Dragonclaw (34 page)

Iseult could not find words. She gaped at Bacaiche, who folded his arms and stared right back at her.

‘I had planned to take Bacaiche to a friend o' mine who can help us. However, I did no' expect the countryside to be crawling with Red Guards, nor for the stupid lad to blow his cover by returning to the Tower of Two Moons. If we can just get to Tulachna Celeste, then I think we shall be safe, at least for a while …'

Her words tailed off and Iseult guessed she was worrying about the missing Is'a'beau. Her guess was confirmed when Meghan said, half to herself, ‘I keep getting such dreadful feelings. Isabeau is in danger, I ken it!'

Iseult turned her attention back to the camp, and began to think. ‘If we canna hide Bacaiche, we should no' try,' she said. ‘When they caught ye coming up through the Pass, what did they intend to do?'

‘The Grand-Seeker had caught me herself,' Bacaiche said sourly. ‘She was going to take me back to Caeryla, turn me over to the Grand-Questioner for a while to wring out details o' the Underground, then send me, broken and bleeding, down to the Banrìgh at Dùn Gorm. Ye can be sure I did no' want to do that!' And he shuddered, the black wings rustling. Iseult found she had to avert her eyes from him if she was to think at all, so turned her eyes resolutely back to the camp.

‘So if any o' the troops up above had caught ye, they too would try and take ye to Caeryla?'

‘Bound hand and foot and slung from the belly o' a mule,' Bacaiche grinned.

‘Then that is what we will do,' Iseult said, and passed Meghan the great crimson cloak and the plumed helmet she had stolen from the camp.

‘What do ye mean?' Bacaiche snapped, rearing backwards.

‘I mean we will tie ye hand and foot and sling ye from the belly o' a mule.' Iseult answered. ‘Can ye get us a mule, auld mother? I think we will need horses too.'

‘Och, I can call us horses,' Meghan responded, smiling rather grimly at her new ward. ‘There are many herds o' wild horses in these mountains. But they will have no saddle or bridle, nor will they be shod, and I canna believe the commandant o' that camp will believe our story if we ride up on unbroken, unbridled horses.'

‘So what do we need? I could steal them from the camp.'

‘Surely they would notice?'

‘No' if we had a diversion o' some kind …'

‘The only diversion I've been able to think o' that would work is an attack by a dragon, and indeed I do no' think they would penetrate this far. I convinced them to attack the Red Guards at their very gate, but I think they would see an attack on soldiers at the Pass into Rionnagan as a declaration o' war, and I just canna see the mother-dragon sanctioning that.'

‘But if we can make them think the dragons are on the way …'

‘What are ye talking about?' Bacaiche demanded, and huddled back into his cloak.

‘Getting through the Pass, o' course,' Iseult responded, making no attempt to disguise her impatience. ‘Meghan, can ye call up the diversion? Including horses? I'll go down and steal us some … what did ye call them? Bridles? You'd better tell me what they look like and where I'm likely to find them.'

When, some time later, Iseult returned to their hiding spot in the trees, she dragged with her a wide variety of riding tack, including a gorgeously decorated saddle with a high pommel.

‘Do no' tell me no-one's going to miss that!' Bacaiche said.

‘We need to make Meghan look like one of their commanders. That is what they use, though it's as foolish as those gaudy clothes they wear—such easy targets they make. I itch to practise my archery on them.' She was looking the most alive they had ever seen her, her blue eyes sparkling, the scars sharp against her flushed cheeks. ‘I hope I got everything we need. I really could no' tell what was what!'

Meghan had spent the time sitting cross-legged in the shelter of a great tree, her eyes closed, sending out her thoughts to any animal she could find. She was dressed in the uniform Iseult had brought her and looked surprisingly like a seanalair of the Red Guards with her strong nose and piercing eyes, her long braid hidden beneath the helmet and cloak. Iseult dressed herself quickly in the red coat and white knee-length breeches, stowing her clothes—or rather Isabeau's clothes—away in her pack, and hoping no-one would notice the shapeliness of her calves.

