Kavin's World (16 page)

“I understand,” he said, the gleaming eyes fixed on me.

“In a day, I’ll send word,” I said. “Now… I think we’d best return before dark. You say there are few of the white beasts… but one might be enough, in the dark.”

“You need not fear them,” the Abbot said. “None will approach you.”

I studied him thoughtfully,
then
nodded.

“All the same, we shall return now.”

We rose, and gathered our weapons; monks led us out, and through the crumbling halls and courts, until we were on the grassy slope again. There, Kakk Marag was first to speak, and his tone was positive.

“All devils,” he said, grinding his remaining teeth, and staring back over his shoulder. “Eat God. Change skin.”

“And so they do, so they do,” Thuramon said cheerily. “Therefore, my lord, let’s make haste out of sight, till we are within the trees’ shade again.”

We entered the ancient road, and went a few hundred yards, until the monastery was hidden from view. Here, Thuramon paused.

“Fortunately, I too am a great student of languages, like the great… Abbot… yonder,” he
said,
his face now grim. “He spoke in a tongue of which I know a few words. I guessed much, and saw more. Lord Kavin, these folk
are
a great problem.”

I looked at him,
then
back at the way we had come.

“I see no problem,” I said. “They seem strange.
A haunted folk… but few, monks and peasants, with no arms to speak of.
They fear the dragons, it seems; yet, if we wished to land and live here, bargain or no, they have no way to hurt us.”

“You saw so little, then,” Thuramon said, shaking his head. “And, speaking of bargains… I hold your oath. We do not seek only a place to settle, to plant corn again… you and I seek an enemy. And the shortest way to that enemy lies through this land. Yet these folk will prevent our passage.”

“How?”
I asked impatiently. “And why not slay dragons for them, if need be? I’ve no special love for the breed.”

Thuramon shook his head. “It is neither easy nor wise to slay dragons. The smaller dragon is a creature of beauty, and of great service, when trained. And the larger is man’s equal in many ways; and more than equal in others. Dragons are lovers of gold and music, as man is. Also, the gods hold a special love for them, and it is not wise to slay them without need.”

“According to the Abbot, they are the beasts of the book, keeping us out of this land,” I said.

“No. He lied. These dragons are not fond of man’s flesh. They prefer a stronger meat.” Thuramon paused. “The… beasts, who endanger us… those beasts, who will not attack us now, so says the Abbot… the white wolf-creatures, and maybe yet other white night beasts of worse kind… you have seen them.
And spoken with them.
They are the men of the black robes.”

I stared at him. He was not joking. A number of odd things came back to me: how the Abbot had known of the handguns, how he had seemed so strangely eager in the matter of the dragons.

“Skin-changers.”
Kakk Marag grunted. “We had such, sometimes. We killed them.”

“He speaks truth,” Thuramon said. “These black-robed monks are devotees of a mad cult, whose basis is a change into a shape like that of a beast. Changed, they slay and gain magical power thus.
Power,
and long life. I suspect these monks are very old, some of them. Maybe they are the same who came here, ages ago, to build their house… for another purpose.”

“Are these Christians, then?” I asked. “I’d never heard of such customs among the other Christians.”

“They may have been, once,” Thuramon said. “I think what may have happened was that they found a new wisdom, as they put it. I think I know that Lord of Wisdom of whom the Abbot spoke. He is not the god of the Christians, but another, far older. And of him, the less said the better.” He shuddered and glanced into the dark depths of the forest around us.

“I think I see, then,” I said. “We’re to kill off their enemies, the dragons. Though if they’re as wise as they say, surely they could have done
that
themselves. Still, we’re to clear away this dragon danger for them, and then… why, then, I suppose we would be hunted, as they hunt the peasants no doubt.”

“I think so,” Thuramon said. “Also, they may hope we would be killed, most of us, in the fight with the dragons. Remember, the Dragon Keepers would not take the death of their pets lightly.”

“Pawns on the Abbot’s chessboard,” I said angrily. “Well, now, wizard, advise me. Shall we burn his roof, or sail away?”

