The Dragon Keeper

pack they’d issued her over one shoulder. “Well, I guess we should go,” she said quietly. Involuntarily, she glanced up the trunk toward the canopy top and home. She was surprised but not shocked to see that her father had lingered and was watching her from the wide staircase that wound up the tree’s immense trunk. She waved at him a final time and made a small shooing motion for him to go home.

Tats had followed the direction of her glance. He waved wildly at her father and then impetuously shouted up to him, “Don’t worry, Jerup! I’ll watch over her!”

“You’ll watch over me?” she scoffed, uttering the words loud enough that she hoped they’d reach her father’s ears. Then, with a final wave, she turned and trooped after the others. They were headed for the river dock, and the boats that would carry them upstream from Trehaug to Cassarick and the dragons’ hatching grounds.

“He doesn’t feel right to me.”

Leftrin scratched his cheek. He needed to shave, but lately his skin had begun to scale more on his cheekbones and the angle of his jaw. Scales he could live with, if they’d hurry up and grow in. Whiskers and a beard annoyed him. Unfortunately, trying to shave near scales usually resulted in lots of nasty little cuts.

“He’s just not his old self.”

The two comments in swift succession was as good as a speech coming from Swarge. Leftrin shrugged at the tillerman.

“He’s bound to be changed. We knew that going in. He knew it and accepted it. It was what he wanted.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“Of course I’m sure. Tarman’s my ship, the liveship of my family. The bond is there, Swarge. I know what he wants.”

“I been on his decks close to fifteen years. No stranger to him myself. He seems, well, anxious. Waiting.”

“I think I know what that’s about.” Leftrin stared out over the ship’s wake in the river. Overhead, the stars shone in a wide path of open sky. To either side of them, the tall trees of the Rain Wilds leaned in curiously. It was a peaceful time. From the riverbanks came the usual night sounds of creatures and birds. Water purled past the Tarman’s hull as the barge made his way steadily upriver. From the deckhouse, yellow lanternlight shone. The crew was at their evening meal. The clack of crockery, the mutter of conversation, and the smell of fresh coffee drifted out to him. Bellin said something, and Skelly laughed, a warm and gentle sound in the night. Big Eider’s chuckle was a deep undercurrent to their merriment.

Leftrin ran his hands slowly over Tarman’s railing. He nodded to his tillerman. “He’s fine. He knew there would be changes.”

“I been having dreams.”

Leftrin nodded. “Me, too.”

A slow smile spread across the tillerman’s face. “Wish I could fly.”

“So does he,” Leftrin agreed. “So do we.”

“Why did you have to book passage on this ship?” Sedric demanded abruptly.

Alise looked at him in surprise. They stood together on the deck, leaning on the railing and watching the thick trunks of the immense Rain Wilds trees slip past them in a never-ending parade. Some ancient giants were as big around as watch towers. Strange, how they made the other behemoths look small. Draperies of vine and curtains of lacy moss hung from their outstretched branches, weaving the trees together in a seemingly impenetrable wall. Beneath the canopy of foliage and moss, the forest floor looked swampy and dismal, a land of endless shadow and secretive light.

She had come out on the deck to enjoy the short span of daylight hours. Although the river flowed through a wide swampy valley, the forest that lined the banks of the Rain Wild River was so tall that the tops of the trees formed a leafy horizon. Above them the stripe of blue sky that showed seemed a narrow ribbon even though Alise knew it was almost as wide as the wandering grey flow of the river.

She had been surprised when Sedric came to join her. She’d scarcely seen him since they left Bingtown. He’d even been taking his meals in his cabin. He had been quiet and withdrawn for most of their journey, more subdued and solemn than she’d ever seen him. Obviously, he was not relishing his duty. For her part, she had been astounded to discover the companion that her husband had arranged for her. It made no sense to her. If he wanted to protect her reputation, why send her off chaperoned by his male secretary? Like many things that Hest arbitrarily decided for her life, he hadn’t deigned to explain it to her.

“I’m putting Sedric at your disposal for your Rain Wilds folly,” he’d announced abruptly on entering the breakfast room the morning after their confrontation. Standing, he had helped himself to food and tea. “Use him however you wish,” he’d continued. As Sedric entered, Hest hadn’t even glanced at him, and only added, “He’s to obey your every command. Protect you. Entertain you. Whatever you wish of him. I’m sure you’ll find him delightful.” Those last words were uttered with such disdain that she’d flinched.

And then Hest had left the room. As she’d turned toward Sedric in confusion she’d been shocked to see how dejected he appeared. Her efforts at conversation as he picked at his breakfast had faltered and died.

Hest hadn’t even waited for her departure date before embarking on another trading jaunt of his own. He’d filled the house with his busyness, and invited two of his younger friends to accompany him. In the days before his departure, he’d kept Sedric dashing about on errands, securing papers for passage, picking up a new wardrobe that Hest had ordered, and procuring a stock of excellent wine and viands to accompany him on his journey. Sedric’s obvious unhappiness with the situation had made her feel sorry for him, and she had done her best to make her own arrangements for travel, to spare him a bit of time for himself. Yet she could not regret her decision finally to make this journey. And strange as it was that Hest had chosen Sedric to accompany her, she could not have been more delighted with the prospect. The idea of having her old friend to herself for a time while on an adventure to see dragons had filled her with cheery anticipation. She had hoped to find him equally enthused.

But in the weeks before they left, and especially after Hest had departed, Sedric had seemed gloomy, even uncharacteristically snappish with her. He’d obeyed Hest’s directive, arriving promptly at breakfast every day to report travel tasks completed and request his duties for the day. They’d spoken, but not had conversations. A few days before their departure, he’d begged some time to himself, to dine with one of Hest’s Chalcedean trading partners who had arrived unexpectedly in Bingtown. She’d been glad to let him have the evening to himself, in the hopes it would bolster his spirits. But the next morning, when she asked him if his meeting with Begasti Cored had gone well, he had quickly changed the subject to the details of her own journey, and found a dozen tasks for himself to do that day.

Once they’d boarded the Paragon, she had hoped his spirits would lift. Instead, he’d spent the early days of their journey sequestered in his cabin, pleading seasickness. She’d doubted that excuse; he’d travelled so much with Hest that surely he must have the stomach for it by now. Nonetheless, she’d left him in peace and occupied herself with exploring the liveship and trying to get to know the crew. So she had been cheered when Sedric joined her on deck that day, and pleased that he now spoke to her, even if the question was rueful rather than engaged.

“It was the only ship with room for two passengers that was leaving at the right time,” she admitted.

“Ah.” He pondered that for a moment. “So when you told Hest you had already booked passage, that was a lie?”

His words were flat, not really an accusation, but they still stung. She retreated but did not surrender. “Not a lie, exactly. I’d made my plans, even if I hadn’t yet purchased my tickets.” She looked out over the roiled grey water. “If I hadn’t said I was going, he’d have ignored me again. Or put me off. I had to do it, Sedric.” She turned to face him. Despite his glum expression, he looked rather jaunty in a white shirt and blue coat. The sea wind made his uncovered hair dance on his brow. She smiled at him and offered sincerely, “I’m sorry that you got caught up in my quarrel with Hest. I know this isn’t a journey you’d choose.”

“No. Nor would I choose a jinxed ship to make it on.”

“Jinxed ship? This one?”

“The Paragon? Don’t look at me like that, Alise. Everyone in Bingtown knows this liveship and his reputation. He rolled and killed his entire crew, what, five times?” Sedric shook his head at her.