The horses came first, galloping and whinnying, their manes tossing and their hooves drumming. While Iseult and Bacaiche anxiously kept an eye on the camp in case an overvigilant sentry noticed too soon, Meghan spoke to the great stallion of the herd, who reared high over her, his hooves dangerously close to her head. The conversation seemed to go on forever, and Iseult could tell the stallion did not want any human being to cross their leg over his back, or the back of any of his herd. Meghan spoke to him gently, and let her natural charm for animals sway him. At last he cut out three old mares from his herd, and let Meghan saddle and bridle them, before leading the rest of the herd in a mad dash down the valley towards the camp.

The stampede of horses had exactly the effect Iseult had hoped. The camp was thrown into confusion as soldiers ran to get out of the way; the seanalair stamped about, shouting orders that no-one listened to; some of the soldiers tried to catch the horses with rope, but were run down for their pains. Everyone was shouting and pointing back into the mountains. Quite a few watched the sky in fear, thinking—as Iseult had hoped—that it was a flight of dragons that had put the herd of wild horses into such a swelter.

The stream of animals that followed seemed to confirm their fear. Stags galloped out of the forest; flocks of birds flew overhead, squawking loudly; coneys bolted and donbeags scampered. Even a pride of elven cats showed their faces before slinking back to their holt.

‘Can ye speak the language o' dragons?' Meghan asked her cousin, who was watching the effect of the animals' flight on the soldiers with glee.

He shook his head. ‘No, my education was interrupted quite young, if ye remember,' he responded sarcastically.

‘Ye can, though, can ye no', Iseult?'

‘O' course.'

‘Good. I want ye to make a bugling sound, as loud as ye can. Dragon on the warpath—ye ken what I mean. I will try and enhance the sound, though that is no' something I've ever had much need to do. I've seen it done, though, in plays and musicals put on at the Tower, so I ken it can be done.'

Iseult nodded, took a deep breath, and waited for Meghan's signal. When it came she opened her mouth and gave the most blood-curdling cry imaginable. It sounded just like the clamour the dragons had made following the mysterious spell on the night of the comet. Meghan, concentrating hard, was able to magically enhance the sound so it echoed from the hills. Immediately there was chaos. The animals that had been pretending to run in terror immediately began to in earnest, and the screeches of the birds, the terrified whinnying of the horses and the hoarse bellowing of the stag could not have been bettered. Down in the camp the horses were rearing and bucking, trying to escape, while soldiers milled about in a state of panic.

They galloped down into the camp at full pelt, whipping up the horses and glancing nervously behind them. It was only the calming presence of Meghan that kept the three wild horses in thrall, though their rearing and bucking and the wild rolling of their eyes seemed added proof that dragons were in the area.

‘The dragons!' Iseult shouted in as deep a voice as she could, hoping she sounded convincing. ‘They've wiped out our entire legion!'

In a moment she was surrounded by a mob of soldiers, grasping the bridle of her mount and bombarding her with questions. Bacaiche, much to his angry disgust, had been bound to one of the horses by Iseult, who had taken some pleasure in ensuring the ropes were authentically tight. Iseult continued to babble about dragons and was gratified to see the many fearful glances cast back in the direction of Dragonclaw. No-one seemed to notice the mismatched tackle or that the horses were unshod.

‘We need to get through to Caeryla!' Meghan commanded. ‘The Grand-Seeker must be informed o' the latest developments, and we have a very important prisoner for her. Prepare yourselves to move north—ye are the last legion left in the Sithiche Mountains. Ye must mobilise to attack the dragons!'

For a moment it seemed their trick was going to work, for the soldiers stood back to let them through, while others went running to get the camp on the move. However, the seanalair had not been idle and he came striding up immediately, saluting Meghan with a fist to his heart and then to his forehead. ‘Seanalair MacGrannd at your service!'

‘Seanalair Collene at yours!' Meghan responded, and Iseult hoped she had said the right thing.

‘What is all this talk o' dragons?' he frowned. ‘Come to my tent and make a report.'

‘No time, Seanalair MacGrannd,' Meghan answered, impressing Iseult with the timbre and resonance of her voice. Obviously the wood witch could mimic the sounds of other humans as well as those of animals. ‘The dragons struck our camp just on dawn two days ago. The Grand-Seanalair sent us to get reinforcements, and to take the prisoner to Caeryla. I fear the dragons are on our trail.'

Iseult felt the soldiers stir all around her, and wished Meghan had not insisted that she hide most of her weapons in the pack strapped to the horse's saddle. She felt uneasy and vulnerable without them.

