“What kind of name is Svoz?” Ilior asked. “From Isle Juskara…?”
“Eh…not quite.” Jarabax bent at the waist and peered into the cavern. He cupped his bejeweled hands over his mouth. “Svoz? Come on out, my good fellow. Your new master has arrived.”
“Master?” Selena said, but then Svoz began to emerge from the hole in the cliff.
She felt him first; a low heat preceding him that she sensed—as she did the summer sun or a hearth fire—as a tingle against her own pervasive cold. Chains clanked and scraped. Selena sucked in a breath while Ilior hissed a curse in his own tongue and moved to stand before her.
Svoz came out blinking black-upon-black eyes; eyes as black as his pointed teeth and the row of horns over his hairless head; as black as the claws on his hands and feet. His red skin glistened as if he had just bathed his massive muscled body in blood. He wore a loincloth of the matted fur of some unknown creature and nothing else. A chain tethered to his ankle trailed back into the cave. He cleared the low ceiling of the cavern, yawned and stretched two wings that were red-veined and creaking. His black eyes found Selena and he smiled with a mouth full of onyx teeth.
“Ah. The godly little bitch. I’ve been expecting you.” He bowed his massive, horned head and laughed; a sound so low it seemed to originate from the ground.
“What is it?” Selena breathed.
“Sirra’k kah,” Ilior hissed, and drew his broadsword. “Demon…”
Selena turned to Jarabax, incredulous. “Skye left me this?”
“She did.” Jarabax was giddy. “Are you not pleased? Sirraks—shapeshifters in the common parlance—make powerful weapons. A true rarity. With Svoz at your side, none will dare double-cross you.”
“Shapeshifter?” Selena said.
“The pirate whoreson speaks true,” Svoz said. “I’m bound to serve you with the sole purpose of visiting unknowable pain on any putrid flesh sack who threatens you.” He cocked his huge head. “May I offer a small sample of the outrageous violence I shall wreak on your behalf? How about you, brother?” he asked Ilior. “I’d like a shade from that abominable sun. Might I hack off your remaining wing? It should do nicely and it’s obvious you no longer need it.”
Ilior swore in his own tongue that sounded like rocks scraping together. “Send it away. It’s dangerous. A cursed being.” He hefted his sword. “It should be put down…”
Svoz hissed and spread his wings so that he seemed to tower over Ilior, though they were of a height.
Selena stepped between them. “Stop, both of you. Why?” she asked Jarabax. “Why would Skye give me such a creature and consider it a gift?”
“I presume she felt you might need Svoz’s services in the trials to come.” Jarabax smiled his lazy, knowing smile. “Whatever those may be.”
Selena shook her head. “None of this makes sense. Skye consorting with pirates. And him…” She gestured at Svoz.
“War makes interesting bedfellows,” Jarabax mused. “It can make business partners out of Paladins and pirates alike. And the currency best exchanged in trying times such as war isn’t gold—though we pirates like that too.” His smile revealed more gold teeth than white. “Secrets. Information. Did you presume Skye achieved her victories during the war without relying on less than luminous allies?”
“Every pirate collective stayed out of the war…” Selena said, and guessed that was untrue before Jarabax laughed uproariously.
“Aye, we did not fight, that’s true enough,” he said when he caught his breath. “But ships from all over the Western Watch made port with us on their way to or from the fighting. We learned much that wasn’t meant for our ears, and Skye made great use of our treasure trove of secrets, I assure you.”
The pirate sighed, looking at Svoz with undisguised envy. Selena could imagine the reprehensible acts the sirrak would perpetrate at Jarabax’s command.
“And it shames me to admit,” he continued, “that despite her plundering my connections and I for whatever advantages she could find, when Skye left our humble isle ten years ago, I owed her a favor. A favor. Our second most valued coin.” Jarabax sighed again. “I hate that.”
“He speaks too much,” Svoz said to Selena. “Shall I rip his throat out?”
Jarabax recoiled and said quickly, “Skye called for that favor two years ago. She gave me Svoz to watch over—and feed— until such time as you came to claim him. Somehow she knew you would.” His smile was back. “And here you are.”
Selena shook her head. “How did Skye come to possess a sirrak?”
Jarabax shrugged. “Ask him.”
Svoz shook his head. “Alas, I am forbidden to speak of previous indentures…no matter how interesting they were.”
Selena felt Ilior’s hand on her arm. “May I speak with you a moment?” He drew her out of earshot; the crashing waves echoing in the cavern drowned his words.
“This is a bad idea. That…thing…is dangerous. An abomination. Sirrak’ah. Blood dragons, they are called among my people. They hatched from blacked eggs that fall from the Void.” He gripped her arm tighter. “They care for nothing but murder. Violent murder. They thirst for it. A creature like that is not fit to walk beside you.”
Selena bit her lip. “I understand. I feel…unclean for taking him—”
Ilior’s eyes widened. “You are considering it? Do not! I tell you, it is an obscene creature.”
“Yes, but powerful,” Selena said. “I’ve heard the stories. Sirraks are ferocious in battle and their ability to change appearances might prove valuable. Ilior, I will need all the help I can get to fight these Bazira.”
“I will help you,” Ilior said. “I will stand with you, always.”
Selena smiled. “I know you will, my friend. But I don’t know how strong these Bazira I face are going to be. Killing them…It will close my wound. That is everything. I can’t turn aside an advantage and I certainly can’t leave a sirrak to serve the pirates.”
Ilior appeared to be biting back words. “If you think it wise.”
“I don’t. Just as I don’t wish to take two lives in cold blood. But…I have to do my best.”
The Vai’Ensai nodded and they rejoined the others.
“Do you know what keeps them bound to a human?” Selena asked as they walked.
“Sirrak’ah,” Ilior muttered. “We call them blood dragons for a reason.”
Jarabax’s insouciant demeanor was fast eroding. Svoz stomped around the cavern as far as his chain would allow. The sirrak fanned his wings and made idle, yet intricately detailed and gruesome threats to the pirates. The violence in his words was a sharp contrast to the refined, imperious tone of his voice. The pirates had their cutlasses drawn and leveled.
“Do hurry,” the pirate told Selena. “Take control of your pet, or I will.”
Svoz ceased his pacing and approached Selena. Behind her, Ilior growled deep in his throat.
Selena’s mouth felt dry. “What do we do?”