The Last Dragon Chronicles: The Fire Ascending (8 page)

a match for his dark brown jerkin. His trousers were ripped. There were holes in his boots. He broke wind as he walked

towards the stones.

“What’s in it for us is a nasty end if we don’t follow Voss’s orders,” said the other. He was thinner than the first man.

Rangy. Mean. Hair that draped in lankyspikes around his bony, milk-skinned face. He had a lean, crooked nose. A mole onhis chin. Sunken eyes, always on thelookout for danger. As they swept myway, I turned side-on behind the tree. The Fain slowed my heartbeat to keep mequiet.

The first man said, “I’m bored oflooking for paths for the horses. I needsomething to
 
kill
.”

The other man spoke in a soft mumble. “Well, there’s a great big scaly brute uptop just waiting to feed on a goof likeyou.”

“The old feller in the krofft, he waseasy,” bragged the man. “Ready for adragon now, I am.”

“You were seen, Egil.”

“Nah,” he said. “In and out like ashadow, I was.”

“I’m telling you, I saw a kid run out.”

My arrow hand began to shake.

“So what?” Egil said. He unbuttonedhis trousers. “The men was all drugged. We ain’t gonna be followed.”

“Get  back   on  your   horse,”   hiscompanion said suddenly.

He’s reading an auma wave
 
, the Fain

commingled.
 
I cannot tell if it’s yours or Tryst’s
 
.

I looked up. Tryst had bared his fangs.

“I need to pee,” said the man on the ground. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.”

“Hold it in,” the other said, tightening his rein. “There’s something hiding in the trees.”

Egil turned his bearded face towardsus. “Katts? So what? Let them look. Theyain’t gonna test the sibyl’s curse, arethey?”

Curse?

Agawin, you must remain steady
 
, said

the Fain.

“This is probably one, right here,” said

Egil. He jumped, two-footed, onto a stone

and aimed a stream of urine at it.

The first drops had barely splattered therocks when the branch above me twangedand Tryst broke cover. Mercifully, Egilknew nothing of his fate – perhaps adeserved flash of pain as the skogkatt’sjaws closed round his hand (the oneaiming the pee) and the formidable teethbit through whatever flesh they could find. By then, the other man had pulled a knifeand whipped it with venom towards thekatt. It struck Tryst cleanly in the middleof the ribs, but bounced off with abooming clang. It clattered down thehillside and came to rest not far from myhiding place. Egil’s horse bolted. Theknife thrower cursed. I looked on in

horror. Egil, and the katt who had ended

his life, had both turned to stone.

You must be decisive now
 
, said the

Fain.

I could have shot an arrow through theknife thrower’s heart as he slipped off hishorse to investigate. I could have avenged Tryst there and then. But I was not a killer. There was a better way, I thought. Istepped out of the trees while his backwas turned. “Move, and you’re next.”

His body froze.

“There are five more katts in the trees

and I can easily put an arrow through the back of your head.”

“The boy,” he said, as if he wanted to congratulate his powers of intuition. His shoulders relaxed. I allowed him to turn.

“Where’s Grella?”

He saw the glint of the arrowhead, thesweat in my fingers. His tongue sweptnervously across his lips. “Whatever youplan to do you should do it soon, boy. Voss isn’t far away. He’ll crush you like afly if he sees you’re armed.”

“Grella,” I repeated.

“Bound,” he said, grinning.

I aimed for the triangle of flesh belowhis chin.

“Unhurt,” he added, raising his hands. “The girl’s an irritation. Never stops talking.”

“Take me to her.”

“And what good would that do yer?” He looked up at Kasgerden’s peak and laughed. “You and your katt band won’t be jumping Voss. Even the dragon’s

scared of coming down for him.”

He took a step forward.

I sucked in through my teeth, making sure he heard the bowstring stretch.

The hands came up again. He smiled, thinly. “Those things are dangerous, boy. It’s not the wound they make, it’s the infection they cause. Ever watched a man rot from an arrow wound? Trust me, it ain’t pleasant. Put the bow down, eh?”

I aimed between his eyes.

He wisely stood back. “All right. I’ll do a deal with yer. What’s your name, kid?”

Do not tell him
, said the Fain.

“I’m Eirik,” said the man, putting hishands on his chest.

“Hands by your side,” I growled.

“All right,” he tutted. “No need to get twitchy.” He put his hands out and showed me his palms. They were rough and dirty. A killer’s hands. “Between you and me, I don’t like Voss. The way he lords it over hard-working men like us. What’s that about? What gives him the right? He was nothing before he broke the unicorn.”

“How did that happen?”

“A pact with the sibyl.”

So they
 
were
 
together.

“Some sort of sorcery. In exchange for a kid.”

“Kid?”

“Hilde wanted a
 
child
,” he said. “The

details… ” he shrugged, “… escape me.

Look—”

He put a foot forward. I drew my fist

back until the feathers of the arrow were

scraping my cheek. “One more step and you’re dead!”

“All right. Sheesh. Just hear me out.” He was irritated now, but his gaze was never far from the point of the arrow. “I’ve got an idea. Something that might do for both of us, yeah?”

Do not trust him
, said the Fain.

But I was young – and foolish. I jutted my chin.

“I know a way to set a trap for Voss. If it works, he burns. I get some fraas, maybe a scale or two as well. And you, cave boy, get to be a legend. I’ll show yer.”

I let him kneel – slowly. He found a patch of loose earth and scrubbed its surface with the palm of his hand. With

one finger, he drew a rough image of the mountain. “Forest,” he said, poking dots for the trees. “Voss.” He made a ‘V’ not

far from the forest. “The dragon’s here, in a cave on the far side of the mountain.” He

tapped the peak.

“How do you know?”

