Onyx Eyes: Chapter One

If you’re new here and would like to read the prologue, click here.

 

Now, it’s time to meet Drake!

 

Chapter One

“Even fairies can die, Captain.”

Drake scowled down on the freedman standing beside him. “We’re not fairies, Kenneth.”

The old man waved his hand. “You know what I mean. The Old Ones and the Maker; they are immortal. The rest of us: malaki . . . human . . .  our lives are a mist that appears for a little while, then vanishes.”

Kenneth’s casual tone sent fire through Drake’s veins. “Which was why I assigned an extra two dozen men to the banquet!”

Silence fell over the chamber, and all eyes focused his way. Drake’s gaze flitted from the two stonecasters standing over the princess’s bed, to Ayana’s maid, now peeking out from the closet, and finally back to Kenneth. The human man was slight, pale, and had hair the color of cotton flowers. His pale blue eyes were like two rounds of seastone. They pierced Drake’s conscience.

He hadn’t meant to yell. The stress of losing Ayana—first to Prince Suel, then to abduction—had proved too much. He squeezed his hands into fists and took a deep breath to calm himself.

But there was no consolation to be found. His precautions hadn’t been enough. Princess AyanaRynn was gone. And he was to blame. He could find no clue. Nor could the stonecasters.

She had simply vanished.

Drake let his gaze pan over Ayana’s room yet again. He’d lost count of how many times he’d examined the same things, desperate for a clue. Something he might have missed.

But still, nothing.

He turned his focus back to the human. “You think the princess is dead, Kenneth? Why?”

“I’ve lived in Belfaylinn twenty-three years, Captain—that I remember, anyway. Despite the peace the three kings profess to seek, none of them really want it. Deep down all malaki hunger for war. For blood. And what better way to stop negotiations of peace than by murdering a princess who so fought for that very thing?”

Murder. Drake tried not to let the word send him into despair. Truth was, Kenneth’s theory had merit. There’d been peace protestors enough at the banquet last night. They’d kept their distance, but maybe that was because they’d been waiting for nightfall to kidnap the princess. “She’s alive, Kenneth. I know it.” Drake crouched to pick up a dead leaf that had fallen from the vines surrounding her full-length mirror. “They wouldn’t have to kill her to start a war.”

“Perhaps you’re right, Captain. If so, they had to have taken her from here, as this was where she was last seen by her maids. Yet Oranmore and his stonecasters found no trace of violence. These two and the maid are doing a more thorough search of the princess’s belongings to see if anything is missing.”

Drake twirled the leaf between his fingers, thinking. “The lack of evidence tells me that whoever took the princess was someone she considered friend.”

“A wise deduction, only . . .”

Drake twisted on his heels and looked up. Kenneth raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, waiting for Drake to finish his sentence. But Drake had no time for riddles today. If he did not find the princess soon, odds were he may never see her again. “Only what? Speak, man.”

“No one a dearer friend than you, Captain.”

Drake pushed to standing and glared down into the old man’s eyes. “You dare accuse me of harming the princess?”

“Beg your pardon, Captain.” Kenneth’s icy stare didn’t waver the way most of Drake’s subordinates would. “I’m merely stating what many will think. Malaki and humans differ in many ways, but we both can see. And you and the princess have not hidden your affections well.”

“Our affection for one another was never a secret. Even the king had blessed it.” He’d promised.

“Had, Captain,” Kenneth said. “The king, apparently, changed his mind. And some think you did not accept that.”

Rage rushed to Drake’s head and he crushed the dead leaf in his fist. “You are far too bold, human.” Which was why Drake liked having the man around.  Too many did nothing but lick his boots.

Kenneth sighed and patted Drake’s arm. “I know you would never harm the girl, sir. But you know how the court is. They long for any hint of betrayal. And in this situation, you are the easiest target.”

“Then we’d best find answers before the court starts making accusations.” Drake turned back to the room. Before today, he had never been in AyanaRynn’s chambers. It had been built between the upper boughs of three white pine trees. The room smelled of soft pine, moss, and white hydrangea blossoms. Sheets of silky cobwebs covered the top of the canopy bed and had been pulled back on either side in thick folds. Her blankets were patchwork pink and red rose petals. Bushy green vines wrapped around smaller tree branches, spreading the white blossoms and their fragrance wherever they went.

