SINGED
Chapter 10

It stands with arms raised in a silent benediction. As we watch, something swells beneath the water, and the water drake rises to tower above the diminutive figure. It rises so suddenly and silently it seems unreal, dreamlike.

Miranda and I stood, frozen. For a long flicker of a frozen flame, all was still. Time had stopped. Finally, the drake lowered its head before the stranger, green lamp-like eyes dim and docile. It was submitting. The stranger reached out, grasping the curling horns on the sides its head. There was a pulse of light.

“It is a charm!” Miranda hissed. “It is renewing the charm. The drake was enchanted when it attacked the ship.”

This is our enemy, I thought.

A faint feral smile touched my lips. I began to step forward. Miranda stopped me, placing a hand against my chest. It was warm through the fabric of my tunic. Just as the drake had acquiesced to the stranger I submitted to the gentle touch. As we watched, the drake quietly withdrew, sliding back under the waves.

Miranda dropped her hand, nodded, though her eyes were wide with fright. I surged forward. The shrouded figure still stood staring at the sea. I was nearly upon it, my hand reaching, fingers like claws. It turned, drawing back its hood as it did so. I froze. I was staring into Miranda’s eyes, wide and startled. I faltered, disoriented. Miranda stood before me and behind.

The hair on my neck stood on end. It was a changeling. It had stolen Miranda’s face to confuse me, I thought, but she was looking beyond me, mouth opening in an elated oval.

“Miranda!” the changeling gasped. “I thought you were dead. Thank the Light!”

The changeling’s eyes flitted back to me, shy rather than frightened now, before returning to Miranda. My hand slowly dropped to my side as she stepped past me. I turned to stare questioningly at Miranda, who was approaching across the sand as if in a dream.

“Lenoir,” Miranda breathed.

I was forgotten as they embraced. Yet a soft smile came upon me, unbidden. I wasn’t even jealous, such was my relief at Miranda’s joy. Thank the Light indeed, I thought. My draconic instincts had been gentled. I was buoyed up by fragile human emotions I barely understood, captured by the gravity of their union. Somehow, I was included in Miranda’s happiness, more aware of her emotions than my own. Her happiness was my happiness.

Tears and laughter, more hugs. They were talking at the same time, responding simultaneously. Connected by an invisible bond, their eyes never left each other.

“I don’t remember falling into the sea,” Miranda was saying. “Brand kept me from drowning.”

She looked at me finally. I was smitten by the love in her gaze. I could only nod, hoping my expression said enough.

“They capsized my craft as well,” Lenoir said. “Thank the Light I remained conscious. I did not have a handsome sailor to save me. All my crew was lost. I have been alone, except for the one that trapped us and the drakes.”

“The Storm Hag is here then,” I said, breaking my silence.

Lenoirhesitated, nodded.

“We shouldn’t stay in the open. I have a place we can hide.”

“Why were you with the drake when we found you?” I asked.

Did I detect tension? Her jaw tightening, a flicker of something hidden behind her eyes? She hesitated for a flicker of a flame.

“I was trying to charm it away from the Hag,” she said. “She can summon them. Now that there is only one it calls for its mate as the Hag’s charm begins to wane. I thought I could sway its allegiance.”

“You give me hope,” Miranda said, grasping her sister’s hand.

I said nothing.

“It is our medallions that may be her undoing,” Lenoir said. “They hide us from her. That is why I have evaded her so far, and why we may yet prevail. We must replace shelter though. We should not linger here on the beach.”

We crept out of the moonlight into the trees. Though there was still much to say, we all felt a change in the air, a charge like a building storm and we hurried on in silence. A watchfulness had taken hold of us. Distantly or vaguely, I became aware of another presence.

It was almost to the darkest candle of the night, when both moons are below the horizon. It is known as the Sorcerer’s Watch and clouds were swiftly moving to intercept the remaining starlight. Plunged into total gloom, we stumbled on blindly. Feeling as human as I did right now, I found it difficult to shift my vision into dragon sight.

Not until Miranda almost fell, did I will away the darkness and take back her hand. She, in turn reached out to Lenoir. I led them through a series of treacherous gulches that openedsuddenly into a luminous lagoon lighted by faintly glowing anemones with gently waving tendrils. Here we halted, gazing at each other’s pensive expressions in the pale half- light.

“We should be safe here,” Lenoir whispered. “We can hide in the grottoes at the far end of the lagoon.”

“This is the place you spoke of,” I said.

It was not a question. She had been thinking about it since the beach, so even though I led as we walked in the dark, she had guided me. I was certain that she knew it. I was also certain she had only shown me what she chose. Her mental discipline was formidable. Troubling.

“I chanced upon it as I explored earlier,” Lenoir replied. “There is a better haven. A cave near the coast that provides complete cover, but I think we should wait out the night here. The cave is on the far end of the isle.”

