He forced himself to focus on the business at hand. He glanced over at the annoyed girl stalking along beside him. 'I'm sorry I created problems for you.'

She snorted in amusement. 'Oh, you didn't create them. They came with who I am, and multiplied when I signed a contract to do this. That's all.' She cleared her throat and he could almost see her wrench the topic to one side. 'Why is Alise awake so early for this?'

'She's eager, I suppose. Once we start to travel, I suspect she'll have little time for chatting with the dragons.' That wasn't the truth. He'd wakened Alise and suggested to her that she attempt an interview before the day's travel began. She'd been very willing, appearing fully dressed only a few minutes later. He was hoping against hope that they would both have all they needed before the dragons actually departed. That hope was fading now, but this was his final chance. If the results of this morning's 'interview' were as lacklustre as what she'd recounted to him last night, perhaps he could persuade her that she'd learn more by remaining in Cassarick for a few days and studying the ruins there. If luck favoured him, perhaps they'd still find a way to connect with Captain Trell and journey home on Paragon.

'Or it could be that she'll find she has far more time than she can actually fill. I suspect this expedition is going to take a lot longer than they told us it would. I don't think anyone actually knows where we are going, and the folk who aren't going with us don't much care, as long as we take the dragons with us when we leave.'

Sedric thought that summed it up nicely, but it hardly seemed kind to say so. He tried to find a way to herd the conversation back to something he'd overheard earlier. When inspiration didn't strike, he simply pushed it there. 'So. In addition to the blue dragon, you'll be taking care of a silver one?'

'So I said,' she admitted. She sounded as if she regretted it now.

'Tats said the dragon was injured? Something about his tail?'

'I haven't taken a close look at it, but he has some sort of wound there and it looks infected. The dragons are fairly immune to the acidity of the river water, as are the water birds and fish. As long as their hides are intact, they do fine. But the water eats away at open sores. So we need to clean the injury, bandage it well, and somehow make sure he doesn't get his tail in the water if we have to do any wading. And I consider it very likely that we will.'

Alise and the blue dragon were walking by the river.

The dragon made her seem tiny. He knew that Thymara had spotted them as well, for the girl quickened her pace. He deliberately walked more slowly, holding her back. What he had to say to her was not for Alise's ears. 'I've always had an interest in animals and medicine, and dragons in particular. Perhaps I could be of some assistance in helping the poor thing.'

Thymara shot him a startled look. 'You?'

It rather stung. 'Well, why not me?'

'I just . . . well, you can't even understand them when you hear them speak. And you're so, well, particular. Clean, I guess I mean. It's hard for me to imagine you dealing with a muddy dragon with an infected tail.'

He put a smile on his face. 'You've only just met me, Thymara. I think you'll find there's a lot more to me than meets the eye.' That at least was true!

'Well, I suppose if you want to help, you can. But first I'll translate while Alise talks to Skymaw. I don't think that will be for long, for they'll be bringing the dragons' food soon, and I know Skymaw will want to eat just as much as the others. But after they've been fed, I want to check on the silver and see what I can do for him.'

'Perfect. I'll gather my equipment and come with you then.'

'Equipment?'

'I've some basic medical supplies I brought with us for this journey. Lint and bandages. Sharp knives, if we need them. Alcohol for cleaning wounds.' And for preserving specimens. With a bit of luck, he might have a vial of dragon scales before they even left the beach. Sedric smiled at her reassuringly.

It was not going well with the dragons. Alise knew it and the sense of impending failure burdened her. Why had she ever imagined that it would be easy to talk with dragons? Yet in her dreams, when she arrived at the Rain Wilds, the creatures had sensed a kinship with her and opened their hearts and memories to her. Well, that fantasy certainly wasn't coming true.

'Can you share with me any of your ancestral memories?' she asked the dragon. She phrased it that way out of despair. Skymaw, as her keeper called her, had neatly deflected every question she'd asked of her.

'I doubt it. You are only a human and I am a dragon. In all likelihood, it would be impossible for you to ever share the remotest idea of what it is to be a dragon, let alone comprehend any of my memories.'

Skymaw dashed her hopes yet again. And she did it with a well modulated voice that was treacly with courtesy and kindness. Her lovely eyes spun as she spoke to Alise, and Alise's heart yearned for a bond with this creature. She knew she was falling under the dragon's glamour; she recognized the hopelessness of the unrequited worship she felt for the dragon. Yet she could not help herself. The more the dragon patronized and insulted her, the more she longed to win her regard. It didn't help that she'd read of such things in her old scrolls. One could read about addiction and still fall prey to it.

She made a final desperate attempt. 'Do you think you will ever answer any of my questions?'

The dragon regarded her in silence. Without moving, she seemed to come closer to Alise. Alise was flooded with a mawkish love for the creature. If only she could spend all her days in service to the dragon, she would be happy. She had been right to come to the Rain Wilds, and if she did not accompany this dragon up the river all of her life would have been a meaningless tragedy. Skymaw was her destiny. No other relationship could fulfil her as this one—

As abruptly as a dropped doll hits the floor, Alise jolted back to the summer day on the riverbank. 'They're bringing the food,' the dragon announced suddenly, and Alise actually felt the creature dismiss her. It had been a glamour. The dragon had been toying with her. She could not deny it, and she should have felt shamed to have fallen to her so easily. Instead she felt only a wretched longing to regain Skymaw's attention. It echoed unpleasantly how Hest had once made her feel, and that memory of utter humiliation finally broke the spell. Something hardened in her and she turned away from the dragon. All that she had longed for was never going to be, not with Hest and her life in Bingtown, and not with her foolish dreams of journeying with the dragons. Abruptly she decided it was time to go home.

Did the dragon know she had lost her worshipper? It almost seemed that way, for on the way to the barrows of carrion, Skymaw suddenly halted and looked back at her. Alise looked resolutely away. No. She would not fall under her spell again. It was over.

'Oh, dear. It looks as if we're too late.'

Sedric's voice startled her. It was even more surprising to discover that he had arrived with Skymaw's keeper in tow. The girl looked as disapproving of her as ever; or perhaps that was an assumption on Alise's part. The way her exposure to the Rain Wilds had disfigured her, it was hard to read the girl's expressions.

'Skymaw was hungry and decided to go and eat rather than to answer questions,' she explained needlessly. She glanced at the girl, wishing she weren't there, and then spoke anyway. Her words came out stiff, as if the lump in her throat had squeezed all inflection out of them. 'Sedric, I've discovered that you were right. Brashen Trell and his wife were right. Even Hest was right. I'm not making any headway in speaking to the dragon. She delights in thwarting me.' She formed the last and most difficult words. 'I've put us both through so much to get here. I foolishly signed an agreement to go upriver. And now I wonder if I will gain any real knowledge of dragons at all from this experience. That creature is so, so—'