'Quiet,' he ordered. His head was tilted, listening. We rode on, unease building with every step, I'inally, the intersection of the Dragon Circle appeared over n slight rise,
Ryko straightened. 'Do you hear?'
I strained to find something above the hooves and footsteps and muffled jangling of our troop.
A faint sound, more a disturbance in the air, finally separated out from the background noise.
'What is it?' I whispered.
I felt the tension in Ryko's body grow. He bundled the reins into one hand, dropping the other to his sword. We had arrived at the junction, the broad paved Dragon Circle curving to our left and right. Kicking more speed from the horse, Ryko took us around the corner level with the two rear guards of the Emperor's escort.
Without the buffer of the gardens on either side, the disturbance suddenly hardened into faint but unmistakeable metal clashes of combat. Ryko reined in the horse just as one of the scouts broke out of the garden to our right and ran along the edge of the green, his hand held up in a signal.
Ryko squinted into the dim light. 'Army' he breathed. He leaned forwards as the man came closer, the signal changing into a closed fist. Attacking.'
The captain pulled his horse up beside us, the brutal stop curling the animal's head to its chest.
Army attacking the Dragon Halls? It can't be.'
The scout ran up to us. 'Captain, High Lord Sethon's army has taken the Ox Dragon Hall and the Tiger Dragon Hall,' he panted. And I saw one battalion at the north entrance to the inner precinct.'
'What about Lord Tyron?' I asked.
The scout shook his head. 'Dead, my lord. I saw him beheaded on the roadside. And his apprentice.'
Lord Tyron. And Hollin? Killed like traitors and left on the roadside? The scout had to be wrong.
'No,'! said.'No.'
The scout bowed. 'I saw it, my lord. The Tiger Dragoneye and his boy too. But it was not Sethon's men who killed them.'
'Who, then?' I demanded.
'They wore no colours.'
The captain scanned the dark road behind us. 'Sethon must have circled the inner precinct.'
'He is not waiting for the formal challenge,' Ryko said. 'He is going to take the throne by force.'
'With Ido's help,' I said.
The captain hissed out a breath. 'Then they'll only be attacking the Dragoneyes loyal to the Emperor.' He looked down at his scout. 'Take your best and get to the palace and warn them.
And any of the halls that are not breached.' The man nodded and ran to his waiting men. The captain dragged his horse around. 'I'm getting His Majesty out of here. Do you come with us?'
Ryko shook his head.
The captain gave one quick nod. 'Good luck, then. You know where we will be, Ryko.' He kicked his beast forwards, calling the command.
For a moment, I saw the pale face of the Emperor look back at me, and then his horse was herded along the road by his guards, the group breaking into a gallop.
Something about the scout's report seemed wrong. He'd said Lord Elgon was dead too, but the Tiger Dragoneye was Sethon's man. Why would Ido kill Elgon? My lingering unease mushroomed into horror. Ido was killing them all; he was building the String of Pearls.
I clutched Ryko's arm. 'It is not Sethon killing the Dragoneyes loyal to the Emperor,' I said. 'It is Ido. He is killing all the Dragoneyes.'
Ryko turned to stare at me. 'All of them?' he echoed. 'Why would he do that? It would be madness.'
It was madness. The madness of a man who would be Emperor.
'The black folio we saw in his library — it holds the secret to a terrible weapon. Ido thinks thai if he kills all the Dragoneyes he will have that weapon.'
Ryko grabbed me by the from of my robe, his sleeve falling back to show the knife snapped to his arm. 'Is there anyihing else I need to know, Lord lion?' he said through his teeth. Our horse sidled nervously across the paving, he tightened the reins and his grip on me, holding both of us in rigid control.
'He thinks I am the key to the weapon,' I gasped. 'He will come looking for me. I must have my power to hold him off. That is the truth, I swear.'
He released me, his face tight with disgust. 'Always half the story Never the whole.' He pulled the horse around. 'We will go through the Ox hunting forest.'
'What about Lord Tyron?' I said. 'What about Hollin?'
'You heard the scout,' Ryko said. 'They are dead. And if you are right, then Ido's assassins will be in every other hall.' He gave a short bitter laugh. 'It seems the Rat Dragon Hall is the safest place to be.'
He angled his body over the horse's neck, the animal responding with a jolting lurch into speed. I wrapped my arms around Ryko's waist, praying I would not fall. The stretch and bunch of the horse's body beneath me was grinding my rump bones up through my spine. I closed my eyes. We would not be on the animal for much longer — the Rat Dragon Hall was the next in the Circle.
A change in gait forced my eyes open. We had dropped to a walk and were heading into the dense shadowy cover of the hunting forest. Only a few weeks ago, Ryko was carrying me through the same forest on his back, his friendship and support a steadfast mooring in the treacherous court, the retrieval of the folio a bright hope. Now, here I was again; Ryko more foe than friend, and that bright hope worn down by doubt and desperation. We were heading towards the end play, and I was
either going to walk away with the Mirror Dragon's power or I was going to die. With Sethon's army marching on the palace and Ido's men murdering the Dragoneyes, the latter seemed more likely. The bleak thought settled in my gut like a midwinter freeze.
The horse pushed through the low outlying scrub into the thick undergrowth and trees. Ryko reined it in behind a dense copse of bushes.
'Off,' he whispered.
I edged back and hoisted my bad leg over the side of the beast, sliding down in a tangle of emerald silk robe. I hit the ground and stumbled on the uneven surface, falling on my hands and knees with a soft grunt.
He landed lightly beside me and motioned me to sit. 'Wait.'
I sat, more from a sudden trembling in my thighs than obedience. Silently, he led the horse into the bushes. I dug my hand into the joint of my hip, massaging the hot pain. The strain and the sudden lack of Sun drug had made the ache flare into agony.
It seemed an age before Ryko squatted beside me. He placed his finger across his lips then pointed to our left and held up two fingers.
'Two men?' I mouthed.
He shook his head. I watched his lips. Twenty.
The air around me contracted.
He pointed to our right, planing his hand low along the ground. We were going to crawl to the Dragon Hall? Ahead of twenty soldiers? I doubted my hip would last the distance. I looked at the cold professionalism in Ryko's face. He would carry me if I asked, but I would do this myself. I would prove I was still Lord Eon.
Ryko rose and moved silently into a gap in the undergrowth. I followed him, carefully pushing my way along a sliver of overgrown track that was made more from his imagination than cleared foliage. I was already sweating in the heavy Story Robe, but at least it was dark green and blended into the night colours. Every now and again, Ryko slopped and listened, his face growing grimmer. My ears were not as well (ruined; all I heard were the calls of animals and the brush of leaves and branches in the warm wind. But by the way Ryko quickened our pace, the soldiers were gaining ground. I struggled behind him, my teeth clenched against the pain of each step.
Then I heard it: the crack of a breaking branch.
Ryko pulled me down into the dirt and leaves.
I held my breath, squinting into the darkness. Where were they? I couldn't see anyone. My senses reached out: the smell of our sweat, the hard jab of twigs in my flesh, and the sour taste of fear. Beside me, I heard the snick of Ryko's arm blades springing from their sheaths. Then his hand was on mine, laying a knife in it, closing my fingers around the handle. I met his eyes. Was it to fight with or die by? But all I saw was the hunter in his face.
