A Long Dragon was missing.
This one had so many enemies it was hardly a surprise, but it was the only thing anyone was talking about. I milled between campfires, listening. "If it could happen to Raptor, it could happen to any of us," Gob soldiers said; “The men grow bold.”
I walked the shell paths to the Grands' quarters. In the second tent I recognized the fattest shadow a Phyrnosian ever cast, shuffling towards the shadow of a sling. It was Abtin, second Long of the Grand Dragon Eriphet.
"It's just a trade gone sour," he said. He slid into his sling, chewing on a dead Uquelycra. Abtin was always eating. His ass waxed large as the moons over Phyrnos.
A second shadow paced before him. If you were smart, you prayed that shadow never crossed yours in anger. Or at all. Eriphet was the most unpredictable of all the Dragons on Phyrnos. His shadow was the last thing too many Phyrnosians had ever seen.
His voice was low. “Longs do not disappear,” he said.
Abtin shrugged. “This one did.”
“Very cavalier, considering he was your counter-point, Abtin."
Raptor had been first Long. Abtin laughed. "Like I said, good riddance."
"Mm," Eriphet said.” He threw open the tent. “Dai Lumen!” he said. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Dai Lumen. That’s me. “At your service, my lord.”
He nodded, gesturing for me to enter.
Abtin gave me a waxy grin. "Your reputation precedes you," he said. He took a bite from the Uquelycra and then rooted through it, looking for its choicest guts. Veins and gristle winked between his long, yellowed teeth. "We were impressed with your work on Maiden," he said.
"Your stench preceded you as well," Eriphet observed.
I observed that, even in the rosy glow of the lamps, the skin of the Grand Dragon looked cold and white, as if he were ill or old. But his eyes burned hot.
"Where is your pride, Lumen? No Phyrnosian should wear such a stinking thing." he said. “That hat.”
My hat. I liked the way it hid my face. I liked the way its red silk tassels contrasted with its strange, silky black fur. It was a human’s hat and unlike anything on Phyrnos. I took it off and looked at it.
"It suits me," I said.
"Quixotism will be the death of you, as it was for Raptor."
"Raptor is dead? Who could kill Raptor? He was-"
"The skin-bags," he said, his breath hot and sharp in my face. "They are a sickness that shames us, Dai. A pestilence. And we become more weak and pathetic the longer we tolerate them. They've shown us they are no longer afraid. We must cut them back. Tomorrow we send a message. It’s why I’ve called you here. I want you with us, Dai."
I paused. I didn't know how to fight. But his stare could melt teeth. "You know the humans," he said. I felt a flutter of pleasure in spite of myself. “I need you.” He showed his teeth. “We’re moving out in the morning,” Eriphet said.
"To where?" I said.
"Maiden,” Eriphet said. He skittered his claw blades together. Sand Maiden was a city-ship located on the outer lip of the Oup-Hind system. Now and again Phyrnosians would get excited and talk about razing the place. No one had yet, for the simple reason that the skin bags had interesting things to trade. Their Evoks had given us the idea for Voks. They had quality zuu. Not that I was a sympathizer-just an opportunist. Maiden always had one opportunity or another.
My skin felt suddenly as if it were crawling backwards. “The outpost?” The words slipped out before I could choke them back. “But the treaties…”
“True Phyrnosians cannot fail,” he said. His smile slid away.
“I’m not a coward, if that’s what you mean. But I’m not a fool, either.”
“Then you will help me, Dai. I need your cunning, your understanding of humans.”
“And your understanding of Sand Maiden,” Abtin said.
“That was a long time ago,” I said.
“Have you maintained contact?” Eriphet said. His yellow eyes were flat and cold.
“Those men are all dead."
“There would, of course, be compensation for this kind of knowledge.”
“Compensation?” I said. I took a seat.
“Amazing how it refreshes the mind, compensation.”
My eyes slipped to the small bag hanging from his belt. “How about a little of that?” I said, knowing well enough what he carried in there. Practically all of Phayara knew Eriphet was heavy into the zuu. “And since we don’t yet know each other, I’ll clarify. When I say a little, I mean a lot. I mean all of it.”
“They told me you were bold, Finder,” Eriphet said, showing his teeth again. He went to Abtin and sat beside him, arranging his pale limbs into the sling with sinister grace.
Abtin smiled thickly. “My kind of lizard.”
“Join us, brother,” Eriphet said. “Tell us what you know.”
“Show me the zuulite first,” I said.
Eriphet leaned forward and handed me the pouch, letting it drop heavily into my palm so that I felt the lovely heft of the vials inside. They made a delightful sound, too. Compensation always does. I dumped them out and admired the way they caught the lamp light.
“Those could make someone very happy,” Abtin said.
