by Robin Hobb
“Relpda, wait. You need to center yourself on the log. Wait. I’m coming.” He stared at her situation, trying to think how to remedy it. Sinking dragon, floating wood. He wondered if his weight on the high end of the log would be enough to hold it down while she put the other leg over.
She didn’t listen to him, of course. She kept giving small hoots of effort while trying to hook her other front leg over the log. Her struggles were tearing at the matted debris. Pieces of it were breaking free from the outer edge and whirling back out into the river’s current.
He tried again, focused himself at her. “Beauteous one, you must allow me to help you. Be still for a moment. Be still. Let me weight the log down for you. I’m coming now, lovely creature, queen of queens. I am here to serve you. You must not tear the packed wood apart. It might carry you away from me, down the river. Be as still as you can while I think of what to do.”
He felt a touch of warmth and then a tiny message. Serve me? He felt her relaxing her struggles. It was pitiful, how quickly she put her belief in him. His wet clothes clung and chafed his red skin as he awkwardly moved from log to wedged driftwood to log. None of it was stable, and often he had but a moment to find his next step as his perch sank under him. But he reached the tangled roots of her log and seized hold of them. The log was long enough and he was far enough away from her that he thought his small weight might lever her greater one. He started to climb up on the root mass, to see if her end would rise. Then he realized his error. He needed to lower her end of the log to get it under her, not raise it. He suddenly wished he had more experience with this sort of thing. He’d never been a man who worked with his hands and back, and he’d taken pride in that. His mind and his manners had earned him his keep. But if he didn’t learn, right now, how to help, then his dragon was going to die.
“Relpda, my glorious copper queen. Be very still. I am going to try to lift my end and shove the log under your chest. When it comes up, it may lift you a bit.”
His scheme worked poorly. Whenever he tried to lift the floating end of the log, whatever he was standing on sank. Once he nearly lost his balance and fell under the floating tangle. He succeeded in moving the log slightly more under her chest, but when he gave up the task, her position was only marginally better than it had been. When she stopped kicking, she sank, but her back and head remained above the water. She fixed her eyes on him. He looked into them. Spinning pools, dark blue against copper. The colors in them were liquid. It reminded him of the shifting colors of her blood in the glass vial. Guilt stabbed him. How had he ever done such a monstrous thing?
Tired, she mooed at him. The sound beat against his ears, and the sensation of her exhaustion flooded his mind, weakening his knees. He braced himself against it, and he tried to send warmth and encouragement back to her.
“I know, my queen, my lovely one. But you must not give up. I’m doing my best, and I will help you.” His weary mind weighed and discarded options. Push smaller pieces of wood under her. No. They’d simply dislodge. Or he’d fall in.
She shifted her front feet, seeking a better purchase. The end of the log lifted, splashed down again, and she nearly lost it. More debris broke from the edge of the mat and floated away in the river’s hungry current. “Don’t struggle, lovely one. The log you are on might break free of the others. Stay as still as you can while I think.”
The wave of warmth that flowed through him stilled his worrying. For a moment, he was flushed with pleasure, and he felt a stirring of emotion, like infatuation. As quickly as it had come, it faded. He clenched his hands. What had Alise called it? The dragon glamour. It felt good. Intoxicating and alive. Nearly, he reached after it and willed himself into it. Then she thrashed again, and once more he nearly fell into the water. No. He had to keep his distance and his own mind if he was to help her. A darker reason to stay separate came to him. If he let her join her thoughts too deeply with his thoughts and then she drowned—He shuddered to think of sharing that experience.
He looked at the dragon, at the sky to estimate his time, and around at the trees. The trees, he decided, would represent their best chance. It would be hard work, but if he could rearrange the debris so that the current braced the heavier logs tight to the trees, and then get her to move herself there, she might find a sturdier position. He looked at her, waited until she was looking at him, and then tried to push his mental image into her mind. “Lovely queen, I will move wood and make a safer place for you. Until I am finished, do not struggle. Hang there and trust me. Can you do that?”
Slipping.
“I’ll hurry. Don’t give up.”
