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The blue dragon reared, towering over the girl. Numair and Rainbow steadied her as she got to her knees, then her feet.
—Who will help me convey these mortals out of the Dragonlands?— asked Diamondflame.
The young dragons, who had remained, clamored to go. When he looked down his muzzle at them, they silenced instantly. —Those of you who can fly are too small. The rest of you cannot fly at all—and fly we must. You will remain here, and mind Ancestor Rainbow.—
Daine’s mouth twitched as Scamp grumbled, —We never do anything interesting.—
—I will come with you.— One of the few adults remaining, a gray-and-gold dragon fifty-six feet in length, came over to them. She was an elegant creature, slender without looking at all fragile. —I am Wingstar. Your Skysong is my grandchild. The least I can do is bring her humans back to her.—
—Climb onto us,— ordered Diamondflame. —I believe the Dragonmeet is done.—
He was right. One by one, the dragons were vanishing from the arena tiers. Only the youngsters and Rainbow stayed.
Leaf went to Daine, Jelly to Numair. Once the humans had settled the darkings into their favored riding spots—around Daine’s neck and inside Numair’s shirt—Wingstar sank low to the ground. —I will take you, Weiryn’s daughter. You do not appear to have so many bony angles to you.—
Daine grinned at Numair and climbed onto the female dragon, settling in front of her wings. Numair had to ascend Diamondflame’s foreleg to perch on the blue dragon’s back.
—Hold on to my crest,— ordered Wingstar. —It won’t hurt me if you tug.—
Under her legs Daine felt powerful muscles flex. “Wait!” she cried, remembering something. The dragons, Numair, and the darkings stared at her. “When we came through last time, we—more me, but both of us for a while—got fair sick. We need to tell you—”
—Nothing,— interrupted Diamondflame. —You were brought here by lesser gods, not by dragons. You will not become ill in the least.—
Disliking the slur on her parents, Daine muttered, “Pardon me.” Leaf giggled under her ear as the flap of immense wings blew her hair into her eyes. She closed them tightly as the dragons leaped up and forward, soaring into the air.
Wind buffeted her. Opening her eyes, she saw that Diamondflame was in the lead, taking them into a cloud bank. Daine shivered; it was cool and clammy, and she couldn’t see. Feeling a tickle on her cheek that had to be Leaf’s hat, she asked, “Still funfun?”
“More fun,” the darking replied.
“You have a happy nature, little one,” she grumbled.
Up the dragons climbed, flying a corkscrew pattern through the clouds. Daine sensed Stormwings only a few moments before they came upon them, but as before, she recognized at least one, and very likely three, presences among them.
When the dragons emerged in clear, very cold, air, Barzha, Hebakh, Rikash, and their followers awaited them. All of the immortals were armed.
—You have interesting friends,— remarked Wingstar.
“If you don’t mind, we will go with you to the mortal realms.” Barzha’s voice sounded odd in the thin air. “We have business to settle.”
—I will not wait if you fall behind,— Diamondflame warned them.
The Stormwings grinned, steely teeth glinting, as they took up positions to the rear and sides of the dragons. Rikash was the only one to glide between them.
“Is this wise?” Daine asked. “Ozorne’s folk outnumber you almost four to one.”
“Since when are Stormwings wise?” he called, and laughed.
Diamondflame and Wingstar began their descent, gliding in a broad spiral that carried them into the clouds once more. Clammy, damp fingers brushed the girl’s face and wound in her hair. Gray fog blinded her again. “More fun, more fun,” commented Leaf.
They broke through the clouds.
She had expected to see Dragonlands or desert. What lay below was a tangled web of barns and gardens, and a sprawling complex of gray stone buildings tucked behind high walls in front and low ones behind. From the high walls, the land sloped down a green, uncluttered expanse before reaching tree groves around low-lying temples. On the far side of the groves lay a vast city flung on both sides of a broad river.
They were over the capital, and royal palace, of Tortall.
Daine frowned. The voices of the People filled her mind, but they were not tense or wary, as they had been when Port Caynn and the surrounding areas were under attack. Shaping her eyes to those of a raptor, she examined palace and city. Soldiers were everywhere, afoot, on horseback, or patrolling the river, but she saw no fighting, and a great deal of rebuilding. People were hard at work all over the palace grounds, too, piling debris for wagons to carry away. There were patrols on the walls and within the palace grounds, but nowhere did she find evidence of the enemy, except for two large prison stockades that lay east of the palace.
The dragons circled high above the palace; their Stormwing escort did the same. “Why come here?” Numair shouted to Diamondflame. “Skysong is at Port Legann!”
—Why are we here?— asked Wingstar, mind voice dry. —You guided us, Diamondflame, and I too thought you would take us to our grandchild. I don’t even see an army in this place.—
—The god of the duckmoles is here,— said Diamondflame. —I want to know why.—
Wingstar stared at the blue dragon. —Broad Foot? In this city?—
—On the other side of the world from his mortal children,— Diamondflame replied grimly as Numair and Daine exchanged looks. —Involving himself in mortal affairs.—
“How do you know all this?” the mage asked loudly.
—I am a dragon,— was the haughty reply. —My power tells me a great many things that you are blind and deaf to.—
Silver glittered in front of them, condensing very slowly as Broad Foot appeared. Daine reached for him before she remembered where they were. The duckmole was thin, his eyes sunken. “What’s happened to you?” she cried. “You look terrible!”
He clapped his bill gently in a duckmole laugh. —I overestimated my ability to contain Malady. It will not break free of me, but . . . It fights.— His mind voice—the only way the animal gods could speak in the mortal realms—sounded weak.
—This is incredible!— boomed Diamondflame. —What possible interest have you in the affairs of humans?—
The duckmole snorted. —Have you dragons shut yourselves off so completely from affairs in the mortal and divine realms? Can you not feel the battle that is raging? Read the Chaos currents around you!—
—Humans and their wars,— snapped Wingstar, but Daine heard doubt in her voice.
—If she overturns the mortal and divine realms, how long, do you think, it will be until she turns on the Dragonlands?— Broad Foot wanted to know. —You have made them separate from the Divine Realms, but you share a common border with them, and Uusoae is nothing but appetite. Even when fed to gorging, she hungers still.—
“Would you dragons mind setting down for a moment?” asked Numair. “I would like to learn what the situation is here.”
—And I would like to talk to you, duckmole,— said Diamondflame, gliding down to light on a broad expanse before the palace wall. Daine saw the soldiers’ bows follow them down. The catapults on the walls were being turned in order to dump rocks and liquid fire on the dragons, if necessary. She crossed her fingers and prayed that none of the defenders would lose control—she had the feeling that Diamondflame and Wingstar would have little mercy for human error. Looking over, she saw Numair talking into a small, fiery globe on his palm. He’d opened a speech spell to one of the mages below, and was explaining matters, talking with a speed only he could manage.
When the dragons settled on the bare earth, a gate in the wall opened, and two people came riding out. One, mounted on a horse and wearing chain mail, was unmistakably a knight, albeit older than most of the knights on active duty. His long-haired companion wore the brown tunic and trousers of
the Queen’s Riders and rode a mountain pony. Daine waved. She knew Duke Gareth the Elder and Buri, a commander of the Riders, almost as well as Numair did.
“They’re friends,” she told Wingstar as the female extended her forelegs, raising her chest, and the girl, higher in the air. “It’s all right.”
—They may well be friends, but do they know that we are?— The female sank down again. Once she was close enough to the ground, Daine slid off her back and went to their welcoming committee. Numair caught up with her, as Diamondflame, Wingstar, and Broad Foot turned their backs to everyone else, and spoke mind to mind.
