The Dragon Caller

by Pauline M. Ross

  Another deep breath to calm his racing heart, then Garrett ran across the stable yard to the inn’s back door. To one side of the passageway were only the closed doors to cellars and storerooms. On the other side, voices came from the kitchen, but the door was half closed and he sneaked past without being seen. Then up the service stair to their parlour.

  Elestra and Ruell were lounging in chairs either side of the unlit fire, laughing at some shared joke. Their relaxed attitudes were so out of step with Garrett’s present mood that his voice was probably harsher than he intended.

  “Boots on, right now! We have to leave.”

  He grabbed his swordbelt and wrestled frantically with the buckles and straps. How many times had he fastened this belt without trouble? Yet now his fingers were thick and clumsy.

  Ruell reached for his sword without demur, but Elestra frowned, hands on hips.

  “What’s happened? Is Mikah back? Why are we leaving now? Where are we going?”

  “Noquestions!” he yelled. “No time. Explain on the way. Grab anything you have to take – no, not the Tre’annatha stuff, they might be able to track us.”

  “I’ll just go and pack,” she said, heading for the door.

  Garrett grabbed her wrist. “No time!We leavenow!”

  Her eyes widened, but something of his panic reached her, for after a pause she nodded once, and, reluctantly, he let go.

  “Food? Horses? Cloaks?” she asked quietly.

  “Nothing. We’ll buy or steal what we need. Right, let’s go. Doexactly what I say, all right? And no questions.”

  He opened the door a tiny amount and peered out. No one about.

  “Follow me,” he whispered. Down the corridor, then the service stairs again, waiting while one of the cooks crossed to the cellar, then tiptoeing past to the door. “Across the yard and round to the back of the stables. One at a time and don’t run.”

  Elestra went first, with an admirably casual saunter that would convince any watcher that she was bound only for the latrines. Then Ruell, striding a little fast, and finally Garrett himself, willing himself not to break into a run.

  From the back of the stables, it was only a short walk to the gate into the woods, where a path marked the route taken by the cooks to pick mushrooms and wild berries and nuts. Garrett followed it for a while before turning off into the wild parts of the woods. He led them in silence, striding ahead, picking the easiest route through the morass of brambles and fallen trees and small streams and bogs. Only when the sun had fallen well down the sky did he stop and allow them to rest, while he explained what he’d heard. And even then, with nothing near them but the trill of birds and the odd scuffling in the undergrowth as some rodent passed by, his heart raced and his mouth was dry and he couldn’t shake off the terrible feeling of urgency, that they must move faster or it would be too late.

  “They still want me alive, then?” Ruell said, when he’d heard everything. “So they haven’t gone for the cessation option yet. It’s just the rest of you they want to kill. But what about Mikah?”

  Garrett had been fretting about that rather, himself. Mikah could be an idiot sometimes, but Garrett was fond of him and wished him no harm. Now he, Gryke and Brannin would be riding back to the inn, thinking only of their supper, and a tankard or two of ale and perhaps the barrel man’s pretty daughter, to find an assassin waiting for them.

  “Mikah must take his chances,” Garrett said gruffly. “There was no time to leave a message, even if we could have worked out what to say to him, apart from the obvious, that we left in a big hurry. We could hardly have told him where we were aiming for.” Then he added, half to himself, “Not even sure myself.”

  “There are three of them, and they know how to fight,” Ruell said, as if trying to convince himself.

  Garrett said nothing. Mikah and his friends were trained in open combat, facing an opponent who showed himself and his weapon, and could be expected to fight fairly. An assassin was another matter. You could nip out of the taproom to take a piss, and find your throat cut and your lifeless body thrown into the latrine before you’d had time to untie your trousers. Or it might be an arrow in the back, or wire round your neck, or poison in your ale, and your murderer on his horse and halfway home before anyone realises there’s something wrong. No, it was a nasty business, dealing with a hired killer. Even if you knew he was coming for you, there was little you could do about it. Garrett would a thousand times rather find himself in a full-scale battle, no matter how formidable the opposing army, than try to evade an assassin.

