The Azure Rider Ch. 08

Finthalion visited them two days after this, with fervent apologies for leaving Agatha in the human land while he attended to the matter of King Olbrecht's hearing with the Elven Guards. Finthalion and Illimitar had flown back to Ost-in-Edhil in two days, a feat that would have been nearly impossible for Elpis, but their haste was necessitated by the urgency of the matter at hand. The Elven Guards had been alerted to the nature of the misdemeanor conducted by King Olbrecht, and they had flown to Regstone soon afterwards under the leadership of Elnaril Miralamin, the Rider of the Malachite Dragon and the chief of the Elven Guards. King Olbrecht had been escorted away to Ost-in-Edhil, with little resistance from the Dragon Council of Regstone (by Finthalion's account, one of them had directed the Elven Guards to the underground chamber King Olbrecht had barricaded himself in) and after a short, albeit tense trial in the High Court in Thorondell he had received the death penalty.

They met and conversed on the yard in front of Orion's house. Finthalion was accompanied by a stunning woman who rode an Azure Dragon and introduced herself as Lyriel. Agatha immediately presumed that the tall, willowy woman with waist length silver hair (which stayed surprisingly unruffled despite the long ride she had just undertaken) must be Finthalion's wife or partner, until Lyriel stepped in front of Orion and drew him into an intimate embrace.

"It is so nice to see you again, Orion," she said in a rich, husky voice that made Agatha reconsider her preference for men for a few heartbeats. "You look better now. Happier."

Agatha was taken aback by the relief that flooded through her when Orion returned her embrace only customarily, drawing away after a hasty pat on her back.

"Will you come with us this time?" Lyriel asked, holding on to one of his hands with both of hers. Orion shook his head and said, "I have engagements here, I'm afraid."

"I wish you all the happiness in your life then," she smiled gently, then kissing the back of his hand, stepped back to take her place beside Finthalion.

"We don't have much time, onya," Finthalion pronounced, turning towards Agatha. "Summon your Dragon, we must be on our way."

Agatha tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear and stated, "I am indebted to you for freeing Elpis, Finthalion. I would love to visit the fabled Land of the Fair Folk someday. But for now, I would like to return to Rubenstraad."

Finthalion was temporarily rendered speechless with surprise.

"You want to return to Rubenstraad? To the people who have treated you with nothing but disdain and disrespect? To the land that's riddled with poverty and famines and diseases? Why?"

"It's my home," Agatha responded. "And... I do have some responsibilities towards them, now that Elpis has claimed me. Besides... Meister Erwan is growing old, he needs someone to help him out in physician duties now more than ever. I cannot escape from my responsibilities, Finthalion."

Finthalion stared dumbfoundedly at her for a few moments, then raised his eyes to meet Orion's in a steely glare. "Well, you seem to have been keeping busy. You were supposed to keep her safe while I attended to the matters of the Elven Council, not poison her against me. My commendations, Orion. You've done nothing but reinforce my opinion about you humans. I was a fool to trust you after what you did, it seems."

Orion raised his hands in front of him, taken aback by this sudden apportionment of blame.

"I did not say anything to her in this regard," he explained truthfully, "this is her choice, and hers alone."

"Really?" Finthalion said coldly, his silver hair floating about his face in the gusty north wind, "so you mentioned nothing about Estrilda, about how she had honorably decided to stay back for her people instead of coming with me? No heroic tales spun by the fireside with the intent to mold an easily malleable young mind?"

"Agatha had decided on returning to Rubenstraad long before I mentioned that. And I told her the bare truth without glorifying anyone's actions. Perhaps your anger is misdirected, Fin. Perhaps you blame yourself for Estrilda's death, and you are simply worried that a similar fate will befall your daughter if she stays behind."

"Do not presume to understand me, Orion," Finthalion thundered, his fair face beginning to turn pink at an alarming rate. "You know nothing of the grief of losing a loved one. Estrilda was ravished by the very humans she wanted to protect! Where is your justice in that? Where is the grand balance of scales that weighs out every sin with a swift retribution? What happened to the men who had tried to ravage my daughter when you met her? Did you punish them? No! You let them leave with minor castigation. How do you convince yourself to fight for men like that, Orion? And how, with a clear conscience, could you ask my daughter to risk her life for these worthless vermin?"

