Читать книгу The Rain Wild Chronicles: The Complete 4-Book Collection - Робин Хобб - Страница 30

By the time they reached the main dock at Cassarick it was almost too dark to see. Even the mosquitoes had given up for the night. The lanterns hung on each corner of the barge illuminated little more than the preoccupied faces of the polers as they endlessly plodded past her. There was a hypnotic quality to watching their circling dance on the deck. She still found it amazing how easy it was for them to propel the barge upstream. When she had spoken of it to Captain Leftrin, he had grinned and said something about a very sophisticated hull design.

Alise had stayed out on the deck, well bundled against both the night chill and the insects that descended with darkness. The stars overhead had been distant and yet brilliant. Her first sight of the lights of the town had made her gasp in awe. Like Trehaug, the newer settlement of Cassarick was strung and strewn through the treetops above the river. The yellow lamplight shone from windows through a lacy network of branches. At first they looked like a scattering of stars caught in a net, but as the barge moved steadily closer, the lights grew larger and brighter.

‘Won’t be long now,’ Captain Leftrin told her on one of his frequent visits to her perch. ‘Ordinarily, we’d have stopped for the night an hour ago. But I know how anxious you are to get here and meet your dragons, so I’ve pushed my crew a bit today. I’d hoped we would dock while it was still light, but no such luck for us. So I suggest that you spend another night with us here, and make an early start of it tomorrow.’

Sedric had come out on deck and joined them. In the dark, neither of them had noticed his soundless approach, and they both jumped when he spoke. ‘I do not think we are that tired. I think a bit of extra effort to find an inn that offers hot baths, soft beds and a gentle wine with a warm meal would be worth it.’

‘You won’t find any of that here,’ Captain Leftrin warned him. ‘Cassarick’s a young settlement yet; most of the folk who work here live here, and visitors are few. There’s little call for an inn. Oh, if we’d arrived while the sun was in the sky, we might have found a family that would give you a room for the night. But after dark, well, chances are you’d just go from door to door and find nothing. You’d have to climb a lot of steps in the dark. Or use a basket hoist, if you could find one that was manned and you were willing to pay the fee.’

Alise nodded at his reasoning. ‘There’s no sense in packing up all our luggage and setting out in the dark in the hope of finding a hospitable family. One more night aboard the Tarman won’t hurt us, Sedric. In the morning, you can look for lodgings for us while I speak to the local council about the dragons.’ It seemed a solid arrangement to her. The boat was not palatial, but it was comfortable enough. The food was plain but nourishing. Captain Leftrin might be a bit rough around the edges, but his efforts at gallantry were flattering in their sincerity. She enjoyed his company even if Sedric obviously found him provincial. Several times that day Sedric had given her long-suffering glances at the captain’s extravagant compliments to her, and once he had smothered a laugh over the man’s efforts to be charming. She’d been surprised that it offended her when Sedric found the captain a cause for amusement. It seemed unkind and petty of him.

And flattering.

She tried not to dwell on that thought, but could not help herself. Leftrin’s attentions to her had taken her completely by surprise. They had made her uncomfortable at first, and even suspicious. But in the last day, she had become convinced his admiration of her was sincere. She could not deny the thrill of pleasure that went through her at the thought of this rough, masculine river-captain finding her attractive. He was so unlike any other man she had ever met. His company made her feel that she was truly adventurous, even reckless in undertaking this trip. At the same time, his evident strength and competence made her feel safe. She had indulged herself in his company, telling herself that it was only for a short time and that she had no intention of being unfaithful to Hest. She only wished to enjoy, for a time, that a man found her pretty.

Then Sedric had reacted to him in a way that she could only construe as protective. It had shocked her. And stirred to new life her ancient childhood infatuation with him. Even before he had blossomed into such a gloriously handsome man, he had fascinated her. He’d paid attention to her when no other boy would have looked at her, with her wild red hair and thick freckles and flat bosom. He’d been kind. Oh, how she had dreamed of him, her best friend’s big brother, being more than kind to her. She’d twined their initials on her lesson papers, and stolen one of his riding gloves. It had smelled like him, and she both blushed and laughed to recall how she had kept it under her pillow, and smelled it every evening before she went to sleep. She could not recall now what had become of it, or when she had given up her dream that someday he would turn to her and admit that he loved her, too. Was it possible that he had once cared for her? Was it remotely possible that in some corner of his heart, he still did?

Oh, it was a silly fancy, as silly as her timid flirtation with the captain. Silly and absolutely delicious. And what harm could it be for her to imagine, just for a day or so, that two such different men could find her attractive? Hest had, for years now, made her feel so dowdy and stupid and boring. In the light and warmth of the captain’s regard and Sedric’s protectiveness, she felt like a flower stirring back to life.

In her brief time on the Tarman, Alise felt her adventure had approached what she had imagined it would be. The big scow sat so low in the water that it seemed but a breath above the river; it made the trees tower all the higher above them. The birds and the strange river creatures, both dangerous and mild, were closer to her here. From the barge’s deck, she’d had glimpses of what Leftrin called marsh elk and riverpig. One large, toothy gallator had slid from his sunbathing on the mudbank to come and keep pace with the barge for a time until Skelly had given him a good rap with her pole that sent him slashing back to shore. She had seen several varieties of very large water birds; Leftrin had caught her sketching them into her journal and been completely amazed at her great artistic talent. He’d persuaded her to leaf back through her days on the river so that he could exclaim over some of her other efforts. She had blushed with pleasure when he’d recognized Captain Trell from one of her sketches, and when he’d told her the Rain Wilds names for some of the exotic plants she’d drawn, she’d pleased him immensely by lettering their names in under her sketches. ‘So pleased to have been of service to such a scholar, ma’am!’ he had told her, with such sincerity that she had blushed.

One insight he had given her had dismayed her. He’d sought her out as she sat in her chair on top of the deckhouse, bundled against the evening chill, with the netting of her hat pinned down against the insects. ‘Would you mind if I joined you briefly?’ His careful formality was at odds with his rough demeanour. ‘It comes to me that I’ve a bit of information that you might want to know.’

‘Of course you may join me! This is your ship, isn’t it?’ she replied, at once intrigued by his conspiratorial tone.

Without more ado, he had taken a seat on the deck next to her chair, folding up with an ease that surprised her. ‘Well, it’s like this,’ he began immediately. ‘The Council at Cassarick has made a plan about the dragons. The dragons have agreed to it, but for a number of reasons, the word hasn’t been spread about much. But seeing as how it’s important to you that the dragons be there for you to talk to, I’ve decided to take you in, confidential-like. The fact is, the Council is getting ready to move the dragons out of there. And the word I’ve received is that it’s to happen soon. Within the month for certain.’

‘Move them? But how? And to where? Why would they do this?’ She was shocked.

‘Well, as to how, the only way they can go is under their own power. By foot. And to where? That’s something I haven’t been fully told yet. Only that it’s upriver a way. The why is pretty easy; everyone in the Rain Wilds knows that the dragons have become more than nuisances at Cassarick. They’re a real danger to the workers in the buried city, and to the inhabitants. Hungry, bad-tempered, and some of them aren’t too bright. Not bright enough to know they shouldn’t bite off the hand that feeds them, if you take my meaning. I don’t know how they’ve persuaded the dragons to leave, but they have. If they can get a crew together to sort of herd them along, they’ll move them out of there as soon as they can.’

