‘How?’ he blurted. She hadn't been near the eyrie. She hadn't been near the hatchling he'd brought with him to the Taiytakei city; and that one had been made clean, washed and washed and washed again until all residue of the egg must surely have been gone, and yet she had it, and if she had it then who else might have it too?
‘When the dragons hatched out at sea, Bellepheros. It was a hatchling minutes fresh from the egg and it was awake. It remembered. It. .’ She ran a finger over the red mark that ran down the length of her neck and looked at him for a long time. ‘Tell me you can stop it. Tell me you can make it go away.’
‘I. . I have potions, Holiness.’ Not ones to cure, though. Potions to arrest the disease, to slow it, to almost but not quite stop it. But to get rid of it? No. ‘There are. .’ He shook his head. Did she need to know? Perhaps she did. ‘There are. . there are consequences of the disease that I cannot treat, Holiness.’
Her face grew brittle. No, she didn't like that at all. ‘You'd best enlighten me.’
Not here. He looked around. The Taiytakei watchers were keeping their wary distance but he never knew for sure where the Elemental Man was hiding. He hadn't seen much of the Watcher in the last few days, but for all Bellepheros knew he was lurking in the stones right under their feet. He cast his eyes about, floundering for a place and a way to be sure they weren't overheard. He nodded to the dragon as he did. ‘Will you fly it, Holiness? They're all restless and agitated. Something here vexes them and they won't settle. It would be. .’ It would be a blessing to have someone fly that monster, just to burn some of its energy.
Zafir glared at him. ‘Of course I'll fly him! Tell me what I need to know!’
The glasship from Khalishtor! It was still hovering over the eyrie, its golden gondola resting up on the walls, open and empty. He nodded towards it. ‘Come, Holiness!’
Bellepheros hurried towards the wall. They wouldn't have much time. Zafir called after him, ‘Alchemist! Stop! I have asked you a question.’ Anger streaked her words. Bellepheros tore off his apron and his mask, left them on the ground and began to climb the steps carved into the inner face of the wall. They were steep and tall and went hard on his knees. He glanced back and at last Zafir turned and strode after him. At the top he walked straight for the gondola, praying to the Great Flame that she'd follow him in. He didn't dare run lest the Taiytakei start wondering what he was doing, and he couldn't bring himself to grab her and pull her with him either — she might be a slave but she was still the speaker of the nine realms and he was still her servant, still her master alchemist. But she did follow him, anger sharp as a knife written into every movement. As soon as he was inside the glasship's golden egg he touched a spot in the wall and the ramp closed behind them, sealing them in.
‘Alchemist!’ She was furious now.
Bellepheros whipped around to face her. ‘We don't have much time, Holiness, before they come for us, so I ask you to please listen! The Watcher. The Elemental Man. He cannot enter here when the door is closed. Gold and silver and their golden glass — the Elemental Men cannot pass through them but if you are not encased in any of those then you must assume he's there, somewhere, in the walls or in the air, listening. We can speak freely here, Holiness. Here and now but nowhere else.’
‘Alchemist. .’ Dark clouds filled her eyes. But he needed this, needed to tell her these things and there might never be another chance.
‘Yes, yes. The Statue Plague.’ He bowed his head. ‘The disease is voracious among these Taiytakei. Worse than I've ever seen. They have no resistance to it. Or perhaps there's something to the nature of their world that encourages it to thrive. Or perhaps. . perhaps my potions are not as strong as they were.’
Zafir's eyes were savage. ‘You will keep it contained, alchemist. You will.’
‘Of course, Holiness.’ He bowed again. ‘There are other-’
‘Other what?’
‘Listen! Holiness! Please! I will treat your disease as best I can. It can be slowed — stopped, even, if you keep away from eggs and the youngest hatchlings — but it cannot be removed. Drink my potions and do as I say and it will not spread further. Do not share your blood or your bed with any other or the disease will pass to them.’ His shoulders drooped and he shook his head. ‘You cannot bear heirs. They will die. I'm so very sorry.’
Zafir looked aghast. ‘Heirs? That's the first thing you think I need to hear?’
Bellepheros was still shaking his head. ‘I'll warn Baros Tsen T'Varr if you wish. Perhaps that's for the best. But listen! Listen! I'll tell you more later, everything you want to know, you have my word. What matters now is this: the Elemental Man, he's the danger, to you most of all. I'll help you to fly, I'll help them to make whatever is needed — harnesses, armour, everything — but you'll have that man at your shoulder every moment of your life now and you must know that he's there. He'll hear every word and see every deed. Whenever the time comes and you turn on these men who have enslaved you, I will not stop you nor will I speak of it, but my duty above all, above either my freedom or yours, is here among these dragons now. I must keep them from waking. There is no one else who can. Do you understand what a woken dragon means, Holiness?’
‘I. .’ He could see straight away that she didn't. Someone had shown her the dragon they kept under the Purple Spur, the woken monster weighted down in chains. Every speaker was shown the same. A dragon, true and undimmed, and yet they rarely understood because the dragon was chained and held in a cavern too small for it to ever escape. It was a rare speaker who had the vision to see what it would become, free and in the sky and with its chains shattered.
‘No. It doesn't matter. The Elemental Man. Whatever you do, you must think his eyes are there. One slip and he will know. Enchanter's glass, gold, silver — he cannot penetrate those things and that's why they build with them. There may be others, but if there are I don't know of them.’ He glanced out of the windows. Taiytakei soldiers were hurrying towards the egg. They didn't have much time. ‘There's something else. The dragons. They're. .’ How to make her understand? ‘There's a reason why there are no Elemental Men in the realms, no enchanters, no artificers, no navigators, no sorcerers, no warlocks, no arcane priests, mages or whatever else they like to call themselves. The dragons. . they eat their power. They drain it from the world. I've seen it already. The Elemental Man — when he comes here, the dragons make it hard for him. It might be a way to stop him. But it's making the dragons restless too. They have a vigour and an energy to them, more than I've ever seen. You must know this. Be wary when you ride them. .’ The soldiers had reached the egg. Bellepheros closed his eyes. There would be punishment for this. They wouldn't know what he'd said but they'd know he'd come here to deal in secrets and somehow defy them.
Zafir tore at her silk tunic and raked her hands through her hair. One hand snaked around his neck. For a moment her fingers dug into his throat and he felt how strong she was. She was quivering with anger. She hissed at him, ‘Never forget who I am, alchemist.’ Then she took his other hand and pulled it to her. As the egg split open once more, she pressed him to a wall, her face to his. She was hard and soft under his fingers. She held him exactly for the moment the ramp opened and the soldiers outside stared at them, then let out a little groan and breathed in his ear, ‘Let them think this is why. But do not forget this, alchemist. Any of it.’ She stepped away, shameless, licking her lips, all curves and shadows beneath the disarray of her silk, then stopped and looked at him again, puzzled. ‘What were you doing, alchemist, out there with that dead hatchling?’