“Raitt, are you okay?” Mallei frowned.
“Fine. Just a little tired,” I struggled to my feet and crawled over to the top of the cabin where I could lie in the late afternoon sun stretched out like a cat.
I wasn’t there too long when one of the kids climbed up to peer over the edge at me. I thought his name was Leos or something like that. He was the boy with two fingers and clearly the leader of the pack.
“Hey,” I lifted my head and back down, still heaving for air.
“You hungry?” He offered me a chunk of deer meat that someone had salted and dried into jerky. It wasn’t bad. “There’s plenty more. Water, too. We’re out of wine.”
“I know.”
“How much further?” He asked and I remembered the old joke–are we there yet?
“I don’t know, Leos.” I swallowed another piece and he climbed up to sit next to me but as his bare skin hit the hot metal of the roof, he yiked and stood. Stared out to sea and was so still that it alarmed me. I stood up and looked at what so entranced him.
Dragon eyes were like a hawk’s but even more acute. What he saw as a bright triangle to my eye was a fast-moving black warship heading straight for us.
Chapter 33
I wanted to flee, I had a sinking sensation that it was her following, that somehow she knew I was alive. They wanted to check it out and see if it were simply merchants heading to Gates Cove as we were entering the shipping lanes for that port city. Gordy said it was a bit odd for merchant ships to be this close to the coast but they did sometimes put in for fresh water as the huge river Danverse emptied into the sea at Niagara’s mouth near Gates Cove.
I was afraid to wait to start dragging the barge, I wanted to be out of sight before I changed. I didn’t know if they could see me as I had them.
“What are you going to do, Raitt?” Tegan asked standing at the bow looking out towards the ship.
“Get out of here. The sooner the better.”
“But you’re tired!” Lyndseye protested.
“Better than dead or enslaved,” I said and went back to the rope, picked up the handlebar and began the job of hauling the barge through the waves.
I pulled for hours. It began to rain and the waves grew choppier making it harder to see the coastline. Instead, I used my infrared sense to heat the coastline and followed the dim red line north and east.
The storm worsened and tossed the boat making the dragging infinitely worse. The only good thing was that the boat following us would have just as harrowing a time sailing and maybe sink.
I ran into a huge rock that appeared out of nowhere so swiftly that I had no time to avoid it. Smashed chest first into a spire that hit me with a punch so hard, I lost my breath, slid down the sheer face and hit the water only to vaguely hear the barge roll over me and into it.
Pieces of lumber showered down from above, following me down to the sea floor. Several more hit me, one on the head and it was like a poke in the side to a sleepy person. It woke me up and made me angry. I roared (which underwater wasn’t such a good idea even for a Dragon) and started swimming up towards the light.
When my head broke the surface, all I saw were pieces of the barge battering the base of that stupid rock. I called out names and heard some faint responses. I found the Princess and Tegan, two of the kids and had them climb on my back where I crawled up the cliff face to search out a spot where they could shelter from the storm. Found a small cave just above where I had hit first and set them down. I spent the next two hours diving, flying and looking for the rest but all I found was Gordy’s body stuck beneath a piece of the Wompas. I left him there but grabbed the haunch of venison still hanging and a barrel of water.
When I finally collapsed on the narrow ledge near them, I was immediately gone. Out like a light. I didn’t even see Lyndseye crawling over me or Tegan dragging me into the cave.
*****
“Raitt, Sir Prince. Dragon,” a sweet voice called me and I wanted to answer but my whole body ached as if I’d been pummeled by an entire football team. My chest really hurt, and it made breathing difficult. I opened my eye and saw her face leaning into mine and she looked normal sized. I was in the cave with them so she must have shrunk me.
“Mallei and the kids?” I asked hopefully and it came out a weak rasp of breath.
“Don’t try to talk, Sir Dragon,” she said. “You broke your ribs and pierced your chest on a rock. Tegan pulled it out and packed the wound but you’ve been bleeding so much. I finally got it to stop.”
I closed my eye in defeat. Mallei and the kids were gone, drowned or worse. Some hero I turned out to be. I shifted and my left wing throbbed. I felt something pinioning the wing close to my shoulder.
“It’s broken,” she said flatly. “You won’t be flying on it till it heals.” She said something else but my ears heard only a buzzing and then it all faded away.
*****
I groaned, tried to turn over and my entire body was enveloped in cramps so severe that I cried out in agony. Someone held my head and poured hot tea down my throat and a soothing warmth traveled through my belly to my muscles. Tegan crooned to me and tucked his cloak around me.
“There’s a small beach on the other side of this rock,” he explained. “We found a way down and picked up some of the things that washed ashore. The storms eased and the skies are clear. No sign of any…one.” I knew he had been going to say bodies. “Can you move? I gave you some of Mallei’s pain potion. I found her basket and pack.”
“No kids?” I managed hoarsely trying to stand.
If I could convert, these wounds should heal and he must’ve read my mind because he added, “Linz did change you back and forth but nothing happened. Either it’s a spell that you hit or something just geared to your physiology. You’re changing, Raitt. Your scales are softer and your bones heavier. Your claws aren’t as sharp as they were, either.” I looked and instead of claws, they looked more like long fingernails. “Your eye isn’t quite as Dragon-like. What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” I sat back down before I fell over. “Where are we now?”