“I’ll be damned,” someone exclaimed in amused astonishment.
Sedric spun, his heart leaping with joy at the sound of a human voice. He slipped, caught his balance, and then squinted into the dimness under the trees.
“Up here.” The man’s voice was a hoarse croak.
He moved his eyes up and saw a man clambering down a tree trunk. His hands gripped the ridges of bark, and he stuck the toes of his boots in the cracks as he came quickly down. It wasn’t until he turned to face him that Sedric recognized him. It was the hunter, the older one. Jess. That was his name. They’d never spoken much. Jess plainly had no use for him, and he’d never explained his one visit to Sedric’s chamber. The man looked terrible, bruised and battered in the face, but he was alive and human and company.
And, Sedric quickly realized, he was someone who knew how to get food and water, someone who could help him survive. Sa had answered his prayers after all.
“How did you get here?” he greeted him. “I thought I was the only one left alive.” He began immediately to make his way toward the man.
“By water,” Jess said and laughed sourly. His voice was harsh and raspy. “And I shared your cheery thought about survival. Looks like that little quake we had a few days ago saved a second surprise for us.”
“Does something like this happen often?” Sedric asked, already feeling his anger rise that no one had warned him.
Slipping. Distress was plain in the dragon’s rumbled call and in the thought she pushed at him.
“A change in the water, yes. A flood like this, no. This is a new one for me, but not entirely ill fortune for either of us.”
“What do you mean?”
Jess grinned. “Just that fate seems to have not only saved us, but thrown us together with everything we need for a most profitable partnership. For one thing, when I finally kicked my way to the surface, I found a boat caught in the same current that I was. Not my boat, unfortunately, but one that belonged to someone sensible enough to stow his gear tightly.” He coughed harshly and then tried to clear his throat. It didn’t help his rough voice. “It has a couple of blankets, some fishing gear, even a fire-making kit and a pot. Greft’s, probably, but I’ll wager that he’ll never have need of it again. That wave hit so hard and so suddenly that it’s hard to believe any of us survived. It almost makes me believe in fate. Maybe the gods threw us together to see how smart we were. Because if you’re a clever fellow, we have everything we need for a very comfortable new life.”
As Jess had croaked out his words, he’d dismounted from the tree’s trunk and stepped onto a log. It bobbed beneath him as it took his weight. For a large man, he was graceful enough as he trod swiftly along its length. In the crook of one arm, he carried several round red fruit. Sedric wasn’t familiar with what they were, but at the sight of them, both his hunger and thirst roared.
“Do you have water?” he asked the man, advancing cautiously across the packed debris toward him. Jess ignored him. It looked as if he reached the end of the large log and then clambered down into the water. Then Sedric realized that the boat was moored out of sight behind the big driftwood snag. Jess disappeared for a moment and when he stood up, he no longer held the fruit. Obviously he had stowed it in the boat he was standing in. A curl of uneasiness moved in Sedric’s belly. The situation seemed plain to him. The hunter had climbed the tree
, eaten fruit, and what he had brought down was his surplus that he intended to save. For himself. He must see how serious Sedric’s situation was. Yet he stood there, in his boat, in his dried clothes, with his food, and made no offer of aid to him.
Jess leaned his elbows on the log that floated between him and Sedric and looked over at him. Sedric halted where he was, trying to make sense of the situation. When Sedric just returned his gaze, Jess cocked his head and wheezed, “I notice you aren’t saying what you’ll bring to our new partnership.”
Sedric goggled at him. They were alone on a raft of ever-shifting flotsam in the middle of the forest, weeks from anywhere, and the man was trying to wring money out of him? It made no sense. Behind him, he heard the dragon thrash, felt a wave of anxiety from her, and then felt her calm as she realized the log was still partially under her. Hungry. His own thoughts about food had stimulated hers. Or perhaps it was her hunger he was feeling. He didn’t know. He couldn’t completely sort himself out from her anymore. Afraid. The thought came to him without a sound from her. Careful. Did she sense something he didn’t?
