Jane Lindskold - Firekeeper Saga 3 - The Dragon of Despair

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THE DRAGON OF DESPAIR

Firekeeper Saga Book 3

By

Jane Lindskold

Contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXV

Chapter XXVI

Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXIX

Chapter XXX

Chapter XXXI

Chapter XXXII

Chapter XXXIII

Chapter XXXIV

Chapter XXXV

Chapter XXXVI

Chapter XXXVII

Chapter XXXVIII

Chapter XXXIX

Chapter XL

Chapter XLI

Glossary of Characters

THE DRAGON OF DESPAIR

TOR BOOKS BY JANE LINDSKOLD

THROUGH WOLF'S EYES

WOLF'S HEAD, WOLF'S HEART

THE DRAGON OF DESPAIR

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are

used fictitiously.

THE DRAGON OF DESPAIR

Edited by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Map by Mark Stein based on an original drawing by James Moore

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 0-765-30259-4

First Edition: August 2003

Printed in the United States of America

For Jim,

with love, appreciation,

and a whole lot more

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As always, there are many people to whom I owe my thanks for their contributions to the development

of this novel. Informally, Jim Moore, Yvonne Coats, Phyllis White, and Linnea Dodson took the time to

read the manuscript and provide feedback. Kennard "the mad scientist" Wilson applied his sense of

precision to various discrepancies in the glossary. I also appreciated the flood of comments from those

readers who let me know what they thought about the story that came before this book.

More formally, my agent, Kay McCauley, remained the bedrock on which I stood. Various folks at Tor

Books, including Tom Doherty, Fred Herman, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, and Teresa Nielsen Hayden,

provided cogent thought, valuable assistance, and genuine enthusiasm for the unwinding of Firekeeper's

story.

Special thanks go to Leyton Cougar and Candy Kitchen Wolf Rescue. They took time out of a very busy

weekend to give Yvonne Coats (the world's most patient photographer) and me the opportunity to meet

with Raven, their wolf ambassador. You can see some of the pictures from our meeting on my Web site,

janelindskold.com, and also learn about the valuable work Candy Kitchen is doing to help save former

"pet" wolves from being destroyed.

Extra special thanks go to Raven. Thanks to him, I know firsthand what it's like to be greeted

wolf-fashion. It's a pretty extraordinary experience.

BOOK

ONE

Chapter I

BURNING A TRAIL THROUGH THE SKY, the comet was brighter than any single star, almost

brighter than the moon. Certainly, it appeared more purposeful.

There was no doubt about the purposefulness of the young woman who sat watching the comet from

atop one of the smooth stone outcroppings that erupted here and there through the forest floor like

whales frozen in the act of breaching. Her arms were wrapped around her bent knees so that she made a

single form, almost like a rock herself, but unlike the rocks her gaze was fixed on the light in the sky.

To Firekeeper, who knew the stars through all their shifting annual panorama as a city-born woman

would know the streets around her own house, the comet was a source of unending fascination and not a

little uneasiness. She didn't like either feeling one bit.

Night after night, she found herself drawn to some dark, quiet place where she could watch the comet, as

if by watching it she could keep the heavens from doing something else unpredictable. Although the

spring nights were yet chilly and damp here in the Norwood Grant at the northwestern edge of the

Kingdom of Hawk Haven, Firekeeper didn't find them uncomfortable. She'd lived unprotected through

much harsher weather.

Blind Seer, her closest friend, often sat with Firekeeper on these vigils, though the wolf didn't really

understand the woman's fascination.

"J light in the sky" Blind Seer grumbled on this night as on so many others. "That's all it is. Come and

run with me. We could terrify the deer."

Firekeeper uncoiled herself sufficiently to swat the wolf lightly across the bridge of his long nose.

"Let them raise their fawns in peace," she said, "so there will be food for the year to come. Surely

you haven't fallen so low that you must hunt sucklings and their mothers."

"I was more thinking of the young bucks, spring mad in the pride of their new antlers. They need

humbling."

Her eyes never leaving the fat white comet with its glowing tail, Firekeeper answered, "And you a Royal

Wolf, greatest of the great, are setting yourself the task of improving Cousin-kind? Our parents

would be ashamed."

Their argument was interrupted by the sound of feet steadily advancing along the forest trail. Neither wolf

nor woman moved, for the tread was as familiar to them as the tall red-haired youth who appeared

around a bend in the trail a moment later.