He pulled a strand of hair across his mouth and chewed it. “Voss captured two eagles. He squeezed it out of them before we roasted the meat off their bones.”

From what Tryst had said there wastruth in this. And the fact that I hadn’t

heard Galen for a while suggested he was hiding. A dragon, hiding. It made my stomach turn. I let the Fain calm me.

Eirik drew a circle above the mountain.

“The dragon will expect an attack at full

moon. Voss ain’t gonna disappoint the beast, but only a goof like Egil would take on a full-sized breather, face to face. So Voss is planning a little surprise.” He looked into my face and smiled. “He’s gonna go through the mountain, not up it. The dragon won’t know until it’s too late.”

A few paces away, Eirik’s horsesnorted. We both momentarily glancedtowards it. I saw Eirik tense, as if hesensed a chance to leap at me, but my aimwas soon keeping him in check again. “How?” I said, grinding my teeth. “Kasgerden is solid. There are no tunnelsthrough it.”

Voss could imagineer a way
 
, said the Fain.

‘Imagineer’ was a word I had never heard before, but Eirik was quick to support the idea. “He’s got a unicorn horn,” he said a little scornfully. “With the sibyl’s help, he works all kinds of stuff.”

And he’d got this far. I had to believe this evil might work. “Tell me your plan.”

He moved his hand away from the drawing, but only to drum his fingers on the ground. “Even with magicks, it’s gonna take time for Voss to tunnel through. And he’s bound to leave a guard at the entrance hole. I’m the one he trusts to

watch his back. When he’s deep inside the

hill, we call the dragon.”

“How?”

“Make a fire. The eagles will see it and

come to investigate. They’ll see the tunnel

and warn the dragon. The rest is easy. The breather comes round, flames the cave, and Voss goes up in smoke. Job done.”

“But Grella will die.”

He shook his head. “Voss told me

himself that he won’t risk taking her close to the dragon. I think he’s taken a fancy to her. Wants her for a bride, I reckon.”

“Bride?” My right arm weakened. Some slack crept into the bow.

“Oh, please,” said Eirik, spreading his hands. “All this for a crush on a pretty Taan girl? Well, trust me, boy, if you love the wench, I’m your best hope of getting her back.”

I weighed it up again. I either had to kill

Eirik now or assist him. The Fain

favoured me putting an arrow through his

heart, but curiosity – and goodness – stayed my hand. “What would I have to do?”

“You’re a cave boy. You know how to gather wood, don’t yer? You set the fire. That’s all there is to it. When the blaze is

lit, you signal the eagles.”

“They’ll kill me after what you did to

the others.”

“Nah, you’re an innocent. A kid in a

robe.”

“And what about you? Where will you

be?”

He tapped one side of the picture. “There’s some scrub just here. Shouldkeep me covered, even from an eagle’sbeady eye.”

“You’re going to
 
hide
?”

“’Course I’m gonna hide,” he snorted. “If the birds see me, they’ll think it’s a trick.” He gestured to the drawing with his right hand. “It’s a good plan, boy. Look it over again. Think about it. Take your time.”

Foolishly, I did. I took my eye off himjust for a moment, and in that moment hewent to the ground with his opposite hand. By the time I’d seen him reach behind astone, he had the knife he had thrown at Tryst in his grasp. I panicked and releasedthe arrow. It went straight through Eirik’swrist, the shaft lodging in his arm with thepoint sticking out. He howled and spilledthe knife.

Shoot again
, said the Fain.

But even with their help there wasn’t

time. Eirik came at me in a wild frenzy. He bundled into me and carried me back

down the slope. The bow snapped as we fell to the ground. By then he had a firm hand on my throat. His yellow eyes bulged with rage. Saliva dripped from his gritted teeth. My only hope was Rune’s knife. My fingers flickered gamely for the hilt, but Eirik’s body was too heavy to allow me to draw it. My will began to fade. My chest began to thicken. As my tongue swelled up and my head began to swim, I thought I felt the Fain leave me again. It was over. I was just seconds from death.

Then a surprising saviour appeared.

I saw the dull shape of a horse behind Eirik, a blur of movement as its front hooves flashed. There was a thud. Eirik

glugged. His eyes glazed over. His grip upon me loosened and he slumped to one side. I blinked, thinking I would see Eirik’s horse.

Instead, I saw a deranged black

unicorn.

“Get up,” said the rider.

A blaze of sunlight at his back made him difficult to see. But I knew in my heart it was Voss.

Still spluttering for breath, I staggeredto my feet. Another rider was sitting on ahorse  beside  the  unicorn.   He  was

overweight and stripped to the waist, despite the cold. He leaned sideways and spat at Eirik. A red stain was growing on the back of Eirik’s head.

“Look well, boy, and learn,” Voss said

coldly. “Red is always the colour of treachery.” He glanced at the newly-made stones, then the trees. “How did you pass through the forest unharmed?”

I gulped, which only served to burn my throat.

“Get the horse,” Voss muttered to the other man, giving me a precious moment to think. If I told Voss the truth he would

know I’d been aided by a force like the Fain. And where had they gone? I wondered. Perhaps he suspected I was Premen already, but there was no harm trying to mislead him a little. “I used an enchantment.”

He grunted with laughter. But there wasjust enough doubt in his shrinking eyes tomake me believe he was ready to be

fooled. He rolled a hand, inviting me to please explain. My answer, he warned, had better be good. My life depended on it.

I slid my pack to the ground and openedit, keeping my hands in plain view. I drewout the tapestry Eleanor had given me. Theone that Grella had labelled ‘Gawaine’.

“The seer, Brunne, told me the skogkatts would fear this. When I showed it, they swore their allegiance to the dragon and guided me safely to the edge of the forest.” I displayed Gawaine across my chest.