Still Drago hesitated. Then suddenly the concept finally hit home. Escape! Escape – and if he escaped, would he then finally be able to seize control of his own destiny and heritage?
Yes, he would damn well make the opportunity! Drago straightened and ran after Zenith.
The corridors remained empty, and Zenith led Drago towards a small door in the side wall of Sigholt. But as they turned down the final corridor, Drago caught at his sister’s arm.
He had the most curious expression on his face, and his head was tilted, almost as if he were listening to something.
“Wait,” he said.
“What?”
“There’s something I have to get.”
“What?’
“Zenith, for forty years I have been punished for my infant escapade. For forty years I have been denied my heritage. Now I want to snatch a piece of it back.”
“Damn you to all the black pits of the interstellar wastes, Drago! We have no time for this!”
Drago seized Zenith’s chin in his hand. She stiffened in both affront and fright, but although he had pulled her close, he did not hurt her. “Was I treated fairly in that trial, Zenith. Was I?”
“No,” she said.
“Have I ever been given a chance to redeem myself?”
“You have had forty years to redeem yourself, Drago,” she said. “Do not blame that lack on Caelum as well.”
His face twisted and he stepped back. “Wait here for me, Zenith.”
“Drago -” She reached out a hand, but he had already gone.
Damn him! In her frustration and anger, Zenith slammed a fist into the rough stone wall, then bit down a cry of pain as the stone bruised her flesh. What was Drago up to?
She waited, the uncertainty agonising. Then, when she had made up her mind to go after him, she heard his soft footfalls approach.
“What were you doing?” she hissed as Drago rejoined her. He carried a bundle, a small hessian sack bulging with something Zenith could not see, even when she probed it with her mind.
“What is in the sack, Drago? And how is it no-one saw or felt you?”
He laughed humourlessly. “I know how to creep about these corridors undetected, Zenith. Being naturally sly has its uses.”
“The sack?”
He shrugged. “Nothing important.”
Important enough to risk recapture, Zenith thought, and strange enough that I cannot scry out its contents.
You have done your best, girl. Now go back to bed and wait for our lover. WolfStar can warm the hours before dawn. He waits. I can feel him. I want to feel him.
Zenith gave a low cry and clutched at her head.
“Zenith? What is it?”
“We’ve got to get out of here, Drago. We must!'”
Drago stared at her, but she seemed to have recovered from her momentary lapse, and what she said was sensible enough. He had already dared too much and wasted too much time in retrieving this… this insurance.
“Then move!” He grabbed her elbow and pushed through the door into the night.
There were a few guards about the central courtyard, but Zenith held her head high and smiled, and pulled Drago close, his head against her shoulder and her arm about his waist. The guards paid them little attention. Zenith and… a lover perhaps… out for a night stroll.
Through the gate, and to the bridge.
The bridge. The magical guardian of the way into Sigholt. Would she challenge them? Stop them?
“Greetings, lovely Zenith,” the bridge remarked, and then her voice tightened. “And you, treacherous son.”
Drago stiffened. Even the bridge knew how to hurt.
Zenith spoke rapidly, hoping the bridge would continue to keep her voice down. “We are out for a stroll, bridge. Do not concern yourself about us.”
“There has been trouble in the past few days,” the bridge said. “And Drago has been amid the thick of it. I cannot let you pass. I will not let you past. He tricked me once before.”
“No!” Zenith said. “Please, bridge, we mean no -”
“No.”
Zenith could feel Drago rigid next to her, and was terrified he would attempt to run across the bridge, regardless of the consequences.
“We can always swim the moat,” she whispered.
“No matter what you do,” the bridge said, her voice implacable, “you will not get past. Especially with what you carry, hated son.”
Zenith looked again at the sack Drago had under his arm. What was it?
“You seem to have misunderstood, bridge,” said a low voice, and Zenith and Drago swivelled about in shock.
WingRidge CurlClaw walked slowly towards the bridge from the Keep. He nodded at them, and then spoke again to the bridge.