She’d felt faint. What if she arrived only to find that the dragons had already been sent away? What then? She’d found the voice to put her fear into words. To her surprise, the captain had grinned up at her recklessly. ‘Well, ma’am, that’s what I come to tell you. See, I’m part of that crew they’re trying to put together. And near as I can tell, if I say no, well then it’s not going to happen. That Council may not know it, but there’s no other barge on the river that can go as shallow as my old Tarman. No other barge will take on that contract. Now, up to now, I’ve just been talking to myself, figuring out how much money to hold out for. But if it comes down to it, I may put another condition on it, and that’s that you’ll have a chance to talk to the dragons before they depart. So. What do you think of that?’

She was dumbfounded. ‘I’m surprised that you’d trust me with such a confidential matter. And I’m even more astonished that you’d do such a thing for a relative stranger.’ She leaned on the arm of her chair and lifted the netting from her face to look down into his. ‘Why?’ she asked, genuinely puzzled.

He shrugged and his grin became bashful. He looked away from her. ‘Guess I just like you, ma’am. And I’d like to see you get what you come so far to get. What can it hurt to make them wait a day or three?’

‘I don’t think it could hurt them at all,’ she said. Gratitude and relief welled up in her. ‘Captain Leftrin, I’d be pleased if you’d call me Alise.’

He glanced back at her then, a boyish flush of pleasure on his weathered face. ‘Well, I’d be more than pleased to do that!’ Then he’d looked away from her and almost visibly shifted the topic. ‘Fine night, isn’t it?’ he’d observed.

She’d let the insect netting fall to shield her own blush. ‘The finest night I’ve experienced in a long time,’ she replied.

When he’d excused himself and left the deckhouse roof she’d found herself giddy as a girl. He liked her. Liked her so much that he’d put a major contract at risk. She tried to think when any other man had actually said to her, ‘I like you.’ She couldn’t recall any instances. Had Hest ever said that in his early ‘courtship’ of her? She couldn’t recall that he had. And even if he had, from him it would only have meant that she suited his purposes. When Leftrin said it, it meant that, for no other reason, he’d put himself at risk for her. Astonishing.

And when he returned, but a few moments later, with thick sweetened coffee in heavy earthenware mugs, she had thought it the most delicious brew she’d ever shared with anyone.

The rustic conditions of life on the barge had not lost their charm for her. It seemed exotic and a bit dangerous to sleep in the captain’s bed with its thick wool blankets and gaily pieced patchwork cover. The room smelled of his tobacco and was littered with the implements of his profession. She woke to sunlight on the cunning fish chimes that hung at his window. And it secretly thrilled her that, at any hour, he might tap on the door and ask permission to enter to retrieve his pipe or a notebook or a fresh shirt.

The barge moved slowly but steadily against the current. It stayed to the shallows at the edge of the river where the flow was less strong. Sometimes the crew manned sweeps and sometimes they used long poles to push it along. It seemed like magic to her as the wide heavy ship prevailed against the river’s steady push. On the first morning, the captain had placed a chair on the roof of the deckhouse for her so that she could take in all the sights and sounds of their journey. Sometimes Sedric joined her there, and she took keen pleasure in his company when he did, but Captain Leftrin had actually been more constantly at her side than he was.

Captain Leftrin was full of tales of the river and the ships that traded on it. Rain Wilds history had changed in his telling of it, and she fancied that she now better understood how the Rain Wild Traders thought of themselves. She had come to enjoy the picturesque members of the crew, right down to the affectionate Grigsby. She’d never had a cat as a pet, but was rapidly becoming fond of the beast. She’d wondered what Hest might say to such a request, then suddenly resolved not to make it. She’d simply get herself a cat. That was all. It was strange, she thought, how a little rough living made her feel so much more in control of her life. So capable of making her own decisions.

So Leftrin’s suggestion of one more night aboard the Tarman pleased her. Sedric had sighed and rolled his eyes. She’d laughed aloud at his doleful expression. ‘Let me have my adventure while I can, Sedric. Soon enough, too soon for me, it will all be over. We’ll both be back in Bingtown, and I don’t doubt that I’ll have a soft bed, hot meals and warm baths the rest of my life. And little else in the way of excitement.’

‘Surely a grand lady like yourself doesn’t lead as boring and sedate a life as all that,’ Captain Leftrin had exclaimed.

‘Oh, I fear that I do, sir. I’m a scholar, Captain Leftrin. Most of my days are spent at my desk, reading and translating old scrolls and trying to make sense of what they tell me. This chance to speak to real dragons was to be my one real adventure in life. After what Captain Trell and his wife told me about them, I’m afraid it will be far less rewarding than I thought it would be. But, what is so funny? Are you mocking me?’

For Captain Leftrin had broken into a hearty boom of laughter at her words. ‘Oh, not at you, my dear, I assure you. It’s the idea of Althea Vestrit dismissed as “Captain Trell’s wife” that is a rich jest for me. She’s every bit as much a captain as Trell is, not that the Paragon needs a captain at all these days. There’s a liveship that has decided to be in charge of himself!’

Sedric broke in on their conversation. ‘Surely there must be some sort of lodging available here? Even a humble one would be welcome.’

‘None that I’d say was fit for a lady, there isn’t. No, Sedric my friend, I’m afraid you’ll have to tolerate my hospitality for one more night. Now if you’ll excuse me for just a bit, I want to confer with my tillerman. There’s a tricky bit of river before Cassarick, where they tried to build those locks for the sea serpents the year they came up the river. Didn’t help the poor creatures much at all, and they’ve been a hazard to navigation every since.’ And so saying, he left his perch on the railing and descended to the deck. He quickly vanished from sight in the darkness.

Alise looked up at the lights of Cassarick growing closer. Sedric spoke quietly in a sour voice. ‘I can’t wait to be off this stinking tub.’

She was startled at the venom in his voice. ‘Do you truly hate it that much?’

‘There’s no privacy, the food is primitive, the company one level above socializing with street dogs, and my “bunk” reeks of whoever last slept in it. I can’t bathe, shaving is a challenge, and every piece of clothing I packed for this expedition now smells like their bilge. I didn’t expect to be comfortable accompanying you on this journey, but I didn’t think we’d descend quite this far into squalor.’

Alise was struck dumb by his vehemence. Sedric seemed to take her silence as condemnation, for he seethed on, ‘Well, you cannot pretend to enjoy it here, even if you’ve a smelly room all to yourself. That pirate shows you no respect at all. Every time I turn around he’s leering at you, or calling you “my dear” as if you were some tavern wench he was set on impressing. He spends more time perched up here beside you than he does running his ship.’

She found her tongue. ‘And you think this is inappropriate? Or that my behaviour is reprehensible in this?’

‘Oh, Alise, you know better than that.’ The sharpness dropped from his voice. ‘I know you wouldn’t do anything dishonourable, let alone with some smelly river man who thinks a “clean shirt” is one that he hasn’t worn in the last two days. No, I don’t fault you. You’re a very determined woman, and despite your disappointment about the dragons, you leaped to the practicality of trying to actually see them. I’m wretchedly uncomfortable on board this ship. At the same time, I’m relieved that you’ve recognized the realities we’re dealing with and that our visit to the Rain Wilds will not be as extended as you originally planned.’

