Fic: Of Bards, Beast-Kin and Dragons
Help me, I'm committing crossovers between my own universes.
The half-elven seneschal looked at Maria and her entourage standing in the outer hall of the castle with a look of barely contained disdain. “I should tell... Madame, that the Dragon does not welcome Beast-Kin nor slave holders nor Death Worshipers to his realm. You are unlikely to gain audience with him,” he said.
Maria took a deep breath and reminded herself to remain calm and stick with the agreed upon script she had discussed earlier with Tez and her daughter. She couldn't deny the seneschal's accusations. She was a Beast-Kin, her chocolate brown skin and dark brown eyes human enough, but with curling horns rising out from her mass of curly reddish black hair. It marked her as a Creation, an alchemist's toy, made for service and to be treated no better than a particularly clever horse. The golden arm band with its death's head marked her as a Death Worshiper, often misunderstood and feared by those who chose to ignore Death's natural place in the cycle of life.
She was a slave holder as well of course, that couldn't be denied. The evidence, watching the whole show with barely concealed amusement, was right behind her. But though he stood stood two paces behind her, leashed to her, bare chested and barefoot, wrists bound behind him and ankles closely shackled, it was unlikely that she could have ever have held Tez if he hadn't agreed to stay with her willingly. The bonds were not to hold him, but to provide the proper show.
“He'll want to see us,” Maria replied confidently. “Or rather, the Dragon's Bard will. I have something that will please her immensely.”
“She is not interested in the purchase of slaves,” the seneschal said coldly.
“She'll want to see this one. Tell her that Maria Freeman has captured Tez the Eldest.”
The seneschal paused, looking Tez over. “The Eldest you say?” he said cautiously.
“That is one of my titles,” Tez replied serenely. On cue their daughter Meribeth, her face a shade lighter than Maria's, her slightly pointed ears and horns concealed under her modest wimple, gave him a rap on the skull and said, “Quiet you!”
“Wait here,” the seneschal said, scurrying off. Around them, the other supplicants in the outer hall gave their party curious glances, wondering what prize they had that would attract such attention to the famously mercurial Dragon's Bard.
“Father, I really hope you're right about this,” Meribeth said, her face uncertain.
“Trust me on this one, she'll want to see us,” he replied. Tez grimaced. “Oh, and thank you for the rap on the head. My ears are still ringing.”
She shrugged and gave him a grin. “I had to stay in character.”
The seneschal came back with a bemused look. “Follow me.” They were led into the castle’s Great Hall, though Tez ended up shuffling so slowly that Meribeth merely sighed and picked him up by the waist to carry with her like a dressmaker’s dummy.
As such places went, the Great Hall was large even by the most grandiose ruler’s standards, at least a hundred yards long and half again as wide and tall. The only furniture with it was a throne covered in gold leaf and jewels on a raised dais, beside which was a more mundane overstuffed chair. In the chair sat a woman in a plain green dress, enhanced by a golden collar at her throat, with a pair of gold chains supporting a large, leaf like golden plate at her breast.
The seneschal bowed to her briefly and announced, “The Beast Kin Maria Freeman, Meribeth Freeman and their prisoner, Tez the Eldest.”
The woman stood up from her chair. In Maria's opinion she could be charitably described as “horse faced'. She appeared to be middle-aged judging by her thick waist, with a large nose over a mouth that seemed to be turned down in a permanent frown. Her eyes were a muddy brown, matching her hair, which was drawn back in a plain ponytail. As she looked down from the dais however, her frown turned up into a sharp smile devoid of warmth.
“Greetings to you Maria Freeman,” she said. “I will tell you honestly, my lord's only use for slavers is as hanging decorations over the side of a bridge, but for this prize I will make an exception. Name your price and I will pay it three-fold.”
“He's not for sale,” Maria answered.
“Why not? He's a liar and a thief.”
“Of that I have no doubt. But he's also my husband.”
Teal looked at her in astonishment. “Husband? You're a Beast-Kin! He might as well have married a sheep!”