  “They’re safe enough, so long as they’re not with you,” Elestra said briskly. “They’ll only be killed if they stand between you and the Tre’annatha.”

  And Garrett wished with all his heart that that were true.

  His face must have betrayed him, for Elestra said in a small voice, “Don’t you think so?”

  He shook his head. “The most likely outcome is that they’ll all be killed, and then these people will come after us. The only good thing is that we got rid of Ruell’s green tattoo, so they can’t sniff him out. They’ll have to use conventional ways to—”

  A crashing of undergrowth behind him had him on his feet, sword in hand.

  “Come out you bastard!” he yelled.

  Silence.

  Then a twig snapped.

  27: In The Forest (Ruell)

  “Show yourself!” Garrett yelled.

  Ruell almost laughed, but before he could speak, there was another crash in the branches above their heads and a third further off. And then Yannali slithered snake-like from behind a great mound of brambles.

  “There you are, Ruell! It is hard to get to you when you hide away in the trees.”

  Garrett swore and sheathed his sword. “By the Nine, Ruell, a little warning next time, please.”

  Another crash, and a blue, grey and red dragonet flattened the bramble mound altogether.“Ruell… Are you all right? You were anxious.”

  “I’m fine, Lokkasshi. We’re all fine. I’ve told you, we had to leave in a hurry, that’s all. Oh, careful, Draana!”The black and brown dragon had landed awkwardly, her wings caught on two trees close together. Ruell ran across and helped to free her.“There! Now, be careful, all right? Don’t try to fly here, it’s too difficult.”

  “This is impossible,” Garrett said, ducking as Gheessha skimmed just over his head. “There’s a clearing over that way.”

  Ruell laughed. His dragons oozed happiness, trilling and crooning, and filling his mind with their adulation. It was impossible to be downhearted when they were so joyful.

  The clearing gave them more room to land and move around, but the space soon filled up, and then the late arrivals tried to perch in the trees, not always successfully. Garrett had to jump aside to avoid being squashed.

  Ruell sat in the middle of the clearing, and let the dragons manoeuvre to get close to him, taking turns to rest their head in his lap and have their sensitive spot just above the eye ridges scratched.

  “How many are there now?” Garrett said, looking up nervously as two males squabbled for the strongest branch on a tree directly above his head.

  Ruell closed his eyes to count the stars he could see in his mind. “Twenty-five. I think. And two more on the way.”

  Garrett sighed. “Well, so much for any possibility of secrecy. Elestra… I don’t think…” She’d settled on a fallen log and Lokkasshi was nosing at her inquisitively. To Ruell, he said, “It won’t hurt her, will it?”

  “Of course not. He’s just being friendly. Elestra, he’d like you to give him a scratch – like this. No, harder than that. Their skin’s very tough, they won’t feel it unless you’re quite rough. Ah, that’s it. He likes that.”

  Elestra grinned with delight, and in no time she was surrounded by heads competing for the prime spot under her hand. Meanwhile, Draana and Gheessha were taking an interest in Garrett’s shoulder bag that he’d dropped at the side of the clearing.

  “You
’d better rescue that,” Ruell said, laughing. “I don’t suppose there’s any food in there? You were the only one of us with the sense to keep your bags with you.”

  “Well, I never go anywhere without the waist bag,” Garrett said. “The glass ball’s too valuable to lose. But the other bag – thank you, my friend, I’ll take that.” He snatched it away from Draana, who looked ready to bite into it. “I only had this one with me because I was going to check the map. I doubt there’s any food in it. Hey, stop that!” He batted ineffectually at Draana, who was trying to get her nose into the bag. “There’s nothing in there for you. Ruell, can you get rid of them for a while? It’s impossible to move with so many of them around.”

  Ruell didn’t have to tell them explicitly. They knew his intent, filling his head with dragon sorrow. Nevertheless, they rose obediently in a great churning of air and leaves and sticks and spiky bits of bramble that had Garrett covering his head until the whirlwind subsided, while Elestra sat in a pool of stillness, laughing at him. But within moments the dragons were all aloft, spiralling up into the sky in a great stream.

