The Adamantine Palace (11 page)

'You're looking again,' grunted Kemir.

'I know, I know.' The queen had been gone for six days now. Which made it twelve days since the attack. Two weeks, the alchemist had said. Two weeks and a big hammer. Well, he had the big hammer now.

'Hoy! You two! Get that fire going and boil up some water!'

'Aye, milord.' What he also had was the company of a dozen dragon-knights, seven hunting dragons and the alchemist. Sollos poked the fire again and threw on another couple of logs. As the dragon-knight turned away, he muttered an obscenity at the man's back. The dragons probably didn't mind what happened to their dead brother, but the riders and the alchemist certainly would. And while half of them were away searching each day, the other half had nothing better to do than sit around, stuck with guarding the camp.

'Are you sure we couldn't murder them all in their sleep?' muttered Kemir. 'Maybe we could poison them.'

Before Sollos could think of a reply, a piercing rumbling cry echoed along the valley. The first of the dragons was coming back. Every day six went out searching for the queen's white while the seventh circled high overhead, keeping lookout. Since the attack they'd not seen any dragons other than their own, and Sollos was quite sure that they were wasting their time. By now the queen's white was far away.

Still, if it meant waiting here until the dead dragon up the slope cooled down and there was a chance of looting some dragon-scale ...

'He's a bit early.' Kemir was watching the arrival glide down towards the river. Sollos tore his eyes away from the forest and watched the dragon descend. Before it had even come to a stop, the rider on its back was standing up, unstrapping himself from his harness and sliding out of his saddle.

Kemir belched and threw a stone towards the river. 'You don't suppose they actually found something do you?' he said. 'They're not usually back for hours yet.'

Sollos shook his head. 'And there I was looking forward to another peaceful afternoon sucking on grass stalks and scratching my arse.'

'Yeah, and staring up at that dead mound of dragonscale and charcoal up there.'

'We're not going to get our hands on it. You know that, don't you?'

'A part of me knows that. We could buy land, you know. Our own little village with our own little subjects. Our own little manor house. With a brewery.'

'And a brothel.'

'Aye, and that.' Kemir sighed. 'Like I said, are you sure we couldn't poison them?'

'Even if we did buy ourselves a title, we'd still answer to the queen.'

'Oh bollocks to her! We could set up somewhere out here, in the mountain valleys.'

'And serve King Valmeyan instead?' Sollos snorted. 'I don't think so. Not him.'

Kemir's voice dropped to a growl. 'No. Not him. Not him at all. Do you think ...'

The rider from the dragon was running towards them. A couple of the sentries were close on his heels.

'Uh oh.' Sollos let his hands drop to his sides and unconsciously fingered the knives at his belt. Kemir stooped down and picked up his bow.

'You two!' The rider from the dragon stopped a little short of them. 'Sell-swords!'

'Sell-swords with names,' muttered Kemir. Sollos took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and bowed.

'Rider Semian. How may we serve?' Semian was the third or fourth son of Duke Semian. Sollos could never remember which, nor did he particularly care. There were some sisters too. They all lived in the vast tract of arid wasteland known as the Stone Desert and the duke served Queen Shezira as Guardian of the North. Sollos wasn't quite sure exactly what the duke was supposed to be keeping at bay up there, other than perhaps the use of first names. This particular Semian was about twenty, skinny and buck-toothed. If he'd been born with a different name, Sollos thought it most likely that he'd have grown up as the village idiot somewhere. As it was he was a Semian, so he'd grown up as an idiot who rode a dragon.

'We have found a town, of sorts. Hidden in the mountain valleys.'

Sollos exchanged a glance with Kemir. 'Then it most likely falls under the dominion of King Valmeyan, Rider Semian.' It's obvious why Queen Shezira didn't take you south with her. Rider Semian's helmet was slightly too big for his head, Sollos noticed. It kept slipping forward. Less obvious why she thought you fit to be part of the search for her precious white. Unless she already knows this is a waste of time.

Now there was a thought. What if the queen herself had been the architect of the attack?

'It is built on the edge of a lake. There is nowhere for a dragon to land. When I passed low over the place, they shot at me.'

'And what did you do, Rider Semian?' asked Kemir. 'Did you burn them, Rider Semian?'

