Dragon Choir (33 page)

Kobb waved his
arms to the band to keep playing then sauntered over to the
Scrambletoes. “We don’t need you Delik. Hells, I don’t really want
you to help if you are determined to cause this stink. Your father
wanted you in on this, but you’ve played out your use. Tell you the
truth, the ogre and the shiner are not much good to me now either.
You can sip tea here in Kobbton with the elderly and watch the
children while we keep the dogs away.” Kobb turned to leave,
calling back over his shoulder. “Jaspa, sort out your command. We
sail at dawn.”

Minni and
Tikis released the Scrambletoes. Delik slumped to the floor, his
face red with burnt out fury and eyes moist with tears that refused
to fall.

Though his
shirt was torn, Jaspa kept his composure. Eyes of stone refused to
look upon his son. “Minni, Tikis, young man. What’s his name? Come
along now. You have your mission to study.”

Hurn leaned
over Jaspa bearing over him like a thunderhead. “Amber.”

Jaspa took a
few steps back straining his neck to take in the full sum of Hurn’s
hulking body. “What? Is that your name? You might want—”

Hurn thumped
his chest like a great drum. “Hurn Ga Kogh. This is Amber. You
should know names of your slaves.”

Jaspa reddened
with anger and embarrassment while Delik raised his head and
laughed, a tragic lost sound, devoid of joy.

“
Amber go. Hurn Ga Kogh go.”

“
That won’t be happening. Where ...” Jaspa paused and spoke
the name with deliberation. “Where Amber goes, you cannot. Hurn Ga
Kogh must stay.”

“
No!” Hurn beat his chest again, thunder boomed. “Hurn Ga Kogh
keep Little Bell safe!”

Jaspa nodded
at Minni. She lanced the ogre’s inner thigh then supported his arm
as he dropped to one knee.

Elrin braced
his shoulder against Hurn trying to keep him steady. “What did you
do?”

Minni let go
of Hurn’s arm and took Amber’s hand. “He’ll be ok.”

Elrin couldn’t
support all of Hurn’s weight and the ogre keeled over, hitting the
deck in a deep sleep.

Fjhor and his
men rounded up Jaspa, Tikis, Minni and Amber, marching them off the
ship and into the lamp lit night.

Elrin pulled
Delik to his feet. “Was that meant to happen?”

“
Not quite like that, no. Didn’t think Pa would fight back so
readily. Sure as the five hells, I didn’t figure on dragging an
ogre home.”

They grabbed
an arm each, trying to slide Hurn across the deck. He wouldn’t
budge. Delik collapsed beside Hurn, laughing at the futility of
their task.

Delik poured
wine and passed Elrin a cup. “I guess we wait while he finishes his
snooze.”

Elrin took a
sip, thinking over the heated argument between the shankakin. “Did
you lose your family in the fighting?”

“
My mother and sister aren’t lost. I know exactly where they
lie, deep in Ona’s embrace. I buried them myself, the old man was
holed up somewhere, on the run from the dogs.”

“
Who’s Shanda?”

“
My Moon, my dear ...” Delik cleared his throat and wiped his
eyes, staring up at the night sky. He downed his cup of wine. “They
made me watch, then ... then they took her, I don’t know
where.”

Elrin poured
them both a refill and didn’t press Delik for more information. The
young man just sat quietly with the shankakin and watched the moon
drifting over the caldera wall. Delik had suffered enough, he
didn’t need a stranger picking the stitches from his wounds.

Hurn didn’t
stir until they had finished their second refill. The ogre sat up
groaning and rubbing his enormous head.

“
You all right big fella?” asked Delik with more compassion
than Elrin had seen from the usually gruff shankakin
leader.

“
Bug bite and head hurt.”

“
Can you stand up?” Delik patted Hurn’s back. “We can’t lift
your big bag of bones.”

“
You have my bone bag?” Hurn lurched to his knees then stood,
bumping into the table and breaking a chair. “Where is
it?”

