Chapter Eight

Dawn came slowly the next morning. Overhead steely grey clouds promised rain. Crow and Two huddled together talking as the guards prepared breakfast and packed up the tents again. Last stood to one side, turning his pale gaze on each member of the group. Eventually, once everything had been packed away the two stood.

'Right, listen up,' Two said. He coughed loudly and when that failed stepped up onto a rock and clapped his hands together a few times to get everyone's attention. Once they were listening he coughed and continued, 'We've talked about it and it sounds as if our road will only pass through the edge of the desolation. We can't risk missing the market in Trewalder. If we go any other way it might take weeks extra, so we're going to carry on this way. We should pass through Highmost Redmanhey later today, and after that it's only a half a day's travel and we'll be out of the dragon's territory. Any questions?'

Harry raised a hand, once Two reluctantly acknowledged him lowered the hand and asked, 'How big is this dragon's territory? I mean it won't mean much if being near the edge of it, if the edge is practically right beside its lair will it?'

'Last has helped us plot our route. We'll be fine, just keep quiet, which goes for everyone. If you could try not to do anything flashy Wizard I'd be a very, very happy man. They say dragons can smell magic, so keep it to a minimum.'

'I'll be as quiet as a mouse,' Harry promised, before adding, 'a really quiet mouse that is, not one of the squeaky ones, or one of the ones which scratches at the wainscot. Imagine me as a ghostly mouse, a silent ghostly mouse ...'

'Yes, yes, thank you,' Two interrupted, 'Are you sure you want to carry on this way Last? You may travel with us if you wish to. There is safety in numbers.'

Last shook his head, 'I have many meetings to keep. The Brotherhood will be meeting soon, I must be there. It is believed that men now know who stormed the House of Altarnun. You will meet few of that kindred who have not been hired to repay the blow.'

With a final salute the stranger turned upon his heel and strode away down the dark, brown strip of the road. Soon he was just a shadow on the barren landscape. They watched him go and then turned to their own business, hitching the horses to the wagons, scattering the ashes of the fire and setting off around the hillside before Last was quite out of sight.

'So,' Harry asked as they marched up to the saddlebow between two hills, 'What is the House of Altarnun?'

'It is legendary, or was until recently,' the Old Man said. 'How can you not know about it?'

'I like the quiet life,' Harry said.

The Old Man rolled his eyes at Slipper who shrugged. Getting an answer from the wizard was about as easy as getting blood from a stone. 'It was a fortress. A cradle of knowledge. They say that the House had agents everywhere. It gathered information from every corner of the world, housed it, hid it and sold it to the highest bidder. The agents are still out there but the fortress was stormed a few months ago.

'Someone killed everyone in there. The archives were utterly destroyed ...'

'Burnt?' Harry asked.

'No, just gone. Utterly vanished, not a single scroll was left. Some are saying that one of the Gentry must have sent the Dullahan. Nonsense if you ask me, if anyone could control that creature there would be nothing which could stand against them,' the Old Man finished.

Harry sighed, 'You're not going to believe that I need to ask this. What is a dullahan?'

'The Dullahan, there is only one, thank the rowan. He is a horseman, almost human in form, though he lacks a head. Every door unlocks in his presence. If you see him he'll come for you next. He carries a whip made from the spines of his victims. You can't kill him, you can't reason with him, you can't stop him. You can only delay him, he cannot touch gold, they say. But who has enough gold to protect them forever?' The Old Man explained quietly as they came to the crest.

'Why do people think it was that thing which did it?' Harry asked, looking uneasily from side to side. There was nothing on the hillside but bare rock and grass.

'None of the doors were broken down. Whatever it was cut through the entire guard, but no-one found any sign that they managed to kill a single attacker. That place was a fortress. Iron was everywhere, every door was supplemented with rowan, not even one of the High Folk could have stormed it,' One-Eye said, cutting in.

Then they reached the top of the saddlebow. Below them ran a long, green valley, over which rainclouds hung low. If any of them had expected to see some obvious sign that they were entering the wastes of a dragon, they were disappointed. There were no long burning fires or great columns of smoke rising from burning towns and villages. The hills and distant fields were not blackened and charred. No great wings beat the air. A cold, wet wind blew up the valley and a murmuration of starlings wheeled against the grey clouds.

The valley should have been more inhabited than the wild hills and moors they had been crossing for the last few days, yet the world seemed quieter and less substantial as pools of silvery water reflected the sky. Although they passed farmsteads the fields were empty, only occasional scarecrows swayed in the breeze to ward off the birds. Ploughs stood abandoned in half-tilled fields.

