Part 13: Insidious Offerings

The next day, Simon and Pip rode their first Sentinel flight. Pip's keen eyesight watched the ground for intruders, and the pair also took the opportunity to simply enjoy the joy of flying. The enchantments Blake had put on the harness made it possible for Simon to breathe even when Pip went high, his own lungs easily able to gather all the oxygen he needed from the thin air.

They glided in some hours later, landing on the battlements amid an unusual disturbance.

"Simon!" Blake's voice greeted him. "Be still!" Her voice was demanding, and Simon stilled instantly. "Let me look at you."

"They're okay," she called out to Fordir.

"Of course we're okay. Why wouldn't we be?"

"One of the drakes has died," she told him. "She was poisoned." Her eyes bored straight into his, as if she were trying to tell him something.

"Who was it?" His heart plunged again. The death of a drake was a terrible, staggering loss. They were so few and precious.

"Genivara," Blake answered, her eyes expressing infinite sadness.

Pip's head jerked and he looked at Blake. "Genivara?" Pip's thoughts were filled with intense alarm.

"Pip? What's wrong?"

"This is Pip's fault! Pip killed Genivara!"

"What?" Simon actually yelled it out loud.

"Pip never eats Corinne food. Corinne always brings Pip food. Genivara eats Corinne food so Pip does not have to eat it. Pip killed Genivara!"

"What? What are you saying?"

"Pip did not tell Genivara. Pip dropped poison food into the trash heap so Genivara would not eat it. Pip thinks Genivara reached in and took it, anyway." With every word, Pip's head had fallen. His spines were clenched against him in abject misery and horror.

"What?" Fordir asked Simon.

Simon raced across the fortress roof to the gates that enclosed the trash heap. He opened the door and saw four dead crows—and no pile of meat.

"Where's Corinne?" He shouted it. "Find her! Find her right now!"

He raced for the doorway to the stairs, bounding down them at tremendous speed. He raced for the kitchens, pushing people aside without even apologizing. "Corinne? WHERE IS SHE?" He bellowed it, fury shining through his eyes.

"She's gone, Ser," the diffident, terrified elven cook said, cowering away from him into the corner.

"When? How? WHERE DID SHE GO?"

"Ser, I don't know! She didn't show up this morning, and her things are gone from her room!"

Slamming the door, Simon ran back up the stairs. Not stopping, he raced across the battlements and leaped onto Pip's back. "I'll be back!" he shouted by way of explanation, then commanded Pip to fly.

Shocked at the unexpected behavior of his rider, Pip turned and leaped. Simon gave him a mental image of the outlet of the caverns, and they flew that way. Simon's urgency and sense of demand telegraphed itself to Pip and the great drake pushed hard and fast towards the exit of the labyrinth.

They landed, and Simon sent Pip up to hide above on the mountainside. If Corinne came that way, he didn't want her to be warned off, and he didn't want her to know she had failed. Rage boiled through his blood as he settled in to wait.

Some twenty-five minutes later, Fordir landed and sent his drake up to squat above beside Pip, who was lying, dejected and regretful, in the bright sun.

"Darkspawn take it, that beast of yours flies faster than anything I've ever seen except Velistara and Alistair. Care to tell me what's going on?"

"That poison was meant for Pip. Corinne's been bringing him food all along, but he doesn't like her, so he won't eat it when she brings it. He didn't bother to tell me this, but it would seem that last night, it was poisoned. Genivara usually ate the meat that Pip wouldn't eat, so he threw it into the trash heap so she wouldn't. It would seem that she climbed in and ate it anyway."

Fordir gave a long, low whistle. "Now you're waiting for her to come out."

"It's the only way out. She left during the night, so she should be coming out sometime later today, if she really hurries."

"Alright. We'll send someone in, in case she's smart and camps out in there."

Simon nodded. "Pip thinks it's all his fault."

"He should have told you, but he's a drake, and they don't really think the same way we do. I doubt it ever occurred to him that she did it on purpose. Regardless, the greater question here is why she would try to kill him."

Simon shook his head. "I don't know. There's no logic to it. He can't even flame, he'll never be a battle-drake like the rest of them. He can fly, sure enough, but we all know that's no real help."

"Don't spit on reconnaissance, Simon. Entire wars have been won—and lost—based solely on the quality of it. As high as he can go and still see, they'll never even know he's there."

Simon gave him a dry look, and Fordir shrugged. "Not much of a tactician, are you?"

"I always dreamed of being a Gray Warden. I wanted to fight. To really make a difference, not spy on people." The reference made his face turn red as he remembered his dream the night before.

"You'll make a place for yourselves. Look where you came from and how far you've come together. He was going to be the runt. He would never carry you. And here you both are. So don't give up too soon."

Simon sighed. "I probably shouldn't even be the one to be here. I really want to kill her. I want to tear her limb from limb. And to think I almost…" He trailed off, his face turning red again.

"But you didn't. She failed to seduce you, and she failed to kill your drake."

"Yet she succeeded in killing one of them."

"Yes." He sighed heavily and changed the subject slightly. "Sarin is with the mages now. They'll care for her and keep her in the Fade much of the time. They'll be together there. It's the only way to keep Riders sane once they lose their mounts." Fordir's voice was filled with heavy sorrow, a deep regret, and something else.

"You fear that."

Fordir looked away. "It's a half-life. I… any Rider who doesn't fear it doesn't get it." He leaned back. "I'll send another rider to wait with you. I agree that it might not be best to leave you here to take her on alone. Who knows what backup she might have. We can make no assumptions, since we don't know her motives." He left, his drake turning to look at Simon for a long moment before launching into the air.