Chapter One
3941, New Translaw Calendar
Grey.
Everywhere.
Landing in Unkea wasn’t as easy as it should have been. The landing platform was big enough, but the fortress was built of grey stone, possibly granite, it was hard to tell, given that the air was full of smoky mist. The sky was opaque with clouds showing that their silver lining was in fact a threat. Even the diffused light felt ashen.
All that tonal similarity made the altitude change for the landing difficult to judge. The platform seemed at one time both far too close and far too far away. The surface itself was wet and slick. I felt Salvadora’s back paws slide as we landed. But she stopped safely and tucked her wings carefully behind her.
We had told the truth, and this was our punishment.
“We’re here,” I said, as cheerfully as I could manage to the bundle shivering inside the far too big fur-lined leather riding coat. I looked down at my son as he pulled off his flying goggles and cap. Both were my spares and also much too big for him, but they’d done the job of protecting him during the flight.
“Flying is c-c-cool,” Fin said. He didn’t have a stutter, the outfit had stopped him freezing in flight, but because it was too big, the wind had crept in and he’d grown cold.
“Yeah,” I said. “It absolutely is. Throw your leg over the side, son, and I’ll slide us down.”
He did as he was told, and I shifted awkwardly with the bulk of our combined pack on my back. Holding my son tight against my chest, I told him to pull his legs up, then I slid downthe length of Salvadora’s front leg. Landing, bending my knees to take the sting out of the impact, I put Fin down and ruffled his hair. He was standing oddly, like his legs wouldn’t go together.
No great surprise there. Sitting astride a dragon’s neck required a wide-legged stance that he simply wasn’t used to, and we’d been travelling for a week to get here from the other side of the continent. Not an easy journey even for me, and I was used to riding a dragon every day.
Now that we were down, I could see that the landing platform was slightly less skiddy than it looked. The stones were laid with alternates raised less than a fingers’ depth, like a checkerboard. That explained why Salvadora had only slipped a little.
Or you could accept that I know how to land safely,her voice grumbled in my head.
“Yes, I could accept that,”I said silently back at her.“And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have risked mine or my son’s life with you, sweetheart.”
This place is not pleasant,she told me.There is no colour. No warmth.
“You’re a blue,”I pointed out.“You hatched in the Ice Barrens, so don’t tell me you can’t handle the weather here.”
Can and want to are not the same.
“This is where we’ve been posted, Salvadora,”I mind-spoke to her.“We’re staying.”We had no choice.
The expulsion of air from her rear end was a clear indication of her opinion on the subject.
I adjusted the pack on my back and looked around. So this was the payment for telling the truth. Posted to the far edge of the continent in the most miserable weather conditions imaginable. Still, we were here. We had to get on.
It wasn’t clear what direction I should go, but then a dark shadow started to form in the grey mists. The shadow quicklyresolved into a human shape and at last, within about six paces, into an actual human. His black hair was long, the sides were pulled back, keeping it out of his face, the rest hung behind his shoulders. The mist had deposited droplets that sparkled like unlikely diamonds on jet. His eyes were too dark to reveal a colour in that muted light. He was an incredibly handsome man in blue rider’s leathers, the insignia on his arm telling me he was a Flight Captain, my superior officer.
Adjusting to stand at attention, I saluted as he stopped before us. At my side, Fin also performed a rather good salute for a five-year-old.
The flight captain kept his gaze on mine as his arm returned to his side.
“Flight Sergeant Sullivan Segast,” he said. His voice carried a slight Southern hemisphere accent but also showed heavy influence from the accents here on the east coast. “I am Flight Captain Ang Shi. Stable Master Eustace will take care of your dragon.” He glanced across at the man approaching from my left.
That man was shorter, stocky, with hands like meat cleavers and eyes like frost pools.
I don’t like him.
“Salvadora, be nice. You haven’t even met him yet,”I sent the message back.
He has perma-sneer. I do not feel safe with him.
“Your accommodation has been prepared. You’ll need to speak to the Quartermaster if you or son have any major dietary issues which require special food supplies, but you are welcome to cater individually if you need to. Still, you will take your turn with kitchen duty like the rest of us. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the fortress facilities.”
