Transcendence
PART 4 THE DRAGON OF TO-GAI Chapter 27 Ghost Town

Carwan Pestle had entered the same chamber tentatively only a few months before, nervous then because he had been sent by Yatol Grysh to beg for hundreds of soldiers. How much greater that ner-vousness was now for the poor Shepherd, walking into the chamber of the Chezru Chieftain with the news that Yatol Grysh had failed, that all twelve hundred of the soldiers the Chezru Chieftain had sent to Dharyan were dead, and that Dharyan had fallen!
Merwan Ma shot Pestle a truly sympathetic look as the young man, so much like Merwan Ma in many ways, made his slow way about the room, to stand right before the seated Yakim Douan.
They already knew much of the tale, Carwan Pestle realized, from the sympathy of Merwan Ma to the intense expression on the face of the Chezru Chieftain. The man wasn't even looking up at him, but was staring straight ahead, his thumb and index finger fiddling with his bottom lip.
With his free hand, the Chezru Chieftain motioned for Carwan Pestle to speak.
"I hardly know where to begin, God-Voice," the Shepherd remarked, his voice quivering.
"Is Yatol Grysh dead?" He was hanged by the Dragon of To-gai."
Yakim Douan's fierce eyes turned up to bore into the poor man. ?The Dragon of To-gai?" he echoed. ?Pray you tell me, who, or what, is the Dragon of To-gai."
"A woman," Pestle stammered. ?A young and small woman. But fierce, God-Voice."
Then it is not a true dragon, as if one of the legends of old." But she is!" the Shepherd explained, or tried to.
"A great beast! She flew over the city at night, her fiery breath setting great fires. On the first night, she destroyed the temple, and killed so many!" He was gasping as he spoke, so overwhelmed that he seemed to be running out of breath with each word. "And then she flew up high, God-Voice! So high, and dropped great stones upon us! We could do nothing to harm her!"
Yakim Douan patted his hand in the air, trying to calm the man, and eventually, Pestle did pause and take a deep breath.
"And this dragon killed three twenty-squares of my soldiers?" th Chezru Chieftain asked.
"Alone?"
"No, God-Voice. The Dragon of To-gai came with a great army-thousands of warriors! I do not know that she even took her dragon form in that battle, and in the end, when she swept over our wall and conquered Dharyan, she was in the guise of a human, a simple woman."
"Not so simple, I would say," Douan said dryly.
"They killed so many," Carwan Pestle lamented. ?And their warriors took great liberties with our women, and then murdered many."
"But most of the citizens of Dharyan came down the desert road?"
"Yes, God-Voice. She sent us out into the desert with hardly any food and water. We were lucky to make the Dahdah Oasis with only a few losses. Many are still there, hoping to return to their homes once you destroy this dragon."
"She occupies Dharyan?"
"She has changed the name, calling it Dharielle now."
Yakim Douan nodded. ?And tell me, Shepherd Pestle, were any Jhesta Tu mystics involved in this unprovoked and heinous attack?"
"She had one beside her, God-Voice. A man of middle age - some say that he was the same one who had fought at Dharyan with Ashwarawu, though I cannot be certain."
"Likely, he is," Douan replied with a knowing chuckle.
"God-Voice?"
Yakim Douan held his hand up to calm the man. ?Rest easy, Shepherd Pestle. You will have your homes back soon enough."
"But the dragon..."
"She will fall, quite dead, and her warriors will be sent running back to their forsaken steppes. And there, I will catch them and punish them. Oh, yes, all of To-gai will rue the day that this dragon-woman came into their midst." He finished with a nod and wave of his hand, and a smile so wicked and confident that it surely bolstered Carwan Pestle.
The Shepherd bowed and exited the room.
"Damn her!" Yakim Douan exploded, the moment the young man was gone, surprising Merwan Ma, who, like Pestle, had believed that the God-Voice had all of this under complete control. ?Damn this witch and the Jhesta Tu! And damn Yatol Grysh, the failure!"
"God-Voice, it seems as if he was overwhelmed..." Merwan Ma dared to interject.
"Overwhelmed?" the Chezru Chieftain echoed incredulously. ?Over-whelmed by a ragtag band of To-gai-ru?
