Golden Stain, Chapter 10

Chapter Ten – Goldblood Castle

Jay awoke intact and with a fresh white bandage wrapped around his midsection. He groaned, the wound pulsing with pain as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

A nearby woman noticed and came toward him with a freshly poured cup of tea. “Good morning,” she said, proffering the cup. “Drink this, it should help.”

Jay obediently took the cup and scrutinized the woman. She was middle-aged, with a suntanned face and deep wrinkles around her eyes. He was sure he’d seen her before… After a moment, it clicked. “Heral!” he exclaimed, making her chuckle.

“You seem to be in worse shape every time I see you,” the healer sighed. They’d met briefly in Dezla, when Jay had needed her assistance with several broken bones he’d managed to acquire. It was a long story.

“It’s been five years, I’m surprised you remember,” Jay said. He blew on his tea and tasted it; it was awful.

“Belle-root, it’s to dull pain,” Heral said, raising an eyebrow at his expression. “And, Boy, I’d have loved to have forgotten all about you and your little adventures if the town could have at all shut up about them.” She returned to a table and resumed working with a mortar and pestle. “It was just on, and on, and on about your strange telepathy. And then Zirath declared he was leaving to stay here in the dragon lands, and Mailliw came back to Dezla, and I think all of us could have done without the gossip.”

Jay took a sip of tea and tried not to screw up his face too much. He finally gathered the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind the second he woke up.

“Did they bring Solan in?”

“Sure did.” Heral gestured to the other side of the room, where the dragon-nests were. There was a familiar black dragon lying there who Jay’s telepathy had not detected.

The dragon was laying perfectly still and silent, neck wrapped up in proper bandages. Jay reached out a felt a small, sleeping version of Solan within.

“Never seen anything like it,” Heral said as Jay got unsteadily to his feet. “By all rights he should have died soon after the blow was struck. And yet he just keeps trucking on.”

Jay reached the dragon’s side and stiffly leaned over. You can do it. I’m sure of it, he said, though there was no physical or telepathic response from Solan.

He sat there quietly for a time, until he had downed the last of the bitter tea, then made his way back to hand the cup back to Heral. She gave him a weary smile as she returned it to its place.

“Try not to worry. The best healers in the dragon lands are here, and it doesn’t seem like he’s giving up anytime soon,” she said. Jay nodded.

The tea had done its job and the throbbing had deadened into a tender stiffness, giving Jay enough mobility to stretch and then decide to explore the castle. He needed to talk to Mailliw and Yion, find out where his apprentices were staying, and work out this whole mess. Heral glanced at him as he left, but didn’t make a move to stop him.

He emerged into a long hallway lit with shafts of bright sunlight. The building was a curious mixture of human and draconic design; the Castle had been a part of the peace treaty, a small effort on the part of Tharan to reimburse the dragons. The windows were wide with no glass in them, edged with natural, uneven stones. Jay made his way over to one and peered outside.

From where they were, on the eastern tower, much of the Castle itself was visible. Three other tall towers rose on the inside, with smaller towers flanking the walls, manned by watchful dragons in Guard armour. A bustling courtyard could be seen within, not paved but grown over with ivy and trees and scattered with ponds that did not seem to hinder the dragons in the least.

Jay thought he could catch glimpses of humans playing in the corner of the courtyard… his students, perhaps? He decided to go see and was about to start down the staircase when someone else appeared at the top, nearly knocking him over.

“Jay!” the dragon exclaimed. Jay blinked, feeling disoriented as the figure went from standing on two legs back down to four, though after a moment he put the pieces together. The dragon was called Zirath, another from Dezla, whose peculiar morphology was a result of experiments there.

“Zirath!” he said, starting to wonder how many unexpected reunions he was going to be put through today. “Heral mentioned that you were here in the dragon lands.”

The red-scaled dragon grinned, sitting down beside the stairs. “The work of a diplomat is never done, especially around here. I was actually coming up to get you, to see if you were well enough to come to a meeting this evening.”

“A meeting?” Jay frowned. “With who?”

“Oh, everyone of importance,” Zirath said, still grinning with a curve of sharp teeth. “Lady Syra, Prince Turk, their advisors, Mailliw, whoever else I can round up.”

“Well, I… I’d be fine to attend, though I have no idea what they would want to meet with me about,” Jay said, gazing thoughtfully out the nearest window. He’d never been to the Castle before, but was there usually such a great number of Guards flying about?

“Strange things have been happening in the dragon lands recently,” Zirath said, sobering up. “I think it would be to everyone’s advantage if we could share our experiences and try to discover what’s going on. Shall I tell Syra you can attend?”

“Yeah, of course, that’s fine,” Jay replied. “Zirath, do you know where my apprentices are? And Mailliw and Yion?”

