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  She looked to the south and saw a dragon rise from the small encampment. Another sprang into the air after it. A few seconds later, a third followed. Turning her head, she gasped when she saw how much the fire dragon had gained on them.

  Hurry, Celisse!

  The fire dragon spewed out flames. The heat of the blaze came close enough that Kale felt the force of it on her back. The next projection singed Celisse’s tail. Celisse screeched and beat her wings harder.

  I should be able to do something.

  Kale tried to pick up the enemy dragon’s thoughts. When she touched its mind, she backed away from its fury for only a moment before she closed in and sent a message.

  You’ve picked the wrong target. Risto will be furious.

  The fire dragon faltered, then roared and sent out another flame. But its hesitation gave Celisse enough lead to avoid being hit again.

  They were close enough to the oncoming dragons for Kale to make out who they were. Bardon led the charge on Greer, Brunstetter followed on Foremoore, and Dar brought up the rear on Merlander. Both Bardon and Brunstetter held lances ready to throw. They swept past Kale on either side of Celisse. Kale whipped her head around to see them hurl their weapons at the pursuing fire dragon. Both lances hit their marks. The dragon bellowed. Dar bolted past her, and she saw him swinging a hadwig. The spiked ball soared through the air and hit the fire dragon square on its head. Brunstetter and Bardon turned in a wide circle and prepared to make a second assault. The fire dragon had had enough. With its wings beating an irregular rhythm, it lost altitude.

  Foremoore, Greer, and Merlander took up positions to escort Celisse home.

  Thank you. Her gratitude went to each dragon and their riders.

  “I’m glad you returned to us,” Dar’s voice warmly greeted Kale.

  Thank you, Dar. And thanks to you, Bardon. Brunstetter, it is very good to see you! Where’s Regidor?

  Bardon answered, “Regidor has been acting strangely. At first I thought he was ashamed because he was unable to protect you from the grawligs and prevent them from hauling you off. But I don’t think that’s really why he’s disappearing all the time. When he shows up again, he’s very morose.”

  He could be worried about me. He’s bonded to me.

  “You talk to him after you’ve seen your mother. Maybe you can determine what’s wrong with him.”

  A thought occurred to Kale, and with it came a pang of apprehension. She kept these thoughts to herself as she speculated. Would Regidor consider joining forces with the beautiful, beguiling Gilda?

  They landed in an open field. Brunstetter and Bardon offered to unsaddle the dragons so Dar could take Kale to her mother.

  “Celisse’s tail!” Kale ran back to see whether her dragon’s hindquarters had been injured from the one blast of fire that had made a hit. A layer of soot covered the glistening scales, but no real damage had been done. Kale gave the black and silver dragon a hug and followed Dar across the field.

  “Is my mother badly injured?” Kale asked as they hurried past mariones, kimens, o’rants, and tumanhofers sleeping on makeshift cots and bedrolls.

  “Yes, she was,” said Dar, “but Fenworth and Cam repaired much of the damage. You and Gymn will bring her back to good health, I’m sure.”

  They entered a large tent. Kale rushed to the figure lying on a nice bed, took her wrinkled hand, and pressed it to her cheek. Lyll Allerion looked as she had the first time Kale met her in Meiger’s tavern.

  “Mother?”

  Lyll opened her eyes, and a tired smile traced her lips.

  Gymn came out of his pocket-den and hopped onto Lyll’s chest. Kale put one hand on the little dragon, and the other held her mother’s hand.

  “I have something to give you, my child.” Lyll fumbled in her bedclothes and pulled out a disk on a chain. “I thought for a minute this afternoon that I had been foolhardy enough to lose my life. If that were to happen, you would be an orphan again. It is my hope that we might rescue Kemry. Take this disk. It will help you identify your father lest Risto try to trick you.”

  “I have a disk like that.”

  “You do?” The surprise in her mother’s weak voice made Kale smile.

  “Granny Noon gave it to me, but she didn’t tell me how it works.”

  “Do you have it now? I can show you how it works.”

  Kale let go of her mother’s hand and pulled the thong around her neck, lifting the red pouch from beneath the nightgown she still wore. She emptied the coinlike piece of silver into her palm.

