She glared at him. ‘Now you're smiling. What have I done wrong?’
‘Nothing. Other thoughts.’
‘Well you're having far too many of those today for my liking, but go on then.’
Bellepheros laughed. ‘I wish I could. But in short: how much simpler the world would be if it was governed by the likes of you and I, with care for one another and cautious eyes turned firmly toward the future instead of by greedy lords eyeing one another with suspicion, forever looking for their own secret advantage.’
‘Don't be so sure. We both have our own secrets too, eh?’ She raised a sharp eyebrow at him. ‘There. Have I done well?’ She had the coat on now. Buckles down on the side, under the arm. He'd never seen it done that way but there was a sense to it. Joints were always weak points. This way the arm would protect it. He looked Li up and down. With the buckles pulled tight, the dragon-scale fitted her like a second skin. A little too tight in places and a little too long, but Li was a touch stockier than Zafir and not as tall.
‘It's magnificent. Zafir will be. . content.’
‘Content? She'd better be a sight more than content!’ The enchantress picked up the bulky part of the armour, the part that looked like the shed skin of some armoured animal. Overlapping plates of glass and gold shaped like diamonds, thin as anything, arranged to mimic a dragon's scales and as flexible as the true dragon-scale beneath. She lifted it over her head and the plates cascaded down her front and back, over her shoulders and down the upper parts of her arms. They glittered as they caught the light. In the sun they'd be glorious, perhaps blinding. ‘And now what do you think?’
‘I think I've never seen its like or its equal, Li. You've made it look like dragon-scale.’ He nodded, approving. ‘It's the most elegant rider's armour I've ever seen. No one in my land could have made something like this. You've made it for riding dragons and for nothing else — our armour isn't normally made that way but her Holiness will understand. She will, I think, very much appreciate its purity of purpose. She won't let you see, of course, but she'll delight in this gift. I thank you, Chay-Liang of Hingwal Taktse, on her behalf. It is magnificent.’ He grinned.
Li shook her head. ‘It will turn most arrows and it will turn fire and lightning.’ She started to strap on the arm guards. ‘A little help with this? They're awkward.’
Bellepheros stepped close and reached around her. ‘Then make them easier if you can. A rider must arm and mount alone or they're not worthy of their dragon. Zafir will hold it against you if the armour demands more hands than her own. In fact she probably won't wear it.’
‘Our knights are dressed by others.’ Liang laughed as Bellepheros's fingers fumbled with buckles plated in gold. ‘Most of us are, in fact. Well, those for whom tradition and form and the matter of appearance are important. Not us enchanters. We dress ourselves.’
Bellepheros snorted. ‘Hard to imagine an alchemist with time for such niceties. Most days we fall asleep in our day clothes and then wake up the next day and carry on as we were.’
‘I'd noticed.’ She was using her teasing voice. She held her arms out wide as he did up the last of the straps and then stepped away.
‘It is quicker and it does save time.’
Li snorted. ‘I know, I know, and we both know I'm no better. And so what? Does anyone ever notice?’
Bellepheros's voice fell quiet. ‘I notice, Li.’
‘Oh I'm sure you do, but we both know that's only because you're every bit as bad. I've seen you in the same robes four days in a row with the same stain on the hem.’
‘I change them when it gets too bad. Don't I?’
She laughed at him with a warmth that sent a pang of sorrow through him. ‘You do.’ Then she smiled and squeezed his hand. ‘So your dragon-rider doesn't mind parading like a bed-slave, but she must dress herself in her own armour? How do I look?’
‘Defiance in every breath, Chay-Liang.’ Bellepheros looked her up and down, trying to imagine Zafir. ‘We're makers and oilers of the machines of the world, you and I. We have little say in their use and their direction. You look magnificent. You should be the one on the back of a dragon.’
Li shuddered. ‘I think not!’ She fumbled around the clutter on her workbench. ‘The gauntlets are my best work. Would you change things, Master Alchemist? Would you steer your dragons? Gauntlets, gauntlets. And where's the helm? Do I have it?’
‘Zafir kept it. And no. Steer my dragons? I'd prefer not.’
‘Why? Ah!’ She turned back. ‘Now with these she'll need no help at all.’ She was right too: the gauntlets were a marvel. More segmented bands of metal, gold bound to glass once more and wrapped over dragon-scale.
She handed one to Bellepheros and he put it on. They were lined with a fur that kissed his skin, instantly warm but never hot. Pieces of gold exquisitely worked into delicate shapes were welded to the plates of the fingers and thumb. He wondered what they were for until he clenched his fist and his hand became a dragon's head, mouth open, fangs poised, eyes agleam. He let out a little sigh of envy and pleasure. ‘It's a self-fulfilling doom, isn't it? Who else would be an alchemist? If not us then who else would do those things that must be done and for little or no reward save the quiet knowledge that the world has not burned for another day?’ He held up the gauntlet, fist closed. ‘Although if it means I get a pair of these then I might reconsider. They're spectacular, Li. I've never seen their like. Never anything even close.’
Li laughed and struck a pose with the dragon armour wrapped around her. ‘You're bleak today. So will this suffice for your mistress who is a slave to fly to our master's war-that-will-not-happen?’
‘Bleak? Li, every alchemist is taught this over and over again: we know we can never win, that our task is never done and that one day, whether we like it or not, whatever we do, some rider will ruin everything for which we strive. It already happened once. A long time ago. A few dragons woke because of one stupid rider and it was almost the end of all of us.’ Bleak? When my mistress who is a slave is Zafir? Should I be joyful?
‘Almost? But then only almost, Belli.’ Li laughed, and her laugh touched him as it always did and gave him a little strength. ‘The Picker, of all people, once said this: when those who rule drop our fragile world amid their squabbles, our purpose is to catch it before it smashes. That's what makes an Elemental Man. Think on that, Belli. They are watching out for us.’ She cocked her head. ‘So? Armour? Good enough? Yes?’ She nodded vigorously. ‘Say yes now, Belli. With much enthusiasm, if you please.’
Bellepheros bowed and forced himself to smile, for the enchantress had a kind heart and was not like the others he served here. ‘It's superb.’ He winked. ‘As you very well know, my Lady Li. As you very well know.’
62
The Taiytakei were leaving Aria. All of them. They weren't wanted and never had been, and while that had never bothered them before, the coming of witches made of fire who burned their ships was making the place uncomfortable. Perhaps it reminded them too much of dragons, but in the meantime, as they packed their chests, they were happy to take every slave or sailor they could get.