Yatol Tohen Bardoh captured half gai with fewer warriors than Grysh had at his disposal, and that was the open plains, not huddled behind a fortified city wall! No, he erred. erred badly, as Kaliit Timig erred. We are playing to our enemy's strengths, jt 't you see? We are underestimating them."
"But what of this dragon, God-Voice? Surely neither the Kaliit nor Yatol Grysh could have anticipated - "A trick, likely," Douan insisted. ?The Jhesta Tu can do such illusions, I am told."
"But you heard Carwan Pestle. He claimed that it was a great beast, a dragon of legend."
"And in the dark night, with fires burning and the city under siege, and likely bombardment from distant catapults, everything that he heard or saw would be multiplied many times over by sheer terror. A dragon?
Well, per-haps this fool To-gai-ru woman is such a beast, or has harnessed such a beast. They do exist, or did, and so it is not impossible."
"But then, what are we to do?"
"Kill it," the Chezru Chieftain said calmly. ?As we kill all of them. Drag-ons are not immortal, nor are they invulnerable. Send every scholar to the library to study every legend and detail about such creatures. This Dragon of To-gai has won twice, but both with the element of surprise. The next force we send against her will be ready to deal with any dragon, I assure you. Phalanxes of great bows and poison-tipped arrows will bring the beast down."
Douan paused and chuckled. ?If there even is such a beast, and I doubt that there is. But nonetheless, my time of showing any leniency or mercy to To-gai is at its end. They dare to conquer Dharyan? Well, I will respond, do not doubt. As I promised Pestle, I now promise you. Call up all the men of Jacintha. Assemble the garrisons. In a fortnight, we will send fifteen thousand soldiers marching to retake Dharyan, and with them will be the greatest engines of war we can devise. Let the Dragon of To-gai show her-self. Perhaps her fiery breath will kill a few, but then she will fall, right be-fore the stunned and horrified eyes of her foolish followers.
And then where will they turn?
"Back to the steppes of To-gai? Ah, but we will pursue them, from Dharyan and from the south, where Yatol Tohen Bardoh will march with fifteen thousand more soldiers."
Merwan Ma rocked back on his heels, amazed by how profoundly this disaster had sparked his master to action. Over the last years, skirmishes against To-gai had been just that, minor battles. But now the God-Voice was readying for an all-out war against the people of the steppes, as he had done a decade and more before.
The Shepherd left the audience room quite unsteadily, quite shaken, but also quite reassured that his master was in control.
Yakim Douan paced for a long time, growing more and more agitated How dare these ungrateful To-gai-ru strike so boldly and mercilessly jnt Behren? Hadn't he brought the barbarians some semblance of civilizatin Hadn't he brought a better way of life to the wilderness of To-gai?
His breath coming in short and harsh rasps, the Chezru Chieftain conti ued to pace, kicking his heels against the floor with each step.
A sudden burning pain erupted in his left shoulder, spreading like a way of fire down his arm.
Douan stumbled and nearly fell over. His visio blurred briefly, and when it cleared, the man realized that he was sitting in his chair again.
And now the pain was in his chest.
Yakim Douan struggled to regain his footing, then stumbled to the door He started to call out for Merwan Ma, but changed his mind, realizing where he had to go, and realizing that he had to go there alone.
Step by step, the stubborn old man made his way along the corridors to the chalice room. The pain had lessened considerably by then, but still Yakim Douan grabbed up the chalice eagerly, so much so that he spilled some of the blood on his robes and the floor. Clutching the chalice to his chest, the man fell into the magical gemstone, diving into its swirling gray depths.
He went inside himself, trying desperately to find the harmony of his body, the natural and healthy rhythm. He began to breathe easier almost immediately, and not from his healing powers, but merely from his realiza-tion that nothing serious had befallen him, a point accentuated by a series of loud belches.
Yakim Douan laughed at himself and his desperation, a clear reminder of how much he had to lose. He was immortal, but only as long as he re-mained in control of the situation about him. If a sudden, burning attack felled him, would he be able to spiritually connect himself to the hematite in time to soar out and find a replacement body?
Yakim rubbed the base of the chalice, his fingers separated from the gemstone by a thin sheet of metal. He could feel its presence in there, its tangible power to take him across the generations and the centuries.
