Confused and pensive, Sara set the squires to work preparing to leave. If the general wanted them to return to Neraka, then Sara intended to get them all back to the city that day. She did not want to stay in this place another hour longer than they had to.
By enlisting the cooperation of the four dragons, Sara sent the talon and their prisoners back to Neraka in two shifts. The dragons made the first trip between the village and the city carrying a rider and two prisoners each They returned just before nightfall to retrieve Sara and the remaining squires.
Kelena felt strong enough by that time to ride Howl, so they put a bound-and-gagged prisoner behind her saddle, bundled her in a cloak and gloves, and helped her onto the dragon's back.
Derrick and Saunder helped Sara put Jacson's body onto Squall's saddle. Squall, who had carried Jacson the most, asked for the honor and watched sadly as they tied the wrapped body in the second seat. Derrick climbed into the first seat to escort Jacson home.
At last they were ready to go. Sara had one prisoner with her, a squat, muscular man. But she doubted she would have any trouble with him during the flight. His wrists were bound to the saddle, and he looked terrified to be on a dragon's back.
She gave the signal to Cobalt to take off, and one after another, the four blues launched into the darkening sky for the journey home.
On the western horizon, where the peaks of the great Khalkists reared up like a black fortress against the pale blue light of sunset, a sliver of the silvery moon hung in solitary grace.
A new moon, a new month. A new hope?
Sara doubted it.
20
The talon returned to their usual routine the following morning: training, service, labor, and guard duty, to be repeated again the following day and every day there after until further notice.
In between duties, they buried Jacson in the hills by his talon-mate, Tamar, in a hole blasted out of the frozen ground by the dragons. They placed his armor-clad body on his cloak and put his weapons beside him. Sara laid the bolt he had taken for her sake in his hand, and, her eyes blurred with tears, she tied her last hair ribbon around his arm-a token of esteem from a lady.
The others left him tokens, too, small remembrances of his presence among them, then reverently they piled the dirt over his grave and stood back and watched the dragons build a cairn of stones over the mound.
Sara fervently hoped she would not have to add any more graves to this lonely hillside.
Two days later Governor-General Abrena returned to Neraka, and after dealing with Torceth and making sure the city's affairs were in order, she sent her goblin to summon the Sixth Talon.
He found Sara and the squires on the practice fields with another recruit talon practicing hand-to-hand fighting. He sidled up to Sara and, bobbing his head, delivered his message.
Annoyed, Sara called in her recruits. She had no desire to see the governor-general and could not imagine what Abrena would want with them.
The goblin shifted nervously when she asked and grumbled, "Don't know. Governor-general say come."
Sara sighed and led the talon after him.
The goblin took them to the general's headquarters in the same house Sara had visited before. She had not been there in some time, since Mirielle liked to spread the honor of squiring her dinners among the knights.
They filed down a long hallway to a large room at the north end of the house. Sara felt her interest revive the moment she entered the room. Everywhere she looked there were maps hung on the dark paneling-ancient maps, recent maps, on parchment, on vellum, and even on bark-of every known part of Ansalon from the new Teeth of Chaos in the north to the massive Ice Wall Glacier to the south. The maps showed trails, high roads, villages, cities, fortresses, ruins, and landmarks.
Then Sara's eye was caught by a large table that stood in the center of the room. On the table sat the most amazing map Sara had ever seen of Neraka and its surrounding environs, from Estwilde in the north, as far east as the Blood Sea, down to Blode in the south and Throt in the west. Instead of being flat, the map was a three-dimensional relief map in bold colors of greens, blues, browns, and reds. Sara could identify the mountains and volcanic peaks around Neraka and Sanction, the towns and villages, the main rivers and ports, the realm of the Khur, and marked in red, the spreading domain of the dragon, Malystryx.
The map captured Sara's attention so completely that she did not pay attention to the four officers standing across the room from the talon.
Only when Governor-General Abrena moved to a side table to lift a wine bottle out of a bowl of snow did Sara look up. She recognized immediately that something of significance was about to occur. The first person she saw was Lord Knight Cadrel, his diseased face shadowed by a hood. In his left hand, he carried the scepter of the order's adjudicator, or judge. Beside him stood a gray-robed sorcerer, a Knight of the Thorn, and a grim-visaged woman wearing the emblem of the Order of the Skull. Three knights, three orders, and the general.
Sara's mental alarms began to clamor.
Mirielle refilled her glass from the chilled bottle pushed it back into the slush, and turned to her audience, all with the graceful, deliberate movements of a hunter. She smiled now and said, "I understand several of your squires requested to take the Test of Takhisis."
Sara stiffened, her internal alarms in full howl.
Six of the seven squires exchanged uneasy glances.
Only Treb stepped forward gladly. "Yes, General. I was supposed to take my test the day we captured the the village."
"Then you will be pleased to know that your involvement in the attack on the village was your test. For your valor, your skill, your adherence to the Code-" and here she quirked an eyebrow at Sara, "-we have found you all worthy to join the Order of the Lily."
Sara was flabbergasted. She stood and stared, too shocked to find the words she wanted to say. This was not how the test was usually applied! She couldn't believe these older knights actually agreed to this. These squires had not completed their training; they had not proven themselves in anything but one botched massacre, nor had they given an accounting of themselves before these ranking knights. What was Abrena looking for, knights dedicated heart and soul to Takhisis or whatever she could get tied by an empty vow?
Suddenly Sara heard the general say, "You will spend your vigil in solitary prayer to the Dark Queen this day. Tonight at midnight, if the priestess deems you worthy, you may take your vows. Please follow Lord Knight Atochia. She will take you to our new temple."
Treb moved first, her enthusiasm glowing in her face as she joined the cleric. Saunder looked at Derrick, then back at Sara. The girls just stared at the floor.
No, Sara thought with all her being, don't go!
But whether they wanted to or not, they had little choice. To refuse at this stage, in front of the general, the adjudicator, and two ranking knights, would be blasphemy and cause for immediate execution.
Derrick knew this as well as everyone else. Nevertheless, he seemed to hesitate. His body swayed slightly, and he could not bring himself to look at anyone. Finally, just as the general's face was hardening into a frown, he moved slowly after Treb. The others fell into line behind him.
Sara's heart lurched. She clenched her hands into iron fists at her sides and concentrated on the pain of her nails digging into her palms. It was all that helped her contain her anger and grief. They aren't ready, her mind cried over and over. They aren't ready!
No, said her heart. I'm not ready. I'm not ready to lose them. Wordlessly she watched them file out of the room to go to the Temple of Takhisis for their vigils.