Chapter Four



Kel looked at her friends, aghast. A rogue dragon? The murmuring grew to a cacophony of disclaimers, proofs and wonderment. Finally the Stump shouted above the babble:

"Shut up!" As they looked at him, he continued. "From what I have heard, dragons are neither on the side of the other immortals nor quick to make decisions, even in war. They also carefully preserve their neutrality. Miss Sarrasri," he didn't even bother to veil the sneer, "must be mistaken. As, I have also heard, she too frequently is." He smiled slightly and sadly shook his head.

Neal was white with rage. Daine was scarlet and on her feet, shaking her fist and screaming. Numair was holding her tightly and doing some screaming himself. The Lioness was visibly restraining herself from twisting Wyldon's head off and nearly all the pages were yelling at him. Joren, Vinson and Zahir weren't indignant, of course: they were grinning and nodding. In the confusion, Zahir edged over to Kel and kicked her viciously. Vinson followed suit with a pinch. Kel hated them, but she ignored it for at that moment she hated the Stump more. She hated him for the cruel insults even though she didn't understand the sneer or the mockery. Under cover of the shouts, she whispered to Neal,

"What's he said that's so bad?"

"The Sarrasri... well, in Galla they name a child for their father. Only, er, um..."

"I do get you! Even though I'm a girl - is that what you're thinking?"

Neal ignored the explosion. "Well, only they are named after their mothers. Mind you, Daine's father is the hunt god Weiryn, so she could have changed it to Weirynsra when he acknowledged her, but it's still a nasty crack. And the Miss Sarrasri's him being prudish about her and Numair. And the other... you really haven't heard this?"

Kel shook her head. "I've hardly met Daine."

"Last year, oh... about a month before you came, she was really ill with something that affected her magic. She was just about convalescent when the King needed her to sort out some dispute between mice that meant that they were pulling down the stable block. Well, she was still fairly uncertain of her magic, and she didn't quite get what the mice were quarrelling about, with the result that all the mice decided that the King was no use at all and started pulling the whole palace down! But that wasn't her fault!"

"Too right it wasn't." Kel was horrified at the Stump. "He's not playing fair, raking up something she did last year. And when she was ill too! I don't wonder you're all angry. I am as well." To prove her point, she immediately joined the screaming pages. Only the horror and revulsion she now felt could have given her the impetus to break her Yamani training as she did now, Neal realised, and he looked on his friend with new respect.

"Pages!" yelled the Stump. "Quiet!"

All fell silent.

"That is better. Now, on my mark, fall in in ranks of ten. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal IN!"

They fell. Then, they marched towards the bushes where Kel had noticed the spider-leg. Then, in accordance with the Stump's whispered directions, they surrounded it.

There was more than one stifled screech as they reached the back of the bush. For there, there were nearly forty spidrens engaged in feasting on something raw and bloody. But, strangely, they formed a rough circle around an empty space in the middle.

"Oh, I've seen that before!" laughed Daine. "Numair, d'you know the charm to make it show itself?"

"Yes, I should be able to do it pretty quickly."

"Pages! Kill the spidrens. None must escape! But do not disturb Master Salmalín."

As the pages killed the spidrens, the air around Numair slowly turned grey, as a pearly shimmer flickered in and out of vision. Kel, like many of the pages, was spellbound. They watched as the shimmer solidified into a fully-visible... dragon.

There were shrieks and sighs. It was a handsome beast, this dragon, with blue-black scales and shining claws. Daine gasped, looking at Numair.

"Am I mad," she said slowly. "Or is it..."

"Diamondflame." said the mage. "It is."

Neal, seeing the confusion on Kel's face, told her: "Diamondflame was one of our allies at the end of the Immortals War. It was he that really turned the tide. Daine and Numair got quite friendly with him."

Daine suddenly cried, "Quiet! Diamondflame's trying to tell me something and I can't hear myself think!"

Why are you shocked, dragon-guardian? What is wrong?

These spidrens... are you on their side? thought Daine in reply.

I came here in search of Jewelclaw, who is. I transported myself to land on top of him, but he was gone.

When did you arrive?

One minute past.

Mithros be thanked for that! It clears you! But... do you know if Jewelclaw was here nearly five minutes ago?

He was here two minutes ago.

"Praise Mithros!" cried Daine, repeating the conversation and adding: "Jewelclaw is really nasty. He wanted to kill Numair and I - me - when we were in the Dragonlands."

Lord Wyldon looked dubious. "Well... the spidrens are dead, all right. Miss Sarrasri, please rearrange the talks. The King should hear of this."

"And see the dragon." agreed the King's Champion. "Pages, prepare to leave."

"Why's she going along with the Stump?" Kel asked Neal as they saddled up. "I mean, she totally hates him! And this is hardly something she'd want to happen..."

"Well, she knows the Stump won't be satisfied until the dragon's cleared. She didn't really want these talks in the first place. And she wants Diamondflame to be cleared, and she knows that the King will believe him."

"All right, Neal. It is something she wants to happen. Hurry up! I'm finished and you've hardly cinched her saddle!"

At that moment, Daine emerged from the clearing quite close to them. Kel and Neal listened as she said to Numair and Alanna:

"Well, they were not happy about it, but I pointed out that although we did trust them and did hope that we would not have to believe the worst of them, the fact remained that forty spidrens were found, ready for war, within ten yards of the meeting place. So they backtracked and the upshot is, we're to meet them again, on the same neutral ground, in exactly two weeks time. To the hour, though I don't know why they bother. I mean, the day they're on time is the day you lose to a page!"

"Good work rearranging, Daine! I should think Jon'll put you in charge of the diplomats when he hears this!" cried Alanna. Daine looked alarmed for a second, then relaxed and giggled.

"Did I do all right, then? I answered them okay, but I think I set our terms out too soon. Don't you think I should have sort-of kept those as an ultimatum?"

"You were great, Daine. Really. I should think they'll agree now, and you know how sceptical I was to start with!"

"So was I. So were most of the palace, not least the King! But my magelet's proved them all wrong. Daine, you were marvellous." Numair kissed her lightly. Alanna noticed with amusement that they had actually listened to and remembered what she'd said before the negotiations had started. A rare occurrence indeed! A shiver went down her back as she remembered Jon's belief that Numair was weakening Thayet, and her friend's thin wan face on the pillow, the Queen too weak to even raise her hand to wave good-bye, the Queen who so recently had been so strong and healthy, the hope and inspiration of the Riders. What if it were true! She'd be betraying Numair, Daine, Lindhall Reed, even Kitten. Yet if she chose not to... No. She could never choose not to. The oath of Knighthood... and as King's Champion... she reminded herself. And if she sided with Numair, she would be betraying Jon, Thayet, George, Myles, as well as the young princes and princesses, and her own children. Shaking herself out of her mood: It isn't him!, she looked at the pages, slowly getting ready for the long ride back. Darkmoon was already saddled. Winking at Daine and Numair - Thayet... her mind reminded her with a stab of pain - she mounted and rode along the lines. In stentorian tones she pointed out all the things that the pages were doing wrong: a long stirrup there, a loose saddle there, a twisted bit there. Finally, when all the horses met her exacting standards, she rode to the front to join Hakim and Lord Wyldon, in front of Numair - she bit her lip to try to think of something, anything, else - and Daine. She nodded.

"Pages!" cried the Bazhir, drawing his sword. "Move OUT!"

They began to ride.

"Shades of this morning!" whispered the irrepressible Neal.