by HM Waugh
But I know the answer before he says it. I see it in his face.
‘Praseep’s gone with them too, hasn’t he?’ I whisper.
Grumpy just grins.
I bite my lip. I have no other choice. I’m going to have to tell the truth to the scariest lie-catcher ever, but at least it will mean Danam will be safe. ‘Okay then, I need to talk to the Queen, please. And her Cloud Dragon.’
This time Grumpy actually laughs as he shakes his head. He looks like a gotal that’s found the herb patch. It’s unnatural for someone to get this much enjoyment from being mean. And it is not in my nature to let anyone rejoice in it.
I make myself smile. ‘Well, that’s great! I hope they all have a wonderful time!’
He peers at me. ‘What?’
‘With the Dragon Tests and whatever else they’re doing. I hope it all goes well. Thanks for the porridge.’
His mouth opens and then closes again, and he stands there with a furrowed brow.
‘Is there anything else?’ I ask brightly.
‘Ah, no.’ He scrubs his face and takes another look at me. Grimaces. I’ve just ruined his fun for the morning.
I curtsey to him, even though I’m sure he’s never been curtseyed to in his entire life.
I hear his footsteps retreating and let the grin drop. The minor joy of making him think I wasn’t devastated isn’t enough to make me forget I really am. Danam has gone to take the Dragon Tests, and if Aji is correct he won’t live to come out the other end.
If only Aji was with them too! But she isn’t. Somehow, I have to find Danam and stop him before he goes too far.
I munch the porridge as I lace up my boots. Refill my gourd from the pitcher Grumpy brought in. Shove some spare underclothes in my pack, and a rug too. Who knows where these Tests are held, all I know is it’s far colder here than anything I’ve experienced before. I tie the pack together and loop it over my arms, scrape the last of the porridge from the bowl, and grab my cloak.
I’ll not be leaving that behind twice.
Opening the door, I look left and right along empty corridors. Aji brought me in from the left last night but Grumpy went right. So I turn right now and keep turning right until eventually I reach the outside of the palace complex. The palace is as quiet as a sickhouse, as sombre as a morgue.
The gates are closed, but the guards, seeing me, open them on their silent hinges. I pass with no more than a nod from the guard closest to me. He’s red-eyed.
What is going on?
It’s full daylight now as I walk back down the main street to the gate we entered through less than two days before. Everything shines, clean and bright, and groups of children dressed alike pass by, chanting songs and playing chasey. When they see me they stare. Silence follows me like cloud clinging to the summit of Dragon Mountain. And after the silence, the whispers.
Do they, too, fear me to be the one prophesised to come?
In the light of day, I see clearly what no amount of clean clothing can hide. Most of the eyes watching me inhabit pinched faces. The people are slight, many with blotchy skin, some with red sores. A few sit, looking as weak and wasted as the Queen did yesterday.
Mera would have said they all need a good dose of her chicken and vegetable stew and a few hours in the sunshine. None of the guards look like this. Certainly Princess Rishala and Praseep do not. But then, they are the highest of the high. Perhaps they get food the rest of the city can’t afford. Perhaps there is more than just prestige to working in the palace.
Except why then is the Queen dying along with her people?
I’m already as tall as most of the adults I pass, and I’ve many summers yet before I’m full-grown. My stomach gurgles uncertainly as I walk past the staring, sunken eyes.
So these Ice-People have palaces of greenstone and gold, and baths throughout the winter …
But we of the Dirt have food and health.
It’s unnerving to compare these faces with my memories of those in the palace. How can they think it’s fair to eat so much better than those they rule? Father is harsh, no arguing around that, and he would sooner eat yakan dung than tell me he was proud of me, but when there was hardship in the village he was the first to offer whatever he could to help those in need.
I don’t think all the baths in the world can beat that.
Ahead of me I can see the flat brown plain stretching out. And beyond that, the mountains we came through to get here. The outer dragon gates have been opened, their wings swung wide.