The dragon-knight took a step back, clearly unsettled by the edge in Kemir's voice. 'Certainly not, sell-sword.'

'Rider, there are, here and there, settlements among the Worldspine that claim freedom from the dragon kings and queens.' Sollos spoke carefully. 'They are home to hunters, trappers and others who live off what the mountain forests provide. They are, to a large degree, harmless.'

'I would have to disagree with you, sell-sword. I am quite aware that such places exist, and that they are dens of vice and corruption. They do not survive off the forest at all. They survive by polluting the realms with Soul Dust, sucking the life out of their hapless victims.'

'Rider, it is true that Soul Dust comes from these mountains, but it is not made in places like the one you have seen. It is made in secret camps that you would not see, flying overhead.'

'Perchance you are right, sell-sword, but how does it permeate out into the realms at large? Through places such as the one I have seen today, that is how.'

Sollos decided he would have to revise his opinion of Rider Semian. Maybe he only looked like an idiot. He bowed his head. 'That may be true of a few, Rider, but not of most. And if something is to be done about them, it is King Valmeyan's place to do so.'

'The queen tasked us to find her white, and that is what we will do. These outlaws may have seen something. They may have heard something. News travels, does it not, among these places?'

Sollos nodded, slowly. 'I see where this is going, Rider. King Valmeyan burns such places now and then, and whether they're filled with honest men or villains seems not to bother him. They see a dragon and they run deep into the trees. They see a knight and they hide. But perhaps a sell-sword ...'

Rider Semian nodded. Sollos heard Kemir give an exasperated sigh.

'Sollos, you know they won't--'

Sollos held up a hand to silence him. 'Rider Semian, we are servants of the queen. We understand our duty.'

'Knight-Marshal Nastria was quite explicit. You know these mountains and these settlements.'

Again, Sollos nodded. 'Yes.' Now how did she know that?

'There will be a reward, if you find the white.'

This time Sollos grinned. 'Yes,' he said. 'I'm sure there will.' And it took every ounce of willpower that he had not to glance up the valley to where the dead dragon lay waiting for him.

15

Gifts

Zafir ran her fingers down Jehal's chest. 'So what's she like, this girl you have to marry?'

Jehal smiled. They lay naked together, side by side under the sun, in one of the solars. Over the years Jehal had made a few nests like this around the palace. Private places where he and others who knew of them could come and go unobserved through hidden passages. Small places, but with tall windows to let in the light and the air. Most of this solar was filled by a large sumptuous bed. Others served more delicate purposes.

'A girl, as you say.' He began idly stroking Zafir's thigh. The solar was thick with the smell of incense. 'Naive. Full of wonder at the world, and almost completely lacking in any experience of it, I would say.'

'Stupid, then.'

Not at all. 'Yes. I think she very probably is. Of course, she was barely allowed to open her mouth.'

'Queen Shezira would not want you to know you were marrying an idiot. You might change your mind.'

Jehal laughed. 'Were it possible to avoid this marriage, it wouldn't matter if she was the most clever princess in all the realms. She would still not be the most desirable.' He turned to face Zafir and cupped her cheeks. 'She did speak, though clumsy and out of turn. I dare say she earned herself quite a rebuke as soon as Queen Shezira was able to give her one in private.'

'Is she pretty?'

Yes. 'Not particularly. She was dressed up nicely enough, but she didn't wear it particularly well.' Which was true, he thought. Although unfortunately rather intriguing.

'Tell me she's ugly and deformed.'

'I'm afraid I could only say that about her sister.'

'Then I wish it was the sister that you were marrying. Why can't you marry her instead?'

'It was all arranged, my love, long ago, when my father was still well. My family has given a pledge, and I must honour it.'

'You could still marry her sister.'

'I will ask, if that pleases you, if I might have the choice. I doubt that Queen Shezira would agree.'

'You like her, don't you?'

Jehal's face didn't flicker for a second. 'I hardly know her, my love. She is a doll. All dressed up to look as pleasing as she can, but still a doll.' Still, I would have to admit to being interested.

'And you can't wait to unwrap her, can you?' For a moment Jehal was quite sure that Zafir was about to sit up and pout and become unbearably tedious. Instead she pulled him closer. 'I'm afraid I'm going to have to spoil your wedding night. If you have to fuck your doll then so be it, but you'll be thinking of me while you do it.'

