The cold was getting worse. The icy wind was bad enough, but in addition, the dragon was steadily taking her both farther north and higher into the mountains. Tevi curled forwards over the horse’s neck, but the animal had been dead long enough to have lost all heat. Her clothes were completely inadequate. Captain Altrun had interpreted the orders to send her belongings to Tirakhalod as meaning to strip her completely. By way of replacement, she had been given the minimum of clothes, scavenged from other soldiers’ kits. The shirt and boots were too big and the leggings were too short, leaving her ankles exposed. Yet the poor fit was not the problem so much as the threadbare thinness. She had no undershirt or cloak. By the time they reached their destination she would be frozen solid. She hoped that the dragon broke a few teeth on her.
For the past few miles, the dragon’s flight had kept to the bottom of a winding valley, with bleak crags rearing above them, but now a looming mountain blocked the way ahead with no route through. They would have to go over the top. Tevi’s eyes lifted to the towering peak. How cold was it up there? But a moment later she realised that her fears were misplaced. They were descending, and ahead was a cave entrance with a broad and reasonably flat ledge projecting in front of the opening, big enough for a dragon to land on. The monster was approaching its lair. Panic tried to make a reappearance, but Tevi was too cold to care.
The smooth action of flight ended in a jolt and the scratching of the dragon’s rear claws on bare rock. Huge wings beat once more and then folded. The dragon released its hold on the horse and its front claws dropped down on either side of the carcass.
As the limp body of her mount hit the ledge, Tevi fell off and rolled away. She finished up a few feet from the cliff’s edge, face down, her head cushioned on her arms. The heavy landing had knocked the breath from her body. Combined with the life-sapping cold, she lacked even the strength to raise her head, but her ears were attuned, dreading the sound of baby dragons, eagerly descending on their supper.
There was nothing.
The silence brought a feeling of peace. The icy wind no longer clawed and buffeted her. The rock she was lying on felt soft and safe. She could almost forget the cold and the dragon, and simply drift off to sleep where she was. Almost, but not quite. Fighting back the weakness, she lifted her head and looked at the monster. It was staring at her attentively. So much for her hope that the horse would be first on the menu.
The dragon advanced until the great jaws hung over her. She felt its breath stirring her hair. “I don’t know what will happen.” A faint smell of sulphur accompanied the words.
Tevi shrank back while she fought to muster a coherent thought. Surely she had misheard.
“I don’t know what will happen,” the dragon repeated.
Was she hallucinating? Did dragons speak? And why couldn’t this one make sense? “Wh-wh-w-w-” Tevi’s teeth were chattering too much to get the words out.
“You’re cold.” The dragon’s head rolled from side to side in a gesture that, on a human, would indicate indecision, but then it stopped. “This I should deal with in order.”
Abruptly, the dragon turned and leapt skywards. The draft from its great wings blew ice and grit into Tevi’s face. Within seconds, the sound of slow flapping had faded away into the night.
Tevi struggled to her knees and looked around. This was her chance to escape. On one side, the cave shaft plunged into the mountain. The mouth was easily large enough for the dragon to enter. Its depth was impossible to tell. Moonlight penetrated no more than a few yards. Presumably it would eventually narrow to a gap that the dragon would be unable to follow her through. But what would that gain her? Starving to death underground was not a good plan.
On the other side, the cliff dropped away for one hundred feet or so, until it levelled out into the pine forest. The way down looked climbable—or would have, if her fingers had not been too cold to uncurl. And even if she reached the valley floor, there was little chance that she would survive the night in the open.
Tevi turned back to the cave. It was the better of the two choices...probably. She tried to crawl forwards, but managed only a few feet before sinking down onto the rock. Easiest of all was to stay where she was and sleep. Now that she had stopped shivering, she felt very peaceful. Hypothermia was setting in. Tevi recognised the symptoms even as she lost the will to fight them. Everything would be so much nicer if she just let herself float away.
The sound of the dragon’s return barely registered, as did the cracking, snapping, and roaring that followed. What finally pulled Tevi back to awareness was the sudden heat that flowed over her. She rolled onto her side and looked towards the source. The dragon had built a fire, and fire was not something that dragons did by halves. Tevi guessed that one massive pine tree had gone into making it, or maybe three small ones.
With the warmth, her shivering returned, along with painful pins and needles in her hands and feet. The stinging on her nose and cheeks was either frostbite, or she was too close to the blaze. Tevi shuffled away slightly and lay on her back, staring at the firelight on the rocks above her head. Her blood and bones felt as if they had turned to ice, but they were starting to thaw. Her heartbeat had not faltered. She was going to be all right, she thought. Or as all right as anyone could be within breathing distance of a dragon.
“Food is a good thing.”
Tevi lifted her head and looked towards the dragon. It was definitely speaking. Its voice had a dry, reptilian sibilance. The pitch was surprisingly high for such a large beast. Its intonation was too inhuman to judge whether it was friendly. Should she take the words as an offer or a threat?
