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Flying South Chapter 15
Here's the next chapter of Flying South for anybody still reading. Not much else of interest happening right now. I've been gardening - the tomatoes are still ripening and the climbing beans are doing well - and trying to do a bit of writing. The unseasonal rain certainly helped growing things along.
My social life could still be described by a four-letter word and it's a bit dispiriting that I hear of various gatherings usually after they happen. I'm almost at the point of giving up trying to be social, though it would certainly be good to have company now and then.
I'm getting a lot of reading done, this means. The book tokens are used up and I'm back to paying Fantastic Planet Bookshop once more. I've read Temeraire by Naomi Novik, which combines dragons with Napoleonic ship battles so well that you wonder why they didn't really fight them this way! Other purchases, Lian Hearn's first and second Tales of the Otori. I received book 3 when I was a judge in the Aurealis Awards and it was excellent. I'm sure now that I know what is actually going on, it will be like an entirely new book. I would also recommend Laurie King, who writes what can only be described as Sherlock Holmes Mary Sues. Very well :-) This second-latest, The Game, combines the India of Kipling's Kim with Holmes and his partner, who is actually named Mary. Mary Russell, who can dress like a man and make people believe she is an Indian travelling magician.
On to the chapter....
Flying South
Chapter 15
Lord Matthew, the Royal Consort, stood behind me, hand outstretched from giving me his riding cloak. Further back, holding two hard-breathing horses too tired to be frightened any more, was Vidar the Master Inquisitor.
Where was Asherley? I spun back towards the dragon and then saw what I’d missed before; that its other front foot was resting delicately against the Wizard Lord’s back. He wasn’t moving, a wise decision.
“Goddess! You’ve got to get over there.” I pointed across the meadow, hoping I was aiming at the hill I’d seen in my scry. It was the only decent-sized raised land in the area. “Erlina – he left her there. There’s someone else guarding her.”
Matthew turned towards his horse, then saw how the animal was gasping. He would have killed a horse to save his daughter, but the beast wasn’t going to get him there, no matter what he did.
“Amber!” called another voice, familiar but deeper than I remembered. I was missing a lot tonight. Two of the things I’d missed were up on the dragon’s neck, half-hidden behind the spikes sticking up like a horse’s plaited mane. In the moonlight they were only dark shapes, black hair matted and wild, but I knew Kulal and his cousin Skyfire. It seemed right, somehow, that they should be with the dragon, part of him, as I had never really been.
“Ku, Skyfire – will the dragon carry this man over to the hill? There’s a young girl there, hurt. Another man is guarding her, we need to get the girl away.”
Skyfire climbed gracefully down. She wore a hide cloak of an unfamiliar animal, but her feet and arms were bare, her great cloud of dark hair cascading around her face. She smiled at me as though this was an adventure.
“You may fly with Kulal. I will follow.”
“What is she saying?” Matthew demanded, anxiety making his voice harsh. Kulal, on the dragon’s neck, leaned over with hand outstretched.
“Take the boy’s hand, climb up behind him,” I said.
“You mean get on that beast?”
“Yes. Hurry up. I’ll meet you over there.”
“We can’t leave Asherley here.”
“That man is not going anywhere,” Skyfire said when I repeated this to her. She studied Asherley closely for a moment and shook her head. “He is frozen in terror.”
“I’ll watch him,” Vidar said, keeping a grip on his own fear. “And hold the horses.”
Perhaps better not to take birdshape, despite how good I felt now, I thought. I looked up at Kulal. “He can carry three,” Kulal said, not even asking. He held out his hand.
For the dragon, it was the merest hop from the forest’s edge to the chalk hills. He gleamed bright like chain mail where the moonlight fell upon his scales, which I remembered glowing red and green and blue in sunlight over sea. Kulal sat easily atop his neck in the spot where neck joined shoulder. Matthew’s hands on his waist looked like they were gripping painfully hard, but Kulal said nothing about it. Nor did I. I was too busy hanging on to Matthew as the dragon dropped, wings outspread to maximum span.