  Lyll held out her hand. “Give it to me and watch what happens.”

  Kale placed the notched disk into Lyll’s palm. At first, nothing happened. Then the shine of the metal grew brighter. As she continued to watch, one of the notches foamed at the cut edges and closed together. When the shine diminished, the coin had only one notch.

  Lyll Allerion opened Kale’s fist by gently prying on her clamped fingers. She put the coin back in her daughter’s hand. “When you find your father, the other notch will heal.”

  Kale stared at the one-notched disk and slowly closed her fingers over it. She looked up at the tired old woman in the bed.

  “You really are my mother,” she whispered.

  “Yes, I am. How do you feel about that?”

  Tears rolled down Kale’s cheeks. “I don’t know.”

  “Are you sorry I am not as beautiful as the other mother you found?”

  She shook her head. “No, I always liked you better.”

  “Do you think you could love me?”

  Kale nodded and threw herself into her mother’s arms. She sobbed for a moment, but a jolt of energy passing through the circle of healing made her jump back. Still holding onto her mother’s arms, Kale looked into the young face of Lyll Allerion.

  She giggled. “You’re young again.”

  Lyll laughed. “Yes, that was a mighty potent healing. Now I must get up and get dressed. Bardon has been telling me Regidor is having problems. Shall we go see about our friend?”

  Kale saw the morning sun peeking through the tent flap. She’d been up all night. But her mother was right. They must talk to Regidor.

  “What color should I wear today?” asked Lyll. “Yellow or blue?”

  “Yellow,” said Kale. “It’s going to be a bright day.”

  “Is it, dear? I predict problems, and thus, yellow is the perfect choice.” She nodded at the dress slung over a chair. “Yellow!” Lyll examined her daughter’s attire. “I do believe you could use a dress as well.”

  55

  TREACHERY

  Lyll’s prediction of trouble was validated as soon as they walked out of the tent. Dar and Bardon stood with Wizard Cam. Toopka hovered at their heels. All of them looked as though someone had died.

  Cam stepped forward. “In the hour before daylight, all the dragons aligned with our camp took flight. It is reported that they headed north.”

  “Which would take them to the enemy,” added Dar. “It seems our dragons have gone over to Risto’s camp.”

  Bardon looked at Kale only. “And Regidor is nowhere to be found.”

  She blinked. “He and Gilda persuaded the dragons to defect?”

  “Subterfuge is Gilda’s specialty,” said Cam with a sigh. “I’m afraid her brand of persuasion was too much for Regidor to resist. Remember, Risto enhanced her natural abilities. Once Regidor was converted, the two of them must have been a formidable pair against our dragons’ trusting dispositions.”

  “All the dragons?” Kale realized the magnitude of the treason. “Celisse? Merlander?”

  Bardon nodded. “All the dragons.”

  Kale felt the pressure of Metta’s claws in her shoulder. “Not the minor dragons,” she said. “The minor dragons are still here.”

  “Yes,” said Cam, “but the minor dragons cannot carry soldiers into battle or transport wounded men. They cannot deliver supplies or give a commander an aerial view of the battlefield. Risto now holds an unbe
atable hand.”

  “Will he attack today?” asked Bardon.

  Cam looked old and sad. “If he wanted to win just this battle, he would. But he’s smart enough to know we’re amassing a fair-sized army to block him. If he waits a day, instead of crushing five thousand men, he can crush ten thousand.”

  Kale twisted the pouch hanging around her neck. “We have to rescue the dragons. If I talk to Celisse, I know she’d come back.”

  “Invading the enemy camp would be too dangerous, Kale,” said Lyll Allerion. “I’m hoping Wizard Cam will have a trick or two up his sleeve. After all, he is a lake wizard. And Bartal Springs Lake just happens to be his home lake.”

  Cam nodded. “We’ll go to my castle under cover of darkness.”

  “What are we going to do all day?” asked Toopka.

  “Sleep!” said Cam. “At least some of us. Others will mingle with the new recruits, bolster their spirits and squash rumors.”

  “Am I one of the ones who gets to squash rumors?”

