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He eyed the swollen, swirling wound that was the gate of Starvald Demelain. Extraordinary that a single soul could seal it shut. But not mine. Not hers, either.
The dragon was staring at him, as it had been staring at him ever since he took his station opposite it, the very morning of its confounding arrival. As far as staring contests went, not even a Thel Akai could match a dragon’s baleful, unblinking regard. Instead, Kanyn would periodically meet those reptilian eyes and offer up a twisted expression, slowly shutting one eye while screwing up the other, perhaps, or dangling his tongue, or sending its glistening tip upward to touch his own nose. A finger to savage the itch in one ear, another to explore the caverns of his nose. A sudden farting sound, or coughing out a hidden handful of dirt and dust. Occasionally, he’d reach to his own genitals, as if about to begin playing with himself.
But that never went further. Besides the indignity of such a thing, the damned dragon’s eyes never even narrowed.
He contemplated walking up to it and pissing on its snout. ‘What would you say to that?’ he called out suddenly. ‘Bladder’s full, after all. Give a man who needs to piss a target and he’s happy. Shall we make me happy?’
The guest had looked over, and now he slipped down from the column and walked towards Kanyn Thrall. ‘Thel Akai, why do you bother?’
Kanyn squinted. ‘Already feigning banal uninterest in our winged interloper? That did not take long. I wonder, is that the secret gift of those low in intelligence, that makes them so well armoured against amazement? The cynic’s shallow wit, yes? I almost admire you. No, honestly. What bliss would I know had I half the wit! Tell me, at least, that you ate the horse.’
The guest halted. ‘Served me too well, sir, for such ignominy!’
‘So you hollowed your stomach instead. Horses are as quick to serve a master when dead as when living, you fool. That’s what blind servitude is all about.’
‘There are other kinds of service, Thel Akai.’
‘Such as?’
The man drew himself up slightly and Kanyn groaned inwardly, bracing himself for another grave pronouncement. ‘I left my brave mount where it fell, and in so doing, I served the honour I held for it.’
‘You honoured it by wasting it? Ah, I see. Naturally. Why didn’t I think of that? Now kindly strut back to that column, will you? You’re sucking up all the hot air.’
‘I do not know why you dislike me so.’
‘That’s right,’ Kanyn
replied, looking back to the dragon and settling once more, ‘you don’t.’
‘Should I take offence?’
‘Why not? I daily leave a heap of it in that latrine pit behind the temple. Help yourself.’
After a moment, the guest turned away, and Kanyn heard the soft clack of the man’s mouth finally closing. Ah, see that? He’s learning. He studied the dragon again. Not beasts he was familiar with. This was the first one he had ever seen. Wheeling down from the skies of legend, fierce and massive, unknowable and – to anyone other than a Thel Akai – frightening.
But the Old Goddess had spewed out enough contempt on the matter of dragons, raising her huge fists before her to tell her children of skulls crushed flat, blood spraying from slitted nostrils, and all the rest. Tales to stain all wonder from her brood, a soaking of disdain.
Even so, it was a formidable beast.
‘Finally!’
The voice hissed deafeningly inside Kanyn Thrall’s head, startling him so much that he bit his own tongue. Cursing, he spat red and then straightened, hefting the axe into both hands. ‘Finally what, lizard?’
‘Old Goddess, is it? That would be Kilmandaros. Some Azathanai are too stupid to be gods, unless, of course, they breed even stupider children. In which case, why, paradise beckons!’
‘You speak in my head with the voice of a woman. What name do you claim?’
The dragon lifted her snout, and then stretched her jaws wide in the manner of a yawning cat. A mangled knot of wet armour was lodged between two jagged molars. The jaws closed again, with a faint squeal. ‘Are you worthy of knowing my name? The bitch of spiders calls you Kanyn Thrall. Thus, you have nothing to give me in return. I only bargain, Thel Akai. Gifts are for fools.’
‘I can give you something in return, dragon. My axe blade between your eyes. A name, if you please, to etch on to the iron, alongside the many others I have slain.’
‘Others? Other dragons? I think not, and let us be clear here, Kanyn Thrall, your other victories have all the bravado of rats crunched underfoot. I make breakfast of mortal heroes and shit out pitted iron at day’s end. I make morsels of Tiste champions, snacks of Thel Akai hunters, paltry meals of Jhelarkan, Dog-Runners, Thelomen and Jheck.’
Kanyn Thrall tilted his head back and laughed. ‘You’ve been listening in! Enough to harvest the names of many of those who dwell in this realm! But we well know the path of your passage, from the gate’s first manifestation on the south shore of the Vitr to here, and now. If you found a snack or two on the way, unsurprising. But champions and heroes? Thel Akai and Thelomen? You, dragon, are full of shit.’
After a long moment, the dragon subsided. ‘Disrespect is ill advised.’
‘A threat to make me quake! Do try another!’
