Eon - 01 Eon

by Alison Goodman

  Lady Dela approached me immediately after the torturous meal, her eyes tracking every movement around us.

  'May we now speak privately, my lord?'

  I sighed. A lesson in protocol was the last thing I wanted; my head already felt overstuffed with information. 'Can this not

  wait?' I asked. 'Surely we can go through the protocols when we are closer to the village.'

  She leaned closer until I smelled the frangipani scent of her hair.'It is not about protocols. It is about the test.'

  'The garden then,' I said shortly. All ol my limbs felt as though a clockwork spring was coiled inside them, straining to release. Perhaps a walk would work the tension out of my muscles.

  Lady Dela waited until we were at the far end of the garden path before she spoke.

  'I have heard some rumours, my lord.' She looked around, then led me further from a kitchen maid shaking out bedclothes. 'Lord Ido intends to sabotage your test.'

  'The way things are going, he won't need to take the trouble,' I said grimly 'Did your rumours tell you how?' I balled my hands into fists then straightened them. Every joint seemed to be stiff and sore, although the usual sharp pain in my hip had dulled into an ache.

  She shook her head.

  'Then they are not of much use, are they? Don't come to me with vague servants' gossip. Bring me details.'

  I stalked away from her astonishment. What use were rumours? I needed real information.

  Real strategies. I swiped past an elegant arch of fronds that hung over the pathway. The branch broke with a satisfying snap.

  Back in the carriage with Lord Tyron and Hollin, I could not find any comfortable position —my rump bones felt as though they were pushing through my skin and the back of my neck itched with a rash. Hollin was dull-eyed and yawning from a bad night's sleep and Lord Tyron was stinking with an old man's sweat. I swallowed my nausea and focused on their words.

  'As Ascendant, it is your responsibility to clearly give your orders to each Dragoneye so that he can direct his dragon's power and force the monsoon rains away from the crops and into the dam,' Lord Tyron said.

  'It is a juggling act,' Hollin added. 'Each dragon has control over a particular direction on the compass, so you must tell his Dragoneye how much power to use at exactly the right time so that the monsoon is shifted in their direction.' He saw the consternation on my face. 'I know it sounds impossible, but the Dragoneyes sit in a circle in their compass positions so it is easy to see who is working with each dragon.'

  'And since you can see all of the dragons too, it should be easier for you,' Lord Tyron said encouragingly.

  'But how do I know how much power is needed?'

  Lord Tyron shot a glance at Hollin.

  'Well?' I demanded. 'How do I know?'

  Tyron rubbed at the end of his nose. 'It is a matter of practice,' he mumbled. 'You have to learn how to feel the parameters of your dragon's power.'

  A matter of practice? I don't have time to practise.' I slammed the heel of my hand into the carved canopy strut. 'This is all useless. Useless!' I jabbed the driver's back. 'Stop!'

  The carriage jerked to a halt, the horses plunging in their harness. I flung myself out of the cabin and marched over to the ditch that separated the nobles' road from the peasants' dirt track. Vaguely, through my fury I realised I was hardly limping. Behind the carriage, the rest of the retinue was pulling to a stop, heads craning over cart sides to see what had happened. I stared out over the low rice fields, unable to settle on a coherent thought amongst the tumble of fear and anger that clamoured in my head. At the edge of my vision, I saw Ryko swing down from his saddle and lead his horse towards me.

  'My lord.' He made the quick duty bow. 'May I be of assistance?'

  'Can you teach me twelve years of Dragoneye knowledge in an afternoon,' I asked bitterly

  'No, lord.' His horse blew and bobbed its head over his shoulder.

  'Then you cannot be of any assistance. Leave me.'

  I turned from him, but bis band closed over my shoulder and pulled me around.

  'What is that on your neck?'

  'Don't touch me,' I shrieked. 'I'll have you whipped.'

  The horse shied, yanking Ryko with it. 1 le tightened his grip on its bridle and soothed it with a reassuring hand and soft croons. I backed away, my fingers finding the pattern of welts on my neck.

  Ryko eyed me sternly. 'How much are you taking, lord?'

  'I could have you whipped.'

