Chapter 19
I looked right into that deadly maw, lined with needlesharp teeth; if, that is, one could imagine a needle six or eight inches long. The tendrils of smoke were gathering, issuing from the nostrils and around the tonsils, and it was backwinging to come down with its back claws on us and that tail. And the dome would not stand up to more than one full attack of all those things. I suffered a moment’s complete insanity; to protect Chessina, I burst out of the area dome, casting a personal one, to draw its attention.
“You ugly worm!” I yelled.
It turned.
It was enough.
As it breathed in to incinerate me, I cast frost ray right down its gullet from close enough to smell its rather sulphurous halitosis.
The scream it gave would be heart-rending, if it wasn’t actually quite a relief, as the gigantic creature reeled back in its death throes and one trailing leg caught the ground, catapulting the gigantic corpse right into the area dome of protection which slowly crumpled, resisting the fall of the dragon just enough for Chessina and Beretrulle to leap clear as the stupid creature chose to die on our rug. The snow under the rest of it hissed and steamed from its heat, and a great mist arose, and the edge of the rug smouldered slightly.
“Oh bother,” I said. Half the rug was now covered by dragon. I called on the tower to push it off, and jerk the rug away.
Chessina flew into my arms.
“Castamir! Don’t be heroic!” she sobbed.
“I knew the dome would not hold,” I said. “I… do the weather wards still work with that thing on the rug?”
Chessina pointed to the snow, landing and stopping on the invisible dome above us.
“We can save ourselves some effort powering the rug if we cut open the dragon’s belly and use its internal heat to keep ourselves warm instead of the warming charms,” said Chessina. “And if need be, we could use the wings to build a shelter.”
“Congratulations, Castamir; you’re a rich man,” said Beretrulle.
“Huh?” I said, intelligently.
“A dragon carcase is worth something in the region of ten thousand suns,” said Beretrulle. “Plus the bounty. You know how much dragon parts are worth.”
“Do you know, I was mostly considering how much we were worth to us to think of it,” I said, faintly.
“I cast an anticoagulation and preservation charm on it,” said Chessina. “While we sit out the storm, I’ll change some rocks into bottles to collect the blood, and we can harvest parts as it cools down.”
“There are still four or more demons out there,” I reminded her.
“It will keep our mind off it,” said Chessina. “I recall you grumbling about wanting dragon scales for amulets. And the liver stones are used in powering heating wards.”
It was surreal. We opened up the dragon to save power to the rug, and with the wing pulled over as well, with a bit of help from the tower, we could power the rug right down. I did lift the dragon enough, though, to get the other wing round to protect us from the ground, and as the wings had cooled somewhat, put the rug back on it.
And we were to be glad we had powered down the rug and opened up the dragon instead. Incidentally, unless you have to open up a dragon, if you have a weak stomach, don’t. They stink like nothing on earth. But I could put up with the stink when the demons turned up.
“They’re dead,” said one. “No magic going into their rug.”
“Must be underneath it,” said another. “I’m glad we didn’t have to face the bastard if he can take out a dragon just like that.”
“So, can we go back somewhere warm?” the third was plaintive.
“He’ll want a report,” said the fourth.
This was plainly a sufficiency of casuistry, and they departed the scene. We gave Beretrulle the gist of what they had said.
“That’s good,” she said. “Are we going on?”
“No,” I said. “The wind may not have been natural, but he got it moving from somewhere, and we now have to sit out the results of tampering with nature. I wish we had Silavara here to intercede with Silvana.”
“Contact her through the Tower to the circle,” said Chessina.
There was that chime again.
I used the tower to cast the whisper spell.
“Silavara? Can you hear me?” I asked.
“Castamir! Where are you?”
“Somewhere in the western marches and Nosy – another demon – has set off an unnatural storm which has to have got wind from somewhere. Silvana needs to know.”
“She’s aware,” said Silavara, grimly. “She thanks you for the information that it was a demon. Are you going to be able to sit tight for a day or two?”