The place smelled like her. Every breath twisted his stomach.

“Captain, I have news,” the familiar, deep voice came from the doorway behind him.

Drake spun to face Roose Rinnmar, his lieutenant. The man was so tall he had to duck to come inside. His mossy green hair and dark brown skin made him blend in with the vines and bark of AyanaRynn’s room.

Roose’s eyes were wild. Something had happened.

Hope swelled in Drake’s chest. “What is it?”

“The border patrol caught an Aerial spy trying to cross the barrier, sir,” Roose said.

“Flying?”

Roose grinned. “Fell like a stone when he hit. But he’s okay. Not even a butterfly could pass Oranmore’s barrier.”

Good. “Where is he?”

“They’ve taken him to the dungeon, Captain.”

“I’ll be back, Kenneth. Keep at it.” Drake pushed past Roose and out the door. Roose quickly caught up, a massive shadow keeping pace at Drake’s side.

“If he was caught trying to leave, how did he get into Glasderry in the first place?” Drake asked.

“Had to have come in with King Aelfric’s procession,” Roose said.

Which was the only logical assumption. “King Aelfric will not appreciate that theory. We make no accusations without proof,” Drake said. “Besides, King Aelfric must have peace protestors of his own.” The Aerials had wanted war longer than any other race of Malaki.

“But King Aelfric’s contingent was the first Aerials we’ve let into Glasderry in the past thirty years,” Roose said. “He had to have come in with them.”

“He may have, but that doesn’t not mean the king knew. What’s his story?” Drake asked.

“Only that he demanded to be returned to his king. Says his business is his own.”

“I’ll bet.” If this Aerial spy had even scratched the princess, Drake would see him hang. “He’s in King FosterBrokk’s realm now and will abide by our laws or suffer the consequences.”

“I told him as much, sir,” Roose said. “Didn’t seem to matter.”

“We shall see if I can change his mind,” Drake said.

The dungeons had been carved out in the massive roots of Torcrann Castle. As they made their way underground along steps cut into the clay dirt, the air became cool and moist and the smell of soil grew stronger. Lanterns filled with fireflies hung on the walls and lit the way.

The stairs ended in a round, dome-like room. Six corridors sprouted off and wound deep along the main roots of Torcrann Castle. The stonecaster guard on duty was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, his white uniform bright against the clay wall, except for his stonecaster leather armbands. Drake didn’t recognize him, but he sensed his magical ability right away.

At the sight of Drake, he snapped to attention, then showed honor by touching his palm to his forehead, then heart. “Kavod, Captain.”

“Kavod.” Drake returned the salute. “We’ve come to question the Aerial prisoner.”

“Of course. Right this way.” The guard turned down the first corridor. Drake and Roose followed him along the twisting path that wove back and forth along the curling roots.

The guard stopped at an oval doorway that had been cut out of the earth. A sheet of ice appeared across the entrance.

“Open it,” Drake said.

The guard flipped a leather band on his right arm and muttered, “Galah.” The icy wall vanished. He lifted a firefly lantern off the wall and stepped inside. Drake followed, shuddering at the chill the ice barrier had left behind. Roose stepped inside last, his stature filling the doorway and blocking the extra light from the corridor.

The guard walked to the corner of the dirt cell and kicked a pile of ratty wool blankets. “Stand for the Captain.”

The blankets shifted, and a set of eyes gleamed as they reflected the fireflies’ glow, but the captive did not stand.

Shadows swirled on the walls as Roose walked across the room. He reached down and pulled up the prisoner by his hair. “He said, stand, you winged freak!”

The Aerial jerked away from Roose and smoothed back his dark hair. He was short with a stub of a nose and ears on the top of his head like a fox. He was dressed all in black, and his wings—which were folded and only showed over the tops of his shoulders—were black as well.

“I am AlstonFoyledrake, Captain of the Princess’ Guard. What are you called?”

The Aerial cleared his throat, though his voice still cracked. “I’d say I’m a prisoner.”

Roose reached out a threatening hand. “Your name, Aerial.”

