Western Shore

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

'Do you think you'll catch anything in that snare?' Risala sounded sceptical.

Velindre stirred at the sound of her voice, though Naldeth was still fast asleep.

'Our friend here didn't pull it up and scowl at me for a fool. I rather think she would have if she reckoned I was wasting my time.' Despite their perilous situation, Kheda found that the notion amused him.

Risala didn't smile. 'What are we going to do with her?'

'I don't know.' Kheda considered the old woman, who smiled hesitantly back at him. 'But as long as she's with us, she can't be telling some wild mage where we are.'

'You don't think you should go out and look for some signs to guide us now it's light?' Risala flung a worm-eaten nut away with some venom. 'That skull-wearer will send his spearmen out to hunt down whoever spoiled their sport last night soon enough.'

Do you mean signs of local wild men or signs and portents in the skies and the earthly compass?

Velindre saved Kheda from having to answer as she opened her eyes and yawned. She sat up abruptly as she registered the daylight slipping down the cave entrance, digging her fingers into her stiff neck. 'I thought we were going to try to get back to the Zaise before dawn.'

'You needed to sleep yourselves out.' Kheda was unrepentant. 'I learned from Dev not to risk encountering

any magic-wielding enemy with a half-exhausted wizard at my side.'

Their voices roused the younger mage. He moved sleepily before coming fully awake and instinctively clutching at his stump. 'Ah, cowshit and cockleshells.'

Kheda saw pain carving a deep cleft between the mage's brows. 'Let me have a look at your leg.'

'It'll be alright.' Naldeth spoke through clenched teeth.

'He's a healer,' Velindre said acerbically. 'Let him see it.'

'You can help me shell breakfast.' Risala tossed another rejected nut into the depths of the cave.

'My pleasure,' replied the magewoman dryly. 'Once I've attended to my own more immediate needs.'

'Can you help me up,' Naldeth asked roughly, 'before I piss myself like some cripple?'

As Velindre stepped past Kheda in the narrow confines of the cave, the warlord offered the mage his arm. Naldeth gripped his forearm and Kheda hauled him upright. Jaw clenched and sweat beading his forehead, the younger man clambered awkwardly out of the cave behind Velindre.

Risala concentrated on shelling more nuts, the only sound in the cave the sharp splitting. 'Have you any thoughts on what we'll do once we've got back to the ship?' she asked at length, not meeting Kheda's eye. 'Will we sail for home?'

Kheda hesitated. 'If we agree that's for the best.'

He saw the old woman looking inquisitively at him and then back at Risala and fell silent.

What would you say, if you could say anything we could understand?

Some moments later, he heard Velindre returning, her voice terse and practical. 'There are enough uncertainties about wielding magic in this place. You don't need the

additional distraction of physical pain, not if it can be relieved, even a little.'

'All right, very well,' Naldeth snapped as he slid down the cave's awkward entrance slope and resigned himself to unbuckling the straps around his waist and thigh. 'I'm not used to walking for so long, not over such rough ground.'

'No, I don't suppose you are.' Kheda gently pulled the metal leg aside and looked keenly at the dust- and sweat-stained trousering wadded around Naldeth's stump.

No blood; that's a mercy. A sore might not ulcerate in this dry heat but if it took an infection, I don't know what we'd do. I couldn't cut the thigh bone any shorter without physic or proper instruments and I doubt we could nurse him through such an ordeal, even if we got back to theZaise.

Velindre considerately turned her back and sat down next to the old woman. She watched her deftly cracking the nuts for a moment and then took a handful of the pile closest to her. Similarly averting her eyes, Risala pulled the mouth of her leather sack wide to receive the green kernels as she began splitting her share of the ruddy shells apart.

Kheda carefully unwrapped the cotton. It stuck and Naldeth flinched. Kheda got out his dagger and looked up to see that Naldeth had blanched beneath his tan. 'I'm just going to slit the seams,' he assured him. 'And a little water will make this go easier.'

'Not out of some muddy hole,' Naldeth said roughly.

'No.' Kheda reached round for Risala's flask slung on his back. 'Our aged friend over there showed me roots that hoard rainwater from whatever wet season this place might have. Trust me, it'll be as clean as if it had been boiled. There are similar plants in the drier isles of the Archipelago's eastern reaches.'

'If you say so.' Naldeth didn't sound overly convinced.

Kheda deftly cut the trouser leg's seams and rapidly moistened the stuck cloth with a trickle of the precious water. 'Whoever doctored this for you did a good job,' he said with well-disguised relief as he laid bare the mage's stump.

Nevertheless, the white scarring where some unknown physician had sewn up the flap of skin to seal the amputation had split in a couple of places. Pale-pink flesh beneath had oozed a little clear fluid into the cotton. Above the scarring, the shrunken muscles of Naldeth's pallid thigh looked swollen and bruised where his weight had borne down into the leather cup concealed within the metal leg.

'What does she want?' Naldeth twitched a fold of cotton over his exposed mutilation and scowled past Kheda.

The warlord turned to see that the old woman had shifted so she could see what they were doing. 'There's no harm in her—' he began.

'Where are you going?' Risala's question went unanswered as the old woman stood up, brushing nut shells from the lap of her wrap, and scrambled out of the cave.

'Not far.' Her bitten fingernails proving inadequate for the task, Velindre was using the tip of her dagger to split the nuts. 'She's left her belongings.'

'And the food's in here.' Briskly, Kheda sliced a scrap of cleanish cotton from Naldeth's ruined trouser leg and moistened it to wipe away dust crusted along one scar. 'Do you have any nuts like those in the north? They're surprisingly sweet.'

'No.' Naldeth cleared his throat and strove for an even tone. 'I don't recall seeing anything like them.'

'Assuming we can eat this splendid breakfast without some wild men turning up to dig us out of this burrow like rats, what do we do then?' Velindre asked.

'Do you feel any wild wizard nearby?' Kheda looked around at her. 'Or a dragon?'

Velindre paused in shelling her nuts. 'No,' she said at length. 'Not anywhere close.'

'Do you?' Kheda glanced up at Naldeth as he continued cleaning the mage's scars.

'You don't want me working any magic while I'm in such discomfort.' Naldeth grimaced. 'We might as well light a beacon to let that skull-faced wizard know where we are.'

'What's she got there?' Risala frowned as the old woman reappeared at the cave mouth.

