Taniel (The Taverner's Daughter I)

105: Hanrey

After sighting the green dragons, Hanrey had kept riding along the Ferryton road until Jess desperately need a proper resting. There was just enough light left to find a clearing off the road for the night.

After Hanrey finished rubbing down the chestnut mare, he put extra oats in her nosebag, and left her to it. He set up his bedroll. He dared not light a fire should another dragon patrol be sent after him.

He took out the sword and looked at it awhile, turning it this way and that in the rising moonlight. The etched dragon glowed faintly under his touch.

When Jess finished her nosebag, he secured her to a tree. "Best keep you safe while I do this magic shit," he said, rubbing her cheeks while he rested his head between her eyes. She nibbled the leather baldric crossing his chest. "Right, let's do this."

Sighing, he picked up the naked sword and walked away. After hanging Cissie's protective armring on a broken twig, he removed his ancestral armrings. They too, were magical, and had grown with his arms since he was an infant.

Dare he release the warrior magic in his blood? If he did this, he would no longer be able to call himself fully human. He shuddered at the thought of unexpected physical changes. Finally, he was ready to opt out of the decree forced on his ancestors, in days of old.

He fixed an image of Taniel firmly in his mind. He did this for her.

Still, he hesitated, but only for a moment. He snatched his belt knife and, after slashing both palms, gripped the sword blade. With blood dripping from the runnels, he laid the sword gently on the ground and, prostrate, pressed his brow upon the dragon etching.

Ancient words of unbinding fell from his lips: words that no amount of grog could erase from his memory: words for which the sword had been made: words he had not offered for Cissie. He begged leave to let loose his blood magic, for Taniel.

The pain he withstood, for love of Taniel.

Hanrey committed all.

He wanted every vestige of the power in his bloodline. When the agony ended, the transformation began. His body thrummed with the magic pumping into every one of his blood vessels.

He wiped away a cold sweat, wincing when he encountered his stinging forehead. Kneeling, he held his bloodstained palms aloft, each bearing the golden dragon's token.

"See these? They're real," he shouted to the heavens, waving his hands and tapping his head. "You false knight bastards can stick your prophecy up your arse."

Hanrey bounded to his feet. He replaced his ancestral armrings. They were part of him. They shielded the ancient magic from scrutiny. Cissie's armring shielded him from the sword – and the Cladlings – but he did not put it on, not just yet.

He cleared a piece of ground and concentrated, finding his mental connection to the sword's Keeper magic.

"Where is Taniel?" he asked.

The blade swivelled until it pointed south. Taniel must be still at Castle Stakkr, he thought. How could that be? The wizards should have her in Eighalh. Had she eluded her captors? He had thought that just a fool's hope, when he thought it was Taniel the wizards on the green dragons sought. He should have gone back.

Hanrey sighed, unsure of what to do. Whatever he decided, Jess needed rest. With his newly charged blood, Hanrey felt like he could reverse roles and carry the mare home.

"Come," he said to the sword. It sheathed itself on his back with a single precise action as if the intervening decades were naught. His chest swelled.

Would Taniel notice her empowerment? Unlike the botched Clade magic, Hanrey's blood magic would flow to his firstborn, no matter the gender.

When he finally reached the citadel, getting her away would be child's play. With generations of untapped magic between the two of them, they could make their own rules if they wished.

He grinned, guessing what Taniel would say to that.

Jess tossed her head as he approached her. She snorted and rolled her eyes. "We'll go easy from here on, girl," he said, stroking her until she relaxed. He untied her from the tree and hobbled her for the night.

Later, Hanrey lay on top of his bedroll, alert, wondering if prophecy had just outsmarted him yet again.

No matter, he decided. Taniel deserved a proper knight keeper. Since he was still alive, the golden dragon must approve him taking his knighthood.

If she had avoided extermination in the old world, would the dragon seek him? Hanrey laughed aloud, imagining the look on Taniel's face should a golden dragon drop from the heavens to claim her as kin.

Jess's ears twitched and he fell silent.

He contemplated the long ride to Eighalh.

A dragon, of any colour, would be handy about now, he thought.

***

9 April 2017 - replaced with revised scene

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