  “You’re one of the ones who gets to sleep.”

  “I slept some in the boat.”

  “You’ll sleep more in a bed.”

  “I could—”

  A bucket of water appeared over the little girl’s head and dumped its contents.

  Toopka sputtered.

  “That was warm water,” said Cam. “But you shall soon be cold. A nice warm bath and a snuggly bed are the best thing for you at the moment.” He turned to address the tumanhofer servant. “Taylaminkadot, would you be so kind as to escort this little doneel to the tent that’s been made ready for Kale? See to her needs, if you will, and don’t let her out of your sight! Not even when you think she’s sleeping.”

  “I won’t be able to sleep,” protested Toopka as she was led away.

  Kale didn’t think she would be able to sleep either, but a warm breakfast of porridge and hot mallow, a soothing bath, and a cozy bed invited slumber. She woke up hours later with no more aching muscles, no headache, and a hearty appetite. Gymn rested on her shoulder. When he saw her awake, he perked up.

  “Heal their minds?” Kale sat up and contemplated her green dragon. “Whose minds?”

  Gymn trilled and the explanation unfolded in Kale’s mind. “The other dragons. They are deluded, and you think it’s an illness. Maybe it is, Gymn. We’ll try almost anything to get them back. How would you treat an illness like that?”

  Gymn hummed in his throat and squeaked as he thought.

  “Isolate the bad and nourish the good?”

  Kale spied a new set of clothes. Forgetting about Gymn’s theories, she jumped out of bed and raced to put them on. The pants and tunic reminded Kale of her mother’s outfit she’d worn to fight the mordakleeps, except they weren’t a flashy pink. The supple boots were black. Creamy soft material made a formfitting undershirt. The breeches and tunic were an earthy brown like the uniforms of The Hall.

  Toopka stood in the doorway, pouting. “You’re supposed to come eat.”

  Behind her Taylaminkadot nodded approvingly. The tumanhofer followed Toopka with the air of someone who would pounce if the child strayed so much as an inch. Kale grinned to herself as she watched the thwarted mischief maker march to the dining tent.

  They rushed through supper. The winter sun had already set, and dusk shrouded the camp. Kale and Bardon, Dar and the two wizards, Brunstetter and Lee Ark, Taylaminkadot, Toopka, and several kimens marched down to the lake. The hike covered at least three miles of rough path through timber and rocky hillside. No one spoke unnecessarily, but concentrated on where to place the next step.

  Two kimens guarded the boat tethered to a shoreline pine. Azalone took the point position, sitting astride the prow.

  Dar sat on the next seat with Dibl on his knee.

  Kale sat with Wizard Cam.

  Brunstetter took the rowing bench and wielded one oar while Lee Ark and Lehman Bardon plied the other.

  In the back sat Taylaminkadot with Lady Allerion and a half-dozen kimens.

  The remaining kimens on the shore untied the line and shoved the boat out onto the lake. Gentle waves rocked the boat. The oars dipped in and out of the water. The three men propelled the skiff toward deep water.

  “Where to?” asked Brunstetter.

  “Oh, toward the middle in clear sight of the enemy camp, I should say,” answered Cam.

  Kale hoped they would not have to set up their fortress in full view of Risto’s henchmen. “Is that where your castle is?”

  “Well now, it’s anyplace I want it to be, isn’t it? But we do want to draw Risto’s attention.”

  “We do?”

  “Yes, we do. I must ask you to be quiet now, Kale. I am plotting all sorts of devious surprises for the wicked wizard and his cohorts.”

  Kale didn’t mind being quiet. Fenworth would have been more blunt in ordering her silence. She found she missed the old wizard. A dozen topics of conversation sprang into her mind, but they all led to what would happen tomorrow and who would win the battle. How did she get in the front line of a war?

  The quest was to find the meech dragon and save him—her—from Risto. To rescue those dragons already under the influence of Risto. And to thwart Risto’s evil plans. We found Gilda, but didn’t lure her away from Risto. Not only did we not rescue any dragons, we lost the ones we still had. And as for thwarting Risto—

  Her eyes surveyed the western shoreline where the camp of bisonbecks sprawled for miles.

