‘What about the dragon?’ said Kelsey. ‘We’ll feel pretty stupid if we reach Kin Dai and discover it was Blackrose.’
‘I told you, the chances are remote.’
‘Remote, but not impossible.’
‘What do you want us to do – wander off into the forest looking for a dragon? Has eating that food done something to your brain?’
Kelsey smirked. ‘Maybe. What are the folk here planning to do about it?’
‘They’re sending for the army.’
‘They’re going to kill it?’
‘Yes, if they can. The man also said that he was going to request a demigod with vision powers to help them. We should stay out of it; we could be in Kin Dai in a couple of days. Six gold coins should be enough to get us both there.’
Aila quietened as a couple of militia walked past where they were sitting. They looked aggrieved, and she wondered if they had been on the receiving end of a tirade for failing to find the old woman.
‘Excuse me,’ said Kelsey.
The guards turned.
‘Can I ask you a question? Where is the dragon supposed to be?’
One of them frowned even deeper than before. ‘How do you know about that?’
Kelsey shrugged. ‘Word travels fast in this camp.’
‘The last sighting was a little over five miles from here.’
‘Is that all? That seems close.’
‘Don’t worry, love. We’ll protect you if it comes here. Do you live in the camp?’
‘Are you chatting me up?’
The guard dropped his frown. ‘Might be.’
‘Well, I do live here, and I might be free tonight. If, that is, you help me and my friend get a bit closer to where the dragon might be.’
‘Why? Are you crazy?’
Kelsey gave him a smile. ‘You might find that out tonight.’
The other guard sighed. ‘We haven’t got time for this.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ said the first guard. He turned back to Kelsey. ‘There are wagons going to and from the forest edge that leave not far from here, at the western exit from the camp. Go there, and tell them Albert sent you, and they might give you a lift. The dragon was seen only a quarter of a mile from where they’re cutting down the forest. What’s your name?’
‘I’m Betsy.’
‘And I’ll see you back here tonight, Betsy?’
‘Alright, as long as I don’t get eaten by an enormous flying snake.’
Albert grinned at her, then the two guards went on their way. Aila waited until they had disappeared behind a row of mud-splattered tents, then frowned at Kelsey.
‘Betsy, eh? Sometimes, Kelsey…’
‘Thanks, I know. It was a great idea, wasn’t it? You’re just jealous he fancied me.’
‘You just ruined our chances of staying here overnight.’
‘I had no intention of staying here overnight; this place is a dump. Here’s what we do – we hustle a lift to the edge of the forest and find out what we can. A few questions to eye-witnesses should tell us if it’s Blackrose or not, aye? If it’s not, then we simply start walking to the coastal road.’
‘You mean another night out in the open?’
‘So? We’ve spent plenty of nights out in the open.’
‘I shouldn’t have fed you; all that food’s turned your mind.’
‘It has perked me up, right enough, and filled me with good ideas. Come on, Aila; this journey has been nothing but misery. It’s taken us twenty days to walk sixty miles. That’s an average of three miles a day.’
‘I can count, you know.’
‘I knew you weren’t as stupid as you look.’
Aila shook her head and glanced away. Perhaps Kelsey’s idea had some merit, she thought. It almost certainly wasn’t Blackrose, but Aila could imagine Kelsey’s scorn if they arrived at Kin Dai and discovered they had been wrong. And the idea of a lift taking them a few miles further south appealed.
‘I have a few conditions,’ she said.
Kelsey laughed. ‘Let’s hear them.’
‘If we find out it’s not Blackrose, then we leave.’
‘What else?’
‘Um, actually, that was it.’
Kelsey stood, picked up the bag of food and slung it over both shoulders.
‘I notice you didn’t agree to my one condition,’ said Aila.
‘That’s right; it’s a silly condition. We have to keep our options open.’
‘But I’m pregnant; it might not be safe.’
Kelsey rolled her eyes. ‘Really? You’re using that excuse? You were happy to carry a knife into a camp and rob someone, but this is too much?’
