The Dukes of Odwego finds Astra (secret necromancer, former nun, and displaced librarian of Qordashi) drifting ever farther from the only life she knew and deeper into a world she never expected to see. The powerful, winding Hoshikwazu river leads her, her injured best friend Traz, and the ever-enigmatic Xavai to a city that glitters with wealth but reeks of corruption. Within its walls, sour magic whispers, alliances shift like silt, and every kindness hides a price. To save the people she loves, Astra must rely on her wits, her courage, and maybe, maybe, a little necromancy.
Previously: Astra gained a new title...
Unexpectedly, they were served breakfast not long after. An old, weathered man wheeled in a tray adorned with various cheeses, butters, and fresh bread, setting it out and then leaving without saying a word. Traz wasted no time falling on the meal, groaning in pleasure.
“These are excellent cheeses, not like what you’ve been bringing home from the market,” he said happily.
Astra sat down at the small table, and soon Xavai joined them, none of them saying anything while they ate the admittedly excellent fare. Eventually, though, Astra put down the butter knife. “Doctor Riki’o…she knows what I am,” Astra said softly.
“No help for it. She did not expose you, so there is that.” Traz leaned back in the chair he had chosen, an overstuffed and heavily embroidered piece that looked like it was straight of an Episesh fairy tale, still chewing his food.
“We should be departing from here soon,” Xavai said in his clipped Kwa. “The dragon is still out there, and we are bound by oath to protect the Grail.”
“Are we?” Traz raised an eyebrow at him.
“I am. General Hiloh’s last order to me.” He said the last while looking at Astra.
She nodded. “It’s not like we cannot go back no matter oaths or no oaths. Personally, I will not see the Grail in the hands of any single nation or kingdom. It is too powerful. It must be returned to the fire dragons.” She thought for a moment. “Along with the little dragon.”
Xavai mumbled something like “big as a house” in Amyit, but otherwise did not offer anything further to the discussion.
“We still have a number of those jewels from the necklace I stole from the Yosoi. Now that everyone here thinks you are an esteemed Doyen Superior we can trade them for coin easily, then score a fine lodgings on a ship headed up river. Getting to Tsaka would be good, from there we can acquire quality maps and figure out a real path north,” Traz said.
“Have you been to Tsaka?” Astra asked, curious about her brother’s exploits.
“Never landed on its shores, but seen it from afar. The river runs north to Tsaka, then turns north west. Many highways go past it.”
There was a knock at the door, and they all stared at it without responding. The knock came again, and Traz motioned at Xavai to get up and answer it. Glaring at Traz, Xavai nonetheless unfurled from his chair. He opened the door and talked the person on the other side for a moment before closing it again and walking over to Astra
“Doctor Riki’o is here.” He spoke softly, so that no one could overhear even if their ear were pressed to the door.
“Why?”
He gave her a cautious shake of his head.
“Oh. Well then.” She stood up and straightened her tunic, Traz moving to stand behind her. Xavai let the doctor in. She was alone and eyed the temple dogs on the sofa warily. She kept herself far from them on the other side of the room.
“How is the duke?” Astra asked.
“She will recover, in time. Her soul is still…ripped…in places. And she is suffering shock. She was, apparently, conscious for most of the possession. It was very traumatic for her.” The doctor would not meet Astra’s eyes.
Astra crumbled a little inside, her heart longing for nothing more than that this good person would not fear her or judge her. But this was a stain on her soul that she carried and she could not remove it herself.
“Why are you here?” She asked, splaying her own hands wide.
The doctor looked at Traz and Xavai and then back at the ground.
“They know,” Astra said, gesturing at the men. “About me, I mean. They know. You can speak freely.”
She nodded and spoke quickly. “I did not tell anyone what I know of you. They expect you to conduct a service soon, in the square. I hear the elders will formally ask you to stay, to make this church into your cathedral.” She took a deep breath then, and looked up. “But I know you, now, and I cannot forget that. You gave me Fari’o back, and my silence is my thanks. But you will leave Odwego. You will leave and never return.”
