wasn't sure whether he wanted to do that because she was a dragon-rider, or whether it was some sort of daft jealousy. In the end he put the thought away. Instead he did his best to make her comfortable and fed her some more water.
'Sorry,' he whispered in her ear. Sorry for what he wasn't sure. For all sorts of things, probably. For what he'd done, for what had happened. For what would happen later.
Then he looked out to sea and his mouth fell open. The dragons were there, maybe a mile out. They were easy enough to spot. And they weren't alone. He watched as one of them seemed to drag something through the waves towards the beach, flapping its wings furiously, almost but not quite lifting whatever it was out of the water. After a few seconds, the dragon let go and shot up into the air, only for another to take its place. Kemir watched as they came closer.
It had to be another dragon. Maybe one that was hurt. One with a broken wing. Although if it was, they were being none too gentle with it.
I don't see any wings. Don't they put down dragons with broken wings? But what else can it be? A sea monster? Whatever it was, it was black and bulky and about the size of a small hunting dragon although with no wings and without the long tail or neck of a true dragon.
The dragons were getting closer. As they saw him, Snow tipped her wings in greeting. Food! Food, Kemir! We have brought food! Giant fish!
Kemir's jaw dropped. It was whale. They had a whale.
The dragons splashed and floundered in the water, dragging the whale up onto the beach. Great gouges had already been ripped from its flesh, and yet it wasn't quite dead. Kemir kept well away as the dragons finished it off and then tore it to pieces. They'd all been days without food. The sight of it made him him both hungry and sick at the same time.
He walked back to the pool and washed himself. When he returned, the dragons were sprawled in the sand. One of them belched. Half the whale was gone.
'I see you left some for me.' He wrinkled his nose. The air stank.
We will stay here now, Kemir. There is enough to eat.
'You've only got half a whale left. You'll be hungry again in the morning.'
This will satisfy us for days if we do not fly. If we grow hungry, we shall simply hunt more. In all my many lives, I have never seen the sea with my own eyes. It is not so bad after all.
Kemir nodded. The stench was getting worse, strong enough to make him gag. 'You enjoy yourselves then. I'll go hunt something more my size.'
I feel your hunger, Kemir. You may take from our kill.
'I'm honoured.' He wasn't sure that he particularly wanted to, but an offer to share food was a meaningful thing among outsiders and to refuse was often an insult. Maybe dragons were different. Or maybe not. 'Right then. Honoured then. Like I said.' Disgusted as well, but not disgusted enough to offend something that could squash him flat without really noticing. With a sigh, he drew out one of his knives and tried to work out how best to approach the whale. Most of its head was missing, so it was a choice between its tail and its belly, where it had been ripped open and its innards scattered across the sand.
'Tail,' he decided. 'When it comes to whales, we humans like the tail bits best.' Especially when it's the part that's furthest away from all that… mess. He held his breath. He'd hunted and killed and eaten animals all his life, but never one whose corpse he could actually walk inside.
Snow was laughing at him. You have never even seen these creatures before. You have barely heard of them.
Kemir glared at her. 'Tail is still the best.' He started to cut off strips of meat, trying to hold his nose at the same time.
Take as muck as you wish, [fier this, you will have to hunt for your-self, You cannot stay with us. For a time, at least, we must be apart.
'What?' He stopped, frozen still. 'Why? Where are you going?' The thought of being left alone out here scared him. Which was insane. He pinched himself. Nadira. Remember Nadira.
You must leave us here. We must be alone. Already my new brothers are beginning to dream, Kemir. I have shown you those dreams. You have seen what they are and you have tasted how they feel to us. You should not be here when the awakening begins. Remember Ash.
'Ash was deranged.'
Ash was angry. All of us are angry. When I awoke, I was angry. And you do not want to be near when we are angry. I cannot promise they will not eat you. I cannot promise that I could stop them.
Kemir snorted. 'Just tell them how useful I am.'
When the awakening has finished, I will reason with them. As I reasoned with Ash. Ash did not eat you, Kemir. Despite his anger.
'Well then, fine. I'll just piss off into the middle of nowhere. On my own. Leave you to it. Have fun and just see how far you get without me. Am I supposed to take your pet dragon-rider with me and look after her for you?' He looked at Snow long and hard. She was still changing. Still remembering. Still learning who she was. There hadn't been much time to notice since… since Nadira. Not until they'd reached the sea. But she was. She wasn't the same Snow who'd burned the alchemists' redoubt, not the same dragon who'd eaten Nadira or destroyed a city whose name she didn't even know. Maybe she really didn't need him any more. He wasn't sure whether that was good or bad. 'There's one thing I want to know before I go. What's your name, dragon?'
Snow, Kemir. It is Snow. Why do you ask when you know this?
'Not that name. Your real name. The name you were given when you were born for the very first time.'
For a moment he could almost believe Snow was smiling. My hatching name. The name my silver rider gave me. The first name I ever had. Is that what you want?
'Yes. Your first name or your real name or whatever it is. Not Snow. Not the one the Outwatch alchemists gave you. Unless it's some secret and you're going to have to eat me if you tell me.'
It is no secret. I was called Alimar Ishtan vei Atheriel – Beloved Memory of a Lover Distant and Lost.'
Kemir stared at her and tried not to laugh. 'Beloved. That's…
That's not a name I would have ever guessed. Alimar is better. Alim, maybe. Ali.'
You may know my true name, but you have not earned the right to speak Take whatever meat you wish. And then you must go.
Kemir threw a glance down the beach at the dragon-rider, still lying in the sand. 'Fine with me. So what about her?'
Snow moved over to the prone figure on the sand. She nudged the rider with her nose. Kemir felt her disgust. This one is broken. Gingerly she picked the rider up by one leg and shook, then dropped her again. This one will be gone before my kjn awake. She will stay. I will take what I can while she lingers.
For a moment, Kemir hesitated. Maybe he should have killed the dragon-rider after all. Maybe it would have been a mercy. Then he turned. 'All yours then. Farewell, dragon.' He didn't look back.
When it is safe, I will find you.
'Only if I want you to, dragon. Only if I want you to.' With that he stalked away into the foreign trees of a forest whose name he'd never hear. Alone. Snow had company now. Her own kind. They didn't need him any more.
'Forget them,' he snapped to himself, as if that would be enough. 'They don't need you and you don't need them.' Although, all things considered, it would have been nice to have been abandoned somewhere that he knew. Or even somewhere that had people.
Still, alive was alive. Alive was something other than dead. And Snow hadn't eaten him after all. He walked as far away from the dragons as he could be bothered to and built himself a shelter. He could never walk far enough, of course, not when they had wings. Over the next days he saw them sometimes, flying in the distance. He tried to ignore them, but as the days stretched to weeks he couldn't. Food was plentiful, the hunting easy. He started to grow fat with waiting. He gave up his first shelter and took to roaming the island, exploring as much as anything for something to do. Sometimes even that wasn't enough. Sometimes he stared at the skies for hours and hours, just hoping to catch a glimpse of wings and fire.
He'd been there for three weeks when he saw the ships. He was on the far side, as far away from the dragons as he could get, and all of sudden he woke up in the morning and found the sea full of ships. They were far awav, too far for him to signal, so he watched and wondered who they were. The dragons must have seen the ships too.
