The Burning Man

4

Wary of returning to the Palace of Glorious Light, Mallory, Caitlin and Decebalus slipped off to the Hunter’s Moon, the barbarian carrying Virginia tenderly beneath his heavy cloak. Evgen set a guard on their trail, but Decebalus knew the dark, winding lanes intimately and they lost him within five minutes.

In a tiny, low-ceilinged backroom before a fire, Decebalus steadied himself with three flagons of ale in quick succession.

‘I have been away from the court for many, many moons, tracking the frontier of the Enemy’s territory,’ he said. ‘I have seen some bastards in my time, but they are the worst. The devastation … the slaughter … But that is not the most awful thing. It is the feeling they leave in their wake. Hopelessness. The end of it all.’ He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes haunted and faraway.

‘What happened to the other Brothers and Sisters of Dragons who were here?’ Caitlin asked.

Decebalus looked at her, puzzled. ‘They are gone?’

‘Missing. No one knows where.’

‘I left to spy on the Enemy’s weaknesses. It was a long and dangerous mission, hiding and running, living off the land. Most of the others were soft, like you. I was best-suited.’ He ground his teeth. ‘I thought the risk was mine, not theirs.’

In his lap, Virginia stirred, lulled asleep by the warmth of the fire after the chill of the night.

‘Where did you find her?’ Mallory asked.

‘In the blasted lands, not far from the Enemy’s fortress. She had discovered a secret way out of their damnable captivity.’ He paused. ‘And she knows a secret way back in.’

Mallory instantly saw the tactical significance, but Caitlin was overcome with sympathy for the child. ‘Poor girl. She’s the one the spiders stole from Roanoke with all the other settlers.’

‘Four hundred years ago.’ Mallory couldn’t forget Church’s expression when he had recounted his failure to save Virginia and the others.

‘She was a baby then,’ Caitlin said. ‘She’s spent eight years of her life with those things. What she must have been through-’

‘Children are hardy,’ Decebalus said. ‘She will recover, given time.’

‘Evgen was keen to stop me getting to you,’ Mallory mused. ‘Perhaps he is the Enemy’s spy. Or,’ he added, ‘perhaps Niamh didn’t really have that spider removed after all.’

‘She sounded honest,’ Caitlin protested. ‘And if she is working with the Enemy, why hasn’t she sent us the way of the other Brothers and Sisters of Dragons? Or killed us in our sleep?’

Decebalus finished his ale. ‘Because she wants something?’

‘Could be the Extinction Shears,’ Mallory said. ‘The spiders can’t find them. They might think we have more information.’

‘We can be away from here within the hour,’ Decebalus said.

‘No. Everything we need is here,’ said Mallory.

‘We stay,’ Caitlin agreed. ‘You hide here with Virginia. We’ll remain at the palace, try to pick up some information about what might have happened to the others.’

‘A risky, some would say foolish strategy,’ Decebalus noted. ‘I like it.’