The dragon Silence reached out its senses and found the stone men were here still, a few of them. A handful, lurking under the water but twisted now. Dulled in their own way. Held and bound by some sorcery.
So many strange magics. The world had changed.
The dragon remembered it had come with a purpose. It searched and found again what it was looking for. The Black Moon, some echo of a memory of it, was near.
It hunted. Back in the desert on the edge of the blasted city it found little ones, a hundred of them and more; and what greater pleasure could there be than to fall among them and taste their fear; but it had come to them for another reason and so it kept to the sky. In the deep of night it soared overhead, and perhaps one of them might look up and see a star flicker off and on as the dragon pa.s.sed before it or perhaps not, but they would never sense its presence. It flew in circles and reached down, sifting through inane chattering thoughts until it found what it was looking for, the one who carried the echo.
It had names. Berren. Crowntaker. b.l.o.o.d.y Judge.
And the dragon saw that it had another name too, a hidden name. Skyrie. Pieces of two souls merged together, the one trying to hide inside the other And deeper still, the echo. Buried where almost no one would find it. A splinter of a half-G.o.d. The dragon wondered who could have done such a thing and why and how, who could have made a little one like this, so cleverly done and difficult to unravel but dragons were immortal and had time until the end of the world.
However long that would be.
15.
Things Lost and Things Found A memory haunted Berren now and then, as clear as a temple bell. It came from long ago when his life had been different. Hed come from three years of war, of fighting for the Sun King to buy freedom for his lover Fasha and their son from Princess Gelisya of Tethis. The winning of her back was a story in itself, but it had ended well enough, with the three of them safe and free and together; and after hed stolen them away, Berren had carried them through Tethis to the castle on the top of the cliff. Hed taken a pair of horses and left the men hed fought beside for all those years and simply gone, done with it all or so he thought. Hed ridden with Fasha over his saddle and the sleeping babe in his arms, and now when he closed his eyes he saw them clearly again as though no time had pa.s.sed at all. Sometimes hed stopped simply to look at her face. Hed taken them to a tavern, a place whose name hed never known, and gazed at the face of his son, a face hed never seen until that day; and when at last Fasha had stirred, hed carried her outside. The day had been a glorious one, a warm late-afternoon sun tingling his skin. Theyd sat in the shade together while he told her everything that had happened. Theyd shared wine and got drunk together and shed sat on his lap and theyd kissed for hours and time had slipped away between them. Years hed waited to feel like that again. It had been the most achingly beautiful thing. He could see her clearly even now, her face only a few inches from his own, strands of hair falling across it, shy and smiling and aglow with happiness.
He sat quietly in the slave cage, motionless, remembering again. A tear rolled over his cheek because it was gone, all of it. He remembered her, how beautiful that moment had been, how perfect, how it had seemed that the world could do whatever it wanted and theyd meet it head on, the two of them hand in hand together, the happiness of that evening an armour as unbreakable as the Sun Kings coat of burning mail. Other moments belonged beside it, crowding around and clamouring to be remembered, but the vision of Fasha in the tavern by the woods was the worst of all. So heartbreakingly full of joy. That moment in the woods when the world had been made of her smile felt like the last joy hed ever had or might ever have again.
Was she dead now? He didnt know.
A cool night wind blew out of the desert. It smelled of dry stone. The other slaves were sleeping. The moon was high and bright. Berren lay on his back staring at the night. The stars werent the stars he remembered. He wondered if they had ever been.
No. This wouldnt do. He had to move. Had to do something more than sit there and remember, with the pain of it getting worse every minute, with his heart about to burst with grief. He nudged Tuuran and then kicked him until the big mans snores stopped and he opened his eyes and growled: "What?
"I told you how the b.l.o.o.d.y Judge of Tethis got his name. I told you how he fought the Dark Queen for years and how that ended. I never told you the bit in between.
Tuuran glared and slowly shook his head. "Now, Crazy Mad? You have to tell me a story now?
"Yes.
Tuuran let out a little gasp of exasperation. "Tell it to the stars. He turned over.
Berren poked him hard. "I would, but they say they cant hear me over your snoring.