‘Sedric, I’m so sorry! You hadn’t said a word. I didn’t realize you were so unhappy. Perhaps tomorrow, you can find appropriate lodgings for us, yes, and spend some time on a hot bath and a decent meal. You can even take a long rest if you wish it. I’m sure I’ll be fine talking to the local council. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t offer me a guide for my visit to the dragons. There is no reason that you have to go see the creatures at all. Originally, when I had thought I would have long detailed conversations, I’d hoped you’d be available to take notes of what was said and do some sketches for me. But now that I know my experience will be little more than a trip to a menagerie, I don’t see the sense in tormenting you.’ She resolutely kept her disappointment from her voice as she offered this. She longed to have him at her side when she met the dragons, and not just for the comfort of a familiar face.

She wanted there to be someone who would witness her there. She imagined them both back at Bingtown, at some stuffy dinner, when perhaps someone would ask her about her time among the dragons. She’d modestly say that it hadn’t been much of an adventure, but then Sedric might raise his voice to contradict her pleasantly, and make a witty tale out of her time among them. She visualized herself, in her black boots and canvas trousers that she’d bought just for her encounter, striding across the flats to confront the scaled behemoths. She smiled to herself.

Before she met the dragons, she’d have to visit the local Traders’ Council, to introduce herself and get their permission. And there again, she hoped to have his companionship. She had no idea whom she’d meet with when she visited the council. She’d wanted to enter on Sedric’s arm, to be seen as a woman worthy of such a handsome and charming escort. But he’d already made so many sacrifices to come with her. It was time for her to set her vanity aside and think of his comfort.

Sedric sat up straighter. ‘Alise, I didn’t mean that at all! I enjoy your company, and I think I shall enjoy your seeing the dragons as much as you will. I apologize for being so discouraging. Let’s get what sleep we can and make an early start of the day. You should come with me to find our lodgings; I’d never just abandon you in a strange town. And regardless of what Captain Leftrin says, we’ve no idea of how safe or dangerous a place this may be. We’ll find our lodgings and, as you say, have a meal and a wash and change our clothes, and then we’ll go to the council together. And then, on to the dragons!’

‘Then you don’t mind going with me?’ She was startled by the sudden change in his attitude. She could not keep the smile from her face.

‘Not at all,’ he insisted. ‘I’m looking forward to getting close to the dragons as much as you are.’

‘No, you aren’t,’ Alise laughed. She looked into his face boldly, knowing that in the night she did not need to fear letting her affection for him shine in her eyes. ‘But it’s a very kind lie, Sedric. I know you realize how much this means to me, and you’ve been awfully good about enduring your exile from Bingtown. When we return, I promise I’ll find some way to make it up to you.’

Sedric abruptly looked uncomfortable. ‘Alise, nothing of the kind is necessary, I assure you. Let me walk you to your cabin and then say good night.’

She wanted to tell him that she could walk herself to her cabin. But doing that would mean admitting to herself that she did enjoy her quiet chats with the captain, and that she rather hoped that he would join her again that night. But Sedric had already made it clear that he had reservations about such conversations, and she would not put him in the uncomfortable position of having to stay awake to chaperone her. She rose and let him take her arm.

Sintara awoke to darkness. The blackness jolted her, for she had been dreaming of flying in sunlit blue skies over a glittering city by a wide river of blue and silver. ‘Kelsingra,’ she muttered to herself. She closed her eyes to the dark and tried to will herself back into her dream. She recalled the tall map tower at the centre of the city, the broad city square, the leaping fountains, and the wide, shallow steps that led into the main buildings. There had been frescoes on the walls, images of both Elderling and dragon queens. Some ancestor of hers recalled sleeping sprawled on those wide steps, baking in the heat from the sun and the stone. How pleasant it had been to doze there, barely aware of the folk who hurried past her on their business. Their voices had been as musical as the distant chuckling of the river.

Sintara opened her eyes again. There was no recapturing the dream and the memory was a thin and tattered substitute. She could hear the river muttering past the muddy banks, but she also heard the stentorian breathing of a dozen other dragons sleeping close by. There was no comparison between the dream and her reality.

Mercor had set his plan into motion with meticulous precision. He had never voiced his rumour directly to a human. Always, he had arranged for the dragons to be speaking casually of the wonders of Kelsingra when humans chanced to be nearby. Once, it had been as workers were carrying a beautiful mirror frame out of the buried city. She recognized the material it was made from, a peculiar metal that when stroked, emitted light. Mercor had glanced at it and turned aside to remark to Sestican, ‘Do you recall the mirrored chamber of the Queen’s Palace in Kelsingra? Over seven thousand gems were set in the ceiling mirrors alone. How they flared with light and perfume when she entered!’

Another time, it had been when the hunters had brought them the gamy remains of a stag to eat. As Mercor accepted his pitifully small share, he observed, ‘There was a statue of an elk in the King’s Hall at Kelsingra, was there not? Of ivory overlaid with gold, and his eyes were two immense black jewels. Remember how they shone when they activated him, and how he would paw the earth and toss his head when anyone entered the king’s chambers?’

Lies, all lies. If any such treasures had ever existed anywhere, Sintara did not recall them. But each time the humans paused and watched him as he spoke, even if he did not glance in their direction. And before the moon had changed, humans came to them in the darkness, without torches, to whisper questions about Kelsingra. How far away had it been? Was it built on high ground or low? How large a city? Of what were the buildings constructed? And Mercor had lied to them as it suited him, telling them that it was not all that far, that it had been built on high ground and that all the buildings were built of marble and jade. But more than that, he would not tell them, not landmarks that had been nor how many days travel it had once been from Cassarick. Nor would he consent to help a human make a map of where it once had been.

‘Impossible to tell,’ he explained affably. ‘In those days, the river was fed by a hundred tributaries. There was a great lake before one came to Kelsingra. That I recall. But more than that, well, I could not say. I could go there and find it again, I am sure, if I had a mind to do so and a way to feed myself. But, no, it is not a thing I can put into words.’

The next evening, there had been other men, asking the same questions, and two nights later, still more. All received the same teasing answers. Finally there had come by daylight half a dozen members of the Cassarick Traders’ Council to offer a proposal to the dragons. And with them, incensed and fearful, came Malta the Elderling, dressed all in cloth of gold with a turban of white and scarlet on her head.

Only at Malta’s request had all the dragons gathered to hear what the Council proposed. The Council had seemed to think that if they spoke to the largest dragon and gained his assent, they would have a binding agreement. Malta had laughed aloud at that and insisted that all be summoned. Then the head of the Council, a thin man with so little meat to his bones that he wouldn’t have been worth the trouble of eating, spoke for a long time. Many unctuous words and promises he uttered, saying that the Council was troubled by the poor conditions the dragons were enduring, and that they hoped to help them return to their former homeland.

Mercor had assured them that they knew the humans were doing their best, and that dragons had no ‘homeland’ but were in their rightful forms lords of the three realms of earth, sea and sky. He had blandly pretended not to understand the broad hints the Council leader dropped until finally Malta cut through his foolishness to say bluntly, ‘They think you can lead them to Kelsingra and that they will find vast treasure there. They seek to persuade you to leave here and go in search of that fabled city. But I, who love all of you, fear that they are merely sending you off to your deaths. You must tell them no.’

But Mercor had not heeded her advice. Instead he had said sadly, ‘Such a journey would be an impossible undertaking. We would starve long before we led you to Kelsingra. Every one of us is willing to undertake such a journey. But there are among us some that are small and weak. We would need hunters to feed them, and attendants to groom us and tend us as the Elderlings used to do. No. I fear it would be impossible. I need not say “no” because “yes” would be meaningless.’