  'Yes, my lord. How much Sun drug are you taking?'

  I looked away from his implacable face.

  'Two pinches.'

  He sucked in a breath. 'A grown man can only handle half of that a day. You must stop it, lord. It will kill you.'

  'I only need it until tomorrow.'

  'Lord...' He stepped closer.

  'Go back to your position, Guard Ryko.'

  He hesitated, his face a taut war between obedience and concern.

  'I said go back to your position.' A sudden fury snapped through me. 'Or I will have you relieved of duty'

  The muscles in his jaw tightened, but he bowed and led his horse around. I pressed my palm against my forehead, trying to relieve a spiked band of pain that was digging into my head.

  Couldn't Ryko understand that I only needed the drug until I moved the King Monsoon? I watched him remount his horse and rein it in behind my carriage, all of my anger draining away as quickly as it had risen. He was only doing his duty — trying to guard me from harm.

  I wanted to call him back and tell him I would stop taking the Sun drug tomorrow, but the curious stares from the retinue held me still.

  Lord Tyron leaned out of the carriage. 'Lord Eon, we must continue if we are to make the village by dusk.'

  I raised my hand to show him I'd heard, but turned to look at the rice Held again. Surely there was enough Sun drug in me to see the Mirror Dragon. Maybe even enough to finally connect with him. The hope made my head pound. Narrowing my eyes, I reached for my mind-sight, seeking the pathways of my Hua. More pain jabbed into my head as the rice paddies bucked and twisted into the haze of the energy world. But everything was distorted, rushing past in a blur of colour. Green, orange, blue, purple, pink, grey. A hum, more sensation than sound, grated through my bones. I clamped my hands over my ears and pushed further into the roiling energy, trying to find a flash of red in the streaming colours. But it was all too fast.

  Too violent. The coursing power circled me — spinning so fast I couldn't focus — until all the colours bled into one swirling angry blue.

  Everything stopped. Then the blue roared through me, stripping me of sight and sound.

  For a moment I was suspended in silent sapphire panic. I fell onto my knees, my bones jarring against the paved road. There was nothing but blue: in my eyes, in my ears, in my mouth. My palms shredded as I blindly groped the rough flags for sanity The blue was tearing me apart. I tasted vanilla, orange: the Rat Dragon. I forced myself back onto my heels, desperately clawing back some inner-sight. My silver Hua was turning dark, my seven points of power surrendering to the suffocating indigo. There was nowhere to go but deeper. I pushed inward, through thick grey energy that stoked the blue up into a bright flare. The Sun drug? I pushed even deeper, flailing at first, then drawn by a faint gold opalescence lodged in my third point of power. A tiny kernel in my abdomen, glowing against the dark maelstrom. Desperately, I grabbed at it. Flung the pale energy into the blue. It punched through the swirling power and I heard a cry, like an injured eagle, coming from my lips. The roiling mass contracted, split apart, and was gone.

  'Lord, what is wrong?'

  .

  It was Ryko's voice.

  'Lord, speak to me.'

  I fell onto my side, gasping.

  'Get Rilla,' he ordered someone. 'And Lady Dela.'

  The darkness brightened into Ryko's face hovering above me. I reached up and grabbed the front of his tunic. 'I just need it until tomorrow,' I croaked. 'Then I'll stop.'
>
  The drug was working. I was sure of it. I shifted my head, cradled in Rilla's soft lap, and stared at the passing sky as the carriage swayed along the road. Lady Dela sat opposite us, half asleep in the oppressive heat. Their undemanding silence was a huge relief. Lord Tyron had finally conceded I was in no condition to continue the lessons and had ordered his own carriage, following at the back of the long procession, to be brought up behind mine. At least that was one good thing that had come out of my roadside collapse.

  I closed my eyes and carefully examined my conclusions about the blue power. There was no question that it had been the Rat Dragon. There was still the vanilla taste of him left in my body I was certain that, somehow, the thick grey power of the Sun drug had opened me up to his energy and he had flooded in like water through a sluice, blocking the approach of the Mirror Dragon. Of course, there was the terrifying possibility that Lord Ido was using his beast to attack me, but even in the wild panic I had not sensed any controlling force in the Rat Dragon's onslaught. It had been violent, but not an attack.

