Chapter Thirty-Six

King of the North

Brom stood in the centre of the circle of elders, head bowed. Saphira was with him, crouched low to the ground, and both man and dragon waited in silence.

At last Vrael spoke. 'Report.'

Brom paused, gathering his thoughts. 'I truly am sorry, Lord Vrael,' he said. 'I did what I could.'

'Be calm, Brom,' said Saraswati, her voice warm. 'You did well. You're not on trial here.'

That gave Brom some courage. 'I did as you asked, my Lords and Lady,' he said. 'I went with the heretic and we laid low at Orthíad for a week or so. His idea. But it was the right thing to do – he came and found us there in the end. That was a month after the massacre at Gil'ead.'

'How did he respond to you?' Oromis asked. 'What was his reaction?'

Brom hesitated. 'He was… very pleased to see me. He remembered who I was and still counted me as a friend; he was friendly and affectionate, and he trusted me right away. He didn't ask me to tell him I was on his side in the ancient language, although he did get the heretic to do it.'

Oromis chuckled darkly. 'You see?' he said, addressing Vrael. 'Just as I predicted. The bonds of friendship go deep.'

'Go on,' Vrael urged Brom. 'What happened then?'

'He had one of the three traitors from Gil'ead with him,' said Brom. 'The girl, Kaelyn. She and her two friends have become his apprentices. I saw him with them, teaching them swordplay and magic.'

The elders muttered angrily. 'So now he is seeking to corrupt the minds of the young,' said Oromis. 'Is there no end to his depavity? Tell me; what were his relations with them like? Did they appear willing to obey him?'

'Oh yes, very much so,' said Brom, nodding. 'They are fiercely loyal to him; the girl even threatened us when she thought we were going to attack him. She showed no fear of us. She and her friends treat the half-breed almost like a father. He never had to raise his voice at all; they listened to whatever he said and obeyed his every command.'

'What is he like now?' Vrael asked. 'How did he behave? Is the madness as bad as we suspected?'

Brom shook his head. 'No, my Lord,' he said. 'It's worse. Far worse than we thought.'

'Did he seem depressed?' said Vrael. 'Do you think it likely that he could take his own life?'

'I doubt it, my Lord,' said Brom. 'No… to be honest, I was astonished by how rational he was. I expected something – some outward sign of his insanity, but there was nothing. He's calm and balanced, he speaks clearly and sensibly, almost never shouts or shows any sign of anger. In fact, he seemed almost completely harmless. But it didn't take me long to see what was wrong with him. His delusions are very deep-seated – so much so that he talked about them so compellingly that they almost sounded like they were true. The others certainly believed it – every word of it. Completely taken in.'

'What delusions are these?' said Vrael. 'Describe them.'

'Well, he honestly believes that he is innocent of raping Flell, and that she betrayed him and lied to you – and that she somehow managed to take you in in spite of the fact that you would of course have made her use the ancient language. He has incredible paranoid delusions – he believes that you – meaning the council of elders – conspired to destroy him and sent other riders after him to murder him and his dragon. He is absolutely convinced that it was you who killed his dragon, and that he has no option but to kill you all, along with anyone and everyone who tries to stop him.'

'That's outrageous!' Yansan exclaimed. 'How could he-?'

'The worst of it is,' said Brom, daring to cut across him, 'That the way he talks about it is so convincing that it almost made me believe it. He believes it so much that he can repeat it in the ancient language without any effort. And I have to admit that it's a very powerful story. Powerful enough to draw in many, many people. Even other riders… but we already know that.'

The elders glanced at each other, inscrutable.

'How is he as a leader?' said Vrael. 'How are they organised?'

'Like nothing I've ever seen,' said Brom. 'If I may speak frankly… I have never, ever seen a leader as inspiring as the half-breed is. The way he speaks, the way he looks at you, even the way he moves… everything about him has an aura of absolute confidence and certainty. When you look at him, you have a strange feeling that nothing can ever stop him or hurt him. As if he's invincible. He has a way of talking to you as if he could see inside you and know exactly what you were thinking before you thought it. He can always find something about you that can give him power over you… your fears, your hopes, your memories. He appealed to my loyalty as a friend to both him and Morzan, and the speeches he gave, about what he means to do… they were frightening, but listening to them made you feel as invincible as he looked. As if you could do anything, and would do it, and all for him.'

