He found no answer, and Kanin did not answer Khollo’s thoughts either. The dragon instead curled up in the entrance to the hold, blocking the portal completely. Khollo meanwhile retreated to his room and went to bed immediately, without fixing dinner. He’d lost his appetite.
Sleep was long in coming. Khollo tossed and turned on his homemade mattress, trying to get comfortable and quiet his whirling thoughts. But to no avail. Questions rebounded off the inside of his skull, questions about what was happening on the mainland, what to do about his father. Most of all, what he and Kanin should do.
Eventually, Khollo found sleep, but not rest. Almost immediately he was set upon by visions.
These were different than any that he had previously experienced. He was dragged back and forth between different scenes, a veritable whirlwind of people, places, and voices. He saw Ishkabur, a great fire burning within the walls. There was a wrecked galley on the shore, rolled half over on its side. Then, the scene changed and Khollo saw more galleys, rowing across the waves, no coastline in sight.
The sea faded and was replaced by rolling plains, the galleys replaced by marching files of soldiers. Vertaga, most on foot, but some riding the steeds Janis had told him about, which were larger than horses and many times as dangerous. Khollo estimated the strength of the marching army to be over a thousand, maybe two thousand. A moment later, the vertaga faded and Khollo was looking down through a forest at more soldiers, but these were men in bright mail. A banner fluttered near the head of the column, a crown over a snarling bear head. Further back fluttered other banners: a red boar, a silver stag, a green hawk. Dozens of sigils, united and marching together. But where?
Finally, Khollo’s dreams moved to a familiar place, the council room at the West Bank. Janis, Ondus, Hern, and Sermas were standing around the central table. All wore troubled expressions and looked utterly beaten down, shoulders slumped in despair. Janis had dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were rumpled and stained. Ondus did not look much better. Sermas and Hern’s eyes were filled with fear, and glinted as though full of unshed tears.
“We can’t hold them,” Ondus said finally. “Not with the force we have here.”
“We have to,” Janis said thickly.
“We only need to delay them, not stop them,” Hern put in. “King Relam is due any day!”
“Two thousand vertaga will not be delayed,” Sermas said in a hollow voice. “Even Khollo couldn’t come up with a plan to defeat that many.”
“No word?” Janis asked quietly.
“I think we must accept that he is gone,” Ondus said, his voice catching.
The others bowed their heads in sorrow and the vision faded to darkness. Khollo thought the dreams were over, then he heard rustling and the snapping of branches. Running footsteps, heavy breathing. The scene brightened and he made out a forest. No, the trees and underbrush were too dense, too lush. This was a jungle.
The running figure flashed among the foliage, panting, looking back every few steps, searching the land ahead desperately. He stopped suddenly, listening warily. Khollo heard a low noise, like the wind through the trees, but the trees did not stir with the wind. The hunted man began running again, sobbing with desperation. Then out of the jungle, a roar of triumph, the primal sound of a beast on the hunt.
Khollo woke as the roar echoed across the valley, throwing his blankets aside. He sensed Kanin stirring where he had fallen asleep half in and half out of the hold. The dragon paused in his movements, then roared in dismay.
The old one needs help! he cried.
Khollo was instantly across the room and climbing onto Kanin’s back. “The tiger,” he muttered. “Is he out there? Is the beast after him?”
Kanin jumped up to the fourth level, where Ezraan had taken up residence weeks ago. He is not here, the dragon reported. Then, Kanin launched himself skyward.
As they climbed into the sky, another roar shook the jungle below. The sound chilled Khollo to the bone, a cold stone seeming to form in his stomach. What chance did a lone man on foot have against such a beast?
“Where is he, Kanin?” Khollo muttered. “Find him!”
He is close, Kanin reported, swooping low over the forest. Very close.
What is he doing out here? He knows the tiger is dangerous, he knows the jungle is no place to be at night –
He left.
What do you mean, left?
We drove him out, Kanin reminded Khollo. The argument yesterday.
Khollo swayed in the saddle as he realized what had happened. You mean after I told him we were leaving he ran away?
No, Ezraan said patiently. After you told him we didn’t need him anymore he ran away.
I never said that!
That is what it sounded like to me.
So this is my fault? Khollo asked with a sinking feeling.
Kanin was silent for a long moment. There may yet be time to set things right.
“No,” Khollo muttered. “No, we have to find him, now!”
In answer, a scream rose from the jungle, a wild yell of fear that shivered down Khollo’s spine. Kanin folded his wings before the cry had faded and dropped straight down. Khollo fumbled with his bow and nearly dropped it.
They crashed through the tree canopy, snapping branches and scattering leaves. Khollo peered into the darkness below, searching for the tiger, ready to put an arrow through it at a moment’s notice.
I can’t see, he told Kanin worriedly. This might come down to you.
I will do my best, Kanin said doubtfully. There they are! By the three trees clustered together.
Light the
