Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Don Marius woke Rosa when a strip of water glimmered ahead. The sun was already rising, and she stretched, yawning sweetly. It seemed to her that after all she had experienced during the day she would not be able to sleep, but the dragoness's measured footsteps were warm on her back and lulling... And the young sorceress's nerves were stronger than she had suspected.

From their conversation with the sergeant they learnt that the refugees had been walking for a long time along the bank of the Clay River, a fairly wide river flowing southwards. Where the tract crossed the river, the wooden bridge, placed on the stone supports of an older stone bridge, had been burnt down by someone. The ferries were also all gone. But there were traces of an army that had travelled this way weeks ago. Unable to cross the river, the group turned north, towards the forests.

- I think King Auguste's army passed through there, - Bernard explained to his new companions.

- They could have destroyed the crossings themselves to cover their rear, - Marius suggested. - Or the nomads might have destroyed the crossings to prevent the king from quickly moving his forces inland. So if we took the route south, we could catch up with the king's forces.

- Last we heard, my lord, the king was encamped on the borders of Velonda's lands, against the main rebel forces, - the sergeant nodded. - He will be there for a long time.

- This is the way out. - The knight drummed his fingers on the hilt of his long sword. Before, the blade had been strapped to his saddle, but now the young man wore it at all times, Rosa thought, to look more solid in the eyes of the fugitives. - I have business in those parts. You'll have nothing to fear from the raiders when you're near the army... And I can leave master Rosa in safe custody there.

- It's only a matter of time, my lord. - The merchant guard was certainly not inclined to be subservient. His tone remained deferential, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. - To drag fifty women and old men and their belongings across a full-flowing river.

- It might not be possible with the luggage. - The warrior's insolence didn't hurt knight, or he didn't notice it. The young man's shrewdness caused Rosa some doubt. - We'll get the men across. My dragon was wounded in battle and can't fly. But it doesn't need to. Dragons are very good swimmers, sergeant.

- You want to... load people onto it? - Bernard looked at the lizard incredulously.

- On her, - Rosa corrected, deciding that the enigmatic silence going to the mage's image was not to be overdone. - Toa... Cornelia is a lady.

- She’s won't lift them all in one sitting, - Marius said. - Are there any islands in the river, sergeant?

- Yes, we've seen a couple of big ones, my lord.

- You can point the way to the nearest one. We'll cross there, - the don decided. - First, we will take the people in batches to the island, and from there to the other side. But I must make two conditions.

- Yes, my lord.

- One. - The young man looked very serious and mature again, his voice sounded firm. Rose could hardly contain her smile. - We will set out at once, and go all night until we reach the shore. Make arrangements - put the children and the old men on carts and horses, and dismount yourselves. Secondly, the dragon will need a sacrifice on the riverbank.

- S... sacrafice? - The sergeant glanced warily at the peacefully slumbering Toad again. The green dragoness had a remarkable gift for falling asleep at any quiet moment.

- Yes, Sergeant, - Marius nodded gravely. - Toa... Ahem... Cornelia hadn't eaten in a long time.

In half an hour Rosa went round the refugees, quickly assessed their condition, and distributed all her stores of corn ointment. To a couple of stout old men who were walking behind the cart, she relieved the pain in their joints, which made her feel quite ill. When she found herself in Toad's hard saddle, the student immediately began to nod off, and soon she did not notice how she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

- You have slept well, signora, - Don Marius told her.

- Didn't snore? - The girl tried to smile at the knight more sincerely than she had done yesterday.

- No, of course not. And you don't seem to have nightmares.

- Mm-mm... - Rose lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes with the bend of her thumb. - When I was fifteen, I cut off a chicken's head...

- Erm... I'm sorry? - The young man even looked over his shoulder.

- It was an assignment, - the student hastened to clarify. - At the Academy. Anyway, that chicken kept me awake for a week. And then we were assigned to cut up a pig carcass and make a list of its innards. I never thought about the chicken again. Now I always sleep well, if I can sleep.

- Ahem... And there's our crossing, - the knight changed the subject awkwardly.

An oblong island, overgrown with mixed forest, divided the Clay River into two streams - narrower, but also faster. It was shaped like a giant's insole or sole, left exactly in the middle of the channel.

- We'll have another spurt and rest, - said the don, pulling Toad back. - On the other shore.