I couldn’t see Erlina anywhere on the summit. Kulal jumped to the ground before me and helped us both down. A dark owlshape fluttered down beside us and blurred into the figure of Skyfire. Matthew gasped in shock, then would have called his daughter’s name, but I hissed at him, “Erlina’s not alone, remember.”
“Is another wizard here?”
“I don’t know. I saw him in the scry; he’s a noble, bit pudgy, dark hair.” I described what I had seen the man wearing, as best I could given that I’d only had a brief glimpse. Matthew looked shaken, but he only nodded at me to indicate he had heard, then took a few paces away, listening, before whirling around on me again. “Where is Erlina? You said she was here.”
“I saw her here – in a scry. I think there were caves.”
My head was still confused and even getting words in the right order was a challenge right now. I couldn’t seem to think of where Erlina might be.
Kulal turned to the dragon, a listening look on his face. “There’s a child below,” he said to me, stamping his bare foot on the cold chalk of the hillside.
“Below. Of course. She must be in an underground cave.” I raced off, or tried to race, ending up flat on my face and needing to be picked up by Matthew and Kulal. We had to trek down the hill and up the next before I found a dark hole leading into the hillside.
The place was quiet and I sensed no one around, but that,
I knew, could easily be illusion. Skyfire was beside me, anticipating my movements as well as any of my Aradian sisters. We went ahead as quietly as we could, aware of the sounds Matthew was making behind me. Only Skyfire managed to be silent, so we weren’t going to be a surprise arrival. We were a few paces ahead of Matthew, who was probably almost blind here. To our sight, there was enough light to see by, a soft illumination from the walls. At the cavern entrance I stopped again, listening, then took a few cautious steps into the larger space. It took me several more moments before I recognised the slumped dark shape on the ground as the form of Erlina. She was lying beside a little underground stream.
Beside her was a black candle in a silver holder, burned a finger’s width from the dish. It was the solitary source of the soft flickering light. Beside me, Skyfire came closer, alert and wary. “Someone is here,” she whispered and then with no more warning than that, she pushed me to the ground. I fell with no grace at all on top of Erlina, and heard the nasty snick of a metal blade being drawn from a scabbard and swiped over my head. I stayed where I was with some incoherent thought of protecting Erlina, but I twisted my head about, desperate to see what was going on. Skyfire was unarmed, what could she do against a swordsman?
I couldn’t hear any sound of metal striking flesh or anything else, for that matter, only the skidding of feet and frantic human gasping.
So, a few moments later, I raised my head to see.
Skyfire, in her dress of animal hides, was standing in front of me, slightly to the side. Her arms were to her sides and she was breathing normally. Several feet in front of her, I saw a man jumping wildly about, swinging the sword I had heard leave its scabbard. This was definitely the noble I had seen with Asherley as he performed his magic using Erlina’s blood. He had had help, I thought, to kidnap and kill the children.
No time now to work out who this was. I focused on the demented figure in front of me, who seemed to be intent on an invisible opponent equal in skill to himself. I could almost see the other sword brought up to counter the blows directed towards it. If it hadn’t been so ridiculous, the solitary sword dance was almost beautiful; fast and graceful and deadly.
The only sound was the man's gasping breath. I didn't think warriors were supposed to be so out of shape.
Underneath me, Erlina shifted and moaned. “Don’t move,” I whispered. “It’s Amber. You have to keep still.”
Whether she understood me or not, I couldn’t tell, but she remained still. The gyrating swordsman was tiring; his movements were slower, more desperate. Skyfire stood, never taking her eyes from him. Where was Matthew? I wondered suddenly, but didn’t dare get up to go find him. Then in a moment it was over. The swordsman staggered, gasping, and fell to the ground.
“Now,” said Skyfire. Whether he could understand her or not, Matthew knew his moment. He came past us at a run and seized the sword lying on the ground to rest its point against the man’s neck.
“Don’t move, Cavris,” he said very softly. “I don’t need much of an excuse to kill you. The Inquisition can test me for truth when I say you tried to kill my daughter, and I believe they’ll agree it’s truth, no matter who you are.”