“You're as foul tempered and prejudiced as ever, Teal,” Tez piped up. “So nice to see how consistent you are.”
She glowered at him. “And you're as perverted and as arrogant as ever. So if she's your wife, what are doing bound up like that?”
“It helped us queue jump ahead of the other supplicants,” Maria said. “We need to use the Gate to the Dragon States and we're in a bit of a hurry.”
“Out of the question.”
“We can pay whatever price you...”
“I said out of the question,” Teal interrupted. “It isn't a matter of money. You could hand over a mountain of gold and I wouldn't let you use the Gate. Nothing you could give me would be worth it, knowing I'd helped him.”
Calm, calm, calm, Maria chanted inwardly, even as she felt her blood pressure begin to rose, bringing the inevitable red tinge to her eyes. Tez had told them both that it wouldn't be easy to convince Teal. She wasn't going to get what they wanted by starting to shout and pound things. “I am sorry for whatever it was that Tez did to you. I understand it must have been a massive insult. If you do not wish to do him a good turn, that is fine. But I want to know, is your refusal is really worth the life of my child?”
“Beast-Kin are mules. They can't have children,” Teal stated flatly.
She shook her head. “By the blessings of my Goddess, I can.” Maria gestured to Meribeth, who pulled off her wimple to display her curly auburn hair and small horns, stepping between Maria and Tez to emphasize the blending of their features in her face.
Teal looked at Meribeth for a long moment, glancing aside to Maria and Tez. “How is this possible?” she asked, in a much quieter tone.
“By the boon of the Goddess of Death, Maria the Beast-Kin was granted the ability to make life,” Tez said gravely. “The price of the boon being that half of her own life was taken from her. She's aging twice as she would normally.”
“I just celebrated my thirty-eighth birthday not a week ago,” Maria said. Teal did not reply immediately, but her eyes took a long look at Maria's face, noting the lines growing there and the grey in her curls. “I have five children. Death willing I bear my sixth in my belly even now, but I will lose her if I am not permitted to travel to the Dragon States and consult with the Black Healer.”
“You are ill?” Teal asked.
Tez nodded. “She's been poisoned by an unknown enemy. It's slow acting and potentially survivable with medications available on the continent. Unfortunately they would also act as an abortifacient. She would live at the expense of our child. But if we do nothing at all they will both die.”
“And you believe the Black Healer will be able to aid her?”
“He holds old knowledge and experiments to discover new cures, or so my husband has told us,” Maria said. “He's the best chance we both have.” She lifted up her tunic to show the barely visible bump on her belly. “Hate Tez as much as you want, but I beg you not to take it out upon my child.”
“What haven't you told me yet?”
Meribeth spoke up. “The agent that poisoned my mother also kidnapped my sister, Swan. The message that we received indicates that of course they'd be willing to provide a safe antidote to my mother's condition if we hand over my father to them.”
“Another old enemy, Tez?” Teal asked.
“Probably. I acquired a few during my last visit,” Tez admitted. “Which one it is remains to be determined. And I have absolutely no intention of following their orders and walk into their clutches. Which is why we need to use the Gate and get ahead of them.”
“Very wise, as always, Tez.” Teal walked back up onto the dais and sat down on her chair. “I'm very sorry for your situation, but the answer is no.”
“You condemn my children!?” Maria shouted.
Teal raised a hand to quiet her. “I've got plenty of reasons to hate Tez, but grant me some credit. I do not wish ill on you or your family, Maria Freeman. You've merely come at an inopportune time. Only my master can work the Gate, and he has just entered his sleep for the season. He will not awaken for six weeks or more.”
Maria felt her heart sink, even as Tez said, “But you can wake him, you told me that when I was with you before, if your life is threatened or there is sufficient threat to his kingdom.”
“True. Your situation qualifies as neither.”
“But I am here now. Now, if I recall correctly, you did mention that if your master ever found me here again you would ask him to, and I quote, “Burn you down to your bones, grind the remains into dust and then scatter them into the caldera of nearest available volcano.” Now if that's not sufficient motivation for you to shake him awake, nothing is.”