This question was answered immediately when the dragon ripped a foreleg off the horse and held it in her direction. Tevi noticed something like a dewclaw on the dragon’s front paws that was in opposition to the rest, giving it a crude yet powerful grip.
With enormous effort, Tevi hauled herself into a sitting position. Possibly her distaste for the bloody limb of her former mount showed, because the leg was quickly withdrawn.
“You prefer cooked?”
Tevi met the dragon’s gaze. “Er...”
The dragon thrust the horse’s leg into the fire, held it there for a dozen seconds and then pulled it out. The smoking remains were deposited before Tevi. After a long hesitation, she pulled it towards her and began to peel off the blackened skin. The meat would be burnt on the outside and raw in the middle, but some of it should be edible, and refusing to eat would not help the horse.
The unreality of the situation sparked her sense of the absurd. Unexpectedly, a grin pulled at her lips. The dragon had gallantly rescued the distressed damsel and was now doing its best to play the gracious host, although its domestic skills could stand some improvement. “Nobody is ever going to give you a job as a chef.”
The dragon had been making short work of the rest of the horse. It glanced up. “You don’t know that.”
“It’s a safe guess.”
“Guessing.” The dragon waved its head from side to side in the gesture Tevi had seen before. “You humans do it so much. I don’t know how you manage.”
“Don’t you?”
“No. But it so happens that I’m trying to learn.”
Maybe the dragon would make more sense when she was fed and warm. Tevi shook her head and turned her attention back to the food. Hot fat squirted over her fingers and she raised them to her mouth. “I don’t suppose you have a knife around here?”
“Look in the back of the cave. Take anything you want. I can collect more.”
After an aborted attempt to stand, Tevi settled for crawling. Her legs were like rubber and her head spun. Light from the fire now pierced the deeper recesses of the cave, glinting and sparkling. The rear was filled with something that shone, Tevi noted, even as her hand slid into the first pile of coins. Of course—gold and gems. What else would you expect in a dragon’s lair?
The mounds of treasure were heaped halfway to the roof in places. Weapons a
nd armour lay scattered among the hoard. Finding what she needed did not take long—a small hunting knife that must have belonged to somebody important. A jewelled design inlay the sheath. The hilt appeared to be solid silver.
As she was about to return to her dinner, something else caught Tevi’s eye. A fur cloak made of white fox, lined with pale blue silk. Tevi was feeling better with each passing minute but the extra warmth would be welcome, and it would be something to wrap around herself when she slept. She pulled it over her shoulders and picked up the nearest brooch to fasten it in place.
The dragon had finished its meal and now watched her as she ate. Its huge chin rested on its front paws, like a dog. Nothing more was said until she pushed the unwanted parts away, cleaned the knife, and returned it to its sheath.
The dragon’s yellow eyes were still fixed on her. The pupils were vertical slits. “Now is the time to talk.”
Tevi nodded. She was looking forwards to getting some idea of what was going on. Maybe the dragon would make more sense now that she was in a better state for dealing with conversation. However, the dragon simply continued to stare in silence. Presumably, it wanted her to start things off.
“Why have you brought me here?” Although not original, this seemed like a good opening question.
The dragon lifted its head. “We have to sort it out so that I’ll know again.”
“Know what?”
“You’ve forgotten already, haven’t you?”
Tevi shook her head in confusion. “Forgotten what?”
“What’s going to happen.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“That was the answer.”
“It was—” Tevi broke off and rested her head in her hands. She was fairly sure that her difficulties were not a reaction to nearly freezing to death and that she would not have been able to keep track of this dialogue, regardless of her state of mind.
“And I don’t either. Which is the problem,” the dragon added.
“I’m not coping with this.”
“I’m finding it difficult as well.”
Tevi studied the dragon. “Couldn’t you be a little bit clearer about what you mean?”
The dragon laid its chin back on it paws, and its shoulders slumped. The posture implied that it too was resigned to a long, frustrating conversation. Eventually it said, “I don’t think so. But if it’s any comfort, if everything works out, you’ll know in the end.”
“Great. Look—” Tevi stopped. “I don’t know your name.”
“Do you want to?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.” In truth, Tevi was not particularly bothered, but at least she thought she understood what they were talking about.
“Klathi borthar azdenothash ano kaesh a dothe ith ano kral bur a anthi.”
“That’s your name?”
“Yes. I suspected that you wouldn’t really want to know.”
“It’s not the knowing. It’s just that I don’t think I can remember it.”
The dragon tilted its head to one side. “It means, ‘Shards of daybreak pierce the cloak of night and slice its remnants into soft shadows.’”
“In your language?”
“No. The quote is from a dwarven poet my mother once ate.”
“Oh. Right. Uh...can I call you Shard?”
“If you think it will help.”
Tevi pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers, trying to summon the strength to continue. “Right, Shard. Can we go back to step one? Why have you brought me here?”
Shard stared at her and then sucked in a great breath, as if it was putting a lot of effort into working out how to take the conversation forwards. “You mean that you want to know the answer from your point of view?”
“Yes...probably.” It could not be any worse than the last reply she had got to the question.
