“The usual. Rioting in one town. A creature attack in another. Wells drying up. Fires ripping through local woodland.”
“Ever-War stuff,” Saska said.
The Wall nodded. “One of them claims that this monstrous sand drake we were told of was sighted only yesterday. He said it is burrowing underground, coming up in towns and villages and feasting on the people. It is growing bigger, he says.”
That didn’t make a deal of sense to her. “How can he know if it’s growing bigger unless he has seen it several times?”
“That was my question as well. I sense there is much in the way of exaggeration going on here. But we must be wary of this creature, should it come. Hunting it, however, is out of the question.”
“So they want us to kill it for them?”
“A request we can expect daily. Over this creature and others. But as I told you before, we must disregard these pleas. We defend ourselves if we must, but we do not seek adventure.”
It was the town of Banassy all over again, and its new lord and ruler, this monster-communing madman whom Saska had elected to ignore. I had no choice. If they had stopped there, then how could they then deny these pleas? And the rest that would surely follow over the coming days and weeks? It was all or nothing, as the Wall had rightly pointed out. All the people dying, she thought, and we’ll do nothing to help.
The villagers were still talking over one another, Alym Tantario doing his best to calm them, and hear them, as two of his men stood by, scribbling down their accounts. Saska listened in, trying to understand what was being said. She got something about a giant eagle, something about a bright light. There were bits and pieces about men going missing in the area as well, across these plains. That seemed to be the thrust of many of the villager’s concerns.
Eventually, Sunrider Tantario called them to be quiet and asked for them to disperse, telling them he would do what he could to help them. Saska raised her eyes at that. Tantario did not seem the sort of man to make idle promises. “You said you’d help them,” she said, when he turned to her.
“I did, Serenity. There is a garrison near here, away to the southeast, that may yet have a stock of soldiers. At your leave, I would send a man there overnight, to seek aid for these people.”
“Of course,” she said. “You don’t need my permission for that.”
He bowed. “The people will be thankful.”
More thankful if we drew our own blades. It can’t have been easy for him, telling all these poor beleaguered peasants that they had no means to help them. They were a powerful host, of knights and Lightborn riders, of Bladeborn armoured in godsteel plate bearing misting steel in their grasp. They would make short work of most of the troubles here. Yet no. We must keep moving. And none of these people know why.
“I heard something about an eagle. Was it to do with the sculpture?”
The Sunrider shook his head. “A herder made claims of a great shadow in the sky, eagle-shaped. He did not seem of sound mind, my lady. I suspect he may just have seen a dragon, or else a cloud.”
Or a regular eagle, Saska thought. There were many of those here. “There was a light also,” she added. “A bright light. Bright as the sun, I thought he said.”
“Yes, those were his words. There have been two separate reports of this, in fact. One far to the north, from several weeks ago, and one more recently, over a hundred miles to the west. Both men said the same thing. A sudden bright light, beyond the clouds, ethereal in its quality.”
Saska was intrigued. “Do you know what that could be?”
He shook his head, unsure. “I could not say for certain, Serenity. There are many strange phenomena occurring, and this one is no different. It might just be another curious weather event. As with this heat, and the storm we saw over the sea.”
The storm that killed Prince Robbert Lukar, Saska thought, sighing. “I heard people speaking about missing men as well?”
A dour nod from the Sunrider at that. “A troubling business. Campsites have been found abandoned in this area, we have heard. The tents and provisions all left behind, but the men and women…vanished.”
“Could it be the work of the sand drake?” Saska asked.
“I would not think so. A beast like that will leave more signs of destruction. This is something different, I think. Though I am sure there is a reasonable explanation. I will continue to gather information, my lady, and see what I can find out.”
To what end? she wondered. We can’t do anything to help anyway. She only nodded and said nothing, as the sound of hammering rang out as the camp was pitched. Up the length of the river, the knights and riders, sellswords and Leshie were still bathing, the last of the daylight shining off their dampened skin. Further off, Del had already been summoned by Kaa Sokari to train before the light ran out entirely.
It was a peaceful camp, the most pleasant they’d had since leaving Aram. The trickle of the river, the laughter of the men, the line of horses and camels all drinking along the edge. Maybe we’ll stay here a day or three, Saska thought. The air was cooler, the plains wide and open and beautiful, and that river was a great attraction too. All the same, she knew they wouldn’t. Before first light they would be up and on the move once more.
Leaving the troubles of these lands behind.
23
Be calm, she thought. Be calm, Neyruu. They will not fire upon us.
She could feel the dragon thrumming beneath her, sense the adrenaline coursing through her fiery veins. Beneath them, through the wisps of white cloud, the great pyramid of Aram soared high above the Amedda River, which bustled with its thick wide bridges, heaped with hovels and shops. There were men on the palace balconies, Talasha saw, and on the high city walls as well, all gesticulating and shouting to one another as they saw the dragon in the sky. On the high towers built along the battlements, great scorpions were being manned and loaded as well.
Choas, the Princess of Agarath thought. One small dragon, and it brings chaos to theCity of Eagles.
Cevi was seated in the saddle behind her, clinging hard around Talasha’s waist. “Will they attack, my lady?” the girl called out, shouting over the rush of wind. “If we try to land, are they going to fire on us?”
They may well, the princess thought. They had no white flag to raise, no way of showing themselves as friend, not foe, and would likely be peppered with bolts and arrows should they dare try to land within the walls. “We’re not going to give them that chance,” Talasha called back, turning her head so the girl could hear. “Don’t worry, Cevi. Neyruu knows how to stay out of range. We’ll land beyond the walls.”
Talasha leaned low as Neyruu turned in a high wide circle, gliding above the palace. East, she thought, and Neyruu straightened out, passing over the wide waters of the river, over the bridges and the hills on which the noble Lightborn had their estates. To the south, the great harbour of Aram teemed with ships, moored along a hundred jetties and wharves; cogs and carracks and caravels, galleys and galleasses and galleons, massive men-of-war anchored in the bay. Of sailors there were plenty there, but below her the streets looked quiet. The market squares and courtyards and broad avenues, usually bustling with life, seemed almost deserted to her eyes.
The reason became apparent a moment later, as they flew through a swirling banner of cloud, and the eastern districts of the city came into clearer view. They were scorched and blackened, the buildings burned down to rubble, the plains beyond marked and pitted. Further off she saw evidence of an abandoned warcamp - no, two - a pair of them separated by an open stretch of barren land with nought but a single pavilion sitting lonely between them.
There was a great battle here, Talasha realised. No wonder the city is on edge.
The easternmost gate was a blackened ruin, though still standing, and down there Talasha saw soldiers outside the gatehouse and watching from the wall walks. That gate was called the Cherry Gate if memory served, though if there had been cherry trees there once, that was no longer the case.
“What happened here, my lady?” Cevi called in her ear. “It’s all burned. Do you think they were attacked by dragons?”
It was one possibility, though not a likely one. Aram was no northern city, not so well fortified to fend off dragons as a Varinar or an Ilithor, but all the same, it remained formidable. If dragons had done this, one or two would surely have fallen, felled by bow and bolt, but she could see no sign of dead dragons down there. And those warcamps. They painted a different picture.