A crash from the back of the room startled him, and he turned to see Merwan Ma standing there, a look of both surprise and horror on his face, and a plate of utensils, the sacrificial knife among them, lying on the floor at his feet.
Yakim considered his own appearance, clutching the chalice, blood on him and on the floor, in light of Merwan Ma's expression, and he knew at once that the Shepherd understood that there was something more to this chalice.
"Ah, yes, my young attendant," the Chezru Chieftain said with as much calm as he could muster.
"Finishing your duties before going out to the Chezhou-Lei, I see."
Ma stammered something undecipherable, but otherwise did spend. He bent low and picked up the utensils. lO"V6'hat is it?" Yakim Douan asked bluntly, and coldly, and with enough hority to freeze the poor young man where he knelt. '?''God-Voice?"
"You are surprised to see me in here.
"Yes God-Voice. I had thought that you would rest in your audience "But it is much more than that, is it not?" Yakim Douan asked slowly i deliberately, moving toward Merwan Ma with each word.
"God-Voice?"
"What do you know of the chalice? ?
Merwan Ma began stammering the typical responses concerning the rituals and supposed powers of the sacred chalice, and Yakim Douan let him ramble for some time. Each remark seemed more of an excuse, a front, than anything from the man's heart, though, and so the perceptive Douan began to under-stand the truth of it, that Merwan Ma knew about the hematite in the chalice.
The Chezru Chieftain sent his spirit into that gemstone, used the portal that was the stone to let him fly free suddenly of his physical body. He didn't slow as he came free, but soared straight for the unsuspecting Mer-wan Ma, his spirit rushing right into the man, laying bare his soul for Yakim Douan to see.
And he knew then, in that instant, that Merwan Ma did indeed know of the hematite, and that it was the presence of that gemstone, along with Yakim Douan's clutching of the chalice, that had prompted the horrified look upon his face.
Confronted by the spirit of the God-Voice, the poor Shepherd fell back, toppling over to a seated position on the floor, one arm up over his face de-fensively, as if warding the man away.
Yakim Douan was already in retreat anyway, rushing back to his body, afraid to give too much away here to the curious Shepherd. He went back into his own body and blinked his physical eyes.
"What is it, my son?" he asked innocently.
Merwan Ma gradually relaxed, but only somewhat. He pulled himself to his feet and tried to act as if all was normal. But Yakim Douan saw the truth tor what it was. Merwan Ma knew, and was afraid because he knew.
'I must clean these once more," the young man stuttered.
'Go, then," Yakim Douan replied cheerily. ?But out to the Chezhou-Lei nrst. Your duties here can wait."
Merwan Ma paused a moment and stared at his master, but then answered, *es, God-Voice," bowed repeatedly, and shrank back out of the room.
Yakim Douan growled in frustration at his own carelessness. He replaced >e chalice and wiped the blood from the floor, then moved out of the room oack to his own private quarters, cursing with every step.
Merwan Ma knew, and he could not tolerate that. He would miss th young Shepherd greatly.
Chezhou-Lei Shauntil stood at rigid attention before the Chezru Chief tain, the God-Voice, and now - given the disaster at the Mountains of Fire the failure and honorable suicide of the Kaliit - the only real authority ]efr in the proud warrior's existence.
"You understand the statement of your mission?" Yakim Douan asked "To instate Merwan Ma as governor of Dharyan," the warrior recited ?To drive the To-gai-ru from the city and reclaim it for you, then to pursue the rebels onto the steppes, under the leadership of Yatol Tohen Bardoh destroying them utterly and returning to you the head of this foul woman the Dragon of To-gai."
"You understand the truth of your mission?"
"As stated," the warrior replied, and he squared his shoulders and puffed out his massive, muscled chest.
"Except that it is Carwan Pestle who is to serve as governor until a Yatol can be put in place."
"Because?"
"Merwan Ma will die in a battle."