"Once again, you prove yourself incapable of comprehending what I have been telling you for decades, Fin. Injustice and retribution is not as linearly related as you might think. I would never be so bold as to presume that the weight of judging every delinquency falls upon my shoulder: I do not have the moral uprightness required to do it, and in my humble opinion, no one person should have that kind of power. I'm also surprised that you presumed that I have been privileged enough in my encounters with grief to afford this degree of callousness. I'm an immortal in a land of mortals, I have lost my wife to grave injustice and I have a son at death's door. Would it be so preposterous to assume that I know a fair bit about grief?"

"If you loved her so, then why didn't you take her away from Rubenstraad, Orion? You knew that her position was a precarious one in the Castle. Have you considered that it might be your fault that she is dead? And have you considered that this is why I cannot trust you with Esmeralda's security?"

Orion's face went white for a few moments. However, when he spoke, his voice was as calm as ever.

"Penelope was a witch with exceptional command on healing spells, but she was still a weak, defenseless woman. Agatha is not. She has Elpis and hardly needs my protection. But that," he continued, turning towards Agatha, "will not be enough security for you if you do return to Rubenstraad. Sir Alexander suspects you of your capabilities, and I dare say he is not the only one. However, while the rest of the men will remain silent on their suspicions on account of their loyalty and reverence towards you, Sir Alexander will invariably threaten to expose you to gain your favour or to establish his dominance over you. But I can assure you that it will be all bark and no bite because he is no fool and he understands the necessity of another Dragon Rider as well as I do. If you do return to Rubenstraad, Agatha, you will be expected to play your part in strengthening our defences. You will be trained for battle, expected to join the Council and travel to other lands as an ambassador for Lohenstraad. It is not an easy life that awaits you back there. I hope you will make your decision based on this information."

"I may be a witch, but I am also half Elven," Agatha answered slowly, voicing the argument that she had prepared for a while now. "And mortals aren't sufficiently acquainted with the way of the Elves to know the differences between the two kinds of magic. My magic can be because of my Elven lineage. The Fair Folk is regarded with superhuman reverence amongst mortals, and this will not be contested."

Orion nodded. "That is true."

"Beautiful," Finthalion sneered, "so you will do nothing to convince her to return to the place where she rightfully belongs simply because it is convenient for you?"

"I have meddled in her life for long enough," Orion said, never taking his eyes off Agatha's. "She can make her own choices."

Finthalion gave him a withering look. Agatha stepped forward between them and laid a hand on Finthalion's chest. "Finthalion!" she called out, and when that did not elicit a response out of him, "Father!"

Finthalion's eyes softened as he looked down at her. "Yes, onya?"

"He is not lying. I had decided to stay behind long before I learnt of Estrilda. I cannot desert my people in a bid to chase my own happiness, not when the threat of war is still upon us." When Finthalion opened his mouth to argue, she spoke over him, raising her voice. "The Elves did not come to our aid when Malthus Vuldrethe started murdering the Azure Riders. Nor did they come when the consumption epidemic struck, or when the famine arrived. I will be forever grateful to you for freeing Elpis, and am eager to visit the Land of the Fair Folk, but I cannot live a life so cruelly aloof, father. I cannot turn my back upon humans. They are not all bad. And the good ones are worth fighting for." She thought of Siegel and his father as she said this, of Lyla, and of Sir Blaxton, and Kane and Rowan and Meister Erwan and Fred and Alice Webster and little Kabuta from the kitchen.

And though she did not want to, she thought of Orion.

***

After Finthalion and Lyriel departed, Agatha resumed her task of chopping firewood in front of the shed. The ground was hard and the axe had been sharpened to a fine edge by Orion the day before, so her work was easier than usual and consequently, her mind wandered unfettered. She had tried to sound brave and decided in front of Finthalion and Lyriel, but in truth she was still inundated by doubt and uncertainty regarding her decision to stay behind in Rubenstraad. She did not consider herself a brave person even though she had been nothing but all her life, and in this one instance she had dearly wanted to choose the route of escape. In the end, she had not been able to. It did not occur to her that courage was often not the absence of fear, that often the bravest of men were plagued by terror and indecision as acutely as she was, but like her and her mother, the brave men in the ballads were often able to look past their selfish desires and make choices that would serve the collective.

