“When you’re in the air, it’ll probably be easier to think at him rather than speak, given the amount of wind up there. Don’t worry about exactly how that works. Just think loudly and clearly, and Ashd will be able to hear you. Oh, and dress warmly. Two hours of cold air blasting at you can cause quite a chill.”
“Good idea. When will we be leaving?”
Night, Ashd said, dropping Lynette out of the conversation and blasting Koradan with images and ideas instead of mere words.Cover. Moonlight fades. Cross divide. Wings of the night.He presented an image of the sky, dawn just beginning to lighten the horizon, and for once, Koradan understood his meaning perfectly.
“Ashd wants to go at night,” Koradan told Lynette. “It’s far easier for the vreki to sneak close to the city that way, without anyone spotting them. So we’ll leave at about two o’clock in the morning and arrive well before sunrise. It’s probably a good idea to get some sleep before then. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
But before he could send Lynette away, he felt a rush of irritation from Ashd.No. Tell whole. Good story. Lynette good people.
“Oh, for goodness sake,” he muttered, but Ashd was insistent.
Good story, he said again.
“Okay, there’s a little more to what Ashd said than what I just told you, and he’s insisting that I tell you the whole story,” he said, shooting Lynette an apologetic frown. “And it comes back to an episode of history in Chalandros from maybe a thousand years ago. The vreki and the bipedal species of Chalandros haven’t always lived in peace with each other. For a good few centuries, the salases, the hadathmet and the ragions teamed up to try and eradicate the vreki. It was a massive war – and an entirely unnecessary one, but that’s beside the point – and it went on for generations, until we finally managed to negotiate a truce about six hundred years ago. That was the time when the salases and the vreki first joined together as partners and the salases started riding the vreki.
“The vreki are native to a mountain region in the far west of Chalandros, but each year, they would migrate to the east coast for a couple of months to hunt for fish. But to get there, they had to fly across one of the main cities, and the residents of the city would try and kill them as they flew overhead. They had mages and witches, and some very powerful weapons, similar to the ballistas your army currently uses.
“So to avoid being killed, the vreki would fly during the night, as they were more or less invisible in the darkness, so long as there was no moon. Chalandros has two moons, by the way, as opposed to your single one. They’re named Rison and Roft. There were only about three nights during the migration season when neither of the moons were out, and the vreki needed the darkness to complete the journey. So they created songs and slogans to teach their young how to get across the cities without being killed. ‘Wings of the Night’ is one of the most famous songs. It doesn’t really translate into spoken language very well, and when it refers to ‘the grand divide’, that was the vreki’s name for the main city at that time. But in rough terms, the translation goes:
When moonlight fades, spread your wings wide
From mountain keep to coast we must fly.
Left of tor and right of river
Then wait amongst the rocks of the grand divide.
Wait for moon’s shadow to fall on the earth
Then make haste to the air
Between Rison and Roft, the twin lights of the sky
We will cross the divide on the wings of the night.
“Ashd is basically saying that entering Minia is as challenging as the migration was to his ancestors. And he’s proud to join a great tradition of vreki who have displayed amazing courage and determination to protect their flock.”
“He’s amazing,” Lynette said, rubbing Ashd’s nose again. “And I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done for us,” she added, addressing Ashd directly. “You’re very brave. You both are,” she said, glancing back at Koradan. “I wish I was half as brave as you.”
“But you are,” Koradan said. “You went into a mine that was at risk of collapsing to treat the injured men. You’re going to Minia to tell a bunch of people that dragons aren’t dangerous, when they could all just decide you’re insane. You’re flying on a vreki. That one all by itself would be enough to terrify most people.”
“But I am terrified,” Lynette said. She didn’t sound it, but Koradan didn’t discount her words just because she wasn’t shaking in her boots. “Paul flew on Ashd almost the moment they’d met, and he’s desperate to do it again. I just imagine all that empty space below me and I want to tie myself to the nearest rock so I don’t float away.”
“Paul has all the reckless enthusiasm of youth. He doesn’t fully understand either the risks or the consequences of his decisions. You, on the other hand, do. And yet you’re willing to do it anyway. Courage doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid. It means you’re able to overcome your fear to do what needs to be done.”
Lynette was quiet for a moment, then she peered up at him, her face shadowed in the rapidly fading light. “Are you afraid? Of going to Minia? Of maybe having to face the warriors again? Were you afraid when you had to cross the gate and get around the army?”
“When we crossed the gate, I was afraid for my men and the vreki, not for myself. I had a responsibility to protect them and I was putting them in direct line of one of the worst threats we could face. Now, though… Yes, I am afraid. I’ve seen the potential that this world has to offer, and I understand that humans are capable of great kindness, and I don’t want to lose any of that when I’ve just discovered it. For the first time in many, many years, I feel like I’m not ready to die.”
Completely unexpectedly, Lynette threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She barely came up to his shoulders, and she struggled to get her arms all the way around him, but she hung on anyway, her face buried in his shoulder. Touched deeply by her actions – by her willingness to touch him – Koradan put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her back, being careful not to squeeze her too tight.
“You’re not going to die,” she said, when she pulled back. “If anything goes wrong, just jump on the vreki and get yourself and them the hell out of there.”
“I’m not leaving you behind,” he said, in a tone that would brook no opposition.
“They won’t kill me. They might lock me up for a bit and tell me I’m crazy, but I can talk my way out of that.”
Koradan couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve had numerous conversations with Ashd in which I’ve told him at various times that he might have to leave me behind to save himself. He doesn’t always argue about it, but I know damn well, every time, that he’s never going to. Me and him are a team. And now you’re a part of that. Like it or not, you’re stuck with us.”
