“Yes, we’ll look after him,” Hyden replied, speaking of the injured wolf, Urp.
Vaegon began re-rigging the pack harness that had been used to strap their supplies to Urp’s back during their long journey. Huffa yipped, nuzzled, and waggled at Oof’s side, then pranced over to Vaegon, and stood proud and still for the elf.
While Vaegon rigged Mikahl’s body to Huffa’s back, the lady ordered her men to gather the horses. The two armored soldiers, who had stood guard over her instead of helping to fight the Choska and its rider, threw the fallen ranger’s body over the lady’s horse as if it were a sack of grain. They were none too pleased to learn that, as punishment for their inaction, they would be walking back to Xwarda. It was clear that the woman held rank over these men. They turned over their horses, without a word of complaint, so that Hyden and Vaegon could ride them. The other Ranger, whose name was Drick, was to lead them to Xwarda.
Hyden wondered who this brave woman was, as she mounted Oof’s back with only a minimal pause. It was just moments, after she and Mikahl’s limp body were racing away on the wolf’s back, that he realized that she might be after Mikahl’s sword too. A flash of panic swept over him, and he looked to Vaegon. The elf was sheathing Ironspike, and securing it to his saddle. This came as a comfort, all be it a slight one. If Mikahl lived, Hyden wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to tell him that they had lost the sword.
Hyden wished he wasn’t so slow and dazed at the moment. He felt as if he hadn’t slept in weeks, and his head felt as if it were full of mud. He had done something out of sheer desperation, and had repeated the word he had heard the lady say as she released one of her lighting blasts. The explosion of power that had resulted from the word he used had been the concussion that had sent the Choska twisting up, and away from them. He had used magic, and now he was paying the price for it. His mind was a jumble of sorrow and confusion, and he couldn’t hold a thought. He was sure that a moment ago, he had been alarmed, or excited by something, but now he had no idea of what it might have been.
Drick urged them to get onto the horses. After riding on a wolf’s back for days and days, the saddles looked relatively comfortable.
As he swung a leg over the horse’s rump and settled into his seat, Vaegon asked the ranger a question, reminding Hyden of what it was that had alarmed him.
“Who is that woman?”
The ranger looked at the elf, and unease spread across his face as he took in Vaegon’s wildness.
“I’m not sure you really want to know,” said the man.
There was no hint of jest in his voice, and the look Hyden shot Vaegon, sent chills of alarm up his weary spine.
Chapter 47
With the invasion of Westland complete, and the border now secure, Shaella found that she didn’t have much use for Claret. Through spells she found in her father’s library, she had learned to transport herself directly from her royal bedchamber to the tower library, so the dragon was no longer needed to fly her up to the gaping hole in the wall.
The Breed giants that had sacked Portsmouth and Castleview had been rounded up and herded back northward, away from the Zard and human population centers. A big show was made about getting this done. Shaella came out looking like a savior, and her dragon, a fully trained pet.
If the city folk had ever questioned her power, her ability to keep the massive red dragon restrained, then the ease with which she used it to get the marauding Breed out of the cities and towns, removed all of their doubt. Though she had no immediate purpose for the dragon to serve, she kept the collars in place. She wanted to be able to call Claret to her at a moment’s notice, but she released the dragon from duty until that time arrived. She also returned Claret’s remaining egg. The dragon had taken it, and flown back to her nest in the fang spire.
Claret lay on the smooth surface of the Seal. She was curled protectively around the last of her eggs, deeply brooding. She could incubate the egg by bathing it in her fiery breath at any given time. She had refrained from doing so for centuries, because she didn’t want to have hatchlings to worry about while she was bound to guard the Seal.
Now she felt guilty. Had she incubated the eggs sooner, they might have had a chance to survive. Now, she was bound to the collar. She couldn’t hatch this one, because Shaella could call her away at any time. She was used to these helpless and trapped feelings. She had been bound by the Pact for as long as she could remember. If it hadn’t been for that, she would have left this land full of pesky humans behind long ago.