SummerDanse (17 page)

As if he’d heard what I said, he glanced back at me with that familiar smile. Unaccountably, I flushed.

We walked along quickly now. But five minutes later, I saw something that made me bite back a yelp of fear. A group of dragonmasters was working their way up the street from the direction we were heading. They stopped everyone to look them over and ask questions.

My heart raced. I knew it had been too easy. Zhantar wasn’t going to let me slip out of his grasp. Without me, he didn’t have any hope of getting control of the red dragons.

The young man was now walking next to me, and to my surprise, he put a hand on my shoulder. A sense of calm spread over me. “It will be all right,” he whispered so softly I barely heard the words. “Trust me.”

Before I could question or even wonder what he meant, a strange thing happened. The air around me shimmered, and the dragonmasters looked like mere shadows. Sounds grew indistinct, as if something were clogging my ears, and I no longer felt the man’s hand or even the breeze. One of the dragonmasters paused and said something to Tebina, who responded with a smile and a little laugh. I didn’t hear either the words or the laughter, though, just a jumbled buzz. The dragonmaster laughed, too, then slapped the young man’s back and waved us on our way without giving me even a glance.

I felt a little jolt, as if the world around me hiccupped.

“Hurry,” the man said in a low voice. “We need to get out of the city before the pursuit grows even hotter.” He and Tebina ushered me along.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

Tebina patted my shoulder. “It’s all right, dear. Don’t worry.”

“I’ll explain it all as soon as we get you safely outside the city, all right? I promise. Just hurry, Donavah. Before it’s too late.”

“How do you know my name?” But the only answer he gave was to pick up speed.

Soon, we saw a makeshift gate blocking the road ahead. A black horse stood covered in sweat and stamping its hooves. The dragonmaster who’d practically run down the old woman was examining everyone leaving the city. I almost burst into tears. We were too late! They were going to find me, take me back, turn me over to Zhantar.

The man took one of my hands and Tebina the other, and we wormed our way through the small crowd. Then we were at the front, and the dragonmaster gestured us forward. How could we ever get past? My pounding heart and shaking knees would surely give me away.

He gave my companions scarcely a glance, turning his deep-set hazel eyes onto me. He examined me closely, his eyes flicking several times to my cheek. I felt myself blush under his scrutiny. Discovering that I was holding my breath, I made myself let it out and draw in another. The dragonmaster lifted a hand, and I steeled myself for what must surely come next. The game was up.

“Move on,” he said with an impatient wave to the road past the gate.

Overcome with relief, I broke into tears as we walked away. Tebina put an arm around my shoulders. The young man said, “Aw, c’mon. It’s all right. I told you it would be.”

“Come,” Tebina said. “We must get much farther along the road before we stop and rest.”

“Actually,” the man said, “once we get clear of the last straggling house, I know of a perfect place to eat some lunch.”

“Who are you?” I asked again, both curious and annoyed that Tebina seemed to have let him take over.

He put a finger to his lips. “All will be answered in good time.”

I looked in exasperation at Tebina, who just smiled and patted my shoulder. “All is well,” she said in a voice meant to be comforting. Instead it irritated me that they were keeping secrets. Doubt began to grow in my mind. Perhaps I’d been foolish to trust the old mage. We’d gotten past the dragonmaster easily, maybe too easily. Were these two in league with them?

Finally, we got clear of the houses. We walked on a little farther, then left the road. The land all around the city was mostly open, much of it cultivated for farmland, with occasional woods of varying sizes. A small clump of trees stood about a quarter mile away, and we headed toward that. When we reached them, I unblocked and let their vibrations wash over me. It had an unexpected cleansing effect. Walking ahead of the others, I went straight in among the trees, running my fingertips along their bark in greeting as I passed.

“Wait a sec,” the man said.

I turned to find him crouched down, reaching for something under a large shrub. When he’d retrieved whatever it was he was after and stood up, my heart skipped a beat. He held Traz’s staff.

It must be a trap! I looked around, expecting to see black-clothed dragonmasters closing in on me, Zhantar in the lead. But all was exactly as it had been before.

“What have you done with Traz?” I cried out, taking a step toward him. “If you’ve hurt him, I’ll kill you!”

The man laughed. Just like Anazian would’ve. “I haven’t done anything with Traz,” he said. “I am Traz.”

I care not how much he screams, how much he weeps, how much he bleeds. Bring him up.

Ah, there you are, my old friend. I see you no longer have the will even to spit on me. That is good. Now drink your ration of water. You say you will not? Very well. I will have my son force it down your throat. How many more times must we go through this before you learn that there is no point in defying me? I shall have my way.

Now, before I return you to your hole, know that I have won. Your daughter is mine. Mine to command, to have and to hold—or, rather, to give to my son. Know this and despair. Your rebellion all those years ago, your resistance now, it has all been futile. And now you shall suffer for it in body and in soul.

Put him back in his hole. I tire of his face.

