We set off not long after Eggs, and I had finished our strange breakfast, but not before Bulriar honoured me further. He’d presented me with a spear and bow, as well as a basket-woven quiver full of thick-shafted arrows. The spear was a thick, dark wood, heavier than my spear issued by the String Guard, but the weight was reassuring, and it had an oversized blade with a crosspiece. The bow was strange, with limbs that curved away from me at the tips when strung and it was smaller than the bows I was used to, but I was assured it would hit harder. The arrows were Phelean fletched, a bird I learned was prized for its delicate meat and feathers, which didn’t lose their shape in wet weather. The others, even Gertha, were gifted similar weapons, although Sila kept his barbed spear, and Sayo’s curved blades stayed strapped to her hips.

  As Gertha, Eggs, Sayo, Sila, and I walked through the woods, I found myself whispering a silent prayer to the Hunter despite my faithlessness, asking him to keep Bulriar and those good people under his command safe from the predatory Dragons, Drakes and Wyrms of this region. The Hunter was a cold God, though, as likely to aid a Wyrm as he was a Human, for him, the hunt was all that mattered. I was sure that if he was real, he’d helped and hindered me in equal measure, unlike the Mummer, who was an irritating little sod.

  “So how long have we got before we get to the Hold of the Arcuzane anyway?” I asked.

  “A few days, maybe, we must cross one of the Tears, then make our way to the Hold through the forest, then find a way onto their Island,” Sila said.

  “Sounds simple enough, we only have Drakes, Wyrms and potentially Dragons to contend with, not forgetting the Fugues,” I said.

  “It’s Fugue.” Sayo smiled at me.

  “Did they tell you that?” I jibed back, keeping my expression soft.

  “Don’t forget the Nomads,” Gertha said, her voice stern.

  That surprised me. I looked at her immediately, “We just left them, why would we contend with them?”

  “They aren’t the only band of kingdomless wanderers out here, Tull. Bulriar’s lot have kept their humanity, but the other groups are as varied as they are dangerous; you never quite know what you’re going to get. Some might indenture you, others may consume you” She had taken the coin out of her mouth to speak, pausing briefly before putting it back in her mouth.

  It shouldn’t shock me that there were more than one group of people out in these wilds, surviving, perhaps even thriving, but I wondered about the hardships they endured, as well as the varied tactics they must be using to survive the bastard lizards. If only they could all be brought together somehow, we might all stand a better chance if we combined our wisdom. It sounded like some of these groups were too hostile for that idea to work.

  Maybe we could figure out a way for it to work, but for now, I had more immediate concerns.

  “Let’s keep as low a profile as we can then,” I said, patting Eggs on the side of the neck.

  Sayo and Sila exchanged a look as Gertha sighed.

  “How low can our profile get when we have a mythical creature and an armour-clad Steelweaver in our wake?”

  I had to admit she had me there, so I shrugged. She scoffed, and we continued walking through the forest.

  #

  I heard the Tears of the Jut before I saw it. The noise from the river loomed in the background, beckoning us close with the promise of feeling clean and refreshed. But such a river meant death if you didn’t treat it with the care and respect it deserved. I’d heard many a story of a Riverside child meeting their end on a hot summer's day. I’d also heard enough tales of armour-clad soldiers, running into what they thought was shallow water, only to plummet to the bottom of a riverbed. Children can be forgiven for foolishness, but soldiers must learn from it, often at the expense of their friends. We pushed through the trees and came to the riverbank. The river itself was about thirty metres wide at its narrowest point and continued in a straight line for a couple of hundred meters or so. The smashed remains of an ancient stone bridge stood on each side of the way up the river, the middle gone long before any of us were born. The water moved at a moderate pace. There hadn’t been much rain in recent weeks, so it was not as high as it could have been. We just needed to find a way to cross.

  “Maybe we could lash some trees together with Sila’s rope and raft across?” I offered.

  Sayo shook her head, “We don’t have the right tools to chop and fashion the wood.”

  “My rope is not for lashing,” Sila said.

  “What’s it for then?” I asked.

  “Lizards.” He smiled.

  “Enlightening,” I replied.

  “Could Eggs fly us over?” Gertha asked. I paused, looking at Eggs thoughtfully. It was worth a go, surely? Mavev rode a Drake. Why couldn’t we climb on a Wyvern?

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  “It’s worth a go, I’d say,” I said, walking up to Sila and taking the rope from his pack.

  “Hey!” He cried, but I shrugged him off.

  “You said it was for Lizards!” I grinned as Sayo and Gertha sniggered. Sila threw his hands in the air and huffed.

  I approached Eggs with the rope in hand slowly, their golden eyes studying the rope.

  “Hey, gorgeous one, I just need to loop this around your snout so we can get over the River, okay?”

  I let Eggs sniff the rope, their frill flaring as they breathed. Their rough forked tongue licked the rope as well as my hand; it tingled, and I felt a shiver go up my spine, like I’d been tickled.

