World's End (32 page)

‘Some friend, that dragon,' said Sharfy. ‘Fight's on, where is he? When you see what I seen at Athlent, then we'll see. See how much you trust dragons then. Any dragons.'

With a swoosh of air, Dyan landed in their midst. Case thumped down beside him a little later with much less grace. ‘Beauty, what has happened to you?' said Dyan. ‘You look to have faded. I see through you as if you were made of stained glass.'

‘I am still here, Dyan,' said Siel. ‘But since you keep secrets from us, I will now keep one from you. I won't tell you why I look this way to you.'

Dyan lowered his head in supplication. ‘As you say, Beauty.' He sniffed the air. ‘There has been battle here.'

Sharfy scoffed and spat.

‘Where were you, pray tell?' said Eric. ‘We could have used your help.'

‘When the ugly human attacked me it seemed best to leave for a while,' said Dyan. ‘I have not been idle. Other dragons passed nearby. When I sensed them, I went to watch and gauge their intentions. They are just exploring, still in a mood of celebration to be free again. Many more dragons are free now, Beauty. The sky prisons soon shall be empty.'

‘How many came near us?' said Eric.

‘None of the Eight. Several lesser dragons came within two miles of here. I call them lesser dragons, but you would call them mighty, compared with humans. They were not here seeking you.'

‘If they come here, can you protect us from them, Dyan?'

‘I will be unable to slay them, especially if they travel in groups. With magic I can hide you. Not all of them know magic as I do. Some know magic better than I. We must be careful. There are those among them hostile to your kind. Beware of Invia too. They serve whatever dragons instruct them. Those your lords named Favoured shall be safest.'

‘He's not
my
lord,' said Sharfy, jerking a thumb at Eric. ‘No one's lord. Lords're supposed to decide things.'

‘You're right,' said Eric, stung by the truth in it. ‘I'm not a lord. They only wanted me to pretend to be one for a while. I think that time has finished.' He told Dyan of the fight with Shilen, of Hauf coming to help them. ‘Do you think it means Shilen is going to attack us the next time she sees us?'

‘Only if her masters instruct it,' said Dyan. ‘It would please her to kill you, I am sure. She has no love for humanity. Her hatred for me is greater, if that soothes you.'

‘Is Vyin her master?'

‘Her master is whichever of the Eight she finds herself before. She has taken more instruction from Vyin than from the others.
Vyin holds no hostile intent towards you. That may be said of two others among the Eight.'

‘So five of them want to wipe us out,' said Sharfy. ‘Good news, eh? Your move, Pilgrim. “Lord”.' Again he spat.

‘There are things of more interest to all of the Eight than the matter of human existence,' said Dyan in the tone of someone not wishing to offend.

Case went and lurked by their gear packs, something he did when he was thirsty. Siel told him, ‘If it's water you want, find a puddle and leave our skins alone. We need cleaner water than you do, plus you drank the last of the wine already.' Case looked crestfallen.

Dyan said, ‘I could summon wine for him, but I shan't. He does not fly quickly, yet insists on following me. It is becoming a hindrance. There is also something I sense your drake wishes me to tell you. He is a man, not a true drake.'

Eric laughed.

‘It is true,' said Dyan. ‘Vyin changed him from a man into his current form.'

All three of them looked doubtfully at Case. ‘Was he someone we knew?' Eric said.

Dyan gave the dragon equivalent of a shrug, a quick sideways flick of his head. ‘He has no speech, and understands your speech in only limited ways.'

Eric looked closely at Case. The drake met his eye with a look that seemed imploring, but in his features there seemed nothing reminiscent of anyone they'd known.

On the castle lawns, Loup and Far Gaze sat upon the same patch of grass where old man Case had slept after his first night in Levaal. Before the castle's nearest entrance a group of half-giants stood in quiet conversation with one another, ignoring the people milling about in growing numbers, demanding to be let in.

Not many would be willing to take up arms against the half-giants, not yet. But the people knew there was food in the castle stores and soon enough they'd be hungry. Earlier today two half-giants had been killed in a fight with a dragon, a couple of miles south of the castle. It had been quite small as dragons went, a Minor personality none had managed to name or find word of in any known lore. It had been stalking some of the roads which fed into the Great Dividing Road, biting people in apparent playfulness, yet inflicting terrible injuries. The half-giants had done nothing about it until a delivery of goods bound for the castle had been left abandoned on the road. Its traumatised crew had arrived at the castle covered in blood and with arms missing. A gang of ten half-giants marched out at once, and killed the dragon with their bare hands. They'd dragged its body back before a cheering crowd, which evidently
mistook the half-giants' deed as a defence of humankind, rather than the defence of castle property.

Those fleeing from the south arrived with far grimmer tales of dragons, especially people coming from Athlent, Kopyn and other nearby cities. So far, Aziel was allowing no one inside and would hear no tales about dragons eating people.

