Cold Steel

James Drake laughs as he stands with a foot on the limp body of a man. Blessed Tanit! The fallen man is Vai. Drake shoves the body with his foot and beckons for a soldier to bring a horse.



“Catherine!” called Vai from the boat.



I shoved the cacica’s skull into the basket and ran onto the pier. The dragon flashed away into the chasm, out of the mortal world and into the Great Smoke. As the waves of its departure slapped the shore, Vai raked six fat spheres of cold fire into the air. Light coalesced into gleaming columns so bright I could discern the green of the grass.



I kissed and then released him. “If soldiers are coming, they’ll know right where we are.”



“That is my intention. I want to draw them off from the academy.”



From the road, a horn blatted and was answered thrice.



Kemal set Bee back from him. “When I have made all safe here, I will find you,” he promised her. He turned to us. “I’ll tell them you stole our horses and fled by road. Go!”



I dragged a speechless Bee into the boat. Vai pushed off and set to the oars as Rory coiled the line. The current caught the bow, spinning us halfway around until Vai pulled us back. Bee stared toward the bank. A lamp caught flame. Kemal stared after us until Maestra Lian took his arm to help him back up to the academy of which he was now headmaster.



32



For the longest time no one spoke. Rory sat cross-legged among the gear, his head buried in his hands. Bee stared back the way we had come. A candle of light floated by Vai’s knee, casting a gleam onto his beautiful face and intent expression. I watched the way his fingers tightened and relaxed on the oars, the way he glanced up between strokes at me, as if he was never quite sure he would still see me there, as if I might vanish between one breath and the next.



All my breath spilled out of me as I forced the awful vision of James Drake out of my head. I could kill Drake. If he tried to touch Vai, I would.



“Well!” said Bee. “Not every young woman has a dragon fall in love with her!”



I laughed, for her gloating tone scoured fear from me. I counted off on my fingers. “Goodness, Bee! A legate. A prince. An infamous radical. Even the mansa seemed inclined to fall for your prodigious charms. It seems unthinkable a dragon in the shape of a man would not do so likewise.”



“How can you speak to me of any of those others!” she cried. “They are but… trifles compared to…” Words failed her.



Vai’s gaze flashed up to meet mine. He smiled the intimate smile meant for me only, the one that made my cheeks grow warm. “I would have demanded more than a kiss.”



“I must say that in your case, Andevai, I do believe that horse has already left the stable,” retorted Bee in the most dignified manner imaginable, after which she spoiled the effect with a toss of her curls and an audible sniff.



Rory lifted his head. “Wouldn’t it be more precise to say in that case that the horse has already entered the—”



“Rory.” Vai’s tone was genial, but he cut him off.



I cut in. “Maestra Lian is a dragon dreamer. Both of you have a ghostly third eye.”



Bee touched her forehead, then giggled giddily. “Don’t joke, you beast! Think of how unsightly that would look! I wonder why the headmaster never revealed the truth to me while we attended the academy.”



“If he had told you what he was and what you were, back before all this happened, would you have believed him?”



“I suppose not,” she said with a grudging sigh. “Anyway, my dream was wrong, about meeting the headmaster in his study.”



“We found the headmaster in Noviomagus on the Feast of Mars Triumphant. He ate fire challengers. I spoke to the cacica as in a mirror. If you didn’t truly understand the dream you were having, you might have interpreted it in a more familiar way.”



“Why, Cat,” she said in surprise, “I do believe you are right for once.”



A horn’s call rose and faded. Rain spattered over us. I clutched Bee’s hand more tightly.



“Catherine, are you cold?” Vai pulled the left oar to steady us in the current. A bauble of cold fire chased out in front of us to light our way.



“I’m scared of being out on the water, to be honest.”



Bee put an arm around me, but her attention was fixed on the globe of cold fire. “Andevai, how far can you push the cold fire away from you before you lose control of it? For that matter, how close must you be to a fire to kill it?”



“In Expedition we did a number of experiments to study exactly these issues.”