  How, then, had I stopped it? What was that pale kernel of energy deep within me? I had a bad feeling that it had something to do with my shadow self; some kind of Moon energy that I had not been able to overcome. Whatever it was, it had beaten back a dragon. Could it be pushing away the Mirror Dragon too?

  The terrible thought forced my eyes open.

  'Do you need water, my lord?'

  Rilla's concerned face was bent over me.

  'No. I low long are we from the village?'

  Lady Dela yawned, covering her mouth with her open fan. 'Lord Tyron said we would be there before dusk, so we should be less than two full bells away'

  I nodded and closed my eyes, returning to the problem of the Rat Dragon. The grazes on my palms stung with a sharp reminder of his overwhelming power.

  The Sun drug had opened me to him, so it must follow that it would open me to the Mirror Dragon too. Both were ascendant, and both connected to me in some way. The Sun drug was the doorway to my union with them, with the added bonus that it augmented the dragons'

  power. And surely, if I took enough, it would stifle that remnant of Moon energy left in me.

  All I needed was a way to stave off the Rat Dragon so that I could unite with the Mirror Dragon.

  The answer was obvious. I sat bolt upright, my eyes dancing with dots from the sudden movement. I would not need to hold back the Rat Dragon during the test. Lord Ido would be in control of his beast; the blue dragon would not be able to flood me with power and block the way of the Mirror Dragon. All I had to do was to make sure my Sun energy was as high as possible: to open me to my dragon, augment his power and finally get rid of the Moon.

  Rilla touched my arm. 'My lord?'

  'I will take some water after all,' I said, reaching for the drug pouch.

  We entered the village just as the soft dusk shadows were darkening into night. The roadside had been staked with long torches and the villagers kneeled between them, chanting celebration prayers and bowing as we sedately made our way towards the town centre. Red flags hung between houses and shops, and every door had a paper character for good harvest tacked onto it. The smoky fat of roasting pork and yeasty fragrance of bread flavoured the nighl air, underlaid with the throat-catching sweetness of intense. The taste and smell of Monsoon Festival.

  My driver pulled the horses up at the edge of the large village square bounded by two-storey house-shops. Every window held a red paper lantern and in their combined light I could make out the central stone compassarium: the circular dais where the Dragoneyes would sit at their compass points and work their dragon magic. Lord Ido and the other Dragoneyes were seated at a long banquet table at the far end of the square. There was a vacant seat beside Ido, no doubt waiting for the Co-Ascendant. I suppressed a shiver and stepped out of the carriage.

  Lady Dela smiled encouragingly at me from her seat as the driver urged the horses onwards.

  Neither she nor Rilla could accompany me — no women were allowed into the central square until after the Dragoneyes had contained the King Monsoon.

  I was met by three elderly men dressed in tan cotton tunics worked with simple embroidery Their ceremonial best. They kneeled and bowed, foreheads hovering just above the ground.

  'Mirror Dragoneye,' the man in the centre of the delegation said, raising his chin slightly but not daring to meet my eyes, 'I am Elder Hiron. It is my immeasurable honour to welcome you and your dragon to our humble village. What joy that the twelfth dragon returns to us. What joy that he chooses a young Dragoneye with such great power. We offer our deepest gratitude for your sacred intervention on our behalf.'

  I cleared my throat. 'Thank you. When is the King Monsoon due?'

  The man on the right raised his head. 'Our weather-watchers predict tomorrow afternoon, lord.'

  Good; that gave me time to take at least another two doses of the Sun drug.

  'My lord, please, we invite you to the banquet table for the official welcome.'

  With Ryko at my shoulder, I was led past the ranks of kneeling village men honouring the arrival of the lords who saved them from starvation every year. A few shadows at the windows shrank away as I approached: women and children snatching a look at the Mirror Dragoneye. One man in the crowd accidentally met my eye, the awe in his face changing into a flicker of fear. I half expected him to make the ward-evil, but he dropped into a low bow. I was, after all, the mighty Mirror Dragoneye, the bringer of good fortune. I brushed my hand over the dwindling weight of the drug pouch in my pocket — let it be so, I prayed. As if in response, the pearls around my forearm stirred sluggishly Their grip seemed to have slackened over the past few days.

