And from below them in the tower, there was a horrible scream and a grating noise.
Silence. And another scream from inside the tower.
They ran down.
It was Alois"s son, Owain, his hand trapped in the cogs. Whatever he"d done, the Changer would not change anything anymore. Pieces of spring and little bra.s.s cogs lay scattered about.
"Axe," said Fionn grimly, holding out his hand for the ancient and magical alvar blade.
It would cut steel.
It cut bra.s.s.
The alternative would have been to cut the arm off.
"I...heard what the mage said," said the boy. "I squirmed between the legs, back down here. Stabbed it. It...drew my hand in," he said through gritted teeth. "Mother...said I wasn"t to come. But I wanted to do something for the Lady Anghared. So...so she would pardon my father. Not have his head...I was too scared already when I thought he was dead last time."
"Whatever else you"ve done by this deed," said Meb, "I promise that I am not going to have your father"s head. I was never planning to."
"Tell my mother I am sorry...I disobeyed," he said faintly and slumped in Fionn"s arms.
There was cheering and shouting down the stairs.
But Fionn only had s.p.a.ce for the small sorrow in his arms. "He"s a brave lad. We must see if we can save the arm. But he saved all of us. I think the castle has been taken. You"d better send for his mother, Sc.r.a.p."
It was only a few hours until morning. When the sun came up that day, the gates of Dun Tagoll were open. The bodies had been dragged away. People came and went. Messengers rode north and south.
And the dragon, dog, and the daughter of Queen Gwenhwyfach and Mage Aberinn stood together in a little oasis of quiet by the outer wall, where the water trickled through the now luxuriant ferns and tiny star lilies and into the stone basin.
"This is my favorite place here. About the only place I like here, actually. I didn"t like this castle when I came to it. And now I like it even less," said Meb. "I always wondered just who my parents were. Daydreamed I might be a princess or the daughter of a great magician. Did I make that happen?" she said, touching the dragon pendant at her throat.
"No," said the dragon. "It"s common enough, I gather, for humans to dream such things, especially when they know little of them, or the price of them. Would you have dreamed them as they were?"
Meb shook her head. "No. I...I didn"t like either of them. I should have loved them. They were my parents."
"If you had, Sc.r.a.p, I would be worried about you," said the dragon. "They had their strengths. Even, oddly, good points. But they were not strong enough to rise above their upbringing and society."
"It"s not a society I want. Not for the sons of the Dragon," she said, twisting her fingers in his. "So what do we do now?"
"Eat breakfast I would think. Ruling is what they expect of you, though."
"Me?"
"It seems you have found their holy puddle. Dileas is drinking from it, which probably makes him the king dog. I wouldn"t tell him, because he gets insufferable enough anyway."
Meb looked at the rock-bowl. "This is the font? I thought it was a horse trough. No one ever comes near it."
Fionn shrugged. "Because they can"t see it. It looks like a rock to them. Aberinn hid it so only his bloodline could see it, the same as his other illusions. The question now is what you are going to do with it."
"But I thought it was for kings. I drank from it. Washed my face in it."
"Some of the best kings have clean faces, at least once in a lifetime," said Fionn.
"So what do you think I should do?"
"That you must decide. I can"t decide for you," said Fionn, hoping he hid his nervousness.
"I"d make a slightly worse king than Neve."
"In the way they see matters, in terms of bloodlines anyway, she has a better claim," said Fionn. "She"s the king"s granddaughter; you are not actually more than the queen"s daughter. And of course there are any number of others. Getting this society to accept that may be difficult, though. They have gotten used to the idea of you."
"I think I would make the worst possible queen or king or..."
"Dragon partner? Troublemaker? Provider of breakfast to faithful sheepdogs?"
She smiled and kissed him. "I think those sound more like what I wish to be good at."
And, thought Fionn, will be, even possibly without help from a dragon pendant. "I hear Earl Alois has arrived. I think we need to go and give him greeting."
Meb winced. "We"d better."
They found the earl with his son.
He knelt when he saw Meb. "Lady Anghared. Defender of Lyonesse."
Meb looked at him. Looked at the boy, pale and drugged by Fionn. Looked at his wife, holding him by the shoulder. "He"s a very fine son, Earl Alois. He did this for you. And even if I had wanted your head as much as I wanted Medraut"s or Aberinn"s, I would have forgiven you, for his sake."
"I failed you, too, Alois," said Fionn. "I did not keep him safe."
The earl stood. "My son has taught me honor. And they tell me that he would have lost his arm completely if it were not for you, Sir Spriggan. That you were the one who set the bones and sewed the skin. I cannot blame you for his actions."
"Then you"d blame me for his courage too. And that, I think he learned from his father," said Fionn. "And actually, I"m a dragon, not a spriggan."
"Oh, I"d say his mother, too," said his Sc.r.a.p, as Alois stared at him.
Fionn could see it in her face. She reached her decision. "Earl Alois. Pick him up. I know he is sore, but this is important. Lady Branwen, please bring your daughters. I"ve learned that the land doesn"t care what s.e.x its kings are. They might have to find a better word than king."
They walked out into the courtyard, to the outer wall, with, by now a large following.
Meb came to what everyone else there perceived as a protruding piece of rock.
She told it to be what she could see. Then she made Earl Alois come forward and took a handful of water from the stone bowl. Bathed Owain"s forehead in it. "And your daughters. The land is a heavy burden, best shared. One guardian for the South, one for the North, one for the East."
So she bathed their foreheads too.
"But you are the Defender. You are the Land," said Earl Alois.
"The Land does not belong to any one person," said Meb. "Lyonesse belongs to the people of Lyonesse, and they belong to it. But you will be the regent for it."
"But you..."
"I came to change it, not rule it. I am going to hold the sons of the Dragon, not Lyonesse. However, I do need two favors of you."
"You will always command whatever I or mine can do, Lady Anghared," he said earnestly.
"My Neve is to be chatelaine of Dun Tagoll. And a place of honor and lands must go to Vivien"s sons."
Earl Alois nodded. "My word on it."
Meb smiled at them. Patted Owain"s head. Took a firm hold of Finn and called Dileas to her.
It was easy to vanish.
And it was also easier to vanish from their sight, to leave them with an event that would grow in song and story, than to try and leave in any normal manner.
"Where now?" asked Fionn, enjoying sitting watching the confusion.
"We can still see you," said the spriggan. "And they"ll make a mess of it. Just you wait."
"Probably," said Meb, smiling at the grey-faced fay. "But that"ll make you happy. Anyway, this is not our place. And Finn would make a worse ruler than I would."
Fionn nodded. "I can"t think of anything I"d like less. My work still needs doing, and if the First are going to meddle...it may need more. There are some travelers out there we can quietly fit in with. We can come back from time to time. When they least expect us. I will make you and Dileas a home somewhere, but this is not it.
She put her arms around them, dog and dragon. "Home is not one place. It"s where we are together."
"So let"s go home," said the dragon.
BAEN BOOKS by DAVE FREER Dragon"s Ring.
A Mankind Witch.
The Forlorn.
WITH ERIC FLINT.
Rats, Bats & Vats.
The Rats, The Bats & the Ugly.
Pyramid Scheme.
Pyramid Power.
Slow Train to Arcturus.
The Sorceress of Karres.
WITH ERIC FLINT & MERCEDES LACKEY.
The Shadow of the Lion.
This Rough Magic.
Much Fall of Blood.
The Wizard of Karres.
Dog and Dragon.