Season of the Dragon, page 26
The two women eased across the ladder.
The remaining Kovatha was having trouble bending the dragons to his will. Jijig, no longer subject to a prod, flew erratically, the yindril gripping Jijig’s long neck with overly long arms and hands. Using varying chirps and clicks, Jijig called to the other two dragons. The last Kovatha slapped hard against the hide of the dragon he was on, sending jolts of sky-fire into it.
Quen had vowed to bring Vahgrin to justice, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to despise these three dragons. The Dynasty has done them an injustice, like Nivi and me.
Dump your rider, Jijig. Lead the others and fly away. To where, Quen didn’t know. There must be a place where dragons can be free of the Dynasty and that dragon cult.
From deep within, Quen’s second heart thrummed wildly. The unwelcome voice within said, “Bídea wheha, Jijig.” The Nixan repeated this inside Quen’s mind, making her head pound and ache. Finally, Quen blurted out loud, “Bídea wheha, Jijig!”
The chartreuse dragon cocked its head as if listening. Quen’s neck ridges burned, and her Nixan counterpart forced the foreign words from her mouth again. “Bídea wheha, Jijig!” This time, Quen’s voice came out deeper and more sonorous.
Jijig called again to the other dragons and, with the yindril still riding, turned north. The dragon with a Kovatha passenger swooped straight up, then lunged downward. She whipped her tail against her rider’s thighs and unseated him. The Kovatha tried to cling to the dragon, but its scaly skin was slippery, and he couldn’t find purchase. Flying low to the ground, he tumbled. The mage pushed off the ground, covered in grey dust, winded but alive.
By the time the Kovatha stood, Jijig had led the other dragons away. She called in a low, mournful voice, not unlike yindrils keening, and the yindril’s cry joined Jijig’s, but soon their voices were heard no more. The dragons flew higher and higher until they were dots in the sky. Quen didn’t know what she’d said or where the dragons and yindril went.
Aldewin was now across the divide, as were the rest of the pod save for Druvna, Quen, and Nivi. Druvna practically danced across the ladder. “You’ve gotta leave the hair bag behind, Quen.”
The remaining Kovatha with the injured shoulder ambled toward them. “I’ll take good care of him.” He sneered. “He’ll be back in a cage where he belongs. As will you.” The mage hurled a tight ball of fire at Quen.
Quen’s reflexes, only part human, were swift. She bent backward, and the mage’s fire attack scorched the air over Quen’s bent body.
The mage’s face was red like Imbica’s from exertion. He wound his arms, but they were shaking.
He’s tuckered out as well. Quen suspected the last volley he’d thrown had been the strongest he had left. But I’m not waiting on the edge of this precipice to find out.
“I promised my friend he’d never see the inside of a cage again. If you want to take him, it will be over my dead body.” Quen pulled the thin blade from the scabbard on her right hip and leaped. She had spring in her legs she hadn’t known before, and she bounded unnaturally high and far. Quen slashed downward with the blade, slicing the front of the man’s tunic clean in two. His torso gushed crimson, and his hand instinctively felt at his chest to assess the damage. While he was still gaping at what she’d done, Quen sliced from right to left, opening his belly. The Kovatha mage, his mouth agape, fell into his own entrails with a sickening squish.
“By the grace of the Three, I’m glad you’re on my side.” Druvna motioned for her to hurry across the ladder. “Be quick now.” He grabbed for the hammer hanging at his belt. “After you get across, I’ll break it down, so no chance of any Dynasty guards following on foot.”
Quen wasn’t keen on putting her life in the hands of such weak-looking wood and was even less enamored with leaving Nivi behind. She pressed her mouth to the cat’s ear. “You can make it, my friend. With the heart of Niyadi, the grace of Lumine, and Juka’s breath at your back, we can do this.”
Nivi knelt, and Quen hitched her leg astride. She tugged lightly on his mane, steering him from the edge.
“Suda, Quen! What in Vay’Nada are you doing?” Rhoji screamed. “It’s too far. Even for Nivi.”
The Jagaru pod and Imbica stood on the other side of the gorge, eyes wide and clearly worried for her. All except Mishny, who stood with arms crossed, glaring.
Quen gripped Nivi’s ribs tightly with her thighs and leaned forward, her face next to his ear. “Don’t listen to them, Nivi. I know you can do this.” The encouragement was more for her sake than his.