She made her way gingerly down the rocky slope, waving a handful of twigs each bearing a few withered leaves. Stripping off a few, she tucked them into her mouth and chewed for a moment. Then she bent down to take Kheda's hand and spat into his palm. The pulpy mess gave off a powerful odour.

'What is she doing?' Naldeth was revolted.

'I think she's trying to help.' Trying not to recoil from the stickiness in his hand, Kheda took a cautious sniff. 'It can't be poisonous if she's chewing it.' Familiar notes in the scent teased him but more were wholly unknown.

An astringent? It smells vaguely like one of the pastes that galley rowers use to dress their blisters.

The old woman made an impatient clucking sound with her tongue and bent stiffly to push Kheda's hand towards Naldeth's thigh.

'You're not putting that on me.' The mage shuffled backwards, alarmed.

Kheda took pity on him. 'No.' He twisted his hand out of the old woman's grasp, shaking his head. Her face fell pathetically as she stood upright, shoulders drooping with disappointment. Kheda tried to reassure her with a friendly smile as he took the twigs with their scant leaves

from her and handed them to Naldeth. 'But you can chew on a few of these and we'll use the pulp on your scars and bruises. It can't hurt and at very least it'll keep dirt out of the broken skin.'

Naldeth regarded the twigs with misgiving. 'Can't we just mash them up with some water?'

'We've scarcely enough water for drinking,' Kheda reminded him. 'Besides, it may be that spittle brings out some virtue in the leaves. That's the case with some Archipelagan ointments.'

'Do as he says,' Velindre ordered from her seat by the spotted hide. 'The lowliest Aldabreshin healers can rival the costliest mainland apothecaries.'

'I don't know who they might be,' Risala interjected, 'but Kheda has an enviable reputation even among other warlords.'

Kheda addressed himself to Naldeth. 'I've got trusted skin salves and decoctions to take the ache out of the bruising on the Zaise.'

'How are we planning to get back to the Zaise?' Velindre asked immediately.

'I take it you still aren't prepared to shift us all into a cave with your magic?' Kheda discreetly scraped the mess of chewed-up leaves off his hand onto a gritty patch of rock. The old woman was sitting shelling nuts again and didn't appear to notice.

'I might get us safely inside given how close we are.' Velindre contemplated the nut in her hand. 'But any wizard with his wits about him could probably follow us straight there.'

'I don't want to trust to magic with that much uncertainty,' Risala said bluntly.

'And we had better assume these wild mages do have a full measure of wits.' Kheda considered the old woman. 'These people may be savages but they're not stupid.'

'They wouldn't survive in a land as cruel as this if they were.' Naldeth reluctantly stripped a few withered leaves from a twig and began chewing. 'I think we could learn a lot from her,' he added round his awkward mouthful.

'Not very easily, since we've no way of talking to her.' Risala scooped up a handful of nuts from one of the heaps and passed them over to Kheda.

'Not yet, but we can try.' Velindre snapped her fingers to attract the old woman's attention and held out her hand. The old woman looked a little bemused. Velindre beckoned with her fingers and the old woman promptly dropped a green kernel into her open palm.

Velindre nodded and held the nutmeat up between forefinger and thumb. 'Nut.' She looked enquiringly at the old woman, who looked even more confused.

'Why do you feel she should learn your barbarian tongue, rather than Aldabreshin?' Kheda felt unreasonably irritated. He prised apart a few nuts and shoved green kernels into his mouth.

'Then let's learn her language.' Naldeth spat a pungent glob of crushed leaves onto his hand and smeared it on his stump, his expression one of distaste.

'What do you suppose she's going to say?' Risala picked up a kernel and mimicked Velindre. '"Nut"? Or "good"? Or "food"?' She dropped it back into the leather sack and spread her empty hand. 'What would this mean? "Hand"? "Hello"? "Five"?'

Despite her earlier terseness, Kheda knew that Risala wasn't simply being contrary, just realistic. 'We could probably learn something of each other's languages.' He tried to sound neutral as he continued eating his own share of the nuts. 'In time, and doubtless with plenty of misunderstandings along the way. But we don't have time. We need to consider how best to get back to the

'And once we're there, we consider how to put an end to the tyranny of that skull-wearing mage and his kind.' Velindre looked straight at Kheda. 'Don't you think this woman and these people deserve better than a mage's foot on their necks? You were outraged on their behalf last night.'

'And dawn brings cooler counsel.' The warlord sat down and helped himself to more nuts. 'All things being equal, I'd agree, but I don't see how losing our lives will benefit these wretches.'

'What are these people to us?' Risala looked up from contemplating her fingers, stained red by the nut husks. 'I'm sorry for them, that they live in such wretchedness, but what can we do? And we have a greater obligation to our own, don't we?'

They all looked at the old woman, who sat placidly chewing on nutmeats and cracking shells.

'She's shown us food and water and shelter. I thought debt and obligation were woven into the endless circles and cycles of Aldabreshin philosophies.' Distaste curled Naldeth's lip. 'Kheda, this stuff is making my tongue numb.'

'Then it should ease the ache in your leg. As for obligation, Risala's right. My overriding duty is to my domain and then to the wider Archipelago.' Kheda shot the younger man a stern glance. 'Certainly before I risk myself helping even innocent kin of people who brought death and torment to Chazen.' He met Velindre's penetrating gaze with a level stare of his own. 'How would you go about putting an end to this skull-faced mage's rule? You were adamant you wouldn't summon up a false dragon to kill the one that gives him his power.'

The magewoman's answer surprised him. 'I said I wouldn't kill it and I won't. But I could conjure up a simulacrum to confront it.'

'What would that achieve?' Risala challenged.

'If it fled, the sky dragon would chase it, I'm sure of that,' said Velindre slowly. 'If it flew far enough away, it would leave the skull-faced mage relying on the natural elements hereabouts.'

'And then?' Kheda prompted.

'Then Naldeth kills him.' Velindre's uncompromising declaration hung in the silence of the cave. 'My magic will be tied up in creating a false dragon, so it will have to be him.'

'Me?' The youthful mage gaped, his mouth unattractively filled with half-chewed leaves.

'Could he do that?' Kheda looked hard at Velindre.

'I think so.' The magewoman nodded. 'If the skull-mage hasn't got a dragon's aura to draw on.'

