Rhiannon- Dragonrider

[garethn]

Note, this is not really a PAW novel - unless you classify an infestation of dragons as PAW - but I’ve been asked to post it anyway.

Enjoy,

- GN -

[garethn]

Preface

Another towering wave crashed over the boat, throwing more water over the two girls though they were already so wet that it made little difference.

It brought the boat to a creaking, juddering halt and for a few moments they were tossed around in the broken water. Rain hammered into the open cabin.

It was obvious that it could not take much more of this. Soon the boat would be capsized or simply torn apart.

But the short, slight girl remained impassive at the wheel, her balance steady in spite of the wild pitching of the boat. She eased them back around, taking them steadily onwards, towards the heart of the storm. She seemed impervious to the violence that churned around her. Only the steel of her deep blue eyes gave any hint of the determination with which she drove the boat onwards.

She knew, as she had never known anything before, that this was what she had to do.

A taller girl was huddled at the bottom of the boat, desperately clinging to a wooden bench and whimpering in fear. Her eyes were fixed on her friend, wordlessly imploring her to give up on this mad adventure and return to land.

Yet another wave hit, shattering one of the cabin windows and showering the girls with glass. Now they were exposed to the full fury of the storm as the wind picked up lumps of water and smashed them into the two like stones.

Still the girl at the wheel barely flinched. She flicked her hair out of her eyes and peered ahead into the churning blackness, reaching out towards the island that she knew had to be there.

Then, with a surge of excitement and trepidation, she felt a presence. It was overwhelming; far beyond anything she had ever experienced before. She eagerly stared out into the blackness and, though she could see nothing, she knew that it was high above them and was approaching at an incredible speed. As it drew closer, the violence of the storm seemed to recede.

The other girl knew it was there too. She stopped whimpering and rose to her knees to face it, her eyes wide with terror.

The girl at the wheel eagerly scanned the sky but she could still see nothing through the swirling blackness.

Them suddenly it exploded into sight.

As soon as she saw it she knew. It was this and not the island, which had been drawing her onwards. This, indeed, was where her whole life had been leading. This was her destiny.


+++

I hereby acknowledge the ideas that my younger daughter contributed to the formulation of this novel. They include: a school of dragonology and a leading character, called Katie, who is not particularly nice.

© GarethN 2009 - 2019

[garethn]

Ch1 An Island on the Horizon

“Katie Howard, That's enough!” Miss Parson snapped impatiently. “There’s no island out there. There’s nothing in that direction until you reach America. Now stop being silly!”

Blinking back tears of rage and frustration, Katie tore her eyes from the horizon and turned to glare at her teacher. Of course there was an island out there. She wouldn't have said anything about it if she wasn't certain. She wouldn't have said anything about it if she didn't know it was important.

Though Katie was quite short and slightly built, that glare carried a quiet menace. Miss Parsons tried to meet her gaze but nobody could withstand those piercing, deep blue eyes for long and she looked away.

“I really don't remember there being anything out there,” she went on with considerably less conviction. “Let's have a look at the map together when we get back.”

She turned to look at the other girls. They were carefully avoiding noticing the confrontation. Though Katie was not a bully - she normally did her best to just fade into the background - they all knew better than to bring her anger down on themselves.

“Come on girls!” Miss Parson said, raising her voice so she could be heard over the stiffening breeze. “I know we’re all tired and a bit fed up after that long journey but let’s try to make the best of it. We need to keep moving if we're going to get back before the rain hits.”

She turned away and carried on picking her way up the steep, cliff edge path. The other girls followed her like sheep.

Megan dropped back from the main group and joined Katie as she stuck her hands deeper into her trouser pockets, hunched her shoulders and plodded after the others in silence. Megan knew her friend well enough to avoid saying anything for a while.

‘Of course I’m fed up!’ Katie fumed. ‘Who wouldn’t be? Packed off to that miserable school for months at a time and then, as if that wasn’t enough, sent off on a senseless school trip around the Scottish Highlands in the summer. It was as if nobody wanted me around.’

Katie got on all right on her own most of the time. She could look after herself. Nobody stood on her toes in the dinner queue or ‘borrowed’ her hairbrush when they couldn’t find their own. She made sure of that. But sometimes she wished that somebody would have time just for her.

There was Megan, of course. Loyal, wet Megan Dyson. She could almost be described as a friend – or at least an accomplice. She always managed to guess what Katie wanted without having to be told and she was useful to keep a lookout when Katie was up to something – and to share the blame when they got caught.

And Katie looked after Megan too. Though she might, occasionally, be cruel to her, nobody else was allowed to be.

OK, it wasn’t anybody’s fault that her mum had died. She angrily blinked away another treacherous tear and her right hand moved instinctively towards her left wrist as it always did when she thought about her mother. For a moment she gripped her beautifully crafted, white leather bracelet, marked with its peculiar wavy pattern, and for that moment she felt slightly better. She knew that it came from her mother. She’d worn it for as long as she could remember and she never took it off.

But why did her dad have to pretend she didn’t exist any more. For years the two of them had got on OK together. He was busy with his stupid planes all the time but that was sort of expected from a flying officer in the Air Force but at least, when he was about, he made sure that he had plenty of time for her.

But then, suddenly, just when she was starting to understand him, it was as if their relationship had hit a wall. It was as if he didn’t want to know her any more.

And there was this constant, nagging feeling that there was something important missing from her life.

She gave a deep sigh and pushed it all to the back of her mind.

“It’s good to be out in the fresh air, isn’t it?” Megan said at last when she judged she had let Katie seethe for long enough.

Katie had to agree with that. That journey had felt as if it would never end, first on the motorways and then along narrow, twisty lanes which seemed much too small for the minibus. At last they arrived and, when Miss Parson had heard that there was a storm threatened for later, she had asked the driver to unload their bags then hurried the grumbling girls out for a ‘quick stroll along the coast’.

“Just leave your things,” she had told them in her familiar, gratingly cheerful tone. “We can unpack later, when it’s raining.”

Katie’s mood lifted as they strolled further along the cliff top path and she and Megan lagged as far back as they could, away from the flock of silly, gossiping girls. “Maybe it’s not going to be too bad here after all,” Megan suggested tentatively.

“It’s certainly pretty,” Katie agreed as the wind blew through her hair. She looked out over the hills, which were green with occasional patches of colour from the flowers. The sun was flashing in and out of the white clouds which were scuttling past in the brisk wind. To their left, the rugged cliffs tumbled down to the blue, blue sea.

‘It’s certainly better than that stupid school,’ she added to herself.

The rest of the group had stopped at a headland to admire the view. “Come on, you slow coaches!” Miss Parson called back to Katie and Megan. “Didn’t you hear that there’s a storm threatened for later? We need to get a move on.”

“What’s that out there?” one of the girls asked. She was pointing north, to a long finger of stone sticking straight up into the sky. It was separated from the cliffs by a narrow channel and the waves were crashing and boiling at its base.

“It’s a sea stack,” Miss Parson told them, looking down at her map. “It’s called the ‘Seistethy Draig’ or ‘The Dragon’s Seat’. Sea stacks are formed when a cave tunnels all the way through a headland, like the one we’re standing on, to form an arch. When the roof of the arch collapses it forms a sea stack.

“If the weather’s fine, later in the week,” she went on, “we’ll be going out by boat to take a closer look.”

But Katie was not watching. She was looking back towards her island. She could see it more clearly now.

“You really can’t see it?” she asked Megan in a whisper.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” Megan answered carefully. “It’s just that it’s too hazy for me to make anything out.”

Megan glanced across to Miss Parson and the rest of the girls who were getting excited because they had just seen a gannet. Katie, however, continued to gaze to the south west, towards her island. When she screwed up her eyes she could make out huge birds, wheeling about in the sky above it.

“What’s that over there?” Barbara asked, pointing to a dark line on the western horizon.

Miss Parson looked out to sea. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s the storm,” she answered, “and with this wind, we really need to get our skates on if we’re going to make it back without getting soaked.”

She was quite right. The wind rose alarmingly as they made their way back along the rugged cliff-top path and Katie was relieved to reach the top of the steep track which led down to the village. She and Megan paused to allow the somewhat portly Miss Parson to catch up.

The line of cloud had moved much closer now, cutting out the afternoon sunlight and casting a peculiar, ominous light over the landscape. Below them they could see the white painted buildings of the village which lay huddled together in the narrow valley, as if seeking shelter from the incoming storm. They could even see the fishing boats in the harbour being tossed about in the choppy water.

“Keep going, you lot!” Miss Parson called when, at last, she reached the track with the remaining stragglers. “I just felt a spot of rain.”

The drops became heavier as they hurried down the track towards the village and, by the time they reached the first houses, it was raining hard. “Come on! Let’s go!” Katie shouted to Megan and the two girls ran, side by side, down the narrow lane.

The hostel where they were staying was an old building which looked as if it had once been a rather grand hotel. It had an ornate entrance porch and Katie and Megan ducked under it, panting and giggling. They sheltered there as the rest of the girls trailed in, dripping and grumbling. When Miss Parson arrived, they followed her into the hostel’s grand entrance hall.

“Well, that was exciting, wasn’t it?” Miss Parson exclaimed, remaining remorselessly cheerful as she surveyed the chaos in the entrance hall. Their bags and suitcases had been lined up against one wall, leaving little space for the girls to mill around in. “Stand still and be quiet a moment now, please!” she shouted. “I said stand still!”

At last she managed to make herself heard above the hubbub. “Right,” she said, “here we are in Inverenglass and I’m sure we’re all going to have a super time. This is Mrs Andrews.” She indicated an elderly lady who had been at the centre of much of the commotion. “She’s going to make our visit really comfortable.”

She smiled across at Mrs Andrews. “Would you like to say anything?”

“Oh, I just wanted to bid you a welcome to Inverenglass and the Highlands,” the lady replied in her thick Scottish accent. Your rooms are up the stairs, there. Dinner’s in about forty five minutes in the dining room, through here. I’ll ring the bell to let you know when it’s ready. Now, if you’ve not got any questions, I’ve got to go and see to the potatoes.”

Mrs Andrews bustled through the door into the dining room.

“Good,” said Miss Parson, as she gently eased Claire out of the way and went over to a notice board that was hanging on one wall. “Now, if you’ll just excuse me.”

“Here’s the list of who’s in which room,” she announced, pinning a sheet of paper to the board. “Let me know if you want to change anything but, please, no squabbling.”

Katie flashed across the room and managed to be amongst the first to look at the list. She saw that she had been assigned a three bedded room at the front of the hostel with Megan and another girl, Barbara.

“We’ll see about that,” she said to herself as she strolled casually over to Barbara. “You’ve been stuck in with Megan and me,” she said to her in a friendly, even tone, “but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more here if you found another room“

“Oh, I don’t know…” Barbara began but she was quickly cut off.

“You know that we’re not very good company,” Katie insisted. She still used a calm, friendly voice but this time she held Barbara’s eye for a few seconds. “I’m quite sure that you’ll enjoy it more here if you found another room. Look, Claire and Ellie are in a room together. I’m sure their room is much nicer and that you’d rather be in with them. Why don’t you go and have a chat?”

“But Claire and Ellie might not want to share with me.”

“If they don’t, I’m sure we’ll be able to persuade them. Why don’t you go and find out?” She gave Barbara an encouraging smile.

A worried looking Barbara turned and hurried away to organise another room.

Miss Parson looked on uncertainly. Though she suspected that Katie was somehow bullying the other girls, she had never been able to pick up on an incident that would allow her to prove it.

“Come on!” Katie called to Megan, grabbing her bag. “Let’s get out of here.”

They carried their suitcases up the dark, wooden staircase and quickly found their way to their room. It had a high ceiling and looked as if it had once been extremely grand but it had now been split in two by a rather ugly partition wall.

Instead of a window, it had an elaborate glass and metal door leading out onto a tiny balcony. “That looks like it might be fun if it ever stops raining,” Megan commented.

Katie didn’t answer but dragged a chair over towards the balcony door. As Megan started to unpack, Katie sat, staring out at the rising storm. Through the rain, she could see boats being tossed about on the rough sea down in the harbour.

“There is something out there,” she said, almost to herself. “Miss Parson might be too stupid to believe me but I know it’s there. I’m going to go there.”

“Go where?” Megan asked, looking up.

“To the island; I’ve just got to go there. Nothing’s going to stop me.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Megan said.

“Of course I’m serious,” Katie exploded. “I know it’s important. I’m not sure how I know but I do.”

“Okay, tell me what you could see,” Megan said soothingly. She was used to Katie’s fits of anger and knew how to deal with them. “It was too hazy for me and I couldn’t make anything out.”

“There’s an island out there, quite a long way off. There’s one big mountain in the middle of it and it’s got some sort of birds flying around it.”

“Birds?”

“Yes, there were birds flying round the top. And they have to be enormous, because I could see them quite clearly.”

She sat quietly again, whilst Megan finished unpacking. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the dinner bell.

“Dinner time!” said Megan. “Thank goodness! I’m starving. Are you coming?” she added when Katie didn’t move.

“Go on down,” Katie told her. “I’ll be with you in a minute.” She continued to stare out into the rising storm.

The dining room was full and loud by the time Katie made her way downstairs. She waited outside the door for a moment before opening it with a sigh.

“Oh there you are,” Miss Parson said with a smile. “We were just about to send out a search party!”

Katie did not consider this comment worthy of a reply.

Megan smiled across at her. “I’ve saved you a place,” she said. Katie went across the room to join her.

Katie hardly said anything during the meal that evening, though most of the other girls were still excited. Megan knew better than to bother her when she was in this sort of mood and, when one of the other girls tried to draw her into conversation, her response was abrupt and unfriendly. She ate as quickly as she could, and, as soon as she had finished, she told Miss Parson that she wanted to go back up to the room.

“Are you feeling unwell?” asked Miss Parson.

“I’ve got a headache,” Katie answered tersely.

“It’s not surprising after such a long journey,” Miss Parson said, ignoring her rudeness. “Go on up to bed. I’m sure you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Shall I come up with you?” asked Megan.

“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later.”

She went up to the room and sat by the window once more, muttering to herself as she stared out through the wild weather in the direction of her island. The lashing rain and driving wind mirrored her own churning emotions and she found herself unwinding as the violence of the storm mounted.

“Why should I care if nobody else can see it?” she muttered as she stretched and settled back into the chair but, as she relaxed into a half doze, she gradually became aware that there was something out in the direction of the island.

She knew that she could not possibly see anything on such a wild night, but she was certain that there were pinpricks of light out there. They danced and sparkled at the limits of her perception like specks of dust in a sunbeam. She even tried blinking her eyes but they did not go away, indeed they were easier to see with her eyes closed. Curious, she tried to reach out towards the lights but she just could not focus on them. They slipped away like water through her fingers.

When Megan joined her, a couple of hours later, she was still sitting by the balcony door, staring out into the night.

“You should have been there,” Megan said, giggling. “Claire and Annette were trying to dance the can-can and Miss Parson joined in to show them how it was done and then…”

She stopped talking when she saw the distant look on Katie’s face.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked. “Should I go and get Miss Parson?”

“No, I’m fine,” Katie answered. “I’m not ill. I just wanted to be on my own for a bit. Leave the light off though, would you. I don’t want anyone else coming in here and disturbing us.”

Megan nodded understandingly. “What’s wrong?” she asked, obviously concerned.

“There’s nothing wrong. I’m just enjoying the storm and thinking.” She briefly considered mentioning the lights but decided there was no point if her friend could not even see the island.

Megan pulled a chair across and they sat together, in the dark, in companionable silence. Katie liked to have time alone with her thoughts occasionally but she didn’t mind Megan being there. Megan knew when to stop talking.

The storm was still raging and, by the light of the few streetlights and the occasional flash of lightning, they could see the sea churning down in the harbour. Megan smiled across at Katie as someone, dressed from head to foot in yellow waterproofs, battled their way down the street.

They continued to sit there, in the dark, even after Miss Parson had been along the corridor telling the rest of the girls to put out their lights and settle down. The storm seemed to be reaching a crescendo now. Waves were crashing over the breakwater and the spray was being thrown about by the raging wind, adding to the sheets of rain.

Then, above the tumult of the storm, they heard a noise. It was an inhuman cry that spoke of power, of cruelty and of pain.

Megan shot Katie a startled glance and, in response, received a half smile and a nod. She had heard it too.

As if that was the signal she had been waiting for, Katie stood up and, without saying a word, got herself ready for bed.

[garethn]

Ch 2 Through the Maw

For the next two days it rained almost non-stop and, for most of the time, they had been cooped up in that depressing hostel. A rainy visit to a local 'Museum of Highland Life' had left Katie with the distinct impression that life in the Highlands a hundred years ago must have been pretty grim. It was bleak enough up here in summer; in winter it must be dreadful.

But at last the rain had stopped. The bright blue sky was decorated with scuttling white clouds as the troop of excitedly chattering girls made their way down to the harbour for what was supposed to be a highlight of the week - a boat trip along the coast. The storm had delayed it by a couple of days but now, at last, they were on their way.

“Are you quite sure it's safe?” Miss Parson asked the old fisherman when they reached the boat.

“I’ve been sailing these waters for the better part of fifty years and I haven’t lost a boat yet,” he assured her in his broad highlands accent. An amused grin was just visible behind his bushy white beard.

“And it’s not going to be too rough for the girls?”

“It’ll be a wee bit choppy just out beyond the breakwater but it should settle down once we get round the headland. Ye’ll be fine,” he assured Miss Parson. She continued to look skeptical.

“It’s been two days since the storm and it’s calmed down a fair bit out there,” he added as the portly teacher reluctantly made her way down onto the converted fishing boat. “Once you get used to it, ye’ll be fine.”

Miss Parson still had a distinctly apprehensive look on her face but she visibly braced herself. “Come on down then,” she called to the gaggle of girls who were looking down on them from the harbour wall.

There was a little cabin towards the front of the boat. It had windows to the front and side but was open to the rear. The fisherman stepped onto the side of the boat then jumped up to sit on its roof looking back at the three rows of benches behind him and waited patiently as the girls made their way down the gangplank onto the rocking boat.

“Grab yourselves a seat,” he told them. Once everybody had found a place, he started reading out a sheet of safety instructions in a bored voice.

When he started talking about the life jackets, Mary Jane, who had never been on a boat before, let out a squeal. “Don’t be so pathetic!” Katie sighed. She didn’t think she had said it out loud but the fisherman must have heard her because he flashed her a grin.

“Right,” he said, when he had finished, “now that bit’s over, we can get going. Today we’re going to be heading up the coast towards Seistethy Draig. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to take us through the Maw – that’s the passage between the stack and the cliffs up there - I’ll have to have a look at how the tide is running when we get there. I’ll stay as close in to the cliffs as I can, so you should be able to get a great view of the birds. I hope you’ve got your binoculars with you.”

“Are we allowed to get up and move around?” Claire asked.

“You can go anywhere you like except back by the propeller,” he answered. “You can even come into the cabin to see what I’m up to but no more than two at a time, please.”

“I’m not moving from this seat,” Barbara said emphatically. She already looked extremely pale. The old fisherman was amused but said nothing.

He jumped down onto the deck, stepped into the little cabin and started the engine. “Cast off!” he shouted to his mate, who was still on the quayside. The mate released the ropes and jumped aboard.

“Let’s get up front, away from this gang,” Katie suggested quietly to Megan as they made their way across the harbour. She didn’t much enjoy being in the group of girls at the best of time and, on this trip, she was finding them particularly irritating. She glanced towards Miss Parson, who looked distinctly uncomfortable and had her eyes fixed firmly on the horizon. “Best not let her notice us, though,” she added. “If I know her, she’ll not want us out of her sight!”

Subconsciously Katie grabbed at her bracelet as the two quietly got up and made their way forwards. “Make sure you hold on tight along there,” the fisherman called to them as they made their way along the narrow walkway past the cabin. It’s going to get a bit choppy now for a bit.”

They stumbled round to the front of the boat, gripping the cabin roof very securely, and sat with their backs to the cabin wall, looking out over the bow of the boat.

“I think it’s better up here,” called Katie. “It might be a bit bouncier, but at least you can see the waves coming in and get ready for them.”

Megan nodded back but said nothing. She was looking slightly uncomfortable.

“He was right when he said it would be a bit rough out here,” Katie said as they rounded the breakwater. She had to grab at a metal loop as the boat slapped into a particularly large wave. “Look at the white tops to the waves.”

“They’re called white horses,” said Megan. Her expression had now changed to one of steady determination. If Katie wanted to be up here she had no intention of being left at the back with the rest.

They sat for a little while, looking out at the dancing water ahead of them. Their thoughts were interrupted by a disturbance at the back of the boat. Megan climbed carefully to her feet and looked back. “It looks like Barbara has been sick,” she reported.

“I’m so glad we’re up here, out of the way,” Katie commented coolly.

“Me too!” Megan agreed with a smile, sitting down again.

The two sat there quietly for a while, looking out and enjoying the occasional splash of spray on their faces.

“Look at all those birds!” Megan cried suddenly, pointing to the cliffs which loomed above them on the right. There must be millions of them!”

“You know what?” Katie said, looking up at the headland. “Those must be the cliffs where we went for the walk, that first evening.” She looked around for her island but it was out of sight, hidden below the horizon.

They watched the cliffs as the boat rounded the headland. Once they were past it, the sea became much calmer. “That’s much better,” said Megan and the two sat together in a comfortable silence as the little boat chugged north.

“Hey look!” Megan called suddenly. “I can see that seat thingy.”

“The Dragon’s Seat,” said the old fisherman, who had just appeared round the side of the cabin, “Seistethy Draig.” He started to fiddle with an aerial on the cabin roof.

“Why’s it called that, please?” Megan asked.

“Haven’t you heard the old tale?” he answered with a grin. “The dragons from the island of Caery Draig used to come and sit on it when they were deciding which little girl they wanted to eat for their tea!”

“What island?” asked Katie, suddenly alert and ignoring his patronising tone.

“Oh it doesn’t really exist,” he answered with a laugh. “It’s just an old tale round these parts. They say there’s an island, down aways, south west of the village, where the dragons live.”

“But I saw an island down there the other day when we were up on the cliffs,” Katie said in a quiet voice. “And I could see something in the sky above it.”

“Maybe you’ve got ‘the sight’ then!” the fisherman responded. He was still smiling but now it was only with his mouth. His eyes had taken on a much more piercing aspect and suddenly Katie had the feeling that there was something going on inside her head.

For a moment she froze, trying to make sense of what was going on. Though the fisherman hadn’t moved from the spot, it felt as if he had taken his fist and shoved it straight into the middle of her brain. She thrashed out wildly, flailing towards whatever it was that was attacking her. Instinctively her right hand grasped at her leather bracelet and she closed her eyes, oblivious to everything except the battle that was taking place inside her head.

Almost weeping with the exertion, she managed to get some sort of hold on the thing. Her grip was not firm but at least she could block whatever it was from boring further into her head. Once she’d stopped it, she was able to gradually build up the strength of her grip until, with an almighty heave, she threw it out.

She collapsed onto Megan’s shoulder and sat there sweating, trembling and breathing hard. She was on the point of blacking out.

When, at last, she was able to look up, she saw that the fisherman had staggered backwards too. He was holding onto the cabin roof and swaying violently.

“What’s the matter?” Megan asked her. “Are you alright?”

But Katie gave no answer. She was still reeling under the shock of what had just happened and, as she slowly recovered, her sense of indignation grew. There was no doubt about it. The fisherman had attacked her. In their exchange of glances there had been some kind of battle.

But the anger and exhaustion was washed away by an overwhelming sense of triumph. There had been a battle.

And she had won!

Katie glanced across at the fisherman again. He was still looking stunned but she was worried about what he might do when he came back to his senses. She hurriedly started to search around inside her head trying to make sense of what had happened in case she needed to protect herself again.

The attack had drawn her attention to a corner of her mind which she had never really noticed before and she started to investigate it. There was some resistance at first, some sort of instinct telling her to stay away, but the need to protect herself was so urgent that she dived in heedlessly and the resistance suddenly collapsed. For a moment she felt as if she was falling but then she caught herself and could look around again.

Her mind seemed to have been turned inside out. There were her own familiar thoughts, fears and emotions but they were laid out in a pattern around her.

With outrage she realised that the fisherman must have been trying to break into this structure. He had been trying to look inside her mind!

‘If he ever tries that again he’ll be sorry!’ Katie said emphatically to herself as she tried to work out how he had attacked her and what she had done to protect herself. She felt her way, as best she could, back along the path from which his attack had come, though she had the impression that direction had no particular meaning when she was looking around her head in this way. There was some sort of boundary and she tried, tentatively, to reach out beyond it.

It resisted slightly but then she broke through and she felt as if she had just stepped out into space.

She was floating in a vast emptiness. Glancing round, she was astonished, and yet reassured, that she could look back on the structure that she knew to be her own mind. From out here, however, it looked like a cloud, with only the most obvious thoughts and feelings floating in and out of sight at the surface.

But she gradually became aware that there was a whole series of other clouds out there, some pale, some much brighter and, as she studied them, she started to understand that each of these clouds must be a separate person. In some of the clouds she could even detect some basic thoughts which were flashing near the surface. ‘I feel sick,’ was being projected clearly from one of them, whilst another couple were obviously looking at a black bird over on some rocks.

Most of the clouds looked quite quiet and calm but one of them, the brightest by far, was thrashing and seething. She knew at once that it had to be the fisherman’s.

Fascinated, she reached across to his cloud and peered inside, looking down on the jumble of thoughts which were dancing about inside his mind: “She’s a sharp one, this girl.” “She’s strong in the sight. She bounced me out as if I were nowt but a bairn.” “What would my old granny have made of her?” “I think I’ll go round my Aunt Winnie’s tonight for a word.”

Katie was horrified when she realised that the fisherman had seen what she could do. This was definitely something she wanted to keep secret so she cautiously tried to smooth out all the thoughts and memories which might give her away. There was his thought about her own ‘sight’; rub that out. And here was his memory of their talk about the island; get rid of that too. When she had finished, she slipped quietly out of his mind and returned her awareness back to the normal world.

“Are you alright?” Megan was asking in a worried tone.

“Quiet!” she hissed back. She glanced across at the fisherman and saw that he had a peculiar, absent look on his face. She quickly looked away towards the cliffs and pretended not to be paying any attention to him.

“I had a bit of a funny turn there,” she heard him muttering to himself as he lurched unsteadily down the walkway back to his cabin. When he had gone, Katie breathed a sigh of relief and allowed herself to relax.

“OK! What was that all about?” whispered Megan.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Katie answered.

“Try me,” said Megan. “I saw there was something pretty odd going on.”

Katie thought for a few moments and then decided that, even if Megan tried to give her secret away, she would be safe as nobody would ever believe her. “Okay then,” she said with a shrug. “You heard him talking about ‘the sight’. He wasn’t joking and he just tried to use it to read my mind. I managed to kick him out though.”

“What?” exclaimed Megan.

“I said you wouldn’t believe it,” said Katie. “To be honest, I’m not sure I really believe it myself. I’ll tell you what…”

She went quiet for a moment and tried to find her way back into what she was starting to think of as the ‘cloud world’. For some reason, though, she couldn’t work out how to do it. ‘Funny,’ she thought, ‘I had no difficulty getting in last time. Maybe it had something to do with what the fisherman did.’

Thinking about his attempt to break into her mind did the trick. There were the clouds again.

She could look around a bit more thoroughly now. She could see about a dozen clouds round her own, though she could not see any particular pattern in the way the clouds were arranged. The fisherman was still easy enough to recognise but she could not tell who anyone else was.

She slipped out again. “You’re going to have to help me here,” she told Megan. “I can see quite a few minds round here but I can’t tell which one’s yours. Think of something that’s fairly obvious for me – say a big dog.”

When she went back into the cloud world again, she could see a large furry dog hovering near the surface of one of the clouds. That had to be Megan so she reached across and, after hunting around a little, found what she was looking for.

“A Newfoundland!” she announced triumphantly as she emerged.

Megan nodded, looking astonished.

“By the way, who’s Philip?”

Megan turned bright red. “But I never told anyone anything about him,” she protested. “How on earth did you know?”

“Do you believe me now?” Katie responded with a smile, “or do I have to go and have a look for a couple more secrets?”

Megan shook her head emphatically.

Katie leaned back against the cabin and shut her eyes. “It’s quite hard work,” she said, almost to herself as she rubbed her forehead with her hands, “and it’s given me a bit of a headache“. She sat quietly, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

After a couple of minutes she opened her eyes again. “I’m going to find out what else that fisherman knows about this ‘sight’ thing,” she said.

“Maybe you should talk to Miss Parson about it first,” Megan suggested.

“Certainly not!” Katie answered sharply. “She’d never believe me anyway and, even if I did manage to convince her, she’d try and stop me using it. This has got to stay a secret. Is that clear?”

Megan nodded. “But are you sure it’s safe?” she asked.

“I should be fine,” Katie answered. “I can see that the fisherman is the strongest person about and I didn’t have any problems dealing with him.”

Once more she flipped herself into the cloud world. It was becoming easier every time and now she knew him, she could easily recognise the fisherman. Easing herself back into his cloud, she searched around, looking for everything he knew about ‘the sight’.

His head was full of what she guessed were normal fisherman’s thoughts. “I need to go out and have a look at my lobster pots tomorrow.” “The boat’s going to need more diesel soon.” “The tide’s running along a bit nippily today. It might be a bit too choppy through the Maw.” At first Katie was slightly disappointed to learn this but then she realised that this was the chance to pay the others back for not believing her about her island. After checking that he did not think it was too dangerous, she carefully formed an idea in her own mind then pushed it across into his cloud: “Yes, we should be okay through the Maw. That gang of girls back there might squeak a bit but we’ll be fine.”

Katie was starting to feel more confident now and, recalling his thoughts about ‘Aunt Winnie’ she reached out towards the cluster of thoughts and feelings that were linked with that idea. “She lives out on her own in a little cottage just north of the Seat.” “She’s ancient, much older than the fisherman himself.” “She’s deaf and dumb. She can only communicate using ‘the sight’.” “She has regular contact with a couple of the people from the island.”

She froze in shock at this revelation. There really is an island out there! Certainly he believed that it existed. She knew what she could see but the reaction of the others was almost making her doubt her own eyes. Delving deeper into his memories, she could pick out an image from many, many years ago. There was a creature, much bigger than any bird, flying far off near the horizon.

He knew what he thought it was but some sort of block was keeping it out of his active mind, as if he was trying to protect himself by not thinking about it. Katie felt around this idea until what she suspected was there came bubbling to the surface: ‘Ynys Dreigiau’; ‘Dragon Island’. He knew he had seen one of the dragons.

Katie was still trying to make sense of this revelation when she was distracted by something. At first she was not sure what it was, but then she realised that it was coming from outside the cloud world where her concentration had been fixed. Somebody was shaking her arm.

She flipped back and found it was Megan. “Wake up, sleepy head!” she was saying. “We’re nearly there.”

“I wasn’t asleep,” she answered. For a moment she thought about mentioning the fisherman’s memories but she was distracted by their arrival at the sea stack.

“It’s huge!” Megan gasped as the boat drew ever closer and the girls had to crane their necks to look up. “Look at all those birds. They must be nesting on the thing.”

Katie relaxed as the boat moved past the stack then leaned across towards Megan. “Get ready,” she said quietly in her ear, “and hold on. I think things are about to get really exciting!”

Megan gave her a puzzled look but Katie was quietly leaning back against the cabin wall, studying the rock as the boat was thrown about by the waves near the base of the stack.

“Is everybody ready?” shouted the fisherman, as they rounded the end. Then, without waiting for an answer, he added, “Hold tight!”

The boat’s engine roared, powering through the churn of broken water as he threw the boat into ‘The Maw’, the narrow channel between the cliffs and the stack.

A chorus of screams rang out from the back of the boat as Miss Parson and the girls realised what he was doing. But Katie could sense the calm control that the fisherman was radiating so she remained unruffled as they ploughed on into the choppy water though she did flinch when Megan’s fingers dug into her arm.

The boat was thrown around in the broken water and Katie had to grab at the metal ring again. She grinned across at Megan and let out a whoop as waves began to break over the front of the boat, splashing them both. They were thrown violently to and fro and the rocks on either side seemed to jump alarmingly close as they ploughed on through the narrow channel.

And then they were through. The boat emerged into the quieter water on the far side and, as the fisherman eased back the engines, Katie could hear Miss Parson bellowing at him. “What on earth did you think you were doing?” she was shouting. “We could have all been killed.”

Katie settled back with a broad grin on her face. She had never heard Miss Parson raise her voice like that before. She had obviously been extremely frightened.

“How did you know he was going to do that?” gasped Megan. “You didn’t… you couldn’t…”

Katie gave no answer. She just kept on smiling. “You know,” she said casually after a moment, “I think the rest of this holiday is going to be fun!” She leaned back against the cabin as they started the journey back along the coastline towards the village.

After a couple of minutes Katie had an idea. “I want to see how you drive the boat,” she said. “Are you coming?” The two girls made their way along the side of the boat and stood at the entrance to the cabin looking down on the old fisherman. He looked towards them, slightly sheepishly.

“I forgot you two were up front, there,” he said. “You must have got soaked!”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Katie answered.

“It was a bit like a roller-coaster ride, but with more water!” Megan added.

“I’m glad you weren’t as scared as some of them,” he said quietly, flicking his head back towards Miss Parson. Katie did not answer but just smiled at him. He turned away in embarrassment and pretended to be busy with something on the instrument panel.

“How hard is it to drive a boat like this?” Katie asked when he glanced back at her again.

“You have to be quite careful when you’re in tight spaces,” he answered, suppressing a grin, “but out here, it’s not too tricky at all. There’s nothing else to hit! Come on in and have a go!”

The two girls went into the cabin. Katie sat down and confidently took the wheel.

“Right,” said the fisherman, we’ve got to go round the headland, up there. and we’ll have to go out a touch further on account of the rocks around the base, and you have to steer her even further out on account of the wind that’s pushing us in towards the shore.”

He watched as Katie turned the wheel. “Go on, he said, “a bit further.”

“It’s not working,” Katie said after a couple of seconds. “Nothing’s happening.”

“Give her a chance,” the fisherman smiled. “It’s not like riding a bike. These things take a bit of time on a boat. There, you see, she's starting to come round now. You can straighten her up.”

“But we’re still heading towards that headland.”

“Don’t worry. She’ll keep coming around for a while after you take the steering off. You need to think a good way ahead, especially when you’re messing about in a harbour.”

Then he gave a wink and quietly added, “Or round the rocks through the Maw, there.”

Katie smiled and watched carefully as the fisherman adjusted a lever on the dashboard.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s the throttle,” he answered. “It sets how hard the engine is going to push and so how fast we go. Now we’re coming up to the headland and it’s going to be a bit choppy when we get round so we’ll just ease back a bit.”

“I think I should take over now,” he added, taking back the wheel. “Some people,” he glanced back towards Miss Parson, “might not appreciate it if we get too close to the rocks again!”

It was starting to rain gently as the boat nosed its way round the headland. “Liquid sunshine,” the fisherman remarked mildly to Katie and Megan.

As the boat nosed into the harbour, the old fisherman turned to the rest of the passengers, sitting in the back of the boat. “I hope you enjoyed your trip and will come back again…” he began, but he was obviously still flustered by his inexplicable decision to take them through The Maw, and withered under Miss Parson’s piercing gaze. He limply finished his speech saying, “I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday.”

He stepped back into his cabin as the mate hopped out and tied up the boat.

After checking Miss Parson was out of earshot, Katie stuck her head back into the cabin and grinned. “That was great,” she said quietly. “Best bit of the holiday so far!”

The fisherman said nothing but smiled back.

[garethn]

Ch 3 A Terrifying Stranger

“Right,” Miss Parson announced after lunch, having recovered from the shock of the morning and regained her relentlessly cheerful tone. “It looks as though this drizzle has set in for the afternoon. So, once we’ve helped Mrs Andrews to tidy away the lunch things, why don’t we have a nice game of charades.”

“This might be fun,” Katie said to Megan, as she carried a pile of plates from the long table where they all ate across to the serving hatch that opened through to the kitchen.

“But you hate any sort of game like that,” an astonished Megan responded. At the far end of the room there were a couple of low tables surrounded by a mismatched selection of chairs. There was a bookshelf against one of the walls which was full of old books and magazines. Katie managed to find herself a shabby armchair and sank down so low in it that she was almost lying down. Megan pulled up a chair next to her.

“You’ll see,” she answered with a mysterious grin.

“Move those tables out of the way!” Mrs Andrews instructed them as she shuffled the cards for the game. “That’s it, let’s give ourselves some room. Now who wants to be first?”

Katie watched as Claire, feigning reluctance, allowed herself to be pushed into the centre of the circle and was handed a card. Then she flipped into the cloud world and felt around in a couple of the clouds that she could see. Most of them were quite calm and relaxed, although one, she observed with a grin, was reviewing a number of images of James, a young lad who helped in the hostel kitchens. Katie kept on looking and found one cloud that looked as if it was shouting, “How do I do ‘War and Peace’?”

“War and Peace,” Katie whispered to Megan as Claire started to mime ‘War’.

Megan gave Katie an indulgent smile but the look turned to one of incredulity when, a few seconds later, it became clear that she had been right.

After a few rounds, she was managing to astonish Megan by whispering the answer to her before the embarrassed victims had even stood up. She had also managed to work out that it was Annette who had been paying so much attention to James and made a careful mental note. That sort of information could be extremely useful.

“Oh I do so enjoy charades!” she whispered to Megan with a sarcastic grin.

After dinner, Katie tried a couple of times to look around further in the cloud world. She could flip in and out without any problems now. She could also maintain some sort of awareness as to what was going on back in the real world so when Miss Parson noticed the vacant expression on her face, she was able to quickly pull herself back.

“Are you feeling all right?” the teacher asked in a concerned tone.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Katie answered. “I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.”

“Probably a delayed reaction to that unpleasant shock this morning. I simply cannot imagine what that man thought he was doing. You two were up at the front of the boat, weren’t you?”

“Yes, it was really exciting,” Katie answered. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, though. I just need an early night. I’ll go on up now, if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine. Sleep well,” Miss Parson said sympathetically.

When Megan came up, Katie was lying on her bed but was not sleeping. She was simply staring up at the peeling paintwork on the ceiling.

“Are you alright?” Megan asked, throwing herself onto her own bed and kicking off her shoes.

“Of course! I’m fine!” Katie answered. “I just wanted a bit of time on my own to play about with this mind thing.”

“It really does work, doesn’t it?”

“If you don’t believe me now you never will… unless you’d like me to find out a little bit more about this Philip person,” she teased.

“That’s quite alright,” Megan said hurriedly, turning red. “It’s just so hard to believe, that’s all.”

“I know. It’s hard enough for me to believe and I’m doing it!” Katie said with a laugh.

“How does it work?” asked Megan.

“I don’t know,” Katie replied. “I really don’t know anything about it. All I know is that I can flip my mind into some sort of different view of the world where I can sort of see a whole bunch of clouds, one for each person. At first I couldn’t tell who was who but once I’ve worked out who someone is I can easily recognise them again, a bit like faces.”

“How far away can you see people?”

Katie thought about this. “I don’t know. I can see everybody downstairs fine and when somebody walked past on the street outside, I could see them okay. The walls didn’t get in the way.”

“Any further than that?”

“I’ve not really looked yet. I’ll give it a go.”

She closed her eyes again and flipped back into the cloud world. She reached back, beyond the first clouds, into the grey, shapeless background.

Then she noticed something burning brightly. It was much further away than any of the people she had looked at so far, but somehow much more intense. She cautiously reached out towards it.

The reaction was instantaneous and sharp. A stinging slap cast her unceremoniously aside and, as she jerked back into her own cloud, she could see it sending out something towards her. Whoever or whatever was out there was looking for her. As quickly as she could, she tumbled out from the cloud world.

“What’s the matter?” Megan asked when she saw the look on Katie’s face.

“Someone saw me,” Katie answered, stumbling over her words in panic. “Someone much stronger than anyone I’ve seen so far. Whoever it was, they saw me looking at them and they didn’t like it. They didn’t like it at all.”

As she lay on the bed, panting and shivering with the shock, a terrible feeling of foreboding crept over her. “Oh no!” she groaned.

What’s the matter?” asked Megan.

“They’re coming,” Katie gasped, gripping her bracelet for comfort and support. She could sense that whatever it was out there was approaching rapidly. She jumped out of bed and dashed to the window, craning her neck to look round the corner towards the sea as the thing approached.

“Can you see it?” Megan asked, her voice starting to share the hysterical tone, but Katie could not answer. She was holding her breath as this burning star of a mind drew ever closer.

Steadily her gaze rose from the horizon until she was staring straight up at the ceiling. Whoever it was was passing directly above them.

After what seemed like an age she realised that it had passed over them and carried on, heading inland. She let out a loud sigh of relief.

“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s gone. I think it must have missed me.” She realised that her forehead was soaked in sweat and she was moving over to the sink to wash her face when she suddenly stiffened.

“What is it now?” Megan asked when she saw the reaction.

“They’re coming back,” Katie replied.

“And who do you think it is?”

“I don’t know who or what it is but it’s completely different from anything else I’ve ever seen. You lot are like white clouds, that old fisherman was a bit brighter, but still basically a cloud. That thing, whatever it is, is as bright as the sun.”

Katie paused for a moment, not daring to go anywhere near the cloud world but reaching cautiously out with her feelings. “It’s moving more slowly this time,” she said. “It knows I’m here somewhere. It’s hunting for me!” She clutched at her bracelet once more. For some reason it always made her feel safe.

“You know what… I can tell it’s there too,” Megan said, her voice rising in fear. “I know what you mean now. It just feels horrible.” The two girls looked straight upwards as it passed overhead once more.

Katie collapsed back onto the bed. She was trembling and felt as if she had just run for miles.

“Do you think that brain thing of yours is doing it?” asked Megan, cautiously.

“I think so,” Katie answered wearily. “I think whoever it was saw me looking at them and got really angry. They seemed to come straight here. Thank goodness they couldn’t find me.”

“You know,” said Megan, “maybe you ought to be a bit more careful with this head thing until you know what you’re doing.”

Katie gave an exhausted nod.

A while later, she felt it again, but this time it was more distant, a little way out to sea. When it had faded into the distance once more, Katie turned out the light

+++

Katie was gliding, her immense wings resting on the cool night air. The moon shone in from the southeast, silhouetting the rugged coast of the mainland and dancing on the rippled sea far below.

She was hunting for something and primitive emotions surged through her: unquenchable hunger, boundless fury and, above all, the burning need to punish the miserable creature that failed to show the deference that she demanded.

She flexed her wings again, driving herself across the wide open skies.

Some miserable creature had had the temerity to attempt to look upon her. Not only that, it had somehow managed to evade her and escape the retribution that it so richly deserved. Her anger was rising and billowing within her with the passion of unbridled flame. She would not be denied!

Katie was woken from these disturbing images by Megan shaking her arm.

“What do you want?” she asked groggily.

“It’s alright,” Megan replied. “You were just having a nightmare.”

“I wish,” Katie replied, before settling into a much more peaceful sleep.

+++

The next morning dawned bright and sunny and, at breakfast, Miss Parson announced that they were to go down the coastal path to the south to find a beach that she had read about.

Katie quickly got bored with trailing along through the village with the troop of girls so, as soon as they found the path, she and Megan rushed ahead, almost running up the steep climb. When they reached the top of the cliff they collapsed onto the grass, laughing and panting as they watched the flocks of sea birds wheeling on the wind and the waves crashing against the jagged cliffs far below.

Eventually Miss Parson appeared, toiling and sweating in the early morning sunshine. “That was quite a climb!” she wheezed as she stopped to admire the view. “Right, girls,” she added, once she had got her breath back, “off we go. Now I’ve been told that the path along here is quite rough so please take care.”

They strolled along the broad grassy path for about two miles then the view suddenly opened up and they found themselves overlooking a beautiful bay, backed by high cliffs. The tide was out, exposing a large beach of white sand below them while, at the far end of the bay, there was an area of rocks where countless pools glistened in the sunshine.

“I’ve read that there are some quite unusual sea anemones in the pools down there,” Miss Parson informed them. “I was hoping to go down and have a look. The way down should be over there somewhere.” She led them along to the edge of the cliff.

“Now be careful on the way down,” she said nervously, standing back and allowing the girls to go ahead. Katie rolled her eyes towards Megan and began to descend the rugged path, casually jumping from rock to rock. Megan followed a little more cautiously. “I said be careful,” Miss Parson called after them but by now Katie was far enough away to be able to pretend that she had not heard.

For the first time in the holiday it felt like summer. The sun was warm and as soon as she reached the beach she took of her shoes and socks and ran down to the water. The rest of the girls hurried after her and, by the time Miss Parson had completed her laborious descent, they were having a great time, playing in the sand and splashing in the water.

Miss Parson looked on for a while then led them along the shore towards the rocks at the south end of the bay. She was saying something about a prize for the first person to find one of her special anemones but Katie was not listening as she followed reluctantly on behind. She had a peculiar notion that there was something strange nearby, as if she had a memory of the place, though she knew she had never been there before in her life. The feeling grew as she clambered over rocks and peered unenthusiastically into the pools. As they drew near to the headland at the end of the bay, it was becoming so strong that she could no longer ignore it

“There’s something funny round here,” she whispered to Megan, “I’m going to have a look. Are you coming?”

She glanced back towards Miss Parson who seemed to have found one of her precious sea anemones and was concentrating on a rock pool so she and Megan had no difficulty in quietly slipping away. They scrambled along to the rocky headland. Here the sea was coming almost up to the cliffs making the rocks wet and slippery and they had quite a struggle to make their way round the point. When at last they made it, however, the little cove they found made it worthwhile.

“It’s perfect,” Megan exclaimed when she saw the narrow, sandy bay surrounded on three sides by rocks and high cliffs. “I’m so glad we came round here.”

“It is really pretty,” Katie agreed. “What’s that over there?” she asked, pointing to a large pile of rocks and debris on the sand.

“I don’t know,” Megan answered. “It looks like there might have been a rock fall. You can see the mark on the cliff.”

As they walked over to investigate, Katie’s eye was caught by something lying partially buried in the pile. “What do you think this is?” she asked.

“What’s what?” Megan responded.

“This,” she said, clearing away some of the debris with her foot to expose a glistening, metallic red ball.

But when Megan continued to insist that she could not see anything, Katie turned and looked at her for a moment, perplexed. She knew that Megan would not tease her about something like this so, not knowing what else to do, she flipped into the cloud world and gently eased herself into Megan’s cloud.

Carefully she felt her way around and what she saw was very peculiar. In a way Megan could see the ball but something was preventing her from being aware that she could see it. As she probed deeper, she discovered some sort of block. She gently eased it to one side and…

Something seemed to click in Megan’s head. Katie sensed a little explosion of pain, flashing across the cloud, which vanished in an instant, though, in that instant, she caught a glimpse of a hidden corner of the mind that burned as brightly as the fisherman’s. Katie was vaguely aware that, back on the beach, Megan had let out a scream and was holding her hands to her head.

Katie flipped back into the plain world. “Are you alright?” she asked Megan, who was standing with a bewildered expression on her face.

“I had a sudden horrible pain in my head but…” Megan blinked a couple of times, “but it’s gone now. Hey, is that the ball you were talking about? I don’t know how I missed it.”

“I think there are a couple here,” she went on, dropping to her knees and, scraping around in the pile she uncovered three more: two green and a blue one. “They’re really pretty. What do you think they are?”

Katie knelt down to have a closer look too. They were as big as footballs

“You know what? I don’t think they are balls at all,” Megan went on. “They’re more, well, egg-shaped. But they can’t be eggs. I’ve seen an ostrich egg and it was a lot smaller than these things.”

Katie went suddenly cold. On impulse, she felt out towards the balls with her mind. In a way they burned almost as brightly as the terrifying stranger she had glimpsed the other night but hardly any of the power was leaking out. Instead it was being channelled into putting a shield around whatever was inside.

“Makes sense, I suppose,” she shrugged to herself. She paused for a moment, deep in thought, before flipping back into the true world.

“You don’t think…” she said. “You’re not going to believe me but…” she paused.

“Go on, say it,” said Megan. “I heard what that fisherman said too.”

“They’re dragon’s eggs,” Katie said in a hushed, awed voice.

“I’m not sure what I think,” Megan responded with a shrug but Katie was lost in her own thoughts. Megan glanced around her. “I tell you what, though?” she said after a few moments. “I reckon they come from up there.” She was pointing to a crack in the rocks above them which had been exposed by the rock fall.

“You might well be right,” Katie answered, glancing up. “You know what?” she said thoughtfully. “I want to keep this as our secret. I don’t want Miss Parson sticking her nose into this... or anyone else.”

Megan thought about this before nodding in agreement. “We can’t just leave them here, though,” she said. “They’ll be washed away next time there’s a high tide.”

“We’ll have to put them back in the crack then, won’t we?”

“It’s quite a long way up.”

“I should be able to get up there, if you can pass them up to me.”

Katie scrambled up and, with a fair amount of heaving and grunting, they managed to get the eggs back up into the crack. They were surprisingly heavy.

“Pass me up a couple of rocks!” Katie shouted down.

After packing the gap with half a dozen large pebbles, Katie was a lot happier. “They’re not going to fall out now and, even if anybody comes into this bay, they’re not going to spot them.

Suddenly Megan let out a squeak. “Look out!” she yelped. “We’re about to be cut off!”

The two girls rushed back to the headland and managed to make it back round by scuttling between waves, though Megan nearly fell in when a wave broke over the rock she was standing on and Katie managed to get a boot full of water.

But as they stumbled back to the beach and safety, Megan came to a sudden stop.

Miss Parson was standing with her hands on her hips and, from the insistent tone in which she was calling their names, it was clear that she had been looking for them for some time.

Katie put a hand on Megan’s shoulder then, without thinking, she slipped into the teacher’s mind. She spread feelings of calm and did her best to make the area of cliffs over by the path seem as interesting as possible.

“Maybe they’ve gone back up,” Miss Parson suggested and started to trundle back across the beach. She was still shouting their names but her voice had lost its worried tone. Now she only sounded slightly annoyed. As the gaggle of girls trudged after her, Katie hurried Megan up towards the cliffs. She let out a sigh then, in as casual a tone as she could manage, she called back to Miss Parson.

“Where have you been?” the teacher asked. “We were starting to get a bit worried.”

“Sorry, we didn’t hear you,” Katie answered. “We’ve been up here by the cliffs, looking for fossils.”

“You’re not going to find any fossils around here. These are igneous rocks,” Miss Parson informed them. As she began a short, impromptu lecture on basic geology, the two girls knew they were safe.

The rest of the day had not been too bad with a picnic lunch on the beach and then some quiet time alone, simply paddling in the water. The beach was large enough to allow Katie some space and she could avoid the rest of that infuriating troop of girls. For a while, the sea and sunshine had even driven the island of Caery Draig and its Dragons out of her mind.

But as they were climbing back up the cliff, later that afternoon, Katie happened to glance back over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of the island again and suddenly the realisation came crashing down upon her. That was where all the answers were. That was where she needed to go.

[garethn]

Ch 4 Storm

Word count 3991 (10-Jun-19)

Over the next couple of days, the thought of the island seemed to grow in Katie’s mind until, at last, she made a decision. For two days she made plans and then, at tea time on the final evening of their holiday, she whispered to Megan, “Tonight’s the night. I’ve got a full moon and it’s as flat as a pancake out there.”

“What are you talking about?” Megan asked.

“I’ll need you to cover for me. I’m off to the island tonight.”

“How on earth are you going to do that?”

“You remember that old fisherman – the one who took us out the other day. I was chatting with him this afternoon and I noticed that he’d left the boat full of diesel and the keys in the lock.”

It was, of course, not a coincidence that the keys had been left in the lock. Indeed, it had taken all Katie’s new-found powers of coercion to persuade him to leave them there.

“So that’s what you’ve been up to. I was wondering why you were spending so much time hanging about down by the harbour.”

“And tonight I'm going to borrow it.”

Megan nodded, hardly believing what Katie was suggesting. She was quiet for a moment then said decisively, “I’m coming too.”

Katie nodded. She should have known that Megan would not want to be left behind on an adventure like this.

Shortly after midnight, Katie flipped into the cloud view and felt out into the hotel around her. There was Miss Parsons showing the characteristic rhythmic wave pattern that Katie now recognised as sleep. She felt on further. Mrs Andrews and her husband were sleeping too… and so were the other girls. It was fine. They were all asleep.

“We’re good to go!” she whispered across to Megan. “But are you really sure you want to come? It could be dangerous.” Katie had an uneasy feeling about Megan joining her.

Megan thought about it for a few seconds then nodded.

Touching her white leather bracelet for luck, she slipped to the window and, holding her breath, she eased it open. She was pleased that she had spent so much time that morning scraping away the rust and paint. It opened without a sound.

After checking that the lane was empty, she stepped over the balcony rail. Then she reached across and down with her foot until she found the flat roof of the entrance porch and stepped down onto it. Once she was steady, she hissed to Megan to follow her.