“
Let me see.” Delik took Hurn’s hand. “It might be back at our
guesthouse. We’d better get a move on and go find it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Key

Kobb had wiped
his hands of them, giving them no escort back to the floating
guesthouse, cocksure they weren’t a threat. It was an obvious
bluff. Kobb would still have eyes on them. Delik hadn’t made out
anyone following them, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Just
because he didn’t see anyone, didn’t mean they weren’t
looking.

“
So, what now?” Elrin leant back against a timber planter on
the deck, his arms folded with worry. “Kobb said they sail at first
light. We have to break them out now.”

“
Little Bell be scared. Tiny pirate takes her slave. Need to
keep her safe.”

“
I know, Hurn. Don’t worry, Minni is keeping her safe. If
Amber is in any danger Minni will get her out of there. Tikis will
be right behind Kobb too. No one will let her be
harmed.”

“
What about the Dragon Choir?” Elrin protested. “I can’t leave
without it.”

“
That’s why we need my Pa.”

“
And the key,” said Elrin. “You need Amber.”

Delik chuckled
to himself. The lad still had no idea it could be him. Typical
Calimskan, stuck so tight in their own skull they can’t spot their
own shadow. “We’ll have to find what fits the lock, I suppose.”
Delik pulled out a small scroll case from under his belt and
removed several curled up pages, flattening them out on the
deck.

“
Where did you get these?”

“
Pa stuffed them down the back of my pants when he had me
pinned. Good thing they’re in the case!”

“
You’re a sly bunch like I’ve never come across.”

“
Bah! You’re young yet; you’ve not met many. Now, go and bring
us some light.”

The scrolls
contained detailed maps of where his father was being locked up.
They showed guard patrols, doors, locks and shift rotations. He had
also described various escape scenarios.

Delik rubbed
his forehead, preparing for an argument. “You both should be clear
that we can’t take everyone.”

“
Hurn Ga Kogh take Little Bell.”

“
That’s right Hurn,” said Elrin. “Delik’s father too, but the
others are going to stay.”

Delik wrestled
with the best way to explain a prophecy he didn’t think mattered.
He found himself trapped, letting it determine the fate of two
lives. “No, that might not happen. I can’t say that Amber will come
with us.”

Hurn frowned
and snorted. “Why?”

“
I don’t know if Amber is the Key to the Dragon Choir. There
is another that fits the prophecy and Minni is the only one who can
decide which is the true Key.”

“
Another Key?”

“
Think about it lad, it’s you.”

Elrin was
dumbstruck, his eyes wide, cheeks flushed.

“
We’d take you both, but Minni knows that if the wrong Key
goes before the Choir, they’ll be killed. It must have a magic ward
or perhaps the device calls the wrath of the dragons upon us all.
We don’t know.”

“
Little Bell die?”

“
Hurn, where we need to go, Amber would be safer if she stayed
behind. We should only take her if Minni thinks she is the one. And
Elrin, if you aren’t the key, you will have to stay behind. There
is too much risk, a false key is said to trigger the Choir’s wrath.
What that may be is best not to discover.”

Hurn calmed at
the thought of Amber having a better chance of living if he
followed Delik’s plan. Elrin was not so pleased with the
options.

“
You rescue your own father, but not mine? I have to find the
choir, you can’t leave me behind.”

“
We might not have to. That’s between Minni and Ona. I think
it’s all a bunch of rot myself.”

“
What Choir do?” asked Hurn.

“
We don’t really know. I’m not convinced it even exists; it’s
such a long shot. If it is real and not some old myth, it must be a
magical device, something that calls the dragons here every season.
Pa thought to summon the season early. If the dragons come here and
find the armada on their hoard the beasts will put them all to
ash.”

“
What about the people on the Coast?” Elrin shot back. “They
won’t expect dragons for another half moon. They won’t be
ready.”