He looked thoughtful. “Neither, yet. We must speak with the Dragon Keepers, and quickly. With their aid, we may win through this cursed land; but against the beasts, massed, we would fail.
Even with silver.”

At least one good had come of our exploration: the word of the Abbot proved true. As we hastened back along the old roadway, we saw no sign of any white, ravening beast,
nor
of anything else, for that matter. We hurried, for all that, holding our weapons ready, all the way.

The sky was red with sunset as we reached the shore and our boat. We were seen from the ships, and a cheer went up from the
Luck.
We pulled away with a will, despite our weariness, and within a few minutes, we were aboard again.

Both Isa and Samala were there, standing together to greet me; but I took time for no more than a smile. There was more work to be done, before we dared rest.

“The Dragon Keepers live there, on the farther side of that cragged island,” Thuramon said. “What may happen when we approach, I do not know; they are a testy breed. They may set a brace of wardragons at us without stopping to inquire what we’re at.”

“We’ll try a signal lamp,” I said. The rattle of the anchor chain came from the forward deck, and the mainsail rose along the mast, “There’s barely enough breeze. We’ll tack up this channel and run down on the island’s tip end.” In the twilit sky, a triangle-winged shape wheeled watchfully, and I heard again that distant organpipe note of a dragon’s cry. We were watched.

And as we moved slowly toward the island, coming round in a wide arc, the shape overhead was joined by another, and then another. The men watched, fearfully, as they went about their working of the ship, but there would be little anyone could do if those great beasts dove at us.

“Are these the breed that spit flame, wizard?” I asked Thuramon.

“All dragons do so,” he said, pedantically. “It depends on their diet, of course; given a sufficiency of certain foods, they may spout fire most admirably; or deprived of such, they will barely smoke.”

“Let Tana grant these are not so nourished,” I said, watching. I transferred my gaze to the nearing crags.

The island was like a great, jagged slab of rock on edge in the sea. There seemed to be no sign of any harbor,
nor
of any life, for that matter. The black crags were treeless, and I could see no sign of houses.

Then I saw a pale light, shining at the tops of the peaks; it seemed to come up as if out of a pit. I called out my orders, and signal fires were lit in iron baskets at our prow. We dropped the sail, and drifted, waiting.

“We’ll give them time enough to think about it,” I said. “Though Tana knows we’ve little enough time, since that black-robed man-beast may have ways of guessing what we’re at. If he sees the ships, and counts one gone…”

“They will respond,” Thuramon said. “Either to drive us away, or welcome us in.”

“No way in, as far as I can see,” I said, studying the white breakers at the cliff’s foot.

I paced the deck, biting my lips with impatience. The stars came out, and still we drifted; the pale light remained on the cliff top, and overhead, a dragon hooted from time to time.

“I wonder where our invisible passenger is now,” I said, glancing along the dark ship.

“I think she has had conversation with your ladies,” Thuramon said, absently. “The men say they hear her speaking, now and again, sometimes in your cabin when you are not there.”

I glanced aft, in surprise. Then I shrugged. “Well, she’s a woman, invisible or not. I would have guessed she’d seek out women, to speak with. Odd that neither Isa nor Samala have said anything about it.”

“Lord, you are still young,” Thuramon said. “The secretiveness of womankind sometimes amazes even me, a wizard.”

“Were I not somewhat busy these days, I’d hunt for the creature,” I said. “Maybe, later… hah, look there!”

Moonlight silvered the black cliff, a thousand yards away now, as we drifted. On the cliff, a bright patch glowed, like a great door opening; and out of it, three shadowy shapes loomed up. One after another, they launched themselves into the air, wings snapping open with a boom like a cannon’s crack. Three dragons, each as large as two of the kind we had so far seen… war-dragons!

The three hurtled in the air, and shot toward us, at mast height, the wind of their coming rocking the ship itself. And as they swooped over, swinging around us in a wide circle, a monstrous voice bellowed at us, loud as thunder, and in an unknown language.

Thuramon, his pudgy face green with fear in the flaring torchlight, stared up at the giant winged shapes.

“They are going to attack!” he said. “They think we are servants of the black robes… they will burn the ship around us!”

