Back in the carriage with Lord Tyron and Hollin, I could not find any comfortable position — my rump bones felt as though they were pushing through my skin and the back of my neck itched with a rash. Hollin was dull-eyed and yawning from a bad night's sleep and Lord Tyron was stinking with an old man's sweat. I swallowed my nausea and focused on their words.
'As Ascendant, it is your responsibility to clearly give your orders to each Dragoneye so that he can direct his dragon's power and force the monsoon rains away from the crops and into the dam,' Lord Tyron said.
'It is a juggling act,' Hollin added. 'Each dragon has control over a particular direction on the compass, so you must tell his Dragoneye how much power to use at exactly the right time so that the monsoon is shifted in their direction.' He saw the consternation on my face. 'I know it sounds impossible, but the Dragoneyes sit in a circle in their compass positions so it is easy to see who is working with each dragon.'
'And since you can see all of the dragons too, it should be easier for you,' Lord Tyron said encouragingly.
'But how do I know how much power is needed?'
Lord Tyron shot a glance at Hollin.
'Well?' I demanded. 'How do I know?'
Tyron rubbed at the end of his nose. 'It is a matter of practice,' he mumbled. 'You have to learn how to feel the parameters of your dragon's power.'
A matter of practice? I don't have time to practise.' I slammed the heel of my hand into the carved canopy strut. 'This is all useless. Useless!' I jabbed the driver's back. 'Stop!'
The carriage jerked to a halt, the horses plunging in their harness. I flung myself out of the cabin and marched over to the ditch that separated the nobles' road from the peasants' dirt track. Vaguely, through my fury I realised I was hardly limping. Behind the carriage, the rest of the retinue was pulling to a stop, heads craning over cart sides to see what had happened. I stared out over the low rice fields, unable to settle on a coherent thought amongst the tumble of fear and anger that clamoured in my head. At the edge of my vision, I saw Ryko swing down from his saddle and lead his horse towards me.
'My lord.' He made the quick duty bow. 'May I be of assistance?'
'Can you teach me twelve years of Dragoneye knowledge in an afternoon,' I asked bitterly
'No, lord.' His horse blew and bobbed its head over his shoulder.
'Then you cannot be of any assistance. Leave me.'
I turned from him, but bis band closed over my shoulder and pulled me around.
'What is that on your neck?'
'Don't touch me,' I shrieked. 'I'll have you whipped.'
The horse shied, yanking Ryko with it. 1 le tightened his grip on its bridle and soothed it with a reassuring hand and soft croons. I backed away, my fingers finding the pattern of welts on my neck.
Ryko eyed me sternly. 'How much are you taking, lord?'
'I could have you whipped.'
'Yes, my lord. How much Sun drug are you taking?'
I looked away from his implacable face.
'Two pinches.'
He sucked in a breath. 'A grown man can only handle half of that a day. You must stop it, lord. It will kill you.'
'I only need it until tomorrow.'
'Lord…' He stepped closer.
'Go back to your position, Guard Ryko.'
He hesitated, his face a taut war between obedience and concern.
'I said go back to your position.' A sudden fury snapped through me. 'Or I will have you relieved of duty'
The muscles in his jaw tightened, but he bowed and led his horse around. I pressed my palm against my forehead, trying to relieve a spiked band of pain that was digging into my head.
Couldn't Ryko understand that I only needed the drug until I moved the King Monsoon? I watched him remount his horse and rein it in behind my carriage, all of my anger draining away as quickly as it had risen. He was only doing his duty — trying to guard me from harm.
I wanted to call him back and tell him I would stop taking the Sun drug tomorrow, but the curious stares from the retinue held me still.
Lord Tyron leaned out of the carriage. 'Lord Eon, we must continue if we are to make the village by dusk.'
I raised my hand to show him I'd heard, but turned to look at the rice Held again. Surely there was enough Sun drug in me to see the Mirror Dragon. Maybe even enough to finally connect with him. The hope made my head pound. Narrowing my eyes, I reached for my mind-sight, seeking the pathways of my Hua. More pain jabbed into my head as the rice paddies bucked and twisted into the haze of the energy world. But everything was distorted, rushing past in a blur of colour. Green, orange, blue, purple, pink, grey. A hum, more sensation than sound, grated through my bones. I clamped my hands over my ears and pushed further into the roiling energy, trying to find a flash of red in the streaming colours. But it was all too fast.
Too violent. The coursing power circled me — spinning so fast I couldn't focus — until all the colours bled into one swirling angry blue.
Everything stopped. Then the blue roared through me, stripping me of sight and sound.
For a moment I was suspended in silent sapphire panic. I fell onto my knees, my bones jarring against the paved road. There was nothing but blue: in my eyes, in my ears, in my mouth. My palms shredded as I blindly groped the rough flags for sanity The blue was tearing me apart. I tasted vanilla, orange: the Rat Dragon. I forced myself back onto my heels, desperately clawing back some inner-sight. My silver Hua was turning dark, my seven points of power surrendering to the suffocating indigo. There was nowhere to go but deeper. I pushed inward, through thick grey energy that stoked the blue up into a bright flare. The Sun drug? I pushed even deeper, flailing at first, then drawn by a faint gold opalescence lodged in my third point of power. A tiny kernel in my abdomen, glowing against the dark maelstrom. Desperately, I grabbed at it. Flung the pale energy into the blue. It punched through the swirling power and I heard a cry, like an injured eagle, coming from my lips. The roiling mass contracted, split apart, and was gone.
'Lord, what is wrong?'
.
It was Ryko's voice.
'Lord, speak to me.'
I fell onto my side, gasping.
'Get Rilla,' he ordered someone. 'And Lady Dela.'
The darkness brightened into Ryko's face hovering above me. I reached up and grabbed the front of his tunic. 'I just need it until tomorrow,' I croaked. 'Then I'll stop.'
The drug was working. I was sure of it. I shifted my head, cradled in Rilla's soft lap, and stared at the passing sky as the carriage swayed along the road. Lady Dela sat opposite us, half asleep in the oppressive heat. Their undemanding silence was a huge relief. Lord Tyron had finally conceded I was in no condition to continue the lessons and had ordered his own carriage, following at the back of the long procession, to be brought up behind mine. At least that was one good thing that had come out of my roadside collapse.
I closed my eyes and carefully examined my conclusions about the blue power. There was no question that it had been the Rat Dragon. There was still the vanilla taste of him left in my body I was certain that, somehow, the thick grey power of the Sun drug had opened me up to his energy and he had flooded in like water through a sluice, blocking the approach of the Mirror Dragon. Of course, there was the terrifying possibility that Lord Ido was using his beast to attack me, but even in the wild panic I had not sensed any controlling force in the Rat Dragon's onslaught. It had been violent, but not an attack.
How, then, had I stopped it? What was that pale kernel of energy deep within me? I had a bad feeling that it had something to do with my shadow self; some kind of Moon energy that I had not been able to overcome. Whatever it was, it had beaten back a dragon. Could it be pushing away the Mirror Dragon too?
The terrible thought forced my eyes open.
'Do you need water, my lord?'
Rilla's concerned face was bent over me.
