Kheda refolded the paper and took out a second missive. His heartbeat accelerated as he recognised Risala’s writing on the outside. He tugged at the cord around his neck and pulled the emerald and silver ring that was the key to Shek Kul’s cipher out from beneath his tunic. It was the work of a moment to make sense of the few brief lines of flowing script. He looked up at Ridu with a smile before calling across the gully. ‘Zicre, there’s something of an end in view. Risala, the poet I sent as my envoy to the north, she’s on her way back. She left at the crossing of the moons.’
Is that any kind of sign? Where were the stars and heavenly jewels when the last fading arc of the Greater Moon was matching the first renascent arc of the Lesser?
He looked up at the blue sky bleaching towards early evening, soiled with the dust of the dry season hanging heavy in the air. It took a distinct effort to picture the arcs of the unseen night sky.
Both moons are talisman against dragons, presumably because, as we now know, the beasts scorn both pearls and opals. I wonder if this magewoman of Dev’s will know why. So it must be a good sign that the Greater Moon was in the arc of life, along with the Mirror Bird that turns aside magic. The Lesser Moon rode in the arc of duty alongside the Horned Fish, another sign of renewal.
Was there anything significant opposite either moon, where the ancient sages said the dragon’s tail trailed? Opposite the Lesser, we had the Amethyst that warns against arrogance and the Canthira Tree that’s reborn through fire in the arc of foes. As it happens, that’s beside the arc of life. So with the Diamond beside the Pearl in the arc of children, along with the Net that offers support for us now and in the future opposite the Greater Moon, we have positive omens in twin opposition across the compass. And the Ruby that’s talisman against fire was shining among the stars of the Spear in the arc of death. ‘The compass of the heavens when she set out must surely presage the dragon’s fate coming from the north.’ He looked from Zicre to Ridu and back again with a broad smile, though he found it strangely difficult to summon up excitement over such signs. The thought of seeing Risala again was enough to drive everything else out of his mind.
That’s what’s really putting the smile on your face.
He looked down at the paper again, reluctant to put away even this insubstantial contact with her.
There must be some way we can escape everyone else’s eyes and find a little peace in each other’s arms. I’m doing my duty by Itrac, aren’t I?
‘My lord.’ Ridu cleared his throat. ‘May I speak freely?’
‘About what?’ Kheda looked up sharply. ‘I mean, yes, but we’ll have some privacy, Zicre.’ He shot a stern glance at the erstwhile hunter.
‘I’ll keep watch over there.’ The lean man shrugged and took himself off down the gully. Kheda looked at Ridu. ‘What is it?’
‘I stopped in the villages for food, as you instructed.’ The young warrior gripped his sword hilts so hard his knuckles whitened. He stared down at the ground. ‘I heard talk’
‘Go on.’ Kheda forced himself to speak calmly. ‘Talk about what?’
‘About the dragon.’ Ridu looked up, face muddy with apprehension. ‘About why it’s hunting us in the hills like this. Every village spokesman is asking his seer and any travelling augur if there are any signs to explain it.’
‘And what do these fortune-tellers say?’ Kheda kept his face pleasantly interested.
Ridu swallowed and glanced towards the cave entrance. ‘They are wondering—just wondering, my lord,’ he qualified hastily, ‘if the beast is hunting your barbarian.’
Kheda froze with shock. Why would it be doing that?’ Blood pulsed in his throat.
Ridu looked at Dev with naked suspicion. ‘It started out hunting down the wild men. They weren’t wizards but they came with them, tainted by their magic. Barbarians live surrounded by magic. They think nothing of it.’
Kheda tried to work out if Zicre was close enough to hear this. Dev’s lived in the Archipelago for more than half his life,’ he lied steadily. ‘He’s not been hunted by a dragon before.’ He regretted those words as soon as they left his mouth.
‘There hasn’t been a dragon to hunt him before,’ Ridu retorted.
Undeniably true.
Kheda pursed his lips. ‘I would need some more definite sign before I wanted to believe such a thing.’
‘The dragon never comes after any of us who go to find food or to carry dispatches,’ Ridu pointed out with growing boldness. ‘Would it be a sign if we sent Dev off alone and waited to see if the beast followed him?’
‘I’ll bear it in mind.’ Kheda realised he had crushed Risala’s letter in his hand. ‘But I won’t do any such thing until we’ve found out what lore the Green Turtle’s brought back from the north.’
‘A lot of the soothsayers are seeing no very hopeful signs that barbarian lore can help us.’ Ridu looked at him, honest doubt in his eyes.
‘We’ll have to wait and see.’ A noise in the scorched trees above the gully made Kheda look up. ‘Zicre, what’s that?’
‘Loals.’ The former huntsman came back down the gully. ‘I suppose that could be a sign of sorts, my lord.’
Kheda decided to ignore the insolence and watched the black-furred creatures picking their way along the edge of the gully, chittering with what sounded like displeasure at the ash stirred up by their steps. At this distance, when they stood upright to see their path more clearly, the animals looked oddly human, only betrayed by their strange rocking gait. The group paused some distance downwind above one of the larger pools left by the subdued river.
The biggest loal looked suspiciously at the three motionless men and barked a challenge, lips curling back to better display its impressively pointed eyeteeth. Its dark eyes were whiteless, shining points of light above its long, black-furred muzzle. It sprang down into the gully, poised on all fours, long tail lashing as it sniffed the air and barked again
‘Are they always this bold?’ Kheda asked quietly.
‘One that size is entitled to be bold, my lord,’ Zicre replied with a grin, tension momentarily leaving his lean face. ‘He could rip your arm off and club you senseless with it.’
‘Let’s allow him and his family their evening drink, then,’ said Kheda dryly. ‘You go and get something to eat. I’ll be a moment or so.’
The biggest loal watched warily as the two men picked their way carefully over to the cave. Sniffing the air again, it sneezed, scrubbing at its muzzle with its strangely human hands. Evidently deciding that Kheda was no immediate threat, it turned to chitter up to the rest of the group who climbed cautiously down into the gully. The half-grown infants released their grip on their mothers’ fur to drop down and lap at the puddles. Kheda watched with amusement as the first ones to quench their thirst began flicking mud at each other while the adults turned to foraging under stones for grubs and worms.
They all froze with barks of alarm and Kheda jumped. Then he realised that all the loals were looking at Dev who had got up from his uncomfortable bed across the cave entrance. He glanced incuriously at the creatures and walked over to join Kheda on his boulder.
‘So you’re going to throw me to the dragon if Yelindre doesn’t come up with the goods?’ he asked with something of his old combativeness.
‘What else was I supposed to say?’ Kheda hissed. ‘I won’t let it come to that. I owe you better and you know it.’
‘I’m not sure I’d mind if it did catch up with me.’ Dev hung his head, hands dangling loose between his knees. ‘I sure as curses don’t want to live like this much longer.’
‘You put it behind you before,’ Kheda began cautiously.