“I spoke in haste at that time,” Teal replied. She continued on with a serene expression. “Knowing that I couldn't kill you anyway, it would be far more satisfying to put you to the torture for an extended period.”
Maria glanced over to him in alarm. “Tez, what exactly did you do to her anyway?”
“We'll get to that,” Tez reassured her. Turning back to Teal he said, “All right. Try this one. Let's just assume I am a sufficient threat to the kingdom, and wake your master up. Because if you do not, and Maria or our child dies...” His face hardened, and the gained the feral expression that Maria had rarely seen, but made her very glad that he was bound as he was right now. “I will kill you, and your master, and see this petty little island kingdom of yours burned to ground, its fields salted and its streams and rivers poisoned until nothing larger than an insect will be able to live here for an aeon or longer.”
Teal paused, her eyes calculating. Wondering, Maria was certain, just how serious she should take Tez's threat, given his past history. Finally she said, “I want a guarantee.”
“What do you mean?” Maria asked.
“You want me to set you loose in the Dragon States, up against an unknown Dragon Lord, who may or may not be allied to my own master. I don't know what you're going to do, but if Tez is involved I'm not letting you go there without some sort of guarantee for your good behavior.”
Meribeth sighed. “It's all right, Mother. I'll...”
“Not you,” Teal interrupted. She stepped down again, poking Tez in the chest. “Him.”
“Absolutely not,” Tez said. “If you think for a moment that I'm going to let Maria and Meribeth go to the Dragon States without a guide, you're insane.”
Teal snorted. “Coming from your mouth, that's a particularly laughable assertion. Don't worry, they'll have a guide. My seneschal David will accompany them.”
“And why should we trust him?”
The bard's smile grew painfully sharp. “Well, he is your son after all.”
Into the dead silence that followed, David gave Tez an ironic wave and said, “Hello, Father.”
Maria pressed her palm against her face. “Tez, what is it with you and your ex-girlfriends?”
The half-elven seneschal looked at Maria and her entourage standing in the outer hall of the castle with a look of barely contained disdain. “I should tell... Madame, that the Dragon does not welcome Beast-Kin nor slave holders nor Death Worshipers to his realm. You are unlikely to gain audience with him,” he said.
Maria took a deep breath and reminded herself to remain calm and stick with the agreed upon script she had discussed earlier with Tez and her daughter. She couldn't deny the seneschal's accusations. She was a Beast-Kin, her chocolate brown skin and dark brown eyes human enough, but with curling horns rising out from her mass of curly reddish black hair. It marked her as a Creation, an alchemist's toy, made for service and to be treated no better than a particularly clever horse. The golden arm band with its death's head marked her as a Death Worshiper, often misunderstood and feared by those who chose to ignore Death's natural place in the cycle of life.
She was a slave holder as well of course, that couldn't be denied. The evidence, watching the whole show with barely concealed amusement, was right behind her. But though he stood stood two paces behind her, leashed to her, bare chested and barefoot, wrists bound behind him and ankles closely shackled, it was unlikely that she could have ever have held Tez if he hadn't agreed to stay with her willingly. The bonds were not to hold him, but to provide the proper show.
“He'll want to see us,” Maria replied confidently. “Or rather, the Dragon's Bard will. I have something that will please her immensely.”
“She is not interested in the purchase of slaves,” the seneschal said coldly.
“She'll want to see this one. Tell her that Maria Freeman has captured Tez the Eldest.”
The seneschal paused, looking Tez over. “The Eldest you say?” he said cautiously.
“That is one of my titles,” Tez replied serenely. On cue their daughter Meribeth, her face a shade lighter than Maria's, her slightly pointed ears and horns concealed under her modest wimple, gave him a rap on the skull and said, “Quiet you!”
“Wait here,” the seneschal said, scurrying off. Around them, the other supplicants in the outer hall gave their party curious glances, wondering what prize they had that would attract such attention to the famously mercurial Dragon's Bard.
