Page 60 of Dragon Fire

Genlitha wasn’t optimistic about a quick reversal of the damage here, but at least she believed it could be fixed. In time.

“You can tell Gryffid that I’m going to install Drake, Mace, Jenet and Nellin as the leaders here for the time being. We need a strong Lair here, and I believe they are the least susceptible to the kind of magic that was used to corrupt the previous leadership. I expect they’ll fly over when time allows, but it won’t be right away. If Gryffid is willing to show them more of his magic tricks, that would be very welcome.” Nico talked even as he wrote the latest missive, signing his name with a flourish before he put the scroll aside to be sealed later.

Gowan realized he could help. “Sire, I’m not much of a clerk, but I’d be happy to help seal those for you, if you’re in a hurry.”

Nico looked up at him, gratitude in his eyes. “Dig in, Gowan. I can use all the help I can get right now.”

Nico made room behind the standing table, leaving space for Gowan to do the final touches on the scrolls he’d written and signed. The prince gave Gowan his signet ring as soon as he’d lit the special opaque red candle that would provide the official wax to seal the scrolls. The signet was heavy and carried the prince’s personal sigil that would indicate to any who saw the seal that it had come directly from the hand of the prince himself.

It was only a few hours later when Genlitha took to the sky, Gowan on her back, his satchel filled with sealed scrolls, his head still reeling from the unexpected problems of the day. Working side by side with the Prince of Spies all afternoon had taught him a thing or two about the state of the kingdom. Not only was the fighting in the North intensifying, but Nico had already sent word through his spy network to seek Fisk and any who might deal with the pirate.

In addition, Prince Nico granted Gryffid’s request to assign Xanderanth and Leo as ambassadors, messengers or in whatever other capacity Gryffid needed them. In fact, Nico offered the wizard any knights or dragons he wanted. All he had to do was say the word. In essence, Nico was giving Gryffidcarte blanchewith the personnel of the Lair. The trust the Prince of Spies—and therefore the crown—had in the wizard was greater than Gowan had believed.

Nico was also requesting a gryphon representative, or pair of representatives, to act in the same capacity at the Lair. Nico left it up to Gryffid and his folk as to who they sent and in what numbers, but he’d given a more or less open invitation to gryphons and their fey fighting partners to join the ranks of the Southern Lair.

Gowan was grateful to be away from the chaos, but worried about how things would settle out in the Lair. Still, he would rather be heading for the people he’d left behind on Gryphon Isle. He wanted to be certain Livia, Seth and Hrardorr were safe and well. Only then would Gowan’s heart be content.

*

Seth had spent part of the day down at the beach with the sea dragons. Livia had accompanied him, but she’d gone off with Flurrthith, who had flown down to the beach with his mother to say hello. It was good to see the young gryphon safe and happy with his family. He’d taken a moment to speak with Seth, as well, thanking him for coming back to the island to help. Seth had spent a few minutes assuring the young gryphon that he’d done a heroic deed in flying to the mainland all alone to seek aid from the dragons and knights, giving the gryphon full credit for his actions.

Seeing the half-sized gryphon flying alongside his mother, though, really brought home how young Flurrthith still was. He would grow into an amazing being, Seth knew, and he hoped their paths would cross again in the future, on much more pleasant terms. Seth rather liked the idea of having a gryphon as a friend.

Hrardorr was truly in his element underwater with the sea dragons. He’d confided to Seth that the sea dragons were teaching him quite a bit about swimming while he tried to share his knowledge of patrol formations and strategies. It was an equal exchange, Hrardorr insisted, and it made the blind dragon’s emotional state almost buoyant. Unlike the Hrardorr Seth had come to know at the Lair.

The thought cheered Seth, but also worried him. Would Hrardorr want to stay with the sea dragons when this was all over? Would he go back to the Lair? And if he didn’t, how would Seth survive losing his friendship?

Seth realized he was deeply attached to the dragon. Way more than he should be. But there’d been no way to stop the bond forming between Seth’s heart and the dragon who had needed someone in his corner so badly. Seth admitted—if only to himself—that he loved Hrardorr like a brother, and his life would be incomplete without Hrardorr in it.

He inwardly cursed himself for allowing it to happen, but he really couldn’t see how he could have avoided it. Hrardorr was such a great dragon. So full of contradictions and so in need of friendship, even though he claimed to not need anyone or anything.

While Seth was happy Hrardorr had found some friends among the sea dragons, Seth couldn’t help but hope that the blind dragon wouldn’t want to stay. Seth wanted him to come back to the Lair. Seth knew he was being selfish to think it, but he couldn’t help himself.

After a full day on the beach, they made their way back to the Lair to consult with Gryffid. A thorough search had been made of the keep, turning out each and every person in the massive structure, room by room, until it was completely empty of life except for the lone wizard. Gryffid had then done some kind of magical spell that put a sort of glowing barrier around every entrance and exit, every window and chimney. Nothing could enter the keep again without first passing through the barrier.

Seth and Livia had to pass through it on their return, and Seth felt firsthand what it did.

It was hard to describe the feeling exactly, but it was as if, for that split second that it took to cross the glowing threshold, Seth was being examined by whatever magical intelligence ran the spell. He was being weighed and measured, considered and judged.

Having apparently passed muster, he was allowed into the keep. Seth supposed that if someone tried to pass through who was not what they pretended to be, the barrier would react quite differently, but nobody was saying exactly what would happen. He supposed they’d find out if and when it happened.

So far, though, only the one traitor had been unmasked.

Captain Lilith came into the great hall as Seth and Livia said down to dinner. The Captain of the Guard joined them and, surprisingly, filled them in on what she’d so far learned about the traitor who had been impersonating her.

Captain Gerrow, Lilith’s mate and co-captain, was continuing the interrogation, she told them, but they had already learned a great deal from the prisoner. Meg, it turned out, had been Captain’s Fisk’s lover. She had roamed the lands after leaving on her journeyman trip to the mainland, in disguise, hiding her fey nature. But about a year ago, she had run into Captain Fisk and become enamored of the man.

Gryffid suspected—or so Lilith told them—that Meg had been struck down by a simple love potion. Magical charms to coax one to love another were commonplace, and some were more powerful than anyone of Seth’s acquaintance realized. Gryffid had examined the prisoner thoroughly, checking for further signs of magical tampering. He’d found traces of a simple love charm that had run amok, as Lilith put it, and a dreadful compulsion that had made Meg act out of character and do things she otherwise never would have.

Meg was full of contrition at the moment, her moods swinging between sobbing and begging forgiveness, and anger and shame. The anger was directed at Fisk, which was a healthy reaction as far as Seth was concerned, but the shame could become a problem for the woman, if handled incorrectly.

If Meg had been an unwilling pawn in Captain Fisk’s game, then Seth wished her well in recovering. If, however, she proved to have been willing, then she deserved whatever was coming to her. So far, though, it looked like she had been completely duped and was genuinely contrite.

It was sad, really. All that evil perpetrated by someone who’d had no real desire to do any of it. She’d hurt her homeland, her family, herself and, potentially, the entire world, just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and coming under the influence of someone truly evil.

The more Seth learned of Captain Fisk, the more he realized the man must be motivated by something very strong, indeed. The rumors about him being in cahoots with a demon might not be too far off the mark, after all.

“Apparently, Fisk promised to take Meg with him, but instead, he kept leaving her behind. That’s when she started trading to make her way. Her bardic gift was blocked, somehow, by the binding magic Fisk used on her, and she had been given instructions under compulsion to become a recluse trader of oddities. In this way,” Captain Lilith told them, “Meg passed information and gathered intelligence vital to Fisk’s plans.”

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