'You think so?' cried Risala. 'Why risk—'

'Because that mage's rule is the foulest abuse of magic I have yet encountered,' Velindre spat with more anger than Kheda had ever seen her show. 'I may not hold any office in Hadrumal, but all wizards share some responsibilities. The Council has safeguarded the rest of us by culling the rogues since Trydek was first raised to Archmage.' She narrowed her eyes at Naldeth. 'But the Council isn't here and you and I are. You said you didn't relish the thought of going back to Hadrumal to tell Planir and the rest of them what we found here and then admitting we did nothing about it.'

'We fought that brute last night to save that girl, and you didn't set out to kill him. You told me just to tie him up with tree roots.' Naldeth sounded defensive. 'What will the Council say if I admit openly attacking him? They spend half their time disciplining apprentices fool enough to try magical duels—'

'The Council will accept that you had to do this,' Velindre assured him sternly. 'There are times for rules

to be followed and times for them to be broken. There's no subtlety in his magic—'

'I thought we were looking to get safely back to the Zaise, protested Risala.

'What is killing this one wizard going to achieve?' Kheda agreed with her. 'Even if Naldeth can kill him—'

Velindre cut them both off with a sweep of one hand. 'Even if we get back to the Zaise, I wouldn't take a wager on our chances of getting out of these waters. At very least that skull-faced mage knows we're here and if he's looking for us, we'll need magic to ward him off.'

Kheda frowned and shook his head. 'His rival on this side of the river, that mage in the thrall of that black dragon, he'll soon notice something's happening if you go up against the skull wearer—'

'Then we'll have to make sure Skull-Face is dead and we're gone before any other dragon or mage decides to intervene.' Velindre shot Naldeth a significant look.

Risala scrambled to her feet. 'I need some fresh air.'

'Wait for me.' Kheda rose to follow her.

'Let's think how best to do this. And eat something.' Velindre scooped up the nuts that were left for Naldeth. 'In some ways it is a shame that you never met Dev, or Azazir.'

Kheda left the mages talking as he climbed out of the cave to find Risala sitting not far away, hugging her knees.

'They think punishing that skull wearer for staining their precious magecraft is more important than saving their own skins.' She scowled up at him. 'Please, Kheda, can't you search the skies for some guidance? I can't bear this uncertainty.'

'Just at the moment, I think we're better off trusting to our own common sense.' He tried not to sound too brusque. 'Let's see if anything edible's fallen foul of that snare yet.'

'Will you read any omen in it if it has?' Risala threw the challenge up at him.

'No, I won't,' he said shortly. 'I'd rather try to think through what Velindre's just said.'

'Isn't it folly to go looking for a fight?' Risala demanded. 'We're on our own here, Kheda. You've no warriors to call on, no triremes or archers.'

'It still may be that taking the initiative is our best chance of escaping from here. You said yourself that that wild mage they attacked last night will come looking for us.' Kheda sat down and put his arm around her stiff shoulders. 'I don't think Velindre would attempt to draw off this sky dragon unless she was convinced she could do it. Wizards do not like to fail. You know what Dev was like. He was always going to succeed or die in the attempt.' Kheda swallowed the recollection of that death once again.

'Until finally he did both.' Risala reluctantly laid her head against Kheda's shoulder. 'What do we do if Velindre kills herself?'

'Let's hope it doesn't come to that,' Kheda said grimly. 'If it does, we will still have Naldeth, I hope. And I think we can trust Velindre not to put Naldeth up against someone he couldn't equal. I think I understand a little of what she means about this wild magic being unsubtle—'

'It doesn't have to be subtle,' Risala pointed out acidly. 'A handful of fire exploding inside your head is just as effective as an assassin's knife. We saw that when these savages invaded Chazen.'

'And what do we say, if we can get home to Chazen?' Kheda hugged her tight. 'Do we warn the domains that there's an island out here in the western ocean that's full of wizards and dragons? Do we admit that we have no defence against them, unless we betray all we believe in

and make common cause with the barbarian mages of the north?' His voice was harsh with the unpalatable truths.

'I don't know.' Risala pulled away. 'I just want to see some sign, some hint, even, that we might actually survive all this. Whatever the dangers we faced before, at least I could believe that the omens had told us that was the best course of action. That we were risking ourselves for a future, for ourselves and for Chazen.'

Do you want me to lie to you? No, I won't do that, not even for you.

Kheda chose his words carefully. 'Having Velindre and Naldeth kill this skull-faced mage and drive off his dragon may yet serve the Archipelago's future, far more than they realise.'

'Why—' As Risala twisted, her face accusing, she froze, looking past Kheda's shoulder. 'What's that?'

He turned to see a shiver in the scant foliage that had nothing to do with the idle breezes. 'I think that's a sign that time for discussion is past.' He sprang to his feet, grabbed Risala's hand and ran for the cave mouth. Sling stones rattled against the rock face and he heard the thud of an optimistic spear landing somewhere behind them.

We won't outrun a lightning strike.

To his surprise, they made it back into the cave unscathed by crude missiles or deadly magic.

Risala slid down the steep slope, heedless of bruises to her rump. 'They're out there.'

'Coming for us?' Velindre stood up, running a hand through her short-cropped hair. 'Or waiting for us to come out?'

'They're just keeping watch for the moment.' Kheda pressed himself against the rocky mouth of the cave. A shadow not cast by the sun moved beneath a stand of twisted trees and resolved itself into a loincloth-clad spearman. 'They must have tracked us here.'

'Unless she betrayed us.' Risala scowled at the old woman, but her heart wasn't in the accusation.

The old woman looked at her and then at Kheda, her face crumpled with fear and confusion.

He shook his head. 'She doesn't even know what's going on.'

'I imagine they'll wait until their mage arrives.' Naldeth dragged his metal leg towards his stump. It rasped on the cave floor. 'Didn't you say only mages killed mages when they were fighting each other in Chazen?'

'I'd say we're committed, wouldn't you?' Velindre challenged Kheda with a glint in her eye. She turned to Naldeth. 'You keep tight hold on your fire until I've dealt with his dragon.'

'Then I suggest you make ready.' Seeing more movement among the trees, Kheda glanced briefly back into the cave.

The magewoman looked grimly composed, her eyes hard as onyx and her thin lips pressed tight together. Naldeth looked altogether less impressive, with fragments of leaf stuck to his chin and his nerveless fingers fumbling with the straps and buckles.

