The Dragonkeeper Saga

Chapter 3

Halifax leapt forward, dagger poised to strike. He barely stopped his hand from embedding it in Seivyl's chest.
"What are you doing here?" Seivyl asked, knocking the dagger away.
"Sorry," Halifax said. They stood for a moment and stared at each other. "She is my sister."
"Well, I don't suppose there's any way for you to unlearn the things that you learned today. Might as well tell you the whole story," said a voice behind them.
Halifax heard a shuffling step at the doorway and turned to see Rynold walking into the room. They both smiled weakly. Rynold walked over to a wooden chair that was sitting in a corner of the room and sat down.
"Seivyl, maybe you shouldn't tell Halifax anything at all next time we have a secret meeting," Rynold said. Seivyl blushed.
"My mother," Halifax blurted. "What happened to her? Is she still alive?"
Rynold studied Halifax carefully, and then sighed. "No, she is not." Halifax's shoulders slumped.
"At least tell me the story," Halifax said.
Rynold hesitated for a moment, unsure. Then he nodded, settled back in his chair, and began:
"Halimund never wanted to marry. He gave several reasons to the council, but we all knew it was because he didn't want to have a son who would take the throne from him. Finally, though, after years of endless haggling, we finally got him to take a wife. Even then, half the council was angry, because the woman, Tylnan, was a foreigner from across the Third Sea.
"After another three years, a son was born to the king. Halimund hated his son, because he knew that one day the child would take the throne from him. His mother, though, loved him well. When the child, Halifax, was only a year old, Halimund decided that if he must have a son, he would be a great lord, not a "coddled brat" (as he put it), so he banished Tylnan, and gave the child into my care.
"Tylnan sailed back to her own land across the Third Sea, bitterly angry at the king. What neither of them knew was that Tylnan was pregnant. After the child was born, though her family begged her not to, she sailed back to Dragonhold to tell the king, hoping that he would let her raise their daughter in the palace.
"Instead of welcoming them back, though, Halimund murdered Tylnan and tried to do the same to Thyrin."
Halifax glanced at his sister, noticing for the first time the scar that ran along her cheek, and then another one on her neck. He shuddered.
"As you can see," Rynold said, "he failed. When he thought the child was dead, he laid her on the lawn behind the palace and went back into his chambers.
"I found her there, I'm not sure how long after Halimund tried to kill her. She was still breathing, but barely. I took her to the palace physician and told him she was one of the peasant's children. He cared for her for days, and finally she was strong enough that I could take her away.
"I brought her here," Rynold said, "to the Inn of the Green Orchard, and she has live here ever since."
"Do I still have family across the sea?" Halifax asked.
"As far as I know," Rynold answered.
"Could Thyrin and I go there?"
"No!" Thyrin said from the secret room. She stepped out of the hole in the wall and stood in front of Halifax. "I'm done hiding. I'm not going to run away while our father oppresses our people, and neither are you! I'm staying right here!"
By the time she finished, Thyrin was six inches away from Halifax, shouting up into his face. Halifax took a step back, and Thyrin took a step forward, staring into his eyes.
"We can't leave them," she whispered.
Halifax nodded slowly, and Thyrin backed away.
Seivyl snickered.
"I forgot to tell you she's as stubborn as a garpack," Rynold said. "We've had our hands full keeping her cooped up in that room."
Thyrin shot Rynold an icy glance and sat down on the bed.
"Well," said Halifax, "I guess that's settled. What do we do now?"
"Right now," answered Seivyl, "you need to get back to the palace before your father starts wondering where you are."
Halifax sighed. "I suppose so."
"When can you come again?" Thyrin asked.
"Tomorrow I'm supposed to go on a hunting trip with father." Halifax grimaced. That would be worse than fighting a dozen Klydrid. He would be able to bring Gryfin along, so maybe it wouldn't be that bad. "Maybe the day after."
"See you then," said Seivyl.
Thyrin hugged Halifax and then climbed back into the secret room.