I stared, twisting around to get a look at Cavris’ plump, startled face. This was the Queen’s Royal Brother, the uncle of the child bled for black magic, who had stood by and let it happen. Oh yes. There was no way out for Cavris now and I could see that he knew it. Yet he was still hoping that Asherley would appear out of nowhere and save him, strike down the Queen’s Consort, her daughter and a pesky sorceress so that his plans could proceed.
"Amber, are you and Erlina all right?”
That got Cavris’ attention. He stared at us as I scrambled up, keeping the cloak closed around me, but he didn’t seem to see Skyfire at all, even though she wasn’t wearing any more than I was. Clearly Cavris had no idea what I was and I hoped to keep it that way, but Matthew wasn’t about to help me. “You are an Aradian sorceress,” he said quietly. “Your Order has been greatly harmed by the machinations of this man and his associate Asherley. Therefore I give it to you to decide; does he die now by my hand or shall we bring him back to trial?”
Erlina gasped. I put a hand down to her without looking and she got to her feet, pale and shaky but otherwise all right so far as I could tell. I met her eyes. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She stared at her uncle, who looked away.
“My lord, I can’t . . . “ I blurted.
“Yes, you can,” Matthew said quietly, looking at me as though I was at least a noble, not an ordinary merchant’s daughter/sorceress. It was the only gift he could give, I realised. I was still under arrest. Vidar would still want to carry out the rest of his plan, to seek out the Land of the Dragons, and there was nothing Matthew could do against that. His wife the Queen would still blame me for what had happened to her children, and this was Matthew’s way of repaying me. So I looked. The candle burned itself out in that moment, smoking to nothing, and without thinking, I brought light. Matthew was silent, but Cavris gasped in horror. That took a nerve, I thought indignantly, considering who his friend was. I looked at Skyfire for inspiration but she shook her head. It was up to me.
My light was far brighter and clearer than that lone candle and banished the shadows high to the corners of the cavern. Deliberately I focused that light right over Cavris’ head. He would die. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. The question was: fast or slow. “I think . . . I think the law of the land should hold, my lord,” I said. To prolong Cavris’ life in prison, then a formal execution, would be slower and less merciful than any sword right now. I appreciated the irony. So, judging by his sudden twisted smile, did Matthew. He nodded.
“As you have said, my lady, so shall it be.”
“Father,” Erlina said, her voice high and shaky. “I want to ask my uncle something.”
Her father hesitated, then nodded, sheathing his sword. Cavris never looked away from me. Clearly I was now the person to be feared, even though I hadn’t done anything to him. It had all been Skyfire, but she was standing there like a ghost only I could see. Even Matthew was ignoring her.
“Why, uncle?” Erlina asked, looking right at Cavris. “I have always been taught that the wizard lords were evil, they harmed my family and the people. Why have you done this?”
“I am tired,” Cavris said harshly, “tired of living within your mother’s shadow and at her whim. She is mad but none will say she is mad."
A hard claim to deny. I couldn’t do it and didn’t think Erlina was going to come up with anything either, but to my surprise she did. “The wizards made her mad,” she said softly. “You made her worse.”
“Enough,” said Matthew abruptly. “Cavris, walk ahead of us out of the cave. Don’t run. There’s something out there which will eat you if you even think of trying to escape.”
He came forward and lifted his daughter in his arms, carrying him after the stumbling Cavris. I brought up the rear. Maybe the Queen’s Brother didn’t believe us. I’m not sure I would have. His wail of fear seemed quite genuine as he stepped out on to the plateau and had his first glimpse of the crouching dragon, jewel-eyes fixed on him, and the slim dark boy sitting astride the beast’s neck. Kulal smiled, but his look at me was uncertain. He had heard the clashing of steel and the shouting from above. Then Skyfire came past us and reached up to pull herself atop the dragon’s spine. She said something softly to Kulal but the wind carried her words away from me.
