“…thes weel intereast yew, Kang Jareek,” Princess Rosa was saying in her heavily accented, girlish voice.
The dinner dishes had just been removed and everyone was anticipating the desserts that were yet to come. Hyden was just glad that there were no more knives left at the table. The daggers in the eyes of Princess Rosa’s Aunt were as sharp as razor blades.
“A men neemed Dreeg, and hes company, are claiming up the iron mines around yer ruined Castlemont, and all threw the rest of Wildermont as weell,” the Princess continued. “It seems that he’s taking your people back to their homeland as slaves to do the werk-the digging and the smething, I thenk mother called it.” She touched a finger to her pouty lips and squeezed her huge dark eyes shut in concentration. “No, smeelting not smething, was whet she said,” she finished with a smile.
The room fell silent for a few long heartbeats. The subject was a tender one for both King Jarrek and High King Mikahl. Her information was welcome, though, and the fact that her mother had obviously told her to tactfully relay the news showed that Queen Rachel might be serious about helping King Jarrek’s cause.
“Dew yew reelly thenk that the zard-men are lizards?” the Princess asked High King Mikahl, in an attempt to change the subject.
He started to answer, but Hyden Hawk cut him off. “They are, m’lady.” He gave Mikahl a wink and then focused his full attention on entertaining the Princess. “They were a prominent race once. According to the writings of one Urfell Nevlen, the Westlanders attempted to kill them off a few hundred years ago. Up until recently, it was believed that they had succeeded. They ride big four- legged lizards called gekas, and they train long beaked swamp dactyls to fight and spy for them.”
The Princess’s expression showed the distaste she held for such slimy scaled creatures.
“Between the zard-men and the breed beasts, taking back Westland will surely be some bloody business,” King Mikahl said, more to himself than to anybody else.
“No less so than freeing my people from that slaver, Ra’Gren,” added King Jarrek with a nod.
“Now, now, sirs!” Queen Willa interjected herself forcefully into the conversation. “I will not have such talk at my table. The Princess was merely musing on the existence of those creatures. All of this blood talk can wait until later. I assure you that there will be a time and place for it, but that time and place is not here, nor is it now.”
Like two scolded boys, the kings mumbled apologies to Queen Willa with chastised looks on their faces. The sight was humorous to some of the ladies at the table, but the subject matter of the previous conversation kept them from doing more than eyeing the two men.
“I understand that you’re leaving on your treasure hunt soon,” someone said to Hyden.
“Aye,” Hyden started to respond, but then remembered his manners. “Um, I mean yes, sir, we are.” It had been the Lord Mayor of Xwarda who had broached the subject.
“Pirates’ treasure is it?” the pudgy, half-inebriated man asked. “It seems to me that, with the people of Wildermont enslaved, and Westland overrun with skeeks and beasts, the timing of this adventure is… well…well it’s just odd.”
Hyden looked at him coolly. There was a gravy spill on the man’s collar where his second chin mushroomed up out of the straining garment he wore. Hyden pointed at the stain conspiratorially as he responded.
“The amount of wealth that was supposedly on that ship is more than enough to buy back every single one of King Jarrek’s people,” said Hyden. It was a lie, but it sounded good. “Not that I would recommend buying them back. The High King and King Jarrek need the coin though; Highwander as well. Soldiers, carpenters, and lumbermen all have to feed what is left of their families while we rebuild.”
Queen Willa rescued Hyden from having to dig himself further into the conversation. “Lord Mayor, do not forget that Hyden Hawk is not a kingdom born man,” she scolded. Her narrowed brows and severe tone cowed the man, but she went on anyway. “He has already bested Dahg Mahn’s tower, saved Xwarda from the dragon’s wrath, and helped High King Mikahl destroy that foul wizard Pael. I think that if he wanted to build a ladder up to the moon it would be none of our concern.”
Silence again.
“Yeer Highness,” the Princess gamely tried again to gain the High King’s attention. “Deed you reelly fight the daemon-wizard from the back of a magical horse weth wings of fire?”
Hearing it from the mouth of the dreamy-eyed girl made it sound absurd, but it was true. Mikahl did fight the demon-wizard and his dark minions from the back of the bright horse. Humble by nature, Mikahl couldn’t find words. What was worse, the table had gone quiet in expectation of some boasting tale. He fingered his dragon bone medallion, trying to avoid the Princess’s gaze because he didn’t want to flush with embarrassment in front of the whole table. Knowing that she’d seen him naked as a jay this afternoon was too much at the moment. Luckily he was saved from having to respond to her awkward question by the arrival of a train of servants bringing in the desserts.
All along the front face of Queen Willa’s Xwardian Palace, starting above the second floor’s row of arched windows, had once been a row of forty-foot tall stained glass depictions. All the glass was gone now. High King Mikahl, King Jarrek, Queen Willa, and Hyden Hawk stood in one of the open balcony-like spaces that remained, looking out across the moonlit rubble Pael’s wrath had caused. The horror of the site was displaced by fragments of the stained glass that had been blasted out from the castle wall, leaving the destroyed city looking as if it had been frosted in gems.
