10 – In which everyone meets the King and Lintred finally learns something
Lintred looked unhappily at the descending dragons. "Denol, Legrelle, Metaran….my patrol group. I asked them to come by later…for dinner…"
"Thanks," muttered Trey. "And what was the menu?" Effie kicked him in the shin.
"That's not funny," she snapped.
"I know," he hissed back, but was prevented from continuing by the not inconsiderable sounds of three dragons landing.
"Lintred!" Denol yelled over the clamor. "What are you doing?"
"Get back, wizard!" The second dragon, Metaran, landed in between Lintred and Trey, effectively separating Effie as well.
"No problems there," Trey said, backing quickly away from the massive, reddish-green dragon, nearly into the claws of Legrelle, who had landed right behind him. Effie desperately tried to think of something to say.
"This isn't what it looks like…" she started.
Legrelle ignored her. "I didn't know wizards were in the business of rescuing princesses," the pale green dragon hissed. "You must be hard pressed for work nowadays."
"A bit…" Trey hastily backed away from her and ended up by Effie again.
"He's a friend!" Effie interjected quickly. "There was this knight…" Legrelle looked like she didn't care much.
"There was a knight here first. A terribly impolite one, who used an enchanted sword." Lintred broke in. "This wizard saved my life, and I'll thank you to step away from him." Effie looked at him with relief. She was afraid there hadn't been enough time for the often slow Lintred to really assimilate what she'd been saying before they were interrupted.
Denol snaked his head around towards Trey, staring hard. "Saved a dragon's life? I have just the slightest bit of trouble believing that." Then his eyes narrowed. "Where's your staff, wizard?"
"It blew up," the wizard said, pointing at the smoking remains of his staff helpfully. "Extracting an incompatible spell from Lintred."
Metaran, who was the patrol leader, sniffed hesitantly at the burnt spot on the ground. "It doesn't smell like wizardry…"
Trey tapped his chin thoughtfully. "That's because the adverse energy of the internal combustion reaction inherent in the defensive procedures installed in the material of the channeling device was directly opposed by the contagious replicating nature of the offensive construction laid out by the…"
"Stop right there, just stop!" Metaran broke in quickly. "I don't want to know. In fact, this is entirely out of my jurisdiction. The three of you are coming with us, to see the King. She can deal with it."
"Oh come on …" Lintred started.
Denol glared at him. "Don't even bother trying, Lintred." He gave a rather smug grin. "I think you've finally done it this time. I know the King likes you and all, but…this is going to be a hard one to brush off."
Lintred growled, distracting the other dragons for a moment. Effie leaned over to Trey. "What was all that about?" she whispered.
"Complete rubbish, made it up," he whispered back. "I could hardly explain the real reason to this lot, could I?"
Effie sighed. "You're going to have to explain something or…"
"What are you two plotting now?" Legrelle stuck her head in between them, but raised it again quickly at the sounds of fighting behind her. Denol and Lintred were rolling together in a indistinguishable mass of wings and claws and tails.
"Not again…" Metaran shook his head slowly. He leapt forward and grabbed hold of Lintred, dragging him away while Legrelle did the same for Denol. "Both of you, cease this nonsense right now!"
"He attacked me!" Denol snapped. "I think that should go on the record too."
"I don't think it's necessary, all things considered." Metaran shrugged. "Consorting with wizards will be quite enough."
"Consorting? I never met this wizard before today!" Lintred protested.
"But he saved your life? Out of the blue?" Legrelle snorted.
"Yes!" Lintred said, desperately. "I don't know why either, but I'm sure if you let him explain…"
Metaran shook his head quickly. "I don't want to hear another wizard explanation about anything. Denol," he turned to the younger dragon. "Go ahead to the King, and make sure she's not busy with something more important. Explain the situation. Legrelle and I will take Lintred, the wizard and…" he paused.
"Effie," Lintred supplied. "My princess, you've met her."
Metaran shrugged. "They all look the same. Effie, then," he amended as Lintred glared. "The three of you follow me…Legrelle, take the rear…"
The small, if anything involving three dragons can be considered small, procession trooped along the mountain path a bit before entering the caves again. Effie glanced at their captors. Metaran was pulling ahead, his stride longer than any of the others', and Legrelle had fallen back a bit to avoid stepping on Lintred's tail. This gave them a little bit of speaking room, she figured, as long as they weren't too loud about it.
"Trey!" she whispered.
"What." The wizard said, sullenly.
