SiDrakkon glared at him. “Everything around me is tainted and corrupt!”

The Copper didn’t know whether it would be more dangerous to agree or disagree. One of the griffaran fluffed up his feathers and shifted his stance, leaning forward a little.

“Why am I being disturbed, RuGaard?”

“Bad news from Anaea. We’ve been attacked. Dragons, hag-ridden by men. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. They control them somehow.”

Blighters extracted big river stones from his bath and disappeared as three more emerged and dropped the oven-hot stones in. “You can stop that now,” SiDrakkon said to the blighters. “I’m climbing out.”

He lowered his head so the females could dry his ears and griff. “I’ve heard these odd fables before, RuGaard. Men riding dragons come and take away young male dragons and insert logs into their—”

“No, they came with flame. They dueled and killed the FeLissaraths.”

“My Upholder? Murdered?”

“They fell in battle. The riders use poisoned quarrels fired from crossbows.”

“War, eh?” He climbed out of the steaming pool, and water cascaded off his scales into the tiles. It ran in channels down toward the lower Gardens. “War may shake the Lavadome out of the madness that seems to have crept in. I’ll call for dragons and appoint a grand commander for the Drakwatch. Revive the title of aerial host commander. Perhaps I’ll assume the responsibilities myself.”

Whatever his faults, SiDrakkon could at least act decisively when it came to war.

“Will you come yourself, Tyr?” the Copper asked.

“No. Anaea may be a feint. The griffaran have reported strange dragons above the Lavadome, but they always flee north at sunrise. If I wanted to attack the Lavadome, I’d strike the most distant Uphold too, and draw our forces as far from the main blow as possible.”

He shifted a little to let the women dry his underside, but he did it mechanically, grinding his teeth as he thought.

“You’ll be host commander, RuGaard. You’ve seen me at war and know what to do. Strike fast and strike hard, and keep striking until the war is over.”

“I’ve left my mate back in Anaea. I must return at once.”

“Of course. You can take my personal flying guard with you; the Skotl bodyguard can remain. AuBalagrave is in charge of the flying guard. You remember him from the Drakwatch. I believe you served together. That’ll give you an immediate force.”

“Thank you, Tyr.”

“Oh. I heard about this bat messenger service of yours. Let’s talk again when this is over. I’ve an idea that we could expand it.”

“They don’t do it for love of us, sir, but the taste of our blood.”

“Well, there are a few fat dragons here that could do with a little bleeding. Get back to your mate, Upholder, and keep me informed. Try to find out more about this enemy.”

Chapter 26

He rested for a few hours in a spare nook Imfamnia offered him. With the numbers of the Imperial line dropping, and the increased space closing off much of the top level of the Imperial Resort, there were rooms and cushions to spare.

She even offered him a bowlful of gold. “For family only,” she said, as though the gold could tell the difference. “Have as much as you like; my mate eats only silver these days.”

He ate but a few coins, not wanting to have to fly with a chest’s worth of heavy metals in his belly.

After checking with SiDrakkon one last time, to see if any additional orders or circumstances arose—“I’ll try to send as many as thirty dragons,” Tyr SiDrakkon promised—he departed with AuBalagrave and the other two dragons.

They were good fliers, lean and wide-winged, and he held them back the whole way. He wondered how many dragons would really be sent. Using NiVom’s old formula, perhaps six or seven might make it all the way to the Uphold.

They approached the plateau at night. The Copper, his hearts pounding, crossed the mountain line and looked first to the Upholder’s palace temple.

It looked intact.

“Have two dragons fly high. Just in case,” he called to AuBalagrave using mind-speech. “You follow.”

The words must not have come through clearly, because AuBalagrave took another dragon and gained altitude. Well, mind-speech wasn’t a perfect form of communication among dragons who hadn’t been long together.

If anything, the plateau was darker than usual at night. The hearth fires sometimes glowing out of windows didn’t give the city its usual ghostly glow. But there would be time to survey the damage in daylight.

