The Return of the Dragonhawk

Chapter 24 -- The Captive Goddess

"Grandmother will not permit such high-handed behaviour!"

"Your grandmother cannot defy the power of the Council of Vacinatrices. The Vacina Calchis sits at the head of their table, and her word is law to them." The weariness in Utor's voice told Rhoz that he had argued the point and lost.

Rhoz clenched her fists. "I had more freedom when I was Pym the stable boy!"

Utor smiled ironically. "There is no freedom for goddesses."

"You may tell them all that their goddess is indisposed, and will not make an appearance tonight."

"It is unwise to offend the Vacina Calchis."

"She said I was acting like a spoiled infant. Why should I make a liar of her?"

To her surprise, Utor's solemn frown dissolved into a tender smile. He reached to touch her cheek, his eyes bright in the twilight. "You should be playing in the sunshine and revelling in the sweetness of youth, not carrying a nation on your shoulders. But duty comes where duty comes, without consideration of age or station."

Without intending to, Rhoz found herself clinging to his hand. "Why did you betray me?"

"I did what I believed to be in your best interest."

Try as she would, Rhoz could not think of an acerbic rejoinder. "Will I ever be free?" she asked.

"In a way. The Second Coronation ceremony will grant you the authority to command all things temporal and spiritual in Helion, although you must still rely on the magical gifts of the Vacinatrices. However, before you can be Hawkmother, you must bear a female child."

"Where do you stand in all this?"

"My goal is to restore the Brotherhood of the Brazen Stallion, and to protect you if I can."

"And which is more important?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Utor considered for a long moment, his hand closing spasmodically on hers. "You are, little one."

Before she had time to respond, he disengaged his hand and stood. "I must go now. If you will not come to the banquet, it is doubly urgent for me to be there."

He took a step towards the door, then turned back. "I will do what I can to convince them that your absence is unavoidable."

She longed to call out after him, tell him that she had changed her mind, but she could not let the Vacinatrix have the satisfaction of winning this battle.

She felt under the pillows for her night shift and began to pull off her clothes. Best to gather strength for whatever was to come. She blew out the candles and snuggled into the pillows. But the softness of the bed was not enough to ease her overwhelming loneliness.

She tossed and turned, conjectures whirling in her head. Despite the heaviness permeating every bone in her body, she did not fall asleep until almost dawn.

*

"Panax! Panax!" Rhoz cried wildly as she was being hustled towards the carriage.

She stumbled over the skirts of her gown. The Vacina Calchis had taken no chances. When Rhoz woke in the morning, her clothes and saddlebags were nowhere to be seen. A sour-faced tiring woman scrubbed her entire body with determination before assisting her with the intricacies of dressing in a formal ocean-blue gown. The draped gauze was softer and more pliable than the brocades of Muktarshold, but there were several layers of it, some pinned, some laced.