profound anyway. Somehow she’d become a necessary part of him and yet all they ever did was talk. ‘No, I didn’t, because I never told anyone. Quai’Shu only told me years later.’ She’d kissed him once, back when she hardly knew him, when she supposed that must be what he wanted, and it had been nice enough but it had told them both that it wasn’t.
Kalaiya cocked her head. ‘They brought the dragons to the eyrie.’
‘They did.’ He stared at her. Perhaps she was the missing piece of his soul, the piece he’d lost back in Cashax in his youth raising hell with Vey Rin and the rest. Perhaps he’d been lucky enough to find it again – unlike the others – but that just sounded ridiculous.
‘Tsen?’ She snapped her fingers at him. ‘Tsen. You’re staring right through me!’
‘Yes.’ He shook himself. ‘The moon sorcerers went with Quai’Shu to the dragon-realm. He was supposed to bring back eggs but the eggs started to hatch while he was at sea. We lost a dozen ships and Quai’Shu lost his mind.’ Tsen shrugged. ‘Or perhaps he lost it as they set sail, when the dragon-queen murdered Zifan’Shu on the decks of Quai’Shu’s own ship. But, years before, Quai’Shuwent to the moon sorcerers to ask them for their help. He never said what it was that he gave them. I never knew how he bought them.’
‘I thought they were a myth.’
‘If Quai’Shu wasn’t my sea lord then I would have said the same. I would have called him a liar.’ There was something there, a deeper darkness around Quai’Shu’s dragons that went beyond Shonda and Vespinarr and Dhar Thosis but Tsen, for all his brilliance, couldn’t begin to fathom it. Nor did he want to. In his golden gondola, surrounded by silver and glass and pale wood, he snuggled close to Kalaiya, and they chewed Xizic and watched the desert sunset together. He lay in bed and tried to sleep, and when he couldn’t, she got in beside him and stroked his hair and told him stories of the happy days they’d had together not so long ago. When the sun rose, he spent the next day looking at her, then out of the window at the desert and then back again, living in that moment for what little time they had left. She never said, but she needed him exactly as he needed her. That was the miracle of her; perhaps he did love her after all, just for wanting him.
He let the peace of the desert take him. In the evening he landed the gondola on the top of a lonely mesa far away from anywhere and the two of them watched the sunset together, glorious fiery reds in the sky while the sand turned to liquid gold and he felt Kalaiya’s warmth beside him, leaning into him. Another day and then they’d be back and all this peace would be over. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe the eyrie would be gone and the dragon with it and Mai’Choiro Kwen and Chay-Liang and all the rest, and everyone would think he was dead and he could fly away and be free . . . Or, more likely, the Elemental Men were already waiting for him.
He put his arm around Kalaiya as the sun went down. It had been an act of cowardice running away to Dhar Thosis to see what the dragon had done, a few last days together in quiet comfort and solitude before the end of everything jumped out of a wall and ate him. And so, because he was still a coward at heart, the desert stars were bright before he turned away and walked slowly back to the gondola, reluctance in every lingering step. He didn’t sleep much that night, and when the sun rose again he felt the coming end sink true and deep into his bone. The storm-dark was on the horizonahead of them, a hundred miles away and already a dark smear over the gleaming sands.
The world was full of things Tsen didn’t understand: dragons, flying eyries, glasships and lightning cannon, but none of them touched the mystery of the storm-dark. It floated a mile off the ground, twenty miles across, wrapped around that other great inexplicable marvel, the infinite pillar of
Kalaiya cocked her head. ‘They brought the dragons to the eyrie.’
‘They did.’ He stared at her. Perhaps she was the missing piece of his soul, the piece he’d lost back in Cashax in his youth raising hell with Vey Rin and the rest. Perhaps he’d been lucky enough to find it again – unlike the others – but that just sounded ridiculous.
‘Tsen?’ She snapped her fingers at him. ‘Tsen. You’re staring right through me!’
‘Yes.’ He shook himself. ‘The moon sorcerers went with Quai’Shu to the dragon-realm. He was supposed to bring back eggs but the eggs started to hatch while he was at sea. We lost a dozen ships and Quai’Shu lost his mind.’ Tsen shrugged. ‘Or perhaps he lost it as they set sail, when the dragon-queen murdered Zifan’Shu on the decks of Quai’Shu’s own ship. But, years before, Quai’Shuwent to the moon sorcerers to ask them for their help. He never said what it was that he gave them. I never knew how he bought them.’
‘I thought they were a myth.’
‘If Quai’Shu wasn’t my sea lord then I would have said the same. I would have called him a liar.’ There was something there, a deeper darkness around Quai’Shu’s dragons that went beyond Shonda and Vespinarr and Dhar Thosis but Tsen, for all his brilliance, couldn’t begin to fathom it. Nor did he want to. In his golden gondola, surrounded by silver and glass and pale wood, he snuggled close to Kalaiya, and they chewed Xizic and watched the desert sunset together. He lay in bed and tried to sleep, and when he couldn’t, she got in beside him and stroked his hair and told him stories of the happy days they’d had together not so long ago. When the sun rose, he spent the next day looking at her, then out of the window at the desert and then back again, living in that moment for what little time they had left. She never said, but she needed him exactly as he needed her. That was the miracle of her; perhaps he did love her after all, just for wanting him.
He let the peace of the desert take him. In the evening he landed the gondola on the top of a lonely mesa far away from anywhere and the two of them watched the sunset together, glorious fiery reds in the sky while the sand turned to liquid gold and he felt Kalaiya’s warmth beside him, leaning into him. Another day and then they’d be back and all this peace would be over. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe the eyrie would be gone and the dragon with it and Mai’Choiro Kwen and Chay-Liang and all the rest, and everyone would think he was dead and he could fly away and be free . . . Or, more likely, the Elemental Men were already waiting for him.
He put his arm around Kalaiya as the sun went down. It had been an act of cowardice running away to Dhar Thosis to see what the dragon had done, a few last days together in quiet comfort and solitude before the end of everything jumped out of a wall and ate him. And so, because he was still a coward at heart, the desert stars were bright before he turned away and walked slowly back to the gondola, reluctance in every lingering step. He didn’t sleep much that night, and when the sun rose again he felt the coming end sink true and deep into his bone. The storm-dark was on the horizonahead of them, a hundred miles away and already a dark smear over the gleaming sands.
The world was full of things Tsen didn’t understand: dragons, flying eyries, glasships and lightning cannon, but none of them touched the mystery of the storm-dark. It floated a mile off the ground, twenty miles across, wrapped around that other great inexplicable marvel, the infinite pillar of
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