Hatch (The Dragons Of Laton) (60 page)

He backtracked down the stairs and opened the prison hall door and slipped inside. Once they passed, he’d slip out the servant’s door and make his way out of the palace.

A woman’s voice screeched from one of the cells loudly. “I hear you! Who’s out there! Help me! I ORDER you to help me!”

Tirate’s head snapped around. If he didn’t silence her everyone in the hallway would come running! He drew his sword, picked the keys up from the guards desk and hurried to the only cell door that was closed. He quickly unlocked the door, drew back his sword…and stopped. Liah stood just inside, blood trickling from her broken nose.

He would have killed her instantly, but his curiosity of how she came to be in the prison with a broken nose was too much to resist. “Quiet!” he hissed. “What happened to you?”

Liah held her head high and tried to sniff regally, but it only made her wince. “That horrid, horrid woman broke my nose! I should have killed her the moment the guards brought her here from the tunnel!”

Tirate’s suddenly felt his temple begin to throb. “What woman?”

Oblivious to Tirate’s glare, Liah continued. “Oh you were too busy to talk to me about it. She told me she was Ammon’s wife, and a queen! Imagine that, HA! Even wore that ridiculous gold ring with the dragon on it that Ammon had. She said she and Ammon ruled over some place called DoTaria, with a thousand dragons that breathe fire, or some such nonsense. Even I know dragons can’t do that, so I figured she must have been crazy. She even said
Gaul is just a tiny colony of that DoTarian kingdom.”

Tirate’s ears began to ring wildly and he could no longer hear the woman rambling. This so called queen was sitting in a cell directly under his feet and he didn’t know? The key to holding off any attack or invasion and she didn’t bother to tell him? “Where is she now?” He growled.

Liah suddenly seemed aware of the sword hovering near her throat. Swallowing hard, she motioned out the door. “That awful gold colored dragon came in while I was…questioning…her, and he knocked me down, then she broke my nose! All the guards were gone and I’ve been locked in here ever since! Why is your face so red?”

Tirate slowly raised his sword again. This woman had already proved more trouble than she was ever worth. Liah began to squeal loudly.

He lowered the sword quickly. “Be quiet I say!” If they heard her in the hallway, it would draw the unwanted attention of that dragon, and no matter how skilled with a sword, he didn’t think he could kill the miserable woman before she screamed.

Liah began to sob. “I’ll scream! Everyone in the city will hear me scream I swear! Just let me go and you won’t have to worry!”

Tirate sheathed his sword. Of all the women in the world he could have married, this was certainly not his best choice. “Alright. Come with me, quickly. Don’t make a sound…or else.”

Stifling a sob, Liah nodded and followed him out of the prison and down through the servants quarters. At the end of the hallway he opened the door slightly and could see the yard was filled with small dragons fighting with the last of the guard that stayed behind. That miserable golden dragon was flying around, slowly ripping his forces apart. Escape through the courtyard was impossible, and it was just a matter of time before the rest of the guard were killed or surrendered.

He rubbed the scar on his chin and grinned. Perhaps he could at least inflict a little damage. He spun on his heel and climbed the stairs to the royal chambers. Mounted just inside the window was one of the large crossbows. From here, he could shoot almost anything in or above the courtyard. When he found his intended target he scowled. He could just barely see Ammon over the top of the parapet. If the boy had been a foot taller he could get a clear shot.

A moment later his scowl turned to a smile. The boy was fighting for his life against the best swordsman in his army. He leaned forward to watch the fight unfold although the walls obscured most of it. When Ammon was pinned against the wall and Devan raised his sword for the killing blow, he felt every muscle in his body tighten with exhilaration. It quickly turned to disbelief when a large black dragon swooped down from the sky and plucked Devan up in its claws. That accursed boy had wormed his way out of death again!

He snarled and once more aimed the crossbow at the boy, but still couldn’t get a good shot and he was running out of time. His eyes followed the dragon as it started climbing into the air. At least he could kill one more of the beasts before making his escape! He swung the bow around, aimed and fired. The shaft streaked through the air and found its mark with deadly accuracy.

He almost shouted in elation but Liah’s whining voice distracted him. “You idiot! They saw you! They’ll be up here before we can get to the streets!”

Already several knights were pointing towards his window. He scooped up his bag and ran from the chambers with Liah whimpering behind him. When he reached the lower hallway, he stopped in front of one door and thought for a moment. Grimly, he opened it up and reeled back from the stench. This door led to a small stream that ran beneath the city used to carry away all the waste and refuse. It had to flow somewhere outside the city walls. He grabbed a torch from the wall, shoved Liah down the stairs and closed the door behind them.

Liah stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared in horror at the muck rising past the ankles of her silk slippers. “You can’t possibly expect me to wallow through this like a common pig?”

He shoved her aside waded into the knee deep water without saying a word. As Liah tried to follow her feet stuck in the muck and she fell face first into the dark, foul smelling mud.

She shrieked and spat dirt out of her mouth. “Wait! Tirate, you can’t leave me here!” She desperately scrambled to her feet and hurried after him while trying to wipe the black sludge off her velvet and silk clothes.

