Chapter Twelve
“I AM SORRY, BUT I SHALL NEED TO HEAR you say all of that once again,” Aelir said while pacing his solar.
I sat in a chair that had been pulled near a roaring fire, wrapped in a blanket, soaked through to my very soul.
Standing around me were many high-ranking officials: the king, the queen, the two royal consorts—Le’ral and Mahouk Nouradi—and the king’s and queen’s personal guards—Beiro and Asdren—as witnesses to the incident, as it was now being called, along with a lazy blue dragonling curled up with a Sandrayan spotted cat beside me at the fire.
The only ones missing were the twins, their guardian, and Prescott.
They were in the nursery making puppets from socks with Nanny Vilde.
“Surely you did not just say that elder gods stole you from this plane for a scolding under the sea.”
I nodded and smiled thankfully as the Sandrayan ambassador pressed a cup of hot tea into my clammy hands.
“Thank you, Mahouk,” I whispered, sneezed, and found the king staring at me.
“Sorry, yes, you heard correctly. The sea witches yanked me from the temple of Ihdos, which I feel I should avoid for at least fifty or so seasons, to let me know of their displeasure with me and all who live on land generally.”
Aelir looked to his trusted confidantes for their thoughts. None spoke. “I know it’s a large gulp of bitter tonic to get down but many here saw what took place.”
“Here one tick and gone the next,” Asdren tossed out around a bite of a sour pickle.
“Soons he disappeared, the dewraiths melted back into their puddles. Then he popped back up just as we were about to dip our toes into the pools to see if they’d take us to him, fell to the floor, and harked up a few gallons of water and a fish. ”
Thankfully, the tea was helping to wash away the fish taste. “That’s the above-ground version. Under the sea, things were more tense.”
“Things were very tense above ground as well,” Le’ral said from his seat beside me. He’d not left my side since I’d been returned to the temple with undue respect for my tailbone. I shot him a look. He was guarded now, even more so than usual.
“Aye, I’m sure they were.” I blew over my second cup of red tea and took a sip. “The sea gods are displeased with those of us who sail the waves. And you all as well. They see their followers leaving them for lesser gods—”
“You call Ihdos a lesser god?” V’alor asked with bite.
“I don’t. The old gods do. They see him as a usurper. Don’t stab the messenger. I’m relaying what the sisters said to me. I did what I could to placate them, for they were ready to bring forth a wave so large this isle would be washed into the cold depths of the Silvura.”
“Why would they wipe out those who would possibly convert?” Raewyn asked aloud, her knowledge of the seas and the deities that ruled them surely as good as mine. She’d been born into a sailing dynasty.
“Because divine beings have a tendency to overreact when threatened with extinction,” Mahouk Nouradi said, sparing me from saying it and angering my touchy magical sponsors.
Aelir rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers. I felt the warm touch of Le’ral’s gaze on me, so I glanced to the side. He seemed intent on my face. Unsettling to be sure. Did I have something stuck to my cheek?
The doors opened behind us, all in the solar turning to see two people slipping inside.
A tall elf with wide shoulders and a slim wood elf with white plaits.
They stalled just on the other side of the door to place a fist to their chests and bow their heads.
I sipped my tea while Aelir rushed to the wood elf to embrace him.
“Your counsel is sorely needed,” the king whispered to the elves. “You have missed much while away at Mossheart Grotto.”
“My deepest apologies, Aelir. As soon as our required time of meditation and reflection in the breathing grove was completed, we found ourselves buried in missives from Avolire,” the wood elf explained, his sight darting to Beiro, who bowed to the two druids in dark brown robes.
“We rode with the greatest of speed from the sanctuary to heed your summons as well as to speak with the new wyrmwarden and soul kin.”
Ah, the dragon. Beiro had spoken of the druidic religion on our sail to Celear.
The goddess they worshipped considered dragons to be divine beings to be revered.
If the druids offered the wyrm some rings and bangles, Jaculi would be pleased to let them worship him as an elder godling.
The dwarves, on the other hand, considered ice dragons to be horrid beasts that ate stone folk, so there was a bit of contention over the wyrmling.
“There is much to catch up on, true. This is my half-brother, Coelum Stillcloud,” Aelir said as he led the two druids to me.
