Chapter 21

Katrin had known this moment was coming, and she’d vowed to herself that she wouldn’t get angry. Instead she felt fear.

“There’s no other way?” she asked quietly. Corec had pulled her aside after he’d returned from touring the refugee shelters with Treya and Ellerie. They were late getting back. Apparently they’d been up to more than just looking at shelters.

“I was hoping there’d be help coming from Larso or Matagor, but there’s nothing. Maybe we could talk to Yelena or Varsin Senshall, and ask them to convince Duke Voss to convince the king, but by the time help arrives from Tyrsall, more people will die. And if there are hatchlings ... it might be too late to stop them. Besides, unless Yelena and her bondmates come here themselves, I doubt Tyrsall’s forces are prepared to fight a dragon. We’re already here, and we can help.”

Katrin nodded. “When do we leave?”

“Not you.” Corec’s tone was firm.

“What?”

“Katrin, think about it. What can you do against a dragon? Bardic magic doesn’t work on animals, does it?”

“No, but—”

“And you promised that if it was too dangerous to come with us, you’d stay somewhere safe.”

“I said I’d consider it!” Katrin hissed.

“Then consider it now. What would you do if the dragon attacked?”

Katrin turned away. The worst thing was, he was right. She was worried about Corec and her friends, but she was also frightened for herself. She had no way to defend herself from anything like a dragon. She’d thought she’d come to terms with not always being able to help out, but this was a new low.

Corec gave her a moment, then spoke again. “I need someone to stay here in Four Roads. Leena can go back and forth, but if you’re here, you can keep up with news of any dragon sightings, and you can buy supplies if we need anything. Besides, someone has to watch over Harri and Ditte. If we leave them by themselves while the dragon’s still out there, I’m worried they’ll run again.”

Katrin nodded. The job was little more than a sop to her pride, but it was better than nothing. She wasn’t completely useless.

“Fine,” she said, “but you’ll need Shavala.” Of all of them, the elven woman was the most capable of dealing with large threats. “You said she’d find us here.”

“She’s on her way, I think. At least, she’s almost directly south of us. I’ll ask Leena to check on her if we don’t see her soon.”

While they’d been speaking, Ellerie had been in a whispered conversation with Boktar. Treya had taken Harri and Ditte to Mama Wenna’s house.

The rest of the group had gathered close by. Corec took Katrin by the hand and joined them.

“Ellerie, Treya, and I are going after the dragon,” he announced. “It’s getting closer to Four Roads, and even if it’s not likely to attack the town itself, that won’t matter if it takes over all the outlying areas. These folks can’t cope on their own, and Larso and Matagor have both refused to do anything. There are only a few knights in town, and that’s just not enough. We’re hiring mercenaries, but we’re going with them.”

No one looked surprised.

“You’ll need more than just the three of you,” Sarette said.

Corec nodded. “If anyone else wants to come, we’d welcome your help. Or you can stay here in Four Roads with Katrin. She’s going to make any arrangements that we need on this end, and watch over Harri and Ditte. Leena, I’m hoping you’ll stay here, but check in with us once each day to see if we have any messages or need any supplies.”

The Sanvari woman glanced at Ellerie, who gave her a weak smile and a nod.

“I will,” Leena said.

“How do we fight a dragon?” Boktar asked. “The last time one came to Stone Home, I was too young to pay any attention.”

“Siege weapons and magic,” Bobo said. When everyone looked his way, he shrugged. “According to the stories I’ve read.”

Corec said, “The Knights of Pallisur train to fight them without magic, but it’s dangerous. That’s why I want to help. I don’t think there are any wizards in Four Roads, or any other mages besides a few priests. We’re the only choice.”

“What sort of siege weapons?” Boktar said. “The figurines from Tir Yadar?”

“To start with, but mostly to use them as models to build new ones. The knights and I will train the armsmen on how to use them.”

“Who’s in charge? You or the knights?”

“We’re paying, so we’re in charge,” Corec said. “The squadron commander, Kevik, is an old friend, but if there are any knights who won’t work with mages, we’ll leave them behind. We’ll have to make sure we have enough crews to man all the siege weapons whether the knights are with us or not.”

“Can we really do it?” Sarette asked.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t think we could do it safely. Back when I was in training at Fort Hightower, they made us read a dozen accounts of the knights defeating dragons. If it can be done without magic, then we can do it more easily with magic. To start with, a dragon is most dangerous when it’s flying ... but how well can a dragon fly in heavy storm winds?”

A grin slowly grew on Sarette’s face.

Corec and his friends took over an abandoned wheelwright’s shop and its accompanying wagon yard for their recruitment efforts. While Boktar and Ariadne waited inside the shop to see if any volunteers would show up, Corec took his two guests around the back to show them the catapult and the cart-mounted ballista.

“This is what we need,” he said to Marl the bowyer. “We’ve just got this one ballista and three catapults. I’d like another catapult if possible, but I need at least six more ballistae first.”

The tall, skinny man leaned in close to the weapon and adjusted his spectacles. “I’ve seen drawings, but I’ve never built something this big before, or this complicated. It doesn’t look much like a crossbow. The limbs don’t have to be flexible?”

“No,” Kevik said. “The power comes from the rope coil.”

“We do need them mounted on a cart like this one, though,” Corec said. “On a pivot, so we can adjust the angle, both up and down and to the sides. And they’ve got to be sturdy enough that they won’t rattle apart on the road. How many do you think you can get done in a week?”