'It must be some vile dark elvish magic,' said Oromis. 'Nothing else could make riders of such long service and such great loyalty turn against their friends.'

'I doubt it, Master Oromis,' said Brom. 'It isn't magic; it's him. He's a born leader. Every one of those poor fools has some petty grudge against this council, but somehow he managed to take hold of those things and turn them into a terrible hatred and bloodlust. Not one of them would hesitate to kill for him, or die for him. I saw all that, and I knew I had to act, and fast. They were planning an attack on Vroengard. I told them you were there, Master Oromis, and they decided they would take Vroengard and kill you. They were going to use it as their fortress and come out of hiding – they believed they were ready to begin open war against you. The half-breed made a string of threats against every member of this council, and especially you, Lord Vrael. He has sworn to kill you with his own hands. He seems to believe that your murder would somehow "liberate" Alagaësia and undo all your supposed crimes… I helped them to plan the attack, but gathered information about their methods at the same time. In the end the half-breed announced it was time, and that they would leave to begin the attack on the following day. I confess… I tried to persuade him to stop this madness. As a friend. He listened to me, but refused to take my advice.'

'That was unwise,' said Oromis. 'You could have given yourself away.'

'Yes. I admit that. But he does listen to people. He takes suggestions from all of his followers, even the apprentices. He told me he had no choice but to fight you; that it was your fault and that you deserved what was happening. Anyway… the night before the attack was due to happen, I knew I had to act. I brought him some food and managed to slip the poison into it without being noticed. He was outside, away from the others. He goes off on his own sometimes, usually around moonrise. He says he likes watching the moon; it helps him think. I gave him the food and sat down to talk with him, and he ate it without suspecting anything. But unfortunately he ate only two spoonfuls, and slowly, so he realised he had been poisoned before he had taken a properly fatal dose.'

'Two spoonfuls should have been enough,' said Oromis.

Brom nodded. 'But he was too cunning for that. He forced himself to vomit it back up again, and before I could finish him off with my sword his followers caught me. I tried to fight my way out, but there were too many of them.'

'Then what happened?' said Vrael. 'How did you escape?'

'He let me go,' said Brom.

'What?' said Saraswati.

'It's true,' said Brom. 'They had me at their mercy, and their dragons had Saphira. Morzan gave the order to kill me, but the half-breed stopped them. He told them to let me go, and they did.'

'Why?' said Vrael, blinking. 'I don't understand. Why would he do that? Did he know you were the poisoner?'

'Yes,' said Brom. 'He told me he was letting me go for the sake of our friendship, but he said that if he ever saw me again he would kill me. So Saphira and I fled, and… well, my Lord, there's no need to say any more – you already know the rest.'

Vrael was silent, thinking it over. 'Well,' he said at length. 'By all accounts you did well, Brom, and you have my thanks for that. Even if you failed to kill the half-breed, you will have averted the attack on Vroengard, and perhaps the poison will have weakened him. Viper's Tears can have a lingering effect on its victims.'

Brom bowed. 'Thankyou, my Lord. Is there anything else I can do for you?'

'You may leave now,' said Vrael. 'A scribe will visit you later to take down a record of everything you witnessed. Rest awhile. We will summon you again when we need you.'

Brom bowed again and left.

Once he was well gone, Vrael and his fellow elders looked at each other with grim expressions.

'The situation grows worse, my friends,' Oromis said wisely.

'Worse?' Yansan exclaimed. 'Does it? Really? Thankyou for that insight, Lord Oromis.' He shook his head disgustedly and went on; 'It seems that we underestimated the half-breed. Until he begins attacking us in the open, finding him will be nigh-on impossible.'

'But there must be some way of getting to him,' said Saraswati. 'Something we haven't thought of yet.'

'There is,' said Vrael.

They looked at him expectantly.