“Amber!” Matthew called, his voice edged with panic. When I turned, I saw him crouched on the ground, holding Erlina in his arms to protect her against the keen cold wind. Erlina had gone limp as though she’d fainted. “She’s hurt,” Matthew shouted.
I didn’t bother watching Cavris, he was practically rooted to the spot with terror of the dragon. Instead I concentrated on Erlina, kneeling down to place my hand on her forehead. Erlina was very weak, which she shouldn’t have been even from the bloodletting. Then I sank my thoughts deeper into her and I knew I’d been right. Asherley had done the same with her as I had with Nicholas, taking his life energy, but Nicholas was a willing link and a grown man. Erlina was only a child and this had come close to killing her and still might. I had no energy left to give her and Matthew didn’t know how. I thought of the dragon who had helped me recover some of my strength or I wouldn’t be walking now.
“Kulal, Skyfire, can the dragon help Erlina?”
“He says bring the child close,” Kulal answered. “But we have to hurry, others are on their way and Yukungadak said we mustn’t be seen by them.”
I thought again about that winged thing and wondered how many observers I’d had. Would it have shifted to the form of a certain foreign sorcerer if I’d given it a chance? Matthew carried Erlina over to the dragon. He was so concerned that he’d forgotten how dangerous a dragon could be; he carried his thirteen-year-old daughter right up to the great head. The dragon held out a clawed foot.
“He will touch, very gently,” Skyfire said and I translated this.
Erlina opened her eyes as the dragon’s claws brushed against her cheek so gently that no blood was drawn despite their sharpness. She didn’t scream but her eyes widened even more as she stared into the dragon’s glowing eyes. Her whole body wasn’t much larger than the head still bent over her. Then she fell quietly asleep.
“She will be fine,” Skyfire promised and I nodded, able to feel the girl’s life spirit coursing more strongly through her body. “If you wait here, the other riders will find you.”
“Will the dragon hold this man for us?” I asked, pointing at Cavris.
“No, no . . . “ The Queen’s Brother found himself able to move. He backed away as far as he could. “Don’t let it touch me, please don’t let it touch me.”
My social life could still be described by a four-letter word and it's a bit dispiriting that I hear of various gatherings usually after they happen. I'm almost at the point of giving up trying to be social, though it would certainly be good to have company now and then.
I'm getting a lot of reading done, this means. The book tokens are used up and I'm back to paying Fantastic Planet Bookshop once more. I've read Temeraire by Naomi Novik, which combines dragons with Napoleonic ship battles so well that you wonder why they didn't really fight them this way! Other purchases, Lian Hearn's first and second Tales of the Otori. I received book 3 when I was a judge in the Aurealis Awards and it was excellent. I'm sure now that I know what is actually going on, it will be like an entirely new book. I would also recommend Laurie King, who writes what can only be described as Sherlock Holmes Mary Sues. Very well :-) This second-latest, The Game, combines the India of Kipling's Kim with Holmes and his partner, who is actually named Mary. Mary Russell, who can dress like a man and make people believe she is an Indian travelling magician.
On to the chapter....
Flying South
Chapter 15
Lord Matthew, the Royal Consort, stood behind me, hand outstretched from giving me his riding cloak. Further back, holding two hard-breathing horses too tired to be frightened any more, was Vidar the Master Inquisitor.
Where was Asherley? I spun back towards the dragon and then saw what I’d missed before; that its other front foot was resting delicately against the Wizard Lord’s back. He wasn’t moving, a wise decision.
“Goddess! You’ve got to get over there.” I pointed across the meadow, hoping I was aiming at the hill I’d seen in my scry. It was the only decent-sized raised land in the area. “Erlina – he left her there. There’s someone else guarding her.”
Matthew turned towards his horse, then saw how the animal was gasping. He would have killed a horse to save his daughter, but the beast wasn’t going to get him there, no matter what he did.