The palace temple had been scorched about the roof, and one of the stone globes had been knocked off the roofing. Another was missing entirely, and judging from the cracks in the long set of stairs it had been sent bouncing down to the fields and woods beneath.

“Halaflora! Nilrasha!” he called as he landed, ready to tear into any dragon but his mate or guardian Firemaid.

Fourfang waved from behind a stone.

“All sleep be—”

“We’re in the lower chambers, as you asked, my love,” Halaflora called, surprisingly loudly for her small frame.

He looked at his escort. “Tell AuBalagrave that I’d like one dragon to stay aloft, keeping watch. The others may rest, and I’ll send food if there’s any to be had. Don’t go down into the valley to scavenge; the humans there are frightened enough.”

The Copper descended to the mouth of the Lower World. Two members of the Drakwatch stood guard at the tunnel, now partly blocked with piled stone and timbers. Nilrasha slept atop the blockage, but she winked at him with an eye and fluttered a griff.

“Asu-ra, that kern king, was up here,” Halaflora said. “He cried. He wanted to know why the dragons had loosed such fury on them.”

“You told him it wasn’t our doing, I hope.”

“I said there are good and evil dragons, just like there are good and evil weather gods. I think he understood.”

“That’s a better reply than I could have produced, with half the valley floor aflame.”

“They were after gold. They didn’t even steal any women or children, which I thought warriors always did.”

“What happened here?”

“They knocked down some statues and set fire to a few curtains. I believe they wanted to show their contempt for us more than to try to kill us. They never so much as ventured inside, though the upper level is entirely open, as you know.”

“Don’t forget the mess on the steps,” Nilrasha croaked.

“What happened on the steps?”

“They used it as a toilet pit,” Halaflora said. “Just a little water and scrubbing. Hardly worth mentioning.”

“Are you well, dear?” he asked his mate.

“Better than ever, my lord. You know, I think all this stimulation agrees with me. I almost feel as though I could fly, if I found a high enough ledge and caught a good updraft.”

“Let’s put the Uphold back in order before dropping you off any cliffs, shall we?” he said.

“How were things with Tyr SiDrakkon?”

“War always seems to put him in better spirits. He sent three dragons with me and promised more, and a grand commander of the Drakwatch.”

“Grand commander? I didn’t know there were as many in the Drakwatch as that anymore. So few of the drakes from the better families volunteer. You must tell me all the news of my sisters and brother.”

“Let’s save politics and family news until I’ve eaten.”

“I’ve been saving a fat calf the kern king offered just for you. Would you care for the liver, Nilrasha?”

The Firemaid yawned. “Very kind of you, lady. Yes, I could do with some dinner.”

“Fourfang,” the Copper said, “see about feeding the dragons who came with me. Where’s Rhea? I’m caked with grit.”

“Wonderful news, my lord. She and that clever man of yours are mated! She’s going to issue, or whatever they call it!”

“Whelp?” Nilrasha asked.

“I think it’s give birth,” the Copper said. “All the more reason for a dinner. We should send her some stewed brains and the tongue. I’ve heard that’s good for brooding.”

“Oh, I’m saving those for me, my love.”

“You don’t think—”

“We may have hatchlings. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“That could be dangerous for you. Your mother told me—”

“Oh, forget my mother. She’s always looking at the dark side of things. I’ll wager she’s back in the Lavadome now, foretelling a loss in the war against these riders and lamenting the weaknesses of dragons these days. Our cause is just, so we are sure to triumph, are we not, my lord?”

Perhaps that is why Tighlia mated us, the Copper thought. We both have what she called the simpleton’s faith.

Dinner passed in a more jovial mood than the Copper would have expected with destruction all around. Thanks to the guard overhead and outside, they ventured to the upper level and ate upon the feasting floor. Nilrasha made jokes, and Halaflora ate with unusual enthusiasm.