She knew that the next bit was going to be the trickiest. She had to get down onto the dining room window sill. There was some sort of ventilation pipe sticking out from the wall but it looked quite flimsy so, taking a firm grip on the balcony railings, she just lowered herself down.

Megan tried to follow her but she was not strong enough and had to rest a foot on the pipe. It creaked alarmingly under her weight. Without thinking, Katie reached up with one arm, grabbed Megan around the waist and lowered her down until she was standing on the window sill next to her

“Sorry about the noise there,” Megan murmured.

But Katie did not reply. She had already flipped into the cloud world and was checking round the hostel. “Everyone’s still asleep,” she whispered with a sigh of relief as she eased herself quietly down to the ground.

“Thank goodness for that,” Megan replied as she followed her down. “How are we going to get back in? I don’t fancy climbing back up!”

“We’ll sort something out,” Katie answered tersely. By now, the pull of the island was completely filling her mind and she could think of nothing else.

Without another word she set off, moving cautiously down through the silent village.

The moon was full and when they reached the harbour they could see that the boat had risen on the tide. Katie stepped easily down onto it. As she made her way into the little cabin, Megan stayed on the harbour wall. She was starting to have her doubts about this adventure. Even by Katie’s reckless standards, this midnight trip was extreme.

But Katie just carried on preparing the boat as if she did it every night. That morning she had carefully studied the fisherman and she was now copying what she had seen. “Heater coil on…” she chanted as if it were a mantra. “Wait a few seconds… ignition on.”

Megan flinched as the noise of the motor echoed around the sleeping village but Katie did not even bother to flip into the cloud world. They were on their way and, even if somebody woke up, it was too late for them to do anything about it.

“Right,” she said softly to Megan who was still standing on the harbour wall, chewing her lower lip, “go and undo the ropes.”

With a growing sense of unreality, Megan went to the back of the boat and untied the rope. She was moving towards the one at the front when at last she managed to turn and face her friend. “Are you sure about this?” she asked. “You know how much trouble we’re going to be in if we get caught.”

“You don’t have to come,” Katie told her flatly. She stepped easily out of the boat and walked past Megan to the rope at the front. “But I just have to do this,” she explained as she untied that rope. For a moment she turned to face Megan, still holding the rope to stop the boat from drifting away.

“I’m going now,” she told her friend gently and for a moment a glimpse of the familiar, loyal Katie was visible under the cold, driven surface. “I’ll understand if you want to stay here. I really don’t mind.”

She stepped back down onto the boat and, with her weight, it began to drift away from the harbour wall. For another moment Megan hesitated then, at the last moment, she threw herself across the widening gap and stumbled heavily onto the deck. She looked up towards Katie but she did not even seem to have noticed. She was already steering the boat out towards the harbour mouth… towards open water… towards the island.

For half an hour there was silence, broken only by the quiet throb of the engine and the occasional slap of waves. The sea stretched ahead of them in oily blackness with the occasional flashes of silver as moonlight caught a ripple.

In the distance, Katie could see the vague silhouette of the island and, as they drew closer, she could clearly make out the shape of the mountain which dominated the centre though the base remained indistinct.

“I can see it too,” Megan said suddenly in a quiet, awed voice.

Katie responded with the briefest of nods but the irresistible compulsion that was drawing her onwards was driving all other thoughts from her mind.

Megan cautiously made her way forwards along the walkway at the side of the cabin. She stood at the front of the boat, staring out into the darkness. “There’s something odd out there,” she called back. “It looks like some funny sort of clouds.”

Katie said nothing and just continued to stare out through the window. She could see the clouds too but they were not important. Nothing mattered except the irresistible compulsion drawing her onwards towards the island.

After a couple of minutes, Megan came back into the cabin. “I really don’t like the look of those clouds up there,” she said. Her worry was plain to hear. “They just don’t look right at all. I think it’s some sort of storm. We’ve seen the island now. We ought to turn back.”

“We’re going to the island,” Katie responded implacably, her eyes remaining fixed straight ahead. “I’ve told you. I’ve got to go there. Nothing is going to stop me.” She continued to drive impassively into the gathering gloom with a look of steely determination on her face.

As they pressed on, the wind became stronger. The sea was becoming more choppy and their little boat was being thrown from side to side. The wall of cloud seemed to gather and rise above and around and, as it did so, it carried a feeling of foreboding.

“Katie!” Megan shouted. Her voice was rising in pitch and volume, hovering on the edge of hysteria. “Something terrible’s going to happen! We need to turn back right now!”

Katie felt the sensation too but the pull of the island left no room for doubt or fear. The emotions washed over her as if they were happening to someone else.

Then the clouds closed over them, shutting out the moonlight and plunging them into darkness. The only light came from the instrument panel in front of them which distorted their faces and served only to emphasise the utter blackness beyond.

“We’ve got to go back!” Megan shouted over the wind. “This is just too dangerous!” She grabbed at Katie’s shoulder to steady herself as the boat thrashed from side to side but Katie shrugged her off and Megan stumbled out of the cabin, falling to the deck. She knelt there, clutching at one of the benches as they were thrown violently to one side.

Katie ignored her and continued driving the boat onwards, a look of savage concentration on her face. She could no longer see the island but she knew with the same absolute certainty that was driving her onwards that she was going in the right direction.

And then the full force of the storm hit. The wind came tearing in ferociously, carrying rain and salt water. Waves started to splash in over the bow of the boat, soaking them both.

“Katie!” Megan screamed, barely able to make herself heard over the shrieking wind. “Take us back. We’re going to die.”

But there was still no answer as Katie continued to stand like a statue in the cabin of the boat, gripping the wheel tightly and staring out into the rising storm. They were close and moving closer. She knew it.

A particularly violent wave broke over the boat, shattering one of the windows and rolling Megan across the deck. She continued to lie where she landed, whimpering hysterically.

But then Katie sensed something new. Something was coming towards them. Without even flipping into the cloud world she recognised the overwhelming presence that it would have there. It was approaching from above and to their right and it was approaching astonishingly quickly. As she recognised the imperious mind, much like the one she had glimpsed a few evenings before, she realised that it was minds like these that had been drawing her to the island with such inescapable force. This was where her future lay.

As it drew closer, everything else seemed to recede. Katie’s eyes followed it though she could see nothing through the violence of the storm.

Suddenly there was an explosion of red through the tattered shreds of cloud that vanished as quickly as it appeared. The thing was circling them. Another flash of red! This time there was a hint of a huge, powerful, reptilian torso and a bat-like wing. Then yet another flash as it spiraled in towards them. A sinuous neck was revealed ending in a horse-like head.

Megan could see it too and she fell silent as she followed it with a stare of wide-eyed horror. It circled ever closer… ever closer… ever closer.

Then it swept out of the clouds to reveal itself in all its appalling majesty. It seemed to defy logic. No creature that large should be able to fly.

But there could no longer be any doubt. It was a dragon.

Its cloud world presence burned with such an intensity that Katie’s awareness was dragged partially across. “Prey!” she heard it thinking as it circled impassively through the chaos of the storm. “How convenient; I hunger.”

Suddenly it broke from its circle and swept down towards them. Katie was thrown to the deck by some sort of blow that seemed to come out of the cloud world and the creature smashed the roof off their little boat’s cabin with a contemptuous flick of its tail. She heard Megan let out a scream as the two girls were showered in a hail of splinters.

“Don’t hurt us!” Katie screamed at the dragon over the roar of the storm as she rose unsteadily to her feet. “We need to talk.”

It seemed somewhat taken aback by this reaction. “Does the wolf negotiate with the deer?” it demanded, “or the eagle parley with the hare?” Why, pray, should I listen to you?” However it hesitated for a moment, as if thinking about something. “Nonetheless, you, too, show courage in standing before me to meet your doom. For this, you may say your piece before you die!” The fearsome creature continued to wheel in tight circles round the boat.

“I had to come to the island,” Katie explained hurriedly. “I’ve been called here.”

“You had to come here?” it responded in mocking contempt. “What should I care for your petty ambitions and motivations? I am the mighty Rhiannas of the House of Rhian. Why should I suffer you to live?”

Katie’s mind raced, frantically trying to think of a way of saving her life. “Maybe I can be of service to you in some way,” she attempted to shout but, in her effort to make herself heard above the fury of the storm, she found herself projecting the words out into the cloud world.

Katie sensed a momentary hint of surprise flash across the creature’s mind. “Intriguing!” it said. “You are capable of cerebral communication, be it of a most primitive and unschooled nature. Such talent is rare in Outsiders and certainly you managed to penetrate our defences by a disconcertingly large amount. My fellow border guards and I are not normally so lax in our duties. Perhaps you do have talents which will allow you to be of use to me after all.

“However, none come to the island without paying the guard. What do you bring me by way of tribute?”

Katie’s eyes darted around the shattered ship, looking for something, anything she could offer it. They landed on Megan who was still lying, whimpering, in the bottom of the boat.

“Yet more intriguing!” the creature observed slowly. “You would sacrifice one of your own to save your hide. Such an unclouded perception of the price of survival is certainly not common amongst your kind.”

“No!” Katie screamed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Are you certain about that?” the creature demanded. “Let me be clear. You offer me nothing I do not already possess for both your lives were forfeit the instant you crossed the boundary of the guardian storm. If the offer stands you may, for a while at least, live. Rescind it and you die.”

Katie could do nothing but stare at the monster, paralysed by the horror of the decision it was forcing her to make.

But the creature ceased its circling and turned to face her, hovering in the air like an enormous hummingbird. “I must soon resume my patrol duties and I can brook no further delay. My offer will not be improved. Decide now.”

Katie felt the refusal rising within herself but was simply unable to utter it. For a moment she stared at the creature in horror before falling to her knees and covering her face with her hands. “I accept,” she heard herself say.

With that, it swooped down once more. Katie was encircled by one of its enormous talons and ripped into the air. She found herself hanging there like some pathetic rag doll. Not far away she could hear Megan’s screams as she, too, was seized.

The beast wheeled round and it completed the destruction of their boat with mighty blows from both its tail and its mind. It then swung around again and began to climb steeply.

Powerful wing strokes tore them up through the storm until they emerged into the calm, cold air above. Katie strained to turn within the beast’s grasp, trying to make some sense of what was going on. But suddenly Megan’s screams became frantic. Katie caught a fleeting glimpse of her friend’s pathetic body tumbling back down towards the sea.

But the creature had not finished with her. Folding its wings in, it rolled in the air and stooped down after the fluttering girl. Katie closed her eyes but this only made it worse. Through Megan’s eyes she caught a final glimpse of the enormous creature diving down towards her. And she shared Megan’s final thoughts of flame and despair… and of betrayal.

Echoing across the waters, from way off to the south, there came a wordless, equally despairing wail of response. This seemed to surprise the creature as it circled round and eased effortlessly into the air.

Stunned by the shock and the horror of what had just happened, Katie was unable to do anything and, hanging limp and hopeless under the great beast, she had only the vaguest impressions of the rest of the journey.

They were skimming low over the thrashing black sea. The salt water was splashing her face, mixing with the rain and her tears.

They were over land, climbing hard up the side of a mountain and being passed by five dragons flying in a tight V-shaped formation.

They were flashing through a narrow stone tunnel then exploding into an unthinkably vast space, full of light and of more dragons.

They were flying towards a wall which seemed to open and swallow them up.

Katie was dropped casually to the floor and the dragon landed a dozen yards in front of her with surprising grace for such a huge creature. There it stood, squatting on its enormously powerful rear legs like some immense reptilian eagle. Its relatively small front legs were allowed to hang down in front of it.

Katie dragged herself unsteadily to her feet and turned to face it.

“You presume to claim that you can be of service to me,” it said, pointing its long tail towards her. “Now is your opportunity to demonstrate that you are worthy to do so.”

She was utterly unprepared when the first cloud world blow landed. She was thrown to the ground, unable to move or breathe. She could barely think.

It felt as if her cloud was being blasted apart. Her hand grasped towards her leather bracelet as further blows came raining in. Her tight grip on the bracelet mirrored the desperate struggle inside her head. She had to keep hold of the tiny kernel at the centre of her mind or, she was certain, she would perish.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Katie lay on the stone floor for a moment before trying to stand. “Pathetic,” came the voice in her head, as she struggled to her feet. “Much more is required if you are to be of any use. Again!”

This time she was ready. In the instant before the next blow landed, Katie was able to flip fully into the cloud world and managed to fend it off. Gasping at the effort and pain, she pushed it to one side.

She realised another blow was coming in and managed to throw up a scrambling block to that one too. Grinding her teeth with the effort, she pushed that one away.

There was another blow and, after a wracking struggle, she countered that one too. She had barely time to recover before the next was on its way.

As blow after blow landed, everything beyond her little cloud lost all meaning. She sank into a primitive world of simplicity and pain. Attack; counter; recover. Attack; counter; recover.

She fought on and on, way beyond what she thought to be the limits of her strength. The certain knowledge that failure would mean instant destruction drove her on. To survive, she had to endure.

Slowly it dawned on her that the onslaught had ceased. She found that she had been thrown to her knees and she only just managed to catch herself on her arms as she collapsed forwards. She hung on her hands and knees for a few moments, too stunned for any emotions beyond an unfocused sensation of relief that it was all over.

“Marginally better!” came the mocking voice. “Now let’s try this.”

Something as sharp as a knife plunged into her cloud and she had an almost detached sensation of a scream of pain being torn from her own throat. She desperately searched within herself for the last few shreds of strength which she bound together to push it out again.

Another stab…She managed to parry this one near the surface and deflected it away relatively easily.

And another…this time the attack succeeded in penetrating her cloud before she could block it. With another scream of pain and effort she managed to drive it away.

These sharper attacks required less brute strength to repel but the price of failure was much higher.

Then she was hit by a series of attacks, landing at the same time but from different angles. She desperately scrambled from place to place, blocking the blows and driving them away. This time, however, none of them penetrated her protective cloud.

“Adequate,” the creature said. “For now I shall suffer you to live.”

Then, with no warning, the dragon turned its full power on her. There was no question of repelling the overwhelming force. She hardly noticed as she was thrown to the floor, consumed, as she was, with the devastation in her head. She found herself curling into a ball, desperately clutching at her mother’s bracelet.

She lost all sense of time and space as wave after wave crashed over her – flattening everything in its way with its devastating power. She could not think of standing against it or even trying to deflect it. All she could do was cower, with the precious kernel of her inner self hidden behind her bracelet, and endure.

And then it was gone. Without noticing any transition, Katie gradually became aware that the pain had ceased. She lay on the floor, bathed in relief that the crushing onslaught was no more.

It was only when she tried to stand that she realised that she could not move. The dragon was pinning her head to the floor with one of its short front legs.

It was obviously waiting for her to come back to her senses for, once it noticed her trying to move, it announced to her in a simple yet formal tone, “I am Rhiannas. Now you are utterly mine for all time. From now on your name is Rhianadoc.”

And with that it released her.

She rose unsteadily to her knees and looked across the room to Rhiannas who was moving towards the entrance.

“I must resume my duties,” it informed her. Then, without any visible gesture, the dragon indicated a small opening in one of the walls, up towards the entrance. “In times past, my servants lodged there. Go and rest for you will be tested further tomorrow.” With that, it disappeared into the space beyond the entrance.

Painfully she dragged herself to her feet and stumbled through the opening that she had been shown. There she discovered a small room with a primitive wooden bed in the far corner and what appeared to be a pile of rubbish in the middle of the floor. Too tired to think, she kicked some of the rubbish aside as she made her way over to the bed.

It was only as she was falling asleep that she realised that one of the things she had just kicked aside had been a scorched human skull.


Ch 5 In The Rhian Lair

Word count 3191 (10-Jun-19)

All was quiet when Katie woke and, until she opened her eyes, she could entertain some desperate half hope that it had all been some terrible dream, though the hard wooden planks under her indicated that something was amiss. When at last she looked around and saw she was in a stone-carved room, littered with charred human bones, she was left in no doubt.

Though she did not dare to go fully into the cloud world, she ventured towards the edge, cautiously peering out to try to make sense of what was going on beyond. She was instantly dazzled by the galaxy of stars that surrounded her. Whilst she was careful to avoid directing her gaze towards any one of the clouds, she could clearly see that Rhiannas was not anywhere close. She was certain that she would recognise his mind anywhere. For the moment, at least, she was safe.

Only then did she allow herself to think about what had happened the night before, what she had been forced to do to Megan and how she had been so utterly crushed and humiliated. She braced herself for the waves of revulsion and fury that she knew would follow but nothing came. She felt completely flat with just the faintest tinge of regret and knew at once that something was not right.

Then she reached gingerly into her bruised and battered cloud, looking for signs of damage. The familiar swarm of ideas, memories and emotions were still there but, nonetheless, she knew that something had been changed.

She inspected further and, down at the centre of her mind, almost completely enveloping the kernel of her inner self, she found it. An ugly, grey blob that had nothing to do with her had been left, lurking malevolently within the heart of her cloud. She studied it for a moment and saw that it was putting a block on any powerful emotions she might have. The thing would simply not allow her to become angry. She froze for a moment, certain that if the block was not there she would be utterly appalled… outraged. Then she sat up straight in the bed and held her head in her hands.

With a cold determination, she tried to push the foreign lump out of her head but her force simply flowed round it like water round a stone leaving her with nothing more than a headache. She then tried to ease it out but she could get no traction on the thing. Then she battered against it to the limit of her strength until, realising she could do no more, she collapsed back onto the bed in failure.

She lay there for a long time, unthinking, but at last she made a decision. She had to accept that, for now, she could do nothing about it and might as well see what the day had in store for her but, as she sat up, she made a promise to herself that the thing was going to come out and that the dragon would pay a heavy price for this outrageous invasion of her mind.

She climbed painfully to her feet and looked around the small room. A doorway led to the much larger chamber beyond. There had once been a door but it had been reduced to ash and splinters and Katie decided to avoid thinking about how that had happened. Light was coming down from a peculiar luminous panel in the ceiling and the walls seemed to have been plainly, but neatly, cut from the solid granite. There was a simple fireplace in one wall that looked as if it had not been lit for years.

Against one wall was the bed, made from planks of wood, crudely nailed together, and there was a small table of similarly rough construction next to it, but that was all the furniture. The most striking feature of the room, however, was the pile of charred human bones lying in the middle of the floor. There was no need to wonder why Rhiannas needed a new servant.

Behind a curtain there was a primitive bathroom which solved Katie’s most pressing problem. There was also an old broom so, swallowing hard, she swept the pile of bones into a corner and threw some old rags over them. She was aware that it was not a perfect solution but it would have to do for the time being.

Her next thought was breakfast. She took a long drink of water from a tap in the bathroom but that just made her even hungrier. She was just resigning herself to staying hungry when she remembered that she still had a chocolate bar in her jacket pocket from lunch the previous day. She reached cautiously into the pocket and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not the impossibly sticky mess she might have expected after the soaking it had received in the storm.

As she sat on the bed and chomped her way through her breakfast, she noticed a hook on the wall by the fireplace. It had something hanging from it and, when she had finished eating, she went over to investigate. Dangling from a belt there were a vicious-looking dagger in a sheath and a pouch which was about three inches wide and the length of her arm. She took them over to the table to have a look.

The belt, sheath and pouch were all made from dark heavy leather and had obviously been well used. She undid the thongs that secured the pouch and looked inside. There was a mass of pads and straps with metal attachments and hooked metal barbs. She started to take them out but thought better of it because it was so tightly packed that she knew she’d never get them back in. She hung the belt back up with a shrug.

There was nothing else to see in the room so, bracing herself for what lay ahead, she stepped through the charred doorway into the chamber beyond where she had been tested the previous night.

She was brought to a sudden stop, startled by the echo of her own footsteps and overcome by the grandeur of the scene that met her eyes. It was like walking into a cathedral.

The chamber had evidently been created to impress. Mighty pillars stretched up to the roof and they branched into complex patterns in the vaulted ceiling far above. The chamber was lit from above by dozens of the same luminous panels that she had seen in her room. The light had a slightly opalescent quality, laying a fine hazy sheen over everything though, at this end of the chamber, daylight was spilling in from the open entrance. The walls were lined with banners and carved heads, both dragon and human.

A number of elaborate doorways led off from the main chamber, like the one leading to the room where she had spent the night. On this side of the chamber, they were all on a human scale while, on the far side, they were big enough for dragons.

Her view down the chamber was partially blocked by a hugely elaborate stone screen towards the far end and, as she made her way towards it, a raised dais came into view. The stonework on the far side was even more elaborate and Katie guessed that this was where Rhiannas would be if he were here but, as she had suspected from her quick glimpse into the cloud world, the mighty dragon was not at home. Looking behind the dais, she could make out human scale windows in the back wall.

Katie relaxed a little and began to take a closer look around. The walls and floor, the gigantic pillars and even the astonishingly ornate stone screen looked as if they had been carved from the solid granite and then polished until they gleamed. Shining crystals glinted from within the stone in the peculiar light.

Katie went up to inspect one of the carved dragon’s heads. It was something like a horse’s head in shape, though narrower, more angular and with forward-looking eyes. Instead of skin, it was covered in tough, overlapping scales which graduated into elaborate flutings that decorated the upper parts of its face and led to a double crest down its neck. At the end of the face, a rounded mouth was filled with two arcs of viciously-pointed, black-coloured teeth. This was clearly not a beast which spent an excessive amount of time chewing its food or, indeed, brushing its teeth.

As she was studying the head it suddenly occurred to her that it might not be a carving at all, but rather a genuine head that had been cut off and mounted on the wall. She stepped back in shock.

Apprehensively she approached one of the human heads and this confirmed her grisly suspicion. In fact, looking around, all the heads, both dragon and human, were real. There were at least twenty of them. “You really don’t want to get on the wrong side of him,” Katie said to herself.

She turned the handle on the first human-scale door. She had expected it to be locked and was quite surprised when it opened easily. There was a large room beyond with a couple of doors leading off it. A thick layer of dust on the floor showed that nobody had been in there for years.

Katie started walking down the length of the chamber to take a closer look at the back wall and, as she went, she began to notice that a single pattern was repeated through the entire chamber. A simple motif – consisting of twisted and flattened ‘S’s, was repeated in long, interlocking chains to give a border or frame to almost every surface.

As she approached the carved stone screen, something made her feel uneasy. She tried to ignore it but the feeling became more intense as she drew closer to it. Try as she might, she could not force herself through the central opening.

She gave up with a shrug and walked slowly back down the chamber. She glanced into one of the dragon scale openings and found a large room with a couple of huge stalls on one side and storage rooms on the other. It looked just like stabling for horses but was built on a much larger scale. It, too, had not been used for years.

She made her way to the ornate opening at the front of the chamber and, as she walked out onto a balcony, she was utterly dumbfounded by the vast space that opened up before her.

She was high up in the wall of a huge amphitheatre, perhaps two miles across. The walls stretched up in an impossible overhang to a relatively small opening at the top. The edge of this opening was particularly elaborately decorated.

And the space within was full of dragons: large dragons and small dragons. Most were coloured in tones of red, green or brown, though occasionally she could see flashes of blue and silver. Many had human riders perched on their shoulders and some were carrying goods or packages. The riders gave her an impression of the size of the dragons. Even the smallest were bigger than any horse.

There was a ring of stone archways at the base of the vast space. At first it looked like Stonehenge but, as she slowly developed a sense of scale, it became clear that it was much bigger. Set on a pedestal at the centre of this ring, was a vast metal gong.

The central hole in the roof of the amphitheatre was surrounded by a number of smaller tunnels and Katie’s eye was drawn towards a particular red dragon that suddenly emerged from one of them. As it flew straight towards her, she knew it was Rhiannas.

As he approached, she had the chance to study him for the first time. He was a vast creature, one of the biggest she could see, and extremely powerfully built. His two leathery, bat-like wings swept slightly forward from his shoulders to a vicious looking barb, then tapered back to a pointed tip. Though they were huge, they did not seem to be large enough to lift his enormous weight.

At first he appeared to be heading straight towards her but then he dropped down below the level of the platform. As he disappeared from sight, she moved forwards to look for him and was startled as he flashed back into view and landed on the lip of the platform on his rear legs. She watched in fascination as his long leather wings seemed to vanish into the armoured scales that covered his back.

“You are awake,” he seemed to say though, Katie now realised, he wasn’t speaking out loud. Instead the words were being put directly into her head.

He took a couple of surprisingly delicate hops towards her and Katie looked up as he settled in front of her like an enormous Labrador with his short front legs hanging down casually in front of him. He was huge, easily twice her height, even in this sitting position.

As she stood there, he shook his long neck then lowered his head towards her. He inspected her for several seconds.

“You, too, are a tiny thing,” he observed. Katie thought she could detect just the faintest hint of humour in his voice. The tip of his tail swayed around as he spoke, in part, it seemed, to help his balance, in part to add emphasis to his words. She was acutely aware that he was minutely inspecting her and she had to fight the urge to resist him as, once again, she felt his mind burrowing into hers and he started to do the same thing to her cloud.

At long last he completed his examination. “You have had the opportunity to observe the Edifice,” he said, pointing around the great amphitheatre with a sweeping gesture from his tail, “beyond doubt, dragonkind’s greatest achievement. Few from Outside have seen it and lived.”

“It’s enormous,” Katie responded without thinking.

“Space enough to allow more than five hundred lairs to be found within its walls,” he replied and Katie could hear the pride flowing through him as he spoke, “from the noblest of Houses to the lowliest of scavengers.” As he pointed, she looked across the Edifice and saw that there were numerous openings in the walls. Like Rhiannas’s lair, the other entrances on this, the highest level, were hugely ornate with protruding platforms in front of them; lower down they became less elaborate until, at the base, they were little more than primitive caves.

“Few, however, can match the lair of the House of Rhian for magnificence,” he added as an afterthought, gesturing towards the cavern behind them with his tail. He went quiet for a moment.

“Come!” he commanded her. “We fly. A pair of spurs is to be found in your room.” Katie recognised the image that he placed in her mind. “Bring them.”

She hurried to her room and retrieved the leather belt with the dagger and pouch. At first she attempted to fasten it around her waist but it was much too long so, instead, she pulled it over one shoulder, allowing it to hang down like a bandolier.

Rhiannas flashed her a look which could only be amusement. “Should we find ourselves in any altercation that I am unable to satisfactorily resolve, that little toothpick is likely to be of extremely limited use. Nonetheless, you should wear it in a fashion that permits you at least some hope of reaching it.”

She realised that the dagger was hanging down in the middle of her back… and that he was laughing at her.

“If you’ll give me a moment then, sir,” she said. She took off the belt and, after quickly measuring it, she bored out a new buckle hole with the point of the dagger. She then refastened it around her waist.

“That looks considerably better,” Rhiannas commented coolly, though Katie could still recognise the amused tone in his voice. “Quite the little warrior! Now don the spurs.”

Katie extracted the spurs from their case and, with a little guidance, she put them on. A flat piece of metal went under her foot which put a metal bar against the inside of her shin and this was fastened into position with a couple of leather straps. Leather pads covered in hooked barbs hung from each of the spurs in such a way that they could either be pulled to the front or the side of the shin.

“Ensure that the barbs are facing forward at all times when you are not astride a dragon,” Rhiannas warned her, “or your puny hide will be shredded to ribbons.”

“But won’t they hurt you?” she asked.

“There is nothing such a feeble creature as yourself could do to harm me with those,” he informed her. Again the amusement bubbled through as he spoke. “Come with me to the mounting steps.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Follow me,” he instructed her in a slightly frustrated tone. He made his way over towards the left hand side of the veranda in a series of long graceful hops. The veranda was slightly wider than the lair’s entrance and, at one end, a steep flight of stairs was built into the wall of the Edifice though it did not seem to lead anywhere. He moved to stand next to these stairs.

Being careful to avoid the vicious barbs on the spurs, Katie hurried after him. She guessed what he wanted and climbed the stairs until her head was level with his then turned to face him.

“Now step onto my shoulders, using the hooks to secure yourself to my scales,” he instructed her.

Carefully avoiding looking at the unthinkable drop, Katie reached across to the vast creature. His scales, which were about the size of her hand, were hard and slippery. At first she could see no way of climbing onto him but, as he started to show signs of impatience, she placed the hooked pad of one of the pair of spurs against his shoulder. As she put a little weight onto the pad, the spurs bit home, supporting her weight.

Cautiously she threw the other leg over his back and sat down.

Move higher to position yourself behind my first crenels. Until you are more experienced, you may wish to grasp them to assist your balance.”

He was evidently referring to the upright leaf shaped scales that ran in a double line all the way up the back of his neck. The first ones, just in front of her, were about the length of one of her fingers but they grew longer towards the middle of his long neck. Towards his head they became smaller again, merging with the row of small scales that decorated his forehead.

Not daring to look down, she cautiously shuffled upwards as directed and dug her spurs in once more.

“Steady yourself!” he called. “We fly.”

[garethn]

Ch 6 To Fly

Word count 3559 (10-Jun-19)

Rhiannas leaned sideways and allowed himself to fall off the platform into space. Katie’s heart skipped a beat as they plummeted and she grabbed at the first pair of crenels. They felt reassuringly secure.

He casually unfolded his wings and, as the wings caught the air, he turned the headlong plunge into a swooping dive. Once more, she was amazed as the long leathery wings appeared, as if by magic, from the protective scales on his back.

Beneath her, Katie felt the muscles rippling under his scaly skin as, with a few powerful beats of his wings, he drove them up towards the opening in the roof. She felt another brief moment of panic as his crenels twitched in her hand but she quickly realised he was just adjusting them to better meet the wind as he turned his neck to look around at her.

“Come into my mind, Rhianadoc,” he instructed. “If you are to serve me, we must fly as one.”

She cautiously reached out towards his brilliant presence but he was not satisfied with that. He slapped aside her tentative probe and, seizing her cloud, he pulled it, almost physically, into his own mind.

So profound was the link that she found herself experiencing the world through his senses as well as through her own. She felt the wind on her own face and, at the same time, could feel it under Rhiannas’s wings. She was flying!

After a few moments caught in the simple exultation of flight, she cautiously reached further out into his mind, immersing herself in the experience. It was as if she was reaching out with her own wings to drive them through the air and stretching out her own neck to shape and guide the wind over her back and onto her wings. Behind them, it felt as if it was her own tail that was quivering, ensuring perfect balance and control.

But she gradually became aware that it was not just the wings driving them upwards. With every stroke of the wings, a coupled surge of mind power was driving them higher. Katie felt herself being drawn into the stroke and, without any conscious effort, found herself joining in with the work of flying.

“Gratifying, though it is, that you perceive your future rôle,” came Rhiannas’s thoughts, “your clumsy contributions disrupt my control at this time. Desist until so instructed!”

As they approached the mouth of the Edifice, the air grew thick with dragons though, Katie noticed, none seemed to want to risk venturing too close to Rhiannas. A number of them greeted him in a highly formal tone and several failed to completely conceal their curiosity about the creature on his back.

The border of the main opening was decorated with astonishingly elaborate stonework. It looked as if someone had taken a vast lace collar and turned it into stone. It was surrounded by a dozen smaller tunnels through which daylight was filtering down and Katie gasped as Rhiannas headed towards one of these small tunnels. “It’s too small,” she shouted. “We’ll never make it.”

“I have been performing transitions using the Rhian flute since I was no older than you are now,” came Rhiannas’s amused response. “To date, no mishap has befallen me. I do not expect any on this occasion.”

Without slackening his pace, he drove on into the tunnel. It was wider than it had looked from below, though only slightly. Rhiannas could indeed make it through, though his wingtips were almost skimming the walls.

In the middle of the tunnel he performed a rolling twist and Katie ducked as her head was brought perilously close to the stonework. Then they burst through the opening into sunshine and she was staggered by the brilliance of the scene. The green and brown speckled island lay spread out below her, almost circular, with the brilliant blue sea crashing onto its rocky coast. On one side she could make out the mainland, far-away and hazy, while, on the other, the sea seemed to stretch out forever.

With a couple more casual beats of his wings, Rhiannas took them away from the island, out over the sea. Then he stretched out into a glide.

“We are to take a single wing stroke in which you are to assist me,” he informed her. “You are to apply no power at this time but will focus exclusively on timing and control.”

Katie was not quite ready when the stroke began and jumped to follow him but realised immediately that she was much too late. As Rhiannas was thrown to one side, she had to grab at his crenels to avoid falling.

“No!” he shouted with a stinging mental slap as he corrected the balance with a flick of one wing. “You must be ready when the stroke begins and move with me. Furthermore, until your control is perfect you are to apply no power whatsoever.”

He steadied himself. “Ready yourself. We try once more.”

This time she felt the thought of the stroke rising within him and followed that, feeling out with her mind for the motion of his wings and trying to keep in time with that.

“Slightly more satisfactory,” Rhiannas acknowledged grudgingly, correcting their balance with a slight flick of his tail. “However you finished the stroke early and you continue to apply too much power. Once more!”

They performed a number of single strokes. Though Katie felt her control improving, Rhiannas was far from satisfied. On a couple of occasions he felt the need to reinforce his criticism with further mental slaps.

“Now desist,” Rhiannas instructed her as she was starting to feel a little more comfortable. “More height is required for safe practice.”

Katie looked about her and saw that they were only just above the sea – indeed, had she not been so engrossed in the flying, she would have heard the waves and tasted the salt on her lips. The island was surprisingly far away.

With long, casual strokes, Rhiannas took them back up in a comfortable spiral to the height of the top of the mountain. Then he instructed her to ready herself once more.

“We will now attempt an uninterrupted series of strokes during which you will continue to concentrate exclusively on timing and control. You will constrain, most assiduously, your urge to apply power.”

They made their way across the sky in a series of wobbly strokes.

After several more juddering attempts, Rhiannas slapped Katie forcibly aside. “This is beyond tolerance!” he snapped. “Whilst it is evident that you have more talent than some of the incompetents with whom I have been burdened in the past, I have neither the time nor the patience to provide the requisite training. I must consider whether there is anything to be done with you.”

Relieved of the irritation of her stumbling interventions, he relaxed by indulging in some virtuoso flying. He seemed to have forgotten that her mind was still linked to his and she shared his exultant relish of flight: turning and twisting; stooping and climbing; the feeling of the wind over his wings and around his body. As he drove into a tight spiraling descent, she looked around to see the sea on one side and the sky on her other. But by some sort of flight magic, it seemed, she was still sitting securely on his back.

Tucking his wings into his side, he dived towards the sea until Katie was certain they would crash. At the last possible moment, he unfolded his wings and flashed over the surface at wave top height. Katie could feel the water spraying up as his wing tips flicked the tops of the waves and could not contain a shout of excitement.

He spotted a school of dolphins, dancing on the surface and, coming up silently behind them, hovered, stationary for a few moments, as if sitting on the wind, then he stooped down and plucked one of them from the air at the height of its leap using his talons.

Bound to the dragon as she was, Katie sensed his anticipation as he achieved the height he needed. He casually tossed the dolphin into the air and watched as it slowly tumbled, end over end.

There was another feeling too, one of overwhelming pride, power and majesty. ‘Cower before me, piteous creatures, and despair!’ his mind screamed and the sentiment was made concrete with a vast billowing surge of flame from his throat.

As the flames destroyed the dolphin’s puny body, she experienced the unimaginable rush of power as Rhiannas consumed the unfortunate creature’s life force.

For a few moments Rhiannas was still, as if overwhelmed by the gratification of annihilation, then, tucking in his wings once more, he dived down, following the tumbling, smouldering carcass. Just before they hit the sea, he plucked the plummeting remains out of the air and swallowed them whole.

As they returned to the island, skimming the waves as they flew, Katie was completely numb, overwhelmed by the intensity of the passions that she had just shared. Whilst she struggled to keep her outer cloud self completely impassive, inside she was in turmoil. This, she now knew, was the world that she had been looking for with its simple rules of power or subservience; of dominance or death. This was the place where she would make her mark.

She was puzzled as Rhiannas swung round to approach the island from the south west but, once they hit land, it became clear why.

The wind, which was coming from that direction, was being forced to rise by the mountain so that, by skimming up just a few feet above the rough moorland, they were carried up to the peak with just a few casual flicks of his wings.

As they approached the summit opening, Rhiannas issued a peremptory command, “Hold fast!” She dug the spurs tighter into his scales and grasped his neck crenels with all her strength but, even so, she was almost unseated when, just above the mouth of the flute, he folded in his wings and allowed himself to stall before throwing himself into a wild tumble with her head almost skimming the stonework of the entrance.

Katie felt a scream rising within her and bit her teeth together as they fell, apparently out of control, through the narrow stone tunnel. After the initial shock, however, she relaxed a little and saw that he was managing to retain his orientation as they plummeted, steering with precise flicks of his will and his tail.

Once back in the Edifice, he spread his wings again and casually glided back towards the Rhian lair. As he approached the platform, he leaned right back in the air, shedding speed. Katie was momentarily confused when he dropped slightly below the level of his lair, but her confusion turned to respect as he swooped up at the last moment to step forward out of the air onto the veranda in front of his chamber.

“That was quite incredible,” Katie said to him in genuine awe. “I hope that, one day, I’ll be good enough to fly with you properly.”

“Your appreciation and enthusiasm bode well,” he replied, but Katie sensed that this was merely a superficial response. The mind link that had been put in place when they were flying had not yet been completely broken and she detected a much more complicated jumble of emotions, swirling just below the surface.

Katie glimpsed the image of a girl, not much older than herself, as it flashed across his mind. There was a sense of loss there, and some alien form of affection. There was even the slightest hint of something close to regret or even guilt associated with that image. A single name shone out, ‘Rhiannonde’. She continued to share the ongoing churn of his feelings until he abruptly terminated the link.

Katie dismounted unsteadily and moved to stand in front of Rhiannas who was still perching on the lip of the veranda, apparently deep in thought. She took off her spurs and started trying to stuff them back into their pouch. But her fumbling efforts evidently irritated him and she felt the spurs being snatched from her hands by the force of his will. Using nothing but the power of his mind, he deftly folded them and inserted them into the pouch.

“To eat, you must descent to the village below,” he announced at last. “And, to ensure your undisturbed passage, some form of identification is necessary.”

To Katie’s astonishment he allowed himself to fall backwards off the lip but he casually tumbled in mid air and, with a couple of lazy flicks of his wings, he circled round and flew into the lair. “Follow me,” he instructed her as he glided down the chamber, momentarily tucking in his wings to shoot through the narrow opening at the centre of the screen, before landing on the dais.

She hurriedly followed him but, once more, as she approached the screen, she felt the reluctance to go any further. When Rhiannas observed this, he gave a little chuckle. “Of course,” he commented, “you still have the inhibition on you”

Katie felt something stroke the surface of her cloud and the reluctance to step beyond the screen evaporated. “It is a simple trick that serves to prevent the occasional sneak thief from violating my domain,” he explained.

She hurried through the screen but was brought to a stop as the scale of the accommodation in the back wall became clear. It looked like a palace. There were four levels of window-like openings all built on a grand, though recognisably human, scale. Presumably there were rooms beyond the windows but they were completely dark. In the middle of the wall, stretching the full height of the chamber, a semi-circular tower projected from the wall. The tower had evidently been designed to impress, rather than for security, as the stone had been so delicately carved that it looked as if it had been plaited.

A grand doorway was built into the base of the tower and, through this, Katie could just make out an opulent double stairway climbing within the tower. Just above the doorway there was an elaborate balcony. Anyone standing on that balcony would be able to look out over the chamber. On the right of the dais, back against the wall, was a huge gong. Both the balcony and gong were marked with the familiar ‘S’ motif.

Only after a few moments did Katie realise that there was something odd about this. No dragon would ever be able to use that staircase or the rooms beyond. They were all much too small. She studied the construction of the dais for a moment and it confirmed her suspicion. Though it had been skillfully done, it had been put in place later than the rest. There was no doubt about it. When this chamber was being built, humans had been in charge.

Katie’s attention was caught by the sound of running water on her right. Water was tumbling down a natural-looking waterfall and gathering in a pool at its base. Rhiannas was standing by the pool, drinking deeply

“Enter the Family Apartments,” he instructed her when he had finished. “On this occasion you may make use of the Grand Entrance,” he added, pointing to the opening in the base of the tower. “Follow the staircase to the first floor and you will find the House Hall directly in front of you.”

As she made her way round the dais and stepped through the Grand Entrance, the magnificence of the Family Apartments became clear. The semi circle of the tower was completed within, to give a vast, circular entrance hall which served as a stairwell. Katie looked up and saw that it reached all four floors. Two curving arms of staircase swept upwards to her left and right.

She climbed the right hand staircase and, looking out through the decorative openings in the stonework, she saw Rhiannas going through the closest dragon sized opening in the side wall of the chamber.

The two stairway arms met at a broad landing on the far side of this entrance hall. From here, further stairways continued up and broad walkways led around the inside of the tower to the balcony at the front.

When she reached this landing, she stepped through another doorway into the room beyond but here she froze, overwhelmed by the magnificence of the House Hall.

A row of long windows in the wall behind her cast light into the room so, though it was lined with dark wooden panelling, it was still quite light. Much of the panelling was decorated with scenes of battles involving both humans and dragons. A high ceiling gave the room a light, airy feeling.

In the middle of the long wall opposite her was a dais on which were a carved wooden table and four intricately carved wooden thrones. Behind each of the thrones was a human sized statue: two adults and two children. Each was arrayed in the finest clothing and jewelry.

On her left, a long wooden table ran up towards the dais with a row of high backed chairs behind it. On the wall were all manner of weapons and shields. Some appeared strictly functional whilst others were so ornate that Katie could not imagine them ever being used.

Throughout the room, at the top of the panels and on the facing edges of the tables, the familiar pattern of the repeated ‘S’ motif was to be seen.

The hall had no right hand wall and, beyond a graceful stone balustrade, was a large courtyard where Rhiannas was standing. He was holding himself in a particularly erect pose and his tail was wrapped tightly around his body. His tongue was darting in and out of his mouth and he looked almost… nervous.

“It’s beautiful!” whispered Katie, without thinking.

“For many human generations, the House of Rhian shone throughout the Edifice as a beacon of taste and discernment, as well as of power,” Rhiannas responded. He retained his cold, aloof tone but Katie detected an undertone of pride and, maybe, regret in there too.

“Remove Rhiannonde’s torque,” he instructed her.

“Sorry, who’s Rhiannonde?”

He directed her towards the smallest statue with his mind.

As Katie walked along the wall behind the tables on her left, she saw the designs were not painted onto the wood. Rather, they were inset with exquisite marquetry work.

“These panels are amazing!” she said to herself, forgetting that he could read her mind.

“Only dragons who demonstrated perfect self control were permitted to enter the House Hall of Rhian,” he informed her. Once more, Katie thought she detected a slightly wistful undertone in his thoughts.

She walked up to the statue. It was no taller than her. Carefully, she removed the torque. She had expected it to be quite heavy but it was surprisingly light. It looked as if strands of gold had been plaited, or possibly even crocheted, to produce it, so fine was the design.

As she looked down at the torque in her hands, she was astonished to see that the metal strands lined up to give the now familiar ‘S’ motif and that, no matter how she turned it in her hands, the strands seemed to rearrange themselves so that the pattern re-emerged.

“Now put it on!”

Katie was startled by Rhiannas’s command but she carefully fastened the torque around her neck. But she felt she had to say something. “Sir, it is so precious. Aren’t you afraid that it will be lost or stolen?”

Rhiannas was silent for a moment. Katie could tell that he was performing a complicated mental operation.

“Have no fear,” he reassured her when he had completed the operation. “I have secured the catch. Only individuals of significant power will be able to release it and all such would recognise that to do so would bring down my unbridled rage and retribution.”

Katie could think of no suitable answer so she gave him her most formal bow.

“Stairs lead down from the right hand side of the veranda to the upper ring pathway,” he informed her. “Follow that anti-clockwise and you will arrive at the Dom terrace from which the portway leads out of the Edifice. From there you will observe the village below.

“The wall-ways of the Edifice can be confusing for those unfamiliar with them,” he added. “Note your route with care so you can return without difficulty.

“Ensure that you return by nightfall,” he instructed her as she left the room. “While no one of any significance will inconvenience you when you are wearing my mark, there are rogues and vagabonds to be found beyond the Edifice who could prove troublesome to you.”

As she made her way back down the cavern, she saw Rhiannas returning to his dais. There he curled up like an overgrown cat and went to sleep.

The thing inside her head must have been doing strange things to her thinking. It was only as she emerged onto the veranda that she recalled that the dragon with which she had just enjoyed flying so much was the same dragon who had murdered Megan less than twenty four hours before.

[garethn]

Ch 7 Psion

Word count 3181 (10-Jun-19)

As instructed, she went over to the right hand side of the veranda and looked cautiously over the edge. The flight of steps, perhaps a hundred feet long, leading down to a path reminded her that the place had been designed by creatures who could fly. Though both the path and the steps looked reasonably wide and solid enough, they were cut into the overhanging wall of the Edifice so there was an unthinkable plunge away to the left.

Drawing a deep breath, she set off down.

The tread of the steps and path had been slightly roughened which meant the footing was secure, so she could make a reasonable pace along the ring pathway. Nonetheless she was extremely worried when a young man approached carrying a large bundle of wood. She clung as close to the wall as she could to allow him to pass but he swung past without missing a step and carried on his way with nothing but the slightest nod of acknowledgement.

She followed the path for about half a mile and, though she passed several flights of stairs leading to other lairs, there was no sign of the portway that had been described. But, at last, the path ended in another long flight of stairs which led down to a small open terrace where six similar paths converged.

She made her way down to this terrace and looked back on Rhiannas’s lair. It was the most imposing in this section of the Edifice, though others further round rivaled it.

From here, a narrow tunnel led into the wall. Though there was the faintest hint of daylight at the far end, when she stepped into the tunnel, she could see nothing. She reached out her hand to touch the wall and cautiously felt her way along. After her uncomfortable trip round the ring pathway she had to fight against a terror of plunging into some unseen hole and she was hugely relieved when she had made it far enough along to see the floor.

At last she emerged onto the side of a hill with a beautiful view over the sea. A well maintained roadway led down the hillside to a small valley below. Down in the valley there was a collection of buildings that Katie assumed to be the village.

By this stage, she was becoming extremely hungry and she hurried down the path towards the village without paying much attention to where she was going. Consequently, as she was passing through a scrubby copse just short of the village, she almost bumped into a small dragon.

Startled, Katie jumped backwards and her hand sprang to the dagger that she was still wearing at her belt. After her experience with Rhiannas she was extremely apprehensive about encountering another dragon. The little dragon was obviously shocked to see her too and leapt into the air but he did not seem to be able to fly properly. Instead he fluttered round in ungainly circles.

This new dragon was silver-grey in colour and not much larger than a horse. When he had regained his composure, he fluttered back down to a tree stump where he started preening the scales over his wings with his long tongue and pretending that nothing untoward had happened. As Katie inspected him, he turned his intense, golden eyes on her and they seemed to bore right inside her.

He had evidently been trying to keep watch on what was going on in the village and was so pathetically thin and bedraggled that Katie could not imagine that he could be dangerous. She relaxed a little and her hand moved away from her dagger.

“Good morning, young lady,” he said, “It is a long time since a human last came upon me unexpectedly. You must be particularly light of foot.”

He studied her intensely for a few moments.

“I see that you are an Outsider and that you have been claimed by Rhiannas,” he said, conversationally. “Powerful enough; certainly not to be trifled with.”

“How on earth do you know that?” Katie demanded, astonished.

“Your clothing marks you clearly as an Outsider and you wear an extremely elegant Rhian torque,” he explained. He paused for a moment, obviously deep in thought, before adding, “I believe that we may be able to reach an accommodation to our mutual advantage.”

She looked at him for a moment as she tried to work out what he was talking about. “But I’ve already been claimed by one of the most powerful dragons around here,” she responded at last. “What can you possibly do to help me?”

The little dragon chuckled and then he responded with what Katie could only interpret as a glint in his golden eye. “I used to know another young lady, not much older than you are now, my former mistress in point of fact, who would have posed that selfsame question. You are new to this island and I might hazard to suggest that you could benefit significantly from my vast experience, even if,” he added, almost to himself, “in recent years, that experience has been a trifle less glorious than I might have wished.”

“Who exactly are you?” she demanded, still not sure whether she should be amused or suspicious of this diminutive dragon.

“How terribly remiss of me to fail to introduce myself correctly,” he answered with an extravagant bow. He left off preening himself and, wrapping his slightly stubby tail round himself, he struck something of a dramatic pose and started to tell his tale.

“My name is Psion and I was once a great dragon. Never, perhaps, quite as mighty in combat as your Rhiannas, for few are, but, nonetheless, perfectly capable of looking after myself. Alas, I am much reduced in size and power by age and misadventure. I am not currently able to fly and am consequently obliged to be rather less than open when obtaining food from the villages. As my current misfortune also renders me incapable of defending myself, the peasant boys there find amusement in throwing stones at me.”

“So,” Katie responded, failing to suppress a giggle, “you’re saying that you lurk around the villages looking for food and the village boys throw stones at you to make you clear off! You’re one of the rogues and vagabonds I was warned about, aren’t you?”

“An unsympathetic way of describing my currently reduced situation, though, it must be admitted, admirably succinct.”

“This isn’t doing anything to persuade me to help you, you know.”

Psion paused for a few moments and his golden eyes seemed to bore right inside her. “Very well,” he said at last. “As a first indication of how I can be of assistance, it may interest you to learn that Rhiannas’s implanted node has been less than perfectly installed. Should you choose to do so, you could break away from his power without having the life force within you extinguished.”

“I could tell that he’d left something behind in my head,” Katie responded excitedly. “Can you tell me how to get rid of it? I tried but couldn’t get any sort of grip on it.”

He gave a knowing nod. “I may be able to do so but first I need to eat and so, I would judge by your appearance, do you. May I suggest that you proceed into the village to acquire provender for us?”

“Alright then!” she said. “It looks like it might be worth my while helping you after all. How do I go about getting food though? I don’t have any money.”

“Whilst wearing that torque, you could walk into any establishment in the village and demand that they turn over their entire stock without causing so much as a murmur. The shopkeepers know they will be adequately compensated by the Council and, in any case, no one would refuse you out of fear of offending your master. Provided you ask for something simple – say half a lamb – no word should get back to him and we are likely to remain untroubled by his attentions.” He paused and added in an amused tone, “You see! Already I am being of assistance!”

“Why do I get the impression that you are laughing at me?” Katie demanded.

“You are not the only person to observe this particular facet of my personality. It is, alas, my way to see the entire world as something of a joke. When I was proffering advice to members of the Council this was, at worst, a mildly annoying idiosyncrasy. In my reduced circumstances, it does tend to attract the unwelcome attention of the village boys and their stones.”

“And how am I going to recognise the butcher’s?”

“The carved wooden figures above the doors of the shops indicate the nature of their trade. The butchers in the village are marked by a ‘Side of Beef’ and a ‘Haunch of Venison’ respectively. The ‘Haunch’ tends to stock slightly fresher fare.”

“So you’re getting fussy now, are you?” Katie said with a smile.

“By the way,” she heard his voice in her head as she made her way on down the path towards the village, “my former mistress used to favour the pies from the sign of the ‘Sheaf of Corn’.” As she carried on towards the village she realised that, for the first time since she’d arrived on the island, she was smiling.

As Katie entered the village, she was struck by the squalor. She felt as if she was walking into the Dark Ages. Though the main roadway was reasonably well maintained, most of the rest consisted of little more than ramshackle wooden shacks separated by muddy tracks. There were just a couple of stone buildings clustered around a muddy central square where children, pigs and chickens played and fought.

The people appeared utterly impoverished and downtrodden. Psion had certainly been right about the torque. People crossed to the other side of the road to avoid her and, on a couple of occasions, she saw mothers pulling their children hurriedly out of her path.

The most striking feature of the place was the smell. Clearly there was no effective sewage system and the numbers of people that Katie saw carrying water from the well in the square indicated that not every home had running water.

‘Maybe I’m not the worst off round here,’ thought Katie.

The ‘Sheaf of Corn’ was one of the stone buildings by the village square. Even if she had not been told about it, she would have been drawn there by the delicious, savoury smell.

There was a small group of people waiting to be served but everyone stopped talking and stood back as soon as she walked through the door. The elderly lady behind the counter immediately turned to her. “What can I do for you, miss?” she asked, grasping her hands together obsequiously.

“I’ve been told that your pies are good,” Katie replied. “Could I have one, please?”

“Of course, miss. Thank you, miss,” replied the shopkeeper, hurrying to hand her one. “Will there be anything else?”

“Oh… err… yes. I’d like two of those buns, too, please.”

“Certainly, miss.”

Katie could almost see the wave of relief as she left the little shop.

The ‘Haunch of Venison’ was next door. It was a low built, wooden shack with meat hanging from hooks in the roof and a collection of dangerous looking axes, saws and knives on the walls. The butcher was even more servile than the lady in the pie shop and seemed even keener that Katie should leave as soon as possible.

So she was soon heading back up the hill to the little copse where Psion was concealed. She had half a lamb in a sack over one shoulder and a pie in the other hand.

The sack was heavy and the flies were annoying in the heat of the day so she was not looking where she was going, and almost stumbled over Psion again. Once more he was surprised and jumped wildly though, this time, he managed to compose himself more quickly.