'Let me help.' Risala moved towards him.

'I can manage.' He warned her off sharply.

'Don't be a fool,' Velindre barked. 'We don't have time.'

Kheda turned back to keep watch on the lurking savages. The old woman startled him as she scrambled up the sloping entrance to peer around him, her claw-like hand grabbing his arm to steady herself. She hissed between her sparse teeth, shaking her head, and Kheda couldn't doubt the intelligence in her dark eyes.

How do I communicate with you? Is there anything useful you could tell us? I assume you don't want to die any more than the rest of us.

He drew his dagger and mimed a discreet thrust at the watchers now standing more boldly beneath the trees.

The old woman shook her head vehemently and, fastening her hand around his wrist, pushed the weapon back down. Kheda hastily resheathed it before she inadvertently stabbed him in the thigh. She tugged at his tunic, insistent on drawing him back into the cave.

Kheda shook his head with a forbidding frown, unpicking her fingers from his clothing before pointing first at his own eyes and then at the wild men now gathering in significant numbers in the dappled shade of the nut trees. The straight lines of their spears stood out clearly among the gnarled branches.

The old woman shook her head, exasperated. She edged her way down into the cavern and slapped a soaring painted falcon on the wall. Sweeping her arm around to encompass all the images, she jabbed one withered finger first at Naldeth and then at Velindre. Looking at Kheda, her face twisted with frustration that almost matched his own. She indicated the outside with a flick of her hand before drawing one hand across her wrinkled throat, eyes closing in a gesture that needed no translation.

'What do you think she means?' Risala asked helplessly. 'Other than they'll kill us as soon as we set foot outside.'

'They can try,' Velindre corrected her.

Kheda watched out of the corner of his eye as the old woman hurried deeper into the cave to point up at the dragon's head fashioned out of the rocky spur. She swept her arms around again to take in the whole cave and then pointed again at Naldeth and Velindre.

'This cave must be somehow sacrosanct to wizards.' Naldeth was balancing on his flesh-and-blood foot as he made final adjustments to the fit of his false leg. 'But I don't feel any undue elemental strength hereabouts.'

'I think she wants us to summon a dragon.' Velindre's smile was chilling. 'We can do that much for her.'

'It's coming.' The cave wall glowed briefly beneath Naldeth's fingertips as he braced himself with one hand while negotiating the uneven floor. 'The blue dragon.'

'I need to touch the breezes if I'm to raise a simulacrum to challenge it.' Velindre sounded almost eager as she stepped past Kheda into the daylight.

Kheda looked down towards the younger mage. 'What about the black dragon?'

'It's nowhere close.' He grinned up at Kheda, disquieting eagerness replacing his earlier reluctance. 'Give me a hand up, if you don't mind.'

'What do we do?' Risala looked at Kheda as he hauled the young mage up to stand in the cave entrance.

'What we always do,' the warlord said wryly. 'Stay out of the way.'

And be ready to run if the battle goes badly for Velindre or Naldeth and I see the faintest possibility that we might escape unnoticed in the confusion. If we could get to theZaise, would we have any chance of sailing for home without a mage to steer us through contrary winds and waves?

The old woman was trying to pull Risala into the depths of the cave now. Kheda jumped down the slope and shooed her away. He took Risala's hand and pulled her up towards the daylight. 'Whatever happens, I want you by my side.'

'What—' As Risala's voice rose on a note of panic, the reverberation of dragon wings outside drowned out every other sound.

Sapphire light crackled all around Velindre. She was standing a few paces away, looking up into the sky. Raising one hand, she drew down a pillar of light as blue as the cloudless sky above. The base of it hovered just above her upturned palm, bathing her in a painfully bright radiance

that bleached all colour from her. Unblinking, Velindre stood still as a statue carved of marble. Only the pillar showed any sign of life. Brighter azure light pulsed down its length from some unimaginable height above, as regular as if it echoed the beat of her heart.

The wild mage's sky dragon bellowed. It was circling high above. With a spiral twist through the air, it flew at the sapphire column, jaws gaping with menace. Veering away at the very last moment, it wasn't quite deft enough and one edge of its wing brushed against the lurid light. The magic shivered in Velindre's hand and she gasped. Above, the sky dragon roared with rage or agony. Kheda couldn't tell which.

What use is foretelling? Every portent that might guide my life has been pored over since the day I was born, yet no omen ever saw my death in an unknown land encompassed by wizards battling with dragons.

The magewoman stretched her hand up higher, her face a daunting mask of determination. Blood trickled down her chin as she bit her lip, looking black against her unnatural pallor.

The sky dragon swooped with another deafening crash of its lavender wings, mouth agape, and this time it bit into the blue light with its crystal teeth. The flash of magic seared Kheda's vision and left him frantically wiping away stinging tears. Trying to blink away the throbbing smudges staining his sight, he grabbed for his sword hilt.

The sky dragon roared with renewed fury and dived low to pass so close to the ground that its wings stirred up a cloud of dust and dry leaves. A second bellow rang out, high above. Kheda's vision cleared and he realised that what he had vaguely thought was some unexpected cloud was in fact a soaring white dragon. He looked quickly towards the savages still lurking beneath the trees.

They were staring up at the skies, hands and weapons limp at their sides, mouths open in astonishment.

The false dragon that Velindre had summoned was as white as the ice coating the most inaccessible peaks of the Archipelago's tallest mountains. Its underside and the membranes of its wings were touched with the blue of a moonlit sky seen from such cold heights. Its claws and ferociously bared teeth were the indigo of those rarest of nights when the stars alone ruled the heavens. Cold white fire burned in its sapphire eyes as it looked down and it hissed with contempt. The cobalt dragon beat its lavender wings and screamed its outrage as it climbed the sky to fight this unexpected rival.

Dragons fight dragons. Wizards fight wizards. Where is the skull-faced wild mage?

Kheda looked back to the wild men but couldn't make out either the skull wearer or the feather-crowned women. He found his gaze drawn inexorably skywards again.

No one's going to be making any move until this is over, one way or another.

The false dragon darted this way and that. The sky dragon was long and lithe; the false dragon was more slender still and smaller, able to twist through impossibly tight circles. The sky dragon drew level with it and bated its wings, hanging in the air like a hawk. It breathed a dense white mist at the false dragon. The simulacrum fell down the sky just ahead of the tumbling cloud. The savages beneath the trees howled their approval. Just when it looked certain that the vapour would envelop it, the false dragon blinked into invisibility. The cheers of the wild men fell apart in confusion.