Yakim Douan nodded and turned away, bitter about issuing such a com-mand against the Shepherd who had become his friend over the last years. He had known for a long time that perhaps he had become too close to Merwan Ma, and now the incident at the chalice had sealed the young man's fate, Yakim Douan simply could not take the chance that Merwan Ma had learned too much, for the mere existence of the hematite would damn him in the eyes of many of the Yatols. Their religion was unbending on this point, that the gemstones were the tools of the demons, were the perverse religious articles favored by the heathen Abellicans in the north.
Merwan Ma knew of the hematite in the chalice, and could easily guess at Douan's connection with it. That revelation, should the Shepherd ever make it, might lead some to guess the truth of Transcendence. And that, of course, the Chezru Chieftain could never suffer to pass.
Still, it bothered him more than a little to so order the death of Merwan Ma. At least he was allowing the man to die honorably. Yes, he would hold a great celebration of the life of Merwan Ma when the tragic news returned to Jacintha.
"Leave as soon as the engines of war, and those designed to defeat the dragon, are prepared," he instructed the Chezhou-Lei. ?On the road, your word is rule, as it remains even when Yatol Tohen Bardoh joins you after the recapture of Dharyan, on all matters military. Yatol Tohen Bardoh un-derstands the value of the Chezhou-Lei, I assure you. He knows his place in this ugly business." The last words sent a shiver along Yakim Douan's spine. Indeed, Yatol Tohen Bardoh knew well the means of terrorizing a conquered people.
Douan had pulled the man back from To-gai, not because he was effective, but because he seemed to be enjoying himself a bit too much. it v given the sudden turn and the utter stubbornness of the To-gai-ru, uan wondered if he hadn't made a mistake in relieving the brutal man. Tt didn't matter, he told himself and he waved Chezhou-Lei Shauntil out f his private room. He had other matters to attend - primarily the selec-lon of a new personal attendant, one who would watch over him as he e to maturity in his new body. Only after realizing that he had to get rid f Merwan Ma had the Chezru Chieftain come to understand the depth of his mistake in becoming so close to the man over the years, not only be-cause of his personal grief at having him killed, but because he had not bothered to seed the pool of potential replacements in the event of some unforeseen tragedy.
Again, it didn't matter, he told himself. Transcendence was a couple of years away, at least, and in that time, he would undoubtedly find some over-pious fool eager to assume the duties.
Brynn, Pagonel, Juraviel, Cazzira, and Agradeleous watched the marching force with a mixture of awe and amusement. Never had any of them seen such an array of sheer power, with thousands of marching soldiers and hun-dreds of cavalry, and great war engines, from catapults to gigantic spear-throwing ballistae. This was the power of Behren, the might that had swarmed over To-gai and that kept the often imperialistic Bearmen of Honce-the-Bear, even with their gemstone-wielding Abellican monks, at bay.
"And so I see why you chose not to defend Dharyan," Juraviel said to Brynn. Indeed, Brynn had taken her entire force out of the city soon after sending the refugees down the eastern road toward Jacintha. The To-gai-ru warriors had moved south of the city and were now hiding in the desert, while Brynn and the others had come there, just east of Dharyan, to view the response from Jacintha.
"I did not know it would be so overwhelming," the woman admitted.
Agradeleous snorted, hardly agreeing with that assessment.
"They have prepared for you," Juraviel remarked to the dragon, pointing out the ballistae. ?One strike from those would take you down to the ground."
The dragon snorted again, unimpressed.
"We could not have held Dharyan," Pagonel remarked. ?Not even for a single day against this force."
"We cannot, can never, fight the Chezru Chieftain, army to army," Brynn explained. ?We will frustrate him and his commanders and make them all see that a continuing war is not in their best interests." She turned to the dragon. ?This is where you will show your greatest value to our cause, Agradeleous. Pagonel will help us to forage, what little there is to find, but - "
"More than a little," the mystic put in.
Brynn nodded deferentially, not wanting to underestimate the Jhesta Tn in any way. She was quite sure that Pagonel's understanding of the land would prove invaluable. But still, she knew that it would not be enough not for her warriors and not for their horses. ?But," she continued, ?it \yjij be Agradeleous with his great speed and strength who will truly supplv us. Fly out at night to a river and return to us with buckets of water.
De-scend upon a herd of deer and bring us more meat than we could possibly consume!"
"There are thousands of you," the dragon remarked, seeming not quite convinced.
