The Ritual (13 page)

“Well… I do have another idea, but it’s very dangerous. For you especially.” He looked at my sister, and his eyes showed concern.

“Let’s hear it then,” she said. I shared a worried look with Mior, but before either of us could protest she waved us down. “Shush, let me hear it. I’m a grown woman, I can decide for myself whether I’ll do it or not.”

Zash nodded. “Dragons challenge each other by breathing fire. You can produce fireballs big enough that a dragon would see it as a challenge.”

Shani sucked in a breath, but I could see she was intrigued. “Would they see it as a challenge when it’s not coming from another dragon?” she asked.

“This is where it gets sketchy,” Zash admitted with a shrug. “Dragons can see through illusions, but I wonder whether they might not pay as much attention when they’re angry. If you challenge one with a massive fireball and then present
it with an illusion of a dragon–”

“
They may not notice the difference,” Shani finished for him. “That could work.”

“There’s a lot of ifs in there,” I pointed out.

“So if you have a better idea, let’s hear it,” Zash snapped. “I did say I was still thinking about this.”

“I think it’ll work, if we coordinate this and all of us work together,” Mior said placatingly. “Shani and I will have to anyway – if she’s to produce fireballs big enough to challenge dragons, there’s no way she can keep up an illusion at the same time, so I’ll have to do that part.”

“Is that something you can do from cover?” Zash asked. “Can you make a fireball look as if it came from the mouth of an illusory dragon?”

Shani shrugged. “I don’t know. Possibly, but I’ve never tried. We can practice in small scale though.” She looked at Mior, and he grinned and nodded at her, clearly pleased with the prospect.

“So, you conjure up a dragon, challenge a real one with it, it breathes fire on the flask, and then what?” I asked. “How do we get it to move away so we can retrieve the flask?”

“Simple,” Mior said. “I let my dragon take off into the air as soon as it’s been engulfed, and the real one will follow.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

“Of course,” he replied with a grin. “After a challenge like that, there’s no way it won’t follow.”

“Fine, so it takes off,” I conceded. “But how do we get rid of it altogether? It’ll find out soon enough that your dragon is an illusion, and then it’ll come back. Then what?”

Silence met my words. “I don’t know,” Mior admitted after a few heartbeats.

“Nor I,” Shani said, shaking her head. “I doubt my fireballs could chase it off – it’d just see it as a further challenge. Even if they could, I can only produce three or four of a decent size before I’m exhausted.”

“I think we’ll have to hide from it and wait for it to go away,” Zash said pensively. “Which means we’ll have to select our spot very carefully.”

“No kidding,” I muttered. “I have no desire to get roasted by an angry dragon.”

“Right, I suggest we do this then,” Zash said. “Tomorrow we move on, since we’re still only on the edge of dragon territory. We find ourselves a good base and work from there. You two,” he pointed at Shani and Mior, “will start practicing your dragon double act.” Then he raised his eyes to me. “And we will work our way through the area to find a good ambush spot.”

My heart leaped at the opportunity to spend one or more full days alone with him, but I allowed myself only a tiny smile. “Deal, Black Eyes.”

*   *   *   *   *

The next morning I seized my chance as we were about to set off, walking up to Zash and presenting him with my shoulder. He looked mildly puzzled, and I grinned at him. “Your turn to be on dragon watch. I’m giving you something to hold on to.”

He pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder to where Shani and Mior were adjusting each other’s packs, then looked at me again.

“They’ve decided to start practicing already. You’re stuck with me, Black Eyes,” I murmured. “You can’t avoid me forever.”

His eyes widened for a moment, then they went blank as he focused past me. He smoothed his face into blandness and turned away with a half-shrug. “
Fine,” he said, and placed his hand on my shoulder.

I started walking, annoyed with myself. Why had I said that? If I wanted to win him over I had to be more subtle than that, not rub his face in it. I gave a small sigh and concentrated on the path, and on ensuring that Zash wouldn’t trip up.

It was strange, I mused after a while, how much of a difference such a small touch could make, even if it was unwilling. His fingers tightened whenever he turned his head to the sky behind us, or whenever he stepped on a stone and had to adjust his balance. Since he had his right hand on my left shoulder he was not immediately behind me, and I started giving simple directions to him to lead him to the best path. He never said anything in return, but when he indicated a stop for someone else to take over he gave me a quick nod and a grudging ‘thanks’.

“I’ll take over,” I said, and lifted my hand to above his shoulder. “May I?”

He froze briefly, but then inclined his head. “Go ahead.”

I had been happy with him holding on to me, but the reverse felt even more intimate somehow. I could feel the muscles in his shoulder shift whenever he moved his arm, felt the warmth of his body even through his shirt, jerkin and cloak, and I was close enough to smell him now that I was behind him. It was a familiar scent by now, one I had grown accustomed to in the few weeks we had spent together, but today I found myself trying to analyse it into its component parts.

There was an earthiness from having slept on the ground, and a hint of fresh sweat from the exertion of walking a mountain path. Below that were the smells uniquely his own, smells I could not name but only attach feelings or sensations to: warmth, excitement, sensuality and a sense of comfort. I had always felt comfortable with him, I realised, even when he annoyed or irritated me. I felt it even now, despite the apprehension that had come with the overheard conversation.

I stumbled on a stone and he steadied me with a hand on my waist. He took it away again immediately, but the feel of his fingers remained, and when he also started murmuring directions to me I found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the sky rather than on his voice.

Until I saw a dragon. It appeared ahead of us, a tiny speck against the cloud-puffed sky, but it grew bigger so swiftly that I froze for a moment. Then I came to my senses. “Dragon!” I hissed, and immediately Zash grabbed me around the waist and pulled me in between two big boulders a little way off the path. I could not see whether Shani and Mior did the same, but the clattering of rocks behind us and the sound of scrambling feet reassured me in that regard.

