The Last Dragon Chronicles: The Fire Ascending by Chris D'Lacey Page B

if it’s yours or Tryst’s   .
    I looked up. Tryst had bared his fangs.
    “I need to pee,” said the man on the ground. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.”
    “Hold it in,” the other said, tightening his rein. “There’s something hiding in the trees.”
    Egil turned his bearded face towardsus. “Katts? So what? Let them look. Theyain’t gonna test the sibyl’s curse, arethey?”
    Curse?
    Agawin, you must remain steady   , said
    the Fain.
    “This is probably one, right here,” said
    Egil. He jumped, two-footed, onto a stone

and aimed a stream of urine at it.
    The first drops had barely splattered therocks when the branch above me twangedand Tryst broke cover. Mercifully, Egilknew nothing of his fate – perhaps adeserved flash of pain as the skogkatt’sjaws closed round his hand (the oneaiming the pee) and the formidable teethbit through whatever flesh they could find. By then, the other man had pulled a knifeand whipped it with venom towards thekatt. It struck Tryst cleanly in the middleof the ribs, but bounced off with abooming clang. It clattered down thehillside and came to rest not far from myhiding place. Egil’s horse bolted. Theknife thrower cursed. I looked on in
    horror. Egil, and the katt who had ended

    his life, had both turned to stone.
    You must be decisive now   , said the
    Fain.
    I could have shot an arrow through theknife thrower’s heart as he slipped off hishorse to investigate. I could have avenged Tryst there and then. But I was not a killer. There was a better way, I thought. Istepped out of the trees while his backwas turned. “Move, and you’re next.”
    His body froze.
    “There are five more katts in the trees
    and I can easily put an arrow through the back of your head.”
    “The boy,” he said, as if he wanted to congratulate his powers of intuition. His shoulders relaxed. I allowed him to turn.
    “Where’s Grella?”

    He saw the glint of the arrowhead, thesweat in my fingers. His tongue sweptnervously across his lips. “Whatever youplan to do you should do it soon, boy. Voss isn’t far away. He’ll crush you like afly if he sees you’re armed.”
    “Grella,” I repeated.
    “Bound,” he said, grinning.
    I aimed for the triangle of flesh belowhis chin.
    “Unhurt,” he added, raising his hands. “The girl’s an irritation. Never stops talking.”
    “Take me to her.”
    “And what good would that do yer?” He looked up at Kasgerden’s peak and laughed. “You and your katt band won’t be jumping Voss. Even the dragon’s

    scared of coming down for him.”
    He took a step forward.
    I sucked in through my teeth, making sure he heard the bowstring stretch.
    The hands came up again. He smiled, thinly. “Those things are dangerous, boy. It’s not the wound they make, it’s the infection they cause. Ever watched a man rot from an arrow wound? Trust me, it ain’t pleasant. Put the bow down, eh?”
    I aimed between his eyes.
    He wisely stood back. “All right. I’ll do a deal with yer. What’s your name, kid?”
    Do not tell him , said the Fain.
    “I’m Eirik,” said the man, putting hishands on his chest.
    “Hands by your side,” I growled.

    “All right,” he tutted. “No need to get twitchy.” He put his hands out and showed me his palms. They were rough and dirty. A killer’s hands. “Between you and me, I don’t like Voss. The way he lords it over hard-working men like us. What’s that about? What gives him the right? He was nothing before he broke the unicorn.”
    “How did that happen?”
    “A pact with the sibyl.”
    So they   were   together.
    “Some sort of sorcery. In exchange for a kid.”
    “Kid?”
    “Hilde wanted a   child ,” he said. “The
    details… ” he shrugged, “… escape me.
    Look—”
    He put a foot forward. I drew my fist

    back until the feathers of the arrow were
    scraping my cheek. “One more step and you’re dead!”
    “All right. Sheesh. Just hear me