‘You are my father’s enemy?’
‘Not now!’ he assured her. ‘Now I wish him for a friend.’
‘Why?’
‘Because my people are in peril. You can have no conception of what it is to live under the Gothir yoke. We have no rights under their laws. We can be hunted down like vermin. No one will raise a hand to object – that is bad enough. But now Zhu Chao has convinced the Emperor that my tribe – the oldest of the Tent-people – needs to be eradicated. Exterminated! Soon the soldiers will march against us.’
‘How can my father help you? He is only one man.’
‘He is the Dragon Shadow, the hope of my people. And he has with him the White Tiger in the Night and old Hard-to-kill. Also there is Senta. And, more importantly perhaps, there is you.’
‘That is still only five. We are not an army.’
‘We shall see. Ask Waylander to come to the Mountains of the Moon. Ask him to help us.’
‘Why should he? You are a man who tried to kill him.’
Tell him we are outnumbered ten to one. Tell him we are doomed. Tell him we have more than two hundred children who will be slaughtered.’
‘You don’t understand … these are not his children. You are asking him to risk his life for people he does not know. Why would he even consider it?’
‘I cannot answer that, Miriel. Just tell him what I have said.’
The colours swirled once more and Miriel felt a sickening lurch as her spirit was united with her body. Waylander was beside her, and the sun was high in the sky.
*
Waylander felt a surge of relief as Miriel opened her eyes. He stroked her hair. ‘What happened?’ he asked.
Taking hold of his arm she eased herself into a sitting position. Her head was throbbing with dull pain, her mouth dry. ‘A little water,’ she croaked. Pulling free the cork, Angel passed her a leather-bound canteen and she drank greedily. ‘We need to speak,’ she told Waylander. ‘Alone.’
Angel, Belash and Senta withdrew and she recounted her meeting with Kesa Khan. Waylander listened in silence until she had finished.
‘You believed him?’
‘Yes. He did not tell me all he knew, but what he said was true. Or at least he believed it to be true. His people face annihilation.’
‘What did he mean by calling me the Dragon Shadow?’
‘I don’t know. Will you go?’
He smiled. ‘You think I should?’
She looked away. ‘When we were young Krylla and I used to love the stories that Mother … Danyal… told. You know, of heroes crossing seas of fire to rescue princesses.’ She smiled. ‘We felt like princesses because you had rescued us. You were the man who helped save the Drenai. We loved you for that.’
‘It wasn’t for the Drenai,’ he said. ‘It was for me.’
‘I know that now,’ she told him. ‘And I don’t want to sway you. I know you would die for me, as you would have risked all for Mother or Krylla. And I know why you are heading north. You want vengeance.’
‘I am what I am, Miriel.’
‘You were always better than you knew,’ she said, reaching up and stroking his lean face. ‘And whatever choice you make I will not condemn you.’
He nodded. ‘Where do you wish to go?’
‘With you,’ she answered simply.
Tell me what he said again.’ She repeated the words of Kesa Khan. ‘A cunning old man,’ said Waylander.
‘I agree. But what makes you say so?’
‘The children. He wanted me to know about the children. He knows me too well. By heaven I hate sorcerors!’ Waylander took a long, deep breath. And saw again the flowers in bloom around the dead face of his son. How old would he have been now? A little older than Senta, perhaps?
He thought of Bodalen. And Karnak.
Senta, Belash and Angel were standing by the tethered horses. Summoning them to him he asked Miriel to tell the story for a third time.
‘He must think we are insane,’ said Angel, as Miriel concluded her tale.