A man stood there on the edge of the dunes that bordered the forest and the beach. He watched me curiously and then from behind him a dozen hybrids lurched into view.
I turned and ran, knowing that they were right behind me. I could turn into a dragon and get away at any moment, but I wanted a better look at our newest enemy. I came to a stop at the edge of the river and turned to face the hybrids. They stopped and faced me, looking at me with intelligent eyes and their feral faces. They were in far better shape than our bloated friend in the labyrinth.
“Where’s your master?” I asked. “The Lord of the Scourge is your master, isn’t he?”
The man that I’d glimpsed stepped out from behind the monsters. He clapped his hands together twice, a delighted smile spreading across his face. He wore an ugly crown, woven of twisted together bones.
“You are perhaps not as thick witted as I first thought from observing you, Lord Branok.” He said Lord as if the word were a joke to him.
“Why are you making the hybrids?” I asked him. “Weren’t the Scourge monstrous enough for you?”
His smile turned sad. “You don’t know as much as you think you do, Branok.”
“Oh I am well aware that there’s much I don’t know. So why don’t you explain it to me? I’ve heard that you’ve been seen at the pub at the river shore before. We could sit down and talk.”
“Why do I have a feeling that if I get too close to you, I’ll find myself with the knife between my ribs?”
“Aren’t you two hundred years old?” As old as the Scourge itself. “Why would I think that a simple knife between the ribs would do you in? Trust that my curiosity would be sufficient to keep you alive.”
“Pass.” The Lord of the Scourge politely declined. Then he stopped and tilted his head, studying me. “Who is that girl you’ve been seen with so many times lately? She’s a new addition to your little band.”
I didn’t like the idea that the Lord of the Scourge was watching us, tracking us just like we were tracking him. And I certainly didn’t like the idea that he had taken an interest in Honor, although I couldn’t explain why it bristled at me so much.
“She’s not very interesting. A passing hobby of the prince’s. I doubt his attention will last long,” I lied.
“Mm,” The Lord of the Scourge said. “I don’t know why you’d think that I would tell you any truths when you’re lying to me, Lord Branok. But maybe I can get some more information out of you another way.”
The monsters all suddenly rushed toward me, although I’d never heard the Lord of the Scourge give an order or seen him motion. Interesting. Perhaps he had some kind of telepathic communication with them. I would definitely have to survive in order to share that information with my friends. I’d hate to let a fun fact go to waste.
As the hybrids loped toward me, I threw the handful of dice that I’d carried in my pocket toward them.
Most dragon royals, with our higher levels of unbound magic, channeled that magic with pre-made potions and little affectations. I took a special interest in explosives and gambling devices.
As the dice rolled across the sand, the hybrids never stopped to look at them. In the distance, the Lord of the Scourge looked uncertain, then questioning, then alarmed. He started to shout a warning, but it was too late.
The dice exploded. The sand rose and whipped around the monsters. They were thrown back, far past the Lord of the Scourge.
For a second there was no one between him and myself. But I knew more monsters would be coming soon.
I turned and jumped toward the river. I transformed in midair, my wings snapping out and I glided over the still tranquil blue water, which looked so peaceful, it seemed wrong that the world was so dark.
Chapter
Nine
Pend
On a rainy night as the wind lashed the castle and whipped the waves below, Pend, Joachim, Teris, and Gorion gathered to discuss the Honor Hannaby situation. Pend arrived last to his own meeting, as usual, making his way up the stairs to the tower den that overlooked the academy.
In the antechamber, a half dozen assassins sat playing a dice game. Faleen glanced at him, a quick flicker of her gaze, before she returned to shaking the dice in her hand. Pend studied them for a moment, always proud of his assassins and warriors, his army of death to command.
Then he went on, into the den, where a fire burned brightly, reflected back by the dark windows. A table stood in the center of the room, where Teris and Gorion waited. Joachim had made his favorite drink and Pend’s and left it at his place at the table, and Pend took it as he sank into his chair. This was the one place he knew he was safe, with his own assassins at the door, surrounded by his best friends.
“Is her cover story still intact?” Joachim asked. He’d paused by the window, his hands tucked behind his back.
“Yes. And Alis is in our custody. I’ve interrogated her to find out just how much Honor learned about her past.” Teris answered. With his ability to manipulate others’ minds easily with magic, he was always the first choice for leading interrogations where a deft hand was required, rather than a bloody one.
“Does Alis know who Honor is?” Pend asked.
“She always had her suspicions. That’s how she convinced Honor’s adoptive father to marry her, before she killed him. She told him she would reveal the reality of Honor’s parentage,” Teris answered.
Pend looked unamused by this turn of events. “So did you extract a full confession regarding the murder?”
“Yes. She’ll be very grateful to be released into society instead of being executed, if that’s what we ultimately decide,” Teris promised.
“But not as long as Honor is loose. Not as long as those foolish boys are by her side,” Gorion said.
Pend crossed his arms impatiently. “Does she have a magical vagina? What exactly does she offer our sons that they can’t get in a hundred other whores?”
Joachim leaned back, his fingernails droning against the table. “Branok and Lynx haven’t lost their minds to her wiles, at least. Perhaps they can be used to bring some sense to the other boys and get them to see that they don’t need her. Otherwise I don’t know how long the Lucien Finn game can last.”
“We just have to give her enough time to kill herself, given that Alis and Henrick blundered. I hoped Henrick was actually going to be useful to us for once.”
“He’s always been such a disappointment. I heard that your son was the one who ripped his head off, Pend.” Teris’s lips quirked; he loved to see anyone else fail.
“Yes,” Pend said, “that boy is proving to be almost as much of a disappointment as Caldren has been.”
Joachim seemed to preen, given that his twin sons were the two that had remained unimpressed with Honor. He did his best to raise them to be unimpressed by any woman, given how much he’d hated their mother.