Once when they passed a farm which lay close to the road they saw open doors swinging slowly to and fro and heard the lowing of cows in the cattle sheds. After a short discussion they halted, searched the farm for life, milked the cows and released them into the fields. Then they took the supplies which they had found, rather than letting them spoil, and set off again. The next few miles were slightly more cheerful as they passed round cheese and the skin of milk they had filled, enjoying the warm, rich, creamy taste before it began to spoil. Pen was certainly happy, carefully storing the eggs he had collected from the chickens at the farm in a crate filled with straw.

Throughout it all they spoke as little as possible, and when they did speak it was in whispers. The rain was a welcome relief when it started to fall. Sweeping sheets flowed across the landscape in soaking downpours. The constant beating of the raindrops on the canvas eased the silence. Harry made no move to create mage-fire and so the guards and merchants sheltered in the three wagons, miserable, wet and cold, rubbing their hands together and ignoring one another.

They came to Highmost Redmanhey as the light was beginning to fade in the gradual fashion of cloudy days. The rain was falling more gently now. The town had been built on and in an ancient hillfort from folk long gone. It had no proper wall and it needed none. On its northern side, opposite to that from which the party approached, lay a great slope mounted by the blank, granite faces of the outermost ring of houses. On the other three sides steep, grey cliffs cut away at the edge of the hill dropping down into a deep, impassable ravine. Only one bridge, just wide enough for a wagon to pass safely, arched across the gap.

'There were guards here last time I came this way,' Little rumbled as he guided the horses over the bridge.

'Well it looks like there's little to guard now,' Harry said, looking up at the town. 'I can't see so much as a candle up there.'

'I don't like the idea of staying in an empty town overnight,' Lucky said, shivering in the howling wind. 'That sounds dangerous to me. What if there are ghosts in there?'

'Ghosts won't harm us. The defences are probably still in place too. I don't like the thought of staying out in a dragon's land. Who knows what might walk after dark?' One-Eye asked, thumping his spear on the flagstones of the road as they waited for the other wagons to cross.

'Someone help me open the gate,' Harry grunted as he put his shoulder against the thick, red gates which hung ajar just beyond the bridge. It swung outwards easily enough with only a few creaking groans from the aged wood and soon he and the Boy had the heavy doors open.

'Well, I imagine we can find a soft bed or two tonight,' Fre said more brightly than any of them felt. 'I doubt anyone will mind.'

'I'm not going into those houses,' Lucky said, scratching his cheek as he looked around at the dark, empty houses. 'What happened here though? There's no sign of a struggle or dragon-fire. It's just ...'

'Empty,' Harry finished for him. 'Maybe they simply fled when they heard of the dragon.'

'Then why didn't we see or hear of them? Our road was the fastest to the next town,' Slipper pointed out as she gripped on the daggers at her belt. 'Some might have gone another way, but not all.'

'It could have been anything,' Harry pointed out, gingerly prodding one door open and looking inside at the room where bowls half filled with congealed soup sat on the table undisturbed. 'I admit that it's quite creepy though. If I had to make a bet, I'd say something else removedthese people. Either it didn't care what people thought had happened or expected it to be blamed on the dragon.'

'We shouldn't stay here,' Lucky murmured again.

'It's only one night, then we'll be away from this accursed place. Thank the rowan,' the Old Man muttered, joining the group as the wagons rumbled into the town. 'I don't like not knowing where the folk went though.'

'They're still here,' Crow said quietly from behind them. 'Sort of anyway.'

'What?' Harry turned around, a wand almost materialised in his hand as he pulled it from a sheath at his hip. 'Where?'

'Don't worry. They won't be causing any trouble,' Crow said, leaning against a wall. His face was pale and shaken. 'Didn't you look into the ravine as we crossed? They're down there. Hundreds of them: men, women, children.'

'How? Why?' The Boy asked.

'I don't know. Could a sorcerer or some such have done this Wizard?' Crow asked Harry.

The wizard grimaced uncomfortably, 'Yes, but even a powerful wizard could only manage a dozen or so at a time. You couldn't do this to an entire town. Maybe if you had an artefact ... but it'd have to be incredibly powerful. Things like that leave a trace,' Harry said.

'They did it then,' the Old Man spat, touching his right hand to the grubby, scarlet ribbon he wore around his wrist.

'How though?' The Boy asked. 'I never heard of a thing that could do this.'

'There's a lot of things you haven't heard of. A cow or a boar most likely will have broken the rowan barrier. Might be that a singer was out there. Managed to entrap them before they knew what was happening. They'd have thought they were safe. It's easy for those things to get their hooks into a mind which thinks that,' One-Eye observed.

'Why? Why do this? What did they gain?' Harry asked. He kicked a lose slate so that it flew into a wall and shattered.

