Orlind (39 page)

‘
Consider something else. If Krays didn’t use Ori or Pensould,
then he must either have used some other source of ordinary draykon
bone, or... or he got hold of another shifter.’

‘
But
there aren’t any more hereditaries.’

‘
Yes,
but it isn’t the hereditary status that’s important here. Pensould
shifts human, doesn’t he?’

Llandry sucked in
a breath, catching on all at once. ‘I see what you
mean!’

‘
If
Krays betrayed his allies, you might be able to use that. Now I
must go, Llan.’

‘
Did
you find what you were looking for?’

‘
No,’
Eva said shortly. ‘We failed.’

‘
Oh...
I’m sorry. What next for you, then?’

‘
I
don’t yet know.’

Eva sounded
tired, and worse than that she sounded forlorn. That was not like
her at all. ‘Perhaps you could come to us,’ she
ventured.

‘
I
can’t. Tren has been hurt, and he needs me. That is... he might
need me.’

Tren hurt as
well? The last of Llandry’s good feelings vanished. The cost of
this conflict had been far too high... ‘Will he be all
right?’

‘
Yes,’
Eva said firmly. Llandry so admired her ability to sound sure and
confident, even when she must be worried sick. ‘He’ll be fine.
We’ll come to you when he’s recovered.’

‘
Take
care,’ Llandry whispered, but Eva had already ended the connection.
She restored the box to her pocket with a sigh. Rest sounded
wonderful right now, but there were still far too many things to
do.

The most
important of her priorities was getting Pensould back, but the
drayks had so far refused to reveal where they had taken his
corpse. Her attack on Eterna had turned them all against her, with
immoveable finality. She had hoped that Lady Eva might be able to
talk them around, but she wouldn’t argue with her desire to stay
with Tren. She’d do the same, if only she could be near
Pensould.

There was hope
yet, however. Iver was working out a peace treaty that would
involve the exchange of hostages - in this case the bodies of the
fallen draykon invaders in exchange for Pensould’s remains.
Provided, of course, that reasonable terms could be reached. Nobody
wanted to hand back the bodies only to see the regenerated drayks
turn on Waeverleyne again.

Llandry pondered
Eva’s information, chewing a thumbnail as she did so. ‘Ori,’ she
said after a while. ‘We need to go count bodies.’

‘
We...do?’

‘
Urgently.’

Ori looked pale.
‘Which bodies?’

‘
The
draykoni.’

‘
Oh...
that’s not so bad, then.’

Did he think she
had meant the bodies of Waeverleyne’s fallen citizens? That would
be a harrowing experience. Shaking off a shudder, she led the way
to find Commander Iver.

‘
May I
ask where the draykon remains are being kept, sir?’

Iver glared down
at Llandry, looking harassed and none too pleased to see her. Small
wonder, for it was now his task to oversee the final end to the
conflict, and all the many details that entailed.

Ah well. She
wouldn’t need to distract him for long.

‘
I
can’t say I expected that request, Miss Sanfaer. What do you
propose to do?’

‘
I
need to examine them, sir.’

‘
Oh?
Why?’

‘
I
need to know how many there are.’

‘
Then
you don’t need to see them. I can tell you there are twenty-seven
currently in our custody.’

‘
And
six survivors?’

‘
Correct.’

‘
Excellent,’ she smiled. ‘May I please speak to the survivors,
then, sir?’

Iver eyed her
with suspicion. ‘What’s this about?’

Llandry told him.
He tugged at his beard - this accessory clearly the product of many
days without leisure to shave, rather than any personal choice -
and considered her information.

‘
I’d
better go with you,’ he decided.

‘
As
you wish, sir, but it must be now.’

‘
Oh it
must, must it?’ He surveyed her with raised brows.

‘
I
don’t think any delay is either necessary or wise, Commander.’ She
gave him her mother’s stare, the one that always seemed to inspire
people to do as requested.

Iver rolled his
eyes. ‘Right, but make it fast.’

‘
Absolutely.’

The surviving
draykoni had surrendered, but not graciously. Iver had them
gathered into a group with all of her father’s intact gun-machines
trained upon them. Resentment and fury poured off them in
waves.

All the more
reason to hurry, Llandry thought. Iver and Ori escorted her to
within twenty feet of the nearest of them, and there they
halted.

‘
That’s as close as you’re going,’ Iver ordered. ‘You can
communicate from here, I take it.’

‘
Yes,
sir, easily.’

‘
Let’s
get on with it, then.’

Let
me do the talking for a bit, Ori, okay?

Sure,
Ori
agreed with his usual affability.
I’ll be listening in
though.

Llandry nodded
assent to this, then turned her thoughts towards the nearest drayk.
This one was a female, with creamy-coloured scales. Her size was
similar to Llandry’s.

This common
ground didn’t make her any friendlier, however.
What do you
want, traitor?
The defeated draykon’s voice hissed in Llandry’s
mind, full of resentment. But behind it there were hints of fear,
and desperation, and a great deal of weariness. As angry as they
were, these drayks might nonetheless welcome an end to a conflict
they had come so close to winning, yet ultimately lost.

Greetings,
Wing-friend,
Llandry said politely. She ignored the snort of
disgust that followed her choice of address, and went on.
I’d be
grateful to learn how many of you were involved in the attack on
this city. A precise number, if you can.

What
is it that you think to do with that information?

I believe that
one of your number is missing,
Llandry replied.

The drayk’s tail
twitched.
Missing?

Yes.
You see, we have only twenty-seven of your fellows in custody
besides the half-dozen I see here. The city and its environs have
been searched, and no other remains have been discovered. Were
there thirty-three of you when you arrived?

