'And our houses, too, like as not, for being present,' Seal observed sullenly.

Peottre did not look at them as he reminded them, 'Our mothershouse has accepted all that may come from this. It will not fall upon you.'

'So you say!' Owl snorted disdainfully. 'Yet I doubt you speak for Icefyre, you who would destroy him for a woman's whim!'

'Where is the dragon?' Chade broke in, his exasperation complete. His answer came from an unexpected source.

'He's here,' Swift said quietly. 'Oh, yes, he is. His presence ebbs and surges like a wild tide, but there's no denying he's here.' The boy swayed as he spoke and his voice was far away. Cockle set his hand to the young man's shoulder, and Web left me to hasten to Swift's side.

'Look at me!' he commanded the boy, and when Swift was slow to comply, he gave the lad a shake. 'Look at me!' he urgently ordered

him again. 'Swift! You are young and never-bonded. You may not understand what I'm telling you, but keep yourself to yourself. Do not go to him, and do not let him come into you. This is a powerful presence that we feel, splendid and awe-inspiring. But do not become absorbed in that. I feel in this creature the charm of a great cat, the beckoning wile that can bond a youngster whether he would or no.'

'You can feel the dragon? He is definitely here, and alive?' Chade was incredulous.

'Oh, yes,' Dutiful replied unwillingly. For the first time, I realized how pale he was. The rest of us were ruddy-cheeked with the cold. Dutiful stood very still and slightly apart from us. He looked at the Narcheska as he spoke. 'The dragon Icefyre is indeed here. And he is alive, though I do not understand how that can be so.' He paused as if thinking deeply, his eyes going afar. 'I can just brush my mind against his. I reach for him, but he ignores me. Nor do I grasp how I can be aware of him one moment, and then feel him fade beyond my reach the next.'

I tried not to gape as the Prince carelessly revealed that he was Witted. I was also surprised that he seemed to be sensing the dragon with his Wit when I could barely perceive him. Some time ago, I had realized that the Prince's Wit-ability was not as strong as my own. Had his lesson with Web sharpened it? Then an alternative shocked me. Did he speak of the Wit, or of the Skill? In my dreams, the dragon Tintaglia had touched me with the Skill-1 suspected that she had used the Skill-magic to find Nettle as well. I transferred my gaze to Chade. The old man looked deeply thoughtful, and frustrated. It was Thick that decided me. He seemed completely absorbed in his humming, nodding his head in time. I wished that I could hear his Skill-music, and wished even more that I could provoke him to raise his Skill-walls. I had never seen the little man so enraptured.

'Do not go groping after him!' Web gave the command without regard for the Prince's rank. 'There are legends, very old Wit-tales, of the fascination of dragons. It is said they can infatuate the unguarded mind, inspiring a near-slavish devotion. The oldest songs warn of breathing of the exhaled breath of a dragon.' He turned suddenly, putting me in mind of a commander ordering his

troops as he said to Cockle, 'You know the song I speak of, do you not? Tonight, it would be a good song for all to hear. In my youth, I gave little thought to such old songs, hut in my older years, I have learned that much truth can be hidden in the old poetry. 1 would hear it again.'

'As would I,' Chade unexpectedly agreed. 'And any other songs you know that may have to do with dragons. But, for now, if our prince's Witted coterie can sense this dragon, perhaps they can guide us in where we should begin our digging.'

'Tell you where he is, so you can dig down to kill him? No! I, for one, won't do it!' Swift uttered the words with sudden, wild passion. He looked more distressed than I had ever seen him. Chade rounded on him immediately.

'Do you so quickly forget your vow to your prince?'

'I -' The boy could find no words. His face flushed and then paled. I watched him struggle to find his loyalty, and wished I could help him. But I knew, possibly better than anyone there, how torn he might be.

'Stop this,1 Web said quietly as the old assassin fixed Swift with his stern stare.

'It is nothing to do with you,' Chade said quietly, and for the first time, I saw Web's anger. It came as a physical bunching of his muscles and a swelling of his chest. He contained himself, but I saw how difficult it was for him. So did my prince.

'Stop this,' Dutiful echoed Web's words, but he gave them the inflection of royal command. 'Swift, be calm. I do not doubt your loyalty to me. I will not test it this way, setting one of my men to decide between what his heart says is right and what he has vowed to do. I do not judge that I can honourably lay that burden upon him. Nor is my own will certain in this.' He swung his gaze suddenly to the Narcheska. She did not meet his gaze but gazed out over the snowy plain below us. He surprised me by going to her and standing before her. Peottre took a step as if to intervene, but Dutiful did not offer to touch her. Instead, he said quietly, 'Will you look at me, please?'

She turned her head and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. Her face was still, save for one brief flash of defiance in her eyes. For a

moment, Dutiful said nothing, as if hoping she would speak to him. All was silent save for the shushing of the wind as it stirred the old ice crystals on the glacier's face and the crunching of snow underfoot as the men-at-arms shifted their weight in readiness. Even Thick's humming had ceased. I spared him a glance. He looked perplexed, as if he were trying to recall something. When the Narcheska held her silence, Dutiful sighed.

'You know more of this dragon than you have ever revealed to me. And 1 have never mistaken this task you have given me for a maiden's challenge to her suitor. There is no woman's whim in what you ask me to do, is there? Will not you tell me the greater import of this task you have laid upon me, so that I may judge what best to do?'

I thought he had won her, until he added that last phrase. I could almost feel her distress that he might flinch from doing what he had said he would. I saw her retreat from the honesty that had tempted her into a pique worthy of any court-bred young noblewoman- 'Is it thus that you fulfil your pledges, Prince? You said you would do this thing. If it daunts you now, speak it so plainly, so all may know the moment at which your courage slipped.'

She did not have her heart in the challenge. I saw that and so did Dutiful. I think it hurt him all the more that she flogged his pride with such a merciless dare and it did not even come from her heart. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. 'I keep my word. No. That is not the exact truth of it. I have given my word to you, and you choose to keep it. You could give it back to me and release me from this task. But you do not. So, by the honours of both my mother's and my father's houses, I will do what I have sworn to do.'

Web spoke. 'This is not a stag you hunt for meat, my prince. It is not even a wolf that you slay to protect your flocks. This is a creature, as intelligent as yourself if the legends be true, that has given you no provocation to kill it. You must know -' And then Web halted his words. Even as provoked as he was, he would not betray his prince's secret Wit. 'You must know what I shall now tell you. He lives, this Icefyre. How he does, I do not know, nor can I say how robust the spark that lingers in him. He flickers in and out

of my awareness like a flame dying on a final coal. It may be that we have come all this way and arrived only in time to witness his passing from the world. There would be no dishonour in that. And I have travelled far enough at your side that I think it is not in you to slay any creature that lies defenceless at your feet. Perhaps you shall prove me wrong- I hope not. But/ and here he turned to his Witted companions. 'If we do not fulfil our prince's request to help him locate the dragon, if we do not unearth Icefyre from this ice that grips him, I believe he will die just as surely as if our prince took his head- The rest of you may do as you will in this. But I shall not hesitate to use what magic Eda has blessed me with to discover the dragon's prison and free him from it.' He lowered his voice. 'It would, of course, be much easier if you all helped me.'