We stood stock still as the creature wheeled over – a magnificent beast with scales scintillating between green and bronze – but although I was entranced by its harsh beauty, I was al
so intensely aware of Zash’s body pressed against my back, his hands resting on my shoulders and his steady breath tickling against the shell of my ear, which sent surprisingly sensual shivers down my spine. When I could no longer see the dragon I began to move away, but his hands tightened and held me where I was.

“Stay,” he whispered. “It might come back.”

I nodded, and felt him loosen his grip again. I tried to relax, but after a few moments he shifted position, pressing himself even tighter against me, and I heard him take a deep breath through his nose.

“You smell so nice,” he murmured, his voice wistful, and then he gently propelled me back out into the open.

I dared not look at him, dared not show him how shaken I was by that small comment. Instead I looked to the path behind us. “Shani?” I called, wincing at how wavery I sounded.

“Here,” she replied immediately, appearing from behind another boulder. She looked flustered, as did Mior when he stepped out behind her, and it took little skill to guess that they had been kissing. Their first kiss, by my reckoning – I could not think of any other opportunity they might have had.

Without volition my eyes went to Zash, and I caught one pensive, almost sad look from him before he turned away and started walking again.

“Mior, can you take over?” I asked, and followed Zash without waiting for his answer.

We saw two more dragons that day, one blue and silver and one with eye-watering red and purple scales. They were eerily quiet as they wheeled over us, the only sound that of their flapping wings, and I reflected that it was just as well we’d set a sky-watch, or they would have taken us completely by surprise. I wondered how far they ranged to find sheep, and what it would be like to live in a dragon’s hunting ground.
Maybe it’ll make those people feel like we always do -  never safe
, I thought, and it gave me a feeling of grim satisfaction.

At dusk we picked another one of the myriad empty caves, and decided that it would serve well enough as a base of operations. Supper was a quiet affair, with Zash and I both lost in thought, and Shani and Mior intent on preserving their energy.

The next day Zash and I spent combing the area to the west of the cave, and although he was pleasant enough to me I could not think of any topics to talk about, so we spoke little, and found nothing to our satisfaction.

When we returned to the cave at dusk both Shani and Mior were asleep. Their sleeping rolls had been pushed together and their arms were wrapped tightly around each other, and I knew then that sometime during the day they had become lovers. I had been expecting it, but my feelings about it were still ambiguous. A glance at Zash’s face told me that he seemed both resigned and sad, but he didn’t say anything and never looked at me before grabbing a bite to eat and crawling into his own sleeping roll.

*   *   *   *   *

The next day started much the same, but midway through the morning I rounded a corner and found myself in a spot that looked promising, so I called Zash over before beginning to check it out.

It was a large, flat space; large enough to comfortably hold an adult dragon but still close enough to the rock faces on either side that it was possible to run for cover quickly. There were several caves surrounding it, and a thorough inspection showed them all to be empty. In order for them to be safe as well we needed a low or narrow entrance, and either a bend or an enclosed nook or crag that would protect us if a dragon chose to breathe fire into the cave’s mouth, and two of them fit the bill. We both tested how fast we could run from those two caves to the middle of the area and back, with the other slowly counting to twenty out loud, and from one of them I managed to do it in fifteen heartbeats.

“What do you think?” I said eventually.

“I think it’s perfect,” Zash replied. “Mior and Shani can work from over there, and you and I can be ready to grab the flask from this cave here.”

I nodded. “You or me?”

“Hmm?” he said, checking the sky.

“You or me?” I repeated. “We can’t both do it, the flask only has one stopper.”

That brought his gaze back down to me. “Fuck, you’re right.” He cocked his head at me. “I’ll do it if you want me to, but you’re faster, we’ve just tested that.”

It struck me that that was one of the things that had made me fall in love with him. He may have been sarcastic, exasperating and frustratingly inscrutable, but he had never belittled my skills or achievements, and if I was better at something than he was he had always admitted it without hesitation. It was that realisation that made me say, “No, I’ll do it, it’s fine.”

“You sure?” he insisted.

“Positive,” I said, and his smile to me was so dazzling that it made my heart stutter.

“Right, then there’s only one more thing to check.”

“There is?”

His smile turned to a grin as he pointed upwards. “Dragons. If they don’t fly over here, we can’t lure them in.” Then he suddenly sobered and pointed at one of the caves. “You check from over here, I’ll go to the other one.”

I did as he said, wondering what had caused the shift of mood again. My instinct told me that I was getting under his skin, and that he reverted to his standoffish behaviour whenever he noticed how nice he was being to me, but of course I had no way of being sure, and with a sigh I sat down at the cave mouth and began to watch the sky.

Within two measures we saw three dragons, and when we made our way back to our camp I was beginning to feel excited. Even Zash seemed to have regained the spring in his step, and when Mior turned his head as we walked into the gloomy interior I saw Zash give him the widest grin I’d seen from him in days.

“How’s the practice going?” Zash asked.

“See for yourself,” Mior replied. He made a few gestures and on the floor between us a dragon of about three foot tall materialised. “One… two… three,” he counted, and on ‘three’ it reared up and breathed a tiny fireball towards the ceiling. Shani beamed at me, and I gave her a thumbs-up in return.

“Perfect,” Zash said with satisfaction. “I hope you can do that just as well in large scale, because we’re on.”

“Really?” Mior said eagerly.

“We’ve found the perfect spot,” Zash confirmed. “A nice flat area with plenty of cover to work from. Tomorrow is dragon day.”