Chapter 23

Phitonia. Where the grass was always bluer.

Dreya decided that rather than simply appear amid the ruins of the Citadel of Doom, she would retrace her steps from the first time she came to this world. Daelen’s former base was devastated, following his violent extraction of power to defeat Kullos and futile attempt to keep the Guardians out of it. Something that turned out to be a contradiction as he could only defeat Kullos with the Guardians’ help. Still, the fact that it was undisturbed suggested the perception filter that hid the place from this world was still active.

Perhaps she should check on Daelen’s base on StormClaw on Tempestria, she considered. Make sure the secret island was still hidden.

All Daelen’s portals were now gone, of course, but she didn’t need them. She could make her own off-world portals, at least to Lavos, Phitonia and Earth.

Part of Catriona’s wedding plans had included a honeymoon somewhere on Earth. There were undoubtedly many intriguing possibilities on that world. Despite there being no wizardry or other such powers there, Dreya was sure there would be no lack of magic when the time came.

She was in no particular hurry as she began walking. The fragment had been here for ten years, Phitonian time. It was unlikely that another few hours would make much difference. She could ask the dragons for a report of the current state of play, but just as with her elite guards, she preferred to make her own observations. Besides, she was curious about how the Chetsuan people were doing.

Dreya encountered a village where there had been none before. She found that encouraging, so she stopped for a moment in the shadow of a cluster of trees to observe.

The village lay by a stream on which industrious Chetsuans had built a mill that they were using to process the wheat that they were harvesting from the land. In some ways, it reminded her a little of Compton in the time of Ulvarius, three hundred Tempestrian years ago. It was a simple way of life, but they were thriving in a way that had not been possible when they were hiding from dragons in holes in the ground. The sorceress felt a certain glow of pride that she’d had a hand in this. Whatever her motives – public and private – this was the result: a civilisation finding its feet after decades of oppression and slaughter.

She considered shrouding herself or perhaps disguising herself as a Chetsuan, but rejected both ideas. She didn’t like lies. In her mind, that immediately placed herself in debt. Back in Time, it had been necessary to conceal her true identity and in a crowded city here – if there was such a thing – it might be wise if she was going to go about her business quietly. Here there was no such need. She wanted to find out what life was like here, now. That required her to ask questions, to which she expected honest answers. Therefore, she owed them the truth in return.

Stepping out of the shadows, she approached the village, following the road. The blue grass and plants had long since overgrown the streets but hadn’t erased them completely. Chetsuans of past times had built to last.

Shielding her eyes from the sun, Dreya read the simple wooden painted sign: Whealhaven. She called out a greeting, wondering what their reaction might be. The workers in the fields looked up and called out for someone named Scarlett. A Chetsuan woman stepped out of the mill doorway. When she saw their visitor, her eyes widened. A male Chetsuan stood by her side, drawing a sword, obviously intending to protect her. Dreya guessed he was her husband.

With one simple gesture from Scarlett, the villagers brandished their tools or whatever they had to hand and took up threatening poses. Scarlett herself carried a bow, with arrows in a quiver, but rather than use that weapon to threaten Dreya, she simply waved her hand in the air, and as Dreya looked around, the azure plants grew up and snared her, paying particular care to bind her hands. It was clearly druid magic and a sensible move against a wizard…any wizard except her.

Dreya was in no danger from these people. She was more disturbed by their actions than anything else. These were the actions of people whose land and livelihood had been threatened before and were prepared to fight to defend what they had. Dreya hadn’t stopped to make laws when she was last here, but if she had, then her law would fully support these people’s right to do this. She was just concerned as to why they should feel it was necessary.

“Please, I mean you no harm,” Dreya reassured them. “My name is Dreya the Dark. Ten years ago, I conquered your world, taking it out of the control of dragons and tried to give it back to you.”

“And why would you do that?” Scarlett asked.

“Because I needed dragons to help fight a powerful enemy on my world. That meant I needed to make the dragons scared enough to obey me. The best way to do that was to conquer your world. When I killed Mallax, I made the dragons understand the consequences of harming Chetsuans. I told them to allow you to come out of hiding and rebuild. It seemed like the best thing I could offer in return for the intelligence that made my conquest possible. I don’t like being indebted to people. It’s a personal thing. Unfortunately, events on my own world have kept me away for longer than I would have wished, but I’m back now, and I intend to see to it that my law is still in force. So, if dragons have threatened you in any way…”

“Dragons don’t scare us,” Scarlett replied, dismissively. “Not anymore. As far as we can tell, they have kept your law. In fact, it was a dragon who helped when we were attacked.”

“Attacked?” Dreya wondered, greatly disturbed. “Attacked by whom?”

“A wizard from your world,” Scarlett answered.

“He would have burned down our entire crop if my Scarlett hadn’t found a way to put out the flames with her magic,” her husband spoke up.

