Song of the Dragon

CHAPTER 37

“Keep up!” Urulani growled.

“What is your hurry?” Mala snapped. “You said it was less than half a day’s walk, and the sun has barely risen.”

“It’s dangerous out here in the open, princess.” If anything, Urulani quickened her own pace a little. “And can you see those peaks ahead of us?”

“Those hills?” Mala sniffed. “You call those peaks? I’ve climbed bigger hills just to get a good look at real peaks!”

“Really?” Urulani laughed. “Well, then, you won’t mind climbing those. We call them the Sentinels, and those ‘hills’ have kept our clan free of elven interference since before your entire family was groveling and begging for scraps from the Rhonas table.”

They had left the Hak’kaarin mud city only a short time before, just as the first hint of dawn lightened the eastern horizon. Urulani led them northward on a narrow path that occasionally vanished for long stretches. Still, the dark-skinned woman always picked up the trail again as it ran northward toward the Sentinel Peaks.

It was true, Drakis reflected, that these mountains were not as tall as the Aerian Range that they had left so far behind them to the south, but they were not that much shorter and were of a far more formidable aspect. The peaks looked like sharpened teeth that erupted from the ground at nearly vertical angles. Urulani said they would be crossing them, but from where he walked now on the savanna, even he was skeptical as to how they would manage it.

“Drakis! Did you hear that?” Mala turned to the warrior striding next to her under the early morning glow. “Did you hear what she said to me?”

Drakis drew in a deep breath as he strode next to her under the soft glow of early morning light. “Yes, Mala; I heard.”

“Well?” Mala demanded. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Yes, pray tell,” Urulani snarled. “Just what are you going to do about it?”

Drakis rolled his eyes upward in an appeal to the stars. He was no longer sure that he believed in the gods; the only gods that he knew were those of the Rhonas pantheon, which had been instilled in him by his slave masters, and now he questioned everything that they had taught him. Still, at this moment, he would have preferred some divine answers-or even an inspired lightning bolt or two-to help him find a way to keep Mala out of Urulani’s way.

Thus far this morning, the gods had wisely stayed out of the fight as well.

“Please,” Drakis urged. “We need to get into the safety of those mountains. .”

“So you’re siding with her?” Mala shouted, her voice squeaking at the end.

“No!” Drakis said quickly. “I’m not siding with anyone. .”

“She said we groveled for scraps!” Mala fumed.

“Look, Mala,” Drakis shrugged. “She just doesn’t understand how it was or she wouldn’t have. .”

“I don’t understand how it was?” Urulani had the voice of a commander that carried over everyone else when she chose to use it. This was one of those times. “Maybe I don’t understand how it is that you ‘cattle’ managed to find your way out of your pens and wander out here into the world where people actually live and die for something more than their master’s pleasure.”

“Now, wait just a moment,” Drakis said.

“See? Do you see what kind of a person you’ve entrusted our lives to?” Mala jabbed Drakis with her finger. “She has no respect for you or any of us!”

“Respect?” Urulani roared back. “And just what have you done, little pale princess, to earn my respect?”

“Ladies! Stop it! Please!” Drakis held up both his hands in exasperation. “Can we all just calm down and. .”

“This,” Urulani threw her head back in derision, “from the Domesticated Warrior!”

Drakis turned to appeal to the rest of their companions, but there was no help in sight. RuuKag seemed to be enjoying the row with deep amusement. Ethis, Belag, and even Jugar all walked behind him, keeping a distance that also kept them out of the argument.

Only the Lyric quickened her step toward him. She smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Drakis! I’m only too glad to help.”

“You are?” Drakis asked dubiously.

“Of course!” the Lyric said, her eyes bright. “They’re both wrong and I’ll be happy to tell them why.”

Drakis looked again to the stars and offered a prayer. It was going to be a very long day.

“I have news, Inquisitor!”

Jukung looked up, his face shadowed by the deep hood pulled over his head. The new Inquisitor sat still beneath a great tree of the savanna as he had for two days awaiting just such news.

“Speak, Codexia Mendrath,” Jukung said.

The robed newcomer bowed and then began. “Word comes from the savanna, west of Tempest Bay. There are several mud cities of the Hak’kaarin in the northern regions of the Vestasian Savanna.”

“I do not need a geography lecture,” Jukung snarled.

“Yes, Master Inquisitor,” Mendrath responded at once. “There are stories now being circulated among the mud gnomes in that region about a man named Drakis who is traveling with the gnomes. He is said to possess great powers and to be the fulfillment of prophecy.”

Jukung looked up sharply. “And his companions?”

“The story speaks of two women, manticores, a chimerian, and a dwarf.”

Jukung smiled. “A dwarf! Yes, that is news, indeed! Where? Where are they?”

“The Hak’kaarin move a great deal,” Mendrath replied. “There are a dozen or so of their cities across the region where they were last seen.”

“And Inquisitor Soen?” Jukung asked quickly. “What news of him?”

“He is moving toward those same mud domes that the Hak’kaarin call their cities.”

Jukung stood up at once. “Then we must get there before him so that we may greet him properly. Contact the Quorums wherever they are and have them journey at once to the mud dome cities of the northern Savanna. Have them determine if Drakis and his companions have been there.”

“And what are their orders then?” Mendrath asked.

Jukung smiled once more. “Our orders are explicit, Codexia. Capture this Drakis and bring him to me.”

“It will be done,” Mendrath said and turned to move away.

Jukung’s arm restrained him.

“There is more.” Jukung removed his hood, exposing his hideously deformed face. “Anyone who has had contact with this Drakis-anyone at all-is to be killed at once.”

“I. . I am not sure that I understand the order, Master Inquisitor,” Mendrath said. “There are entire cities of these gnomes who may have had some contact with this Drakis human. .”

“And you will find them and kill them all,” Jukung said quietly.

“That could be thousands of gnomes,” Mendrath said, still uncertain he understood the order correctly.

“I do not care if it numbers in the tens of thousands,” Jukung said, irritation rising in his voice. “Towns, cities, females, children. . if they have had contact with this human pestilence, they are to die!”

“But, Master Inquisitor!”

“Do you question the Imperial Will?” Jukung screamed. “This is the order of the Keeper of our Order and the direct expression of the thoughts of the Emperor! Will you shirk your duty and forfeit your honor to his glorious ideal?”

“No, Master Inquisitor!” the Codexia stiffened.

“They will die!” Jukung said, his breathing labored as he spoke. He reached up with his right hand and ran his fingers lightly along the melted skin of his face. “They must pay for what they have done. The Emperor has declared them poisoned to his Will by this Drakis. Any creature that has any contact with him must die. . they must all die!”