“Will she recover?”
Something flickered in his eyes. He rested his arms on the balustrade and gazed out at the pine trees.
“There may be one way to heal her,” he murmured. “In the South there is an orange tree, guarded by wyrm-slayers. Its fruit can offset the effects of poison.”
“Wyrm-slayers.” Tané misliked this revelation. “And is this Eadaz uq-Nāra a wyrm-slayer, too?”
“Yes.”
Tané tensed. “I am aware,” she said, “that over the Abyss, you consider our dragons to be evil. That you consider them as cruel and frightening as the Nameless One.”
“It is true that there have been … misunderstandings, but I am quite sure Ead has never harmed one of your Eastern dragons.” He turned to look at her. “I need your help, Lady Tané. To carry out my task.”
“And what is that?”
“Several weeks ago, Ead found a letter from an Eastern woman named Neporo, who once wielded your jewel.”
Neporo again. Her name was all over the world, haunting Tané like a faceless ghost.
“Do you know that name?” Loth said, studying her.
“Yes. What did the letter say?”
“That the Nameless One would return a thousand years after he was bound in the Abyss with the two jewels. He was bound on the third day of spring, in the twentieth year of the reign of Empress Mokwo of Seiiki.”
Tané calculated. “This spring.” Beside her, Thim cursed under his breath.
“Queen Sabran wishes us to meet him when he rises. We cannot destroy him, not without the sword Ascalon—but we can bind him anew with the jewels.” Loth paused. “We do not have much time. I know I have little evidence of what I claim, and that you may not believe me. But will you trust me?”
His gaze was open and sincere.
Making the decision was easy, in the end. She had no choice but to reunite the jewels.
“The great Nayimathun says we should not tell anyone else about the jewels, for fear others might seek to take them,” she said. “When we meet His Imperial Majesty tomorrow, you will put your queen’s proposal to him. If he agrees to the alliance … I will ask if I can fly to Inys with Nayimathun to inform your queen of his decision. On our way there, we will go South. I will find the healing fruit, and we will take it to Eadaz uq-Nāra.”
Loth smiled then, and his breath came out in a fur of white. “Thank you, Tané.”
“I do not like keeping this from His Imperial Majesty,” Thim muttered. “He is the chosen representative of the Imperial Dragon. Does the great Nayimathun not trust him?”
“It is not for us to question gods.”
His mouth became a thin line, but he nodded.
“Be sure to make a persuasive case to the honored Unceasing Emperor, Lord Arteloth Beck,” Tané said to Loth. “Leave the rest to me.”
First light spilled like oil over the palace. Loth considered his reflection. Instead of his breeches and a doublet, he now wore a blue tunic and flat boots in the style of the Lacustrine court. He had already been examined by a physician, who had found no evidence of the plague.
The plan Tané had proposed might just work. If she had mage blood, like Ead, then she might be able to retrieve an orange. The thought nerved him for the meeting ahead.
The dragon, Nayimathun, was nothing like Fyredel, except in her great size. Terrifying as she appeared, with her mountain-tops of teeth and firework eyes, she seemed almost gentle. She had cradled Tané with her tail like a mother. She had saved Thim. Seeing that the creature was capable of compassion toward a human made Loth doubt his religion all over again. This year was either a test from the Saint, or he was on the verge of apostasy.
A servant soon came to take him to the Hall of the Fallen Star, where the Unceasing Emperor would receive his unexpected visitors. The others were already outside. Thim was dressed almost the same as Loth, while Tané had been given another fur-lined surcoat that struck Loth as a mark of status. Dragonriders must be held in very high regard.
“Remember,” she said to him, “say nothing of the jewel.”
She touched the case at her side. Loth looked up at the hall and took a deep breath.
Armed guards led them through a set of studded blue doors, which were flanked by statues of dragons. More guards stood on either side of the track of dark wood, polished to a high shine, that would lead them to the middle of the hall. Loth gazed up at pillars of midnight stone.
A latticed ceiling soared above, the panels arranged around a carving of a dragon. Each panel showed a phase of the moon. Lanterns hung one under the other, so they looked like ever-falling stars.
