Hyrkallan’s one cause for hope. An experienced rider, well known, well respected and well liked. There was always the dream that others would follow, that GarHannas was the first, that the trickle would become a flood and riders from across the realms would flock to the Purple Spur to bring Zafir down. Not much of a hope, but it had given him something to cling to. For a while.
Who am I fooling? Kings and queens tear down speakers, not riders. I should fly home. Give up on this charade. Deremis haunted him. His own brother. Killed because of this folly. My folly.
He wouldn’t fly home though. They were all too young, these riders. They needed wisdom. If he left them and Zafir wiped them out, they’d be nothing except more souls on his conscience. So instead he watched them pack up their meagre belongings and mount their dragons and then he led them as he should, between the mountains. He took them north this time, away from the majestic dead canyons of the Maze. That’s where the sell-swords would assume he was: on the south side where he could easily reach Drotan’s Top and the edges of Zafir’s realm. A dragon-knight would know better, but the sell-swords would think only of feet and boots and wagons and wheels, not of wings. Maybe that would buy him another week or two of peace and quiet. Long enough for the Usurper to have her council of kings and its aftermath. Long enough to see if anyone else would follow GarHannas. And when they didn’t, long enough to talk Hahzyan and the others into going home.
So he took them away, a dozen dragons streaming in a line behind B’thannan, up into the high valleys where the pines grew thicker, higher still towards the snowline, skimming the treetops, keeping low to avoid the eyes of Zafir’s scouts; then the dive over the Great Cliff, the mile-high sheer walls of stone that made the northern edge of the Spur, down into the valley of the Silver River below. Hyrkallan had been flying dragons for thirty years. He’d been to every part of the realms. He’d spent half his life soaring high above the endless Desert of Stone and among the dead peaks of the far north of the Worldspine. Even so, crossing the Great Cliff still took his breath away. The sudden absence of the world below gave him vertigo and in the dive that came after, the wind roared so fast it seemed it would tear him out of his saddle. Even behind his visor, he couldn’t open his eyes but had to trust to B’thannan not to simply plough into the ground. B’thannan loved to dive, loved the speed. All dragons did.
He almost blacked out as B’thannan pulled out of his dive and arrowed above the water of the Silver River leaving a shock of spray in his wake. And then the moment was gone, the magic and the wonder, and he was left as he’d been before. Old and bitter. He led the way down the valley, back to a place they’d been before Drotan’s Top, hardly even noticing the hills turn to mountains as they drifted past. He took them to the far end of the Purple Spur, to where it merged with the immensity of the Worldspine. Far enough away that the Adamantine Palace was a full day’s flight away. That was enough. So distant that they were hardly a danger to anyone but themselves. Then he watched them make their camps there, walked among them, helping them where he could. He’d keep them here, he decided. Waiting, watching, listening until they got bored. It was all in the hands of kings and queens now. Another week or so and he could put an end to this mistake and they could all go home.
He hadn’t even put his tent up, hadn’t even washed the sell-sword blood off his gloves, when the revolt began.
‘Marshal.’ Hyrkallan closed his eyes and wished for strength. Rider Semian.
‘Rider.’ He didn’t turn around. He didn’t want to even see Semian.
‘Marshal, I think it’s time you went home.’
Now Hyrkallan did turn around. His lips curled and he laughed bitterly.
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