he has the money to do so. Hest, if you travelled to the Rain Wilds with Alise, you’d have the perfect excuse to get close to the dragons and those who tend them. Alise has contacts with them; I know she does, I’ve sent off her missives for her and brought dozens of posts back to her. If she goes, you know she’ll manage to get to Cassarick, and she’ll go directly to the dragon grounds. She’ll be as close to the beasts as anyone can get.’ He found he had lowered his voice as he said, ‘A few shed scales. A vial of blood. A tooth. Who knows what you might be able to bring back? What we do know is that anything you acquired would be worth, not a small fortune, but a very large one.’ Sedric let the clothing he had been folding fall from his hands. He sank down onto Hest’s bed and said quietly, ‘With that much money, a man could go anywhere. He could live any way he liked and be above rebuke. Enough money will buy that. Respectability regardless of what you do.’ He stared through the walls of the chamber into an invisible distance and dreamed.
Hest’s voice snapped him back to the here and now. ‘Do you ever listen to a word I say? I like where I live and how I live now. No one rebukes me. Why would I risk the very comfortable life I have here? Idiocy! I have no desire to traffic in dragon body parts. That is something that I could well be rebuked for.’
‘We’ve trafficked in other articles far stranger for less money!’ There were words that died in his throat unspoken. What that money could mean to him, to both of them. The life it could buy, far from Bingtown. Hest either could not or refused to consider the possibility.
Hest was unswayed by Sedric’s words. ‘Just now you spoke of respectability. I am respectable now! Will that be so if people see my wife travelling alone to the Rain Wilds? What will they think she is really seeking? Do you think I don’t know that people shake their heads and pity us, that she has not yet borne a child? And if she goes trotting off alone to the Rain Wilds, what will the gossip tongues wag then?’
‘Oh, for Sa’s sake, Hest! She isn’t the first Bingtown woman to have trouble conceiving! Why do you think they call this place the Cursed Shores? Hard enough for a family to keep its name alive here, let alone flourish. No one thinks anything about your still being childless, save to offer you sympathy! Look around the town. You’re not alone! And as to her travelling by herself, well I’ve just shown you the solution: take her yourself. Or find her a companion then, if you will not take the time to escort her yourself. It’s easily enough done!’
‘Fine, then!’ Hest all but spat the words. As quickly as that, he had gone from trying to win Sedric with his antics to giving off sparks of anger. ‘I shall let her go. I shall let her dash off to the Rain Wilds and content her poor little soul with dithering about dragons and Elderlings. I shall let her spill coins from my purse as if it has no bottom. And you are right, dear, dear Sedric. I shall have no trouble at all finding an appropriate companion for her. You’ve told me often enough this night what a wonderful friend she has been to you! So, you shall surely enjoy your trip to the Rain Wilds with her. Evidently you’ve become bored with being secretary to such a dishonourable, selfish man as myself. So serve Alise. Be her secretary. Scribble notes for her and carry her bags. Sniff about in the muck for a dropped dragon scale. It will spare me the bother of having to look at either of you for a month! I have a journey of my own to contemplate. And it seems that I must find some affable companions to share it with me.’ As if that settled the matter completely, Hest crossed to the room and dropped back into the chair before his writing desk. He took up his pen and studied the pages before him as if Sedric did not exist.
For a moment, Sedric could not speak. Then, ‘Hest, you cannot mean that!’ he gasped.
But the other man ignored him, and Sedric knew with sudden certainty that he did.
Day the 17th of the Growing Moon
Year the 6th of the Independent Alliance of Traders
From Erek, Keeper of the Birds, Bingtown to Detozi, Keeper of the Birds, Trehaug
From the Bingtown Traders’ Council to the Rain Wild Traders’ Councils at Trehaug and Cassarick. An inquiry into recent rumours and speculations about the health and well-being of the young dragons, and their marketability as stock or as trade items, with references to our original contract with the Dragon Tintaglia.
Detozi,
It was delightful to meet your Uncle Beydon. He speaks highly of you and is obviously very knowledgeable about pigeons. I have sent with him two sacks of an excellent dried yellow pea. I have found that a regular feeding of it greatly enhances the plumage of my birds. I do hope the rumours that the dragons must be slaughtered due to a disease are false!
Erek
Thymara had never felt comfortable meeting new people. Inevitably, they ran their eyes over her and realized that she should not have survived. It was even more uncomfortable to stand alone before a committee of some of the most revered Rain Wild Traders and answer questions about herself. There were eight of them, mostly middle-aged and male, all dressed in their formal Trader robes. They sat in solid chairs made of dark wood in the opulent chamber at a long heavy table. The floor under her feet was built from thick plank. Even the walls and the ceiling of the room were made of wood. Never before had she been in a structure so heavy and substantial. She and her father had journeyed far down the trunks to reach this place. He was waiting for her outside. It was the Rain Wild Traders’ Concourse, a structure so old and so close to the ground that it more resembled a Jamaillian mansion than a Rain Wilds house. Only this far down the trunk did such large and imposing constructions exist. She was oddly aware at all times of how massive it was; but instead of making her feel safe, the solidity of the structure seemed to threaten at any moment to crash to the earth below. Even the air seemed trapped and still inside it.
Only two of the committee seemed able to meet her gaze. The others looked aside, or past her, or down at the papers on the long table before them. Of the two who could look at her one was Trader Mojoin, the head of the committee. He looked her up and down in a way that plainly said what he thought of her before he asked her bluntly, ‘How is it that you were not exposed at birth?’
She had not expected such a bald question. For a moment, she stood dumbly before him. If she spoke the truth, how much trouble would she bring down on her family? Her father had broken all the rules when he secretly followed the midwife and brought his infant back home instead of leaving her exposed for the animals and weather to finish. She took a breath and hedged. ‘My defects manifested as I grew. They were not completely obvious at my birth.’
Trader Mojoin gave a brief snort of disbelief. One of the other Traders shifted in embarrassment for her. ‘Do you understand the terms of your employment?’ Mojoin asked her bluntly. ‘Does your family accept that after you leave with the dragons, we will not guarantee your safety or even your return?’
She was surprised at how calm her voice was when she replied. ‘My parents both signed the papers before you. They understand, and more importantly, I understand. I am of age to make this commitment.’ As Mojoin gave a curt nod and leaned back in his seat, she added, ‘But I would like to know more clearly exactly what my tasks are, and what our final mission is.’
He scowled. ‘Didn’t you read the contract you were given, girl? The offer states it plainly. The dragons have requested that humans accompany them