"I thought I'd find you out here," Derian Carter said, greeting them with a casual wave of the hand that

was not occupied balancing a tin-screened candle lantern. "Watching the comet again? I promise you, it

won't go anywhere."

"Elation tell you where I am," Firekeeper replied, knowing this must be so. She had many places from

which she watched the comet. Animal wariness kept her from frequenting any one place too often.

Elation, however, could have easily found her.

The peregrine falcon had taken a liking to Derian. Although Elation could not talk to Derian as she could

to Firekeeper, she had found ways of making him understand simple things. Derian, in turn, simplified

matters greatly by accepting, as most of Firekeeper's human acquaintances still did not, that the bird was

as intelligent as most humans.

"Elation might have," Derian admitted before changing the subject. "There's news from across the White

Water River. A single courier made the crossing late this afternoon. He came to Duchess Kestrel, figuring

she'd pay well to know the last several months' gossip from New Kelvin."

Firekeeper was interested in spite of her initial pique at having her vigil interrupted.

"From New Kelvin?"

The neighboring country was separated from Hawk Haven by a river broad and rocky enough to be

difficult to cross even in the best weather. Once snowmelt had swelled the river, the two nations had

been effectively cut off for better than a moonspan. Only lately had the river begun to ebb, though many

days would pass before normal commerce resumed.

Derian nodded.

"And from how both the duchess and the earl remained closeted with the courier through dinner, the

courier had news worth the tokens the duchess has ordered drawn from the Norwood Grant treasury."

"And what did the courier say?" Firekeeper prompted, almost, but not quite, forgetting the comet.

"I don't know," Derian replied, "but we have been requested to meet with Duchess Kestrel and her son

as soon as possible. Can you leave your comet unwatched?"

Firekeeper gave him a slight smile, though she knew Derian could not see it in the darkness.

"I can."

A group OF seven was to meet in Duchess Kestrel's studyùeight, if you counted Blind Seer, which

Firekeeper most certainly did. As she waited for the rest to assemble and stop their idle chatter, the

wolf-woman studied her surroundings, automatically noting exits and defensible corners.

This was a room Firekeeper had visited only once before. Unlike the nearby chamber claimed by her son

for a similar purpose, the duchess's study was light and uncluttered, its furniture crafted from pale woods

rubbed to a high polish and scented with beeswax. The stone-flagged floors were covered in jewel-toned

New Kelvinese carpets that seemed to glow in the lamplight. The broad, south-facing windows were

curtained in heavy brocade woven in shades of soft golden brown and beige.

In her younger days, Saedee Norwood, Duchess Kestrel, had been a warrior who had won her spurs in

a particularly nasty border skirmish with Bright Bay. There was a statue in the garden commemorating

those deeds. It depicted a slim-hipped young woman brandishing a sword, an arrogant tilt to her proud

head.

But those battles had been long ago. The only trace remaining of that woman was the selfsame sword

hanging on the wall behind the desk where the duchess daily dealt with the business of running the large

land grant that she had inherited from her father. Bearing childrenùtwo of whom had survived to

adulthoodùhad spread Saedee Norwood's once slim form. Bearing the responsibilities of her position had

graven lines in her face.

J

Yet, Firekeeper thought as she watched the duchess greet those she had summoned, perhaps not all

traces of that young warrior had vanished. The arrogant lift of the duchess's head was much the same,

though tempered with a restraint that might have been alien to her younger self.

There was a similar arrogance in the bearing of the duchess's son and heir, Norvin. Earl Kestrel was a

small manùindeed, his mother was tallerùand maybe some of his apparent arrogance came from refusing

to be seen as weak in a world where strength and size were usually equated.

Firekeeper knew the earl fairly well. It had been he who had led the expedition she had accompanied out

of the western wilderness. Initially, she had thought Norvin Norwood taken up with nothing but his own

advancement. Later, she had come to realize thatùinterested as Norvin was in promoting his own good

and that of his familyùhe was also a commander whose troops respected him, a master whose vassals

found him fair, and a parent who, though dictatorial at times, strove not to smother his children.

In the eyes of the human world, Firekeeper was one of those childrenùadopted by the earl soon after his

return from the west. Firekeeper did not think of the earl as her fatherùthat place in her heart belonged to

the wolves who had raised herùnor did she particularly think of the earl's four children as her siblings.

