17
“OH, GATHREN, IT is you,” said the voice of her mother.
Gathren could not see her mother, because it was entirely dark on the other side of the door, and she’d walked halfway across the cavern already. “Mam?” she said, in a tiny voice. She rushed back across the cavern.
When she got closer, she could see her mother there. Her mother seemed to be wearing some kind of long dress, and she had something on her head, which could have been a tiara of some kind.
“Gathren,” said her mother again.
“Come, now,” said Gathren, reaching for her. “There’s no time to lose. I have no idea how long Iahir is going to be able to keep the dragon occupied. We need to go now.”
“Oh, you see, I can’t,” said her mother, holding up one arm.
She had a small, thin chain attached to it.
It was an elvish chain. Gathren had ones like it before, the kinds made by the silvan elves, thin and gleaming but woven and sturdy all the same.
She could not cut that sort of a chain with a sword. She did not know what to do.
“So, you are a prisoner,” said Gathren. “But you opened the door yourself.”
“It’s a very long chain,” said her mother. “I can go all sorts of places within his lair, even outside into the courtyard on the other side. Most of the time, I sort of forget it’s there.”
“That’s… that’s…” Gathren was not sure how to react to the way her mother was talking. “Are you wearing a tiara, Mam?”
Her mother touched it. “Do you like it?”
“I’m very confused right now,” said Gathren. “Don’t you want to be rescued?”
“Well,” said her mother, “I don’t like being chained up, that is for certain.”
“So, then, you do want to be rescued.”
“Well,” said her mother, “you see, it’s all very complicated.”
“How could it be complicated?” said Gathren.
“I met Tafnir one day out in the fields.”
“Who is Tafnir?”
“The dragon,” said her mother.
“Oh, you ‘met’ him while he was burning everyone’s crops to a crisp?”
“No, that part came later,” said her mother.
“Your uncle and I… I don’t know if you quite ever understood how much we were at odds, but we always were.
After you had gone, and we did not have your help anymore, it got worse.
He was always complaining about how he had to hire workers to help with the harvests, and he blamed me, and he used to get into rages and decide he would take it out of whatever it was that I was consuming, which was mostly food.
So, I would get very hungry, you see—I didn’t want him dead, though. ”
“Mam, what are you saying?” Gathren was putting this together. “Did you conspire with the dragon to—”
“Oh, conspire? No. I complained,” said her mother, sighing.
“Tafnir was such a good listener. I didn’t think he was going to…
but then he carried me off and chained me up here and I can’t leave, and I told him about you, but…
Gathren, I had not heard from you in six months.
I did not know if you were…” Her mother reached out and put a hand to her cheek. “You’re alive, though, quite alive.”
“I’m sorry that it was so hard for us to get letters to each other,” said Gathren. “But you can’t really have decided that you were going to live out your life here as a dragon’s captive.”
“Well…” Her mother lifted both of her shoulders. “I don’t seem to have a choice, do I?”
“You do have a choice,” said Gathren. “Because I’m here to rescue you.”
Her mother nodded. “Right.” She chewed on her bottom lip, furrowing her brow.
“Well, but your plan seems to be to sneak me out of here, doesn’t it?
You and I both know that you are no match for Tafnir, and besides, I would have to intervene if it came down to some sort of fight, because if he hurt you, I would—well, he is not allowed to hurt you. ”
“Not allowed?” said Gathren. “You’re talking as if this dragon listens to you, and he clearly doesn’t, or he wouldn’t keep you chained up in his lair!”
“It’s complicated!” cried her mother.
“It does not sound complicated to me!”
IAHIR AND THE dragon were arguing when they heard the raised female voices emanating from the cave.
They were arguing about riddles. The dragon said that it certainly wasn’t going to give its hoard away to someone simply because the person could answer riddles, and Iahir asked what the dragon was doing with the hoard anyway, and the dragon said that one did not do things with hoards, one simply hoarded hoards, and in a tone that indicated that the dragon thought that Iahir was perhaps very simple minded.
Anyway, the dragon told Iahir he didn’t know any riddles.
Iahir said, “Come now, of course you do.”
The dragon huffed. It tilted its head to one side. “It counts and counts its whole life through, but never counts past twelve.”
“A clock,” said Iahir.