The refugees literally collapsed from exhaustion as soon as the dragon stopped. Sergeant Bernard, however, with shouts and slaps brought his men to their feet, along with a couple of younger peasants. They began to unload the carts. The horses were unharnessed, and the sergeant led the worst of them to Toad.

- Here is your… - the warrior grinned crookedly, - …sacrifice, my lord.

- Thank you. - The knight took the mare by the reins. - We'll leave you for some time, you keep watch over the plain. If riders appear, sound the alarm. No matter how many or under what banner.

Marius led the two mounts down the bank, Rosa trailing behind.

- You shouldn't look either, signora... - the knight started, but the girl looked at him over her glasses:

- Milord, Toad recently bit a steppe dweller's head off in front of me. And another one's arm and a piece of torso.

- Yes, but she didn't eat them. - The young man coughed, blushing slightly. - And I thought maybe a horse was different. You like animals, don't you?

- Very much so. - Rose fixed her glasses, trying to keep a serious face. After a good night's sleep, the girl felt quite well, though her bruises were still sore. The young knight's clumsiness in communication amused her now, and the sorceress made an effort not to show it. - I love animals, so I know that predators eat meat. And they don't get it from a butcher's shop.

Don Marius stepped from foot to foot before giving Toad a command: "Eat!". The green dragoness knocked the stunted horse to the ground with a single swipe of her paw, snapping its neck so swiftly that the unfortunate horse didn't even have time to neigh.

- Interesting... - the knight stretched out, watching his giant pet rumblingly tear off the horse's hind leg. - I didn't like meat when I was a kid. Not at all. My sisters teased me about it. But after bonding with Toad, I grew to love it. All dragon knights like meat.

- The bonding is a bond of dragon blood, milord? - Rose perked up.

- Yeah. That's what we call the ritual amongst ourselves.

The ritual of the dragon bond mixed the dragon's blood with the blood of its rider, creating a bond between them similar to an etheric thread, but much stronger - and, interestingly, invisible to the magical eye. Beast and man understood each other almost without words. In addition, the lizard received a drop of human intelligence, and the rider a tiny bit of dragon power. The ritual was born in the old empire, when the current schools of magic did not yet exist, but it combined features of blood magic and nature magic. Rose had studied its history, but the ritual itself was not taught to nature mages. The girl asked cautiously:

- Milord... what else has changed about you?

- I don't know. - Don Marius shook his head. - Hadn't been paying attention. I don't think it's anything serious. Though... the bond does give the rider the traits of the dragon he's bonded to. Maybe I should have bonded with someone more fierce and determined.

However, the tenderness with which the knight looked at the breakfasting Toad suggested that he didn't need any other dragon.

The young sorceress crossed with the first batch of refugees. She sat on Toad's back, helping a couple of peasant women to hold the children clinging to their harness. After dropping them off on the islet, the dragoness returned to the water. Rose left the refugees behind and with her crossbow at the ready went deeper into the grove. The wooded island was empty. It was densely overgrown with deciduous trees, with occasional spruce trees among them. There were no signs of animals, but there were human footprints, very old ones. In the centre of the islet there was a square foundation of a house or tower. Maybe there had been a ferry station here during the old empire or soon after its collapse. Or a bridge, of which not even the piers remained. Either way, no threats or traces of magic. By the time Rosa returned, Toad had delivered a second group of fugitives and was already carrying a third, helping to pull a raft made from a partially dismantled cart. On the north bank the men, led by the sergeant, remained. Suddenly, a guard on watch shouted and swung his arms. The girl looked closely - and saw moving dots in the north. Her weak eyes could not distinguish the silhouettes, but it was clear that they were riders. The dots did not move for long, and almost immediately disappeared, moving towards the horizon. Scouts, then.

Marius heard the noise and turned round. The dragoness swam faster, literally tossing the raft onto the pebbles of the beach. People fell off her like peas, and Toad went into the water for the umpteenth time. Even Rosa could see that the animal was tired - she was being slightly swept away by the current, which had never caused the lizard any trouble before. But there was a new movement on the horizon. Something was approaching, kicking up sultans of dust. The men on the shore ran into the water, leading their agitated steeds. As soon as Toad approached, the men swarmed around her, clinging to her harness, clinging to her shiny emerald flanks. They didn't try to climb on the dragoness's back, just held on to her as they crossed the stream. One of the guards lost the reins of his horse, and it was swept away by the swift current. But the men, fortunately, all survived the rush across the river. Wet and panting, they fell to the ground, barely out of the water. The dust cloud was closing in, growing before their eyes ...