  Garrett blew out a breath, sitting down with a thump on a fallen log. “That’s better. I’m beginning to get used to them, and they were very useful in dealing with the Tre’annatha, but they’re a bit much all at once like that. At least they’re all friendly.”

  “It’s lucky Khanassha isn’t here. He was angry in the shell and he’s still angry now, but he’s stayed close to the island. The adults can collect him and welcome.”

  “We can do without dragon rage, thank you very much,” Garrett said. “They’re scary enough as it is, and they’re getting so big.”

  Ruell nodded. “They’re eating well, even if we’re not. I don’t suppose you’d mind checking your bag? Even a bit of bread…”

  But although Garrett rummaged about, he emerged shaking his head. “Sorry. We’ll have to go hungry a bit longer.”

  “So what is the plan?” Elestra said brightly. “Do we carry on through the woods, with a cloud of dragons circling over our heads?”

  “I don’t know,” Garrett said gloomily.

  “Well, are we still heading for Mesanthia?”

  “I don’t know that either,” he said, heaving a noisy sigh. “It’s still our best option, but I don’t see how we can make it, not with assassins on our tail and unknown enemies in Drakk’alona. Getting onto a ship secretly would be a challenge at the best of times, but with a flock of half-grown dragons constantly with us, it’s like having a flag on a giant pole saying‘Here we are’. There’s no hiding. But then…” His face shifted, the gloom melting into speculation. “Maybe we can take advantage of that.”

  Ruell smiled. “What have you got buzzing around in that devious brain of yours now?”

  “I’m a gambler at heart,” Garrett said, smiling back. “That’s how I made my living for years on the streets of the Ring. Gambling’s kept me alive and got me out of plenty of tight spots, and I only cheated when I had to. Well, this is as tight a spot as they come, so let’s throw the bones and see where they fall. It would take us moons to reach Mesanthia in secrecy, hiding and sneaking and creeping about, whichever route we attempt, and that’s just too long. I propose that we abandon secrecy altogether. We’ll go back to the road, steal horses from the nearest inn and ride like the Nine are on our tail. Which they might be, for all I know – everyone else seems to be. Straight down to Drakk’alona and take the likeliest ship. The dragons can protect us by spotting anyone lurking in waiting for us.”

  “The assassin must still be behind us, surely?” Elestra said. “There won’t be anyone on the road expecting us.”

  “Never assume,” Garrett said sharply. “We don’t know how many of them there might be. One to follow us through the woods, and maybe three more on the road or at inns looking out for us.”

  “True,” she said. “The Tre’annatha have scrying stones, too. They can talk to each other over long distances. As soon as they know we’re back on the road, they can arrange for a reception along the way. An archer, for instance.”

  “That’s my greatest fear,” he said. “In an open confrontation, the dragons would easily have the upper hand, but one man with a crossbow…” He left the words unspoken. “Scrying stones… I’d forgotten they had those. That’s very bad news. So we must move fast enough not to be a target. Ruell, what do you say? Will you trust my instincts on this one?”

  Ruell chewed a lip thoughtfully. He trusted Garrett, of course he did, and how could he not be grateful for everything he’d done for him over the years, and was still doing? Even so, there were things unsaid that needed answers and perhaps this was as good a time as any.

  “I think…” he said slowly, “before I answer that, I need you to tell me that there’ll be no surprises.”

  “No surprises? There are bound to be surprises, Ruell. Life is full of surprises.”

  “I meant from you,” he said with dignity. He took a deep breath, but there was no going back now. “I want to know why you killed the child from the egg.”

  In a heartbeat, Garrett’s face changed from resignation to fury. He jumped to his feet, and leaned over Ruell, his face purple with rage, so that Ruell practically fell over backwards in his haste to move out of reach.

  “Gods, Ruell!” Garrett yelled, his fists clenching and unclenching. “Why do you bring that up now? Can’t you understand how desperate our position is?”

  “Don’t hit me!” Ruell squeaked in terror, hands raised as if to fend Garrett off, although in truth he knew he couldn’t. “Please don’t be angry, but I truly need to understand.”