Then despite Malta’s interruptions and pleadings and even her angry shouts, they struck a bargain. The Council would find for them hunters, and attendants who would accompany them and hunt for them and tend them in every way. And in return, all the dragons had to do was lead them to Kelsingra or where it once had been.

‘To this, we can agree,’ Mercor had told them gravely.

‘They are tricking you!’ Malta had objected. ‘They wish only to be rid of you, so that they can dig up Cassarick more easily and be done with feeding you. Dragons, listen to me, please.’

But the deal had been struck. Kalo had pressed his muddy, inky foot to a piece of parchment held up to him, as if such a ridiculous ceremony could bind one dragon, let alone all of them. Malta had gritted her teeth and knotted her fists as the Council proclaimed this was indeed, the best plan. And Sintara had felt a shred of pity for the young Elderling who stood in such firm opposition to what the dragons themselves had manipulated the humans into offering them. She had hoped Mercor would find a way to have a quiet word with her. But either he did not care to do so or he thought it might endanger his plan. When the Council members left, she went with them, still pink-cheeked with fury.

‘This is not final!’ she had warned them. ‘You need the signatures of every Council member to make this legal! Don’t think I’ll stand idly by while you do this!’

The glimpse of Malta had made her sad, and no doubt was responsible for her dreams. She was a young Elderling, a human newly changed into that form. She had years of growing and changing ahead of her, if she were to become all that the Elderlings of old had been.

But she would not. Some of the humans looked at her with wonder, but as many regarded her with disdain. She wondered what would become of Malta and Selden and Reyn now that Tintaglia had abandoned the new Elderlings, just as she had abandoned the other dragons. She did not fault Tintaglia for being gone. It was the dragon way to see first to one’s own needs. She had found a mate and better hunting grounds and eventually she would lay eggs and they would hatch into serpents. The dragon cycle, the true dragon cycle, would begin again as those serpents entered the sea.

But in the years until then, Sintara and the other dragons were all that existed in the Rain Wilds. All of them were creatures from another time, re-born into a world that no longer remembered them. And unfortunately they had returned in dwindled forms that were unfit for this world.

Lords of the Three Realms, they had once called themselves. Sea, land and sky had all belonged to dragons and their kin. No one had been capable of denying anything to them. They had been masters of all.

And now they were masters of nothing, doomed to mud and carrion, and, she did not doubt, a slow death by slog up the river. She closed her eyes again. When the time came, she would go. Not because she was bound by Kalo’s word, but because there was no future in staying here. If she must die as a crippled, broken thing, she would at least take a small measure of life first.

It was not quite dawn when Alise awoke. She doubted that she had been asleep more than a few hours. She opened her eyes at the slight creak of her cabin door opening and held her breath, and only then realized that a soft tap at her door had been what wakened her. ‘Are you awake?’ Captain Leftrin asked quietly.

‘I am now,’ she said and drew the bedcovers up to her chin. Her heart was hammering in her breast. What did the man want, coming to her cabin in the darkness before dawn?

He answered her unspoken question. ‘Sorry to intrude, but I need to get a clean shirt. The local council wants to talk to me, right away. Apparently they’ve been watching and waiting for me to dock. A runner came to the ship late last night with a message. Says they need to finalize the contracts for moving the dragons as soon as possible.’ He shook his head, more to himself than to her. ‘Something’s up. The whole thing smacks of someone trying to beat someone else to a prize. This isn’t like the Council at all. They always like to pretend there’s all the time in the world and keep me tied up bargaining until I have to take their terms or run out of ready cash.’

‘Move the dragons as soon as possible?’ At those words, her mind had frozen. She sat up in his bunk but kept the blankets clutched to her. ‘Where are they moving them so quickly? Why?’

‘I don’t know, ma’am. I expect that when I meet with them, I’ll find out. The word they sent was that they wanted to see me as early as possible. So I have to be on my way.’

‘I’m going with you.’ The moment the words were out of her mouth, she realized how forward they sounded. Nothing he had said had even hinted he might welcome her company. And she hadn’t asked if she might accompany him, she’d announced it. Was her new-found ability to make decisions for herself suddenly going to get her into trouble?

But he only said, ‘I thought you might want to. Let me get some things and clear out of the cabin so you can have your privacy. I’ll fry a couple of extra pieces of bread, and set out a coffee mug for you.’ He moved about the cabin as he spoke, taking a shirt from a hook and scooping up the box that held his shaving razor and soap. She could not help but notice that what Sedric had said was true. The shirt was one he’d worn several days ago, and she’d never seen it washed or dried. She found she didn’t care.

As soon as the door closed quietly behind him, she sprang from the bed. Suspecting that her day might involve climbing a lot of steps if not ladders, she dressed in a split skirt and boots as if she were going riding. The blouse she put on was a sensible one of thick cotton. She added a nut-brown jacket of sturdy duck and belted it securely around her waist. There. She might cut a rather mannish figure, but she’d be ready for anything the day handed her. The captain’s small mirror showed her that her days on the river had multiplied and darkened her freckles. And her hair was baked to orange and near as dry as straw despite the sun hats she had been wearing. For a moment, the sheer homeliness of her image daunted her. Then she squared her shoulders and straightened her small mouth. She hadn’t come here to be admired, but to study the dragons. Her fortune was not and never had been in her face. It was her mind that counted. She narrowed her eyes at the mirror, thrust her chin forward, snatched up a plain hat of woven straw and jammed it on her head.

She found Captain Leftrin alone at the galley table. Two steaming mugs of coffee waited there. His back was to her as she entered and he was frying thick slices of yellow bread on the galley stove. A sticky pot of treacle and two heavy earthenware plates awaited the bread. As Leftrin turned to slide a slice of bread onto each plate, he smiled at her. ‘Well, that was quick! It always took my sister half a day to get dressed to do anything. But here you are, all ready to go and pretty as a picture to boot!’

She was shocked to feel a blush rose her cheeks. ‘You are too kind,’ she managed to say, and disliked how formal a response that seemed. She wished that Sedric had not put it in her head that it was inappropriate for her to encourage the captain’s rustic flirting. It is just his manner, she told herself firmly. It’s nothing to do with me, and she took her place at the table.

It seemed they were the only two people astir on the boat. She took a sip of the coffee. It was thick and black and had probably been kept on the ship’s stove all night. There was no cream to tame it with so she followed the sailors’ previous example and generously ladled treacle into it. It tasted like sweet tar then instead of just tar. She trickled threads of syrup over her fried bread and ate it while it was hot. They breakfasted with more efficiency than manners. Leftrin cleared the table, clattering the plates and mugs into a dish pan. ‘Shall we go, then?’ he invited her, and she responded with a nod.

They left the galley together, and he offered her his hand to disembark from the ship. As they had put out no gangplank, this required a small jump from the scow to the dock. Once she had landed safely, it seemed only natural to accept the arm that he offered her. As they strolled down the docks in the early morning light, he gestured to the boats they passed, telling her their names and a bit about each one. Tarman was the largest vessel by far. ‘And the oldest,’ he told her proudly. ‘When they built him, they didn’t spare the wizardwood. The river has eaten thousands of boats since he was launched, but Tarman takes the river, rocks and acid flows and snags, and just keeps on splitting the water.’

When they left the floating docks, it was to step from them onto a wide path of beaten earth. The ground gave strangely under her feet. ‘It’s a leather road,’ he told her. ‘It’s an old technique. Layers of tanned hides over logs, and cedar branches and bark in the thick layer over that, then more hides and finally ash and then a layer of earth over all. The rot process is slowed and the wood-and-leather layers have some buoyancy. It doesn’t last forever, but if they didn’t do something, this road would be trodden to mud in a few weeks, and soon after that water would seep up and fill it in. May not look like much but it cost Cassarick a pretty penny to make it. And here we are at the lift station. Or would you prefer the stairs?’