  “Good…Wyvern.” I said, and I gently rested the rope over the top of the snout. Eggs allowed me, and I heard a noise of excitement come from the others. I held my hand out to silence them. I needed to do this just right. Thinking back to how Mavev had the straps on the Drake, I looped the rope over itself once, then threaded an end through the side of Eggs’ mouth, then the opposite end through the other side. I had now had an end of rope trailing out each side of Eggs’ mouth while still being secured around their snout. Eggs used one of their wings’ claws to scratch at the rope, but I put my hand on their soft skin and gently pushed it away.

  My heart was now pounding in my chest, was I really going to do this? Climb on the back of a Black Wyvern? Mavev may ride a Drake, but I doubted anyone had ever ridden a fire-breathing, flying Lizard before.

  Eggs was about the size of a large horse, I reckoned they could take my weight and perhaps one other for a short distance, more than enough to get us over the river. I just had to hope that Eggs wouldn’t suddenly decide to breathe fire, or that would be the end of my only handhold.

  “I’ll get across with Eggs first to try this out, then come back for each of you, okay?” I called out.

  “Okay!” Gertha called back.

  I looked back at Eggs, who kept wriggling their head. I stroked the side of their neck and looked back to the others.

  “I’ll probably take you first, Gertha, then Sayo and Sila,” I said.

  “Stop faffing about and get on!” Gertha shook her head.

  Well, nothing else to it. I picked up both ends of my makeshift reins, looping the far one over the back of Eggs’ head so I could hold it one-handed. Then, standing in front of their wings, facing backwards, I gently pushed down on the back of their neck, lowering Eggs forward.

  Moving slowly and gently, I placed my right leg, which was against Egg's neck, up and onto the joint where their wing met the body, then, using that to lift me up, I swung my left leg over until it hung from the other side as my body followed to have me facing forward. I held both reins in my hands and gently squeezed with my thighs to stay secure on Eggs’ back.

  “I did it!” I said, laughing with joy.

  “He actually did it!” Sayo and Sila said together.

  “Well, paint my face and call me the Mummer.” Gertha laughed.

  “Ok Eggs! Let’s go!” I laughed, pointing over the river. Eggs looked up at me before flexing out their wings and letting out a mighty yowling screech.

  My stomach felt light and strange as suddenly, Eggs took flight with ease, the powerful beat of their wings buffeting the others who threw their hands up to protect their eyes from a plume of dust and dirt thrown into the air. My hands were suddenly thrown back, and I had just a second to see the severed ends.

  Eggs had closed their mouth, their sharp teeth slicing through the rope like a sword through an unguarded neck. As I was cursing myself for being so bloody daft, I lurched backwards as Eggs angled up and I fell head over arse twice in the air before slamming into the ground. Thank the Godbody that I had my armour on still, which took most of the impact but my breath was still driven from me.

  “TULL! Are you ok?” Gertha raced to my side.

  I groaned as I lay there, giving Gertha a thumbs-up. She and Sila put an arm each under me and slowly helped me up. My arrows lay strewn across the ground while my bow had somehow remained completely intact, still strapped across my back. My spear was sticking out of the ground about a foot from where I’d landed, the full blade having sunk into the ground up to the crossguard, which had dented, but not penetrated, the ground. Interesting, that must be its purpose, to stop you losing it inside whichever poor bastard you stabbed with it.

  “You owe me a rope, Tullen Fal Barraz,” Sila grumbled.

  “I’ll get you two, let’s just try again with the remains looped on Eggs’ neck, and we can do it,” I said, patting Sila on the arm.

  “I hate to say it, Tullen, but…” Sayo pointed over the river.

  I followed her gesture and saw Eggs, on the other side of the river, rolling in the dust and using their wing claws to get the rope off their snout.

  “EGGS! HERE, NOW!” I shouted across.

  Eggs looked at me, head tilted as their frill opened and closed slowly.

  “COME HERE, COME ON!” I shouted, waving my hands up and down.

  Sila slapped his knees several times and made kissing noises. I slowly turned to look at him along with Sayo.

  “What?” Sila looked to each of us in turn.

  “You think you can summon a Wyvern like a cat?” Sayo asked.

  “Tullen cannot summon them at all,” He retorted.

  “EGGS! Come here, there’s a good Wyvern!” I said, over exaggerating my smile and pleasant tone.

  Eggs took a step closer to the bank, flexing their wings with round golden eyes. I looked at Sila in victory.

  A deer exploded from the tree line, paused for the merest slice of a second before fleeing from the sight of Eggs.

  “Mummer’s balls.” I groaned.

  Eggs immediately noticed the deer and charged after it, beating their wings to take off and chase down the poor creature, which disappeared into the trees again, swiftly followed by the Wyvern.

  “Well, that went well, shall try something else?” Gertha said as she pulled my spear out of the ground.

  “What do you have in mind?” Sila and I asked at once.

  Gertha wore a thin smile, “We’re going to have to get wet.”