'Who are you?' The Scales was looking up at him, still dazed with sleep, not quite understanding.
'My name is Kemir. I was a sell-sword working for your queen until one of her knights murdered my cousin. I want to help you.'
The Scales blinked and rubbed his face. A part of him looked terrified; another part looked vaguely surprised and seemed to be looking past Kemir rather than at him. Kemir felt a coldness. He started to turn and caught a glimpse of the tip of the dragon's tail snaking through the air towards him. He swore and dived away, but the tail was too quick. The next thing he knew, he was being lifted up into the air.
'Scales! Damn you! Call it off! I'm here to help.'
Help? What do you mean?
The thought seemed to come from outside him, but that was a ridiculous idea and he dismissed it. 'You left one of the dragon-knights alive. Now there are more of them. They're coming. I tried to slow them down, but they're coming after you. Call it off!'
How many are coming?
'Four knights. No, five. But two of them are too hurt to worry about.' This time he couldn't shake it. The question had come into his mind, but the Scales hadn't uttered a word. 'How…?'
The ground fell away. The dragon was rising, lifting its head, lifting him up into the air at the same time. He hung helpless as it snorted and growled. A rush of warm rancid air engulfed him.
How many dragons are coming?
Very carefully, Kemir looked down at the Scales standing on the river bank twenty feet below him. The one who'd been sleeping, a woman he now saw, was looking up at him as well. She looked pasty and pale in the moonlight, and was shaking.
'Scales. I think your dragon is talking to me.' Have I gone mad?
No. How many dragons?
'Snow!' The Scales was wringing his hands. 'Don't hurt him. No more! Please!'
Thoughts tumbled through Kemir's mind so quickly that they tripped over one another. The dragon can think That was terrifying enough. The dragon can hear what I think That was worse. The dragon killed half a dozen knights. That was better. It did it because it wanted to, not because someone told it to. That was either the best or the worst; he wasn't sure which.
He regarded the dragon. A calmness settled inside him, a mixture of hope and resignation. Shitting himself wasn't going to do much good just now. 'Two new dragons. They were going to send one after you. To watch. The other was going to go for help. By the middle of tomorrow morning there might be a dozen dragons looking for you. You want to escape, don't you?'
I want to free the others of my kind.
'My name is Kemir. I want to help you.'
No, Little One Kemir, you do not. All I see in you is death and vengeance. You want to kill dragon-riders. I am simply a means to that end.
'No dragons, no dragon-knights.'
The tail squeezed a little tighter. Your fear has a sharp and pleasant tang to it. How will you help me, Little One?
Kemir tried to pull himself free. The dragon hadn't pinned his arms, but all his struggles were futile. He still had the knife that he'd used to threaten the Scales. If he stabbed the dragon's tail, would it drop him? Would it even notice?
I will crush you before you blink, Little One. Again: how will you help me?
'I'll help you kill dragon-knights. Any way I can.'
I do not wish to kill dragon-knights. I wish to free my kind.
'Then I'll help you kill alchemists. You asked where they were. I can tell you.'
The dragon looked at him for a long time and then slowly lowered him to the ground. Then we have an accommodation, Little One Kemir. Alchemists. So be it. The dragon turned to look at the Scales, but Kemir still heard its voice inside his head. More dragons come, Little One. We must fly. Now.
37
The Mirror Lakes
The Mirror Lakes, clustering around the City of Dragons, were generally thought to be perfectly round and perfectly bottomless. The ground didn't slip gently and gracefully away under the water; it simply stopped. In the myths of the dragon-priests the Divine Dragon moulded the world from clay and then baked it hard in the flames of his breath. The people of the city weren't the most religious of folk, but they generally agreed that if the priests were right, the Mirror Lakes must have been where the dragon-god stuck his claws into the clay to hold it tight while he did his work. Strange and monstrous creatures were rumoured to inhabit the lakes, rising to the surface sometimes in the middle of the night, swallowing boats whole and then sinking again, disappearing without trace.
From where Jehal sat, perched at the top of the Diamond Cascade falls, one could see that the lakes weren't perfectly round at all. He was fairly sure they weren't bottomless or inhabited by monsters either, but no one had ever proved that, one way or the other. Vanishing boats, he thought, were more likely to be the work of thieves, and any monsters that inhabited the lake were probably of the human variety.
He could see the city too, and the Adamantine Palace, all laid out some half a mile beneath him through the haze of spray from the falls.
Mine. It's all going to be mine.
Behind him Wraithwing splashed in the waters of the Diamond River. A shadow passed overhead and moments later another dragon came in to land. The two dragons looked at each other curiously. The newcomer dived into the water and started to drink. Its rider sauntered towards Jehal. She took off her helmet.
'I was wondering whether you'd come. You have some explaining to do,' said Jehal. He had to speak loudly to be heard over the roar of the waterfall.
Zafir smiled. She didn't say anything but sat beside him and looked over the edge.
'You should be careful,' said Jehal. 'You could fall.'
'We could both fall.'
'I watched you come up from the eyrie. You didn't bring any riders with you. No one knows where you are. No one knows who you're with.'
She put a hand on his arm. 'Did you bring any riders, Prince?'
'Of course not. You never know who might have lined their pockets.'
'How far did my mother fall?'
Jehal shrugged. 'We're higher now. You stole my potions. And you've been writing letters to Hyram.'
She didn't look at him. 'You've been to see your new family. How is Queen Shezira?'
'Do you feel threatened, my love?'
'Not at all. Do you?'
'Not in the least.'
'I didn't steal your potions. I took them because you told me to.'
'I told you to take one.'
'Hyram's got them now.'
'I know.'
She looked at him, and the flicker of a smile played at the corner of her lips. 'And I know you know. I saw your little golden dragon sitting on the windowsill, watching us with its beady ruby eyes. How many more of those have you got?'
'Only that one and the one I gave to you. They were a wedding present from the Taiytakei.'
Zafir raised an eyebrow. 'It was almost worth marrying your little starling then. And what do they want, the Taiytakei?'
Jehal shrugged. 'To see me prosper, I suppose.'
