14
FIGHT!
Kale held Paladin’s hand as they sat together on the balcony outside his chambers. The early morning sun sparkled on the dew-covered hills beyond the castle walls. Quartz embedded the white stone of the palace, glistening as rays of golden light struck the edifice. Cool, fresh air put color in Paladin’s cheeks, and Gymn scampered over him, leaping from the invalid chair to the balustrades and back to Paladin’s shoulders. Metta perched on Kale’s shoulder and sang in harmony with the birds heralding the sunrise.
Paladin’s eyes twinkled at Kale as he patted her hand. “So tell me what troubles you.”
“I shouldn’t bother you with my troubles. You’ve been ill.”
He threw back his head and laughed, and although it wasn’t as hearty as she knew his laughter could be, the merry sound made her smile.
“I’m glad you’re better, sir, but why are you better? Will you get well now?”
The o’rant leader scooped Gymn into his hand and rubbed a finger over the sensitive spot behind the minor dragon’s neck frill. Gymn closed his eyes and stretched, enjoying the caress.
“My health ebbs and flows as our citizens invest their lives in Wulder.” He lifted his hand to the sky, and a songbird dived from a parapet to land on his finger. Kale expected him to say something wise, something she would have to puzzle over to get more than the surface meaning. But Paladin listened to the bird’s notes blend with Metta’s for a moment and then shooed the feathered creature off to its more natural perch.
He cocked an eyebrow at his young visitor. “I think you avoided my question, Kale. Tell me what these plans are that so distress you.”
“Bardon, Regidor, Gilda, Mother, and Dar are to lead a force against the armies of Pretender.”
“They will be in danger, and of course, this is alarming.”
“That’s not it!” She shook her dainty handkerchief and then deliberately placed both hands in her lap. She couldn’t help but lean forward to deliver her plea. “Bardon and I have practiced together for three years. We’re really exceptional, Paladin.” She drew in a steadying breath. “Together we’re almost unbeatable. We fight as one. It’s the training and the special bond we have.”
Even though she couldn’t bring herself to voice her defiant demand, she knew Paladin would grasp the underlying message. One of the unique traits about him was his ability to pick up on subtleties. She could count on Paladin to rectify this awful situation. Everyone listened to him. She almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw him nod.
“Your concern for your husband is understandable, but he can fight without you, and Regidor and the others are just as capable.”
“Oh, you’re missing the point.” She dropped his hand, stood up, and at once sat down again. “I don’t want to go look for dragon eggs, to hatch them and build a fighting force. My father can do that. He’s the original Dragon Keeper. I want to go to the front with the others. I want to be where I can do some good.”
Paladin tapped his lips with one finger as he considered her words.
Kale waited, holding her breath and wondering if this would be the time Paladin lost patience with her. As far as she knew, she was the only one who had the audacity to complain and make an objection to their exalted leader. His eyes narrowed just before he spoke, and she thought it looked as if he winced against the pain of having to rebuke her.
“Kale, you have been chosen to do a job. If there were someone else who could assume that duty, I would excuse you.”
“I already have six eggs to tend, and my father—”
Paladin held up a hand to stop her protestation. “By all means, quicken the eggs in your possession. But neither you nor your father could accomplish this task alone. If the task is unpleasant for you, my suggestion is that you put your heart into the gathering of these eggs and work with your father to train the dragons that hatch with due speed.”
Kale’s eyes widened as she listened to the stern tone of Paladin’s voice. Now she bobbed her head. “Yes sir.”
She left Metta and Gymn with Paladin. The farther away she walked from his room, the more her feelings surfaced. It seemed no one understood her position. She stormed through the palace to find her husband. He’d been asleep when she returned from the wizards’ conclave just before dawn. She’d gone to stand on their balcony, and there she had heard Paladin’s summons.
Now she hurried down the corridor, away from Paladin, who could, but would not, change the orders. She sent her thoughts ahead and discovered her parents having breakfast with Bardon in the suite of rooms between their bedchambers.
Did they tell you? She mindspoke to her husband to let him know she was coming and intending to inform him of Paladin’s stubborn decree.
“Yes. A good plan.”
A good plan? Kale felt Bardon take a step backward from her outrage if only in his mind. You don’t see that we will be separated? Perhaps for years?
“Well…”
The scope of her husband’s anticipation hit her. You’re eager to go fight bisonbecks, blimmets, grawligs, quiss, and whatever. You never once gave a thought as to where I would be.
“Now that’s not true. You’ll be with your father—”
And would you rather be with your father than with me?
“And that’s not fair.”
“Children, children,” her mother’s voice interrupted the argument.
Her father’s voice chimed in. “Are you saying you don’t want to go on this quest with me?”
“Of course, she wants to go,” said her mother, “but with her husband, not with her father.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” said her father at the same time Bardon’s thoughts clamored, “I’m not a Dragon Keeper. I’m a knight.”
Her father harrumphed. “I’m a knight.”
“Of course,” Lyll’s soothing tone came through as another interrupting thought. “Bardon meant he is just a knight.”
Another harrumph. “No such thing as just a knight.”
Lyll answered, “I didn’t mean it that way.” Kale imagined her mother patting her father’s arm. “I meant he is only a knight as opposed to being both a knight and a Dragon Keeper.”
Both men mindspoke at the same time. Kale covered her ears and straight away realized how futile that was when all the parties of the conversation were not speaking aloud and weren’t even where they could see her gesture. She heard her husband, father, and little comments by her mother as she turned a corner and raced down the hall.
Regidor, with Gilda on his arm, approached from the other direction. Kale took her hands from her ears and waved aside her friends’ concern as she sped past. She opened the door to the suite and saw her mother was, indeed, patting her father’s arm.
Kale glared at Bardon. “You want to go fight.”
“Of course I do.” His voice held a note of umbrage. “That’s what I was trained to do. Defend and protect.”
She took a few more steps into the room, vaguely aware that Gilda and Regidor followed. “I was trained to fight too. A woman belongs beside her husband. Doesn’t anyone understand that?”
Lyll moved away from Sir Kemry. “Well, I certainly do.”
“And I,” said Gilda.
Kale felt a wave of relief at being supported by the two other women.
“But,” added Lyll.
Kale’s heart sank. No question about it. Her mother enthusiastically glowed with youth and vigor. A sure sign Lyll was going to be right in whatever she decided to say, and right now, right was not what Kale wanted to hear.
Lyll’s chin went up, and her eyes seemed to focus on an exquisite scene beyond their ken. “There are times when we are required to put our personal preferences aside in order to achieve a greater good.”
“Hear! Hear!” said Sir Kemry.
“Bah!” said Gilda.
Regidor clapped, a sardonic look twisting his handsome features.
Kale burst into tears.