“In the cave you found. There’s a trail above that leads down to the beach and remains of fire pits. Someone has used this place before. Shall I carry you?”
“Is there shelter there?”
“Lyndseye and Leos found an old hut but at least it provides shade. There are some trees and vegetation on this rock. It’s not an island, just a spire that sticks up out of the water. There might have been a lighthouse here at one time but no one has climbed to the top.”
“Yeah. Bring me down. I don’t think I can walk yet.” He scooped me up in his arms, carrying me carefully down what he euphemistically called the trail and I called a goat track. How he managed to walk it and carry me was a major miracle. I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the small beach on the other side of the rock. It formed a perfect half circle and was no more than 50 feet wide, not large or deep enough for a big ship to anchor in. Linz and the two kids were gathering wood for a fire and I cringed when I saw that most were from the barge.
She gave me a sad smile. “Hello, my Prince. How are you?”
“Been better. Any sign?” I glanced at the two kids and she shook her head sadly. I shuddered. I was the Dragon of Death. Where I went, death and destruction followed. She came close and touched me.
“You nearly died trying to save souls that had already been marked for destruction by the Red Witch, Sir Dragon. They died free and not enslaved and their spirits hold no grudge against you.”
“That’ll help me sleep better at night,” I retorted. “Why does everyone die around me?” I couldn’t cry, there weren’t tears left in me and I wanted to rage but even that was denied me in my present condition. So I did what I did best, I sulked. Refused to eat and drink, brooding in my own little world.
The kids being kids, rebounded quicker–they’d already explored what they could of the island; it wasn’t much more than 100 fe
et wide and 200 feet long, maybe half an acre in size and composed of hard granite shot with quartz. It was shaped like a miniature Matterhorn and Tegan said it was the start of the Sentinel range that separated one continent from the other. The only way around the range was to sail, expeditions had tried to climb it and disappeared. No one had ever found a passage through.
“There’s no food or water on this rock,” she said softly. “And you can’t swim or fly with one wing.”
“I don’t need my wings to swim if I’m full-sized in the water,” I pointed out. “I can swim to shore with you on my back.”
“We have enough food for a few days and water for a week if you stay small. That’ll give that wing a chance to heal.”
“No, we don’t,” Leos said panting as he ran towards us to slide to a stop on yellow sand. “I saw the black sail coming over the horizon!”
“We don’t have any more time,” I said and spoke the words. I was forty feet of Dragon on the small beach with them under my one wing. The other was strapped close to my body and a rude patch on my chest from which a giant ache emanated. I felt a shudder rack my whole frame and it was all I could do to stand. When they climbed on me, I wanted to collapse. Instead, I forged forward into the water and started swimming in the absurd doggie paddle that kept us afloat but tore my muscles and wound. I gritted my teeth and ignored it concentrating on reaching the mainland.
I cut my awareness away from all else but the need to reach land, not their frantic cries to slow down or that I was bleeding. Only the need to keep moving and get ashore so it was with some astonishment that my churning feet hit solid bottom and I ran up and over the hill to face a monstrous wall of rock. There was nowhere left for us to go except back into the water or down the line of rocks or over.
“Linz, can you make a spell to hold the bones together in my wing?”
“Maybe.”
“You have any stimulants? To make me less tired?” I asked urgently.
“Yes, but it’s dangerous,” she protested even if she was digging them out.
“We have no weapons other than me,” I said rapidly. “And I can still see them coming. All that’s left is to fight or flee. I can’t fight but I can still run.”
She gave me the dose and the spell together. A tingle ran over and through me as magic enhanced healing held the broken wing together just enough for it to work. The hole in my chest covered over with thin, baby scales and stopped losing blood and fluid.
I took off at a shambling run with the four of them on my back and it was much harder to reach flight speed. I flew straight up the rock using my claws to push and pull as well as fly.
The air grew chill and snow appeared. I warned them that up high would not have enough oxygen to breathe and she must secure a bubble around them or they would pass out and die. Still, the spell was simple and I recited it for her as I remembered it from Jasra’s use. It worked when she tried it but she saved it until I told her when to use it.
I didn’t want to look back or down. I didn’t want to see if the black shape was following or how far a fall from here would be. We reached the top and the sun was so close that I swore I could touch it yet it did not warm me.
The way down was more a controlled fall that I barely remembered. I knew that somewhere, the bones of my wing broke free again and I struggled to keep in the air, gliding for a forest clearing I saw below. In desperation, I reached up, grabbing their bodies and cradled them against my chest just before I hit the trees, tumbling through branches at the edge of the clearing. I saw someone’s frightened green eyes and then my head smashed into a tree trunk hard enough to splinter it. I didn’t remember hitting the ground.
Chapter 34
The Lighthouse of Cabra was in use, both Random and Julian each had a garrison stationed there. Random had a cavalry unit and Julian a small fleet of the Navy. When Corwin and his party appeared in the study, it was in front of the unit commander and he nearly fell over in shock. “My Lord,” he stuttered as his usually peaceful office was suddenly full of very filthy and disreputable looking men. He stared at the General. “Cathorian!”