Effie ignored this. "What are you going to do?" He shrugged and didn't reply.
Lintred craned his neck down to their level. "You were supposed to run away while I distracted them fighting with Denol," he hissed.
"Oh, that would have worked well." Trey rolled his eyes. "You pick a fight with one, the smallest of them, no less, leaving me with super-dragon over there," he gestured at Metaran, "and the friendly Miss Legrelle, who was right behind me, mind you, and me without a staff…how far exactly do you think I'd have gotten?"
Lintred looked aggrieved. "I was trying to help."
"Yes, yes, I know." Trey waved him off. "Thank you." Effie glanced at him, worried. The three continued up the hall.
"What a mess," Lintred muttered. "I'll never live this down."
"You'll never live this down?" Trey said incredulously. "You're not the one most likely to die here."
"Don't be so pessimistic, Trey," Effie said in what she hoping was a soothing tone. "I'm sure it'll work out…"
"Yeah," Lintred put in. "And if you have to be pessimistic, don't be so melodramatic about it."
"I wasn't being melodramatic, I was being outright dramatic, and with a little bit of reason!" Trey snapped, and seemed about to continue when their escort looked around and glared angrily. Trey quickly choked off the rest of his words and was silent. For a brief moment, Effie saw a look of intense worry pass over his face, but it was replaced quickly with the usual unreadable wizard calm.
"Yes well, getting dragged before the King of the dragons is bad enough," he muttered. "But if I get out of this, Rathan's going to kill me."
Sooner than Effie would have liked, they reached the chambers of the King. The doors were open, and she could hear two dragons conversing inside. One was Denol, and the other was a deep but feminine voice that could only have been the King.
"A dragon, a princess, and a wizard," the voice said with mild interest. "This is a story I must hear. Let them in, please, Denol."
The young dragon appeared as he bowed and backed out of the room. Glaring one last time at the prisoners, he opened the door wide for them. "Best behave in there," he whispered.
"Oh, shut up, Denol," Lintred hissed back, striding past Metaran. "Remember, I can take you any time."
Whatever reply Denol would have liked to make was lost as the doors shut behind them, leaving the trio alone in the big room. Alone that is, except for the dragon king and her two massive bodyguards. Effie swallowed hard as the king cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Lintred." Kazul sounded, for all the world, like she was trying not to laugh. "I should have known."
Lintred scowled at the floor. "Please, Your Majesty," Effie burst out. "This isn't what it seems. Whatever Denol told you…"
Kazul waved a claw. "Calm yourself. I'm perfectly aware of Denol's…tendencies toward exaggeration. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. That said…" she looked at the three of them. "Why don't you explain, Princess?"
"Me? Er…"
"Yes, you. Lintred is prone to as much stretching of the truth as Denol, and well, the wizard…" she paused. "What is your name?"
Trey blinked, taken by surprise. "Trenavar, Your Majesty."
Kazul peered at him for a moment longer. "Do I know that name from somewhere?" She stared up at the ceiling while the rest of the room waited silently, not daring to interrupt. Finally she shook her head. "Well, never mind. Go on, Princess."
Effie rooted around in her brain in panic. Should she make it out as if Trey had merely happened upon the scene? Tell the truth? No…she couldn't get Cynthrex in trouble too. What should she say? She glanced at Trey, but he seemed to be locked in a staring contest with one of the King's bodyguards. No help there. Well, she'd just have to make something up and hope the other two were smart enough to go along.
"Trey is…he's my, well our…my kingdom's court wizard, you see…" That got the wizard's attention away from the bodyguard, but he managed to keep a straight face. Lintred wouldn't know if she was telling the truth or not, so hopefully she was good to go. "He came to rescue me, since well, none of the knights were considered capable enough. It's a very small kingdom..." she glanced at Kazul to see how this was going, but the King's face told her nothing. Raising her head to appear a little more confident, she continued. "Unfortunately, a knight from an unknown homeland was there already. He had an enchanted sword which caused Lintred to lose their battle…and nearly cost him his life. Or so I assume, he didn't look very well anyway."
Lintred mumbled something, but didn't argue. Effie ran quickly through the rest of the story, which was easy enough since it was all the truth. "…and I guess Lintred's patrol group heard the explosion and came to see…and completely misconstrued what was going on," she concluded.