  If Wulder sends Paladin, Paladin could obliterate the whole army. What can we do alone?

  She glanced back at the shore. Were soldiers gathering on the banks of the river? Had they been spotted?

  We certainly aren’t doing much to hide. Azalone is lighting the prow. At least the kimens in the back are subdued. The moon’s path across the water seems to be pointing right at us.

  The mural! This is the painting on the wall of the Gander!

  “Bardon!”

  “That has occurred to me as well, Kale, but remember you’re being quiet.”

  Bardon!

  “It doesn’t really mean anything that I can see.”

  But it’s happened to me before. On the last quest, there was a point when we looked just like the mural in the River Away tavern.

  “I still don’t see that it means anything for us today. What would be significant is if you were to see another mural that has us all doing something else. That might mean we’ll live through tomorrow.”

  Oh, Bardon, do you think it’s possible?

  “We work for Paladin, Kale. Anything is possible.”

  “This will do,” said Cam.

  He stood and looked at the water some distance ahead of them. “There it is.”

  A spire broke the surface of the water and pushed upward. It was attached to a central turret, which soon became visible. The white stone edifice shone in the moonlight. Water cascaded out of the windows and off the balconies. The castle continued to thrust toward the sky, revealing a massive structure as it rose out of the water.

  The eruption of a castle in the middle of the lake attracted attention from the shore. The water pouring from the building formed a roaring waterfall. If the bisonbeck soldiers hadn’t seen the spectacle, they surely would have heard it.

  Cam turned and handed Dibl to Kale. “Thank you for the loan of him, Kale. He has inspired many interesting events to unfold within the next twenty-four hours.”

  The rush of falling water subsided. The whole castle sat, apparently, on the lake.

  Cam signaled the rowers to proceed. “To the front door, if you please.”

  They hitched the boat to a dock and climbed damp stairs to an ornate double door. Cam turned to frown at the sky.

  “Feels like snow, wouldn’t you say?”

  Kale looked at the stars shimmering in a clear sky and thought, Not in the least.

  “Well, there are extra blankets in each bedroom. You’ll be warm enough. Shall we get some sleep? Big day ahead of us, you know.”r />
  From the shore a flaming arrow arched over the water. It fell far short of the castle target and sizzled as it plopped into the lake.

  Cam put his hands on his hips. “Now that was optimistic. Had the fellow actually been able to shoot the arrow that great distance, did he expect one lone firebrand to demolish a castle still dripping water?”

  He looked again at the masses of bisonbeck soldiers milling around on the shore. “On the other hand, it does portend well for us. They don’t seem to solve problems well on the spur of the moment, do they? Yes, that bodes well for us.”

  56

  ACTION

  A dry bed surprised Kale that night, and so did the blizzard in the morning. Cam seemed a bit unhappy with the view out his dining room window.

  “Well, Cam,” said Lady Allerion as she buttered her toast, “you have to expect the wind when you gather together such a storm on short notice.”

  “Yes, but let’s subdue it, shall we? I’m sure it’s done its work, and we don’t need it any longer.”

  “As soon as I’ve finished breakfast, Cam.”

  “What work did the blizzard do?” asked Toopka.

  Cam sat down again at his place and poured himself another cup of tea. “The ropmas, grawligs, and schoergs all like their cozy little dens and hovels. They particularly like to be in them when there’s inclement weather.”

  “In-clem-at?” Toopka scrunched up her face over the new word.

  “Inclement, wet, in this case, wet and cold. I, personally, find inclement weather refreshing.” He frowned. “Wind can be a bit bothersome.”

  “So the grawligs and others won’t like the snow?”

  “Hate it.”

  “What will they do?” Toopka leaned forward.

  “Go home.”

  “Oh! That’s good, isn’t it?”

  “Good for us. Annoying for Risto. He’s not going to be pleasant to work with today.”

  After breakfast, Lyll and Cam combined their skills to tame the wild wind. In a few minutes, the company could see farther than four feet out the window. Snow blanketed everything on the shore.

  “Listen,” commanded Cam.

  From a distance they heard whizzing and thumping noises.