  The elders bowed me into my seat beside Lord Ido. He sat at his ease, his dark, muscular presence palpable at a table full of prematurely aged men. Dillon stood behind him, still scowling. Now I understood his unpredictable temper and Lord Ido's sudden rages: we all had the same hot spring of Sun drug bubbling beneath the surface of our skin. Did Dillon know he was being dosed? I should have warned him after I'd found the Sun drug in the library, but my concern had got lost in the sorrow of my master's death. And the anger.

  Ryko stepped up behind me, filling the space where my apprentice should have stood. A murmur of greeting rose from the other Dragoneyes. I nodded to Lord Dram, halfway up the table, and Lord Garon across from me. Both Emperor's men and my supporters.

  'Lord Eon, we were beginning to think your roadside troubles had prevented you from attending,' Lord Ido said.

  I reluctantly turned to him, my skin prickling. His handsome face was all smooth politeness, but his eyes held the night shine of the wolf. How did he know about my collapse? From his dragon? Or just servants' gossip?

  'I am here now,' I said. 'Are you suggesting I would run away from the test?' I heard the heat in my voice and dug my fingernails into my thigh, trying to quell the surge of belligerence.

  Ido's expression shifted into sharp attention. 'Not at all. I can see that you are all fired up to meet the challenge.' I lis gaze raked over me. All fired up, indeed.'

  Lord Tyron sat down in the last vacant chair. 'Finally here,' he said. 'Though I must say, I would rather be in my bed than at a provincial banquet. Let us hope that this year's official welcome is brief

  It was not. The Monsoon Festival was the villagers' most important celebration and they were determined to honour us with entertainment and food and celebrate the wondrous return of the Mirror Dragon. All through the carefully rehearsed speeches, story dances and platters of local delicacies, I felt Lord Ido's eyes on me. I curled my hand over the rash on my neck and kept my attention on my plate or the performance in front of me; a rabbit pretending the wolf was not pacing beside it.

  Finally, the last speech was heard. Lord Tyron sighed with relief as twelve village men, wide-eyed with the honour of their duty, came to lead us to our beds for the night. The men assigned to me and Lord Ido stepped back as Elder Hiron approached us in a
running bow.

  'Lord Eon. Lord Ido.' He bobbed to each of us. As is custom, the Ascendant Dragoneye is always quartered in our Dragon House, built by our forefathers in gratitude for the Dragoneye service to our village.' He motioned towards a handsome stone building behind us. 'This year, we wish to honour the ascendancy of both the Mirror Dragon and the Rat Dragon, so we have arranged the house into two separate living areas.' He smiled proudly at the solution. 'I hope it pleases you, my lords.'

  Share a house with Ido? My horror must have shown on my face because the elder's smile faltered. Behind me, Ryko edged closer.

  'It is an admirable answer to the unusual situation, Elder Hiron,' Lord Ido said and I heard the amusement in his voice. 'Do you not agree, Lord Eon?'

  Caught in the quagmire of courtesy and the elder's honour, I nodded.

  'Then please, come this way' the old man said happily

  Our three guides led us the short distance to the Dragon House. The stone frontage was hung with twelve painted banners depicting the heavenly animals, with the Rat and Dragon banners larger and centred above the doorway The village men bowed us inside. I followed Lord Ido through a stone passageway, Ryko close behind.

  'You must not stay here, lord,' he whispered into my ear as we entered a small open courtyard.

  In the centre was a tiny garden lit by paper lanterns hung in three carefully tended dwarf trees.

  Under their sculpted foliage was a curved bench set beside a pond with the silent, gleaming shapes of three carp in its night depths. To our left and right were doorways, their screens pushed back and showing thick bed pallets. Beyond the garden was another room with closed doors, and a second passageway with a rush mat on the stones that suggested the luxury of an adjoining bathhouse. It was gratitude made solid in stone and wood, built for lords by people who bathed from buckets and slept on straw. Although Ryko was right about the danger, I could not refuse to stay here without grievously humiliating our hosts.