'An old friend has proven that the half-breed has not lost his humanity,' said Vrael. 'He still retains some capacity to care for other people. So much so that he allowed Brom to return here with vital information for us instead of taking the more sensible route and killing him. He sacrificed a major tactical advantage simply out of misplaced affection for the boy. That tells us something important, something we can still use.'

'But what?' said Yansan. 'His family is dead. He has no other close friends that we're aware of… unless you're thinking of Flell?'

Vrael paused. 'The girl is useless,' he said. 'No more than a broken shell. She has nothing left for him that he could possibly want, unless that be revenge for her supposed crime against him.'

'If only the child had survived, we could have used it to lure him out of hiding,' said Oromis. 'Alas, that cannot happen. But tell me, Lord Vrael… what is your plan?'

'I don't know yet,' said Vrael, frowning. 'But there must be something we can use. There must be people he cares for that we could take into our power. Someone he would die to protect. One of his followers, perhaps, but how we would go about capturing one of them I cannot say.'

'There will be a way,' said Oromis. 'There must be a way. For now, I suggest we wait until he shows himself again. If indeed the attack at Orthíad has succeeded, he may well be dead or captured by now anyway. We will have to wait until Menulis returns.'

'I agree,' said Vrael. 'Let us think on this separately. We will meet again tomorrow and discuss this again.'

The elders bowed to each other, and departed.

Galbatorix lit a large black fire, and sat by it, cross-legged, the Forsworn around him. Kaelyn kept close to him, which made the others smile, but she said nothing and waited respectfully for him to speak.

'The first thing I want to know is where Morzan and Tranah are,' he said. 'They're not-?'

'We don't know where Tranah is,' said Strein. 'But she definitely got out of the Beors all right. She's probably in the North somewhere. And Morzan was with us until a few days ago.'

'Where did he go?' said Galbatorix.

'We, uh, had a disagreement,' Roland explained, shame-faced. 'Morzan resented it when I tried to take charge, and stormed off to look for you. That was three days ago, and we haven't seen him since.'

Galbatorix swore. 'Damned idiot. We'll have to go looking for him, and Tranah as well. But the beacon was a good idea. I saw it a long way off and figured out it was your doing, Roland. The Three Peaks, right?'

Roland nodded. 'I thought you would recognise my handiwork, sir. But you'd better tell us where you've been, and how you were able to get these two young fools to join us.' He glanced affectionately at Orwyne, who grinned and nudged him in the ribs. Vander smiled uncertainly.

'It's fairly simple,' said Galbatorix. 'Kaelyn and I were outside and saw them coming, so I sent her in to warn you. There would have been no time to organise ourselves effectively, and there were at least six of them coming, so… well, I suppose I panicked, really. I lit myself up with magic so they'd see me, and shouted a challenge, and that worked perfectly. Brought them straight to me. Menulis himself was leading them.'

Strein swore, which was most unlike her. 'Menulis?'

Galbatorix nodded grimly. 'He's the one who sentenced my parents to death. Anyway, Shruikan joined me, and we did what we could to delay them. We went straight at Menulis – took him completely by surprise. I managed to injure Nyx with magic, and Shruikan had called up the storm, and that threw them into confusion. I don't know how many of them died – at least two. One was struck by lightning and I took out a second one. Didn't manage to kill Menulis, unfortunately, but I gave the bastard something to remember me by. It was a lucky hit. I got his sword-arm with magic and more or less ripped it clean off. He won't forget that in a hurry. And I'm pretty sure Nyx will have trouble walking from now on – I got her in the forelegs. Didn't stop her doing us some damage, though.'

Shruikan lifted his wing, and they saw the row of three neat scars that went from his shoulder to his chest. Galbatorix rolled up the leg of his trousers and showed them the deep, partly-healed slash-marks over his calf. 'That was from Nyx's claws,' he said. 'She got both of us in one hit. It's lucky my leg was in the way, or Shruikan might have had his throat ripped out.'

The others murmured. 'That looks painful, sir,' said Roland. 'You're lucky not to have been crippled.'