For a few seconds Tuuran didnt move. Then he sighed and rolled back again and sat up. He looked Berren in the eye for a long time. "Go on then, slave. So there was a little thief boy in Deephaven who took up with a thief-taker and fell in love with a sword of the sun and ran away to sea when- "Press-ganged, big man. I was press-ganged.
"Whatever. Tuuran looked Berren up and down. "Does this have anything to do with why you didnt lift a finger to stop us from being made into slaves again, Crazy? If it does then Im listening, because I was quite enjoying all that not being a slave we managed for a while there. Otherwise, if it doesnt, save it for someone who cares. Im not sure Im even speaking to you any more.
"The b.l.o.o.d.y Judge, before he turned to hunting warlocks and putting an end to the Dark Queen, fell in love with a slave. Did I tell you that? He fathered her child and then went to war to buy her freedom. He came back and took her and his son and turned his back on everything. No one knows what he meant to become. Certainly not him. Something else, that was all that mattered. Six years hed been a sailor and then a soldier. Fighting was all he knew, but he never forgot how it felt to have a moment of joy. The G.o.ds knew theyd been few enough. Berren gazed at the stars. "I never forgot . . .
Tuuran yawned. "Sounds nice. Can I go back to sleep yet?
"The G.o.ds took her, Tuuran. Piece by piece. He didnt see it at first, but he couldnt let go of the warlocks and all the things theyd done. Just couldnt let go. Berren shook his head. He might have wept but all his tears had gone long ago, all except one. "His son fell ill and died and he wasnt even there. All that love and joy hed found and he kept putting it aside for one more killing, over and over. One day he rode away and never came back. There was nothing left. It was all gone. Love? He hadnt the first idea, but revenge? He understood that perfectly. From the day he left Deephaven, his life had been made of it and so the b.l.o.o.d.y Judge had his way. Through the back alleys of the world, cutting down the warlocks that survived. He found the remnants of the Fighting Hawks and made them his own and brought them down on the Dark Queen. Revenge for what, though? For a son taken by sickness before he could speak a word? The work of the G.o.ds, not of any warlock. For a lover whose fire for him died long before she left him? No one to blame for that but himself.
He didnt care any more whether Tuuran was listening. Memory after memory came back, all the things hed ever done and all the things hed ever been. A scared little boy sc.r.a.ping dung from the streets for Master Hatchet down in the Deephaven docks. Earning his name from the Fighting Hawks the day hed killed an old woman without even thinking before he struck. Leading those same men ten years later to tear down the Dark Queen. The thief-takers apprentice, paralysed by fear with a golden-hafted knife in his hand, turning it on himself, powerless as the warlock towered over him. Three little cuts. You. Obey. Me.
"Over the years he forgot how to have those things hed lost. He forgot that he wanted them, forgot what they even were, just knew that something was missing and so he went looking for it in blood. In all the wrong places and all the wrong ways.
The pain was crushing. All he could think of was that day in the woods with Fasha, the smile on her face and the taste of wine on her lips and how hed never had its like again and never would. The numbing all-devouring dread that at the end of his life hed look back and be left with that one and only thing that truly mattered. And as the anguish gripped his thoughts, they slipped from Fasha to the warlocks hed killed, then back to Fasha. His son. Saffran Kuy. Fasha. Vallas. And the knife, always the knife.
He shook himself. Why tonight? All these memories coming back at him, it felt almost as though someone had crept inside his head and crawled into his heart with a big spoon and started stirring. He clung to Fasha, gripped her as though she was right in front of him and held her as though his life depended on it. He had no idea why shed come to him out here like this after so long, but now she was here, he wouldnt ever let her go, ghost or not.
"Interesting story. Tuuran belched, sat up, then stood and started to pace back and forth. "Nice of you to wake me up to share it. Dont know how Id have made it to morning otherwise. He stopped and glared at Berren. "I will kill him, you know. I will.
"Who?
"The skinny s.h.i.t who made me into a slave again.
"What? Fasha shattered before him. "What? G.o.ds, Tuuran, its just another way to get to where we want to go. Berren stared out into the darkness, trying to pick up the pieces and put them together again.
"Still going to kill him.
"Its possible, big man, that you wont, on account of me having stabbed you through the eye while you were snoring before you got the chance.