The sky dragon roared and dived steeply downwards. Scattering the mist with furious strokes of its mighty wings, it searched for its enemy, questing head whipping from side to side. The false dragon appeared directly

behind its lashing tail and spat shards of crystalline ice that skittered noisily across the vivid blue scales armouring the sky dragon's flanks. Outrage rang through the sky dragon's roaring, now so loud that Kheda's ears were aching.

The blue beast doubled back on itself in midair, lethal mouth agape. The false dragon flapped its wings to climb higher but looked just too slow to evade it. Then, in the instant the sky dragon was about to sink crystal fangs into its icy white neck, the false dragon vanished once more. The sky dragon hissed and began rolling over and over, wings folded close to its body with head and tail outstretched. Strands of pale vapour began forming around it.

'There he is.' Naldeth hadn't been watching the antics of Velindre's simulacrum. He had been waiting for the skull-faced mage.

Kheda saw the wild wizard standing in the midst of his retinue, his head tilted incongruously backwards like the rest. It was impossible to see the wild wizard's reaction through his skull mask but his people were plainly astounded as they watched the battle going on above their heads. 'Are you ready?' he asked Naldeth.

Can you do this? Truly? And what happens if you can, never mind if you cannot?

'I'll be ready just as soon as Velindre plays her part,' Naldeth murmured, now looking upwards.

The blue dragon had rapidly gathered a dense spiral of cloud around itself and flew unerringly at the false dragon as soon as it reappeared. This time the simulacrum waited, flapping in a lazy circle, indigo tongue lolling and jaw gaping wide in what looked uncommonly like a mocking smile.

Because you 've seen it try this trick before, haven't you, Velindre?

But this time as the blue dragon flew closer, it didn't release the cloud as a murderous vortex. Instead, white tendrils reached out from the spiral and sought to entangle the false dragon. In the instant before the clutching white fingers laced themselves tight, the simulacrum vanished yet again. More significantly, the tendrils of cloud flashed into vivid claws of lightning that shot backwards towards the blue dragon. The beast shrieked and writhed as white light crackled along its hide, leaving deep burns scoring its vibrant blue scales.

The crowd around the skull-faced mage gasped, a few shouting out loud in their astonishment. Kheda watched the wild wizard in the skull mask shove his feather-crowned attendants aside. He hurried forward out of the shade of the nut trees to see what was going on up above more clearly. The false dragon appeared and then disappeared again before the sky dragon could attack. It reappeared once more, this time a little further away in the direction of (he sea. Bellowing with fury that made the air shake, the blue dragon flew after it more swiftly than the fastest trireme. The simulacrum lured it still further away. Soon both dragons were lost beyond the swell of the land as it rose towards the broken cliffs of the seashore.

Stumbling slightly, Velindre walked backwards towards the shelter of the cave mouth. Her face was drawn and blood from her bitten lips stained her teeth. 'Naldeth, let's see ... if you were . . . paying attention ... to Hearth Master . . . Kalion's lessons.' Chest heaving as she gasped for breath, she sat down heavily, her head hanging. 'Some water would be nice,' she rasped.

Wordlessly, Kheda handed her the brass flask and watched the skull-faced mage take another few paces away from his warriors. The wild wizard wasn't looking up into the sky any longer. He pointed an unerring hand towards the cave mouth and shouted, shrill with rage. The dry

ground exploded with a shower of dust and stones as a spear of lightning landed no more than an oar's length away.

Naldeth walked stiffly forward out of the shadow of the rocks, rubbing his palms against the sides of his tunic. Without any preamble, he threw a handful of burning scarlet towards the wild wizard, and then another and another. The skull wearer waved his hands, each gesture summoning up a gust of blue-white vapour to snuff out the bright fire. Naldeth kindled a crimson blaze on the empty ground between them. Gouts of sorcerous flame broke off to twist through the air towards the wild wizard. The savage dismissed them with a disdainful sweep of one hand and clenched his other fist high above his head. Smashing it down, he summoned a lightning bolt to blow the crimson source of the flames into oblivion.

Kheda flinched as a new wall of fire sprang up and swept towards the trees, hiding the mage and all his retinue. Then a cold realisation pierced the warlord.

The only wizard ever to battle the wild mages was Dev, and Dev's dead. Does Naldeth know all the rules of this warfare? Only wizards kill wizards and wizards only kill wizards. If he kills any of those spearmen, surely the rest of those wild men will attack, and Velindre's still helpless.

The wall of fire swept through the trees to dissolve in the barren space beyond. Not a leaf was scorched as far as Kheda could tell but the wild men were patently disconcerted. Milling around, they slapped at their heads and loincloths until they realised they weren't ablaze.

'Wizards only kill wizards,' Naldeth murmured, 'but Dev didn't say anything about giving the rest a good fright.'

The wild mage strode forward, waving his arms, his long matted locks bristling monstrously around the animal skull. Every feather in his dark-blue cloak stood out

straight, rimed with a white light that hovered on the very edge of seeing. Every breeze fled and the still air tasted of thunder. The skull wearer shouted and blue flashes of magic began shattering the rocky outcrop that sheltered the painted cave.

Kheda ducked away from the razor-sharp splinters of stone ripping through the air, shielding Risala with his body. The old woman dropped to lie huddled in the cave entrance, wrapping her skinny arms around her grey head and drawing up her legs like a frightened child.

Velindre dragged her head up to regard the wild mage with weary disfavour. 'Is that the best he can do?'

'Let's see.' Naldeth wiped an open hand across the still air and a defiant breeze sprang up. It scooped dust from the ground which glowed even in the bright daylight. A flick of Naldeth's hand dismissed the smouldering golden cloud and it drifted away towards the trees.

The wild mage threw darts of sapphire fire at this new threat, tearing holes in the shimmering fabric. It made no difference. The tattered magic flowed together again. It parted briefly to flow around him where he stood alone and drifted irresistibly towards the savage spearmen now huddling in the questionable shelter of the twisted trees.

The glowing haze surrounded them and the wild warriors began wailing, rubbing frantically at their faces, heedless of weapons fallen to the ground.