One of these, however, Norvin Norwood's eldest son and heir, had earned the wolf-woman's mingled

affection and exasperation.

Edlin Norwood entered the room even as Firekeeper thought of him, his breezy friendliness a decided

contrast to his father's and grandmother's studied restraint. Nor did he particularly resemble them, lacking

their prominent hawk-like nose. Edlin did share his father's dark hairùthough the earl's mixed silver with

the jetty blackùand the earl's pale grey eyes. Still, no one watching Edlin as he bobbed a quick bow to

his grandmother and then collapsed bonelessly into a comfortable chair would have taken him for his

father's son.

But Firekeeper respected Edlin. He had been with her and Derian in New Kelvin early in the winter just

past and had proven that there was more to him than met casual inspection. However, if Edlin's deeds in

New Kelvin had earned Firekeeper's respect, they did nothing to reduce her frustration with him. Soon

after Firekeeper had arrived at the Norwood Grant the previous autumn, Edlin had taken a very

unbrotherly fancy to her. He'd evenùso Firekeeper had heard rumoredùtold his father he wished to marry

her.

The earl had refused without even consulting Firekeeperùthough his decision proved much to

Firekeeper's reliefùbut his father's refusal hadn't ended the matter for Edlin. Often he would watch

Firekeeper, sometimes covertly, more often forgetting himself and gaping with slightly open-mouthed

admiration.

Why Edlin fancied her Firekeeper hadn't the least idea. In a society where women were admired for

social grace and eleganceùeven those who, like Saedee Norwood or Crown Princess Sapphire, had won

honor on the battlefieldùFirekeeper possessed neither. She donned long gowns, jewels, and other such

finery only under duress. Rather than displaying herself to her best advantage on some couch or

embroidered chair, she preferred sitting as she was now, on the floor, her arm flung around Blind Seer,

her short hair tousled from wind and weather.

Fortunately for Firekeeper, Saedee Norwood had forbidden anyoneùeven her sonùto force Firekeeper

to change her ways too drastically. As long as Firekeeper would gown when necessary, used proper

utensils when dining at table, and remembered not to bolt her food, the duchess claimed herself content.

Firekeeper, in turn, sought to please the duchess, preferring to offer evidence of her willingness to learn

human ways on her own, rather than having those ways forced upon her.

Such attempts to please were not alien to Firekeeper's nature. Wolves always submit before those who

have power over them. To them this is an expression of respect, not a humiliation. Saedee Norwood did

not ask for belly-pissing cringing, only the human equivalent of a jaw-licking tail wag.

Moreover, like her son, Saedee Norwood had proven herself worthy of Firekeeper's respect. The

wolf-woman had observed how the duchess enforced the right of individual decision not only for

Firekeeper, but for other members of her household as well. At a time when a hundred years of fairly

stable government was bequeathing social ritual and restraint as its gift to the younger generation, Saedee

was old enough to remember when this had not been soùand wise enough to sacrifice the benefits she

could have garnered from a calcifying social order for the greater benefits gained from a vital and active

family.

Thus Saedee had made her son, Norvin, her partner in running the Norwood Grant at a time when

several of her contemporaries were struggling to maintain a firm hold over their growing households.

Equally, she used her authority over her son to keep him from rebuking Edlin too severely for the young

man's own idiosyncratic style.

But then, as Firekeeper had learned from Wendee Jay, the Kestrel retainer who served as the

wolf-woman's personal attendant, Saedee Norwood herself was an unconventional woman. No one

knew who had been the father of her childrenùNorvin, Eirene, and several others who had not survived

beyond infancy. Saedee had not only kept this information to herselfùshe had also refused to marry, even

when offered advantageous alliances for her house.

Firekeeper stretched, wondering just a little about the pedigree of this human family with whom she found

herself allied.

Edlin's arrival brought the gathering's number to six. Derian had arrived with Firekeeper and Blind Seer,

and both duchess and earl had already been present. Now a slight rap on the door announced the last

arrival.

Grateful Peace was a slender and elegant man, almost effete to Firekeeper's way of seeing things. His

hairline had receded so far back that he was nearly bald. What hair he retained was bone white. His

facial features were startlingùadorned as they were with the bluish green lines of several tattoos.