Maybe Tuuran caught the edge in Berrens voice. He stopped his pacing and sat down again, let out a long heavy sigh and rolled his eyes and then slapped Berren half-heartedly on the shoulder. "You know what? He sounds like a bit of an idiot, this b.l.o.o.d.y Judge of yours.
"Is that your idea of being helpful? Berren spat. "He should have stayed with what he had instead of running off to fight monsters who no longer mattered.
That earned him a snort of derision. "Never mind the monsters, he should have had a woman in every city and fathered b.a.s.t.a.r.ds with all of them, thats what he should have done.
"You never have a woman who was special?
"I knew a good wh.o.r.e who knew just exactly how to- Berren punched him. Hard. "I was forgetting. You were an Adamantine Man. You dont have feelings.
"Were swords. We sate ourselves in flesh and move on. In more ways than one. Tuuran snorted and slumped onto his back, looking up at the stars. "I had some feelings once. Saw a girl being hurt by a man who should have known better and had no right to, and so I stopped it.
"Did you fall in love with her, Tuuran? Secretly and from afar and without telling a soul?
Tuuran kicked him. "Dont be daft, you mudhead. She took the knife off my belt, stabbed the idiot to death and ran away, and I got sold into slavery for my pains. He snorted again and then burst out laughing. "Great Flame! Yes, there were plenty I might have been sweet on but thats not the soldiers way. We love like kings while we live. We move on. We fight. We die.
"Who am I, Tuuran?
"An idiot, Crazy Mad. Why did you let them take us? Really?
"Why did you, big man?
"Because I didnt fancy twelve of them against one of me after you threw down your sword, thats why! Flame, Im not that terrible. Six apiece maybe we could have beaten.
"No. Not six. Although true as it was, that wasnt why Berren hadnt drawn his sword. Hed had no doubt at all that he would have won against six, twelve or a thousand. It was more the how that troubled him.
Youre doing that thing again.
What thing?
That silver eyes thing. Werent there some of our comrades here just now?
Still couldnt say why Fasha had come back to him so hard tonight. She was fading now but the hurt was still there. The hurt was always there. Just sometimes he forgot.
When at last he fell asleep, the dragon of Dhar Thosis visited his dreams. He saw it staring at him while Tuuran and the dragons rider talked. Staring and staring straight through him, right into his deepest secrets as if it wanted something. As if it knew him, but neither of them was quite sure how or when or why. He tried to ask it but the words stuck in his throat. The dragon kept staring, and he saw, now and then, flashes of other familiar memories that tried to cling but never quite could. Things hed seen before with other eyes. Dragons filling the sky, hundreds and thousands of them, the air thick with their cries, flying to war; men arrayed under the sun, light gleaming from silver so bright that it blinded; armies ma.s.sed among spires so high that clouds snagged on their flawless white stone; the light of the moon shining down, hard and violent; and it burned and he clenched his fist and would not bow, not ever, not even to the G.o.d that had made him, not any more because now he knew what lay beneath and behind and beyond, and these things called G.o.ds were nothing but empty masks.
And then it was gone, and nothing was left but an endless waste-land of night, and the Black Moon had eclipsed the sun for ever, and among the twinkle of midday stars one winked as a distant dragon pa.s.sed overhead.
The dragon seemed to pause.
I see you, it said.
16.
Shouting in the Wind Liang huddled by the wall, cowering behind her makeshift shield. Cries and wails of despair rose over the howl of the wind. Men and women, slaves and soldiers alike, crowded around the entrances to the tunnels. From its perch atop the gla.s.ship the dragon looked on through the low ruddy light of sunrise. Cracks of thunder and lightning punctured the chaos, flashes of stark white light across panicked faces. The Vespinese bellowed, some trying to stop the exodus. Faces twisted with terror rushed past her, buffeting her as though she wasnt even there. Slaves, kwens and tvarrs, men whod been soldiers in Tsens service: none had eyes for anything save the tunnels and their illusion of safety.
Through them all, the Elemental Men flashed and flickered, appearing and vanishing, cutting down anyone foolish enough to raise a weapon against them. The crowds cl.u.s.tered around the tunnels were fighting to get inside. A few brave Vespinese remained out in the open, some by MaiChoiro, their courage returning as the dragon simply watched. They lowered their wands and the futile lightning stopped. None of them seemed to know what to do.
