‘What can I do for you?’ said Vindo.
‘You have some birds from Kainordas here?’ asked Losara.
Vindo bobbed his head. ‘Yes, lord.’
‘Please fetch them.’
Vindo bowed and backed away between cages. He did not notice the shadowmander, which darted across the floor and slipped into a whelkling’s pen. The whelkling, chained to a pole, gave its wings a flap, but otherwise remained disinterested as the lizard slithered around its enclosure.
Vindo returned, carrying a cage in which two sundarts huddled together. Their golden plumage, which would have shone in the light of Kainordas, was faded and fraying.
‘Are these sufficient?’ he asked, setting down the cage. ‘I have others as well.’
Neither Tyrellan nor Losara paid him any attention, but concentrated instead on the mander. At a forlorn cheep from one of the birds, it left the pen and crept towards the cage. Coming to a halt near Vindo’s leg, it eyed the birds intently.
‘Er …’ said Vindo. ‘What are you …’ He followed their stares down to his feet and ‘Erk!’ he exclaimed, jumping in fear. The mander burst from between his legs, wriggled into the cage, and leaped to grab one of the birds in its claws. Together they sprawled on the cage floor, a blur of activity …and quickly also of bloody feathers. The second bird chirped in terror and beat its wings uselessly against the bars as the mander lifted its dripping head from the first.
‘How did that get in here?’ said Vindo, moving towards the cage. ‘Apologies, masters!’
‘Halt!’ said Tyrellan, and Vindo cringed.
The mander sprang for the second bird. Losara marvelled at how driven to destroy it was, charged with a ferocity he struggled to understand. He knew he needed to be like the mander, just as vicious and merciless. Yet instead he thought, Poor bird. Like so many dumb beasts affected by this conflict, it never made any conscious decision about what ‘side’ it’s on. Will sundarts live if the Cloud covers all Kainordas? And what if it is blown away, will the birds of Fenvarrow survive?
‘Interesting,’ he said. ‘The mander does not swallow. It cannot, for there is no throat or stomach, only mouth and teeth. Yet that does not stop the legacy spell from behaving like the creature in whose image it was created.’
Tyrellan nodded, but Losara did not think the goblin had followed his train of thought.
‘Additionally,’ Losara said, ‘thanks to Heron building her legacy on top of the first, it is larger and has a further reach than the butterfly.’
‘Yes,’ said Tyrellan, watching the mander spitting out tiny skull chips.
‘So what if,’ said Losara slowly, ‘we could convince more mages to cast their spells on top of it as well ?’
Now Tyrellan’s eyes did leave the lizard, to focus wholly on Losara.
‘The shadowmander could be made even bigger?’ he ventured, and ran his tongue thoughtfully over his fangs. ‘But that would require sacrificing many of our mages at a time when we can ill afford it.’
‘Hundreds, I expect,’ said Losara, ‘to reach the size I envisage.’ He glanced down upon the ruined remains of the birds. Did he really intend to put such a murderous idea into effect?
I must , he thought. I must .
‘But, First Slave, it is not our mages I intend to lose in the making.’
The Search Begins
As a wide road stretched out over green hills before him, Bel felt a surge of elation. He had left the Halls once before, but not to travel such a distance, and not with such freedom to pursue his goals as he saw fit. Cadmir was many leagues away – who knew what they would experience on the way, or where they would go from there? His blue curls moved freely in the wind as they galloped, and he laughed with delight.
Hiza, at his side, glanced over and grinned. Bel’s peacekeeper partner and childhood friend was an obvious choice for companion. With his posting in Kadass simply to keep Bel company, Hiza had also led a fairly insular existence, and deserved some adventure. Bel suspected that his friend was yet to adjust fully to his newly revealed importance …Hiza had been amazed, of course, but there was also a hint of something like hurt, perhaps because Bel had kept such a secret from him all these years. Still, he seemed happy enough this morning, and Bel knew he could count on Hiza as he always had.
They passed a wagonload of farmhands, almost causing the driver to fall out of his seat. The men stared wide-eyed and, as they passed, a couple of them whooped. News of his existence had spread, right from the moment he’d walked out of Tomeo’s house with his blue hair unhidden – but how long until all of Kainordas knew?
‘Bel,’ came a reptilian voice from his other side, and he looked over at M’Meska. The Saurian had been another easy choice for this expedition – despite a rocky start when Bel had first met her, the two had since bonded, and of course it helped that she was an excellent warrior.
‘What is it, my friend?’
‘Always I wondering,’ said the Saurian, ‘how this man does outmatch me with bow and arrow. Such scrawny Varenkai arms he got!’
Bel chuckled. ‘And what conclusion have you drawn?’
‘Champion of the gods,’ she replied, waving a claw at his head. ‘Explains it all about. Now I know why I only a tiny bit not good as you.’
‘A tiny bit?’
‘Yes,’ said M’Meska. ‘Tiny.’
She dropped the reins and held herself to the horse with her powerful legs while pulling the bow from her back. She sent an arrow flying off ahead, where it plunged through an apple hanging from a roadside tree and carried it away.
‘Was that the one you meant to hit?’ said Bel, feigning concern.
‘I only hit what hit I mean to hit!’
‘It’s just that there are lots of apples on that tree – are you sure you weren’t aiming for the one beside it?’
The Saurian growled with indignation and sent another arrow flying. This one hit the apple that hung next to where the first had been. As it was knocked from the tree, she unleashed a third arrow, spearing the apple again before it hit the ground.
‘What excellent shooting!’ said Jaya, riding up beside the Saurian.
‘Yes,’ agreed M’Meska gravely. ‘’Tis.’
‘Bel was lucky indeed to have you in Drel to save him,’ Jaya added, shooting Bel a wink.
‘Yes!’ said M’Meska and pointed a claw at Bel. ‘I save him . Champion of gods, and I save him. ’
‘With your shooting that is only a tiny bit not good as mine,’ laughed Bel, and M’Meska grumbled an affirmative.
At the end of the first day they camped by the roadside. Jaya set about making a fire, at which she proved adept – Bel guessed that her time spent as a thief on the roads had made sure of that. As the others saw to food preparation, he went to his pack and drew out the magical messenger bird, which gave a chirp. Already?
Moving a short distance away, he touched the scroll on the bird’s leg. Its beak dropped open and steam issued out, more plentifully than when he’d first seen it demonstrated.
‘Hello, Bel,’ came Fahren’s voice.
‘And to you,’ said Bel, though he knew Fahren could not hear him.
‘We’ve had news from Fenvarrow that you should hear,’ continued Fahren. Was his tone hesitant? ‘It seems Losara has supplanted the Shadowdreamer and now rules the south. It is nothing of immediate concern, but I thought you should know. Good luck, dear boy.’
That was all. The steam ceased and Bel slipped the bird into his pocket, troubled. Losara had taken charge? And yet he, when given the choice, had not. What did that mean? Was he now somehow disadvantaged? Why hadn’t he seized power as his other had done, when he’d had the chance …did that make him weak? It had seemed much easier to go jaunting off on some mission than to step up to such huge responsibility. Yet he was supposed to be a leader, wasn’t he?