There were
thirty-four,
the draykon admitted.
But your people have
destroyed several of ours, so already you have given me a lie. You
do not have twenty-seven.

None were
destroyed,
Llandry said firmly.
In fact
they were
hidden, and you were led to believe them destroyed.
This ploy
had been Iver’s idea too. Llandry had learned of it only belatedly,
but much to her relief. It had never sat well with her, in spite of
the extent of the damage they had inflicted. She was too much
draykon herself to celebrate such brutality.

That cannot be
the truth,
said the other drayk suspiciously.

Why
not?

Your
kind never tells the truth.

Llandry opted to
avoid that argument.
You may believe whatever you choose, but I
urge you to discuss this with your fellows. I fear that your
erstwhile ally is behind the disappearance of one of your
number
-
a male, it must be.

The draykon spat
at her.
If it is so, it is no business of yours.

As you
wish.
Llandry gave the mental equivalent of a shrug and
withdrew, knowing that she had said enough. The draykon, however
belligerent, had suffered a moment’s doubt as well. That would be
enough to encourage her to talk the matter over with the
others.

‘
We
should give them a little time,’ she said to Iver as they left the
draykoni behind. ‘I’ve no doubt that Lady Eva is right: Krays
trapped one of their number while they were in his domain. Once
they realise they have been betrayed, they may turn some of their
anger towards him instead. Having a common enemy might help
relations along, or maybe not, but who knows. It’s worth a
try.’

Iver gave a curt
nod. ‘It may be as you say. I’ll call for you again shortly, but in
the meantime I suggest you get some rest.’ With that he walked off,
leaving Llandry and Ori to their own devices.

‘
I
wonder how Avane is doing,’ Ori said after a moment.

‘
The
Lokants are good. I’m sure she is well.’

Ori nodded, but
his expression was dubious. ‘Maybe we could visit her.’

‘
There’s no one to take us at the moment, but when Eva comes
back we can ask her.’ She paused. ‘Ori, if the drayks don’t produce
Pensould soon then I want to go looking for him.’

‘
You
think we could find him?’

‘
Probably, yes. Pense and I found Isand’s body, even though it
was buried. It should be possible to sense the presence of a
draykon-grave. It depends how well they’ve hidden him.’

Ori grimaced.
‘Yes, and they’d know better than anyone how to hide a drayk from
another drayk. It’ll be much better if they would just tell
us.’

Llandry sighed.
‘Much better,’ she agreed. ‘And that is exactly why they refuse to
do so.’

‘
I
miss Graaf,’ said Ori suddenly. ‘Should’ve brought him with
us.’

‘
Graaf?’

‘
My
orboe.’

‘
You
have an
orboe?’
Llandry was astonished. Orboes were large,
shaggily furred and disturbingly willing to eat just about
anything. They were also notoriously difficult to beguile, even for
powerful summoners.

But Ori wasn’t
just a powerful summoner, of course. He was a draykon.

‘
Well,
no, not anymore,’ Ori was saying. ‘But I did make friends with one
of them, in Iskyr. He followed me around for a while.’

‘
What
happened to him?’

‘
Nothing,’ Ori shrugged. ‘I persuaded him to stay behind when
we all went to the Library. Didn’t think he’d manage well in that
environment.’

Llandry grinned.
‘You could consider making smaller friends, next time.’

‘
Like
an orting? Quite true. That would be much more
convenient.’

Llandry looked
down at the little orting, restored once more to his rightful place
over her belly. He had been safe with her father, she’d been
relieved to learn, though the experience had been traumatic for
him. He now lay comfortably asleep, his stomach full.

Talk of Iskyr
made her think of her grandfather, too. She hadn’t seen him since
he had “helped” her and her friends with their summoning skills.
Had he stayed in Waeverleyne all that time, or had he gone back to
Iskyr by now? Probably the latter, she decided.

Nonetheless, she
should go and see what had become of Rheas. He may be a nasty old
man, but he was still her grandfather.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Pacing up and
down in the Library’s corridors while the Lokants worked on Tren
was not a pastime that could please Eva. Relaxing was out of the
question until she knew him to be well; even then, when all their
endeavours had come to naught there remained the obligation to come
up with some other way to get at Krays.

Half an hour’s
thought reminded her that she had been neglecting one of their
possible sources of information. Without holding out a great deal
of hope, Eva accessed the Map and found her way to Draetre
University.

It was late when
she arrived, but she wasn’t surprised to find that Indren Druaster
was still in her office. Her life outside of the university must be
rather empty, Eva concluded with a feeling of sympathy. The
professor dampened her light-globes when she saw who was knocking
at her door, a considerate gesture for which Eva was grateful. Eva
didn’t miss the expression of hope in the other woman’s tired face
either.

‘
Any
news for me?’ Indren asked, waving her to a seat.

‘
Some,
yes. The conflict in Waeverleyne is drawing to a close, I am
informed, with Glinnery the victor.’

‘
Good,
good,’ said Indren. ‘Is it true that the draykoni had help from
Krays’s people?’

‘
You
heard about that, hm? Yes, it is true. They would have lost the
battle much sooner without his constructs.’

Indren looked
ready to ask more questions, but Eva interrupted her before she
could get started. ‘Indren, I came in hopes of hearing some news
from
you.
All attempts to penetrate Krays’s Library have
ended in disaster, and I don’t mind admitting that I am at my wits’
end. Tell me you’ve learned something.’

‘
Nothing, I’m afraid,’ Indren said dully. ‘There has been no
activity since last we talked. This is good, as it’s beginning to
look like Krays might be finished with us. But he could still come
back
.’