Kazul tilted her head to one side, staring at Effie. There was no hostility in the look, but Effie felt a chill run down her spine anyway. She had just told the most ridiculous story to the King of the Dragons. The silence stretched on for an uncomfortable period of time. "Well, who am I to say," the King said finally, half to herself but the sound of it. "I've personally been witness to more improbable things." She continued to watch Effie, as if thinking of things to ask, which was the last thing she wanted just now.
"So, I can rescue the princess now?" Trey interrupted, brightly. "…since I've saved Lintred's life and all…"
Effie wanted to glare at him, but that wouldn't have been in character. Lintred, however, had no such problem. "I think not!" he snapped. "You didn't fight me for her or anything! You fought that knight, who, mind you, was already tired from fighting me, and then, yes, I'm very grateful to you for removing that spell and all, but, it's hardly worth taking my princess!"
"Isn't that sweet, Your Highness?" Trey turned to Effie. "Lintred here values you more than his life." Lintred growled angrily, and Effie could almost see her plan going up in flames if the two of them started arguing.
"That's quite enough," Kazul interrupted, calmly. "I will grant that saving a dragon's life is worthy of…recompense, but I think overlooking your sneaking around our mountains despite recent events and animosity, is quite enough reward. The princess stays with Lintred. You, are free to go and tell your King that he can send knights for the purpose of rescuing her. Or princes even, if, as you said, the knights are unsuitable. Princes are very fashionable, especially if it's a small kingdom…a good way of expanding borders and such."
Effie could think of a thousand ways Trey could respond to this, and none of them were good. Luckily, tact seemed to win out for once and he merely replied, "I'll have to consider that." Effie breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," she said, softly. Trey glanced at her.
"For what? I've completely failed to do what I came here for."
"For trying." Effie smiled at him. "And for helping Lintred. I've grown…somewhat fond of him."
Trey looked up at the dragon, then shrugged. "Well. I hope to see you soon….Your Highness."
Effie had to look away at that. She couldn't say the same at all. The likelihood of her seeing him again once he left the Mountains was slim, and if she did see him again in the Mountains, that meant he was doing something extremely stupid, and she didn't want to see him under those circumstances.
Trey watched her for a little longer, but she refused to look at him, for fear of giving something away to the King. Finally he turned back to Kazul. "I guess that's that. Your Majesty." he added quickly.
Kazul grinned. "I'll have you escorted to the border, then."
"I can find my own way out, thanks."
The dragon looked unimpressed. "Listen, the only way you're getting out of here is under guard, or in a bucket, do I make myself clear?"
Trey's lips narrowed. "Point taken."
Effie blinked. "In a bucket?" she asked, before the more tactful part of her mind could intervene.
"Yes," the King almost purred. "Wizards have a strange disaffinity for soapy water and lemon juice. Must make housecleaning rather difficult I'm sure."
Effie looked over at Trey, who was staring very hard at the floor. "You never said."
He looked up at her, then back at the floor. "It's embarrassing…" he mumbled almost inaudibly. "Stupid magical side-effects. One day I'll…"
"You'll?" Kazul interrupted. Trey looked up at her and blinked, as if suddenly remembering there was a dragon-king in the room.
"I'll, uh, just be going then…." He backed away quickly, headed for the door. "Hey, Denol," he called as he reached it. "That's your name right? One first class escort to the borders, Her Majesty's orders!" The door slammed shut behind him before anyone could object. Effie covered her face with one hand.
Suddenly a soft hissing noise jolted her out of her embarrassment. Peering through her fingers, she was startled to see the King of the Dragons was laughing. "Just when you think you've seen everything…" Kazul snickered, glancing rather slyly at Effie. "Where did your family find him?"
Effie shrugged. "Wizards are in short supply these days, Your Majesty. One takes what's available. Or so my father said." Which was actually true, though he hadn't been talking about wizards, he'd been talking about husbands.
"Yes, yes they are." The King looked rather smug about it. "Well, that was rather harmless in the end. When Denol came rushing in here, spouting off about wizards, I was expecting another war on our hands. I admit to being extremely relieved," she looked thoughtfully at one of her claws. "I am…a little tired of fighting."
"I didn't know dragons got tired of fighting." Effie commented. She did know, after talking to Cynthrex, that some dragons did, but the dragon King was another story entirely.
"Oh some of us seem to think there's nothing better to do with our time." Kazul looked pointedly at Lintred. "But after a while…a dragon while…it gets tedious," she shrugged, an eloquent ripple down the whole length of her spine, then stretched, stood up and prepared to leave. "Anyway, there's no need to bore you with the ramblings of an old dragon, right Lintred?" she asked in a manner that suggested she considered herself neither old nor boring.
