250 Years Ago
Two dragon stones shone bright red in Niendry's hand. Her grandmother left ten in her will, and she already spent eight on useless lots. But she had a good feeling about this one. Having Toby and Mac whirr with excitement at the bottom of her skirt sure helped ease her mind over the impulsive purchase.
"I can't wait!" Toby's spirit, dark and smoky, twirled up along her skirt and passed right by Mac, then dipped down and around the hem. "Oooh! I can't wait till you guess what it is!"
When bones are disturbed by a necromancer and somehow end up being unressurectableâburied with a scroll that prevented such a thing without the necromancer seeing it before trying, spells, ruins, potions or just about anything could muck up the process, reallyâthen they had the potential to become drifters like Toby and Mac, and latch onto the necromancer like a second skin.
Niendry did not mind them much, but they sure destroyed any prospects of a love life.
"Don't ruin the surprise!" Mac said sternly, and Toby began to shadow his movement much to Mac's irritation. "Get off! You know I hate it when you do that. Niendry, tell him to cut it!"
"I wish you two would just tell me what you sensed here."
Her lease at the inn was almost up, and a month's stay cost one stone. She thought the innkeeper ripped her off but no one cared enough to inform her about it.
For a while, she became a grave robber. Searching for treasure like rings and necklaces to pawn off to the humans for food. Well, she purchased the yards so, technically, she owned it. Still, these weren't her proudest moments.
If she wanted food at the inn, it'd cost her an extra stone. And then they'd truly be homeless in a month's time. Something big had to be hidden here, they were screwed otherwise.
Footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned to see the party which, minutes ago, laughed off the purchase, rush back. A fat man ran ahead of them, dragon stones bouncing up and down in his extended hand.
"I'll give you ten for the lot!" he shouted, much to her surprise.
The crowd behind him boomed with requests to purchase, each voice muffled by the other.
Niendry's brows furrowed. She looked down to see both Toby and Mac stop their movements and watch the approaching necromancers gleefully. Others saw them as smoke drifting around skirt, even the necromancers, but she saw them as they were, smoky, wisp-like creatures with the faces and voices of men.
"Here," the man ran up, breathless, and stopped putting his hands on his knees and dropping his head, "ten stones for the lot!"
"You laughed me off five minutes ago," she folded her arms and gave him a stern look. "What's here that I don't know about?"
"Ten stones, final offer." He looked up, red-faced and panting.
"Twenty!" the person closest behind him called, and the voices grew louder, muffling each other out again. The crowd caught up, and she had hands pulling at her, and requests right into her ear.
"Fifty!" someone shouted, and a few grunts echoed as a few people stepped back, and turned toward the auctioneer who stood on the far side of the graveyard, looking at them with a sour expression on his wrinkled face. He didn't look much aware of what treasure there was hidden here either. Two stones it cost her, and the last offer she heard was sixty.
"Oi!" she shouted over them. "Give me a minute to think!" "Toby, tell me what is hidden here this minute!" She leaned over her skirt and gave him a stern look.
He pursed his little lips and passed a glance to Mac.
"No!" Niendry said. "Don't look at him, look at me!"
"The spirit of Valice," he said, lips spreading wider and wider into a smile. He hopped in place, watching her expression go from shock to excitement, and back to shock.
She took a step back, heart pumping with a new found intensity. "As in the dragon Valice?"
"Yep. Someone trapped it inside Dorian's Lockbox."
"How do you know?" she asked. The dragons of Highfire had died with Valice. She was the last of them, and her body was currently frozen and linked to the curse placed upon the Icelands, which meant that it was entirely preserved.
"Mac's a dragon tamerâor was," he said, giving Mac a sympathetic look. "She called out to him!"
"So you're telling me that we bagged a dragon?" A slight tremble ran through her hands. She could resurrect her when the curse broke. Niendry could have an actual dragon.
"A dragon spirit?" someone asked, surprised. She frowned, and looked back to the crowd, startled a little by their presence and mostly by the surprise that echoed the revelation.
"What did you think it was?" she asked.
"Ciphard stones."
"Oh yeah, that too," Toby said, less enthusiastically.
Ciphard stones were used for resurrections. Necromancer didn't find much use for them, but the humans and witches did. They granted immortality upon resurrection, were the rarest stones in Highfire, and cost an arm and a leg. In human words, Niendry hit a gold mine.
Dragon stones seized to exist some years later and the Ciphard stones she either sold or used to bribe the rest of the necromancers into staying silent about the spirit of Valice. Some talked, but over the many years Niendry lived, the words grew into a myth rather than a truth.
So, when Aurelie Dranoir made her way to the Icelands, Niendry packed her bags and rushed there herself. Then, she made a tent on the mountain, surviving on oatmeal, melted snow, and frozen vegetables, and waited for Aurelie to find the courage to break the curse.
Niendry still felt like Valice was mostly her dragon, but the Dranoir girl turned out to be alright, and she didn't mind sharing.
*****
There were four stages, for four different ensembles, one of which came all the way from Redayrah, and wanted to set up a circus tent in the corner of the town square. It did not fit, and had to be moved to the field near Valice. They had women who could fit into suitcases, men walking around on legs that were double Aurelie's height, and trained animalsâtwo of which, she heard, were a bear and dog duo that danced to a flute.
They also sang and danced. And their stage had the attracted the largest crowd. The bear, of course, remained in the tent. This disappointed the majority of the guests, Aurelie included.
Aurelie started the evening with her own ensemble made up of prancing guards which did not leave her side until she found the King and made him send them away. She would have caused a fuss too if he didn't agree, and there were too many people present for the King to not give in.
