“Think, Creel, think,” I muttered.
“Ooh, I looked again,” Marta said. “I think I might be sick. ”
“Don’t! You’ll make the roof even more slippery,” I told her. “It’s bad enough that we’re wearing silk. ” I glanced down, but only to look at my own clothes.
A germ of an idea began to form. “Marta, can you take off your sash with one hand?”
“Are you mad? I can’t let go of the spire! If you want to die, you let go of the spire!” She gasped for breath for a moment. “My hands are so sweaty right now, it’s all I can do to hold on. ”
Which was another thing I’d been trying to ignore. My own hands were so wet that I was afraid to even think about them.
“If I start to slide,” I asked, “will you at least use one hand to slow me down?”
“What?! Creel, what are you doing?”
Slowly, with my heart in my mouth, I loosened my right hand from the spire. My fingers were painfully cramped. As I opened them, I thought my left hand would let go as well, out of sympathy. I whimpered under my breath, both from pain and from the fear that what I was doing was very, very foolish.
“Creel, don’t do it,” Marta said.
“It’ll work, I know it will,” I said with feigned confidence.
My fingers all the way open, the entire weight of my body now hung from my left hand, which was shaking with the effort of hanging on. I tried not to hurry, but to move deliberately and smoothly as I untucked the end of my sash and loosened it.
When I at last pulled it off, the fine silk flapped in the wind and my numb fingers nearly lost their grip on it. Snatching it close to my breast, I stretched up with my right arm and tried to push one end around the spire.
“Creel, you’re scaring me,” Marta whimpered.
“Lift up one of your fingers, and hold this in place for me,” I told her. I didn’t dare move a finger on my left hand, and I needed to reach around the other side of the spire with my right to pull the sash around it.
“No!”
“Marta, just do it!”
Still making little distressed noises, Marta shifted two of her fingers the barest fraction so that she could pinch the sash between them. This was enough for me to reach around the other side of the spire, catch the end of the sash, and pull it around.
When the ends hung even, level with my chest, I gripped them both firmly with my right hand. Then I took a deep breath and slowly let go with my left. As I started to slide down the roof, I grabbed the sash frantically with my left hand and held on for my life as I shot down the steep side of the turret roof. I screamed, and Marta joined in, until my weight nearly separated my arms from my shoulder sockets. I was clinging to the end of the sash with sweaty hands, my arms stretched high above my head, and still I couldn’t feel the ledge beneath my feet. I tried to look, but without my sash my tunic had bunched up and all I could see was the white silk.
“Marta? Can you see how close I am to the ledge?”
“You’re not dead?” was the muffled reply.
“Not yet. Can you look for me?”
“I’ll try. ” Then, a moment later: “Oh! Stretch down your toes, you’re only an inch away!” She sounded surprised and also pleased. I doubted she could hold on to the spire much longer herself.
I stretched down my toes and finally felt the ledge beneath them, firm and wonderful. Letting go with one hand and then the other, I rested my full weight on the ledge of the roof. The relief as I lowered my tortured arms brought tears to my eyes. Pressing my cheek to the smooth copper roof, I leaned against it and savoured the feeling of having my arms at my sides and my feet on a firm surface.
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“I’m coming,” Marta announced.
Looking up, I saw her take hold of the sash with her right hand. She slid down a little, made a strangled noise, then grabbed for the sash with her left and screamed as she slithered down the roof, the silk sliding through her grip with a speed that made me break out in a cold sweat all over again.
With a thump she landed on the ledge beside me, pulling the sash free of the spire with one hand. I took it from her and shoved it into the waistband of my trousers in case it came in handy again.
“Now what?” Marta’s blue eyes were wide and she was very pale.
“I don’t know. I suppose we wait for someone to see us and help,” I said. “We could try climbing down off the ledge and into one of the windows. ” She paled even further and I added, “I’m not sure I have the nerve to try that either. ”
The sun was now high in the sky and the heat that rose off the copper roof was unbearable. They must have servants mounted on dragons polishing the roofs every month, to prevent the copper from tarnishing, I thought.