Jehal growled contentedly. For a moment, though, he hesitated. 'I should go. Lord Meteroa will already be waiting for me with whatever news there is from the eyrie.'

'Which do you want more? Me or Queen Shezira's white dragon?'

'You, my love. Always you.'

'Then let him wait.'

'He's not stupid. He'll find out about us if we're not very careful.'

'But he's your man, is he not?'

Yes.' Said with only the slightest hesitation.

'Then let him wait.'

Jehal let him wait, and then wait some more. The secret passage out of this particular solar led him right through the palace and back to his own bedchamber. Still he ran, and by the time he reached his own room he was out of breath.

He burst through the doors into his private anteroom. 'Lord Meteroa! I was resting. I do apologise for keeping you waiting. You should have knocked.' He couldn't help glancing at the floor to see whether Lord Meteroa had worn a groove in it with his pacing back and forth.

Meteroa wrinkled his nose. He didn't bother to bow. 'Resting? You stink of a woman, Your Highness. Should I wonder who you've got in there?'

'See for yourself if you wish.'

Meteroa met his gaze. There was something unnerving about the eyrie-master's eyes. They were somewhere between blue and grey, watery and incredibly pale, and the man never seemed to blink. It was like locking stares with a snake. 'Ah. In one of the solars were you? Which have you got up there? A princess or a queen ?'

Jehal pursed his lips. 'Perhaps I had both at once.' He picked up a plum and tossed it through the air. 'Try something sweet to take that sharpness off your tongue.'

Meteroa caught it and tossed it back. 'Thank you, Your Highness, but I had my fill some time ago.'

'Tell me, uncle, since you're so insightful this morning, how is it that, when their lover's thoughts begin to stray, even a blind woman can see through the most finely crafted lies as though they were glass?'

The eyrie-master gave a harsh bark of bitter laughter. 'You are asking me?'

'I learned from a master.'

Meteroa's face became unreadable, the way it always did when he was remembering things from a long time ago. 'That's women,' he said. 'Shower them with pretty words and they'll be insensible to almost anything. Why's that? Because all their capacity to think is occupied with watching every movement of your eyes and listening to every nuance of your voice, searching for the infidelity that they secretly know must be there. Treat them like dogs and they'll fawn at your feet. Throw them a bone now and then and they'll show you far more gratitude.'

Jehal grinned. 'Your advice is as uncompromising as ever. Now tell me about the alchemists. Are they done yet? No!' Jehal clasped his hands together. 'But first tell me about my white dragon. Is she as beautiful as she should be? Is she perfect?'

'So far, Your Highness, she is invisible.'

'She's what?'

'There is no white dragon, Your Highness.'

'What?'

Meteroa raised an eyebrow and a faint smile played around his lips. 'Queen Shezira hasn't told you?'

'Told me what?'

'Apparently the wedding gift you were hoping for has not arrived. Queen Shezira has quite a few hunting dragons resting at Clifftop, but none of them is remotely white.' Meteroa cocked his head and raised his other eyebrow. For a moment Jehal felt an almost overwhelming urge to punch him. He carefully unclenched his fists.

'The best dragon in her eyrie. That is what I was promised.'

The eyrie-master bowed. 'I have made some enquiries. As always, it is the alchemists who have been most pliable. It would seem that some sort of incident occurred on the way. As best I can make out, Queen Shezira came here by way of the Adamantine Palace, but the white did not, and someone took advantage of the opportunity to seize it while it was poorly guarded. However, although there were survivors, including the original alchemist who set out with Her Holiness, none of them has come here. A first-hand account is sorely lacking. You are agape, Your Highness.'

Jehal closed his mouth. 'And so I should be, Lord Eyrie-Master, for what you're telling me is preposterous.'

Meteroa snorted. 'If I didn't know that none of your dragons has been away, Your Highness, my first thought would have been that this was our handiwork.'

'Yes, but since you know that it wasn't, that leaves a rather intriguing mystery, doesn't it? I hope you can solve it swiftly, Eyrie-Master. That white is mine.' He frowned. 'Besides, why would I steal my own present?'