The prisoner darted away from Roose’s hand. “BayHawk.”

“Where is the princess, BayHawk?” Drake asked.

The Aerial’s brow crinkled. “Which princess?”

“There is only one princess in Glasderry,” Drake said.

“Ahh, Princess AyanaRynn has gone missing, has she?” He grinned—was missing a tooth in the very front. “I don’t expect that will please my king. Or his son.”

Drake forced a calm demeanor. “I don’t much care that your king or prince are pleased. Princess AyanaRynn has been taken. And our people are outraged.”

BayHawk folded his arms. “You know for certain that she was taken?”

The words gave Drake pause. A pause that lasted a moment too long.

BayHawk’s lip curled in a lopsided grin. “Ahh, you aren’t sure, are you, Captain? Let me help you out. I heard the Grounder princess had a suitor. My guess is, the moment her daddy promised her to Prince Suel, the two of them fluttered off like a pair of doves.”

“She did not flutter off. And I will ask the questions here.” Drake stepped closer and set his hand over his belt, pressing his fingers against the pearl and prase medallion. He breathed out the words, “Meh tsee oot” that would make Truthstone and Speakstone unite so that his questions would bring forth the truth.

“Why were you trying to fly over the barrier?” Drake asked.

BayHawk grimaced and stepped back into the corner. “You have no right to keep me here.” He gasped, as if the words had taken pains.

Drake bet they had. It took great strength to resist both Truthstone and Speakstone.

“Answer the Captain,” Roose said.

“I was …” BayHawk rasped.

The guard stepped forward, turned down a band on one arm and lifted one on his other. “You have no stones to counter ours, so answer the question.”

Drake felt the magic grow and pulse in the tiny cell. It welled up in his chest like a caught breath. He asked again, confident this time that his and the guard’s combined efforts would force the truth from the Aerial. “Why were you trying to pass the barrier?”

BayHawk groaned, so softly Drake almost didn’t hear it. “I was only doing … what I … I …” A trickle of blood fell from his nose and down his lips. Another welled in the corner of one eye. “I … I … I …”

Drake released the medallion and let it fall back to his belt. He grabbed the guard’s arm. “Stop.”

BayHawk collapsed.

Drake sighed and glanced at the guard. “You’re certain he has no stones?”

“I did a thorough sweep. I would have sensed them.”

That left only one option that Drake knew of. “He must be under an Old One’s spell that contradicts ours. He can’t obey both.”

“Agreed,” the guard said.

“Hargannab?” Roose asked.

“Really?” Drake shot Roose a smirk. His lieutenant was obsessed with the Aerial Old One.

“There’s no way to know,” the guard said. “But the prisoner is no good to you now. You could try again in a few hours, but he’s a tough one to draw his own blood. Seems he was trying to answer you.”

A fact Drake knew from personal experience. He turned and strode from the cell, instantly warmer out in the corridor.

Drake and Roose left the dungeon in silence. When they were halfway up the stairs, Roose said, “I bet it was Hargannab, that fat little housefly.”

Again with the Aerial Old One. “Hargannab didn’t come with King Aelfric’s procession, Roose.”

“He’s tiny enough. He could be hiding under the king’s robes and no one would be the wiser.”

“You really think Hargannab would hide under any Malaki’s robes? He’s far too proud.”

“He thinks the Old Ones are better than the rest of us.” Roose sneered as if glaring at Hargannab in his mind’s eye.

“Many Old Ones think that. Hargannab is not the only one.”

Roose brooded in silence until they exited the stairwell, then he shuddered. “I can still feel the cold of that magic. Aren’t most Old Ones warm?

Drake could feel it too, in his chest like he’d swallowed ice. “I need to talk to an Old One.”

“Not Oranmore,” Roose said. “He hates you.”

“No, not Oranmore. Tulak.”

“But Tulak has no love for any king. That’s why he lives like a hermit.”

“He has love for me, and that is enough.”

They returned to the princess’s chambers, where they found Kenneth alone, studying the windowsill.

“See something?” Drake asked.

“Perhaps. The wood is worn here and here.” He pointed at the inside and outside edge of the windowsill. “Could be a vine rubbed in each place.” He turned his head from the sill to the feet on the bed. “Yes. They could have tied the vine there.”

