'Wait.' I grabbed his sleeve.
'No.' He wrenched himself free and rounded the archway corner, his receding footsteps a sharp staccato of fear.
'His decoy won't last much longer,' Ryko said, heading towards the end of the passageway.
'We've got to move fast. The guards will be checking every area.'
The sounds from the carriage yard had already quietened. We stood for a moment in the safety of the passage and studied the large space we had to cross. A long paved path curved and climbed across a bridge, beside a pond and around a small pavilion in the traditional tranquillity formation. Red Twelfth Day festival lamps hung in blossom trees. A night perfume — jasmine — flavoured the air with a soft honey It should have been a beautiful garden, but the whole effect was ruined by the squat hill in the north-northwest corner. I could already sense the menacing power that hung over it.
'It's clear,' Ryko murmured. 'Come on.'
We cut across the manicured grass, weaving between the blossom trees. Ryko moved fast, the space between us
lengthening as my bad leg jarred against hidden dips in the ground. He became a shadow ahead of me, flickering between the trees, the glow of a festival lamp briefly highlighting the sheen of his skin or a glint of metal. I checked the archway; it was still quiet. Ryko had gone from view. I passed the pavilion, its walls curtained with trailing wisteria. Not far to the library now. I dug my fist into my hip to stop the ache, my jog slowing into a limping walk.
The path was in front of me. Just a few more steps.
Something was lying on the paving stones. Something big.
I stopped. It took a moment to make sense of the contorted form. Ryko; his body twisted in agony. He rolled over to face me, the effort forcing out a muffled scream. His forehead and neck were straining with corded veins, his teeth bared.
'Stay back!' His words collapsed into a gasping moan as he writhed across the path, his head hitting the flags with a dull thud. I scrabbled across the paving, thrusting my hand under the back of his skull before it smashed against the stones again. The weight of his head ground my knuckles into the flags.
'They must have come out of the hill,' he panted. 'Run!'
He was holding his belly, dark blood seeping through his fingers. Had he been stabbed? I looked wildly around. The hill crouched above us, a curved black metal door set into its side like a screaming mouth. No one could have come out — the door had a huge padlock on it.
'Leave me. Get out,' Ryko said. 'Now!'
'No,' I said, a spark of anger burning across my fear. I couldn't leave him to die. At the edge of my sight, something shimmered. I swung around. For a moment, I saw huge opal talons crisscrossing the hill like a cage and an eye above it, as dark as an abyss.
The Rat Dragon.
Across the garden, the archway flickered with light. Torches. They were still in the inner courtyard, but it wouldn't be long before they checked the garden.
'Ryko, they're coming,' I whispered. 'We've got to hide.'
He nodded, his teeth clenched together. 'Trees?' he gasped.
They were too far away. Too evenly spaced for cover. I twisted around, searching for another option. The doorway? Would the Rat Dragon's power force the guards back too? If we hid in the shadow, maybe they wouldn't come close enough to see us.
Against the door,' I said.
I sat behind him and straddled his body with my legs, hooking my arms under his armpits.
'Come on. Help me.'
He dug his feet in and pushed as I hauled backwards. We crept across the paving, his weight grinding my bones into the stone and crushing my chest. Each heave forced a tiny moan from him and pressed my own breath out in rough gasps. Would the guards hear us? The stain on the front of his tunic was getting bigger, wetter, denser. So much blood. I pressed my palm against his stomach, trying to find the source of the bleeding.
The cloth wasn't wet.
I lifted my hand: no blood. No stain.
It wasn't real. None of it was real.
'Ryko, you're not bleeding. The Rat Dragon is doing it.'
I saw his eyes roll back.
'No!' I jabbed my fingers into the muscle behind his collarbone. If he passed out, I'd have no chance of moving him. 'Stay awake. It's not real.'
He grunted in pain, his eyes focusing. 'Leave me,' he breathed. 'Run. You mustn't be found.'
He pushed at my hands.
I hauled us backwards again. He scrabbled weakly, trying to help. Another heave and my shoulders hit something solid. The door. I wriggled out from under Ryko, crawling around to roll him into the shadows. He was still breathing, but in shallow gasps. I rocked back onto my heels. If the guards made it up as far as Ryko had, the shadow cast by the hill wouldn't hide us. We would be seen. I pulled myself back against the cold metal of the door. All that effort for nothing.
I looked up at the padlock. We had to get in. But Ryko was in no condition to pick it. I reached up and grabbed the heavy lock, hanging my weight from it. Solid. I shook it. Metal against metal. Immoveable.
I looked over my shoulder. Down the path, one of the lights was now a defined flame, outlining the man who carried it. Fear sobbed in my throat.
There was one last chance. The Rat Dragon. Could I call him? Tellon said it was impossible, but I knew I had some kind of connection. Groping desperately for my Hua, I drew it up through my seven centres of power. It was like picking up fine sand in my hands, the Hua slipping between the fingers of my control until only a small amount was left, pooled in the cup of my mind. Focusing every part of my being, I hurled it towards the Rat Dragon. A terrible dragging pain made me sway. For a moment, I was hollow. A husk. In my mind, I could see the blue dragon hunched over the hill, his claws intertwined around it. The huge head lifted, the unblinking eyes staring at me. Confusion. Reluctance. He lifted his head and shrieked; a scream of resentment. Then something roared through me, like the searing howl of a fire wind. Pure energy. With a crack, the padlock split, jerking me downwards.
I hung there for a moment, gaping at the broken lock above me.
The Rat Dragon had answered.
Ryko groaned. I ripped out the padlock and pushed against the door. Silently, it swung inwards. A passageway. I grabbed Ryko's arm and pulled as he scrabbled backwards. We slowly moved into the narrow space. As soon as his feet cleared the threshold, I scrambled over him and shut the metal door, sealing us into complete blackness.
I leaned against a wall and took a deep breath. Ryko's gasps were lengthening into a natural rhythm. I touched the wall. Stone. The floor too. Beside me, I felt Ryko stir.
'Did they see us?' His voice sounded normal.
'No, I don't think so.' I reached out, my hand banging into the solid muscle of his chest. Are you all right?'
'Yes.' I felt his hand brush mine as he spanned his stomach, searching. 'You were right. It wasn't real.' He laughed, the relief making the low rumble catch in his chest.
Now that my eyes had adjusted, I could see his solid darkness sitting in front of me, outlined by the faint light coming from under the metal door.
'You weren't affected?' His voice was tinged with awe.
'Not as much,' I said shortly. It wasn't the time to discuss my connection with the Rat Dragon.
I pushed myself up into a crouch. 'Let's get moving.'
'Wait.'
I heard the rustle of cloth and the sound of something hollow being set on the floor. Then the scrape of a striker. A spark arced across the darkness. Another flash and then, with a faint pop, a small flame burst on the ground, burnishing the planes of Ryko's face with bronze. I blinked in the sudden light, taking a moment to see the small clay pot holding the fire.
'Sap powder,' Ryko said with satisfaction. He looked up at me and grinned. 'Trick of my old trade.' He dug into his waist pouch and produced two candles, thrusting the first into the flame and lighting the wick. Even as he withdrew the second, the sap fire had begun to die away.