He tried to focus his thoughts on the man’s ridiculous statement. “What do you want from me? Look at me, man. I don’t have anything to offer you. Not here. I suppose if somehow we got back to Bingtown…” He let the words trail off. It wouldn’t be constructive to let him know that if they got back to Bingtown, he’d still have nothing. He tried to imagine facing Hest and admitting that he’d somehow lost Alise and with her Hest’s hope of creating an heir who would assure his inheritance. He dared not think what his own family would think of him, let alone what Alise’s might say. He’d been sent as her protector. What sort of a protector survived when his ward did not? If he went back to Bingtown alone, he’d have no career and no support from his family. He had nothing to offer this pirate.
“Nothing here, hey? Looks to me like you’ve got plenty here. Do I have to spell it out for you? Or are you still thinking that perhaps you can keep it all for yourself?”
The hunter stooped out of sight again and then brought up a gear bag from the boat. “Because from where I’m standing, man, if you decide to be greedy, I think you just die.” He opened the gear bag, dug through it, and smiled, immensely pleased. “I’m sure this was Greft’s boat now. Look at this. Knife and whet-stone, all bundled nicely together. Could be a bigger tool, but it will still get the job done.” As he spoke, he took out both items and began to lay the knife against the stone in slow, leisurely licks, as if they both had all the time in the world.
Sedric stood very still. What was the man asking of him? Was the gleaming blade a threat? What did he mean, “you’ve got plenty”? Was he making a sexual proposition? He’d shown nothing but disdain for Sedric before this. But Jess would not be the first man he’d encountered who publicly despised him and privately desired him. He took a breath. He was hungry and thirsty and the dragon’s nagging anxiety scraped at his nerves and begged his attention. What was he willing to give Jess to ensure his survival? What would he give him to get him to help with Relpda?
Anything he wanted.
The thought chilled him, but he accepted it. “Just say what you want,” he said brusquely, the words tumbling out more abruptly than he intended.
Jess stopped whetting the knife and stared at him. Sedric drew himself up tall and crossed his arms on his chest. He met his gaze levelly. Jess cocked his head at him, and then brayed out a coarse laugh. “Not that. No. Not interested one bit in that. Are you stupid or stubborn?”
He waited for Sedric to respond. When he didn’t, Jess shook his head, his smile growing colder. He reached into his shirt, drew out a pouch, and opened it. As he tugged at the strings, he said, “Leftrin was stupid to think I was a fool. I know what happened. He saw a chance for money, and he thought that if he brought in his own people, he could make his deal direct and keep more of the split for himself. Well, I don’t work that way. No one cuts out Jess Torkef.” From the pouch, he took something the size of his palm. It was scarlet and ruby. He held it up between his thumb and forefinger and turned it to catch the light. It flashed in the sunlight. “Look familiar?” he asked Sedric mockingly and then laughed as first disbelief and then fury flushed Sedric’s face.
It was the scarlet dragon scale that Rapskal had given Alise. Alise had entrusted it to Sedric, asking him to make a detailed drawing of it. Then she’d forgotten he had it, and he’d added it to his trove. “That’s mine,” he said flatly. “You stole it out of my room.”
Jess smiled. “It’s an interesting question. Is it possible to steal from a thief?” He turned the scale again, flashing it in the sun. “I’ve had it for days. If you missed it, you covered your anxiety well. I suspect you didn’t even know it was gone. You’re not quite as good at hiding things as you think you are. Most of what I found was disgusting trash, but not this bit. So I took it. Just for safekeeping, of course, to be sure I’d have something to show for this wild goose chase. Looks like it was a good thing I did. Everything else you had is probably at the bottom now.”
Sedric had still not said a word. The hunter took his time putting the red dragon’s scale back in the pouch, closing it, and slipping it back inside his shirt. “So,” he said. “Looks like we each know what the other is about. And it’s time to consider a new alliance. Leftrin was supposed to be a part of my deal with Sinad Arich. He was supposed to smooth the way and make it easy. But he didn’t. Doesn’t matter. He’s gone now. And it’s down to us. So you have two choices. You can step up and take his place in the deal, and we’ll share. Or don’t.”