And the first of the three swooping dragons opened his enormous mouth, emitting an orange puff of flame, with a sound like death itself.

Ten

“Ang ‘tchaska!”
Thuramon shrieked
,
his face turned up toward the dragon.
“Ang ninga noremm!”

And at the last possible moment, the huge beast pulled up and out, shooting away into the air with another shriek. The mast creaked, and the cordage twanged with the wind of it; and the second and third dragons wheeled back, higher now.

Thuramon howled up at them again; and the huge voice boomed an answer.

“Your luck holds,” Thuramon gasped. “They… say… the Masters will see us.” He blew a great breath. “Such a shout as that tears at my throat. I need wine.”

I glanced toward the shore. “How will they have speech with us?
Out of the sky?”

“Easier than that,” Thuramon said, hoarsely. He drew a stoppered jar from his belt pouch, and opening it, drank deep.
“Phoo!”

“You seem uneasy, wizard,” I said.

He glanced at the dark sea. “I am. These are great and powerful lords of magic, and I… I fear them. Lord Kavin, I am
not… not
the greatest of wizards.”

“I know,” I said, and grinned. “Nor am I the most powerful of princes. Let’s be our not-quite-magnificent selves, Thuramon, and trust to Tana.”

He nodded, with a slight return to calm. “They wish us to send away this ship,” he said. “Too close to their shores.”

“But how…” Then I saw how. In the darkness, the black shape had been invisible till now: a narrow boat, like a rowing galley, it lay against us, its prow thumping our larboard.

At the rail, I held a torch high, and looked down. The boat was empty; neither rowers nor any other human could be seen in the narrow open shell. Did they expect us to paddle ourselves to their shores, using our hands? There did not seem to be an oar in sight, either.

“We two should be enough,” Thuramon said. “Believe me,
prince,
armed attendants would be of no use. Come.” And with a speed remarkable in a fat man, he lifted a leg over the rail and dropped down with a thud into the boat.

“Sailing master!”
I called, and as he came to me, “Take the
Luck
back to the anchorage. If we do not return, the lady Isa is your ruler, hereafter. Obey her in all things.
Sail to another, safer place, if I should be… well, whatever might happen to me.”

He glanced at the island, and nodded. “I understand, my lord. But…” he hesitated, looking grim. “If aught should happen, as you say… we have our cannon.”

“No,” I told him. “Firedrakes would destroy you all, and there’d be naught left of Dorada. Do as I have said.”

Then I went over the rail, and into the boat.

“Now then,” I said, settling down on a thwart. “Shall we go by magic…
aha!
” The thing had begun to move, with such speed as to slash a white foampath through the water. I looked toward the bows, and saw a line, taut, and stretched down into the black sea. Thuramon followed my glance.

“Yes,” he said.
“One of their… pets.
It draws us.”

“A sea-dragon?”

“Not quite that,” Thuramon said. “But the term will do.”

We shot through the water at such speed that the distance seemed to vanish. But now we approached the black crag wall, heading straight for the wave-washed rock at such a pace that it seemed certain we would smash against it like an eggshell. I braced myself for a shock… the boat was barely a few feet from the rock now, and not slackening speed by a hair… and our bow touched the black stone.

And passed through it, as if it were air.
I let out a great gasp, of pure startlement… and I must
admit,
relief.

We were in a high, wide tunnel of black stone, water spraying about us as we sped on. Ahead, bright light suddenly poured out, and the boat slowed, and stopped; the bow line went slack, as we drifted to contact a flight of water-washed steps.

Above us, a door stood open, from which the light came, and a hollow voice boomed at us.

“Come,” it said.

“They’ve learned our language,” I said, climbing out. Thuramon followed, and we went up, and through the door.

“Of course they know it,” he said, trotting close to any heels. “They are… well traveled.”

Now we were in a space too large to call merely a hall; such a space as no builder I had ever known could have hoped to encompass in walls. But it was a hall, in a way.

Overhead, I could see, dimly and distantly, a gigantic dome, from which the golden light poured down. But there seemed to be no definite source of that light; it simply came. And all around, walls of gleaming, polished stone rose to meet it.