“You have that human pet, right? The girl? She was there tonight. She’s beautiful.”
“You have me confused with someone else, friend,” Vendevorex said.
“Right,” said Cron, wiping his mouth and digging through the bag’s contents in search of more food. His eyes lit up as he pulled out a hard-boiled egg. “What I want to know is what a person has to do to get to be a dragon’s pet. It seems like a pretty soft life.”
“I don’t believe the girl you speak of is a pet,” Vendevorex said.
“She was dressed like a dragon, all those feathers,” said Cron. “What I’m wondering is, is there, you know, sex involved? Do dragons find humans attractive? I know some girls get hot over dragons. I have a sister who-”
Vendevorex bristled at the speculation, but there was no time to correct this fool’s uninformed opinions. He interrupted Cron, saying, “You must return to the river with all haste. Can you find the place where you witnessed Bodiel drop from the sky?”
“Yes,” said Cron, spitting out a fleck of eggshell. “I thought I was a goner. Why didn’t he chase me?”
“You… didn’t witness what happened, then?”
“I turned and ran the second I saw him,” Cron said. “What happened? And why are you helping me?”
“What happened isn’t important,” said Vendevorex. “Just know that I’m someone who has no patience for needless death. Your lot in life has been a cruel one, Cron. There’s little I can do to change it. Return to the river. The area is abandoned. The king’s party is miles away by now. When you arrive, you’ll find a small boat and, if my luck holds, you may also find Tulk waiting for you. Take the boat and go as far downriver as you can before morning. If you reach the town of Hopewell, seek the advice of a man known as Stench. He’ll give you shelter for a day or two. This is all I can do for you.”
“I know old Stench,” Cron said. “Thought he’d be dead by now.”
Vendevorex didn’t answer. He’d done what his conscience demanded and he could risk no more. He crept away silently. He had little time left to find Tulk.
IT WAS EARLY morning when Vendevorex returned to the palace. He was exhausted, having flown a score of miles that night, following Tulk and Cron from above as they paddled downriver in their canoe, making sure they avoided immediate capture. When at dawn they had put the canoe to shore as he’d advised and disappeared under the canopy of the forest, he felt he had done all he could.
Returning to his chambers, Vendevorex went to Jandra’s room. He sighed when he found she wasn’t there. In truth, it wasn’t a surprise that she’d defied his orders to stay put. He knew where to find her.
Invisibly, he flew outside the palace walls to a row of wooden shacks that lined the base of the palace. These were the quarters of the human servants who labored within the palace: the cooks and chambermaids, the workmen and washerwomen who dwelled meekly among the dragons. Vendevorex landed on the muddy pathway that wound among the shacks, wrinkling his nose. The shantytown smelled of rotting garbage and excrement. Within the palace an elaborate and ancient system of aqueducts and pipes carried fresh water to all corners of the edifice, and flushed away waste. Here, open, stinking ditches served the same purpose. Filthy children in rags played in the muck, laughing, seemingly unaware of their squalor.
Perhaps the king was right to regard humans as a lower race than dragons. Vendevorex shook his head to chase away the thought. The humans didn’t live like this by choice. If a man were ever to try to live with the wealth and comfort of a dragon, Albekizan’s tax collectors would simply come and take it away. Humans lived in squalor because this was all Albekizan would allow.
As he walked unseen past the hovels, he heard at last the familiar sound of Jandra’s voice. He turned a corner to find her talking with Ruth and Mary, two of the palace kitchen maids. Ruth and Mary, by his estimate, were in their mid-twenties, but their hard lives made them seem middle-aged. Fifteen years ago, when Jandra had first come into his life, he’d turned to Ruth and Mary’s mother for advice in raising a human child. Their mother had passed away some years ago from disease, but Ruth and Mary maintained a friendship with Jandra to this day. Jandra would frequently steal away to gossip with them.
And this morning… such gossip.
“Is it true that Bodiel is dead?” Ruth whispered.
“I hear that Cron killed him,” Mary said. “He had a bow and arrow hidden in the woods.”
“All I know is what I saw,” said Jandra. “In the midst of the storm, Bodiel vanished. Albekizan and Shandrazel chased after him. Then Vendevorex rushed me back to my chambers before I could see anything else. He told me to wait for him then disappeared. I tried to get some sleep but couldn’t. I kept hearing shouts all throughout the palace.”
“They were making quite a ruckus,” said Ruth.
“Some soldiers came by looking for Vendevorex about an hour ago,” Jandra continued. “I hid from them and overheard that the king wanted Vendevorex to come to the war room. I figured that if Vendevorex is going to be tied up, I had a chance to come see you two.”
“If Cron did kill Bodiel, it will be horrible for his family,” said Mary. “The king will have them all killed.”
“But it won’t be their fault,” said Jandra.
“Do you think that matters to Albekizan? I’ve heard that in villages where they can’t pay the tax, he takes the babies and devours them as their parents watch.”
“That’s nonsense. The king isn’t… isn’t cruel or unjust,” said Jandra, not sounding at all like she believed it.
“What would you know?” said Ruth, bitterness in her voice. “You live sheltered by the wizard. You don’t know what the world is really like.”
“Don’t be mean,” said Mary. “It isn’t Jandra’s fault that she’s the wizard’s pet.”
“I’m not his pet,” Jandra said. “I’m his apprentice.”
“Either way, he whistles and you come,” said Ruth.
“If I obeyed him always, I wouldn’t be here,” said Jandra. “I don’t do everything the old goat says.”
Vendevorex decided he’d heard enough. With a thought he allowed his aura of invisibility to fall away, revealing himself behind Jandra.
Ruth turned pale. Mary turned a bright shade of pink.
“What?” said Jandra.
The two women didn’t speak.
“What?” Jandra asked. “Is… is he…?”
“Baaaa,” bleated Vendevorex.
Jandra whirled around. “Ven!”
“You will return to our chambers at once,” said Vendevorex. “I have an important homework assignment for you. You’re not to leave until you finish it.”
Jandra swallowed hard and nodded.
“Don’t be mean to her, please,” said Mary, quietly. “She only came for a little visit.”
Vendevorex didn’t acknowledge her. He grabbed Jandra by the wrist and dragged her away.
“This is a dangerous morning to be defying me, Jandra,” he grumbled. “I can confirm one rumor: Bodiel is dead.”
“Then Cron…?”
“Not Cron. Bitterwood.”
“B-but Bitterwood is only a myth, you said. A boogeyman dragons use to frighten their young.”
“Perhaps there is a man behind the myth after all,” said Vendevorex. “With any luck, Zanzeroth has Bitterwood’s corpse displayed in the war room right now, and that will be the end of this affair.”
As they reached the edge of the shantytown, Vendevorex released his grasp on Jandra’s arm. She rubbed the area he’d held.
“Go back to our chambers. Go to the third bookshelf, the biology texts, you know the ones?”
“I think so. Yes.”
“There is a book concerning the alchemical properties of sea mollusks. Don’t leave the chambers until you memorize it.”
“What? Why?”
“There will be a test,” Vendevorex said.
“But-”
“Go!” said Vendevorex. “Time is of the essence.”