In the foreground, below them, the fountain in the middle of Whitten Loch danced and played. The ripples reflected the light of the torches that ran along the top of the castle’s inner wall. The air was still chilled and Mikahl had placed his lion-skin cloak over Queen Willa’s shoulders, but it was King Jarrek who stood closest to her.
“When are you leaving?” Mikahl asked Hyden.
“Two days, if nothing diverts me,” Hyden answered.
“Brady Culvert is a strong sword and a good man, Sir Hyden Hawk,” King Jarrek said. “His father died beside me at Castlemont and was my dear friend.”
“Aye, and I hope we have no need of swords,” Hyden nodded. “The island we’re headed to will most likely be deserted. On the maps I’ve seen, it doesn’t appear to be big enough to sustain much life, but I’m honored to have him along, just in case.”
“Salazar is a tricky place to lay-over,” King Jarrek pointed out. “Brady’s presence will dissuade the alley thieves if you display him properly. It’s the Dakaneese pirates you’ve got to watch out for.”
“Captain Trant is a master seaman, and the Seawander has a most capable crew,” Queen Willa said. She had donated the use of her royal ship as a token of thanks to Hyden Hawk for the deeds he had done to save her kingdom.
“I can’t believe that I used to think that you were a witch,” High King Mikahl laughed lightly. “In Westland, they said that you once turned a man into a pig, and fed your Blacksword army the flesh of your enemies.”
“And I did nothing to make them think any different,” she boasted. “Fear of Willa the Witch Queen has kept many a man from crossing me. I learned that from my grandmother. Rumor and gossip, and sinister legends can sometimes be a weapon far greater than steel.”
“I’m not so sure that she isn’t really a witch,” King Jarrek said with a grin. “She’s been match-making and meddling so much as of late that it wouldn’t surprise me to see her pouring love potions into the Princess and the High King’s cups.”
“It was Hyden Hawk doing the meddling and match-making, from what I hear,” Queen Willa defended with a devilish look at Mikahl.
“I was just trying to show Princess Rosa the High King’s sword-I mean his swordsmanship,” said Hyden.
Mikahl’s glaring eyes spoke volumes about the quality of the revenge he wanted to exact on his friend.
“Nevertheless,” Willa went on, hiding her blush in the mane of the lion’s fur. “I do think she’s taken a liking to you Mikahl. She is smart, very pretty, and it’s obvious that she has caught your eye as well.”
“We’re riding in the park tomorrow,” Mikahl said. “If I could get some time with her, without all of you meddling and eavesdropping, I might be able to have a conversation with her. Until I’ve done that much, she is just another pretty girl to me.”
“I believe you’re right, Queen Willa,” said Hyden with a nod. “He has fallen for her.”
The clang of Mikahl’s steel on the practice yard the next morning was louder and sharper than usual. Hyden came down with the elven longbow Vaegon had given him, and could tell immediately that Mikahl was hammering out his frustrations on some unlucky opponent. Since the day their friend Loudin of the Reyhall had died, Mikahl had risen every morning and put himself through rigorous drills with his sword. The feel of the longbow in Hyden’s hand, and the ringing intensity from Mikahl’s blade brought back a memory of the four of them on their trek through the Giant Mountains. This in turn spurred an even earlier memory of Hyden and Vaegon competing in the archery tournament at the Summer’s Day Festival.
Either he or Vaegon would have won. The winner’s name would have been carved on the Spire at Summer’s Day with all the other champions of the realm, to be seen ever after. That seemed like a life-time ago to Hyden, but it had been less than a year. It was a shame that they never had the chance to finish the contest.
This morning he was unintentionally giving a demonstration on packing the wizard’s eye full of arrows. He could get four of five in the center, but hadn’t found a way to squeeze the fifth one in yet. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. It wasn’t his aim, it was the size of the wizard’s eye. The center of the target was just too small to take five arrow tips completely inside its circumference.
“What you need is smaller shafts, Sir Hyden Hawk,” Brady Culvert said from behind him.
Hyden turned and smiled at the strapping young man. Brady was tall and bulky, but hardly any of it was soft. His unruly dark curls left him with a boyish look. “No more of that ‘Sir’ crud. Not if you’re going with me, Brady,” Hyden said matter of factly. “We travel, we fight, and we work together as equals on our quest.”
“What should I call you then?”
“Hyden, or Hyden Hawk is what my friends call me, and any friend of King Jarrek’s is a friend of mine.”
“Hyden Hawk it is then,” said Brady with a nod. “My father used to buy hawkling eggs from your people at Summer’s Day. He said they were the best for sending important messages, such as troop orders and other royal documents.”
“Don’t let Talon hear you say that,” Hyden joked as he began unstringing his bow. “I use to climb the nesting cliffs in the spring to fetch them down.” He thought of his younger brother Gerard then, and the ring Gerard had found among the nests up there. Sorrow threatened to take hold of him.