“Amber!” called another voice, familiar but deeper than I remembered. I was missing a lot tonight. Two of the things I’d missed were up on the dragon’s neck, half-hidden behind the spikes sticking up like a horse’s plaited mane. In the moonlight they were only dark shapes, black hair matted and wild, but I knew Kulal and his cousin Skyfire. It seemed right, somehow, that they should be with the dragon, part of him, as I had never really been.
“Ku, Skyfire – will the dragon carry this man over to the hill? There’s a young girl there, hurt. Another man is guarding her, we need to get the girl away.”
Skyfire climbed gracefully down. She wore a hide cloak of an unfamiliar animal, but her feet and arms were bare, her great cloud of dark hair cascading around her face. She smiled at me as though this was an adventure.
“You may fly with Kulal. I will follow.”
“What is she saying?” Matthew demanded, anxiety making his voice harsh. Kulal, on the dragon’s neck, leaned over with hand outstretched.
“Take the boy’s hand, climb up behind him,” I said.
“You mean get on that beast?”
“Yes. Hurry up. I’ll meet you over there.”
“We can’t leave Asherley here.”
“That man is not going anywhere,” Skyfire said when I repeated this to her. She studied Asherley closely for a moment and shook her head. “He is frozen in terror.”
“I’ll watch him,” Vidar said, keeping a grip on his own fear. “And hold the horses.”
Perhaps better not to take birdshape, despite how good I felt now, I thought. I looked up at Kulal. “He can carry three,” Kulal said, not even asking. He held out his hand.
For the dragon, it was the merest hop from the forest’s edge to the chalk hills. He gleamed bright like chain mail where the moonlight fell upon his scales, which I remembered glowing red and green and blue in sunlight over sea. Kulal sat easily atop his neck in the spot where neck joined shoulder. Matthew’s hands on his waist looked like they were gripping painfully hard, but Kulal said nothing about it. Nor did I. I was too busy hanging on to Matthew as the dragon dropped, wings outspread to maximum span.
I couldn’t see Erlina anywhere on the summit. Kulal jumped to the ground before me and helped us both down. A dark owlshape fluttered down beside us and blurred into the figure of Skyfire. Matthew gasped in shock, then would have called his daughter’s name, but I hissed at him, “Erlina’s not alone, remember.”
“Is another wizard here?”
“I don’t know. I saw him in the scry; he’s a noble, bit pudgy, dark hair.” I described what I had seen the man wearing, as best I could given that I’d only had a brief glimpse. Matthew looked shaken, but he only nodded at me to indicate he had heard, then took a few paces away, listening, before whirling around on me again. “Where is Erlina? You said she was here.”
“I saw her here – in a scry. I think there were caves.”
My head was still confused and even getting words in the right order was a challenge right now. I couldn’t seem to think of where Erlina might be.
Kulal turned to the dragon, a listening look on his face. “There’s a child below,” he said to me, stamping his bare foot on the cold chalk of the hillside.
“Below. Of course. She must be in an underground cave.” I raced off, or tried to race, ending up flat on my face and needing to be picked up by Matthew and Kulal. We had to trek down the hill and up the next before I found a dark hole leading into the hillside.
The place was quiet and I sensed no one around, but that,
I knew, could easily be illusion. Skyfire was beside me, anticipating my movements as well as any of my Aradian sisters. We went ahead as quietly as we could, aware of the sounds Matthew was making behind me. Only Skyfire managed to be silent, so we weren’t going to be a surprise arrival. We were a few paces ahead of Matthew, who was probably almost blind here. To our sight, there was enough light to see by, a soft illumination from the walls. At the cavern entrance I stopped again, listening, then took a few cautious steps into the larger space. It took me several more moments before I recognised the slumped dark shape on the ground as the form of Erlina. She was lying beside a little underground stream.
Beside her was a black candle in a silver holder, burned a finger’s width from the dish. It was the solitary source of the soft flickering light. Beside me, Skyfire came closer, alert and wary. “Someone is here,” she whispered and then with no more warning than that, she pushed me to the ground. I fell with no grace at all on top of Erlina, and heard the nasty snick of a metal blade being drawn from a scabbard and swiped over my head. I stayed where I was with some incoherent thought of protecting Erlina, but I twisted my head about, desperate to see what was going on. Skyfire was unarmed, what could she do against a swordsman?