'Why does a man hunt? Sport, food, maybe to clear something away? Perhaps they were simply playing, like children destroying an anthill,' the Old Man said glumly. 'I'm not sure if most of them care that we exist. I've lived a long time and I've seen friends broken by them and met men and women who simply passed them on the road with nothing more than a "Good day".'

'You can't just accept that! They're intelligent beings, we must be able to talk to them!' Harry insisted.

'Aye, they're intelligent. Why would they talk to us though?' The Old Man asked as he shut the gates behind the wagon and barred it.

Harry strolled along the empty streets. The rain had ceased, a brisk breeze had largely cleared the skies leaving only occasional clouds to drift across the pale stars and the silvery pathway of the rest of the galaxy. Behind him the merchants and guards had taken up residence in one of the houses at the rain of the town, avoiding venturing into its heart. Two remained on guard with the wagons and horses with sprigs of rowan berries pinned to their cloaks. They had lit a fire in the hearth, though they had pulled clothes over the windows to prevent the light from escaping. Harry himself had taken those precautions he thought wise: putting on some of the hardened leather armour he had gathered and his long, green cloak which he had been slowly layering with enchantments.

Here and there cats strolled through the night time streets. They spared him the occasional glance but showed no particular interest in him. A large black and white tom paused in washing his paw to stare at Harry for a moment before simply bending his head again to carry on licking. Apart from the cats, and their prey, the town was like an empty snail shell: dead and hollow.

At least he thought so until he turned a corner onto the penultimate ring of the hill and heard the rustle of clothes. He turned, looking into the shadows. Drawing his wand, he cast a silent lumos on instinct and a were-light blossomed from his wand. A woman was standing in the shadow of a door way. She was tall, a match for his own height, perhaps taller. Her hair fell over her face in a sweeping wave of gold and in the light remarkably green eyes glinted from underneath her long fringe.

'Good evening,' Harry said warily. 'Forgive me for asking, but are you human? And if you are, how come you're not at the bottom of the ravine?'

She started slightly as she realised that he had noticed her and raised her head, brushing her hair away from her eyes. 'How could you tell?' She asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Your form could do with a little work,' he said and flicked his wand so that the light and floated up to light the street fully.

'I was of the opinion that it was rather good actually,' she said, glancing down at her hands. 'What did I get wrong?'

'The eyes mainly.'

'My eyes? Humans have green eyes, you have green eyes,' she pointed out petulantly.

'Yes, we do, absolutely right. The thing is though, they aren't just green. We have pupils ... the black bits in the middle, and the iris is surrounded by white. Sorry,' Harry said apologising with a shrug. 'So what are you really?'

'Look and see, if you have the strength,' she said, smirking.

Harry looked at her, locking his gaze with hers. The world narrowed around him as if he were looking through a keyhole at something which was far larger than the world could hold. She did not change, but there was a fire in her eyes. He felt that something vast was rising above him although there was nothing to see but a tall, proud woman staring at him from the shadows of an empty alley. He drew away his gaze with an effort and swayed slightly.

'I am impressed,' she conceded, 'not many men can turn away from a dragon's gaze.'

'Of course dragons can shapeshift, I mean why not?' Harry muttered to himself. 'I'm not most men. How did you find me?'

'The Last Friend, the Black Stranger, told me that I would find one of power here. That I would find you alone in this empty land.'

'They're empty because of you. What do you want?'

'Because of me? I have harmed no mortal in these lands, they fled because of their own cowardice. They were too poor for their pitiful wealth to interest me or my Mother, and what did they have that I do not possess? As for what I want, I want your help,' she said, sauntering forwards with a smooth, rolling gait.

'My help?'

'You sound like an echo. Yes, there is a task I have in mind for a man of quality, and you are the first such man I have found. All others fled, they were not worthy,' she said and now she was within arm's reach of him.

'What "task"?' Harry asked, shifting so that his wand was beyond her grasp.

She looked at him for a moment, 'My Mother needs to die.'

'Sorry, what?'

'I said "my Mother needs to die",' she repeated slowly. 'It is her time.'

'You actually want me to kill your mother?' Harry asked, confused. 'Why? Is this a trap?'

'Why would it be a trap? She is old. She can barely make it outside our lair anymore. If no-one comes to slay her she will die in her sleep, an unworthy death for one who burnt cities and slew kings. She must die in battle, and you are her last hope,' the dragon said simply. 'If you accept you may have anything I can give you: perhaps you will desire my help in return, I could raise you to be a god amongst men,' she said. With a flick of her fingers the air swum with visions of golden thrones and tall towers. 'Nations singing your name. Or perhaps something more mundane? Love, a warm bed, a peaceful life.'

Harry shook his head politely, 'Charming as your offer is I think not. I have companions I shouldn't leave.'