Kheda saw white-hot flashes in the shadows. 'What are you doing?'

'Blinding them,' Naldeth replied calmly. 'Just for a little while. Undermining their faith in their wizard.'

'Just kill him.' Velindre still looked quite dreadfully pale, with smudges like bruises under her eyes. Then she doubled over, racked with coughing.

Kheda opened his mouth to ask what was wrong just as a similar paroxysm seized him. Risala gasped and began

coughing too, as did the old woman still lying curled up in the cave. Cough after cough tore at Kheda's lungs until his throat felt raw and his chest burned. Through tear-filled eyes he saw Naldeth send a burning shaft of red gold straight at the wild mage who dodged it with contemptuous ease.

A crack of thunder sounded in the empty sky and Kheda gasped as the coughing fit fled. A fresh salt-scented breeze offered the illusion of relief but in the next instant, the air was as still and heavy as if the worst storms of the rainy season were about to break over them.

Kheda tried to draw a breath but found he couldn't. It was as if bonds had been wrapped tight around his chest. He strained until his ribs ached with the effort and the blood roared in his ears. Velindre slumped over, hugging herself. Risala sank to her knees, panting like a trapped animal. Her eyes widened with terror as she clutched at her throat and Kheda reached for her. Even that slight effort made his arm ache as if he were lifting an iron bar. The old woman lay still as death. Dimly, as his vision blurred, Kheda heard Naldeth talking to himself again, his tone still quite conversational.

'He has some impressive mastery of the air. Still, as Dev told Velindre, these people have no idea of blending elements.'

The fragments of rock that the wild wizard's magic had broken from the outcrop sprang into the air. They instantly glowed as red as if they'd fallen from a furnace. Naldeth sent the incandescent shards shooting towards the skull-faced mage with a flourish of his hand. The constriction crushing Kheda's chest vanished as the wild wizard summoned up a white whirlwind that swept up the stone fragments and quenched their fire.

Naldeth chuckled and the stones began to glow again within the spiral cloud. He raised a hand, palm out

towards the wild wizard. The whirlwind writhed this way and that. Naldeth leaned forward and the cloud sank lower. It touched the ground and began sucking up dust and stones. The vapour darkened from pristine whiteness to a dirty, menacing grey. Clinging to the earth, it grew squatter and darker, the incandescent stones pinpricks of scarlet within it.

The wild wizard screamed with rage and thrust both hands up at the sky, calling down a blistering bolt of lightning to shatter the treacherous whirlwind. The spiral cloud exploded into dust and debris that was tossed this way and that by the tortured breeze. But the burning stones didn't fall to the ground. Released from the whirlwind, they flew straight at the skull-faced mage, sure as slingshot.

He flinched and ducked, half turning away. Where the Stones struck his cloak, the feathers flared into lurid crimson flames. Where they landed on naked skin, they instantly burned deep holes, black as the sockets of his skull mask. One smouldering stone hit the skull between its empty eyes and the bone split to leave the two halves of the mask hanging askew. Burning gashes were spreading across his muscular thighs and down his corded arms, rimmed with scarlet sorcery. Another strike wholly obliterated one of the horns and then the whole skull fell away in ruins.

Thus revealed, the wild mage looked little different from any other savage. The man screamed and fell to his knees, hands pressed vainly to his belly. His fingers began burning as they sank into the scorched void opening ever wider to reveal his entrails. He looked at Naldeth, screaming, pleading, his face contorted with agony. His whole midriff was ablaze now, the flames licking up his forearms to blacken the skin and melt the flesh beneath.

A death like Dev's. But without the ecstasy.

Kheda turned away, nauseated. Then he saw Velindre sprawled on the ground and all thoughts of Dev's fate fled. Convulsions gripped the magewoman, her eyes rolling back in her head, blind and white, as her mouth frothed with spittle. Blood stained the back of her dirty cotton tunic.

'What's wrong with her?' Risala was on her knees frantically sweeping away the vicious shards of shattered rock lying all around to save Velindre from any further lacerations.

'I've no idea.' Kheda skirted the magewoman's thrashing limbs.

There's more danger of injury if I try to restrain her than if I let the convulsion run its course. If she bites her tongue, with luck that will heal. Only a fool would put something in her mouth. She won't thank me for breaking her teeth. Though I'd risk my fingers if I had a draught that might stop this. But everything that might help is in my chest aboard theZaise.

'I left enough of them unblinded to witness their mage's fate.' Naldeth sounded unexpectedly sad as he gazed at the savages beneath the trees. 'They can guide the rest back to wherever they live. They'll be able to see again tomorrow.'

'Never mind them.' Kheda was incensed. 'Velindre's ...' he found himself lost for words '... stricken.'

'What?' The young mage wheeled around, horrified by what he saw.

'Can you shift us to the Zaise with your magic?' Kheda was watching intently for any signs of Velindre soiling herself. 'Perhaps I can—'

The magewoman's convulsions ceased as suddenly as they had begun. She lay limp on the dusty ground, sweat beading her forehead and soaking through her cotton tunic.

Risala used the edge of her sleeve to clean the dirty foam from around Velindre's mouth. 'Kheda, water.'

Kheda uncapped the brass flask and knelt to trickle a little of the precious fluid between Velindre's lips. The magewoman's perspiration smelled rank, as if she had spent days in a fever. 'Naldeth, what's wrong with her?' he demanded.

'I don't know.' The young wizard's voice quavered.

Velindre startled them all with a groan.

'Help me.' Kheda nodded to Risala and between them they rolled the magewoman onto her back, lifting up her head to rest against Risala's thigh.

'Drink, just a sip.' Kheda held the neck of the brass flask to the magewoman's blood-caked lips.

Velindre squinted up at him, her breathing fast and ragged. 'Did we win?' she whispered faintly.

'T did.' Concern twisted Naldeth's face as he looked down at her. 'You were right. He could use his air against my fire affinity but when I bound the fire to stone, the antipathy of earth to his own element defeated him.'

'You can thank Dev for that tip.' Velindre's grin was ghastly.

Kheda tried to see if she'd suffered any injury beyond scrapes and bruises. 'What happened to you?'

'The dragon.' She tried to sit more upright, clinging to Risala. 'It won.'

'It's coming back?' Dread gripping his gut, Kheda scanned the skies for the bright-blue beast.