"I hold faith in Agradeleous," Brynn answered. ?We will construct a great platform and use heavy ropes with which you can bear it." Brynn turned to the others, to see the elves nodding with more than passing curi-osity and Pagonel rubbing his chin, considering it all.
"If we can stay mobile, and independent of the few known watering holes, then the Behrenese will have a difficult time in catching us," Brynn explained. ?We can maneuver about them and strike wherever they are weakest."
"Then we must always know where they intend to be next," said Pago-nel, turning a wry look upon Brynn.
The two had already discussed this somewhat, with the mystic explaining that he would serve her well as a spy.
"They have many To-gai-ru slaves among them," Juraviel noted.
Brynn looked from the elf to the mystic. She really didn't want to be apart from him, considering him an advisor who, in many ways, was even superior to Belli'mar Juraviel. Pagonel understood the Behrenese as well as she did, and knew even more about the Yatol religion that so dominated the desert people.
But she couldn't deny that her only advantage here was information, was knowing her enemy better than they knew her, and so, after many moments of staring hard at her dear Jhesta Tu friend, she finally nodded her assent.
Pagonel leaned over and kissed her for luck, then slipped around the back of the sand dune, disappearing into the desert sands.
That same night, as the Behrenese army camped in sight of the city now called Dharielle, their contingent of To-gai-ru servants grew by one. Farther to the south, a dragon took to the air, bearing the warrior woman back to her army of four thousand. The two elves and Agradeleous did not stay with Brynn, but took to the air again, scouting the region, then settled back near to where they had parted ways with the Jhesta Tu mystic, to await his return.
More than two hundred To-gai-ru slaves had accompanied the Jacintha army on its long march from the east, nameless and faceless in the eyes of the superior-minded Behrenese, and so Pagonel slipped into the large en-campnient with little difficulty. He wore nondescript clothing, rags like all the other slaves, and kept his telling and magnificent sash about his waist, but under his large shirt.
He moved about the encampment for a long while that night, among the To-gai-m gatherings, listening far more than speaking. Their talk of the Chezru Chieftain's outrage reminded Pagonel just how dangerous this u rhole game had become. The might of Behren was sweeping, and dominat-ing. and not even the mighty kingdom of Honce-the-Bear desired to match armies with the Chezru Chieftain. And now Brynn had turned all that rnight upon herself, against To-gai, and the only chance they had was in hit-ting the Chezru Chieftain where he did not expect it, continually flanking the massive armies and pecking away at vulnerable spots until the Behre-nese decided that they had gone to too much trouble.
Looking at the encampment, a massive, well-prepared, well-drilled, and eager force, the mystic had to wonder if Brynn hadn't stepped a bit too far over the line. He was somewhat bolstered, though, by the whispers of the prisoners whenever the quiet discussions turned to the Dragon of To-gai. Apparently Brynn's fame had already spread - among the To-gai-ru slaves, at least - all the way to the coast. She would find many willing to join her army with each city conquered.
The next morning, the Behrenese army rolled in sight of Dharielle's east-ern wall, close enough so that the body of Yatol Grysh could be seen, still hanging before the closed gates. Now Pagonel paid close attention; there were several Chezhou-Lei warriors among the soldiers, he knew from their distinctive armor, and their hierarchy became apparent almost immediately, with one large and powerful warrior taking the lead in delegating com-mands. With frightening efficiency, the army set up its catapults and ballis-tae. Riders went out north and south, encircling the quiet city.
Pagonel noted that the Chezhou-Lei leader kept returning to two men, Chezru Shepherds by their dress and the styling of their hair, as if explaining his intent. Pagonel recognized one of them as the attendant of Yatol Grysh. An hour passed, and then another, and the scouting riders returned with reports that no one had been spotted along the walls of the conquered city. One of the Chezhou-Lei rode forward under a flag of truce, moving near to the city gates and calling out a greeting in Behrenese and in the To-gai-ru language. But of course there was no response from deserted Dharielle.
That only seemed to infuriate the Chezhou-Lei leader. He stormed over to where the To-gai-ru slaves had been gathered, selected one man ran-domly from the horde, then stalked away, dragging the man along.
A few minutes later, one of the catapults launched a living, screaming missile over the city wall.
