Riders spreads further.'
'And so what if it does?' Red Riders. How I regret wearing that name.
'Others have already come to us: Semian, Jostan, Nthandra…'
'Three riders, Hahzyan.' Two of them mad, the third fast heading towards it. Still, Hyrkallan had to smile, if only at the blind enthusiasm. He too had been young and bright-eyed once. A long time ago, before he'd come to see the full measure of spite in the lords and ladies that he served.
'Three is more than none, Knight-Marshal.'
'Semian and Jostan should have been with us in the first place. Semian has also quite possibly lost his mind.'
'But he is a leader. Like you.' And it was true. The more weary and cynical Hyrkallan became, the more Semian burned. When the time came, and it would be soon, he would tell the other riders what they wanted to hear. They would listen to him. That, if nothing else, was a good enough reason to end it while he still could.
They don't need me any more.
'There is GarHannas.'
'Aye.' That there was. GarHannas, who'd served Speaker Hyram. GarHannas was, when it came down to it, Hyrkallan's one cause for hope. An experienced rider, well known, well respected and well liked. There was always the dream that others would follow, that GarHannas was the first, that the trickle would become a flood and riders from across the realms would flock to the Purple Spur to bring Zafir down. Not much of a hope, but it had given him something to cling to. For a while.
Who am I fooling? Kings and queens tear down speakers, not riders. I should fly home. Give up on this charade. Deremis haunted him. His own brother. Killed because of this folly. My folly.
He wouldn't fly home though. They were all too young, these riders. They needed wisdom. If he left them and Zafir wiped them out, they'd be nothing except more souls on his conscience. So instead he watched them pack up their meagre belongings and mount their dragons and then he led them as he should, between the mountains. He look them north this time, away from the majestic dead canyons of the Maze. That's where the sell-swords would assume he was: on the south side where he could easily reach Drotan's Top and the edges of Zafir's realm. A dragon-knight would know better, but the sell-swords would think only of feet and boots and wagons and wheels, not of wings. Maybe that would buy him another week or two of peace and quiet. Long enough for the Usurper to have her council of kings and its aftermath. Long enough to see if anyone else would follow GarHannas. And when they didn't, long enough to talk Hahzyan and the others into going home.
So he took them away, a dozen dragons streaming in a line behind B'thannan, up into the high valleys where the pines grew thicker, higher still towards the snowline, skimming the treetops, keeping low to avoid the eyes of Zafir's scouts; then the dive over the Great Cliff, the mile-high sheer walls of stone that made the northern edge of the Spur, down into the valley of the Silver River below. Hyrkallan had been flying dragons for thirty years. He'd been to every part of the realms. He'd spent half his life soaring high above the endless Desert of Stone and among the dead peaks of the far north of the Worldspine. Even so, crossing the Great Cliff still took his breath away. The sudden absence of the world below gave him vertigo and in the dive that came after, the wind roared so fast it seemed it would tear him out of his saddle. Even behind his visor, he couldn't open his eyes but had to trust to B'thannan not to simply plough into the ground. B'thannan loved to dive, loved the speed. All dragons did.
He almost blacked out as B'thannan pulled out of his dive and arrowed above the water of the Silver River leaving a shock of spray in his wake. And then the moment was gone, the magic and the wonder, and he was left as he'd been before. Old and bitter. He led the way down the valley, back to a place they'd been before Drotan's Top, hardly even noticing the hills turn to mountains as they drifted past. He took them to the far end of the Purple Spur, to where it merged with the immensity of the Worldspine. Far enough away that the Adamantine Palace was a full day's flight away. That was enough. So distant that they were hardly a danger to anyone but themselves. Then he watched them make their camps there, walked among them, helping them where he could.
He'd keep them here, he decided. Waiting, watching, listening until they got bored. It was all in the hands of kings and queens now. Another week or so and he could put an end to this mistake and they could all go home.
He hadn't even put his tent up, hadn't even washed the sell-sword blood off his gloves, when the revolt began.
'Marshal.' Hyrkallan closed his eyes and wished for strength. Rider Semian.
'Rider.' He didn't turn around. He didn't want to even see Semian.
'Marshal, I think it's time you went home.'
Now Hyrkallan did turn around. His lips curled and he laughed bitterly. 'Really, Semian? You might be right, but you're the last person I expected to say such a thing. So what do you propose? Should we wait a little while until the others see the light, or has your little coven discussed this amongst yourselves already. Shall we all pack up and leave right now?'
Semian shook his head. 'No, Marshal. You should go home. The riders who followed you here hunger for justice and vengeance. That is what you promised them. Yet you have not led them against the speaker. We have done nothing except except flap our wings. The speaker barely knows we exist. Drotan's Top should have been a beginning and you have made it an end. Since then we've done nothing but wither.'
And you propose?' Why was he asking? Semian was as transparent as glass.
'Princess Jaslyn needs you. She needs a knight-marshal who will guide her with caution and wisdom. These men need fire and glory and death.' His face was solemn. He believed every word.
Hyrkallan laughed and shook his head. 'And do you mean to give it to them?'
Semian nodded. 'Yes, Knight-Marshal. I will lead them to glory. I will lead them to the Adamantine Palace itself.'
'No.' Hyrkallan wanted to slap Semian for being so stupid. 'You won't even get close. You will lead them to their deaths.'
'Then they will be glorious deaths, Hyrkallan. Better than this.'
'No, they will not. Rider Semian; they will be ignoble and barely remembered. You will all be gone and then you will be forgotten.'
And maybe the realms would be all the better for it He turned away from Semian and tried to put the man out of his mind. Madness. Madness and death. That should be his mantra, not justice and vengeance. That was the way of the dragon-priests. If someone set them on fire, they'd probably rejoice.
For a moment he smiled. Now there was a thought.
7
Jostan helped Semian out of his armour. Inside, his left leg was bloody down to his foot.
'It doesn't look too bad.' Jostan scratched his chin. The cut was ragged but didn't seem too deep and the bleeding had already stopped. Jostan pressed a wad of cloth over the wound and started to strap it to Semian's leg. 'It shouldn't give you any trouble when it heals. Not like the arrow that sell-sword left for you.'
That spawned a moment of tense silence. Semian still limped from that and Jostan knew it pained him sometimes too. Maybe that's why he'd been so keen for a taste of sell-sword blood.
Semian spat. 'This is absurd.' He clenched and unclenched his fists. He'd be pacing as soon as Jostan was finished. 'We should have burned those sell-swords. We could have burned them from the air or from the ground. Why did we have to fight them?'
'It felt good to do something at last.'
'Maybe so, but we should have been fighting Zafir's riders, not shit-eaters. We should have been fighting them weeks ago.' Jostan tied off the bandage and sure enough, Semian shot to his feet and started to pace. 'We have a calling, Jostan. We must answer it.'
'You know there's going to be a council of kings and queens. You know he's waiting for that.'
'Which is wrong' Semian stamped his foot and then winced. 'We should be burning the speaker's eyries. All of