Agatha was so deeply immersed in her musings that she did not notice Orion standing behind her. He had emerged from the house to inform her that lunch was ready, but for now he was standing at the edge of her vision, and as much a slave to his baser instincts as all mortal men around him, was discreetly admiring the supple, graceful movements of his woman while she split a wide chunk of log into narrower pieces. Agatha noticed him when she straightened to wipe a bead of sweat from her brows.

"How long do we have to stay here?" she queried, resting the head of her axe on top of the wood.

"Not long now, I was thinking that we should return tomorrow. We will fly into Rubenstraad separately, of course. You can tell them that you are returning from Ost-in-Edhil, and I will be only too happy to finally leave my tower and resume my responsibilities in court."

Agatha nodded.

"You don't fool me, you know," she said as she returned to the log.

"Would you be kind enough to elaborate on that statement?" Orion asked, approaching her.

"I know that you've been so graciously accommodating towards my decision to return because it would benefit the crown and the army. Finthalion was not entirely wrong when he accused you of manipulating me. Had I wanted to travel to Ost-in-Edhil, you would have persuaded me to stay, possibly in a manner that would have escaped my notice."

Orion crossed his arms over his chest and smiled faintly at her.

"Since you are so persuaded of my disingenuous nature I suppose it would be fruitless to try to convince you otherwise."

"I did not arrive at this conclusion in a day, Orion. You lie and manipulate as and when it serves your purpose and you believe that the end justifies the means. I was a fool not to have seen it earlier."

"One day, when you have put a few years behind you, you'll grow to realize that not every human is worthy of your confidence."

Agatha stared at him speculatively and asked, "did you offer to marry me to ensure my return to Rubenstraad?"

Orion pursed his lips in amused disapproval. "I presumed that on account of your cleverness, you would be able to discern why a man usually wants to marry a woman, but in the light of the ludicrous conjectures that you have been spawning these last two days, clearly, your imagination outstrips your intelligence."

Agatha coloured slightly at this statement and vented her frustration by attacking the log with renewed vigour.

"One day," Orion continued quietly, "when you are ready to hear it, I will tell you exactly why I want to marry you. But not today, and certainly not when you are wielding an axe. Now, would you like to come inside for lunch?"

***

Orion received two letters by birds soon afterwards. Agatha abandoned her task of washing the plates and approached him, eager to know about their contents. Orion did not acknowledge her presence but continued to read rapidly down the first scroll from his perch at the edge of the table in the kitchen. When he was finished, he raised his eyes and stared at Agatha with a crease between his eyes, an uncharacteristic flicker of displeasure colouring his countenance.

"I thought I asked you to leave him alive," Orion remarked, resting the scroll on the table behind him. Agatha crossed her arms over her chest, mirroring his stance, and waited for him to elaborate on the contents of the missive. "That was from Princess Sira. Fredenand died yesterday after an unexpected bout of consumption. Now she is the natural heir to the throne but she is facing resistance from the members of the Ministerial Council, many of whom were loyal to Fredenand or King Olbrecht and do not consider her to be a competent contender for the crown. So she has sent for me, asking for the support of the Lohenstraad Army to secure what is rightfully hers. She assures us that she will abide by the terms of the Treaty for the rest of her natural lifespan if we assist in her ascent to the throne."

"She will be a far better ruler than Fredenand," Agatha declared.

"I do not contest that. What... disappoints and... alarms me is that, you had secured Fredenand's favour, you were aware that you would be extracted from that life soon afterwards, yet you chose to kill him. Castor, William Alden, Walter Abelardo and the page back in the camp in the Disputed Corridor, were all killed in self defence. This is, unfortunately, cold and premeditated murder, and it worries me."

"His death ensures that we will have peace. I fail to see your point, Orion."

"But that was not the reason you killed him. You killed him because in your mind, he had done something worthy of receiving the death penalty and you hastily meted out justice to him."

"Orion, that man raped me for days on end, forced me to do things that I cannot speak of, how can you possibly take his side this time? Was he competent in some obscure vocation that I am not aware of, like Sir Alexander, which immediately absolves him of his crimes?" Contempt dripped from her voice at this point.