'It wasn't much fun,' Galbatorix agreed calmly, pulling his trouser-leg back into place before he resumed. 'It still twinges a bit. That's why I fell over when I got off Shruikan's back just now. That and the fact that I'd stiffened up a bit from being in the saddle. Anyway, we gave them the slip in all the confusion and found somewhere to lay low for a while. We couldn't risk following you straight away in case we led the bastards right to you. We found a valley near some dwarf-city called… oh, I don't know, Farthen something. We had to stay there and rest for a while – we were both hurt, and the poison was still making me sick. But it was safe enough there. Unfortunately, we were found. By Vander here. He'd been with Menulis and had got lost in the storm. He wasn't expecting me to be there in the valley; he just landed there to take some water from the river. I took him by surprise and attacked him, but he surrendered.'

'You scared the life out of me,' said Vander, speaking almost for the first time.

Galbatorix smiled slightly. 'Sorry. Anyway, so he promised not to attack me and we talked. I didn't trust him at first, but he explained that he had acted purely out of duty and because of his oath. In the end he admitted – oh, you tell them, Vander.'

Vander looked a little nervous, but said; 'I hate the elders as much as you do. Maybe more so.'

'Why?' said Strein.

'It's not really because of me,' said Vander. 'It's because of Ymazu. My dragon.'

The light-brown dragon watched them keenly as he spoke. She was only about Shruikan's size, but was clearly a mature adult – they could tell from the thickness of her horns and the spines on her back. She did not look like the dragons they knew; her horns were much shorter, her build was smaller and more compact, with a shorter neck and small stout legs, though her wings were quite large. Her wings were yellow and her eyes were gold.

'Ymazu is a plains dragon,' said Galbatorix. 'One of what I thought was a dead species until I met her.'

'Oh!' said Strein. 'You mean… weren't there…? The Hadarac…?'

'That's right,' said Roland. 'The Hadarac Desert is not a natural part of our country. It's in the wrong place. You don't get deserts in areas like that.'

'It used to be a huge plain,' said Vander. 'Until the riders destroyed it.'

Orwyne nodded grimly. 'I was there. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I helped them do it. The plains dragons refused to provide eggs for the riders, so they used a spell on the rivers that flowed through the plains to make them dry up. In the end the plains turned into a wasteland. The plains dragons left looking for somewhere else to live, but…'

'The plains were our home as well,' said Vander. 'My people. We were nomadic, and we lived alongside the plains dragons – they were sacred animals to us. After the desert was formed we managed to cling on there, but some of us gave in and found new homes in the cities, including my parents. I was born and raised in Utgard. When I told my parents I wanted to try and become a rider, they were furious. They hated the riders and forbade me to go to the trials, but I did anyway. I had dreams of dragons, and I believed they meant it was my destiny to be a rider. And I was right. I went to Ellesméra – it was at least ten years ago by now – and Ymazu hatched for me there. Her egg was one of those the riders stole from the plains dragons. A plainsman and a plains dragon. It was destiny. I did not want to take an oath to Vrael, but I did it out of fear of what they might do to me if I refused. But every day Ymazu would tell me to break free somehow, even though neither of us knew how we could do it. But this man here showed us the way. When he spoke to me, I saw he had the strength to do what I could not, and I begged him to let me join him.'

'And I agreed,' said Galbatorix. 'Well, how could I possibly refuse? I released Vander from his oath, and he swore loyalty to me. And, thankfully, he's very good at healing, so he was able to do something about Shruikan's neck and my leg – I'd only had the strength to partly heal it. So, once we were satisfied that it was safe to leave, we did so. But, well, I couldn't resist stopping along the way to get some supplies. I knew if we were going to hide in the North we'd need a few things, so we stopped by at Utgard. I went into the marketplace in the evening and stole a few things, and Vander went into the castle to gather some of his possessions – no-one had any idea he'd turned traitor, you see, so they welcomed him back with open arms. But, as it happened, there was another rider there who'd stopped by on her way somewhere else.'

'That was me,' Orwyne put in. 'Naturally I asked Vander to dine with me before I went on my way, which he agreed to. But I was a little puzzled by how jumpy he was. Still, we got on well, and then I mentioned you, Roland, and said how unhappy I was that you'd turned traitor and how I was afraid you might be killed. And Vander asked me if I knew why you'd done it. I had a hunch. I told him it was probably because of that crazy religion of yours.'