Lintred, who'd been staring longingly at the door, jumped. Effie looked up just in time to see him stick his tongue out at Kazul's back in response. She gasped involuntarily, and the dragon king turned back. "Is something wrong?"
"No, Your Majesty," Effie covered quickly. "I just realized that I hadn't thanked you for letting Trey go. It would have been terribly impolite for me not to. He's not…like other wizards. That is, I don't know many other wizards, but he's not…like the way you and the other dragons make them sound…" She realized how inane that sounded, and obviously so did Kazul.
The king clicked her teeth lightly. "No, he seemed to handle himself quite well, under the circumstances, and as he seemed a bit young to have been involved in the troubles of the past few decades...I saw no reason to drag it out."
Effie looked away. "Then why..."
"Why what, Princess? Did I send him off so quickly? Young or not, he's still a wizard, and you can't expect so many years of rivalry to be washed away in a single instant. Frankly, considering the way things have been going, he was lucky he made it to me at all. Legrelle, for one, is…extremely unfond of wizards."
Effie remembered the pale green dragon breathing down their necks. "Trey knew that. I think he was dead certain you were going to eat him."
"An apt choice of words," Lintred murmured. Kazul glared at him.
"I wouldn't. I don't like the way wizards taste," she said.
Effie frowned. "That's cruel," she started, then remembered abruptly who she was talking to. "Your Majesty, but it is. He was absolutely terrified." She was suddenly glad Trey wasn't in the room anymore, she was asking for an argument with that one.
"He did a good job of hiding it then."
"Wouldn't you?"
"Dragons," Kazul said, a bit lazily. "Have a lot less to fear." Effie frowned again. She was beginning to think that talking to dragons would always give her a headache. Before she had to think of a reply, however, the king continued. "You've made your concerns quite clear, though. If your…friend is as smart as he seems, he'll have learned his lesson by now, and will remain outside our territory. Then, you see, there is nothing to worry about."
"I think Your Majesty is missing the point," Lintred put in wryly.
Kazul shot him a bored glance. "Don't you think it's time you took your princess back to your cave?"
Lintred hesitated a moment, seeming to weigh his options. Kazul cleared her throat loudly. "Right," he said quickly. "Effie, you must be tired."
Effie caught the hint. "Yes, yes I am." She hurried to catch up with Lintred, who was striding down the tunnel as fast as he could. "But…not…so fast!" she panted.
Proceeding at a more sedate pace, they reached Lintred's cave just as the sun was going down. Effie lingered by the entrance, staring at the sky and thinking. The more she thought, the more guilty she felt. Why had she gotten mixed up in all this? She'd gotten Lintred and Trey in trouble, and she was sure if the King thought about anything she said for more than five minutes, she'd figure out that it wasn't quite right…and then they'd all be in bigger trouble. On top of all that, how was she going to tell Cynthrex that she'd wrecked her plans?
Effie's hands clenched and unclenched on her skirts for a bit. She had to talk to someone. A certain wizard popped into her mind, but of course he was long gone. She cursed her female mentality for even thinking it, then spun around and ran inside.
"Lintred!" she practically yelled, racing down the hall. The dragon's head popped out of his sleeping chamber.
"What?" he asked, sounding cranky and tired. Effie stopped short as if he had hit her. Lintred blinked. "What?" he asked again, a little quieter.
"I need to talk to you!"
"So….talk."
"It's just that…it's that…" Effie felt tears stinging her eyes. How embarrassing!
Lintred looked utterly panicked now. "Wait, what's wrong? Was it the King? The wizard? Don't worry about it, it's all done with…"
"No! You idiot, that was all…it was all…" Effie gave up and hid her face in her hands. "Oh! Oh…it's all my fault, that's why! None of this had to happen! I…I…"
"What?" Lintred sounded confused and concerned, the general reaction of all males to a crying female.
"You see I…I'm not really a princess." Effie blurted out the long-hidden truth, and was surprised at how easy it came. "I'm from a little village called Bentram-by-the-woods, not even on the map, and Hapford is the third village over from that, but I got lost one day and met this fairy in the woods, and I helped her, but she got my wish all wrong and…"
"What?" Lintred sounded even more confused, probably because Effie wasn't sure how coherent she was being.