“This cannot be right!” he exclaimed, settling on the tree stump once more and resuming his preening. “No human comes upon me unexpectedly when I am awaiting their arrival. I am something of an expert in the fine art of concealment and, not to put too fine a point on it, I know all the tricks.”

He studied Katie quizzically for a few moments until his eyes alighted on the leather bracelet around her left wrist. When he saw it, he let out a wild, despairing cry, the first real noise that she had heard either of the dragons make. It spoke of years of pain and suffering and of a hope of which he had hardly dared to think.

Then the funny little dragon started to laugh. Waves of his mocking and self deprecating humour rolled around the tatty copse but, behind them, dark structures of his loss and despair remained. “It cannot be!” he proclaimed. “It is beyond my most wild hopes and dreams! Oh, I greet you, little Katie! I thought you were dead!”

“What are you talking about?” Katie asked, completely perplexed. “And how do you know my name?”

“You don’t understand, do you? Of course, you cannot. My dear former mistress, so cruelly abandoned mistress and so bitterly missed, was none other than your mother Psionon.”

Katie looked at him puzzled for a moment. “My mother’s name was Silke,” she said but she paused thoughtfully for a moment. The other name was stirring deep and long forgotten memories.

“Silke is the name that she used Outside,” he said, as he jumped to the ground and lowered himself onto his forelegs.

“In fulfillment of a most solemn oath that I made to your mother, I hereby pledge my undying love and loyalty to you,” he declared, placing his head on the ground in an obvious gesture of supplication.

“Thank you! But please get up!” she told the little dragon. “It’s embarrassing.”

“First you must put your foot upon my head.”

“What?”

“Please put your foot upon my head as an indication that you accept my vow of service.”

Katie put her foot on his head and, in the most formal tone she could muster, she replied, “Psion, I accept your vow.”

She removed her foot and, as Psion raised himself, with difficulty, from the ground, she added, “I never saw my mother. She died when I was born.”

“I can assure you that that is not the case, young mistress,” he replied, hopping back onto his tree stump and resuming his preening, contending with the mess of leaves and twigs he had acquired whilst he had been prostrating himself. “Not only did you see her, you also saw me. Of course, you were tiny then.” The twinkle returned to his eye. “Even tinier than you are now!”

“See here,” he said, raising a wing and showing her scar marks underneath, “where my skin is most soft and flexible. When you were born, I had your mother cut a piece of leather to make into that bracelet which you are still wearing. You’ve been carrying a piece of me with you all your life. Did you not find it noteworthy that a bracelet that fitted you as a baby continues to fit you today?” he asked with evident smugness. “That it never became dirty? That nobody else ever noticed it?”

“Well, I never really thought about it. How did you manage that?”

“It is, to a certain extent, an illusion.”

“You mean it doesn’t really exist?” She asked, utterly flabbergasted. “But how…” She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to ask.

“Oh no. It certainly does exist. As I say, it is a trifle complicated.”

“It’s not a difficult question. Is it an illusion or isn’t it?”

“I agree it’s not a difficult question, or indeed two questions, and the answer to each is, ‘Yes’. As I say, it’s quite complicated.”

“Did you observe how it conceals and protects you,” he went on, “particularly when you touch it with your other hand and with your mind!”

“Sort of, yeah!”

He went silent, evidently deep in thought, then he suddenly sprang in the air. “And that, of course, is the reason that I failed to find you. I tried, but after months of searching I gave up. Perversely enough, I succeeded in hiding you from myself. I greatly feared that you, too, had been killed.”

Katie’s attention was grabbed by his use of the word ‘too’. “My mother was killed?” she demanded.

Oh yes. She was cruelly murdered!”

“Who did it?” Katie demanded. “I’m going to kill them.”

“I would have expected nothing less of Psionon’s daughter,” Psion answered staring at her with his golden eyes. “Have no fear, young mistress! When the time comes for you to extract your revenge, you will be riding upon my shoulders.”

He held her gaze for a long moment then, with a smile, returned to his old light-hearted demeanour. “In the meantime,” he said, “I believe you have food!”

“Ah!” said Katie in mock severity. “This is all a trick to get me to provide meat on a regular basis, is it?”

“Let me make it quite clear. Meat or no meat, I will do everything in my power…”

But Katie was unable to maintain her serious expression and collapsed in a fit of giggles.

“It’s all very well for you,” Psion said, almost crossly, “but my provender in recent times has been distinctly inadequate. It does tend to weigh on one’s mind.”

“Couldn't you just help yourself to the odd sheep or cow or something?”

“Though I have, in the past, successfully acquired an occasional dainty morsel in the manner you describe, the farmers keep a distressingly close watch on their livestock and, particularly since I lost the ability to fly, the endeavour has become significantly more challenging.”

“Couldn't you just barbecue the farmer?”

“Putting all moral considerations to one side for a moment, one of my principal objectives, of late, has been avoiding attracting unnecessary attention. Barbecuing random farmers, as you so delicately describe it, would have quite the opposite effect.”

“Oh, I see… But I thought that eating people was what dragons did.”

“It’s a rather base instinct and some of us like to think we are above that sort of behaviour,” he responded rather haughtily.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Katie said hurriedly as she hauled the half lamb out of the sack. “So, what do you want me to do with this?”

“In my current state of famine, the ground will serve just as well as a silver salver. Be so kind as to put it on the floor.”

As soon as she did so, Psion jumped down from the tree stump and started to attack the meat with wild enthusiasm.

“You realise that’s not a particularly attractive sight, don’t you?” Katie observed.

Psion gave no answer; indeed, he seemed to have completely forgotten that she even existed.

[garethn]

Ch 8 On Matters Cerebral

Word count 2651 (10-Jun-19)

Katie went round to the edge of the copse and sat there, eating her pie whilst enjoying the view out over the village and down to the sea. ‘Well,’ she said to herself, ‘it looks like I have a servant. Not a tremendously powerful servant and his table manners certainly leave a lot to be desired, but a servant nonetheless.’

It was easy for Katie to detect when Psion had finished eating. The waves of ecstasy rolling out of the wood were replaced by a gentle buzz of satiation and contentment. She strolled back to see that every bone and bit of skin had been devoured leaving nothing but a nasty stain on the ground.

“I take it you enjoyed that.”

“I have enjoyed fine banquets much less,” he replied. “Indeed,” his eyes and mind took on a dreamy quality, “I can’t, offhand, think of a fine banquet I have enjoyed more. On the whole, the politics and backstabbing are more important at fine banquets than is the enjoyment of the food. A simple meal with friends is generally much to be preferred. That repast was an unalloyed pleasure. Thank you, young mistress.”

He thought for a moment and then added in an almost formal tone, “May I address you as ‘young mistress’, by the way? You do not find the title overly familiar?”

“I would be delighted if you called me that,” she answered. “It’s a little reminder to us both of my mother.”

“Anyway,” she went on, “you were about to tell me how to break free of this horrible thing in my head.”

“Ah yes,” his tail becoming more agitated as he spoke. “The technique to be employed in removing such an implanted node is straightforward but I would advise you most vehemently not to be premature in its use.”

“Why on earth not?”

“Because, as soon as Rhiannas sees you, it will be obvious to him that you have broken free of his control and he will attempt to destroy you utterly.”

He paused to let this idea sink in before adding, “And you are, as yet, far from ready to confront him.”

“You’re right,” Katie conceded reluctantly, “I’m not ready to deal with Rhiannas yet. I am going to get him though.”

Psion looked at her for a time, his golden eyes boring straight into her, sharing her hurt and frustration. “Have no fear, young mistress,” he said. “The time for release will come and with it will come retribution. The meticulous timing of that release will make the retribution all the more certain.”

“Furthermore,” he added in his most formal tone, “when the time comes to face him, you will not stand alone.”

“Thank you,” Katie said simply. “That means a lot to me.” Psion, she was starting to realise, was much more than the funny little thing she had at first assumed. He might really be able to help her to survive.

“Would you tell me how to get rid of it anyway,” she asked after a moment’s thought. “I’m sure just knowing would help.”

“Certainly. The technique is quite simple. Transition into the cerebral domain and I’ll show you.”

“Do what?”

“Transition into the cerebral domain,” he repeated. He looked at her for a moment, slightly perplexed. “You do not understand what I’m saying?”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“But you must be cerebrally active or you would currently be exploring the nether regions of Rhiannas’s digestive tract.”

“Do you mean doing the cloud world thingy?”

“I’ve never heard it described in those terms before though the name is apt.”

“I’m a bit nervous about doing the full cloud world thing. Last time I tried it, I attracted the attention of somebody quite powerful and he wasn’t at all happy about it.”

“Your caution is judicious however you need have no concern when in my presence. I am more than capable of shielding the two of us.”

Katie flipped into the cloud world and was taken aback by what she saw.

Psion’s cloud was a brilliant blue colour.

“It’s beautiful,” she gasped.

“Why thank you,” he replied. He sent golden sparkles and bubbles dancing through his cloud as he basked in the compliment.

“How come your cloud is like that when everyone else’s is so dull?”

“As I may have mentioned, I do have certain talents in this area,” he conceded with enormous false modesty, “and while it is not quite fair to say that I am the only one to take a pride in my appearance, it cannot be denied that standards have slipped lamentably since the Year of Flame and Sword. Furthermore, your dear mother was kind enough, on occasion, to lend me the use of her eyes so I was able to gain an appreciation of colour. We dragons see in monochrome.”

“You were going to show me how to sort out this thing in my head.”

“Yes, of course,” he replied, gently guiding her into his mind. “All you have to do is wrap the node in your will, so, and squeeze it, so.” He placed a simple image of how it should be done into her head. Squeeze hard and the implanted node will be destroyed.”

He thought a little and then added, “If you are extremely judicious you will be able, with the most gentle of squeezes, to release a mere fraction of your pent up rage. I would, however, advise you to use great caution when doing this in the presence of others, particularly Rhiannas.”

She stood in silence for a moment, her mind itching to rid itself of the hated grey lump but knowing she could not do it. At last she made a decision.

“Right, if we’re not going to deal with that node thing right now, I’ve got a couple of questions to ask.”

“Ask away! I will answer as best I can,” his gold sparkling, blue cloud responded. “Should we revert to the base domain?”

Katie flipped back to the plain world then asked, “How are you talking to me?”

“It’s called cerebral communication and is performed by implanting ideas directly into your associate’s mind. We dragons lack the basic vocal equipment to mimic human speech and our attempts to do so make us appear ridiculous. As you will soon discover, dragons will go to extreme lengths to maintain their dignity.”

“And how much can you do with this cerebral thingy?”

“I take it you are asking how much can be done. As you might deduce from my wretched condition, my own cerebral potential is currently distinctly limited. For a more powerful individual, their effectiveness is determined by two factors: the raw power of the individual and the subtlety with which that power can be brought to bear.”

“And what sort of things can you do?”

Katie watched as he drew himself up to his full height whilst balanced on his tree stump. Gone was the bedraggled vagrant and in his place was a wise and experienced tutor. His tail was mostly wrapped around his body apart from the tip which he waved around for emphasis.

“Firstly, there are the straightforward cerebral attacks. There is no need for me to describe these in graphic detail as your mind still bears the bruises from the ones you experienced last night. They can, however, be used to influence an individual with more delicacy. Did you appreciate the storm you encountered when you first approached the island?”

“It was pretty wild,” Katie answered cautiously, “but for some reason I wasn’t quite as scared of it as I ought to have been. I got the impression that there was something not quite right about it.”

Psion studied her for a moment. “That, young lady,” he said, “is a rare and unusual talent. The storm is, as you have probably surmised by now, a permanent, geographically constrained illusion…”

“A what?”

“Most illusions are simply inserted into a single mind. That particular illusion is experienced by all individuals venturing too close to the island. It helps to protect us from unwelcome attention.”

“That sounds sort of tricky.”

“It is, without doubt, one of the most sophisticated pieces of illusory work performed in the last century and I am extremely proud to have played a pivotal part in its construction.”

He paused briefly. “The mind can also be used for cerebral manipulation.”

“For what?”

“Moving objects around with the mind. Appropriately applied, cerebral power can be used to augment or even replace muscle power, allowing you to run faster, jump further or lift heavier objects. For example, we use our power to fly. If you consider the size of our wings for a few moments you will soon realise that they are too small to lift us. A skilled rider can use cerebral manipulation to assist the dragon in flight…”

Katie nodded. “I was trying to do that with Rhiannas. He got pretty fed up with me though.”

“I can well imagine. Rhiannas is not renowned for his limitless reserves of patience and the application of your will is, as yet, conspicuously maladroit.”

“Thanks.”

He paused for a moment then said, slightly formally, “Your dear departed mother and I had an agreement. I always told her the truth as I saw it with no attempt to gild the lily and I was never punished or disadvantaged for doing so. I would strongly recommend that you and I proceed on the same basis.”

“So you avoided just telling her what you thought she wanted to hear. That makes sense, I suppose!”

“So, for some inexplicable reason,” the funny little dragon said, “Rhiannas was intolerant of the razor sharp application of your will!” His eyes gave the peculiar twinkle that Katie was beginning to realise was his equivalent of a wink.

“Where were we? Oh yes! Furthermore, for those of us who are not so amply endowed with raw power, there is significant scope for the application of more delicate manipulation. Our claws cannot operate with the deftness of the human hand so we have developed the ability to manipulate objects on a smaller scale. Such cerebral manipulation can be used, for example, in combat to deflect the path of a blow or a flame. The most powerful sword blow ever struck will do no damage if the arm behind it is nudged off true at the right moment.”

Katie nodded.

“Or even better, you add an unexpected twist when parrying your opponent’s blade, throwing him off balance and opening his defences for a killing blow. This is an area that is going to be particularly important to you as,” he added, with a twinkle in his eye, “your puny body will not be equal to all that is demanded of it here. We can but hope there is enough between your ears to compensate.”

“That’s nice,” muttered Katie.

“Or perhaps you will need to retain your balance when moving across an unsteady surface. For such purposes, simple power is not the determining factor, rather the dexterity with which it can be brought to bear.

“And then, of course, there is pure cerebral communication. This can range from straightforward detection and communication, which some skilled operators can perform even over a distance of a couple of miles, to a full mind meld, where two intimately linked minds can share their cerebral potential.

“Finally of course, there is our cerebral conflagration.”

“The what?”

“Our flame; our glorious, unquenchable flame. The flame that is so linked into the overwhelming majesty and boundless rage that is the quintessence of being a dragon.”

Katie nodded, thinking back to the spill over of Rhiannas’s emotions that she had experienced when he had flamed the dolphin.

“If those are all your immediate questions,” he said after a few moments, then I believe that I should use our remaining time to introduce you to some basic cerebral operations which will enhance your chances of survival until we are next able to talk.

“Makes sense.”

“Firstly, you must learn to construct an effective cerebral shield. In spite of your wearing the Rhian insignia, it is possible that you may be attacked and anyone doing so will either be extremely powerful or utterly desperate. You must be able to protect yourself.”

Katie nodded encouragingly.

“The technique I intend to teach you at this time adds an additional layer of cerebral shielding to the protection already provided by your bracelet. First you must learn to fashion defensive blocks.”

Psion demonstrated how to squeeze and form lumps of pure mind power so that they took on an almost solid form.

“Then you have to assemble them into a protective structure, something like a tower.” He showed her how to wrap the defensive blocks into a sphere of protection around the little kernel of herself that he referred to as her ‘crux’.

“Right, young mistress, you should attempt it yourself now.”

She attempted to grab at the stuff that made up the cloud world.

“Gently, gently,” he cautioned her as she groped around for the substance with which to build the blocks. “Your cerebral potential is clearly considerable however you must learn to control it.”

With a great deal of effort she succeeded in assembling a structure with which he was grudgingly satisfied. “You must practice diligently to ensure you are able to raise your defences between one heartbeat and the next. Otherwise…” he paused dramatically, “there’s a significant danger that there will be no ‘next’.”

Katie nodded.

“This shield will protect your mind from cerebral aggression. The other skill we need to consider at this time is cerebral manipulation.” He thought for a few moments and then went on. “Perverse though this may appear, I recommend you concentrate your initial practice on the control of small, light objects. Allow me to demonstrate.”

A pebble rose gently off the ground and moved slowly towards her until it landed gently in her outstretched hand.

“And now you try it,” Psion said.

Katie looked at the pebble in her outstretched hand. Nothing happened.

She tried to bring her will to bear on it. Still nothing happened.

She tried again and suddenly her will locked onto the pebble and it disappeared up into the treetops.

“I am relieved that I did not propose lifting your instructor by way of a first exercise,” Psion observed mildly. “Otherwise we might have discovered whether the dainty snack you so generously proffered had restored my ability to fly.

“Now, might I suggest you repeat the attempt, but this time with just a smidgen more control?” His eyes gave their now familiar twinkle.

After a little more practice, Katie was able to control her lift so that the pebble only jumped two or three yards into the air before oscillating wildly up and down.

“Regrettably, we must terminate our lesson if you are to return to the Rhian lair before nightfall,” Psion informed her. “Now, at least, you have some understanding of what is required and will be able to practice alone.”

“How am I going to find you again?” Katie asked.

“You need have no fear in that respect,” Psion assured her. “Now that I am familiar with your mind and recognise that it is concealed behind your bracelet, I shall have no further difficulty in locating you.”

“Take your pebble with you,” he instructed her as she set off up the track, “and practice most diligently because…” for the first time it seemed that he was completely serious, “I simply could not bear it if anything were to happen to you.”

“After all,” he added, as she rounded a corner of the track and disappeared from sight, “who would provide me with more meat?” Even without seeing it, Katie could sense the twinkle in his golden eyes.

She made her way back up towards the Edifice and the Rhian lair, chuckling gently to herself as she went.

[garethn]

Ch 9 Zalibar’s School of Dragonology

Word count 5092 (14-Jun-19)

The next morning was bright and sunny and it was warm as Rhiannas glided down from the Rhian flute towards the island’s eastern shore. Katie peered down apprehensively from his back and saw that they were heading towards a large stone building near the top of the cliffs.

He had not been in the lair when she returned the previous evening so she had not needed the story that she had carefully concocted to explain her long absence. She had gone straight to bed, intending to run through the exercises that Psion had shown her, but had not been successful as she had fallen straight to sleep.

The lair had still been empty when she woke the next morning and she had been able to practice until her head ached by which time she was able to reliably throw up a defensive shield and move the pebble with some level of control though she was conscious of how noisy and cumbersome her efforts were. She had been sitting on the veranda, staring across at a patch of sunlight on the far wall of the Edifice, when Rhiannas had finally emerged from his flute. Without a word of greeting or explanation, he had ordered her to prepare for a flight and she had hurried to obey. She had been desperate to find out what he was planning to do with her but his brusque manner had made it clear that he had no interest in conversation or explanation.

As they descended towards the building, she strained her neck to see where she was being taken. The house and several smaller buildings were built along three sides of a rectangular courtyard. On the fourth side, facing towards the sea, there was a high wall, in the middle of which was a low stone gatehouse with a flat roof. At one end of the wall, there was some sort of wooden enclosure, open to the sky, whilst at the other end there was a rickety-looking wooden tower about twice the height of the house.

As they flew lower, she realised that it was some kind of military school. In the courtyard below there were about two dozen people wearing armour and going through exercise routines with swords and similar weapons. There were also a couple of dragons down in the courtyard. They all hurried to the walls as Rhiannas swept down. He landed on a low platform just in front of a flight of stairs leading up to the main house.

“Ho Zalibar!” Rhiannas hailed as an elderly warrior hurried up the stairs and bowed to the dragon. “I have a new tyro for you. See whether she can be trained. Return her to me when she can ride as a neck guard without causing me too much embarrassment.”

Katie looked across at the ugliest face she had ever seen. His bulbous misshapen features were bad enough but they were made worse by a long scar that covered half his face. His body was squat but powerfully built and he had a peculiar lopsided hunched back. He was wearing a jacket and trousers made of heavy black leather with peculiar markings and, as she studied them, she realised that they were made of dragon hide.

“Yes, sir!” the man responded promptly. Then he looked at Katie. “Well, get down then, girl!” he barked.

Katie attempted to dismount but, in her hurry, one of her spurs caught in Rhiannas’s scales. She fell heavily onto the stone stairs.

Rhiannas flicked a disdainful glance in her direction. “Should she not prove to be worthy of my further attention, you may dispose of her as you wish.”

Without waiting for the man’s respectful words of acquiescence, Rhiannas stepped off the platform and sprang into the air. He made his way back towards the summit of the mountain.

Zalibar looked down on Katie for a few moments. “Welcome to Zalibar’s School of Dragonology,” he said in a normal tone but then his entire demeanour changed and his face turned savage. “Now what are you waiting for?” he barked. “Get up!”

Katie struggled to her feet and looked nervously around. She was at the top of a flight of stone stairs that led up to the house. To her left there was a kitchen whilst on the other side there was stabling for dragons. In the corner, between the main house and the kitchen, there was a well and water trough. The main house and outside walls looked solid but everything else was fairly ramshackle.

“My name is Zalibar,” he told her, “but I expect to be called ‘sir’ if you have to talk to me, though I’d rather you didn’t. Rhiannas has asked me to train you and that’s what I intend to do. He came to me because I am the best. I have very exacting standards and get angry with anyone who fails to meet them.”

He paused for a moment to let this sink in, then added, “And you don’t want me to get angry with you.”

“Follow me,” he instructed her as he walked down the stairs into the middle of the courtyard, showing surprising grace for such a deformed body. Katie hurried after him.

The students, who had scattered upon the approach of the dragon, gathered in a wary circle around her and the instructor.

“Armenclethyfur,” he yelled at one of the older boys, “give that halberd here.”

The boy stepped forward with an enormous hooked spear which Zalibar took casually in one hand and laid on the ground in front of her, its handle towards her.

“Right,” he barked, “Pick it up!”

Katie reached down and put her hands around the handle. She flexed her arms and her back and…

Almost nothing happened.

The halberd twitched slightly on the floor, but it was immediately quite clear that her muscle power alone was never going to be enough to shift the thing.

As Katie adjusted her grip, she glanced up. Zalibar was looking on in contempt and a circle of spectators had gathered. Most of them were laughing at her struggles but there were a few encouraging smiles and one, a bedraggled young man, seemed to be sharing her suffering. “Go on!” his mind was shouting at her. “You can do it!”

“I told you to pick it up!” Zalibar reminded her. His tone remained calm but Katie could sense the menace smouldering not very far from the surface of his mind cloud.

She felt the sand slipping under her feet as she strained her arms and shoulders to move the thing. She was particularly frustrated because the rage that would normally give her strength was being blocked by Rhiannas’s despised implanted node.

Frantically, she thought back to what Psion had said, “Your puny body is never going to be up to the tasks that will be demanded of it so you’re going to have to hope there’s enough between your ears to compensate.” Now was the time to find out. Taking a few slow breaths to calm herself, she reached out from the cloud world towards the thing lying impassively on the floor. Now, if she could feed strength through to her arms and... lift.

The halberd leapt into the air and flew out of her hands. Katie overbalanced at the sudden loss of weight and stumbled to the floor once more. Before she could move she felt a foot on the top of her head, pushing her face into the sand.

A ripple of laughter from the circle was again silenced by a vicious look.

“Others might be amused by the sight of you groveling in the dirt,” Zalibar snarled, emphasising his words with extra pressure from his foot. “But I am concerned that people of significance,” he glanced around the circle again, “might see you there and that,” he paused again, “would reflect badly on me. Don’t let me ever see it again.”

“Now stand up!” he said with a kick as he released the pressure. “Do it again. This time I expect control.”

Katie staggered to her feet, blinking tears from her eyes and spitting sand from her mouth. For the first time she was almost grateful she had that vile lump in her head as it was blocking the incapacitating rage and humiliation that she would otherwise have been experiencing. She was able to shut everything out and, with an icy calm, reach down once more to the halberd with her arms and mind. With massive concentration, she managed to move the halberd off the floor and hold it in front of her, swaying slightly.

“Better!” barked Zalibar. “Now I want to see you doing a figure of eight with the tip.”

Trembling with the strain and concentration, Katie began to move the tip. After just a few moments, sweat was streaming from her forehead and into her eyes.

Time seemed to stand still as she struggled to keep the tip moving. Her muscles and mind were screaming and she would have looked up to beg him to stop but she could not move her eyes from the metal tip of the halberd.

Still time stretched on and, though her muscles and mind were shaking violently, she forced herself to keep the tip moving, Every ounce of her being wanted to stop but she was determined to keep going until she passed out.

At long, long last, Zalibar allowed her to pause and, though she staggered backwards, she did not fall. He called to one of the young men who had been encouraging her, “Carodoc, get yourself across here. Show this new tyro where to find water then take her through the first basic sword exercise.” He effortlessly took the halberd from her.

The boy approached and, when she began to stagger, she felt him covertly steadying her with his will. “Don’t fall again or you’re dead meat,” he whispered. He took her across to a table in the corner where there was a simple earthenware jug and beakers. As Katie collapsed onto one of the benches, he poured her a mug of water. “Drink this,” he told her. “It’ll help.”

Katie drained the water then managed to look up and smile her thanks. He was a thin, medium height boy, a couple of years older than her. His long wavy hair was tied back in a leather thong and he seemed to radiate an air of quiet competence.

“We’ve got another couple of minutes,” he told her with an encouraging smile, “then we need to get going. Don’t worry though. The training swords are nothing like as heavy as those halberds.”

“My name’s Carodoc,” he told her. “What’s yours?”

“Katie,” she managed to reply

He gave her a couple of seconds then said, “You’re from the Outside, aren’t you?”

Katie could only nod weakly.

“And you’ve only just arrived?”

Another nod.

“Okay, for the time being all you need to know is this: you’re a tyro, like me. We’re here to serve the nonda. When they say, ‘jump,’ you jump and when Zalibar says, ‘jump,’ you jump very high indeed.”

Katie nodded again then glanced around her. She saw that there were two distinct classes of students in the compound. There were about eight of the tyros and they were easy to spot with their simple, and usually tatty, tunics and hose. The two dozen nonda wore much the same sort of clothing but it was much smarter and was all decorated in some way by some sort of wavy line motif - a hem or a collar or a couple of vertical lines. And no two patterns seemed to be the same.

Soon the trembling in her muscles had started to subside and she felt she could go on. “Right,” he said, “take your spurs off and then we can get going.”

She took off the spurs and tried to stuff them into the pouch with little success. As she got more frustrated they got in even more of a mess. “Let me do it.” Carodoc said, taking them off her. His tone was slightly condescending but, for the time being, Katie could live with that. With a few deft folds with, she noticed, both his hands and his mind, he packed the spurs neatly into their pouch. “I’ll show you how to do it another time,” he promised. “It’s not too tricky.”

Carodoc led her across to a corner of the yard. “Right,” he said, “first of all we’re going to have to work on your stance. You won’t need a sword for that. Let’s get you into the base position: feet shoulder-width apart with your right foot slightly advanced. That’s it! Now let me see you on your toes and flexing your knees.”

After the anguish and mental battering that she had suffered in the last couple of days, it was a relief for Katie as he started to take her through the footwork for the first of the routines. The physical exercise and the need to concentrate forced her to put her other worries to the back of her mind and, within an hour, she had managed to achieve some sort of control.

After another short break, Carodoc returned from a store room in the corner with a pair of wooden swords. “These are what you noviates use in your basic training,” he told her. They’re made of wood so you’re not going to do any real damage with them, but they’re solid enough so the first rule is: KEEP CONTROL!”

“Oh yes,” he went on. “You’ll be able to swing a simple training sword like this round with your muscle power but that’s a really bad idea. Us Primes use ones that are weighted with lead and if Zalibar catches you being lazy he’ll have you using one of those. Okay, base position, left hand on your hip like you’ve practiced but now right hand out to greet the sword.”

The sword slipped into Katie’s grasp as if it had been made to sit there. Not just her hand grasped it but her mind opened up to embrace the weapon too as if it were filling a hole that had always been there.

She had obviously made a lot of noise because everybody turned to look in her direction. “Muffle your mind, girl!” Zalibar barked at her. Though, when she finally managed to drag her ecstatic mind away from the sword and look up, he was giving her a curious look.

“You made an awful lot of noise there,” Carodoc observed, “but it’s obvious that you’ve got the idea of using both your hand and your mind to grip your weapon and both grips look perfect.”

The rest of the session passed in something of a daze but soon she was working on the first exercise. “Inside guard, outside guard, sunrise cut,” Carodoc was chanting to her. “Outside, inside, sunset.” From time to time she could feel Zalibar’s eyes on her but he said nothing so she concentrated on keeping her swinging sword and elated mind under control.

After what seemed like an age, a whistle from Zalibar triggered instant silence and stillness across the quad. “Kit away!” he barked. “Let’s go and get something to eat.”

The nonda dropped their kit and meandered towards the solid flight of stairs that led up to the main house. Katie joined the other tyros in tidying up the courtyard. As she was struggling back to the storeroom with a pile of wooden swords, Zalibar walked past her. “Not too bad, after that first embarrassment,” he told her with a nod.

“That,” Carodoc whispered, “is high praise indeed from him. Come on, hurry up! We’ve got to get ready to wait at table for the nonda.” She was about to make a rude reply but she decided against it. It was obvious that she was going to need all the help she could get if she was going to survive here and he seemed to know what was going on. She hurried to help.

Once the kit was collected, wiped down and put away, the tyros washed their hands in the water trough and went through a low door into the kitchen. It was a large, low beamed room, broader than it was long, with rough, heavy flagstones on the floor. A long table, which showed signs of frequent scrubbing, ran across the room in front of her and huge pans were hanging from nails, hammered into the beams above. An enormous cooking range stretched along the far wall. To the right of the range there were shelves on which jars of herbs and spices were tidily arranged with knives and utensils hanging from hooks above.

But the most striking feature of the room, as far as Katie was concerned, was the delicious smell. When she saw a large pot of soup and plates of meat and cheese at one end of the table, she was reminded that she had not had any breakfast. “That looks good!” she said, her mouth watering.

“I’m sure it is,” Carodoc agreed with a rueful grin. “Shame it’s not for us.”

A short, elderly, rotund lady was putting a last basket of rolls onto the table. “Have you all washed your hands? Let me see!” She quickly glanced round the group. “Not good enough, Gromin. Go and do it again.”

“Should I do the soup, Cookie?” Carodoc asked, going over to some pegs behind the door and putting on a white jacket.

“Yes, please, love,” the cook answered. “Get someone to give you a hand.”

“You can do that,” Carodoc told Katie. “Put this jacket on and grab the pot.”

Katie picked up the heavy pot and followed Carodoc to an opening in the left wall which led to a flight of stone stairs. As she followed him up, she could hear the cook organising the rest of the tyros down in the kitchen behind her. They went through a heavy wooden door and found themselves in a small alcove, hidden from the rest of the room by a curtain. On the far side of the curtain, she could hear people gathering.

She looked through the curtain at what had to be the Great Hall. Two long, dark, wooden tables ran the length of the room whilst another was set on a dais at one end. The long tables were lined with simple chairs but at the top table were elaborately carved chairs and, in the middle, dominating the room, what looked almost like a wooden throne. The room was quite dark because, though there were windows on the courtyard side, there were none in any of the other walls.

Some of the students were already seated whilst others were hurrying to their places. At first she did not recognise the elegant young people who were taking their places in the room but then she realised they were the nonda who had obviously been washing and relaxing whilst she had been tidying up the quad. The wave of jealousy that would have surged through her was smoothed by her implanted node to a slight twinge and, because of this, she was able to observe that she was not jealous of the fine clothes and food. She’d never really been bothered about that sort of thing. Rather it was the power and authority that stood behind them that she coveted.

Carodoc nodded at two boys standing like guards on either side of the door. “They’re the Amendraig and the Armenclethyfur,” he whispered,

The Amendraig was quite short with oiled back hair and was wearing a deep red coloured jacket. The Armenclethyfur was taller and wearing a dark jacket and his long, fair hair was held back by a silver coronet which also bore one of the simple geometrical motifs. In fact, as she glanced round the room, she saw a number of the nonda were wearing similar coronets.

“What do those names mean?” she whispered back.

“They’re the titles given to the best swordsman and, well, the second best rider in the academy,” he explained

“Second best?” asked Katie. “Who’s the best?”

Carodoc gave a smile. “I’m just a tyro so I can’t have the title,” he explained.

Katie was about to ask what the ‘tyro’ thing was all about when she was silenced by a sudden glance from Carodoc as Zalibar walked into the room. The Amendraig turned round and struck a gong which was hanging on the wall by the door. At the sound of the gong, the nonda jumped to their feet and stopped talking. The Amendraig struck the gong twice more. On the third stroke the Armenclethyfur shut and bolted the door.

“Miss the third stroke and you have to go to Cook and beg for scraps,” whispered Carodoc. “Zalibar doesn’t like people being late.”

The nonda remained standing in silence as Zalibar marched to the high table followed by the Armenclethyfur and Amendraig. Only when he had taken his place did they sit and resume their conversations.

“Let’s go!” Carodoc said, pushing the curtain aside and marching into the room. Katie followed on with the pot of soup.

At first they proceeded without any problems but, as she was walking behind the Amendraig, he suddenly started laughing and swinging his arms round in response to a joke from the Armenclethyfur. One of his arms caught Katie and, as she struggled to keep a grip on the heavy pot, some of the soup splashed onto the Amendraig.

Katie winced as she sensed a mental slap coming towards her but her bracelet shielded her and the blow slipped harmlessly to one side. A look of confusion flashed across the Amendraig’s face but it quickly turned to anger and she felt him pulling in his will for a more powerful blow.

As soon as she realised what was happening, she jumped to throw up the protective tower that Psion had shown her. Her stumbling efforts managed to get something up by the time the blow landed, but the structure was extremely insecure and she scrambled to support it with her mind. This had the effect of bouncing the blow back towards the Amendraig with a little extra power. He was obviously not expecting this and the blow struck solidly home.

“You little…” he began. He rose to his feet, his face red with fury, and the two of them stood opposite each other drawing in their wills.

“Hold,” came a shout from Zalibar, glancing towards them. “I’m not minded to have my lunch disturbed by you two.” He studied Katie for an instant. He had an amused grin on his scarred face but, she noticed, there was something more surprised and intrigued in the mind behind it. “Carodoc, get her away from here,” he told him, “but be careful with her! This little puppy’s got teeth.”

Zalibar turned back to the Amendraig and began to chide him as Carodoc hurried her across to the other side of the room. “This does you no credit,” he was saying. “You know that it was your own clumsiness that caused the spillage. You wouldn’t blame a bad flight on the dragon and no more should you blame a servant for your own shortcomings.”

The Amendraig said nothing but he continued to glare at Katie with a look of unrestrained fury.

The rest of the meal passed uneventfully and, as soon as they had finished their work in the Great Hall, the tyros gathered around a small table at the back of the kitchen. Katie hurried over to join them.

Most of them deliberately ignored her but one, the boy who seemed to be sharing her suffering when she was struggling with the halberd, came and sat opposite her. He was about a year older than her but gave the impression that he was much younger. He was quite tall but beanpole thin. None of the tyros were carrying any extra weight but this lad was taking it to extremes. His face was astonishingly pale with an embarrassed smile and his limp hair hung down in front of his face and Katie had to suppress a strange urge to push it out of his eyes.

“Hi!” he said. “I’m Jenko.”

He pushed his own hair back and Katie got to see his eyes for the first time. They were one of the most appalling things she had seen since she had been on the island - black pits which were sunk so deep as to almost disappear, giving a glimpse into the wells of despair and fear within.

“I’m Katie,” she answered when she had recovered her composure, “I mean, that big dragon who brought me in gave me another name, but I’ve forgotten it.”

“Probably Rhianadoc,” he said.

“How on earth did you know that?”

“You’re the doc serving the House of Rhian so you’re Rhianadoc. In the same way my real name is Janedoc. Nobody calls me that though. I guess they don’t think I’m worth it. Would you like me to call you Rhianadoc?”

“No, I’d rather you called me Katie,” she answered quickly. “That other name just doesn’t feel right.”

“That’s fine by me.”

“Why are that lot being so unfriendly?” Katie asked nodding to the others down the table.

Jenko hesitated before answering. “They’re not really being unfriendly…” he explained at last. “They’re just waiting to see whether you’re going to survive. Until they know that you’re going to last more than a day or two… and after that thing with the Amendraig…”

Katie nodded. In the circumstances, it made sense not to get too close. “You’re not worried about it?” she asked.

“I don’t really expect to survive more than a couple of days myself,” he answered flatly. She would have assumed that this was some sort of perverse joke if it wasn’t for the waves of depression that he was sending out into the cloud world as he said it.

“What’s this nonda, tyro thing all about?” she asked him, trying to get him to think about something else. “Are we some sort of servants?”

“You’ve not been here for long, have you?” he said.

“I only arrived yesterday,” Katie answered.

That comment resulted in a stunned silence along the table - even from the group at the other end who were supposedly ignoring her. One of them even let out a long, descending whistle.

“Only Rhiannas could get away with that,” Carodoc said as he walked up to the table carrying a bread basket. He deliberately took a seat between Katie and the other group of tyros.

Cookie appeared carrying an unfeasibly large number of bowls balanced on her arm and within seconds a bowl of thick soup and a wedge of dark-coloured bread appeared in front of Katie. She attacked the food with enthusiasm.

The table went quiet as some serious eating took place. Katie was not the only one who was hungry.

After a couple of minutes, Jenko came up for air. “You asked about nondas and tyros… If you’re a member of one of the human led Houses or Families,” he explained, “you can come here pretty much by right. The Council keep Zalibar in red wine and meat for the nags so he’s happy enough with the arrangement. Those are the nonda.”

“So there are human led Houses and Families?”

“About half of them are human led. You could take over Rhian, if you want. All you have to do is defeat Rhiannas in a duel.”

“I might try that some time,” Katie said. It raised a smile or two but only she knew how serious she was. She took a large bite out of the course black bread. It had a peculiar, slightly sour taste but she was so hungry she could have eaten anything. “What are nags?” she asked with her mouth full.

“Nag dragons, like the ones out in the quad. If you crush dragons down enough, they sort of stop thinking and sink down to the level of animals. Then you can sort of domesticate them. That’s what we get to practice flying on.”

“And what are ‘The Council’?”

“The Council of the Edify,” Carodoc answered without looking up from his soup. “They are the heads of the great Houses who actually run things around here. They organise things like the border patrols and the meat raids. Your Rhiannas is one of them.”

“Which is why you can get away with shouting about the fact that you only arrived yesterday,” Jenko said.

“But, anyway, if one of the Families want to send a servant here, they have to pay,” Carodoc went on, his mouth full. “That usually means that they have to come and work their way through the academy.”

“Which is where us lot come in,” Jenko said. He went back to scraping out his soup bowl.

“I see you’ve already managed to make yourself a higher class of enemy,” he said when it was as clean as he could get it without licking it. “Most people need at least a day before they get on Quarononde’s bad side!”

“Who?” asked Katie, her mouth still full.

“Quarononde, that’s what the Amendraig’s called,” Carodoc explained. “You need to be careful with him. He’s a prime so he can’t formally call you out but he can make your life really unpleasant if he sets his mind to it. I’ll fix the roster to keep you away from him for the next couple of days.”

“Nonde?” Katie asked. “Is that different from a Nonda?”

“They’re all Nonda but only the next in line to take over as head of Family have the ‘nonda’ bit on their name,” Jenko explained. “They’re the ones with the coronets. All the other kids in the family just have the nonde title.”

“And their main occupation is getting rid of the nonda so they can grab the coronet for themselves,” Carodoc joked. He sat back and checked that everybody had finished eating and then he started giving out orders. Some of the tyros were sent up for ‘house duty’ whilst others were sent to clean out the stables. “Don’t forget to make sure Towan’s ready for Zalibar,” he shouted after them. “You and I’ll go and get the feed in,” he told Katie.

“Hey, Cookie,” Carodoc called across to the cook who was tidying up around the range. “We’re off into town on a meat run. Do you need anything?”

“Not today,” she answered. “Thanks for asking though.”

[garethn]

Ch 10 The Long Run

Word count 4624 (10-Jun-19)

After helping to carry the crockery across to Cookie, they made their way back out into the quad. “Right,” said Carodoc, briefly showing Katie round. “This is the main quad. The master’s lodge is up the stairs, there, with the Great Hall, you know, to the right, and Zalibar’s suite to the left.” He pointed out a balcony on the left of the building. “It’s a good idea to assume he’s got his eye on everything that happens down here in the quad,” he warned her. “There are rooms upstairs for the nonda.”

“You’ve seen the kitchen. Cook’s store rooms are down there, next to them. She sleeps down there, too, so there’s no breaking in to help yourself!”

“Where do we sleep?” asked Katie.

“Our dorm is on top of the kitchen, so it’s usually nice and warm in the morning, as long as Cook’s been baking. There are the stairs up.”

“They don’t look very solid.”

“Zalibar’s not over keen on wasting his money on that sort of thing,” Carodoc told her with a grin. He led her across the quad, pointing out the water trough and dragon mews as they went. “We’ve got to get down to the village to collect meat for the nags,” he explained, leading Katie into one of the storerooms where there were two small carts.

“You pull it like this,” Carodoc explained, taking the first one and slipping its stained leather strap over his shoulder. They’re not too bad when they’re empty but they’re a bit tricky to handle when they’re loaded up.”

Pulling her cart behind her, Katie followed Carodoc out into the quad then through the gatehouse down towards a rough track which passed in front of the compound along the cliff top. To the right it led downhill towards a wooded valley but they turned left.

At first the track ran through open moorland close to the edge of the low cliffs but then it swung inland, rising steadily towards a thickly wooded hill. When the track reached the wood, it turned sharply and began to climb steeply before emerging onto a narrow strip of open land at the cliff top. Far below, to their right, they could hear the waves crashing on the rocky shore and there were sea birds circling above the cliffs, but the woods seemed much too quiet. Katie had the impression that she was being watched and peered into the woods but the undergrowth was too heavy for her to see anything.

“Those woods are a bit creepy, aren’t they?” Carodoc said when he saw her glances. “Some of the students say that they are haunted by the souls of the students who didn’t survive the academy,” he added with a grin.

The thick woods continued for about half a mile as they followed the track along the cliff edge. Then they thinned until there was only the occasional tree and the track turned inland, dropping down towards a wide valley where there was a village. As they descended the track, Katie realised that it was the village she had visited the day before.

“Is there only the one village on this island?” she asked.

“There are a couple of smaller ones round the other side,” Carodoc answered, “but most of the important stuff happens up in the Edifice. It’s only the peasants who hang around out here.”

The track led them down a steep hill, across a rickety-looking bridge and finally up a gentle slope which brought them out into the village square. Carodoc led them towards the butcher’s store though not, Katie noticed, the one recommended by Psion.

“Afternoon!” Carodoc called to the butcher, who was wearing a heavily stained striped apron. “We’ve come to collect the meat for Zalibar’s place.”

“Right you are,” the butcher replied. “It’s out the back if you want to take your carts round there.”

As they began to load the carts, Katie noticed that some of the meat did not smelt particularly good. “You know this meat is not very fresh, don’t you?” she said to Carodoc, holding out a particularly rancid lump.

“It’s only for the nags,” he replied. “They’ll be fine. It takes worse than that to poison a nag.”

“Where does all this meat come from?” Katie asked. I’ve not seen all that many farms since I’ve been here.”

“The council organises raiding trips to the mainland,” he answered. A few dragons wander over, befuddle a farmer or two and come back with half a dozen animals apiece.”

“Keep moving,” he told her when she stopped to stretch her back. “If we hurry, we can go and get you some proper clothes but we really must be back on time. Zalibar’s a stickler for punctuality and I don’t want to think what he’d do if we’re late for his afternoon run.”

“I hate running,” Katie mentioned conversationally as she went back to throwing lumps of meat onto the carts.

“Like it or lump it,” Carodoc replied. “As long as you’re with Zalibar you’re going to be doing lots of running. He likes running.”

He paused and threw another couple of pieces of meat onto the cart.

“At least, he likes other people running,” he added with a wry grin.

Katie sighed and carried on loading her cart.

When they had piled on all the meat, they set off back through the village. The carts were now heavy and cumbersome and she was glad when he paused by one of the shacks. “Come on in,” he called, ducking in through the door. Katie followed him and was astonished to find herself in a clothes store.

The store consisted of a single small room, lit only by the light from a small window, and it was completely packed. Shelves on the walls were crammed full of clothes and there were more in wooden boxes piled on a table and on the floor.

“Hi Molly!” Carodoc called out. A young lady with shoulder length, brown hair stepped out of the shadows at the back of the room. As she approached, Katie saw that she was hardly older than Carodoc though from the way she moved about the room she guessed that Molly owned the place.

“Katie here is in training up with Zalibar,” he went on. “Have you got anything better for her to wear?”

“Rhian,” she muttered, after observing Katie’s torque. She studied Katie appraisingly, muttered, “You’re a tiny thing,” then she stepped back into the shadows and started sorting through piles of clothes at the back of the store.

She carried on sorting for a while and then clicked her tongue. “Of course,” she exclaimed, “that’s just the thing.” She went through a curtain at the back of the store and returned a short time later with a pair of leggings and a light shirt. She also had a leather waistcoat [vest] which was beautifully decorated with shallow cuts in the leather. However it looked as if a narrow strip had been neatly sliced off the bottom.

“How does this look?” she asked.

“It’s a bit grand,” said Carodoc. “It looks like something a nonda would wear.”

“It comes from a nonda – from the oldest son of the Skrell Family. I’ve cut their mark off the bottom but, still, no nonda is going to touch it.”

“Skrell Family?” asked Katie.

“The Skrell Family was taken out a year or two ago,” Carodoc explained. “In fact, thinking about it, it might have been Rhian who did them in.”

“Now, Carodoc, sling your hook!” Molly went on. “Let this young lady get changed.”

“Okay,” he said as he left, “but get a move on. We really mustn’t be late back.”

As Katie hurriedly changed into the leggings and vest, Molly handed her a warm woollen cloak. “Don’t ask!” she said when she saw her examining a neatly repaired cut in the material just below her heart. “You’ll have to make do with your Outsider shoes for now. They look like they’ll be fine for the time being.” She handed a string bag to her saying, “There are a couple of other bits and pieces in here.”

“Now get going,” she said, as she hurried Katie out of the shop and back to the carts. She blew Carodoc a kiss as they went on their way.

Carodoc hurried them back onto the track and down to the bridge but the carts were now heavy and unwieldy. As they made their way up the slope on the far side of the bridge, Katie started lagging behind.

“Come on!” Carodoc called back to her as they reached the top of the cliff. But, in spite of her struggles, she could not prevent herself from slipping further back as they made their way along the top of the cliff.

In spite of the worry, she could not suppress a smile when she felt a sudden mental nudge from Psion.

“Good afternoon, young mistress!” came his cheerful voice. “That cart would appear to be extraordinarily heavy. I do believe, however, that, if just a single piece of meat were to fall off, it would become significantly lighter!”

“Where do you want it?” Katie laughed.

“It’s a delightful day. I rather fancy a picnic in the woods.”

She glanced towards Carodoc who was marching onwards, his rope grasped grimly over his shoulder. She grabbed one of the larger lumps of meat and threw it into the woods.

“My most sincere thanks!” came a cheerful voice in response.

Katie resumed her cumbersome trudge but now it felt as if there were someone behind the cart giving it a helpful push. She glanced back and just caught a glimpse of Psion fluttering back into the woods with the lump of meat in his jaws.

“Mmm, putrefying pig! How delectable!” the little dragon commented.

“Yuk!”

“Slurp, slurp, slurp!”

“Stop that at once or you won’t get any next time!” she warned. He departed her mind, leaving nothing behind but an amused grin. Nonetheless she continued to feel the push of her invisible helper as she made her way along the top of the cliff.

By the time the wooden tower in the corner of the compound came into sight, she had almost caught up with Carodoc. “Keep going,” he called back to her. “We’re nearly there!”

The students were starting to assemble as they hurried back into the quad and a tyro had one of the nag dragons in some strange sort of mental hold and was guiding it towards the platform at the bottom of the stairs. They hurriedly pulled the carts into the store room. “We’ll have to feed the nags when we get back from the run,” Carodoc said, “but we’ve still got time to dump your stuff if we hurry.”

“Be careful,” Carodoc called back to her as she followed him up a staircase just to the right of the kitchen. “Some of the steps are in a really bad state. Sooner or later, someone’s going to go through and find themselves in the scullery.”

“Welcome to your new palace,” he said with a sarcastic bow, as he opened a door which led into the loft space above the kitchen. A little light was creeping into the room from round the edge of the roof but it was a dark, dingy room. A heavy curtain running down the middle provided minimal privacy, presumably separating the boys from the girls, and there were half a dozen beds on each side.” The roof leaks a bit whenever there’s rain from the north but it’s home to us,” he said with a laugh. “Dump your stuff on Mary’s bed, over there. She won’t be needing it anymore.”

“Has she left?”

“Sort of! She left feet first.”

“What?”

“A training accident. They happen sometimes.”

“But…”

“There’s no time now,” he interrupted her urgently. “Just dump your cloak… and that waistcoat. You certainly won’t be needing those. Hurry up! We need to go now!”

She was still wondering about what had happened to Mary as she followed him back down the rickety staircase.

Zalibar had just appeared at the top of the main stairs as they joined the rest of the students in the quad. He frowned at them but made no comment.

He waited for a few moments, studying the students and Katie had a quick look at the new dragon over by the mews. It was about the same size as Psion and looked, too, as if it had suffered recent mistreatment, but there the similarities ended. Where the silver-grey dragon had bright golden eyes, always ready with a twinkle or a joke, this dragon’s eyes were dull and lifeless. It was a blotchy brown colour and appeared to have lost a number of its scales. The feature that struck Katie most strongly, however, were the waves of despondency radiating from the beast.

“Right,” Zalibar said and Katie hurriedly looked back at him. She saw he was wearing knee high riding boots and carrying a long black whip. “I hope you’re all feeling fit because today we’ve got a peak run.”

This was met by groans from some of the students which he silenced with a glance. “Most of you know the drill, but for you,” he glanced at Katie, “I don’t think I need to describe the route. As it’s your first time, if you happen to find yourself out front you have my permission to take it easy until someone catches up with you.” This comment caused a light ripple of laughter. “Otherwise, my only rule is ‘No slacking’. Don’t worry, I’ll have my eye on you all.”

“Hey, Calbar,” he shouted to the tyro holding the dragon, “get Towan over here.”

The tyro hurried the dragon to the bottom of the stairs and Zalibar stepped onto its shoulders. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” he said as his dragon took off, “let’s go!”

The group set off out of the gateway and turned right along the track, away from the village, and for a moment Carodoc ran at Katie’s side. “I can’t hang around back here with you lot,” he told her, “but you must try and stay with the main group. If you get dropped, you’re in for a lot of very unwelcome attention.” They ran along together in silence for a while.

“That’s Kiernonda,” he added in a whisper, nodding towards a heavily built, dark-haired nonda, just behind them. “Keep in front of him and you should be okay. And whatever you do, DON’T COME LAST.” With that, he stretched out his legs and pulled ahead towards the leaders.

The track entered a patch of dense woodland and dipped steeply into a narrow valley and the surface became treacherous with loose rocks. Katie stumbled and, as she recovered her balance, the dark haired Nonda boy jostled past her.

Flinging her arms out wide for balance, Katie charged on down the slope. Ahead of her the runners were jumping a stream then turning right to follow a smaller path which headed up the valley.

As he reached the stream, the Nonda in front of her boosted his jump with his mind but he must have misjudged the power because he sailed over the far bank and stumbled to his knees. Seizing her chance, she splashed into the turgid water but immediately regretted her decision because the water burned her as it splashed onto her skin. There must be some sort of horrible chemicals in there! As she stumbled forward, more in shock than in pain, the Nonda pushed past her.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed on up the path. At first it meandered gently along the river side then it turned left to climb steeply up the side of the valley.

Stumbling over roots, she followed the narrow path until it emerged above the trees and she could see it stretching out towards the peak of the mountain that dominated the island. By now Katie was in a group of four runners at the rear of the field and, as she glanced around, another of the Nonda jostled past and struggled on ahead of her up the mountain.

This little group slowed as the path got steeper, but suddenly Katie was startled by a loud cracking noise behind her. She continued to run grimly up the slope but the two people behind her were making a superhuman effort and ran past, leaving her on her own right at the back.

At first she did not associate the sharp stinging pain at the back of her calves with the cracking noise and it was not until she heard Zalibar’s harsh words that she realised that he was flying behind her and using his whip to demand more effort. With the realisation, the pain in her legs grew and she tore up the path to join the others once more.

She could hear the breathing of the nonda in front of her becoming ragged and uneven so she took advantage of a widening of the path to overtake him again. She looked up to see there was another runner just in front of her and she fixed her eyes and mind on the back of his head.

As she drew closer, she recognised a curly haired tyro and concentrated on closing the gap, shutting out the burning in her lungs and the scream of her leg muscles.