"STOP! The word ran like thunder through the air, as if the wind itself had spoken. As if with one will, all the Elemental Men vanished from the dragon yard and reappeared on the walls like dark sentinels. Dozens of them.
The dragon jumped from the back of the gla.s.ship with a lazy flare of its wings. Fresh panic gripped those still in the open. Sporadic cracks of lightning from the Vespinese wands lashed out. The dragon spiralled around the eyrie and settled on the wall, put Zafir down and dropped its head. Zafir climbed unsteadily onto its back. As soon as Liang saw that, she got up and walked quickly towards the tunnels herself. The dragon might not have burned everyone before, but it surely would now. Even the Vespinese soldiers whod had the courage to stand instead of run were edging away. A last flash of lightning struck the dragons neck. It turned its head slowly to stare at the soldier whod thrown it.
"STOP! As one, the Elemental Men vanished from the eyrie walls and appeared in a circle in the middle of the dragon yard. Others appeared at the entrances to the tunnels. The dragon reared onto its hind legs and stretched out its wings. Its vast bulk with the dawn sun behind it cast the whole eyrie into shadow. It looked out over them, its eyes roving among the Vespinese until they settled on MaiChoiro Kwen. The dragon stretched its neck and bared its fangs, and that, Liang decided, was as much as she needed to see. She shaped her gla.s.s into a bigger shield, spread it out behind her and ran. Let them fight. As she glanced back, more Elemental Men shimmered out of the air onto the wall beside the dragon.
"STOP! The whole eyrie quivered with the voice. A third warning, and the Elemental Men never gave more than three. The last Vespinese dropped their wands and ran. In the press of the crowd around the mouth of the hatchery tunnel someone reached out to catch Liangs arm and pull her in but the crush dragged her away. Men and women swore and pushed, brands and rank all but forgotten. Someone stumbled and fell.
"Li! Li! Bellepheros was pressed tight against the curve of the wall. In the tunnel someone let off a bolt of lightning. The noise was deafening and Liang gasped. Her ears screamed. Everyone around her shouted louder and pressed harder, barging each other out of the way. She gave up and backed off, crouching against the wall by the hatchery with the gold-gla.s.s sh.e.l.l around her, hugging the stone. Another lightning bolt and then another. She didnt know what the Vespinese feared the most the dragon or the sorcerous killers of the Elemental Men. She looked up to the walls. Several Vespinese soldiers were still up there, turning the remaining lightning cannon towards the dragon. At least someone had kept their wits then. She had a good mind to go up and join them.
The dragon hadnt moved. And the Elemental Men hadnt killed Zafir either. There were a handful around the monster but they were keeping a respectful distance. The rest flickered about the dragon yard, appearing and vanishing, making the terror even worse. Everyone knew what happened when Elemental Men came. Blood. A lot of blood . . .
A last crush of slaves struggled past her. And, dear G.o.ds she shook her head in disbelief Belli had somehow managed to squeeze back out. He tapped on her sh.e.l.l and looked nervously at the dragon. Liang shrank the gold-gla.s.s back into a globe, yanked him to the ground beside her and then screamed at him a bit for being an idiot as she grew the sh.e.l.l around the two of them together. "What in Xibaiya do you think youre doing? Get inside!
He was shaking his head. "They have to stop! They have to stop!
"Yes. Liang let out a laugh. Couldnt help herself. "Yes, at some point they have to stop, but when? Theyd stop when everyone was dead. The miracle, if there was one, was that they hadnt really started, though Liang couldnt imagine a single reason why Zafir hadnt scoured the eyrie clean and was slightly surprised that the Elemental Men hadnt set about that too. Maybe theyre trying to agree on who has the privilege . . . MaiChoiro had tried to hang Zafir. Hed got as far as putting rope around her neck so he could hardly pretend that he hadnt meant it, yet Zafir did nothing. The Elemental Men were moving closer to her now. "Why in the name of Charin dont they just kill her, for pitys sake?! Before she burns everything!
"They mustnt! Belli tugged her arm. His voice rang with alarm. "Li, they mustnt! You have to stop them! We need her and we need Diamond Eye to find the hatchling!
