The Wandering Dragon (Children of the Dragon Nimbus) (38 page)

“But she won’t be returning to her husband any time soon,” Val said. “He was never found after the flood, her mother doesn’t want her, and the castle isn’t safe as long as Krej lives, even if he is just an old man telling stories by the fire. Gracie needs to stay with us. We’ll raise her babe together.”

“You aren’t a vague wisp of guilt hiding behind insanity anymore,” Lily said quietly to Ariiell.

Ariiell just grinned. Then she urged the children forward. “It’s only been a few moons, surely you remember your big sister,” she said.

Sharl hastened to climb onto the settle beside Lily, still a six-year-old bundle of curiosity, but she’d learned a few manners over the course of the summer. “You look more like Val than before,” she whispered.

Lily hugged her tight and opened her other arm to invite three-year-old Jule to join them. He came more slowly, eyes huge, examining her from head to toe and back again before deciding she was familiar. Lily felt his reluctance.

“You’ve made a nice life for yourselves here,” Lily said. “Comfortable.”

Val nodded and blushed. “We are happy together. We fit.”

“I never thought I’d enjoy cooking,” Ariiell admitted as she bent to stir whatever concoction simmered in the pot over the hearth.

“And I have found a talent in creating things out of yarn and thread,” Val almost crowed.

And I don’t belong here any more
.

A
LONG TIME later, Lukan woke to find much of his pain and fatigue evaporated and Lily sitting on the end of his cot.

“Maigret wants to promote you to master and give you a medal,” she said with a trace of humor. “She says that you are a natural teacher and belong here working with the apprentices. She doesn’t think you are fit to journey anymore, either.”

Lukan groaned, remembering that the dragons had diagnosed a permanent limp. Not a handicap, but a badge of honor. “What’s going on outside?”

“You’ve slept two and a half days,” Lily said.

“I think I needed to.”

“You’ll always walk with a limp, but the healers have cleared you of infection and rebuilt some of the muscle in your calf. Not all of it. That snakebite was deep and the venom spread quickly.”

“I know.”

“So, are you up to attending the bonfire and homecoming celebration?”

“I don’t know. Am I?”

“Robb is coming. He’s confined to a chair, and Maigret won’t let him out of her sight, but he’ll be there.”

“Will he recover from the bad heart?”

Lily shrugged again. “I can’t see Death in his aura. Doesn’t mean she won’t find him. Just not for a while yet.” The glowing white dot on her forehead pulsed.

He shied away from that ominous portent. What was it? What did it mean? And why had gentle Lily been gifted with that . . . that . . . whatever it was?

“That sounds like something new happening in your magic,” he choked out.

“It’s been a strange year.”

“Did . . . did Death give you that?” He pointed at the glowing white spot.

“Death and I have become intimates, almost friends,” she whispered. “I understand better the purpose of Death, when to push her aside and when to welcome her.”

“Mama and Da?”

“Together, as they should be. Death has sent them on to whatever awaits us. They were ready to go, as long as they could go together.”

They sat in silence a moment, not quite needing to cry, together and separately.

“Don’t become too friendly with Death. I’m not ready to go with her yet.” He paused a long moment while he assessed his body and mind. He didn’t hurt, and everything seemed intact. “I would like to see Val again. And the little ones,” he admitted.

“Good. They are outside waiting for you to wake up. Lukan, I . . . I spent some time with my twin.”

“And?”

“And it’s not the same. I love her, our minds link just as firmly as they ever did . . . but . . .”

“But you have grown. You both have. You no longer need each other to survive. You’ve finally realized that you are two separate people, not two halves of one whole.” Lukan itched to move. Slowly, testing every inch of his body, he levered himself to sit upright. It took a moment for his head to settle. Gripping his staff, which lay alongside him, helped. Several new braids had begun to form near the top, smaller companions to the initial one that spiraled down the shaft, leaving a clear, smooth indentation for his hand. He smiled, knowing that this tool of magic was truly his now. They belonged together as much as . . . as much as Robb belonged here, home with his wife and sons.

Then, with a gush of air and noise, Val and the little ones rushed in. They hugged and chattered at him. He barely heard or understood their words, only needing to hold them close a moment and marvel at how they had all grown.

“There’s a party,” Jule whispered to Lukan as if imparting a great secret.

“Then I guess we need to go greet everyone and eat special cake,” he whispered back. With a lot of help from Lily and Val, Lukan managed to stand on one wobbly leg and debate setting his other foot to the ground.

“Lean on me, big brother,” Lily said.

“Half the world leans on you, little sister.”

She shrugged, and they made their slow way out to the center courtyard. The children raced ahead into the noisy crowd gathered around a bonfire. Robb sat there, enthroned in a high-backed bath chair with wheels. Maigret stood behind him with one hand possessively on his shoulder. He clutched that hand with his own, with desperation, as if he were afraid that if he let go, she would disappear into the smoke from the fire.

Apprentice Linda bustled around, organizing food and beer, music and dancing, as if born to the chore. Well, she was.

Then a new gust of displaced air shimmered beside the encircling trees. A swirl of bright gold coalesced into the figure of a tall man with broad shoulders and blond hair pulled into a tight four-strand queue.

Glenndon.

All activity and noise ceased abruptly.

