He had never spoken so firmly to her. For a long moment, she regarded him in silence. Her mouth worked and he feared she would cry. He didn't want to make her weep, only to be sensible. She glanced over at Leftrin. The riverman had folded his arms across his chest; his face was set like stone. Even the stubble on his unshaven cheeks stood out stiffly. He looked, Sedric thought, like an indignant bulldog.
When her gaze came back to him, she was pink all around her freckles. Her voice was low, not shrill. She declared stubbornly, 'You may do as you wish, Sedric. As you say, it's a foolish quest. I won't argue with you there, for I can't. You're right. It's insane. But I'm going.'
He stood stunned as she turned away from him. She put her hand out as if groping blindly and suddenly Leftrin was there, offering her his arm. She set her hand on his grubby jacket sleeve and then he was leading her away, leaving Sedric staring after her. He clutched his precious case with the preserved bits of dragon in it and weighed his options. In his anger, he wanted to just do as she had suggested; leave her there and go home himself. Leave her to her own foolish decision and let her find the disaster she was so eagerly courting.
But he couldn't. He couldn't go back to Trehaug, let alone Bingtown, without her. Certainly not back to Hest, not even if he had dragon flesh and scales worth a fortune preserved in his case. It would take time to change those things into money, time and discretion. And returning to Bingtown without Hest's wife would be the most indiscreet thing he could ever do. He'd have no way to explain it. It would focus attention on him, attention he could not afford to attract to himself just now.
He realized abruptly that they had nearly reached the barge. Ropes were being untied, and the polemen stood ready to shove the barge back out into the river. He looked up and down the mudflats. The dragons were gone. At the river's edge, the keepers were dragging small boats down to the water. In a very short time, he suspected this area would be deserted. 'Alise!' he shouted, but she didn't even turn her head. The sound of the river and the endless wind carried his voice away. He cursed then and began to walk toward the barge as swiftly as he dared. 'Alise, wait!' he shouted as he saw her start up the ladder dangling over the barge's stern. And then he began to run.
Day the 7th of the Grain Moon
Year the 6th of the Independent alliance of Traders
From Detozi, Keeper of the Birds at Trehaug to Erek, Keeper of the Birds at Bingtown
Enclosed in a sealed scroll case, from the Traders' Councils at Trehaug and Cassarick, an accounting of the initial expenses of mounting the expedition to move the Dragons, with the Bingtown Council's share of said expense shown separately.
Erek,
Your missive concerning the cost and availabilty of a hundredweight sack of peas to improve the health of the flock at Trehaug has still not been delivered to me. Please re-send the information. Detozi
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Currents
The dragons hadn't halted at the river's edge. Some had plunged into the shallows. Others had tried to walk on the flotsam-littered bank until the undergrowth and river debris had forced them out into the water. But all of them moved steadily and doggedly upstream.
The keepers, including Thymara, had hastened to their small boats and followed. She had hoped to be paired with Tats. It had been a selfish hope; he was well muscled and experienced with small boats and she knew he would do his share of the work and perhaps more. Jerd had been waiting at the shore, standing by one of the small boats. She waved cheerily at Tats as they arrived and called out to him, 'I've already loaded your rucksack, slowcoach. Let's go! Your green dragon was one of the first ones into the water.'
'Sorry, Thymara,' Tats had muttered, red-faced.
'Sorry for what?' she'd said, but it was a moment too late for him to hear it. He was already hastening to push Jerd's boat out into the water. Nearly all of the other boats were already loaded and pushing away from the shore, each carrying two or three dragon keepers. Rapskal sat alone and dejected in the sole remaining boat. His face brightened the moment he saw her. 'Well, I guess we'll be partners, then,' he'd greeted her. And as annoyed as she'd felt with the situation, she still found herself nodding. Tats' 'sorry' was still rankling in her breast. He'd known that what he was doing was rude enough to rate an apology to her, but it still hadn't dissuaded him from doing it. The scum-rat.
'Let me get my gear,' she'd told Rapskal, and had run back to their deserted campsite. She'd grabbed her pack and returned to the canoe. Rapskal sat in it, paddle poised, as she shoved it out into the river. She'd leapt the water and landed in the narrow boat, making it rock wildly but keeping her feet dry. Seizing her heavily-waxed paddle, she pushed them out into deeper water. A spare set of paddles was under her feet. Not for the first time, she wondered how long their paddles would stand up to the river, and how long their boat would last. The river had been mild of late, its water dark grey. Like every child who had grown up in the Rain Wilds, she knew the water was most dangerous when it ran milky white. Then anyone who fell into it might be scalded and blinded from a single dunking. The dark grey water that flowed past her paddle today would do no more than sting, but its touch was still to be avoided.
This was her first time to partner with Rapskal in a boat. To her surprise, he proved to be competent, digging his paddle in rhythm with hers. He guided them deftly around snags and mud bars as she provided most of the power that pushed them along. They kept to the edge of the river and the shade of the leaning trees, moving where the current was slowest and soon caught up with the others. Greft, she noticed, had joined Boxter and Kase in one of the larger boats. Their paddling was uneven; Greft was using his oar mostly as a tiller. She and Rapskal moved easily alongside them and then passed them. She felt a small thrill of satisfaction at that. Rapskal grinned at her conspiratorially, and she felt an irrational lift to her spirits.
The boats of the other keepers were arranged in a straggling line before them. Sylve and Lecter shared a canoe, as did Warker and Harrikin. Alum and Nortel seemed well matched as paddlers. Tats and Jerd had moved up to lead them all, not that leadership was necessary. The trail the dragons had left was unmistakable, both in the river shallows and on the boggy bank. They had trampled the brush into the mucky shore of the river, and in the shallows, their deep footprints streamed a deeper grey water into the slow current.
'They're moving pretty fast, aren't they?' Rapskal observed enthusiastically.
'Right now they are. I doubt they'll be able to keep it up for long,' she replied as she paddled doggedly. The dragons steadily and swiftly increased their lead. She was astonished to see them move so rapidly. She had expected the small swift boats to keep pace with them easily, but every time she glanced up, the dragons were farther away. Even the silver and the brown dragon were lolloping along after the others. She noticed that the silver was holding his tail above the water, and hoped he'd continue to do so. It bothered her that she hadn't finished bandaging his injury. It bothered her even more that Skymaw had left without even speaking to her. Apparently she meant little to the blue queen.
'Did you see your dragon today?' she asked Rapskal. She was settling into the rhythm of paddling again. First, she knew, her muscles would ache. Then they'd ease into the exercise and for a time, all would go smoothly. What she dreaded was when they'd begin to ache again, because no matter how they hurt, they could not stop paddling until they went ashore for the night. A few days of travelling by boat had toughened all of the dragon keepers and taught them the basics of water-craft, but she had a feeling that her body would hurt a lot more before she was completely accustomed to this. She leaned harder into her paddling.