The Return of the Dragonhawk

Chapter 28 -- Soldiers of Darkness and Light

Icy water shocked Rhoz into consciousness. She floundered in the waves, remembering nothing of her fall. All she knew was bitter salt in her mouth and the panic of the non-swimmer.

Her left arm and shoulder burned like fire. A wave crashed over her head, drowning her cries. She kicked instinctively and surfaced coughing. The bow of a great ship rose like a wall before her. Despite her frantic efforts to get out of its path, the keel grazed her shoulder and knocked her aside. The vessel passed swiftly, catching her in its wake. Once again, water closed over her head. She held her breath until she bobbed back into the light. The stern of the board was beside her, dragging a knotted rope behind it.

A rope! She reached for it with her right hand. It all but wrenched her arm from its socket, but she held on, letting the ship drag her. She sucked in long breaths of the sweet air and considered her next move. She tried to lift her left arm, and discovered that it still had life in it. She gritted her teeth and gripped the rope with both hands. This manoeuvre forced her body face down.

Let go.

She twisted, trying to roll onto her side so she could breathe again.

Let go, the voice in her mind repeated. Come to me.

A dolphin arced out of the water beside her, and dove back into the waves. Was this creature speaking to her? Or was this the creation of a decaying mind denying the prospect of imminent death?

The dolphin's dorsal fin pushed against her injured arm. She screamed and struck out with her knee.

Come to me, the mental voice insisted. The dolphin leaped into the air, almost standing on its tail. As it descended, she saw a silver snake around its neck. Her belt!

"Utor," she gasped, releasing the rope.

The dolphin dived under her and came up under her good arm. She grasped his dorsal fin and tried to ease her leg over his back. It required several tries before she was able to maintain her balance for even a moment. The wake from the great ships crashed over them as she struggled, leaving her half-drowned. She slid back towards the dolphin's tail, clutching its dorsal fin in both hands and winding her legs around its body. Snatches of memory were returning now: the great orange-flushed moon, blood on the crystal altar, the headlong flight sunwards. And eyes of hate, dark as an unlit cave.

Halgrim was here! It was he who commanded the great grey ships that moved so purposefully westward without the benefit of sails, and Helox was his target.

The water became less turbulent. The fleet had passed. She and Utor -- if this creature was indeed her uncle -- were alone in the midst of the Mystic Sea, with no land in sight.

The dolphin began to swim strongly southward.

No! To Helox! She sent the message as firmly as she could, pulling on the dolphin's fin. But he did not respond.

She cried out in frustration, then let her body relax. Once again, there was nothing left for her to do but to trust. The Avatar who had guided Utor to her side in these vast waters could likewise save Helion, if that was Her plan. If not -- one half-drowned hawkmistress could not alter the course of destiny.

The sun crept upward. The cold water numbed Rhoz' body until she no longer cared to live. Twice, her hand loosened its grip when she dozed off, and she lay face down in the water until her companion pushed her up again. All she wanted was to sleep, to dream herself back to the Kingstower at sunset, wrapped in Alyx' arms.

She lost consciousness and woke under a hot noonday sun. Her hair, gritty with sand, was all but dry. Utor Horakkyn, wearing nothing but the snake belt, was rubbing her legs.