There at the base of an immense tree was a spiral staircase that wound up and around the tree’s trunk. She craned her head back and saw the lowest level of Cassarick above her. Beside the staircase as an alternative was a flimsy looking platform with a woven railing around it. A long woven cord with a handle dangled next to it. ‘You pull the bell pull and if the operator is at work, he sends down the counterweight to lift you up. It costs a penny or two, but it’s faster and easier than the staircase.’

‘I think I prefer the stairs,’ Alise decided. But she wasn’t even halfway up before she regretted her decision. The climb was steeper than it had looked. The captain gamely accompanied her, grunting softly with each step. When she reached the first landing and looked around her, she suddenly forgot her aching legs.

A wide platform circled the tree’s huge trunk. The vendor stalls that backed up to the trunk were just opening their canvas curtains. From the central platform around the trunk, a spider web of suspended boardwalks spread out in various directions toward other trees and the platforms that circled their trunks. Although the boardwalks had railings woven of vines, they sagged in the middle, and there were visible gaps in the planking. ‘This way to their Traders’ Hall,’ Leftrin told her and putting her hand on his arm, he guided her out onto one of the walks.

Four steps out, she felt giddy. The planks thunked musically under their feet. Leftrin didn’t bother with the flimsy rails and seemed unaware of the gentle swaying of the bridge. She glanced down, gasped at a glimpse of the earth far below her, then looked to the side and felt suddenly ill. The bridge sagged under their weight and she was stepping down the planking and certain that she was going to fall at any moment. Leftrin put his hand over hers on his arm. ‘Look ahead to the next platform,’ he told her in a low reassuring voice. ‘Get the rhythm of it, and it’s just like climbing stairs. Don’t look down and don’t worry about what isn’t there. Rain Wilders have been building these for over a hundred years now. They’re our streets. You can trust them.’

He spoke in a matter-of-fact way that wasn’t condescending. He didn’t think less of her for being afraid; he accepted it that she would naturally be apprehensive. Somehow that made it easier to take his advice. She firmed her grip on his arm and matched her stride to his, so that soon they were clomping along in rhythm. Suddenly, it was almost like a dance they were partnered in. They reached the lowest point of the bridge and then they were climbing up the gentle rise, the planks becoming a sloping ladder until they abruptly reached the next platform. She halted there to breathe, and Captain Leftrin paused with her.

‘Only three more to go,’ he told her, and although she felt a bit frightened, she didn’t feel daunted by the prospect. Challenged, she thought. Challenged, but not afraid to take up that challenge.

‘Well, let’s go then,’ she said.

She nearly lost her courage on the second bridge when they encountered a group of workmen heading in the opposite direction. She and Leftrin had to move closer to the edge to allow them passage, and the rhythm of their strides made the whole structure waggle like a friendly dog being petted. But by the third crossing, she had recovered her sensation of dancing with Leftrin. They reached their final platform with her slightly out of breath but feeling triumphant.

Cassarick had ambition. That was evident from the size of the Traders’ Hall they had built all around the trunk of the largest tree she had visited yet. The platform that supported and surrounded it served as an esplanade. It circled both Hall and tree, and four staircases wound up from it to platforms in adjacent trees. Early as it was and dim as the light was this far below the treetops, sputtering torches still lit the walkways. Their journey had led them away from the riverbank, and less light from that open area penetrated the settlement. Alise felt that she had journeyed into a twilight city of fantastic people.

She had grown up in Bingtown among the descendants of the original Trader families who had settled there. She had always known of their Rain Wilds kin and respected the bonds between Rain Wilds and Bingtown. Only here in the Rain Wilds were the magical treasures of the ancient Elderlings to be unearthed. But living in the Rain Wilds and working in the buried Elderling cities exacted a toll on the folk who settled there. Almost all Rain Wilders had some disfigurement at birth, and it increased with each year of their lives. Sometimes it was a bit of scaling on the scalp or lips, or a fringe of wattled growths along the jawline. With age might come a change in eye colour and a thickening of nails; those were typical of the sorts of things one might see on a Rain Wilder who visited Bingtown. Even Captain Leftrin had his share of marks. The skin on the backs of his hands and on the knobs of his wrist was bluish and lightly scaled. Behind his bushy eyebrows and on the back of his neck, she thought she had glimpsed more scaling. It had been easy to ignore.

Here in Cassarick as in Trehaug, the majority of the Rain Wilders went unveiled. This was their city and if folk who visited here did not respect them, such folk were swiftly encouraged to leave. She had tried not to stare at the workmen who had passed them earlier. The backs of their hands and their elbows had been heavily scaled, and the scales had not been flesh coloured, but blue or green or shocking scarlet. One man had been completely hairless, scales like fine mail over his bared scalp, and outlining his brow and replacing his lips. Another had sported a heavy fringe of fleshy growths along his jaw and some that overshadowed his eyes, thick and floppy like the comb of a rooster. She had averted her eyes from them, grateful that keeping her balance on the galloping bridge demanded all her attention.

But now she was on a solid platform and it was difficult to know where to put her gaze. This early in the day, there were not many folk about but all were unmistakably marked as Rain Wilders. Many cast curious glances her way, and she desperately told herself that it was her attire, so different from what they wore, that drew their eyes. The men had been wearing almost a uniform of heavy blue cotton shirts, thick brown canvas trousers and loose canvas jackets. The boots they wore were heavy things, still clotted with dried mud from their previous day’s work. They’d carried their lunches in canvas sacks. Thick gloves and woollen hats protruded from their trouser pockets. ‘Diggers,’ Leftrin had told her as they passed. ‘Headed off for a long day’s work underground. Cold down there, and damp, winter or summer.’

Now, as they passed a woman clad in soft leather trousers and a leather vest tufted with fur, Leftrin said, ‘She’s a climber. See how she goes barefoot for a better grip. She’ll be headed up into the canopy today, to gather fruit or hunt birds.’

Just as she nearly decided that the women of Cassarick led hard, lean lives, two chattering girls passed them going the other direction. They wore morning dresses and were perhaps going off to call on a friend or to visit the early markets. Their flounced skirts were shorter than those currently worn in Bingtown, and showed off their soft brown shoes. They wore lacy little shawls and their hats were designed to look like large, softly folded leaves. She turned her head to look after them, and for a moment a familiar envy flooded up to drown her spirits. They looked so cheery and busy, chattering away together. When they came to a bridge, they linked arms and clattered across it together, whooping like hoydens when they reached the other side.

‘What makes you sigh?’ Leftrin asked her, and she realized that she was staring after them.

She shook her head, smiling tightly at her own foolishness. ‘I was just thinking that somehow I skipped being that age, and I’ll always regret it. I often feel that I went from being a girl to being a settled woman, with none of that giddiness in between.’

‘You talk like you’re an old woman, with your whole life lived.’

A sudden lump rose in her throat. I am, she thought. In a few days, I’ll go home and settle down to what I’ll be the rest of my life. No adventures ahead, no changes to anticipate. Nothing to anticipate except leading a proper life. She swallowed and by the time she could speak, she had more appropriate words. ‘Well, I’m a married woman with a settled life. I suppose what I miss is a sense of uncertainty. Of possibility waiting just around the corner.’

‘And you’re saying you never had that?’