‘Amalia’s ass,’ muttered Aila as she got to her feet.
Kelsey gave her a perturbed look as she started to walk down the track. ‘You can’t say that; she’s your grandmother.’
Aila caught her up. ‘What?’
‘You shouldn’t refer to your grandmother’s ass. It’s, eh… well, it’s a bit weird.’
‘Shut up; it’s just a saying. You’ve never objected to me referring to my grandfather’s ass.’
‘You what?’
‘Malik; he was my grandfather.’
‘Eww; I didn’t know that. Now that I do, I would kindly ask you not to say it again.’
They walked on in silence for a moment.
‘Does Amalia ever say “Malik’s ass?”’ said Kelsey.
‘Um, I’m not sure.’
‘She has a right to say it. That’s it, though, just her.’
‘She had him beheaded.’
‘Oh. Not a happy marriage, then?’
‘It might have been for the first few thousand years, who knows? It was a little bit frosty by the end, though.’
A wide track had been made by the western end of the camp, wide enough for wagons to travel on, and reinforced by a lattice of planks laid down over the thick mud. An empty wagon was sitting there as Aila and Kelsey approached, with two men standing close to the four oxen tethered to the harness.
‘Hello,’ said Kelsey.
The two men turned to glance at them.
‘Albert said we could get a lift to the edge of the forest.’
‘Did he now?’ said one of the men.
‘Aye, he did. How about it?’
‘And how do you know Albert?’
‘I’m his girlfriend. The name’s Betsy. When are you leaving?’
‘In two minutes.’
‘Can we just climb up? We won’t be any bother.’
The two men glanced at each other, then the first one nodded. ‘Go on, then, lass.’
‘Thanks,’ said Kelsey. She hurried to the side of the open-topped wagon and climbed up onto the back, then helped Aila in as well.
Kelsey smirked at her. ‘Betsy delivers the goods again.’
* * *
Aila glanced around at the dark forest. ‘We need to go back.’
‘Just a little further,’ said Kelsey.
‘But we’re going to get lost if we keep going. In fact, we may already be lost.’
‘Don’t exaggerate. All we have to do is check where the sun is and…’
She fell into silence as they both looked up. There was no sign of the sun as far as Aila could see; the tree cover was too dense to allow much light through.
‘Alright,’ said Kelsey; ‘we can retrace our steps. How far have we walked? We can’t be more than a mile from the edge of the forest.’
Aila sat on a moss-covered tree trunk that had fallen over. ‘I’m taking a break. The dragon could be anywhere; it might have flown away. And, it’s probably not Blackrose anyway.’
‘So you keep saying. Look, if the worst comes to the worst, we can just sit here and let the lumber gangs come to us. The rate they’re cutting down the forest, that won’t take long.’
She crouched down next to Aila, and they ate some of the food from the bag. Aila looked back at the way they had come as she chewed a strip of dried meat, but already she couldn’t make out th
e path they had taken. The light was starting to fade within the forest, and every direction looked the same.
‘Maybe we should stay here for the night,’ she said, ‘and then, in the morning, we might have a better idea of how to find our way back.’
‘You mean give up?’
‘We still have the gold; we can still afford to get to Kin Dai.’
Kelsey squinted into the distance, then stood and began to walk away.
‘Where are you going now?’ said Aila.
‘Come and look at this.’
Aila sighed and got to her feet. She picked up the bag that Kelsey had left lying on the ground and followed her. The young Holdfast woman was standing close to a group of trees that looked as though a storm had struck them; their trunks were splintered and broken, and large branches were lying around like debris.
Kelsey smiled. ‘What might have caused this, eh? A certain large snake with wings, perhaps?’
‘I don’t understand why you’re so keen to meet this beast.’
‘Well, for a start, if it’s Blackrose, then she could fly us straight to Corthie and Van.’
Aila scowled at her. ‘If it’s Blackrose, and if she even knows where Corthie and Van are.’
‘What was her rider’s name again? Maddie?’
‘Yes.’
‘Maddie!’ Kelsey shouted into the gloom. ‘Maddie!’
