Return to Drake's Peak

When Lavender finally escaped Drake’s Peak, she took a long look at it as she rode into the distance. She wanted to remember it one last time because she told herself if she ever saw it again, it would be too soon.

Which meant she recognized the smoking volcano peeking out from the snow-capped mountain range on the horizon. It was not the thing that filled her with the most dread on this flight, that would be the sheer distance she was from the ground. But coming back to where she’d spent every day of the past ten years was a close second.

That anxiety was lost on Robert. He had an arm reached out to touch the clouds that they were soaring through.

Lavender saw from above the dirt path winding through the mountains to Drake’s Peak, the tree cutoff and the large ravine that still cut off access, and a fairly large clearing just outside a passage leading into the volcano’s depths. She had to take deep and steady breaths as Balerifon began his final descent.

The moment Balerifon’s paws touched the earth, everyone riding on his back quickly found themselves falling off. Balerifon had shed his natural dragon form and taken that of the slim man most of those assembled had come to know.

“Stand back,” he warned. “I cast a spell every week to disperse the odor. And I have been away for some time.”

Lavender and the others barely had time to throw themselves clear of the entrance before an intense gust of wind desire shoved itself through every crevasse and over every stray rock of the tunnel. The sky darkened for a few minutes as the fumes naturally rising out of its peak were forced to escape the sudden rush of air.

Robert’s eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head. “What the heck ‘ya got in there?!” He tried to clear the air in front of his nose and nearly gagged. “An endless supply of rotten eggs?”

Dora swiped at her own nose but thought on that for a moment. “That is a surprisingly good description for something so acrid.”

Balerifon gestured for them to enter the tunnel after his spell finally died down. With each step they took deeper within, torches hanging from the walls lit of their own accord. Lavender remembered it being longer than it was. Though when she’d last gone through it, she was going as fast as her heels would let her.

The inside of the volcano was mostly a solid sheet of rock, with only parts of the edges revealing the hidden depths below. The keep at its center was surrounded by a number of smaller buildings, with a lone tower at its side reaching high above everything else. The light from the sky filtered down from above, clouded ever so much by the escaping gasses from below.

“Welcome to my home,” greeted Balerifon. “We can stay here while you consider your next steps.”

----

Lavender lost track of who went what direction after that. She found herself wandering a familiar path. Into the keep, up the grand staircase, to the far corner, and a long climb into the highest keep of the tallest tower.

After that practiced climb, she arrived to a familiar bedroom. The pillows she’d placed under the covers were still there. Piles of books littered corners of the room, with a narrow clear passage leading to a dresser of stolen dresses and hand-me-downs. Lavender sat down on the bed and stared out the window next to her bed. How many nights had she looked out from here into the occluded sky?

What was different now was she’d finally seen it in all its glory. That, and she could sense someone else had entered the room.

Hazel looked around and let out a low whistle. “It’s a little cramped in here.”

“Balerifon always shouted at me to start moving books back to the library if I complained about the space,” said Lavender. She turned around to sit on the bed and look to her older sister. “What’s up?”

“Been doing some thinking.” Hazel looked around for a place to sit before squeezing between book piles and vaulting herself on top of the dresser. “About what you said the night we escaped Westeron. How we were going on an adventure to put the Empire back together again.”

Lavender’s legs dangled off the side of the bed. “…You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”

“No. But it’s this business with the Unspeakable Truth,” Hazel explained. “The dragon said it was hidden within the oath of fealty the nobles swore to the Emperor. And eight years ago, every member of the nobility rose up against our father. I can’t help but think that the two are related.”

Lavender leaned back far enough for her head to tilt out the window. “Okay. Go on.”

“Lavender, if that’s the case then whatever was being hidden was so bad that no one took our family’s side. I don’t know that anyone would ever submit themselves to that oath again.” Hazel’s hands tapped on the dresser’s top. “I can’t think of a way for us to revive the Dezerin Empire.”

“What?” Lavender wanted Hazel to deny it. Everything they’d gone through so far, it couldn’t be for nothing. Taking quests, helping people, winning that tournament! “No, no. That can’t be right.”

“Lavender, it’s the only thing that makes sense,” Hazel pressed. “Whatever the Unspeakable Truth is, it has to be so bad that anyone that hears it would think that none of this was worth it.”

Now Lavender was getting upset. “What if it was like, court stuff? Or they wanted an excuse to rule the Empire themselves? They were willing to make up a cover story about Dad invoking prima nocta, so we know they’re not above lying!”

Hazel wasn’t convinced. “If there had been more of a split between the nobles, I could believe that. But all of them?”

“Mind control!” Lavender gasped.

“…Lavender, are you seriously suggesting that someone used projection magic or whatever to take over the minds of every single member of the nobility?” Hazel looked incredulous. “And then ordered them to all revolt. But didn’t bother to keep them united under their own rule?”

Lavender hemmed and hawed. “I mean, you’re the one saying that the Unspeakable Truth was our family’s way of keeping some super terrible secret under wraps so hard that it would instantly kill anyone who spoke of it. Is it really that crazy compared to yours?”

Hazel slapped her hand to her face. “Yes! Especially when most of what I just said was backed up by Balerifon!”

Lavender bit her tongue. She didn’t want to admit Hazel had a point. Because if she did, then what was all of this even for?

----

Robert was more than a little confused.

The moment everyone arrived at Drake’s Peak, Balerifon had pulled him aside into what looked like a poorly lit dining room. He was sat down at a chair facing away from a long dining table and told to wait while Balerifon kept looking him over. Every time Robert asked Balerifon what was going on, he would dart over to stare at Robert’s throat before trying to move an arm or a finger.

After a few minutes, Robert had had enough. “What do ‘ya think yer doin’?”

“You cast a spell during that fight with the Guild.” Balerifon was checking and double-checking scrolls he kept pulling and stuffing back into a pile of them. “Your first, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Oh. Well, uh, isn’t that a good thing?”

Balerifon looked up from his scroll, then looked back down. “It is. To be fair, it is not uncommon for one’s first spell to be cast under duress.” He closed his scroll and looked at Robert’s throat again. “What’s interesting to me is how quickly you got around to casting it. If Lavender’s right, you haven’t been training for that long.”

Robert blinked. “Maybe I’m a quick study.”

Balerifon shot that idea down quickly. “Being a prodigy doesn’t explain speed like this.” He took one last look at Robert’s throat. “I’d take it easy on trying to push yourself in combat until you have a chance to train more. Otherwise you’ll exhaust all your mana on one or two spells.”

Both men had their attention drawn by a low whistle from the entrance to the dining room. Dora was there, gently tossing a glowing emerald stone in her hand.

“We’ve got a message I think everyone will be interested in.”