"It was the fairy…she made me look like a princess and then you came and I was so frightened...I didn't know what to do, I'd never seen a dragon before so I lied because dragons don't eat princesses and now…now…"
"You're not a princess." Lintred obviously still hadn't gotten past the first sentence.
"No," Effie left it at that and waited. For a long time.
"Why didn't you say something!" He exploded, suddenly. "I would have taken you straight home! You never had to stay here at all!"
Effie looked as embarrassed as possible. "I know that now. I realize now that you wouldn't have hurt me, but how was I supposed to know that? Fairy-tale books aren't very kind to dragon's personalities mostly. I was sure you would be angry at wasting all that effort and eat me or flame me or something. I was scared."
"Scared?" Lintred snorted, though he sounded a bit proud of himself. "But that was a long time ago."
"Yeah, I know…but…by the time I realized you weren't going to eat me, I…" she blushed slightly. "I was having so much fun, I didn't want to go back anymore. I thought, if you found out, you'd send me away, so I didn't say anything."
"Fun?" Lintred squinted at her. "You complain about cooking and cleaning and dishes and having to sit through Roxim's dinners, and now you tell me you were having fun?"
"Well…more fun that cooking and cleaning and sitting through dinners at home! I got to read things in your library, and I made some friends…like Shiara and Cynthrex, and…"
"And that wizard!" Lintred suddenly sat up straighter. "You…you made friends with a wizard! In the Mountains of Morning! Then…wait but if you're not really a princess, then…"His eyes grew wide. "You lied to me…you lied to King Kazul?" Lintred seemed to have more trouble with this idea than anything previous.
Effie stepped back quickly. "Lintred, please, listen to me…"
The dragon started pacing around her. "I know you think I'm stupid," he said. "And I'll admit to not being as quick on the uptake as some, but even I can put two and two together. You've known that wizard for longer than just today, which means he was here in the Mountains for a reason, and it wasn't rescuing a princess. Since you lied to protect him, I assume you know what the reason was…" his eyes narrowed again. "Why didn't I notice anything? How long has this been going on? Tell me!"
Effie backed up against a wall, to stop Lintred from going around her again, it was making her dizzy. "I was going to tell you! Just stop yelling at me! It's not what you think!"
"You keep saying that!" Lintred completely failed to lower his voice.
"Because it's true! But if you're going to be like this, you'll never believe me, even if I tell the truth!"
"How do you know until you say it?"
"That's enough, Lintred!" A new voice cut through the air. Effie scrambled around Lintred and ran towards it.
"Cynthrex!" she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I messed it all up, they sent Trey away and the King's going to figure out I lied to her and it's all gone wrong and I'm sorry!" She clung to the yellow-green dragon's scales and sobbed into her side.
Cynthrex looked down at her, concerned. "Effie, calm down. You're being hysterical. It's going to be fine. What did you have to yell at her for!" she turned and snapped at Lintred, who flinched back.
"I wasn't yelling! Much. Anyway, she's been conspiring with some wizard…""I know," the female dragon hissed. "It was my conspiracy."
That shut Lintred up. He just stared at her, slack-jawed.
"Just stay there and be quiet," Cynthrex continued, then turned back to Effie and nudged her with a wing-tip. "Okay, that's enough of that. Come on, you need to sleep."
"Sleep?" Effie choked back her tears. "How am I supposed to sleep?"
"You'll sleep, if I have to put a spell on you." Cynthrex walked her carefully over to her rooms. "Now listen. It's going to be fine. I heard the whole story from Legrelle, of all people, she couldn't wait to tell everyone she met. I managed to send her away thinking it really wouldn't be in her best interest to spread it further, so hopefully it stops there. Then I came down here to see how you were, and heard the shouting. Leave Lintred to me, I'll explain things to him, and before morning, I guarantee he'll be eating out of my claws. Trust me on this one, I've been dealing with him for longer than you have. Okay?"
Effie nodded, but still wouldn't look up. Cynthrex was quiet for a moment. "Oh!" she said suddenly. "And don't worry about Trey!" she said quickly. "He'll be fine. Really."
Effie broke her gaze from the floor and glared up at the dragon. "I wish you would stop that."
"Stop what?" Now Cynthrex sounded confused.
"Oh nevermind. Fine, you deal with Lintred, you deal with the wizards and the King and anyone else you feel like letting in on your secret. I'll be in my room, just call me when everyone needs the dishes washed." Effie spun around and yanked the curtain back over her doorway. She heard Cynthrex sigh outside.
"Humans," the dragon muttered, and retreated back down the hallway.