The climb seemed interminable. Twice more, when her speed had slowed almost to a walk, Zalibar flew back to her to speed her up with sharp words and spiteful cuts of his whip. Soon the quicker runners began to pass them on their way back down though even they, Katie noticed, were not completely spared Zalibar’s attention if he decided they were not working as hard as he demanded.

Gradually she closed the gap to the tyro and, by the time she reached the bare stone and piles of broken rock which marked the summit, she was almost on his shoulder. She followed him as he turned right onto a poorly defined path that led over a boulder field, making its way around the mouth of the Edifice to their left.

A shout from the tyro warned her as the path passed perilously close to a circular hole in the ground, big enough to swallow a house. It was obviously not natural because it had a steeply sloping upper lip which was decorated with one of the wavy line motifs. “Han,” the boy gasped to her. She followed him round the lip, with her arms and her will flailing in a desperate attempt to keep her balance. She hardly dared to look at the chasm that yawned to her left.

She ran on, tripping and stumbling over the piles of loose stone, towards another opening. This time the path passed to the left and was, if anything, even closer to the edge. As she ran past, she recognised the Rhian ‘S’ pattern and realised that this must be the flute that she had flown through that morning with Rhiannas.

“This is impossible,” Katie gasped as, side by side with the other tyro, she scrambled up the last vertical stone wall.

“It’s nothing,” the tyro panted in reply, as they emerged onto a small plateau at the summit of the peak. “Primes have to use the inner path.” He nodded in the direction of the Edifice’s mouth to their left. As they ran towards the summit, there was a short stretch of solid rock and Katie risked a glance to her left to try and work out what he meant by the ‘inner path’.

The mouth of the Edifice lay below her like a volcanic caldera and it was surrounded by a maze of curved stone struts and beams. For a moment Katie was confused until she managed to sort out the scale in her mind. She realised that she was looking down on the elaborate stonework decorations that ringed the mouth.

And yes, there was a path of sorts down there. Over on the far side the last couple of primes were completing their circuit. As far as she could make out, they were having to run along stone beams only a couple of inches wide and, in places, had to make significant jumps. Below them stretched the unthinkable void of the Edifice.

“What if you fall?” she heard herself asking.

“Good news. You’re unlikely to hit the floor. A plummeting human like that would be too much for any self-respecting dragon to resist,” the tyro replied grimly.

She suddenly became aware Zalibar was moving in towards them and, as they pushed on towards the stone cairn at the top of the peak she heard him shouting after them, “Don’t even think of slacking now. I’ve got my eye on you two.” She glanced back and saw that Kiernonda, with Zalibar’s ungentle encouragement, had almost caught up with them. She grimly set her mind back onto the matter in hand as the tyro gradually pulled away from her.

The descent was, if that were possible, even more difficult than the climb. The loose grey rocks kept shifting beneath her feet causing her to stumble and gradually the nonda drew closer until she could hear his frantic breaths.

Suddenly she was flying. For an instant she could not understand what had happened but, as she plunged down towards the jagged boulders, she realised that the nonda had tripped her. She crashed down heavily, scraping her hands and knees and smashing the air out of her lungs.

She lay on the ground for a moment, wondering whether it had been an accident but, as the nonda ran past, he aimed a spiteful kick at her ribs. There was no doubt about it. He had done it deliberately.

She painfully pulled herself to her feet and started running again, but now she was having difficulty breathing and pain was shooting through her right knee with every step. In spite of her frantic effort, she could not keep up with the nonda on the treacherous path and she could only watch as he gradually pulled away. As she looked down the hill she saw Zalibar drifting up towards her, casually unfurling his whip.

Then there came a familiar voice in her head. “I would venture to suggest that some assistance would not be unwelcome, young mistress.”

She would have wept with relief but she could not spare the energy. All she could manage was a mental nod.

“Whilst I am unable to support your running at this distance, I can assist with your balance. Place your trust in me and do not resist my interventions.”

Katie forced herself to relax. Relieved of the worry about the treacherous, slippery path, she could concentrate fully on running. She was vaguely aware of the little nudges and pulls that were helping her to balance but she could not think about them, concentrating, as she was, on the bobbing head of the nonda ahead. As she turned a corner, she caught a brief glance of the wooden tower that marked the end of the compound but it still looked horribly far away.

The boy ahead eased up slightly as the path dropped down into the wooded valley, thinking that the trees would shield him from Zalibar’s attention. Katie saw her chance and flung herself recklessly down, jumping over tree roots and slipping on the sandy soil. As they approached the main track he was only a few yards ahead and he didn’t seem to notice that she was there.

Suddenly Psion’s voice ran through her head. “There is a short-cut! Allow me!” There was a peculiar sensation as he took over her legs and she felt herself being thrown down into the stream.

She flinched as she approached the caustic water but, as she fought the temptation to resist him, she felt one of her feet landing on a slippery stone. In three more giant leaps she was across the stream and heading up the track.

By the time the nonda noticed her, she was already several yards ahead of him. Katie, however, was too far gone to think about anything but Carodoc’s words: ‘Don’t finish last.’ With a strength she did not know she possessed, she hauled her shattered body up the steep section of track and pushed on for the final sprint through the gateway into the compound.

She stumbled through the gateway and, on the verge of unconsciousness felt her weight being taken by Psion as she fell forwards. He gently lowered her onto her hands and knees.

Still on her knees she looked up to see that Zalibar was talking. “With one glaring exception,” he was saying, “that was tolerable but, Kiernonda, you really are going to have to try harder; allowing yourself to be beaten by an Outsider girl three years younger than you. You can do the same again but this time I want to see you making a bit more effort. The rest of you, I’ll see at dinner.”

The look that Kiernonda gave her as he ran past made it quite clear that he intended to make her pay for not allowing him to beat her but, Katie reflected, nothing he did could be worse than repeating that run.

She felt herself being pulled to her feet by Carodoc. “Well done!” he said to her. “The peak’s tough enough if you’re used to Zalibar’s runs, so first time out it has to be a killer. Go and have a lie down and we’ll cover for you.”

Nodding her thanks, Katie dragged herself up the stairs into the dorm and collapsed onto the bed.

It was almost dark when she was woken by another of the tyros, a girl, maybe a little older than herself. She was carrying a bowl of food and a mug of water.

“Carodoc asked me to bring you something to eat,” she explained.

Katie tried to go back to sleep but the girl gave her a funny sort of mental nudge. “You’ve got to eat,” she told her firmly, “or you’ll be in a terrible state tomorrow. I’ve been there once myself and, believe me, you really do not want to try it.”

Katie tried to sit up but her leg muscles suddenly cramped and she almost fell out of bed. The girl steadied her with a touch of mind power then put the bowl and mug on a rickety table and showed her how to stretch out her screaming calf muscles.

When they were finished, the girl helped her to sit up. “Thank you,” Katie said. “You’re Nolan, aren’t you?”

The girl nodded and handed her the bowl. Then, as Katie started to spoon the thick stew into her mouth, she studied the girl. She was quite tall with long, fair hair tied back in a ponytail and a slight twinkle in her eyes.

“You’re not really supposed to eat up here but Carodoc pulled in a favour with Cookie for you,” Nolan told her.

“I must thank him,” Katie replied between spoonfuls. Now she had started eating, she realised just how hungry she was.

“We try and help each other out as much as we can,” the girl explained.

When the bowl was empty, she replaced it with the mug of water. “Drink it all,” Nolan told Katie firmly. You’ll need it!” She meekly did as she was told.

When she had finished, Nolan took the bowl and mug and stepped towards the door but she suddenly turned round. “You did well on that run,” she said encouragingly. “You should do OK here.”

“Thanks,” Katie replied before collapsing back into a deep, dreamless sleep.

[garethn]

Ch 11 Going Solo

Word count 4968 (11-Jun-19)

Katie was awake early the next morning and, not wanting to disturb the others in the dorm, she made her way down into the quad.

She drank some water from the well and then, because her muscles were still stiff from the run, she did her best to copy some of the stretching exercises she had seen her father do when he had been out for one of his runs. Stretch out those muscles to the point of pain… hold… and hold… then release. She was leaning against a wall, stretching out her calf muscles, when it occurred to her that this would be a good time to practice her brain stretching exercises too. She decided to try and assemble her protective tower. In the cool, fresh air and the tranquillity of the morning she felt calm and relaxed for the first time since she had arrived on the island. This calmness flowed into the tower construction and she knew she was doing it much more quietly and effectively than she had ever managed before.

She jogged gently round the quad for a couple of laps, her aching limbs first protesting then loosening as the blood started to flow. Then she relaxed again and stretched her back by reaching down to touch her toes. She saw a pebble on the ground and gently tried to pick it up with her mind. Here, in the calm of the morning, she could, at least, control the height to within about a foot, though it still trembled and jittered in the air as if it were alive.

Suddenly she felt eyes on the back of her neck. Whilst still holding the pebble in mid air she reached with her mind into the space behind her. There was Zalibar, observing her with his piercing stare. She carefully moved past the solid fortress around his mind, close enough to acknowledge his presence yet far enough away to make it clear that she was not attempting any sort of intrusion. He acknowledged her slightly in response.

She plucked the pebble out of the air and turned. As she had guessed, he was standing at an upper window of the Master’s Lodge and she briefly nodded to him. She dropped the pebble into her pocket and walked back up the stairs to the dorm.

Carodoc was just waking as she re-entered their dingy dorm.

“Thanks for covering for me last night. I owe you for that,” she said, keen to stay in his good books.

“That’s okay,” he replied with a smile. “You were good for nothing anyway. It would have been more trouble than it was worth trying to get anything out of you. This way, at least, you’ve got a chance of getting through today.”

“Calbar and Gromin,” he called across to two of the tyros who were slowly waking up, “you two’ve got house duty. Get going now or there’ll be no hot water when they wake up and then there’ll be trouble.”

“Jenko and Nolan, I want you to go down and take a look at the practice kit we used yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zalibar wanted to check up on it, so make sure you do it properly.

“Katie, you and me have got the nags this morning. Let’s go!”

“Okay,” said Carodoc as they made their way carefully down the stairs. “If you go and make a start on drawing water from the well, I’ll go and get the buckets. You might as well fill the troughs up whilst you’re about it.”

Katie went over to the well in the corner of the quad by the kitchen. There were two troughs, one for the nags and one that the students used. She started hauling up buckets of water and emptying them into the troughs. Soon Carodoc returned with a couple of buckets on a yoke and started lugging them into the mews.

“Keep going!” he said as he came for another load. “We’ll need at least ten more buckets for the nags.”

When he came back for the fifth time he dumped the buckets and yoke. “I’ve got to go and get the key,” he told her. “You bring the last load over to the mews.”

He turned and walked up the main stairs into the master’s lodge.

When the troughs were full, she loaded up the buckets on the yoke and made her way unsteadily across to the mews.

Going through the high, open doorway she found herself in the middle of a dark corridor which had a row of dragon stalls along the far side.

“Those are for Nero,” his bodiless voice emerged from the gloom off to the left. “Second stall, down that way.”

She carried the load down to the stall. A narrow trough led through the wall into the stall where a long and relatively thin, brown coloured dragon lay curled up like a dog, apparently asleep.

“Do I pour it into the trough here?” she asked.

“Yep. And don’t spill too much or you’ll have to get some more.”

Katie carefully poured in the water.

As her eyes grew accustomed to the dim light she noticed that everything, including the doors of the stalls, was made of the same grey stone as the rest of the compound.

“No wood,” she commented. “I suppose it makes sense.”

“Things wouldn’t last long if they were made of wood. “Carodoc replied, reappearing with a wheelbarrow and a large shovel. “Nags can’t flame properly but they can spit out enough scraps of fire to reduce any wood to ashes.”

“The nags can’t flame?”

“No. They’re so crushed down that they haven’t got the powerful emotions that dragons need to flame.”

Katie thought back to the passions that had surged through them as Rhiannas had flamed the dolphin and nodded her understanding.

“I guess you can’t do a mind grip yet, can you?”

“A what?”

“A mind grip: you use it to take charge of a nag’s mind.”

Katie shook her head

“You certainly don’t want to go into a stall with one of the nags until you have it in a very tight grip. I’ll shovel, you shift. Down the corridor on the right is the mist gate.”

“Mist gate?”

“Yeah, I dunno why it’s called that. Anyway here’s the key.” He handed her a large metal key attached by a chain to an even larger lump of wood.

“Don’t leave it unlocked when you’re done or Zalibar will have our guts for garters. The dung heap’s through there on the right. You can’t miss it.”

In the gloom, Katie had difficulty even spotting the opening between the two stalls that led to the mist gate and manoeuvring the cumbersome wheelbarrow down there, with its heavy load of dung and partially chewed bones, was quite a challenge. The door out was surprisingly low. Even Katie had to duck.

But she had no difficulty finding the dung heap, indeed she could have easily found it blindfolded. The smell was a hideous mixture of cow dung and bad eggs.

“This place is pretty much a fortress,” Katie commented when she returned for her next load. “Who’s Zalibar expecting to attack him?”

“I think it’s mostly force of habit,” Carodoc answered. “There hasn’t been any real trouble on the island since the Year of Flame and Sword, years ago.”

It took them the better part of an hour to get the place ‘shoveled and swept’ as Carodoc put it. “Okay, we’re done here,” he called to her as he was putting the brooms and shovels away. “Are you sure you locked that door?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Then go and get washed up. I’ll put the key away. We need to be ready to serve breakfast in a couple of minutes.”

Carodoc arranged breakfast so that Katie did not have to go anywhere near the top table and, as a result, it passed uneventfully, though she did receive an extremely menacing stare from Kiernonda. Presumably he still resented the fact that she had beaten him in the run.

Tough!

At the end of the meal, the Amendraig struck the gong. The nonda sat in silence and all the tyros hurried to the area by the curtain.

Zalibar, dressed in his customary black leather, stood up and announced the timetable for the day.

“Primes: you’ll be doing sword work this morning: your basic drills and then some one-on-one skirmish work. Careful, please, this time. I don’t want any more broken bones.

“Transitors: Daggers. Carodoc will take you through the basic routines then I’ll come and show you some new parries.

“Noviate: I want you starting off flying triangles round the tower. Don’t forget to take a broadsword and dagger along for the ride. There’ll be exercises with them later on.

“Right, I want everyone in the quad at nine. Dismissed!”

There was a sudden explosion of noise and activity.

“Okay, gang, let’s move,” said Carodoc. “We’ve got twenty minutes to eat, get everything cleaned up and get out there.”

“What’s the noviate and prime thing all about?” Katie asked once they were gathered round their table and rapidly spooning porridge into their mouths.

“The Noviates are people who’ve just arrived,” Nolan explained. The rest of the tyros were being much more approachable this morning. Presumably, after her performance in yesterday’s run, they had decided that she might be going to survive after all. “When Zalibar decides you’re probably not going to kill yourself by accident, he promotes you to Transitor…” she went on.

“And when he decides you might just have a chance of killing somebody else, he promotes you to Prime,” Jenko completed with his mouth full of porridge.

“You can think of it as three years of one of your outside schools,” a tyro called Calbar added helpfully.

“Come on, gang,” Carodoc encouraged them. “There’s no time for chatting now. We need to get going!”

A few minutes later, Katie was standing at the bottom of the steps with the rest of the noviates as Zalibar came striding down the steps.

“What are you playing at?” he bellowed at them. “I said you were riding today. Didn’t it occur to you that you might just possibly need a nag? Or were you going to try without? Go and get them out!”

“Leave Lippit, though,” he called after them.

“No, not you,” he called to Katie as she joined the stampede towards the mews. I want to see your mind lock before I let you get your hands on one of my nags.”

“Come on, spread out,” he called to the noviates as they started to emerge from the mews with nags. “Ah, you’ve managed! Well done!” he said to the last nonda to appear, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Right, get’em up in the air, three times round the tower then bring’em back in.”

“You,” he said, turning to Katie. “I know you’ve ridden a noble dragon, after a fashion, but I’m guessing you’ve never ridden a nag before. Is that correct?” he demanded.

“Yes, sir!” Katie answered promptly.

“Well you’ll find…” he began but he was interrupted by a sudden commotion over on the other side of the quad, towards the gateway. Jenko, it appeared, had been thrown and his nag was flapping around violently and looked as if it was about to take off.

“What on earth…” Zalibar exploded. His sword seemed to magically appear in his hand as he flowed across the quad.

He attracted the panicking creature’s attention with two blows of the flat of his sword and it relaxed as Zalibar slipped into his mind. He then turned his attention to Jenko, who was still lying on the floor.

“What… do you think… you are playing at?” he raged, emphasising his words with brutal kicks to Jenko’s head and ribs. “These creatures are valuable… and I’ll not have them damaged… by your clumsiness.”

“You!” he shouted at Carodoc who was standing nearby with the group of transitors. “Put this animal away then get this rubbish…” kick, “out of my sight.”

He moved smoothly back to Katie, leaving Jenko lying in a crumpled heap.

“As I was saying, before I was interrupted by that idiot,” he continued as if nothing had happened, “you’ll find that riding one of these beasts is nothing like riding Rhiannas.” Katie tried desperately to concentrate on what he was saying but this was made more difficult when she noticed that he had a patch of blood on one of his boots. Though she knew she would never be as useless as Jenko she was determined to be extremely careful with Zalibar until she knew what would trigger one of his rages.

“Nags are dumb things,” he went on. “Which means you have to take control of pretty much everything from flapping the wings upwards.”

“Come with me,” he told her, moving smoothly off towards the mews. “The first thing you’re going to have to learn is how to lock their minds.” As she followed she watched him, fascinated how such a misshapen body could move with such grace.

Once in the mews he took her to stand in front of one of the stalls. “Right, this is Lippit,” he said. There was a greyish-green coloured dragon perched on a small pedestal at the back of the stall. Its tail was wrapped around its body and it seemed to have hunched shoulders. It put Katie in mind of a vulture, though it was the size of a large elephant, if a little sleeker.

“He’s generally the easiest of the dragons to handle,” Zalibar went on. “Mind you, he’d still take your leg off if you give him half a chance, wouldn’t you, you old beggar, so never let go of his mind when he’s anywhere near you.”

“Meld with me,” he instructed her. “We’re going in.”

Katie reached out her mind and felt her way towards him. The solid fortress that she had seen that morning was still there but there was a little space around it where she appeared to be welcome. She cautiously moved in.”

“You’ve not done this before, either, have you?” the words came directly into her mind.

“No, sir,” she answered promptly.

“Don’t talk!” he barked. “Sub-vocalise or you’ll give me a headache!”

“Yes sir,” Katie thought the words, rather than saying them out loud.

“Better, but you need to practice doing it without moving your lips ’cos you look like a baby.

“Right, a mind grip. You prepare the grip like this…” a bulge appeared in the surface of his cloud. “Then you reach out towards the nag.”

The bulge grew into a fat tentacle and reached out. Only now did Katie notice the nag’s cloud. It was small and diffuse though, now she was looking at it, it did have a bright kernel at its centre.

“Pay attention!” barked Zalibar.

“Now, you wrap your will around the nag’s crux and make sure you don’t let go, no matter what. Now you try it.”

Katie reached tentatively out with her will.

“You’re going to need a bit more than that,” he told her contemptuously. “It’s a dragon, not a fluffy little bunny rabbit.”

Katie forced a little more will into the structure and the whole thing broke apart. Zalibar pulled himself out of the mind meld so sharply that pain flashed across Katie’s mind.

“I don’t have time to watch you playing. I’ve got to go and make sure those buffoons out there aren’t killing one another. Stay here and practice. I want it right by the time I get back.” With that, he moved gracefully out of the mews.

Relieved of the pressure of his presence, Katie quickly succeeded in applying her grip to the dragon. And after just a little practice, she found that she could even maintain the control when she was thinking about something else.

Then she practiced using her will to force the nag to obey simple commands. Moving forwards and backwards in the stall and stretching out its wings and tail. Though it continued to give her a stare of utter malevolence, it did exactly as she commanded.

After a while, she became bored and tried sending a tentative probe into the nag’s crux but was summarily ejected. Down at the lowest level of its mind the dragon’s unalloyed fury still burned. She was thrown out so forcibly that her mind grip was broken and she re-established it slightly more firmly than was strictly necessary.

She was still concentrating when Zalibar returned to the mews and she did not notice him until he rapped her sharply on the shoulder. She jumped violently and, in her shock, she had a considerable struggle to keep her grip on the beast.

“Still much too noisy,” he observed gruffly, “but I suppose it'll have to do. You can open the gate now and bring him out into the quad.”

Katie did as she was told.

“You’re going to need a training dagger. Go and get one from the store room over there.”

“But what about my grip on the nag, sir?”

He gave her the slightest mental nod that told her she had just passed a test. You might be able to keep hold of him over that distance, we’ll see. I’ll be here to take over if you can’t.”

Katie found she could maintain the control, although she found it difficult once the nag was out of sight. She had to keep looking out of the store room to reinforce her control. She quickly grabbed a dagger and returned to Lippit and Zalibar.

“Okay, put on your spurs and mount up,” he instructed her.

She moved towards the nag and positioned her hands and feet to climb up his flank.

“I forget!” he laughed. “You’ve only ever ridden a noble dragon. With nags, you make ’em lie down in the dirt for you. It’s easier for you and it’s a useful little reminder for them of who’s boss.”

Obeying Katie’s commands, the creature lowered itself onto its short front legs and lay down in the sand. She climbed up onto its shoulders then, grabbing hold of one of its first crenels, threw her leg over.

“Stop!” Zalibar barked menacingly. “That is the last time I am going to see your hands on a dragon’s crenels. As far as I’m concerned, your hands are for one thing and one thing only: combat. Feet and knees are the only things that ever touch the dragon. Now try again. If you really need to, you can use your will to steady yourself.”

Using only a touch of her will, Katie climbed up onto the beast and sat down.

“I won’t tell you again!” Zalibar shouted, with rage flashing across his ugly face. “Only feet and knees! You stand on the dragon. Get your backside in the air.”

As Katie raised herself onto her spurs until she was in a position mid-way between kneeling and standing, the reason for his instructions became clear. As her weight caught, the spurs bit more firmly into the scales and she felt much more secure.

Katie saw a rare smile flash across Zalibar’s face. He must have been reading her thoughts. “I wish everyone could work it out that quick,” he said quietly, almost to himself. “Some never get it. As soon as my back’s turned they’re sitting again. I might as well just feed them to a dragon myself.

“Okay,” he said, “it looks to me like you’re ready.”

“I’m going to take him up for you. Then I want you to bring him round in a couple of loops and then come on back in again. Don’t let him get too far away or I won’t be able to sort things out when you make a pig’s ear of it. Everything clear?”

Katie nodded nervously.

“Before you go…”

He put two fingers in his mouth and gave a staggeringly loud whistle. All eyes turned towards him. “Everyone on the ground!” he called. “Clear the quad!” They waited until two dragons had been landed and everyone had hurried to the walls.

“Okay, off we go.” She felt Zalibar’s will enfold the dragon in addition to her own and Katie sank into the creature’s senses as he prepared for flight.

The nag took three short steps and then, with his wings’ first, all powerful, cut at the air, his feet left the ground. The next eight wing strokes took them above the top of the house then he relaxed and spread his wings out into a comfortable glide.

“Are you set?” she heard Zalibar’s voice in her head.

She gave a tentative mental nod. The idea of taking sole control, while exciting, was also distinctly alarming.

“Okay! He’s all yours,” he said as he released his grip.

And she was flying solo.

‘We’re sinking!’ she thought. ‘Quick, flap the wings!’

Three strokes of the wings and they were already too high and climbing hard. She eased off for a moment, waiting until she felt him sinking.

“Swing him round!” she heard Zalibar shout in her mind. She looked up and realised that she was out of the compound and heading towards the sea. She jumped to do as she was told but she was concentrating so hard on pulling the dragon round that she almost lost her own balance. Her hands were reaching instinctively out for the crenels before she remembered she had to use her will to balance herself.

“Don’t think I didn’t see that,” Zalibar’s voice growled in her head. “Okay, give me a stroke and glide. You can steer in the glide. That’s the easiest way for you to do it for now.”

She tried it. “Stroke… then steer… stroke… then steer…” She was making better progress but now she was zigzagging through the sky.

“A lighter touch on the steering,” called Zalibar.

Katie tried to steer more gently and the zigzags became less pronounced. Over the next couple of circuits of the quad, her control gradually improved until she could relax and glance around, taking enormous pleasure from the simple act of flying.

However her enjoyment was interrupted by a gruff call from the ground. “Keep your mind on business,” Zalibar shouted in her head. “Bring him into the wind and come on in to land.”

Katie gave a brief mental nod.

“Okay!” Zalibar instructed her. “Keep him coming round.”

Katie swung around so Lippit was coming into the wind towards Zalibar.

“Mind the tower… that’s it! Keep him coming now,” came Zalibar’s steady voice.

“Wings spread wide, leaning backwards, slowing down…”

“You’re coming in too fast,” Zalibar called, stepping smartly back and waving the students behind him out of the way, “but don’t worry about it for now. Get him further back,” She felt his will hovering on the edge of Lippit’s mind ready to take over but he stayed out.

‘Slowing…’ she thought, ‘slowing…’

Katie felt the ground under her Lippit feet and they took a few steps. They were down. She forced herself to breathe again.

She looked round and saw that they were ten yards past where Zalibar had been standing.

“Missed!” he observed, a humourless grin spreading across his scarred face. He turned to the rest of the students, who had stopped what they were doing to watch.

“Right, you lot!” he shouted. “The show’s over and nobody’s injured – not even me – so get yourselves back to work!”

“I don’t know what you’re looking so pleased about,” he said, turning back to Katie. She realised that she had a broad grin on her face and quickly adopted a more serious expression. “I don’t ever want to see you misjudge a landing that badly again. You need to look what you’re doing and, if you do happen to be off, you pull up, swing round and start again. You do not charge on regardless. There’s much too much risk to the dragon or to someone on the ground.

“You’ve got to be aware of what’s going on around you all the time, particularly round here so keep your head up much more. You can look with your dragon’s eyes as well as your own. You’ll find they’re much sharper, particularly at night.

“Oh yes,” he added with a dry laugh, “you’ve got to start your run-in for landing a lot earlier.”

“Yes, sir,” Katie responded briefly.

“Okay. Go and put him away then you can have a short rest. After that, get one of the transitor tyros to take you through the basic dagger drills.” He paused for a moment then added, “And don’t, whatever you do, let him go until he’s safely in his stall.”

“Of course not, sir.”

With that he turned and stalked away.

Carodoc was at the drinks table with his transitor group when she returned from the mews and he handed her a beaker of water.

“That wasn’t too bad at all,” he commented. “Zalibar must have been impressed. He’s not let anyone bring in a dragon on their own, first time out, since me.”

“There’s so much to think about just keeping one of those nags in the air!”

“It gets easier. You sort of forget you’re doing it after a bit of practice.”

“I just can’t imagine that.”

“What’s he got you doing now?” Carodoc asked.

“He said I should ask one of the transitor tyros to show me the basic dagger stuff.”

“I’ll ask Calbar,” he told her. “He’s solid on that sort of stuff.”

They relaxed for a couple more moments then he called to the group, “Right, transitors, I’m going to join prime now to get on with my own practice. You need to get back to those exercises or Zalibar will be down on you like a ton of bricks. Calbar, could you take Katie through the basic dagger exercises?”

Calbar walked across to Katie and checked she had a training dagger. “You’ll need one most days,” he told her, “so you might as well get into the habit of carrying one.”

He led her across to a quiet corner of the quad. “Now we all heard you working with the sword yesterday,” he said with a grin.

Katie gave an embarrassed nod.

“Right, the dagger,” he said and cleared his throat. “‘It can come as a surprise to the beginner but the dagger is a more complicated weapon than the broadsword. It may be used in either hand and it can be used both for attack and for defence.’”

His voice had taken on a peculiar monotone quality but the information sounded solid and Katie tried to listen carefully. After a while, though, her attention started to wander and she was unprepared when he suddenly stopped reciting and told her to adopt the first position.

“That’s like the sword first position, isn’t it?” she asked.

“As I just said, ‘The first position is similar to that for the broadsword but with more weight on the toes and with the knees slightly more flexed.’”

Katie noticed that he was repeating the exact words in exactly the same monotone. She had to think about this for a moment before she worked it out. “You’re quoting from something, aren’t you?” she said.

“Yes,” he answered. “It’s Zalibar’s Training Manual. It tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this sort of stuff. Now let’s see you do it“

Katie jumped into position.

“Good… knees a little more flexed… that’s it, try and bounce on your toes.”

At last he was satisfied with her stance. “Now, without looking down, ‘Grasp the hilt of the dagger’,” he quoted, “‘and draw it in a single, smooth motion.’”

She prepared herself for a similar reaction to the one she had experienced when she had first grasped the broadsword but none came. She was so surprised that she fumbled her grip and almost dropped the dagger.

“‘A single, smooth motion’,” Calbar recited. “Try again!”

She continued to practice but it was highly frustrating. She could not block the urge to glance down and this was making her draw slow and cumbersome.

“You might find it easier if you shut your eyes,” he suggested after a couple of clumsy attempts. “Then you won’t be able to look down. I’m going to leave you to practice on your own while I go and get on with my own stuff. Give me a shout if you need me.”

After a few dozen attempts she found that she was fine as long as she kept her eyes closed but was still struggling when they were open. She glanced up and saw Calbar a couple of yards away. He was diligently repeating an almost balletic practice routine with a sword and dagger with a look of intense concentration on his face which remained unflinching even when he made a mistake and had to restart. One part of the routine particularly caught her eye. “Inside guard, outside guard,” he was projecting into the cloud world as he made a double sweep with his sword, as if to shield himself. “Dagger dummy,” he went on as he made a short sharp lunge with the dagger in his left hand. “Sunset!” he concluded, bringing his sword down in a smashing slice.

After studying him for a few moments she tried to draw again without taking her eyes off him. This time the draw worked perfectly.

“Yes!” she said to herself jubilantly.

“Good,” he said, looking up. “It took me days of practice to get that far. Keep going and try and get that draw a bit smoother.”

He was interrupted by a whistle from Zalibar. “Lunch time!” he shouted.

With a sigh, Katie turned and started to collect the abandoned kit.

[garethn]

Ch 12 The Cage

Word count 4578 (11-Jun-19)

That evening, Jenko, Calbar and Katie found themselves sitting round their table in the corner of the kitchen. All their chores were done and they had a little free time before bed. Jenko was in the middle of telling a long, complicated tale of inter family politics and warfare whilst, over by the range, Cook was bustling around preparing for the morning.

“Are all the individual lairs so grand?” Katie asked when Jenko had finished. “Rhiannas’s place looks like one of the Loire châteaux.”

“I don’t know anything about the ‘Loire châteaux’,” answered Jenko, “but I expect they look like the Edifice. It’s certainly much older. I don’t think they had anything like that Outside until centuries after it was finished.”

“How old is it?”

“About fifteen centuries or so.”

“Work on it started one thousand six hundred and twelve years ago,” Calbar chipped in. He had been dozing in the corner.

“But how on earth did they make something like the Edifice back then?” asked Katie.

“That’s easy,” Jenko answered. “All you need is six hundred years and an unlimited number of slaves.”

“Where did all the slaves come from?” she asked.

“What do you think caused the dark ages?” Calbar responded with a shrug.

“That was a good time for the riders,” Jenko added. “It wasn’t a case of them hiding from Outsiders. Outsiders did what they could to hide from the riders.”

“Right, you lot,” Cook said as she waddled over with a saucepan. “I’ve got some warm milk with honey for you here but then you’re going to have to clear off ’cos I want to go to bed.”

There was a chorus of thanks from round the table.

“But no letting on,” she warned them. “If Zalibar finds out that I’ve been wasting his precious milk on you lot, I’m never going to get that scullery roof fixed.”

Katie’s muscles grumbled as she began to slowly jog around the compound in the early morning light. The frantic schedule of chores and training at the academy left her hardly any time for herself and she found that making her way down a little early gave her the space she so desperately needed. The morning air had been chilly as she made her way down the rickety wooden staircase from the dormitory but the sun was shining and the day ahead promised to be warm.

As she gently jogged, her mind wandered back over the last couple of days which had passed in something of a blur. She had been riding several times, gradually increasing the control and range of her flights. On the third attempt, she had even managed to complete a circuit around the island under Calbar’s careful supervision.

There had been continuous training with a range of weapons and equipment. From the second morning, she was rarely without a padded helmet and a heavy metal breastplate. Her mind still rejoiced when it felt the weight of a sword in her hand but, with a little practice and some brutal encouragement from Zalibar, she managed to muffle it significantly.

She had also become familiar with a selection of Zalibar’s runs. With Psion’s help, she had managed to avoid coming last in any of them but on one, a particularly unpleasant obstacle course in full kit with high walls to climb and muddy tunnels to crawl through, it had been frighteningly close.

When not in training, there were the never ending chores, whether serving at table or house duty. She had been down to the village a couple of times, either to collect meat or on other errands and, on each occasion, had managed to smuggle something to Psion.

She did not feel as stiff today as she had the last couple of mornings. Maybe last night’s run had not been quite as tough as the ones on earlier days, or maybe she was just becoming fitter. Certainly she had been able to move away from the group of three at the back and thus avoid much of Zalibar’s unwelcome attention.

On her second lap of the quad, she noticed a stairway leading to the roof of the gatehouse and so, once her muscles had warmed up, she climbed up it and found herself standing on the flat roof with a beautiful view over the mountain and the coast.

She was enjoying the view when she felt the gentle touch of a mind on hers. Instantly she threw up her defensive shield.

“Good morning, young mistress,” she heard Psion’s irreverent tone. “I do apologise, I had not intended to startle you.”

“That’s quite alright,” answered Katie, lowering her defences. “I just wasn’t expecting anybody. Where are you, by the way?”

“I have moved to the base of the cliff. There is a cave down here where I can conceal myself should anyone approach too closely.”

“Can you fly again then?”

“I have always been able to glide down here. However, on foot, the journey back was unreasonably burdensome. Now that I have recovered the ability to flutter for short bursts it is less so.”

“That sounds particularly elegant!”

“I would prefer not to talk about it!”

Katie said nothing but grinned.

“I take it there’s no danger of us being overheard,” she said as she began her stretching exercises.

“There should be no danger as long as we keep our conversation quiet,” answered Psion. “A couple of the more skilled operators in the Edifice might be able to pick us up but they are extraordinarily unlikely to be eavesdropping on one of Zalibar’s noviate tyros.

They were silent for a while as she performed her first few stretches.

“How are you finding it?” he asked when she took a brief pause.

“There’s something special about working the swords,” she answered, wincing as she stretched her right arm behind her head, “though they’re really heavy and can be tricky to keep under control. And I love the flying! I could do without the rest of the rubbish, though.”

“Flight is wonderful, isn’t it?” he said wistfully. “I do miss it. However, should I continue to dine as amply as of late, my capabilities in that particular domain will soon be completely restored?”

“Ah, you’re just here to beg for more food, are you?”

“It was merely intended to be a social call,” Psion responded in his most affronted tone. “And I was also wondering whether I could provide you with any form of assistance. However it would appear…” he drew himself up in mock outrage, “my presence is unwelcome!”

Katie grinned.

Psion tried to maintain his affronted tone but could not manage it for long.

“Incidentally, may I congratulate you on the alacrity with which you raised your shield – though it was, on this occasion, not necessary. I take it you’ve been practicing.”

“When I get the chance. It’s not exactly a holiday camp here, particularly for us tyros.”

The funny little dragon chuckled at this. “This may be an apposite moment to introduce you to a more sophisticated shield that you should be able to maintain at all times,” he told her.

“What? Even when I’m asleep?”

“Particularly when you are sleeping for that is when targets are at their most vulnerable and, consequently, it is then that the vast majority of underhand attacks take place. I could imagine some rival of Rhiannas’s, or more likely one of their underlings, seeking to disadvantage him by some covert attack on you.”

“That’s the sort of thing that happens around here?”

“With distressing frequency.”

“Okay. It sounds like I might need one of these shields. How do I go about putting one up?”

Katie could sense him drawing himself up into his professor’s pose and she smiled but listened carefully. “You are, by now, completely familiar with the defensive blocks with which you construct your cerebral defences. However, these blocks also lend themselves to more delicate manipulation. They can be stretched into long, thin fibres so.” Katie found an image being implanted into her head. “Then plaited into a much finer and more subtle form of protection.”

As she was practicing, he went on. “Not only can this form of shield be maintained with little effort, both day and night. It has the further advantage that it is difficult to observe and, consequently, it can be used to conceal certain thoughts and feelings from a master who might be expecting to receive his servant’s unswerving loyalty and devotion.” He paused significantly.

“I’d not thought about that,” said Katie.

“I had consciously avoided drawing the matter to your attention,” he replied. “For, to do so, would have had the effect of pushing those concerns to the surface and it would have been all too easy for Rhiannas to detect them. He could then breach your defences with brute force at which stage…” he paused dramatically, “the game would be up.”

He went quiet for a couple of moments, deep in thought, then added, “And I simply could not bear to lose another mistress.”

He was quiet again but then went on, “But have no fear, Rhiannas’s modus operandi favours brute force over subtlety and he is extremely unlikely to notice this lightweight shield. You should be completely safe.”

Katie thought about this then nodded.

“Incidentally,” he went on, “I intend to terminate my assistance on those training runs that you all so enjoy. Not only do you need to practice your own use of cerebral manipulation in those kinds of situation, but there is also some slight danger that, in spite of my skill, I might be detected.”

“Fair enough, I suppose,” she answered with a sigh.

“Now,” he added, “have you any questions whilst I’m here?”

“What I really want to know,” she said, after a brief thought, “is what’s actually going on. Why’s Rhiannas sent me here? Am I being trained up to be some sort of gladiator?”

“No, certainly not a gladiator,” Psion answered promptly. He pondered for a moment.

“Before I can meaningfully answer your question, you need to understand something of our society, here on the island.” Though she could not see him, she could sense that he was drawing himself upright once more, his tail mostly wound round himself but with its tip waving for emphasis.

“We dragons are, by nature, savage and massively self centred individuals. To maintain a functional society here we are all required to follow a simple set of precepts. Anyone deviating from these is utterly destroyed. According to the terms of these precepts, disagreements are resolved by means of formal, dragon on dragon duels which frequently result in death for one of the combatants; certainly in massive loss of status and prestige.” He paused briefly for dramatic effect.

“Now, as you have doubtless observed, we dragons are all but indestructible. We do, however, have a vulnerable point on the base of our necks, between the top two vertebrae, where a lethal bite may easily be inflicted. Many dragons choose to take a human neck guard to protect this spot.”

“So I’m going to be sitting on Rhiannas’s back making sure nobody bites him in the neck.”

“That will certainly be your primary rôle, though I could imagine that Rhiannas will have additional duties for you. He has a notoriously short temper, even for a dragon, and has the unfortunate habit of incinerating his servants. You are currently the only other member of the House of Rhian.”

That went some way to answering her questions about what was happening up at his lair.

“Anyway, young mistress, you need to be getting back down. People would appear to be waking.”

Katie nodded briefly and made her way back down into the quad, deep in thought.

She had another surprise when, at the end of breakfast, Zalibar made no announcements about the day’s training.

“It’s Saturday,” Carodoc explained. “There’s no training today, as such. We have sparring duels instead. If you win, you get the rest of the day off, but if you lose, Zalibar can normally think up something entertaining for you to do. Come on, we need to grab our kit and get down to the cage.

“The cage?”

“That wooden enclosure, over in the far corner of the quad. Now, come on or all the good stuff will be taken.”

The scene in the store room was chaotic as the students hurried to secure their favourite equipment. Katie was grateful for the time she had spent cleaning the kit and putting it away. It meant she knew exactly where everything was and, in particular, she could put her hands straight onto her favourite helmet.

The cage was a rectangular wooden structure built into the corner of the courtyard, against the wall. It was the size of a large room with a simple gateway which led in from the quad. The walls were about six feet high and had planks nailed to the top as benches where students were sitting or standing. Katie and Carodoc clambered up to join them.

As Katie looked down she saw that it enclosed an open stretch of level sandy ground. She was about to ask Carodoc about how the duels were organised but he nudged her to be quiet. Zalibar was taking his place on a rough wooden seat at one end. He glanced around the gathered group then looked down to the quad.

“I see Jenko’s got more important things to do this morning,” he said in a light, almost jolly tone that deceived no one. “Ah, here he comes now. Come along now, Jenko. There’s nothing we enjoy more than sitting round waiting for you, but we do need to get on.”

“Are you sure you’re sitting comfortably?” he went on as Jenko clambered up onto the wall, his face red with exertion and embarrassment. “We’ll have to make sure we find some way of reminding you to…”

In an instant the expression on his scarred face flipped from jovial bonhomie to incandescent rage.

“TURN UP ON TIME!”

The laughter of the students was instantly silenced and Jenko sat, almost shaking, fiddling with the straps of his breastplate.

“Right,” Zalibar went on. “Whilst Jenko finishes getting himself dressed, let’s get on. Calbar and Kiernonda, why don’t you two get on down there and show us what you can do?”

The two lowered themselves down into the pit and stood facing each other across the floor. They both kept their weapons sheathed but their hands hovered close by, obviously waiting for the signal to start.

“If you’re both ready, gentlemen?” Zalibar said. He put two fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle.

Weapons sprang into the hands of the two and, almost before the whistle blast had finished, Kiernonda had leapt across the intervening space and launched a crushing blow with his sword. Calbar only just managed to deflect it with his own sword.

Then Kiernonda attacked with a scything blow to the knees which again Calbar parried on his sword.

They circled for a few moments before Kiernonda sprang once more to deliver a series of attacks with sword and dagger. Calbar hardly responded. He seemed satisfied to block blow after blow, mostly on his sword.

“Calbar wants to turn this into a slog fest,” Carodoc told Katie. He can stand there and parry all day if he needs to. Kiernonda is going to have to think of something else.

Suddenly Calbar flicked his dagger towards Kiernonda’s face. Kiernonda had over-extended, laying himself open to the counter-attack. Because it was only a wooden training dagger, it didn’t do any real damage but it must have been painful.

Zalibar gave another shrill whistle and the two stood back. “First blood to Calbar,” he announced, as Kiernonda rubbed his cheek. “An irritating wound rather than an incapacitating one. Mind you, it wouldn’t have done anything for your looks.”

This caused some amused laughs and coarse comments from around the walls.

Another whistle blast indicated that the fight should resume.

Now Kiernonda was being much more cautious. The two circled each other before Calbar launched a second blow to the face with his dagger. This, however, was a dummy and, as Kiernonda moved to block it, he struck the true blow towards Kiernonda’s left side which was completely undefended.

Calbar’s sword was blocked about an inch from Kiernonda’s hip as if it had hit a block of wood.

“Great mental block,” Carodoc observed as Kiernonda launched a series of attacks against Calbar, who had obviously been shaken when his blow had failed to connect. It took Calbar a few moments of desperate blocking before he could recover his poise and revert to his normal parrying style. The two began to circle again with only token attacks.

Suddenly Kiernonda lowered his guard and stepped back. “What on earth…” exclaimed Carodoc. Oh, he’s trying to force Calbar to commit himself. Risky, but it might be worth it if he’s getting tired.”

They began to circle again with Kiernonda holding his weapons loosely by his side. Calbar attempted a couple of tentative blows but they were deflected by Kiernonda’s mental shield.

Suddenly Calbar made a dummy blow with his dagger to Kiernonda’s left leg, before driving a smashing blow to his left shoulder with his sword. Kiernonda had evidently been taken in by the dummy because he was unable to block the sword mentally. He desperately tried to parry it with his dagger but he only managed to deflect the blow from his shoulder onto his breastplate. As he was smashed to the ground, his dagger slipped from his grasp and tumbled out of reach. He rolled desperately to one side as Calbar tried to smash him with his sword.

As he rolled, he threw a handful of sand into Calbar’s eyes. He was obviously steering the sand with his mind because it hit him full in the face. In the instant it took Calbar to recover, Kiernonda had rolled back to his feet and knocked him to the ground with a sword blow to the knee. He then raised his sword for a final crushing blow as Zalibar whistled again.

It was only a matter of an instant but it was obvious to everyone that he could have drawn the blow but instead he chose to follow through, striking Calbar on the helmet. The crowd, which, up until that point, had been roaring wild encouragement, fell suddenly silent.

“You dolt!” Zalibar said. Though his tone was quiet, venom dripped from every word and the effect was even more frightening than when he was shouting. “I was just about to congratulate you on an extremely well fought victory. Instead, because you couldn’t resist a cheap blow, you forfeit that bout and you’re on tyro duties next week.”

At a nod from Zalibar, Cotmol and another tyro jumped down into the pit and helped Calbar out through the gate.

Zalibar then turned to Jenko, “Right,” he said, “we have an opponent that you should actually be able to beat.”

“Looks like you’re on,” Carodoc whispered to Katie. “Nobody’s expecting too much of you, so if you put in a couple of decent parries and try to get in a blow or two yourself, Zalibar’s unlikely to be too tough on you. Good luck!”

He grabbed one of her hands and lowered her down into the pit. Breathing hard and trying to stop her knees from trembling, Katie moved to stand opposite Jenko.

“Oh yes, Jenko!” added Zalibar. “You were late this morning. Toss your dagger up here. You certainly shouldn’t need it to deal with someone who hasn’t been in training for a full week yet!”

Jenko threw his dagger up towards Zalibar who casually controlled it with his will before he caught it. Katie thought she saw a worried look flash across Jenko’s face as he threw it. “Interesting,” she thought, “maybe he isn’t quite as certain about the outcome as everyone else.”

“The rules are simple,” Zalibar informed Katie, “though apparently not simple enough for some people.” He cast a withering look over towards Kiernonda. “You don’t touch your weapons until my signal, and you stop on my signal. Beyond that… anything goes.”

As she heard the whistle, Katie suddenly understood why she had spent so much time practicing drawing her blades with her eyes closed. Though the sword in Jenko’s hand was only made of wood, it certainly looked solid enough. She did not want to take her eyes off it for one moment. But as soon as she felt the sword in her own hand all other thoughts were forgotten.

Katie heard a scream as she threw herself across the pit, hacking down on her target. As she saw the terrified look on Jenko’s face she realised that it was she, herself, who was screaming. He threw up a clumsy, fumbling block.

“Don’t let him think!” Katie shouted at herself as she swung her sword wildly towards him again, but he had stumbled backwards, out of range, and Katie almost overbalanced, pulled over by the weight of the blow that had failed to connect. This left her entire right side exposed and Jenko lunged to take advantage of it. Katie desperately tried a mental block and his sword was almost thrown out of his hands as she brought her panicking mind to bear on it.

“Control, control!” she muttered to herself as she turned to face him and they stood opposite each other for a few moments gasping for breath.

He took a wild swing at her and she parried with the inside guard stroke that she had been practicing since the first morning.

Another swing from him, again she easily parried, this time using the outside guard.

She made a tentative sweep with her own sword but she was too concerned about losing control of her heavy, cumbersome blade to fully commit herself and he managed to fend her off with his own blade. They stood opposite each other for a few moments and Katie noticed the spectators for the first time. They were starting to get restless.

Katie desperately tried to think of some way in which she could get past his defences without risking losing control. Suddenly the pattern she had seen Calbar practicing the day before came to her mind. Having no real idea what else to do, she tried it.

“Inside guard, outside guard,” she said to herself, mimicking Calbar’s double sweep. “Dagger dummy!” she continued, jabbing her dagger towards his left hip. The dummy had the desired effect and Jenko threw up a clumsy parry with his sword.

“Sunset,” she chanted, adding her mind power to her muscles as she chopped her sword down onto Jenko’s left shoulder. His sword was still out of position and she powered straight through his pathetic mental block, smashing him to the ground where he lay, twitching. She was so overcome by the elation that she barely noticed Zalibar’s whistle and she staggered back against the wall.

“You meant that, didn’t you?” Zalibar observed, a hint of humour flashing across his ugly face. He jumped lightly down into the pit and walked gracefully over to Jenko. After running his hands firmly, though gently, over his shoulder, he coolly announced, “You appear to have dislocated it.”

Zalibar lifted the prone boy’s arm and casually pushed the joint back into place with his foot causing Jenko to scream briefly and then faint. Then he turned to face Katie. “Not bad,” he said, “I mean, I can’t say anything about your swordsmanship ’cos I didn’t notice any. You might as well have been using a club. But when it comes to wanting to win… well, there are plenty around here who could take a lesson from you.”

He walked back to the wall below his chair and hopped, astonishingly lightly, back to his place. A couple of the tyros loaded Jenko onto a stretcher, but Katie just stood there, feeling completely flat.

“Hey, come on back up!” Carodoc called down to her. He reached down, caught her by one arm and pulled her easily back up onto the wall.

“Zalibar won’t grumble too much if you pull your blows a bit,” he told her quietly as the next pair got ready.

“I didn’t think of that. I just wanted it over with as quickly as possible,” Katie answered. “I didn’t want him getting up.”

“If you’d hit him any harder he’d probably never have got up again,” Carodoc replied with a grin.

They watched in silence as a couple of transitor nonda circled in the pit below. One botched charge and one elegant counter later and they were both leaving, one leaning heavily on the other’s shoulder.

“I know you’re supposed to be let off chores this afternoon,” he said tentatively, “but I don’t suppose you could give Jenko a hand tidying up the Mews? I’m not sure he can manage it on his own and he’ll certainly be out of here – or dead – if he doesn’t get it done. I’d do it myself, but I’ve got to go up to the Edifice after lunch to ride neck guard for Caronas.”

Katie nodded her agreement. She thought that it was probably a good idea to keep Jenko about as long as possible, if only to keep Zalibar’s attention away from her.

Half an hour later, she was watching impassively from the wall as a nonda girl was led from the pit with blood streaming from a head wound.

“You play rough games round here,” she mentioned coolly to Carodoc.

“You can hardly talk,” he laughed. “Anyway, if you think that the training’s rough, wait till you see the quarter day duels and races.”

“You mean the duels are to the death?”

“The duels are usually just to first blood but there’s always a death or a maiming or something. It’s the races that are dangerous, particularly for us tyros. There’s something of a tradition of the losers being flamed – and that’s not the only opportunity for death out there.”

Katie went quiet as the next two combatants jumped down into the pit. It was a savage and uncompromising world that she had unknowingly chosen to enter when she crossed the boundary of the guardian storm and the only help she could rely on in her battle for survival was from a broken down old dragon. “I’m going to need to get very good very quickly,” she said to herself as Zalibar whistled once more.

There were only four tyros around to help with lunch but fortunately most of the nonda had made their way up to the Edifice so they were less rushed than usual when serving the meal.

“She’s a wonder is our Cookie!” said Gromin as he carried over the remains of a rather fine casserole that the nonda had not finished. “She manages to come up with such wonderful grub all the time in spite of the state of the scullery roof!”

“And that she keeps doing favours for cheeky tyros,” said Cook, swatting at him with a cleaning rag.

“On the subject of favours,” Katie said cautiously, “will it be okay if I take something up for Jenko? He’s not been able to make it down with his shoulder.”

“Go on, then,” Cook answered, “but don’t let Zalibar catch you at it. I need to stay in his good books at the moment.”

[garethn]

Ch 13 A Tricky Operation

Word count 2985 (11-Jun-19)

Jenko was still in bed when Katie went up to him. “I’m sorry I hit you so hard,” she told him. “As you might have spotted, I’m not really fully in control yet.”

“You seemed pretty much in control from where I was standing,” he answered with a wry smile.

“Anyway,” Katie went on, “I’ve brought you some lunch but after that you need to get up. I promised Carodoc that I’d give you a hand with tidying up the Mews but you’re going to have to be seen to be helping.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I wasn’t looking forwards to trying to do it on my own.”

She sat on the bed next to him but he covered his face with his hands. Only slowly did it dawn on her that he was crying.

“What’s the point?” he said. Katie suddenly realise that he wasn’t saying it out loud but projecting his thoughts so hard in the cloud world that she couldn’t help but overhear. “What is the point? Zalibar’s bound to throw me out now and then I’ll be no use to Janenas whatsoever. And I don’t know what he’ll do with me then.”

He sat there for a few more moments with his face covered, silently sobbing. Then, with an enormous effort of will, he pulled himself together. “I’m sorry,” he said to her. “You have enough problems of your own. You certainly don’t need mine.”

“Come on, eat something,” she told him gently. She suddenly realised that she did not want him to be thrown out. Not only did he shield her from a great deal of Zalibar’s unwelcome attention, she was also starting to enjoy his company. “Let me have a think. I owe you that much, at least, for the mess I made of your shoulder.”

“If you can think of anything, I’d love to hear it because I, quite frankly, am completely out of ideas,” he answered with a wry grin before making a start on his lunch.

Katie went round to the girls’ side of the curtain and threw herself down on her bed. It was clear that Jenko needed help but equally clear was that the help he needed was way beyond her. She needed to talk to Psion.

After a few more moments luxuriating in the bed, she overcame the urge to close her eyes and hauled herself to her feet. “Right,” she said to Jenko, “I need to go and sort something out. I’ll give you a shout when I need you down in the Mews.”

There was no reply and, when she glanced around the curtain, she saw he was fast asleep.