I walk out, dust immediately gusting into my eyes as a chill wind billows around the walls of the city. And I stop. I’ve no idea where to go here, I’ve only a faint hope I can find the way, like how I could avoid Father when he was in a bad mood. By sensing where he was, and where he had been.
Free of curious eyes ready to spot my secret, I let myself look at the looming mountains, and I let my mind embrace the feel of them. I know, now, that my eyes will be turning white. How lucky that in the year since these powers began to truly wake in me, no one in the village had spotted this change. Or if they did, they must have discounted it as a trick of the light, as Danam had.
If Father had had any inkling of what I could do, I think he would’ve married me quickly to that lowlands boy. For if there are no mountains, surely there are no powers?
Actually, considering how calculating he is, Father probably would’ve made sure to use my powers to his own advantage.
A chill runs through me that has nothing to do with the wind. Of course. That’s why I was selected to take the gotals up. Not because of what I naively thought was my natural skill at choosing the right path. Father must’ve known what I could do, what I was becoming. An Icy Dirt-Girl.
My eyes scamper to the soaring tip of Dragon Mountain, half-obscured by the lesser mountains between us. Its calm washes over me, and I hold it until my heart beats at its usual pace again.
I need to focus on the next step in this. I need to save Danam from taking these Tests.
Sometime in the mere hours since I overheard Praseep and Vilpur, they passed here, with Danam. And something will have marked their passage.
I range my senses around me, dipping over the rocks and stones, until I feel a glimmer. A memory the plain has. Not of Danam. It is of something sweet and sharp that reminds me of warmth. Of heat balls in the corner of my room.
I’ve found a marker of Praseep.
I open my eyes and set out across the plain to where I felt his memory. It’s well to the right of the path we came down initially. The steps we took are clear on the cliff wall directly in front of the SkyCity gates, but Praseep evidently wasn’t aiming for them when he set off. As I approach the point where his memory is, I feel also the shadow of Danam.
Strange. I thought I would’ve recognised Danam before Praseep.
I let my senses range ahead of me, not actively searching so much as leading me forward. My feet pick the path to take, and I am reassured when I again feel a memory. Danam stepped on this rock. Praseep dislodged that pebble.
It’s not long before I’ve got a strong hunch where I’m going. The trail is leading me ever closer to Dragon Mountain. And that makes sense in my head. Because hasn’t the mountain been beckoning me ever stronger over the last year?
The sun is falling from its midday height when I reach the end of the plain. For a place so cold, I never expected it to be so dry. No wonder the people of the SkyCity have little to eat. There is nowhere I can see where they could grow anything.
It’s easier now I’m off the stony windswept plain. The slope I’m ascending is just as stony, just as dry, but the path the others took is now clear to my eyes as it snakes upwards. Which is just as well, because I was growing weary, forever testing the way forward with my mind.
The top of the ridge is adorned with intricate cairns, talismans of fabric and shining metal woven in between. It feels good to have my boots in snow again. I see Dragon Mountain clearly, wrapped around a shimmering blue and wh
ite glacier that feeds off its slopes. It’s beautiful. All mountains are, but this has the clarity of peace to it. Two storm birds wheel and dive in the thermals around their nest, which clings to the mountain above a ridgeline.
The footprints diverge here, most of them crunching through the icy snow of the ridge, down to where smoke rises lazily. A camp perhaps. I hide behind a cairn, but no one is watching the pass.
Danam and Praseep aren’t in the camp. They kept on ahead, towards the Dragon. Their path is clear now, imprints in the snow leading down into the maze of the glacier.
I follow the footprints. But where will they lead?
Chapter 15
Dragon Mountain towers above me. It feels familiar, but it looks completely different from this side. The chill of the glacier is frigid, but still I hesitate before the cave entrance.
This is where they’ve gone. I know that much.
But once I’m inside, I don’t know what to expect. All I know is Danam might be dying, might be dead already, forced here without training by an angry Praseep.
