'Into the hill?' I asked.
Dillon nodded. 'I heard Lord Ido say it is on a ley line. To maximise the power.'
For some reason, his words made me shiver.
We walked along the narrow path, Dillon leading, me in the middle, Ryko guarding the rear.
Somewhere in the front carriage yard, a voice was shouting orders. Dillon paused at the mouth of the alley Over his shoulder, I saw the inner courtyard where I had waited with my master for the Council meeting. Large bronze lamps hung at each corner, and in their yellow light the border of cumquat trees looked eerily like soldiers standing at attention. A servant hurried along the far colonnade and disappeared into a dark passage. Dillon nodded at me then slipped around the corner.
Bending low behind the cover of the cumquats, I followed him to the back archway, every step of my limping jog frustratingly slow. I had just reached the shadowy interior of the arch when a doorway halfway along the left building opened and a servant girl eased her way through it. Beside me, Dillon sucked in a breath. Ryko, caught between the cumquats and the arch, dropped to the ground. I pressed myself back against the stone wall. The girl paused, pulled a heel of bread out of her skirt pocket, and crossed the yard. Straight for us.
I saw Ryko gather himself into an animal crouch. He drew the knives, the action smooth and soundless. What was he going to do? She was just a servant stealing an extra crust. Leaning forwards, he readied the blades, angling them for a throat slash and heart thrust. Quick and quiet. I looked across at Dillon. He had flattened himself against the wall too. I jerked my head towards the girl. 'Stop her!' I mouthed. He gave a tiny shake of his head and closed his eyes. I clenched my fists to stop myself from pushing him out into the yard.
Suddenly, the door behind her slid open, cracking against its stop. A squat figure stood silhouetted in the bright light.
'Gallia. Get back here. You haven't finished these pots.'
The girl thrust the bread deep into her skirt and quickly retraced her steps. Dillon sighed as she entered the kitchen and closed the door, muffling the shrill voice of her superior.
Keeping low, Ryko ran the last few lengths into the shadows beside us. I watched him slip the knives back into their sheaths with practised ease. Our gazes met: a jarring moment of re-evaluation.
'Would you rather we were discovered?' he said.
The steel was not only strapped to his arms.
'I'm not going any further,' Dillon said, edging back along the wall. 'I'm not going near the library Go through this passage — it will take you to the garden. The library is in the Rat Dragon corner.'
'Wait.' I grabbed his sleeve.
'No.' He wrenched himself free and rounded the archway corner, his receding footsteps a sharp staccato of fear.
'His decoy won't last much longer,' Ryko said, heading towards the end of the passageway.
'We've got to move fast. The guards will be checking every area.'
The sounds from the carriage yard had already quietened. We stood for a moment in the safety of the passage and studied the large space we had to cross. A long paved path curved and climbed across a bridge, beside a pond and around a small pavilion in the traditional tranquillity formation. Red Twelfth Day festival lamps hung in blossom trees. A night perfume — jasmine — flavoured the air with a soft honey It should have been a beautiful garden, but the whole effect was ruined by the squat hill in the north-northwest corner. I could already sense the menacing power that hung over it.
'It's clear,' Ryko murmured. 'Come on.'
We cut across the manicured grass, weaving between the blossom trees. Ryko moved fast, the space between us
lengthening as my bad leg jarred against hidden dips in the ground. He became a shadow ahead of me, flickering between the trees, the glow of a festival lamp briefly highlighting the sheen of his skin or a glint of metal. I checked the archway; it was still quiet. Ryko had gone from view. I passed the pavilion, its walls curtained with trailing wisteria. Not far to the library now. I dug my fist into my hip to stop the ache, my jog slowing into a limping walk.
The path was in front of me. Just a few more steps.
Something was lying on the paving stones. Something big.
I stopped. It took a moment to make sense of the contorted form. Ryko; his body twisted in agony. He rolled over to face me, the effort forcing out a muffled scream. His forehead and neck were straining with corded veins, his teeth bared.
'Stay back!' His words collapsed into a gasping moan as he writhed across the path, his head hitting the flags with a dull thud. I scrabbled across the paving, thrusting my hand under the back of his skull before it smashed against the stones again. The weight of his head ground my knuckles into the flags.
'They must have come out of the hill,' he panted. 'Run!'
He was holding his belly, dark blood seeping through his fingers. Had he been stabbed? I looked wildly around. The hill crouched above us, a curved black metal door set into its side like a screaming mouth. No one could have come out — the door had a huge padlock on it.
'Leave me. Get out,' Ryko said. 'Now!'
'No,' I said, a spark of anger burning across my fear. I couldn't leave him to die. At the edge of my sight, something shimmered. I swung around. For a moment, I saw huge opal talons crisscrossing the hill like a cage and an eye above it, as dark as an abyss.
The Rat Dragon.
Across the garden, the archway flickered with light. Torches. They were still in the inner courtyard, but it wouldn't be long before they checked the garden.
'Ryko, they're coming,' I whispered. 'We've got to hide.'
He nodded, his teeth clenched together. 'Trees?' he gasped.
They were too far away. Too evenly spaced for cover. I twisted around, searching for another option. The doorway? Would the Rat Dragon's power force the guards back too? If we hid in the shadow, maybe they wouldn't come close enough to see us.
Against the door,' I said.
I sat behind him and straddled his body with my legs, hooking my arms under his armpits.
'Come on. Help me.'
He dug his feet in and pushed as I hauled backwards. We crept across the paving, his weight grinding my bones into the stone and crushing my chest. Each heave forced a tiny moan from him and pressed my own breath out in rough gasps. Would the guards hear us? The stain on the front of his tunic was getting bigger, wetter, denser. So much blood. I pressed my palm against his stomach, trying to find the source of the bleeding.
The cloth wasn't wet.
I lifted my hand: no blood. No stain.
It wasn't real. None of it was real.
'Ryko, you're not bleeding. The Rat Dragon is doing it.'
I saw his eyes roll back.
'No!' I jabbed my fingers into the muscle behind his collarbone. If he passed out, I'd have no chance of moving him. 'Stay awake. It's not real.'
He grunted in pain, his eyes focusing. 'Leave me,' he breathed. 'Run. You mustn't be found.'
He pushed at my hands.
I hauled us backwards again. He scrabbled weakly, trying to help. Another heave and my shoulders hit something solid. The door. I wriggled out from under Ryko, crawling around to roll him into the shadows. He was still breathing, but in shallow gasps. I rocked back onto my heels. If the guards made it up as far as Ryko had, the shadow cast by the hill wouldn't hide us. We would be seen. I pulled myself back against the cold metal of the door. All that effort for nothing.
I looked up at the padlock. We had to get in. But Ryko was in no condition to pick it. I reached up and grabbed the heavy lock, hanging my weight from it. Solid. I shook it. Metal against metal. Immoveable.
I looked over my shoulder. Down the path, one of the lights was now a defined flame, outlining the man who carried it. Fear sobbed in my throat.
There was one last chance. The Rat Dragon. Could I call him? Tellon said it was impossible, but I knew I had