Spectacles perched on the bridge of his thin nose and gave him a round-eyed appearance at odds with

his air of quiet watchfulness.

He had come from New Kelvin the previous year, self-exiled for choosing to act against the policies of

the government he had served for the previous decade and a half.

A solid hit from a crossbow bolt had forced the amputation of Grateful Peace's right arm. While he

recuperated, he had wintered at the Surcliffe family vineyards east of Duchess Kestrel's holding.

However, when the snowmelt had begun, Duchess Kestrel had invited Peace to join herself and her

family at their residenceùdeliberately waiting to offer her invitation until the White Water River was so

swollen that there would be no easy commerce between the Norwood Grant and New Kelvin for at least

a moonspan. Grateful Peace was an outcast from his homeland, and no one doubted that there was a

price on his life.

Nor, Firekeeper thought, would Peace be easy to hide. Even though he has stopped painting his

face, nothing can hide the tattoos. Though he styles his hair more as men wear it here, still his

very bearing and manner of standing is different. He walks awkwardly in trousers, as if his legs

still need to feel the touch of robes to know when to break his stride.

Duchess Kestrel did not keep them waiting long after Grateful Peace had taken his seat.

"I assume that all of you have already heard about the courier who arrived today. 'Courier' may be too

polite a term," she added with wry smile. "However, it will do.

"One item of his news was rather shocking," the duchess continued. "Before I reveal it, I must ask that

you not speak of it to anyone other than those gathered here. I have chosen to reveal it to you because I

would like your advice regarding what course of action I should take."

Nods around the semicircle facing the duchess's desk confirmed the willingness of the gathered to keep

her confidence. When Firekeeper realized that this was no general gossip sessionùas she had first

imagined when Derian had spoken to her out on the groundsùshe wondered why Duchess Kestrel had

wanted her here.

Duchess Kestrel did not offer to answer this unspoken question, only accepted their unspoken promises

of silence with a nod of her own.

"Very well," she said with a slight, involuntary sigh. "Melina, once of House Gyrfalcon, has married. Her

new spouse is the Healed One, the hereditary monarch of New Kelvin."

Saedee Norwood declaimed these words as if she expected them to cause a sensation, nor was she

disappointed. After a moment of shocked silence, there was a tumult of questions and expressions of

dismay. Firekeeper believed that she herself had kept silent, but after a moment she realized that the

rumbling growl she heard was coming from her own throat.

No wonder. If there was a human Firekeeper hated and despised, it was Lady Melina Shield. She had

trouble thinking of the woman by another name, although Lady Melina had been disowned and exiled

and so lost both title and right to her House name. Melina had tricked and used Firekeeperùa thing for

which the wolf-woman blamed herself as much as she blamed Melina, though this realization made her

feel no less bitter.

Earl Kestrel had raised a hand to still the babble and, with a glance at his mother, took it upon himself to

answer some of the questions.

"First," he said, his tones clipped, "we are certain that this information is correct. The courier came

originally from Dragon's Breath, the capital city of New Kelvin, where the information is, apparently, not

common knowledge. However, he has a sister working within one of the Earth Spires and she gave him

the news."

Grateful Peace interjected a comment of his own before the earl could continue.

"Keeping such a marriage secret would be less difficult than you of Hawk Haven might imagine," he said,

his Pellish excellent but flavored with a melodious accent, rather as if he expected the words to have

more syllables than they did. "The Healed One is a semi-sacred person. He appears in public rarely and

his affairs are not for common gossip."

"Thank you," Duchess Kestrel said. "You have anticipated one of my own questions. I had wondered

how such information could be kept from the people. Certainly servants, at least, would gossip."

"The secret could not be kept perpetually," Peace replied, "but for a few months, perhaps while the

Healed One assured himself of support from the Dragon Speaker and some key thaumaturges, for that

time it could be kept quietùa thing rumored, but not confirmed. Many of the servants in Thendulla

Lypella"ùhe used the New Kelvinese name for the Earth Spires, the towering buildings that held the New

Kelvinese governmentù"are slaves and never leave the property. However, as this courier of yours has

shown, even slaves have contacts outside of the walls."

After making certain that Grateful Peace had finished, Earl Kestrel continued his discourse.

