The Flames of Dragons (4 page)

“There it is,” Dirio said from the head of the column of villagers, “Kataile.”

Balear crested the small rise so he could stand beside Veliaf’s mayor. It was a strange title, considering that thanks to Balear, Veliaf no longer existed.

“It’s beautiful,” Dirio breathed.

Balear frowned. From here he couldn’t even see the city itself. Kataile was built into the side of a white limestone plateau that jutted out from the Eregos Mountains’ northeast corner. The plateau curled around into a crescent-shaped barrier that surrounded the city and shielded it from view. From this angle, all Balear could see was the outside of the cliff and the ocean east of it.

But Dirio’s eyes were wide with hope, so Balear nodded. They had come so far, and they couldn’t go back. They could do nothing but hope.

The only way in or out of the city was along the beach that separated the cliff from the sea. Balear and Dirio headed down the hill toward it, the villagers following behind.

Despite his lack of a view, Balear couldn’t help but feel a small share of the balding fifty-year-old mayor’s excitement. Here was a place, perhaps alone in Lodia, untouched by the civil war. With Kataile’s natural protection, no other city’s army could invade it. In addition, the city’s port gave it access to the sea for food and trade with the Tacumsah Archipelago.

As Balear crossed onto the sand, though, his optimism fell. A driftwood barricade blocked off the beach, and armed guards stood behind it. Dirio motioned for his people to stand back. He and Balear approached the guards alone.

The men behind the barricade looked confident, but Balear could tell it was an act. Either that, or they were such complete novices that they really believed this shoddy pile of wood could protect them. It was barely four feet high and wasn’t even nailed together. Balear figured he could breach it with one swing of the Auryozaki strapped to his back. For that matter, he could probably crush the blockade just by setting the massive sword on top of the wood.

Not that there was a need to break it. The barricade extended to the cliff wall, but with the ocean’s changing waves, it couldn’t block passage on that side. As long as you didn’t mind getting your feet wet, you could just walk around it.

The barricade’s guards were no more formidable. There were six of them, each armed with a fishing spear. Only two had any armor, and that was boiled leather. Just one had a sword, and even with it sheathed, Balear could tell it was useless. The handle had too much decoration. It was a weapon designed for parades, not combat. Balear doubted it was even sharp.

From back on the hill, Balear had thought Kataile impregnable. But if this paltry blockade was any indication, the city might be relying on reputation alone to secure itself.

“Welcome to Kataile!” one of the guards called to the newcomers. “We wish you a pleasant and peaceful stay!”

Balear cocked an eyebrow. Those weren’t the words a sentinel said to strangers during a civil war. The man’s tone was even less soldierly. What kind of guards were these?

Then again, it made sense. Kataile thrived on tourism, with visitors coming from all over Lodia to swim in the ocean and enjoy the views atop the plateau. These guards knew nothing of war. All they knew was how to welcome people.

In a way Balear found it refreshing. In another it terrified him.

Dirio took the unusual greeting in stride. “Thank you,” he said with a broad smile. “I’m certain we all wish for our stay to be pleasant and peaceful. My name is Dirio Cyneric, and I’m the mayor of Veliaf. I’ve come to treat with Lady Elyssa Orianna. Might I speak with her?”

Whatever response the guards had been expecting, that wasn’t it. They huddled and conversed among themselves.

At length the man with the parade sword turned to Dirio and Balear. “We’re used to guests here, but not this many. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to turn back.”

Dirio frowned. “We’ve come a long way. We’ve traveled through deep snow and chilling cold. Many of our women and children are starving and on the verge of frostbite. Surely the famed hospitality of Kataile is not so poor as this?”

The guard stiffened and spun back to his men. The conversation this time was more heated. Balear half-smiled. Dirio was mayor for a reason.

“We apologize for any rudeness,” the guard said. “Please come with me. We must ask that the rest of our new guests wait outside until we decide how best to accommodate you.”

“That will do,” Dirio replied. “Of course as mayor, I’ll need an honor guard.” He gestured to Balear. “This is General Balear Platarch of the Castle Guard. He’s here to ensure my safe passage.”

When Dirio said Balear’s name, the guards blanched, and Balear winced. Everyone in the country knew him. Unfortunately, they knew him as the traitor who had tipped off the Kodamas to King Angustion’s invasion. In so doing, he’d allowed them time to prepare for and defeat the king. For many Lodians, Balear was the reason the country was in this civil war in the first place.

“We have orders to bring General Platarch to the mayor immediately, should he come,” the guard said. He walked around the barricade and up to Balear. “Sir, I’ll carry that sword for you.”

Balear grinned despite himself. “No you won’t, but please feel free to try.”

He grasped the weapon with his lone hand. It no longer felt strange to have only one arm, even though it was his left one.

The Sky Dragon Sword came off its specially designed harness on Balear’s back without trouble. The weapon was huge; the blade portion alone was seven feet long, six inches thick, and a foot wide at the base. In Balear’s hand, though, it weighed no more than a grain of sand.

Not so long ago Balear would have declared the weapon and its bizarre powers “devil magic.” He knew better now. Then again, considering the monster sealed inside it, perhaps that description was accurate after all.

Balear set the Auryozaki on the beach and stepped back. The guard knelt, grasped the weapon with both hands, and tugged.

It didn’t move. The Katailan yanked with all his might, veins popping on his forehead. The sword refused to budge. Two more guards came to help, but even three of them together couldn’t lift it. Though weightless to Balear, the Auryozaki maintained its original, mammoth weight to anyone else who touched it.

“I have no intention of using it,” Balear said. “For the sake of all your dignities, please permit me to carry it. It shouldn’t block up your city’s otherwise fine entrance.”

