and I knew it had to be you. Then, one afternoon, I heard your voice call me.”
Linsha sat up a little straighter in surprise. “What? When?”
They counted the days and the hours, and Linsha remembered the night she had fought Malawaitha and sent a mental cry into the night. She and the owl looked at one another and smiled in wonderment.
“Would you have gone all the way to Ithin’carthia, if we hadn’t escaped?” Linsha asked Crucible. She tilted her head to look at his horned face in the firelight.
“That was our intention,” Crucible said, his deep voice a muted rumble in his chest. “You saved my life. I could not leave you there to suffer slavery or worse.”
“But all the way across the Courrain Ocean?” said Callista. “That’s incredible. You must really-”
Linsha abruptly reached across the courtesan for the leaf bowl holding the last of the berries and bumped her hard with her elbow, cutting off the words Callista was about to say next. “Not now,” she muttered sharply. It seemed obvious to her that Crucible did not want to talk about anything more than simple subjects. If that was the case, then the last thing she wanted to discuss in front of Varia and Callista at this time was his feelings and motives for helping her. She wondered now if he had come to her rescue out of a lingering affection and respect for Iyesta and an ordinary obligation to the person who pulled the bolt from his back. After all, hadn’t he just said so?
Callista stared at her curiously, but she finished the sentence with, “You must be really tired.”
The dragon remained silent, his deep amber eyes glowing with firelight.
“Since you have seen Danian,” Linsha went on, a little too brightly, “I am guessing Wanderer’s tribe still survives?”
Varia bobbed her head, her “ear” feathers stiff with the importance of her news. “Oh, yes! That man is cleverer than a desert fox. He has a hidden fortress deep in the desert that the Tarmaks haven’t found yet, and he’s been gathering all the remaining warriors from tribe and clan to wage a clandestine war against the Tarmaks. Falaius is with him and the remaining militia.”
“What about Sir Hugh and Leonidas?”
“Leonidas is fine. He took Crucible out of the battle to find Danian then stayed with Wanderer’s group. There are some fine looking fillies there that I think have caught his eye.”
“And Sir Hugh?” Linsha prompted.
Varia blinked and reluctantly answered, “I don’t know where Sir Hugh is. He did not return after the battle and he has not shown up anywhere.”
“He’s dead?” Callista gasped.
Varia blinked again. “I don’t know. I heard in the Tarmak headquarters that a large group of prisoners and slaves had been brought back for the Akkad-Dar. Maybe he is there.”
“We will have to look for him when we go back for the eggs,” Linsha announced.
Owl, woman, and dragon looked at her in surprise, but no one said anything about her plan, not yet anyway. They were all too tired and the night was growing late. While Callista curled close to the warmth of the fire and Varia found a perch on Crucible’s back, Linsha crawled up to the dragon’s warm side and lay down beside him as close as she could get. He peered down at her for a little while until she was asleep, then he curved his neck and tail around her and enclosed her in the protection of his body. He slept, too-deep and well for the first time since the day she had disappeared.
The next day they left Karthay on wing and flew south as far as the island of Mithas before Crucible had to rest his wings and swim. The bronze dragon was an excellent swimmer and had the streamlined body, the powerful tail with the webbed ridges, and the webbed feet that enabled him to move quickly through the water. He usually swam underwater, but with the two women and the owl on his back, he stayed on the surface and cruised south like a dragon-prowed warship, dolphins racing playfully beside him. Even on the surface he could still move faster than any man-made ship, and he had the great southern current to help speed him along.
By flying and swimming, they covered the distance to the island of Elian that sat poised at the northeastern edge of Malystryx’s domain, the Desolation. Since they had no idea where Malys was, they decided to spend the night on the island, to rest, and gather stores, and leave before dawn the next day. The only way to avoid Malys’s domain-and hopefully Malys’s attention-was to swing wide to the east around the Desolation, then move southwest over the vast open expanse of the southern Courrain Ocean where the great southern current met the colder northern current flowing up from the Ice Wall to the distant south. The weather tended to be rough in that area, and the seas were often turbulent and dangerous. Crucible wanted to fly over as much of the region as he could bear so he did not have to inflict any rough weather on the thinly clad women. If all went well, they would be able to reach the eastern shores of Silvanesti in two days.
Luck for once was with them the next day. The weather remained balmy, and a steady wind from the north helped carry Crucible south across the expanse of water. They saw no sign of Malys, and the only ships they spotted were several large Minotaur warships that hovered on the horizon and quickly vanished to the west. Crucible made no attempt to chase them. Twice he had to land to rest his wings, but the waves remained moderate, and he was able to cover many leagues by using his tail for propulsion and his wing vanes as sails. They reached the elf realm of Silvanesti after nightfall of the second day, coming to shore on the long, narrow peninsula that was the easternmost tip of the elves’ realm.
Varia told Callista and Crucible about the fall of the shield that had once surrounded the elven realm and the invasion of the Knights of Neraka, and Linsha told them about the destruction of Qualinesti by the great green dragon, Beryl, and the exodus of the elves across the Plains of Dust to their kinsmen in Silvanesti. They had fled the devastation of their homeland, not knowing the disaster that had befallen the forest.
Callista’s eyes were huge as she listened. “What has happened since? Where are the elves now?”
“We heard that many are scattered, refugees with nowhere to go,” Crucible replied. “Some have gathered and are marching north toward Sanction.”
Linsha winced when she heard the note of yearning in his voice. He desperately wanted to go back to his city, to learn its fate, to stand in the way of its oppressors. Yet he hadn’t. She wondered why.
“We have heard rumors, too,” said Crucible, “mere whispers on the wind, that Khellendros is dead, killed by Malys.”
Linsha and Callista were stunned by the news. “Can it be?” Linsha whispered. The great dragon overlords were falling one by one. If only Malys would be next.
On the fourth day of their journey, Linsha insisted they stay on the beach where they had landed to give Crucible a day of rest. He had pushed himself very hard, and she could see he was exhausted. The bronze must have been in worse shape than she thought, for he did not argue but curled into a sandy nest and slept most of the day.
Meanwhile, Varia went on a reconnaissance flight and Linsha and Callista spent the warm autumn day napping and gathering crabs for supper. They saw no elves or Dark Knights on the isolated beach, and for that they were grateful. Linsha just wanted solitude and peace for one more day.
The weather changed the next day, taking a turn for the worse. Clouds gathered to the south, the heralds of an autumn storm, and the wind changed direction from the north to the southwest. Crucible had originally planned to fly over water so he could swim if he needed to, to reach the Plains, but when he smelled the ice on the wind and felt the changing pressures in the air, he decided to fly directly over a part of Silvanesti, past the city of Phalinost and the Towers of Eli, and hug the coast the rest of the way to the Plains of Dust. It meant more flying and the risk of being spotted, but it would be faster.
“And where do you plan to land?” Linsha asked, when he told her his plans that morning.
“Somewhere on the Plains where we can find shelter.”
“What about Mem-Thon? It’s close to Missing City and the villagers might be willing to help us.”
“It was
“Falaius!” Linsha felt a surge of temper. “I won’t hide in some fortress buried in the middle of the desert!”
Crucible rose from his nest and stretched his wings before he said in a tone of real reluctance, “He’s not in the fortress. He and Wanderer are bringing an army south through Thunder’s old realm. The Tarmaks are spread