“Your apprentices are staying in the Keep, where our human guest rooms are,” Zirath said, rising back to two feet and starting back down the stairs. Jay followed. “So are Mailliw and Yion, but the two of them have hardly been in. They’ve spent almost all their time in the study, though I’m not sure exactly what they’ve been so focused on.”

“I may have some idea,” Jay said, but shook his head at Zirath’s inquiring glance. “Sorry. Not really my place to go into it, I think.”

“Yes, of course,” Zirath said easily, though his tail drooped slightly with disappointment. “You’ll find the study near the top of the Keep, if you’d like to go say hello. Just make sure you find the council room by sunset tonight.”

“I’ll do my best,” Jay said. The stairs were not overly kind to his stiff side, but he managed them well enough as he and Zirath emerged from the tower. There was a large, open doorway that led outside to the courtyard flanked on either side by enclosed pathways that ran the length of the castle wall. Zirath headed down one of these pathways, nodding farewell to Jay, who stepped forward into the sunshine.

After a short walk on paved stones he was enveloped by the courtyard proper, which felt much larger than it had looked from above. Like a garden that had been let to overgrow, tall grass and wildflowers carpeted the area, the soil set at an uneven tilt that dipped around several ponds and rose in a central hill. Jay instantly recognized what Zirath had called the Keep—the largest structure the castle had to offer was at the far end of the courtyard, a jagged shape overgrown with ivy rising half the height of the outer towers.

Jay was still gathering his strength for the trek when he was assaulted by an overenthusiastic hug. “Jay!” the girl cried, and Jay laughed and patted her on the head as his other young students appeared out of thin air, Tary among them.

“Sorry to keep you guys waiting,” Jay said.

“Yeah, you better be,” Tary declared. “That Mailliw guy you left us with is weird!”

Jay raised an eyebrow. “He got you here safely, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m sure we could have taken care of ourselves.” Tary grinned rather unsettlingly, wiggling her fingers. “We were awesome, right? Totally sent that dragon running.”

This wasn’t exactly how Jay remembered it going, but he found himself chuckling. “Close enough to. You guys did great.”

“It was scary,” Hemar said quietly.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Jay said, leaning to make better eye contact with them. “You can rest knowing that we’re safe here. There are guards everywhere, and I happen to be personal friends with the dragon prince.”

Some students looked impressed, though Tary responded with a quick, “That was five years ago, Jay.”

“Yes, but—”

“The way you told the story, you hardly even spoke a word to the prince.”

“Yes, Tary,” he sighed. The students were giggling. “In any case, we’ll be protected here. We can all wait and see what happens.”

“And Solan’s gonna be okay too, right?” Tary asked after a moment, exchanging glances with the other students.

“…He’s injured badly, but he’s also a very strong dragon,” Jay said. “I have faith in him. If any of you want, I’m sure the healers wouldn’t mind if you went up to sit with him for a bit. Just know that he’s still sleeping.”

“We’ll make him a present,” one of the younger students declared, lifting up a chain she had been making with woven wildflowers. This caused a commotion as every student then decided they needed to find a gift as well, and the whole group tromped off across the courtyard chattering.

Jay let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. They, at least, were safe and well. After watching them for a few brief moments, he started off, staying at the edges of the courtyard where the terrain didn’t require any hiking.

The Keep was much like the rest of the castle, all smooth uneven stone and wide-open windows, and he was soon directed to the study. As far as Jay knew the dragons had no need of written language, though he was still mildly surprised to discover an vast area crowded not with books but with many strange objects; chains and shards of pottery and carved stone figures all bunched together on shelves hewn from the walls. Though most of the area was sparse and uncrowded with furniture in the way that dragons liked, there was a smaller, cozier corner equipped with chairs, a wooden table, and a small collection of scrolls and books.

Jay recognized the two human figures sitting there, and the small green dragon that was exploring nearby. Neither person looked up as he approached; they seemed to be bent over a piece of paper that Mailliw was adding to and pointing at as he spoke.

He hovered by the table and watched until they decided to acknowledge his presence. He hadn’t had much time to really look at Mailliw, since they’d only actually met for a minute at most and had been busy being in mortal terror, but the man hadn’t changed a whole lot from what Jay remembered. He seemed fuller, though—healthier, although his scarred face was much the same, something about the set of his shoulders and the way he held himself suggested to Jay that he’d had time to let his guard down.

He was more surprised when he allowed his gaze to turn to Yion, as she hardly seemed to be the same wildling who’d threatened him and argued with him so mistrustfully the entire journey. Her gaze was steady, serious, that desperate fierceness retreated from her face. Her shoulder had been wrapped with bandages and she’d been given new clothes, a beige tunic and jacket that hid her boniness.

Mailliw finally stopped muttering about his paper, looking up to Jay with a raised eyebrow. “So you’re back on your feet, are you?”

“Heral tried to keep me down, but I managed to fight her off,” Jay quipped, pulling up a chair and looking curiously to Yion. Her expression sharpened as he sat. “Uh… so what is it you two are so busy with up here?”

