On the deck, in the midst of all this frantic activity, Fringe crouched over the recumbent and unconscious body of Alouez, a weapon in each hand, daring either Danivon or Curvis to come near her. She would not let them touch the girl, and she would not give them a reason for her action. How could she give them a reason? How say she recognized that lost expression, knew that same feeling of agonized helplessness. How say she was moved by it as by an instinctive frenzy of self-preservation. She could no more abandon the child than she could have abandoned herself, but she could not say why. She did not understand why.
“You can’t fight us both off,” Curvis threatened. “Give her to me. I’ll take the little boat and get her back to shore while there’s still time.”
“You and what other six Enforcers,” snarled Fringe.
“Leave Fringe alone,” Jory told the two men. “Leave her!”
Danivon cursed at length.
“Leave her alone,” said Jory again. “She is only doing for this child what someone did for you.”
“Don’t talk silly, old woman. Do you expect me to believe …” he snarled.
“Yes,” she said, beckoning toward the shadows of the deckhouse where the two castaways stood. “I expect you to believe this is Latibor Luze, who fathered you; this is Cafferty Luze, who bore you. They were in Molock when you were born, and still there when you were chosen for the temple. They saved your life, then Zasper Ertigon saved you again, risking everything for you.” She shook her head at him warningly, then turned to Fringe. “Do I have that name right?”
“Yes, Zasper Ertigon,” Fringe confirmed in an exhausted voice. “And I have broken my promise to him, never to tell.” Her eyes filled with guilty tears, but they did not blink as she glared at the two men.
Danivon stared unbelievingly at the two castaways and threw up his hands. “This is all crazy! I don’t have time for this! We were sent after dragons, and we’ve found the dragons! That’s what we should be concentrating on!”
“These aren’t the dragons you were looking for,” said Jory in a firm voice. “Believe me.”
“Why should I believe you?” he yelled.
Latibor took something from around his neck and handed it to him. “Will this convince you?” he murmured, staring into the younger man’s face.
He took the thing reluctantly, bending down to peer at it. Curvis struck a light.
“My medallion,” said Danivon, grabbing for his neck. He found his own hanging where it always hung.
“Not yours,” said Cafferty softly. “Latibor’s. Jory has given these medallions to all the people she’s chosen. She calls them a conceit, but they serve to identify us to one another.”
“What is this design?” demanded Danivon.
“It is a depiction of Great Dragon ridden by the prophetess,” said Jory in a peevish voice. “Cafferty’s right. It’s a conceit. I was a prophetess once.”
Cafferty said, “I’ve always regarded it as a promise that if we are in dire distress Great Dragon will come to our aid as he did tonight. I put my medallion around your neck before we put you in the ship that carried you to safety from Molock.”
“Great Dragon, Great Dragon,” Nela cried, “what is it? Where did it come from? Where did they all come from?”
“Great Dragon is a friend of mine,” Jory soothed. “The lesser dragons you saw are his great-great-grandchildren. They have the power to be seen or not, as they choose, and until tonight they did not choose. They are no danger to you, to any of you, and they are not the dragons you’re looking for. The dragons you’re looking for were seen over the wall from Thrasis, and they are something else entirely.”
“Has he been here, on this ship?” demanded the captain. “This big one?”
“Sometimes on this ship,” she replied.
“We’ve been riding low,” he said sulkily. “I wondered why. A monstrous heavy beast, this beast of yours. And where is it now?”
“He is heavy, yes. He goes on growing all his life, and my friend has had a long life. However, it is no beast, certainly no beast of mine. You can tell where he is now from the consternation along the Ti’il. I would say he and his descendants are leading the people a merry chase, to their discomfiture though likely to no lasting harm. Though he is prideful, he is also a most tolerant and peaceable creature.”
“Why?” cried Danivon, his Enforcer’s pride outraged. “Why did he show up now? We weren’t in danger just then!”
Asner snorted, shaking his head at Danivon, and Danivon flushed, conscious of having sounded ridiculous. He was accustomed to thinking of danger only as it applied to himself or other Enforcers, but of course there had been danger: danger to the girl child, danger and death to the people of Derbeck, danger to Jory and Asner and the twins. The danger to themselves he had believed he could handle, or escape, for he had not smelled his own death as a creeping cold thing with a stench he knew well. He fell silent, staring at the toes of his boots in order not to look at any of them.
Jory broke the silence by waving a bony finger at them all. “Listen, and I will tell you what Latibor and Cafferty found out in Derbeck: Houdum-Bah, fed much rancid broth of resentment by the priests of Chimi-ahm, brewed plans for rebellion against Council Supervisory, deciding that his first act against them should be one of unmistakable contempt and defiance. Such gestures occur from time to time on Elsewhere, as you must know. Why else have Enforcers, save to keep such as Houdum-Bah in check?”
Danivon turned toward her, suddenly attentive.
“Houdum-Bah aspires to conquer Beanfields, and then Shallow,” offered Latibor. “The priests told him this is possible, that Council Supervisory is weak and vacillating