“Or very rich,” I said. Zuulite is processed Gemicene, a mineral we mine from deep space to use as an energy source here on Phyrnos. If you eat a few drops of it, you feel like a king. A few drops more, and you feel like a god. The downside is that Zuulite eventually makes you insane. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. I figured I could try it once without problems. Life is short and death is long.
“Names,” Eriphet said.
“I’d start with Patrick Gault,” I said. “They call him ‘Peregrine’. He knows everyone on Maiden. If it was men that killed your Long, he’ll know about it.”
“Where do we find this Patrick ‘Peregrine’?”
“I’ll have to show you. It’s difficult to explain,” I said.
“Very well. But no Peregrine, no Zuulite.” He cocked his head. “Plus, you die,” he said.
“Hardly a bargain. Suppose he isn’t there?”
An oily grin floated across Abtin’s face like a stain. “We need more than one contact, of course”
“Of course.”
I gazed at the vials. The liquid in each was different. One lolled about invitingly. The second was a rippling, shiftless matrix. The third was dark as sap.
Each one was an ingestible jewel. I had begun to wonder how it would feel to be jewel-minded, and that was my first mistake. Rule one: to be free, you must desire nothing.
“Names,” Eriphet said.
I rattled off names as I looked into the third vial. “Harry Darby, Grant Ramsey, Vince the Knife. Soledad Toro, Julee Gazer…” each belonged to an alien face; an alien mind who had been kind to me on Maiden.
But if any of them were on Maiden tomorrow, Eriphet would do what Eriphet does. They would all die, no matter what I said here tonight. Eriphet and Abtin listened intently, memorizing my every word. If we could find even just one of my old friends tomorrow, chances are he or she would know something about Raptor’s disappearance.
“Well done,” Eriphet said. “I believe this calls for a celebration, don’t you?” He snatched the third vial from my claws. “I haven’t dropped zuu since I was stationed in the Nichee," he said. "But just this once. To celebrate.”
"You have lost your first Long, after all," Abtin said, smugly.
“And I have gained an advisor,” Eriphet said.
"Tomorrow,” I said, “we will build a tower to Phado from men’s bones.” Rule two: cloak of the hog. Pretend to be as greedy as those around you. He laughed and we shook claws, our blades scraping. Then we returned our attention to the zuu, which deserved it. The vial itself was as beautiful as the liquid it contained. Eriphet tugged out its stopper, revealing a delicate wand. With practiced flow, he raised the wand over his open mouth. I counted his drops. One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
It was a heavy dose.
“You’ve risen in my estimation, lord!”
For as pale as he was, the white Valkyrie had the darkest tongue I’d ever seen. It made a strange parallel to his yellow eyes and white scales, as if he’d drunk up the night. He glinted at me.
“Have some,” he said.
"Why not?"
"Here's to Phado. Down the neck," Eriphet said. His dose had made him cheerful.
Abtin sighed. " Bon voyage, then," he said. "I shall see you in the morning, my good lizards.” He slumped from the tent, bobbing hugely.
Eriphet stretched his long legs out and let his head fall back. He exhaled. The sound was sharp as a blade. Half-lidded he said, “Go on, Dai. Take some. Join me.” He didn’t bother to lift his head, and his neck lay carelessly exposed. I suppose he doesn’t think me a threat; as a general rule. Who would assassinate the Grand Dragon, just to eventually be assassinated himself?
But I let myself gaze for a moment at the phosphorescent skin of that esteemed throat, dreaming about it anyway. He was the son of a Grand Dragon turned rogue, and of many Grands before him. His was an unbroken line of power which stretched back almost to the founding of Phayara Khado; his flesh was almost pure power.
I looked at the vials. “What’s the difference between them?” I said.
He smiled. “That would be telling."
The second one rippled up at me, endlessly rolling over itself within its container. Practically begging to give me a ride.
“Eat it, Lumen,” he said. I pulled the stopper, unsheathed the wand. I held it to the lamp and admired the dancing beads of fluid. They moved wildly on the dropper-stem, like live things dancing.
“Happy to see me?” I said.
“Very happy,” it said. I took a deep breath and tipped my head back. I held the dropper just above my tongue: let the beads fall. Instantly the walls of my interior began to slide down over themselves. I felt my consciousness melt and reform. Air rushed over my skin. I was heading somewhere. Hurriedly I crammed the vial closed, tucked it into my pouch. I took special care to tie it tight.
“Mercy!” The walls of the tent began to stretch away. The room yawned wide. “It’s endless! I never knew!”
“Ssh,” Eriphet said, grinning. He went to the door languidly, as if he swam through heavy syrup. He closed the double liner of the tent. “You don’t have to name it. Just let it be. Don’t name it. Naming it makes it smaller.”
