‘Next you will tell me there is no Wild. And there is no Man.’ The captain smiled.
The Wyrm laughed. ‘You’ve taken this class before, I take it.’
‘I sat at the feet of some philosophers in the East,’ the captain said. ‘I had no idea they were dragons, although, now that I think of it-’
The Wyrm laughed again. ‘You please me. So I will answer your question. Man and the Wild, while being two sides of a coin, can live together – just as the coin lives perfectly well in the purse.’
‘Separate?’ the captain asked.
The Wyrm shrugged. ‘Nothing about a coin is separate, is it?’ he asked.
The captain leaned back in his very comfortable chair.
‘My brother died,’ Tom said. ‘He was your liege man, and he died. Tell us who killed him?’
The Wyrm shrugged. ‘He died outside my circle,’ he said. ‘I concede that I wasn’t paying very much attention. I further concede that while my mind was taken with other affairs, some of the Wild peoples crossed my lands without my leave. But in truth, Tom, and Ranald, my circle is a creation for my own convenience. I scarcely trouble men, in or out of it, and you two are the first to demand some sort of action of me in a long enough amount of time to be meaningless.’
‘So you won’t avenge him,’ Tom said. ‘Just tell me who killed him?’ he asked.
‘Are you telling me what I’m doing, or asking?’ the Wyrm asked politely. ‘Is this your question?’
Ranald leaned forward. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It sounds odd but it isn’t the Sossag I’m after, though they slayed Hector and me, too. It’s Thorn. Thorn sent them – he summoned them. Drove them to war.’
The Wyrm threw back his head and laughed. ‘Are you simple, Ranald Lachlan? The Wild Peoples do exactly as they please. They are not children. If they raided your brother, they did so apurpose.’
‘They’d never ha’ been at the fords if it hadn’t been for Thorn.’ Tom was insistent.
The Wyrm put his chin in his right hand. ‘How much of the truth would you like, hillman? Shall I tell you enough to spark an epic revenge? Or shall I tell you enough to render you incapable of action? Which would you prefer?’
Ranald chewed the end of his moustache. ‘What could you tell us that would make us unable to act?’ he asked.
Tom glowered.
The Wyrm sat back and put his pipe down, put his hands behind his head. ‘The Sossag who killed Hector is called Ota Qwan. He is a worthy enemy for you, Tom – driven, passionate, highly skilled. Your riddle is that, in time, your captain will want him as an ally.’ The Wyrm smiled.
‘And so you render Tom incapable of action?’ Ranald asked. ‘You don’t know Tom.’
The Wyrm shook his head. ‘No. Because behind Ota Qwan was Skadai, who made the decision to risk my wrath and raid the hillmen and the drove. He’s already dead, though. Behind Skadai is Thorn, who was pushed into war-’ the Wyrm was smiling, ‘-by one of my kind, to whom you and your brother are less than ants, and who wishes to encompass not just the end of your brother, but the death of every man and woman in the entire circle of the world. I should offer you my thanks – I have just realised that I have slept through a cycle of drama. Things are moving out in the world. Damn the lot of you.’
‘His name?’ Tom said.
‘Tom Lachlan, you are a name of fear among men from East to West. Daemons and wyverns wet themselves in fear at the mere mention of your name.’ The Wyrm gazed at Tom with affection. ‘But my kind – nothing in your arsenal can harm us.’
‘His name?’ asked Tom.
The Wyrm leaned forward. ‘I would like to deal with this myself.’
Tom slapped his thigh. ‘Now you’re talking, Wyrm. A good lord stands up for his man. But I’ll help ye. Tell me his name, and together we’ll put him down in the dust.’
The Wyrm shook his head. ‘Are you to be drover, Tom?’
Tom shook his head. ‘I doubt I could. I’d kill every loon as bade me nay.’
The Wyrm nodded. ‘Ranald?’
‘I’d be proud to be drover. But I seek to be knighted by the king – to have a little treasure – so I may wed a lady.’ Ranald felt like a small boy confessing to stealing apples.