The dragon huffed again. “I have four legs but I am not a dog. I have a back but I am not a camel. Perchance I have arms, but I never have hands.”
“A chair,” said Iahir.
“Thou art a maddening creature,” said the dragon.
“Because I can answer your riddles?” said Iahir.
“Because thou art maddening!” roared the dragon.
Anyway, the interruption was not entirely opportune, because Iahir was attempting to keep the dragon’s attention
And once they heard the sound of the female voices, then there was no keeping the dragon’s attention. It turned, fluttering its wings, and roared out, “Kadrai!”
And then it dove right into the cavern. It was still holding Iahir’s belt with all his weapons on it, so Iahir went after the dragon, if only to ask for that back, he supposed.
He did not think, at this point, that he and the dragon were actually going to fight each other.
He thought that he and the dragon were getting on rather well.
Somewhat well, anyway.
It was dark in the cavern, but then there was a tongue of flame from the dragon, and Iahir managed to careen around the mound of jewels and gold that glittered in the flames and then they rushed through the cavern until they came to a round door, which was open, and an orc woman in a tiara was standing there and so was Gathren, who had drawn her sword.
That must be Gathren’s mother, then.
Gathren pointed the sword at the dragon. “Let her go!” she growled.
“Gathren,” said the orc woman, exasperated. “Please put your sword away.” She turned to the dragon. “Tafnir, this is my daughter I told you about. She’s only worried about me, surely you can see that.”
The dragon huffed out a bit of smoke and then said, gruffly, “I would not hurt thy offspring, Kadrai. But she must put up her weapon.”
“Well,” said Gathren’s mother, who seemed to be named Kadrai, Iahir supposed, “you heard him, Gathren. Put your sword away.”
“Let my mother go,” said Gathren, waving the sword in the dragon’s face. “You cannot keep her prisoner.”
The dragon turned to look at Tafnir. “Canst thou not explain it to her, love?”
Love? Iahir peered around the dragon to catch Gathren’s eye. Gathren looked utterly horrified.
“Truly, I cannot explain it to her, because I have told you over and over again that keeping me chained up is barbaric and backward and that I don’t like it,” said Kadrai.
“Thou dost find it gratifying to be my captive,” said Tafnir the dragon, his voice dropping in pitch suggestively. “I know thou dost.”
Oh, by the rosy fingers of the dawn, this picture was becoming very clear. Iahir cleared his voice pointedly.
The dragon turned to him. “Thou hast followed me, strange elf.”
“Yes, well, you have taken my belt,” said Iahir, pointing.
The dragon held it aloft. “So I have.”
“Right,” said Iahir. “Well, it seems to me that the two of you are playing a game amongst yourselves, a very private game that has absolutely nothing to do with either of us, and Gathren, you know that your mother is all right, so we have no reason to, erm, intrude.”
“What?” gasped Gathren. “This is not a game. She is chained up.”
“Yes, but it’s clearly…” Iahir trailed off. “Mr. Dragon, er, Tafnir, is it? You do unchain Kadrai from time to time, do you not?”
“No,” said Kadrai pointedly. “He does not.”
“Well, my love,” said Tafnir, “if I did that, thou wouldst leave. And I could not bear that.”
“Leave?” said Kadrai. “And go where? You did burn down my house, or have you forgotten that?”
“You can’t stay with this… this thing.” Gathren gestured with her sword.
“Gathren!” said Kadrai. “I raised you with better manners than that. Now, apologize.”
“Apologize?” said Gathren.
“It is all right, my love,” said Tafnir. “Thy offspring cannot help but be frightened.” The dragon turned round, including Iahir in this statement. “Perhaps if we all went inside and sat down in a sitting room? I think we could have a conversation better if we were comfortable.”
“No,” said Gathren.
At the same time, Iahir said, “An excellent idea.”
Gathren gaped at him.
Iahir hurried over to her. “I do not think your mother is exactly unwilling,” he whispered.
“Well, that’s because she’s lost her damned mind,” said Gathren, clearly angry.
“Oh, talk cannot hurt anything, can it?” said Kadrai.
Gathren looked at her mother. She looked at the dragon. She looked at Iahir, who nodded.
“Oh, fine,” said Gathren, and sheathed her sword.