“Drago walks as one with that sack. Let him pass -”
“I do not believe it!” the bridge hissed. “‘Him?”
“Always,” WingRidge said.
There was utter silence. Zenith couldn’t believe what was happening – what was WingRidge doing? What was he saying? Why hadn’t guards swarmed out of Sigholt to seize them? Why –
“Then pass,” the bridge said grumpily.
“Go on,” WingRidge said, and pushed Zenith. “Go!”
Drago needed no further prompting. He set off across the bridge at a run, and after a moment’s hesitation Zenith followed him.
“It would help,” WingRidge said to the bridge, “if you did not mention what has just happened or what I have just told you.”
The bridge thought about that. “I find it difficult to believe that Drago -”
“The Maze unwinds in many and varied ways,” WingRidge said, “and few understand its conundrums.”
Caelum had called Askam, Herme and Theod to the map-room just before dawn to arrange the final details for Drago’s execution, when WingRidge and another of the Lake Guard knocked and entered.
The Lake Guardsman stepped past his captain, and bowed. “Drago is no longer there, StarSon.”
“What?” Caelum stopped himself from seizing the birdman’s tunic only with the most strenuous of efforts. “What do you mean – ‘Drago is no longer there’?”
The birdman’s face remained expressionless. “StarSon, when we opened the cell this morning he was gone.”
Herme and Theod exchanged looks, neither sure what to think, and Askam muttered under his breath.
Caelum looked at WingRidge. “How could this have happened?”
“As yet I cannot say, StarSon. Perhaps SkyLazer,” he indicated the birdman who’d entered with him, “can further enlighten us. He was in charge of Drago’s guard last night.”
“SkyLazer? Well, man, you tell us how this could have happened!”
“StarSon, we had guards posted the entire length of the corridors leading to the cell. Three guards stood outside Drago’s cell itself. They have reported that there were no visitors and no sounds throughout the night. They are good men all, StarSon, but if you like I can summon them and you can test the truth of their report for yourself.”
“No, SkyLazer.” Caelum subsided. “That will not be necessary. Askam? I want you to mount a search of the Keep. Take whoever you need, and send several units around the shore to Lakesview as well. He could be hiding in the town.”
“As you will, StarSon. And if we should find him?”
Caelum regarded him steadily. “I do not care what condition he is returned in, Askam. Breathing or not. Just make sure he is returned.”
Askam understood perfectly. His mouth tightened into a small smile as he bowed to Caelum and then left the room.
Caelum turned to the other two noblemen. “Herme? Theod?”
The two somewhat reluctantly stood forth. Both wanted nothing more than to escape themselves; important business awaited them to the west. Would this delay their departure?
Curse the SunSoars’ curious attraction for deep crisis, Theod thought, keeping his face neutral. It was a remarkable achievement if they managed to get through a child’s name-day feast without the need for a war council in the middle of it.
“Yes, Caelum?” Herme said.
“I want you two to lead a patrol through the closer Urqhart Hills. If he managed to get past the bridge… damn… the bridge! She must know what has happened! I should have thought of that sooner!”
WingRidge’s face tightened a little, but no-one noticed.
Caelum turned back to the birdman from the Lake Guard. “SkyLazer, see to it!”
“My Lord,” said SkyLazer, and he stepped to the window and spiralled down.
“The bridge has aided Drago before now,” Caelum said to WingRidge. “I’ll see her torn apart brick by brick if she has done so again.”
I wish you luck, WingRidge thought. More powerful mages than you mortared her together. “She was duped that time, Caelum.”
“Then she could be duped again. Damn that bridge! Is she not supposed to protect us? Herme, Theod, what are you still doing here?”
“We thought to wait for the bridge’s hews,” Theod said. “It would be pointless for us to scour the hills if the bridge knows where he is.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Caelum muttered irritably. He stared at the window. “What can be keeping SkyLazer?”
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