8. Talon
8
TALON
I lit the cigar and let it sit in my mouth. I sat behind the desk in my study, the window behind me cracked to let the fresh air into the room. Winter was still present, but its harshness had faded as spring started to make its slow appearance.
Can we speak?
About?
You know what.
I relaxed into the chair and let the smoke absorb on my tongue before I finally released it. I’ve waited a long time for this. I’m not waiting any longer. We’ll prepare the ships to sail to the Southern Isles. Order the soldiers to vacate their lands and travel to the shores for departure .
But we have no dragons.
I’m not waiting another ten years for that.
Then we’ll both die as failures.
Khazmuda, I’ve looked everywhere for these fucking dragons. Calista won’t tell me what she knows, and since I don’t know where the fuck she is either, we’re back to where we started. I have the power of Bahamut in my grasp. I will take my revenge with my blade and my rage.
I understand you’re upset about Calista, but running into battle unprepared is not the answer.
I sail with ten thousand soldiers and a mighty dragon. It will be enough.
Then I’m not coming with you.
I turned quiet when I heard the threat. Now you turn your back on me?
I would never turn my back on you, Talon. But you’re pursuing this for the wrong reasons. We must continue to look for the dragons ? —
I’ve looked everywhere, Khazmuda. We’ve looked over every inch of this land and have found nothing. Not a damn clue.
They must be north of the White Mountains.
We’ve already looked, Khazmuda. You searched the world for twenty years and found nothing. We can look again, but it’ll just yield the same results. These dragons must be underground or made invisible by magic because they’re nowhere to be found. I will not waste more time.
We look one more time ? —
You’re fucking killing me… I smashed the cigar I’d just lit directly into the desk.
One more time—and then I’ll come with you.
I sank back into the armchair and looked to the sky.
What happened between you?
We’re done. That’s what happened.
What did she say?
What does it fucking matter? She said she never wanted to see me again, that our interests no longer aligned, that she would never betray her father’s dying wish by telling me anything about where she is…who’s she with…or what she knows about the dragons. I tried three times, Khazmuda. She won’t budge.
Then let’s go look for her.
I don’t even know where to begin.
Where she is, the dragons will be close by.
I don’t want to look for someone who doesn’t want to be found…
He was quiet for a while. Let’s hunt. I want to see your face.
I don’t feel like hunting.
Then let’s fly. I want to see your face.
I ignored him.
Talon, I’ve felt your pain for three solid days. Your pain is my pain.
Commander Navarrese quietly knocked on the open door before he stepped inside. “I have a letter from the scouts.”
“The scouts?” I asked, having no idea what he was talking about.
“That are following General Titan.” He placed the opened scroll on my desk.
Talon?
I’d forgotten all about him, forgotten about everything because all I thought about was Calista. “What did they say?” I was in no mood to read the scroll when I could get the information from him much quicker.
“He’s gone to the east, to a swampland that looks dead—that was how they described it.”
I remembered the area from when Khazmuda and I searched for the dragons. It was home to orcs and monsters. If we weren’t protected by the mountains, our land would be a vastly different place. “Sounds like he has a death wish.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “What are your orders?”
“Keep following him. I want to know if he gets himself killed.”
Commander Navarrese gave a quick nod before he left my study.
Khazmuda spoke in my mind again. Talon?
Commander Navarrese required my attention.
Well, now I require yours. Let’s fly together.
Khazmuda landed in the meadow, the poppy flowers filling every inch of the green grass. It was close to sunset, the sun low in the sky on a clear day, the sky pink and orange instead of its usual gray.
Being here only reminded me of the fact that Khazmuda had also shared this with her .
The woman who had betrayed me.
I leaned up against a tree and crossed my ankles, watching the sky as the colors slowly deepened.
Khazmuda stared at the view for a while before he turned back to me.
“I fucking trusted her…like a goddamn fool.”
His eyes watched mine.
“I thought she was with me all the way. But she lied to my face every fucking day. I should have listened to you, Khazmuda. You’re the only one who actually gives a shit about me, but I chose my gut over you.”
I think she did care for your cause. I just think your past made it difficult for her. If that had never happened, she would probably be with you now. You even said yourself that you respected her decision ? —
“Doesn’t mean I fucking like it,” I snapped. “Here I am begging this woman for the information I desperately need, and she fucking denies me. After what she did to me, she should be grateful that she’s even alive—but she fucked me over again.” I grabbed the rock sitting beside me and chucked it as far as it would go. “I told her what happened. I fucking told her about my father, my brother, my mother…the sounds of their screams… I fucking told her.” I felt my eyes start to water as the memory came back to me, still vivid all these decades later.
But you didn’t tell her about Vivian.
My heart dropped like a rock into my stomach. It was hard to hear her name…even now.
Or Lena.
“Please…don’t say her name.” I inhaled a painful breath when I heard that name, when I pictured a beautiful little girl with dark hair and bright eyes. She would be my age now, already married with children of her own, a short life already well lived.
Khazmuda looked away to give me privacy. You didn’t give her the full picture.
“It shouldn’t matter.”
