‘You what?’
‘Malik; he was my grandfather.’
‘Eww; I didn’t know that. Now that I do, I would kindly ask you not to say it again.’
They walked on in silence for a moment.
‘Does Amalia ever say “Malik’s ass?”’ said Kelsey.
‘Um, I’m not sure.’
‘She has a right to say it. That’s it, though, just her.’
‘She had him beheaded.’
‘Oh. Not a happy marriage, then?’
‘It might have been for the first few thousand years, who knows? It was a little bit frosty by the end, though.’
A wide track had been made by the western end of the camp, wide enough for wagons to travel on, and reinforced by a lattice of planks laid down over the thick mud. An empty wagon was sitting there as Aila and Kelsey approached, with two men standing close to the four oxen tethered to the harness.
‘Hello,’ said Kelsey.
The two men turned to glance at them.
‘Albert said we could get a lift to the edge of the forest.’
‘Did he now?’ said one of the men.
‘Aye, he did. How about it?’
‘And how do you know Albert?’
‘I’m his girlfriend. The name’s Betsy. When are you leaving?’
‘In two minutes.’
‘Can we just climb up? We won’t be any bother.’
The two men glanced at each other, then the first one nodded. ‘Go on, then, lass.’
‘Thanks,’ said Kelsey. She hurried to the side of the open-topped wagon and climbed up onto the back, then helped Aila in as well.
Kelsey smirked at her. ‘Betsy delivers the goods again.’
* * *
Aila glanced around at the dark forest. ‘We need to go back.’
‘Just a little further,’ said Kelsey.
‘But we’re going to get lost if we keep going. In fact, we may already be lost.’
‘Don’t exaggerate. All we have to do is check where the sun is and…’
She fell into silence as they both looked up. There was no sign of the sun as far as Aila could see; the tree cover was too dense to allow much light through.
‘Alright,’ said Kelsey; ‘we can retrace our steps. How far have we walked? We can’t be more than a mile from the edge of the forest.’
Aila sat on a moss-covered tree trunk that had fallen over. ‘I’m taking a break. The dragon could be anywhere; it might have flown away. And, it’s probably not Blackrose anyway.’
‘So you keep saying. Look, if the worst comes to the worst, we can just sit here and let the lumber gangs come to us. The rate they’re cutting down the forest, that won’t take long.’
She crouched down next to Aila, and they ate some of the food from the bag. Aila looked back at the way they had come as she chewed a strip of dried meat, but already she couldn’t make out the path they had taken. The light was starting to fade within the forest, and every direction looked the same.
‘Maybe we should stay here for the night,’ she said, ‘and then, in the morning, we might have a better idea of how to find our way back.’
‘You mean give up?’
‘We still have the gold; we can still afford to get to Kin Dai.’
Kelsey squinted into the distance, then stood and began to walk away.
‘Where are you going now?’ said Aila.
‘Come and look at this.’
Aila sighed and got to her feet. She picked up the bag that Kelsey had left lying on the ground and followed her. The young Holdfast woman was standing close to a group of trees that looked as though a storm had struck them; their trunks were splintered and broken, and large branches were lying around like debris.
Kelsey smiled. ‘What might have caused this, eh? A certain large snake with wings, perhaps?’
‘I don’t understand why you’re so keen to meet this beast.’
‘Well, for a start, if it’s Blackrose, then she could fly us straight to Corthie and Van.’
Aila scowled at her. ‘If it’s Blackrose, and if she even knows where Corthie and Van are.’
‘What was her rider’s name again? Maddie?’
‘Yes.’
‘Maddie!’ Kelsey shouted into the gloom. ‘Maddie!’
‘Shut up! You’re behaving as if there’s only one dragon in Khatanax. The chances are…’
A loud crack echoed through the trees, and a flock of birds rose into the sky, startled, and flew away. A shiver ran down Aila’s spine as she strained her ears to listen.
Kelsey edged closer to her. ‘Something’s coming.’
They stood back to back, each staring out into the shadows of the dark forest. Silence enveloped them, and it grew so quiet that Aila could hear her heart pounding inside her chest.
‘Don’t scream,’ whispered Kelsey, ‘but something’s staring at me through the trees; something big.’
Aila went to turn, but a low voice froze her to where she stood.
‘This is my forest; have you come to die?’
‘No,’ cried Kelsey, her voice high and wavering.
A large head thrust through the trees, stopping a yard from them. Its great jaws were open, and sparks were fizzing and arcing across its teeth. Above them, two red eyes were glowing like burning coals. It was too dark to discern the colour of its scales, but they seemed to shimmer like silver in the gloom.
It was most certainly a dragon, and it was not Blackrose.
Aila felt Kelsey grip her hand.
‘Why have you come here?’ said the dragon. ‘I was expecting hunters, or soldiers, and you are neither; you are merely lost little insects.’
‘Soldiers are coming,’ said Aila, trying to keep her panic in check; ‘and a god. They want to kill you.’
‘We’re here to warn you,’ said Kelsey.
‘You are lying,’ said the dragon. ‘You came to spy on me, so you could tell the soldiers where I am. You shall indeed be a warning, but not in the way you intended, as I shall kill you, and leave your remains where the other insects will find them.’
‘Please don’t,’ said Kelsey.
The dragon raised a forelimb, and extended her long, thick claws in front of them.
‘I await the truth,’ she said. ‘Speak, or your end will come.’
‘Alright,’ said Kelsey. ‘I was lying, sorry; we didn’t come here to warn you; we
