‘Trust me. I can save him,’ said Denser. ‘And just be ready to run.’ He took a pace forwards and disappeared.
‘Look, this is really hard for me to take in,’ said Hirad. The Dragon put its head on one side and stretched its jaws a little. A line of saliva dripped from a fang and Hirad moved his leg reflexively to avoid it.
‘Explain,’ ordered the Dragon, the word bypassing the barbarian’s ears on its way to thump through his skull.
‘Well, you have to understand that never in my wildest drunken dreams did I ever imagine I’d be sitting and talking to a - a Dragon.’ He gestured and raised his eyebrows. ‘I mean I . . .’ He trailed off. The Dragon flared its nostrils and Hirad felt his hair move in the breeze of its breath. He had to fight himself not to gag at the smell, rotten with that burned sourness.
‘And now?’ it asked.
‘I’m absolutely terrified.’ Hirad felt cold. He was still shivering intermittently and he felt as though his sweat was freezing on his body, yet the room was hot, very hot. Large fires crackled and snapped in ten grates set around the far half of the hall, surrounding the Dragon on three sides, and the beast himself was sitting in what looked like soft wet mud. He rested back on his hands once again.
‘Fear is healthy. As is knowing when you are beaten. That is why you are still alive.’ The Dragon twitched its left wing. ‘So, tell me, what are you doing here?’
‘We were chasing someone. He came in here.’
‘Yes, I thought that you would not be by yourself. Who were you chasing?’
The barbarian couldn’t help but smile; the whole situation was getting quite beyond him. Although he was, he was sure, talking to a beast he had only heard of in rumour, he couldn’t dispel the idea that it was all some kind of illusion. Something with a sensible explanation, anyway.
‘A mage. His men killed one of my friends. We want him . . . have you . . . seen anyone?’ said Hirad. It was simply too much. ‘Look, I’m sorry, but I’m having trouble even believing you exist.’
The Dragon laughed, or at least it was a sound that Hirad thought was laughter. It boomed around his skull like waves striking a cliff and he juddered and closed his eyes as the pain that followed smashed at his brain. And then those fangs were inches from his face and the nostrils blew gouts of hot air into his eyes. Hirad started violently but before he could experience the shock of the Dragon’s speed of movement, it twitched its head up, catching him on the point of his jaw. He was hurled backwards to slide across the tiles, coming to rest, dazed. He sat up and massaged his chin, blood running from a deep graze.
‘And now, little man, do you still have trouble believing I exist?’
‘I . . . No, I don’t think so . . .’
‘And nor you should. Seran believes in me, although he has failed me now. And your friends beyond that door. I am sure they believe.’ The Dragon’s voice inside his head was louder now. Hirad got to his feet and walked towards the beast, shaking his head to clear his mind of the fog that encased it.
‘Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.’ Hirad’s heart was pounding in his throat once more. Another sound from the Dragon. Perhaps another laugh, but this time it sounded dismissive, somehow.
‘But you questioned my very existence,’ said the Dragon. ‘Perhaps you are lucky that I am slow to offend. Or perhaps that I am slow to question yours.’ Hirad tried to slow his breathing and think, but there seemed to be no way out. The only question remaining was how long before the Dragon tired of the game and snuffed out his life.
‘Yes.’ Hirad shrugged and waited to die. ‘But you must understand that you were the last thing I expected to find here.’
‘Ah.’ Feelings of amusement arose in Hirad’s mind. ‘Then I have disappointed you. Perhaps I should be apologising to you.’ The Dragon laughed again. More quietly this time, more in thought than in mirth.
There was a faint rustling by Hirad’s left ear, then a voice, just audible:
‘Don’t react to my voice and don’t say anything. I am Denser, the man you are after, and I’m trying to help you.’ He paused. ‘So when I say run, run hard. Don’t argue and don’t look back.’
‘Now, little man. Ask me a question.’
‘What?’ Hirad blinked and returned his attention to the Dragon, amazed that he could forget, however momentarily, that it was there.
‘Ask. There must be something you want to know about me.’ The Dragon withdrew its head somewhat, its neck arching high above the mound of its body.
‘All right then. Why didn’t you kill me?’
‘Because your reaction in putting up your sword set you as different from other men I have encountered. It made you interesting, and very few humans are interesting.’
‘If you say so. So what are you doing here?’
‘Resting. Recovering. I am safe here.’
Hirad frowned. ‘Safe from what?’ The Dragon shifted. Moving its hind feet slightly further apart, it placed its head on the floor once more and stared deep into Hirad’s eyes, blinking slowly.
‘My world is at war. We are devastating our lands and there is no end in sight. When we need to recover our strength we use safe havens like this.’
‘And where exactly is this?’ Hirad’s gaze took in the high roof and the scale of the chamber.
‘At least you have the sense to know you are not in your own dimension.’
‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about with dimensions. I’m sorry. All I know is that Taranspike Castle does not have a room this size.’
The Dragon chuckled again. ‘So simple. If only you knew the effort it took for you to stand here.’ It lifted its head slightly and shook it from side to side, closing its eyes. It spoke again without opening them. ‘The moment you left Seran’s chambers, you entered a robing room. That room is not placed in any one dimension, neither is this chamber nor the prayer chamber you also must have seen. If you like, this is a corridor between dimensions, yours and mine. Its existence is reliant on the fabric of your dimension remaining intact.’ Now the head raced in again, the Dragon’s wings bracing slightly to compensate for the sudden movement. ‘My Brood serve as protectors for your world, keeping you from the attentions of enemy Broods and with-holding from you that which should never have been created.’
‘Why do you bother?’
‘Do not think it is for any liking of your insignificant peoples. Very few of you are worthy of our respect. It is simply that if we allowed you the means to destroy yourselves and you succeeded in so doing, we would lose our haven for ever. That is also why the door to your world is kept closed. Other Broods might otherwise choose to travel here to rule.’
Hirad thought on that for a moment. ‘So what you’re saying is that you hold the future for all of us.’
The Dragon raised the bone ridges that served as its eyebrows. ‘That is certainly one conclusion you could reach. Now - what is your name?’
‘Hirad Coldheart.’
‘And I am Sha-Kaan. You are strong, Hirad Coldheart. I was right to spare you and speak to you and I will know you again. But now I must have rest. Take your companions and go. The entrance will be sealed behind you. You will never find me again, though I may find you. As for Seran, I will have to find another to serve me. I have no time for a Dragonene who cannot secure my sanctuary.’
It took the barbarian several heartbeats to take in what he had just heard and he still didn’t believe it. ‘You’re letting me go?’
‘Why not?’
‘Run. Hirad. Run now.’
The Dragon’s head swept from the floor at speed, eyes ablaze, searching for the source of the new sound. But Denser remained invisible. Hirad hesitated.
‘Run!’ Denser shouted, the voice some way to Hirad’s left.
The barbarian looked up at Sha-Kaan and their eyes met for an instant. He saw raw fury. ‘Oh, no,’ he breathed. The Dragon broke eye-contact to look down at its right hind foot. Hirad turned and ran.