The attack had shown them the continuing need to defend themselves against threats other than dragons, Dreya realised. Hence their actions against her.

“Do you know who this wizard was?” Dreya asked.

She couldn’t understand how any other wizard could have made the trip. Sure, she’d missed two years of magical progress, but even she had needed a little help to figure out the wizard version of the Prismatic Sphere portals. Cat had learned her version directly from Daelen, and she had helped Mandalee with hers. Who could possibly have the ability to learn them independently?

Moreover, the location of this village, so close to Daelen’s former base struck her as a highly suspicious coincidence. Almost as if this wizard had portalled in at similar co-ordinates. But that was impossible. Wasn’t it?

“He didn’t give a name, but he wore Black robes – simple ones, not like yours – and kept his face concealed in his hood the whole time. He claimed to be an emissary of Dreya the Dark. We didn’t believe him. He told us he was on an important mission on your behalf and demanded every last scrap of food and supplies we had. He maintained it was your price for saving the world.”

Dreya shook her head, deeply troubled by what she was hearing. “I would never exact such a price,” she swore. That was slavery and slavery was a form of tyranny. She detested tyrants.

“And we refused to pay it,” Scarlett’s husband insisted. “So, he set our fields on fire as punishment.”

“Fortunately, a bronze dragon called Pavay was flying overhead,” Scarlett explained. “He saw the flames and took the wizard away.”

“Scarlett,” Dreya spoke up, wincing slightly, “I am truly sorry for what happened. I will do everything in my power to find out who did it and make whatever reparations I can, but I assure you, I sent no emissary, and he most certainly did not act in my name.”

“As my wife says, we never believed him.”

“But we do believe you,” Scarlett added. With another gesture, the villagers put away their weapons and returned to their work.

“Excellent,” Dreya approved, wincing again. “In that case, would you mind asking the plants to loosen their grip, please? Any tighter and I’m going to lose a hand.”

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry!” Scarlett gasped, suddenly flustered, bringing her hand to her face. “I didn’t mean for them to keep tightening! Erm...” Scarlett waved her hand in the air, uncertainly, but nothing happened. She tried again. Same result. Turning to her husband, she suggested, “Oswald, maybe you should cut her free.”

He moved to do so, but Dreya, seeing an opportunity, stopped him. “No, wait. Scarlett, you can do this with your magic,” she insisted.

Dreya could free herself with a simple power word at any time, but that wasn’t the point. Scarlett’s magic was a valuable weapon in defence of this village, but only if she could control it. It was time for Dreya to see how much she’d learned from Catriona.

“Oswald, do you believe she can do it?” she prompted.

“Of course I do,” he affirmed.

“Well, don’t tell me, tell your wife!”

Nodding, he turned to Scarlett. “Scarlett, honey,” he encouraged her. “You can do this. I believe in you.”

“Excellent,” Dreya approved. “Now, Scarlett, how were you feeling when you asked the plants to restrain me?”

“Honestly, I was scared. I feared for our village, for our community, for what we’d built here.”

“It wasn’t just fear, though, was it?” Dreya prompted.

She shook her head. “I was angry, too. Angry that you people thought you had the right to come here and attack us, take or destroy our hard work. I was angry, and I wasn’t going to let you do it! I’m sorry, Mistress Dreya.”

“Don’t be sorry, and you can drop the ‘Mistress’. That’s for the dragons, so they don’t forget their place. You had every right to be angry. Every right to defend your home. More than that, though, that anger was focused. That’s good. Druid magic – that’s what we call what you can do – channels emotion, but it has to be controlled, directed, focused. Now that you realise who you’ve captured, you’re worried. Worried how I’ll react. That worry leads to doubt, indecision, hesitation. That affects your magic. Stop worrying about me. I’m not going to harm you. I’ve told you that you were right to do this. Suppose it wasn’t the plants holding me. Suppose it was two of your muscular workers over there. If you told them to release me in the timid way you just tried with the plants, do you think they would have obeyed?”

Scarlett smiled. “No. They’d pick up on my hesitation, my uncertainty, so they would be hesitant and uncertain.”

“Precisely. I’ve seen how you lead the people here. They clearly believe in you, and your husband, Oswald, he believes in you, too.”

“I do, Scarlett,” he agreed. “You know I do.”

“So, channel that. Use that emotion, that control. Tell the plants to release me. You don’t need your husband or anyone else to do it for you. You can do it yourself.”

Determined, Scarlett glared at the restraining plants and with the same gesture she used to command the people around her, she told them to release Dreya. They immediately complied.

Oswald swept his wife up in an embrace. “I knew you could do it!”

Approaching Dreya, Scarlett thanked her, vigorously shaking her hand which actually helped the blood to start flowing again.

“I’ve never felt such control over my magic before. How did you know all the right things to say?” she asked.

