Page 31 of Golden Queen (Idrigard #1)

"I want to change Windemere when I take my throne," I admitted as the pale dragon's wings appeared once more in the sky.

"I want to rid the kingdom of the evil things that plague us—hunger and slavery and the class system—and the ridiculous laws that say I cannot rule in my own right because I am a woman. "

"Perhaps you could visit Darkwatch someday," Taiger said, grinning. "Take some notes on how to rule without stepping on the people, as even the king in Orin cannot always manage to do."

"That would be wonderful," I told him, but my heart sank as I heard the low and sonorous bellow of a horn sounding from somewhere to the west, followed by the loud clanging of the city bell.

They wouldn't allow me to ride out into the city, even as I was mounted on Etreyiu and stood at the gate of the inner fortress.

Baron Mandelian rode up to me.

I could see in his eyes that he regretted having to inform me that I could not go. "We do not yet know what danger has come to Albiyn. You should remain in the keep, in case it's more than just outlaws or a raiding party spoiling for a fight."

I knew he spoke the truth, but I did not like the feeling of impotence that ran down my spine as I dismounted and let the blonde-haired stable boy lead my horse back into the barn.

"Bryce," I called, suddenly.

The baron turned his striking blue eyes back to me. I thought his smooth brown skin looked a touch paler than it usually did.

"Take Etreyiu," I told him, motioning for the stable hand to return my Artaxian stallion.

"I could not," the baron said, holding up his hand with a look of surprise. But he quickly dismounted his horse and took Etreyiu's reins, likely remembering the way his horse had balked in the godsgrass before the dragons.

"He will carry you true, Bryce," I said, patting the huge white horse appreciatively.

I watched the baron trotting away across the courtyard, leading a regiment of Gold Guards, Windemere’s most elite soldiers.

Etreyiu's big, noble head was held high at the front of the column, his gait proud and spirited. It was as though he knew he was marching into battle and relished it.

Baron Mandelian looked even more handsome than usual as he sat straight and tall in the high saddle. His cloak, with its roaring godslion sigil, billowed out behind him, the silk dancing in the wind.

Just as he passed through the gate, I caught sight of his sword, the ancient golden blade of Lithaway that my father had given to my mother. It had come to the shores of Windemere with Edgeon, the First.

Not for the first time, I wondered what possessed my mother to gift the sword of Lithaway to the house of Mandel. And not for the first time, I decided that she had obviously found him worthy of such an honor.

His actions in council meetings had always been supportive, but it was impossible to know precisely where someone's loyalty lay, when the favor they gained with their support might be as much their goal as anything else.

Bryce Mandelian was a good man, though. He had proved it by trying to give me back the sword more times than I could count. But I had also come to learn something of his character when he brought his daughter to me, and I had learned of the Mandelians through her.

He was a good father and a loyal husband, as evidenced by the sweet, if excitable, young Franca, who had more than just a good head on her shoulders.

She had a brilliant mind, an empathetic nature, and she was more beautiful than she knew what to do with.

She was on the cusp of being devastatingly influential in Windemere.

I knew Bryce would make a fine chancellor, and I hoped the future he and I laid out together might guarantee that his daughter would someday be influential in Windemere for more than just her beauty.

I wanted her on my council, when she was older, of course, seated in the place Bryce would leave empty when he became the right hand of the queen.

I needed to prevent Franca from being married off to the Castering Royal Court, though, for that dream to be realized. And Bryce's wife had been angling for a match between her and one of the Castering princes since Franca had opened her big blue eyes.

A girl like Franca would wither under the harshness of the Castering Court, even if it was as Regina. Castering was ruled by men who were even less appreciative of a woman with a fine, sharp mind than in Windemere. They would never be worthy of a treasure like our Franca.

I went back to the wall-walk to watch the soldiers filing out of the castle. There were so many of them, at least a hundred on horseback and more than that on foot.