Mailliw leaned back and crossed his arms. “You’ve probably figured that much out.”

Jay looked from him to Yion. “You’re… trying to figure out what to do about the Stain, is that it?”

Mailliw nodded slowly. “I never told you about this… but my caretaker when I was a child, Asruu, left something behind. Her notes, detailing how she’d managed to save me. I sent them to the goldblood for safekeeping when I found them, since I’m sure we both know the dangers such research could hold. Turk was kind enough to give me leave to study them now.”

“Well, that’s great!” Jay exclaimed. “Solan and I thought you’d know what to do.”

“It’s not that easy,” Mailliw admitted, glancing down at the paper. “I can read the Dezlan script by now, it’s not that different from what’s used in Tharan, but these notes are scattered and hard to understand. I don’t think she ever assumed someone else would need to read them.” He leaned over and massaged the bridge of his nose. “It’s hard to think like she would. Why make it so complex? Why not simply write down a solution?”

Jay looked at the paper as well, seeing that it was written entirely in Mailliw’s hand. They were exerts pulled from a different text—other notes written on them and around them: This experiment was a failure; Was this her work; When was this written?

“Maybe if I’d taken time to study it, when I’d first found it…” Mailliw shook his head.

“I think you made the right decision not to,” Yion said quietly. “I think that these notes could have been misused.”

Mailliw nodded shortly. “It seemed so at the time. All I’m concerned with now is finding out how she did it.”

There was one phrase that appeared several times across Mailliw’s page as Jay examined it: “bridge of blood.” He recalled that, five years ago on the roof of Dragon Spire, the Thunderbird had made mention of Asruu’s work. According to him, Asruu had saved Mailliw through a “bridge of blood”. They’d never truly understood what that meant.

“It would help if we only knew how this happened to you,” Mailliw said. Yion glanced away.

“You… don’t know how it happened?” Jay asked, trying to catch her wandering eye. “It must have been some kind of experiment, right?”

“I… don’t remember.” Yion stared intently at a shelf. “Since coming here, pieces have started to come back, a little. There was a dragon. Her name was Kel. Beyond that, I…” she rubbed her arm with the Stain.

Mailliw looked at her seriously. “I know this much about our condition. It can happen one of two ways: either deliberately through experimentation, or naturally, somehow.”

“I cannot say which happened to me,” Yion said. Jay wondered where this calm, studious voice had come from. “It’s like the Stain has hollowed me out from the inside.”

Dad, look at this carving! Asrah suddenly called, scampering over. Jay’s eyebrows near rose off his head.

“’Dad?’” he repeated, a slow grin starting to spread.

“Don’t,” Mailliw said, pinning him with a glare. Jay continued to grin. “She calls me that. I could never get her to stop.”

Obviously, because he’s my dad! Asrah said with great cheer.

“Oh, of course! And you named her, didn’t you, after Asruu!” Jay exclaimed, lapsing into mirroring his spoken words telepathically so Asrah could follow. Asrah nodded happily; Mailliw frowned and leaned back. “I never pictured you as the fatherly type, but you know what, I see it now!”

“…She was lost, and I took her in,” Mailliw said.

“There’s no need to get all surly about it,” Jay chuckled. “I think it’s great. And you certainly turned out all right, didn’t you, Asrah?”

Yeah, well, I wouldn’t give him all the credit for that, she snickered. Anyway! I was saying that you should come look at this carving. It’s interesting!

The little dragon came closer and Yion immediately stiffened. Jay looked over in alarm. Her fingers had drawn themselves back into half-fists on the table; her back was straight and the fierce hunted-prey eyes were back, following Asrah’s every movement.

Mailliw looked warily at Yion and slowly got to his feet. Show me the carving, then, he said, and Asrah was happy to lead him off. Yion relaxed marginally, though she still watched with caution.

“Yion… Asrah is only a child,” Jay said quietly.

She seemed to be at war with herself. “Dragons… are evil,” she muttered, returning shaking hands to her lap. “All of them.”

“Did someone tell you that?” he asked.

Yion swallowed and closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”

“It’s not true. How can you still think it’s true? You are right now inside a castle full of dragons, of good dragons, working to protect peace. They took you in, they bound your wounds,” Jay said. Yion looked as if she were in pain. “Where is this coming from?”

“…Leave it,” she hissed after a moment, turning her face away. “I’ll remember why, soon enough.”

Mailliw soon returned, leaving Asrah to her exploration. He sat, evaluated Yion for a brief moment, and then turned back to his paper, underlining a phrase halfway down the page.

Jay leaned back and watched them resume work, unable to follow after only a short time. It seemed they’d at least done right in calling for Mailliw: if he couldn’t figure out a solution, no one would be able to. But this was more than a mystery of confused notes and research. This was a mystery of Yion herself, and maybe that would take more than any of them could offer to untangle.