‘She'll have one angry mob to deal with out here, if she keeps blocking em from going up to tell her what's gone on,' said Loup, as he and Far Gaze watched the crowd numbers swell. ‘She won't have you up there to see her neither, don't matter how long you wait down here. She don't want
me
here, truth be told. It'd help a bunch if Eric got here and kept an eye on her like he's meant to.'

‘Eric having been chosen for any role of importance is a fitting tribute to Vous's insanity,' Far Gaze muttered.

‘This is just for your ears, but rumour holds Aziel wants him dead. Just on the quiet. Some of those clerk boys talked about it; I heard em. Soon's he gets back here. He's made her job hard, insulted her by his mucking around, and so on. She wants a half-giant to do the job, but none of em will. They know how people scheme and play around, they want no part of it. Heard talk among
them
that their hiding places out in unclaimed lands all look a lot better to live in than these parts now that the dragons are here.' He looked pointedly over to where a never-ending group of spectators lined up for a look at the dead dragon. ‘I don't think we'd fare half as well as that without their help, against even the Minors. That's a little un. Wait till the great big ones get bold enough to come closer to the castle. Even half-giants won't be much help then. We'll need the gods.'

‘The dragons won't come here,' said Far Gaze.

And everyone seemed to know it, for those able to make it
to the castle were coming in droves. Not just city dwellers, either – the villages and rural lands had begun to empty. Surely that included the farm lands. The castle warehouses were mostly full of spell-preserved food, but with no more deliveries coming, the stock would drain quickly enough.

Aziel's administrators emerged throughout the day with orders for people to go to the newly built cities nearby. Cities the Arch had built, so new they did not yet have names. But very few people complied – tales had reached them of Invia carrying people away from those places to be dragon food. There was no army to move them along, for the half-giants' control extended only as far as keeping people out of the castle.

More arrived, and then more. The roads in and out were soon blocked. Fresh tales of horror arrived with each new group, tales of dragons doing all manner of terrible things. The people began to ask for Shadow to come forth and speak with them. They'd murmured it among themselves at first, but they had begun to shout it at the half-giant guards.

‘You!' someone called through the growing noise. It took a moment for Loup to understand he was the one being addressed. It was one of Aziel's advisors, judging by the gown he wore. The harried-looking man stood between two particularly large half-giants at the foot of some narrow steps leading up inside.

‘I got a name,' Loup said peevishly as he walked over, Far Gaze with him. Seeing them as mages, the crowd was eager to clear a path for them.

‘Mage of the Realm,' said the advisor with an apologetic bow. ‘I called to you by your title earlier, Mage of the Realm, but you did not seem to hear me.'

‘They call me Mage of the Realm instead of the new Arch
Mage,' Loup explained to Far Gaze. ‘Whole thing was Eric's stupid idea.'

‘Our lady must speak with you, Mage of the Realm.'

‘Rare honour, that is. What's it about?'

Aziel's advisor looked around at the swarm of people. ‘I would say it is about
this
, Mage of the Realm.' The advisor lowered his voice. ‘The lady is … in a panic, sir.'

It wasn't long before the haiyens returned to Eric and Siel. This time the wizard Domudess was with them. He peered around with an air of serenity very reminiscent of the way Siel's face had looked when she was hiding in plain sight from Shilen.

Among the four haiyens was one with a small indentation in its forehead. Siel recognised him at once. ‘Our guide,' she said. She moved to embrace him. Unsure of that concept, the haiyen instead took her hands in his. A pulse of warmth ebbed out of him, directed at Siel but touching Eric too, like a brush of warm breeze. It filled him with a moment or two of serene happiness. Dyan evidently felt it too, for he shuddered and moved away, peering back in confusion as his master Siel spoke to beings he could not see or hear.

‘I have taken a human name for your convenience,' the haiyen said. ‘Call me Luhan. We return to you in great urgency. We find we have misjudged in our plans. Perhaps we have failed altogether. Time as it functions in this world is very strange to us. Events cause other events like stones tumbling down mountainsides, unpredictably dislodging other stones. In our world, we can often separate the stones and judge precisely where each will fall. It is not so, in this place. We must now hurry.'

Domudess said, ‘My friends have built for me instruments which allow one to observe distant events. I have seen dramatic things. The dragons as we speak are destroying humankind. To them it is play, but it may as well be called war. All across the land this occurs. No city is safe. People flock to the castle in large numbers, but larger numbers will never make it there. Of those who do, it is
you
who they think will help them, Eric. They call you by the name of Shadow, as you have sometimes called yourself. It is best you return to the castle, if I may presume to advise you. Just the sight of you upon the balcony may well calm those gathered there. A slimmer hope – but one we must hold – is that those people will allow the haiyens to teach them the arts Siel is quickly learning. If the people believe you are a myth come to life, that you are Shadow … we dare to hope they will listen to you, when they would likely listen to no other.'