She made her way across the quad towards the gatehouse, glancing around to make sure that there was nobody about. Although Zalibar knew she went up there, she appreciated having a place to go for a little privacy. The quad was clear so she hurried up the steps.

She flipped into the cloud world and, doing her best to avoid letting her attention wander too close to the dazzling lights up towards the Edifice, she felt out towards the base of the cliff where she expected Psion to be lurking. She swept her senses along the base of the cliff and couldn’t immediately see him, but somehow she got the feeling that something was not quite right. She swept back again and found something up at the other end of the cliff.

She studied whatever it was as carefully as she could. At first she could not understand it but, as she investigated, she became aware, for the first time, that there was a background to the cloud world - as if the clouds were stuck onto a sheet of paper. At one particular spot, there appeared to be a hole in that paper.

She probed a little deeper and suddenly, with an almost audible ‘click’, the missing fabric jumped back into place and she could see Psion dozing amongst some rocks in a quiet little cove.

“Wake up, sleepy head!” she called trying, though not especially hard, to keep the smugness out of her voice.

“Good afternoon, young mistress!” he responded with a yawn and a stretch. “People aren’t supposed to be able to find me like that. I’m going to have to build up my defences.”

“I wouldn’t bother,” she answered. “Let’s face it, I know you pretty well and had a fair idea as to where you’d be lurking.”

“Avoiding drawing undue attention to myself, if you please!”

“Whatever!” she answered with a grin. “Anyway, I have something else for you to think about.” She briefly told him about Jenko.

“And you want to keep him alive to keep Zalibar off your back?”

“That’s about right.”

“Elegantly self centred, if I might say so. I may be able to provide some assistance but I would need to inspect him before I am able to say anything with certainty.”

“Isn’t that a bit risky?”

“What would life be without an occasional gamble? Besides, I am sure that I can make him forget me, or at least, make his memory so hazy that he will think it was a dream.”

“Fair enough, I suppose. How are we going to find you?”

“That could prove moderately challenging. It would be somewhat suspicious if the two of you were to go wandering out of the main gate without permission and, if I know Zalibar, supervision of the wall defences will prevent your departure by a less conventional route.”

“Can’t you just mind zap Jenko through the wall?”

Psion gave a dramatic sigh, troubled as much by her casual language as by her lack of understanding. “Cerebral manipulation is amongst the more challenging aspects of our art,” he informed her haughtily. “Though I am more than normally proficient, even I would be hard put to perform such a procedure at a distance without drawing attention to our activity.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Some might even consider it polite to ask his permission before we commenced the manipulation of the squidgy stuff between his ears,” he muttered to himself as an afterthought.

Katie thought for a moment. “We’re cleaning out the Mews this afternoon,” she told him. “Could we sneak out through the Mist Gate and find you that way?”

“That could work,” the little dragon replied. “There’s a clearing around the back there which provides the necessary concealment to allow me to observe those runs which you all so enjoy. Perhaps I should entertain you and your young gentleman friend there.”

Katie laughed as she broke the connection then made her way back down into the quad. She woke Jenko with a mental shout and called him down before making a start at drawing water. After a couple of minutes, Jenko appeared and Katie sent him off to collect the Mist Gate key.

Having filled the trough, she started carrying buckets of water across to the Mews. When she had finished, she called to Jenko who was trying to sweep out Towan’s stall using his left hand.

He came over to her but, as he was scrambling over the stall gate, he lost his grip on the dragon and only narrowly avoided a vicious flick of the nag’s tail. He tumbled over the gate and fell to the ground.

“Jenko,” she began as he hauled himself back to his feet. “I might be able to do something to help you but we can’t allow anybody else to find out about it…”

“Nothing like that is going to work,” he interrupted, “Janenas’s got this hold on me and he can pull thoughts straight out of my head. I can’t keep any secrets from him.”

“Which is why you won’t remember anything about it afterwards,” she explained carefully.

He stood for a moment with conflicting waves of hope and despair clashing within him. Then suddenly he made a decision. “I’ll try anything,” he said. “I just can’t go on like this.”

Katie smiled and gave a nod.

She led him out of the Mist Gate, up behind the stinking pile of dragon dung to a rough path. This led round the back of the house to the obstacle course that they had used earlier in the week. The House loomed above them but it only had windows on the compound side so there was little danger of being spotted.

Once they were round the back of the house, she felt the familiar twinkle in her head as Psion guided them down the steep, rugged slope. As they drew close to the woods, a rough path appeared between the tightly packed trees.

At the end of the path was a clearing. Though it was well shielded by trees, there was quite a good view of the wooded valley which led up towards the Edifice. Psion was perched on a tree stump, waiting for them and his tongue was flickering about nervously.

“Good afternoon, young mistress, sir,” he greeted them formally.

“A rogue dragon!” Jenko gasped.

“I prefer to think of myself as a former respected advisor who has, of late, due to political misadventures, met with somewhat reduced circumstances. However, if you insist on being so blunt, your description is, technically, correct.” He preened himself self-consciously for a moment. “Be that as it may, I understand you have a slight problem.”

“I’m going to be nag bait unless something happens quickly,” Jenko answered in a slightly surly tone. “Is that what you mean?”

Psion nodded sagely. “Before I investigate what’s between your ears I should perhaps take a look at your arm.” Jenko winced slightly as Psion sent a probe in to look at his shoulder.

“Zalibar is a competent enough bone-smith,” he muttered to himself after a few seconds. “It looked to be adequately repaired but I have effected some slight adjustments to allow it to recover more expeditiously and with less bruising. You should be fighting fit by Monday morning.”

Jenko muttered his thanks and tried out his repaired shoulder and it appeared to be moving more comfortably. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“Right, now to the mind,” Psion said. “Please lie down on the ground, young man.” He wrapped his tail around his body and, after a few moments, Jenko went completely still.

“Preserve us from blundering, incompetent mind manipulators,” Psion muttered when he resurfaced about thirty seconds later. “Are you with us?” he asked. Jenko still looked dazed but he managed a nod.

“Right, I will be able to do something but, before I start, I need to make something completely clear, to avoid any possible future doubt.” He paused dramatically. “What I propose to do involves interfering with the mind lock placed on a servant by his lawful master. This contravenes a number of the basic precepts of the Edifice. If anyone ever finds out what I’ve done we will all be declared anathema. Every claw, tooth and flame will be turned against us and we will certainly be killed.”

“I’ve nothing to lose,” Jenko responded promptly. “I won’t be any less dead if I don’t get help of some sort.”

But Katie considered the matter for a few moments. “You can do this in a way that can’t be seen?” she checked.

Psion nodded.

“And Jenko won’t remember what happened?”

“He may have some vague recollection of something but will have no memory of names or places. Indeed, it will take extensive probing from a skilled operator to detect that the changes have been performed.”

Katie thought about it for another couple of moments before she decided it was worth the risk. “Let’s go for it,” she said coolly. “We’ll just have to make sure nobody finds out.”

Psion nodded then his eyes burned brightly as, for the first time since she had met him, Katie saw him truly concentrating. Jenko’s eyes took on a glazed, absent quality. When she glanced into the cloud world she saw that Psion’s shining blue cloud had lost much of its lustre and there was a golden ribbon flowing between the two minds.

Eventually Psion relaxed somewhat. He slowly backed into the trees, though the glowing ribbon continued to link the two minds. Suddenly Jenko flinched as the ribbon vanished.

“Where am I?” he muttered.

“I think you got confused when you were supposed to be emptying the wheelbarrow,” Katie bluffed desperately, though Jenko was so disoriented she could have told him almost anything. “Come on, we need to get going.”

Taking Jenko’s good arm, she tried to help him up to the path but the slope was steep and rugged and she almost had to drag him over the rough ground.

“How did it go?” she asked, sending her mind out to Psion.

“His node had evidently been implanted by some blundering incompetent,” he reported scornfully. “Not only was the lock pitifully insecure, it had also trampled all over his self confidence and self esteem. It’s a wonder that the poor lad has been able to haul himself out of bed in the morning let alone survive the rigours of Zalibar’s School of Dragonology!”

“You seemed to be concentrating quite hard back there!”

“Merely to remove the lock would have been a trivial task. What I did there, however, was, with all due modesty, at the very limit of what anyone currently living on the island could perform. I managed to reduce the scope of the block without altering its characteristic shape and I am confident that nobody will notice the change unless they know what they’re looking for. In particular, that incompetent Janenas who implanted the thing in the first place, will…”

He suddenly stopped and was silent for a moment. “Danger, incoming!” he barked urgently. “Get down!”

In spite of herself, Katie found herself looking up. There was a dragon descending from the Edifice towards the house. For a moment she froze but, as she stared at the incoming dragon, Jenko broke free of her grip and stumbled up the slope towards the path.

With only the slightest gesture towards asking her permission, Psion was inside her head. She had to resist the urge to fight him as he used her will to take over Jenko’s mind and throw him to the floor. Katie threw herself down next to him and tried to hide them both behind a completely inadequate grassy tussock. Her right hand reached instinctively towards the leather bracelet on her left wrist as she tried to will them both into invisibility.

But, when she glanced up, she observed with horror that the dragon had changed its course. It was heading straight towards them and, as it drew closer, she could see that it was being ridden by the Amendraig.

Then Psion was back in her head but this time her discomfort at the intrusion was overwhelmed by her fascination as he began to spin an illusion about them. He built on the concealment provided by her bracelet, spinning and pulling together strands of pure will to form an impenetrable wall. In spite of the situation, she was amazed by the beauty of the structure he managed to weave.

Then the Amendraig’s dragon was upon them. She held her breath as it started to circle directly overhead. It seemed impossible that they would not be seen but Psion was supremely confident in his work. As they waited, he casually drew her attention to the featherlike touch of the probes that the Amendraig was sending against his illusion.

After circling for what felt like an eternity, the dragon broke off and climbed steeply away towards the House. Shaking with relief, Katie jumped to her feet and hurried Jenko up to the top of the slope then down the path. As they hurried through the Mist Gate, she could clearly hear the Amendraig talking to Zalibar through the open door of the mews. She let Jenko collapse against the wall and, grabbing a broom, she hurriedly clambered over the gate into Lippit’s stall. She barely had time to avoid a casual snap from the irritable dragon and establish her grip on him before Zalibar came into the Mews and looked around.

“Has anyone been out through the Mist gate?” he demanded. “The Amendraig thought he saw somebody messing about round the back of the house.”

“Only us,” Katie answered carefully. He stood and stared at her as his will wrapped about the surface of her cloud, probing for the least hint of deceit. She had to struggle to keep her innermost thoughts blocked without losing her grip on Lippit but her shields held fast.

“What are you doing here anyway?” he demanded, easing his grip from around her mind. “You won your duel this morning.”

“Carodoc asked me to come and give Jenko a hand,” she answered, nodding across at the boy who was still slumped against the wall. “He’s not really recovered from this morning.”

“Well, if he’s not recovered by Monday morning he’s out of here,” Zalibar growled. “You’d better send him back to bed,” he added. “He’s neither use nor ornament down here like that.” Though his voice retained its familiar gruff tone, he had not yet completely severed his minds link to hers. And though his shields were robust, they were heavy duty things designed for combat and lacked the subtlety of the ones that Psion had taught her and, as a result, she could detect the slightest hint of compassion leaking out from behind them.

“And don’t forget to lock up and put the key away when you’re done,” he called back to her as he left. “If there’s anyone out there, they can come in through the main gate or stay outside, I don’t care which.” With that, he turned sharply around and strode out of the mews.

“Yes sir,” she replied, fighting to keep the shock out of her voice and mind. Heartless Zalibar had a heart after all.

[garethn]

Ch 14 Attack in the Dark

Word count 3428 (07-Jun-19)

Katie stretched her aching muscles as Calbar limbered up to take a few more blows. The current exercise was simple enough. She had to stand in a four foot circle whilst he took swipes at her with a padded training sword and try to dodge the blows, or at least take them on her breastplate or helmet. Every once in a while they’d swap.

She glanced across to the tower where half a dozen primes, mounted on nags, were making passes at a model rider and she wished she was flying.

But her attention was grabbed by a a solid thump on her thigh.

“Come on, concentrate!” Calbar scolded her. “I pulled that one but don’t expect me to do it again. I’ll get it in the neck if Zalibar doesn’t think I’m putting in full effort.”

“Sorry about that,” Katie said. “I’m still aching from yesterday.”

“‘The rider must stand ready to perform his duty, no matter what the state of his body or mind’,” Calbar quoted earnestly.

“Do you really know all the manual?” Katie asked, intrigued, as she stepped briskly out of range of a blow aimed at her head.

“Not quite all,” he replied, “but I try to remember all the important stuff.” He stepped in to launch an attack towards her right hip. By swiftly closing on him, she managed to step inside his attack and, with a little push, helped him out of the circle.

“It’s like that, is it?” he said with a grin. He launched a vigorous attack towards her head which, with a sudden turn, melted into an attack towards her right leg which happened, at that moment, to be taking all her weight. She couldn’t avoid the blow altogether but by hopping, somewhat inelegantly, out of the way, she managed to reduce the power of the blow.

“Ow!” she said.

“Pay attention!” he admonished her. “Follow the eyes! The eyes give a lot away.”

“I really do ache,” she grumbled.

“That sand trip’s a killer, isn’t it?” he agreed, as he made his way cautiously round her circle. She noted that he was using the approved right leg in front pattern which indicated that he was about to attack.

Once a month, instead of a run, the students were sent down to the beach. The trip back to the compound, loaded with a heavy sack of sand, was much more exhausting than any training run.

“At least we have a decent pile of sand again for tidying up any loose footing in the compound,” Katie commented.

“So you have no excuses if you…” Calbar began but then he launched another attack, this time aiming for her right hip. Katie dodged cautiously, half expecting the switch that came and, when he transitioned his attack to a head stroke, she was once more able to close on him and shove him out of the ring.

“Slip,” she completed his sentence for him as he stumbled out of the ring.

“Maybe you’re not the only one who’s tired!” he admitted. “Should we swap again?”

Katie’s answer was interrupted by a whistle from Zalibar, calling the prime riders in and telling the rest of the students to clear the quad and get ready for lunch.

It was a beautiful afternoon and Katie was pleased to be sent on the meat run with Calbar. The heat of high summer was past and the light was sharp, giving them an unusually clear view across the water to the mainland.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Katie said cautiously as they walked along the open ground at the top of the cliffs, “why have you learnt Zalibar’s entire manual?”

He thought for a moment. “To try and stay alive, I guess,” he answered. “I mean, learning stuff is the only thing I’ve ever been any good at and I may as well put it to some use in this crazy place.”

Katie studied him for a few moments. “You’re from Outside too, aren’t you?”

“How did you work that out?”

“I dunno, maybe the way you talk about this place as if there is somewhere else. People who’ve always been here don’t think like that. I guess I only noticed because I’m from Outside too.”

“I try and avoid mentioning it as much as possible,” Calbar said thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose it would make all that much difference now but, when I first got here it was made quite clear that, if the wrong people found out about it, I’d find myself dead.”

They paused for a moment to enjoy the view. Katie also surreptitiously hunted around for traces of Psion but could not find him.

“How come you managed to get here without being eaten?” she asked.

“I was still quite young then so I don’t really remember much about it,” he answered. “I think my family was on a sailing holiday up round the Scottish Islands and there was an accident. I vaguely remember a fire and shouting and some sort of explosion and then it all went dark. I was wearing a life jacket when I was found and I’d had a whack on the side of my head.” He showed her a scar just behind his ear.

“Do you reckon you were attacked by one of the patrol guards?”

“I’ve thought about that too and decided that we probably weren’t. Don’t forget that, even then, I’d have had considerable latent cerebral potential…”

“Sorry, what’s this latent thing?”

“I keep forgetting, you don’t know any of this stuff yet, do you? You know, you ought to come along to some of the lectures that Zalibar gives in the evenings. They’re mostly about cerebral combat but you can pick up a fair bit of the theory too.”

“I’ve heard about those lectures but I thought they were for primes.”

“There are a couple of us transitors who turn up too. As long as you keep your head down I don’t expect anyone would be bothered.”

“Anyway,” he went on after a brief pause, “there are quite a few people on the Outside who can do some of this mind stuff but they’re not really aware of it. They’ve got ‘latent cerebral potential’.”

Katie nodded, thinking of the fisherman.

“Anyway, if we’d run into a serious mind bender, like one of the border patrol dragons, there’s no way they would have missed me and I would have been torched. So I guess our boat was wrecked in some sort of accident and I got knocked out. Because I was unconscious, I managed to drift past the patrols and got washed up on the beach without being noticed. My master found me on the beach and, as most of his Family and retainers had been wiped out in the Year of Flame and Sword, he wasn’t particularly fussy. He was just happy to find a new servant. He managed to keep me pretty much out of sight until people stopped asking where I came from.”

“What about you?” Calbar asked. “How did you end up here?”

“I was on holiday in a nearby village,” Katie explained. “I could see this island that nobody else could and, for some reason, I couldn’t get it out of my head. In the end I just stole a boat and came here.”

“I’ve heard of that sort of thing before. For some reason, latents are pulled towards powerful minds. How did you get past the patrol?”

Katie went quiet and intense for a few moments as a host of unwelcome memories flashed across her mind. “That’s not something that I want to talk about,” she said simply. “It’s all too close and…”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “All of us have got things in our past that we don’t want to think about too hard. Let’s try an easier one. Would you go back if you had the chance?”

“No,” she replied instantly and only then thought about it and images of her past and present lives flooded through her mind. “It’s a brutal place but I love the simplicity of it all. You’re responsible for yourself and there’s nobody telling you what to think and, above all, I love the flying.”

“You seem to have a special knack with the dragons,” Calbar laughed. “It’s hard to believe you’ve not been riding for a month.”

‘Besides,’ she added, though only to herself, as they trudged on towards the village, ‘there’s a score to be settled before I can leave.’ The image of Rhiannas plunging down towards Megan rose, unbidden, in her mind.

As they were toiling back up the hill with the fully loaded carts, a little twinkle in the corner of her mind alerted her to Psion’s presence.

“There you are!” she said. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Oh, that was you, was it? I thought I noticed something.”

“Where’ve you been?”

“I’ve been conserving my strength to ensure that I can be of the greatest service to you when the need arises,” he answered with supreme innocence.

“So you’ve been snoozing in the sunshine!” she said with a laugh. She was starting to suspect that the complicated little creature was deliberately putting on the subterfuge in order to give her the pleasure of catching him out.

“Where are you, by the way?” she asked him

“You’re about three quarters of the way up the climb out from the village, aren’t you?”

Katie nodded.

“If you were to walk straight towards the cliff edge from there and jump off, you’d probably land on my head. There’s a sheltered little cove down here.”

“Just perfect for catching the afternoon sunshine?”

“It does have a most favourable aspect, yes!”

“Anyway,” said Katie, “there are a couple of lumps of decomposing porker on this cart with your name on them. Where would you like me to put them?”

“I rather fancy dining at home this afternoon,” he replied with the utmost formality. “I shall return to my humble abode and inform you when I am able to take receipt of an aerial delivery of provender.”

“So you’ll tell me when I’m straight above your cave and I can chuck it off the edge!”

“A most agreeable arrangement!”

Katie smiled to herself as she walked on up the slope.

A while later, a call from Psion told Katie that she was directly above his cave.

“Do you want to push on for a moment?” she called to Calbar. “I need to investigate the bushes.”

“Right you are!” he answered, trudging on his way. “Don’t go too far into the woods, though. I don’t buy the stories about them being haunted but there’s definitely something funny going on in there.”

Katie waited for a couple of moments to let him move away then, after checking that no one else was in sight, she grabbed a couple of the less rancid pieces of meat and walked to the cliff edge.

“Look out, incoming!” she yelled, as she threw them off the edge.

“Pigs may fly!” Psion commented coolly and Katie felt him using his will to steer the meat into his mouth.

She started to laugh but her amusement was cut short. “Oh rats,” she said.

“What’s the matter?”

“One of the lumps has landed on a little jutting out shelf up here. I don’t suppose you can fly up and collect it can you?”

“Even with your excellent supply of sustenance, I am not yet able to manage that. Can you not perhaps reach it with a stick?”

“No it’s too far down. We’re really going to have to shift it though. It looks terribly odd down there.”

“Then you must use your mind,” Psion informed her. “Though I am unable to perform the required cerebral translocation at this distance, I should be able to show you how to complete the operation.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” she said, flipping into the cloud world.

“Feel out to that meat with your mind!” he instructed her. “It may help if you close your eyes.”

Katie tried to reach down to it as she had practiced with the pebble. Down she felt, past her feet and down the cliff towards the ledge.

She was half aware of Psion hovering at her shoulder but ignored him and pressed on out with her mind. The image she was seeing was really strange, like an old black and white film. There was the shelf! Now she had to work her way along it…

“You need to move in the other direction,” Psion whispered calmly in her ear. “You are almost there, though.”

She moved her senses back and there it was. Now all she had to do was to fasten her grip on it.

She tried to close her will on the meat but it slipped through her grasp. Again she tried but she still could not get any purchase.

“I suspect that you are attempting to exercise too much subtlety,” Psion noted. Though he was working to keep his voice level, she could sense the undertone of amusement. “You may enjoy more success if you adopt a more robust approach”

Katie smiled and, after deliberately pulling in her will, fed it towards the lump. There was an almost audible click as her will latched onto the target.

“Whoa! Steady!” came Psion’s urgent cries. Katie blinked back into the sunlight and saw the piece of meat flying out towards the sea. Down below, he was flailing wildly and trying, unsuccessfully, to use his own will to guide it back towards the shore.

Chuckling to herself, Katie hurried along the track after Calbar.

After dinner that evening, Katie accompanied Calbar into the Great Hall. One of the tables had been moved aside and some chairs had been drawn up in rows in front of a blackboard which was propped up in one corner.

Carodoc, standing quietly at the back, smiled a greeting but the Armenclethyfur walked over towards her.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded brusquely.

“I was wanting to listen to the lecture,” she answered.

“I see. You know these lectures are only intended for primes?”

“Yes, sir. But I hoped if I sat quietly at the back, nobody would notice me.”

“If you wanted to avoid being noticed, you shouldn’t have made such a mess of Jenko the other day!” he said with a laugh. “We’ll have to see what Zalibar has to say about it.”

As the teacher walked through the door, the Armenclethyfur turned to a couple of nonda, who were already seated. “On your feet, lads,” he called.

“And what’s the problem here, then?” Zalibar asked him brusquely.

“This noviate tyro wants to listen to the lecture, sir,” the Armenclethyfur explained.

“I see,” he said, turning to Katie, “and why would you want to do that?”

“I suppose I’m hoping I might learn something to help me stay alive, sir,” she answered.

“I wish a great many more students would come in here with that attitude,” Zalibar replied. Savage amusement flashed across his face. “I would be saved the trouble of having to beat it into them.” His eye roamed around the gathered students though it didn’t alight on anyone in particular.

“If my words of wisdom are so profound that you’ll give up your spare time to listen to them, who am I to deny you?” he said with an amused air.

“Right!” he said, walking fluidly up to the blackboard. “If you’d be so kind as to settle down, everyone.” His voice retained its jolly, jaunty tone but nobody was fooled.

“Today,” he announced, “I’m going to talk about shielding your mind in combat.”

Katie was fast asleep when the attack came. She woke to find that both her body and mind were held in unshakable clamps. The simple resting shield that Psion had shown her was being gradually washed away like a sandcastle before the rising tide.

Calbar had lent her a copy of Zalibar’s manual and she had stayed up late, reading it. When she found herself falling asleep, she had been so worn out after another day’s grueling training that she had hardly had the energy to spin her night time shield into place. Now it was all that stood between her and the attackers.

More waves of attack came crashing in. There were, Katie was now fairly sure, two attackers. One was clamping her mind and body whilst the other was slowly but surely battering down her mind’s defences, heading towards her crux. She could only guess what they had planned for her if they reached it.

For once she was grateful that the implanted node was muffling her emotions. Instead of being incapacitated by panic and fury, she was able to face the threat with a lethally calm detachment.

She had been thrown into the cloud world by the intensity of the attack and, after a short convulsive struggle, she knew that she would not be able to break the binds that held her mind so she tried pouring power into her shields. Though she managed to slow the advance, she could not completely stop its relentless progress towards her crux. She had no idea what the attacker planned to do if he reached it but, in a world of such casual brutality as this, she had to assume they would try to kill her.

Putting her trust in her shield, she flipped back into the silent dorm. Her eyes flickered around desperately, looking for anything that could help. Then she remembered that Psion had mentioned that the protection her bracelet offered increased if she grasped it. Ignoring the ongoing battle in her head, she poured all her energy into moving her right hand across the sheets towards her left wrist. Inch by inch it started to move.

When her hand was about half way across, it came to a juddering halt. She could go no further. She had nothing more to give and besides, there was nothing but a vague hint from Psion that the bracelet could help. She felt the waves of despair surging deep within her. It was all just hopeless, why not just give up the struggle and let it happen. Only the presence of the implanted node was preventing the despair taking complete control.

The implanted node! She was not going to allow herself to die until she had extracted payment for what Rhiannas had done to her that first night and for what he had made her do to Megan. There needed to be payback for whoever was doing this to her as well. She forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths and then, with a desperate wrench, forced her hand into motion once more, crawling across the bed towards her bracelet.

Her hand was only a couple of inches from her wrist when the attacker who was holding her seemed to realise what she was doing. As she felt him pulling in his will to clamp her even tighter, she ducked underneath his grasp and, with a final, vicious jerk, clasped her hand around her bracelet.

The effect was so striking that, without consciously flipping back into the cloud world, Katie saw the explosion of light and power the bracelet released. The bonds holding her were simply blasted apart, as if they were made of paper. The mind controlling them simply melted away.

The other mind froze, stunned by the force of the reaction. She quickly pulled in her will and did what she could to send a mental blast towards it. As she did so, she recognised the looming malevolent mind behind the attack. It was a mind that she had tangled with once before; it was Quarononde, the Amendraig. His mind jumped out of contact with a mental yelp as her blow struck home. “At least he’ll have a headache in the morning,” she said to herself.

She flipped back into the dorm to find herself lying completely rigid and drenched in sweat. She glanced around and was astonished to find that, in spite of the violence of the struggle that had just taken place, everyone else was still fast asleep. She lay back in her bed and tried to calm her ragged breathing.

Over the next couple of hours she started to envy the others, as sleep just would not come. She was much too keyed up by the attack. After resigning herself to suffering a sleepless night, she spent her time practicing the construction of more robust mental shields. Apparently she was going to need them.

[garethn]

Ch 15 Double Grip

Word count 2797 (11-Jun-19)

Katie absorbed Jenko’s sword blow on her buckler, taking the standard half stride back to absorb the blow. She then stepped forward and launched her own series of blows. “Buckler to sword…” she muttered to herself. “Step forward... dummy sunrise, reverse sunset.”

Jenko caught her blow on his own buckler, pushing her backwards and to one side and forcing her to use her will to balance herself. ‘He’s definitely getting stronger,’ she thought as she tried to relax her aching shoulders for a moment whilst they steadied themselves, ready to run through the routine once more.

He had improved vastly in the last couple of weeks and, though he was never going to be an outstanding student, he was, at least, beginning to hold his own in their vicious little community. He had even won a duel on the previous Saturday.

“He’s getting a bit more colour in him too,” she laughed to herself as she noticed it. “Mind you, that was never going to be difficult. There were plenty of dead things with more colour than he used to have!”

“Are you ready to go again?” he asked. Since Psion had worked on him a couple of weeks before, he had also been showing a puppy-dog like devotion to Katie and, on a couple of occasions, he had taken a rough word or blow that should have been aimed at her. She was starting to suspect that Psion’s mind manipulation had been even more sophisticated than she had realised at the time.

“Let’s go,” she answered with a grim nod but they were interrupted by a harsh shout from Zalibar.

“Jenko, you go and join the Armenclethyfur’s group,” he said. “You look as if you’ll not be too much of a burden for them today.”

Zalibar turned to Katie. “I’ve got a transitor group going out to fly amongst the cliffs up by Dunster head. I’d like you to take Nero and go with them. You need to get a feel for the way a cross wind can muck up your steering.”

“Yes, sir!” Katie said as she hurried over enthusiastically to the mews.

“Come on, you,” she called to the thin, brown coloured dragon, who was snoozing at the back of his stall. Nero uncurled himself truculently as Katie got a mind lock in position.

When she led the dragon out a few moments later, Zalibar was shouting across the quad to Llynnonda, who was already mounted on Lippit. “Don’t forget she’s still a noviate,” he was saying, “and whatever you do, don’t let her damage Nero.”

“So, I’ve got to stop you from killing yourself and from damaging Nero,” laughed Llynnonda. Katie smiled as she buckled on her spurs and forced Nero to lie down so that she could mount.

Wastnonda, one of the transitors, emerged from the mews with Taloon, a large, green female nag with a particularly bad temper. Even Katie could tell that his grip was not secure enough for that particular bundle of malice. “Wasty,” Llynnonda called to him, “get a tighter grip on Taloon and keep her away from the rest of the dragons. You know she’s been aching to have a go at someone for weeks now!”

“All… right!” Wastnonda drawled nonchalantly, tightening his grip slightly.

Katie had never flown Nero before and, as they took off, she realised that he was much more jittery in flight than the dragons she was used to. The other riders seemed to know, without being told, what they were going to do next and, at a word from the leader, Llynnonda, they formed up into a tight V-shaped formation so she hurried Nero across to a position at the end of one of the arms.

She found she needed her full concentration as the chevron set off along the coast and settled into her dragon’s mind, feeling the wind across his wings and seeing the world through his sharp eyes.

“Wasty, look what you’re doing!” Llynnonda’s quiet, authoritative tone rang out across the wing of dragons.

Katie slipped out of her dragon’s mind and glanced round. She saw that Wastnonda had drifted away from his position at the end of the other arm of the chevron and was now slipping backwards.

“Sorry, Llynnonda,” he answered. “For some reason I’ve been given Taloon and you know what she’s like. It’s a constant battle to get her to do anything.” He dropped in behind the chevron for a few wing-beats and used the slip-stream to pull himself back into line.

The previous evening, she had overheard Calbar and Carodoc discussing the use of crenels to exercise precise control over a dragon’s position and speed. So she sank deep down into Nero’s mind once more and cautiously experimented with shaping the wind around their bodies.

“You too!” Llynnonda called to Katie. She looked round and saw that she had allowed her attention to wander and that she, too, had slipped slightly out of formation. She sharply pulled Nero back into position and got her mind back on business.

She was concentrating so hard that she was shocked when she felt the touch of a mind on hers. She reached round and found, as she had suspected, that Psion was gliding along behind them.

“Good morning, young mistress.”

“Erm, there are other people around. Don’t you think they might notice you?”

“I’ve told you on several occasions that I am something of an expert in concealment. The day I can’t elude the attention of half a dozen transitors is the day I retire.”

“Fair enough, I suppose! I see you’ve remembered how to fly.”

“Memory was never the problem. It was, rather, the inadequate diet which restricted my ability to enjoy success in that particular sphere. Now, however, thanks to your gracious ministrations, I am once more able to cope with the rigours of flight.”

“You’re welcome.”

“If I might make so bold, I can’t help but observe that you are holding your dragon in an extremely tight bind.”

“That’s the way Zalibar taught us to do it.”

“I cannot claim to be surprised by that revelation. It is Zalibar’s nature to want to control every facet of every situation down to the least detail.”

“Do you know Zalibar then?”

“Of course I know him. Zalibar’s School of Dragonology has been round for years and his brutal training methods have been turning out armies of brutally competent and uninspiring riders for even longer. Your mother trained with him and she had many of the same characteristics until…” he paused with evidently false modesty, “until I was able to add a few touches of subtlety to her armoury.”

Katie thought about what he had said for a moment. “You can’t be suggesting that I just let go!”

“Were you to make that mistake, you would not have the opportunity to regret it for long. Should the nag not kill you, Zalibar probably would. But, up here, amongst the cliffs and the wind, I’d recommend that you loosen your grip somewhat and let the dragon handle the details. Try as you might, you will never have the instinctive feel for flight that a dragon has.”

“How do I go about doing that?”

“Allow me to show you…”

Psion slipped deeper into her mind. “Instead of grasping the unfortunate creature with a grip like a cumbersome fist, so…” he started to place models in her head, “you grasp its crux firmly as if between a finger and thumb… so… With this more precise grip, you can release the pressure a little, allowing the creatures lowest level flight instincts to take over, so… while you can hook into these instincts and provide overall guidance and control, so…”

“It’s an interesting idea. I might try it… but I think I’ll keep my big fist lying in wait in case everything goes horribly wrong.”

“A wise precaution, young mistress, though I have every confidence that it will not prove necessary. It might also be wise to drop out of formation before you begin. It could be a little noisy first time.”

“Hey, Llynnonda, I’m going to drop back a bit,” Katie sent a mental shout to the group leader. “There’s something I want to try but I’ll need a bit of room. I’ll catch you up.”

“Okay! Don’t be long. We’re just running up to the Head one more time before we go back.”

Katie dropped back to Psion and, after taking a deep breath, she switched to the finer grip. Nero noticed the change and struggled for his freedom. Though it was hard work, her grip held true.

“You can talk to the nags, you know,” Psion told her. “Though they are too far gone in their rage and despair to answer, they do understand and can, in some ways, respond.”

Katie reached tentatively down into Nero’s mind. “Easy, now, my lad,” she told him. “Take it easy. There’s something coming up which you might like but you’ve got to settle down first.”

Nero stopped struggling and, for an instant, Katie felt she detected something like curiosity flashing across his mind.

After waiting a few moments and checking to ensure her most emphatic fist was available, she cautiously relaxed her grip on his mind.

Something seemed to click within Nero. He became suddenly more alive. It was not happiness or anything like it, rather a feeling of a temporary and partial respite from his unbearable torment.

In the next few minutes, as they swept along those rugged cliffs, she learned more about the artistry of flying than she had in the previous four weeks. She quickly grasped ideas with which she had been struggling for days: how slightly changing the angle of the wing can be used to steer and adjust balance, or how a stretch of the tail can be used to slow down the speed of flight and gain a little height.

“That’s right!” she murmured to Nero as they skimmed around a headland, so close that Katie could have reached out and touched the rock. “Come on! Let’s catch up with that gang up ahead.”

“I’m back!” she called over to Llynnonda as they slipped back into formation.

“Good,” he replied, “we were just about to turn back.”

The wing of dragons powered on towards the Dunster Head. As they swung round the head to run back along the cliffs to the compound, Katie sank deep into Nero’s mind, sharing the satisfaction that he was radiating as she allowed him at least this taste of something close to freedom.

She was, however, shaken back to full awareness by a sudden shout from Llynnonda: “Wasty!”

Katie looked across and saw that Wastnonda had drifted off course, once more, but, this close to the cliffs, it was much more serious. He tried to pull Taloon round but the turn was too sharp and he was almost thrown over his nag’s shoulder. As he desperately grabbed at her crenels with his hands and fought for balance with his mind, he lost his grip on Taloon. The bad tempered dragon rolled savagely in the air, throwing him and sending him tumbling towards the rocky shore, far below.

Of course Taloon turned on the dragons next to him who scattered.

“Use your will to catch him!” Katie felt Psion’s urgent thought in her head.

She got Nero to throw himself into a steep dive. Then, whilst keeping a little control over her dragon, she locked her will onto Wastnonda. She managed to slow him but could not completely stop his plummet.

“I can’t hold him,” she grunted despairingly to Psion.

“Then chuck him in the sea!” Psion told her. “It might just teach him a lesson!”

Gritting her teeth with the effort, she eased the tumbling nonda out over the sea whilst doing what she could to slow his fall. A corner of her mind kept a grip on Nero, who was pulling out of his dive as the sea flashed up to meet them.

Wastnonda crashed heavily into the water, though it was evident from his struggling and spluttering that he was not seriously injured. When he set off swimming towards land, she was sure that he was fine.

Katie sat down on Nero’s back as he skimmed along at wave-top height. She was shaking with exhaustion after the effort of what she had just done.

“I regret to inform you that you have not yet finished, young mistress!” came Psion’s insistent tone. “There remains the issue of an out of control nag up there and I do not believe any of the others are capable of successfully double gripping her.”

She looked up to see flashes of green and grey as Taloon danced around Lippit, looking for the chance to close in for the kill. “I don’t like the sound of that,” she said as she pulled Nero round and circled back up to where the rest of their flight was wheeling in a panicked chaos.

“It’s not as difficult as that stunt you’ve just pulled off,” Psion reassured her. “You have only to impose your clunking fist on Taloon without completely letting go of Nero.”

“Is that all?”

“I have every confidence in you! If you come in from behind her and use your bracelet, she might not even see you coming.”

“I don’t like the way you say ‘might’ when I’m the one who’s going to end up as nag-bait!”

“Stay well back and continue to climb,” Psion instructed her as Nero reached the level of the top of the cliffs where Llynnonda was using all his flying ability to avoid being plucked from his dragons back by an incandescent Taloon. “She would appear to be preoccupied.”

“Now would be an excellent moment to conceal yourself and your steed!” the little dragon added.

Katie touched her hand to her bracelet and eased herself gently out of sight, as if hiding behind a shadow. Though she knew that the bracelet had concealed her in the past, this was the first time that she had used it consciously. She was amazed how easy it was to pull the shadow round the two of them.

Below them, Llynnonda’s dodges and darts were becoming ever more desperate. The waves of Taloon’s rage crashed around her as the angry green dragon struggled to destroy the infuriating parasite that had tried to recapture her.

“Prepare yourself, young mistress!” Psion’s tone flipped in an instant and he was serious once more. “Ready now… and dive!”

As she threw Nero into a dive, Katie relaxed her grip on him, leaving only the most gentle of touches, then she gathered the full weight of her will.

And, as she closed on the group below, she locked that will onto Taloon.

For a moment Taloon’s mind went utterly blank, unable to comprehend that she had been recaptured. Then it exploded, crashing against the fist of Katie’s will. It would have been a struggle for Katie to master that mind if it was all she had to do, but doing so without letting go of Nero made her feel dizzy.

For what felt like an age, Taloon’s mind continued to convulse. Katie’s face stretched in a silent scream and she started to tremble.

But at last Taloon’s will collapsed. Katie found herself swaying violently and she grabbed at Nero’s crenels. Suddenly she felt her body being supported by someone else’s will. She managed to raise her head and saw Llynnonda looking across at her.

“That was one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen!” he told her. “I tried to grab her but I couldn’t even get close. And she seemed to take exception to my attempt! How you managed to double grip her through that frenzy I will never know!”

“It wasn’t easy!” Katie smiled weakly.

“Can you bring her along or do we need to go and get help?” Llynnonda asked.

“I think the sooner I get rid of them both the better,” Katie answered. “You can let go of me now, thanks.”

Double gripping the two dragons, Katie followed Llynnonda back towards the compound.

The flight back was not as violent a struggle as the nighttime attack in the dorm had been but it still tested Katie’s reserves of endurance to the limit. By the time the tower came into sight, Llynnonda was supporting her body again. He called down to Zalibar in the compound below to clear some space.

Zalibar quickly saw what was going on and, as Katie clumsily landed the two dragons he ordered the Amendraig to grip Taloon and Calbar to take Nero.

“Now what on earth…” he began but he was interrupted as Katie tumbled towards him. He caught her with a deft combination of mind and muscle power.

[garethn]

Ch 16 The Challenge

Word count 2835 (12-Jun-19)

When she returned to her senses, Zalibar was carrying her up to the dormitory. Somehow he was feeding some of his will across to her, as if to top up her reserves which felt utterly depleted, way beyond empty. “I hear you’ve done well, young lady,” he said, putting her down surprisingly gently. “Not only did your swift action save the lives of two nonda, you also ensured a couple of my nags weren’t lost or damaged. Thank you. You’re excused chores for the rest of the week. That idiot Wastnonda can cover for you. You’re also let off the run this afternoon. He can do a triple and be grateful.”

“Oh yes!” he said as he turned back to supervise the training. “I’d also like you to eat with us in hall tonight.”

She must have fallen asleep or passed out or something because the next thing she knew she was being woken by Carodoc.

“You’ve decided our company isn’t good enough for you, I hear!” he said with a grin. “You’re going to dine with the nonda tonight.”

“That’s what I’ve been told. I’m not sure I like it, though.”

“Anyway, I mentioned it to Molly when I was down in the village and she asked me to give you these,” he said, handing her a bag.

She looked inside and saw it contained a beautiful red dress and a pair of elegant shoes.

“If you hurry, you’ll be able to have a bath whilst we’re out on our run. Us tyros aren’t worried if you smell, but it might be a bit much for the refined nonda sensibilities! You’ll have to carry your own hot water, though.”

“A bath!” said Katie. “That’s a good idea.” She had hardly had time for anything more than a hurried wash since she’d arrived.

Smiling her thanks to Carodoc, she grabbed the bag and hurried down to the kitchen to collect some hot water.

The Armenclethyfur was already waiting at the door to the Great Hall when she arrived in the long, elegant dress. “Who are you?” he asked with a smile as he looked her up and down approvingly. “You know, I’ve never seen Zalibar looking so impressed,” he added. “You must have done well. Now go and grab Wasty’s seat. I guess he won’t be needing it tonight!”

She replied with a smile and noticed that he was wearing a simple golden coronet marked with his house motif, indeed several of the nonda were wearing similar coronets. Presumably the ones wearing them were the next in line as Head of Family.

“What I don’t understand is how one mind can possibly do a double grip,” a noviate nonda was saying, as she sat down. “I mean, you’ve only got one brain, haven’t you?”

“We’ll have to ask the expert,” a Transitor answered. He shook his long hair away from his face giving Katie what, on one level, was a smile and dusted an imaginary speck of dust off his purple velvet jacket.

“Well, I sort of had Nero under control at the back of my mind,” Katie tried to explain. “I could then give my full attention to Taloon, who was the real problem.”

“What I want to know is how you managed to stop Wasty from smearing himself all over the rocks,” said Llynnonda. “I was sure he was dead when I saw him falling like that.”

“I think he was trying to slow himself down anyway, so all I did was to help him a bit and nudge him out to sea. The water did the rest.”

“But how…” another nonda was asking, but he was interrupted by the gong. They all sprang to their feet as Zalibar walked in.

The meal was excellent but Katie was reminded of Psion’s words. ‘A simple meal with friends is usually preferable’. She found she had to be much too careful not to use the wrong fork or say something out of place. Whilst the people around her were superficially friendly, there were far too many cryptic comments and clever smiles. She was painfully aware that there were layers of politics in the discussion she did not understand.

She was relieved when everyone had finished eating and Zalibar nodded to the Amendraig. He strolled towards the door and struck the gong once. The nonda fell silent and turned towards Zalibar, whose scarred face was decorated with an unfamiliar smile, and Katie looked across to see the tyros gathering in their alcove.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” he began. “I have taken the unusual step of inviting a tyro to join us here tonight. Not only did she save the lives of two nonda this afternoon – one of whom is…” he paused significantly, “…otherwise detained and is likely to remain so for a while. But she also managed to save a couple of my nags from damage or escape.

“Now in the few weeks she’s been with us this young lady has made phenomenal progress and this morning’s performance confirms to me that she is fit to be promoted to the status of transitor.”

This announcement was greeted with polite applause from most of the nonda and enthusiastic cheering from the kitchen stairs. As she smiled her thanks around the room, she noticed Quarononde nodding significantly to Kiernonda. This was obviously what he had been waiting for. Everyone fell silent as Kiernonda stood up and walked down the length of the room to the doorway. There he drew his dagger and struck the gong with its hilt.

“In accordance with the ancient rites and principles of the Edifice, I hereby challenge this new transitor to a personal honour duel.”

Zalibar stood in silence for a moment then spoke, obviously choosing his words with great care. “Nobody denies you the right to make such a formal challenge but I would most strongly advise you against it,” he said. “There is little honour to be gained for a nonda challenging a tyro in this way and there is a danger that this course of action will make you appear petty.”

Kiernonda glanced briefly at Quarononde before clearing his throat and saying: “I hear your advice, sir, but I must, nonetheless, insist on satisfaction of my demand.”

“Very well,” Zalibar replied simply.

Carodoc marched across the silent Great Hall to stand behind Katie. Then he drew his dagger from his belt and handed it to her.

“You need to go and strike the gong with the dagger hilt to formally accept the challenge,” he told her. “Just do it,” he whispered, when she hesitated. “I’ll explain what’s going on later.”

Katie took the dagger and walked up to the gong by the door. She was about to strike it but then hesitated. When she turned to face Kiernonda, the silence of the room seemed to deepen.

“Don’t forget for a second that you’re not just bullying a noviate tyro here,” she told him coolly. “You know as well as I do that Zalibar has promoted me to transitor because of what I’ve done and what he thinks I’m capable of doing. If you want a duel, you will have one.”

She held his eye for a few moments more. He said nothing, but Katie was pleased to see that he turned a little paler. Only then did she turn and strike the gong.

The room remained silent as she returned to her place. Carodoc said nothing but smiled at her encouragingly.

“The duel will take place in the Henge on Saturday,” Zalibar announced formally. “Quarononde and Carodoc are to act as seconds. Is that acceptable?” He looked around and all four nodded their agreement. “Until then, combatants and seconds will be relieved of all other duties. Seconds are to meet in my quarters in one hour to coordinate your training schedules to avoid clashes. Until then, combatants are confined to their rooms.”

“If there are no questions, I would ask you to depart first, Kiernonda.” Kiernonda nodded formally to Zalibar and walked to the door accompanied by Quarononde, their footsteps echoing through the silent room.

Katie then had to wait a few moments until she, too, was dismissed. She was conscious that all eyes were following her as she and Carodoc made their way across the Hall and she fought to maintain a confident, erect pose. As they stepped out through the main doors, the Hall exploded into conversation but Carodoc wouldn’t let her speak as they made their way across the quad.

But as soon as they were up in their dorm, she demanded to know what was going on.

“As you’ve probably guessed,” Carodoc answered, sitting on his bed, “Kiernonda has challenged you to a personal honour duel and, because you’re a tyro, you didn’t have any real choice but to accept. The fight’s going to take place up in the Henge, up in the Edifice, on Saturday. We’ve got until then to get you ready. In theory it’s to the death, but the heads of House may step in at any stage because your lives belong to them.

“Do you know what this is all about, by the way?” he asked. “There’s obviously something up but it’s, quite frankly, beyond me. I can’t imagine what he thinks he’s going to get out of beating up some tyro.”

“I get the impression he’s doing it for Quarononde,” Katie answered, pacing up and down the room. “Maybe he’s still hacked off at me about that whole soup thing. The two of them tried to attack my mind the other night but I managed to chuck them out.”

“Well as long as it’s nothing trivial!” Carodoc said raising his eyes to the heavens. He thought for a moment. “Makes some sort of sense, I suppose. Kier is all but a vassal to the House of Quaro.

“First things first,” said Carodoc, jerking himself out of his thoughts. “Don’t talk about things with any of the other tyros. It’s not that I don’t trust the rest of them but it’s much too easy to bully a tyro. I’m your second so I’ve got some sort of formal protection. Anyway, the fewer people who know our plans the better.”

Katie nodded her understanding.

“Okay, I’ve got to go up to the house soon to talk things through with Quarononde,” he told her. “When do you want to use the quad?”

“Well, you know I like to get out there on my own before everyone else is up,” she said. “I’ll also need…” but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Carodoc gestured to her to be quiet.

“Come in!” Carodoc called. Wastnonda stumbled across the threshold looking bedraggled and utterly exhausted.

Katie and Carodoc jumped up to grab him and helped him onto Jenko’s bed. “Are you alright?” asked Katie.

“I’m a lot better than I would have been if you hadn’t saved me,” he answered with an attempt at a smile. “I came to say thank you.”

“What’s he had you doing?” Katie asked.

“Well after my little swim – great thinking by the way – Zalibar came to collect me. I say collect – he was riding Nero and had his whip. I was running. Since then I’ve been up the peak three times.”

“Yuk!”

“Have you eaten?” asked Carodoc.

“Not had a chance. Zalibar barely gave me the chance to grab a drink of water.”

“I’ll go down and see Cook,” said Carodoc and stepped out of the dorm.

Wastnonda lay back on the bed and looked across at Katie. “You’re looking smart,” he said. “You’ve been up to dinner in the Great Hall?”

“Yes, I’d almost forgotten, Zalibar promoted me to transitor.”

“Almost forgotten? That’s the quickest promotion I’ve ever heard of! How on earth do you forget something like that?”

“Because, as soon as Kiernonda heard the announcement, he challenged me to a formal duel.”

“He didn’t?”

He lay back silently, obviously relishing the rest, but after a few moments he said. “He’s an idiot! We all saw what you can do this morning. You’ll make mincemeat of him.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Carodoc said as he stepped through the door with a bowl of leftovers. “She’s certainly got the edge in terms of brain power but he’s much stronger and a much more experienced fighter.” He walked across to Wastnonda and handed him the food. “The bread’s stale and the mush isn’t very warm but it’ll have to do.”

Wastnonda nodded his thanks and fell silent as he attacked the food. He was obviously ravenous.

“If there’s anything I can do, let me know,” he said when every crumb was eaten. “It’s going to take me a while to pay you back for saving me this morning.”

“As a matter of fact, there might be something,” Katie said thoughtfully. “Do you think anyone saw you coming up here this evening?”

“I shouldn’t think so. The quad was empty when I got back and it’s not as if the steps up here are in open view.”

“Then try not to let anybody see you with us before Saturday,” Katie said, earnestly. “I’d like you to find out as much as you can about Kiernonda’s plans: what weapon he’s going to be using and so on. Anything you can let us know would be really useful.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Carodoc, with a nod. “It might not occur to him that a nonda would pass information to us. He might let something useful slip.”

“Okay,” said Wastnonda. “I can’t promise anything but I’ll try.”

“Thanks,” said Katie. “Just keep your ears open.”

“I’d best be getting back,” Wastnonda said, pulling himself painfully to his feet. “For one thing, we don’t want anyone to notice I’ve been up here and, for another, I could do with a bath before bed! Is there anything else?”

Katie and Carodoc couldn’t think of anything.

“Then would you come and check the coast is clear for me?” he asked Carodoc.

“Good night,” he said to Katie as he left the room, “and thank you once again for saving my life.”

“Okay!” said Carodoc when he returned. “I need to go up and see Quarononde to sort out the training schedule. You said about your early morning sessions. What else do you need?”

“I could do with a couple of hours in the morning for some basic weapons practice, then, in the afternoon, I’m going to need some time on my own, away from the compound.”

“You mustn’t go out on your own,” he answered urgently. “There is a real chance that Kiernonda, or a couple of his mates, might try something on. I have to be there to look after you.”

Katie thought for a long time before answering. She was not sure how much she dared say about Psion. It was a risk to mention him but she knew that Carodoc was bound to notice that she was receiving additional coaching. “I think I should tell you that I’ll be getting help from somebody else,” she told him cautiously.

“There’s a limit as to how much help Rhiannas can give you,” Carodoc replied. “He can’t be seen to be getting too heavily involved in this for fear of it escalating into an open inter-House war.”

“No, I don’t mean him,” she said. “Don’t ask,” she added, as he moved to ask her what she was talking about. “I’m not going to tell you any more about it and, believe me, you wouldn’t want to know.”

Carodoc studied her quizzically for a few moments then shrugged.

“If you could leave me somewhere near the village, you might be able to find some way of entertaining yourself down there,” she suggested with a conspiratorial grin. “Don’t worry. I’ll not be on my own.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Carodoc replied. He had turned slightly red but did not look unhappy with her suggestion. “Is there anything else you need?” he added hurriedly, in an attempt to cover his embarrassment.

“Not that I can think of,” Katie replied.

“You need to go up and formally tell Rhiannas,” Carodoc told her. “He’ll have heard about it but it’s your duty to let him know in person.”

Katie nodded. “We can go up there tomorrow and call in on the village on the way.”

Carodoc nodded. “Then, if there’s nothing else, I’ll get on up to see Quarononde,” Carodoc said.

“Do you need me to come with you?” Katie asked.

“You can’t possibly come,” he answered, shocked at the idea. “You mustn’t leave the room.”

“You don’t think he might try and do something to you?”

“Don’t worry!” he said. “This stuff is all part of the formal negotiation of terms. It’s all laid down in the precepts and there’s no way they’re going to try anything, particularly with Zalibar hanging around two sword lengths away.”

“OK, I’ll stay here then,” she reassured him as he made his way towards the door.

[garethn]

Ch 17 Rhiannonde’s Sword

Word count 5118 (12-Jun-19) - italics

The next morning, Katie was up early, as usual, but today she had a companion as she jogged gently around the quad. Carodoc was evidently taking his rôle as her second seriously and, even at this early hour, he would not allow her to leave their dormitory without his protection. His muscles were warming up and he was starting to understand the purpose of this gentle exercise when Katie stopped and started to climb up to the gatehouse roof.

“What’s up there?” he asked, slightly surprised, as he started to follow her up the steps. He had never been up there before.

“Nothing much,” she answered. “There’s just a platform with a lovely view where I do my stretches.”

