Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [182]
“Better than you deserve. Tell me about it, Dragonmaster. I love this sort of lore.”
Rhodry obliged, more to get it straight in his own mind than to please her, though the dragon listened in dead seriousness.
“By the scaly gods of the air,” Arzosah said, “I’m glad you didn’t run for that gold light you saw.”
“Truly? Why?”
“Well, if you had, your soul would have been loose from your body, and that would have been a splendid mess! You’d have been fighting on her dweomer-ground. I’ll wager you’d have lost, too, and ych! I would have been her slave as well as you. Ych, ych, ych, how disgusting!”
“Your sympathy warms my heart.” Rhodry shook himself like a wet dog. “And the worst of it is, I still feel like she’s watching me or suchlike.”
“Quick! Mount up! She must be round here somewhere.”
Since he slept dressed, of course, in that cold, all Rhodry had to do was pull on his boots and buckle on his sword belt. Arzosah bent her neck, carried him up, then took to the air while he was still wedging himself between the enormous scales where her crest met her spine. He clung to her and looked down, watching as she rose higher and began to circle. The army spun slowly under them, and the hills as well, dark under their cloak of pines.
“No sign of her yet!” Rhodry called.
“But I smell dweomer.”
Arzosah swung round to the west and flew hard, rolling through the air while Rhodry clung for quite literally dear life. Far ahead, a black speck appeared. The dragon climbed, flying far higher than any bird, even a dweomer one, could easily go. Ahead, the speck resolved itself into the raven, gliding along the wind, flying slowly. Bit by bit, they overtook her, came close enough to see that in her claws she carried a bulging cloth sack. Arzosah curved her wings to steady herself, then stooped like a falcon and plunged.
The whistle in the wind gave them away. The raven twisted round, saw them, shrieked, and flew, cawing and flapping straight ahead to a sudden mist, billowing in a clear sky. Rhodry howled out oaths and curses in vain as she skittered through and disappeared. Roaring in rage, Arzosah flung herself at the same spot, but nothing happened—they were still flying over the Northlands and the pine-dark hills.
“May her womb rot green within her,” Rhodry growled, “and the slime drip down to her knees.”
“You should have been a bard, you curse so well! Let’s go back. My wings ache with all this wretched damp. I do hope you let me eat a nice fat cow once we’re all safe in the city, Dragonmaster. The gods all know I’ve earned one.”
“I doubt if there’s a nice fat cow anywhere near Cengarn. But you’re right—let’s get back to the army.”
When they flew over the camp, they found the army gone, confident, no doubt, that Rhodry would catch up to them with no trouble. Following the track, they flew south and, indeed, found the army right away. They’d only ridden a few miles and called a halt to swarm round something they’d met in the road. As the dragon swooped down to join them, Rhodry recognized provision carts and men from the fort-guard at Cengarn.
“Saved!” he called out. “It looks like we’ll be eating today after all!”
Sure enough, the town had sent what provisions it could spare, scant but better than the naught they’d had before. When Rhodry took a chunk of flatbread and another of cheese from one of the carters, he thought that he’d never smelled food as good.
“But here,” he said to the man, “how did you know where we were?”
“The dweomermaster told us, of course. The lady of the Westfolk.”
Rhodry laughed, but at himself. Of course. Dallandra would have been scrying them out, no doubt during their entire march, and she’d know exactly when they’d be returning.
On the day that Cadmar and his men finally rode home, Dallandra sent Jahdo down to join the welcome at the dun gates. Although the boy was fretting with excitement, she preferred to stay up in her chamber till the confusion and greetings were over. Much to her amusement, though, the other women in the dun were surprised at her.
“Oh, come now,