Bones of the Dragon - Margaret Weis [206]
“You see why I told you not to wake the men?” Erdmun said gloomily. His lip was swollen from where Skylan had hit him. “What are we going to do? The Dragon Kahg has brought us to the one place you warned us we should not go! We are cursed!”
The Arch of Vektia, gateway to the Dragon Isles.
The men were alarmed and frightened, and they urged Skylan to tell the dragon to turn the ship around so that they would not be attacked by giants. Skylan couldn’t very well tell the men they had nothing to fear, that he’d made up the entire tale. There was no curse. There were no giants. There had been no battle on the Dragon Isles.
Once his initial shock had passed, Skylan felt a vast sense of relief. He was grateful to the Dragon Kahg, who had known what he was doing all the time. Skylan had been on the Dragon Isles before. There was plenty of game. There were trees that could be cut down, used to make a new rudder.
The ship had, admittedly, been blown a vast distance off course. But even with the delay, there were still several months of good sailing weather ahead of them. Time enough to meet up with the other dragonships and find the ogres’ lands.
Now, all Skylan had to do was fix his lie. The dragonship was sailing straight toward the arch, and some of the men were threatening to jump overboard rather than risk the wrath of the gods.
Raegar came up to the rail, leaned his elbow on it. “Strange that the dragon should bring us to the Dragon Isles,” he said in a low voice.
He moved closer. He pitched his voice for only Skylan to hear. “Don’t fret, Cousin. You did what you had to do. You saved Draya’s reputation, as well as your own. The gods understand and forgive. As for why the Dragon Kahg brought us here, consider this—the dragon would not have done so if Torval had not commanded it.”
Skylan leaned on the rail, watching the pillars draw nearer, and considered his cousin’s words.
“That is true,” Skylan was forced to concede.
Except he knew it wasn’t. The dragon had not brought them here. Draya had. She had been standing beside the dragon, guiding him.
The men needed food. They needed to make repairs to the ship, which was slowly sinking beneath them. Skylan stood mulling it over and was only gradually aware that Raegar had departed and Garn was at his side.
Skylan started to walk off.
“You don’t need to speak to me,” said Garn quietly. “Just listen. I came to warn you. Raegar is acting strangely. He spends most of his time scanning the sea, as though he’s searching for something.”
“He’s looking for the other dragonships,” Skylan replied curtly. “Nothing strange in that.”
“Just keep an eye on him,” said Garn, and he moved away.
Skylan looked around the ship. The men lined the rail, eyeing the pillars and arguing about whether they should land on the Dragon Isles, a moot point, for the dragon seemed intent on carrying them there. Raegar was not among the crowd. He was standing by the rail, gazing out to sea, and he was smiling.
“Raegar!” Skylan called.
He jerked his head around, startled to find he was being watched.
“Any sign of the other ships?” Skylan asked.
Raegar was wary. His eyes narrowed. “What ships?”
“The two dragonships, of course,” said Skylan, puzzled by the response.
“Ah!” Raegar’s face cleared. He gave a shrug and a sorrowful shake of his head. “I’ve seen nothing of them, I’m afraid.”
He crossed the deck to join the other men.
Skylan wiped the sweat from his face and ran his hand through his hair to feel the cool air on his scalp. Things were getting far too complicated. Skylan looked at the pillars, and he longed to tell Garn