I stood, petrified, as the world rocked beneath my feet. Could it be true? Could this be Traz? It just wasn’t possible. How could it be? So many questions raced through my mind that not one of them found its way to my lips.

Tebina put an arm across my shoulder and peered into my face before scowling at Traz. “Well done, boy,” she said. “I think you’ve frightened her out of her wits.”

“Nonsense,” Traz said with a frown. “Of course you recognize me, don’t you, Donavah?” I just stared. He snapped his fingers. “Hang on. Yallick thought this might happen.”

He opened the bag and rummaged in it. When he withdrew his hand, he held up a small mirror in a wood frame. My mirror, the one Jinna, a sage I’d befriended on Stychs, had given to me. “That’s my token. In case you didn’t recognize me.” His dark brown eyes bored into mine.

I stared. “How?” It came out as a whisper.

“Stychs,” he said with a shrug, as if that explained it. “Look, there are some boulders over there in the sun that’ll make a perfect picnic spot. Let’s sit and talk. And eat.” Without waiting for an answer, he walked through the trees. I followed with halting steps, Tebina still supporting me. By the time we joined him, he’d sat down and was digging food packets out of the bag.

“How?” I asked again.

He gave me a grin as impudent as the ten-year-old Traz would’ve done. “I told you. Stychs. I kind of pulled a Xyla.” I shook my head, not understanding him. My brain was still stuck trying to reconcile the thought that this handsome young man who obviously had some kind of powerful magic was Traz. He sighed. “C’mere and sit down. Eat. And I’ll explain. What, do I have to actually cook you a meal to prove I’m me?”

Numb and hardly aware of what I was doing, I sat on one of the boulders and took the food Traz—Traz!—handed me. There was dried meat, cheese, flatbread, and some sweet biscuits.

“I went to Stychs, like Xyla did, to grow. I was doing all right, studying the danse with Lini, but it was going to take forever to learn everything I wanted and become a proper sage. And we didn’t have forever. I got this brilliant idea to get one of the dragons to take me to Stychs until I was fully trained. Boy, was Yallick surprised when he found out what I’d done.”

At this, I make an inarticulate squeak of agreement.

Traz laughed. “Yeah, but hey, there wasn’t anything he could to about it at that point, if you know what I mean.”

“You’re really Traz?” I couldn’t help coming back to that point, although I didn’t really doubt it anymore. He did look like an older version of my ten-year-old friend, though his hair wasn’t as curly and was now long enough to be pulled back in a plait. But his eyes and smile were exactly right. So was his manner. He’d always been sure of himself; now he was even more so.

He laughed easily. “I really am Traz, you’re really free from the dragonmasters, and Xyla is really coming for you as soon as it’s dark.”

Then it finally occurred to me to ask, “What about Grey? What happened to him?”

Traz shook his head, and my heart sank. “That was bad. Chase led us to him, but he’d practically bled to death by then. I used my staff, but the wound was deep, and I didn’t have enough power to heal him.”

Tears stung my eyes. “So he died.”

Traz gave me a strange look. “No, he didn’t die.”

“But you just said ...”

“I couldn’t heal him entirely. It was enough, though, to keep him from dying right then and there. That was one wicked knife wound. For a long time, it was hard to say whether he’d make it, but he pulled through. I think it was Chase in the end who saved him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just the way the dog sat, days on end, staring at Grey. Like he was willing him to live or something.” He started to put the remains of our meal into the bag. “Let’s get going. We need to be farther away by dark.”

“And it is time for me to return home,” said Tebina, startling me. I’d forgotten she was there.

“Thanks for your help,” I said as I gave her a hug. “Are you sure you’ll be able to get home safely?”

“No worries, dear. It was you, after all, who put me in danger.”

“Oh, of course. I’m sorry.”

She placed a finger on my lips. “No apologies. Taking the risk was my choice. Now go in safety and hope for better days ahead.”

We went back to the road, and Traz and I watched Tebina head toward the city. When she looked back, we waved, then headed eastward.

We walked in silence for awhile, me trying to get used to the idea of this new, very grown up Traz.

“So,” he finally said, “I’d really like to know what happened.”

I pondered. And when I decided that I did actually want to share the burden, I told him everything.

I cried a few times, and when he put an arm around me for comfort, I leaned against his tall, strong frame. And it felt good to have someone to lean on. I could get used to this, I thought. Then I caught myself up—I didn’t want to start thinking of Traz that way. Did I?

When I finished my story, I was glad I’d had the chance to get it out once before having to explain it all to Yallick. The mage wouldn’t put up with my tears the way Traz had. I knew, too, that Yallick would make me tell him everything over and over, trying to wring every important detail from me. Going through it all with someone sympathetic helped a lot, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel so alone.

“All right,” I said, “your turn now.”

“My turn what?”

I gave his arm a joking punch. “To tell me about Stychs, you noodge.”

He grinned. “Right. Like I can squeeze ten years into an afternoon.”

I punched him a little harder. “You better try!”