“Hika!” Quen shouted. She kicked lightly, and Nivi ran at full speed. His muscles rippled beneath her. Icy, damp wind whipped out of the river gorge.
The exhilaration of danger made her head swim, and her heart thrummed its unusual double thump. The ground melted away, the path lost in a black void.
Nivi roared as he stretched his mighty front legs and pushed off with his back. He leaped into the icy air.
Time stretched ahead while below, her friends shouted encouragement. Nivi’s roar still rippled through the air. We’re going to make it.
Nivi’s front paws grabbed at the edge of the canyon wall. His long claws dug into the frozen dirt, his eyes showing whites. Quen wound her arms tightly around him as his back end swung downward. Her knees hit the rock wall as they slammed into the cliff face.
Druvna’s hammering echoed in the deep canyon. Shel screamed, and voices shouted out to her.
Nivi’s muscles shook with the effort of holding them.
“Hold on, and trust me. I won’t let you go.” She hollered into his ear to be heard over the roar of the raging water below. Quen found a handhold on the rock above, dug her fingers into frozen dirt, and pulled herself up. She reached the top of the rock wall and crawled on her belly as she edged onto a patch of frozen ground.
Without taking time to regain strength, she leaned over the side. While Quen reached for Nivi, someone grabbed her legs.
Aldewin fell to the ground at her side and grabbed Nivi’s paw. “Pull us, Rhoji.”
Rhoji yanked Quen backward as she and Aldewin pulled Nivi with all their might. Together, they hoisted the giant snow tiger out of the canyon.
On solid ground again, Nivi shook his mane, icy droplets spraying them. He roared approval.
Rhoji hugged Quen. “Come before Mishny gets so angry she stabs one of us.”
I wouldn’t put it past her. She seems to enjoy stabbing people.
Mishny stood atop a rock wall nearly eight feet tall and gestured for them to follow. Hoisting herself and Nivi out of the canyon had made Quen’s arms feel like they would come out of their sockets. She hoped she’d make it up because there was nothing behind to run back to.
Imbica, Shel, and Eira were already running through the dark tunnel into the mountain. Aldewin entered the tunnel and created a ball of mage light, illuminating their path. Rhoji followed behind him, and Nivi chirped as he entered the tunnel.
Quen stood at the base of the rock face, waiting for Druvna. She yelled, “Come on, Druvna!” The old man might not make it up the wall without my help.
Druvna drew back his hammer and gave the sturdy wood a firm whack. “One more strike and—” The wood finally split, severing it from the canyon’s edge. The ladder fell into the chasm and crashed on the boulders below.
Druvna pushed up and looked pleased with himself. He wiped the sweat from his brow, his split lip curled in a smile. “That’ll do it.” As he stowed his hammer, the air crackled with the hiss of fire.
The mage Indris, who’d fallen like a huge black bat, limped toward them. Her face was so pale she looked ghostly. Her black robes clung to her side where the blade had struck her, but apparently, it wasn’t deep enough to be fatal. Indris’s hair was disheveled, and pale-grey dust covered her once-pristine black robes. The lone and injured Kovatha conjured a sky-fire blade and flung it at Druvna’s back.
Quen called out, “Druvna!” But the magical blade conjured from the void hit Druvna while Quen’s words still echoed off the granite walls around them.
His look of joy gone, Druvna cried out in agony. Quen rushed to him. Druvna lay face-down, his back an angry bleeding ulcer, his fingers still gripping his hammer.
Engulfed in rage, Quen didn’t consider the additional scar on her heart. I’ll get justice for Druvna, even if I still haven’t gotten justice for Pahpi. She grabbed Druvna’s hammer and flung it with all her strength. By the grace of the Three, the hammer struck the mage’s chest, knocking the wind out of her. As the mallet fell into the icy canyon, the mage’s chest opened like a cracked egg, the insides spilling out. She fell into the deeps below, crashing onto the jutting rocks at the bottom of the canyon.
“Good riddance, you blighted shadow-spawn bitch.” The curse felt good. Quen knelt and pulled Druvna over and toward her. His breaths were ragged, his eyes glassy. She searched her belt pouch for the poultice Aldewin had given her. “Stay with me, Druvna.” Her hands shook as she opened the bag, hot tears welling.
