Tortall (21 page)

Spots hid behind the tent while I packed up the things I had decided to take from Daine and Numair. Once I was ready, I whistled Spots around to the front of the tent. This time I used some of Daine’s scarves and sashes to tie the bundle to his back. He was helpful about kneeling to help me reach everything. I was just finished when we heard a man’s footsteps on the hillside.

It’s one of the horse guards
, Spots said.
The one who
thinks I should stay tied up all of the time. He thinks he knows better than Daine and Numair what to do for me. I am tired of being polite. Will you destroy his rope for me?

All through this trip I had watched Spots struggle with this stupid human, who would not learn that Spots could manage himself. I gladly would have done even more than destroy a rope.

“There you are,” the soldier told Spots, his face hard. “All morning and all through my noontide meal I’ve been lookin’ for you, you cursed contrary beast.” He had his lariat at his side and was swinging the noose easily. “I don’t know how you got away from the lines, but you’ll not do so
again
!” He flung the noose just as Spots turned out of its path. The noose missed. I shrieked—it was one of my new ones—and noose, line, and coiled rope went all to ash. The soldier swore, hugging his scorched hand to his chest. Then Spots danced up and swung his head hard, right into the man’s chest. The man stumbled, fell, and began to roll down the steep slope to the imperial camp. Spots and I fled, Spots soon getting ahead of me.

When I looked back and could not see the soldier, I whistled up my tornado and swept the hillside. I kept the spinning wind trailing me until I reached Spots. He was waiting patiently for me at the edge of the first barrier spell. I let the tornado go and leaned against my friend’s leg. He still had the bundle.

He nudged me gently.
Thank you. I must ask Daine to speak to him again and make certain that he listens this time. The other soldiers have learned, but he is too stupid
.

I crooned my understanding and reached out, feeling the barrier. It gave under my paws, making them tingle.

Spots took a step forward.
What is this?
he asked. His skin twitched all over, but he could move through the magic, whipping his tail as if he were beset by flies.
I am no mage, so something has changed this barrier, Kitten
.

The second barrier stopped him. It also felt different. It flowed over my outstretched paw like cool soup. I felt no little hands exploring me, and I missed them. Confused, I made a shield for Spots and hissed a spell at the barrier. My breath barely touched it before it vanished.

I followed Spots into the rocks, feeling baffled. These barrier spells were
old
. Why were they changing now?

Afra was still asleep, but Uday was not. He was amusing himself, playing with magical bubbles that were dark pink, pale green, and bright yellow, all swirling together. Afra’s son’s magic was even stranger than her own. I felt grateful that if she did not know of Uday’s Gift, I would not be the one to tell her. Since her power had brought her such trouble, I could not see her welcoming it for her baby. Maybe Numair would teach her how to be glad of their Gifts.

Spots stayed to guard them. I clambered up onto the orange rock to listen for goats. My luck was in: the herd was grazing not too far away, near the edge of the barrier around the rocks. Swiftly I clambered over that warm, welcoming orange stone to find them. I was soon in the oddest state of mind. Flashes of green, orange, red, blue, and brown fires filled my vision, then faded. The lands before me were shaped the same, but their covering was different. The areas
that did not sprout stone were green with trees and brush, and populated with big animals. There was an
enormous
shaggy cow—why would I imagine a giant cow? There were zebras, too, like King Jonathan and Emperor Kaddar have in their menageries. That was senseless. Zebras could not thrive in these desert lands. Still, I saw the land as green, so perhaps zebras would do well here.

When I ducked to avoid a large imagination bat, I tumbled down a groove in the orange stone. Luckily for me, the groove was long and cushioned with brush that grew in the earth collected there. I was also grateful that no one was there to see me, except for a family of rock hyraxes. They had a good laugh at my expense. I bared my teeth at them, which made them run away. Then I felt small as well as stupid.

At the foot of the stone was open ground where the magical barrier ended. I barely felt the magic’s tingle on my scales as I passed through it. Beyond lay slopes of the black lava rock spotted with brush on its sides. Goats. I was back in the real world, looking for goats.