She chuckled. 'I am dragon. Fire runs in my veins. They will be safer without you.'

Harry's eyes narrowed, 'Is that a threat?'

'No. This land is barren of powers save for we two. We blaze as beacons and they would try themselves against us if given the chance. Even now they gather on your tail,' she said, blinking, and two sets of eyelids flicked down and up.

'You give your word?' He asked, 'This will protect my companions.'

'If you come with me I will mask them so that no creature of the sidhe will find them. Treat this as a sign of my good faith. We will set the true price after the deed is done. Come now, we must go before the Moon sets.'

'Wait,' he said, holding up a hand, hesitating for a moment. 'I'll come, but I've got to say goodbye to them first and keep my promises.'

She looked at him for a moment and then nodded sharply, 'It is good. It shows your honour. I can admire that.'

'Thanks,' Harry said dryly.

'I am known as the Lady Malvine, the Flame of the Morning; by what name should I know you?'

'Harry, just Harry,' he said turning to walk away down towards where the wagons waited.

The horses snickered and stamped their hooves, eyes wide as Harry and Malvine approached. Pen and Hendra who stood with them stepped forward to reassure them, hands gently running down their manes. Malvine stopped and stepped back into the shadows and the horses quietened.

'Is that you, Harry?' Hendra asked the shadows.

'Yep, it's me,' Harry said, giving as convincing a smile as he could manage as he came into the light. 'Excuse me a moment, I just need to go and talk to Two and Crow.'

'Is everything well?' She asked, cocking her head to the side.

'All okay, don't worry, I'll explain in a moment,' he promised, ducking inside the house where the others were eating supper and closed the door behind him.

The Boy looked up as the door opened and the Wizard slipped in. He looked tired and simply raised his hand quietly in greeting.

'Wizard! Sit down, have a drink, they left an excellent ale here!' Fre called from the corner.

'I can't. Crow, Two, everyone, I have to go. Here's the sack I promised,' Harry said, holding up his hand to forestall comment, 'yes, I know it didn't take nearly as long as I said it would to make, but don't pretend you don't lie about that sort of thing. Keep my unpaid wages. Count it as the favour you owed that I may go now. The dragon is here ...'

'What?' Crow squeaked as he and the others scrambled to their feet.

'Calm down,' Harry said, paused and shrugged, 'oh what the hell. Look, the dragon says I've got to go with her or a load of something almost undoubtedly horrible will attack us. I know this is a little unbelievable ...'

'You're a sorcerer, these things happen,' One-Eye said, though he did not sit back down. 'How long do we have till whatever it is gets here?'

'It will be fine, if I leave, she's offered to shield you from them. This isn't goodbye, I'll do my best to come to Trewalder by the time of the fair,' Harry promised. 'Though I suppose I've probably lost this job ... sorry.'

'I'm sorry to see you go,' Two said, deciding to politely avoid confirming Harry's statement. 'However, under the circumstances I think we should part as swiftly as possible. No offence meant, but I'd prefer that dragons are as far away from me as possible.'

Morning, when it came in hues of red and gold, saw Harry and Malvine walking over the bare hillside far from any road made by men. An ultramarine robe flowed around her. She stood on the crest of a hill as the light struck it and threw out her arms. The robe rippled around her and in an instant in the place of a tall woman reared a dragon with glinting blue scales edge with gold. It roared its defiance to the skies and turned towards Harry.

'Come, ride upon my back. We have many miles to go and we must move swiftly. Time is running short. Now that the sun is risen we may fly' Malvine said, her voice, rasping as it was, seemed oddly out of place coming from such a creature.

'Couldn't you have done that before?' Harry asked.

'I am a Child of the Sun, some things are beyond my power without its touch,' she admitted.

'Look, I'm sure you mean it well, but oddly I'm not that keen on trusting myself to ride a dragon. It's not as if there's anywhere particularly obvious to hold onto. However, I do have another solution,' Harry said and then he leapt into the air and his form melted into falcon which spread its blue-grey wings and beat upwards before sweeping round in a low circle. He rounded the plateau and landed again, human once more.

The dragon tilted its head to the side, 'I had not known that there were shape-wearers left amongst men. Is that form fast?'

'It's a peregrine falcon, one of the fastest. I admit I kind of wish it were a sparrowhawk or a merlin, they would be so appropriate, but what can you do?' Harry said with a shrug.

'I do not understand ...'

'No? Well I suppose not. Do dragons read much? There are positives though, I admit the tendency to have cravings for raw meat isn't so great, but the eyesight is magnificent,' he said almost bouncing up and down, 'I'd forgotten how good that feels though.'

'Yes, yes, now if you don't mind? The day isn't getting any longer, and before the Sun sets you must kill my Mother.'