Mishny scrambled down the rock wall and rushed toward them. “Get away from him. Don’t you touch him.” Mishny’s voice reeked of contempt. She pushed Quen away and gave her a look that could boil leather. Quen kicked at the rocks and backed away to give Mishny room.
“Them Kovathas got no honor among ‘em, do they?” Druvna said. His voice was hoarse, his split lip making his shallow breaths whistle.
“Not a shred of honor,” Mishny said. Tears rolled down her dusty cheeks as she held him to her. “You’ll have to teach the lot of ‘em a lesson, you will. ‘Bout honor.” Her lower lip quivered.
“The pod is yours now. Watch over ‘em, woman. They’re young.” He coughed. “They need you guidin’ ‘em more than they know.”
Mishny rocked him. “The pod’s still yours, you crusty old bastard. Don’t leave me. You promised you’d always have my back.” Black kohl liner streaked her face.
Druvna raised a shaky arm and pointed at Quen. “Get that one to Val’Enara.” His glassy eyes looked as though he was trying to bring her face into focus. His hand plopped to the ground. “She’s…”
Druvna’s eyes were vacant, his body as still as stone. His head flopped to the side. Druvna was no more.
Mishny shook him. “Wake, you bastard!” Her guttural scream echoed in the canyon. “You promised we’d be a team to the end.”
Hiyadi now kissed the horizon, his light fading fast from the world. The temperature was dipping quickly. Cold and grief-stricken, Quen shivered. She lightly tugged at Mishny. “Come. We must meet up with the others.”
Mishny flinched. “Leave me! You as good as killed ‘im.”
The words stung. “I know you’re hurting, but he died trying to protect us. We do his memory no service if we remain here and perish from the cold.”
Mishny turned on Quen, her eyes red with tears and rage. “He died protecting you—a freak. A damned slint wearing a human skin is what you are. And it’s your fault he’s dead.” She rocked him harder, her voice cracking with emotion. “And don’t dare tell me how to honor him. You don’t speak of him again. Ever.”
Without another word, Mishny cut Druvna’s coin purse from his belt and pulled his good khopesh blade from the scabbard. She took his dented Jagaru helmet and put it on her head. There was no Nilva. No prayers to Lumine or the Brothers. Mishny unceremoniously rolled Druvna to the edge and into the chasm. The roiling water was so loud that it masked the sound of Druvna’s body crashing on the below rocks.
Mishny wiped her face and ran to scramble up the rock wall. She didn’t look back and didn’t offer to help Quen.
Staring down into the deep gorge, Quen tried to see where Druvna had landed. She wished Mishny had allowed her to say a quick Nilva for the man before abruptly pushing him into the chasm’s shadow. Druvna followed Vaya di Vatra—the Way of Fire—in life. She hoped he’d find his way to the arms of Hiyadi in death. Please, Brothers, open your arms for Druvna. I pray Hiyadi shines his light upon you, Druvna, now and forever. She wiped her runny nose with her sleeve.
Grief made everything ache. Her arms were like two soggy tubers gone to mush. Quen clambered up the wall and dug her fingers into the ice on the ledge above, but they were already tired from helping hoist Nivi. Heartache sapped her strength to pull. She hung like a carcass, her legs scrambling in vain to push up. She howled in frustration.
Strong hands gripped her wrists. “Mourn him later,” Rhoji said.
Hearing his voice renewed her resolve. With Rhoji’s help, Quen pulled herself to the rocky ledge. Imbica had come back with Rhoji. I figured she’d leave us behind the first chance she got.
“Quickly, Quen,” Imbica said. “We must catch up with the others.”
Imbica mumbled an incantation, and a mage light hovered in the air ahead, casting a bright blue-white light onto the chiseled stone walls. Quen followed Imbica, and Rhoji took up the rear as they entered the mountain pass. Quen and Rhoji had to duck and walk single file and hunched over.
“How far is it?” Quen asked.
“I don’t know,” Rhoji answered. “I had gotten only partway when Imbica called me back to help you.”
They walked into a dark abyss of unknowns, hearts heavy with another loss. Nivi’s roar echoed ahead in the stone corridor. It was the signpost Quen moved toward as she ran through the dark, but to what, she didn’t know.
Chapter 19
Extricated
Extricated from Qülla but cut off from all routes save the one, Quen followed Imbica into a murky tunnel caked with ice. The cave’s black basalt walls devoured Imbica’s blue-white mage light. It’s like being trapped in a stone tomb.