I breathe out and step into the cave. It’s just like the tombs of the Old People on the other side of the mountain, and I’ve spent half my life exploring those. So it shouldn’t freak me out. I won’t let it get to me.
I wish I’d thought to bring a light source.
The darkness deepens with each step inside, until I’m straining to try and see the floor. The tunnel bends, and the last of the light is lost. Stupid. I have my flint but no torch, it’ll be a messy and painful process to try and keep something alight.
I wonder whether I could make a light, like Praseep and Aji do? Those impossibly bright lights they carry around with them, that don’t seem to drain any energy? I have no box to put it in, but surely I can just make one appear?
It will make no difference in the complete darkness, but I close my eyes anyway, remember what those lights felt like, try to replicate that.
Light blooms and I flash my eyelids open, only to see the light vanish as quickly. I can’t hold it. I try three more times until my head feels like it’ll explode, but I still can’t make a light.
I’m thinking I could use a heat ball, but the energy I’d need to start it up and maintain it would be massive compared to the amount of glow it would cast. I get the feeling I’m going to need all my strength. I kick out with my foot in frustration, then gulp.
Stupid. I could’ve kicked the tunnel wall in this darkness. But I didn’t. I slide forward in the direction of my kick, then kick again. Nothing. And that’s surely a fluke.
Or is it? I step forward carefully, inching my way in the darkness, but I don’t meet any wall. The tunnel remains smooth beneath my feet. The steps of Danam and Praseep lead me on. This closely confined, I can feel the memory of Princess Rishala and Vilpur as well. No wonder I’m not walking into anything.
I let my mind cast wide open, and use it to feel my way down the tunnel, walking confidently now. I don’t need any light after all.
Time seems disconnected in here. I don’t know how long I’ve been walking in the dark before I realise my eyes are starting to see again. The air around me is cool and dry, and I’m nowhere near the outside slopes.
I hear no voices, and I slow my steps so I’m silent. If it is Praseep ahead, I’ll need to be careful. Remembering the anger in his words last night, I really hope it’s not him. I hope it’s Vilpur instead, or best of all Princess Rishala.
The tunnel glows at the end, the air is heavily laced with incense, sweet like orange blossom. I approach carefully until I can see into a large chamber. Huge pillars of rock and spears of ice climb from the floor and hang from the ceiling, so at first it’s hard to find the source of the light.
Then a figure moves.
Praseep.
Praseep, alone. What has he done with Danam and the others?
He’s frowning at the entrance where I stand hidden, but I know there’s no way he can see me.
Oh. I almost slap my forehead. Of course. He can probably feel me, just as I can feel him. He’s an Ice Dragon after all, even if he’s not strong enough to pass the mysterious final level of these Dragon Tests.
He picks up his light and walks towards where I hide. Smoke from the incense billows around him. His steps are careful and he moves slowly, shaking his head and working his mouth like he is having an argument with himself in his head.
Yeah, I guess I’m the last person he’d be expecting to find out here.
I could wait here until he finds me, or I could be bold. I opt for the latter. I step out into the advancing light, making Praseep jump.
‘What have you done with Danam?’ I ask.
‘You! How did you get here?’
‘Where is Danam?’
‘He’s taking his Tests.’
‘Which level?’
Praseep waves his hand at a stalagmite with a bowl-shaped top, in which an opal pendant rests. ‘The Cloud. He will make it.’
My guts twist. ‘No he won’t!’
‘Of course he will. I don’t know how you found your way here, but this ends now.’ His face looks set.
I don’t want to fight him, but that’s where this is heading. He’s got Danam in there and I haven’t come this far to walk away.
‘Stand aside, Praseep,’ I say.
He shakes his head. ‘No. I won’t let you hurt him or risk the Princess.’
‘You … What? I’m here to save Danam, not hurt him.’
Praseep’s eyes are narrowed. ‘Save him from what exactly?’
‘You. These Tests. Why are you in such a rush for him to be Tested?’