“Of course!” I said.
He laughed, pressed his claws to my face, trying to quiet me. “The dragons are sleeping.”
I could feel them sleeping. I could feel them all around us, an electric circle. Suddenly everything had become electric; a fine electric mist that rolled up and down my body and within it there were currents—
“Is it always like this?” My voice echoed and scattered. It broke apart like rain and then sank into the sand, crawling away to the four corners of Phyrnos.
“It changes you the first time,” Eriphet said. We were crouched together on folded skins. “You’ll never be the same again. But when the zuu meets you again, it will be an old friend. Not such a surprise. Wait, what are you doing?”
“I want more,” I said. The vial broke apart in my hand. Eriphet was silent, watching me, smiling faintly. The zuu ran down my hand wetly and began to absorb.
“What will happen?” I giggled. But before Eriphet could answer… he was gone.
A brilliance had shattered the top of the tent. I was alone in a pool of light. It moved through me, through my insides. I rose into the air.
I became the air. I became the emptiness, the light and the fullness all at once. Then with a crack that stretched my bones, I fell onto packed, sunslit dirt. Colors sharpened around me; then sounds, shouts. I knew where I was. I’d recognize the place anywhere. I was in the famous crossroads of Phayara, inside the greatest marketplace of Phyrnos. But why was the crowd so still?
A pair of silver claws stood before me. I looked up.
She looked down. Her face was ravenous and beautiful. It couldn’t be, yet it was. The goddess herself. The goddess Phado. Our creator.
“Welcome, Dai,” she said. She bent, bringing her long, sculpted face close to mine. “You’re early.”
“So are you,” I said hoarsely, and she laughed, helping me up.
“Perhaps.” She turned to the crowd, my claws held tightly in hers. “I offer you Dai Lumen, the noble hand of Eriphet, Grand Dragon of Phyrnos.”
The marketplace screamed with delight. “Take your bow, Dai,” she said. Then she dropped my hand and stepped forward.
“My children, you have done well. You have made Phyrnos beautiful. And look at you! Look at you and you...” She danced between them, touching the faces of hatchlings. Their eyes filled with awe of her. They fell forwards into her arms as if they’d forgotten how to stand. She laughed, setting them back on their feet. “Oh, my people, we will do great things together. I have watched each of you, loved each of you, from the moment you uncurled in your eggs. I love you. I know your thoughts. Your dreams. Everything that you can and will be.
And I know this is our time. This is our hour.” She smiled widely, holding her arms out. She closed her eyes. “I have returned. Power and Prosperity to Phyrnos!”
Let me tell you, this was some zuu.
“Power and Prosperity to Phyrnos!” The chant rang out over the hard-packed sand, between the lifters; against he temple walls.
“I will consume the weak and celebrate what is strong! I will ascend again, my reign to last a thousand years, black and brilliant above Phyrnos, which I love best of all my creation!”
The marketplace went wild. Gilahawks beat their wings and the Uquelycra kept in cages burst into the street. “Over time, my followers. We will lay the egg of the next thing which is to come.” Phado’s eyes gleamed as the roar of the crowd washed over her.
“Who will pay me my first tribute?” She looked to me, her eyes wild and beautiful as the dawn. “Will it be you, Dai Lumen?”
The voice that answered was not my own. “I am yours, Goddess.” Feet walked toward her which were not my own—but they were carrying me just the same, carrying me towards certain death! My soul screamed, my eyes tried to tear away—but she only smiled, demonically lovely, her claws open as she waited for me. “Dai Lumen. Oh my. You are a handsome thing. Come forward, beautiful Dai.” She circled me, her tail stroking my legs deliciously.
She ran her claw along my skin and then brought her hand to her mouth, smiling as she tasted me. Something reached from her to me, moving invisibly through the air, and my skin felt as if it would shake free of my insides. I trembled, fell forwards. She caught me.
“Easy, Dai,” she murmured. “So brave.” My legs gave out as she went on devouring my strength. The edges of my consciousness blurred, began to bleed. I could not even scream.
“Shall I keep going?” she said. It was not a question. It was never a question.
My face spoke. “I am yours, Goddess.” My body fell emptied to the ground and I rose from it, lithe and borderless. Then I was standing in the air, looking down. Phado stood beside me, above her own body as it went on walking about the ground, among her people. She smiled.
“What’s happened?” I said. “Are we…?”
Her smile was gentle, so terrifying gentle. “My child, you’ve come to me too soon. You are not ready.”
I covered my face. “What’s happened to me?”
“Do you want to go back?”
“Yes, Goddess. Please. Give me another chance.”
She touched my face gently. “We shall meet again, Dai Lumen. Close your eyes.“