Even these amateurs knew enough not to be happy letting an armed stranger see the mayor, but they knew they had no choice. Considering that stranger could swing the heavy weapon as daintily as a dagger, there was nothing they could do to stop him. The guard with the parade sword nodded, and Balear returned the blade to its harness.

That harness was a miracle of craftsmanship, and like so much else in his life, Balear had Dirio to thank for it. Rather than use a sheath or loops that would make drawing the sword impractical for a one-armed man, the harness had a magnetic strip between the shoulders that held the weightless blade in place.

“I’ll take you both to the mayor,” the guard with the parade sword said. He gestured for his men to step aside. Dirio and Balear waited for an ocean wave to retreat, then walked around the barricade with him.

The guard led Dirio and Balear past the cliff wall, and at last Balear could gaze upon Kataile itself. It had been worth the wait. He’d traveled through most of Lodia during his time with the Castle Guard, but he’d never had occasion to visit Kataile. He regretted it now. The city rose in a sweeping arc up the cliff face, the whitewashed buildings almost invisible against the limestone.

In the lowest level of town sat the docks. Balear could see from the beach that the ocean curved inward to form a round, deep-water bay where even large ships could dock. Several masts rose above the buildings surrounding the pier. Most flew Lodian colors, but two sported Tacumsahen flags.

The guard took them into the city and up a long staircase. Balear looked on either side as the buildings rose in levels around him. Those closest to the water were small and simple. The higher they climbed, the bigger and more intricate the structures became.

As much as the architecture itself, Kataile’s cleanliness impressed Balear. Most cities were grimy and smelly, but Kataile gleamed like someone had scrubbed the place down just this morning.

Balear paused on a landing to catch his breath and examine the view. They were three quarters up the cliff face now, and the sight across the ocean astounded him. Even the view from Haldessa Castle hadn’t been this grand. This place was perfect, an island of untouched peace and beauty. Standing here, it was like the war didn’t even exist.

The people gave that impression too. Even though it was the middle of winter, they all looked well fed. Children ran in the streets, shouting and playing as they surely did every day. Merchants and shoppers wandered around the markets of the lower levels.

Dirio and Balear’s escort motioned for them to continue, and they resumed their hike up the cliff. Dirio wiped his brow as they ascended, and despite his military training Balear could feel himself tiring as well. He wondered how often the people up here descended to the docks, and how often those below rose to the upper levels. He doubted it happened much.

The guard with them stopped at last before the tallest building at the city’s highest level. This structure was the only one in Kataile to reach above the plateau, though several staircases led up to the cliff top.

Balear once more turned his head to face the ocean. From here he could see all of Kataile laid out below him. With a wary eye, he looked up at the building the guard had led them to. It had windows on every exposed side. Nothing happened in this city without someone up here seeing it. Balear wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

When the guard opened the building’s door, Balear had to duck to get the Auryozaki through the opening. Once inside though, he had plenty of space. The ceilings were ten feet high, and all the doorways were wide, curved arches that allowed several people to walk through them at once.

Like the building’s exterior, the inside walls were white. Murals, tapestries, and sculptures lined them to break up the otherwise blinding appearance.

Dirio and Balear’s escort led them to a flight of steps. Together they climbed to the building’s third and highest floor.

“Wait here,” the guard said when the trio reached a pair of carved wooden doors enclosing an arch even wider than the ones they’d passed through on the first floor. “I’ll inform Lady Orianna of your arrival.”

The man tapped on one of the doors. A moment later it opened inward, and he entered. The door boomed shut behind him.

Balear looked at Dirio. “I never want to see another step in my life,” he said. “This place is exhausting.”

“But secure,” Dirio replied, “and that’s why we’re here. By the way, please keep disparaging comments like that to yourself when we meet the mayor.”

Balear flinched. Kataile was a tourist town after all. He wouldn’t win friends by speaking ill of it. “So,” he said, hoping to change the subject, “have you ever met Lady Orianna?”

“Until two years ago, I was an underling at a mine in a backwater village on the northern frontier. I didn’t get out much.”

“I feared so,” Balear said. “I’ve never met her either. But I do know that Lady Orianna has been Kataile’s mayor since before I joined the Castle Guard. She’s also Lodia’s only female mayor.”

Dirio pursed his lips. “This could be interesting.”             

The wooden door opened again. The man with the parade sword appeared and motioned for them to come in.

Balear walked into the room and suppressed a gasp. The space rivaled the glory of Haldessa Castle before its destruction. A plush seafoam green carpet with an intricate wave pattern covered the floor; Balear had seen its equal only in the late King Azuluu’s throne room. Four clay pots dotted each of the room’s corners. Balear wasn’t familiar with the style, but judging from the pair of soldiers stationed by each one, he guessed they must hold tremendous value.

Most impressive, though, was the entire wall devoted to a mural of Kataile at dawn. Far from the blinding white Balear had anticipated, the painting showed a glittering mix of yellows, reds, and oranges as the early-morning light reflected off the limestone cliff and cityscape.

The painting was so realistic Balear at first mistook the wall for a gigantic window. Then he saw the prominent “Feidl” signature in the painting’s lower right. He shivered.

At the room’s far end, on a throne of silver and cushions, sat the woman who must be Elyssa Orianna. She was older, perhaps of an age with Dirio. Her clothes matched the room’s opulence: a fine dress of cerulean silk with sapphire earrings and a matching headpiece. She kept her hair short, in contrast to most noblewomen in Lodia, and only the faintest streaks of gray had begun to show through the auburn.

Balear and Dirio’s escort crossed the room to stand at his mayor’s side. He gripped his sword’s hilt in case his charges decided to get any stupid ideas.

Elyssa paid the man no mind. She locked her eyes first on Dirio, then on Balear.