“Who is this creature that hunts us?” I asked.

Running away did not set well with me. I wanted a plan. Right now, I felt like we were hiding from shadows in shadows. Counterproductive, at best.

Now that the initial joy of discovering Lenoir alive had faded I was beginning to doubt her motives. I am paranoid by nature. I know this. I keep my doubts in check when possible and I was trying to be objective but, you know, sometimes doubts are right. Lenoir was watching me.

“We know her only as the Storm Hag. There are other sea witches such as ourselves, there is only one Storm Hag,” Lenoir said. “I only met her once, but I have dedicated myself to warding the coast of the Sunsoar Sea against her ever since.”

“It was my fault,” Miranda said with a rueful smile. “I tried to quell a squall on the open sea. I think it was hers. She wished to sink ships from a wealthy armada, cause them to founder on a dangerous shoal. She noticed my enchantment.”

“We had both offended her,” Lenoir said, reaching out to touch her sister’s hand. “It was not the first time we had protected sailors.”

“Perhaps,” Miranda relented. “She arrived as soon as the storm separated us.”

“It was a trap,” Lenoir said. “She rose out of the water, tainting it with her presence, a noxious stench accompanied her. Mirandawas lost in the mist as she chased me.”

Miranda nodded, unsmiling.

“We traded spell for spell, speeding over the waters towards the coast where her power would be diminished,” Lenoir continued.” She followed me ever closer, with lightning in her wake, leering with the teeth of a shark. A league, maybe less, from the harbor of Lindor, she stopped. She spat ghastly curses and uttered horrible threats, but she would come no closer.

“I will not forget!” she screeched. “I will take your magic for your insolence!”

“Why would she not enter the waters of Lindor?” I asked.

Lenoir was watching me again. I sensed she was weighing my words, scrutinizing every phrase, every inflection of speech. Was she distrustful of me as well?

“Some say the King of Lindor is a sorcerer in his own right,” she murmured. “I have often felt a strange power near that city, veiled and mysterious. I could never sense its source. I think perhaps the Storm Hag felt it as well. Whatever the reason she dared not follow despite her rage.”

“Maybe even because of it,” Miranda said softly.

Her tone had changed. It was sad yet accepting, causing Lenoir to glance at her, frowning.

I found I was frowning as well. I had never sensed such a power in Lindor, though I could read the thoughts of men and claim their knowledge as my own. It occurred to me that my siblings and myself might be the presence. It also occurred to me that the presence might be hidden to me.

I could veil my thoughts, had always done so by instinct as part of my disguise without really considering why, but I was young and inexperienced. I focused on my mental shield, strengthened it, watched as Lenoir’s eyes narrowed a fraction.

It pleased me to think that I might have been able to serve Miranda even then. Yet somehow even with my dragon sized ego I doubted that I could cause a creature as fearsome as the Storm Hag such concern from so far away. Maybe when I was older.

Did something else reside in Lindor unknown to me? It hardly mattered now. I might never see Lindor again. Whatever kept the Hag out of Lindor didn’t help us here. We would need to replace another way to deal with her.

“What do you mean?” Lenoir asked.

There was an edge to her voice I did not like. The presence I had sensed earlier was growing stronger. It was malevolent and vengeful, not unlike a dragon. Miranda looked like she would speak for a moment but then shook her head. Lenoir was watching me.

“You feel it too,” she said. “You are more than you appear.”

“He is,” Miranda agreed but abruptly changed the subject. “Perhaps it is time to face her together, to join our medallions.”

Lenoir’s attention snapped back to Miranda.

“I will stand beside you as well,” I said to Miranda, “always.”

Miranda gazed upon me, soft sad smile gracing her lips.

“Do you agree Lenoir?” She asked, never taking her eyes from me.

Lenoir turned, gazing across the lagoon. Before she turned I caught a flicker of something in her expression, a hunger. It was gone when she turned back

“Yes, you’re right, Miranda. It is time,” she murmured. “With the medallions fused we can overcome her.”

She touched the shining pendant that dangled from her throat, so much like Miranda’s. It glowed softly in the darkness, a crimson corona surrounding it. I looked to Miranda, saw her own medallion, the jewel laying against her slender throat. It emanated a cool blue halo of light.

“Do you want to join them?” Miranda asked.

She was watching Lenoir. Something in her eyes unsettled me. Lenoir did not answer.

“You are better with Binding,” Miranda replied. “You have the knack. Here.”

She drew the pendant over her head and held it out. Lenoir turned. Her eyes had changed in some indiscernible way. She hesitated, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Something was wrong, but I could not move. Miranda would have seen it if it was true. Surely, I was mistaken. Lenoir reached out and took the pendant. As she did so, a slow chilling smile spread across her face.

“That was easier than I thought,” she said.

