The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(58)
“Dinnay be silly,” said Nell. “We had to help Charlie, and now we have to find Swarn and Eliza.”
“And you’re sure they’re together?”
“No,” Nell admitted, “but I spec they will be.”
“And how are we going to help when we find them? Seems to me that you and I will just be in the way. You should be with your parents, aye. This is nay our fight.”
“Of course it’s our fight!” protested Nell. “This is everyone’s fight. What will become of the worlds if Nia is nay stopped? It will be chaos, aye, and nobody will be able to stop Tian Xia worlders from crossing over. Humans will be like slaves again.”
“Aye, sure it’s important,” said Ander calmly. “But what can we do here? We should be taking care of our families in Di Shang, Nell, that’s where we belong.”
Nell stared angrily at the fire. She knew he was right. Now that Charlie was better and Jalo was involved, she and Ander were not going to be of much use to anybody. But she couldn’t bear to go home to make decorations and cakes for Winter Festival, all the while wondering if the dragon was still alive, if they had found Swarn, if Eliza was with her and safe. She knew herself to be powerless, but all the same she could not allow herself to be relegated to the sidelines yet again. She was involved this time and she would stay that way. Ander looked at Nell, her eyes bright with tears, jaw clenched, and he sighed.
“We’ll stay with them until we find your friend,” he said. “Just so you can see she’s OK. Then we go back. We dinnay belong in this world.” With that he lay down on his side and went to sleep. Relieved, Nell turned her attention to the conversation between Jalo and the witch.
“What are they saying?” she whispered to Charlie.
“Swarn is still alive,” Charlie said. “Heilwig saw her two days ago, aye. Swarn is trying to get witches to join with her to fight Nia but none are willing.”
“Why are they nay willing?” asked Nell, appalled.
“Witches are pretty solitary. They stay neutral in most disputes,” said Charlie. “From their perspective, pitting themselves against Nia is just a form of suicide. Swarn is nay likely to find many in Tian Xia willing to join this fight.”
“Is Heilwig going to come and help the dragon?”
“She’s nay coming with us,” said Charlie. “But she’ll make a potion. She needs one night to gather and prepare the ingredients. Right now they’re negotiating payment. Jalo was offering Faery treasure, but she wants Magic, aye. Some kind of Illusion.”
“Tell them the dragon is nay just hurt, he’s on fire – it’s a magic fire, I spec – green, and he had little burning bits all over him,” said Nell.
Charlie interrupted the witch and the Faery to tell them this. It seemed to perturb Heilwig quite a bit. She muttered to herself, scratching at her head and wriggling in a strange way before resuming conversation with the Faery.
Nell wasn’t aware of having fallen asleep, but she woke in the morning to find Charlie and Ander also sleeping on the floor of the cave. The Faery Jalo was watching the witch grind something to powder with a pestle and mortar, chanting in a low sing-song as she did so. Her singing voice was surprisingly lovely, altogether unlike the gravelly rattle of her speech. Nell sat up and watched, fascinated, as the witch took a little black kettle from over the fire and poured a liquid bright as quicksilver into the bowl of powder. She poured it in slow circles, singing, and stirred the mixture into a gleaming paste. She drew a circle with her finger on the stone floor, placed the bowl in the centre of it, then clapped her hands over it three times, making sharp, guttural exclamations with each clap. The paste began to steam. She drew the steam up with her hands and began to shape it. The paste was dissolving fast, becoming a silky white smoke that obeyed the movement of her fingers and the direction of her breath. She spoke to it as she shaped it and Nell saw that it was taking the shape of a dragon. Soon the smoke dragon was fully formed and spread its wings out. The witch threw back her head and began to bay like a hound, waking Ander and Charlie, who watched open-mouthed as she performed the rest of the spell. The Faery calmly handed the witch a jeweled gourd he’d had at his side. She took it and held it up to the dragon, speaking a command. The dragon disintegrated into elegant white threads that poured into the gourd. Heilwig stopped it up and handed it to the Faery. She spoke to him at length and he nodded, listening carefully.
“We need some of the dragon’s blood and fire for this to work,” Charlie translated quietly to Nell. “We add it to the mix, say a spell, then we treat his wounds with the potion.”
Nell touched Heilwig on the arm and said, “Thank you.”
The witch looked at her like she was an unpleasant insect and did not reply.
Chapter
14
Alvar, Lord of the Faery Guard and Second Advisor to His Majesty, Malferio, the King of the Faeries, wandered through a fragrant garden, enchanted by the colourful songbirds his daughter’s mother-in law, Tariro, had sent as a gift. Tariro’s eldest son, Cadeyrn, was a gifted lad, quick with his sword and his wits alike. Alvar had approved of the match for his daughter. Indeed, he could not have hoped for better. His daughter was not a great beauty, nor was she particularly talented or clever. All she had was her rank and she was lucky it had been enough for the likes of Cadeyrn or, more accurately, for Cadeyrn’s mother. Tariro herself was not nobly born, but nobody remembered that these days.