“
The dragons never arrive all at once, there’ll be plenty of
time to prepare once the first shadow is spotted. Some may die, but
no more than any other season. If it actually works, the dragons
will feast on the dogs, not the innocent. We just need a few of the
winged devils to see the armada on their hoard and start
blazing.”

“
And what of the rebels and the freed slaves here in
Kobbton?”

“
See here! I can’t guarantee everybody lives. This is war,
lad. My men know each day might be their last, but they fight on
for a future without shackles. We freed those slaves. Ona help me
if they would have preferred to die in chains. They’re not babes
mewling for a teat, they’ll fight to keep the freedom we gave
them.”

“
Hurn Ga Kogh will fight.”

“
I will too, but if you do find the Choir, I have to know you
will let me use it to save my father.”

“
You have my word. Now douse the lamp, lad. We’ve got to keep
a look out for the signal.”

The
festivities continued in the centre of Kobbton. Music echoed across
the water while the distant glow of the lanterns warmed the night.
A gentle breeze meandered through the cove and moonlight cast
haphazard shadows, morphing and bending as the floating town swayed
to the rhythm of the gentle swell.

There was
something, perhaps a man standing alone, half obscured by a beam
and a hanging plant. Delik waited for a movement. The form was
still. Delik didn’t blink. The more he stared, the more he was
convinced that someone was staring back.

Two revellers
approached; shankakin women, full of wine and chatter. The form
moved out of the shadows; it was one of Kobb’s pirates. He struck
up a conversation, leaning an arm on a post, cutlass flashing in
the moonlight. It wasn’t long before flirting led them giggling
into the shadows. The amorous trio made a quick ruckus. Delik
strained his eyes with guilty pleasure, but couldn’t make out much
more than a leg and arm here and there. All was quiet and then
Delik caught sight of the women dragging the man’s body. She
propped him up against a wall like he had fallen asleep on his
watch.

One of the
women held aloft a blacked out lantern and flashed it open three
times, before walking off with her friend, chatting away without
remorse.

This was it.
Delik gathered Elrin and Hurn and they took off down the pier. The
perimeter of Kobbton was busy with men and women loading and
repairing ships by lantern light. Nervous expectation for the
coming battle perspired in the air. Fear and excitement, last
minute labours and passions; an anxious tension built as dawn
approached. The night called blades to whetstones and lovers to
tears, mortal hopes wrestling with the gods’ machinations.

They followed
the route his father had mapped out, making swift progress,
avoiding notice even with Hurn, lumbering along behind them as
quiet as a bullock pulling a tree stump. Navigating the walkways in
the dark was difficult. Without the old man’s map they’d be lost at
best, if not caught by the guards.

The ship marked on the map was
Bone
Dancer
’s refined sister,
Near Song
. She too was a
shapely carrack, though her hull was painted black as night, an
elegant evening gown draped across dangerous curves and cannons.
The figurehead was a woman with bat wings, her hands in prayer,
fangs pressing past her plump parted lips.

The companions
took cover behind a large pile of empty crates, big enough to hide
Hurn crouching down. Guards watched over the workers loading the
ship. They spoke with intoxicated volume, sharing crude stories and
several bottles between them. The ships crew and the dock labourers
worked on through the boisterous laughter.

“
Let’s try the guards at the other end,” whispered
Delik.

“
Why there?” Elrin screwed his face up. “This lot are
plastered.”

“
They’re shankakin.”

“
What difference does that make? Are you all best friends
now?”

That shiner
had to argue with everything! Delik held his temper and watched the
guards for some proof that his gut feeling was correct. The
shankakin guards were not out of place because they were shankakin.
Kobb had plenty of shankakin amongst his crew, but these two were
different.

“
Look, they’re over attentive; guarding a gangplank that no
one is using. And what do you make of that? Those lamps right
beside them are out. They’ve got to be Pa’s men, but we need to be
able to get there unseen.”

“
Swim?” suggested Elrin.

“
What? Drip all the way through the ship and leave a nice
trail to follow. No, we need a distraction. How good are you at
throwing things, Hurn?”