We were stuck.
A gust of wind plucked at my clothing, and I pressed harder against the roof. Then it came again, this time carrying the scent of sulphur with it. I opened my eyes.
A bright red dragon hovered in the air to the side of our turret. Her golden eyes were wide with astonishment. I raised my head, noticing that her horns had been sawn off. It was the female Tobin had uncollared.
“It’s you!” I said to her.
“Human maids, what are you doing here?” Her voice had a lilting accent. “This is not safe!”
“Krashath dropped us here,” I said.
“Krashath!” Her eyes narrowed. “Where are the human males you were with, and the dragons who are your friends?”
“They don’t know where we are; they’re hiding in a cave to the north of the city. Can you tell them?”
“The wind is rising, you cannot stay on that little ledge much longer,” she said. “Jump off and I will catch you. ”
“No!” Marta sounded near hysteria again. She had her eyes shut and wouldn’t look at the dragon. “We don’t know you! What if you’re allied with Krashath?”
“Marta,” I explained patiently. “This is the female that Tobin freed. She’s been fighting the collared dragons. ” I turned back to her, uncertain now that I had said that. “Haven’t you?”
“By the First Fires, of course I have! I’ve been ripping the collars off any dragon I could reach!”
She flapped her wings to maintain her position, and I squinted against the hot air that blasted into my face. She was right: it was getting too hot and we were far too tired. By the time she flew out and found our cave, spoke to Niva and the others, and they came for us, we would have fallen to our deaths.
I made a decision. “Will you fly below us, so that we can jump on to your back, mistress?”
“Creel, are you sure?” Marta’s voice was fainter now, and I knew that she had to be as tired as I was.
“It’s our only chance,” I told her quietly.
“I’ll have to fly out a bit and come back in fast so that I can tuck my wings as I pass beneath you. It’s the only way I can get close enough. I’ll call out when I’m in position. ”
“All right. ”
“I’m not jumping backwards,” Marta said. “Let’s turn around. ”
Feeling the edge carefully with our feet, we managed to turn ourselves so that our backs were against the roof. Because of its steep angle and the jutting ledge, we couldn’t see anything below the ledge.
“If this doesn’t work, at least we’ll die quickly, of the fall, rather than slowly from starvation,” I said to Marta with a weak grin.
“You’re horrible. ” She clasped my hand. “But I’m still your friend. ”
We heard the flap of dragon wings, and clutched each other’s hand tighter.
“Now,” came the female dragon’s shout.
“Now!” Marta and I shouted together, and jumped off the roof.
Flamewing
The long ridge of plates that stood up along the dragon’s spine got me right in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. I was just grateful that they weren�
�t sharp enough to do any permanent damage, as Shardas’s and Niva’s were. Marta landed on her side, and then started to slither off over the dragon’s scaly shoulder before she grabbed one of the spines and stopped herself.
“Are you all right?” The dragon called the question back over her shoulder as she soared away from the palace.
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All I could do was groan, so Marta answered for us. When my breath came back, I scrambled around until I was sitting between two of the plates. Marta rode just in front of me, looking calm and natural as though she had ridden dragonback dozens of times. She sounded almost chipper as she directed our rescuer towards the hill that concealed our friends.
When we landed outside the grove of olive trees, I clambered off the red female’s back with relief. I was tired of clinging to things and having my feet dangle terrifyingly far above the ground.
One of Luka’s men came out of the grove, a crossbow loaded and held at the ready. When he saw us standing beside the strange dragon, he lowered the crossbow and called over his shoulder that it was all clear.
Luka burst out of the trees and ran to us. He grabbed me by the shoulders and kissed me right on the lips. Then he wrapped both arms around me and squeezed until I felt as if I’d had my wind knocked out again. Glancing over his shoulder, I saw Marta getting much the same treatment from Tobin.
