‘I have the right of my years. My experience. My wisdom. And as you went behind my back with your decision to allow Beloved to “escape”, I think it is my turn to make a decision in which none of you have a say!’ She paused and satisfaction gleamed in her fish-eyes. ‘Oh, look away and pretend you could deceive me! Such a farce. Do you think I do not know how you diverted funds and resources to Dwalia? You think I have no knowledge of the bird messages she used to send back to you?’ She shook her head at their naiveté and her smile was a terrible thing to see. ‘You have forgotten who dreams better and deeper and more than any of you or your Clerres-bred Whites! You thought you had kept your secrets from me: but I have balanced that scale with the dreams I’ve withheld from you!
‘While you indulged Dwalia’s profitless quest for revenge, you ignored our larger problem. Not a child who may or may not be of the White bloodline, but the damnable dragons. All we sought to prevent has happened. Dragons are loose in the world again, and the luriks who remain to us are dreaming dark visions of wolves and sons and dragons. We came within a finger snap of ending them forever! Yet dragons do not forgive. And dragons do not forget. But apparently, you three do forget that, above all, dragons do not forget a wrong done them! It is time you stopped playing at petty politics here and looked to the future. Beloved has cracked the foundation of our knowledge, but we are rebuilding it with new dreams and prophecies. We can take back the rudder and steer the world to our advantage. But all that would end if we were to look up and see wings in the skies over Clerres.’
A silence fell during which I came slowly to my feet. I was ashamed of my wet trousers. They clung to me, cold now. I clutched my little bundle to my chest and allowed the tears to come to my eyes. I’d had time to weave a pitiful shield of lies. I tried to hope they would work. ‘I want to go home. Please. I don’t understand any of this. I just want to go home.’
Their gazes converged on me, exhibiting various degrees of astonishment and disapproval. I made my lower lip quiver. Symphe, the lovely young woman, spoke sternly. ‘You do not speak to any of us unless we tell you to. Is that clear?’
I lowered my gaze. Could I use this? ‘Yes, ma’am. Dwalia told me not to talk to any of you. I should have remembered.’
I kept my head bent but tried to watch them through my lashes. Symphe looked uncomfortable. I dared myself and spoke in the most childish voice I could muster. ‘Dwalia said we would talk to Symphe alone. Or with Fellowdy. She taught me dreams to say. Do you want to hear them now?’
Symphe must have given a signal, something I didn’t see. The swung foot of the guard swept my feet from under me. My elbow struck the floor hard and the pain shot into my hand and my shoulder. I clutched it and curled around it.
‘A cell,’ Symphe suggested coldly. ‘On the lower level. Take her now.’
Again, I was seized by the back of my shirt and handled like a sack. I hugged my little bundle of clothing, hoping it would shield me from the blow I expected. My toes barely touched the floor as the guards dragged me to the tall doors. Behind me, I heard Symphe declare, ‘I propose that later tonight we gather. We will talk and then we will go together to see what she has to say. Until then, no one should visit her. No one.’
The old woman laughed. ‘Oh, dear little Symphe. Did she start to tell your secrets? Did you really believe that I did not already know—’
The doors closed on her words. My collar was cutting into my throat. I clutched at it with both hands. ‘Let her breathe,’ said the guard who didn’t have hold of me, and I was abruptly dropped to the floor. I sprawled there, gasping. I could smell Dwalia’s blood on both of them, and garlic. One of them needed a bath. Badly.
‘Get up,’ one said, and nudged me with his sandalled foot. I obeyed, but slowly. There were people in the corridor, staring at us. I looked down. Blood smears on the floor. They’d brought Dwalia this way. They were going to put me in a cell near her. With her? Dread froze me.
‘Walk or be dragged,’ the same guard said.
‘Walk,’ I said breathlessly. Would there be a chance for me to break free and run? Run where?
Then, from behind us, I heard a call. ‘Guards, wait!’
It was Fellowdy who called to us. ‘It has been decided we will keep her on the upper level, behind a Lock of Four. Take her there. We will join you shortly.’
‘We obey,’ one of the guards said. The one that had caught me by the collar gave me a push. I walked past well-dressed folk who turned to gawk after us as they herded me along. A door opened to one side, and I glimpsed a beautiful ballroom. Two girls my age, dressed all in lace and escorted by pages, stared curiously as they passed us and the guards hurried me along to get me out of their sight.