“A week!” Marl protested. “It’ll take me a week just to figure it out!”

“Hire anyone you need. Smiths, woodworkers, cartwrights, other bow-makers.”

“It’s not just the number of men. This is complicated work. I don’t think anyone in town can make a ratcheting mechanism this large in a week. I’ve made small ones for crossbows, but for something like this, you have to buy it from an expert. Not a country blacksmith.”

“If you need something from Tyrsall, tell us what it is and we can get it here the next day,” Corec said. “Just try to keep it under fifty pounds—we’ll have to send a mage for it, and she can only take what she can carry.”

Both men just stared at him.

“I ... uhh, I see,” Marl finally said. “It’s still a lot of work to get done in a week.”

“We’ll help,” Corec said, indicating Kevik and himself. “We’re not siege engineers, but we know how to assemble the pieces.”

Marl nodded. “I can’t promise it’ll be done as fast as you want, but I’ll do what I can. I’ll go hire some men, and bring them back here to look over what we’re doing.”

“If you’ve got any heavy crossbows lying around, I’d like those as well. Up to twenty.”

Crossbows probably wouldn’t do much good against a dragon, but Corec had a huge stack of crossbow bolts with fortisteel tips from Tir Yadar. They might come in handy. Could Ellerie create fortisteel tips for the ballista bolts? He’d have to remember to ask her.

“I’ve got ten or twelve, I think,” the bowyer said.

“I’ll take them. Don’t build any new ones, though—if you’ve got spare time, I’d rather have more ballistae.”

After Marl had left, Kevik closed in on Corec. “You just happened to have siege equipment with you, even though you only got into town two days ago? How did you transport the catapults?”

“Magic.”

Kevik raised his eyebrows. “Like the mage who can go to Tyrsall and back in a day?”

“No, different magic.” Corec peered up and down the street. No one was nearby, so he tapped the pattern Ariadne had taught him onto the side of the catapult, and it quickly shrank back down to its miniature size.

Kevik jerked back. “Bloody hell, Corec! You can do that?”

“We found them in an old abandoned city in Cordaea,” Corec said. He picked up the toy-sized catapult and handed it to the knight. “Be careful with it. If you break it, we can’t fix it.”

Kevik shook his head and handed it back, apparently squeamish about touching an enchanted object. Corec returned it to its original spot and repeated the tapping pattern in reverse. The catapult grew to normal size once again.

“As long as we’re talking about equipment, what did you and your men bring?” he asked.

“Nothing useful for hunting dragons,” Kevik said. “Just our standard gear—lances, swords and shields, maces and hammers, crossbows.”

“Come with me,” Corec said, and led his friend to the back of the shop. There was a shed attached to the building, and one of the group’s wagons was there. Nedley was busy bundling up weapons and armor to carry inside.

“Ned, this is Sir Kevik, one of the knights I told you about. Kev, this is Nedley, one of our armsmen. He’s been with us for a year now.”

“Hello, sir!” Nedley said, trying to bow and almost dropping the pile of swords in his arms.

Kevik grinned and greeted him in return.

“Nedley, let him see one of those arming swords,” Corec said, peering over the side of the wagon and shuffling pieces of armor around to find what he was searching for.

Nedley held his bundle out and Kevik pulled a sword from the top.

“What’s this metal?” Kevik asked, looking over the blade.

“It’s called fortisteel. It should be stronger than your own sword, and hold its edge better. We’ve got longswords, too, if you ever decide to give up your shield.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because of this,” Corec said as he found what he was looking for. He lifted out the cuirass to the largest set of full plate armor he’d found in Tir Yadar.

Kevik was a big man—taller than Corec and broader across the shoulders—and the only suits of plate left in Tir Yadar had been very large and very small, as if the more common sizes had been carried away already. Corec had kept a few of each.

“Silversteel plate,” he continued, digging out the greaves. “Half the weight of steel, and much stronger. It probably won’t stop a dragon, but against anything else, it works great.” He found the vambraces next, and then the helmet.

“Where did you get all this?” Kevik asked. He’d set the sword to the side and was holding up the breastplate. Kevik was wearing brigandine—better fitting than what he’d worn as a trainee, but nowhere near as effective as a suit of plate. Knights had to buy their own equipment, and it could take years to save up enough for good armor.

“From that same abandoned city in Cordaea,” Corec said. “We sold half of it, but I kept enough to make sure we’d be able to outfit some armsmen. I don’t have a full set of plate that’ll fit Trentin, but we’ve got plenty of mail and cuirasses for him to pick from.”

“What’s it all for? Are you working for that elven woman?”

“I worked for Ellerie for a while—that’s how we ended up in Cordaea—but we’re just traveling together now. I wanted to come back to Four Roads because I live here sometimes, but then the dragon showed up.”

Kevik shook his head. “Someday you’ll have to tell me the whole story.”

“Someday,” Corec promised. “But for now, have you spoken to your men yet?”

“I told them we’re going after the dragon, and that we’ll have to work with mages and mercenaries because there aren’t enough of us. They want to wait until the knights get here instead. They know I haven’t gotten a response back yet to my messages, but I didn’t tell them that the king turned down the mayor’s request. I may not be able to convince them to go.”

“We’ll have to make do with what we’ve got. I hope you can come with me, but if not, let’s at least get the men trained. If we manage to find any.”