“Leftrin had a deal with you?” Sedric’s mind was scrambling to put all the pieces together. What sort of a deal? To rob his passengers?
Tired, the dragon pleaded in the back of his mind. Not safe.
Hush. Let me think. Her heavy head was drooping on her weary neck. He appraised her and knew that if he didn’t act, soon her muzzle would be touching the water. Take care of the most pressing issue first. Then puzzle out the rest. To Jess, he said, “Set all this aside for a moment. Can you help me with the dragon? She’s tired and she’s going to sink and drown if I can’t help her float and rest somehow.”
A slow smile spread across the hunter’s face. “Now we’re coming to terms, boy. Of course I’ll help you with the dragon.” He lifted the knife and turned it, making the blade flash in the sunlight.
“I don’t understand you,” Sedric said in a shaking voice. But abruptly he did.
The hunter jerked a thumb toward the copper. “I’m talking about the dragon. There’s plenty there, for both of us. You help me kill it, and butcher it fast before the river claims the carcass. Then we load as much as we can in the boat, and we head back for Trehaug. I know people there, people willing to make a quick profit and not be curious about the source. I can go in during the dark of night and get everything we need for us to make a very comfortable trip down the river on a boat with a crew who won’t ask us any questions. Think about it. Everyone else is dead. Everyone will assume you are dead, which means you don’t have to share with anyone. There will be no pursuit and no questions. Just two very wealthy newcomers living a life of ease in Chalced.”
It was instinctive. He blocked the thought from the dragon’s mind as he would shield the eyes of a child from violence. He tried to. He wasn’t completely successful. He felt her anxiety rise as she sensed his agitation without comprehending the reason for it. She looked at the hunter, recognized him. Food? she queried hopefully.
“No food. Not yet,” he spoke aloud to her without thinking.
The hunter barked out a hoarse laugh. “And that’s what you’re bringing to the table, my little friend. You can hear her thoughts. And you talk back to the damn things. I can hear them a bit, but I try not to. Easier to be professional about these things if you keep a distance, I think. Though it explains how you got close enough to get as much as you did the first time. Impressed me, I’ll tell you. I’d been trying to figure out how to do it for d
ays. And here some little Bingtown fop just goes ashore and takes what he wants.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sedric lied. It was a reflex. The hunter hadn’t mentioned the blood. Did he know about the blood? Did any of it matter anymore? The whole conversation was insane. He needed food and water and rest. He needed to know if the man was going to help him or not. He tried to sound as if he were not desperate. “Look, help me with the dragon and give me some of that fruit you have. Anything. I need to eat and rest. Then we can talk about what happens next.”
Jess cocked his head at him and said coldly, “No point to feeding you if you don’t intend to help me. And lying to me seems to be your way of saying you intend to keep it all to yourself. Though how you plan to make it work, I can’t see. Shall I make it easier for you? I was awake that night. I saw you come aboard all bloodied. Been in a fight was my first thought, though I hadn’t heard a peep of a row, and sound carries over water. But then, as you went up the ladder, I got a glimpse of what you were carrying. Glittery red, just like I’d been told. Dragon blood. And I was, as I’ve told you, very impressed. So I followed and in a bit I saw you come out of your cabin and throw your duds overboard. And that made it sure for me. Somehow you’d gotten blood out of a dragon and not been eaten or even caught. You were pretty savvy about hiding it, too. I went through your room more than once before I found your hoard. So. Let’s just admit we’re scoundrels and be honest scoundrels with each other…or as honest as scoundrels can be. We both shipped aboard the Tarman for the same reason. And I only shipped because I was promised that Captain Leftrin was going to grease things a bit for me, but I suspect his craze for that woman soured him on our kind of profit. Maybe he was hoping to keep everything for himself, woman, dragon parts to sell in Chalced, everything. Maybe you were the one who offered him a better deal. But the agreement was that he was supposed to help me, and in return, he was going to be well paid for his trouble. Very well paid.”