He saw them later that morning, flying out across the sea. The sight made him glad that he was on land. Dragons and ships didn't mix. Even he knew that. He didn't see what happened and didn't much care.
The next morning, though, they were waiting for him when he woke up. All four of them. He should have known better than to think he could hide. He found himself looking for the dragon-rider, but she wasn't there.
This one? The other three dragons looked different now. Full-grown war-dragons, they dwarfed even Snow, and they were awake too. He could see it in them.
This one is useful to us. Snow turned her attention to Kemir. We are four now. We are strong. We will return to free our kind, and you will help us.
'And how can I possibly help a dragon?'
Snow dropped something at his feet. A pack. The dragon-rider's pack. Ripped pages and maps spilled out. The realms. No one had ever bothered teaching him to read or write, but he knew a map when he saw one. With the desert up in the north, the moors to the east, the Worldspine to the west…
They are… they are too small. And too fragile. You will hold them and you will look at them and we will see through your eyes. He was suddenly aware of Snow, fiercely attentive to his thoughts. At the same time he saw the little crosses marked on the Worldspine in a separate hand, and realised what they were. A map of the Mountain King's eyries.
It shows where dragons can be found, does it not?
Kemir didn't answer. He didn't need to. His thoughts had already given him away. He could feel Snow in his head, glittering with greed. A map of the Mountain King's eyries. Yes. He could almost see them burn, one by one.
He didn't bother asking what had happened to the rider they'd carried across the sea with them. 'I could stay here and you could struggle away on your own.' But even as he said it, Kemir knew he wouldn't. He couldn't live on his own, not in this wilderness. Not for ever. He'd go mad. And besides… Valmeyan…
You will help us, Kemir.
'And if I don't?' Why am I even asking? I can finally do what Sollos and I once swore to do. I can make the King of the Crags pay. I can make him burn. The feeling was delicious and hot.
The dragon didn't answer, just licked her lips. We shall leave now. We are ready. Her thoughts were excited, but there was something else. Something out of place. Uneasy. She was almost…
'Are you scared, dragon?'
We have seen ships on the sea. There was a presence among them. A presence we have not felt for a long time. Not since the world was broken into pieces.
'Any chance of having that again, except this time so it makes some sort of sense?'
One of our creators has returned. We do not know what this means. We thought they were gone.
Kemir shrugged. 'But then you've been asleep for the last few hundred years.'
One of the dragons lunged. Kemir flinched, closed his eyes, but the blow never came. When he opened his eyes again, there were teeth inches from his face. Teeth as long as his arm. The dragon's breath was hot on his skin, and rank. He felt the anger from all of them, even from Snow.
Have a care, Kemir.
He didn't say anything else. Just quietly gathered up what little he had and loaded it onto Snow's back. He made sure he had plenty of food and water this time – might as well head to his death in comfort. For now at least, the dragons didn't seem to be hungry. Presumably they'd been hunting whales again.
'Where are we going?'
We will cross the water to the place where the Worldspine crashes into the sea. We will return to the mountains where I awoke, and there it will begin. It is marked on these maps the places we will go. You will be our eyes. When we are done with those and our numbers are too great to be stopped, we will find your alchemists again. We will find your eyries and your castles and your palaces, and this time we will burn them all. Starting with the place where I was hatched.
They looked at each other.
Outwatch!
37
'So are you a man or half a man now?' Zafir sat across from Jehal in the solar atop the Tower of Dusk. Jehal had chosen the room deliberately. He wasn't sure what he'd been trying to prove. That I can climb stairs on my own now? Was that it? Is that what I'm reduced to? And what has it got me? The whole left side of his body was throbbing, and his wound felt as though it was on fire. He could barely sit still. The sad truth was that his leg was never going to get better. Without a staff to lean on he could barely walk, and that would never change.
Still, it could be worse. I can still ride dragons. And other things.
Zafir didn't wait for an answer. She twirled her hair and made big eyes at him. 'Vale Tassan says that Shezira meant to unman you, but Jeiros tells me that she may have merely crippled you. He goes very coy when I ask and claims that he doesn't actually know. So. Did she miss, then? Do you still have what it takes?' Zafir had brought the Night Watchman with her. He stood in the background, removed from them. But not so far away that I could reach Zafir and wring her pretty little neck before he could cut mine, eh?
'Find out for yourself.' He tried stretching his crippled leg out in front of him in case that made the pain any easier. It didn't.
'Lover, that doesn't sound very promising. Shezira was quite a good shot with a crossbow.'
'Yes. Apparently so.' Jehal smiled. 'And at such short range and at such a large target…'
Zafir smiled. 'I suppose I must assume the worst of your injury. At least until we know better.' Jeiros. Jeiros of all people had smuggled a woman to him. From a city brothel. She was clean, at least, but Jehal had turned her away. Ah, the games we play…
Jehal shrugged. 'I have exquisite taste when it comes to whom I bed. I suspect the Night Watchman has a somewhat better eye in these matters and I don't doubt he has a great deal more practice than Jeiros. You should have sent him on your errand.'
'Not my errand.' Zafir smiled again and then went abruptly cold. 'You betrayed me.'
'I told you what I thought, lover. You should have let Shezira go. My opinion on that hasn't changed. You were wrong to do what you did. You've brought us to war.' With a painful sigh, Jehal stood up. 'I'll go back to my sickbed now, shall I? Or is it time for another cage? I saw that one of your cousins swings in the wind over the gates as well. What did he do? Did he look at you with lust in his eye? No, don't answer; I know that he did. Is that what got him strung up?'
'He lost twenty-five of my dragons to Almiri.'
'Then perhaps you should have taken him to your bed after all. Perhaps then he wouldn't have been so eager.' Jehal chuckled and shook his head and turned away.
'Wait!'
Jehal ignored her. He yawned and hobbled off. 'Wait!' This time she shouted, angry. 'Why should I?' 'I am speaker!'
'And I am a king. I'll listen to your guidance if you should ever grow wise, but you do not give me orders. That is not your place. Even as speaker.'
'Wait.' Her voice softened. 'Please. I didn't want this.'
'Better.' Jehal turned back and sat down again. And about time too. I don't thinly I could have survived all those steps again so soon. Recriminations weren't what I came for.
Zafir was wearing her earnest face now. She leaned towards him, wide-eyed. 'I didn't ask for you to be hurt. I just wanted…'
'Come here.' Jehal patted the cushion next to him. 'Sit beside me.' Is she lying? Does it matter? Does she even know the difference?
Zafir glanced at Vale. He came a few steps closer and then gave a little nod. So that's how close you think you