The loud clashing of Mikahl’s sword filled the silence. Hyden forced Gerard and his terrible fate out of his mind. “You’ll not need your plate armor; chain mail might even be inappropriate. Good leather with rings should do. I have a feeling that we might have to do a bit of sneaking about, maybe some climbing as well, and a lot of walking.” Hyden paused to look over at a commotion that had broken out. Apparently Mikahl had dislodged an opponent’s sword and it had flown into a bystander.
“I pity his sparring partners today,” Brady said with a grimace of understanding. “He seems exceedingly aggressive for some reason.”
“He’s riding with the Princess this afternoon. All of this royal hoopla is keeping him from being himself.” The concern in Hyden’s voice betrayed how deep his friendship with Mikahl had become. “He wants to go with us more than you could imagine.”
“He’s the High King. All he has to do, is what he wants to do.” Brady scrunched his face up in confusion. “Besides all of that, who’d rather go sailing after pirate treasure with a bunch of louts than ride with Princess Rosa?”
Brady pulled his chin in and gnashed his teeth together in a regretful cringe when he realized he had just called Sir Hyden Hawk Skyler a lout. But to his surprise Hyden was grinning at him.
“You’ll do just fine, Brady,” Hyden spoke his thoughts aloud. “And it takes a lout to know one.”
Phen was waiting in the tower study when Hyden came down the next morning. “I can go!” The boy yelped excitedly. At his feet lay a big burlap sack full of his personal belongings and his extra robe. “When do we leave? What should I bring? What texts are we taking? Master Sholt said that I have to keep tutoring you, so I know we should at least bring three or four books. How about Tales of the Sea? How long do you think we will be gone?” All of Phen’s questions were asked with one breath. Hyden chuckled as the boy inhaled deeply. He was about to begin again when Hyden stopped him with a question of his own.
“What did you learn about the Silver Skull?”
Phen looked at him with a perplexed expression for a moment. “How do you know that I know anything about the skull?” Phen asked.
“I am a great wizard,” Hyden said sarcastically. “How else?”
“I’m starting to see what Master Amill meant when he said that you were a natural,” said Phen with a shake of his head. “Without even casting a spell you got me to scour the books for you.”
“You’re just extra curious, Phen.”
“I am, but you made Princess Rosa fall in love with the High King yesterday afternoon when you tricked the two of them. At least that’s what the gossipers about the castle are saying.”
“I just gave her a little more to think about is all. Not much more, I assure you. Besides, I had to get him back for that Yule gift he gave me.”
“He said it wasn’t him,” Phen said.
“Just… He and I are even for the moment, and that’s that. Now tell me about the skull.”
“The Silver Skull of Zorellin is the artifact’s proper name,” Phen started. “I only found one listing about it in the Great Tome of artifacts. Darin wrote that the skull could be used to speak with the dead, the undead, and some of the more intelligent demons. But,” Phen strode over to the table and pointed at the exposed page of the topmost text lying there, “In Dahg Mahn’s untitled journal, the one that speaks about the Seal and other things relating to demon kind, it said that the Silver Skull of Zorellin can be used to transport items, and people, to and from the Nethers.”
“Does it say how?”
“Wait, Hyden, I’m not done,” Phen’s voice was sharper than he intended it to be, but he didn’t stutter or stop his lecture. “In a book called Zorellin, that I got from the master’s library last night while all of you were at the feast, I found a bit… Hold on.” Phen went to his bag, rummaged through it a moment then came up beaming. In his hand was an ancient text. He held it up as if it were a great prize, which in this case, it was.
“In here,” Phen tapped the cover of the book. “It tells how the wizard Zorellin made the skull, and how he used it to enslave the demon of Krass, who he eventually used it to kill King Baffawn the Bloodthirsty for the good of all mankind.”
“Very good, Phen,” Hyden said. “Now the masters have loaned us the very book that gives away what it is we are really after.”
“No, I sort of borrowed it,” Phen smiled. “You know, just until we get back. I left the Index of Known Forest Animals in its place. They’ll never know.”
“That was my favorite,” Hyden said.
“Aye,” Phen said, emulating Hyden’s response to almost everything. “But I also have in my sack The Index of Known Marine Creatures. I figured that, since we’re going on a ship, you’d want us to have it handy.”
“See, Phen, that’s exactly why you’re going with us.” Hyden put his arm across the growing boy’s shoulders in a brotherly fashion. “Have your masters freed you of all your other duties yet?”
“I’m yours to command, Sir Hyden Hawk,” Phen stepped away and bowed with a flourish and a grin. Only the excitement he had felt when the late Master Targon and Queen Willa had plucked him from the orphanage in Xwarda City and made him an apprentice could compare to the level of exhilaration he was feeling now.
“Good,” Hyden said. “I want you to use some of that energy to go find Brady Culvert at the East Gate Barracks, and also Dugak’s nephew-I can’t ever seem to remember his name. It’s…It’s-”
“Oarly,” Phen remembered.
“Yes, Oarly. I want you to tell the two of them to meet us at the Golden Griffin tonight at dark fall.” Hyden was starting to get excited as well. “Tell them that the meeting is mandatory, but the food and drinks are on me.”
“Aye,” Phen called as he tore out of the tower room to find them.