“Actually, yes,” I said, being glad that Ascyla had packed that hamper. And I suppose we could always eat dragon meat. The dwarves consider it a delicacy; I wasn’t sure we would feel the same way, but it wouldn’t kill us.
There is something a bit surreal to camping inside a dragon. I’ve heard of people who have survived storms by cutting open a horse which died of cold and creeping into the skin, and I have to say, there was a lot more room inside a dragon, and with the preservation charm, at least the uncoagulated blood did not leak once Chessina had tapped a load of it into big stone flagons. Flagons of dragon, I thought, wanting to giggle hysterically. We tossed out a lot of the guts, which have no use, and that gave us quite a lot of room, once cleaned up by Chessina’s ruthless cleaning cantrips. We became sufficiently inured to the smell to break into the hamper of food, and eat enough to mostly satisfy us. We should have to be a bit careful with the food if we had to sit here several days, but at least we would not go hungry enough to impair our ability to push on and deal with Nosy, Moruk, and Jolinn.
Meanwhile, the wind continued howling outside, and I used the Tower to grow a stone wall around our rug with the wing acting as a roof. It was almost cosy. If you like that sort of thing.
I could live with never having to camp again. Mind, we would probably dine out on this. After all, how many people have camped in a dragon?
We were glad when the wind did finally cease; it was about time. We had eaten the last crumbs of Ascyla’s hamper, and if it did not save our lives, it did at least make things much easier.
“I’m going to kiss that little girl right up,” I said to Chessina.
“Me too,” said Chessina. “Now, just set up some ward stones, around our dragon, Castamir; we don’t want anyone stealing it and the parts harvested.”
“Yes, dear,” I said.
I felt no need for ten thousand golden suns, but Chessina is in charge of our finances.
So, I built a ward system around the camp site, and we walked outside it with the rug rolled up, to resume our journey.
I had a feeling that hurrying would be a wise move. And also stealth.
It may not do anything, but I cast every stealth spell I knew on all of us and on the rug. Seers get glimpses of the future but if we were hidden from the present, I hoped it would cast some confusion on Nosy’s ability as well.
I also prayed to Arcana for suggestions.
“Well, finally!” she said in my head. “Use the ley lines, as it puts you out of phase, and try, all of you, to think of anything but your mission. If necessary, cast mild confusion spells on your companions, and I’ll shield your mind as you need to steer.”
I swallowed hard, and imparted this knowledge to Chessina and Beretrulle.
“Well, go ahead and cast the spells,” said Chessina. “And set us off discussing court fashion or something trivial.”
Beretrulle nodded; and I was much relieved that they were amenable to being a bit confused. This still left them more intelligent than the women at court of whom they began to indulge in character assassination, but that’s by the by.
I was flying almost as if in a dream as Arcana wrapped up my thoughts and kept them cocooned and out of the ready reach of any seer. I had a momentary panic about Ascyla.
“She knows, dear one, and is glad of a rest,” said Arcana.
Poor child, such a heavy burden to bear. When we had done all that we had to, I would ask Arcana if there was a way to take the curse of seeing from Ascyla.
“I will help her to channel it and keep it mostly locked away, dear one,” she told me. “But until she has gone through puberty, it will be wild.”
Well, that was some comfort, anyway.
“Castamir! Castamir!” I jolted to a more awake feeling at Arcana’s urgent voice. “Turn left, dear one, and go into that cave in the mountains; Silvana warned me that the storm arisen will strike you the other way, because storms are circular and you set off in the eye of it.”
I did vaguely know this, but it had not occurred to me, and I bit off a curse. We appeared to be in mountainous country, out of the foothills, and there was a big peak immediately to the left. I was glad Arcana was steering; large lumps of rock in clouds scare me. And, feeling the first puffs of wind, my blood ran cold, because mountains generate their own weather, and we could have been dashed on to the rocks.
“What if the cave is occupied?” I asked. I’d just fought one ruddy dragon.