At last, a cool breeze chased away the dank, musty air, and the darkness dissipated. Ahead were familiar voices. Shel and Eira gathered wood in a green alpine meadow of silky grass and wildflowers. Nivi lay washing in a cozy grove of white-barked trees, their shimmery leaves dancing in the late-afternoon breeze. Protected from harsh winds, the grove was cool, but not frigid.
Across the clearing, Mishny hollered while Aldewin frowned and shook his head, his arms crossed. I wonder what they’re arguing about?
Eira and Shel hurried to meet them. Nivi stopped washing long enough to nuzzle Quen’s shoulder.
“We were concerned for you,” Eira said. He gestured toward Aldewin and Mishny. “Your arrival might stop their bickering. Aldewin wanted to return to get you, but Mishny ordered us to stay.”
Heat bloomed on Rhoji’s neck. “You were going to leave us?”
Eira looked wounded. “No.” He stretched out a hand to Rhoji but pulled it back. “I—we—wouldn’t leave you.”
Shel put in, “We knew that with Imbica, you’d be fine.” Shel said to Imbica, “You’re one powerful mage.”
Imbica, possibly unused to praise, nervously pushed stray hair from her face. “I am happy to be of service.”
Rhoji undid the leather thong tying his hair, and the late-day breeze caught his long, dark locks. “You two have ridden with Mishny longer than us. What’s going on here?”
Eira hunched his shoulders.
Shel said, “She and Druvna were close in their own way. She mourns him.”
“Mishny blames me for Druvna’s death.” Quen sighed. “She’s right. If Druvna hadn’t come to Qülla—”
“And you think blaming yourself, or accepting the lash of Mishny’s tongue, will bring him back?” Imbica said.
“Well, no, but—”
“Druvna lived by his own terms.” Imbica’s eyes were watery, and she swallowed hard. “He died doing what he believed. That’s more than most can say. He had an honorable death. One fitting a noble Jagaru.”
The statement was true but surprising, coming from Imbica.
From behind, Mishny clapped slowly. “Gracious speech, Kovatha. Too bad you didn’t live by that sentiment when it could have helped him avoid torture in Qülla’s dungeon. Or have you forgotten you’re the one that put him there?”
Imbica smoothed her tunic. “I have not forgotten. I cannot undo it now.”
Rhoji sighed. “You two can cast blame on the long walk ahead. For now, let us camp, rest, and rejoice that we still live. Druvna would want that, right?”
Shel raised her water skin in the air. “Hear, hear. We’ll drink a Sayari ale toast to Druvna.” She wiped a tear. “And pass the heja.”
Mishny glared but held her tongue.
Quen didn’t care about ale, heja, or even food. All I want is answers only Aldewin can give. But he’d disappeared into the thick woods. “Where did Aldewin go?”
Mishny growled her answer. “To hunt. Animals, not children, so you might go hungry.”
It was a barb about Quen being a slint. Quen was moving on Mishny, intending to land a blow the woman wouldn’t soon forget. But Rhoji and Shel held her back.
“Come. We’ll hunt, too,” Shel said. She whispered into Quen’s ear, “And look for Aldewin.”
Mishny crossed her arms and smirked, baiting Quen to act like the monster Mishny accused her of being. Still Waters. I will not prove her right. Quen left Mishny to glower and followed Shel into the forest.
Hiyadi set, and they finished hunting by Niyadi’s pale light. Shel and Quen hadn’t found Aldewin while hunting, but he showed up to help them dress the game. After the hard riding and the battle to escape Suab’Hora Province, the charred flesh of rabbit and squirrel was a feast. Mishny pointedly avoided Quen but gathered around the fire with the rest to share the pipe and drink.
Camp was uncharacteristically hushed. Are they exhausted like me, or avoiding talk of Druvna? No one had an appetite for baiting Mishny’s ire. Eira played slow, sweet melodies on his double pipe flute. Shel’s eyes were closed, and Imbica lightly snored.
Quen’s body ached from the day’s labor. Still, her mind raced with unanswered questions—and anxiety about the increasing encroachment of her Nixan soul. But the pod’s plans were foremost on her mind. Since they were now wanted criminals, the pod needed to stay out of Qülla and the entire Suab’Hora Province for the foreseeable future. Though Indrasi was vast, knowing the Dynasty had a small army of Kovatha mages and possibly more dragons made it feel smaller to Quen than before.