She paused because the truth was somehow humiliating. ‘No. I don’t think I did. I think my life was more or less mapped out from the beginning. Getting married was a surprise for me. I didn’t think I’d ever marry. But once I was a married woman, my life settled into a routine that wasn’t much different from when I was single.’

He was silent for longer than was his wont, and when she glanced over at him, his mouth was strangely puckered as if he strove to keep words in. ‘Just say it,’ she suggested and then wondered if she was brave enough to hear whatever judgment he held back.

He grinned at her. ‘Well, it’s not polite to say, but if I were a man and married to a woman such as you, and she said to another fellow that her life as my wife wasn’t much different from her life when she’d been single, well, I’d wonder what I was doing wrong.’ He raised his eyebrows at her and whispered in a ribald tone, ‘Or not doing at all!’

‘Captain Leftrin!’ she exclaimed, genuinely shocked. Then, when he burst out laughing, she was horrified at joining in.

When they both paused for breath he held up a warning hand. ‘No. Don’t tell me! Some things a wife should never say about her husband! And here we are, anyway, so our time for chat is over.’

They had reached the doors of the Traders’ Hall. Each tall door was a single slab of black wood, twice as tall as a man. Leftrin pushed on one and it swung silently open.

The hall had no windows. There was an antechamber, lit with a single branch of candles that smelled like orange blossom. Leftrin didn’t pause as he crossed the carpeted floor and went through yet another set of tall doors. Alise followed him, and found herself in a circular chamber. Tiers of descending benches circled a wide dais. On the dais was a long table of pale wood, with a dozen heavy chairs behind it. Only half of them were currently occupied. Suspended globes that looked like balls of yellow glass cast a golden light throughout the room. The scattered lights bent the shadows in the room in odd ways. The walls of the room were hung with tapestries. They were either of Elderling origin or very clever imitations. Her eyes snagged on them and she longed to beg for time to study every aspect of them.

But their abrupt entry had caused a stir among the six Rain Wilders seated at the table. Despite the early hour, they were formally dressed in their Trader robes. Each robe was of a different colour and design to indicate which of the original settlement families the Trader represented. Alise did not recognize any of them. The Trader families of Bingtown were different from those of the Rain Wilds, even though there had been substantial intermarriage for years. Close to the centre of the seating a woman with a lined face and a stiff grey brush of hair glared at them. ‘This is a private committee meeting,’ she announced. ‘If you are here on Trader business, you will have to make an appointment and come back later.’

‘I believe we were invited to this meeting,’ Leftrin responded. His use of ‘we’ was not lost on Alise and her heart leapt. He would do whatever he could to keep her here and privy to what was happening with the dragons. ‘I’m Captain Leftrin of the scow Tarman. When I docked late last night, I was invited to call here “as early as possible” this morning. To discuss moving some dragons upriver, I believe. But if I’m wrong—’

He let the word hang and the woman’s hands fluttered up in a gesture dismissing her previous protest. But before she could speak, the door behind Alise and Leftrin shut with an audible and angry thump. Alise turned, startled, and gasped in surprise. An Elderling woman, gowned all in silver and blue, stood there. Her eyes gleamed metallic in the golden light and her face looked like anger cast in stone. ‘This is not a legitimate meeting, Captain Leftrin. As you can see, there are not enough members of the committee seated to authorize any action.’

‘On the contrary, Malta Khuprus.’ The woman who had spoken earlier held up a sheaf of paper. ‘I have letters of authorization to act on the behalf of two members who are too occupied with business to attend today’s meeting. I can cast their votes as I see fit. And if all of us here vote the same way, then we are a majority, with or without the others voting.’

‘But you do not, I’ll wager, have such a letter from my brother Selden Vestrit. And, Trader Polsk, as he represents the interests of the dragon Tintaglia, I do not see how you can make any sort of a binding vote without his presence.’

‘He is only one vote. Whether he agreed with us or not, his vote would not change the outcome.’

‘He represents Tintaglia’s concerns. He speaks for the dragons. How can you finalize decisions about their fate without consulting him? The simple fact is that you cannot!’

The Elderling woman strode past them as she talked. Alise tried not to stare but could not help it. Everyone knew the story of Malta Vestrit. She had been involved with a failed kidnapping plot against the Satrap of Jamaillia. With him, she had been captured by pirates and ultimately she had been one of the forces to help forge a peace between Jamaillia and the Pirate Kingdom. But that was not what everyone remembered about her. She had been in close contact with the dragon Tintaglia just before she hatched from her case. Some said that was what had precipitated her change from ordinary Bingtown Trader girl to a woman who was obviously changing into an Elderling. Others said it had been a gift from the dragon. Both her fiancé and her brother had been affected as well, and they, too, had been present at the hatching of the dragon. All of them showed similar changes.

‘We attempted to include Selden Vestrit in this meeting, but he is not here nor in Trehaug. And we have been told that we cannot expect his return for at least four months. By then, we will be venturing toward foul weather, and another long wet winter with dragons churning the grounds around Cassarick into a quagmire. We have to act now. We cannot delay any longer simply to hear the opinion of a single member of the committee.’

‘You are acting now purely because he is away from the Rain Wilds and unable to intervene on Tintaglia’s behalf.’

The grey-haired woman at the table looked beleaguered. Several of her fellows looked uncomfortable, but one at least expressed his annoyance by marching his fingers on the table’s edge. A young man with a flash of orange scales on his high cheekbones was obviously angry. He gritted his teeth as if to cage furious words. The head of the committee spoke. ‘You were with us when we went to speak to the dragons. You heard that they understood what we were proposing. You know that the largest dragon, the black one, agreed to our proposal to move them all to a better place. We even acceded to his demands for extra hunters to accompany the herd. Those hunters will be arriving any time now, and they will expect to leave immediately. Our meeting this morning is, in fact, to assure that we can meet the dragons’ expectations. Captain Leftrin, we summoned you here in the hopes of securing you and your barge to escort the dragons and their hunters up the river.’

Alise had to admire how deftly the woman had shifted her conversation from Malta to Leftrin. She was still trying to understand how it all fitted together. The dragons were to be moved from Cassarick? Hunters would accompany them? And possibly Captain Leftrin’s barge?

‘This is very short notice,’ Captain Leftrin replied. He took a deep breath and when he spoke his words were slow and carefully considered. ‘Almost impossibly short notice. I need to know exactly what I’m agreeing to before I can give you any sort of an answer.’

Alise heard the speculation behind his reserved words. Malta’s tirade had revealed to him that he had the Council of Cassarick over a barrel. They had admitted that they had to act swiftly. If what Leftrin had told her about his ship was true, then his barge was the only vessel of any size that could accompany the dragons upriver. They’d have to pay him whatever he asked, or lose their window of opportunity. It was clear to Alise that they wished to have the dragons under way before either winter or Selden Vestrit returned.

The councilwoman looked trapped as her eyes darted from Leftrin to Malta. ‘We do have an offer to make you, Captain Leftrin. We wish to negotiate a charter with you. We’d like to hire your vessel as an escort ship for the dragons and their keepers. The Tarman would carry extra provisions for both the keepers and the dragons, and be transport and housing for our hunters. It would be the mother ship that the keepers’ smaller boats could tie up to at night, if needed. One of the hunters we have chosen to accompany you is an experienced explorer. In addition to providing meat for the dragons, he will construct a chart of the river and keep a journal of any noteworthy events. He will also represent the Council and is authorized to decide when the dragons have been appropriately settled. When he reaches that decision, he will let you know, and at that point you will turn back toward Cassarick.’