“Do you want me to come up with you?”

“I don’t mind,” she answered, “but I might be a little, well, absent.”

Carodoc nodded but said nothing and followed her up.

As soon as they were on the roof, she began her stretching routine and reached out with her mind to find Psion. As usual, he was down in his cave near the shoreline. He was not really asleep but he was dozing.

“Good morning, young mistress!” he said with a funny sort of mental stretch when he became aware of her presence. “I was expecting you. How are you feeling? Have you fully recovered from your adventures yesterday?”

“Psion,” she said urgently. “Something has come up.”

The little dragon was instantly fully alert and he listened attentively as she described what had happened the night before.

“What on earth does he think he’s playing at?” Psion said, mostly to himself.

“I’m sorry?” Katie responded.

“I do apologise,” he replied. “I was considering Kiernonda’s motivation. No nonda in their right mind is going to call out a tyro in a personal honour duel. They have far too much to lose and next to nothing to gain.”

“I think Quarononde is behind it,” said Katie.

“Do you now,” he said thoughtfully. “He is the second child of the House of Quaro, is he not?”

Katie gave a brief mental nod.

He considered this for a few more moments then his attention snapped to the more pressing issue. “Our first priority must, of course, be to ensure that you win this duel,” he said. “To do that, I need to understand Kiernonda’s character and combat characteristics as fully as possible.”

“Listen,” Katie said urgently. “I’ve got Carodoc here with me. He’s head tyro and can tell you that sort of thing much better than me. Is there anything you need to ask him?”

“Have you told him about me?” Psion asked.

“I’ve told him that I’m going to be getting help from somebody and that’s, basically, it,” she said. “Oh yes, I’ve told him I’m going to need to meet up with somebody in the afternoons.”

He thought about this for a moment before responding. “There is a risk in exposing our relationship however you clearly had to tell him something. That was probably the minimum you could get away with. Never forget, however, in all your dealings with your fellow tyros that, with one word from their master, they will slit your throat. They might do it with the utmost regret but they, nonetheless, would have to do it.”

Katie nodded. “I know,” she said, “but I still think you ought to talk to him, though.”

“I agree. It is worth the additional risk to better understand your opponent’s capabilities. May I borrow your mouth and ears?”

“Of course you may,” answered Katie. “What do I need to do?”

“You have no need to do anything,” Psion answered. “When we find ourselves in such a tight cerebral meld I could simply reach out and take over any part of you. You could do the same to me. It is, however, not generally considered polite to do so without asking!”

“Carodoc!” Katie said, turning to him. She noticed that he was trying to copy some of her stretches. “I’m going to ask you a couple of questions about Kiernonda. You might think that some of them are a bit funny but someone else will be listening in.”

“This is another one of your, ‘don’t ask, you don’t want to know,’ things, isn’t it,” he said with a grin. “Okay, fire away!”

“Please describe Kiernonda as a fighter,” she heard herself saying.

Carodoc gave her a peculiar look, recognising that something out of the ordinary was happening, but then he shrugged and began, “Kiernonda’s one of our more skilled nonda transitors. He is quick and ruthless with the broadsword, but he doesn’t always pay enough attention to defence.”

“Is he right handed?”

A series of perceptive questions followed, addressing all aspects of Kiernonda’s combat technique and habits. When Psion was finished, Carodoc went to sit on the low wall with his back to the sea. He looked slightly stunned from the blizzard of penetrating questions he had just had to answer.

“That was amazing!” Katie said to Psion.” I’ve watched Kiernonda fight in the Saturday sparring sessions and so on, but just thinking about those questions made me look at him in a completely different way. Have you done this before?”

“I have been preparing humans for duels for an extremely long time now, and, I might add, only on rare occasions have my charges failed to emerge victorious.”

“That’s encouraging,” Katie replied.

“Encouraging or not, you’re in for the toughest four days of your life if you are to survive this particular encounter. He is a much more experienced swordsman than you.”

“But I’ve got the best advisor on my side.”

“Have no doubt, young mistress,” he said in an uncharacteristically serious tone, “that he, too, will have excellent advisors. It is my working assumption that he will have the full support of the House of Quaro in preparing for this encounter.”

“And they’re good?”

“Quaro is one of the four senior Edify. Their advice will be excellent. Our principle advantage lies in the fact that you are a completely unknown quantity for them.”

“Won’t they just ask Kiernonda and Quarononde the same sort of questions you just asked me?”

“Beyond doubt!” he answered. “I am, however, cautiously optimistic that they will fail to recognise your cerebral puissant capabilities, though you gave significant indication of your budding talents yesterday.”

“You what?”

“They might not take into account how powerful your mind is and how effectively you’ll be able to use it in the fight.”

“People in the house are starting to wake,” Psion warned her. “We need to break the link quite soon.”

“Before you go – what training should we be doing this morning?”

“Tell the young gentleman that he should teach you all the sword, dagger and cerebral defences he knows. Your activities in the quad will doubtless be most minutely observed however those exercises will reveal little to our opponents. Ensure you keep your will on a tight leash, however. I would not have you advertising your mental resources any more than is absolutely necessary before the confrontation.”

“And where can I find you?”

“If you turn left off the path at the little bridge just before the village and go up the stream for about a quarter of a mile, you’ll find a dilapidated farmhouse. That’s where I’ll be.”

“And do I need to bring anything with me?”

“You might want to bring a training sword and dagger, though I intend to concentrate more on the mental and psychological aspects of combat rather than crass butchery. Is there anything else?”

Katie shook her head and Psion blinked out of contact.

She looked around and saw that Carodoc was looking at her. “I know you can’t tell me anything,” he said, his relief obvious in his voice, “but I’m feeling much more optimistic than I was when I woke up this morning.”

Katie said nothing but nodded at him with a gentle smile.

“I don’t know who he is, but he seems to know what he’s talking about,” he added, then turned and made his way down the steps.

“This morning, I think it might be useful if you show me all the sword, dagger and mind defences you know,” Katie said as they made their way across the quad towards the kitchen.

“What an excellent idea!” Carodoc replied with a smile that made it quite clear that he knew that the idea had not come from her.

They’d spent the first two hours of the morning training session practicing a series of cerebral-sword parries. Katie was finding the concept tricky at first and had to fight a tendency to simply flap ineffectually with her sword whilst parrying the incoming blow with her mind. Eventually, Carodoc had had enough and called her over to the well for a drink of water. Katie wanted to keep going but he assured her that she would make more progress after a break.

“Hey!” he called to Calbar, who was also taking a break. “You’ll remember this. What is it that the manual says about the sword-mind parry?”

“You mean, ‘In the cerebral supported broadsword parry, the sword is used to parry the blow. The mind is used to expand and buttress the sword,’?” Calbar asked.

“That’s the one, thanks!” replied Carodoc.

“‘The recommended exercise is to parry a series of blows of increasing force’,” he went on in his characteristically expressionless ‘quoting the manual’ monotone, “‘at first using only muscle power, then, as the power of the blows increases, adding in mind power to support the sword.’”

“If all else fails, consult the manual!” Carodoc said in an exasperated tone. “How does that sound?” he asked Katie.

But at that moment, they were disturbed as a flight of three dragons circled the compound and prepared to descend. “Clear the quad!” came a shout from Zalibar. The area by the well became suddenly crowded as a number of students used the opportunity to grab a drink.

Katie suddenly felt a scrap of paper being pushed into her hand. Looking up she saw Wastnonda, who flashed her a brief smile before disappearing into the crowd.

She waited a few moments before glancing down at the note:

‘Kiernonda and Quarononde are to leave today, to return to practice in the Quaro lair.

‘Kiernonda’s chosen weapons will, of course, be sword and dagger.

‘They’ve got some sort of trick planned which includes a switch of weapons. They seem fairly confident that it will throw the fight in their favour.

‘All the best.’

As the three dragons landed in the quad, Katie handed the note to Carodoc who quickly read it. He gave it back to Katie and she stuffed it into her sock. Then she looked up to see that the three dragons were being controlled by a single rider. His dragon landed on the platform whilst the other two set down in the quad.

“That’s the Quaro sword master!” Carodoc whispered, nodding towards a tall man who was exchanging a few pleasantries with Zalibar. The sword master glanced, apparently casually, around the quad.

Thinking about Psion’s words, ‘You are a completely unknown quantity for them,’ her right hand reached towards her bracelet and she gently slipped behind Carodoc. If he was looking for her then she wanted to stay out of sight. She sensed that he was hunting for her in the cloud world too, and she had to fight the urge to throw up a shield. She knew she was still far too noisy and might as well start banging a drum.

Glancing over Carodoc’s shoulder, she saw Kiernonda and Quarononde emerging at the top of the steps. Whilst the sword master gave Kiernonda an encouraging nod, his glance darkened considerably when he saw Quarononde.

She waited, alert and ready, as Kiernonda and Quarononde made their way across the quad and mounted the dragons. Katie tensed again, as she felt the sword master’s eyes and will flowing over her and it was with great relief that she saw the flight take off and disappear in the direction of the Edifice. Only then did she emerge from behind Carodoc.

“Let’s go!” she said to him with renewed vigour. “We’ve got a duel to prepare for!”

The rest of the morning went by in a flash. With the hints from Calbar, she was quickly able to master the blocks and, though she was still somewhat noisy and cumbersome, by lunchtime she was able to block any blows Carodoc sent in her direction.

“We’ll hang on to our swords and daggers,” Katie whispered to Carodoc as Zalibar gave a whistle and shouted that everyone should break for lunch. “It’ll look like we’re just off to practice somewhere in private.”

As they made their way along the track towards the village, Carodoc tried to tell Katie about the arrangements for the dual but there was a blustery wind blowing in from the sea and at times he had to shout to make himself heard. It was a relief when the track took them away from the cliff tops and dropped down towards the village.

He was reluctant to leave her at the bridge but, after checking with Psion that there was nobody else about, she was happy to send him on his way. “Go and see Molly,” she told him. “I’ll be fine. I’ll come and find you in about four hours.”

“Try not to let anyone else see you!” she called after him as he made his way across the bridge.

“Don’t worry, I won’t!” he shouted back with a smile.

There was a path along the western side of the river but it was overgrown and obviously was not used very often. It followed the meanders of the stream and after about a quarter of a mile an old, dilapidated farmhouse came into sight, slightly above her.

She cut across the boggy ground then climbed up the steep slope to the farmhouse. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, she felt reassured when she sensed a familiar grin.

She made her way through the doorway. Though there was no roof, the walls were still standing, giving some protection from the wind. After blinking a couple of times, she forced her way through his illusion and Psion sprang into sight, reclining on a pile of rubble.

“Good afternoon, young mistress!” he greeted her.

“Good afternoon!” she replied. “Before we start, you might want to see this.” She showed him Wastnonda’s note.

“We shall discuss weapon switches tomorrow,” he told her, evidently pleased to have this information. “I presume that flight of dragons this morning was the Kier group,” he said.

“Carodoc said it was the Quaro sword master.”

“Excellent!” Psion said, rising to a more alert sitting position.

“But isn’t he really good.”

“Quaroclethyfur is one of the best.”

“Then how can that be good?”

“Because I know I’m facing him and he doesn’t know he’s facing me,” he answered, flourishing his tail exuberantly.

“I thought it was me facing Kiernonda!”

“The confrontation is going to be happening on two levels,” Psion explained. “Yes, of course, you two are going to be inside the Henge hacking lumps off each other, but Quaroclethyfur and I are going to be there beforehand, recommending strategies, predicting the opponents moves and teaching you manoeuvres to counter them.”

Katie thought about this for a few moments. “How are you going to teach me manoeuvres?” she asked. “I mean, you can’t exactly hold a sword and dagger.”

“Should it prove necessary, I am perfectly capable of manipulating a sword and dagger with my mind however, in these particular circumstances, I propose to leave education in the straightforward mechanics in Carodoc’s hands. For what I intend to teach you, it will prove more efficacious, and certainly less dangerous, to insert the image of an attacker directly into your mind.”

“You can do that?

“I’ve told you, I’m good!” he said, with his characteristically arrogant tail flick.

“Okay!” said Katie, springing to her feet. “Let’s get going then.”

“Very well,” said Psion. “Today I suggest we talk about basic manoeuvring and cerebral combat and finally, we should address the more strategic aspects of combat.”

“What do you mean by ‘strategic aspects’?”

“Consider this,” Psion replied, raising himself into a more upright pose. “You and Kiernonda are circling each other in the middle of the ring. Do you attack or do you wait for him to attack? When you attack do you go all out for the kill, risking everything, or should it be more of a probing, weakening attack? You decide to make a probing attack but, in the middle of it, you recognise that he is in difficulty. How do you escalate your attack to take advantage of this momentary weakness?”

“Oh, I see,” said Katie, feeling quite deflated. “You think you can teach me all this in four afternoons?”

“You could easily spend four years learning. Many do. However, there are a couple of factors which permit us to take short cuts. Firstly, you’re only fighting a transitor. He will have studied more strategy than you but only a little. Secondly, we only need to prepare you to face one opponent. We know him and, what is more, I know his tutor.”

“You also have one more significant advantage. You have an unusually powerful mind which can compensate for limitations in other areas.”

The time with Psion flew by: she was circling an illusionary opponent, as if in a dance, with her right leg crossing in front, if she intended to advance and her left, if she intended to retreat; she was deflecting phantom blows from sword or dagger, choosing either to twist the blow to one side or to parry and counterattack; she was learning to escalate from a simple, sparring level of contact to a decisive attack.

Most of all, Psion was placing particular emphasis on techniques for breaking contact when she did not feel completely in control.

She was feeling quite elated though weary, when he told her to sit down and have a rest.

“Pray, do not allow yourself to become too excited, young mistress,” Psion cautioned her. “Bear in mind that Kiernonda will already be completely familiar with these basic techniques and more.”

Katie nodded, slightly deflated.

“But we should now consider an aspect in which you enjoy a decisive advantage in the duel: how to make the most effective use of your cerebral potential. In addition to those cerebral parries that you practiced this morning, there is a whole gamut of additional options.”

“Sorry?”

“There are a lot of other things that you can do with your mind in the fight. You know what Rhiannas did to you that first evening?”

Katie nodded.

“Imagine the impact of such an attack in combat!”

“But I can’t…” began Katie, appalled at the idea of another attack like that one.

“Don’t worry. Nor can he, or he would no longer be a transitor. There are, nonetheless, a couple of tricks I can show you. First, however, you’re going to have to practice what is termed a flash transition.”

“A what?”

“‘A flash transition into the cerebral domain’,” he explained. “You can’t stand around for five minutes in the middle of combat while you perform your transition into what you’ve been calling the ‘cloud world’, can you? By the time you returned you would be reduced to nag meat.”

Katie smiled and gave a nod.

“So you need to learn how to transition in, perform the necessary action and then transition out before your opponent has a chance to react.”

“And I’ve got to learn how to do this in four days?”

“I’ve got some good news for you. You can already do it.”

“What?”

“Do you remember what happened when you had that squabble with Quarononde over the soup? I believe that you instinctively performed a flash transition to throw up your shield.”

“I didn’t think about it at all… I just did it.”

“That, I would venture to suggest, is the quintessential core of the flash transition. Now the method that I propose to adopt in teaching you this technique is to trigger your instinctive reaction…”

Without warning, he launched a slap in the direction of Katie’s mind. Stumbling over herself, she threw up a flimsy tower which allowed her to deflect most of the force.

“…whilst you’re performing some minor task in the base domain and then allow you to analyse how you performed the flash transition.”

Katie smiled as she thought about the shield. Time appeared to pass more slowly in the ‘cerebral domain’, so she had more time than she realised to perform the transition and to parry the blow.

“Isn’t it slightly unfair,” asked Katie, “to put in a blow when your opponent isn’t…”

She attempted to repeat the instantaneous transition into the cloud world and threw out a slap in the direction of his bubbling blue cloud. At first he did not react and she thought that she might, perhaps, have tricked him but, at the last moment, he flicked out a lazy, partial shield and swatted the blow back towards her as if it were an annoying fly. She had to scramble once more to throw up her own shield. As she was flipping, slightly disappointed, back into what he called the ‘base domain’, she noticed that his cloud had taken on a slightly amused sheen.

“…ready!”

The two looked at each other for a moment then laughed.

After an hour, Katie was standing on one leg on a tree stump with her wooden practice sword balanced on one finger. At the same time she was attempting to execute or ward off slaps in the cerebral domain.

At last Psion told her to come down and rest. “You appear to be getting to grips with those flash transitions,” he told her. “Tomorrow we will consider how they may be used.”

Katie sat down on a tree stump close to him, closed her eyes and shook her head. She still had a slight headache from a couple of blows that she had failed to parry.

“Now we move on to the area of strategy. It is here that we should be able to achieve a decisive advantage.”

Psion preened himself in false modesty then, turning himself slightly to one side and wrapping his tail round his body, he began his lecture.

“The first factor to consider is that you are considerably fitter than Kiernonda. He will wish to conclude the fight as expeditiously as possible. You, therefore, should seek to prolong it by withdrawing from every contact in the first part of the fight.”

“I noticed that you were talking about withdrawal a lot!” said Katie.

“It will be critical to your victory.”

The lecture on strategy continued for another hour and, throughout, Psion continued to emphasise that she should allow Kiernonda to keep attacking her. “He is the much more experienced fighter,” he explained. “People will be expecting him to deal with you quickly. When the crowd becomes restless, he will become frustrated and make a mistake. That is your moment to strike.”

Katie went quiet for a moment, thinking about this.

“You need to be on your way quite soon if you are to reach the Edifice before nightfall,” Psion warned her.

Katie nodded. “What do you think I should do tomorrow morning?” she asked.

“Quaroclethyfur will be receiving regular reports and your training must not give him insight into our plans so I suggest you practice the standard attacks - both simple and counter. You may need the simple attacks for later in the fight and the counters are an effective way of breaking contact with the possibility of doing some damage – or at least making your opponent think about damage.”

“OK,” Katie said as she climbed wearily to her feet. It had been a long day

“Take care up in the Edifice,” he added. “Whilst I am confident that they underestimate you and would not expect them to attempt anything untoward, you should, nonetheless, remain vigilant. Avoid dawdling on your way up to the Rhian lair.”

From the front of the farmhouse, Katie quickly returned along the path to the bridge. As she made her way up into the village, she stuck to the lengthening shadows at the side of the road, trusting to her mother’s leather bracelet to conceal her.

“I’m here,” Katie announced to Carodoc as she approached the shop. He had obviously been waiting for her and the door opened at once.

“And I’m please to see you!” he told her. “I was starting to get worried.”

Katie gave him a reassuring smile. “Let’s see if the pie shop is still open,” she suggested. “I’m starving.”

The walk up to the lair was uneventful, though Katie was sure she was never going to get used to the scale of the Edifice or the appalling drop on one side of the ringway path.

“You should ask his permission before we go in,” Carodoc warned her as they reached the Rhian veranda. “I don’t want to be flamed by accident!”

Katie gently reached out her mind to Rhiannas who was waiting inside and clearly already knew they were there. “Greetings, master!” she said. “I bring a visitor: the head tyro Carodoc. Do we have your leave to enter?”

“Enter in peace, Rhianadoc and Carodoc!” came the formal response from within.

The two walked the length of the chamber and approached Rhiannas, who lay, curled up like a dog on his dais.

Katie took a deep breath then said, “I have come to let you know that I have been promoted to the status of transitor and, what is more, that Kiernonda has challenged me to a formal honour duel.”

“I had been made aware of this,” he told her impassively. “It is, however, fitting that you come to inform me in person.”

“I take it you are to act as her second,” he said to Carodoc.

“Yes, sir,” came the response.

“Rhianadoc,” said Rhiannas, “go up to the House Hall. There are a number of swords hanging on the wall. The fourth from the left has a simple metal pommel and a leather sheath that bears no markings other than the House insignia. Bring it here.”

Katie went up into the throne room. She quickly found the weapon he had described and, being careful only to touch the sheath, she took it down from the wall and hurried back with it.

“Draw the blade!” he instructed her tersely.

Katie was, by now, familiar with the way her mind leapt to grasp the simple training blades used down at Zalibar’s academy. She was, however, not prepared for the way in which her mind instinctively reached out to embrace this obviously superior blade. For a moment she was lost to the world of Rhiannas and the chamber as her mind reached out to explore every facet of this magnificent weapon.

“Your appreciation of the blade is not difficult to perceive,” Rhiannas remarked, his tone remained flat but contained just a hint of amusement. Katie ran through a couple of the basic sword exercises and found that the heavy pommel gave it a beautiful balance whilst the handle and simple cross guard fitted her like a glove.

She looked round at Carodoc who was standing next to her. “It’s a good job Zalibar isn’t here!” he told her with a smile. “You know he doesn’t approve of you being so noisy!”

He waited a few seconds before adding, “Mind you, he probably heard you right down in his compound!”

Rhiannas studied her analytically for a moment, evidently intrigued at the way her mind had reacted to the blade. “It is Rhiannonde’s training blade,” he informed her, “You may use it in the duel. May it bring you good fortune!”

“Thank you, sir,” Katie replied formally, her hand rising to the torque at her neck.

“I shall now bear you back to the compound as it is not without risk for you two to be here in the Edifice without appropriate protection.” He stepped casually off the dais and, stretching out his wings, he skimmed casually down the lair to the mounting stairs.

“Thank you, sir,” Carodoc said promptly. He hurried after the dragon, obviously relieved, and Katie followed.

“Come then,” said Rhiannas as Katie climbed onto his shoulders and Carodoc climbed up just behind her. “Now, let me observe how well Zalibar has taught you,” he said, as he pulled her into his mind.

The flight through the darkening sky was as exhilarating as ever and her experience with the nags made her appreciate his skill even more. She received a light mental sting and an admonishing: “I am not a nag!” when she tried to ease a little more room for herself as they flew through his flute but she could tell that he was pleased with the progress she had made.

“Zalibar is teaching you well,” he informed her as they arrived in the compound. “The reports I have received indicate that you have the potential to be a creditable servant. I wish you well in this coming encounter, Rhianadoc,”

“Thank you, sir!” she answered formally as Zalibar appeared at the top of the house stairs and made a bow.

“Now leave us,” he instructed them. “I would talk with Zalibar.”

Katie and Carodoc bowed then headed for their dormitory.

The next three days passed in a flash. Both Psion and Carodoc were excellent teachers and Katie knew that she was learning quickly but she remained painfully aware of how much she still had to learn and what the price of failure would be.

As the challenged party, Katie was to draw first, so she had spent much of the second morning practicing the standard opening gambits with Carodoc. In the afternoon, however, Psion showed her how to switch from one of them to another in mid flow. “Kiernonda will be looking for one of the standard manoeuvres,” Psion explained. “We can use that against him.”

On the third afternoon, he had her practicing a number of unconventional and underhand moves: tripping your opponent, whether by foot or using the will; or a kick to the knee or an elbow to the kidneys.

“There are almost no rules out there,” he commented coolly. “Anything you can do to unsettle and unnerve Kiernonda is fair game.”

He even mentioned the subject of talking in the fight. “Your aim is to radiate an air of quiet confidence at all times,” he told her. “You should avoid extended conversations, but a word now and then may serve to keep him attacking.”

[garethn]

Ch 18 In the Sands of the Henge

Word count 3155 (12-Jun-19)

The Saturday morning dawned cool and there was a touch of autumnal mist in the air as Katie and Carodoc jogged gently around the quad. As ever, they made their way up to the gatehouse platform and Katie reached out to Psion.

“Good morning, young mistress!” Psion greeted her. “I hope you are well rested.”

“Yes, thank you. That final session last night left me too tired to stay awake worrying!”

“I rather hoped that might be the case,” he responded with a smile.

“Now I do not intent to say anything about the fight this morning because I believe you already know everything you need. I did, however, want to let you know what you should expect before the fight starts.

“Firstly Rhiannas: I do not know whether he will attend. If he does, it will be as an impartial observer. As you are a servant, he will not be able to publicly acknowledge his support for you. Do not let that worry you, however, as the loan of that sword indicates quite clearly where his allegiances lie.

“Carodoc will fly you up to the Edifice and, if I know Zalibar, he will happen to fly up at the same time to ensure no foul play.

“Only you and Kiernonda may cross the stones into the Henge and the stones themselves prevent any form of external interference. Zalibar will ask the two of you if you’re ready and, if he receives no reply, will start you with the command ‘Lath’.

“Remember to let him come at you. He will underestimate you. Use his own impatience and frustration against him and, if all else fails, try something wild and extravagant. It might not do any good but at least it will give people something to remember you by!”

He was silent for a few moments, allowing her time to think about this then asked, “Have you any final questions?”

“Will you be there?” Katie asked, suddenly feeling very alone and frightened.

“Though I am unable to attend in person, you know you have my blessings and good wishes. I should be able to pick up enough from the spectators to know how the duel is progressing.”

He went quiet for a moment then said in a measured, formal voice, “Do not, for an instant, forget whose daughter you are. Hold tight to that and I am certain you will prevail.”

Then he was gone.

Katie stood for a moment longer, staring out to sea and thinking about her mother and the duel ahead, then she turned to Carodoc. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go and get some breakfast.”

There was already a small spectator ring wheeling around the Henge as Carodoc brought Katie into the Edifice on one of the nags. As Psion had predicted, Zalibar was following them. He was far enough away for it to be clear that they were traveling separately, but near enough to be a visible presence to discourage any interference.

“Kiernonda’s not here yet,” Carodoc observed as they landed just outside the Rhian gate, “but he’ll be here soon. He’s not going to risk being late.” He and Katie started to run through her final checks.

Soon Kiernonda and Quarononde appeared. They glided down towards them, accompanied by Quaroclethyfur and Kiernon, Kiernonda’s father.

“No Quaronas,” Katie observed.

“Of course not. Quaro can’t be seen to be showing any interest in a personal honour duel between a couple of Zalibar’s students. To be honest, it’s stretching things for Quaroclethyfur to be here.”

Kiernonda and Quarononde landed just outside the Quaro gate and they, too, started their final checks.

Katie was carefully rechecking the edge on her blade with a sharpening stone when there was a disturbance in the spectator rings. “We have an additional impartial spectator,” Carodoc observed.

She looked up in time to see Rhiannas cruising into the spectator ring. The ring instantly split into two levels with only Rhiannas, Kiernon and Quaroclethyfur remaining at the lowest level. All other observers moved to a higher, inferior ring. As Psion had warned her, the mighty dragon did not even acknowledge her presence. It was strange, though at one level she hated him for what he had done to her and what he had made her do to Megan, she was, nonetheless, pleased that there was at least one observer who she knew was on her side.

“Right, mind back on business,” Carodoc said, doing his best to radiate an air of calm control. “Armour straps… chin strap…” he said, restarting the checklist. When they were finished, he smiled at her. “Go get him!” he said.

Katie nodded back and moved towards the stones, her heart was pumping and she wanted to scream. Before breaching the circle, she stood for a moment, to slow her breathing and gather her thoughts. “You’re good!” she told herself. “You’ve not been at it as long as he has but you can take him to pieces with your will. And you are your mother’s daughter.”

She stepped into the ring through the Rhian gate with a smile on her face.

Katie watched as Kiernonda, too, walked confidently into the ring but she was pleased to see that he paled somewhat when he saw her standing there looking impassive and confident. His contemptuous smile became a little more forced.

When they had moved to stand opposite each other in the sand at the centre of the Henge, Zalibar, mounted on Nero, came in to perch on one of the gates. “I shall ask you once if you are ready,” he announced formally, “and if I receive no reply I shall give the command, ‘lath’ to start you.” As he spoke, the Great Gong seemed to amplify his words through the whole Edifice.

“Are you ready?”

Katie’s right hand hovered over her sword hilt, with her left just a touch further away from the dagger. Her eyes remained fixed on Kiernonda’s.

“Lath!”

As the challenged party, Katie had the right to draw first and, as planned, she waited for two seconds that felt like an eternity to further build up the tension for Kiernonda. Then, in an explosive release of her pent up tension, she sprang across the ring, drawing her weapons as she sprang. She saw Kiernonda’s lips twist in a smile of recognition as she opened with one of the basic gambits. As Psion had predicted, he moved into an aggressive counter and was almost completely thrown as she switched into another form. Only a desperate, scrambled block allowed him to slip to one side as she passed him.

Katie turned and started circling, left foot crossing right, ready to retreat, and looked across to Kiernonda. He had been shaken by her unconventional opening and turned even paler. He jumped across the circle to attack and she parried him easily, pushing him off to the right and retreating back into her circling movement.

Twice more he closed and twice more she parried and retreated: once to the left and once more to the right.

She tried one of Psion’s flash transitions and felt Kiernonda gathering himself for a high level attack. As he charged across the circle, she threw in one of the simple mental trips that Psion had shown her. He stumbled forwards and only managed to avoid her sword by throwing himself into the sand and rolling out of the way.

He scrambled to his feet in a stream of profanities.

He attacked twice more, but now he was showing a little more caution.

“Come on, fight!” he snarled at her. She did not reply, but instead simply smiled and continued her circling, studying every move of his hands and face.

It was his eyes that gave away the fact that he was gathering himself for an all out attack so, cautiously, she flipped into the cerebral domain as they continued to circle. She reached across to his thrashing cloud and could almost taste him gathering his strength and will for the attack. As he released his will to spring at her, she switched to a right foot cross and counter-attacked. She managed to throw herself inside his defence and only a desperate mental block saved him from her sword. Even so, she managed to flick her dagger towards his throat. He tried to dodge but the blade caught his cheek as he staggered past.

She had drawn first blood. And at least he would have a scar to remember her by.

She resumed her circling and he followed her round. ‘Time is your friend!’ she repeated to herself as she retreated before another of his attacks. She made no attempt to block this thought from leaking out of her mind. If overheard, it would only add to his frustration.

Not wanting to become predictable, she closed for a dummy attack of her own towards his right leg. So successful was the dummy, that both his sword and dagger were thrown to his right side in defence. She grunted in frustration when she realised that she would not be able to bring her sword to bear so instead launched a savage kick to the side of his helmet. He staggered back, slightly stunned.

With Kiernonda at this disadvantage, it was her turn to go on the offensive. Twice she launched attacks across the circle. The first time she closed, he managed to parry her blade and retreat under control but the second time he staggered and almost fell as he withdrew.

She looked across as they started to circle once more. She saw Kiernonda throw a despairing glance up towards Quarononde who gave a nod of agreement. She threw in a careful flash transition to try to understand what he was planning but he had thrown up his most impenetrable of shields and she knew she would not be able to break through them without compromising her concentration in the base domain.

So instead she launched yet another attack across the circle. This time, as he blocked her blow on his dagger, he allowed his blade to slip from between his fingers. Katie was astonished. Her blow had not been that powerful and he should not have lost his grip. He used her moment of confusion to scramble back out of range before she could press her attack home. As they began to circle once more, he drew another knife from a scabbard at his belt. Something about the blade of the new knife caught her eye. From close up its blade had a peculiar sheen like oil on water.

Katie savagely barked at herself for allowing herself to be distracted and urgently dragged her attention back to the matter in hand. For a few seconds they circled and then they both closed on each other. She was astonished when he made no attempt to block her blow to his thigh with his knife. Instead he flicked at her shoulder with the short blade. She used her will to power through his mental defences and felt her blade biting home into his leg. Not a grievous blow, but one that was going to severely hamper him for the rest of the fight. Katie was so intent in overcoming his mental shield that she had not been able to block his knife to her shoulder and she noticed a slight sting as it struck home.

She glanced down at her shoulder as her legs began to take her round in a circle once more. It was nothing. She’d got worse off Zalibar’s whip when out on the runs. She looked across the circle to Kiernonda. He was moving with great difficulty now. He would not be able to repel another attack.

But something was wrong with her arm. Had he caught a nerve or something? With terror, she realised that she could no longer hold her sword and it tumbled from her grasp.

She stumbled back as Kiernonda began a clumsy attack. She tried to block him but her legs were not able to hold her. She tumbled backwards onto the sand.

She could do nothing but lie there as Kiernonda rained blow after blow down onto her. She blocked as well as she could with her will and her dagger but she could feel the strength ebbing from her left arm too. She knew that, when that went, she would no longer be able to defend herself.

Suddenly a shout of “Hold!” resonated around the Edifice. Katie could no longer move her head and she sensed, rather than saw, as Rhiannas landed on the Rhian gate.

“The outcome of this duel has been determined and I would not have my property further damaged in this encounter,” he proclaimed. “Is there any here who would gainsay me?”

There was silence throughout the Edifice.

“Then clear the Henge,” he ordered, as he took off and flew up towards his lair.

As the mists closed in, Katie saw Zalibar’s face leaning over her. His ugly features were further distorted by a mixture of confusion and suspicion.

The next thing she knew, she was floating half way between the cerebral and base domains, looking up into the face of a beautiful young woman. She was sure that the face was familiar, as if from a dream or a distant memory. That was it; she was a baby, being held in her mother’s arms. She was being shown to a dragon, and not just any dragon. She was being introduced to Psion, but Psion as she had never known him. He was a brilliant white colour and almost as large as Rhiannas. His scales sparkled in the sunlight, radiating vigour and strength and the bubbling blue of his mind was vibrant.

But his most striking feature was the look he bestowed on her mother and herself. Both his face and his mind shone with utter devotion… and with love.

As the mists began to clear, her body was wracked by terrible fever pains. Carodoc was holding her mouth open and Zalibar was forcing mug after mug of water down her throat. She had never seen Zalibar so angry. His face was scarlet and he was repeating a string of profanities like a mantra.

Katie tried to beg him to stop, but he either did not hear her or chose to ignore her as he continued to pour the water into her.

After what seemed like an age, he stopped his swearing and the water. “Six mugs of water an hour for the next ten hours!” he barked at Carodoc. “After that you can go down to three an hour. Her life and health depend on it. Is that clear?”

Katie heard Carodoc agreeing before she lapsed back into unconsciousness.

When she came back to her senses, it was Jenko who was holding her and Carodoc who was forcing her to drink. Every bone still ached but it was not as bad as it had been. “What’s happening?” she asked between gulps.

“Keep drinking and I’ll tell you,” he answered.

She shut her eyes and drank.

“Zalibar thinks you’ve been poisoned. You were on your way out when we got you back here and Zalibar didn’t know what to do until Jenko came in and said ‘gorat’. As soon as he heard that, Zalibar started swearing and pouring water down your throat.”

“So the knife was poisoned? I knew it looked a bit funny - like rainbows.”

“Well, you might say that, but you probably shouldn’t, because accusing people of being in violation of the Precepts without any evidence could bring the wrath of the Edifice down on your head.

“Keep drinking,” he added.

“I’ve had enough.”

“Listen! You can either drink it or I’m going to get Zalibar. I’m sure he’ll manage to persuade you.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“In case you didn’t hear, your life and health depends on it so you can be quite sure I will.”

“Okay then, but tell me what happened at the end there.”

“Rhiannas stepped in and stopped Kiernonda from killing you. He had to swallow his pride a bit to get involved on behalf of a mere ’doc in a trivial honour duel like that…” Carodoc paused and thought for a moment. “I don’t suppose it was too bad for him because the end of the fight was so odd and because you’d done so well up until that point. Nobody was expecting you to last more than about two minutes.”

“Nobody?”

“I knew you’d do better than most people thought but I wasn’t quite as confident as I tried to make out!” he admitted sheepishly.

“Anyway, how are you feeling?” he asked, after he had forced another two mugs of water down her.

“Terrible,” she answered. “Have you got a bucket?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Nolan called from across the room. She was one of the few female tyros. “Get out of the way, boys, give the lady some privacy.”

The rest of the day passed in a haze of fevered dreams, mugs of water and frequent use of the bucket. Towards evening she was feeling much better when Zalibar appeared.

The rest of the students stood and Katie, too, tried to get up but Zalibar told her to stay where she was.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, taking her pulse and looking into the whites of her eyes.

“Much better, thank you, sir.”

“Good, keep drinking the water and we should avoid any lasting damage.”

He looked around the room. “Are you all listening?” he asked. “I just said a couple of things at dinner and I’m going to repeat them now so everyone is utterly clear about them.

“Firstly, the conflict between Kiernonda and Rhianadoc is now closed. Rhiannas has declared it so. I will not tolerate it being reopened. Is that clear?”

He fixed first Katie and then Carodoc with his piercing eyes until they each acknowledged his words with a nod.

“Secondly, there have been ugly rumours of a breach in the precepts amongst my students. Let there be no doubt, if these prove to be true, I have no intention of trying to protect those culpable. Indeed, my hand will be one of the first to be raised against them. On the other hand, don’t forget that you cannot simply accuse someone of a breach in the precepts without any evidence.

“And, just to remove any doubt, young lady, the state of health of some non-entity tyro is not evidence of anything. I now consider this complete incident regrettable history.”

“By the way,” he added, using some sort of private form of cerebral communication that allowed only Katie and Carodoc to hear, “the two of you did really well. If he hadn’t resorted to gorat…” he seemed to spit out the word, “you’d have sliced his liver out, young lady. Well done.”

“Good night!” he said out loud as he glided smoothly out of the room.

[garethn]

Ch 19 Recovery

Word count 4801 (12-Jun-19)

By the third day, Katie had recovered enough strength to make it up to Rhiannas’s lair in the Edifice.

“I have come to thank you for saving my life in the duel,” she said, as she stood before him, still swaying slightly from the exertion of the climb.

Rhiannas reclined in front of her on his dais, gesturing casually with his tail. “As I said at the time, I had no desire to see my property further damaged. Your own admirable performance coupled with the questionable conclusion of the confrontation allowed me to intervene without significant personal cost.”

Katie nodded formally.

“The reports I have since received of your illness serve only to confirm that my intervention was not only permissible but absolutely imperative,” he went on. He pulled himself into an upright pose and gesticulated emphatically with his tail. “I could accept the loss of a valuable servant in an honourably fought duel. However, to have you stolen from me in crass disregard for the ancient precepts of the Edifice would have been utterly intolerable.” As his temper rose, the red colouring of his neck and face became more intense.

“You, too, believe he used gorat.”

“Of that there can be no doubt, though…” He calmed his growing rage with obvious effort and resumed his recumbent pose. “We must, nonetheless, show discretion here, for to make the charge openly could escalate the hostilities between Rhian and Quaro into open inter-House warfare.”

“Perhaps that’s what Quaronas wants?”

“A perceptive suggestion, young tyro,” he responded thoughtfully, “though I am minded otherwise. Though he was ever the enemy of the House of Rhian, even I cannot deny that his conduct has remained rigorously within the precepts and customs of the Edifice. I suspect there are other agents at work here of which I am not yet aware. But when I have identified the miscreants, the vengeance of the House of Rhian will be swift and terrible.” He added emphasis to his words with vicious stabs with the tip of his tail.

“I hope, sir, that when the time for vengeance comes, I may play my part in extracting it.”

“That desire fits you well, young tyro, and puts me in mind of another young lady who once wore that torque.”

Katie smiled at him. “I should return Rhiannonde’s sword, sir,” she said, drawing it from its sheath and offering it to him, hilt first.

“Pray retain it,” he replied. “You will have need of a worthy weapon when the time for vengeance comes.”

Katie gave her most formal bow and resheathed the sword.

On the way back, she managed to meet Psion. She had the strange experience of witnessing the duel for a second time as, with her permission, he extracted it from her head. He was delighted with her performance.

The use of the poison, however, both astonished and appalled him. “People up in the Edifice would take an extremely dim view of the situation if the use of gorat were proven,” he explained. “Even its possession is utterly prescribed in the precepts and, had Kiernonda been caught using it in an honour duel, he would have been declared anathema and his entire Family would have been annihilated without mercy. You know, better than most, the effects that it can have on humans. Its effects are even more extreme for us dragons. Even tiny amounts of the ghastly stuff can block us from using our will and we dragons rely on our will for such minor functions as thinking and even breathing." Katie had never seen him so vehement.

He paused for a moment. “I suppose it would be possible to simulate the effect of gorat using a mind on mind attack,” he said at last. “Did you notice anything like that… or anything strange about the blade?”

“You mean that it looked like rainbows?”

Psion gave a mental nod. “At close quarters, the vile substance gives a characteristic sheen to a blade,” he told her. “If it was not gorat, somebody was deliberately attempting to give the impression that it was.”

“I take it you told Jenko what it was?”

“When I saw them carrying you back to Zalibar’s compound, I felt obliged to borrow his eyes,” he replied. “That young man leaves himself unbelievably wide open,” he noted as an aside. “It was evident to me that you had been poisoned and, of course, I had no difficulty implanting the idea in Jenko’s mind.”

He thought for a moment. “The only outstanding question is, ‘Why would anyone take such an appalling risk in a matter as trivial as a student’s honour duel? The very recklessness is all that saved them. By the time the symptoms were recognised, the offending weapon had, doubtless, been removed and cleaned.”

“Thinking back, Kiernonda did look across to Quarononde before doing that clumsy blade switch.”

“But that’s even worse,” Psion replied. “Kier is simply a middle ranking Family with little to lose. Quaro is one of the major Houses…” He went quiet for a moment. “It would appear to defy comprehension… and I mislike matters which defy comprehension.”

“Why?”

“Because it means I’ve missed something,” he admitted

The year was creeping on now and Katie was having to wake up before dawn to get time on her own. She had to look as much with her mind as with her eyes as she made her way across the dark dormitory, moving cautiously to avoid waking anybody. Outside, there was a distinct nip in the air as she went down the familiar rickety staircase.

Before starting her routine, she looked in on Nero. He had a wound in a wing which he’d received when one of the nonda had allowed him to get too close to Taloon and she wanted to check up on it.

She went across to the mews, lit a lantern and carried it over to his stall. The slender brown dragon was curled up at the back, still fast asleep. “Wake up, lazy bones,” she called to him as she gently took a grip on his mind and vaulted over the wall. “I need to have a look at that wing.”

There was not enough room in the stall for him to fully extend his wing but he reluctantly unfolded it enough to allow her to take a look. Katie cautiously felt around the wound with her fingers and mind and, though it was obviously still painful, it was healing well. “Don’t be such a baby!” she gently chided the dragon as he flinched away from her probe. “It’s your own fault for letting Taloon get too close!”

She carefully applied some of the evil-smelling ointment that Zalibar had given her. “Don’t lick it off, this time!” she warned the dragon. “Zalibar says it’s good for your wing but I can hardly imagine that it will do you any good to eat the stuff!”

Releasing her grip, she jumped back out of the stall and returned to the quad where she did a couple of slow, loping laps. Strangely, though she had still not resumed the afternoon runs, she was still stiff in the mornings.

The sun was rising as she climbed up onto the gatehouse roof. She greeted Psion but went straight into her exercise routine.

She lay on her back, stretching out a thigh muscle as half a dozen pebbles followed a stately figure of eight pattern above her head. She switched to her other leg and the pebbles reversed their direction. She stretched out her arm muscles whilst hovering quarter of an inch above the platform and when she moved to stretch her hamstrings, she took her weight on her will rather than on her arms.

Psion was there, hovering on the edge of her consciousness, but he knew that she was concentrating on her exercises so did not disturb her. The latest exercise he had given her, to help her build up the precision with which she could exercise her will, was to juggle pebbles with her eyes closed. She could manage it with three pebbles – watching but not nudging them with her mind – but she was still struggling with the fourth. She always found herself collecting the pebbles from the floor.

She tried once again and, for a few moments, she had it. She knew where the pebbles were going to be and could stretch out her hands to pluck them from the air.

Suddenly the pebbles were gone and she was left clutching at nothing. She opened her eyes to find them, balanced in an impossible looking little stack on the wall in front of her.

“Psion!” she exclaimed in exasperation.

“You were about to miss one,” he told her with a grin. “It’s time for you to finish now, anyway. People in the house are beginning to stir.”

After stepping up into the dormitory to check that the rest of the tyros were awake, she had a quick wash by the well. The water was chilly and she was shivering as she made her way into the kitchen to collect hot water for the nonda. This was an unpopular task but one she did not mind as she was already awake.

As she made her way back across the quad, after delivering the water, the rest of the tyros were coming down the stairs from the dorm. “Don’t forget to wash your hands properly this morning,” she reminded Gromin who was stumbling towards the kitchen, still half asleep. “Cook said you’re not getting any porridge if you forget again.”

The curly headed lad nodded vaguely and made his way back towards the trough.

After serving the nondas breakfast and hurriedly eating their own, the tyros dashed out into the quad just as Zalibar was emerging from the house. “Rhianadoc,” he called to her, “Carodoc is out flying with the transitors today so I’d like you to take Nolan, Doranonda, Gromin and Llynnonde and put them through some basic sword routines.”

“Yes sir!” she answered. This was the first time she had led a training session but she had helped Carodoc enough times to know what was involved.

“Come on, you four!” she called to them. “Have you all got swords?”

She looked around the group. Llynnonde, who was Llynnonda’s younger sister, had only been with them for two days and had the familiar appalled and frantic expression of most newcomers. The rest were relatively experienced noviates.

“Llynnonde,” she reminded her, “you were told at breakfast that you would be doing sword work today. You need to get a practice sword and dagger as soon as you come out here.”

“Nolan,” she said, “would you go and show Llynnonde where to find them.”

Then she turned to Doranonda and Gromin. “Would you two gentlemen care to go through the four basic defence exercises for me?” she said.

She studied them for a few moments as they moved to stand opposite each other. “Doranonda,” she said, “you would have more control over the sword if you were to adopt the more conventional thumb position.”

“But it’s more comfortable like this.”

“If I see you doing that again, I can assure you it will be anything but comfortable!” she answered him sharply. “And if you ever lose control of your sword during combat, you’re going to discover a whole new world of discomfort. Just do it.”

He shifted his thumb but continued to grumble and something inside her snapped.

“Listen, sunshine,” she burst out, spinning him around with her will. She caught his eye and then sent a controlled mental blast crashing through his hastily erected shields. “If I ever see you with your thumb like that again, you’ll be picking it up off the floor!”

Doranonda turned pale but Katie hardly noticed as she received what she could only interpret as a cerebral wink from Zalibar on the other side of the quad.

“Right, you two,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief, “run through those exercises again.”

She turned to see Llynnonde and Nolan returning. Llynnonde was dragging the heavy training sword behind her in the sand of the quad.

“Nolan!” she said, exasperated. “Think please! What’s the first thing you do when you get a sword out?”

“Check it and then buckle it on,” she answered, glancing down at her sword in confusion. “But I did!”

“But you didn’t show Llynnonde how to do it! Come on now! You’re getting pretty close to being promoted to transitor. I shouldn’t have to tell you things like that.”

The next couple of hours passed slowly. Llynnonde appeared to be trying to kill herself and Doranonda and Gromin certainly seemed to be trying to kill each other with their heavy practice swords so Katie had little time to go through her own exercise routines.

When, at last, she felt she could send them over to get a drink of water, she called over to Wastnonda, who was practicing on his own nearby, to come and join her in some sparring exercises.

She was enjoying being able to release some of her pent up energy in the vigorous routines so, when his attention wandered and he missed a straightforward block, she had to struggle to avoid smashing her training sword into the side of his head.

“Wasty, pay attention!” she shouted at him in frustration.

“I’m sorry,” he responded with a shrug. “You don’t have to get so stressed out, though. You’re as bad as Zalibar! All I did was miss a block.”

“Listen,” she hissed at him, “there’s a reason we’re practicing this stuff. A couple of days ago I was standing opposite somebody who was trying to cut my liver out. Sooner or later you’re going to find yourself in the same situation. One missed block like that and you’re nag meat!” She sheathed her weapons and stalked across the quad to grab a drink of water.

As she was collecting her group to carry on with the training session, Zalibar came gliding across the quad. “I’ll take over here, now,” he told her. “You take Nero out for a flight to stretch that wounded wing of his. Treat him very gently and, if you feel him pulling on it, bring him straight back in.”

“Yes, sir!” she responded, with relief.

She put on her spurs and then went to get Nero out of the mews. The long, thin dragon was a bundle of energy, after being cooped up for several days, so she had to keep a particularly tight grip on him as they took off.

“Easy boy!” she whispered down to him. “I’m going to relax my grip but I’m not going to let you pull. It might damage your wing.”

She sensed the merest hint of truculent acknowledgement as she eased back on her mind grip.

She took him up towards the Dunster Head, feeling down into his mind for any sign of pain from the wing. It appeared to be fine, so she decided to take him all the way round the island before returning.

As they were nearing the Head she noticed a dragon coming in hard and low across the waves. She recognised Rhiannas at once and reached out towards him with her mind. “Greetings master!” she said formally.

“Greetings, young Rhianadoc,” he responded, studying her carefully. “Zalibar has been teaching you well. Your posture on that beast has vastly improved and I hardly recognised you.”

He thought for a moment. “To better assess your progress, you will accompany me on my boundary patrol this evening.”

“Yes, master!” she responded promptly.

“I shall collect you this evening at sunset.”

She recognised that this was a chance to organise a little free time for herself so, after carefully concealing her thoughts behind her most delicate shield, she suggested, “Wouldn’t it be more fitting for the servant to come to her master?”

“That is true,” he replied. “Attend me in my lair at that time.”

As she was returning to the compound she past the area of shoreline where Psion lived and easily found him, lying, curled up in the sunshine. As she looked down on him, she saw that he had grown a little since she had last seen him. Since her gorat-induced fever dream, she had been able to recall the image she had of him from when she was a baby and, whilst his scales would never recover their brilliant white colour, they were, at least, starting to show some of their former sparkle.

“Wake up, sleepy head!” she called to him.

“I was merely resting my eyes!” he responded placidly.

She eased Nero into a circle around the waking dragon.

“I’ll be going up to the Edifice tonight to go riding with Rhiannas,” she told him. “As I’m passing through the village anyway, do you need anything?”

“It is most generous of you to think of me,” he replied. “Whilst meat is, as you know, always most welcome, what I would particularly appreciate, were you able to find them, is half a dozen mackerel.”

“Where am I going to find those?”

“You could inquire at the fishmongers, which is to be found near the harbour, at the far end of the village.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but no promises,” she called back to him, as she headed towards the tower which marked the compound.

Back in the quad, she put the brown dragon away and then went over to Zalibar who was working with a group of primes. “How was he?” he asked, as she walked across.

“Fine,” she answered. “He should be good to fly normally tomorrow as long as you give him to someone sensible.”

He gave a brief nod.

“By the way, sir,” she added, “I met Rhiannas during the flight and he instructed me to join him this evening on boundary patrol.”

“I suppose it will do you good to keep your hand in flying a noble dragon,” he responded. “The walk up there will do you good. We need to get you back on the runs.”

“I thought I could do this long walk today then the meat run tomorrow then start again on Monday,” she suggested.

He nodded his consent. He was starting to trust her judgment on this sort of thing.

So, as the afternoon wore on, she made her way up towards the Edifice. As arranged, she met up with Psion in the small copse above the village.

“I’ve got the mackerel,” she told him. “Here! Catch!” She threw him one.

“I am not some sort of overgrown pet!” he commented with as much dignity as he could muster whilst surreptitiously using his will to catch the fish and guide it to his mouth. He swallowed it whole.

“I was hoping to teach you some table manners,” she told him, putting the rest of the fish on the ground for him.

“I am a dragon,” he informed her. “For us, table manners mostly consist of ensuring we do not eat the wrong dinner guests. We do not, on the whole, concern ourselves with matters of silver cutlery.”

Using his will, he deftly filleted one of the mackerel, precisely separating skin and bone and leaving two perfect fillets hovering in mid air.

“That’s incredible,” she told him. “I had no idea that you could do such fiddly things with your will.”

“Talons rather than hands!” he explained, waving his forelegs around. “Good for removing an arm or a leg, not so hot with a knife and fork. He used his will to raise the fillets, skin and bones to his mouth and swallowed them in a single gulp. “Should a dragon require intricate manipulation, we must either use our brains or, preferably, instruct a human to do it for us.”

“Have you any idea what Rhiannas is up to?” Katie asked.

“I expect he wishes to simply review your progress and the most effective way for him to do that is to have you accompany him on his tour of duty. Never forget that you are being trained to ride as his neck guard. You are expected to spend the rest of your life serving him in that manner.”

“Hmm!” said Katie.

“Take great care, young mistress. Though I do not anticipate that he will attempt to pluck ideas out of your head, were you to sit on his back radiating hostility in your current fashion, he would gain an overall impression. And, while I am delighted to observe the astonishingly rapid progress you are making, it will, nonetheless, be some little time until you are able to successfully bone and fillet Rhiannas.”

He delicately raised another fish to his mouth, and, with great precision, bit off its head.

“Don’t worry,” she told him. “I’ll play the loyal little neck guard for now. Your food supply is safe!”

He gave an outraged flick of the tail, then pointedly ignored her and returned to his meal. Katie set off up the hill with a grin.

Rhiannas swept along, high above the waves. He had made it abundantly clear from the start of the flight that he had no interest in casual conversation.

Katie swept the horizon once more using the mighty dragon’s eyes for they were much more powerful than her own, particularly in the intense, pre-dawn darkness. She could make out the lights from a few scattered farms and villages away to the east on the mainland and from a couple of fishing boats, far off to the north.