Dranghien Lakseng, the Unceasing Emperor of the Twelve Lakes, sat on a raised throne of what looked like moulded silver. He cut an arresting figure. Black hair, bound in a knot at the crown of his head, ornamented with pearls and silver-leaf flowers. Eyes like shards of onyx. Thick brows. Lips as sharply cut as his cheekbones, set in an arch smile. His robe was black, embroidered all over with stars, so it seemed as if he wore the night. He was no more than thirty.
Tané and Thim both knelt. Loth did the same.
“Rise,” said a clear, smooth voice.
They rose.
“I hardly know which of you to address first,” the Unceasing Emperor remarked, after several moments had passed in silence. “A woman of Seiiki, a man of the West, and one of my own subjects. A fascinating combination. I suppose we must make do with Inysh, since I am told, Lord Arteloth, that you do not speak anything else. Fortunately, I challenged myself, as a boy, to learn a language from each of the four parts of the world.”
Loth cleared his throat.
“Your Imperial Majesty,” he said. “You speak the Inysh language very well.”
“There really is no need for flattery. I receive more than enough of that from my Grand Secretariat.” The Unceasing Emperor gave them an arch smile. “You are the first Inysh man to set foot in the Empire of the Twelve Lakes in centuries. My officials tell me that you come with a message from Queen Sabran of Inys, yet you arrived on dragonback, looking rather more disheveled than official ambassadors generally do.”
“Ah, yes. I apologize for—”
“If this one who stands beneath your throne may speak, Your Majesty,” Thim chimed in. The Unceasing Emperor inclined his head. “I am a privateer in the employ of Queen Sabran.”
“A Lacustrine seafarer in the employ of the Inysh queen. This is indeed a day of surprises.”
Thim swallowed.
“We were stranded by a storm on Feather Island, where my captain and crewmates are still marooned,” he continued. “Our ship was captured by the noble rider of Seiiki, who chased the Pursuit eastward. We freed Nayimathun, the exalted dragon, and she carried us to you.”
“Ah,” the Unceasing Emperor murmured. “Tell me, Lady Tané, did you find the so-called Golden Empress?”
“Yes, Majesty,” Tané said, “but I left her alive. My purpose was to free my esteemed friend, the shining Nayimathun of the Deep Snows.”
“Majesty.” Thim went to his knees again. “This humble one pleads with you to send the Lacustrine navy to assist Captain Harlowe, and to retrieve his warship, the Rose—”
“We will speak of your crew later,” the Unceasing Emperor said, with a wave of one hand. A broad ring encircled his thumb. “For now, I will hear the message from Queen Sabran.”
Skin prickling, Loth drew in a deep breath through his nose. His words would dictate what happened next.
“Your Imperial Majesty,” he began, “the Nameless One, our mutual enemy, will soon return.”
No reply.
“Queen Sabran has evidence of it. A letter from one Neporo of Komoridu. He was bound with the celestial jewels, which I believe are known to the dragons of the East. The binding will end a thousand years after it was made, on the third day of the coming spring.”
“Neporo of Komoridu is a figure of myth,” the Unceasing Emperor stated. “Do you mean to mock me?”
“No.” Loth dipped his head. “It is the truth, Majesty.”
“Do you have this letter?”
“No.”
“So I am to trust your word that it exists.” The corner of his mouth gave a humorless twitch. “Very well. If the Nameless One is coming, what do you want from me?”
“Queen Sabran wishes us to face the beast on the Abyss on the day he rises,” Loth said, trying not to rush his words. “If we are to do this, we will need help, and to set aside centuries of fear and suspicion. If Your Imperial Majesty will consent to intercede with the dragons of the Empire of the Twelve Lakes on her behalf, Queen Sabran offers a formal alliance between Virtudom and the East. She begs you to look to what is best for the world, for the Nameless One seeks to destroy us all.”
The Unceasing Emperor was silent for a very long time. Loth tried to keep his expression clear, but there was sweat under his collar.