'Not his dragon.' Velindre reached for the water flask with trembling hands and took another sip. She peered past Naldeth towards the blackened corpse of the skull wearer, still smouldering and staining the clear air with vile-smelling greasy smoke.

'I don't understand.' Naldeth was confused.

'Neither do I,' Velindre admitted sardonically, 'but the simulacrum defeated the true dragon.'

'Your false dragon defeated the fire dragon that was laying waste to Chazen.' Kheda looked at her uncertainly. 'Then it began dying as the magic unravelled. You said that's what would happen. You weren't affected like this when we slew it.'

When I was leading the men of Chazen to slaughter a dragon that was nothing more than a lie that would have dissolved into mist within a few days regardless. So they could reassure themselves as to their bravery. So their trust in the Tightness of my rule might be made absolute by such a powerful omen.

Velindre drew a deep breath and pressed her palms to her face for a long moment. 'The simulacrum defeated the sky dragon,' she said finally. 'Then it ripped it open and ate its sapphire heart. You recall why a wizard-summoned dragon is condemned to die before it's barely tasted life?' She looked from Kheda to Naldeth.

'Because there's a void at its centre,' Kheda said slowly.

'A true dragon's heart is elemental gemstone.' Naldeth nodded. 'Which is why they seek out jewels to form into their eggs.'

'The dragon I made won't die now.' Defiant delight kindled in Velindre's hazel eyes. 'It will live out its days like any other of its kind.'

'Here?' Risala demanded, looking upwards. 'Will it be looking to you to feed it with prisoners and slaves?'

Velindre shook her head cautiously. 'Not as far as I can tell. It's tasted the winds coming up from the southern ocean and flown to find their source.' She blinked away joyful tears. 'It had no expectation—'

Kheda gasped, startled, as wiry fingers clutched at his elbow. As he turned, his hand already on his sword hilt,

he realised it was the old woman. She was looking past the remains of the dead wizard towards the belt of twisted nut trees. She pointed urgently and Kheda saw shapes moving in the shadows once again.

'Only wizards kill wizards,' he said grimly, 'but I'll wager the rest of them will do their best to kill us, if they can catch us.' He stooped, lifting one of Velindre's slack arms up over his shoulder. 'Can you walk?'

The old woman clucked, shaking her head and smiling broadly. Turning to Naldeth, she bowed low. Straightening up, she pointed to the lurking figures and bowed once again, withered arm held out straight. As if this were some signal, a few bold savages moved out from beneath the nut trees into the open. They flung themselves prostrate on the ground, hands outstretched in supplication.

Understanding dawning, Kheda saw that none of the wild men now carried weapons. 'When we saw their wizards killing each other in Chazen, a defeated mage's warriors — and his prisoners and his loot - they were all claimed by the victor. They're surrendering.'

'To Naldeth,' Risala agreed, relief warring with apprehension in her voice.

'To me?' The young wizard's words cracked on his astonishment. 'I thought we wanted to do away with magical tyranny.' He looked to Velindre for her agreement.

'I don't think it's going to be that simple.' She glanced up at Kheda as he helped her to her feet. 'As I believe our warlord was about to point out earlier.'

'What do we do now?' Kheda scowled at the old woman, who was tugging at his arm again.

She glared back at him, unrepentant. She pointed first to Naldeth and then to the waiting wild men before looking expectantly at Kheda.

'Can you walk?' Kheda looked closely at Velindre. 'Can you do any magic?'

'I can probably walk.' But as the magewoman tried to step away from his supporting arm her knees buckled and she would have fallen if Risala hadn't caught her. 'But no, I don't think I can work any wizardry just at present.' She heaved a shuddering sigh.

'Naldeth?' Kheda turned to the younger mage and saw an unhealthy pallor beneath his ruddy tan.

'I just need to catch my breath,' he said unconvincingly.

'How far away are we from the Zaise?' Kheda looked around to get his bearings.

'It's that way.' Risala pointed unerringly to the dark canopies of taller trees away to the west. 'That's the line of the dry stream where those tree dwellers live. We need to bear to the south, down to the grasslands, so we can cut across the mouth of their valley.'

'Where their mage and his dragon can't have missed either of these duels and we've no magic of our own to call on if they come looking to see what's happened.' Kheda took stock of the two mages; Velindre was still almost faint with exhaustion, Naldeth visibly weighed down with fatigue. 'I don't think we can risk making for the ship, not just yet. They'll never manage that climb up to the cliff top.'

'We certainly won't slip past that dry valley unnoticed, not with all these savages following us.' Risala surveyed the wild men still lying prone beneath the nut trees. A few were lifting cautious heads to see what was happening by the cave. 'So what are we going to do?'

'That skull-faced mage must have had some kind of lair.' Kheda looked for the feather-crowned women and frowned when he realised they were nowhere to be seen. 'Which presumably now belongs to you, Naldeth. That would be some sanctuary, just till you two recover your strength. Once we've had some food and some time for reflection, we can consider how best to get back to the Zaise?

'What about the wild men?' Risala looked warily at the prostrate savages. 'Will they let us go?'

'I can't see them stopping us.' Kheda sighed reluctantly. 'And in the meantime, they'll be bodies to stand between us and anyone else's spears until we're rested.'

'Kheda—' Naldeth roused himself to protest incoherently.

'Do you have some better idea?' the warlord challenged. 'And what would you wager on your chances of persuading these people to let the four of us go off alone into hostile territory? Do you feel fit enough to take on that mage in the beaded cloak and his black dragon besides?'

'No.' Velindre was adamant.

'We may end up doing that anyway if we don't move soon.' Risala indicated the closest wild men, who were now getting to their feet.

Then everyone froze as a faint tremor ran through the earth underneath them and a low sound on the very edge of hearing seemed to surround them.

'What was that?' Kheda looked at Naldeth.

'I don't know.' The young mage moved to Velindre's other side, draping her arm around his neck. 'But let's get out of here.'

Unnerved by the earth tremor and the strange noise, the wild men who had been following the skull-faced mage hurried forward to throng around the four of them. With their stained loincloths and mud-matted hair, they smelled sour with fear and filth.

Naldeth backed away, trying to avoid the worst of the odour. 'How do we tell them what we want to do?'

'Just head for the river,' Kheda suggested, but the crowd was pressing around them so thickly that they had no hope of forcing a way through.