For just a moment I let myself go boneless and lean against Luka’s chest. Then I stepped back and straightened my braids with great decorum. My heart was beating almost as fast as it had when I slid down the roof.
“This was the stupidest, stupidest thing any of us has ever done,” Luka was ranting. “We never should have let you go back into the palace. Junn and Fallon were in the Grand Market, and heard that the king’s Feravelan tailors had been arrested. Amacarin and Niva are circling the palace right now with Fallon and Junn, looking for a way to rescue you. Tobin refused to let me go: I was beside myself, thinking you’d already been executed. ”
“You didn’t see us hanging from the roof?” I was almost disappointed. Looking back, with my stomach churning, it had been quite a feat to first slide down the roof to the ledge, and then jump off on to the back of a strange dragon. Sadly, it rather made the sensation of being kissed by Luka pale in comparison.
“Hanging from the roof?!” Luka’s face was grey.
“I found them clinging to the roof of a turret,” the dragon put in.
“Thank you very much for saving them … mistress,” Luka said, bowing to her.
“My name,” she said with dignity, “is Anranria. ” She bowed her head, but at Tobin. “And I owe you my life, for taking that collar off my neck. ”
He nodded, and then signed that we should go inside the cave to avoid being seen. Anranria seemed hesitant at first, still wary of humans, but I assured her that we had other dragons to vouch for us.
“Well, just Feniul right now,” Luka corrected me as we went inside. He was holding my hand uncomfortably tightly.
I stopped in my tracks, remembering what he’d said earlier. “Niva went to the palace? But won’t they realise again that she’s a female?”
“She said she would hold her tail and forelegs a certain way,” Luka said vaguely. “Feniul and Amacarin seemed to agree that it would work. ”
“It will work. Niva is quite masculine, really,” Feniul said as we entered the cool dimness of the cave. Then he saw who Luka was talking to. “Creel! Marta! Thank the First Fires!” He extended his forelegs to us, and Marta and I hastened to pat his nose and reassure him.
Then Feniul saw Anranria behind us, and straightened his entire spine, all the way to his tailtip. “How do you do, madam. ” This genteel greeting was somewhat ruined by Ruli, who was swinging from one of his horns and chattering at Marta in an accusatory way.
“Oh, a monkey! How precious,” Anranria said. “I adore small mammals, don’t you?” She extended a foreclaw to Ruli, who skittered on to her foreleg and then ran up to her shoulder.
“I am more partial to dogs,” Feniul said. “Although I do find the monkey … amusing. ”
I snorted. Just yesterday morning Feniul had threatened to eat Ruli.
“Oh, dogs! I had a pair of sheepherding dogs before I was collared. They helped with my flock immensely. ”
“Ah, sheepherders! A fine breed,” Feniul said with real enthusiasm. “And you kept your own flock of sheep? How industrious of you, madam. ”
“My name is Anranria Flamewing,” she told him. “But you may call me Ria. ”
He puffed out his chest. “And I am Feniul the Green-Clawed. ”
“This is so darling,” Marta whispered to me. “I think Feniul is smitten!”
“You know,” Luka whispered on my other side. “I never noticed before, but he really is green all over. Down to the tips of his claws. All the other dragons I’ve seen have had different coloured claws or horns or something. ”
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“That’s great,” I said in a normal voice, startling everyone. “But we have a little problem called Krashath and the Citatian army to worry about right now. ” Immediately, my harsh announcement raised a flood of guilt that reddened my cheeks. I was so relieved to be alive, to be back with Luka (and the rest of my friends), that I could barely stay on my feet. But at the same time, the feeling of Krashath’s claws around my waist was haunting me. He had to be stopped.
Ria and Feniul shuffled their feet and looked as embarrassed as two large dragons can look. Tobin and Luka just looked grim.
“Well,” Luka said. “We weren’t sure what to do about the two of you, but we did decide what to do about the army. ”
“And that is?”
