‘I nearly did. But I couldn’t because I love you.’
She turned, knowing she should slap him again for daring to toy with her emotions that way. But something in his tone stayed her hand.
‘That is an extraordinary statement,’ she said coldly.
‘But true.’
‘Well, you’ve had a strange way of showing it since.’
Denser looked up at her, his eyes glinting in the dim light. ‘I can’t be all that you need right now. If I’m honest, I do feel that I’ve made a huge sacrifice. Not just for you but for The Raven. But when it came to it, I couldn’t betray the faith you had shown in me. All of you. And much as Dawnthief tried to beguile me into taking the world with me, I couldn’t do it.’ He let his gaze drop back to the grass. ‘It’s funny. I never thought I’d live to see the spell cast but, when casting, my desperation that you should live overcame the terrible desire to see my life’s work completed.’
Erienne sat next to him and placed an arm around his neck, stroking his face where she had slapped it.
‘And now you have the chance to carry on a new life’s work, my love,’ she whispered. ‘You’ve spent all your life learning to destroy but, you and me, we’ve created something. You can make sure it isn’t allowed to die.’ She realised he was shaking. Whether it was chill or emotion she didn’t know for a while but when he turned to her he took her hands in his, and his face was wet with tears.
‘It’s what I want more than anything but inside I feel cheated. Don’t you see? Everything in my life has been peripheral to that damned spell ever since I can remember. It was drummed into me so hard there was no room for anything else. But now it’s gone and I have no centre, no core to keep me wanting to live through trouble and come out the other side.’ He brushed a hand across her cheek. ‘I know how hard that must sound for you and I know it’s wrong to feel that way but I do. What if I can never feel the way I did before? What if I can’t want something else as much as I wanted Dawnthief?’
‘You will, love. Trust me. All you have to do is try.’ She kissed his mouth gently, letting her tongue caress his lips. He forced her mouth open, his kiss becoming urgent, his hands suddenly at her back, pressing her to him. She warmed to his touch, wanting him but instead she pushed him away.
‘It’s not quite that easy,’ she said, feeling the heat in her face and the flutter of her heart. Their faces were close and he was smiling that genuine smile she had loved the first time she saw it but feared she’d seen for the last time.
‘But all this was put here for us. A soft patch of grass, the sound of the river and a hint of moonlight. It would be rude to pass it by.’
‘You ignore me for days and now this?’
‘Got to start somewhere.’ He moved a hand to caress her breast. She wanted to pull away but couldn’t find the will. And as she let herself be lain on her back, his kisses smothering her in repeated sensual blooms, she thought she heard footsteps creeping back towards the camp.
Sha-Kaan rested a while. Tiring of Flamegrass, he devoured the carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat. It took the edge off his hunger.
He contemplated his conversation with Hirad Coldheart, impressed at the human’s strength but unsure of the wisdom of his decision nonetheless. If it didn’t work, he knew he could move on but the thought of Hirad Coldheart’s inevitable death in that circumstance gave him no comfort. He had gambled and that was not something he did lightly.
And now he had to act. He crushed and swallowed the last of the bones, followed them with a bale of Flamegrass and shifted out of Wingspread, a command to attend flashing from his mind to a Kaan of whom he had need.
Sha-Kaan materialised in the river and drank long from its cool flow. Above him, the mist parted and a large young Kaan dropped into the Broodland, wings braking his descent, feet seeking purchase a little clumsily on an area of flat, pitted rock, his talons goring it deeply.
The Great Kaan picked his head from the river and rose up, his neck forming the formal ‘s’, his torso upright, the duller yellow scales of his belly exposed, front legs flat, his wings twitching for balance. He gazed at the young Kaan who mirrored his bearing but whose head was bowed in respect.
Elu-Kaan reminded him of himself at the same age - strong, large, confident in his abilities, yet nervous in the presence of his elders.
‘Skies greet you, Elu-Kaan,’ he said.
‘I am honoured by your call, Great Kaan,’ Elu responded.
‘I have work for you. Your Dragonene is, I understand, a mage residing in the Balaian city of Julatsa?’
‘Yes, Great Kaan, though I have not taken contact for several cycles. I have been fortunate in battle.’ His head bowed further, though his mind was as proud as it should be.
‘Fortune, it was not. Skill is your saviour.’ Sha felt a surge of pride from the youngster at his compliment. ‘But now I need you to travel interdimensional space to speak with your Dragonene, if you are able. The mages have protected their College with an energy derived from the dimension of the Arakhe. I fear that the gateway will be feeding power to the Arakhe and I cannot allow them ungoverned access to Balaia. Find out whether your portal can penetrate it but do not risk your life. There is risk in what I ask. Withdraw the moment you feel them press; they are a difficult enemy.’
‘I will begin at once.’ The young Kaan raised his head to assure Sha-Kaan of his intent.
‘Elu,’ said Sha-Kaan. ‘I must have an answer when the orb darkens the Skies.’
‘Yes, Great Kaan.’
‘I will be gone from the Broodlands for a short time. I must speak with the Veret. If I do not return, you must pick up the signature of Hirad Coldheart of The Raven. It will reside in the Mind of Wingspread and you alone have my permission to enter if I should die.’
‘I am honoured, Great Kaan.’
‘You are still young, Elu, but the greatness is in your heart, mind and wings. Learn from me and become Great Kaan yourself in time.’ Sha-Kaan stretched his wings. ‘May the Skies be clear for you.’
‘And you, Great Kaan. Be careful. The Brood needs you.’
Sha made no response. Calling his farewells to the Brood, he flew from the valley, heading north for the Shedara Ocean.
The skies were calm, the cloud high and the winds in the upper strata aided his flight. After exchanging greetings and instructions with the gateway defence, he climbed high above the cloud layer and drank in the radiance of the orb and the beauty of his world.
From the heights, the tranquillity lifted his heart and, for a beat, he could believe the world was at peace. Warm yellow-orange light flooded the sky, reflecting from the clouds and sparkling in his vision. He closed his inner lids and focused his mind below.
Nothing impinged on his consciousness. No flights of dragons moved the air contours, no clash of minds filled the void with noise, no barks told of battles to come, no cries of pain told of battles lost. Satisfied, he increased his wing beats and tore across the sky.
The Shedara Ocean filled the northern hemisphere. Where the vast lands of Dormar and Keol ended, so it began, its vastness punctuated only by islands, reefs and drifts of sand, immense on the tide, nothing in the flood. But it was a short-sighted dragon that ignored the land masses, however temporary their hold on dry air. The Veret, though marine in all their biology, chose to nest and breed in caves and hides where the sea was not forever above their heads.
Sha-Kaan knew where the Veret chose to Brood and he flew deliberately through the centre of their mind net before banking steeply up to await the inevitable response. It was not long in coming.