“So that I can take you back to meet with the sorcerer you want to find.”
“Jemeryl?” Tevi’s head shot up in hope.
“There isn’t another sorcerer you’d want to find, is there?”
“No. But why?”
“Don’t you know why there isn’t another sorcerer?”
Tevi slapped her hands down on the rock floor in frustration. “No. Why do you want me to meet up with Jem?”
“For you to sort it out so that I’ll know what’s going to happen.”
“You want our help?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want us to do?”
“Take it away.”
“The talisman?” Tevi said in sudden inspiration.
“Yes.”
At last something made sense. Tevi wiped her hand over her face and focused on Shard. The dragon had raised its shoulders off the ground and was again swaying its head from side to side. Muscles in the forelegs bunched and flowed. The action was pronounced enough that the heels on its front paws lifted a fraction off the ground with each roll and its claws scratched on the rock. A faint rumbling came from its throat.
The gesture indicated some strong emotion, Tevi was sure—but how to interpret it? The dragon’s thought processes were obviously very different to anything she was used to, although something about the action put her in mind of a nervous cat. Then Tevi looked into Shard’s eyes, inhuman but intelligent. With the contact came understanding. Maybe dragons could project what they were feeling, because Tevi was suddenly quite certain that she could name the emotion. The nervous cat analogy did not go far enough. The dragon was terrified.
*
The sounds of another mighty pine being shredded into firewood woke Tevi the next morning. She rolled over to watch. The meticulous actions suggested that Shard was giving its entire attention to the task, maybe as a way to avoid thinking about whatever was frightening it. Or maybe she was witnessing a rare dragon tree-shredding ceremony. Who could say?
Tevi disentangled her feet from the cloak and stood up. The view from the mouth of the cave was impressive. Dawn was just past. The tops of trees rolled away before her in waves of dark green. White-capped mountains stood proud against the dusky pink sky. A cold breeze carried the scents of pine and snow.
Shard heaped the last splinted branches onto the pyre and ignited it with a puff of breath. The heat was welcome, but Tevi flinched at the memory of Captain Altrun the day before, encased in flames from that same source, writhing in agony and dying. She had not liked the man but had not wished quite that much harm on him.
To one side of the fire lay the body of a stag, presumably for breakfast. Tevi picked up the hunting knife. “If you don’t mind, I’ll cook my own food.”
“Yes.”
Tevi guessed that the dragon was agreeing, rather than minding. Certainly, Shard made no objection when she sliced a generous steak from the haunch and then went in search of a long spear to use as a toasting fork. Nothing in the way of drink was available. Tevi was not sure if she would have wanted vintage wine or brandy for breakfast anyway, and she could not imagine anything else being worthy of the dragon’s hoard. She settled for filling a large golden bowl with snow and leaving it close enough to the fire to melt.
While waiting for the venison to cook, Tevi examined her fingers. No trace of frostbite could be seen. The dramatic rescue from her captors had left her uninjured, and if she had understood Shard correctly, she was to be reunited with Jemeryl more quickly and with less effort than she could have managed alone. Tevi frowned, wondering what the chances were that she had understood Shard’s intentions. Far too little that the dragon said had made any sort of sense.
Tevi looked at the dragon. “How do you know about the talisman?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know my life.”
“But you do know about the talisman.” Tevi persisted.
“My life has changed. How could I not know?”
“How has your life changed?”
“It isn’t what it should be.”
“It changes things. Dragons know when things have changed.”
“You mean you can tell when time is...” Tevi stopped. If she was correct in interpreting Shard’s head swinging as fear, then this was definitely the subject that upset the dragon.
“You will take it away.” The dragon’s intonation made it impossible to tell whether this was an order, a question, or a plea.
“We’ll try.” Tevi gave her best assurance. “Can you help us? If you can pick up Jemeryl and the talisman, you could fly us back over the Barrodens.”
“No.”
“It would be much quicker and safer if we—”
“No.”
Apparently, the issue was not up for negotiation. Tevi sighed. “Can’t you do anything else to help us?”
“I will take you as close as I can. And when you can get him away from it, we will all come.”
“All? More dragons?”
“Yes. This is what I’ve had to guess.” Shard’s shoulders slumped and it stared into the flames. “I don’t know how you humans cope with it. But even though I’ve not had much practice at guessing, I think I know where you’ll be once you’ve sorted it out.”
“Do dragons always make this much sense?”
“You’ll probably find us easier when we know what we’re saying. Of course, we don’t often try talking to people. And most people are too busy running away to listen.”
Tevi shook her head and pulled her food back from the fire to inspect. The meat was cooked well enough. Eating would definitely be more profitable than talking to Shard.
The breakfast was far from being the worst she had eaten, and equally far from being the best. The meat was tough. The stag had obviously had a long happy life, bounding over the mountains, and the melted snow had an unpleasant metallic tang, but it was better than nothing. At least there was no shortage of either.
With the meal over, Tevi stood on the rim of the ledge and looked out over the view. “When do we leave?”
The Empress and the Acolyte Page 22