‘Shut up! You’re behaving as if there’s only one dragon in Khatanax. The chances are…’
A loud crack echoed through the trees, and a flock of birds rose into the sky, startled, and flew away. A shiver ran down Aila’s spine as she strained her ears to listen.
Kelsey edged closer to her. ‘Something’s coming.’
They stood back to back, each staring out into the shadows of the dark forest. Silence enveloped them, and it grew so quiet that Aila could hear her heart pounding inside her chest.
‘Don’t scream,’ whispered Kelsey, ‘but something’s staring at me through the trees; something big.’
Aila went to turn, but a low voice froze her to where she stood.
‘This is my forest; have you come to die?’
‘No,’ cried Kelsey, her voice high and wavering.
A large head thrust through the trees, stopping a yard from them. Its great jaws were open, and sparks were fizzing and arcing across its teeth. Above them, two red eyes were glowing like burning coals. It was too dark to discern the colour of its scales, but they seemed to shimmer like silver in the gloom.
It was most certainly a dragon, and it was not Blackrose.
Aila felt Kelsey grip her hand.
‘Why have you come here?’ said the dragon. ‘I was expecting hunters, or soldiers, and you are neither; you are merely lost little insects.’
‘Soldiers are coming,’ said Aila, trying to keep her panic in check; ‘and a god. They want to kill you.’
‘We’re here to warn you,’ said Kelsey.
‘You are lying,’ said the dragon. ‘You came to spy on me, so you could tell the soldiers where I am. You shall indeed be a warning, but not in the way you intended, as I shall kill you, and leave your remains where the other insects will find them.’
‘Please don’t,’ said Kelsey.
The dragon raised a forelimb, and extended her long, thick claws in front of them.
‘I await the truth,’ she said. ‘Speak, or your end will come.’
‘Alright,’ said Kelsey. ‘I was lying, sorry; we didn’t come here to warn you; we came here to, eh, well, we came here because we were looking for a particular dragon. That’s right, and, eh, but you’re not her, so, sorry about that. We’ll just turn around and walk back out of your lovely forest; no harm done; just an honest mistake.’
‘I see,’ said the dragon. ‘I’m going to kill you regardless, as a lesson to the insects cutting down the forest. Perhaps your deaths might give them some pause. First, though, I want you to beg for your lives.’
‘You want us to beg for our lives, and then you’ll kill us anyway?’ said Aila.
The dragon turned her red eyes to the demigod. ‘I sense that you are not as terrified as the other insect. You should be.’
She raised her claws higher, ready to bring them down. Aila’s mouth fell open. If she told the dragon she was a demigod, then the beast would make certain of her death by decapitating her, or by incinerating her to ashes; if she didn’t, then she might survive a mauling. But Kelsey? The young Holdfast woman had no chance.
She raised her hands. ‘We’re friends of Blackrose; do you know Blackrose?’
The dragon hesitated.
‘And Maddie,’ Aila went on. ‘I know Maddie well; we’re friends.’
‘You know Blackrose?’ said the dragon. ‘How?’
‘I came to Lostwell with her and Maddie.’
‘And the insect known as Millen?’
Aila blinked. ‘No, sorry; I don’t know any Millen.’
‘Sable, the witch?’
‘Sable Holdfast?’ said Kelsey. ‘She’s my mother’s sister. Do you know Sable?’
The dragon drew her claws back an inch or two. ‘I have had dealings with the witch.’
‘We were looking for Blackrose,’ said Aila. ‘Do you know where she is?’
‘No.’
‘We last saw her in Yoneath. She came to help us, and she had another dragon with her.’ Aila narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you the other dragon?’
The dragon lowered her claws, and the light in her eyes seemed to dim a little. ‘It wasn’t my fault. I had no choice but to flee. Two Ascendants, they… I…’
‘It was you,’ said Aila. ‘We’re on the same side.’
Some of the fire in her eyes returned. ‘I am not on the side of any insect.’
‘But you’re on the same side as Blackrose.’
‘Blackrose is my mother.’