Satisfied that there was nothing out there to cause trouble, she settled back into the half kneeling stance that Zalibar so insistently taught his students. Then she sank down into Rhiannas’s mind once more, appreciating the casual expertise of his flight.

The air was cold and the overcast sky threatened rain so she was glad she had thought to bring the warm cloak that Molly had given her that first afternoon. She thought back to the first day. Was it only ten weeks ago? Her life had changed so much since then and, although there was constant struggle and danger here, she would not go back to her old way of life for anything. Here, at least, she felt alive.

Rhiannas had evidently noticed that her attention was wandering because he gave her a stinging rebuke before swinging round to the east where a pale shadow on the horizon showed that dawn was not too far away.

It was mid morning when Rhiannas flew low over the compound and landed on the platform by the house. It was raining heavily by this time and Katie was soaked.

“I shall require your presence at the same time next week,” he informed her, before he departed with a formal nod to Zalibar.

“Good. You’re back,” Zalibar said as she walked across the quad towards him. “I need somebody to take a couple of noviates up.”

“Yes, sir!” said Katie with just the faintest of sighs. She had hoped to get at least a couple of minutes to dry off.

“Can you manage on Taloon? She’s been needing a really firm grip since that idiot let Nero get too close to her. They’re always like that if you let ’em get a taste of fresh blood.”

“We’ll be fine,” she answered steadily. “I’ll let her know who’s boss.”

Katie set off towards the mews but Carodoc intercepted her. “You’re going to catch your death if you go up like that,” he told her. “There’s a trick.”

They transitioned into the cerebral domain and he quickly showed her how to use her will to drive the water out of her soaking clothes and to warm herself. As she flipped back into the quad she saw that Zalibar was watching them with a disapproving expression, though he said nothing.

“Zalibar doesn’t really approve of people wasting their cerebral capacity on their own comfort,” Carodoc explained. “But he’ll let us off this time because it means you don’t have to go and get changed before you take those noviates up.”

Zalibar had been right about Taloon. When Katie arrived at her stall in the mews, she tried to take a mind grip but was thrown out. The green female’s mind was a morass of seething truculence.

“Listen, young lady,” she said to Taloon, taking a much firmer grip on the dragon’s mind and holding her very securely for a few moments. “There are two ways we can play this. Either you’re going to be half way cooperative, or you’re going to need my permission to breathe. Which is it going to be?”

She released her grip a touch and was pleased to see that while, deep down, the resentment still churned, Taloon no longer actively fought against her bind.

As she brought the dragon out of the mews, she looked up to see Zalibar studying her appraisingly from the doorway. “We’ve got a new wild dragon coming in next week,” he told her, “and I’d like you to come along and give me a hand when we break him in.”

“Yes, sir!” she responded enthusiastically. Anything that provided a change from training the rude and surly nonda would be extremely welcome.

She moved Taloon over to join the four noviates two of whom, she noticed, were holding their nags with unconvincing mind grips. “Come on, you two,” she said to Doranonda and Gromin with a sigh. “Get those grips sorted out. If Llynnonde can manage a decent grip, you can too”

That evening, after serving dinner, the tyros had a small party to celebrate Nolan’s promotion to transitor.

“Well done, love,” said Cook, walking over to them with a huge steaming pudding. “Jenko, go and get the jug of custard, would you?”

Jenko did a little dance as he made his way across the kitchen. “Don’t you dare spill any!” Carodoc called after him.

Suddenly Cook looked at Katie. “You never got your celebratory pudding, did you?” she said.

“My what?”

“Cookie always does a special pudding when one of us tyros gets promoted,” Jenko explained as he returned carefully with the jug.

“Somehow it didn’t feel much like a celebration when you got promoted,” Cookie explained. “I must say, I’ve never known the like. Challenged as soon as you’re promoted… and you just a tyro…”

When every scrap of the pudding had been eaten and Carodoc had scraped the custard jug clean, Jenko honoured them with a recitation of one of the great Battle Sagas, ‘The Fall of the Cursèd House’. It was an epic poem that went on for about twenty minutes involving a great deal of treachery, backstabbing and ‘Glorious Flame’. Jenko appeared to have learnt it word for word.

“One thing I’m still not quite clear about,” Katie told him when he had finished his tale. “How does the whole House and Family thing work?”

“There are a couple of hundred families living up in the Edifice,” Jenko explained, “ranging from low status ones like my Family of Jane, he gave a wry grin, to big ones which might have a over thirty members, human and dragon, family members, retainers and servants. The numbers of Families keeps varying as they get wiped out and new families are created.

“But there are only ever twelve Houses - well, eleven now, since the fall of the Cursèd House of Dai - and they’re occupied by one of the Families.”

“You can think of them as rival barons battling for the English crown in the Middle Ages,” Cotmol explained, “but without the good manners and with more eating of losers.”

When the laughter had died down, Cookie sat back from the table. “I hate to break up the party,” she said,” but I’ve got to be up in the morning and so have you lot.”

“You’re right,” said Carodoc. “Nolan, you get the rest of the day off so go and put your feet up. I can manage to tidy up the mews on my own. Calbar and Cotty, you get on up to the house and see what needs doing up there. Katie and Gromin, you two stay here and give Cook a hand.”

“What would you like us to do?” Katie asked Cook, climbing stiffly to her feet.

“Do you think you can go and do the washing up?” she answered. “I mean, I don’t like to ask when it’s raining, what with the scullery roof being in the state it is and all, but it needs doing. At least I’ve put some hot water on.”

“Don’t worry about it,” laughed Katie. “Come on, you lazy lump!” she said to Gromin, as he pulled himself slowly to his feet. “The sooner we get on with it, the sooner we can get off to bed.”

[garethn]

Ch 20 Breaking Liberty

Word count 5229 (12-Jun-19)

As planned, Katie went on the meat run the next day. She was accompanied by Jenko and, as they were making their way back along the cliff-top path, she was astonished to see him casually take one of the pieces of meat off his cart and lob it over the edge. She was about to shout at him but managed to contain herself and instead slipped gently into his mind - as Psion had observed, he left himself unbelievably exposed.

She was not really surprised to find he had already forgotten the meat throwing incident that had happened only seconds before and immediately knew who was responsible. Caught between outrage and amusement, she reached down for the characteristic hole in the cloud world that marked the guilty party’s presence and found him snoozing in the sunshine on one of the beaches far below.

She woke him with a sudden prod. “Oi you! What have you been doing with Jenko’s mind?” she demanded.

“Ah yes, that!” the little dragon replied in a slightly embarrassed tone. “Whilst I was, in any case, performing some slight adjustments, I deemed it was appropriate to extract payment from him at the same time.”

“Psion!” Katie exploded caught between outrage and amusement. She was about to say that he couldn’t do things like that but it was self-evidently untrue. The incorrigible little dragon already had!

“Incidentally, you may discover that the young man is slightly more loyal and defensive towards you than might otherwise be the case.”

She shook her head, uncertain of what she felt about this latest revelation. She had had her suspicions before but now it was confirmed it felt… wrong but it certainly might be useful. “I take it this means you won’t be wanting any more meat from me from now on!” she managed to respond at last with a grin.

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” he replied hurriedly. “For someone in my position, two meals are a much more attractive proposition than one!”

“Incoming then!” she called down to him as she threw a piece over the edge. “Wasn’t that quite tricky to do?” she asked. “I mean that node is supposed to lock in unswerving loyalty to his master.”

“Weaker minds show a tendency to be attracted to stronger ones. You even see the effect amongst the more powerful latents. All I had to do was build on that.”

Katie was quiet for a while. “Do you think that was why Megan put up with me?” she asked at last. In retrospect, there had been plenty of hints that Megan had had latent cerebral potential. “I was pretty awful to her… even before…” She trailed off, eyes misting up at the thought of what she had been forced to do to her friend.

Psion allowed her to work through the painful reminiscences for a while and then distracted her. “Incidentally, there was already a nugget of something in that young man’s head,” he informed her. “I suspect that, even without my intervention, he would be showing a certain degree of… should we say… loyalty and affection towards you!” His cloud did his funny golden sparkles thing which told her he was amused.

She had to think about what he could possibly mean by that until she considered the hunched shoulders in front of her. ‘Oh!’ she thought. ‘Psion can’t possibly mean… Jenko can’t possibly…’

She wanted to challenge the flippant dragon on this stunning revelation but he had slipped out of her mind and turned his attention to the meat, doing his, ‘leaving nothing behind but a grin,’ thing.

Katie had been looking forward to working with the new, wild dragon, but she almost changed her mind when she saw him arriving. He was a huge beast, nearly as long as Rhiannas, though less bulky. He was almost black but flashes of red sparkled off his scales in the sunlight. Although he was held in a tight mind lock by a formation of four nonda flying around him, he still twitched and chafed against the restriction.

“He’s a big lad,” Zalibar said as she climbed onto Lippit behind him. “Come on, let’s go on up to him. I don’t like the idea of him coming down here and panicking the nags.”

Once up to height, they cruised over to the mighty beast and, as Zalibar held Lippit just above the new dragon, Katie dropped onto his broad shoulders. “Easy there, boy,” she whispered gently to him, though she could feel the waves of fury and resentment coursing through him. “Easy boy,” she reassured him, “soon we’re going to fly.”

She checked her spurs were firmly lodged then signaled to the rest of the fliers that they should back off. “Get behind and above us!” she shouted to them. “Then dive down behind us as soon as you release him. I don’t want him coming around and attacking you.”

“Strangely enough, I can live without that pleasure, too,” murmured one of the fliers, but he was instantly silenced by a ferocious glance from Zalibar.

“Okay! Give me five seconds then let him go!”

She transitioned into the cerebral domain then watched as the mind locks were cautiously released from his jagged, green cloud. It took the wild dragon a few more moments to realise that he was no longer captive. Katie hovered on the edge of his mind and, when she saw that he was about to unleash his frustration, she encouraged him with a shout of, “Let’s fly!”

He exploded in a wild paroxysm of rage, swinging furiously around, looking for someone, anyone, to attack. He saw the retreating fliers and charged after them, spilling flame as he went.

But they were far enough away by now so, with imperceptible nudges, Katie was able to ease him round away from them. Soon he was tearing out to sea at an astonishing speed. It was only then he became aware that there was someone on his shoulders.

He bucked and twisted in mid air while thrashing around with his shoulders and his back, trying to rid himself of this intolerable encumbrance. Though she needed to remain wrapped around his mind, she had to risk flipping back into the base domain a couple of times to check that her spurs were holding true and that she still had a firm grasp on his crenels. Throughout that first mad paroxysm, she did not try to control his rage and, instead, she used her grip on his mind to talk to him, encouraging him and urging him on to even greater effort. She did not want him to forget she was there but rather, she wanted to disorientate him, gradually implanting the notion that he was doing all this in response to her command.

Then he tried to attack her, savagely stretching his neck round to bite her and straining to hammer her away with his tail but to no avail. Positioned there on his neck, he just could not reach her. He rolled and stalled, trying to throw her loose but nothing worked.

She continued to feed thoughts of praise and encouragement straight into his ragged, pulsating mind but the mind link alone was not enough to contain her own excitement. “Go on,” she found herself screaming out loud to him, “show me you’re the best!”

“How about a dive?” she encouraged him, when she sensed the idea churning to the surface of his mind. He dived violently towards the rocky cliffs and, spotting a particularly jagged corner, careered towards it, trying to skim it with his back to rid himself of this infuriating parasite.

But Katie was ready for that too. Looking carefully through his eyes, she eased him away from the cliff at the last moment with the most subtle of nudges. When she flipped back into the base domain, she could feel the rock rushing past her, but he failed in his attempt to knock her off.

For a moment he circled slowly upwards, and she could feel the waves of uncertainty washing around his mind. “Easy boy, it doesn’t have to be so hard,” she whispered to him while massaging his upper vertebrae. They were both aware that this action had an uncomfortable double significance for him. At one level it was soothing and intimate, for no dragon would permit any but the most trusted of partners to approach it so closely. At another, it brought home to him that she had her hands on this most vulnerable point where she could effortlessly do him great harm.

He attempted to throw a primitive mind blast at her but she swatted it away as easily as she might a fly. “That’s quite enough of that!” she scolded him firmly. “It doesn’t have to be hard, but it can be very hard; very hard indeed.”

His mind convulsed once more but now much of the fire had gone out of his rebellion. He was confused and frustrated and, for a creature who had never known fear in his life, he was starting to feel something close to it.

“You’ve shown us what you can do on your own,” she said to him, while continuing to massage his upper vertebrae. “Now let’s see what we can do together.”

For a moment, Katie lowered her own shields, allowing him to briefly glimpse the suppressed feelings of impotence and rage at the unpardonable violation of her own mind. At the same time, she began to feed her own power across to him. “Come on!” she screamed to him. “Let’s fly!”

He needed no second bidding and sprang into another frenzy of exuberant flying but this time Katie gently blended her own power with his. “See how much more we are together,” she whispered to him as they performed a graceful pirouette with one wing stretching straight down towards the crashing sea.

“You see, my big, powerful, beautiful boy!” she yelled at him in encouragement as they went flitting in and out of the cliffs.

Then she had an idea. In one of Jenko’s Battle Sagas, she had heard mention of something called a Sheer Climb - none of the customary circling, just straight up. At the time she had assumed it was nothing but fiction but now seemed like the right moment to see if it was really possible. “There’s something I want to try that those second-rate dragons around here just aren’t up to,” she told him, almost in a whisper, giving him a hint of what she was planning. “Are you ready? Come on then! Let’s go!”

Flipping back into the base domain, she threw him into an almost vertical climb, adding her own considerable cerebral power to his straining muscles. “Go on!” she shouted to him when she saw they were already halfway up the mountain, “All the way to the top!” Her breathing became as ragged and broken as his and she could hardly manage the whoop when they topped the mountain and saw the mouth of the Edifice yawning below them.

“I knew you could do it!” she said, showering him with her excitement and exuberance. “I bet there aren’t many who can manage a Sheer Climb all the way up the mountain!”

He wheeled around the mouth of the Edifice, sharing the oneness with Katie as she massaged his vertebrae once more. Flipping back into the cerebral domain, she reached across into his jagged green cloud as if she were whispering in his ear. “What do you think, my great big powerful lad?” she asked him. “It’s not such a big thing that you have to give up and I promise to fly you often.”

She allowed him to wheel on before reaching across to him again. “You know you’re going to have to give in sooner or later, don’t you?” she whispered, almost regretfully. “Others will come and they will not be as kind as me; they’ll not be as understanding as me; they’ll not be as powerful as me. You’ve already met Zalibar with his iron barbed whip and iron barbed mind.”

She let him continue to circle for a few more moments as the hopelessness of his situation slowly sank in.

“If you don’t give in, they’re just going to crush you down until you’re nothing more than a nag and we both know you’re too proud to let that happen to you. Wouldn’t it be better to surrender to me? At least I’m worthy of it.”

She sensed his resistance collapsing and knew from the sense of resignation with which he met her words that he was going to submit. “Come on, my big boy!” she whispered to him. “You’re going to take a last flight as a wild, free dragon and then, like me, you’re going to accept the inevitable.”

She gently guided him a little way out, until they were over the sea, then she released him. He turned and allowed himself to fall into an all-out, wing-tucked dive.

Katie looked through his eyes to see they were heading almost vertically down towards the cliffs, far below. As the cliffs drew closer she reached down into his mind and spoke to him once more, “I won’t stop you, you know. It’s decision time.”

The cliffs drew closer and, when he showed no signs of breaking out of their dive, Katie gave a brief thought to whether she would be able to survive a jump but quickly realised there was nothing she could do. As the cliffs loomed over them, she felt terror rising within her to batter against the implanted node. She held her breath but, when it seemed impossible, he tore into a turn which had his wingtip skimming both stone and sea. As he turned, he let out a wild, despairing scream.

It was one of the few times she had ever heard a dragon make a noise.

And she knew for certain that his will had been broken.

They skimmed back towards the compound at wave-top level. As the tower came into view, she reached down and whispered into his mind. “Sometimes others will ride you. You’ll have to tolerate this for my sake as well as for your own. But never forget that you’re specially mine.” With this she eased back her grip and left him alone with his churning thoughts

Zalibar was standing in the middle of the quad when Katie brought the new dragon down into the compound. “Young lady,” he said with a look of respect that she had never experienced from him before, “that was truly exceptional dragon work. You didn’t so much break him as seduce him. If Rhiannas doesn’t want you, you have a great future ahead of you as a breaker.”

Katie nodded her thanks but kept her mind locked on the dragon’s as she went to stand in front of him. She watched as he uneasily, and somewhat unsteadily, lowered himself into the dragon bow.

“No foot yet!” whispered Zalibar across the quad. “He’s not quite ready for that yet. But you could give him a name.”

“He shall be called Liberty,” Katie announced formally, “to remind everybody that he was once a wild and free creature.”

‘Like me,’ she added, but only to herself. ‘And, like me, he’s going to be free again, one day.’

As the dragon raised himself off the ground, Quarononde came stalking menacingly across the quad, seething with rage. “I would fly this beast,” he said in a commanding tone.

“It would, perhaps, be better, sir…” Katie began but she was cut across by Zalibar.

“Not today you don’t. Look at it. The thing is already exhausted.” He turned to Katie. “Put him away.”

“But, sir,” Quarononde said, his anger rising, “it’s not fitting that this…” he cast a contemptuous glance towards Katie and only just managed to contain his language, “transitor tyro rides him before the Amendraig.”

Zalibar turned sharply to Quarononde. “Amendraig or not,” he said, “if you ever speak to me in that tone again, you will feel the weight of my fists. You may fly him next week, if you wish, but I will be riding a shield for you when you do. Is that clear?”

Quarononde nodded but his mind was sending out waves of unbridled malice towards Katie. She said nothing as she led Liberty away across the quad to the mews but she had difficulty suppressing a laugh when Jenko winked at her.

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon and Katie had nothing to do. She had won her sparring duel that morning so was relieved of most of her chores. Having checked her kit and sharpened her dagger, she was lying on her bed, luxuriating in the unusual freedom of having nothing to do, when Jenko came crashing into the dorm.

“There’s about to be a duel up in the Edifice,” he panted, stumbling over his words in his excitement. “Zalibar says I can take Lippit to go up to watch. Do you want to come?”

As Katie jumped to her feet, he charged recklessly down the rickety staircase. She followed him slightly more cautiously, strapping on her belt and spurs as she went. By the time she had made it down into the quad he had rushed Lippit out of the mews and was already mounted. “Come on!” he called.

She used a surge of will to jump up to the height of the dragon’s shoulders, using her weight to bite one set of spurs into his flank as she landed. She then used her momentum to swing the other leg over, snapping those spurs home too. “What are you waiting for?” she laughed, as she clapped Jenko on the shoulder.

In spite of the urging of the two riders Lippit climbed up towards the Edifice at little more than her customary sedate pace and they were only just approaching the mouth of the Edifice when they heard the sound of the great gong.

“That’s the challenge!” Jenko yelled as he brought Lippit over the gaping mouth and pushed her into the steepest dive she was prepared to contemplate. As they dived, Katie could see the three rings of spectators circling within the Edifice.

“Riff raff like us have to go down to the inferior observer ring, down right by the Henge,” he told her as they continued to dive. The superior ring’s in the middle and intermediate at the top.”

“Just made it!” he said as he guided Lippit into the packed ring. “They’re just about to start.” Two dragons perched on the Henge stones, facing each other. The larger one, who Jenko said was called Pennas, was crouched in an aggressive pose on the Han gate with an impassive looking neck guard on his shoulders. The smaller, Lloynas, who was crouched opposite him, had no guard.

Lloynas, Jenko explained, had been a virtual vassal to the House of Quaro for years but had evidently lost that support now. He could not even find anyone to ride as a neck guard for him. “Pennas certainly wouldn’t be looking that confident if it was Quarodu he was facing,” Jenko commented.

Pennas was obviously enjoying the situation, as the challenged party he had to make the first move and was using this right to further intimidate the smaller dragon.

Suddenly he jumped, not towards Lloynas but straight up. “That’s the traditional start when a stronger dragon is fighting a weaker one,” Jenko explained. First he’ll go for height then he’ll stoop down on Lloynas.”

Lloynas tried to stay with the larger dragon but he could not match his power. He broke from the climb and began to circle, cautiously studying Pennas with his eyes and mind.

Suddenly Pennas dived down in a roar of billowing flame and Katie scrambled to throw up a shield around Lippit, Jenko and herself as a mental blast swept past them. But Lloynas rose and countered with a flame of his own and, in the associated cerebral exchange, he managed to deflect the attack and send Pennas tumbling downwards, almost to the level of theInferior ring.

“That’s not supposed to happen!” Jenko commented. “Pennas is going to lose face for that.”

Lloynas, seeing his opponent at a disadvantage, dived down himself. This time, however, Pennas managed to shield his mind and reared to face his opponent. While his neck guard distracted Lloynas with a blow to the head, the larger dragon twisted in mid air and, slashing viciously with his right wing spur, opened a gaping wound in Lloynas’s side.”

“That’s it,” said Jenko as the smaller dragon fluttered desperately in circles, barely able to stay airborne.

The larger dragon dived again and this time Lloynas was unable to rear to meet the attack leaving his neck exposed. Pennas’s teeth closed on the vulnerable first vertebrae and Lloynas tumbled away. He was dead before he crashed into the sand of the Henge.

Pennas flew up past the inferior and then the superior observer rings, shedding gouts of flame as he basked in the congratulation of the spectators. As he moved on up to the intermediate ring, a representative dragon from each of the four senior Houses, including Rhiannas, dropped out of their ring and dived down towards the Henge. “They think he did well,” Jenko commented as the four took their places on their House gates. “Four senior dragons is an honour.”

Katie felt a wave of heat hit her face as the four bathed Lloynas’s body in an inferno and within seconds it was reduced to ashes. Carefully shielding her mind, she stared down on Rhiannas, truly understanding, for the first time, the scale of the challenge she would face when the time came to break free from his grip.

And the next day, it was back to training.

“Sunset, left guard, thrust right, right guard, retire,” Katie chanted to herself, stepping sharply back and allowing Llynnonda to take her place opposite Calbar.

Whilst not lowering her heavy sword from the ‘ready’ position, she tried to relax her straining muscles for a moment before stepping back in to face Calbar once more.

They were practicing a complicated switch manoeuvre. It was exhausting and required even greater concentration than other routines because, as Zalibar had pointed out, “Get it wrong and you’ve got just as much chance of getting your partner’s sword up your backside as your opponent’s sword in your face.”

“Parry, thrust, parry, retire.” The routine was becoming automatic now but they had to keep going. Maintaining control of the cumbersome broadswords when everyone was tiring was one of the important skills they needed to practice.

“Okay, let’s stay with it!” she called to Calbar, as she switched out. He was being just a touch weak in the parries and this was throwing his timing off for the next blow. “Use your will if you need to but keep the timing.”

“That’s better!” she called, as she saw he was augmenting his muscles with mind power. “Twenty more cycles then we’ll have a rest.”

“You’re as bad as Zalibar,” murmured Llynnonda, as he stepped back from the contact.

“Worse, much worse,” she countered as she switched out, allowing him to take her place.

Suddenly their routine was interrupted by a sharp vocal and cerebral shout from the Armenclethyfur. “Incoming! Clear the quad!”

The three of them stepped back, sheathing their weapons, and hurried over to the well. She nodded her thanks as Jenko, who was already there, handed her a beaker of water.

Zalibar was gliding down into the quad on Nero with an extremely sheepish looking Quarononde riding double with him. Zalibar was holding Liberty in an emphatic double grip and his ugly face was distorted by boiling rage.

“Should have let me take him up,” Carodoc said with an uncharacteristic sneer. For the first time she realised that he, too, was jealous that she had been asked to ride Liberty first.

“Should I take him, sir?” she asked, stepping forward, as they landed.

He nodded. The waves of exhaustion coming from him were almost tangible. “And you, take Nero!” he barked at Carodoc.

She slipped into Liberty’s mind and found that it was on fire. “Gently, gently, big boy,” she muttered, starting to smooth the tumult within him.

Zalibar was screaming at Quarononde, emphasising his words with punches and kicks. “What on earth possessed you?” he demanded, aiming a sharp blow to the side of Quarononde’s head. “You never use pain to bring back a dragon that’s on the point of breaking free…” thump… “I’ve told you a thousand times what would happen…” kick… “And to try it with a dragon that’s only half broken…” kick… “Try anything like that ever again and, Quaro or not, you’re nag bait…” kick… “Is that clear?”

A prostrate and terrified looking Quarononde franticly nodded his agreement.

“Double peak, now, and I’ll be watching you! If it’s not fast enough, it will be a triple! Go!”

Quarononde jumped to his feet and ran towards the gate.

Zalibar staggered towards the main house, his exhaustion showing in his uncharacteristic clumsiness. Katie suddenly realised that she had never seen him so tired. As he stumbled up the steps to the house he turned to Katie. “Take him up for a quick flight to try and calm him down before you put him away. I’ll come and see him when you’re done to see what damage that idiot has done.”

“You lot, get on,” he shouted to the rest of the students. “Armenclethyfur, get ’em going! The party’s over.” He crashed through the door into the house.

“It’s okay, my lad; I’m sure he’s learnt his lesson,” Katie reassured the long black creature as she took her spurs out of her belt pouch. “He won’t be coming anywhere near you for a long time.” She could tell by the way he was straining against her bind that he was desperate to fly.

She did not think it was a good idea to make him lie down for her so she used her will to jump up onto his shoulders. “Easy there, now, big boy. You’re going to show me what you can do in a moment, just let me get myself sorted out.”

She snapped her spurs into place and, as she released the bind, he sprang into the air. She was aware that every eye in the quad below was following them as he hurled himself into a Sheer Climb, straight up into the grey, overcast sky. She urged him on, encouraging him to vent his anger with every stroke of his wings. “I don’t believe it!” she called to him. “You’re doing this on your own!”

But even his reservoir of rage was not enough and, after about thirty strokes he was starting to flag. Katie added her will to his as they drove on up to the level of the mountain peak. On and on they drove, exulting in the satisfaction of their shared exertion.

He was coming to the end of his strength but she knew that he had to be allowed to drive himself all the way. She was getting tired too but she simply gritted her teeth and kept going. “Go on!” she screamed to him as they flashed past the top of the mountain. “Work out that rage. I feel it too!”

She reached down into his mind and realised that he was waiting for her to break. “If you want a battle then you’ll get one, big boy!” she laughed to him. “You’re not going to break me!”

The mountain, far below, disappeared from view as they smashed through the base of the clouds. Katie felt a few drops of rain on her face as they entered the murky world above, each sustained only by the determination not to be beaten.

But behind her impenetrable shields, Katie was reaching her own limits. With her emotions clamped behind the detested implanted node, she did not have the anger she needed to sustain this torrent of power. But she also knew that, if she blinked first, she would never be able to fully command his respect. She had to show him that his reserves of will and rage could never match her own.

So she cautiously reached down towards the node, squeezing it gently, as Psion had taught her. She felt a kick of rage, the merest hint of what was burning within, and used it to channel more power into their reckless, relentless climb. Onward, upwards, higher. She had to fight the urge to squeeze tighter, to destroy the abhorrent thing, but she knew that the time was not yet right.

And then, as they broke through the top of the clouds into the sunlight above, riding on the wave of their combined rage, at last Liberty was forced to concede. He broke from his climb and started to circle as they gasped and laughed together in the thin air.

“Well done,” she murmured, as she massaged his top vertebrae once more. “You are good! You stayed with me for a long, long while there. You’re not quite a match for me but you’re the best wild dragon I’ve ever met.” They continued to circle, enjoying the sunshine, the stark beauty of the cloud tops and the harmony between them, before dropping back down into the cloud in vast, wheeling turns.

Katie guided him down towards the compound and Liberty landed deftly in the corner of the quad nearest the mews. She jumped from his back and was preparing to put him away when, without prompting, he prostrated himself before her.

“It looks like you made a big impression on him,” said Zalibar, strolling over. “What did you do?”

“You saw him take off in that Sheer Climb?” she asked. “Well I went along with it and we had a competition to see who could keep it going the longest.”

“How high did you get?”

“He gave up when we hit the top of the cloud.”

“Daft beast!” Zalibar said to Liberty, though not unkindly. “You picked the wrong one there and no mistake. She’d have pulled herself inside out before she let you get the better of her!”

“Okay,” he said, turning back to Katie, “you’ve got to put your foot on his head to take his submission. Off you go.”

Katie glanced up and saw that a crowd of students had gathered around them as, with as much formality as she could muster, she placed her foot on Liberty’s head. “I accept your submission in the name of Zalibar,” she proclaimed. She stepped back and allowed Liberty to rise.

Zalibar glanced around the circle of students. “I see you’ve decided you’ve had enough for the morning,” he said. They were on the point of rushing back to their practices when he added, “so we might as well break for lunch, then.”

Zalibar thought for a few moments then said, “You’ve done well this morning, girl. Put him away then come and join us for lunch.”

“Hopefully it will be a little less eventful than last time you ate in hall!” he added. His ugly, scarred face remained as severe as ever as he turned and marched towards the Master’s Lodge but Katie could have sworn there had been a smile twinkling just behind his eyes.

[garethn]

Ch 21 The Wager

Word count 4966 (12-Jun-19)

Katie leaned as low as she could over Rhiannas’s neck. Not only did it minimise wind resistance but it also gave her a little shelter from the teeming rain. Fortunately, Zalibar wasn’t there to see her using a touch of will to support herself. He had uncompromising views when it came to squandering cerebral capacity on issues of mere comfort. However Katie had decided that, should she be called into action, she would rather not be struggling with cramping muscles.

Rhiannas swung around to head north once more and, to relieve the tedium, Katie glanced, with extreme caution, round his mind. She would not dream of attempting to probe him; such insolence would invite instant and overwhelming retribution. They were, however, coupled in such a tight flying meld that, by glancing around, she could gain an impression of his superficial thoughts and feelings.

As ever, his mind was fixed purposefully on the task in hand, observing human activity around the island and maintaining a vigilant look out for any possible threats. Katie was constantly amazed by the rigidity with which he could stick to his assigned task. No human could ever maintain that unwavering level of concentration on such a wet and cheerless night.

She scanned the horizon, this time using Rhiannas’s eyes for, in the deep, moonless darkness, her own were all but useless. As she did so, she had a moment of insight. Dragons see in monochrome. That’s why they use those wavy line motifs - the repeated S’s for the House of Rhian and the Psion Family’s permanent wave - rather than House colours, which would have been conventional for humans. Feeling rather pleased with the flash of understanding, she settled back into the uncomfortable monotony of the sentry flight.

A soggy dawn was attempting to break on the dreary eastern horizon and Katie was half dozing when she was blasted into full wakefulness by a shrill call of, “Be alert!” from Rhiannas. Another dragon, coming in from the east, had shifted course slightly to intercept them.

Katie surreptitiously stretched and fed a little more of her will into warming her chilled muscles, particularly her hands, which were numb with cold.

When the incoming dragon was still a respectable way off, she hailed them. “Salutations, Edify Rhiannas, mighty guardian of our boundaries.” The carefully formulated greeting acknowledged his senior status and his current participation in Council duties. “I, Caronas, would approach and parlay.”

“I consent to your approach, though the nature of my council duties allow for but a brief interruption,” Rhiannas responded equally carefully.

As Caronas approached, Katie saw that Carodoc was riding neck guard for her. Katie nodded briefly to him.

“Remain alert,” Rhiannas barked as he leaned back in the air, shedding a little speed and allowing Caronas to close. The two dragons fell into a cautious circling formation, about six wingspans apart, as the rain continued to fall.

“I see you are sporting the new neck guard of whom I have heard so much,” Caronas began.

“I have high hopes for her,” was Rhiannas’s careful answer.

“Are we to have the pleasure of witnessing her participation in the gates race, this coming quarter day?”

“I had not thought to enter her on this occasion.”

“I understand. You are of the opinion that she could not yet cope with the rigours of the contest?”

“On the contrary, she has made considerable progress in the last few months. Were I to choose to enter her, I would have full confidence in her ability to make her mark.”

“So you would merely expect her to ‘make her mark’?”

“Oh no, on consideration, I would expect her to prevail.”

“So, you believe she would…” Caronas paused significantly, “prevail? Then you would be enthusiastic about taking up a terminal bet to win.”

Katie noticed Carodoc turned pale at these words and Rhiannas, too, was obviously shaken by her suggestion. “Do not allow your hand to stray near to a weapon!” he hissed urgently to her across their mind link.

“Oh, I’m not sure…” he began, but he was cut across by Caronas.

“Of course, I would understand if you don’t have confidence in the ability of such an inexperienced guard…” Katie recognised quite clearly that Rhiannas was allowing himself to be goaded into making a mistake.

“But she is merely a transitor,” he protested, “whilst your neck guard is a prime.”

“A valid point,” she conceded. “Do you suppose that awarding your guard first choice of steed would adequately compensate for her relative lack of experience?”

“That would be eminently fair.”

As Caronas broke out of their circling formation and headed back towards the Edifice, Katie became aware that Rhiannas had an uncharacteristic embarrassed, almost sheepish, air.

“I take it you recognise the import of what was just said.”

“I understood that you have agreed to enter me in the upcoming gates race and, from the reaction of Carodoc, I saw that you have accepted a serious wager. Have no fear, master, I shall do my best to secure victory for you.”

“I am certain you will,” he said, as he stretched out his wings and headed eastward once more into the steady rain. “For, should you not be victorious, I shall be obliged to flame you. I regret to inform you that I allowed myself to be provoked into gambling with your life.”

With his words, the steady rain seemed to turn to ice. The tumult of fear and anger that ought to be coursing through her was being blocked by the implanted node, leaving her numb and empty.

“What about Carodoc?” she asked, recalling that he, too, had been mentioned in the bet.

“There is a bright side!” Rhiannas agreed, evidently misinterpreting her question. “Should you triumph, you will enjoy the spectacle of that arrogant Caronas flaming her own tyro.”

Katie threw up her most impregnable shield as a familiar memory leapt into her mind: a tumbling body, wreathed in flames. This time, however, it was not Megan’s face she saw writhing within the inferno. It was Carodoc’s.

The image would not leave her mind as they flew on into the lashing rain. Rhiannas did not seem to notice her inattention for he, too, was deep in thought.

“The end of the circle,” he suddenly said in the thoughtful, almost regretful tone that Katie had come to associate with the name Rhiannonde.

“I’m sorry?” Katie said, jerking herself out of her own thoughts and putting her hand to the torque at her neck.

Rhiannas gave himself a mental shake and a peculiar emotion swept over him, almost as if he were embarrassed. “Ignore that comment,” he instructed her. “I was thinking of events in the distant past and of their parallels with those of tonight”

After two more trips around the perimeter, it was clear that the sun, though still hidden by the cloud and heavy rain, was well above the horizon. Rhiannas broke from his patrol and headed back towards the island.

“You should consider which of Zalibar’s beasts you wish to ride in the race,” he said.

“That’s easy,” Katie answered. “I’ll take Liberty.”

“I am not familiar with that particular creature.”

“Until recently, he was a wild dragon and we only took his formal submission yesterday, but his power and passion are much greater than anything else in the mews.”

“A perilous choice,” Rhiannas observed, “but, then again, there is no path open to you that is without peril. I will trust your judgement in this matter.”

He flew on until they were almost at the island.

“I am not obliged to maintain a position of neutrality in this contest as I was for the honour duel and shall, therefore, be able to provide support and guidance to assist you in securing victory.”

“That will be very welcome.”

“Furthermore,” he went on, “should you wish, you and your steed may lodge in the Rhian Lair until the day of the race. This would allow you to concentrate exclusively on your preparations.”

“Thank you,” Katie answered formally. “I’d like to take you up on that offer. I’d like to avoid Carodoc as much as possible from now on.”

“Wise,” Rhiannas observed. “Though I would not expect Caronas to attempt anything underhand, it is judicious to avoid that risk.”

Katie was about to say something about her friendship with Carodoc but decided not to bother. Rhiannas, she realised, could never understand.

The rain was easing as they made their way back towards Zalibar’s compound. “Ho Zalibar!” Rhiannas hailed as he slid out of the leaden sky towards the quad. As ever, the pupils, who were just beginning their morning training session, scrambled aside and he landed on the platform near the staircase.

Zalibar hurried to join him on the staircase as Katie dismounted. “Greetings, Rhiannas,” he said with his customary bow.

“I must inform you that I have entered Rhianadoc in the forthcoming gates race,” Rhiannas announced without preamble.

“Thank you for letting me know,” replied Zalibar. His tone remained impassive but he was struggling to keep it like that.

“To this purpose, she, together with the beast named Liberty, will lodge in my lair until the next quarter day.”

“Very good, sir!”

Rhiannas hesitated a moment and then took off again into the heavy sky, heading towards the Edifice.

Zalibar watched him for a moment before shouting from the steps to the students, “Okay, the holiday’s over. Back to work!”

He turned to Katie and held her eye. “There’s more to it than that, isn’t there,” he asked.

“Rhiannas accepted a terminal bet from Caronas on the outcome of the race.”

Zalibar gave a deep sigh and raised his eyes to the heavens. “And there’s more to that than meets the eye, I’ll wager,” she heard him sub-vocalise.

As they made their way down the steps to the quad, they saw Caronas approaching with Carodoc perched on her shoulders. Katie went up to the dorm and collected a couple of things then went over to the pump and sat at one of the benches there while the two spoke to Zalibar. As she waited, she watched the other students going through their familiar training routines. It felt wrong that the others were just carrying on as normal when, in just twelve days time, she was going to be locked in a struggle to the death with Carodoc.

Before long, Caronas, too, had made her way back towards the Edifice leaving Carodoc standing alone by the landing platform and, ignoring the yawning, empty feeling in her stomach, she walked across the quad towards him. He was surprised when he saw her coming.

He was silent for a moment and then looked up to meet her eye. “You’re off?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m going to stay with Rhiannas until the race.” She was acutely aware of Zalibar hovering just behind them, wanting to give them space but acutely aware of the political significance should the tense meeting come to blows. They stood in silence for a moment, the horror of the situation rendering them unable to speak.

“Listen,” Carodoc said at last, “I’m really sorry that it’s come to this. I hate what I’m going to have to do to you.”

Katie was stunned as she realise that he was assuming she was already dead. He, of all people, who knew not only that she was good but also that she was going to be getting help from a mysterious stranger.

She was about to make some stinging response when she suddenly realised that his arrogant self confidence might be all that was protecting her at the moment. There was a risk that, if he felt threatened, he might try to use his knowledge about her mysterious helper to save his own life.

Not knowing what she should do, she muttered something about “a horrible situation,” then fixed her eyes on the ground until Zalibar decided that they had had long enough. “If you two are finished,” he said to Carodoc, “get up to the dorm and stay there until Rhianadoc’s out of the way.” They watched as Carodoc made his way across the quad to the dormitory and then Zalibar turned to the mews. “I’ll go and get Liberty for you,” he told her.

The moment he was gone, Quarononde across to stand in front of Katie. He towered above her and was evidently trying to physically intimidate her but the effect was reduced by the bruises that he still bore on his face following the beating he had received from Zalibar. “There won’t be many tears shed when I win the race and get you both flamed,” he said. “I’ll be on one of the House dragons, rather than these dilapidated nags so you’ve not got a chance.” He flashed her a scornful smirk and turned back to his training session.

She had no need to worry about what Quarononde thought and she released all her pent up spite on him. “We all saw your little demonstration of virtuoso flying the other day. Didn’t you hear? I’ll be flying Liberty in the race. At least one of us is able to handle a superior creature like that.”

He froze and turned back towards her and she could see the resentment and humiliation flash across his face as his hand twitched towards the practice sword he wore at his waist. Katie just held his eye and smiled

There was a collective intake of breath from the surrounding students and, without any obvious movement, a ring formed around the two of them.

“What on earth do you think you’re playing at, Amendraig?” Zalibar demanded as he emerged from the mews with Liberty. “You should have more sense than this. She’s been adopted as Rhiannas’s contender in the gates race. If you do something stupid, it could easily escalate into inter-House warfare. Go to your quarters and remain there until she’s well away from here. Move now!”

“And get out of it, you lot!” he yelled at the circle of students. “If you can’t think of anything to do, I will think of something for you!”

They scattered.

He turned to Katie. “You get out of here too,” he told her. “I’m not going to wish you luck, and I’ll not wish Carodoc luck either, but I certainly hope one of you returns ’cos I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose both of you through this stupidity.”

He watched as she mounted up, secured her bundles and took off.

She headed towards the Edifice for a short distance to avoid arousing suspicion but then circled round and headed towards the coast. As she had expected, Psion was snoozing in his cave.

“Wake up,” she called down to him. “You’ve got a job to do. Come and fly.”

“It’s wet out there,” he grumbled.

“I had noticed,” she assured him. “I’ve been out in it all night. Now get a move on, please. I really need your help.”

He instantly uncurled and set out to follow her as she headed along the coast.

“Are you off somewhere, young mistress?” he inquired, when he saw her travel bundles.

“I’m going up to stay with Rhiannas until the quarter day.”

“That’s nice, a social call I take it. Do invite me over for tea when you’re up there.”

“Please be serious. Caronas managed to provoke Rhiannas into entering me in the gates race and making a terminal bet on the outcome of the race.”

Flippant Psion instantly evaporated to be replaced with her serious mentor and friend. “To place above?” he asked

“To win.”

“Oh dear! What on earth did he think he was playing at?”

“If it’s any consolation, it’s the closest I’ve ever seen him to being apologetic about anything.”

“I’m sure you’ll find that a source of great consolation as he’s reducing you to charcoal,” he said, his voice becoming faster as the horror of the situation became clear.

“I was rather hoping to avoid the whole charcoal bit.”

“I can imagine.”

“And of course there’s another problem.”

“Well, naturally there is.” Psion responded, almost hysterically. “Obviously, arranging for a transitor, who’s only been flying for three months, to win the gates race is not a sufficient challenge for a creature of my supreme abilities. Inform me, pray! What is this additional complication?”

“Carodoc knows about you, or at least he knows there is somebody.”

“Of course he does. And you have understandable concerns that, should you prove victorious, he may choose to let the cat out of the bag in an attempt to save his own skin.”

“It wouldn’t work, of course,” he added thoughtfully, “but he could well succeed in having you reduced to cinders too.”

He went quiet for a moment, his mind racing. “Whilst I have every confidence in your ability to prevail in the race, there is an alternative you may wish to consider,” he said at last. “My capabilities in the domain of concealment and illusion mean that we could depart from the island unofficially with minimal risk of interception.”

She had to think about this. Did she want to run away? Live with Psion and maybe, even Liberty, in secret. “No!” she responded at last. It was almost an instinctive reaction rather than a carefully considered one. “We have a job to do here. First I have to win the race and then we have to pay back the people responsible for my mother’s murder.”

They flew on for a while longer as Psion studied her in both domains. “You are truly your mother’s daughter,” he said at last then they continued to fly together in silence, each deep in their own thoughts and memories.

“Have you discussed the issue with Rhiannas?” he asked at last, breaking the spell.

“Not really. He said he’d be able to give me advice and guidance. That’s all.”

“Pay great attention to all he has to say. There are few better than he when it comes to pure flight finesse. I intend to concentrate on tactics. You have one race in which you not only have to beat probably ten much more experienced opponents, you also have to eliminate Zalibar’s senior tyro. This is going to take every innovative stratagem we can come up with. When do you wish to begin?”

“How about right now?” Katie suggested, determined to make full use of her twelve remaining days.

“As long as you are not too exhausted following your sentry duty last night.”

“I am tired,” Katie acknowledged, “but I guess I’ll be pretty tired by the end of the race too. It makes sense to practice now.”

“Good,” said the little dragon. “To work then!” They rounded the southern tip of the island and headed out towards the open sea. Though he was easily able to conceal himself in flight, he wanted them to move away from the island so her training could not be so easily observed.

He concentrated for a moment and two illusionary Henge gates clicked into existence, hovering just above the waves.

“I propose that you drop to the first gate, fly across to the other, then Sheer Climb up to the base of the clouds up there. Remember to keep your turns tight and to maintain as much speed as you can between the gates. Any speed lost will be paid for in extra climbing work.”

Katie briefly told Liberty what they were about to do, then they dropped into a wing-tucked dive. Psion, watching from far above, would not allow her to open his wings until the sea was looming alarmingly close and, when the cry came, Liberty threw himself into such a vicious turn that Katie was almost thrown over his shoulder. By the time she had steadied herself they were halfway between the gates, flying just above wave height.

“You will require a better pair of spurs,” Psion observed coolly. “Ready again,” he called to her as they approached the second gate. “Now corner and climb!”

Liberty was raring to go and threw himself into the vertical climb with such enthusiasm that, for the first dozen strokes, Katie was tempted to leave him on his own but Psion insisted that she stay locked in his mind to manage his work. “I see he is a brute of a beast,” he told her, “but you will conserve his strength much more effectively if you intercede early and force him to pace his effort. If you allow him his head, he will burn himself out within two climbs and you’ll be obliged to carry him the rest of the way.”

When they hit the base of the clouds, Psion told them to relax as he wheeled up towards them but Liberty was still full of energy and Katie had to give him a light mental slap as he struggled to carry on with the wild climbing.

“That’s the idea!” called Psion, “Remind him who is in charge. Now, if you could just hold on a moment to allow the less athletic amongst us to catch up…”

Once he’d laboured up to join them, they set out in a long, gentle arc and, as they flew, Psion described the format of the race: “Six climbs and six dives, well six and a half dives, if you include the mad dash to the first gate; twelve flutes, twelve gates. One for each of the Edify.” He put the image into her mind. “You’re going to have to learn the order: Kuthbar, Quaro, Dom, Rhian, Hendon, Sharfroi, Cinder, Jera, Han, Wast, and last, and certainly least, Dai.”

“Why do you say ‘certainly least Dai’?” Katie asked when, after a couple of attempts, she was able to repeat the list.

“Ah yes, the Cursèd Dai line. There’s a minor issue with the Dai flute. The Dai House was eliminated before the completion of the Edifice and it was not deemed necessary to complete their flute.”

“Not deemed necessary to complete their flute?” Katie exploded.

“There is a flute there of sorts, however it is a little… challenging to negotiate, particularly at speed.”

“I don’t want to cause problems or anything, but I am going to be racing through there! Speed is… how should I put this… what it’s all about.”

“That fact had not entirely escaped my attention. I would hope, however, that by the time you arrive there, you will have established a lead sufficient to allow you to show some discretion in its negotiation. Alternatively, if you have not managed to establish a commanding lead, it does provide ample opportunity to take advantage by less conventional means.”

She paused for a moment, trying to work out what he was talking about. “You mean dirty tricks, don’t you?” she asked at last.

“I suppose you could call them that if you really wanted to,” he replied with a melodramatic and not particularly convincing sigh.

“What sort of things go on in the races?”

“All sorts: barging; buffeting; mind on mind attacks. On one celebrated occasion, one of the competing dragons was misdirected into one of the spectator rings. Of course neither dragon nor rider emerged alive... indeed emerged at all!

Katie noticed a grin hovering just below the surface of his cloud and she realised that he must have been involved in that particular incident.

They flew on in their wide arc back towards the illusionary gates. “This time, you should practice entering the dive from the starting wheel,” he told her, showing her how to take Liberty into a level circle, big enough to accommodate a dozen dragons. Psion even threw in eleven extra illusionary dragons for her though they were whispy insubstantial things. After a few moments circling, and with the sound of an illusionary starting gong ringing in her mind, she commanded Liberty to tuck in his wings and threw them into an all-out dive.

This time she felt much more comfortable during the gate to gate transition. They were flying much lower and it felt much more controlled. The climb, too, was more evenly paced but they continued to have problems on the dive. “The two of you are simply not heavy enough,” said Psion. “I also suspect that you are still pulling out of the dive too early though that is an area where you would be wise to consult Rhiannas.”

As they set out on another slow recovery arc, fatigue rolled over Katie but the thoughts of Carodoc’s arrogance and Quarononde’s malice were enough to push it to the back of her mind. She knew she needed every minute of practice if she was going to survive.

As they came back round to the illusionary gates once more, Psion asked whether they could manage another Sheer Climb.

“I’m not sure about me,” Katie answered, “but he’s raring to go.”

“Then you must ensure that he does the majority of the work, particularly towards the top of the climb. Do not allow him to attack too early. A steady rate of work throughout is what you’re looking for.”

The dive felt neat enough, though Psion still was not satisfied with the speeds they were reaching, and the flight between the gates was the cleanest by far. Liberty threw himself into the climb with his customary abandon but at Psion’s urging, Katie jumped on him early to force him to manage his power. Even so, by the time they arrived back at the cloud base he was suffering badly and Katie felt as if she was carrying him.

“I don’t think we can manage another one of those,” Katie said as she slumped forward onto Liberty’s crenels.

“That is hardly a surprise,” Psion commented. “No dragon has ever achieved three Sheer Climbs in a race and it would appear that you need a little more practice before you can manage three under race conditions.”

Katie could not answer but nodded weakly.

After another long recovery pause, they tried the same exercise with a circling climb. These were normally much less demanding than the Sheer Climbs but, in her exhausted state and at the viciously steep angle that Psion was demanding, they felt almost as bad.

At the end of their fifth dive, they missed the opening in the first gate, with one wing passing through the wall, and Psion decided that they had had enough. Katie tried to protest but he was adamant. “Were that to have happened in the Henge, the wing would be broken and you would both be dead,” he insisted. “You are both too tired and becoming clumsy. Take him up to the Rhian Lair, give him something to eat and ensure you eat something yourself before you sleep. Come and find me in the morning when you can.”

“Yes sir!” said Katie, flashing him a mock cerebral salute, then, wearily, she guided Liberty toward the Edifice.

She was acutely aware that she had only ever flown into the Edifice on Rhiannas and, as she flew in on Liberty, she was concerned that she would unknowingly violate some rule. However word had got around about her race entry and everyone was giving her plenty of space.

She easily identified the Rhian lair but was somewhat disconcerted, as she cruised down towards the veranda, to see an elderly lady sitting there busy, it appeared, with some sort of needle work. She stood up as Katie landed Liberty on the lip of the veranda. “Hello, dear,” the lady said. “You must be Rhianadoc. I’m Markeshthain, but everybody calls me Margret.”

“Please call me Katie,” she responded. “I’ve not got used to that other name yet.”

“Right you are, love. Pass me your things down and put your dragon away. Then you can go and have a wash and I’ll get you something hot to eat. After that you can sleep. You look fit to drop.”

Katie gave a smile in response and passed down her bundles before wearily climbing down. “Where do I put him?” she asked.

“First opening on the right, down there. That’s the mews.”

“I need to feed him.”

“Don’t worry about that, dear. I’ll sort him out. I’ve been dealing with dragons a lot longer than you have! I just never got the knack of gripping ’em. Tell him there’s food on the way though. They get crotchety if they think you’ve forgotten them.”

“Go on, scat!” she told Katie as she stood there in an exhausted daze. “Ten more minutes, then you can sleep.”

Katie dragged herself into action. She took Liberty across to the mews then made her way back to her own little alcove.

In spite of her exhausted state, she was pleasantly surprised to see how the room had changed. It had been thoroughly cleaned and tidied; there was even a rug on the floor. The door had not been repaired but a heavy curtain hung in its place to give her a little privacy.

The bed now had a mattress and the fresh bedding looked extremely inviting. Katie moved towards it but was startled by a voice behind her. “Don’t even think about it, young lady!” Margret said in a voice that was evidently not going to tolerate disobedience. She was standing in the doorway, holding a tray and looking adamant. “The bath’s running and there’s a fresh night dress hanging up. Just dump your dirty things on the floor. I’ll be back in two minutes to sort you out.”

From then on, she only had vague memories: collapsing into a warm bath; being woken by Margret; falling onto a wonderfully soft bed; eating soup and warm bread. Above everything else, however, was the simple pleasurable fug of being comfortable and fussed over.

Before long, she had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

[garethn]

Ch 22 Preparation

Word count 3724 (10-Jun-19)

Much too soon, Katie was being shaken awake by Margret. “Come on, love,” the elderly lady was saying. “You’ve got to get going. There’s porridge with fruit and a cup of tea here for you. Old Rhiannas is wanting to take you out flying and it doesn’t do to keep his sort waiting.”

“What time is it?” Katie mumbled.

“It’s four o’clock in the afternoon,” Margret answered. “You’ve slept for five hours.”

Though Katie was still tired, it was not the same brain numbing exhaustion it had been a couple of hours before. She picked up a spoon, but then looked up to Margret. “If you don’t mind me asking,” she said, “who are you?”

“You eat, I’ll talk,” she said.

Katie set to work on the porridge.

“As I said, my name’s Markeshthain, but everybody calls me Margret. I’m a retainer of the Family of Markesh, and have been since the current Markeshnon was a lass. Markesh is a vassal of the House of Rhian and, as Rhiannas is not too hot with servants…”

“He looked too hot for one! I saw the bones!”

“Keep eating. Yes, you’ve got to get used to that sort of thing if you’re around dragons for any length of time. Anyroad, as Rhiannas’s not very good with servants of his own, he’ll send down to us if he needs anything doing. He asked Markeshnon to send someone up to look after you.