The old woman appeared at Kheda's side and seized his elbow yet again, shoving him forward. She said something

and the wild men instantly sank to their knees and prostrated themselves once more, chests to die ground, their hands outstretched towards Naldeth.

'I have no intention of setting myself up to be some magical tyrant like that villain,' Naldeth said angrily.

'Then start considering how you might show them that,' snapped Velindre.

As the savages began slowly getting up again, their faces wretched with apprehension, a resonant cry echoed through the twisted trees. Another answered it, followed by a hollow clattering sound. All the savages turned towards Naldeth, fearfully hopeful and expectant.

'It's those birds.' Kheda drew both sword and hacking blade as a new realisation made his stomach churn. 'Those savages you blinded will be easy prey for them, Naldeth.' The horror of that prospect drove him a few paces towards the nut trees where the bespelled unfortunates still cowered.

'It was only supposed to be temporary,' the wizard protested, nevertheless following Kheda towards the belt of twisted trees.

'I don't imagine those birds will care.' Kheda glanced over his shoulder to see Risala drawing her own hacking blade, grim resolve on her face. 'Can you summon up enough fire to roast them, Naldeth?'

Risala drew level with Kheda's shoulder. 'Can't you just undo the spell?'

'I can try,' the wizard offered uncertainly.

As they moved, Naldeth still supporting Velindre as best he could, the wild men scrambled to their feet and pressed close around the four of them. As they reached the twisted trees, the savages snatched up the spears they had discarded in the dirt. Those at the forefront spread out to flank Kheda and Risala, their weapons levelled, expressions hard.

Somewhat to Kheda's surprise, the trees proved to be empty of the vicious birds. As a few of the unblinded wild men began calling to those savages Naldeth had bespelled earlier and gathering them together, the warlord looked across the grassy plain towards the dubious safety of the river. He saw a flash of an emerald crest as one of the vicious birds lifted its head above the swaying grasses.

'I see it.' Naldeth raised a hand and crimson fire flickered around his fingers.

'Can you scare those birds off with your magic and still have enough strength to raise a walkway across the river?' Risala asked suddenly. 'There were lizards as long as the Zaise in the water last night.'

'I don't know,' Naldeth admitted, uncertain.

'Then don't risk it.' Kheda gripped his sword hilt. 'Steel will kill these things as surely as sorcery.' He strode forward into the vicious grasses, giving everyone else no choice but to follow.

A great squawking bird burst through the tussocks, murderous black beak gaping. More of the flock flapped their ineffective wings ferociously behind it. Those savages escorting the blinded men raised a despairing wail. Kheda side-stepped the creature's vicious lunge and swept his sword up and around. The bird's lifeless head fell to the ground as its body collapsed with a thud and a flurry of feathers. Kheda heard a second screech behind him cut short, the sound of the bird's fall drowned out by the shouts of the wild men on either side, astounded, encouraging and reassuring the urgent questions of those who still could not see.

Another bird took a lanky stride forward, whether to attack or to try eating its dead fellow Kheda couldn't tell. He dismissed the irrelevance and parried its hooked beak with his hacking blade before slicing through its neck with

his sword. The rest of the birds screeched uncertainly, milling around rather than attacking, disconcerted by the scent of their own kind's blood. Emboldened, several of the spearmen lunged forward, yelling. The birds turned tail and vanished into the grasses, rattling their beaks with alarm.

Kheda looked over his shoulder to see Risala smile thinly back at him. Her hacking blade was smeared with blood and three of the blue-feathered birds lay dead at her feet. She took a pace back and he did the same as wild men clustered around the dead birds, eager to claim this unexpected bounty.

Kheda watched for a moment as the wild men produced crude knives of black stone from the folds of their loincloths. The fluted blades proved surprisingly efficient as the hunters deftly gutted the dead birds.

'Come on.' He beckoned to Naldeth and Velindre as the savages rapidly dismembered the fowl, skewering the legs and carcasses on spears for easier carrying.

Naldeth tried for an optimistic tone. 'I suppose this is one way to learn more about these people.'

'Just be sure to keep your wits about you,' Kheda said shortly.

'And keep thinking about how we're going to get back to the Zaise? Risala looked at the soiled savages as she tried to scour the blood from her blade with a twist of dead grass. 'We're caught between a wall and a sword here, aren't we?'

'I hope not.' Kheda tried to sound convincing. 'Wherever these savages live, we know there won't be a wizard, or a dragon. If they're all in awe of Naldeth, we should be safe enough from them. So we can take some time to eat and rest and then find a way to slip back to the Zaise unnoticed.'

Risala drew closer to him, surveying the waving grasses with mistrust. 'You don't think those women with the feathers might dispute Naldeth's claim?'

'Let's hope they've had the sense to flee before he can kill them too.' Kheda spoke quietly enough that neither wizard heard him.

Risala fell silent as they hurried on through the grasses. As they reached the crumbling bank, Naldeth pushed past the warlord, leaving Velindre swaying but at least standing unsupported on her own two feet. The young mage drew a shining ridge of mud up out of the water to give them all a safe path to the far side. The wild men's murmurs grew loud with approval.

'I'd say they've got a better deal in a wizard after this morning's work,' Velindre commented. 'And I think they realise it.'

Cries of relief and astonishment drowned out her words. Those who had been blinded by Naldeth's earlier spell were crying out and weeping. Some stood staring at their hands, others blinking wildly or knuckling their eyes as they found they could see once more.

'You undid your spell,' Risala murmured.

Naldeth's smile was brief and crooked. 'It just unravelled when I drew up the walkway. The elements here are so unpredictable.'

The spearmen closest to him threw themselves down in obeisance again.

'It should secure us more goodwill, regardless.' Kheda watched those savages unencumbered by spears laden with fowl meat or busy with reassuring their comrades scramble down onto the mud. More deftly than he had expected, the wild men scooped up fish left flapping on the surface of the walkway and dug nameless wriggling things out of the silt before they could burrow to safety. They turned, smiles broad on their dirty faces, bowing and nodding their gratitude to Naldeth.

'You've sealed their fealty by feeding them,' Risala said with sudden realisation.

Kheda nodded slowly. 'Any slave in the Archipelago knows he's safe as long as his master gives him sailer and salt.'

Is this going to make it harder or more easy to leave when we judge the time is right? Are these people going to want to lose this new wizard who saves them and feeds them so readily?