“Leave,” Luka said. “I’m not happy about it, but there’s nothing that so few of us can do against an entire army of dragons. Niva, Feniul and Amacarin have agreed to help us fight, but we’re going back to Roulain to make our stand. ”
“Roulain?” I raised my eyebrows. It had been only a year since they had tried to conquer us, so I wasn’t all that concerned with their well-being. But Roulain, rife with busy ports, did lie between Citatie and land-locked Feravel. I supposed that the common folk didn’t deserve to be trampled by an army of dragons simply because their previous king had wanted Feravel’s rich wool and fur trade for himself.
“The shore will make an excellent fighting ground,” Feniul said. “The Citatians won’t have a place to land. We can flame at them as they try to pass overhead, and if they bring any ground troops in ships, the Roulaini army can help fight them. ”
“Do you think the Roulaini will?”
“Niva spoke to her mate in the pool this morning,” Luka assured me. “Roulain doesn’t want an army of dragons stampeding over them on their way to Feravel. Their army is mobilised, and I’ve given instructions for them to meet us at the beach in three days’ time. ” He smiled thinly. “The new king is apparently a tad offended that his country is only an obstacle to conquering Feravel. ”
“I wish Krashath wanted Roulain instead,” I said. “How will your father get word to them?”
“A dragon from Roulain named Teonnil has come forward,” Luka said. “He has arranged for a speaking pool in the palace gardens, and transmits messages from Leontes and King Caxel to King Rolian. ”
“How amazing,” I said, marvelling that so many dragons had come forward to help. Not even two weeks ago I had been begging Niva and Feniul to accompany me to Citatie to help spy. Now they were planning a full-on attack, with the aid of dragons from Roulain and even Citatie, for Ria was offering her support and that of her uncollared friends.
“I’ve freed a few of my companions from the hatching grounds,” Ria told us. “They’re in hiding right now, most of them. We don’t dare travel too far until the army has left Pelletie, lest we be spotted by a patrol. I am sure that I can persuade them to help fight Krashath, though. ”
�
��How did you know Krashath was behind this?” This had been bothering me since I heard her swearing at Krashath all the way from the palace to the cave. “The royal court doesn’t even know that their king is under his control. ”
Her head drooped. “Some of us were born in captivity,” she said. “But I and many others remember when Krashath came. I am from the country of Luriel, far to the east of here. Krashath came to our land some ten years ago. He tried to persuade us to follow him: to overthrow our rightful king and any who supported him. He claimed to have been our late Queen Velika’s true mate. ” She shook her head. “We refused and he fled. But months later, a few at a time, the dragons of Luriel began to disappear. Krashath ambushed us in our sleep, one at a time at first, and then more and more as he gathered slaves. How well I remember seeing torchlight gleaming on Krashath’s scales as I was netted and collared like a wild animal, trapped by friends and neighbours I had known since I was a hatchling.
“We went to other countries, trapping other dragons and being forced to mate and bear eggs in horrible conditions so that his army might grow. When there were too many of us to hide, he came here to Citatie, and made his deal with the vizier. Then our control was transferred to the Citatian soldiers, under his orders. They hid us in the desert until a few weeks ago. It was a nightmare made real. ”
There was a long silence, and then Luka cleared his throat.
“How many of your uncollared companions do you think will join us?” His face was sombre. “A dozen? More?”
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“I have uncollared nine,” Ria said. “Although two of them have hatchlings that they wish to protect, and one left a clutch of eggs behind. She is mostly concerned with getting her eggs to safety. ”
“Oh. ” Luka’s disappointment was palpable.
“Still,” I said brightly, “there’re six more dragons, seven with Ria, who will help us. That’s much better than the three that we had before. ”
“True,” he agreed. “We’ll need to leave tonight, as soon as the sun sets, so that we have enough time to cross the strait and make our stand on the Roulain coast. ”
“All right,” I said. I sank back on to a bed, exhausted. “Can I sleep for a little while, then?”
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