I couldn’t hear any sound of metal striking flesh or anything else, for that matter, only the skidding of feet and frantic human gasping.
So, a few moments later, I raised my head to see.
Skyfire, in her dress of animal hides, was standing in front of me, slightly to the side. Her arms were to her sides and she was breathing normally. Several feet in front of her, I saw a man jumping wildly about, swinging the sword I had heard leave its scabbard. This was definitely the noble I had seen with Asherley as he performed his magic using Erlina’s blood. He had had help, I thought, to kidnap and kill the children.
No time now to work out who this was. I focused on the demented figure in front of me, who seemed to be intent on an invisible opponent equal in skill to himself. I could almost see the other sword brought up to counter the blows directed towards it. If it hadn’t been so ridiculous, the solitary sword dance was almost beautiful; fast and graceful and deadly.
The only sound was the man's gasping breath. I didn't think warriors were supposed to be so out of shape.
Underneath me, Erlina shifted and moaned. “Don’t move,” I whispered. “It’s Amber. You have to keep still.”
Whether she understood me or not, I couldn’t tell, but she remained still. The gyrating swordsman was tiring; his movements were slower, more desperate. Skyfire stood, never taking her eyes from him. Where was Matthew? I wondered suddenly, but didn’t dare get up to go find him. Then in a moment it was over. The swordsman staggered, gasping, and fell to the ground.
“Now,” said Skyfire. Whether he could understand her or not, Matthew knew his moment. He came past us at a run and seized the sword lying on the ground to rest its point against the man’s neck.
“Don’t move, Cavris,” he said very softly. “I don’t need much of an excuse to kill you. The Inquisition can test me for truth when I say you tried to kill my daughter, and I believe they’ll agree it’s truth, no matter who you are.”
I stared, twisting around to get a look at Cavris’ plump, startled face. This was the Queen’s Royal Brother, the uncle of the child bled for black magic, who had stood by and let it happen. Oh yes. There was no way out for Cavris now and I could see that he knew it. Yet he was still hoping that Asherley would appear out of nowhere and save him, strike down the Queen’s Consort, her daughter and a pesky sorceress so that his plans could proceed.
"Amber, are you and Erlina all right?”
That got Cavris’ attention. He stared at us as I scrambled up, keeping the cloak closed around me, but he didn’t seem to see Skyfire at all, even though she wasn’t wearing any more than I was. Clearly Cavris had no idea what I was and I hoped to keep it that way, but Matthew wasn’t about to help me. “You are an Aradian sorceress,” he said quietly. “Your Order has been greatly harmed by the machinations of this man and his associate Asherley. Therefore I give it to you to decide; does he die now by my hand or shall we bring him back to trial?”
Erlina gasped. I put a hand down to her without looking and she got to her feet, pale and shaky but otherwise all right so far as I could tell. I met her eyes. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She stared at her uncle, who looked away.
“My lord, I can’t . . . “ I blurted.
“Yes, you can,” Matthew said quietly, looking at me as though I was at least a noble, not an ordinary merchant’s daughter/sorceress. It was the only gift he could give, I realised. I was still under arrest. Vidar would still want to carry out the rest of his plan, to seek out the Land of the Dragons, and there was nothing Matthew could do against that. His wife the Queen would still blame me for what had happened to her children, and this was Matthew’s way of repaying me. So I looked. The candle burned itself out in that moment, smoking to nothing, and without thinking, I brought light. Matthew was silent, but Cavris gasped in horror. That took a nerve, I thought indignantly, considering who his friend was. I looked at Skyfire for inspiration but she shook her head. It was up to me.
My light was far brighter and clearer than that lone candle and banished the shadows high to the corners of the cavern. Deliberately I focused that light right over Cavris’ head. He would die. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. The question was: fast or slow. “I think . . . I think the law of the land should hold, my lord,” I said. To prolong Cavris’ life in prison, then a formal execution, would be slower and less merciful than any sword right now. I appreciated the irony. So, judging by his sudden twisted smile, did Matthew. He nodded.
