The Dark Remains - Mark Anthony [204]
It was Lirith who answered, voice hard. “They found out where we were staying, and they wanted to eliminate us.”
Sareth hesitated, then nodded.
“You know how they’re doing it, don’t you?” Falken said. “You know how they can make buildings vanish just like gods.”
“I will tell you, ancient one. But not here.” Sareth glanced around, as if he feared an attack.
“All right, everyone,” Falken said. “I’d say try to look as discreet as possible as we move through the city, but that’s probably a little hard for this group. So let’s at least move as quickly as we can.”
Travis laid a hand on Beltan’s arm. “Can you walk?”
The blond knight nodded. “I can.” He seemed to hesitate, then he laid his hand on top of Travis’s.
Vani turned away from the two men and moved to Sareth.
“Let us go,” she said, her voice as flat as her gaze.
68.
It was late afternoon by the time Grace and Lirith followed Vani along a track that led up the side of a rocky hill a half league to the north of Tarras. They had left the grotto in small groups, spacing their departures by a quarter of an hour, in order to be less conspicuous as they moved through the city. However, Durge had not been happy that Vani, Lirith, and Grace were to bring up the rear.
“Three ladies should not go unattended when there is danger about,” the knight had rumbled.
Grace had glanced at Vani, then had smiled. “I don’t think you need to worry about us ladies.”
Now Grace and Lirith panted as they tried to match Vani’s swift pace up the slope. Just when Grace was beginning to think her knees were going to give out, the track did instead.
They stepped onto the summit of the hill: a flat space crowned by a circle of ithaya trees that rose like columns toward the sky. Ithaya were also called sunleaf trees, and at that moment Grace understood why. For the slender, yellow-green leaves caught the heavy light of the sun and spun it into a gauze of gold that mantled the grove.
On the far side of the grove, the hill fell away abruptly, and Grace realized they must have ascended to the top of one of the white cliffs that rose above the city. Far below, Tarras rose in five concentric rings of white stone, the sun setting fire to its domes. Grace turned around to tell Lirith how beautiful it was.
Instead, a gasp escaped her. She must have somehow missed it as they entered the grove. Now she saw it, lurking there among the tall trees. Its wings were folded tight against its body, its neck coiled, but there was no mistaking the scaly body, the saurian head.
“Lirith, a dragon!” she murmured, fear and wonder melding as one in her chest.
Lirith let out a warm laugh, and Grace managed to wrest her gaze away from the creature long enough to stare at the dark-eyed witch. How could Lirith laugh at a dragon?
“Look closer,” Lirith said.
Grace turned back. Again a thrill of terror shimmered through her—
—then faded as she saw the peeling paint, the spoked wheels, the small green door where the dragon’s tail should have been.
It was a wagon. And now Grace saw there were other wagons among the trees, all shaped like animals both fantastical and mundane. There were a toad, a rabbit, and a snail, as well as a unicorn and a lion with wings like an eagle’s. Flags hung between the wagons and the trees, filling the grove with sparks of color. People in bright clothes moved in and around the circle. A group of them started toward the new arrivals. Grace saw Travis, Beltan, Melia, and Sareth. Durge, Aryn, and Falken came close behind.
Vani started toward the others, and Grace and Lirith followed.
“Don’t worry, sister,” Lirith said. “I thought it was a dragon as well the first time I saw it.”
This startled Grace. “You mean you’ve met Vani and Sareth’s people before?”
“Not exactly, sister. They came to Ar-tolor at the end of summer, and Aryn, Durge, and I went to visit their caravan. But I’ve heard it said that no one can really know the Mournish.”
“You mean the Morindai,” Grace said.
The dark-haired witch shook her head. Clearly she had