It had not been my decision to send them out to meet a threat they did not understand. In the absence of Markus and Arkadian, the eldermen were calling the shots. They heard the notes of a war horn sounded on the plains, and it had been enough.

Defend Windemere, defend them from the threat, no matter that we did not know if they would all be slaughtered or not.

Waiting was excruciating. I spoke to only Taiger, Tatana, and Set.

The Radune party had retreated to their quarters as if they, too, felt the oppressive weight that fell over the city at the sound of that horn. The Darkwatch mages were still nowhere to be seen.

I dared not leave the castle, even as my heart thundered at the thought of finding him after what had happened the night before.

But my mind was in too much turmoil. Even if I did not want to admit it, I was afraid of leaving the fortress walls. What if Penjan had come at last? What if they had somehow sneaked around our watchtowers along the coast and had already landed their armada on the shores of Windemere?

The fear shamed me. I should not so easily give in to the imagined threat when all the information I had was one single horn's bellow.

Taiger and I retreated to my chambers, my dragon on my shoulders wrapped around me like the world's most ornate living accessory.

I got odd looks when I passed the courtiers or servants, and I didn't blame them when they moved to the far side of the hall.

The little dragon's claws did look awfully long and awfully sharp, and she did have a furnace situated at the back of her throat, ready for the bellows of her lungs to spew forth ruin and destruction.

Tatana and Taiger got on well, the former telling the latter all the things she remembered about Elysium as his face lit up with wonder.

It was unusual, Tatana speaking so freely of her home to anyone but me. I thought, perhaps, she had picked up on the fact that Taiger came from a place where the people had no interest in the conquest of any kingdom, let alone the legendary land of Elysium.

The stakes were high for Elysium, so Tatana was always careful about what she shared.

The entire world lusted for the resources and riches of the island chain, searching for a way past the shield that guarded it.

Giving the wrong person the wrong information might lead to the island nation becoming the newest vassal state of the human realm.

When Set joined us a little later, Tatana's descriptions of Elysium turned into a full-blown storytelling event. She used voices and acted out scenes to tell the story that Set and I had both heard a hundred times before—the story of how the impenetrable fog came to surround Elysium.

There had once been peace across the world and trade and commerce across the lands. The people of Elysium and the rest of the world lived and worked and played together.

And then a threat came from across the sea—evil so deep and horrible that it shook the foundations of the earth and sent the small creatures into hiding.

The First of the human tribe came to the First of Elysium and begged for fine warriors to help them defend their lands.

The Elysium First said no. "Brother, we are in the sea and no true evil can travel upon the waves." For in those days there were no boats, and only with the help of the creatures of the sea could anyone travel over the water.

The human First cried, "Brother, this evil is so great that they can take the beasts of the water, the beasts of the sky, and even the great quaking beast who lives in the heart of the fiery Mother Mountain, and they can turn their will to their own.

They will come across the Sorn, and they will take your people and grind their teeth upon your bones. "

But the Elysium First would not listen. He did not believe that anything could turn the great siren whales away from their yearly migration around the island.

He did not believe that anything could turn the monkeys away from the ripe moonflower melons that fell to crack open upon the forest floor.

And he did not believe that the beast who lived deep in the heart of the Mother could be awakened from its slumber by anything but the might of the gods.

So, the human First went away, shaking his fist in anger on the back of the great serpent who carried him through the water.

Then one day, the First of the tribe of the faeries came.

"Brother," she said, "The human world has fallen, and all has gone to ruin.

Evil has turned the will of the beasts, and they devoured the humans down to the last two men.

Won't you help us defend the forests of the faeries?

Won't you send your fine Elysium warriors to defend what remains of the world? "

But the Elysium First would not listen. He did not believe that anything could turn the great siren whales away from their yearly migration around the island.

He did not believe that anything could turn the monkeys away from the ripe moonflower melons that fell to crack open upon the forest floor.

And he did not believe that the beast who lived deep in the heart of the Mother could be awakened from its slumber by anything but the might of the gods.