But it does matter. She’s decided to remain wherever she is and abandon Scorpion Valley—even though you offered her the crown. Because she has the option to move on. But you don’t have that option.
“No…I don’t.”
I think if you told her, it might change things.
“Never.”
Talon—
“I never want to speak of it—ever.”
Khazmuda turned back to me, giving me that dark stare that matched mine.
“Let it lie, Khazmuda.” My eyes moved back to the valley, looking at the last glimpse of the sun. “I can’t believe she has everything I want right in the palm of her hand, and she refuses to give it to me. It’s fucking infuriating. And then she says she never wishes to see me again…because I mean so little to her.”
You’re assuming.
“She fucked me over, Khazmuda. I know you like her, but read the writing on the wall.”
I can’t read the writing on the wall because so much is concealed from us. We don’t know what her predicament is with these people. She may not even know where the dragons are. She never told you that she did.
“Because she didn’t tell me anything.”
Just because she can’t tell you this doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to. Whomever she’s with has a lot more power than she does, if they’re the keepers of the dragons. She was probably only granted entry into their society because of her father’s ties. They probably don’t even trust her.
“It would be wise not to.”
She said she’s let go of her revenge, so she holds no animosity toward you ? —
“She said she never wants to see me again, like I meant nothing to her.” It hurt me more than I wanted to admit. It hurt me to see some muscular, handsome man in her home, staring at her with the same intensity that I stared at her, my fucking replacement. She betrayed me, and then she abandoned me. Perhaps it was what I deserved, but I still felt like a fool.
You cared for her more than I realized.
I gave a slight shake of my head. “I don’t care for her anymore.”
Talon—
“We’ll examine the map and figure out where to begin our search. Remember when we found Inferno and the entrance to the cave was on top of the mountain and not the side like we assumed? We need to think that way once again as we examine the lands we’ve already searched. They’re here somewhere—hidden from our sight. And I wish never to speak of her again. She’s dead to me.”
Talon—
“I said, she’s dead to me.”
I progressed down the hallway and passed the guards who protected this section of the castle. They remained at attention and didn’t look at me as I passed. They were too busy enjoying the whores to service me, but that was about to change.
One of my servants spotted me on my way to my chambers. “Sir, I wasn’t sure if you would be home for dinner?—”
“Well, I am.”
“Then I’ll have the chef prepare it immediately.”
I didn’t care about food right now. “Send Nadia to my chambers. Dinner can wait.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” He bowed and scurried off.
I entered my chambers, the fire in the hearth already going, stripped down to nothing, and got into the shower. The water was warm and soothing on the skin, and even though I was clean, I stood there longer than necessary, thinking about the last conversation I’d had with Calista.
She wore a dark green dress, like wherever she resided was a lot warmer than it was here. Her eyes were nearly the same color, illuminated like emeralds hidden deep in the earth. Her beautiful hair was done differently, with a white flower tucked behind her ear. Her eyes held such emotion…but also defeat.
It was hard to think of her without getting angry, so I chose to forget her.
My thoughts cleared once I made the decision, and I stared at the tile in the shower, my mind empty for the first time in days. The water continued to fall, and I was reminded of the warm ocean from the Southern Isles, swimming in it at the height of summer at midnight when it was still warm.
I stood there a while longer before I turned off the water and dried myself with the towel. When I returned to my bedchambers, Nadia was on my bed, naked and ready to go, her eyes enthusiastic because she’d been selected over the others. Every one of my whores hoped to become my wife, to birth my children, to be promoted from concubine to queen.
That was a hopeless dream.
I approached the bed naked, seeing her beautiful skin in the light of the flames, the curves of her waist and the perkiness of her tits.
She raised herself to her hands and knees and crawled to me, flipping her hair back when she sat back on her ankles. Her palms went to my chest, and she felt me, felt the muscles under the skin, traced the line that bisected my strength. “How may I please you, m’lord?”
I wanted her ass in the air and her face pinned to the mattress, but the desire left me as soon as I had the thought. I’d never taken Calista that way. It was always face-to-face, me on top of her or her on top of me. Not once had I thought about taking her in that way, in the least intimate way possible.
And then she was all I could see.
I could see Calista sitting there, hating me for what I’d done, what I’d taken from her.
It made me hate myself.
I remembered her as a girl as well, could picture her clearly in my mind, but she looked so different as a woman that I hadn’t seen the similarities. Not when trauma and heartbreak had hardened her eyes and masked her innocence. I remembered how scared she was when we found her in the study, in the same room as her father’s corpse. My men wanted to kill her, but I didn’t kill kids. I let her go, assuming I was doing her a favor, but I’d sentenced her to a life too horrible to live.
She should hate me.
But I should hate her too.
We were destined to be enemies…and nothing would ever change that.
“What is it?” Nadia asked, seeing my focus disappear.
“You should go, Nadia.” I stepped away. Buck naked, I walked to my dresser and pulled out a clean pair of boxers.
“I—I don’t understand. You called for me.”
“I know I did,” I said in a bored voice. “And now I’m asking you to leave.”
“What did I do?—”
“Nothing.”
