Although it did have some advantages, as Lystra soon showed him, and he almost didn’t notice when they rolled to a halt inside the palace gates twenty minutes later. He was still smoothing down his shirt as the door opened to reveal two lines of Adamantine Men formed up to greet him. Two lines and one man in the middle, bowing precisely as low as he should to greet the Speaker of the Realms. The speaker, Jehal noted, not a king. Interesting.

‘Vale Tassan. What a pleasure to see you again.’ Jehal stood up, wincing. Behind him Lystra gathered herself together with an embarrassed little cough.

The Night Watchman straightened. ‘Your Holinesses. The palace is in order.’ There were men everywhere, Jehal began to see. Soldiers on all the walls. Scorpions packed together as closely as they would go. Even scorpions down in the Gateyard, trained up at the sky.

‘You’ve been busy.’

Vale bowed again. ‘While the speaker is away, it is my duty to defend against any invader.’

‘Ah. Just so we’re both clear and there are no misunderstandings, do I count as a speaker or as an invader or as both?’

The Night Watchman didn’t twitch. ‘You are the speaker until the Lesser Council says otherwise. Or another is chosen by the council of kings and queens.’

Jehal snorted. ‘Well there’s a distinct shortage of both of those at the moment so I wouldn’t hold your breath.’ He grimaced and hauled himself down the steps of the carriage, then walked towards the Speaker’s Tower, leaning heavily on his staff.

‘Your leg seems worse, Your Holiness.’

‘I fell off a dragon and hung there for a little while. It did me no favours.’

‘I will have one of my physicians sent to you.’

‘If he has a fine collection of spare legs and is able to replace this with a new one that has not previously been shot through by a large crossbow then, please, as soon as you can. Otherwise I really wouldn’t bother.’

‘As you wish.’ Nothing. As always, the man gave away nothing. He could be seconds away from killing me or he could loyally serve me for a decade. It could be either and I’d never know which was coming. And that alone was a good enough reason to get rid of him.

‘I have a job for you, Night Watchman. An order. One that should suit you very well.’

Vale said nothing. He looked straight ahead, keeping perfect pace with Jehal. He didn’t look tense at all. He didn’t look much of anything except ready. But ready for what?

‘Well don’t you want to know what it is?’

‘I exist to serve, Your Holiness. That is what I am for, and my men with me. From birth-’

‘To death. The guard obeys orders. Nothing more, nothing less. I’ve heard that so many times, Vale, and I have yet to believe it. So now I mean to put it to the test. I want you to go, right now, with as many of your men as you deem necessary. I want you to find the rogue dragons that Jeiros is fretting about and I want you to kill them for me. Is that something you can do?’

Vale licked his lips. ‘Unlikely, Your Holiness. But if that is your wish, I will do my utmost. If that is my fate, I will succeed. If not, I will die in the attempt.’

‘Yes, please. Do you think you could succeed and then die of your wounds afterwards?’

‘Jehal!’ He’d forgotten Lystra, padding silently behind them. Jehal turned and flashed her a smile.

‘A little joke, my love. Vale, you’re still here. I believe I gave you an order.’

‘And I will obey, Your Holiness. Indeed, I have already embarked upon your mission.’ They were drawing close to the Speaker’s Tower. Its doors remained shut. The soldiers on either side made no move to open them. Jehal felt a sharp twinge of fear in his belly. Here it comes. The knife.

‘The doors to my tower appear to be closed, Night Watchman, and your men are not opening them. Should I be concerned?’

‘Yes, your Holiness. Yes, you should.’ Vale gestured towards the Glass Cathedral. ‘This would be a better place.’

Jehal didn’t move.

‘The tunnels, Your Holiness. For you and your queen and your son. You will be safe there.’

‘What?’

‘You’ll hardly recognise them. If all does not go well, I dare say there are enough supplies for you and your household to last for some time. Months, perhaps.’

‘What are you talking about?’ The twinge of fear was turning into something more.

Vale took a deep breath and sighed. For once he turned to face Jehal and looked him in the eye. For once he looked tired. ‘There is a cage, Jehal. You can hang me in it if you want to, or perhaps I’ll hang you, but either will be a cause for celebration because it will mean we have survived. It will mean we are alive. It will mean it still matters. I don’t need to go anywhere to follow your orders. I am as ready as I can be. I have taken dragon poison and so have all my men. Up on the peaks by the Diamond Cascade are some thirty dragons and not one of them with a rider. One is white.’ He gave a bitter laugh. ‘They’ve been there for two days. I can only assume it’s you they’re waiting for. And now you are here.’ He turned briefly to look at Lystra. ‘Unless I am mistaken, the realms of the north are gone, Your Holiness. I am sorry.’ Then back to Jehal. ‘Go to the Glass Cathedral. You will be looked after. I have done everything I can.’

His face said the rest. Everything wasn’t enough. Not by a very long way. Jehal felt numb.

‘I have always kept lookouts on the edge of the Spur, Your Holiness. They are there to watch for dragons. Any who might threaten the city. They signal to me with mirrors, or with smoke and fire. They are still there. I think the dragons have chosen to let them live. They want us to know they are coming.’ He bowed, and for a moment looked old and tired. ‘Take what pleasure you can from the night, Your Holiness. In the morning they will come.’

47

Nightfall

Snow watched the dragons fly into the eyrie below. Such a number, she’d felt them coming from a hundred miles away and more. So had the others arrayed on the mountainsides around her.

Finally.

More to free.

A hundred.

More.

Excitement coursed through her. The other dragons felt the same.

We should wait.

Night comes.

Daylight is better.

But they were dragons, and so they tried and they tried but in the end they couldn’t wait. When one kicked itself into the air and spread its wings, the others followed in an instant, glad and gleeful. They fell through the air, looping and dancing through the spray of the Diamond Cascade until the City of Dragons rushed up to meet them.

They spread their wings and opened their mouths. Not like the other cities, this one. They had a fury inside them now, one that had been building up for two days on the mountainsides. For a week since they’d begun at Outwatch. For a thousand years and more since they’d last flown as a horde against an enemy who could actually fight them. They tore into the city, burning, smashing, clambering over walls, lashing towers to the ground, crushing houses underfoot, pouring fire through doors and windows and arches, savaging anything that crossed their path.

Don’t eat! Don’t eat! But the urge was irresistible. The rage had them hard, and when men and women ran screaming, it was impossible not to snatch them up with claw or tail and crush them and smash them and bite them in two and taste their blood. The city burned. Its flesh was delicious.

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