Soar

Chapter 24

The queen glanced at her husband and nodded. My stomach sank. "Hedyr's recommendation has merit. I agree that Azadryn deserves a chance to redeem herself, though I will not go so far as to guarantee sending her north will prevent her from causing harm." Without a hint of mirth in her face, she looked to me. "She is as determined as her parents."

That brought the warmth back to my face. I realized I was shaking, both from fear and from fury.

"Mind you," the queen said to me, "this is the only time I will favor such an answer to your insolence. If it happens again, I will have no qualms about ordering your banishment."

I wanted to stamp my foot like a child, scream, anything to break her mask of cold disinterest. I wanted to shout that she would find a way to banish me no matter what I did. I wanted to beg her and the rest of them to stop, to reconsider.

"So be it," King Niloth decided with a brisk nod. "The girl Azadryn will await Erizar's arrival in the dungeon. Dragons, what say you to the fate of Runedan?"

"We will consider the man Hedyr's council," Rajatark replied. The other dragons rumbled in agreement."

"Then this trial has ended." The king motioned to his herald, who pounded the stone floor with his staff. "Escort Azadryn to the dungeon."

"No!" the cry tore from my throat as I backed toward the fire. Hedyr turned and started to march past me, but I caught his sleeve. "Why?" I demanded, my eyes starting to burn.

He barely looked at me. "It was for the best, Azadryn. They could have agreed to much worse. Trust me." Slipping free of my grasp, he left the hall.

A pair of guards had moved in and were reaching for my arms. I ducked away. "No! Runedan!"

He was too far away.

One of the guards caught my wrist and I stumbled to my knees. Voices rose all around me, but over all of them was my dragon's keening cry.

"Wait!" I tried to kick at the guard's leg but my boot glanced off of his armor. "Please, w-wait." He jerked me to my feet and his companion got a firm grip on my other arm. I couldn't see now for the tears. "Let me go!" I sobbed. "Runedan!"

A black form moved in front of my dragon, forcing him back. Now two dragons were roaring. Runedan beat his wings and roared. "Azadryn! Let her go! You cannot do this!"

One of the guards wrenched my arm, forcing me to turn away or fall again. Runedan's agonized cries followed us out of the hall.

The dungeon had been carved in the mountain rock in a natural tunnel beneath the castle. At least it was not cold; a fire burned in a pit by the guard's station near the heavy wooden door, beyond which the stairs wound up to a higher series of tunnels and then to the corridors of the castle. A half circle of cells filled this first room, with a second door leading into the dungeon proper.

There were two others prisoners with me under the guard's constant watch; an old man whose crimes remained a secret, and a woman from the tribes south of the mountain, who had been captured during a raid. She was supposedly the wife of one of their chieftains and was being held for ransom.

I kept time based on the changing of the guard and whenever a serving girl arrived with food. As best I could figure, the guards worked in six-hour shifts. Someone – always one of three girls – would bring breakfast and supper. We prisoners lived on flavorless gruel, while the guards' meals were stew or roast meat or other things that made my mouth water.

I slept on a thin mattress. There was a pillow and blanket, both freshly laundered. A chamber pot sat in one corner. On the second day, along with the meal, the delivery girl brought a bucket of warm water, a cloth, and a slip of soap. Three of my walls were solid stone and the fourth barred. The girl secured a blanket over the bars for a covering and I was able to wash myself.