The only responding sounds were the startled cries of the carrion birds within.
Pagonel studied the leader intently, then looked around at his To- fellows, reading much from their grim expressions.
The Chezhou-Lei leader began barking a series of commands, and Iv army fell into its prescribed positions.
The catapults let fly more conv * tional missiles of burning pitch and large rocks, and the ballistae held b their great spears pointing toward the skies as if expecting the Dragon To-gai to fly past at any time.
Batteries of archers sent a volley of arrows over the wall, but then th too, held their shots, scanning the skies above.
And then came the charge, hundreds of horsemen thundering for th gates, foot soldiers falling into ordered defensive arrangements behind them. It was a feint, Pagonel knew, because the Behrenese would never lead with their cavalry, and sure enough, the horsemen got near to the wall, yell-ing and screaming, and then swung about to the south, running along the wall, looking for some enemy somewhere.
The foot soldiers swarmed for the eastern gate, a large ram leading the way.
They went through without resistance, swarming into the city, and then the cavalry went in right behind.
Pagonel took great amusement in the outraged expression of the Chezhou-Lei leader when he learned that the city, Dharyan once more, was deserted.
With great ceremony, the whole of the army, except for scouts sent to the west, entered Dharyan and began securing the place, putting the slaves to work at patching burned-out roofs and clearing rubble and dead bodies.
Soon after, the unknown Shepherd Pagonel had noted, Merwan Ma, was named by the Chezhou-Lei leader as governor of the city.
Several days went by uneventfully, and it was obvious to Pagonel that the Behrenese army - the bulk of it, anyway - wouldn't remain in Dharyan for long. The mystic waited anxiously for the advance scouts to return, won-dering if Brynn's preparations for the deception had paid off. Soon after leaving the city, heading south, Brynn had sent many riders back to To-gai, where they were instructed to find as many of their compatriots as possible and begin a long procession - walking a wide loop - in sight of several out-poster settlements, making it appear as if Brynn's army had headed back to the west and melted into the grassy steppes.
She was counting on the Behrenese overconfidence again, with them convinced that the inferior To-gai-ru knew that they could not sustain any kind of a war against Behren.
During those days of waiting, Pagonel positioned himself so that he would be working near the building that had been designated as the command post of Dharyan, where both Governor Merwan Ma and the Chezhou-Lei leader, Shauntil, held audience. He couldn't get into the place, not openly at least, I , selected slave women were allowed inside, but he made certain to A many of those women, so that he could continue his spying, llv late one afternoon, a rider returned from the plateau and was for'an immediate audience with the leaders.
uards overseeing the work of Pagonel and others hardly seemed to rice of the To-gai-ru, for they were as anxious for word as was nel They drifted away from the slaves, never looking back.
3p aonel slipped off to the side gradually, then darted behind a pile of Khle and down an alleyway at the side of the command building. With a T nee around to make sure that no sentries were in sight, the mystic fell o his Chi and lifted his spirit, then easily scaled the building, moving be- e a window that overlooked the main audience hall, where Merwan Ma, ~arwan Pestle, and several Chezhou-Lei, including Shauntil, had gathered to hear the news from the scout.
"Of course they ran," one of the Chezhou-Lei was saying. ?That is their cowardly way. They knew that they could not hope to hold Dharyan against the might of Jacintha, and so they fled to their steppes."
"They passed Dancala Grysh only a couple of weeks after taking Dharyan," the scout reported, and Pagonel smiled in admiration of Brynn's cunning de-ception. ?They could be anywhere in the steppes now, or even disbanded."
"They have not disbanded," Shauntil insisted. ?They follow this leader, blindly and to their doom. It is their way."
"I was here when Ashwarawu attacked," said another of the Chezhou-Lei. ?Shauntil is correct in his assessment. They are like pack dogs, the To-gai-ru."
"We will sweep the steppes," Shauntil declared. ?We will catch up with this Dragon of To-gai and give the To-gai-ru the harshest of lessons. When we leave, there will not be enough To-gai-ru men left to mount another at-tack against Behren."