"I couldn't care less about Fredenand, Agatha. It is the matter of your soul that concerns me. Fredenand was killed in a bid to exact revenge, not for self defence, not as a farsighted move to prevent the war from restarting. You must not travel down that path, Agatha. Take it from someone who has been repeatedly lured by the dark pull of revenge - it is not worth selling out your soul for. The intoxicating rush that you possibly received from taking another life can quickly become addictive, until you will start killing without reason, or for imagined or minor infractions. It is more likely in your case because you are equipped with the power to do it, and stronger witches than you have given in to the temptation of necromancy. Do you know the story of why Malthus Vuldrethe started to kill the Azure Riders?"

"No."

"The woman that he loved spurned his affections and married an Azure Rider. It may sound like a ludicrous reason now, but for Malthus Vuldrethe, it was enough to kill thirty two Azure Riders, and by extension, their Dragons. The reason that we are told, is unfortunately, the feather that broke the camel's back. He had struggled with poverty, a sick father, bullies in his social circle nearly all of his life. This was the last straw that made him embrace dark magic."

Agatha swallowed, the terror that bubbled constantly inside her rising to the surface. Orion was voicing some of her deepest, darkest worries, and dread choked her airways the longer she stood in front of him. When she spoke, her voice sounded petulant and defensive even to her own ears.

"Do not worry, Orion, I will not go over to the dark side. Perhaps your informers failed to notify you of the details of the circumstances of Walter Abelardo's death, but I believe it was, in your own words, cold and premeditated murder as well. Since I haven't yet given in to the seductive lure of necromancy, I believe it is safe to presume that it will never happen. No man violates me and walks away unscathed."

Orion looked troubled as he asked, "how did you kill him?"

"Nightshade. I built my tolerance to it over time, so that when I offered him the drink, he did not suspect poisoning. I drank it with him, you see."

Orion's face was studiously blank as he inspected her defiant, troubled expression. "Pardon me, but that seems like too elaborate and circumspect a plan to have been devised by someone as impatient as you."

Agatha blushed furiously at his shrewd perceptiveness.

"Was it Siegel's idea?" Orion hypothesized. Agatha did not answer. "Was he the one who convinced you that it is a sign of strength of character to play for judge, jury and executioner?" When Agatha did not respond, he muttered, "Perhaps I have been worried about the wrong witch."

"What else was I supposed to do, Orion?" Agatha snapped, "let Walter rape me for days?"

Orion shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was gentle. "I do not fault you for killing him, because there was no other way that you could have escaped his clutches. My concern is with the method employed: it is a little worrisome that a fourteen year old boy came up with such a cold blooded plan to kill someone. I would give Siegel the benefit of doubt in this instance and assume that his love for you skewed his judgement a little. That being said, I still do not condone Fredenand's murder - not for the reason it was committed anyway."

"Is it not a bit hypocritical, coming from a man who orchestrated the assassination of Prince Elrond?"

"Elrond was not killed for revenge. It was either his life or my son's. Besides, my soul is beyond salvation, Agatha. Yours is not."

Agatha could neither understand his convoluted reasoning nor did she want to, and she persuaded herself that the nagging guilt that she felt for killing Fredenand was simply because she had grown sympathetic to him.

Orion picked up the second scroll from the table, unravelled it and started reading.

"This is from Sir Alexander," he volunteered without her having to ask. "He wants me to join his men as soon as possible. Sira has sent him a similar missive and he has set out for Vandan with his men immediately after dispatching this letter." Orion smiled a little, staring at the parchment. "He never fails to impress with his choice of words. 'If you have finished canoodling your pet witch, please join us, we will be marching alongside the Isiya river.'"

"You should go," Agatha said.

Orion spent the better part of the afternoon explaining her due course of action for the subsequent days. She was to wait for another day, then travel on Elpis' back to Rubenstraad. When asked about her whereabouts for these past few days, she must maintain that she had been residing with the Elves all this while. Then he drew out a map of Lohenstraad on a piece of parchment and instructed her on the direction that she must take, landmarks she must watch out for to ensure that she was in the right direction.