"What? Inside their sh.e.l.l Chay-Liang twisted, grabbed Belli by his robes and pinned him to the wall. She shook her head, glancing at the dragon, at the Elemental Men, at MaiChoiro still out in the dragon yard, at the Vespinese manning the lightning cannon. And he wanted to stand in the middle of them and make them stop?! "No, Belli. This ends here and now. MaiChoiro Kwen, Zafir, all your monsters, we rid ourselves of all of them. a.s.sa.s.sins who could shift their form to become the earth or the air or fire or water or light or shadow or ice as they willed it: the Elemental Men were hunters. Killers of sorcerers. Executioners of monsters, and what was a dragon if not a monster? And its rider too.
Belli was shaking with desperation. He tried to push his way past her. "It will hide from them! he wailed. "Without Diamond Eye, they will never find it. Without Zafir, you have no dragon!
"Good! Liang almost yelled in his face. She pulled him back. "No dragon is good! And you need to stay right here with your head down and try very hard not to be noticed! Because what was an alchemist if not a sorcerer? "The Elemental Men keep the peace, Belli. They always have. They are the blade on a thin string that hangs over the heads of the sea lords and is now about to fall on all of us. Dhar Thosis burned. Theyre here to make sure that such a thing never happens again. Ever. They will make an example of everyone who had anything to do with it. Lord Shonda is the most powerful man in all the many worlds, yet they will hang him without hesitation if they are sure of his guilt, right next to your rider-slave, high and in front of everyone and in his own city. They wont blink or hesitate and no one will try to stop them. She let him go. "And I will see to it that they are sure, but if they mistake you for a sorcerer then they will hang you too. You must be careful! And that means staying very quiet. Particularly now!
"If they kill her now, Shonda walks free, doesnt he?
Liang took a deep breath. Closed her eyes. Counted to three. "No, Belli. I was there too. Hiding. I heard it all. I heard MaiChoiro Kwen give his orders. She looked around. The last of the slaves and soldiers were pushing their way inside. The dragon yard was empty except for a cl.u.s.ter of Taiytakei and Elemental Men stood around the wreckage of the gallows. A hundred goggling eyes peered out from the tunnel entrances. Vespinese stood ready in the lightning cannon on the walls; more Elemental Men watched them and still more were around the dragon, and yet they hadnt gone close and Zafir was still alive. Why? Why arent you killing the murderous b.i.t.c.h? "Belli, look around you. Take a moment to consider: the dragon is about to burn MaiChoiro. MaiChoiro is about to set his lightning cannon on the dragon. The Elemental Men are about to kill them both and a great many more people besides just as soon as they can work out which people should die. And you want to go out and stand between them?
"If they kill her now, Shonda walks free, he said again. And the dragon still hadnt moved. Liang didnt understand it.
"No! She shook him. "No, he doesnt. I was there! She was not the only witness! Why hadnt Zafir simply sent Diamond Eye to burn them all? The Elemental men would have had no choice but to kill her then and it would be done. Done and finished and the world a much better place. But for whatever reason, Zafir hadnt. Because, Liang thought ruefully, shes actually clever. Or cunning at least. Clever is going too far.
And then a moment of understanding. Zafir had known the Elemental Men were there, even before they started to appear, probably even before the Vespinese took her to the noose. The dragon had warned her, as the dragon had tried to warn of the Vespinese coming in their gla.s.ships. Liang spat a furious curse. Zafir had known they were watching, right from the moment theyd arrived, however long ago that had been. That was why she stayed her hand. Performance, all of it!
b.i.t.c.h.
An Elemental Man was close to the dragon now and Zafir was leaning towards him. They were talking. Liang ground her teeth in frustration. It wasnt going to happen ... She opened the gold-gla.s.s sh.e.l.l into a shield. "Fine, fine, fine. She looked around to see if anyone was paying attention and then reached her arms around Belli, a quick awkward embrace. Even if the rider-slave was a thorn between them, even if they were from different worlds, they were two minds alike, searching for the same answers and interested in the same questions. "Im sorry, Belli. It always falls to us, doesnt it? Go to her then. Keep the dragons quiet and keep you and her out of the way. I will go to the killers. I will tell them what you ask and why. But they will kill her when the time comes and Ill sleep like a newborn when they do.