An hour later the two crawled out of a small hole on their bellies and into the sunshine. The underground sewer emptied out into a swamp not far from the bridge. Tirate looked at the broken hilt of his sword and tossed it into the mud. He had used it to pry back the rusted iron bars that covered the exit into the swamp. Wordlessly he trudged up towards the bridge.

Liah followed closely behind, a steady stream of complaints spilling from her lips. “I think I lost a slipper, but I can’t tell through the layers of…whatever this is! Oh, I think I’m going to be sick…Tirate! Help me!”

He ignored her as they crossed the bridge and walked quickly down the road towards the south.

***

It was well past sunset when four darkly tanned and shirtless men with odd tattoos on their faces stepped out of the woods in front of them. Tirate threw his hand in front of his chest, palm up and fingers spread wide. “Bring me to Grody. Tell him his friend Tirate has come to see him.”

The men eyed each other wordlessly and one of them pointed into the woods with the tip of his spear. Tirate walked into the woods and jerked his thumb at Liah. “Tell Grody I’ve brought him a gift.”

The tattooed man smiled, revealing blackened and missing teeth. He grabbed Liah’s arm and pushed her deeper into the woods.

Liah tried to wrest her arm away and screamed. “No! You can’t do this to me! I’m a queen! You can’t do this to ME!”

***

It was late summer in DoTaria and the night of the new moon. Ammon sat at a table in the corner with Derek and looked down into the Nest. Unlike the Hatches in
Gaul, DoTaria actually invited guests to attend. He stared into the bottom of his empty mug and frowned. Only nine months had passed since they had passed over the mountains and fought to retake Gaul. Nine months of exhaustive searches and still Tirate was no where to be found. Erik now ruled over the city just as he had before, only with a new title of Governor under King Ammon. The people of Gaul had been reluctant to accept a new King, and keeping Erik in power made the transition easier.

He pushed the empty cup away along with his thoughts. Tonight was for celebrating, and he intended to enjoy it thoroughly. Boris eased himself into a chair at the table, and Derek offered one of his monstrous sized cups of the strong black liquid and Boris accepted it gratefully.

Ammon waited until after he’d taken a long sip. “Boris, where are Stalwart and Theo tonight? I wouldn’t have thought they’d miss a Hatch this big. After all, this will be the first full Hatch DoTaria has had in decades!”

Boris blew at the steam wafting out of his mug and nodded. “Aye, they would have liked to attend but with the Kala-Azar so active lately, both here and in
Gaul, we decided it would be best to have patrols out watching for the little beasties. Besides, I doubt Theo would ever leave Ebony alone when the slugs are active.”

Disappointed, Ammon sighed. He certainly understood why Theo would stay with his dragon. Although El and Tashira had done everything they could to heal Ebony’s injuries, she would never fly again and that left her vulnerable to the Kala-Azar. As if that wasn’t bad enough, somehow the slugs had found a way into
Gaul and seemed to be increasing in numbers.

He looked across the room at the Nest filled with eggs and smiled. “Derek, you’ve done a wonderful job here as both keeper and tender. Are you sure you wouldn’t reconsider overseeing the Nest in
Gaul as well?”

The big man shook his head, waving his white beard back and forth. “No. I don’t want to leave Lily here without me. She can’t go with me because she has to have schooling.”

The little girl lay stretched out on a chair beside him, half-asleep. She smiled up at him and mumbled, “I wanna be with you poppa!”

His big hand ruffled her hair. “You oughta be asleep, it’s late.”

She yawned and rubbed her eyes. “But I wanna see the baby dragons!”

Ammon shook his head and laughed. The girl had Derek wrapped around her little finger.

The door opened and El entered the Nest. With a smile she waddled to a seat beside Ammon and eased herself down gingerly. Concerned, he placed his arm around her. “El, shouldn’t you be in bed? The birthwife will have a fit if she finds out you’re up here!”

El smiled and patted her swollen belly. “Ha! Who could sleep in this heat? I seriously doubt I’d get any sleep anyway, at least not until after the baby is born.”

Boris chuckled and ran a thick finger across his gray moustache. “So have you decided on a name yet? I think Boris would be a fine name for a boy!” After a stern look from El he continued by clearing his throat. “Or perhaps Mabel if it’s a girl, of course.”

Derek raised an eyebrow for a moment and slowly asked. “What if you have both a boy and a girl?”

Boris roared with laughter, and El playfully slapped his shoulder. “If it’s both, then Ammon can name them. He’ll have plenty of time to think on it because he’ll be taking care of them all night while I sleep.”

Before Ammon could object, the door opened again and Fulgid sauntered in. The lanterns reflected off his scales, sending glittering spots dancing around the room. He hopped up on the table and sniffed at the empty mugs.

Derek grinned and reached over to scratch behind the dragon’s ears. “Hi Fulgid! You come to see the Hatch too?”

Ammon yawned and stretched. “It should be any moment now, those knights better be ready!”

Fulgid moved to the side of the Nest and lay down against the wall, and Ammon and El followed to get a better view.