Dreya smiled. “My fiancée is the most skilled druid I have ever seen, and I recently saw her give a similar lesson to a friend.”

“Please, let us invite you into our home,” Oswald offered. “We live over the bakery. It’s not much, and our food is simple fare, but we’d be honoured to share what we have.”

She had eaten quite well over the last few days at Michael’s new home, but she knew that these people would be offended if she refused. She also wanted more information, so going on a diet for a few days after this would be a small price to pay.

“Very well, I will have a little, but I don’t want to take too much from you after what that wizard did to you.”

Scarlett waved a hand, dismissively. “Oh, that was a good seven, eight years ago now?” She looked up at her husband whose expression seemed to confirm it was about right. “Besides,” she added with a wink, “can you imagine the reaction when I tell people our bread was approved by Dreya the Dark herself? The publicity will be great for business. That should more than make up for that setback.”

So, the offer of a meal was as much business as it was an act of kindness.

Dreya approved.

This was precisely the sort of intelligent, hardworking enterprise that would get this world back on its feet. She hoped this village would be a taste of things to come, in more ways than one.

“I’m curious,” Dreya began as they walked together. “Why did you believe I was who I said I was when you didn’t believe that wizard?”

“You were honest about your motivations,” Scarlett answered. “He lied. If you were an imposter, you would have claimed your actions were entirely altruistic as he did.”

“My ulterior motives don’t bother you, then?”

Oswald shook his head. “Why should they? Whatever your motives, the result was a chance for Chetsuans everywhere. For that, we can only be grateful and the way we choose to show that gratitude is by striving to make something of our small corner of the world. Now, if there’s anything our humble village can do to help the mighty Faery sorceress who made all this possible, then we’ll do it gladly.”

*****

During the meal, Dreya asked if they could remember anything more about the wizard who attacked them, but it was a long time ago, so the details were hazy.

Dreya asked Scarlett and Oswald if they would object to her using her magic to see into their minds, to see what they saw when the wizard attacked. They agreed.

The sorceress had never had reason to use much in the way of mental magic, but she tried to be as gentle as possible. It was a mostly fruitless endeavour, however. Perhaps anticipating something like this, he had taken great pains to hide his identity. The only clues were a dagger with a distinctive jagged blade and some kind of technological device in his hand that emitted a flashing light.

“It can’t be!” Dreya gasped.

“What is it?” Scarlett asked.

She recognised the device. It was like the one Sara was working on. The technology that had helped her and Jessica to find the fragment on Lavos.

“I think this wizard came here for the same reason I did.”

When she briefly explained, Scarlett wondered, “Do you think he found it?”

“I’ll have to find out for sure, but with that tracker and an eight-year head start, he’d have to be pretty incompetent to have failed, and if he’s smart enough to build a tracker and come here, he’s not incompetent.”

Scarlett was none the worse for wear after Dreya’s magic, but it did give Oswald a mild headache, for which she apologised. Scarlett promised to soothe it away, although whether she meant by magical or other means, Dreya didn’t pry.

They suggested that if Dreya wanted to see more of their land, she might try a large market town called Axford about ten miles away. It was the closest thing they had to a capital city these days, at least that these people knew about. They would travel there two or three days a week to sell their bread and buy or barter for vital supplies.

“The road isn’t up to much, but just follow the river Axa, and you can’t go wrong.”

Dreya thanked Scarlett and considered her options. She needed to talk to the dragons, especially this bronze one, Pavay, to find out what he did with the wizard who had dared to attack people here in her name. Still, she was keen to see more of this world, so she decided on a compromise. Rather than teleport or portal directly to her usual rendezvous with the dragons, she would head for this market town, Axford, for a short while. Then, when she was ready to leave, she would call down a dragon – of which there were no shortage in the sky – and fly to the ruined citadel, instead.

“As for the roads hereabouts, Scarlett, you could do something about that with your magic,” Dreya suggested. “It wouldn’t take much time once you got the hang of it, and it would make your journeys to market easier.”

“Good idea, I’ll have to take some time to practice,” she replied.

“You should do that,” Dreya agreed, “but as I’m here, I might as well do part of the job my way.”

She was no druid, so her way would be a little crude, but it would get the job done. She invoked her magic to bring fire to bear on the grass and vegetation, exercising perfect control to confine the effect to what was growing on or over the path. She let the flames continue along the road as far as she could see, and then shut them off. She didn’t want to accidentally burn someone over the next hill.

“There,” she declared, satisfied, “and if anyone asks, this is not an act of kindness from a Black robe. I’m doing this to make my own journey easier. The fact that it might help others is entirely incidental.”

Scarlett and Oswald both hid a smile.

“Of course,” Oswald agreed.

With that, Dreya set off walking. As she did so, she caught Scarlett’s voice on the breeze. “We just spent an afternoon entertaining Dreya the Dark! No-one is ever going to believe it!”