“Father, I really hope you're right about this,” Meribeth said, her face uncertain.
“Trust me on this one, she'll want to see us,” he replied. Tez grimaced. “Oh, and thank you for the rap on the head. My ears are still ringing.”
She shrugged and gave him a grin. “I had to stay in character.”
The seneschal came back with a bemused look. “Follow me.” They were led into the castle’s Great Hall, though Tez ended up shuffling so slowly that Meribeth merely sighed and picked him up by the waist to carry with her like a dressmaker’s dummy.
As such places went, the Great Hall was large even by the most grandiose ruler’s standards, at least a hundred yards long and half again as wide and tall. The only furniture with it was a throne covered in gold leaf and jewels on a raised dais, beside which was a more mundane overstuffed chair. In the chair sat a woman in a plain green dress, enhanced by a golden collar at her throat, with a pair of gold chains supporting a large, leaf like golden plate at her breast.
The seneschal bowed to her briefly and announced, “The Beast Kin Maria Freeman, Meribeth Freeman and their prisoner, Tez the Eldest.”
The woman stood up from her chair. In Maria's opinion she could be charitably described as “horse faced'. She appeared to be middle-aged judging by her thick waist, with a large nose over a mouth that seemed to be turned down in a permanent frown. Her eyes were a muddy brown, matching her hair, which was drawn back in a plain ponytail. As she looked down from the dais however, her frown turned up into a sharp smile devoid of warmth.
“Greetings to you Maria Freeman,” she said. “I will tell you honestly, my lord's only use for slavers is as hanging decorations over the side of a bridge, but for this prize I will make an exception. Name your price and I will pay it three-fold.”
“He's not for sale,” Maria answered.
“Why not? He's a liar and a thief.”
“Of that I have no doubt. But he's also my husband.”
Teal looked at her in astonishment. “Husband? You're a Beast-Kin! He might as well have married a sheep!”
“You're as foul tempered and prejudiced as ever, Teal,” Tez piped up. “So nice to see how consistent you are.”
She glowered at him. “And you're as perverted and as arrogant as ever. So if she's your wife, what are doing bound up like that?”
“It helped us queue jump ahead of the other supplicants,” Maria said. “We need to use the Gate to the Dragon States and we're in a bit of a hurry.”
“Out of the question.”
“We can pay whatever price you...”
“I said out of the question,” Teal interrupted. “It isn't a matter of money. You could hand over a mountain of gold and I wouldn't let you use the Gate. Nothing you could give me would be worth it, knowing I'd helped him.”
Calm, calm, calm, Maria chanted inwardly, even as she felt her blood pressure begin to rose, bringing the inevitable red tinge to her eyes. Tez had told them both that it wouldn't be easy to convince Teal. She wasn't going to get what they wanted by starting to shout and pound things. “I am sorry for whatever it was that Tez did to you. I understand it must have been a massive insult. If you do not wish to do him a good turn, that is fine. But I want to know, is your refusal is really worth the life of my child?”
“Beast-Kin are mules. They can't have children,” Teal stated flatly.
She shook her head. “By the blessings of my Goddess, I can.” Maria gestured to Meribeth, who pulled off her wimple to display her curly auburn hair and small horns, stepping between Maria and Tez to emphasize the blending of their features in her face.
Teal looked at Meribeth for a long moment, glancing aside to Maria and Tez. “How is this possible?” she asked, in a much quieter tone.
“By the boon of the Goddess of Death, Maria the Beast-Kin was granted the ability to make life,” Tez said gravely. “The price of the boon being that half of her own life was taken from her. She's aging twice as she would normally.”
“I just celebrated my thirty-eighth birthday not a week ago,” Maria said. Teal did not reply immediately, but her eyes took a long look at Maria's face, noting the lines growing there and the grey in her curls. “I have five children. Death willing I bear my sixth in my belly even now, but I will lose her if I am not permitted to travel to the Dragon States and consult with the Black Healer.”
