Urt asked, “May I meet them?”
The Dragonmaster chuckled. “Why not? Certainly in time, but bide yours a while, eh?”
I saw that Urt was greatly enthused by this: he smiled with genuine relief and said, “Soon, I hope. It should make me feel more easy.”
Rwyan said, “But how do you know all this, Bellek? You tell us that you live lonely, yet you speak of Allanyn-the Raethe, and events south-that suggests intimate knowledge. Do you tell us how you know?”
Bellek’s smile stretched his lips like skeins of skin across his teeth. I saw that he took enjoyment from his awareness of such mysteries. Like Rwyan, I wondered how he knew.
He said, “My dragons dream and see the world. And sometimes I fly them south to … observe. Mostly, they … feel … what transpires there, or have the knowledge of the elementals.” He must have seen my jaw drop, for he smiled and said, “Men are newcomers to this world, set beside the dragons. They’re an ancient race and closer to natural things. I know not the how of it, but that they commune with the elementals is certain.”
He glanced at Tezdal then, as if the Sky Lord should understand this better, but Tezdal only shrugged and said, “The Attul-ki command the spirits, not we Kho’rabi.”
I asked, “How do you control the dragons?”
And Bellek laughed and told me, “Dragons are not controlled, my friend. Best learn that early! They allow themselves to be ridden-the dams, at least-because they take pleasure in that union.” His leathery face grew serious as he scanned us all. “You ask the dragons; you suggest a course. You do not-ever!-command a dragon. In a little while, when you know your bond-mates better, you’ll understand.”
“When shall that be?” I asked. The excitement of that flight filled me yet.
“Soon enough,” Bellek said, and hid his face behind his goblet.
As wine and food took their toll, I began to feel greatly tired. I think there is a limit to the excitement a body can experience, and that when that limit is reached, it cravesrest, for all the mind would have it otherwise. I yawned; I could not help myself.
Bellek laughed and said, “Aye, doubtless you are all weary. It was a long night, no? So-do I show you to your chambers, and we’ll speak again when you’ve rested.”
There were more questions: too many. I ducked my head. The notion of bed was immediately as tempting as the odor of the meal had been. I looked to Rwyan and saw the lids of her eyes drooped heavy over the blind orbs. She smiled and nodded her agreement. Urt looked as if he’d find some bolt hole to lie in secure until the world resumed a safer course. Only Tezdal seemed untired, but still he shrugged and grunted his agreement.
“Then do you follow me?”
Bellek rose and led us out through a door I’d not noticed, into a corridor that ran through the mountain’s rock. There were no windows, but it was lit. I could not understand how.
Rwyan gestured at the glow. “You’ve the understanding of the crystals then, Bellek. Are you a sorcerer?”
He chuckled and returned her, “I’m a Dragonmaster, lady. Does that make me a sorcerer-then, aye. But not like you.”
She said, “Magic shaped this place, no?”
And he chuckled again and said, “It did. In olden days, when magic was different. When the firstcome Dhar were different. Think you that talent remains always the same? Or that the crystals do not change? I tell you, no. The crystals shift in accord with those who use them; and those who use them shift in accord with the crystals’ shaping.”
He shrugged: a gesture of resignation. Rwyan said, “Whoever built this place commanded a mighty talent.”
Bellek said, “Once, aye. Once the Dragonmasters were supreme. They built this place and all the other castles, where only dragons had nested before. Once, we were the Lords of the Sky. But we outlived our time and folk forgot us. That bleeds out power, forgetting.”
I said, “What happened to the others?”
And he returned me simply, “They died.”
He fell silent after that. It was as if the dull light of this dusty passage leached out his vitality, or his memories of what had once been. I asked him no more questions but only found Rwyan’s hand and walked beside her in silence.
Bellek brought us to chambers along the way. Three, set at intervals down the corridor. Each had a door of black wood banded with golden hinges. Clean and uncorrupted by time: as if held in readiness. He ushered Rwyan and me into the first.
He said, “I trust you’ll be comfortable here. Do you need me, I shall be in the hall. Am I not, I’d suggest you wait for me there-this is a large place, and somewhat mazeish. Also, do you wander outside, beware the bulls.”