Pausing on the level ground, I listened for a goat bell and heard one nearby, over the ridge. I trotted over to the black rock and began to climb. Then I halted. The bell was coming closer, and with it, human voices. Hurriedly I drew camouflage colors over myself, blending in with the rock and the scrub. Then I crept forward to listen.

“I don’t want to give up my afternoon’s grazing so this mage can look at the beasts,” I heard a human boy whine. “Make her come out to look at them—” I heard the sound of a slap. “Ow! Ma!”

“She is the emperor’s friend! As well ask His Imperial
Majesty to call on you! Gods all above, why did you curse me with a son whose head rattles like a gourd?” a woman cried. The goatherd and his mother climbed down from the pasture on the other side of the rock where I sat. The herd of goats followed them, so obedient I could have sworn they were spelled. Knowing goats as I do, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they knew I wished to steal one, and delighted in twitching their tails as they trotted by, bound for the village gate.

The goatherd turned to make certain that he had them all and choked. “Ma! Ma, look!”

His mother, a good-sized woman in a head cloth and robe, turned, ready to cuff him. Her hand froze in midair. Only long training for and in battle kept me in my place, hoping that I had not made a mistake in my camouflage. No, they were not staring at me, but at the orange stone to my right and at the open ground before it. The goats were baffled and frightened by the humans’ confusion. They began to bleat their fear.

“That wasn’t there before!” the woman said, drawing the Sign on her chest.

The boy did the same. “The rock Maze lay in that open ground. We never saw no orange rock!” He ventured forward, his staff outstretched.

“Careful!” his mother cried. “This is magic; it’s folly to meddle with magic!”

The boy stopped just five yards from me and waved his staff, expecting something. He was not the only one. He should have touched the barrier there, and with each step forward that he took. When he stopped to tap the orange
stone, he was six feet inside the barrier of magic I’d walked through each time I came here.

His mother could bear it no more. “Leave it!” she cried. “We’re no mages! That’s what ours are for—yes, and those grand ones the emperor has brought! Get away from there before you’re hurt!”

The goatherd had blossomed more rolling sweat with each step he had taken beyond that five-yard point. I think he expected to walk straight into a cliff and break his toes. When his mother ordered him to come with her, he turned and raced to her side. They and the goats ran for the gate.

I shed my camouflage once they were inside the village walls and climbed down from my place on the black rock. Once on the sandy ground, I walked straight toward the round curve of orange stone. There was no sign whatever of the barrier. I even waved my paws through the air, seeking its power. I’d felt it—somewhat—on my way to find those goats. Where had it gone since then? No one had worked a spell big enough to destroy it. I would have sensed that.

Remembering the next barrier, I ran up the stone, which quivered under my paws: the earth was shuddering. At the top of the formation I braced myself to look at the black lava rocks around the orange, and at the village to the south of my position. Was I visible to anyone who might pass, if the barrier was gone? I had to be, if those humans had seen the orange stone. I camouflaged myself a second time, then moved on, seeking the next barrier as the stone beneath me trembled. I hadn’t even noticed that it was gone when I’d passed this way before, wrapped in strange visions.
Why?
What had destroyed the barriers?

At last I reached Afra’s clearing. She knelt beside the open bundle that had been on Spots’ back, a small pot of one of Daine’s healing creams in her hand. She put it down when she saw me. There were tearstains on her cheeks. “You go too far! The village mages have not tried to break the magic on this place because they believe there is none, only stones and desert. Now you have taken costly things! If the mages track these things here, who is to say they cannot shatter the spells that hide us?” She wiped sweat from her face with a hand that trembled. “And that you did this now, with the earth dancing again …”

If the village mages could have pierced the illusion of the maze of stone, they would have done so the first time Afra was spotted at their garbage heap. They didn’t even know it was there. Numair was another matter, but now, with the barrier gone, we
needed
him to come, and Daine, too. Or we needed to go to him and Daine, out through the taller rocks, before the ground opened up under us. Afra could not stay here. The goatherd and his mother had to be spreading the news that the village had land this afternoon that had not existed that morning. People would be coming, if there wasn’t an earthquake first.