Kesley let out a strangled laugh.
‘What?’ said Aila. ‘Blackrose didn’t mention having a daughter.’
‘She adopted me, and then I failed her. I should have died by her side, but instead I fled. It has taken me many days to recover from the death powers wielded by the two Ascendants.’
‘Wait; is Blackrose dead?’
The silver dragon closed her eyes. ‘I don’t know.’
‘We can help each other,’ said Kelsey.
‘I require no assistance from insects.’
‘My friend is right,’ said Aila. ‘She has powers, a bit like Sable, except she can stop the powers of the gods. If she’s with you, then no vision powers will find you, and no death powers can hurt you.’
The dragon’s eyes snapped open and she stared at Aila for a long moment.
‘I discern no lie,’ she said after a while, ‘but what you say cannot be true.’
‘All the same,’ said Kelsey, ‘you can’t kill us now. We’re friends with your mother. She wouldn’t be happy if you tore us to shreds, now, would she?’
The dragon’s eyes glowed bright with anger. ‘I cannot tell if you are lying or not. Perhaps you are related to Sable.’
‘Soldiers will be coming for you,’ said Aila. ‘That part was true. Those same soldiers also want to catch us. Let’s help each other, and together we can find out what’s happened to your mother.’
The dragon squeezed her eyes closed and she seemed to tremble with rage, then she lashed out with her claws, ripping through the trunk of a tree a few yards to their left in a frenzy of noise.
‘Very well!’ she growled. ‘I warn you, though; if you hinder me in any way, then I take your heads from your shoulders, whether you are friends of my mother or not.’
She turned, and began to move away from them, crashing her way through the undergrowth.
‘I’m Aila and this is Kelsey,’ said Aila, as they hurried next to her. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Frostback.’
‘Because of your silver scales?’ said Kelsey. ‘I like that. Would it be quicker if we flew? Could we ride on your back?’
&
nbsp; Frostback came to an abrupt halt, her long neck turning so she could stare down at Kelsey.
‘You will never ride on my back, insect; never.’
Kelsey shrugged. ‘Alright; I was only asking. Are you always this grumpy?’
Frostback ignored her and started striding away. Aila and Kesley glanced at each other, then ran to chase after her.
Chapter 11
No Fixed Abode
K in Dai, Kinell, Eastern Khatanax – 13th Luddinch 5252
Corthie felt something sharp poke him in the ribs. He groaned, awakening, and wondered why his bed felt so hard.
‘Is this him?’ said a voice.
‘Yes, officer.’
Corthie opened his eyes, his head splitting from the effects of the ruinous amount of vodka he had consumed the night before. He blinked. Daylight. He was lying by the side of a street, in the gutter. An empty bottle sat inches from his face, and next to it were a pair of boots belonging to a man.
‘And he smashed up your tavern, is that right?’
‘Yes, officer; just because I asked him to leave. He also attacked two of my staff, and broke the nose of one of them. He’s an animal.’
Corthie tried to get up, but the spear poked him in the ribs again.
‘Stay where you are, boy.’
Corthie’s confusion turned to anger, and he was about to grab the spear when he realised that a small crowd had gathered round where he lay. He recognised a nearby shop front; he was close to the alleyway packed with bars and taverns, a ten minute walk from the house boat.
‘Bring up the wagon,’ said the man with the spear.
‘What will happen to him?’ said the tavern owner.
‘That will be up to the magistrate. He’s a big lad; he might be sent to a labour camp, or maybe he’ll serve some time in the city jail.’
‘Good; he deserves it.’
The tavern owner spat on him.
‘That’s enough,’ said the militia officer; ‘I want none of that. Go home; we’ll take it from here.’
Corthie tried to recall what had happened the night before, but his memories were full of gaps. He remembered arguing with Naxor in the house boat; something about Belinda, and then he had gone out, but after that? Nothing. His head was pounding, and his limbs and joints ached. He closed his eyes, but then everything started to spin, and a wave of nausea overwhelmed him, and he threw up into the gutter, splashing the officer’s boots.
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