We entered the chamber. I was surprised to find it clean. There was no dust on the smooth stone floor, nor any webbing about the arching bands of stone that shaped the roof and walls. Wide windows of unsullied glass looked over the valley, and when I peered down, I saw a veil of distant smoke rising, as from farms or villages. There was a massive bed, set with clean linen, and a vast armoire. Behind a door of polished wood was a cubicle that held a bath and such other offices as I’d seen only in the grandest keeps.
Rwyan said, “There’s magic here.”
I surveyed the room and said, “At least it’s clean.”
She said, “That’s magic at work. Bellek’s more talent than he admits.”
I said, “And yours?”
She closed her eyes, as if in thought, then smiled and told me, “Returned in full. There are no constraints any longer.”
I said, “Save that we’re now his … guests. Or his prisoners?”
She laughed and took my hands, “looking” up into my doubting eyes. “Daviot,” she said, “he saved us. Were it not for him, we’d be dead now. That, or worse.”
I said, “Yes; I’ll not argue that. But now? Must we live here the rest of our lives, whilst all the world falls down in bloodshed? By Ennas Day, Allanyn claimed. I’d not stand idly by to witness that war.”
She kissed me on the cheek. “Think you I forget that date? Or those dreams you spun in Durbrecht? I’ve not, but nor do I forget that now we have a future-thanks to Bellek and the dragons. Think on that.”
I did, murmuring agreement even as my mind raced. I’d spoken then of riding dragons in defense of Dharbek. Might we now, Rwyan and I, make that dream flesh? The dragons had seemed only fancy once, and I the only Trueman who thought of them at all. Now I knew them for creatures of flesh and blood and bone-and more!-and so perhaps that other dream might be made reality. But not now in defense of Dharbek alone; rather, as instruments of peace betwixt my people and Tezdal’s, betwixt Truemen and Changed. Excitement flared: I smiled as old hopes grew new flesh.
To Rwyan, I said, “I’d speak of this to Bellek.”
I’d have found him there and then, but Rwyan held me and said, “Aye, but tomorrow, eh? Likely the dragons destroyed all those skyboats moored in Trebizar, and it must take the Sky Lords time to rebuild that navy. We’ve a breathing space, I think, and now I’m weary. Shall we sleep?”
I ducked my head. I was truly tired: we left our clothes scattered and found the bed.
I woke to an unfamiliar sound: the beat of rain against glass. I rose, careful not to disturb Rwyan, and padded barefoot to the windows. It looked to me that we’d slept the day away, or most of it, but it was hard to tell. We were close to the sky here and a long way north, and the darkness might have been only the clouds that now hid the peaks and hurled their watery burden at the land. The valley was lost in brume, but I stood a long while staring, thinking of such a downpour over the drought-parched fields of Dharbek. I pressed my face against the glass, unanswered questions flooding anew into my head.
Was all this truly the weaving of a pattern? If Rwyan was correct in that, then what might we four do?
I doubted not that we should learn to ride the dragons. But to what end? That Bellek have company in his lonely castle? I was not entirely sure but that we had exchanged one prison for another. Nor was I by any means certain Urt would agree to remain. He held that fear of dragons inherent in his blood under tight control, but could he bring himself, willingly, to ride the creatures? I thought perhaps he’d sooner find a place with those other Changed Bellek had spoken of.
And Tezdal? He had sworn to defend Rwyan-and held true to that vow. But now might he not consider Rwyan safe and look to rejoin his Kho’rabi brothers? Did he become a Dragonmaster, then might he not seek to ally dragons with skyboats, form such an armada as must surely be invincible? If not-likely Bellek could prevent it-then would Tezdal deem Rwyan delivered safe from harm and he freed to take his Way of Honor? That thought I liked not at all: I was vaguely surprised how fond I’d grown of the Sky Lord.
I started as a peal of thunder dinned over mountaintops suddenly revealed by the brilliance of lightning. I wondered if dragons flew in such weather. I wondered … the list was too long, and I turned away to find Rwyan stirring.
She tossed aside the sheets, deliciously immodest, and came to join me. “It’s been so long,” she said, “since I’ve seen rain.”
I nodded and held her as great rolling drumbeats of thunder beat over the castle and lightning flung spearing tongues of pure fulgence at the peaks.
“This is a wild place,” I said.