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

- Sergeant! - A knight jumped down from Toad and grabbed the exhausted guard by the shoulders, lifting him to his feet. - We need axes! We must fell trees, make a perimeter. Toad will help.

The peasants had the tools, but there was no one to wield them - even the soldiers of the merchant guards were exhausted. Marius himself took up the axe, and Rosa joined him, along with the sergeant and a stubborn old refugee. He was wheezing and panting, but he refused to lie idle on the grass. They lacked neither strength nor woodcutting skills, so the dragoness did most of the work - the men cut the trunk, and Toad felled it. Thanks to her help, three apple-trees, a young walnut and a spruce tree were laid before the nomads came to the northern bank of the Clay River. Not a whole tribe - a hundred horsemen, hardly more. But even a hundred mounted warriors were a problem. Screaming and howling like wolves, the nomads scurried along the shore, and some of them started to launch arrows at a gallop. They whistled harmlessly past, falling into the river or disappearing among the trees.

- Why... why aren't they going into the water? - Sergeant Bernard couldn't catch his breath, still clutching the axe with both hands. - The horses will swim across...

- They see that the dragon has more than the promised two men with it, and they don't know who else is on the island, - Don Marius replied, frowning. He stood beside Toad and kept his eyes on the riders galloping across the river. - You're wearing a helmet, and there's some sort of fortification on the shore - what if there's a military detachment here? Besides, if a dragon comes into the water to meet them, there'll be a massacre.

- Take the raft to the other side of the island, - Rosa advised the warrior. - We can use it to try to get the women and children across. They'll be swept away by the current, but they'll make it to shore, I hope.

- And you, master? Milord?

- We'll try to keep them distracted longer, - Don Marius shrugged simply. Rosa cocked her crossbow silently.

The raiders stopped thrashing about the beach. They lined up in chains of ten or twelve horsemen and fired volleys.

- Get back! - commanded the knight. - Into the forest, to the south bank!

He himself stayed near Toad, as did Rose. The dragoness spread her wings, covering the people from the arrows with her strong webbing. Deadly rain rustled down on the island, arrows drummed on Toad's skin. In front of Rosa's eyes, one arrow struck the green crown of a felled apple tree and... the young branches burst into flame as if doused with oil.

- Creator Almighty! - Don Marius shrieked. The flames splashed through another crown, blasting the young men with heat. The branches of a nearby fir tree burst into flames.

- It's… - Rose squeezed her eyes shut. But the fire remained - through her eyelids she could still see its golden tongues dancing in the air. - The arrows are enchanted! Incendiary!

- Toad, get back! - The young man slapped the lizard's paw.

The three of them retreated under the protection of the trees - alas, it could only help for a while. The steppe had few enchanted arrows, but here and there new fires were breaking out on the small island. Some of them threatened to merge to form a wall of flame.

- It's not good. - Marius bit his lip habitually. - We'll either burn, suffocate, or try to escape, and the nomads will cross without hindrance. If the Toad is loaded with passengers, she can't fight.

- I can see why the whole tribe isn't here. - Rose stroked the steel bow of her crossbow. - They have a good mage. And... I think he's here himself now. Wait here, Don.

- What? - The young man didn't understand. - Stop!

But the girl had already dived into the bushes. She lay on her stomach on the beach and, trying not to listen to the whistling of arrows, the crackling of flames, the howling of the steppe warriors, crawled as far as she could. Pressing herself into the damp earth, she closed her eyes, even covered them with the palm of her gloved hand. The world disappeared - what remained were coloured sparks in the darkness. Sources of magical energy. Rosa dismissed the glow of her glasses and the tongues of sorcerous flame at once. She stared into the distance. Moving specks of scarlet - not yet used arrows in the quivers of the nomads. Bronze tips, or maybe bone, or even stone - only iron and its "kin" cannot be enchanted. Magic is afraid of iron, retreats before it. You can't make a magic armour of steel or an enchanted sword of iron. It doesn't matter, though, if the arrow strikes the target with fire. But beyond the shore, further still... yes. What Rose was looking for was a cluster of lights. White, red, blue. A magician with amulets. The girl crawled backwards and suddenly stopped. The young sorceress was surprised to find that the arrow that had fallen from above had pierced the edge of her cloak, nailing the fabric to the ground.

