Bones of the Dragon - Margaret Weis [31]
Draya shuddered beneath her fur cloak. Horg was cunning in his torment. People would talk if the Kai Priestess were suddenly to appear among them with a bruised face. Horg hit her in places that left no mark. In the distance, the beacon fire burned bright as the fire in the statue’s ruby eyes.
“Look at Horg, Draya. . . . Look closely. . . .”
The goddess’s voice was a whisper, barely heard above the mutterings of the crowd.
Draya looked intently at Horg. She saw nothing new. A large man, big-boned, well-muscled, though the muscle was buried beneath layers of flab. He was clean-shaven, as were all warriors during raiding season. A beard gave an enemy a handhold. Men shaved in the spring, grew their beards back in the winter, to protect against the cold. His hair was a nondescript color, more gray than anything else, worn down his back in a single braid.
He wore a long leather tunic and breeches and boots—no cloak, for Horg was hot-blooded and never minded even the most extreme cold. He had been handsome, and some women still considered him good-looking—though the once-firm jawline was starting to blur, and the flesh of his face sagged into jowls that were beginning to swallow the golden Vektan Torque he wore around his neck, a mark of his rank.
Everything about him seemed the same, yet something was different. She studied him more closely, trying to think what had changed since she saw him last.
Horg scowled. He had expected her to go along with him, and her silence was making him nervous. Drunk as he was, Horg could sense his clansmen’s angry mood. He needed Draya to affirm his decision. Raising his massive fist to his face, he made a show of scratching his chin with his thumb. Draya had been hit by that fist often enough to understand the threat.
“Well, Priestess,” said Horg. “Tell them Torval’s will.”
He smiled, sure of himself, and lifted his many chins to stare down his nose at her.
Then she saw. Then she knew what was different.
The Vektan Torque, the most sacred artifact of the Vindrasi people, worn by the Chief of Chiefs, was a ring of heavy gold formed in the shape of two dragons, their tails intertwined, their heads staring at each other. The two dragons held, in their front claws, the spiritbone of a dragon, ornately carved, adorned with a beautiful sapphire, one of the largest ever discovered.
The torque was ancient, dating back to the time of creation, when Torval’s consort, the Dragon Goddess Vindrash, bestowed it on the first Kai Priestess with orders that the Kai Moot was to revere it, keep it safe, and never, never try to summon the powerful dragon whose spirit resided in the bone. For the dragon—one of the Five Vektia dragons—could tear apart creation itself.
Of course, giving a human being possession of a powerful artifact was certain to arouse temptation even in the heart of the best person—or god. Long ago, Hevis, the God of Deceit and Trickery, had gotten into a dispute with Sund, God of Stone. Hevis plotted to summon one of the powerful Vektia dragons and send the dragon to war against Sund. The god seduced a Kai Priestess and urged her to summon the dragon.
The dragon had run amok. The Kai Priestess had not been able to control it, nor could Hevis. The dragon killed the Priestess in a raging inferno. The fire had spread, destroying many homes and taking many lives. The angry Chief of Chiefs had seized the Vektan Torque, removed it from the care of the Kai, claiming women could not be trusted with such a valuable artifact.
Ever since then, the Vektan Torque had been in the care of the Chiefs, handed down from one Chief to the next, much to the ire of the Kai Priestesses, who claimed that the Goddess Vindrash herself was offended. The torque was a sacred relict, indicative of the goddess’s love for her people. It was also immensely valuable, worth more than all the wealth of all the Vindrasi clans put together.
And it was gone. Horg was not wearing it. And he was trying to deceive people into thinking he was. A gold torque was buried in the folds of his neck, but it was only a plain