I straightened the blankets that had served to bundle up what we had taken and began to put Afra’s belongings in their center.

Kitten, what are you doing? Why are you packing?
Spots pawed the ground, nervous. He knew how I behaved if we were safe and if we were not safe.

I hissed at him, the noise I used to mean “trouble,” and pointed back in the direction from which I had come.

Spots snorted in disgust.
Why does this happen just as I begin to like a place?
He began to help me pack, choosing only the most important things to place on the blankets.

Afra stared at us. “What are you doing now? Are you
packing
?” She set down the cream. “Please! I’m frightened enough with the ground so restless, but this is the safest place for us to be. There’s no tall stone here to fall over on us. Please stop! I have to be calm for Uday; surely you know that!”

I went over to her and gripped her wrist, then pulled her and pointed in the direction of the path back to the cave—and the imperial camp. I opened my mouth to explain that soon we would have curious villagers entering our sanctuary, but of course all that came out was baby chatter.

“Go back there?” Afra demanded, pulling free of my grip. “That place is surrounded by high rocks and cliffs. We’ll be crushed!”

I shook my head. I was nearly screaming with frustration, cursing my lack of speech. I hunkered down on my hindquarters and placed a group of small stones together, some of them black, some orange. I put the orange ones in the center, as they seemed to be in the true rock formation. Then I drew a circle around them. The line was jagged. Afra was not the only one made edgy by the shaking ground, but we dragons are supposed to control ourselves.

Afra nodded. “The magic, yes.” Spots continued to pack, rolling up the bundle of blankets.

I wiped away the line around the collection of rocks. Then I stabbed a claw into the area where I’d erased my line and glared at Afra.

She wiped sweat from her upper lip. “No. I don’t believe you. The villagers told me that the rock maze has been there ever since their people can remember.” I stabbed the ground again. Afra was still shaking her head when Uday woke and began to cry. “I have to feed my child,” she whispered. She went to him while I threw the rocks into the pond.

I wanted to throw myself in after them—not to drown, only to cool my temper and my nerves. It made me half-mad to be unable to speak at a time like this! I could tell her about Daine and Numair, about how they would be able to help her and the baby! We wouldn’t be dithering here, but on our way to safety!

Should I go get Daine?
Spots asked me.

I was about to say yes, but the ground heaved under me. I shook my head and pointed to Afra and Uday, then made running motions with my claws. We had to get them away first.

Spots began to nudge Afra toward the way out of the clearing. Each time she turned away from his nose, back toward the pond, he would turn with her and begin to nudge again. He was very stubborn. I often wished I could tell him that I suspected he had a mule in his ancestry. I had so many jokes I could not tell him.

I walked around the pond to think of something, but all I could think was that we had to
go
. The water’s surface rippled under the force of the quivering earth. Loose rocks tumbled everywhere. I reached deep into the ground with my power, feeling for the cracks in the earth that might open and swallow us, but I found none. That meant nothing. In
Numair’s books I had read that the deadliest faults were miles underground.

When I returned, Afra had taken away everything that Spots had placed on the blankets. She then rolled up the blankets themselves to make a rough circle in the open, away from the rocks, where Uday might crawl in safety, free of his swaddlings.

I did shriek then, and scold. I had left to get myself under control, not to say I had conceded the fight! Spots walked over to my side to let Afra know he agreed with me. His white and brown withers were dark: he, too, was sweating, his fear of the shakes obvious in the way he planted his feet and watched the stone around us. I felt guilty. I had been so busy with my tantrum that I had not even asked my friend how he did.

Afra stood in front of Uday and said, “The barrier has kept me safe for longer than I have known you, strangers. We are safer in this open ground than we will be running through those canyons. Go if you wish, but Uday and I stay here.”

I wanted to weep in frustration. Humans!