‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Sedric lied. It was a reflex. The hunter hadn’t mentioned the blood. Did he know about the blood? Did any of it matter any more? The whole conversation was insane. He needed food and water and rest. He needed to know if the man was going to help him or not. He tried to sound as if he were not desperate. ‘Look, help me with the dragon and give me some of that fruit you have. Anything. I need to eat and rest. Then we can talk about what happens next.’
Jess cocked his head at him and said coldly, ‘No point to feeding you if you don’t intend to help me. And lying to me seems to be your way of saying you intend to keep it all to yourself. Though how you plan to make it work, I can’t see. Shall I make it easier for you? I was awake that night. I saw you come aboard all bloodied. Been in a fight was my first thought, though I hadn’t heard a peep of a row, and sound carries over water. But then, as you went up the ladder, I got a glimpse of what you were carrying. Glittery red, just like I’d been told. Dragon blood. And I was, as I’ve told you, very impressed. So I followed and in a bit I saw you come out of your cabin and throw your duds overboard. And that made it sure for me. Somehow you’d gotten blood out of a dragon and not been eaten or even caught. You were pretty savvy about hiding it, too. I went through your room more than once before I found your hoard. So. Let’s just admit we’re scoundrels and be honest scoundrels with one another or as honest as scoundrels can be. We both shipped aboard the Tarman for the same reason. And I only shipped because I was promised that Captain Leftrin was going to grease things a bit for me, but I suspect his craze for that woman soured him on our kind of profit. Maybe he was hoping to keep everything for himself, woman, dragon parts to sell in Chalced, everything. Maybe you were the one who offered him a better deal. But the agreement was that he was supposed to help me, and in return, he was going to be well paid for his trouble. Very well paid.’
His voice faded for a moment as he stooped down in the boat. When he came up again, he had a coil of line in his hand. He scowled at it, and set it out beside the knife.
‘Instead that son of a dog tried to kill me last night.’ He lifted his hand and felt about his throat gingerly. He growled and shook his head, and went back to setting out his tools. ‘Double twist of fate, I suppose. That wave that hit kept him from strangling me, and I’m hoping it made an end of him. Love-blind idiot is what he is. Well, with a bit of luck, he’s dead. And you’ve got your luck, you’re alive.’ He held up a small hatchet, frowned at it, and then with a thunk seated it in the log beside the line.
‘Bad tool for the job, but you use what you have. A bit like our captain. Leftrin got greedy and lost it all. If he’d lived up to his end of the deal, he could have had the kind of money we’re going to have. Then the ugly old goat could have had any woman he wanted. Well, his loss is our gain. We’ll have it all. Wealth, power and any sort of woman we want, once we get back to Chalced.’ He leered at Sedric nastily, baring his little brown teeth, and added, ‘Or whatever you fancy.’
He inspected his tools and they met with his satisfaction. He set them out in a careful row. ‘So, you’ll help me. Or you can be stubborn and try to keep it all for yourself. Try that, and I’ll just take what I want. Won’t be as easy without someone to handle the animal for me, keep it calm and lure it to the blade. But I can get more than enough to live the rest of my days as a very rich man.’ He thumbed the edge of the knife, nodded to himself and looked directly at Sedric. ‘Well. Time for a decision. Shall we get on with it?’
Sedric swallowed. Reality seemed to re-form around him. Leftrin had been part of this man’s plan to acquire and sell dragon parts? Then he’d probably just been using Alise, all that time. Alise had been duped. And he’d been blind to all the machinations going on all around him. He should have guessed. He should have known that he wouldn’t be the only one to see the chance for profit. He’d known all along there had to be some bizarre motive behind the captain’s apparent infatuation. So, now what? Did he take the hunter’s offer? Could he coax and calm the dragon until Jess got close enough for a kill?
The man had set it all out quite plainly. If he helped him, Jess would help him get to Chalced and sell what they had. He didn’t need to go back to Bingtown at all. From Chalced, he could send Hest a message to come and join him. With the kind of money they’d have, there’d be no need for any more pretences. They could go anywhere they wanted, and live exactly as they pleased. He could have everything he’d dreamed of. He’d paid dearly already. Would it be so wrong to take some small measure of happiness for himself?
Jess was watching him closely. His raspy voice became persuasive, the threat gone from it. ‘Animal’s going to die anyway. Look at it. It wasn’t a prime specimen to start with and now it’s going to drown. So you might as well be kind and make the end a quick one and have something to show for your trouble.’ Jess hung the knife from his belt and gripped the fish spear firmly. He slung the coil of line from his free hand. ‘Tell her not to struggle, that I’m going to help her,’ he instructed Sedric in a low voice. ‘All I need you to do right now is keep her calm. Say I’m putting the rope on her to help her stay afloat. It’s not as long as it could be; I’ll need to get her to move closer to the trees so I can tie it off. Afterwards, we’ll have to work fast, before the carcass sinks. We’ll go for the stuff that will keep and bring the most money. Teeth, claws, scales. It’s going to be messy, rough work and you won’t like it. But a little of this now will mean a lot of money later.’
The copper was watching them anxiously. Suspiciously? How much could she really understand, Sedric chided his conscience? The hunter had said she was going to die anyway. Would it be better if she died slowly and her body sank to the bottom of the river for fish to eat? What good would that do anyone? After all he had gone through, didn’t he deserve something for himself, some small bit of happiness? Didn’t he deserve to finally stop living in deceit?
He kept his eyes on the dragon as Jess edged towards her. She looked back at him. Her eyes swirled as always but darkness seemed mixed with their blue and gold now. He could feel her questioning him but not sense the fullness of her question. Did that mean she was dying? Was Jess telling the truth when he said it would be a mercy?
She hung at a slant from the log, one front leg hooked over it. Here at the edge of the river under the trees, the current was not as strong. Beyond her, deeper in the forest, standing water carried shimmers of light into the perpetual gloom. He noted in passing from the high water marks on the tree trunks that the water was starting to recede. But it was not happening quickly, and he doubted it would be soon enough to save her. As he watched, she gave a few feeble kicks of her hind legs, trying to push herself a little higher on the log. She was wearying of holding her head so unnaturally high. She was hungry and thirsty and chilled. Dragons were creatures made for fierce sun and baking sand. The cool water sapped her energy and slowed her heart. He was not imagining it. Her eyes were spinning more slowly. She had never been strong nor healthy. He looked at her and the welling of sorrow he felt ambushed him. He blinked his eyes and saw her through the opacity of tears.
You are leaving me?
Her childish interpretation of his reaction to their pending separation tore at his heart. He tried to take a breath only to have it snag on something sharp inside him. Little copper queen. I wish you could have flown.
I have wings! The weary dragon cocked her head at him. Very slowly, she lifted her wings and opened them partially. They caught the light like hammered metal. They were larger than he would have supposed them, and more delicate. The spider web framework stood out against the leathery membrane and feathery scales. The afternoon light shone through them as if they were panes of stained glass.