I could see he wasn"t satisfied, kept looking around the room, but there was nothing to see. "I"ll order you rice then. It"ll be ready soon."
As soon as he was gone, I rushed over to Ky-Lin and picked him up.
"I"m terribly sorry. I hope it isn"t too difficult to come alive again?"
Almost at once out popped a living nose and mouth. "Easier each time. Give me a few minutes. Go and get your food; if you wouldn"t mind bringing me a few grains of rice? I always get particularly hungry after a change. . . ."
The meal was an uneasy one. d.i.c.kon put himself out to be charming and entertaining, but I still worried about what he might have seen and overheard. Besides which, my stomach had started aching again and I definitely felt queasy. I couldn"t finish all the rice and vegetables and excused myself before the others had finished, longing to just wrap myself in a blanket, lie down on my pallet and try to forget the pain in my guts in sleep. It wasn"t particularly cold, but I was shivering.
"Did you remember . . . ? It doesn"t matter. You look ill. . . ."
"Oh, h.e.l.l! Sorry Ky-Lin. Yes. It does matter." I went to the door and called Tug over and explained what I wanted. He had been playing five-stones with the village boys, but he was always cheerful and willing these days. Two minutes later he was back with some rice and vegetables wrapped in a vine leaf.
"You still hungry, Summa?"
I made up my mind. "Tug come with me. New friend to meet."
Tug"s eyes were as wide as I had ever seen them as Ky-Lin fluffed out his tail in welcome. But instead of dropping the rice or running off in horror, he instead gave a stiff little bow, then walked over to the creature and placed the food in front of him, standing back to watch him eat.
"Tug, this is a-"
"Ch"i-Lin," said Tug, and gave that jerky little bow again. "Very good. Go with Lord Buddha."
"He knows. . . ."
"My Lord"s wisdom has travelled to many places, like the wind," said Ky-Lin, chasing the last pieces of rice with his forked tongue. "If I am not mistaken, this child comes from the Northern Plains."
"Can you speak his tongue?" Perhaps at last we should be better able to help him.
"I will try. . . ." And for the next few moments there was an incomprehensible (to me) series and exchange of clicks and hisses, at the end of which Ky-Lin"s eyes were crossed and Tug had a broad grin on his face.
"I was right," said Ky-Lin. "The boy is one of the Plainsmen, the great Hors.e.m.e.n. They are nomadic herdsmen, live in tents, and travel many hundreds of miles in a year."
"And how far away is his homeland?" I asked, my heart already sinking in antic.i.p.ation of his reply.
"Perhaps a thousand miles to the north, perhaps a little more."
It was as I had feared. I had promised Tug, in sign language if not in words, that I would take him back to his homeland, and I couldn"t break a promise, even if it meant I went hundreds of miles out of my way. I looked at the hope in his face, and knew I couldn"t let him down. How should I have felt if I had been s.n.a.t.c.hed away from home and family at ten or eleven years old, transported hundreds of miles, only to be sold like an animal to the highest bidder? After all, my dragon would wait, wouldn"t he?
"Do you know the way there, Ky-Lin?"
"I can guide you in the right direction, if that is what you wish; the way is quite clearly shown on that last map of yours. But I warn you that the country itself, besides being many miles away, is also far vaster than anything you have come across so far. Another thing; it will take many months to reach, and this caravan we travel with is taking us too far to the east."
Which meant we should have to abandon the safety of the caravan and strike out on our own. For a terrible moment I thought I hadn"t got the courage; feeling as I did now, I would have been thankful to have just curled up for the winter and hibernated like the red-leaf squirrels near my old home. My ring gave a little throb, and I remembered we had Ky-Lin with us, and we hadn"t failed up to now, had we? And we wouldn"t: not with the help of G.o.d"s good grace-and a little luck.
But we should have to be careful not to rouse d.i.c.kon"s suspicions. He was the last person I wanted to accompany us, but if he got the slightest hint we were to be away on our own he would be sure to follow, especially if, as Ky-Lin had suggested, he believed we were after treasure. And, knowing d.i.c.kon, he would stick like a leech.
The following morning I made enquiries that all could hear as to when we would reach the next town, explaining that I needed the services of a competent purveyor of pills for my stomach pains. The answer was three days; once there I would plead indisposition and stay behind. Of course once I announced my indisposition, it miraculously cured itself, as an aching tooth will while queuing for the tooth puller, but I still pretended it was worsening, and this was aided by the fact that apparently I still looked pale and drawn.
