The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [143]
Her flat matter-of-fact voice worked like dweomer on Salamander’s nerves, and apparently on Rhodry’s as well.
‘Why do you think I’m here?’ His voice had a breathy rasp at its edge, but it sounded like the voice Salamander was remembering as his brother’s, merely magnified. ‘Dalla, I have to say one thing straight off. I should have listened to you, that day in Cerr Cawnen.’
‘You know, I never thought I’d live to see the hour when I’d hear you say that—about anything.’
The dragon rumbled, and Salamander laughed, a normal laugh that matched Dallandra’s grin.
‘But there was the little matter of the town’s safety,’ Dallandra went on. ‘With Arzosah threatening to destroy it, what choice did you have?’
‘To die and let Evandar control Arzosah. He could have taken her elsewhere in a beat of the heart, somewhere too far away for her to harm the town. Eventually she would have come to her senses. I realized that when it was too late.’ He tossed his head with a glitter of light off silver scales. ‘Or no, that’s less than honest. At that moment I wanted what I have now. I refused to think clearly. If I hadn’t wanted it, Evandar never could have worked the transformation.’
‘Rori, you were dying!’ Dallandra said. ‘How can I hold it to your shame, that your mind wasn’t perfectly clear and calm?’
He was silent for a moment, then nodded. ‘I can’t tell you how much that eases my heart.’ His voice dropped to a whisper that was almost a hiss. ‘The shame of it’s been eating me worse than this wound, that I’d not seen what might happen.’
‘We’ve all been wondering what was so wrong.’ Salamander stepped forward. ‘I’ve been trying to find you, but it seemed that you’d fly off the moment I spotted you. I gather you didn’t want to speak to me.’
‘My apologies. I did feel shamed, but you see, I’ve also been patrolling the Northlands.’
‘For Horsekin, I assume.’
‘Just that. I found some raiders earlier this summer. I was too late to save the villagers they killed, but I did manage to give the hairy bastards the scare of their lives.’
‘So that was you!’ Salamander said. ‘I thought so.’
‘Were you there?’
‘No, but I rode that way later with the warband sent to chase them off.’
‘Ah, I see. It’s just as well you weren’t. They’ve got a new kind of sabre, the Horsekin do. It curves like a scythe blade. They rode down the men fighting on foot and swung down with the blade. It wasn’t a pretty sight.’ Rori lifted his head and looked around him. ‘Where’s Jill? I know her name’s not Jill in this life, but you know who I mean.’
‘Yes,’ Dallandra said. ‘Her name’s Branna, and she’s not truly Jill. You’ve got to remember that. We refused to let her come with the army. She’s only a young lass, and she’s married to the lad who once was Nevyn.’
‘Good.’ Rori nodded in approval. Before he spoke again, he looked this way and that, peering into the grass as if he thought someone might hide among the stalks. ‘I’ve also been looking for Raena.’ He lowered his voice to a near-whisper. ‘I guessed that she’d be reborn among the Horsekin, and I was right.’
‘Sidro the priestess?’ Salamander said.
‘The very one. I’m going to kill her if I can get at her.’
‘Rori, no!’ Dallandra said. ‘That’s what got you into this wretched mess in the first place, isn’t it? Wanting revenge?’
Rori swung his massive head around and blinked at her as if he was puzzled. ‘If I hadn’t killed her,’ he said, ‘Carra and the child would have had no peace.’
‘That war was mine to fight, not yours. Besides, we can’t know what would have happened had Raena lived. For one thing, the Alshandra people would have lacked their most important witness, as they call them. Her death heaped tinder on the sparks of the cult.’
The dragon growled under his breath. Dallandra set her hands on her hips and considered him, her eyes as cold as his, their two heads close together, his so massive, hers so delicate—but he looked away first.
‘I hadn’t realized that.’ His voice was as mild as a dragon’s voice is capable of being. ‘I don’t know, Dalla.