Malta interrupted with a sharp question. ‘If the keepers’ boats need to tie up at night to a floating vessel, then where are the dragons at that time, I’d like to know, Trader Polsk?’

The woman shook her head. ‘The need for a mother ship is a hypothetical need, Malta. We are simply making arrangements for every contingency.’

‘And the Council representative? Why is one necessary? Will not the dragons know when they are “appropriately settled” and release their keepers from service?’

A strange light had come into the Elderling woman’s eyes. They glowed, Alise realized. The set of her mouth proclaimed her anger, but there were other signs of it as well. The shimmering gold orbs that lit the room slowly began to shift their positions. Whatever had anchored them before gave way as the balls of light began to slowly but purposefully drift toward Malta. One Council member gave a brief huff of uneasiness but the others kept stony faces of indifference.

The chairwoman tried to speak calmly. ‘The dragons may not realize when we have reached a point where we have done all we can for them. This is sad, but true. So we have arranged for someone to accompany the dragons and provide an impartial evaluation.’

Malta spoke. ‘Impartial? A Council representative who is “impartial”? Perhaps a representative for the dragons should be assigned also, to see that the dragons are fairly treated and that our contract is observed. Have you considered arranging to keep your word to the dragon Tintaglia? As per the signed contract we made?’ The floating orbs ringed her now, leaving most of the rest of the room in dimness. The light from them glittered and ran over her scaled face and gleaming arms. She shone like a jewelled statue. Her eyes were as hard as faceted gems.

‘Has she?’ Trader Polsk hissed back at the Elderling. ‘Tintaglia has vanished and left us with a horde of hungry dragons to care for! What would you have us do? Keep them here on the very doorstep of Cassarick? It is not good for them or for us! Keeping them here will solve nothing. But there is the possibility that if we send them upriver, they may find a better location for themselves. Look how many of them have already died, and those who remain are in poor condition. Now is not the time to flaunt your powers to make us cower. You would better use your time to help us plan the best way to aid them in their evacuation. It is the best we can offer them, Malta. Surely you must see that!’

‘I see nothing of the kind,’ Malta retorted in a low voice, but there was a tattered edge of defeat in her voice. ‘I see that there is something here I do not know, something that propels the urgency of this expedition. Do any of you see fit to be honest with me?’ The lights around her dimmed, very slightly.

Trader Polsk ignored her words and pushed her advantage. ‘Have you heard from either your brother or the dragon Tintaglia?’

‘My brother is travelling, and all know how irregular the mails are from abroad. And I have not heard Tintaglia nor felt her touch in months. I do not know what her fate is. She could simply be far afield, or some terrible accident may have befallen her. I do not know.’ She sounded anguished. But her voice firmed as she went on, ‘But I do know that many Bingtown Traders gave their word to her that they would do all they could to help her offspring in return for her aid. Without her actions during our war with Chalced, Bingtown itself might have perished. She kept the Chalcedean ships from the mouth of the Rain Wild River. When we most needed her help, she was there for us. And now that she is away, will we abandon the young dragons to death, simply because caring for them has become a hardship? Has the word of a Trader come to mean so little to us in these kinder days?’ As she spoke, the light globes that surrounded her burned warmer. Light reflected from her, until she seemed the source of it rather than the recipient.

A silence, perhaps one of shame, followed her question. A few of the Council members exchanged glances.

Alise timidly broke the silence. ‘I was there. I was there, the night the dragon came to the Bingtown Traders’ Concourse. I was there the night the deal was struck. I heard Tintaglia speak, and young as I was, I was among those who signed our agreement with her.’ Her voice dropped as she added, ‘I was even there when Reyn Khuprus spoke out and demanded that Tintaglia help him find Malta, as a condition of that agreement.’ Her glance went from the startled Elderling to the Council. She drew herself up straight and summoned courage she didn’t know she had. She lifted her voice, willing it to fill the hall. ‘My name is Alise Kincarron Finbok. In addition to signing the agreement with the dragon Tintaglia, and thus having a vested interest in these decisions, I am one of the foremost experts on both dragons and Elderlings that Bingtown has to offer. I have travelled here from Bingtown for the express purpose of speaking with the dragons and learning more of their kind.

‘Since Tintaglia first appeared in our midst, I have devoted all my time to the studying and translation of every scroll or tablet regarding dragons and Elderlings that exists in Bingtown. When you speak of breaking an agreement with a dragon who had given you her true name as her binding word on it, I do not think you fully comprehend what you are suggesting. As Bingtown’s most knowledgeable authority on dragons, I do.’

As she drew breath, she shoved aside her doubt that any one in Bingtown would agree with her previous statement. No one else from Bingtown was here to contradict her. And she knew her words to be true, and right now that was all that mattered. She spoke on, decisively, listening in amazement to the words coming out of her own mouth. ‘I do not believe that the Traders’ Council of Cassarick has the authority to make this decision regarding—’

‘You have studied dragons and Elderlings.’ It was Malta the Elderling who so precipitously interrupted her. ‘In all the ancient scrolls you have studied, have you ever found mention of a place called Kelsingra? I believe it was an Elderling city.’

Alise felt like a sailing boat that had suddenly lost the wind from its sails. Malta’s question was so unexpected that she lost the chain of argument that she had wished to present to the Council. The news that they wished to ‘evacuate’ the dragons immediately had stunned her. From what Leftrin had told her on the boat, she had believed she would at least have her few days with them. Now it appeared that even that short time might be snatched away from her. For an instant, she had been filled with resolve to do or say whatever she must to win those few days back. But at Malta’s interruption, she lost the thread of her words and her courage. All her bravado suddenly fled. She glanced at the Council members, expecting them to be annoyed by Malta’s question. Instead, they seemed as focused on her answer as Malta herself did. Trader Polsk leaned forward, eyes fixed on her. Alise had all but forgotten the captain at her side, but now he reached over and set a reassuring hand on her forearm. ‘Go on. Tell them.’

It rattled her for a moment; how could he know that she knew about Kelsingra? Then she recalled that yesterday afternoon when he had been telling her tales of river navigation, and how quickly a channel he had used one month could silt in by the next she, burning to distinguish herself, had nodded wisely and recounted a story from an old scroll that had spoken about how often the passage to the Kelsingra docks had to be dredged. He had replied that he’d never heard of such a city, and she had dismissed it with a shrug, saying that perhaps the river had swallowed it long ago.

She looked at Malta. The Elderling looked poised for flight; she leaned slightly toward Alise, her eyes burning with hope. The light globes that had drifted to surround her had spread again, but she still seemed at the centre of all light in the room. How could Alise tell her that Kelsingra was little more than a name in a scroll to her? She glanced helplessly about and her eyes, by fate or chance, snagged on a tapestry to the left of Malta. A strange thrill shot through her. She slowly lifted her hand and pointed at it. ‘There is Kelsingra.’ She walked toward it, her heart beating faster with every step. ‘Give me more light here, please,’ she said, almost forgetting where she was and to whom she spoke in the excitement of her find.

In response to her request, Malta sent the light globes flocking after her. They followed her and when she halted, they did. When they gathered around the tapestry, it was almost like looking out a window into a woven world. It was all there. The perspective had been skewed deliberately by the weaver so that more landmarks could be included. ‘There.’ She lifted her hand and pointed as she spoke. ‘That would be the famous map tower of Kelsingra. From what I have read, I believe that map towers were created in several of their larger cities. In each tower there would be a large relief map of the surrounding area, and the encircling windows of the tower looked out on the depicted area. Sometimes there were symbols for more distant locations. The scrolls imply that somehow the map towers helped people to travel swiftly, but they do not say how. The map tower at Kelsingra is referred to in several scrolls, perhaps indicating that it was of more importance than some of the others.’