Roland grinned. 'Your hunch was correct, Orwyne my dear. Your crazy old mentor decided that the time to teach the elders a lesson was come, and ran off on, as they say, a wing and a prayer.'

Orwyne nudged him again. 'Always young at heart, Roland, eh? Anyway, Vander asked me if I believed the stories about the Great Betrayer and how he's insane and a murderer. I said I wasn't sure, but I doubted anyone could've done all the things he's done if they were crazy. Vander said some people were looking to him as the one to repay the elders in kind for all they'd done, and asked me if I believed that. He was quite persuasive, actually. When I said I wasn't about to start agreeing with someone I'd never met and who could very well be out of his mind, and then Vander admitted that he had met the Great Betrayer. Now that I wasn't prepared for. And Vander told me how the Great Betrayer attacked Elder Menulis openly and on his own, so that his friends could escape, killed two riders without any help at all, and then vanished like smoke. I asked him how he had escaped, but he wouldn't tell me. I started to get suspicious, and then-,' she glanced at Galbatorix. '-That was when you just appeared out of nowhere and nearly made me swallow my tongue. It didn't take me long to figure out who he was, but he still won't tell me how the hell he did it. Of course, I freaked out and just about attacked him, but he took an oath that he would not attack me unless I attacked him first, and invited me to talk with him. Vander advised me to say yes, so I agreed. I locked the door, and we sat down together and talked. And then… well, and then Galbatorix told me everything. Every last bit of it. At first I didn't believe him, but he repeated it all in the ancient language, and I knew it was true. And he told me Roland had joined him of his own free will, and that he believed in the need to fight for justice, and that if I wanted to see him again I should go with him and Vander. Not to fight, not unless I wanted to, but by then I was already seeing things his way, and in the end I made my mind up and agreed to let him undo my vows and take me with him. So here I am.'

'That was a big step to take,' said Roland.

'I know,' said Orwyne. 'But I could never fight against you, Roland. Never. And if the elders want to kill you because you refused to be ashamed of what you believe… then I won't let them get away with it any more. And I was tired of working for them. Some of the things they did – I knew they were wrong, but I did nothing. But when Lord Galbatorix spoke to me, I knew the time had come for me to open my eyes and do what was right. So I took the vow to serve him and cut the points off my ears, and if you would count me as one of you, I would consider it an honour.'

'Of course we do,' Strein said stoutly.

'Now then,' said Galbatorix, reaching for his bag. 'Who would like an apple?'

He brought out a bag of fruit and shared it around, and they eagerly accepted it. While they sat around, munching on the sweet fruit, Roland said; 'As always, your exploits never fail to astound me, sir. However, I would like to respectfully ask what it is you intend for us to do next. Obviously we cannot attack Vroengard – at least, not at the moment – so what shall we do?'

'We're going to stay here,' said Galbatorix.

The others stared at him.

'What?'

'What?'

'What?'

'I'm sorry, sir, but are you being serious?' said Roland.

'Yes,' said Galbatorix. 'We're going to stay in the North, for at least six months. Until the apprentices have had some more training and their dragons are big enough to fight. Because until that time, we're far less able to fight and travel properly.'

'But we can't survive here!' Strein exclaimed.

'I survived here for months,' said Galbatorix. 'And my people lived here for at least fifty years. It's possible. We can't stay right here, but I can find us a better place. Besides, winter's ending. It'll be spring soon. It'll be much easier once the weather warms up a bit.'

'I should certainly hope so,' Roland mumbled.

'It'll be fine,' said Galbatorix. 'I promise. They won't come out here. Or, if they do, they'll be out of their element. There's nowhere for them to run to. This is my country. Out here I'm the one who understands how the land works.' He smiled bitterly. 'Here, I'm King.'