Traz looked away, then gave up pretense and simply wobbled back into the chair he had been sitting in with a gust of breath escaping. He sat there and glared at the doctor.
“Astra is a good person. I have known her since we were both in the creche at Qordashi. Personally I’d never return to this dump if you paid me, but it cruel of you to treat her like this.”
“Traz—”
“He is right,” Xavai said, standing tall and proud next to Astra. “I have not known you as long, but he speaks true.”
The doctor, beautiful and strong, ignored them to stare Astra down until there was no choice but to agree.
“It was always our plan to move on, but I promise we will leave within two days. We need to arrange travel, and my brother, ah, I mean, my ranger, is still weak.” She gestured at Traz. “So, two days. Give us that, and we will take the dogs and leave.
Riki’o was clearly not happy about the delay, but nodded curtly.
“I have one request, though.”
Riki’o tilted her head, eyes narrowing in distrust. “Yes?”
“I want the Doonrag books I was translating, and I want the crypt-keeper for the remains of Duke Fari’i’s soul. He deserves to be set free, and only my magic, sour and tainted as it is, can do that. Duke Fari’o can tell you the item I need from the vault.”
The doctor pulled back in surprise, but then nodded. “I can arrange that.” She gave polite bows to Traz and Xavai before leaving.
“Why do you need the Doonrag texts?” Xavai asked, still standing next to her like any doyen superior’s guard would.
Astra bit her lip. “They are important enough that Khossa willingly brought a stranger into the vault to translate them. And you remember what he said? In the square?”
Traz perked up. “He said that none of us have any idea what is going on, and that he’s waited for the Dragon’s Grail to show up for years now.”
Astra nodded. “Anything a man like him showed that much interest in must be related to what is going on. They were valuable in their own right, he could have sold them for good money. He wanted them translated instead.”
Traz shrugged before returning to his indecorous sprawl in the chair. “You’ve read them. Do you agree with him?”
Looking around, she saw a globe sitting in the corner. She got up and went over to it. Made of wood with the map painted on its surface, it was highly stylized. Astra was no art historian but she suspected it probably came from Tox, a few generations ago. The huge continent below the dragon’s realm of Firestate was mapped out to the swamps past the forbidding mountains to the East, and included both a compass flower to mark Qordashi and a field of gold to represent the Gilded Plateau. It felt like a lifetime ago that Doyen Superior Naboch had asked her to look into what the dragons were hunting, in those fateful days before the attack on the Vault of the Heavens which sent Astra and her companions fleeing for their lives. It seemed clear to her now that the dragons and the Yosoi had been looking for the Grail, but why? And why would they join forces for the first time in known history? She thought of the empty places in the vault in the dukes’ palace, and wondered what other treasures were going missing. There was more than one way to grab power.
She gave the globe a soft spin and looked around.
“The Grail came from the east. Slowly, unrest and discontent comes to our world from the east, and men like Khossa capture demons in preparation of stealing the Grail.”
“How do you know it came from the east?” Xavai asked.
“Because I came from the east as a child, and it was brought with me.”
Xavai looked utterly shocked, but Traz just nodded in confirmation. The soldier looked over at Astra again, a lost expression on his face.
Astra tapped the large separate landmass to the north, the home of the fire dragons. “There is more. We are not here by chance, I don’t think. Not anymore. Nyoko the Elder said no demon could touch the Grail without destruction of all things, which most scholars know. However, there is a lesser known text in her hand, called Meditations on Geological Time. In it, she referenced the Grail and wrote that it had three knights guarding it.”
She stopped the globe with one finger, then turned to face the men who were, in weird and confounding ways, bound to her. “Three knights.” She pointed at Xavai. “One of blood.” She then pointed at Traz. “One of shadows.” Finally, she pointed at herself. “And one of ink.”
She set the globe spinning.
Thank you for reading The Dukes of Odwego, the third arc in the Dragon’s Grail saga! This serial will continue soon with the third arc, The Pirate’s Witch!!!
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