dragon.

The dragon snorted. I startled but kept my arm outstretched.

After a moment, I gently touched the scales on her side. Stronghull was watching; if we hesitated too long, he might pull out on the deal.

The dragon lowered her head and let out a low and deep purring sound. I assumed that meant she was okay with me riding her. I climbed into the leather saddle careful not to put too much weight on one spot.

“Be sure to send payment immediately and return the dragons within the week,” Stronghull called out.

“We will.” I grabbed the reins, checked to make sure Talen was ready, and took off from the rooftop. The dragon flew ten times faster than any horse could run, and the wind rushed all around me. I held onto the reins as the dragon soared through the sky toward Belgard. I knew the basic direction, but the beast seemed to know the route herself. As if she already had the destination in mind.

We flew over mountains so close we could almost touch them, and rivers so far away they looked like nothing but small lines in the dirt. I chanced a glance to my right. Talen was grinning wildly as his dragon flew parallel to mine.

Thoughts of Ainsley swirled through my head as we continued on through the sky. I needed to find her quickly, and my best chance of doing that was Charlotte. She had the ability to call to all natural beings for help. I trusted someone or something could help find Ainsley.

Before long the stone gates of Belgard came into view. I went toward Kevin’s house. He already housed two dragons, surely he could temporarily house two more.

We landed in the field behind his house.

“Is Kevin home?” Talen asked as he jumped from his dragon’s saddle.

“It does not look like it. I am sure he would have come out here already if he was.”

“It is Samantha I am afraid to see. She will probably criticize our use of the dragons.” Talen laughed.

“More like she would negotiate to keep them. She has such an affinity for them now.” We led the dragons to the stables, hopeful either Kevin or Samantha would be home soon to tend to them. Right now we had more pressing matters.

Our arrival in Belgard had not gone unnoticed, so the guards were unsurprised when we reached the front doors of the castle.

Talen gave me an encouraging look before we stepped inside.

“James!” Charlotte ran toward me.

I opened my arms, pulling her into a hug. “I missed you too.”

She held on longer than she normally did, and I let her. Finally, she released me and stepped back. “What’s going on? Is there any news?” Then she looked behind me. “Where is Ainsley?”

I braced myself and looked Charlotte straight in the eye. “We need your help.”

“Of course.” She nodded emphatically. “What happened?”

“It might be better if we all sat down for this.” I gestured down the hallway toward the sitting rooms.

“James is back?” Liam strode into the lobby with another Guardian, Nathaniel, at his side. He looked around. “Where is Ainsley?”

“I just asked him that. He says he needs our help.” Charlotte wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold.

I looked at Talen before returning my attention to Charlotte. “We do not have much time, but I need to know you will help.”

“Of course I will help, but first you have to explain things. Where is she?”

“Are you sure you would not prefer to sit down?” I asked out of concern for Charlotte; I had no interest in wasting time.

“She was taken by the undead,” Talen answered before I could.

“The undead?” Charlotte paled. “How? I thought you were in the lost world.”

“They followed us there. They took her and pulled her into the ground, and we think she must be back in Energo now.” My heart rate accelerated as I thought about what happened. We needed to find her.

“But where are the undead coming from? There has to be another Cipher.” Charlotte started to pace. “None of this makes sense.”

“Maybe we should sit down for this.” Liam gently took her arm. “James made a good suggestion.”

“We have no time.” Now that I had started to explain, I was not going to stop. “We need to find her.”

“You have to tell Charlotte everything,” Talen urged me. “The sooner you tell her, the sooner she may be able to help.”

I wavered. I wanted to believe Charlotte would trust me, but what if she did something unexpected? Where would that leave Ainsley?

“Tell me what?” Charlotte stepped toward me. “What do you need to tell me? What are you hiding?”

I closed my eyes to give myself the courage to continue. When I opened them, I let the words spill out. “I have heard my father in my head. He has poisoned Ainsley, and I need to find her immediately.”

“What? What do you mean?” Charlotte’s whole body stiffened. “That’s impossible.”

“It is possible. He tried to get me to help him, but I would never. Now he has taken Ainsley, and I need your help to get her back.”

“You have heard your father?” Charlotte watched me warily. “When you are awake?”

“Yes.” It disgusted me to admit it to her.

“Which means he has access to your waking mind.” She paled. “He could control you at any time.”

“He cannot control me!” I yelled louder than I meant to.

Liam stepped toward me. “Stay back, James.”

“Stay back? Are you concerned I might hurt her?” I pointed to Charlotte.

“You just admitted to having a Cipher in your mind, and a Cipher’s influence is being felt again.”

“You think it is me?” Anger flooded me. “After everything I have done for you?”

“James, you know we have to protect the people. That is what we were born to do.” Charlotte’s voice rose and she locked eyes with me.

“So what are you implying?” Panic flooded me. “You will not help?”

A look passed between Charlotte and Liam that worried me. “Please. You have to help us.”

“I’m sorry James, but this is for your own good.”

“What?”

Before I could react, Liam and Nathaniel grabbed my arms. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Talen slip out the door. I hoped he was going to find Ainsley on his own and was not only protecting himself.

“What?” I fought against Liam and Nathaniel but it did no good. The two of them were stronger. “Charlotte. No, you can’t do this!”

“As I told you, this is for your own good.” She met my eyes. “But we will find her. I promise I will take care of everything.”

Nathaniel and Liam dragged me toward the door to the cellar. Five guards followed them. I fought against them as they pulled me down the stone steps to the dungeon that had not been used since my father’s death.

Liam and Nathaniel pushed me into a cell and slammed the iron door in front of me.

“Stay calm, James. We will find her.” Liam turned his back and walked away.

“She needs me!” I screamed. “Why will you believe the voices and not that?”

“It is not that I do not believe you, but I believe I can fix it.” Charlotte’s voice came from right outside the cell.

“You are strong and powerful, but you cannot do everything. Do not overestimate your abilities.”

“I am truly sorry, James.” Charlotte walked into the faint light in front of my cell. Tears spilled down her face. “I hate doing this, but I have no choice. This is what’s best for everyone. Including Ainsley.”

I tugged on the bars even though I knew they would not give way.

Charlotte’s footsteps echoed as she disappeared down the corridor, leaving me in my prison cell alone.

I needed to find Ainsley. I needed to get to her. Even if the undead left her unharmed, there were other dangerous people. And there was her need for me. If everything my father said was true, the poison could be spreading.

I tried the bars again, using all of my might in an attempt to bend the metal apart but it was to no avail.

I laid down on the cold stone floor of the cell and stared up at the ceiling. There had to be a way out. I had to save Ainsley. There was no other option. Hopelessness was a foreign feeling I refused to wallow in. I returned to my feet and made a promise to myself. I would save her no matter the cost. If I could not break through the bars, I would find another way. I was out of time, and there only one option left.