“She is the Hag.” Miranda’s voice quivered as she spoke, but she was not surprised. She had known. From the beginning? Surely not on the beach, but something had revealed the terrible truth to her between there and the lagoon.

I moved to place myself between them, but the Hag only turned away and stepped into the lagoon.

Miranda remained silent, there were tears in her eyes full of sorrowful acceptance.

The lagoon began to cloud as a dark stain bled through its waters about the Hag’s feet.

“So, I join the pendants with a Binding,” Lenoir mused. “Of course, I won’t be binding myself though. Was that the plan?”

I lunged at her, but she gestured casually without turning and I was thrown back. When she did turn, her eyes were cloudy like milk.

“You are stronger than a mortal,” she said. “What are you again?”

“Say nothing,” Miranda whispered.

The Hag sneered.

“It does not matter now. I was only curious. I will destroy you just the same.”

I prepared to spring again but Miranda touched my arm.

“He has done nothing,” she said. “Let him go and I will not resist you in anything. I will surrender all my power, my secrets.”

“I will have it all regardless,” the Hag snarled.

I watched, aghast, as she began to change. She was growing tall and gaunt, her skin darkening, turning a toxic livid green. Her hair seemed to stir as if by a breeze then I realized it was writhing, teeming like tentacles. She laughed, and her teeth were wicked jags. She bent forward hideous and inhuman.

As she drew her medallion over her head I noticed her fingers had grown long and bony. I thought of my own hands changing as I climbed out of the catacombs and shuddered.

“At least tell me what befell my sister,” Miranda said. “How did you claim her necklace? Is she alive?”

The Hag scowled, staring at the necklaces in her monstrous claws.

“She drowned,” the Hag said, “as you were meant to. I took her medallion as she floated, lifeless in the sea.”

There seemed melancholy in the words then she barred her shark teeth angrily. She was shaking her head, betraying a lie. I could sense it.

“So, your Brand did do something to defy me,” she continued, hurrying away from some truth before it was revealed. “He made me wait for this.”

She held up Miranda’s pendant and crushed it against the other with such force that her arms shook with the effort.

Suddenly there was a flash of blinding light. It radiated out from her clenched fists which could not contain it.

The Storm Hag screamed.

“Horrid girl!” She wailed. “Deceiver! You have slain me, with my own curses!”

She shrieked, struggled, but she could not release the medallions, now that they were united.

“How?” she rasped.“How did you do it?”

The light was spreading and, as it did, the poisonous gleam of the water was dissolving, fading. So was the Hag. She melted with a final scream, sinking formless into the steaming lagoon, frothing and foaming. Then was gone.

Miranda watched, frozen, as the Hag melted away. Then she sank to the ground at the edge of the water.

“It was Lenoir. The Hag was Lenoir,” she sobbed.

“How did you know?” I asked.

She shook her head, heedless of my words.

“How could she not have guessed? There was nothing of the true Lenoir in that terrible shadow of her that remained for my Warding to have affected her this way. I neutralized her power, but if she had let it go it would have freed her. She would not. She wanted the magic more than life.”

She was staring hopelessly into the empty water.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

I was kneeling in the moist silt with her. She turned as if only just aware of my presence and fell into my arms, her body shaking with silent sobs.

“I had to try,” she whispered when the sobs had subsided. “At least I know she is at peace.”

“I don’t understand,” I said again.

She nodded into my shoulder.

“Nor I,” she said. “It was only filled with love, just love, for you and Lenoir. To save you and to free her.”

She began to cry again, softer this time.

“Now she cannot harm you or anyone else, but it was only a matter of time for me. I still have a promise to keep to you though.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

I reached out, taking her in my arms, to protect her from this unknown fate.

“The Hag is defeated,” I persisted. “Surely the curse is broken.”

She did not respond. Just pressed deeper into my chest as if to bury herself in me.

“I’m so glad I met you,” she murmured. “I would not have had the strength to face her without you.

“Knowing I could at least save you gave me the resolve to complete the charm and give all I had over to the medallion. This way even if I was defeated the Hag would still be undone.”

For a moment, her face twisted with grief, eyes hollow like Lenoir’s just before the change, then she relaxed.

“This is the best I could hope for,” she said.“I am with you and I know Lenoir’s fate. At least she found peace.”

She touched my cheek.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

“The medallion was charmed with every bit my magic,” she said. Her tone was soft and consoling. She looked deep into my eyes.

I shook my head, frowning.

“You will have no need of it,” I promised. “I will protect you.”

She smiled at me with such love, held me close.

“You have already saved me,” she said, “but while my power is gone, the Hag’s curse lingers. I can still feel it clutching me. With the rising of the sun it will finish its work. I will transform one last time into the hawk and the hawk I will remain. At least I will see you in the morning as I promised before I’m gone.”

“No!” I pleaded, and I held her for long as I could.