Distantly she heard her own voice. She had taken on a pedagogic tenor, the tone she had sometimes dreamed that she would employ someday when her scholarship was recognized and people would wish her to share her knowledge. Never had she dreamed she would lecture in a place like Cassarick or that her audience would include an Elderling. Her hand moved and she pointed again. ‘You can see that the map tower is in the spire of a very impressive building. The decorative frieze on the front shows an Elderling woman ploughing behind an ox. The adjacent wall, as you can see, depicts a queen dragon. I speculate that the conjunction of the two is no accident, but shows that the two of them were as important to the city as the two walls that support this main city structure. We can only wonder what was on the other two faces of the building.

‘Note the depth and width of the stairs that approach the grand entry doors. Human, or human-sized Elderlings would have no need of such steps, nor of such immense doors. It’s clear to me that this structure, identified in one scroll as the Citadel of Records, welcomed both Elderlings and dragons inside its walls.’

‘But where is it? Where is Kelsingra?’ Malta’s low anxious voice cut through Alise’s lecture.

Slowly the Bingtown woman turned to look at the Elderling. ‘I cannot tell you that with any precision. As far as I know, no map of the areas that we now call the Rain Wilds has ever been recovered. But from the written descriptions we have, I can say with certainty that it was substantially upriver of both Trehaug and Cassarick. We do have descriptions of the lush meadowlands that surrounded the city and provided good grazing for both domesticated cattle and wild game. The dragons feasted freely on both, and it was considered their right to do so. But such open rolling meadows do not fit with the jungled Rain Wilds that we know. Nor does the description of the river. According to the scrolls, the river that ran past Kelsingra was deep and during flood-times, it was swift running and treacherous. The illustrations in the scrolls and here on this tapestry clearly show keeled sailing vessels both approaching the city and tying up at its docks. There are trade vessels of considerable size already moored there. Again, these images do not fit with the Rain Wild River as we know it now. So, we can speculate that either the river has changed, a fact that is obviously true given the buried ruins that have been unearthed here, or we can wonder if there existed another, different river, a tributary or one that is perhaps merged now with our Rain Wild River, that originally fronted Kelsingra.’

She ran out of breath and words at the same time. She turned away from the tapestry and back to her audience. Malta’s face was a mixture of triumph and misery. The brushy haired Rain Wilds woman at the table was nodding her head vigorously. ‘Excellent!’ she exclaimed before anyone else could speak. ‘We are indebted to you, madam. The black dragon has spoken of this Kelsingra as the best possible destination for the dragons. They have dropped hints to us that it was a major Elderling city. But up to now, we lacked confirmation of its existence. You offer us not only the physical evidence of the tapestry but your scholarly opinion that such a place did, and possibly still does exist. We could not ask for better news, any of us!’

‘I could,’ Malta asserted flatly. ‘I could ask for a map that would clearly show us where the city once existed in relation to the two Elderling cities that we have already located.’ She flicked her fingers as if in annoyance and the light globes scattered like startled cats. She moved to one of the tiers of benches and slowly sank down onto it. She suddenly appeared not only merely human, but very tired. ‘We have failed them so badly. We gave a promise to Tintaglia and we began by doing the best we could for them. Slowly we let our standards fall, and the last two years have just been a nightmare. So many of them have died.’

‘Without our help, all of them would have died. Without our help, most of them would never have cocooned, let alone hatched.’ Trader Polsk presented the fact simply.

‘Without us cutting them up into planks to build ships, more of them might have survived to hatch during that quake,’ Malta retorted.

‘If there had not been liveships, would you have been there at all?’ Alise dared to interject the question. Malta appeared to be mired in despair, but Alise felt a growing excitement. The most wonderful idea she had ever imagined was slowly unfolding in her mind. She hardly dared state it. She teetered on dread that they might refuse her and terror that they might accept her offer. She tried to keep her voice steady as she asked, ‘How soon must the dragons be moved?’

‘The sooner the better,’ Trader Polsk replied. She ran both her hands through her brush of grey hair, standing it up like a dragon’s crest. ‘Delay can only make it worse for all of us, including the dragons. If it were possible for them to leave tomorrow, that is what I would choose.’

‘Yet I have come all the way from Bingtown just for the purpose of studying these dragons and possibly conversing with them,’ Alise objected.

‘You will find them little inclined to conversation,’ Malta said drearily. ‘Even if you had come months ago, it would have been so. They have ancestral memories of the dragons they should have been. Much as I hate to admit it, Trader Polsk is right. They are and have been miserable where they are. I have done my best to visit them often, and I know the hardships that have been created for those who tried to keep faithfully the terms of our bargain with Tintaglia. I am not blind to those things. I just wish it could have a better ending. I wish that I could go with them and see them safely settled in some better place. But I cannot.’

She sounded so defeated that Alise wondered if the Elderling woman were ill. But then she set her hands to her belly in the unmistakable gesture of a woman who is with child, and sets that child’s well-being above all in her life. It was like the last piece of a puzzle falling into place. The circumstances were exactly right for her; if it was not fate, it was close enough.

‘You cannot go, but I can.’ She spoke the words clearly, offering herself and seizing a chance for herself in the same breath. ‘I am willing to travel with them, using my knowledge of their kind to aid them in any way I can. I am eager to travel with them, to learn of them all I can, to observe their kind and, if I dare to admit it, in the wild hope that I could be with them if and when Kelsingra is rediscovered. Let me be the one to go.’

Silence greeted her words, but it was of a mixed sort. Malta looked at her as if she were a vision of salvation. Trader Polsk looked intrigued. Two of the committee members were regarding her with sick horror. She made an intuitive leap; those two had had some inkling that Kelsingra was real and that valuable Eldering relics might be discovered there. She’d just spoiled some sort of secret scheme without even intending to do so. The thought of that fired her courage. She spoke aloud to Malta. ‘If Kelsingra is rediscovered and is intact at all, it could be the greatest resource yet for understanding how Elderlings and dragons interacted. The mysteries that have been discovered at Trehaug and Cassarick may be solved at Kelsingra.’

‘Surely that is a matter for Rain Wild Traders to discuss,’ one of the men at the table assayed.

‘Surely it is a matter for Elderlings and dragons,’ Malta countered.

‘The first step is to find the place. And get the dragons to safety.’ Leftrin was grinning from ear to ear. He strode across the darkened room to step into the light and stand beside her. ‘If the lady’s willing to go on the trip to continue her study of the dragons, then I’m willing to take her.’ As the grey-haired committee leader leaned forward as if to object, he added calmly, ‘In fact, I’m willing to make it one of the conditions for my accepting the charter.’ He boldly turned to Malta and made a small bow. ‘Perhaps we should defer to Malta Khuprus. She suggested that the dragons should have a representative. Seems to me that having a dragon expert aboard might be one of the wiser things that we could do.’

Malta smiled wearily. Then she looked to the committee table. ‘I will speak for Tintaglia in this.’ She swung her gaze to Alise, and that look was compelling. Alise was nodding even before Malta said, ‘If Alise Finbok is willing to go I am willing to accept her as an impartial judge to act in the best interest of the dragons.’