I rose, offered them both a hand to shake, and then sneezed into my shoulder.
“This is Kenton Amergin and Beirich Drayath, arch druids and envoys of the wood elves here in Celear.”
“Your Highness,” both druids murmured, lowering their heads in respect. Then Kenton glanced at the king. “Your missives left much out.”
“We shall fill you in after you are settled back at your school. For now, our main concern is the fact that we seem to have stepped on the toes of the three sea witches.” Aelir motioned to me.
“This one was taken to their cave for a firm dressing down, after which he made several promises to the titan’s daughters that we are currently trying to grasp. ”
“Ah, the sea witches. Danubia mentions her cousins in passing several times. Most of the elder gods have withered into extinction due to their followers’ disenchantment with their deity or the old ways,” Beirich stated, his gaze now on Jaculi, who sensed people were admiring him, so he began stretching like the cat he napped beside.
“Knowing they still exist is heartening. Odd they spoke to you, though, Your Highness, as most of the current faithful of the sea witches are privateers or those who make a living on the sea.”
Raewyn muttered something under her breath.
“Well, Your Most Exalted Druidship, that would be me. I am a privateer,” I confessed and watched in some amusement as the two druids gaped openly.
“As I said, there is much to relay,” Aelir slipped in softly. “Our most pressing matter is that the three sisters expect a temple to be built on the shores of Renedith, the lands my brother has inherited.”
Kenton’s pale green nose crinkled. “That will be a lengthy ordeal. It took several seasons for the church to allow a small druidic chapel in Celear.”
“We have seven moons,” I supplied just to see the druids’ reactions. It was as I thought it would be. The same as Aelir’s and the others. Utter shock and dismay.
“Yes, you see our problem,” Aelir said after the two newcomers to the chaos of this damned realm shook off their shock.
“I feel that even if we were to lay a foundation of stone in the time allotted, that would appease the sisters,” I offered before taking another sip.
The cold still lingered in my marrow. “If they see that we are earnest, and if your druids and others who fish the coastal region offer tithes and homages to them, then they might not bring forth an eagre so massive it will sink Melowynn into the ocean.”
“I may need to sit,” Kenton blurted out before dropping to the floor to rest on his heels.
The man with him stood behind him so he could rub the slimmer elf’s tight shoulders.
Oh, so another couple. How lovely. Romance was budding all over Avolire.
I did not look at Le’ral, for our situation was not a love match.
We had both agreed to that, so that was what it would be.
“The church will protest, as will the nobles,” Le’ral chimed in, which fired off a long, tiring discussion that I drifted in and out of as exhaustion pulled at me.
The snap of my chin hitting my chest flung me back in time to glance about as everyone in the solar was staring at me. Fukkate. Was it my time to speak?
“Sorry. I’m quite fatigued. What was said?
” I asked and was presented with a new cup of red tea and a kind smile from the mahouk.
Kind man. Handsome. Not as commanding as Le’ral, who was watching me intently, his brow furrowed.
“Paying court to sea witches is draining,” I joked, but got no titters.
Tough crowd. No wonder the traveling minstrels were always ducking rotted fruit.
“I was asking if you felt the witches would allow us passage to Light’s Keep.
The cures are nearly completed once I donate again,” Raewyn explained with strained patience.
She did appear haggard now that I looked closely.
Being bled daily to make tonics for the sick would drain an elf.
Respect for her giving nature welled up inside me.
“A mercy mission for those who ensure ships sail safely. Aye, I am sure they would smile on such a gesture from the navy and the crown. My worry is not the sisters but the roaming privateers that have not replied to my missives.” Raewyn cocked a brow.
Lady Merrilyn sat at her side on a settee, hand resting on the queen’s knee. “I’ll accompany you.”
“But you would need to take the cure as a preventive. It might cause some scales to grow on your back or chest. I would not ask that of you,” Raewyn replied.
“You didn’t ask, I volunteered. As for scales, it’s a small price to pay to save the lives of the villagers of Light’s Keep.
” I sipped my tea as the queen regarded me with something that may have been respect.
A thing mutually given, it seemed. “I’ll need time to get to Renedith to begin the work on the temple before we go. ”