In the meantime I introduced Growch to Ky-Lin, only to be informed that he had "known all the time, and just how many more spare parts was I going to invite along on what was, after all, supposed to be a special journey just for the two of us . . ." etc.
I realized that he was jealous, only had been too caught up in my own plans to recognize it, so from then on I made a special fuss over him, even going to the extreme of treating him to a bath and comb. He whined like h.e.l.l, of course, but secretly I believe he thought any attention was better than none, and we were soon back to our old footing.
The journey that should have taken three days took five, due to torrential rains, but this worked to my advantage in the end, because Ali Qased, the caravan master, was eager to press on immediately before any more autumnal downpours held him up, and as far as he was concerned one sick apprentice more or less would only hold him up.
Using d.i.c.kon as my interpreter, he was quite willing I should stay behind until he returned-a guess of a month or more-but he also insisted that I consult the local apothecary, a shabby little man with an obsequious manner and a satchel full of phials of crushed insects, dried bats" wings, unidentified blood, powder of tiger claw, bitter herbs and pellets of opium. He prodded my stomach, shook his head, and went away to make up some pills.
To add color to my "illness," I took to my bed in the small attic room d.i.c.kon had found for me. He returned with powder in a twist of rice paper and half a dozen pills, insisting that I take them at once.
"You owe me two silver coins-"
"He"s expensive!"
"Yes, but if you take these at once you may be better in the morning and ready to continue the journey. We don"t leave till ten."
I fished out the money, then groaned. "I don"t think I shall. . . . Now, leave me alone to get some rest."
"When you"ve taken your medicine. The powder is to be dissolved in water and the-"
"I haven"t got any."
"What?"
"Water."
He nodded at Tug, who was arranging some stones on the floor in a complicated game. "Send your slave boy."
I was tired of his att.i.tude towards Tug.
"Once and for all, he"s not a slave. I bought him and gave him his freedom.
And no, I"m not sending him: he couldn"t make himself understood. Go yourself."
"He"s a cretin. . . ."
"He"s not that either. You just don"t understand him."
I might add that Tug was perfectly well aware of d.i.c.kon"s dislike and played up to it, acting like a village idiot when he was near, so d.i.c.kon"s remark wasn"t entirely unjustified. Now the boy stuck out his tongue and waggled his fingers in his ears.
"Tug . . ." I said reprovingly, wanting to giggle.
"Told you," said d.i.c.kon. "All right, I"ll fetch you some water. Just stay here till I get back."
What did he think I was going to do? Fly out the window?
As soon as he had gone I scooped Ky-Lin out of my sleeve.
"Quick!" I said. "The medicines. Are they fit to take?"
He sniffed delicately at the twists of paper.
"Mmmm . . . the powder is harmless. Crushed pearl, a pinch of gentian for color, cinnamon for taste. The pills? Sweetener for coating, a little clay for setting; inside rat"s blood, burnt feathers and a good dose of opium."
"Yeeuk!"
"You"ve eaten worse, certainly from my point of view! At least there is nothing to harm you permanently. Try and get away with just drinking the powder: the opium in a pill will make you sleep heavily, and if you want to be away tomorrow as soon as they leave . . . spit it out as soon as he"s gone."
But the trouble was he wouldn"t go. He watched me tip some of the powder into my mug and add water, stirring it with my finger till it was purple. I drank it down with an expression of disgust, though the taste was not unpleasant.
"I think I"ll take a rest now. . . ."
"Pills first."
"In a minute! I"ll just see if the drink will-"
"The pills are to be taken at the same time. Go on. Two."
"I am not taking two! Suppose they don"t agree with me? Do you want to spend the night nursing me?"
"One, then. Now!"
I put it in my mouth, and tucked it quickly under my tongue, making exaggerated swallowing motions. "There! Now you can go and leave me alone."
He still wouldn"t leave; instead he paced the floor, small though the room was: three steps one way, two back.
"How can I leave you on your own? Master Spicer would never forgive me if you worsened. . . . You said yourself that heathen boy can"t make himself understood. No, my duty is to stay here with you. The caravan can manage without me."
The pill was gradually melting in my mouth. I could taste the bitterness through the coating.
"And Matthew would never forgive me if you broke your apprenticeship just to look after me! I"ll be fine in a couple of days. I"ve enough money to stay here until you come back, and I can spend the time bringing my journal up to date and learning a bit more of the language. I wouldn"t dream of you staying behind!"
"Don"t tell me what I ought or ought not to do!" Then in a gentler tone: "I consider it my duty to look after you. Don"t forget I am the only one who knows you are a girl . . ."