“Now, if you’re done, go and get yourself dressed. There’s clean clothes for you in the bathroom.”

After throwing on the clothes, she hurried from her alcove into the chamber where she saw Rhiannas relaxing on his dais at the other end of the lair. He told her to collect Liberty so she walked across to the mews.

Liberty had obviously been fed and looked surprisingly fit after the morning’s exhausting training session. She locked him, brought him out onto the veranda and climbed on his back.

“You chose to take him through a vigorous ride this morning.”

“Yes sir. I wanted to make as much use of today as possible. I hoped that, if we did some hard work this morning, you would be able to concentrate on technique this afternoon.”

“This in spite of your evident fatigue. I am pleased to see that you are giving this challenge due import,” he said, as he made his way down the chamber in long, wing assisted hops.

“I have no intention of failing, sir,” Katie said, carefully shielding her less than complimentary thoughts as she mounted her dragon.

“Admirable! Then, to business! We fly.” Rhiannas stepped casually off the veranda and, as ever, held his wings closed for a moment to gather speed before scooping in the air and pulling up towards the mouth of the Edifice in graceful circles. Katie and Liberty followed. He led them up through the main entrance and then allowed Liberty to pull past so he could observe the sleeker dragon.

“He is a powerful and enthusiastic beast, though still young and unschooled,” Rhiannas observed dryly after studying them both for a few moments. “Your choice is sound.”

He continued his inspection, observing that Liberty had a tendency to clip the end of each stroke in his enthusiasm to attack the next. Katie attempted to correct the fault.

“He also has a tendency to hang with his wings in the advanced state prior to meeting the air,” he commented. “Not only is this inelegant and wasteful, but it also contributes to his somewhat erratic balance.”

After a little more observation, Rhiannas flew back next to her and warned her that she should carefully look out for the two faults which were particularly likely to re-emerge when Liberty was working hard. He then instructed her to demonstrate her Sheer Climb.

“I’d be happy to show you,” she responded, “but I’d rather not let the competitors know what we can do. Wouldn’t it be better to practice them away from the Edifice?”

He studied her for a moment. “You show guile beyond your years, young tyro. I grow ever more confident that my decision to race you will deliver the desired outcome.”

She couldn’t think of anything to say in response which wouldn’t have her reduced to a pile of smoking bones so she chose, instead, to say nothing

“Daylight grows short,” he told her. “Let us return to the Rhian flute. There you may practice transitions.”

As they approached the peak of the summit, Katie looked down on the main Edifice mouth. Although she was familiar with the layout from the peak runs, it was a new experience to study it from above. The main opening was so large that it was difficult to keep a sense of scale though she knew that even the narrowest decorative struts were wide enough for her to run along.

With casual mental nudges, Rhiannas got her mind back on business and directed her towards the Rhian flute. As they circled around its mouth, he pointed out the slashed sunrise marks on the lip and reminded her that she would need to learn the insignia of the other Houses and the order in which the flutes and gates had to be flown.

“Will I have the chance to practice on the other flutes before the race?” Katie asked.

“Next week, there will be opportunities for yourself, and, indeed, the other competitors, to experience the challenges presented by the other flutes.”

“That’s a relief. I’ve heard that the Dai flute is particularly difficult.”

“That flute is, certainly, uniquely demanding. However it also offers the opportunity to achieve a decisive advantage at the end of a closely contested race.”

Katie gave a smile. She had heard that somewhere before!

He then demonstrated how best to perform the entry transitions. “These are relatively straightforward,” he informed her, as he flashed into the mouth of the flute, “as they are performed with partially folded wings. By contrast, exit transitions demand fully extended wings.” Once through the flute, he circled round through the mouth of the Edifice to rejoin her. He then instructed her to do the same.

She cautiously took Liberty down towards the flute, following, as closely as she could, the line that Rhiannas had taken. She was appalled. It was a narrow tunnel, about fifty yards long, and there was barely room for Liberty to spread his wings. There was also a slight spiral and, towards the end, the stone was tearing past alarmingly close to her head.

Rhiannas was not at all satisfied with her first attempt. She was going much too slowly and cautiously and evidently was nothing like ready for the race. “Remember that speed shed at the flutes cannot be regained in the descents,” he warned her. “The loss will continue to hamper you until you reach the Henge.”

After about six more inward transitions, Rhiannas’s temper was rising alarmingly. “Has Zalibar taught you nothing of flute transitions?” he roared at her, as she narrowly avoided damaging Liberty’s wing on a wall.

“I’m still a transitor, sir,” Katie explained in a soothing tone, her hand moving defensively towards the torque at her neck. “Zalibar only allows primes to do such close quarter work with his nags.”

“That is true,” Rhiannas replied, somewhat mollified. “I had overlooked the fact that you had not yet been promoted to prime.”

“Maybe it would make sense for you to take me through a few times to show me how it’s done,” Katie suggested. “I’m sure that would help me to do it properly.”

“Your suggestion is not without merit, young tyro,” he answered. “However night approaches and we no longer have sufficient daylight.”

“Then may I suggest you allow me a little time on my own, for now,” Katie suggested. “I could then fly with you when you’re ready tomorrow.”

He agreed and, after instructing her to be ready for him at noon the next day, he casually dropped through the flute and returned to his lair.

Without Rhiannas hovering over her, Katie began to relax and enjoy the transitions. “Come on, help me here,” she called to Liberty. “You’ve been doing this sort of thing a lot longer than I have.” He didn’t bother to respond, but he did at least condescend to give her a little support with the occasional flick of the tail or twitch of a wing.

By the time they had completed another dozen transitions, it was almost completely dark and Katie was forced to rely almost entirely on Liberty’s excellent night vision to steer them through and by now he was becoming tired. “Last time,” she told him encouragingly as she took him up, a little way above the flute.

Diving down, she hit the entrance with much more speed than before and shut her eyes. Liberty was startled and his self-preservation instincts took over. Together, they sailed through much more cleanly without losing speed. Katie let out a little ‘whoop’ of exhilaration as they emerged into the Edifice.

“You can do it after all,” she teased Liberty. “I’ll be expecting you to do that every time from now on.”

She carried the speed as they glided down towards the Rhian lair, dropping way below the veranda then using the climb back up to shed speed. As Liberty stepped onto the lip, she realise that Rhiannas had been watching them.

“You begin to truly relish flight,” he observed. “This bodes well for the race.” He had his familiar, slightly condescending tone, but Katie could sense that, behind this cool outer layer, he was pleased. “Now I must attend to my patrol duty. Markeshthain will see to your comfort.”

“I didn’t thank you for getting her to make things so nice for me,” Katie said.

“It is of no import,” he replied, though Katie could tell he was pleased. “By reason of the patrol duties I perform for the Council, there are a number of such favours on which I may call. Your time between now and the race is precious and should not be squandered in the drudgery of household chores.”

“I’ll make the best use of it I can,” Katie replied.

“There are books in the library that you should study in preparation for the race,” he told her. “Markeshthain has the necessary information.” With that, he stepped off the ledge and disappeared into the blackness of the night Edifice.

Katie wearily dismounted from Liberty. “Come on, big boy,” she said, as she took him across the dark lair into the mews. As she turned away, she sensed a buzz of contentment as he coiled into his bedding at the back of the stall.

She staggered out into the main chamber and was pleased when a door opened in the far wall. The light and warmth spilling from the room were extremely inviting. “Come on,” Margret called. “The kettle’s on and there are sandwiches and cake.”

“Cake!” replied Katie. “I haven’t eaten this well since before I came to the island.”

“It shows,” Margret replied, looking her up and down as she approached. “You’re nowt but skin and bones!”

Katie walked through the doorway into the room beyond. Now, with a fire in the range and food on the table, it was obviously a kitchen though she had not realised it when she had first seen it.

“Go and sit yourself down, love,” Margret told her, guiding her towards a rocking chair then taking a steaming kettle off the range. “Just dump my embroidery on the table.”

Katie sank back and allowed herself to be swallowed up in a fug of comfort and cake.

“Where did you find all the furniture and things?” Katie asked as she stretched her feet out towards the range. “This room was pretty much empty when I looked round a couple of weeks ago.”

“There’s rooms full of furniture and so on back there,” Margret answered, nodding towards one of the doors in the back wall of the kitchen. “Rhian used to be a big House with twenty odd servants and half a dozen dragons.”

“What happened?”

“Old Rhiannas has never been very good with servants and the numbers have been dropping ever since he took over.”

“How come he’s in charge?”

Margret sighed and took a drink of her tea. “The old head of House and his wife were killed at the start of the Year of Flame and Sword,” she explained. “Their son, Rhiannonda, had taken over but soon Rhiandu, as he was then, decided that the lad was not up to the job and that the future of the House was in danger.”

“So he flamed him. He saw the chance and grabbed it.”

“To be honest, I don’t think that was what he was planning. Though he’s powerful enough, he isn’t really up to the whole politics game and he knows it. I’d guess that he was expecting the younger sister, Rhiannonde, to take over. He always had a soft spot for her. When she didn’t like the idea, he lost his temper and flamed her too.”

“Hello, I’ve just killed your brother. You’re boss now.”

“There’s many as would have jumped at the chance to be head of House.”

Katie settled back in the rocking chair and tried to think about this revelation. She knew that it was significant and would, maybe, help her to understand some of Rhiannas’s behaviour towards her.

“You must be shattered, love,” Margret said, startling her back to wakefulness.

Katie gave a sigh and realised that she was too tired to think about the vicious world of Edifice politics right now. “I am tired,” she agreed, “but Rhiannas said something about some books I need to look at.”

“You ought to go to bed,” Margret told her sharply. “Mature dragons can go for weeks without sleep. You can’t.”

“I need to have had at least a quick look at them before I see him tomorrow. Where are they?”

“They’re in the library, up in the old Family Apartments,” Margret answered. “I’ll tell you what we can do. I’ll take you up there now and show you them, but then you get yourself straight off to bed. Let’s face it, you’re just going to fall asleep anyway if you try and read now!”

“Fair enough, I suppose,” Katie said, stifling a yawn.

Margret took one of the lanterns and led her through a door in the back wall of the kitchen and turned right along a simple, human scale corridor that seemed to lead back into the mountain but then turned to the right. It ended in a couple of doors and a staircase.

After four flights of stairs there was another door which Margret opened and Katie found herself in the main stairwell in the family quarters. She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that there was a set of back-stairs for the servants.

The library was on the floor above the House Hall and, though the ceiling here was not quite as high, the room was just as grand. Katie followed Margret into the library and her eye was immediately caught by the four grand windows to her left which stretched from floor to ceiling. They would give a magnificent view over the lair when it was light. In front of each of the windows was a heavy wooden desk.

This room, too, was decorated with wooden panelling. Rows of bookshelves loomed off to the right, looking slightly menacing in the lantern’s dancing shadows.

Margret took Katie to the first of the desks where there were already half a dozen books laid out.

“He told me which ones you’d be needing,” Margret explained in response to Katie’s puzzled look.

“But how does he know what’s here?” asked Katie.

“I’d wager he’s read every one of these books and, once he’s learnt something, he never forgets it. For dragons like him, knowledge is power.”

Katie started to look at the first of the books. Architectural Artifacts of the Edify seemed fairly dull, though, on flicking through, she could see a number of diagrams and illustrations that could be useful, including plans showing the layout of the flutes and gates. Gates Races: the Highs and Lows seemed, at first, to be little more than lists of the results of the gates races over about one hundred years including, she noticed, some who were disconcertingly annotated with a footnote ‘rc’ which was detailed below as meaning ‘rider combusted’.

Katie was just about to reach for the next book when she was startled by Margret clearing her throat behind her. “Come on you, bed,” she said, “or you’ll be good for nothing tomorrow!” Katie had to reluctantly agree.

And so the pattern for the next few days was set.

Katie was woken early by Margret and would take a gentle jog around the lair in the watery half light, guiding herself as much by her will as with her eyes. She would then do her mind and body stretching exercises on the veranda whilst looking out over the unreal dawn of the Edifice.

After a quick bite to eat with Margret, she would fly out on Liberty and meet Psion. Their training would concentrate on fitness, with particular emphasis on the Sheer Climbs which, Psion assured her, could give her a decisive advantage. They also spent much of their recovery time discussing what Katie continued to describe, much to Psion’s chagrin, as ‘dirty tricks’.

Her descents remained slow due to Liberty’s relatively low weight but Psion taught her a number of techniques for increasing the speed. She learnt how to guide Liberty into the slipstream of an illusionary dragon and how to form an aerodynamic bubble of pure will to optimise airflow round them.

At noon, she would fly with Rhiannas. He would demonstrate the best way of attacking obstacles, including an extraordinarily high tumbling turn between the adjacent Sharfroi and Cinder gates. He would also discuss with her the books she was studying.

Then in the early afternoon, she would go out for a run. The first time she had gone out along the staircases and ring pathways she had been terrified but, after a few days of practice, she had started to trust her will to hold her and manage to overcome her fear of the precipitous drop. Once out of the Edifice, she found a narrow path up towards the summit of the mountain and, on one occasion, had even seen the toiling crocodile of Zalibar’s pupils as they slogged their way uphill. Carodoc and Quarononde, she noted, were not with them.

As the night was drawing on, she would take Liberty out again, diving through the flutes and gates, trying to put Rhiannas’s recommendations into practice.

Every spare moment was filled with the books and often she would take them down to the kitchen and read by the fire whilst Margret busied herself with her embroidery. The list of names and every feature of the flutes and gates would, she was certain, stay with her for the rest of her life. She also scoured the text for any possible ideas and hints which might just give her the edge in the upcoming race.

With three days to go, Katie was out training with Psion once again and when, after a particularly sharp turn, she was almost thrown over Liberty’s shoulder once more, Psion let out a little gout of flame in an uncharacteristic show of exasperation. “This will just not do!” he barked at her. “If you are going to survive this little escapade, we have to retrieve your mother’s spurs.”

“You’ve still got my mother’s things?” Katie asked, astonished. “Where have you been keeping them?”

“They are up in my lair in the Edifice.”

“But won’t it have been looted by now?” she asked. “You’ve been skulking around out here for years, haven’t you?”

Psion gave her a rather pained look. “As I am sure I have mentioned on more than one occasion, I am uncommonly adept in the fine arts of concealment. As long as I continue to ‘skulk’ out here, whilst it will not technically be invisible, I am confident that the lair will remain unobserved.”

“Isn’t a lair quite a big thing to hide?” asked Katie incredulously.

“It’s not quite on the scale of the Rhian one,” he replied. “‘A simple lair, but mine own’, as it were.”

“Okay, how are we going to get our hands on them?”

Psion told her to make her way out through the Dom portway that night, where he would be waiting for her. From there, he would carry her round to the Quaro portway from where she could conveniently make her way down to his lair.

They agreed to meet at midnight.

That afternoon Katie pressed Rhiannas, once more, as to the rules governing the race. She could guess what would happen if she embarrassed him by breaking one of the undefined conventions but was continually frustrated by his unwillingness, or possibly inability, to give a clear answer to her questions.

“So how far can I go when it comes to interfering with other riders or their dragons?” she asked him.

“This is another area where acceptable actions are rather determined by custom and convention rather than precisely prescribed regulations,” he answered carefully.

“So there’s nothing to stop one rider hacking at another with a sword?”

“The combatants in any significant skirmish would undoubtedly suffer the penalty of being overtaken by other riders. Swords are, in any case, not traditionally carried. The unnecessary encumbrance would outweigh any possible advantage.”

“And what about interfering with someone else’s dragon? Could I, say, just force Carodoc’s dragon to stop.”

“As a tyro, that would not be well looked upon,” Rhiannas replied thoughtfully, “though a successful suggestion to another dragon to slow would be applauded, particularly if it were done with sufficient subtlety to avoid drawing the attention of the other rider.

“What you seem to be saying is that, pretty much anything goes, as long as you win the race, but as a tyro, I shouldn’t be seen to be starting anything.”

“Whilst the weight of precedent is significantly more complex, from your perspective that is an appropriate basis on which to proceed.”

‘Then why didn’t you say so in the first place?’ Katie screamed… but only to herself.

[garethn]

Ch 23 A Simple Lair but Mine Own

Word count 3742 (12-Jun-19)

Katie had gone to her room at the normal time that night, not wanting to show Margaret that something unusual was happening, but she had not dared go to bed. She was too exhausted after another day’s training and knew she would never wake up. Instead she had to sit in the dark with nothing for company but her thoughts.

She had three days to go until the race, a race in which, if she was to survive, she would have to defeat ten much more experienced riders and kill one of her few friends.

When she sat and thought about it in these stark terms, she was almost grateful that the implanted node was dampening her emotions. If she was trying to face this with an unprotected mind, the panic might incapacitate her.

As midnight approached, she threw on her cloak, checked her dagger at her belt and put a candle and matches in her pocket. She did not dare to light a lamp so she had to make her way across the lair using a combination of memory and feeling her way with her will.

As she stepped out onto the veranda, she was struck by the eerie beauty of the Edifice at night. A little moonlight was filtering through its mouth, illuminating the far wall and, here and there, a lamp burnt, but otherwise all was in darkness. Her eye was caught by a dragon flying in the cold moonlight on the far side but, apart from that, everything was still and silent.

There was just enough light to distinguish between the edge of the path and the plunge into nothingness on her left so she could walk comfortably along the ring pathways and stairways. Once a dragon flew close and she huddled against the wall, concealing herself behind her bracelet, until it had flown on by.

When she reached the Dom terrace, the portway stretched ahead of her in utter blackness and she had to trust to her will as she cautiously made her way along the tunnel, running her hand along one wall for reassurance. As she emerged into the moonlight at the far end of the portway, she was startled, though relieved, to hear Psion’s familiar, cheerful greeting.

It was cold outside the Edifice and Katie was grateful for her cloak as she hopped onto his back and they set off into the still, clear night.

“You’re getting stronger,” she noted, as he pulled easily away into the air. “Jenko is keeping you well fed, I take it.”

“It is, indeed, fortuitous that somebody is!” Psion muttered.

“The amount of time you spend dozing in that cave sort of shows me that you’re not suffering too badly,” Katie said with a smile. “Anyway, to business. Where am I going and what am I going to do when I get there?”

In an instant, Psion’s mind switched from flippant to serious. “You are to enter through the Quaro portway,” he instructed her, “and proceed down the steps on your left to the lowest ring pathway. Take care on those steps as they are steep and not particularly well maintained. Once on the ring pathway, follow it clockwise, ignoring a number of stairways leading both up and down, until you reach an open area with two lairs leading from it, where the Dhali twins used to live.”

“Who are they?”

“They are no more. They were disposed of centuries ago. Anyway, a few yards after the Dhali terrace, you will find a stairway leading up. At first it will appear to be completely dilapidated but if you study it closely, you may be able to penetrate that illusion and see that it is, in fact, in a reasonable condition. After you have climbed forty three steps there is a path on the right. You will need to proceed carefully here because that particular path is fairly invisible.”

“What, precisely, does ‘fairly invisible’ mean?”

“You may experience some difficulty in penetrating the illusion even when you are standing on it.”

“So you want me to step onto an invisible, overhanging path in the dark?”

“I am confident that you will have no problems. You do know you can trust me!”

“Hmm!”

“After about fifty yards, where the path ends, you will find my lair. You should have no problems seeing that,” he told her encouragingly. “Your mother’s blood flows in your veins.”

“I was rather hoping it might stay there!”

He smiled but did not reply. “Your mother’s most important possessions are in the rather fine, glass fronted cabinet to the rear of the lair on the right. Regrettably, you may be obliged to break into it.”

They flew on in silence for a while.

“Have you any further questions?” he asked as he landed lightly close to the entrance to the unfamiliar portway.

“I can’t think of any right now but I’m sure I’ll have plenty along the way.” Cautiously she set off down the tunnel.

There was moonlight on this side of the Edifice so, as Katie stepped out onto the terrace and looked down, she could see the long stairway stretching out before her. As he had warned her, the stairway was not well maintained with crumbling edges and debris on the steps and she had to watch her footing as she climbed carefully downward.

At last she reached the ring pathway where she could move much more comfortably. She had never been so low in the Edifice wall before and the lairs here were smaller and packed much closer together, obviously a much lower class. Some even opened directly onto the ring pathway and she felt uncomfortable as she hurried past these looming, dark entrances, not knowing who might be watching her from within. She soon found herself in front of the Dhali twins’ lairs. They were unusual because there was a small space to the left with a pair of lair entrances. Just across the ring pathway there was a small veranda jutting out into the Edifice.

Katie was shocked when she saw the stairway that she had to climb. It was just past the Dhali terrace and seemed to be on the point of falling down. Though she could sense that there was some sort of illusion at work, she had to steel herself with a few deep breaths before moving onto the treacherous-looking stairs.

Without looking at her feet, she carefully counted her way up the forty three steps then, with her eyes firmly closed, she felt out with her foot into the empty space on her right, desperately searching for the path. Something took her weight and she stepped out onto the nothingness.

Looking ahead, up, across or back, indeed, looking anywhere but down, she edged her way cautiously along the path. Each step she had to feel ahead with her foot, her hands held against the smooth rock face to her left, as if that could give her some sort of support if she fell.

Suddenly, her reaching foot found nothing. She cautiously brought it back to the path. She had to fight an irrational fear that it would not find anything and she would be left, standing on one leg above the abyss. But there was the path again, her foot took the weight and she relaxed.

But where was Psion’s lair? She knew it had to be there but she could not break the illusion. She felt the panic rising within her. She simply had to find it. Those spurs could make the difference between winning the race and defeat… between life and death. Out of habit, her right hand felt towards her white leather bracelet.

As she gripped it, the wall in front of her melted away and she found herself gazing into the silent, empty lair. The simple lintel was marked by a pattern of waves which she had known all her life: the permanent wave insignia of the Family Psion was the same one that decorated her bracelet.

Holding her breath with anticipation, she stepped into the lair, fumbling in the dark with her candle and matches and, as the room sprang into light, she knew she would never look at Psion in the same way again.

The room was alive with colour. ‘A simple lair but mine own’, she laughed as her eye dashed around the room, falling on a brightly coloured tapestry here, and a delicately coloured glass statue, there. These were not the ostentatious displays of power and wealth that marked the Rhian lair. Instead, the lair radiated an atmosphere of simple elegance.

The lair was about the size of a tennis court and, as she made her way towards the back, she saw the wall to her left was lined with bookcases, reaching from floor to ceiling. These were absolutely stuffed with books of all sizes, together with scrolls, maps and parchments.

It was immediately clear to her that something was not right, but only slowly did she realise that some of the books had brightly coloured covers. They were from the Outside.

There was a low platform at the back of the lair with a simple stone pedestal to the left, but at the focal point of the lair, at the very centre of the back wall, was a stone shelf. The only thing on the shelf was a small pot.

She had no idea why but the sight of that pot gave her a peculiar feeling. She froze for a moment, disconcerted and yet fascinated, then, stepping onto the dais, moved towards it.

It was a simple wooden pot, unmarked except for the Family insignia around the edge of the lid. It was small enough to comfortably hold in one hand but, as she reached out to pick it up, she decided against it. Its position in the room showed how important it was to Psion. Reluctantly she turned away.

The tall, glass fronted cabinet was to her right. It was made from highly polished red-coloured wood which, even after all this time, retained its shine and lustre. The glass continued to gleam without a hint of dust.

In the middle of the top shelf of the cabinet, more striking because it so obviously came from the Outside, was a framed photograph. It showed a tiny baby about, Katie guessed, a week old. There was even a tiny lock of hair in the corner of the frame. She stared through the glass to inspect the baby and had no doubt that it was a picture of herself.

“So,” she said with a smile, “when Psion gave me a piece of his skin, he got a bit of my hair in return!”

There was a simple silver necklace, set with a red jewel, on the shelf next to the photo and, on the other side, a set of silver goblets.

On the bottom shelf, a model of a human torso was being used to display some armour, composed of simple yet elegant breast and back plates. On the other side of the shelf was a magnificent helmet, all smooth curves and flowing lines. Between them was a fine but simple leather case, on top of which was a pair of spurs, their points gleaming in the dancing candlelight.

But her eye was drawn to the middle shelf where there was a pair of crossed blades both bearing the, now familiar, Family motif. There was a long, fine dagger and a sword.

As soon as she saw the sword, she realised that, if she ever held it in her hand and mind, she would never want to touch another blade. Here was a graceful, nimble weapon that would allow her to use her speed and agility. It had a finely crafted hand guard and was clearly light enough not to require a pommel. Compared to this, even the magnificent broadsword that Rhiannas had lent her was a clumsy lump of iron that could only ever be used to club an adversary into submission.

With regret, she took her own dagger in her right hand, ready to force the door. Her left hand first moved to stroke the wood, as if in apology for what she needed to do but as her hand made contact, the cabinet opened with a click. Katie looked around, startled at the noise in this long-empty place. However, all was as it had been before.

She carefully removed the spurs and slipped them into their leather case, which she attached to her belt. Katie found her hand stretching out towards the magnificent sword but with enormous regret she decided against it. She doubted whether she would be able to control her mind if she grasped it and knew she would never be able to explain how she had got hold of such a fine weapon.

She could not, however, resist the temptation to take the dagger and this, too, she fastened on her belt, covering it with her cloak. She would just have to hope that nobody noticed it.

She gently closed the cabinet and, after one final look around the ‘simple lair’, she returned to the entrance and blew out the candle.

Now her feet knew that there really was a path, her mind could gradually ease its way past the illusion. It was as if she could see both the real path and Psion’s illusionary nothingness superimposed on top of one another. Probing forwards with her will and her eyes, she could make rapid progress.

By the time she got back to the long stairway leading up to the Quaro portway, she was starting to relax. This almost led to disaster because, as she stepped out onto the terrace at the top, she heard voices and footsteps from just inside the tunnel. They were alarmingly close.

She threw herself, with reckless speed, down the decrepit stairway until she was just hidden by the lip of the overhanging terrace. She crouched there, trying to control her ragged breathing and grasping her bracelet in an attempt to conceal herself in case anyone looked over the edge.

Katie strained her ears, hoping to get some warning of which way these unwelcome visitors were going to turn. She was so startled to hear a familiar laugh that she almost let out a gasp.

It was Quarononde. She would recognise that arrogant, mocking laugh anywhere. He was talking in hushed tones to somebody and they had paused, just inside the mouth of the portway. Heedless of the risk, she crept to the top of the stairway. They were speaking too quietly for her to hear so she flipped into the cerebral domain and listened to their whispered conversation with her mind.

“I think I’ve managed to convince him that I’ll let him win,” Quarononde was saying, “as long as he helps me to deal with the bitch.” It was clear that they were talking about her but their minds gave no hint as to the identity of their helper.

“That’s extremely generous of you!” came the surprised reply. The other mind was familiar too; it was Kiernonda.

“Yes, it would be, wouldn’t it?” he said, with a laugh. “After I worked so hard to persuade old Caronas to make that terminal bet. Come on! Do you really think I’d have gone to all that trouble if I didn’t expect to get something out of it?”

He paused for a moment as understanding crept across Kiernonda’s mind. “Look at it from my point of view, won’t you? I win the gates race, getting rid of Rhiannas’s neck guard in the process. Then, when I’ve got him at a disadvantage, I can challenge Rhiannas, himself, and take the House of Rhian.” Images of glory and triumph flashed across his cloud. “Not even my father will be able to refuse me the nonda coronet then. I might even be able to bully the old bat into abdicating in my favour. Certainly I’ll make sure he lets everyone know that he’s just keeping the seat warm for me.”

“Couldn’t you just take out your sister when the time comes?”

“I’d rather not do that. I mean, I’d have her guts wrapped round my knife in a heartbeat if I thought it would do any good but it wouldn’t be enough to just kill her. I’d have to take out all her placemen too and that sort of thing just weakens a House.

“Then couldn’t you just take the House of Rhian for yourself?” Kiernonda suggested.

“Oh no, I want Quaro,” Quarononde said determinedly. “I’m going to put one of my loyal lieutenants into Rhian. Someone I know I can trust.”

Kiernonda did not answer. He did not have to. The images flashing across his mind were unambiguous.

“Are we done?” Quarononde interrupted Kiernonda’s thoughts.

Kiernonda nodded.

“Let’s get to bed then. And remember, not a word about this stuff when we’re inside the Edifice.”

Katie scrambled back down the steps as they stepped out onto the terrace but she did not have to worry. The two had turned right, one going upwards, the other going along the level ring pathway.

Katie waited to allow them to get well clear before making her way cautiously back down the portway tunnel to where Psion was perched, waiting nervously, his tongue flicking from side to side.

“Ah, there you are,” he said, putting on a casual tone.” I am relieved to see you. I see you managed to avoid your very special friends. I cannot deny that I had some concern as to your continued wellbeing.”

“Thanks!”

“I even considered following them to see whether I could be of any assistance.”

“It’s a good job you didn’t. They were hanging around at the far end of the portway, talking.”

“That could, indeed, have proved a trifle embarrassing. It is, in any case, not the most dignified of…”

“Just shut up, would you,” Katie exploded. “I’ve got something important to tell you.”

“Charmed,” Psion muttered by way of verbal punctuation but he was immediately quiet and attentive.

“Let’s get flying,” she said, hopping onto his shoulders.

Psion’s reaction, when he heard Katie’s news, was not what she had expected.

“So, this is all part of a power struggle within Quaro,” he laughed. “Quarononde is trying to eliminate the House of Rhian. If he succeeds in that particular venture he intends to use the prestige he garners to promote himself past his much more talented sister.

“Mind you, he has, at least, recognised your potential to invigorate the House of Rhian. That explains why he was so enthusiastic about getting your innards smeared over the Henge sands, even risking the use of gorat in an honour duel.”

He went quiet for a few moments then chuckled.

“I have the strongest of suspicions that Quaronas has not been kept informed of his intentions. I suspect that he would be less than delighted to learn that Quarononde intended to risk the obliteration of his line as part of a minor power struggle with his sister. He would also have informed the young idiot that, were he to confront Rhiannas, even on Quarodu, he would be nag meat within five minutes.”

“Do you think we’re going to have to change our plans?” Katie asked, as they flew on round the mountain.

“For the time being nothing has changed,” he told her. “You still have to win. You should, however, be alert to the danger that some other competitor may collude with Quarononde to your disadvantage. That apart, our plans are unaffected.”

“So, nice and easy, then!”

“Your task, beyond doubt, enjoys a certain elegant simplicity. Incidentally, in all the excitement I failed to enquire as to whether you were successful.”

“I found the spurs with no real problems,” Katie answered. “And what did you mean by ‘A simple lair’? The place is, by a considerable margin, the most beautiful place I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”

She felt a little glow of appreciation from below her. “I’m glad you like it,” he replied simply. “And I am delighted to hear that it has remained undisturbed.”

“How did you manage all that colour stuff? I thought you lot only saw in black and white.”

“Your dear departed mother was so good, on occasion, to lend me the use of her colour sight…” He was quiet for a moment, evidently reminiscing. “And were you obliged to damage the cabinet?”

“No. It seemed to recognise me. All I had to do was touch it and it opened.”

“I had rather hoped it might.” Psion’s answer was simple but Katie could feel waves of emotion crashing around behind it. They flew on in silence.

“By the way, I took the dagger that was in there too. I know it’s a bit risky but I just couldn’t resist.”

“Your mother’s poignard – it is a beautiful weapon. I am quite sure she would have been absolutely delighted to know that you were to inherit it. Leave it and the spurs with me and I will work on them overnight. You will then be able to use them without their being noticed. Do you have the rapier concealed under your cloak, by the way?” he asked with an amused flick of his tail.

“Don’t think I wasn’t tempted!” she answered with a laugh. “That is my weapon!”

“Of course it is your weapon,” Psion responded, slightly confused. “Almost everything in there is yours. Whilst there are a couple of mementoes which are quite precious to me, everything of any real value is simply being held in trust for you.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean that that’s the weapon that I want to use. Those broadswords do a job but they’re terribly cumbersome. I can see that that rapier is a weapon which will allow my skill and speed to overcome raw muscle power every time.

“You will have to ask Zalibar for instruction as a blade such as that needs constant protection and support from your mind when in combat. However, when you have returned victorious from the gates race, he is unlikely to refuse you anything.”

The mention of the upcoming race shattered Katie’s relieved and slightly jubilant mood and she stared thoughtfully out into the darkness as Psion flew on round the mountain. “To bed!” he told her as he landed by the Dom portway. “You will need all your strength for training tomorrow!”

[garethn]

Ch 24 The Gates Race

Word count 4570 (13-Jun-19)

“I’ve got something for you, my dear,” Margret announced as she pushed her way past the curtain into the little room as Katie was getting herself ready on the morning of the race. She produced a long, plain smock made of silk which had the Rhian House motif embroidered on it in two broad vertical stripes on both the back and front. Katie now understood that this was what she had been working on in her spare time.

“Thank you,” said Katie. “It’s beautiful!” She knew it was a great honour for a tyro to be allowed to wear the House mark but, for some reason, she couldn’t get particularly excited about it.

“Rhiannas asked me to do it for you,” Margret explained. “Put it on and check it fits.”

She put on the smock. It hung down to her thighs.

“Just right,” said Margret. “Now fasten this belt round your waist and hang your dagger from it.” She produced a narrow leather belt with a gleaming silver buckle. It was also decorated with the House insignia.

“Good,” she said, standing back to inspect her. “Now, no rider I have dressed has ever come to any harm in the gates race.” She stepped forwards to embrace Katie warmly. “And I know that you’re not going to be the first, though you’ll pay a heavy price for your victory. I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”

With that, the elderly housekeeper hurried out of the room and bustled back towards her kitchen, whistling cheerfully. Katie watched her for a moment, trying to work out whether she had just received a message of support or warning.

The three observer rings were already packed as Katie checked her equipment a final time then led Liberty out onto the Rhian veranda. “Today’s the big day,” she told him as she secured her mother’s spurs. “So today you don’t have to bow for me.” She took him over to the mounting steps and climbed onto his shoulders.

Rhiannas approached with a highly formal stride. When he was still a dozen paces off, he stood for a moment, studying her. “The Mark of the House of Rhian sits well on your shoulders,” he observed. He moved to stand in front of her, obviously waiting.

“Clang!” The mighty gong rang out from the Henge below.

“The summoning call,” he informed her impassively. “I wish you well, young tyro,” he pronounced, with a ringing, formal tone. “Pay heed to all I have taught you and I am confident that victory will be yours.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Come!” he said, “I shall accompany you to the start ring.”

The two of them stepped off the veranda into the space of the Edifice. This time, Katie copied Rhiannas’s technique and held Liberty’s wings closed as they plunged. Only when they were up to speed did she, in unison with Rhiannas, open the black dragon’s wings to catch the air. He cast her a sideways glance that she could almost interpret as amusement though he said nothing.

Rhiannas moved above and behind her as they glided down towards the wheeling start ring. There were already eight competitors in position, including Carodoc who was riding Taloon. She slipped into the opposite side of the ring, as far away from him as possible. Rhiannas broke off to join the superior observer ring which was circling slightly below them, out towards the Edifice wall.

She could see the inferior ring, lower down, just above the Henge itself, filled with low status dragons and anybody who could beg or borrow a nag for the day. Above them, she knew an intermediary ring was circling and, along the walls, every terrace and veranda seemed to be lined with spectators.

As the remaining competitors arrived and slipped into the ring, Katie glanced around her. Quarononde was about four places in front of her and, for some reason, Carodoc had moved up until he was just behind her.

“Clang!”

Katie’s attention was pulled back to the upcoming race by the first of three rings from the Great Gong below, in the centre of the Henge. She remembered Psion’s words, “Three times the Great Gong will sound. On the third stroke, you drop.”

An unnatural silence spread through the Edifice as Katie fought to control her breathing and stay calm.

“Clang!”

The second stroke sounded louder, as if the gong was sensing the tension in the air and using it to amplify its own volume.

Suddenly Katie’s eye was caught by a disturbance behind her. Quarononde had gone into a slightly wider ring and was overtaking people. Though not against the rules it was a strange thing to do as it put him at a slight disadvantage for the drop. But as he came past, he chopped back into the circle just in front of her. She was forced to ease back to avoid the collision.

But, as she did so, Carodoc urged Taloon forwards. Finding a dragon’s tail within reach, the bad tempered, green dragon did what she always did and attempted to take a bite out of it. As Liberty scrambled out of the way, Katie fought madly to block his instinct to dive down, away from trouble. To drop from the ring early meant disqualification and death. Desperate to protect his tail, yet blocked from dropping, Liberty took the only option open to him. He climbed up, out of the ring.

“CLANG!”

Katie had been so surprised by the double attack that she missed the gong and, by the time she dropped, she was last by five dragon lengths.

“Steady now, big boy,” she called to Liberty, as much to calm herself as the dragon. “Trust me! They’re going to pay for that.”

Katie risked a quick glance forward. Quarononde had used the confusion to take a commanding lead into the first gate. Carodoc was just a couple of places in front of her.

Liberty was closing on the next dragons as the riders adjusted their speed to shoot the gates one at a time. At least they would not have to slow. “Ready, Liberty,” she called, “we hit those gates at full speed then I want a Sheer Climb all the way to the top.”

She felt Liberty steadying himself. “Ready for the Dai gate, boy… ready…” They shot through the first gate. “We’re going straight into the Sheer Climb,” she shouted as they flashed across the Henge. “Steady there, let’s get lined up… Kuthbar! Let’s climb!”

“Pace it, boy!” she called to him as he attacked the first climb, clamping her will onto his and forcing him to reign in his wild enthusiasm as she fed in her own will. They ripped past a back-marker and, towards the top of the climb, drove on past Carodoc.

“First flutes now, boy, get yourself ready… Kuthbar…”

They burst out of the top of the first flute, flashing into the sunlight at the top of the Edifice. As they rolled over in the air and dropped towards the Quaro flute, she sensed Taloon’s looming green bulk closing in behind her and a plan, of sorts, came to her.

“I want us to lose speed in the Quaro flute,” she whispered to Liberty. “You’ve got to trust me on this. We’ve got plenty of time to catch up with that lot ahead. We need to make it look natural though.” She closed her eyes, trusting herself to Liberty’s superior sight and judgement as they transitioned back into the Edifice through the flute. Reaching out, she felt the slightly open wings and the leaned back attitude of his body that showed he was shedding speed as she had told him.

As they emerged from the Quaro flute in a tucked wing dive, Carodoc had Taloon right on their tail, and, as the heavier pair edged past in the descent, Katie slipped Liberty into their slipstream.

“You’re going to have to go through Quaro without my help, big boy,” she told him, as they approached the next gate. “You’re going to need to stay low to keep out of trouble.” Liberty gave a slightly quizzical response but it was clear he understood her instructions.

As Taloon approached the gate, Katie transitioned into the cerebral domain. There was Taloon, angry yet sure of herself as ever. Carodoc was right there with her, surrounding the feisty dragon in his all encompassing grip.

Katie eased her most delicate probe between the two and gently, gently slipped her will into Taloon’s mind. She eased the angle of her wings back by the faintest touch.

So exquisitely subtle was her touch that Carodoc’s cloud showed no inkling that anything was amiss until, without the slightest warning, it vanished; gone.

And Katie’s awareness was ripped back from the cloud world by a resounding crack. Katie knew at once that it was Carodoc’s head striking the gate’s stone lintel.

Time seemed to slow as he was ripped from Taloon’s back and she watched in unalloyed horror as he cartwheeled backwards through the air. He landed in a crumpled heap on the Henge sands. When he did not move she felt a wave of cold emptiness sweep through her as the implanted node blocked out the horror and guilt.

But she had no time to think as Liberty attacked the gate, as low as he could. Above them, Taloon, released from Carodoc’s grip, exploded in a green flurry of wings and fury. Katie threw herself flat on Liberty’s back as Taloon’s claws flashed inches above her head. Dust flew up as Liberty’s belly skimmed the Henge sand.

A blast of disapproval came from her dragon. He had been surprised by the manoeuvre and lost speed.

“Concentrate!” she barked, as much at herself as at him. “Dom’s next. We circle up from here.”

They flashed through the Dom gate and Liberty’s wings bit into the air as she drove him into a viciously steep spiral. He did not need much help for this so she could glance round to see the overall situation in the race.

Back at the Quaro gate, there was still confusion as Zalibar fought to get a grip on Taloon and the remaining competitor had still not made it through.

Looking ahead, Quarononde was leading the field. He was already lining himself up for the Dom flute. A group of about six dragons was following him closely. They had eased away from her when she’d lost speed at the Quaro gate.

There was, however, a rider wearing the Llyn insignia just within range. “Come on, let’s take him!” she yelled out loud to Liberty, feeding her will across to him. They eased past the Llyn rider as he made a clumsy adjustment to his line approaching the flute.

“Rhian flute’s next,” she told Liberty. “We know Rhian.” She took him up high into the bright sunlight, twisting as they passed over the main opening of the Edifice. Though slightly longer, this route meant they hit the flute at full speed.

Closing her own eyes, she trusted her dragon as he took her through Rhian in a perfect wing tucked dive, performing Rhiannas’s characteristic roll as they went. As they burst out of the flute, she had to use liberty’s eyes to look ahead. Her own could see nothing but scales as she had buried her face into the dragon’s back to minimise drag. The next rider, who was wearing the Sharfroi insignia, had lost a great deal of speed in the inward transition. They would take him with ease on the descent.

“Coming through!” she called to the Sharfroi rider with her voice and mind. She wanted to make sure that he did not cut across her path and cause an accidental collision. They passed underneath him and moved onto the racing line for the Rhian gate.

They had practiced the line out of the Rhian gate so many times that she could risk another glance around as they flashed across the Henge. There was no danger from behind; the Sharfroi rider had got the line into the Rhian gate hopelessly wrong and was going to lose even more distance. Ahead, they were closing on Wast and Dan dragons and she could see that, with a Sheer Climb, they would pass both.

“Hendon gate now, then we power all the way to the top,” she shouted to Liberty, easing them into the slightly lower approach to the gate needed for the Sheer Climb. “Let me help you right from the start; I don’t want to have to carry you at the end this time. Ready now… and climb... all the way to the top.”

She did not look across at the other dragons but simply gritted her teeth and drove with him into the first few wing strokes. “Keep your length,” she barked at him as his wing stroke started to deteriorate under the massive workload. Keep it going now! Thirty more strokes from here. Drive it all the way.”

Through watering eyes, she risked a glance across. The Wast dragon had gone and they were drawing level with the Dan.

“Come on now,” she urged, “We’ve got one of them, and we’re taking the second now. Ten more strokes to go.”

His pain through those last strokes was flashed back to her. She tried to push it from her mind as she fed even more of her will through to him. At the same time she fought to control his ragged balance to allow herself to line him up for the Hendon flute.

“We’re taking that Dan dragon,” she urged him. “Now watch you don’t hang,” she shouted. As Rhiannas had predicted, his tendency to pause with his wings at their most advanced was re-emerging under pressure. They needed perfect balance for the tricky Sharfroi to Hendon turn. “Keep with it over the top and through the Sharfroi flute,” she urged him, “then you can have a rest.”

They powered into the Hendon flute only a few yards ahead of the Dan rider but their extra speed, combined with a extremely tight turn, meant that, by the time they had completed the inward transition of the Sharfroi flute, they had opened up the four length lead they needed for their approach to the Sharfroi gate. Sharfroi to Cinder was the tricky adjacent gate pair and they needed that much space for the extravagant line that Rhiannas had taught them.

As they burst out into the Edifice, Katie used a touch of her will to mould the air around them into a perfect aerodynamic teardrop shaped bubble. “Relax now, for a moment,” she whispered to Liberty, as she adjusted their line slightly for the Sharfroi gate. She tried to relax too as they dropped, forcing herself to breathe deeply as they flashed past the spectator rings

“Remember, we need to lose speed before we hit the Sharfroi gate,” she warned him as she allowed her bubble to collapse. Ready to brake and… brake!”

Katie was aware of the dragon behind closing alarmingly as they shed speed but she had to trust Rhiannas’s judgement. As they emerged from the Sharfroi gate, only half a length in front of the Dan dragon, she threw them into the spectacularly high tumbling turn that he had taught them.

For an instant, in the middle of the turn, they were completely upside down. Katie felt her mother’s spurs bite true and, as they plunged back down to shoot the Cinder gate, she silently thanked Psion for persuading her to collect them.

So successful was the turn that, by the time they drove themselves out of the Cinder gate into the next circling climb, the half length lead had opened to ten. They had made a similar jump on the four riders, including Quarononde, who remained ahead.

“Nobody to take this time round,” she told him as he drove them upwards in a tight, circling climb. Next time we take one or two and on your last, record breaking Sheer Climb, we deal with the rest. Remember now,” she said, easing a little supporting will across to him, concentrating her efforts on shaping his wingstroke. “Full length… grab that air… full length… grab air…” she chanted to him, in time with the stroke, as he dragged them on, up towards the Cinder flute.

By the time they reached the flute, they had halved the distance to the two riders just in front of them. “We take them next time,” Katie whispered down to Liberty. As they flashed into the open sky, Quarononde, who was still in the lead, was visible for the first time across the mouth of the Edifice.

“I hope you’re feeling strong,” she said to Liberty as they transitioned back into the edifice through the Jera flute, three lengths behind the next rider who was wearing Han insignia. “Relax now!” she told him as she formed their aerodynamic bubble and they dropped in a wing-tucked dive.

By the time they were lining themselves up for the Jera gate, the slipstream had closed the gap to only two lengths. Then suddenly Liberty let out an attack shriek and lowered his talons from the streamlined dive position into an open attack attitude. Katie looked up to see the rider ahead of them was approaching the gate at much too steep an angle and would have to pull up sharply, inside the gate, or find herself ploughing into the ground.

As Liberty lowered his line of attack even further, she realised what he was planning and threw herself flat on his back. He intended to fly in over the top of the other dragon.

By the time the Han rider recognised what was happening, the two dragons were already flying, one above the other, into the gate. She tried to pull up but her dragon, sensing the claws directly above his neck, chose, instead, to plough, untidily, into the Henge sands. As they skimmed through the gateway, she felt her smock flapping against the stone lintel.

“Don’t forget I’m here!” she gasped to Liberty. The cold silence with which he responded indicated his supreme indifference to her wellbeing.

The confrontation at the Jera gate had cost them a little distance so, as they hurled themselves, once more, into a circling climb, they had about three lengths to close to the Kuthbar dragon in front of them.

“Come on, big boy!” Katie urged Liberty, adding her strength to his. “We need to take him this time.”

But, as the two dragons approached the Han flute, it became clear that they were going to arrive at the same moment. “Give way, tyro,” the other rider called across to her, arrogantly, as the dragons closed to within a wingspan. “I will take the flute first.”

“No, we will take the flute first,” Katie responded. She fought to keep her tone impassive, though the strain of working with Liberty was making her feel faint.

“Give way or we’ll collide,” the Kuthbar rider called, his voice taking on something of a frantic tone.

“Leave him!” Katie hissed as Liberty strained to attack the other dragon, with which he was now overlapping wing tips. “Trust me. He’ll give way. Just get us to the flute.”

“You seem to have forgotten that I’m subject to a terminal bet,” Katie remarked to the other rider, with all the coolness she could muster. “I have nothing to lose if we collide. I will take the gate first.”

As Katie had expected, the Kuthbar rider broke away. By this time however, he was too close to the flute to make a simple adjustment to his line. Instead he had to circle round to take the flute. As Liberty drove on up into the Han flute, the other dragon disappeared from view and from Katie’s awareness.

“One more Sheer Climb, two more riders,” she muttered to Liberty as they flashed across the mouth of the Edifice. There was a Han rider about two lengths ahead, and Quarononde a further four. They swung high then plunged down into the Wast flute.

“Now relax, big boy,” she murmured to him as they dropped out of the flute in a wing-tucked dive. “You’ve already done really well but today they’re going to have to re-write the books. We’re going to show them the triple Sheer Climb. Are you ready to make history?”

Once more, the slipstream on the dive allowed them to close up on the dragon in front and, by the time they were lining up for the Wast gate, they were within a length. The Han rider lost a little more time as he adjusted their line for a circling climb and he arrived at the gate only a couple of feet in front of Liberty.

“Fifty strokes,” Katie shouted to Liberty. “Fifty strokes and we make history. Let’s go!”

After five strokes she was starting to feel faint.

After ten she knew that they were never going to make it.

Her consciousness seemed to split into two halves. On one level, there was the toiling, screaming, desperate girl, urging and powering her dragon on with every ounce of strength she possessed and more.

But above this floated another self, looking down on the other and searching for a key that she was sure was there.

There had to be a way. She owed it to herself, who had to fight and fight but always survived. She owed it to her mother, who had done everything in her life and beyond to keep her safe. She owed it to Psion; comical, refined, loyal Psion, who had found her on the first day and kept her sane by telling her that the implanted node could be removed.

… Or simply squeezed!

She did not know if she was too close to Rhiannas to risk releasing her rage but she knew she did not have any choice. She touched her hand to her white leather bracelet in the hope it might help hide what she was doing then transitioned into the cerebral domain.

“Wrap the node in your will,” Psion had told her, “and squeeze!” She felt the volcano of rage erupting within her and fed it across to Liberty as a stream of pure will. He must have recognised its source because he responded with his own rage, tearing them on, up towards the Llyn flute.

Keeping the steady pressure on her implanted node, Katie transitioned back into the base domain. Quarononde, on his charcoal grey dragon, was still about two lengths ahead and, though they were closing fast, they were not going to reach him by the time they reached the flute.

“You’re going to fold in your wings when we get to the flute,” she told Liberty, fighting to remain calm as she continued to pour her will across to him, boiling and churning with her rage. “We’ll throw ourselves through.”

As they hit the Llyn flute he folded his wings, trusting their weight to their erupting rage. They burst into the open sky only yards behind Quarononde and with much more speed.

Quarononde did not notice them as they used the additional speed to draw level across the mouth of the Edifice. Then, as she gradually released her grip on her implanted node, she realised that she was still holding her bracelet. As the two dragons approached the Dai flute, side by side, she strengthened the tower protecting Liberty’s mind and her own. Only then did she release her grip on the bracelet.

Shock flashed across Quarononde’s face as Katie appeared from nowhere, right beside him. It was quickly followed by a look of horror as he realised that they were about to fly two abreast into the Dai flute. He threw out a savage mental blast towards Liberty’s mind.

Liberty saw the blast coming and, recognising his old antagonist, joined his will to Katie’s to bounce it back. The savageness of their response stunned Quarononde and, for a moment, his dragon’s mind slipped from his grip. In the confusion, Liberty slipped through and entered the Dai flute first.

“Concentrate now!” Katie urged Liberty as she closed her own eyes, trusting their passage to his superior vision and flying skill. “Keep it together and we win. No silly errors now. Let’s take it all the way home.”

And they were through, bursting out into the space of the Edifice.

Katie glanced back, certain they were safe, but wanting to make sure. No sign of Quarononde as they passed the intermediary spectator ring.

“Control now! We’re safe!” she shouted down to Liberty as they flashed past the superior ring for the last time. She glanced across to see Rhiannas cruising around the ring and, even from here, she could feel him swelling up with his arrogant pride.

She glanced up again, puzzled that Quarononde had still not appeared. At last he emerged from the flute but it was evident from the way his dragon was circling painfully downwards that something was not right. The creature could barely manage to stay in the air. It must have collided with a wall somewhere in the flute.

As they passed the inferior spectator ring she glanced back again. He was still fluttering painfully downwards and two more dragons had just emerged from the Dai flute.

As they approached the Henge, Katie carefully took her mother’s poignard and reversed it. To mark her victory, she reached out and struck the Great Gong with the pommel.

She guided Liberty into a circle around the Henge. The implanted node had not yet fully re-established its grip and exultation and rage continued to course through her. When she could no longer contain them, she fed them down into Liberty and he gave vent to them in the only way he knew how, breathing a churning, billowing wall of flame across the Edifice.

She glanced down, as a second rider struck the Great Gong, and saw a figure lying on the ground, near the Quaro gate.

It was covered in a blood-stained blanket.

The elation fell from her in an instant to be replaced by horror at the price others had had to pay for her survival with images of Megan’s and Carodoc’s bodies tumbling past each other in her mind. She was almost grateful when the node completely re-established its grip and covered her raw emotions in a thick blanket of empty numbness.

But with the collapse of her emotions, the last of her energy was gone and she collapsed forwards onto Liberty’s crenels as, trembling, she tried to guide the pale, shattered dragon back up the Edifice to the Rhian lair.

Suddenly Zalibar was flying behind her, helping her to keep her grip on Liberty and holding her in place on the exhausted dragon’s back. Rhiannas was there too, feeding his will across to Liberty, helping him to climb in long, weary circles. At the very edge of her consciousness, she was aware of the spectator rings exploding in excitement but, in her utterly drained state, it seemed to have nothing to do with her. It was as if she were glancing in through a stranger’s window.

With a supreme effort, she managed to remain conscious until Liberty touched down on Rhiannas’s veranda then, falling rather than climbing from Liberty’s back, she collapsed into Margret’s arms and, for a time, at least, the pain went away.