  Garrett stepped back, eyes widening. “Of course I won’t hit you,” he said, in surprised tones. Then he ran a hand through his hair. “Look, we’re being chased by hired assassins. There’s notimefor long explanations, your dragons have seen to that. We can’t hide any more, so we have to movenow, or it will be too late. Don’t you see? Believe me, I had good reason for what I did, and when we get to Mesanthia, I’ll explain everything and you can judge my actions how you will, but please, for now, I need you to trust me.”

  Ruell hesitated. He appreciated the urgency, but he also felt that Garrett was fobbing him off. He didn’t like the idea that he was being made a fool of.

  Elestra’s voice cut across his thought. “This sounds most intriguing, and I’d love to sit down and talk it through, but it seems to me that survival is the most important consideration right now.”

  Ruell turned to look at her appraisingly. He wasn’t quite sure whose side she was on. Garrett’s perhaps. It seemed as if they were conspiring against him, and that made him mad as fire.Hewas the one with the dragons, after all, so he should be the one making the decisions, yet here was Garrett still treating him like a child.Trust me. Well, that was easy to say.

  And yet he did trust him, that was the trouble. When had Garrett ever let him down? Everything he’d done for him as a child, everything he was doing now, was all for Ruell’s sake, not his own. He swallowed his ire, and forced himself to speak calmly.

  “Sorry,” he said, and meant it. “I know the risks you’re taking for me. Don’t imagine that I don’t appreciate it, even if I forget to show it sometimes.”

  Garrett shrugged. “That’s what fathers do for their sons.” But he smiled a little, all the same. “Shall we go?”

  Ruell nodded, picking up his discarded sword. “Tell me what you want the dragons to do.”

  “We need their eyes, mostly,” Garrett said. “Can you get us back to the road, but close to an inn? If we can get there before dark, we can sneak in and steal a few horses before the moon’s up.”

  “I can do that,” Ruell said gravely.

  The dragons had scattered, settling in several widely-dispersed groups around the forest, slightly downcast after the excitement of seeing him again. A few were aloft, so he sent them off to find an inn.

  “Stay high,”he warned them.“Don’t let anyone see you.”

  �
��We hunt wild animals,”Yannali said loftily.“We know how to keep the sun behind us.”

  “There are eyes in all directions,”he said.“Keep moving and stay far apart.”

  “You worry too much,”Yannali said.“When do humans ever look up at the sky?”

  “When they are watching out for dragons,”Ruell said.“When they think those dragons will lead them to me.”

  Yannali was immediately flooded with guilt.“Sorry, Ruell. We will do our best. Oh, look – there is an inn!”

  Ruell could see it too, still bustling with activity in the late afternoon sunshine, the yard full of wagons. Well, there would be plenty of horses there.

  “Stay high and hover above it,” Ruell said to Yannali, the dragon’s glowing star burning in his mind. “I have an inn,” he said to Garrett and Elestra. “This way.”

  He led them unerringly through the forest. Sometimes, they had to make a wide detour to avoid bogs or fallen trees, and once they swerved to miss a hunter’s lodge, spotted through Gheessha’s eyes, high above them. But Yannali’s star burned bright in Ruell’s mind, and he was never unsure of the direction. By dusk, they were within a few hundred paces of the inn. With silent steps, they inched their way towards it, until they were close enough to hear singing and laughter and the chink of tankards.

  “I can smell food,” Ruell whispered mournfully.

  “Let me see what I can do,” Garrett said. “We can’t go on indefinitely on empty bellies, after all.”

  “First rule of battle,” Ruell said with a grin.

  Garrett grinned back. “I taught you well, young man. Back soon.”

  He disappeared into the evening gloom, leaving Ruell and Elestra to sit in silence. Of course, Ruell’s mind was anything but silent. The dragons chattered away in his head, and even those who didn’t talk to him directly were there anyway, their emotions tumbling over and through him, making him by turns anxious and happy and thirsty – whatever was passing through their dragon minds. It was wonderful to communicate with such beautiful creatures and have them at his bidding, but there were times when he wished he could shut them out for a while.