Keeper of the Dragon
Chapter 4 - Foolish Plunge
The man folded his hands calmly. "I apologize, Brisingamen, but I cannot help you."
The man he faced narrowed golden eyes. "And why would that be?"
"The Wing Goddess has already come," the man replied.
"She has?" Brisingamen's face darkened. "Who asked you to summon her?" As soon as he spoke the question he held up a hand to prevent its answer. "Don't bother. I already know who he is. Who else would have any use for her?"
"Your brother," the man answered quietly. Brisingamen glared gilded arrows at him.
"Where did she descend to?"
"I could not reveal that to your brother, and I cannot tell you, either. You know that once she has lighted on Gaea, I lose sight of her until a Dragon finds her." A warning tone entered his voice as the man fingered the emerald fan he carried in his sash. "Do not entertain the notion that you can threaten a Keeper, Brisingamen, I'll have none of it," the man warned. Brisingamen relaxed not a bit; he could make children cry in his sleep.
"Who gave you the authority to call her down?" Brisingamen demanded instead.
The man drew himself up. "The authority to summon the Wing Goddess is given to me by Teiring, you know that. I may use it as my conscience bids. I need no more authority than that." The man held up the fan, snapped it open. "But your brother did visit the Oracle. The Oracle does not lie. The Oracle prophesied that I should call down the Wing Goddess. Take your complaints to the Oracle." The man closed the fan and pointed to the doorway with it. "If you have finished?"
"The Oracle. Yes." A slow smile crept across Brisingamen's face. "I believe I will have a talk with him."
Brisingamen swept from the room, a malicious ray of shining sunlight.
Worry knitted the man's eyebrows into a thin line. "I fear the day that that one comes into true power," he said to himself. "Find the Wing Goddess, my Dragon King, or that day will reach us all too soon. I will do what I can, Teiring willing."
Riyad pressed his back against the wall of the Abaharaki guild-home, attempting to conceal himself in the scant shadows that midday offered. All his senses, both physical and psychic, went on full alert. His breath quickened. Where had his foe disappeared to? Where?
Snow crunched behind him. He gasped, whirled around—and breathed a sigh of relief. "Guild Master! You nearly frightened me to death!"
"Frightened you to death? What are you hiding from, Riyad?" Leland looked down upon the younger man, glittering eyes concerned. "Is something wrong?"
"Sir, I-" Riyad cut off abruptly and stumbled forward as something struck him in the back of the head. Leland's eyes widened.
Azumi giggled and ducked around the building. Riyad grinned and scooped up a handful of snow. "There you are! I'll get you!" Azumi shrieked and dashed around to hide behind Leland. Riyad's snowy projectile struck the Guild Master squarely in the face.
Riyad reddened. "I—I'm sorry, sir."
Leland scrubbed the back of a hand across his face. His manner remained serious, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. "I take it you two are enjoying yourselves?"
"Yes, sir," Riyad answered.
"Yes sir!" came Azumi's reply, with more enthusiasm.
Leland nodded. "Good. I want you to feel at home, Miss Azumi." He looked back over his shoulder at her—she still hid behind him. "We've decided to take you to the Oracle. He can tell us if you really are the Wing Goddess, thought I have little doubt."
Azumi didn't know what to say to that. If she didn't want to go, she couldn't do much about it. Should going to the Oracle excite her? Riyad had spoken of him with respect and awe in his voice. She felt bad, though, to make everyone take such a trip just for her.
Azumi nodded, scooped up another snowball, and flung it at Riyad. The Delphi glared at her playfully and drew back his arm to return his own.
Leland stepped to the side. "I'll not be your shield, Miss Azumi," he told her.
"Please?" Azumi dove behind him to avoid the oncoming snowball. Riyad looked back and forth from his hand to Azumi and Leland.
"I can't throw it at the Guild Master, but I did agree to Miss Azumi's game." He looked to Leland helplessly. "This is very unfair, Guild Master!"
Leland took Azumi by the shoulders and pushed her in front of him. Riyad brightened, and the snowball struck her in the face. "Good aim, Riyad. If you can copy it with your bow, you'll be raised to Journeyman very soon. If you'll excuse me." He bowed slightly to Azumi and entered the guild-home.
Azumi turned to Riyad. "You didn't tell me that you're only an Apprentice."
"The Guild Master told you yesterday, didn't he?"
"No."
"Oh. I thought you knew. It's sort of easy to tell, I'm in trouble right now. I accidentally burned off Journeyman Sapir's hair two nights ago." Azumi stifled a giggle.
"So you're that Apprentice that Mr. Leland mentioned!"
"Well, I didn't mean to drop the candle!" Riyad protested. "And she was lying on the floor, I tripped over her!" Riyad knelt and started pushing the snow into a pile, shaping it into a miniature snowman. "I've learned by now not to assume anything. It could get me killed someday, especially if I'm divining." He leaned back to scrape up more snow from behind him.
"Will you tell me about the Oracle?" Azumi asked.
"He's a Delphi of immense prophetic power. He's the most powerful seer on Gaea." Dissatisfied with the snowman, Riyad kicked it and shook the snow from his cloak. He started back toward the guild-home. "He's also the Keeper of the Siren."
"Siren?" Azumi asked, following him.
"Naiades, the Delphi's Armour. The god of the sea." Riyad held the door open for Azumi. A wave of warm air hit her like a wall, wrapped around her as she entered and melted the snow that clung to her. Riyad hung his damp cloak from a peg on the wall and took Azumi's from her.
They heard the chime of bells, and in a few moments Sapir appeared. She thrust her face into Azumi's, standing on her toes, and stared at Azumi intently. "Where've you two been?" she demanded accusingly. Azumi shrank back.