“You are ill?” Teal asked.
Tez nodded. “She's been poisoned by an unknown enemy. It's slow acting and potentially survivable with medications available on the continent. Unfortunately they would also act as an abortifacient. She would live at the expense of our child. But if we do nothing at all they will both die.”
“And you believe the Black Healer will be able to aid her?”
“He holds old knowledge and experiments to discover new cures, or so my husband has told us,” Maria said. “He's the best chance we both have.” She lifted up her tunic to show the barely visible bump on her belly. “Hate Tez as much as you want, but I beg you not to take it out upon my child.”
“What haven't you told me yet?”
Meribeth spoke up. “The agent that poisoned my mother also kidnapped my sister, Swan. The message that we received indicates that of course they'd be willing to provide a safe antidote to my mother's condition if we hand over my father to them.”
“Another old enemy, Tez?” Teal asked.
“Probably. I acquired a few during my last visit,” Tez admitted. “Which one it is remains to be determined. And I have absolutely no intention of following their orders and walk into their clutches. Which is why we need to use the Gate and get ahead of them.”
“Very wise, as always, Tez.” Teal walked back up onto the dais and sat down on her chair. “I'm very sorry for your situation, but the answer is no.”
“You condemn my children!?” Maria shouted.
Teal raised a hand to quiet her. “I've got plenty of reasons to hate Tez, but grant me some credit. I do not wish ill on you or your family, Maria Freeman. You've merely come at an inopportune time. Only my master can work the Gate, and he has just entered his sleep for the season. He will not awaken for six weeks or more.”
Maria felt her heart sink, even as Tez said, “But you can wake him, you told me that when I was with you before, if your life is threatened or there is sufficient threat to his kingdom.”
“True. Your situation qualifies as neither.”
“But I am here now. Now, if I recall correctly, you did mention that if your master ever found me here again you would ask him to, and I quote, “Burn you down to your bones, grind the remains into dust and then scatter them into the caldera of nearest available volcano.” Now if that's not sufficient motivation for you to shake him awake, nothing is.”
“I spoke in haste at that time,” Teal replied. She continued on with a serene expression. “Knowing that I couldn't kill you anyway, it would be far more satisfying to put you to the torture for an extended period.”
Maria glanced over to him in alarm. “Tez, what exactly did you do to her anyway?”
“We'll get to that,” Tez reassured her. Turning back to Teal he said, “All right. Try this one. Let's just assume I am a sufficient threat to the kingdom, and wake your master up. Because if you do not, and Maria or our child dies...” His face hardened, and the gained the feral expression that Maria had rarely seen, but made her very glad that he was bound as he was right now. “I will kill you, and your master, and see this petty little island kingdom of yours burned to ground, its fields salted and its streams and rivers poisoned until nothing larger than an insect will be able to live here for an aeon or longer.”
Teal paused, her eyes calculating. Wondering, Maria was certain, just how serious she should take Tez's threat, given his past history. Finally she said, “I want a guarantee.”
“What do you mean?” Maria asked.
“You want me to set you loose in the Dragon States, up against an unknown Dragon Lord, who may or may not be allied to my own master. I don't know what you're going to do, but if Tez is involved I'm not letting you go there without some sort of guarantee for your good behavior.”
Meribeth sighed. “It's all right, Mother. I'll...”
“Not you,” Teal interrupted. She stepped down again, poking Tez in the chest. “Him.”
“Absolutely not,” Tez said. “If you think for a moment that I'm going to let Maria and Meribeth go to the Dragon States without a guide, you're insane.”
Teal snorted. “Coming from your mouth, that's a particularly laughable assertion. Don't worry, they'll have a guide. My seneschal David will accompany them.”
“And why should we trust him?”
The bard's smile grew painfully sharp. “Well, he is your son after all.”
Into the dead silence that followed, David gave Tez an ironic wave and said, “Hello, Father.”
Maria pressed her palm against her face. “Tez, what is it with you and your ex-girlfriends?”