‘I doubt very much that the dragons would come this far south,' Seanalair MacGrannd said, and Iseult's heart sank. ‘I want to hear your full report afore ye go through the Pass. We were given strict instructions to allow no-one through.'

‘And we were given strict instructions to get this prisoner to Caeryla as soon as possible!' Meghan snapped.

‘I am seanalair o' the legion, and I command ye to dismount and give me your report!'

Meghan sat very straight on the back of the restive mare, her red cloak stirring in the breeze. Iseult got a brief glimpse of the end of her plait trailing below the hem of the cloak, and hoped no-one else had noticed. ‘Very well, if ye insist, Seanalair MacGrannd, but may I tell the Grand-Seeker Glynelda that our delay was at your instigation?'

Seanalair MacGrannd fell back a step, dismay clear on his face. ‘The Grand-Seeker demands your presence?'

‘Indeed! We have here an
uile-bheist
that she is very anxious to have put to the Question. Any delay will displease her greatly.'

The seanalair looked at Bacaiche, bound tightly to the saddle, his mouth gagged. ‘He does no' look like a
uile-bheist
to me?'

Meghan nodded wearily at Iseult. ‘Show him.'

Iseult dragged back the cloak to show the great wings, now strapped tightly at Bacaiche's side, and the taloned feet. Bacaiche took a swipe at the seanalair with one claw, and shrieked through his gag. The leader of the legion leapt back, surprise all over his face. ‘What is he? I never seen the like!'

‘Nor have any o' us!' Meghan responded. ‘Now, I must be on my way. The Grand-Seeker was very anxious indeed to examine him!'

‘I can imagine,' the seanalair said, and waved them through. As they galloped down the path that led between the great cliffs and so to Rionnagan, Iseult could hear him shouting as he ordered the camp to be struck and the soldiers to march north. None of them looked very happy about it.

‘If we're lucky we may cause a rebellion as well,' Meghan said, and she was laughing. ‘Well done, Iseult, that plan worked like a dream!'

Resting a few miles on, sheltered behind a great clump of greygorse, Meghan and Bacaiche argued long and hard about what to do with the uniforms. The horses had been let go on the other side of the Pass, as Meghan had promised the stallion of the herd. They would make their way back that night, under the cover of darkness. The saddles and bridles were thrown into the ravine, disappearing under the foaming waters of the Rhyllster. Bacaiche thought they should stay in disguise, arguing that the local peasants would be in much greater awe of them, and so more likely to replenish their supplies and not give them trouble. Meghan disagreed. She thought it would not take long before the Grand-Seeker heard of their trick, and so would know Meghan and Bacaiche were within reach of her. Both were considered such great enemies of the Banrìgh that she would be itching to bring them in. There was also the danger of running into another legion of Red Guards, and their seanalair may not be as easily tricked as MacGrannd. She thought they should try and keep quiet as possible, staying under cover and slowly heading towards Tulachna Celeste.

While they argued Iseult said nothing, just polished her weapons and strapped them lovingly to her belt again. Meghan turned to her. ‘What do ye think, Iseult?'

The girl shrugged. ‘Never use the same trick twice.'

Meghan stared at her wonderingly, then nodded. ‘True,' she said. ‘What do ye suggest?'

‘Dispose o' the uniforms. If we are caught with them, it will be proof o' wrong-doing. I can always find more if we need them. Travel at night. If we need supplies and canna find our own, only one o' us should go into a village at a time, for they will be looking for a group o' three now. Stay on high ground, and keep an escape route in mind. Without knowing the lay o' the land, I canna suggest any more.'

‘What are ye, some kind o' Berhtilde?' Bacaiche sneered. Iseult did not understand what he meant, but stared back at him expressionlessly till he looked away.

‘She certainly seems to ken warfare,' Meghan said, and her voice was both admiring and concerned.

‘I am a Scarred Warrior,' Iseult said proudly.

In comparison to the mountains, the highlands of Rionnagan were easy to traverse, with their wide, empty moors that stretched away under starry skies. Their supplies were down to nothing after the hard journeying through the mountains, and so Meghan decided to find a village where she could trade for oats, flour, curds, fresh vegetables and other essentials. Wanting to avoid the larger villages she followed the high crest of the hill away from the river, so they were heading as much east as south, towards the rising sun.