“As you have said, my lady, so shall it be.”
“Father,” Erlina said, her voice high and shaky. “I want to ask my uncle something.”
Her father hesitated, then nodded, sheathing his sword. Cavris never looked away from me. Clearly I was now the person to be feared, even though I hadn’t done anything to him. It had all been Skyfire, but she was standing there like a ghost only I could see. Even Matthew was ignoring her.
“Why, uncle?” Erlina asked, looking right at Cavris. “I have always been taught that the wizard lords were evil, they harmed my family and the people. Why have you done this?”
“I am tired,” Cavris said harshly, “tired of living within your mother’s shadow and at her whim. She is mad but none will say she is mad."
A hard claim to deny. I couldn’t do it and didn’t think Erlina was going to come up with anything either, but to my surprise she did. “The wizards made her mad,” she said softly. “You made her worse.”
“Enough,” said Matthew abruptly. “Cavris, walk ahead of us out of the cave. Don’t run. There’s something out there which will eat you if you even think of trying to escape.”
He came forward and lifted his daughter in his arms, carrying him after the stumbling Cavris. I brought up the rear. Maybe the Queen’s Brother didn’t believe us. I’m not sure I would have. His wail of fear seemed quite genuine as he stepped out on to the plateau and had his first glimpse of the crouching dragon, jewel-eyes fixed on him, and the slim dark boy sitting astride the beast’s neck. Kulal smiled, but his look at me was uncertain. He had heard the clashing of steel and the shouting from above. Then Skyfire came past us and reached up to pull herself atop the dragon’s spine. She said something softly to Kulal but the wind carried her words away from me.
“Amber!” Matthew called, his voice edged with panic. When I turned, I saw him crouched on the ground, holding Erlina in his arms to protect her against the keen cold wind. Erlina had gone limp as though she’d fainted. “She’s hurt,” Matthew shouted.
I didn’t bother watching Cavris, he was practically rooted to the spot with terror of the dragon. Instead I concentrated on Erlina, kneeling down to place my hand on her forehead. Erlina was very weak, which she shouldn’t have been even from the bloodletting. Then I sank my thoughts deeper into her and I knew I’d been right. Asherley had done the same with her as I had with Nicholas, taking his life energy, but Nicholas was a willing link and a grown man. Erlina was only a child and this had come close to killing her and still might. I had no energy left to give her and Matthew didn’t know how. I thought of the dragon who had helped me recover some of my strength or I wouldn’t be walking now.
“Kulal, Skyfire, can the dragon help Erlina?”
“He says bring the child close,” Kulal answered. “But we have to hurry, others are on their way and Yukungadak said we mustn’t be seen by them.”
I thought again about that winged thing and wondered how many observers I’d had. Would it have shifted to the form of a certain foreign sorcerer if I’d given it a chance? Matthew carried Erlina over to the dragon. He was so concerned that he’d forgotten how dangerous a dragon could be; he carried his thirteen-year-old daughter right up to the great head. The dragon held out a clawed foot.
“He will touch, very gently,” Skyfire said and I translated this.
Erlina opened her eyes as the dragon’s claws brushed against her cheek so gently that no blood was drawn despite their sharpness. She didn’t scream but her eyes widened even more as she stared into the dragon’s glowing eyes. Her whole body wasn’t much larger than the head still bent over her. Then she fell quietly asleep.
“She will be fine,” Skyfire promised and I nodded, able to feel the girl’s life spirit coursing more strongly through her body. “If you wait here, the other riders will find you.”
“Will the dragon hold this man for us?” I asked, pointing at Cavris.
“No, no . . . “ The Queen’s Brother found himself able to move. He backed away as far as he could. “Don’t let it touch me, please don’t let it touch me.”
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prk.
Oooh, yes...still reading
(Anonymous) 2006-01-16 04:30 am (UTC)(link)-leece
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