Chapter 7: Oath, Part 1

They slept in the fishing boat when it grew too dark and all of them grew too exhausted to continue traveling. Land must be close, but Sule was no sailor, and he did not want to risk running the ship into something. The moon was only a sliver in the sky, slipping in and out of clouds. The smell of smoke mingled with the fresher scent of the Great Lake.

Sule's eyes stung from the smoke, and the cold air made him shiver; his formal cloak was meant for celebration, not the chilly winds of the Great Lake. He drifted in and out of a restless sleep, and woke as the sky was fading from black to gray.

As dawn slowly came upon them, he looked back toward the Heart of the Dragon. Smoke still poured from it, though it was in trickles rather than gouts. The city that had survived centuries had been destroyed in less than an hour.

How had the other cities fared? The Great Lake stretched for leagues in all directions, forming a loose oval close to the very center of the continent. At each of the compass points was a large city: Dragon Claw, Dragon Tooth, Dragon Scale, and Dragon Eyes, the great twin-city that stretched across the enormous river to the north that fed the lake.

Turning around, Sule's heart immediately sank as he saw more smoke where Claw should have been. The beacon tower that should have hailed them as they drew close was gone, and he saw no signs of life, only empty boats drifting along the water with them. If they had been foolish enough to push on last night, they would have crashed into at least one of them.

How much devastation had the fearmonger wrought?

The sound of movement, groaning and yawning, made him turn again. He stared at Mahzan, who stripped off his ruined purple and pink tunic and cast it aside, leaving only a white under tunic stained with sweat and blood—though none of it appeared to be his.

Memories of the previous night ran through Sule's mind, but very little of it was clear, especially after he had returned to the Hall after ensuring the king was safely away. But he remembered how Mahzan had brought down what remained of the ceiling. That was high level mind magic. Most mind mages were empaths of low to moderate power. Usually they took up roles as clerks, advisors, or similar such that made being able to feel emotion a useful skill. Those with strong emotion reading often went mad as they grew older. Once it had been illegal for mind mages not to report their abilities to the throne, since the skill had terrible potential. Long before that, they'd been killed outright the moment they were discovered, considered too dangerous to be left alive.

A mind mage powerful enough to move objects with mere thought, to bring down walls and ceilings… and he had been living as a mere jester. A spy of some sort? But no, that didn't make sense. Jesters had access to many places, but a spy would not want to draw the sort of attention that being the King's Jester would garner.

So one of those who preferred to eschew his magic. Bah.

Mahzan turned and looked around, then caught his eyes. Sule expected some smirking remark, and was startled when he only said, "I thought things would be better in the morning. Is that Claw burning?"

Sule looked over his shoulder, even though he knew it was. His mouth pinched. "Yes. From the look of it, the fearmonger attacked Claw first. I hope the other cities are unharmed."

Pursing his lips in thought, Mahzan nodded toward Claw. "If the fearmonger razed Claw before it attacked the Heart, then it likely came from the Red Forest Mountains. There are caves of sufficient size to keep a fearmonger, and they'd be warm enough with all the hidden hot springs. There'd also be food aplenty to feed it."

"It is also," Binhadi interjected, "not far from where Prince Seda is imprisoned."

Sule swore. "Do you really think Prince Seda is behind this?"

Binhadi shook his head. "I do not know, but who else could it be? His Highness and the Grand Dukes are the only ones who stand to gain anything by such destruction. That being said, I don't know how they would do it. Lord Metin is an acclaimed beast mage, but such magic does not extend to fearmongers."

Sule's frown deepened as he turned to stare out at the water and smoke. When King Kanth had died ten years ago, he had thrown the court into turmoil by bequeathing the throne to his younger son, Yavuz. Prince Seda, his eldest son, had not accepted the news gracefully. He had attempted to take the throne by force, and the four most powerful men in the country had stood with him—the Grand Dukes of the North, East, South, and West.

When they had lost, all five men had been stripped of everything they possessed and imprisoned across the country.

"They could control a fearmonger under Oath," Mahzan said.

The priest shook his head. "Absurd. Oaths are a myth. I have never once come across a tale of Oathbound mages that was true."

"Ah, yes, because books are never written with bias or filled with lies and errors," Mahzan said scathingly. "I am telling you, Prince Seda and the Grand Dukes could have captured and controlled that fearmonger if they were Oathbound. It's the only way controlling a fearmonger would be possible."

The priest said, "Even assuming that is true, how could they be under Oath? They are hundreds of miles from each other. If they were bound before the uprising, surely the Oath has long since been broken by distance, if not something else."

Sule scowled. "What in the name of the Great Dragon is an Oath?"