And if she quietly hoped that that time would be sooner rather than later, Liang kept that to herself. She patted the alchemist on the back, hugged him again and shrank the gold-gla.s.s sh.e.l.l into a ball in her hand. For a few seconds she watched him go as he walked towards the dragon, so afraid for him, then pressed her hands to her mouth and blew through her fingers and took a deep breath and then another and began to walk as well, but the other way out into the open and the roar of the wind towards the gallows, hands spread wide, palms out so anyone who cared could see there was no slave brand on her and that she came carrying nothing. After a few steps though she changed her mind, turned and hurried after Bellepheros. She rushed past him, climbed the steps to the wall, pushed past the Elemental Men and walked right up to Diamond Eyes feet, the closest shed ever been to the monster. She wasnt quite sure why she had all this courage all of a sudden, but judging from the way she was quivering, it was probably rage.
The dragon lowered itself, stretching out its neck and its tail. Zafir, sitting only a dozen feet above Liang, bent to look at her. She had that smirk on her face again, the one that made Liang want to punch her.
"Chay-Liang, she shouted over the wind and c.o.c.ked her head. The dragon, Liang noted, never stopped staring at MaiChoiro Kwen.
"Theres going to be a court and a trial, Liang shouted so she could be quite sure the Elemental Men would hear too. "You can die now or you can die later. Personally Id like you to live exactly long enough to tell the truth of it all and then hang. Im going inside now where its not so b.l.o.o.d.y windy. Stay here with your dragon if you like. With luck a gust will blow you over the edge. Id like that, but my alchemist wants you to hunt the missing hatchling first. You choose. She turned her back and walked away, s.n.a.t.c.hing Bellis arm and taking him with her as she pa.s.sed. Let the rest of them stand here for the whole morning, watching each other, staring and glaring and not quite daring if thats what they wanted, but frankly she was sick of it all. Her eyes glittered as she threw Belli a glance.
"Well Ive done what I can. Qaffeh?
The alchemist frowned. "Do you have any more of that sticky sweet spongy bread stuff? You know? Whats it called?
"Bolo bread. How would you like it? Drenched in brandy or absolutely soaked?
17.
Someone Always Dies After qaffeh, Bolo bread and rather more brandy than was sensible, Liang found herself calm again. An hour had pa.s.sed and no one was dead. She sent Belli to get some rest, sat in her workshop wondering what to do and then, when she couldnt conjure anything better, set to work on the rider-slaves new suit of armour. Ridiculous really, since Zafir would surely hang before she had a chance to wear it, but it gave her hands something work on. Besides, Tsen had come up with some deliciously unpleasant notions as to what Liang could make this armour do to keep his slave in check.
She pottered between her various tables and shelves, rummaging around the litter of discarded half-made devices and leftover odds and ends, pieces of gla.s.s, strips of gold and lengths of copper wire, then stopped when she found a gold-gla.s.s dragon figurine about a foot long. Shed made it three years ago as a model to give to a goldsmith. Hed sent back two golden dragons and shed enchanted them and given them to QuaiShu, whod given them in turn to a prince of the dragon-realms as a wedding present. Liang put the pieces of half-finished armour aside, cleared a s.p.a.ce on one of the benches and set to work on the dragon. It wasnt hard to remember the enchantments shed devised for the golden ones, and gla.s.s took them much more readily than any metal; still, by the time she was finished, the whole day had pa.s.sed and she hadnt really noticed. The eyrie hadnt quivered and there hadnt been any screaming and shouting up and down the tunnels, and so she supposed the dragon and the Elemental Men and MaiChoiro had temporarily settled their differences. That or they were all still out in the freezing wind, staring at each other.
Belli came to see her after dark, telling her that the Elemental Men had called everyone into the dragon yard earlier in the afternoon. From what hed been able to make out over the wind, the message was that no one was allowed to leave and everyone should carry on as they were. MaiChoiro Kwen was confined to Baros Tsen TVarrs old rooms but they were letting his men visit freely. They didnt seem to care whether one of Tsens tvarrs or kwens ran the eyrie or whether the Vespinese did it, as long as everything stayed exactly as it was until their precious Arbiter arrived. Liang shared some more qaffeh and Bolo, they very carefully didnt talk about Zafir, and when Belli was gone, she went to bed and had her best nights sleep for weeks.