Some movement below alerted Pagonel that he had to get down, and he started to do so, but then heard Shauntil gruffly dismiss the other Chezhou-Lei, the scout, and Carwan Pestle, pointedly telling Merwan Ma that they needed to speak alone.
Pagonel flattened himself against the wall, not wanting to miss out on this private conversation. But as a Behrenese soldier walked along the alleyway >elow him, he knew that the chances were great that he would be spotted.
So he leaped out, diving down the fifteen feet atop the unsuspecting sol-lier. He flew right past the man, hooking him about the head as he did, and - immediately rolled about, his momentum snapping the poor soldier's neck instantly TU tne two went down in a heap, with Pagonel rolling away, over and over D absorb the blow. He came back quickly, dragging the soldier behind a le or rubble in the alleyway, then stripping the body of its uniform and donning it himself.
When he got back to the window, the audience hall was empty pa moved along the ledge, then climbed again to the top floor of the tf story structure. Then some arguing guided him along, farther to the r the building, where he peeked in around a window.
There stood Merwan Ma, against one wall, his hands upraised, a ]0 u sheer terror on his face. A few feet away stood Shauntil, a dead To-?. slave on the floor behind him, a bloody dagger in his hand, pointed tow the new governor.
"You serve the Chezru Chieftain!" Merwan Ma cried.
Shauntil smiled wickedly. ?Carwan Pestle will govern Dharyan until suitable Yatol replacement can be found, while I assume the mantle of Go ernor General of the region, and all of To-gai."
"Pestle can have it!" Merwan Ma conceded, quite willingly. ?I only came out on the command of our common leader, and have no desire..." His words trailed away as a knowing, even more wicked, grin widened on the fierce Chezhou-Lei's face.
Outside the window, Pagonel's expression screwed up with curiosity, for it seemed obvious to him that the Chezru Chieftain, for some reason, had sent this poor Shepherd out there to be murdered.
"I have served him for many years," Merwan Ma pleaded as the Chezhou-Lei approached. ?I am his choice to oversee Transcendence!"
That last word came out with a gasp as Shauntil plunged the dagger into Merwan Ma's belly.
"But you were murdered, Governor Merwan Ma, by a To-gai-ru slave, who was angered because you ordered her brother launched by catapult into the city," the warrior explained, and he pumped his arm, stabbing the poor man again and again.
Shauntil stepped back and Merwan Ma collapsed to the floor.
"Yes, it hurts," the warrior teased. ?But I could not kill you efficiently, for, after ah", you were killed not by a Chezhou-Lei, but by a poor, frantic slave woman." With that, Shauntil tossed the knife to the floor between them and started for the door.
He paused, though, considering the blood on the robes he had put on, and with hardly a thought, he stripped the outer layer off and tossed it into the hearth, where the dying ember reignited about it.
He looked back to Merwan Ma, then left.
Pagonel dropped back down to the alleyway, his hands working the wall through his descent deftly, so that he landed lightly on his feet. He rushed to retrieve the dead soldier, knowing that time was of the essence, then hoisted the man on his back, moved to the base of the window, and climbed back up once more, this time moving through the open window and into the room.
A soft groan from Merwan Ma told him that the man was still alive, though barely.
I stripped off the injured Shepherd's bloody clothing and tended the quickly as he could, then put his own clothes on Merwan Ma, and Shepherd's clothing on the soldier. He took up the knife and stabbed PUt \ '6 i man in the gut, then placed him as Merwan Ma had been placed.
shed to the hearth and pulled out an unburned edge of the robe, h Id it to the embers and blew on them until it ignited. He brought his 0 a rorn tapestry at the side of the hearth and set it ablaze, the flames ] ijna rapidly along the dried tapestry and old, dry wood. The mystic " d the still-burning brand at the chest of the dead soldier, wincing as .fire began to catch. With a deep and steadying breath, Pagonel gathered Merwan Ma across his shoulders.
He heard voices on the stairs, then a shout of, ?Fire!"
It was a movement that only a Jhesta Tu, and only a master of that order, ould ever have accomplished. Pagonel ran full speed to the open window, reached into himself to buoy his body magically, then leaped out, across the alleyway, flying fifteen feet to the next roof. He sprinted across that roof, hardly slowing, then leaped again, right to the top of the south wall, and then, hardly slowing, hopped over that wall and fell the fifteen feet to the sand below, landing as softly as he could, bending as he hit to cushion the blow for the man draped about his shoulders.