"The Pool of the Nereids," Azumi answered timidly.
Sapir did not relent, those sapphire eyes unblinking. "Your color's better. Ya looked like a ghost or somethin' yesterday. We're goin' ta th' Oracle tomorrow, you know. Sleep good tonight." She turned and walked away.
Azumi blinked. "How strange."
"That's Journeyman Sapir for you. It takes her awhile to warm up to strangers. She keeps us all guessing." Riyad hung Azumi's cloak on the wall next to his own. "She has a good point, though. We'll want to reach my Clan as fast as we can. We'll probably leave early tomorrow morning."
"Everyone is picking up and traveling across Gaea for me?" Azumi wondered in disbelief. No way! I'm not worth it!
"All for you. You're a very special girl, Miss Azumi." Riyad hopped on one foot, trying to pull his boot off.
"But, you don't even know if I really am the Wing Goddess," Azumi argued. I'm not worth it. I'm not worth it.
"That's what we're trying to find out." Riyad tossed the other boot down and pulled off his wet socks. "Don't think such negative things about yourself, Miss Azumi, you're not imposing."
"Think what things?" she asked, trying to sound innocent. Was she really so easy to read?
Riyad tapped the side of his head with one finger, smiling sweetly. "You forget, I'm a psychic. I'm sorry to intrude on your thoughts, but you should know that you are definitely worth it. You're a person, and for that alone it's worth it, to help you find your home. You're no less important than anyone else. Don't you agree, Miss Azumi?"
"Yeah." Azumi looked down at her feet. Absolutely not. I'm a horrible person and I'm making my family worry by coming here for my own selfish reasons. If anything I want to die, not get back home! Absolutely not.
The crescent moon shone bright in the cloudless sky. Despite Sapir's advice to sleep, Azumi stood at the window of her room, staring out across a Gaea dead with winter. She had wrapped the quilt around her shoulders to cover her nightgown—not really a nightgown, a soft tunic of Riyad's that came down to her knees.
Beside that crescent moon, the larger blue moon sparkled. Was that really the Earth, she wondered, or just a blue moon that looked a lot like it? Geez, I've hardly even thought about home all day. I'm so far away; it's so easy to forget. My parents must be worried. No, they're probably better off now that I'm gone. Somehow, her thoughts of home seemed distant and small compared to what she faced in the present. Could I really be a goddess? No way, there's just no way. Why did that guy choose me, of all the people he had to pick from? I'm not the right person. I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. He messed up somewhere. She sighed and flopped back down on her bed.
Her mind continued to wander, and presently it came to the Pool of the Nereids. I wonder what was in there that grabbed Riyad? If I can break through the ice like he did, I'll know if I really am the Wing Goddess. I'll know what the Oracle will say, and then we won't have to make that trip to the Blue Siren Clan, wherever the heck in the world that is. Riyad did say that it's easier to divine for yourself than for someone else, right? He did tell me not to go near it, but it doesn't really matter if something happens to me, anyway. I don't have anything to lose. What if it says that I'm not this Wing Goddess? Will they just abandon me? Or will they send me back home? No, I don't want to go home! Even this place must be better than home! I'm so selfish. What does it matter what I want? I have to save them that trip to the Blue Siren Clan.
Azumi dressed quickly and passed downstairs, shoes in hand. Even in these hours of the night, the Abaharaki guild-home did not sleep. Faces that she could not put a name to read and wrote by candlelight, or moved about softly with their own tasks. Three men gambled by the fireside, rolling dice in a cup. Another slouched in a chair, his feet propped up upon a low table, the stone in his hand making a quiet whisk-whisk as he drew it across the edge of a dagger. An approaching maid quietly reprimanded him, and he put his feet on the floor as she cleaned the table with a rag.
A log shifted in the fire, sending up a shower of popping sparks that danced about like dust motes in a sunbeam before winking out and settling on the floor as ash. All heads snapped up, searching for the source of the sudden noise. Azumi tensed and held her breath. What if they caught her? Her mind worked frantically, searching for an excuse. She couldn't sleep. She wanted to see more of the guild-home. She thought she had heard someone calling her. No, lies, all of them lies, and she did not want to lose the trust of these people.
The Abaharaki focused their attentions on the fireplace, quickly dismissed it, and returned to their various tasks. Azumi let her breath out slowly, took her borrowed cloak from its peg, stepped into her shoes, and slipped out the door.
However cold the air during the day, the temperature plunged after the sun set. No clouds lingered to hold in the heat, after all. Azumi tightened her ponytail and started off in the direction of the Pool of the Nereids. She hunted through the snow until her fingers went numb, but could not find another stone. Well, she would have to try it anyway. Azumi pushed on and stepped out onto the ice.
She shivered and pulled her cloak tighter about her. I hope this doesn't take long. I'm freezing. She went slowly, testing the strength of the ice until it finally cracked underfoot. Riyad's hole from earlier. She backed away several steps and stomped down hard.
Azumi gasped as her foot splashed into water colder than anything she had ever experienced. I think the water is colder than the snow! Well, at least it's working. Azumi widened the hole and scooped out chunks of ice, painfully aware that she could hardly feel her hands and feet. I'll be all right. I'll be all right.
A head and shoulders broke through the surface of the water. Azumi stared at it. What is that thing? Maybe it's what grabbed Riyad? It must be.
"H-hello?" Azumi ventured. The aqua-haired mermaid bared her teeth in what seemed more like a mischievous smirk than a true smile.
Her hand caught hold of Azumi's ankle. She pulled, and Azumi screamed once before the dark water closed over her head.