‘None of these things is my concern,’ said the Wyrm. ‘Although the two of you are a pleasure to converse with.’
‘He’s the man of reason,’ Tom said. ‘I’m the man of war. Two sides of a coin.’
‘Nothing about a coin is separate,’ the Wyrm said.
Mag sat with her hands folded in her lap.
‘And how may I help you?’ the Wyrm asked her.
‘I’d like to defeat and destroy the sorcerer known as Thorn,’ she said.
‘Revenge?’ asked the Wyrm.
She shrugged. ‘A dog bit one of my children some years ago. He’d bitten other children. My husband went out with his crossbow and put the dog down.’ She met the Wyrm’s eyes. ‘I’m sure that there was some revenge involved.’
‘But it was, in the main, it was about the other children?’ asked the Wyrm.
She nodded.
‘You are a very modest woman,’ said the Wyrm. ‘You allow men to speak their minds, and you keep yours to yourself.’
She smiled and looked at her hands in her lap.
‘But you, the Goodwife of Abbington, intend to encompass the destruction of Thorn, who has put himself on the path to be a Power.’ His black eyes sought hers.
She wouldn’t let him in. ‘That’s right,’ she said easily.
The Wyrm whistled soundlessly. ‘This war that you have all just experienced has enhanced your powers to a wonderful degree. Indeed, I was able to see you – really see you – as far away as Albinkirk.’
Mag gave way to a satisfied chuckle. ‘I always knew I had the talent,’ she said. ‘But thanks to the old magister and the Abbess I know things, now.’ She looked up. ‘Terrifying things.’
‘Do you doubt God?’ asked the Wyrm.
Mag turned her head away. ‘Who are you to ask that? Satan?’
The Wyrm laughed. ‘Not hardly, Mistress. Satan’s idle young cousin, perhaps.’
‘Will you answer my question?’ she asked.
‘You haven’t asked one,’ he said gently. ‘You’ve implied that you’d like my help in attacking Thorn, and you’ve implied that you’d like to know if there is a god.’
She straightened her back. ‘I can find my way to God without you,’ she said.
‘Good,’ said the Wyrm.
‘I’d like your help with Thorn,’ she said.
‘That’s the other side of the same coin, surely,’ said the Wyrm. ‘If you can decide for yourself about God, you scarcely need me to tackle a mortal sorcerer.’
‘It would be easy for you,’ said Mag.
‘No argument at all. In the end, that would be me putting down the dog. For my reasons.’ He put his chin in his hands.
She shook her head. ‘I understand, but I’d like you to separate the two sides of the coin.’
‘Nothing about a coin is separate,’ the Wyrm said.
‘Nothing about a coin is separate,’ said the Wyrm.
The captain looked around to find all his companions also blinking like people coming out of sleep.
‘It has been a great pleasure meeting you,’ he said. ‘The beds are warm, and the fire is real enough, and the food is, if I say so myself, exemplary. Please don’t stint with the wine. I’d be affronted if you didn’t try the harp on the wall.’ He smiled at them. ‘I have little interest in the affairs of the world, but I am choosing to help you, almost entirely to serve my own ends. Which, I will add, are infinitely less threatening to you and yours than any of the rest of my kin’s might be. I seek only to be left alone – I have my own ambitions, and they have nothing to do with war, conquest, pain, or hate.’ He smiled, and just for a moment, they saw an enormous head with fangs the length of warships, slitted eyes as tall as church spires. ‘You will be my allies. You will go out in the world and serve my ends with your own plans and your free will.’ He smiled. ‘I doubt that we will succeed, but if we do we’ll have the satisfaction of having been vastly the underdogs.’ He nodded, as if to himself. ‘Ah – the party-favours. I’ve made certain artefacts – or gathered them – for this. To each, her own. And in parting-’ The Wyrm smiled at all of them. ‘May I leave you with some genuine wisdom, in place of all the humdrum claptrap? Do well. Act with honour and dignity. Not because there is some promised reward, but because it is the only way to live. And that is as true for my kind as for yours.’