Without delay, hearing shouts from at least one soldier who had spotted him - or had spotted something - the mystic laid Merwan Ma out straight at the very base of the wall and fell down beside him, working frantically to cover as much of them as possible with loose sand.
He heard more cries from above, but they weren't directed at him, he realized, but at the fire that was now burning more furiously.
Pagonel lay very still, concentrating on his Chi. He brought his hands to Merwan Ma's wounds and sent his hot life energy into them, transferring his strength, his healing, to the near-dead Shepherd.
The fire burned into the night, and cries of ?Murder!" resonated about the streets. Pagonel could only listen with helpless horror as the Behrenese took out their anger over the murder of the new Governor of Dharyan on the other To-gai-ru slaves.
Gradually, the screaming died away, replaced by the quiet stillness of midnight.
Pagonel pulled himself from the sand, then lifted Merwan Ma across his shoulders, and in truth, he wasn't even certain if the man was still alive.
And then he ran, out into the darkness, using the stars to guide him. He ran all through the night, and most of the next day, as well, pausing only pe-!odically to use his healing energy on the gravely wounded Shepherd.
That night, he ran on again, tirelessly, stopping only when he heard a ornmand to halt, issued in a telling melodic voice.
Only then did the mystic allow himself to realize his exhaustion, and he slumped into the sand, lowering Merwan Ma beside him.
"A fine gift," Belli 'mar Juravi el said to him when he awoke sometime later.
The mystic craned his neck to see Merwan Ma, wrapped in blankets across the small fire, with Cazzira sitting beside him and Agradeleous off in the background.
"It may be," was all that the exhausted mystic could reply at that time and he lowered his head and went back to sleep, knowing that he would need all of his strength and more if he was to have any chance of keeping Merwan Ma alive the next day.
It was late in the day before he awoke once more, to find Cazzira stand-ing guard over Merwan Ma.
"Juraviel and Agradeleous flew out before the dawn, to keep watch over Dharielle," she explained.
"Dharyan, once more," Pagonel corrected, and he pulled himself up and moved toward the injured man.
"Eat first," Cazzira offered, pointing to the side, to a steaming small pot, and Pagonel veered toward it.
"Juraviel believes that the Behrenese will move soon."
"Very soon," the mystic replied. ?Into To-gai in pursuit of the Dragon of To-gai and her army."
Cazzira laughed.
"Who is he?" she asked a few moments later, pointing to the injured man.
"His name is Merwan Ma," the mystic explained. ?An attendant of the Chezru Chieftain, named governor of Dharyan and then nearly murdered, on orders from the Chezru Chieftain."
Cazzira's look was predictable puzzled.
"A Chezhou-Lei cut him down."
"A rogue act, perhaps?"
Pagonel was shaking his head before she ever finished the question. ?They are unquestioningly loyal to the Chezru Chieftain. Never would a Chezhou-Lei take such an action of his own initiative, not when it involved a man so closely tied to Chezru Douan."
"But why?"
"That is what I hope to find out," the mystic replied, and he took another sip of the stew, then wiped his mouth and moved beside Merwan Ma, falling right back into doyan du cad ray chi, ?the warm healing hands."
Belli'mar Juraviel and Agradeleous returned that night, bringing the wel-come news that the bulk of the Behrenese army had marched west and were even then scaling the narrow passes of the plateau divide into To-gai.
"It was all that I could manage in keeping Agradeleous from attacking them," the elf admitted a while later, when the dragon, after transforming back into his humanoid form, stalked off from the camp. ?A killing rage grows within him. I know not how long we, and Brynn, will be able to con-trol his fury ?
"Because he hates Behrenese?" Cazzira asked.
"Because that is the nature of dragons," Pagonel interjected. ?They are es Of destruction, usually of random destruction. It is remarkable cl vou and Brynn have placated him enough to keep him in line thus far.
jon enough, I fear, we will see the true fury of Agradeleous."
vlli'rnar Juraviel looked out into the darkness, where the beast was out then seeking some creature to tear and devour. A shudder coursed his spine.