‘Me?’ He looks angry. ‘I rushed Danam out here so he could become a Cloud Dragon before someone killed him off. Before the Queen …’ he stops, shuts his eyes and breathes in slowly.
‘Oh.’ I rub my face. ‘Is she … is the Queen worse?’
‘The end is near.’
‘Shouldn’t you be with her?’
He stares at me, eyes miserable. ‘If the Princess has no Cloud Dragon … Our people need her to be strong. Danam is destined to take the Tests. The Seers were clear. If we walked to the edge of the Dirt we would find the Cloud Dragon. And we did.’
‘Yeah, maybe you did, but it’s not Danam.’
Praseep stares at me.
‘I’ve talked to Aji. I know what you all saw but it wasn’t Danam leading our group down to the pasture that day. It was me. I was wearing pants, I changed to this tunic when we arrived at the hut.’
He closes his eyes and turns his head away. ‘And you’re only telling me this now? Why?’
‘I tried to tell Danam but he wouldn’t listen.’
‘Of course not! He can do those things, Sunaya. He … he heated the water in the cave that night.’
I shake my head.
Praseep’s eyes bug open. ‘You? By the Stone. But … but he rescued the Princess on the ice.’
‘Well, yes. But. Also no. I felt the danger, Aji felt my reaction. Danam felt nothing. He’s just a normal person, a very brave, very normal person, and he’s in there by mistake, and I need to get him out.’
‘You can’t.’
‘I can, and I will!’
‘No. No one may go in while the Applicant is Testing.’
‘Are you seriously going to stop me, now you know the truth?’
He rolls his eyes. ‘It is not a matter of me stopping you. You simply cannot go in. You would …’
‘I’d what?’
He shrugs. ‘I do not know, actually. I do not know of anyone who has ever tried.’ He looks at me hard. ‘Maybe we can make it.’
‘We?’
‘You may be the one we were looking for all along, and I am not saying you are not, but I have been in there. I know what you would face. If you want to save Danam, then I am your best bet.’
I stare back at him. ‘Okay, so, how do we get in?’
He points to the far side of the chamber, where a dark tunnel looks like a mouth waiting to engulf
us, complete with icicle teeth. Not very inviting. I can’t imagine wanting to walk through there. Especially not more than once.
‘How many times have you done this?’ I ask.
‘Five.’
I count off in my head. Rock, Snow, Ice, Cloud … ? That’s only four.
He must see my confusion. ‘I tried for Cloud twice. Everyone expected me to be the one.’ He looks at his boots and I don’t know what to say.
I clear my throat. ‘Okay, so, I suppose I’ll try to go through.’ I stride over to the tunnel, showing much more confidence than I feel.
‘I don’t know if this will work …’
‘It’s worth a try.’
‘Just … wait! Sunaya, this could kill you!’
I whip around and stare at him. ‘Has anyone died before, going in while someone was there already?’
‘Well, no, because nobody has ever tried to go in while …’ He pauses. ‘I do not know. I am just … I do not want you hurt.’
‘Hurt I can handle. Dying is not on my list of great ways to spend the last days of winter, but if that’s what it takes to save Danam, then so be it.’
Turning to survey the tunnel again, it doesn’t look any more inviting. I push back my shoulders and walk in.
Nothing happens.
I grin. I’ve entered while someone is in there taking the Tests, and there is no repercussion at all. Finally, a scary superstition with no basis in …
Wham!
I don’t finish my thought, I don’t finish anything. My head is a whirl of white light and the world seems tilted but I’ve no hope of figuring out why. It takes me several attempts to open my eyes. Everything hurts. My vision is playing games with me, darkness swirling closer.
‘Sunaya!’
I blink, and the darkness resolves into Praseep as he kneels over me. Which makes no sense because I’m standing. Or I was? Except now I’m on my back on the floor of the main chamber. I try to lift my head and get rewarded with a stabbing pain behind my temples.
‘What happened?’ I manage to slur.
‘Thank the Stone! I thought you were dead! How do you feel?’