“But someone would have had to been in here to untie it,” Drake said.

“True. It is something I will think more on. Did you learn anything from the prisoner?”

“Only that he’s under the spell of an Old One,” Drake said. “Whether he’s in the Old One’s service or a captive, I can’t tell. But he drew his own blood trying to answer my questions when the Old One’s spell clearly forbade him to.”

Kenneth frowned. “I don’t like the fact that an Old One is involved, Captain. We can do little against them.”

“That is why I’m going to visit Tulak,” Drake said. “It takes an Old One to know another Old One.”

“You’re going to ask his advice?” Kenneth asked.

“That and his help. What if I impersonated BayHawk? Then I could go to King Aelfric’s court and spy.” Drake smiled at the idea, surprised he’d thought of it.

“No offense, Captain,” Roose said. “But you know full well that you don’t have the skill to pull off such a mask. Let me go.”

Did his own lieutenant really think him that incompetent?

“I, too, would advise against such a plan, Captain,” Kenneth said. “There are too many variables. For one, you don’t know that the Aerial is in King Aelfric’s service. And you know nothing about his life. Wearing his mask and walking into the Aerial king’s court could be a good way to die.”

“Yet it’s too good an opportunity to pass up,” Drake said, slightly taken off guard by his own careless words. He was not a careless man. Why was he acting so blasé about this?

“Are you hearing yourself, Captain?” Roose asked.

Yes … but he was captain, not Roose. “Why are you so set against my idea?”

“Because it’s foolish, sir,” Roose said.

Drake couldn’t believe his trusted lieutenant was fighting him. “Of all the—”

“If I may make a suggestion,” Kenneth said, stepping between them. “Take someone lesser if you yourself want to spy on the Aerial court. Someone invisible who is always present.” The human pursed his lips in a smile.

“I have no time to try and read your thoughts, man. Speak.” Drake couldn’t, even if he tried. Roose was right in that he was a sorry stonecaster.

“FinBorl,” Kenneth said.

“Who?”

The old man smiled. “Exactly.”

Drake drew in a frustrated breath. “Kenneth . . .”

“FinBorl is Prince Suel’s valet,” Roose said. “A much safer mask to take.”

“You would rarely leave the prince’s side,” Kenneth said. “If the Aerials had something to do with the princess’s disappearance, you will learn it wearing FinBorl’s mask.”

“I like that,” Drake said, smiling. “Well done, Kenneth.”

“There’s still a huge problem with this plan,” Roose said.

Roose’s negativity annoyed Drake. “Which is . . . ?”

“You aren’t an Aerial. You don’t have wings.”

Drake shrugged that off. “So? Surely you can stonecast wings.” Wings! Drake could get wings! Wait. He didn’t want wings.

“An illusion of wings, sure,” Roose said. “But not the real thing. What will you do when King Aelfric’s procession travels back to Cloudbright? They’ll pass through the gates, lift up into the air …” Roose lifted his hands, then dropped them, slapping them against his legs. “All but you, of course. You’ll still be on the ground, exposing yourself to some serious questions.”

“Then you’ll have until they leave for Cloudbright,” Kenneth said.

“Fair enough.” It was plenty of time, really. Unless Drake could get real wings somehow. And if there was a way, Tulak would know. Plus he could ask about Old Ones who gave off cold rather than warmth. “Hold the prisoner until I return,” Drake said. “I’m going to see an Old friend.”

 

End of chapter

 

Thanks for reading! I had meant for this chapter to include the next scene where Drake visits Tulak, but I ran out of time. So I can’t ask you what I had planned to ask you. Instead, let’s talk about the missing princess. I have an idea of what I’d like to have happen, but I’m not sure yet if it will work. So I’d like to know what you think would be cool/make the most sense/or maybe be a red herring.

 

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I know there are a lot of characters, so I’d like to know . . .

 

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Other than that, what did you think? Like/dislike? Confused about anything?

Chapter two will be posted next Friday on January 17. Drake will visit Tulak, then go looking for a dragon. If you liked this chapter and want to read more, please share this post using the buttons below. Thank you!