Michael caught her eye more times than she felt comfortable with, looking dapper in his formal uniformâa black suit with a white rim that ran around the high collar, and of course, the dragon insignia on the chestâand smug when he caught her staring. He and Daerious seemed to be competing over who could charm the most women. As far as Aurelie could tell, both were even. Hordes of girls stood around both, laughing and impatiently waiting for a turn to speak.
Candles burned bright from every window, and strings of fresh, multicolored roses hung from the roofs of the houses and down to the floor. Orken spent half the afternoon releasing glowing balls of light into the area, and by the time the ball started, disappeared into his chamber to sleep off his exhaustion.
Aurelie felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Niendry standing behind her, black smoke whirling around her grand, red dress like an impending hurricane.
"Borrowed this from you," she bared her perfect white teeth in a smile, "seeing as you share our belongings so eagerly now."
"If suits you better," Aurelie said, looking her up and down. The clip in her hair looked awfully like a ruby flower piece that had once been attached to one of Aurelie's tiaras.
"I know." She inclined her head in a swift bow and scanned the field, stopping suddenly and biting her lip. "Oh, who is that?" She pointed a finger, nail long and painted black.
Aurelie turned and saw Michael in the vicinity of where she pointed.
Niendry's high pitched laugh echoed and Aurelie felt a light bump against her shoulder. "No dearest, the blonde one."
Her ears rang suddenly, and she felt a pressure set on them. Walking, or even standing on her feet for too long made her dizzy still.
"You know very well who that is," Aurelie muttered, and neared one of many benched that had been placed at the outer edges of the event's grounds. "You've met him."
"Indeed, but I've never seen him in a fine suit." She winked, and was off in Daerious' direction, chasing the girls away with her mere presence. Daerious stood, and bowed his head. He took her hand and leaned down to kiss it.
Aurelie stared at them a little while as Niendry led Daerious to the dance floor, dedicated to one of the gloomier orchestras, and made him awkwardly hop after her in a poor attempt at a dance. Give Daerious a bow and he'll shoot the target, but anything that involved his feet was a challenge. Niendry stopped in the middle of the dancefloor, ignoring all the other parties, and started to shuffle her feet while he watched with enthusiasm, and repeated after her. Aurelie laughed and shook her head.
Introductions had been made earlier. The King paraded her around the interested parties, Kings, Princes, Nobles, and even an accomplished Pirate. Ja'on came up, enthusiastic at first, and slightly less when he noticed her treat everyone the same. His mood further decreased when he looked down at her neck and did not see the fish he had given her.
Nic's absence, however, worried her. It meant one thing; he had taken on the Icelands Princess. Firstly, putting an end to her planned revenge, and secondly, putting more strain on their border, and of course, providing the enemy with an army.
News of a new alliance between the Icelands and Kara had come just that morning. Expected, but tragic nonetheless. Aurelie had been childishly hopeful that Vera might send them a letter, and open dialogue between them and the Crown, but their position couldn't be clearer now.
Halbrook had to be turned, or even Orken might reconsider his position. The thought came with doubt, but Orken's place in the alliance felt frail. The witches and wizards of Kara and Halbrook were exactly the ones he set out to protect, and if they both turned against the crown, Aurelie feared that he would too.
"Aurelie," Michael's voice startled her. She hopped around on the wooden bench and found him standing beside her. A group of gentlemen walked past and scowled, presumably at his informal address of her. "I didn't expect to see you this evening."
"Ah," he looked even better up close, clean shaven and hair combed slightly back for decorum, "yes, well, here I am."
"Will you be offended if I ask you what happened?" he asked, and the bench hopped on her end as he sat down. "I've been meaning to avoid the gossip, but by the time I heard an enemy pirate snuck into your chamber to seduce and assassinate you, I had to ask. I mean," she saw his shoulder rise out of the corner of her eye, "if anyone is doing the seducing, it is certainly me."
"You're not very good at it," she said, but smiled. The skill of charm was certainly not lost in him.
"Well, I didn't say I did it well, now did I?"
"No, youâ" Aurelie lost her train of thought. Nic came to the front of the noble lineâdrawn between two buildings and stacked with guardsâlifting his arms for one of the guards to search him for weapons. She went cold right up to her toes, and the shock of his presence put a haze of her eyes.
"Who is that?" Michael asked, following her line of sight.
"My future husband."
"Him?" he looked both shocked and appalled.
Aurelie stood and straightened the folds of her dress. She turned to the wall and stuck her hands into her corset, pulling her breasts to the forefront.
"My, my, Princess, it would serve you well not to do those things in the presence ofâanyone really." Michael remained composed, but had an expression on his face touring both stunned and amused.
"Hush," she hissed. "How do I look?"
"Like a queen."
"Good, waitâis that good or bad?"
"I assume that is the Redayran fellow." Michael's expression grew slightly gloomier. "He wouldn't have come here if you hadn't been on his mind since he met you. By being here, he has probably ruined his relationship with the Icelands and any prospects of marrying the Princess. Once word spreads, that alliance is shaky at best and over at worst."
Aurelie nodded. A wild prowl settled over her eyes, and her lips form a thin line. "I don't want him to just think of me," she said, losing control over her mouth. "I want him to breathe for me. I want him to not want to eat if he spends a day without me. I want him to die at the thought of seeing me with another."
"Well," Michael's brows rose and fell, "walk up to him in that dress, and you'll have your wish." He put his arms on his knees, and leaned forward against them, standing lazily. He took Aurelie's hand and lifted it up to his mouth. His warm lips pressed against her hand, and he stayed like that for a moment looking up at her before letting go. "Though, excuse me for saying, that doesn't sound like a woman in love."
No, it certainly doesn't. Aurelie smiled. "Thank you for the sitting down with me, Michael. Oh, and for checking up on me when I wasâill."