Gathering a handful of my hair, he gave it a tug. “And what will you do if I don’t?”

I reached for his hair, but he was too tall and too fast for me. Laughing, I said, “I’ll set Xyla on you, that’s what I’ll do.”

He widened his eyes in mock fear. “Oh, well, in that case ...” And he launched into his own story. He told about how surprised everyone in Delaron had been when he showed up, how Botellin agreed—after quite a lot of persuasion—to let him stay, how he’d studied the danse with a frenzy the masters said they’d never seen before.

“I felt like I had to hurry, like there was this pressing need back home. I mean, logically, I knew it didn’t matter because I could stay as long as I liked on Stychs and when I came home it would be just an instant after I left. But, well, let’s just say ... I missed ... being here.”

“Still, was a risky thing to do. What if something happened to you while you were there? What if, I don’t know, you’d gotten yourself killed or something?”

“Aw, Donavah, I didn’t know you cared!”

I looked away so he wouldn’t see me blush.

On the whole, it was an interesting if strange afternoon. I kept imagining young Traz would be waiting for me with Yallick and the other mages, then reminding myself that, no, he wasn’t young anymore, and he was here with me.

Our shadows grew long with the setting of the sun. Up ahead, the road passed through one of the larger woods.

“We’ll wait here for dark to fall,” Traz said as he led the way off the road and into the cover of the trees.

The setting of the sun had never taken so long. It was just my luck that I could hardly wait for it to get dark on what was just about the longest day of the year. That thought made me sit bolt upright.

“It’s tomorrow!” I exclaimed.

Traz gave me a confused look. “What’s tomorrow? Oh, right. Summer Solstice.”

“No, not that. I mean whatever is it that Zhantar is planning. It all makes sense.”

“Not to me it doesn’t. What are you talking about? What is he planning?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but it all fits. Look, he tried to initiate me as a dragonmaster last night. I think he really believed I would summon the red dragons on his orders. And that the dragonmasters would be able to get the dragons under their control in time for tomorrow’s Summer Solstice. The king is putting on a big celebration, and I bet Zhantar has plans to do something.”

“What? What could he do?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. He didn’t let anything slip. But I’m sure I’m right.”

Leaning against a tree near the edge of the wood, I glanced at the western horizon. Traces of pink and orange filled the sky as the sun sank behind the hill on which Penwick was built. If only there were a way to hurry full dark! I could hardly wait to tell Yallick my idea. If we could stop Zhantar, that would be worth everything I’d been through.

Traz said, “You might be onto something. There’s a real feeling of tension in the air, almost like everything was holding its breath.”

“Yes! That’s exactly it. I noticed it, too.”

“Well, it’s lucky you escaped when you did.”

Luck? I wondered. Was it luck, or was it fate? I couldn’t believe that anything involving Etos had to do with luck. I felt a small shudder go through the tree behind me, and it had the distinct feel of laughter. Had the tree just giggled at me?

A bird landed on a branch above me. “They are on the way,” it said.

“Oh, good!” I said aloud.

“Huh?” Traz said.

“Xyla is on her way,” I told him. Anticipation surged through me. It would be only minutes now. “C’mon, let’s get out in the open to meet her.”

Traz grinned as he rose to his feet and slung the bag over his shoulder. “Lead on,” he said.

I bit my bottom lip as we walked out of the wood. It was taking some getting used to this new Traz, but the thought of him being grown up was beginning to appeal to me.

In the clearing beyond the wood, we stood waiting. I scanned the sky anxiously.

Then I saw a dark blot against the night sky. Or was it my imagination? No, it was really there, and it grew larger and larger. A moment later, Xyla landed as lightly as if she were a small bird instead of a giant dragon. As I looked up at her gleaming red skin even in the dark twilight, a lump rose in my throat, and I blinked back tears of joy. I ran to her.

“Donavah, my little one,” she said as I pressed myself against her. “Oh, how I have missed you.”

“Me, too,” I mumbled. “You can’t imagine how much.”

Yallick dismounted and now he gripped my shoulders from behind. A sense of his relief filled me. “We must be going, my dear,” he said.

I nodded and pushed myself away from the dragon only to be pulled into my teacher’s close embrace. “I thought ...” he murmured into my hair. “No, it does not matter what I thought.” He released me, and I was surprised to see him wipe his eyes. “Let us go.” He gave me a hand up, then mounted behind me, and Traz behind him.

The flight was absolute magic. Yallick kept his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. At other times, this would have annoyed me, but now it made me feel cherished, even important. He left no doubt about the sincere warmth of his feelings for me.

The wind blew the hair back from my face as we soared through the air. The stars shone brightly against the moonless sky and seemed bigger than ever. If I could but urge Xyla higher, I was sure I could pluck them from their places.

And Grey was alive! I’d had no hope it could be true, and the thought of seeing him again soon made my stomach quiver. But now there was Traz, too. My feelings were so jumbled that I couldn’t possibly sort them all out.