It seemed that, with Galbatorix's return, luck returned to them as well. They spent the afternoon deep in discussion, deciding on a new strategy. They determined that they would indeed stay in the North, at least until Kaelyn, Gern and Tuomas were ready to fight and their dragons old enough to ride. In the meantime, their first order of business had to be finding Morzan and Tranah. By now it was too late in the day to set off – finding anyone in the dark would be nigh-on impossible. But Galbatorix organised the others into pairs and chose a direction for each of them to go in, and they decided that they would set out first thing in the morning. After that it was time for dinner, and after that, sleep. Galbatorix strung up a hammock between two trees and promptly went to sleep in it, much to the surprise of the others. As Orwyne remarked, out of all the legends, rumours and stories about the Great Betrayer, none of them had ever mentioned that he slept in, of all things, a hammock.

'I've always found those things uncomfortable,' she added. 'But to each his own.'

The others found themselves places to settle down out of the wind, and Strein and the apprentices couldn't help but notice that Roland and Orwyne chose to sleep side-by-side "to keep warm". That made Kaelyn giggle for the first time in months. Roland pretended not to notice.

They settled down to sleep.

Kaelyn had strange dreams. She dreamt that she was riding Sartago, and he was not small any more, but huge – so huge she could not see the ground below them. She was holding an iron-grey sword that matched his scales, and as the air rushed past her she laughed. When she looked around, she realised there were other dragons flying around her. None of them had riders. One was gold, one green, one brown, one yellow, one orange and one red. She reached out to them, unafraid, and they looked at her, smiling, and she realised that they were her friends. The gold dragon chuckled and spoke in Roland's voice. Can you see the future? he asked.

I'm looking for it, Kaelyn answered.

Then open your wings, Roland advised.

Kaelyn didn't understand. But then she realised that she was Sartago. She roared and breathed silver fire, and the other dragons circled around her, laughing. She could feel her wings catch the wind, her claws flexed and spread wide to snatch at the clouds. She ate one and it tasted like snow.

Be serious, a voice said. Perhaps it was hers.

The sky darkened abruptly, and she was flying through pitch blackness. But she was not afraid. The others were there with her, and there were stars overhead, and a yellow moon. Lightning flashed all around, but there were no clouds.

A dragon doesn't fly in a storm, she said.

But we do, said a voice – a deep, strong voice with a Teirmish accent – a voice she knew. A great, dark dragon appeared from out of the night, flying beside her. Everything about him was black – his wings, his claws, his horns, his scales. But he had a pointed beard and his horns were curly, and he looked at her with Galbatorix's eyes. Follow me, he said. The lightning trail.

He flew ahead, and Kaelyn followed him, but he disappeared and she couldn't see where he had gone. Then something hit her in the side, and the orange dragon said something she didn't understand.

Kaelyn started awake. Someone was prodding her in the ribs. She slapped them away without thinking.

'Ow! Kaelyn, that hurt!'

Kaelyn sat up. 'What? What's going on? Why's it so dark?'

'It's nighttime, you moron,' said a voice. She realised it was Gern's.

'Gern? What's going on?'

'It's Morzan,' said Gern. 'He's back. Quick, c'mon, I want to see what's going on.'

Kaelyn got up hastily, realising there was a hubbub of voices all around. The fire was still lit, she realised – someone had been standing between her and it. Her eyes readjusted to the gloom as Sartago came to join her, and she hurried to see what was going on.

Idün was crouched at the edge of the camp with the other dragons, evidently tired but apparently unhurt, tending to Aedua, who was lying quite still, eyes closed.

The adults were by the fire, talking urgently among themselves, crouched around someone who was lying down. It was Tranah. Galbatorix was there, talking to Morzan, and Roland had his box of potions out and was rummaging through it, helped by Orwyne.

Kaelyn went to him. 'What's happening?' she asked. 'What's wrong with Tranah?'

Tranah was lying very still. Her face was swollen and her clothes were torn and singed. She was still breathing, but her puffy eyes were shut. Strein was with her, holding her hand.

'She's eaten something she shouldn't have,' Roland explained briefly. 'Orwyne, pass me that vial, will you? No, that one. Thankyou.' He was mixing several potions together in a handy mug, stirring it with a stick.

Kaelyn touched Tranah's other hand. 'Are you all right, Tranah?' she asked. 'Can you hear me?'

'She can't,' said Strein, who was looking very pale. 'Her throat's swollen up. Roland, is it ready yet?'