‘You can presume to advise me whenever you like,' Eric said. ‘What do you think I should tell the crowds, when I'm up on that balcony?'

‘Tell them there is a way humanity can live and thrive, even in a world where dragons also dwell. All who are willing to learn will be taken inside the castle, and the haiyens will teach them the arts. You must make Aziel allow this. Siel, you too have a duty. You must go to World's End, and you must have Shadow with you.'

‘Why?'

Dyan peered from Eric to Siel and back, his head swaying like a serpent's. ‘Who do you speak with, Beauty?' he called.

‘Hush, Dyan.'

Domudess paced for a little while, considering his words. ‘There is a chance the dragons will set the Pendulum swinging
again. At present, the haiyens have halted it. They ensured the god who came to our world would be the Teacher of Many Arts. It is not a warlike god – it will do no harm here. It will not cause the Spirits of our world to go south in response, to fight as would soldiers at war for this reality. As things stand, no more gods of either side will cross the boundary. In other words, the Pendulum has gone still. As things stand now, the dragons' Parent shall not awaken.

‘The Eight great dragons are the only ones with the power to change this. You must be at World's End, Siel, in case they do so. I cannot tell you your task there, should the dragons indeed cross to the South. Tell me, is Shadow still imprisoned within your charm? Does he struggle for freedom?'

‘He is here. But I can feel nothing to suggest he wants to break free.'

Eric said, ‘When Aziel had Shadow in her charm, she complained about it being hard to hold him. Every now and then I felt something similar, back when I had him trapped. It's not like that for you?'

‘No,' she said. ‘It seemed to me that he returned to us on purpose, and became trapped on purpose. Probably he hides from Shilen, and the other dragons.'

‘Indeed the dragons seek him eagerly.' Domudess clutched her arm, stooping down to look into her eyes. ‘You
must
keep him within your charm's prison, if that is something you have influence over. He must not break free. You must keep him at World's End. Do you understand?'

‘I'll understand better if you tell me why.'

The wizard shut his eyes, pained. ‘This becomes difficult for us both. I can tell you where you must go. But at this time I may not tell you why. You must now trust me more than you
have trusted anyone in your life. And we must trust that you shall do as we ask you, without our having to force you. Ride your dragon to World's End, as fast as he will carry you. You must stay near the Great Dividing Road. Within a mile of it, if not within sight of it. If the guardians of the two worlds rise from slumber, that is the place they will meet for battle. Whatever happens,
you must stay there.
And you must keep Shadow with you. Should any of the Eight come near World's End, seeking you, practise the arts we have shown you, and hide from them.

‘Haiyen warriors will be near you, in hiding. They use arts of the mind more powerful than any swordcraft. They shall protect you as they can, from human beings and from whatever else may see you. Hide there, and wait. With your eyes ever on the Great Dividing Road, at the boundary of World's End. Leave now, Siel. It is not known how long we have.'

‘How long until
what
? Why can't you tell me my part in this?'

‘If Shadow should become free of his prison, he could access your knowledge and learn what we have told you. He must not! Shadow is the key, Siel. If the time comes, if the Dragon-god awakens, you will learn what you must do.'

The haiyen named Luhan stepped forwards and said, ‘These worlds are small parts in the vastness, though it does not seem so now. Our lives are smaller yet, and are only borrowed things. Be brave. Know the waters wait to cleanse you again. Linger in them, if it pleases you. Your soul shall remember. All of this is fleeting. We are forever, and these trials are but lessons.'

Siel hesitated, then embraced Eric and held him long. Eric whispered in her ear so that the others wouldn't hear: ‘Whatever it is they have in mind, unless I'm mistaken the haiyen just suggested you won't survive. Are you sure you want to go? You can refuse them.'

She laughed quietly. ‘Do you truly believe they'd allow me to refuse?'

‘Give the charm to them, let them do it.'

‘It doesn't matter anyway,' she said. Suddenly her smile was radiant. ‘We live on, Eric. Part of us goes on forever. I have seen the truth in that. Be well, be safe. We will not be parted for long, whatever happens. You will see.'

‘You
must
leave, Siel,' said Domudess. He said it gently but with deadly earnestness. ‘The flight is long. There is no more time.'

‘Dyan flies quicker than you might think. But I'll do as you ask.' She took her pack, climbed aboard the very confused dragon, who'd never before seen humans conversing so seriously with non-existent things. With one last look at Eric, she took to the sky.

Eric did not know how he was so certain, but deep within himself he knew the image of her sitting poised between Dyan's tilted wings was the last sight of her he'd have. He did not know what she knew … he had not seen the crystal's waters which had so drastically changed her, although she had tried at times to describe them to him. He longed to believe what she'd said – that their lives would go on eternally. But he could not share her certainty. He wiped tears from his face and tried not to hate the haiyens and the wizard who'd sent her away.