Was this an implied threat?
" . . . and you wouldn"t want anyone else to find out, would you?"
Yes, it was.
"What harm can it do for me to stay and-you to go?" The pill must be taking effect. I mustn"t go to sleep, I mustn"t! "After all, I can"t go anywhere, can I?
Ali Qased said his was the last caravan expected this year. . . ." I yawned uncontrollably.
At last he left, promising to look in again, and the next thing was Ky-Lin hissing in my ear: "Spit it out! Spit it out!"
The pill, what little was left of it, dropped to the floor. I struggled up on my elbow. "Mustn"t sleep . . . lots to do. Got to find out-find out-how to get away. Transport . . . food. Can"t . . . can"t sleep."
"Do-not-worry," said Ky-Lin, close to my ear. "We-will-see-to-it. Leave-it-to- us. Sleep-in-peace. . . ."
I didn"t hear or see them leave, knew nothing else in fact until a bright light flashed across my eyelids. I tried to open my mouth, my eyes, but nothing happened. It was as if I was frozen to my bed. The light flashed again.
"Perhaps you were telling the truth after all, little witch," said a voice I should recognize. Then more sharply: "Wake up, Summer! Time to get up," and someone shook me, none too gently. I moaned and rolled over, but could respond no further, slipping back down into a velvety darkness.
Then something triggered a thought. Of course I recognized the voice: it had to be d.i.c.kon. With a supreme effort I opened my eyes. There was a lantern on the floor, and by its light I could see d.i.c.kon going through my papers, my pack open at his side. He held up first one map and then another, frowning and muttering to himself. "Can"t see much there. . . . Possible, possible. We"re way off track, though. . . ."
He rolled the maps, turned his attention to my journal but, as I had antic.i.p.ated, he could make little of my scrawl, especially as it had been only recently that the former stable lad had learned to know his letters. "Still, I heard her say there was somewhere she had to go . . . but where, where?"
He glanced across at me, but luckily my face was in shadow and I closed my eyes quickly.
"Still, there"s nowhere to go from here. Safe enough, I reckon."
At that moment there was a bark on the stone steps that led up to my room; the others were back.
With a speed that obviously owed much to practice, maps and papers were stuffed back in my pack and it was rapidly refastened. A moment later and he was standing over the bed, lantern held high.
Growch rushed in growling, closely followed by Tug. d.i.c.kon straightened up.
"Just checking on the patient, for the benefit of a cretin and a scruffy hound,"
said d.i.c.kon. "I know you can"t understand, stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.ds both, but I"ll be back to check in the morning."
I heard his steps on the stair and tried to keep awake long enough to tell Ky- Lin, emerging from Tug"s jacket, just what had happened, but he shushed me.
"Go to sleep. Don"t worry about a thing. We have got it all organized. By this time tomorrow we shall be spending our first night afloat. . . ."
I could have sworn he said "afloat." But we weren"t anywhere near the sea. I must have been dreaming.
And two minutes later I really was.
Interlude
He was bored. Restless. Unhappy.
He told himself not to be stupid, that he had everything he needed, that dragons did not admit to boredom, or restlessness. And, most of all, not to unhappiness. Yet how else could he explain why he felt as he did? Dragons usually were only affected by purely physical things: heat and cold, hunger and thirst; and by the pure pleasure, endless delight, of jewels and gems, and the retelling of tales of travel.
But then he wasn"t a dragon all the time, was he? Like now. Now he was a man sitting on a deserted beach somewhere, chucking stones into the sea and suffering from indigestion.
And that was another thing: a man ate what a man ate, dragons were different. If one had a fire in one"s belly, used regularly or not, one could digest anything, bones and all, but a man"s stomach churned on the remains of a dragon dinner.
He gave a snort of disgust. This just shouldn"t be happening to him. He had reported back, been welcomed and initiated into the proper rituals, then allowed the treat of inspecting the h.o.a.rd. He had been obliged, however, to disclose his Affliction, as he termed it, and been rewarded with consternation and disbelief. Spells had been cast, charms used, lore memory consulted, but all to no avail. Nothing like this had ever happened before; of course it was known that it could, but what mortal maid in her right mind had ever kissed a dragon?
At first, of course, they hadn"t believed him, until he had done an involuntary change and back right there in front of them. It was the most exciting thing that had happened to the community since the Blue Dragon had returned hundreds of years back with his jewels and the tales of the witch who had stolen them, and the knight and the girl and the animals who had returned them.