"Not only are we certain that the news is genuine," he said, "we are fairly certain that we are the first

Great House to receive the information. The White Water River remains quite swollen. The courier who

came to us risked his life in his hope of reward for being the first."

"As you all must realize," the duchess added, smoothly taking up her son's account, "this information

could have serious ramifications for our government."

"Our government?" asked Derian. "You mean for the king?"

Duchess Kestrel nodded. "A woman born of Hawk Haven's nobility has married a foreign monarch.

Moreover, Melina is from House Gyrfalcon, first among the Great Houses. Even more significantly,

Melina is the mother of one of King Tedric's heirs."

Firekeeper felt herself growling again. Crown Princess Sapphire was indeed Lady Melina's birth

daughter, though she had been cruelly used by her mother. Now it seemed that, despite the adoption that

should have taken Sapphire far out of her mother's reach, Melina was exercising power over her once

more.

Derian frowned, but Firekeeper thought that his concern was less for Sapphire than for King Tedric.

Since the autumn before, when King Tedric had honored him by making him one of his counselors,

Derian had developed a deep personal loyalty to the monarch of Hawk Haven.

"We will tell the king this news, won't we?" Derian asked.

"Certainly," Duchess Kestrel answered. "Only yesterday I had a packet of letters from Eagle's Nest. Not

one mentioned Melina's marriage, nor have the post-riders brought in any news. Therefore, we must act

on the assumption that the news has not yet reached the king."

"I say," Edlin said, straightening slightly. "Why would New Kelvin's king need to keep his wedding

secret?"

All eyes turned to Grateful Peace.

"A wedding to a foreigner," the former thaumaturge replied, "would most certainly need to be kept

secret, at least until the government decided how to present the matter to the public. As you may recall

from your visit to our land, we of New Kelvin entertain a somewhat inflated view of our worth in

comparison to that of other people."

"Right-o!" Edlin said, grinning. "Sorry. Overlooked that, don't you know."

Earl Kestrel shook his head, disapproving as always of his son's casual attitude. He himself, as

Firekeeper knew, would never admit forgetting somethingùat least as long as he could pretend otherwise.

"May I continue with the business at hand, Edlin?"

"I say!" Edlin said. "Of course you can, Father! I'd be the last to stop you."

Blind Seer was the only one to snigger aloud and only Firekeeper knew the wolf was laughing.

"This news has the potential," Norvin Norwood continued, "to have severe ramifications for our entire

kingdom. Princess Sapphire is new to her position. Her mother is feared. This strengthening of Melina's

position could greatly weaken the crown princess's support. Therefore, it is important that the news reach

the king and his heirs as quickly as possible. The more time they have to prepare, the more wisely will

they react."

His pale grey gaze came to rest on Firekeeper and for the first time she understood why she had been

included in this gathering.

"Firekeeper," the earl said, "do you think you could get Elationùthat peregrine of yoursùto carry a packet

to the king?"

Firekeeper stiffened. She had dreaded a request like this since the winter before when Elation had

deigned to carry a report to King Allister of Bright Bay. For hundreds of years, since before the Plague

that had sent the Old World rulers back across the sea and left their colonists to fend for themselves, the

Royal Beasts had sought to hide themselves from a humanity that had initially treated with them as friends

only to later attack them as enemies.

Her own emerging from across the Iron Mountains with Blind Seer and Elation had been the beginning of

the end to that secrecy. True, few knew that the tales that were now widely told were true, not merely a

minstrel's fancy, but among those who suspected the truth were some of the most powerful men and

women in Hawk Haven. They would not hesitate to use whatever tools they might if those tools would

stay a crisis.

"No," the wolf-woman replied bluntly. "I will not. Elation will not. The Royal Beasts are not your

servants, any more than King Tedric is their servant. Why not send a pigeon?"

Duchess Kestrel answered for Earl Kestrel, who was frozen with displeasure.

"There are three reasons that sending a pigeon would not be wise. First, it's a bad season for the birds as

the weather is very changeable. Second, we have only one bird left who will return to Eagle's Nest and,

by our contract with the king, we must keep one in case we need give warning of invasion. Third, this

information is too serious to trust to a potentially insecure courier."

Saedee Norwood smiled in a fashion that Firekeeper thought was more akin to a baring of teeth.

Jane Lindskold - Firekeeper Saga 3 - The Dragon of Despair

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