“It was, but you killed the occupant,” said Arcana.
Oh.
Well, that was… fortuitous. I veered into the cave, and set up an area of security from scrying, so I wouldn’t have to sit out a storm listening to two women babbling about cloth and clothing.
Oh, do keep up. Of course I couldn’t put such a field over us on the rug; you should know by now that it doesn’t work when moving, and nor, really, does invisibility but that at least had a less complex background in snowy sky to worry about and gave some protection.
Chessina and Beretrulle stopped talking abruptly when I cancelled the spell.
“Are we there?” said Chessina.
“No, we have the other side of the storm,” I said. “We’re in the lair of our dragon.”
“Is it true that dragons amass hoards?” asked Chessina, interested.
“I have no idea,” I said.
“I think I’ll explore,” said Chessina.
I hoped it would keep her mind off being hungry for another couple of days.
“You’ll be using the opal, of course,” said Chessina.
“The opal?” I asked, confused.
“Stone to flesh,” said Chessina. “To make a meat stew.”
“But suppose it isn’t permanent?” I worried.
“Castamir, it’s the reverse of a curse flesh to stone, right?”
“Right,” I said. “But…”
“Think about it,” said Chessina. “If the original was not permanent, you wouldn’t need a reverse, right?”
“Right,” I agreed, wondering where this was going.
“So, it’s no good having a reverse, to restore someone, if it isn’t permanent, is it?” said Chessina, patting my cheek.
I felt such an idiot. I put it down to wizards being cautious.
I wasn’t sure how much stone would be converted, so I decided to go for about the volume of an average human, or pig…. It was more comfortable thinking of it as a pig, or a couple of sheep.
The spell worked wonders, and I had plainly been over-thinking when I cast it as I had me a couple of jointed, deboned sheep. I had the feeling Arcana was sniggering at me in my head.
And Chessina came back beaming, with a sack.
“The dragon must have taken some pack mules, I found the bones, but also a load of oatmeal one was carrying,” she said.
“You’re a wonder,” I told her.
It wouldn’t be exciting, but mutton broth thickened with oatmeal would sustain us. Chessina found some weed or other, and informed me it was wild garlic.
Well, Chessina had made a study of herbs, so I trusted her. I tasted the herb before adding it, as the self-heating pot cooked the stew, because my amulet of poison detection would heat up, if I was inadvertently poisoning myself. It was garlicky.
Chessina had been right, and my amulet did not react.
I wouldn’t tell her about checking on it, though.
“Wizards are cautious?” murmured Beretrulle.
“As are good commanders,” I retorted.
“And, like wizards, know when not to be cautious,” she retorted back. “You were not cautious when you stopped that dragon from ploughing into us.”
“Sometimes being bold is being cautious under a different face,” I said, trying for asperity and getting the sort of voice of a small boy caught out at something and trying to justify it.
She laughed.
“I’ve used the same excuse, myself,” she said.
Chessina returned at this point.
“Dragons have hoards,” she said, slightly wild-eyed.
“All the dragon is divided amongst its slayers, its hoard, if discovered, is ten per cent to the Duchy of the Marches, ten percent to the King, and the rest divided amongst the discoverers,” said Beretrulle.
“You won’t have anyone call you a second-rate baroness anymore, my dear,” said Chessina. “And we can afford to make sure Stonebridge and Fair Pastures have proper drains installed.”
“Will there really be enough?” I asked.
“You’ll have to pay someone to render the dragon down properly,” said Chessina.
“We will,” I said. “It’s shared.”
“I did nothing,” said Beretrulle.
“You were there, so, I bothered to leap out and confront it so it wouldn’t crash into you both,” I said. “If I’d been alone, I’d probably have heaved up a stone wall and enclosed myself in a cave.”
“Isn’t he sweet?” said Beretrulle. “What a lucky girl you are, Chessina.”
“Yes, and he’s all mine,” said Chessina, smugly.
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