A second monster voice hurtled away. Then another. But one remained, and he could read its thoughts from its low, soft sounds of rage. It was coming.
He burrowed into his brush pile and waited.
The thing roared. Its claws cut stone. Michael's eyes widened as a darkness blotted his wall of flame. He thrust, every ounce of strength behind his pitiful toothpick of a blade.
The monster halted in mid-leap. Trebilcock's stroke fell short. He gaped as the savan dalage hurtled back through the fire, screaming and writhing. „What the hell?" he murmured. „Just what in the hell?"
Claws scraped stone. Michael crouched. Another was coming.
The angry protests began.
Three repeats and then there was no sound in the wilder ness. Michael Trebilcock seated himself cross-legged and faced his fire, sword across his lap, his forehead puckered in a frown.
The fire suddenly died. And Michael said, „You. Of course. I should have guessed."
Ragnarson and Varthlokkur had taken turns dozing. Now Bragi wakened as a bar of sunlight slipped over the east wall and smacked his face. He moved a few feet to the right, cracked one eyelid.
The wizard was awake too, and as groggy as he. Bragi asked, „Think we ought to give up? It's got to be too late now."
„Not necessarily. Radeachar will bring him back."
„In pieces, maybe."
„If it comes to that."
„That pigeon restored my faith. I'd hate to lose him just when he turned me around. Wouldn't hardly be fair, would it?"
Irritably, the wizard said, „Do we have to talk? I'm a little old for these vigils. Give me a break."
„You got it." Ragnarson leaned back, closed his eyes, let the torpor steal over him. Damn, but it was hard to sleep on a stairstep.
Next thing he knew, someone was shaking him. He grabbed his sword.
„Take it easy," Michael said. „We're all friends."
Ragnarson looked round quickly. The sun had risen to the ten o'clock position. Varthlokkur was trying to wake up too.
The wizard asked, „Michael, will you crack my neck for me? I think I popped it out, leaning against this damned wall."
Trebilcock placed one hand on the side of the wizard's head, the other under his chin. „Don't everybody get excited at once." He rolled Varthlokkur's head a few times, yanked. The courtyard walls echoed the pop.
„Ey! Don't break it!"
„Yes sir, Mister Crab-Ass Wizard, sir. Maybe I should fly back and keep walking. Give you time to organize the parades."
Bragi grumbled, „Glad you're back, Michael. Glad you're alive. Where the hell have you been? We waited up all night."
„The Unborn didn't find me till almost sunrise. Then he wanted to play with the savan dalage. Flying is something! I've got to try it again. You can see half the world. You look down and it's like seeing a perfect map."
Varthlokkur rubbed his neck. „Next time you feel one of these mysterious jaunts coming on, tell somebody. Save us some time and grief."
Ragnarson growled, „I want to talk to you about that, Michael. Somehow, I got to get the word through to you. Stop being so damned secretive. You were lucky this time. Your pigeon beat the odds. But what if it hadn't? Your whole damned outfit would have died with you. Nobody else knows what the hell is going on."
Michael sighed. He turned to the Unborn. „How about taking me back? Let's try this homecoming again tomor row."
Varthlokkur asked, „What did you mean about the savan dalage?"
„He kept them off me till the sun came up. Then he plopped me on top of a pillar of sandstone. Then he dragged one out of hiding, backed off about ten miles, and came at me so fast I wouldn't have seen him if he wasn't coming right at me. I had to lay down so the wind wouldn't blow me off when he went over.
„Just before he got there, he dropped the savan dalage. It hit the rock so hard I thought the whole pillar would go down. And... ."
„And?" Varthlokkur prompted.
„Those things are tough. Not tough enough to take that, but you know what? It didn't die. It was smashed up, but it kept trying to get into the shade."
„Norath invests his monsters with a certain vitality. The thing will mend and be back in business in a few months. But congratulations, Radeachar. An effective expedient. Better than anything we thought of during the war."
Groaning, Bragi climbed to his feet. „What say let's go have breakfast? Maybe full stomachs will make us more enthusiastic about your return, Michael. And you can tell the story from the beginning. I mean the beginning where you got the notion that Al Rhemish was the place to dig."
Michael developed a sour expression. He looked as though he might have been happier back in the desert.
Ragnarson had gotten in a solid six hours of dreamless sleep. He was feeling good. He barely cursed Dahl for having wakened him. „You're sure Nepanthe's in labor? It's awful early yet, isn't it?"
Haas shrugged. „I don't know, Sire. I did hear that they thought it might be another two weeks."
„That's pretty close. Elana always came in a little early. Happens with big babies. Mine were all whoppers. That reminds me. Today is Ainjar's birthday. They're giving him a party tonight. See if you can find something he'd like. I don't know if I'll go yet. If I don't, we'll send it out."
„Of course, Sire. I know just the thing."
„Don't make it clothes. Kids hate getting clothes. One time, when we still had the place in Itaskia, Elana gave Ragnar a suit in cloth. Beautiful blue cloth. Expensive as hell. Specially tailored in the city. Know what he said?"
Dahl looked nostalgic. „Those were happy days, weren't they? Oh. Excuse me, Sire. No. What did he say?"
„ ‘But Mom, I already have a pair of pants!'" Ragnarson guffawed. „He already had a pair of pants! He was right, too, far as he went. He wouldn't have changed them before they fell off if his mother hadn't made him."
„You miss them, don't you, Sire?"
Ragnarson went cold. „Yeah, Dahl. I miss them awful. All of them. Your mom and dad as much as any of them."
„There's hardly any of us left."
„But this is a new life. That's what I tell myself. That we've been lucky enough to have two lives. What do you do, Dahl?"
„Try not to remember too much, Sire."
„Ever met my daughter-in-law, Dahl?"
„I know her, Sire. Just to speak to."
„Want to come along if I go out there tonight? Take a closer look?" It had struck him that, while Kavelin suffered a shortage of bachelors, he was surrounded by unattached males. Dahl. Gjerdrum. Aral Dantice. Michael. Even Derel. Of the lot only Gjerdrum had a regular girl, and that was a doomed relationship.
„I don't think so, Sire. That would be inappropriate."
„Inappropriate? She's female and alive... . Dahl, sometimes you beat hell out of me."
„I'm sorry to distress you, Sire."
„Shit. Distress me? Hell. Never mind. Go tell the Queen I'm on my way over. That I have a favor to ask."
Haas bowed slightly, stiffly, and backed out. Bragi mut tered, „Well, I got to him for a minute. There's somebody inside there."
Ten minutes later he was at Inger's door. „Hello, Toby. Want to tell them I'm here?"
„Yes, Sire." The guard knocked, spoke to a woman. „Just a minute, Sire."
„How's life treating you, Toby?"
„Good enough, Sire. Uh. ... Do we have to forfeit if we miss our next match?" He was an alternate on the Guards team.
„I still have to talk to the judges. Maybe they'll give us a postponement. We don't want to chance somebody getting killed just so we don't miss a match, do we?"