“Your Highness?—”
“Get the fuck out, or I’ll throw you out. Which is it going to be?”
I sat in my study with the map before me. It was more than just the map of the lands I’d conquered, but a crude sketch of the other places I knew about. The Southern Isles were down below, along with all the islands and lands I’d visited in my travels over twenty years. Everything to the north was sketched out too, but since those lands were uninhabited by humans, they didn’t have names. I just knew where the mountains and the swamps were. Knew where the forest was placed and the beaches.
We’ll start at the northwest and make our way east. Start at the coast and make our way inward. We’ll have to travel back and forth to the castle because people can’t realize how often I’m away.
I agree.
I examined the White Mountains, seeing how huge they were. These mountains are so large…it makes me wonder if that’s where the dragons are hiding. The peaks are so tall, they practically reach the sky.
But it would be dark and cold. No dragon would want to live there.
But they would be safe, invisible to everyone else.
No amount of safety is worth that torture. If I had to choose between living underground or death, I would choose death.
A bit dramatic.
Not to a dragon.
I continued to stare at the map. “Where the fuck is she?” Her father must have given her a crude map and handwritten directions, and that was enough information for her to find what I’d spent ten years searching for. What was I missing?
“Your Majesty?” Commander Navarrese appeared in the open doorway.
“What?” I asked as my eyes punctured the map, desperate to see what was right in front of me.
He entered my study and stopped before the desk. “I have another missive from the scouts.”
“Yes?” I asked with disinterest. General Titan was the least of my priorities right now.
“General Titan has gathered an army of orcs.”
My eyes narrowed on the map before I lifted my chin and looked at him. “What did you just say?”
He stood with his hands behind his back. “Some are the orcs we’ve spotted in the mountains, but most of them are a different type of orc, seven feet tall and nearly three hundred pounds. They call themselves Behemoths…”
I’d traveled over the swamps of the north, and I’d spotted monsters and creatures down below. But I’d never witnessed such a thing. “How many?”
“At least ten thousand.”
Now I understood General Titan’s ambitions. It was never to flee. It was to build an army big enough to oppose me. “And now they’re returning to the passage through the mountains.” To march upon my gates and kill my army.
“No. They march west—toward the forest.”
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Why?”
“The scouts can’t determine what the general is pursuing, but it’s very clear he’s marching to war. They all brandish armor and swords. General Titan must have offered them something in return for their service. It takes so long to receive these missives that they’ve probably already reached the forest by now.”
I stared at the commander’s face for a long time, picturing General Titan in cahoots with monsters, staying on the north side of the White Mountains and marching west. The only person he wanted more than me was Calista, and she?—
“Your Highness?”
I felt the blood drain from my face when the realization hit me. “You’re dismissed, Commander Navarrese.”
He gave a slight nod then departed my chambers.
I feel your stress. What’s happened?
I abandoned the map and left my study. I’ve finally figured out what General Titan is up to.
Ten thousand seven-foot-tall Behemoths march across the northern plain to the forest?
“Yes.” I stood on the ramparts with Khazmuda, the wind whipping through my cape as the gust rose up the hills and the castle walls.
How do you know that’s their destination?
“Because that’s the exact direction they’re headed…and the only thing General Titan has ever cared for is Calista.”
No…
“I see no other explanation. He knows where she is and knows she’s not alone.”
But dragons can’t possibly live in a forest.
“I agree. They must be elsewhere.”
Then that proves Calista doesn’t know where the dragons are.
“It proves nothing.” I started to pace, the wind blowing through my hair and making my eyes squint from the sting.
We must leave immediately. We’re probably already too late.
I looked across the world, the sunshine already disappearing over the horizon.
Grab your sword and your armor.
I didn’t move, holding my position close to the edge of the castle.
Talon? His eyes burned into my back.
“I said, she’s dead to me.”
The shock that ran through Khazmuda’s body was so profound, it was like lightning struck the earth. General Titan marches for her, and you choose to leave her to her fate?
I turned back to him. “She left me to mine, didn’t she?”
Khazmuda’s eyes narrowed on my face. Talon ? —
“She has a dragon. And she has whoever the fuck these people are. When I said she was dead to me, I meant it. She’s on her own.”
TALON—
“She betrayed me. I told her what happened to my family and how desperately I needed these dragons, and she took the one dragon I actually found and deserted me. She said she never wanted to see me again—and she’ll get her wish .”
I understand that she hurt you ? —
“I don’t want your pity, Khazmuda. I’ve moved on.”
If you won’t go to her aid, then I will.
I stared him down, stung by his betrayal. “She betrayed me…and you choose her.”
I’m not choosing her over you ? —
“She chose herself over your kin. She abandoned you as much as she did me.”
I agree. But there are moments when your hurt and pride should be placed aside, and this is one of those moments. You know what he did to her. You know how much he hurt her ? —
“And I would have given my life for her protection, but she chose to leave anyway .”
Khazmuda hung his head slightly. Talon .
I turned away and headed to the double doors manned by guards. “Go if you want. I won’t stop you.”
Talon .
The guards opened the doors for me and allowed me to pass through. “But don’t bother to come back if you do.”