“You know each other, good,” Corwin said. “I need a quick ride to Khafra and these men need to be paid, sent on their way or inducted into our forces. Whatever they want. And find a spot for the General.”
“If it’s all the same to you, Prince Corwin, I would like to follow you,” the one armed man shrugged.
Pire and the Captain nodded but Corwin shook his head. “Two men can get there safer and faster.”
“Let me come, my Lord,” Pire argued. “I am the boy’s bodyguard and it is my duty.”
“So be it. Commander, this is Capt. Lambrecht of the Amber Household Cavalry. See to his welfare.”
“Yes, my Lord. What is it you require?”
“Horses and food. Weapons. Good cloaks. Send a message to the king to keep watch on the borders. I fear the Red Witch will try to attack now that the Black Dragon is gone.”
“Gone, my Lord?” His face turned white at that thought.
“Not dead, gone. He is somewhere over the Sentinels near Khafra and the Border Kingdoms. We’re on the way to return him.”
“Do you want a squad of men to aid you?”
“No. As I said, we will return him ourselves. You will I am afraid, need every available man here to protect Amber’s borders.”
The commander barked orders and within a half hour they were mounted and riding down the road. As they traveled, Corwin began his Hell Ride, changing the land in subtle ways so that it began to more closely resemble Khafra’s terrain.
They ran the horses until Corwin called a halt in a small valley that was nestled between two ridges. Oak, Pines and apple trees lined both sides and in the ravine ran a busy little stream with a large barn and an old farmhouse. Its driveway was off the road and Corwin took it down to dismount in the front yard under a huge old maple tree in full bloom. Pire reached up and pulled off a nearly ripe Mac Apple, chewing it in four bites.
“Peg, are you home?” Corwin called and presently a little brown dog barked at the front door behind a short little woman could have been a Disney caricature of an elf. She had curly white hair, round cheeks and twinkling hazel eyes. She came down the stairs to hug the Prince gleefully.
“My Lord, so good to see you.” She spoke to the little dog who was sniffing everyone in a friendly fashion. “Down, Buddy,” she said. “Can you stay, Prince Corwin?”
“For rest and some water, Peg. I’m after my grandson.”
“Another emergency mission? Help yourself to the barn and feed. I’ll make you something to eat and to take with you.” Without another word, she was back in the house while they saw to their horses.
They broke up for only an hour before mounting and riding on. The land grew rougher and more desolate. They passed homes and farms burned and looted and the crows were thick on the ground. Occasionally, they saw bodies of soldiers and once, Pire dismounted to check the man’s wounds finding them odd. Round or star shaped but not like those seen from an arrow or a blade.
Corwin got down next and his eyes widened as he drew out his blade to dig into the wound and extract a small silver ball. He looked worried. “See if you can find his weapon,” he ordered and the pair scoured the skirmish area. All they found were arrows, swords and knives. He had them mount and race the horses making greater changes than before. Here, the sky was a deep golden yellow and the road green paved stones changing to gold colored bricks lined by flowers that had faces and watched them race by, warning in bell-like tones that danger followed and that they were running head on into it.
Occasionally, they met another traveler, also fleeing some nameless terror. Most ran with the clothes on their backs and few possessions as if the disaster had occurred before they could grab anything.
The air smelled of burning homes, a heavy fog bank that drifted ever closer as they rode towards Khafra. Corwin stopped at midnight in a sheltered lea off the road hidden behi
nd a fold of ridge that opened to a tiny ravine just barely wide enough for one horse and rider. They rode single file until he ducked through a stone arch and then dismounted, leading his horse through a tunnel and emerging into a sinkhole the size of a small baseball field. It had water and knee-high grass, was protected on all four sides by unclimbable walls of sheer rock and the only entrance in was the tunnel.
“We’ll be safe here,” Corwin said stripping the saddle off his horse. The others did the same. All three horses rolled, shook and immediately started eating. “It’s safe to make a fire, the smoke won’t be seen above the ramparts here. We are close to Khafra’s borders and there are garrisons of the King’s Guards every 20 miles. They can contact each other by heliographs so if we’re spotted, they’ll let the Palace know we’re coming. I’d like to avoid that in case Luke is involved or he thinks he’s keeping the Dragon for his own use.”
“How could anyone force the Black Dragon to obey them?” Cathorian asked. “He’s a bloody big ferocious beast!”
Corwin shook his head sadly. “No, he’s not. He’s a seventeen-year-old kid who went through hell and died to come back as a construct of the Unicorn. He’s stuck in the Dragon body and he wants out. I can see why he took the chance to find a way out even if it meant invading Luke’s Kingdom. What I don’t know is what Luke thinks or wants and that worries me. Then, there’s Jasra. She’d like nothing better than to depose her son, kill me and invade Amber.”
“Could she?” Cathorian asked.
“With Raven’s power and the weapons that killed those soldiers? Yes. I tried once to bring explosives into Amber and had no luck. Jasra seems to have found the secret and that worries me.” He paused. “Get some rest. We’ll go on in the morning.”