Minstrel's Serenade. Aubrie Dionne

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СКАЧАТЬ He stroked his beard, the silver and gold strands catching the lantern light.

      “We’ve lasted hundreds of years, sequestered within the bluewood forest with not as much as a skirmish with the wyverns. Our songs protect our village, much like the famous archers of Ebonvale.”

      The king waved over the nearest server and focused his attention on Nip. “Son, why don’t you follow my friend, Mira. She can show you our collection of leather-bone drums.”

      “I’m fine here, sir.” The boy crossed his arms. Troubadir cast a glance at Danika, but the princess didn’t trust these minstrels. Better if the boy stayed with her. She shook her head.

      “You are a brave boy.” The king paused, placing a piece of ale loaf on a china plate, untouched. Each plate had five staff lines painted with dotted eighth notes across the rim. Which song did each plate hold? Did the un-played notes bless their food or taint it?

      Troubadir sighed. “Our time of peace is at an end. Scouts have come from as far as Brimmore’s Bay claiming stories of a massive Mother-Beast, a leviathan of the sky.”

      Nonsense. Danika shot a glance at Bron. The warrior leaned forward, eyes alert as if the king piqued his attention. Danika ruffled her dress, thinking. If Bron paid these ridiculous claims heed, then she’d sit still long enough to hear him out. She nodded for the king to continue.

      “They say her tail spans the length of three warships, her wings spread the size of Shaletown’s borders. Her neck alone stretches farther than any of these bluewoods.”

      Danika breathed in to contradict him, but he held up a long forefinger.

      “Worse yet, one puff of her breath melts anything in its path within a mile’s radius. Traders from Kilra claim the beast took out the city of Talis within heartbeats.”

      His gaze flickered around the shadows, as if the beast would spring from any lantern flame. “Her eggs gestate while we speak. She’s building an army, a massive legion of sky worms capable of singeing this entire continent before any one of my minstrels could complete a stanza.”

      So quick to respond before, Danika could not summon a retort. His words stirred a sick current of bile in her stomach, and she regretted gulping down so much ale loaf. The boy sat in silence beside her. She should have sent him away with Mira.

      “Do you have any proof of these claims?” Bron’s muscles tensed.

      Troubadir spread his arm across the china plates and crusts and gazed down, wearing a sad smile of inevitability.

      “Holy Helena’s Goblet.” Danika fell backward and caught herself on her elbows.

      Bron jumped up at the same time, and the boy sat wide-eyed, running his hands along the oily surface.

      “This isn’t a table,” her voice croaked.

      A surface of blue-black, as shiny as a marble and as thick as her leg, glittered with swirls of hidden colors when she tilted her head. They’d eaten their dinner on a single scale--a mere shedding from a mighty beast.

      Troubadir wasted no time. “Our only hope is to travel to her isle and defeat her before she lays claim to this land.”

      Bron shifted, his leather tunic creaking like an old floor. “Swarms of wyverns with a giant mother-ass viper in charge--sounds like suicide to me.”

      Danika gasped in enough breath to recover a partial amount of her wits. “Our soldiers are not equipped to handle such fire. No armor can withstand such an onslaught.”

      “Pa’s armor can.” Nip’s boyish voice resonated in the great dome.

      Danika stared at him open-mouthed.

      Nip stood, looking both proud and sad. “He was pounding a leg shin when the wyverns came.”

      “The breastplate.” Danika nodded. “You wore a piece of armor when I first found you.”

      Nip swallowed hard. “I wanted Pa to wear it. I told him to, but he placed the breastplate over my head. As I tried to wiggle free, a puff of smoke pushed me backward into the wall. Ma screamed, then the roof came crashing in and everything became so hot, I feared my skin would melt.”

      Nip slumped down and Danika reached for him, pulling him against her. “You’re here now. That’s what matters.”

      “And it seems your father has found the answer.” Troubadir bent down to meet the child’s eyes.

      “Where did he get the metal? How did he forge it?”

      Shivering, the boy hid his face in Danika’s skirts.

      “Don’t pester him,” she snapped. “He’s lost so much.”

      Valorian stepped in, putting a hand on her arm. “My apologies, Princess, but we must know, and we don’t have much time.”

      An entire kingdom rested on the memories of a soot-streaked boy. Danika nodded, wiping away a stray tear on his cheek. She pulled Nip away and knelt in front of him, holding his shoulders in both hands. “Where did your father get the metal? Tell me his secret.”

      Nip’s eyes shone bright with fear. He shook his head.

      “Please, Nip. We need the answer now more than ever.”

      He whimpered. “Deep down in tunnels. The albinos traded the metal for rice.”

      “Darkenbite.” Bron hissed under his breath and spat on the floor. “A damned and foul place.”

      “Do you think they have more of it?” Danika smoothed over his hair, ignoring Bron. “Do you think they’ll still trade?”

      Nip nodded, curls bobbing above his eyes.

      “That settles it.” Danika rose from the floor and met Troubadir’s anxious gaze. “We’ll need all the rice you can muster. We’re traveling to Darkenbite at dawn’s break to retrieve more of that precious metal. I’ll employ every blacksmith in Ebonvale to pound it into armor. Once we’re equipped, I’ll send word to your minstrels. Together, we’ll ride out over the Sea of Urchins and battle this untamed She-Beast with the greatest army ever to sail the fourteen seas.”

      She extended her hand to the king, hoping an army would be sufficient, hoping he didn’t push for her hand to Valorian as well. “Deal?”

      Troubadir raised his head, his thin nose pointing up.

      Danika refused to allow herself a glance at Valorian. Who knew the kinds of thoughts smoldering in his head?

      “You have yourself a bargain, Princess.”

      “Good. Please take us to your guest chambers. Nip is tired, and Bron needs his rest if he’s to drive the carriage in the morning.”

      “Negotiations such as these can make anyone tired. Valorian, guide these kind people to their quarters.”

      “Most certainly, Father.” Valorian gestured to the entranceway. “Follow me.”

      Danika СКАЧАТЬ