Page 47

A t first, it was but smoke upon the horizon. Then flames, orange where green grass met blue sky.

Jai’s scouts had spotted it in the late afternoon, ontheir third day riding out in pursuit of the Keldar. Now theyfollowed it. It would only cost them a few hours to investigate.

These were not campfires, made of old bamboo and dried khiroi dung. There was too much smoke for that. Jai knew that, even before he could smell the blood on the wind.

Winter raced ahead, her lithe body spearing through the grass, and Jai urged Baal onwards, for she would not slow. Behind, he could hear the thunder of a thousand khiroi feet. Two hundred warriors, at his back. Hunting for prey upon the steppe.

It was strange to see the scene unfolding as they drew near. The oxen, lowing mournfully, cropping at the grass. The burned-out husks of the caravans, and the men and women, strung up like marionettes from what remained of them.

These were traders, of that there was no doubt. But what had happened to them... Jai could not yet say.

There were no dead khiroi nearby. The goods within the caravans, such as there were left of them, were burned with the rest of it. Silks, fine furniture, exotic fruits from the east. None of it had been taken.

Just left to burn, haphazardly. Stranger still were the oxen. Some, true, had been killed. But more still remained, some hundred by his count. This had been a large caravan, likely one that had followed a Great Tribe and were now on their way home.

‘These were not Sithian hands that did this,’ Sindri croaked, her throat parched from the windswept ride. She gulped from her waterskin, and spoke again. ‘This is mindless slaughter. Torture too.’

She motioned at the bodies, still hanging from the makeshift gibbets of their caravans’ burned-out rafters. Men and women both. Phoenixian, by their attire, though their faces were a ruin.

Sindri was right. They had been tortured. Their limbs had been hacked off, while others were a mess of crossbow bolts. As if they’d been used as living target practice.

But it was their limb stumps that made Jai stop, and stare. He’d seen this before. Back in the tavern, after Rufus had used his whytblade to sever a robber’s limb. Cauterised perfectly, and sliced easy as a slow-cooked ham.

He knelt, and picked up a tawny feather, from where it lay. He swallowed, and raised it, letting his voice carry to the hundreds milling behind him.

‘Sabines!’ he cried out. ‘Gryphon Guard!’

His warriors’ eyes turned to the skies in fear, blades drawn, khiroi spinning and rearing. But he held up his hands, calling for calm.

‘This is what awaits all the Sithia!’ he called out. ‘This is what they do !’

He hoped this would strengthen their resolve, but all he saw was fear in their eyes. Everyone knew of the great slaughter Rufus’s men had brought upon the Great Steppe. Anything to force the High Khan into a decisive battle.

Jai sighed, and dismounted. He felt the weight of guilt, settling heavy upon his shoulders. Because he knew, in his heart of hearts, he was to blame for this tragedy.

Traders were the messengers of the Great Steppe. The gossipmongers, purveyors of information. It might be that the legion had wanted the lay of the land, and had ravaged these traders in that pursuit.

But Magnus had been here, Jai was sure of it. And Jai knew, he and Erica could not be far from the man’s thoughts. Jai knew his name had been uttered in this place.

He felt Winter brushing against his waist. By now, she was able to lap at his chin with only a stretching of her neck. Her growth spurt was coming in fits and starts, but it would not be long before she rivalled Navi in size. Already she’d made her way through a good portion of the jerky in the Kidaran reserves, but the people fed her freely. Often, she would slip out while Jai was occupied, returning with a bellyful of rich meat.

As for her wings, they were no longer the paltry things laid flat along her back. More and more, she unfurled them, and even now she held them wide, soaking in the last of the sun. The wingspan was so great, it stretched from Baal’s horn to his tail.

‘We make camp here!’ Jai called, scratching his erstwhile dragon under her chin. ‘Take what you can, and double the watch.’

‘Sire,’ Harleen said, riding up to him. ‘Is this wise? To camp among all this?’

Jai held her gaze.

‘We must bury the dead. And they,’ he said, indicating the Kidaran warriors, ‘must know death. Know their enemy. For all Gurveer’s bluster, he and most of the men have not been tested in real battle. This is as close to the reality of it as we can give him before it is upon us.’

Sindri, trotting up beside her, was for once in agreement with Harleen.

‘This will sow fear,’ she said. ‘We should keep on. There is still light in the day yet.’

‘A measure of fear is useful,’ Jai said, a little unkindly. ‘It will keep the men from charging when they should not. These warriors, for all their weapons, armour and khiroi flesh, are but boys and girls playing dress-up.

‘Have the Valor speak of battle,’ Jai said to Sindri. ‘Of facing down an enemy, and standing firm in the face of their charge. Let my soldiers know the truth of it. When the time comes, they will be champing at the bit. Temper the flames of their youth with the wisdom of your experience.’

‘As you wish,’ Sindri said, spurring her charge away.

Harleen looked to speak, then thought better of it. She too left him then. Jai wished Feng had come with him to offer his guidance, but the vizier was no warrior by his own admission. No, he had stayed with the others, there to look after the affairs of state.

Jai turned to Winter.

‘I guess it’s just you and me again, eh, girl?’ Jai said.

She chirred happily, glad of the attention. Beyond sleeping, curled at the top of his bed, with Jai’s head resting upon her belly, they’d had little chance to be together. Luckily, the bed had been reinforced to satisfy many occupants, a legacy of Teji’s salacious tastes. It held up well enough beneath her growing weight.

Jai remembered when they’d had all the time in the world, making camp in the forest with Erica and Rufus. Where he would watch her hunt bugs among the trees, her tail lashing with excitement.

She was his beating heart, the second piece of his soul. And he had neglected her. He crouched among the ash and ruin, and hugged her tight.

‘Stay close, my heart,’ Jai whispered. ‘We sail in troubled waters.’