“Fight! Defend yourselves!” Abioye shouted, and I could see him on the back of the mechanical dragon, pulling levers one-handed as with the other he had drawn his long sword. But he was firing blindly into the Sea of Mists, and when he made the mechanical dragon release its dragon-breath again, this time it illuminated the bare fenland beyond—no Red Hounds.
Pheeet! Hisss! And still, the flaming arrows were falling amongst us. Hearing a scream, I turned to see that the wagon behind me was now on fire, and the Daza and laborers that we had brought with us from the Mines of Masaka were breaking from their hiding place and were fleeing into the mists.
“No!” I shouted. It was too dangerous out there—how many would charge headlong into the mud slicks!
But before I could shout another word of warning, there came a terrible, grinding sound like the gears of the mine machines, echoing through the unfathomable dark. It was a metal sound, and one that spoke of protesting and complaining gears…
The mechanical dragon! Spinning back around, I saw that Abioye’s mechanical dragon was listing to one side as if it had decided to lean down on one forepaw. Its head and neck were still moving, rising and falling awkwardly like a rabid dog, and the blue Earth-Light from its eyes was flickering on and off, on and off…
Something’s happened to it. It’s not working any more…
Abioye had sheathed or dropped his sword and was now feverishly pulling on the levers and handles, trying to control the beast. But whatever he was trying to do, it didn’t seem to be working as the dragon opened its metal maw and belched a plume of smoke—and then its head slumped downward, to hit the fenland with a wet thud.
Some mud or water must have gotten into its workings, I thought—and Abioye was too determined to save the mechanical dragon that he didn’t see the danger that he was in. I saw the shower of sparks as a flaming arrow skittered over the scalar hide of the mechanical monster’s back—only a couple of meters away from where Abioye was still raging and cursing as he tried to get his steed to wake up.
“Star’s damn it!” I hissed, breaking into a run towards the mechanical dragon as shapes of both guards and Daza were running past me. I don’t know if the guards were heading towards the attackers (who appeared to be on all sides of us) or had decided that the Daza and the laborers had the right idea. Either way, they ignored me as I ran past the last wagon—
Straight into the charging shape of one of the Red Hounds.
“Ach!” The figure knocked me to the ground, sending me sprawling across the dirt.
“Map-girl!” a familiar voice said, and as I rolled onto my back I saw that it was the captain of the mercenary outfit, Nol Baggar.
“You!” I spat up at him, whirling my legs to give me the momentum I needed to spring to my feet as the captain lowered his long sword in my direction.
“I must admit, we weren’t expecting the dragon…” Nol said to me as he circled warily around me. I could see the dark silhouette of the mechanical dragon rising behind him, and the red glare of burning wagons. Even though we were surrounded by shouts and screams—it felt as though we were the only two people left in the middle of the battle.
“What are you, some kind of feral?” the captain said as he tested the weight of his long sword. I had no idea what he meant at all and said nothing as I readied the tent pole across my body. I didn’t have time for this fight—my people were out there, panicked and alone, and Abioye was about to get shot—
But I had killed before, the dark thought rose in my heart. It had been an accident, sliding the Lady Artifex’s dagger into the heart of Chief Overseer Dagan Mar… But if I had killed a man once, then I could do so again… I told myself.
“You’re not trained at the Dragon Academy, that’s for sure.” Nol continued his one-sided conversation as he slowly stepped around me. He even managed to sound dismissive. “So, I guess that means you’re one of those feral dragon riders that I used to hear about… Stupid, mad fools who end up being more of a danger to their friends than their enemies…”
“Shut up,” I said, partly because I had to admit that his words stung.
“Little Sister!” Ymmen’s rage at the captain’s words was palpable in the back of my mind.
No, it wasn’t my bond with Ymmen that put my friends in danger, I inwardly scolded myself. I was capable of putting my people in danger all by myself—without any dragon’s aid…
“I’d be doing the world a favor, getting rid of you…” Nol said in a low tone, before springing forward with a fast slash with his longsword.
“Ah!” I managed to bring the pole I was using across just in time to feel the heavy judder as the mercenary’s sword bit into the wood, knocking splinters from it as I forced his attack away. But Baggar had already spun around with a sweep that would have taken my head off if I hadn’t ducked, fallen to the floor, and rolled—bouncing back up again as the captain of the Red Hounds jumped after me once more.
“Hyagh!” he shouted, and for a moment, in the red glare of the burning mists, I could see the man’s savage smile of excitement as he lunged for me again. Nol Baggar was a man who enjoyed fighting, it seemed.
I once again managed to turn his blade, before striking forward with the end of the pole, aiming for his face—only for the mercenary to sidestep my blow and use his long sword with two hands to hit my weapon with the flat of his blade.
Ach! The powerful blow shocked my arms and pulled my guard wide open—and Nol Baggar stamped forward, kicking me with his heavy, mud be-mired boots. I hit the ground once again, and the captain leveled his sword at me. “It’s over, map-girl. I’d like to say it’s been fun, but it really hasn’t…” He swept his sword back to skewer me to the floor.
“Ooof!” to suddenly be knocked backwards as Abioye barged into him.
Chapter 14
Into the Mists
“Get away from her!” Abioye shouted as he scrambled to his feet, drawing his own sword to stand between me and the captain of the Red Hounds. All around us was chaos, the air filled with the clashes of metal on metal, grunts and screams as the few remaining guards must’ve been trying to make a stand around the stilled body of the mechanical dragon.
But the Red Hounds and the burning wagons appeared to be everywhere. Even as I jumped to my feet, I knew in a heartbeat that we had been overrun.
It was a fact that Nol Baggar seemed to assess just as quickly as he backed away and slowly got to his feet before the young lord. He had dropped his blade, but the man did not appear worried at all.
“Look around you! You’ve lost, you stupid fool!” Nol Baggar shouted at Abioye. The mercenary captain kept moving to stay out of reach of Abioye’s blade, but he raised his gauntleted hands to gesture all around, where the fighting continued. “Do the sensible thing and give up. We’ll take you prisoner and ransom you back off to your sister,” Nol Baggar said irritably, as if this were all just a matter of procedure which Abioye and I were too simple to understand.
“I have a counteroffer,” Abioye hissed back. “Tell your men to retreat, or else I’ll kill you.” He had a steely tone in his voice, the same one that he had used when he had angrily reminded Homsgud and the other guards of their place.