- Oh… - Rose broke the shaft of the arrow and pulled her cloak off it. - Not a word to Don Marius...

- Are you all right, signora? - The knight asked excitedly when the girl returned to the protection of the forest. Echoing his anxiety, Toad sneezed and growled worriedly.

- Yes. - Rose shook off the flaps of her thighhigh boots, glad to herself that the young man had the courage not to rush after her. - The mage is here. Standing far behind the warriors.

- He commands them. - The knight clenched the hilt of his sword. - It was the steppe's custom - if most of the tribe was separated on a campaign, the mage would be in command.

- Without it, a hundred cavalrymen stand little chance against Toad, - Rose added. She hadn't been trained in strategy or warfare, but she'd seen a dragoness in battle. - Especially if they shot all the enchanted arrows into the island.

- We can't get him yet, - Don Marius said sadly, unclenching his fingers on the hilt. - If we go across the river, they'll shoot Toad from the shore with magic arrows and the people on her with ordinary ones. Maybe we should lie low and wait for the enemy to come to the island... Toad can bear a great heat, we can hide near the water....

- How about flying across the river and hitting the mage from above? - the girl suggested. - I'll show you where he is.

- A Toad can't fly, - the knight grumbled. - And I wouldn't take you into battle.

- A Toad can fly. - Rose took the young man's hand and looked into his face. - The wing will survive the short flight, I promise.

- She'll be in pain...

- It won't. - The girl squeezed the knight's palm. - I'll take care of it.

It must have been an impressive sight for the steppes - an emerald-green dragon soaring into the sky from behind a wall of fire and columns of smoke. She gritted her teeth and squinted, absorbing the pain of the huge creature. Her whole body ached, from teeth to toes, and sometimes the pain became sharp - in her arm, in her back, in her knee, repeating Toad's painful places. The girl tolerated it, not making a sound - her moan or shriek would surely throw Marius, who had barely agreed to take the sorceress with her.

It swept over the river, skirting the crowd of nomads, who had stopped firing, clearly dumbfounded by what had happened. They had been told that the dragon was somehow unable to fly. Rose saw the garland of lights against the black background again, and pointed her finger:

- Over there!

And opened her eyes. Grabbed her crossbow.

Toad was already swooping down on the target, a group of five men far behind the other warriors. They were on foot, and one of them was leading the horses - maybe it was more convenient for the mage. The steppes did not try to run, and that immediately alerted the girl. Their mage was going to fight the dragon somehow, but not one on one... The tallest of the nomads had a spark in his hand, so bright that Rosa could see it with her eyes open.

- Evade, Marius! - She elbowed the knight in the ribs. The young man didn't hesitate to shout the command. The Toad lay on the wing... and a moment later, a sprawling white lightning bolt struck the sky from the ground. If the don's pet hadn't manoeuvred sooner, it would have struck her in the chest. But the dragoness, unused to flying, was blinded by the flash, and suddenly lost control of herself. At the very ground, she spread her wings with a roar, slowed her flight, and slumped to the ground. The impact was so strong that Rosa dropped her crossbow and nearly bit off her tongue. All the girl's insides were shaken like scraps in a butcher's bag. The dragoness raised her head and let out a pitiful cry, and Rosa was flooded by a wave of pain that she could not fully absorb - she had to cut the connection to avoid losing consciousness.

- Toa-a-a-d! - Don Marius cried out. The young man's voice suddenly changed to a hissing roar. - R-r-shah!

The young sorceress stood still for a long heartbeat, watching the knight's face change - Don Marius's ears pressed against his head, his cheekbones sharpened, his eyes turned from grey to yellow... She knew in theory what a display of dragon blood looked like in a bonded knight, but she saw it for the first time. A moment in the power of another's blood cost a rider a month's life, and Academy students were never shown anything like this in lectures.

- R-r-ar! - The young man tore the straps that bound him to the saddle, jumped down, and ran towards the wizard's guards. They were less than a hundred paces away from the dragon.