Glenndon stepped forward as if accepting the silent reverence as his due. But beneath his elegant brocade tunic, his shoulders twitched with unease.

Lukan had to chuckle. “A timely entrance, big brother,” he called.

Glenndon visibly relaxed and hastened to his side. “How are you, little brother?” He pulled Lukan into a backslapping hug.

Lukan shrugged and leaned upon his staff. He’d automatically put most of his weight on his right leg when he paused in his limping gait toward the gathering.

Glenndon took a moment to hug each of his sisters then offered Lukan an arm to assist him. Val ran ahead the twenty paces to roust two senior apprentices from a camp chair and claim it for Lukan. The two tall boys acquiesced but not before demanding a kiss from Val as payment. Laughingly she bestowed a quick caress to their cheeks and shooed them away.

“Is that truly Val?” Glenndon asked in amazement.

“My twin has come into her own,” Lily confirmed, not so eager to rush forward.

“And you?” Glenndon surveyed her with half-closed eyes, checking her aura as well as for outward symptoms of weakness.

“I am still working toward that,” Lily said. “We each thrive in our own way now.”

Linda appeared before them. She’d donned her formal pale blue robe and twisted her thick multicolored hair onto the top of her head and secured it with a long silver pen. Ink stains on her fingertips and a smear of woodsmoke on the tip of her nose had changed the elegant princess into a thoughtful administrator. Obviously she’d shouldered many of Maigret’s duties while her mistress tended to her husband and family.

Linda reached up, kissed her brother’s cheek, and clasped elbows with Lukan in greeting. “Glenndon, M’ma and P’pa? My sisters?”

“All well and safe.”

They progressed toward the group as the youngest apprentices began handing around trenchers piled high with meat, fresh bread, and uncooked greens drenched in vinegar and oil.

“I can’t stay long,” Glenndon admitted as he picked delicately at his meal.

Lukan shoveled food into his mouth with his fingers. “I’m not surprised,” he replied. “You don’t really belong here any more than I do.”

“Nor I,” Lily said.

They ate in silence, only half-listening to tall tales and wild songs.

Very quickly they finished their meals and rose from their places. Lukan took a moment to greet Robb. Silent words passed between them.

“I know. Do what you need to do,” Robb said.

“I need to take a healer to Queen Maria, and some of Lily’s potions to cure that Krak-cursed plague,” Lukan said.

Robb nodded. Two heartbeats later Maigret added her own approval. “We can send a healer. Don’t worry about it. You will come back? And stay in touch, Master Lukan?” she asked.

“Not a master yet,” Lukan said on a blush.

But Glenndon slapped his back in congratulation. “See, you are better at something than I am, and Da. Youngest master on record.”

Lukan nodded a half acceptance as he backed away. Lily and Glenndon followed closely.

“I can’t stay here, Lukan,” Lily said proudly. “There’s too much work for me still out there.” She gestured vaguely beyond the confines of the University and her pack half-concealed beneath a saber fern.

“I know.”

She looked at him strangely. “Give me two minutes to pack.”

Val appeared beside him with a shoulder pack stuffed full with clothes and journey food. “Lily and I talked. I figured you’d want to leave again.” She kissed his cheek as he shrugged into the pack, half-balanced by Glenndon’s hand on his back.

“I . . . I have a lot of the world left to explore, Val. Lily, meet me in Amazonia when you can. Skeller is waiting for you.” A long silence of agreement followed.

Val and Lily embraced one more time before Val returned to the party around the bonfire. She lifted her voice in a rousing song of celebration, sounding a lot like Mama.

“Lily, Skeller still loves you,” Lukan said.

“And I him.” She blushed prettily, the creamy skin of her face nearly matching her red-gold hair. “But I’m not ready yet to commit my life to him. I’ve learned to live with myself, alone in my mind. I’ve more learning to do. I’ve a relationship with Death I need to explore, and her gifts to understand.”

Lukan reared back, almost shocked. But who was he to question strange relationships with elemental forces. “I don’t think Skeller’s ready to leave his aunt to rule Amazonia alone. Yet. By the time you journey in that direction, he might be.”

“Journey. I like the sound of that word. We are journeymen, after all.”

“Lukan’s a master now, whether or not he wants to admit it,” Glenndon added. “I have to get home. Come with me. Both of you.”

“For a time,” Lily said.

“I’d like to meet your other sisters,” Lukan said. “But I’ve got an entire world to explore. I’m free to live my own life away from the shadow of older, more powerful, better-respected magicians. And so are you, Lily. How soon can we leave?”

“How about now?” Glenndon draped an arm around the shoulder of each of them and enfolded them in a transport spell that lingered in the void only a little longer than necessary.

I
AM NOT so easy to kill. Samlan tried. He threw acid in my face and dumped me into the ocean. I survived. Lokeen stabbed me in the back. But he missed my heart. I returned the favor and didn’t miss. I will survive.

I am done with attempting to learn magic from masters. They are all so consumed with their own power that they use me and then betray me.

Never again. I will learn and I will study. Hanassa, the city of outlaws, rogues, and Rovers, hidden deep within a burned-out volcano, calls to me. There I will find ancient libraries. And I know not to trust anyone. They all lie. I will do this on my own. I will bide my time and wait until I am ready.

And when I am ready I will have my revenge on those who have ignored me, or will betray me. I am no one’s pawn.