watched. A part of him wanted to give chase himself. Let Sollos rest in peace at last.
'You want him alive, remember!' he shouted as the first lance of fire stabbed down into the trees. Semian would have his sword again and Kemir might not even see the knight until they stumbled into each other. And did he really want to hunt down a desperate rider while two dragons were raining fire down from above? No, probably not.
He took a deep breath. If Rider Rod had been telling the truth about the poison, and if all the dragons had eaten it, and if they all died, then what? Stuck in a valley full of angry soldiers and alchemists hadn't seemed too bad with two murderous dragons on his side. Stuck there without them he'd be the hunted one.
'Bugger.' He growled. 'Another day, Rider Rod. One day, if the dragons don't get you, I'll still be waiting for you in those shadows.' He sat down to watch as Snow and Ash burned the forest. They'd give up soon enough. That was the trouble with the pair of them. No patience. Were all dragons like that?
Ash suddenly lurched in the air. He turned sharply, flew almost straight towards Kemir and landed heavily next to the river. Before he'd even come to a halt, he had rolled over into the water. Hot! Too hot! I am burning inside! Ash pressed his head into the ice-cold water, took a long swallow and then splashed more water over his back. A second later he was gently steaming.
Kemir backed away.
'It's the poison, you stupid greedy dragon. That's how dragons die. They burn from the inside.' He wrung his hands in frustration and looked around for Nadira. It was hardly a surprise that Ash was the first, since he'd probably eaten more than the rest of the dragons put together. But he hadn't thought it would happen so quickly. How long had it been? Ten minutes? The alchemists in the caves, though, they'd know exactly how long the poison would take. Exactly when to come rushing out to finish off anyone stupid enough to remain.
He jumped up onto a rock and glanced around the valley. 'Nadira!' he shouted. He couldn't see her. 'Snow!'
Ash. Here, I will cool you. Snow landed to squat beside Ash, pouring river water over him. Over by the cave mouths the other three dragons didn't seem troubled. Yet.
'Snow! Did you eat the bodies of the dead?'
Yes.
'How many?'
I did not count mouthfuls, Kemir. Does it matter? Their poison is in me.
'Not as many as Ash, though.'
Far, far fewer.
'Then perhaps not enough to do to you whatever it's done to him.' Kemir looked around the valley for Nadira again. This time he saw her, not far away, sitting with her back to a tree, brushing her hair. He wondered, for an instant, where she'd found the brush. 'Nadira!'
Ash! You must stay awake! Kemir could feel frustration in Snow's thoughts, and a deep sadness with it. Strangely little anger, though. Kemir, I begin to feel it too. I must destroy the alchemists quickly now, while I still have the strength.
'No! You should fly away, while you still can.' He waved Nadira towards him. By the caves, one of the dragons had gone to lie down in the water as well.
I cannot leave Ash. He is sinking into torpor. It is our way of stopping the heat inside when it grows too strong. If they find him alone like this, they will feed him their potions again and he will be lost.
'Or they might get both of you. Or you might die from the poison. You don't know what it does. You don't know anything. We have to go.'
I understand your fear, Little One, but I will not leave. There is too much undone.
'Then stay here and die! Or be enslaved again. For myself, I wish for neither.' Kemir got up. He trotted to Nadira and took her hand. 'Come on! We need to go. And quickly.'
The poison is in me, Kemir, and it will do what it will do. If I am to die, I will die in battle against my enemies. I am a dragon, and that is my nature.
'In battle?' Kemir threw up his head to the heavens. 'They're not going to come out and fight you, you stupid creature. They're going to wait and watch as you fail. They'll hide in their caves and come out when you're too weak to lift yourself off the ground. Is that battle?' He was shouting now, filled with a bitter sense of loss that he didn't understand. 'Fly up into the mountains! Find a lake by a glacier and immerse yourself in it! If that doesn't keep you cold, nothing will. If you want to fight, fight the poison.'
No, Kemir. I will stay with Ash.
Kemir stamped his foot. 'If the poison doesn't kill you, you can come back and try again! You can free Ash, free them all. If you die, you're dead, and everything you want dies with you.'
Snow stared at him. For a second he thought she was going to eat him. He could feel the thoughts in her head, the rivers of anger and desire, the knotting indecision. Then, slowly, she nodded.
It is not our nature to flee, Little One Kemir, and I do not understand why you would betray your own kind. But yes, then. Let us leave. She lowered her head and shoulders to the ground. Kemir scrambled onto her back and hauled Nadira after him.
65
The Night of the Knives
Almiri tiptoed across the floor. She was shaking, still sweating from running up the stairs. And from what had gone on before. She held a single candle, and the flame flickered restlessly, casting dancing shadows across the walls. Her hands were trembling. She approached her mother's bed and felt like a young girl again, a child looking for a comfort she rarely received.
Shezira tossed and turned. Almiri knew those dreams. She'd had her own dreams, of being at home in the far-off north. Of someone tapping on her window, of the tapping growing louder, and then the rooms shaking and swaying. Of pictures falling off the walls, candles tipping over, ceilings cracking, beams breaking. Of castles falling and of the earth splitting open.
She knelt by the bed and gave her mother a gentle nudge. 'Your Holiness…'
Shezira twisted violently away. Someone in her bedchamber. In the middle of the night. Ill deeds…
Almiri tried again. 'Mother!' This time Shezira heard her. She sat up, wild-eyed.
'Almiri?'
'Yes. Mother, you have to wake up.'
Shouts outside. Swords clashing. Men screaming. Hiding…
Shezira rubbed her eyes and squinted at her daughter, shielding her eyes from the candlelight. 'Almiri,' she said again. 'What are you doing here?'
'Mother, someone has tried to kill the speaker.'
'Hyram's dead?'
'No, mother.' Almiri tried to keep her voice steady, but she couldn't hide the tension. 'Queen Zafir. Someone has tried to kill Queen Zafir.'
Lying on the floor in the dark, trying not to breathe. Armoured feet in front of her eyes. Vicious words and bared, bloody swords…
'I don't suppose they succeeded?'
'No, mother. She was wounded but not killed.'
Shezira chuckled. 'Pity.'
'Mother! This is not a joke.' Almiri's voice sounded shrill to herself. She wanted to scream.
'Who did it?'
'They say it was a rider disguised as a messenger boy. They say it was your knight-marshal.' She could see the coldness blossom inside her mother and sweep across her face. How long has it been since you were afraid, mother?
Her own husband, a king, dragged from his bed and thrown to the floor with a sword to his neck.
'Nastria?'