Roland handed the completed potion to her. 'It needs to be warmed up a little before she drinks it,' he said. 'If you could help…'

Strein needed no encouragement. She muttered a few words over the potion, then held it out toward Tranah, saying; 'Here. Drink it, Tran, please!'

To Kaelyn's surprise, Tranah responded immediately – apparently, she hadn't been unconscious after all. She groped blindly for the mug, and Strein put it into her hand and helped her sit up and drink it, which she did with some difficulty.

Galbatorix and Morzan came over to see. 'How's she doing?' said Galbatorix.

Tranah sighed and held up a thumb. The others laughed.

'She'll be fine,' said Roland. 'And I'm going to have to refill some of these vials if people keep getting poisoned like this. But I think someone's going to have to deal with those burns.'

Kaelyn went cold. 'Burns? What happened to her?'

'I found her,' Morzan volunteered. He was looking tired, but proud. 'She'd made it here, but I didn't know one of those bastards had got her at Orthíad. It ain't pretty.'

Roland peeled back Tranah's tunic. The others cringed.

She was horribly burnt. A huge patch of blistered, partly-healed skin went clear across her midriff and over one leg; partly healed but evidently infected.

'Oh, dear gods,' Roland mumbled.

'Is that what made her face swell up like that?' said Gern, not sounding as if he believed it.

'No,' said Roland. 'No, that was something else. Wolf lichen, if I'm any judge. It looks similar to the edible sort, but it's poisonous. The poor woman must have been forced to stop because of her injury and then mistakenly tried to eat some…'

'We'll need several of us working together to heal that,' said Galbatorix. 'Vander? Where is he?'

'Seeing to the dragon,' Orwyne put in.

The skinny man realised they were looking at him, and hurried over. 'I think she'll be all right,' he said. 'How's the rider?'

'Not good,' said Galbatorix. 'See what you can do for her, will you?'

Vander crouched by Tranah's side, examining the burn with a grim expression. 'I think I can heal it,' he said. 'But only if you help me. I need at least two of you.'

'I'll help,' Strein said immediately.

'And me,' said Roland.

'So will I,' said Orwyne, taking hold of her old master's hand.

Vander nodded. 'I assume you've done this before?'

'I have,' said Roland.

'So have I,' said Orwyne.

Strein, however, shook her head.

'It's simple enough,' said Vander. 'I'll speak the words of the spell. You three will channel your energy into me. I will open my mind to you. Form a temporary link with me, and share your energy with me. And for the love of gods, don't withdraw too soon. I saw someone do that once, and it nearly killed the pair of them.'

Strein nodded. 'I can do that.'

'Very well.' Vander breathed in deeply and spread his hand over Tranah's injury. He spoke a string of words in the ancient language – not the simple healing spell that Kaelyn knew. Pale brown light began to glow around the burn, and Tranah cried out in pain. Strein, Orwyne and Roland closed their eyes, each one frowning in concentration. They did nothing visibly, but Kaelyn saw Vander's magic become brighter, with streaks of light green, dark brown and bright gold swimming through it – the magic of the other three riders, added to his. Kaelyn had never seen anything like it in her life.

A minute or so passed. The wound slowly started to heal. Horribly, they could see the pus being expelled from it as the infection was purged from it as it healed. Tranah cried out again at that, the noise catching in her swollen throat. Kaelyn held her hand to comfort her, and Tranah evidently felt it, for she calmed down a little and lay still until the spell was completed and the burn had become a raw red scar. After that, she slept.

'Well done,' Galbatorix told them all. He looked around proudly at his followers, and bowed his head to them. 'Now we're back together and stronger than ever. Tranah will have plenty of time to recover, and we'll make the North our home until we're ready to take the fight back to the elders. Tomorrow I'll lead you to a better place for us to stay.'

'I don't like this place,' said Morzan. 'It's a wasteland.'

'I cannot say I like the prospect of staying here for months on end,' Roland agreed, albeit a little hesitantly.

'There's no food,' said Gern. 'And no shelter, either.'

Galbatorix shrugged. 'Welcome to my kingdom.'