Rose, too, freed herself from the straps, threw off her cloak, and slid down Toad's wing. The crossbow was not immediately in sight, so the girl hurried round the battlefield, crouching low, her palm on the sheath of her hunting knife. She saw Don Marius leap forward, crash his heels into the chest of one of the steppes, fall with him, and immediately jump up, swinging his sword at the curved blade of another... Then the girl focused on the mage. He was a tall, bald man, even by the standards of the Daertians, who wore neither cap nor shawl. His skull was covered with black tattoos, which apparently meant something to the steppes. The magician held in his outstretched hand a rod that looked like a bird's paw - wooden, with copper claws, decorated with feathers. Rose saw a whitish halo around it. A charged amulet. If it was similar to the one that had unleashed lightning on Toad, it was understandable why the nomad was delaying. A strike of that magnitude against Marius or Toad would sweep away his bodyguards along with his target. But if the knight kills all the warriors...

Rose had never tried to sneak up on a human, though Paulette always complained that her mistress walked silently and seemed to appear from under the ground. She'd always been good with animals, though. She should be good at it now. Bypassing the mage in an arc, running from tree to bush, from bush to stone, the girl found herself behind his back, sliding steps approached from behind, naked blade. She swung, thrusting the blade at his neck - as she had done then, with the nomad in the camp....

The mage turned round sharply and intercepted her hand with his own. He clenched her wrist so hard that Rose's fingers loosened and the knife fell to the ground.

- Ouch! - the girl shrieked more out of surprise. The Steppe mage grinned broadly, squeezed his fingers harder - Rosa's thin bones crunched. The young sorceress screamed at the top of her voice, her knees buckling against her will. The nomad seemed to be enjoying the spectacle - so he didn't interfere when the girl raised her trembling left hand to her face. Maybe he was expecting Rose to try to push him away or clamp her mouth shut to hold back a scream. Instead, the Academy student ripped the glove off her hand with her teeth. And grabbed her enemy by the earlobe with her bare fingers. And gave him all the pain she had taken from Toad, all the pain she was feeling right now. All at once, right in the head. A trained mage could withstand such a blow if he was ready for it. Steppe wasn't. He didn't even groan, just shuddered, and began to roll onto his back. Rose pulled her hand from his weakened grip and fell to her knees, shuddering too. She found a hunting knife under her feet and clutched the hilt in her left palm. She could feel her right arm only up to the elbow, her fingers numb and unmoving. The pain was gone, but she felt weak and dizzy. Hiccupping loudly, Rosa rolled the steppe mage over onto his back and placed the knife point against his chest, just in front of his heart. "I've already killed a man," she reminded herself, fighting the nausea. - Two, even. This one...is no better than them." Still, stabbing an enemy with a bow and stabbing an unarmed man lying passed out were different things. Or not? It doesn't matter. His death is necessary for others to live. Then it is necessary. If she had the power to take him prisoner and dictate terms to the warrior-steppers... But she doesn't.

Her right hand still wouldn't listen. Rosa pressed the hilt of the knife with her wrist, pressed her chest, feeling the blade pierce the steppe man's dressing gown, enter the flesh... She could not pull it out. Picking up the amulet, the young sorceress straightened up and looked around. The Toad was roaring, struggling to get to her feet. Don Marius was thrusting and thrusting his sword into the body of a steppe warrior at his feet, three more dead men were lying nearby. And from the river a dozen horsemen galloped towards them at full speed. A group of a dozen warriors had broken away from the others and were close behind. Rose spread her feet shoulder-width apart, as if shooting a crossbow, and raised her hand with the amulet. She touched the power that infused the wood and metal. A strong mage had charged the amulet for many days. The lightning the late steppe man had released was definitely not from this one - but it was the same. Rose sighed convulsively and recited the activation formula in full voice.

- Bzoom! - A blinding white discharge, branching and sprawling, burst from the copper claws of the “bird's paw”, struck the ground in front of the steppe vanguard, sweeping away three horsemen, sweeping them to smoking shreds along with their horses. The others tightened their reins, shouting fearfully. Behind the girl, Toad roared, and the ground shook with the dragoness' footsteps. Even without turning round, the young sorceress knew that Marius's pet was running into the attack, gathering speed. The nomadic formation broke, a hundred riders jumped to the sides, ducking into the manes of their horses. Only the bravest of them launched arrows at the dragon - ordinary arrows, not enchanted ones.

- Huh. Oh. Done, - Rose said to herself, dropping the empty amulet. Without any warning, a hot lump came to her throat, and she bent down in a fit of vomiting. She threw up on the steppe mage's corpse, but by an incredible effort of will she managed to wipe her lips with the edge of her glove before she began to fall. Rosa's last thought that day was almost joyful - she realised that she wasn't falling face down, and on clean grass. The impact with the ground finally knocked the girl unconscious.