Keep it concentrated, lass; Shikrar can hear your speech but not Akor's. "Lord Akor, your friend Shikrar is here and would have speech with you. He is greatly concerned about something.'' I tried to keep my fear out of that last sentence, but I don't think I managed it very well.

"Lord Akor very formal keep it very formal your friend Shikrar is here growling at me and would have speech with you. been trying all day resents that I can bespeak you he cannot He is greatly concerned about something horribly upset hasn't killed me yet but I fear for my life."

I instantly opened my mind to Shikrar. He hardly had to speak; I saw the source of his concern even as he formed his words. "Akhor soulfriend at last you answer me. No, not me, the Gedri—not now. Akhor, I beg you, it is Mirazhe, her time has come, something is terribly wrong. Help me! I know not where to turn.''

It happens sometimes that births are difficult for our people. Such things used to be rare, but even in those days they were feared.

I instantly dropped the beast I carried. "I fly now to the Birthing Cove, Shikrar, but you must swear to do something for me."

"Anything!''

"Bring Lanen with you.''

"NO!"

"Hadreshikrar, soulfriend, you must. You know I do not ask this lightly, I have an idea, you must bring her for Mirazhe's sake. Promise me! For the sake of your son and his."

I cringed at the anguish in his voice as he agreed.

I flew on the Wind's wings to the Birthing Cove and called to Lanen to tell her what I had requested.

I wasn't any more pleased to be Shikrar's passenger than he was to have me. He held me away from his body so only his hands would have to touch me. I could appreciate the sentiment, but I got cold very quickly. If his hands themselves were not so warm I'd have frozen.

It was a long flight, but at least this time I could see what we flew over. The Birthing Cove, it seemed, was on the north-western side of the island, so that I saw a great deal of the island pass below me. We went across the center, a longer way than straight so that Shikrar could fly through a gap in the mountain range that split the north of the Dragon Isle from the south. It was the only gap in that fearsome ridge that I could see.

The northern half of the island was very different from the south. Here the forests were much thinner; in some places bare black rock was all that lay below us for many leagues. A spur of the mountains shot away northward, and at its end another large mountain arose, smoking sullenly in a hundred places. One whole side of the mountain was dark with what looked like rock that had melted away. I could not imagine the kind of force that could make stone run like mud.

It was at the edge of this desolation that we came to ground, after what seemed hours. The sun was nearly down, but in the afternoon's grey gloom I saw a cliff of stone and a wide beach below, rock-strewn and dark, with a large pool a little way inland.

There were four of the Kantri waiting for us. The largest, only a little smaller than Shikrar, was like dark copper. The one sitting in the pool shone like polished brass even on that cloudy day, the one at the pool's edge was close in colour to Shikrar's dark bronze, and the last gleamed purest silver (I breathed again), strange among them, the Silver King come to help his people.

Shikrar dropped me just before he landed. To be fair he was as delicate about it as he could manage, but I was so cold my cramped limbs would not hold me up. I fell to the rocky ground with a cry.

Akor was at my side in an instant. "What ails thee, dearling?" he asked, his voice in my mind warm and loving.

"I'm near frozen," I told him through chattering teeth.

Without a word he breathed on me. Gently, steadily, a warm wind in a warmer fog. It was like taking a steam bath.

At first the warmth hurt as much as the cold had, but after a little I began to melt. My face, my hands and feet still ached with cold, but now I could at least move about enough to keep my blood from freezing.

"Littling, the lady nearest you is the Lady Idai,'' said Akor in truespeech, as he kept breathing warmth into my bones. "The younger one who gleams so bright is Mirazhe, she who is having difficulty with the birth. The one beside her is her mate Kédra, the son of Shikrar. I am glad you are here. I may need your help if all else fails.''

"Anything I can do I will," I replied aloud. I thought of his words the night before. Kédra's child was the first youngling to be born in three hundred years, and it was in danger. I could all but smell their distress—I think, despite their impassive faces, I would have known something was wrong just looking at them.

Shikrar and I went to Idai, who appeared to be the calmest among them, but when she bespoke me her concern rang nearly as loud as her anger. "Lord Akhor, I have sent all the others back to their own chambers. There were none who remembered more than I, not even Kerijan, or could do anything more here than surround Mirazhe with their concern, which is the last thing she needs. Akhor, I fear for her. She has been straining since early last night. Even the more difficult births took perhaps the half of a day. Those that took longer we lost.''

"Mother or child, Idai?"

"Both, my lord. Both.'' She glared at me, standing obviously in Anger now. "And you would bring your pet Gedri here to witness it! How could you so betray your people? Do you care so little for Shikrar's feelings, for Mirazhe and Kédra, that you would bring the enemy of our people here, of all places? Shikrar has told me of your meeting, and of your obsession. It is not right, Akhor. It must leave, or I shall destroy it where it stands. Never in the history of the world has a Gedri come to so sacred a place. It should not be!''

I found I was moving into Anger myself. For Mirazhe's sake I fought to keep my head, keep some measure of calm as Idai threatened the life of my beloved. "Lady Idai, how great a fool do you think me?" I said sternly in the Language of Truth. "Or do you believe me mad, or evil, or so heartiess I would throw Shikrar's dislike of the Gedri in his teeth? This child of the Gedri—Lanen—is here to witness not death but birth, and she may be of service to us. She

stays.''

"No! Akhor, are you bespelled? This is ill done, it is not the way of things, I will not permit!"

"I do not ask your permission, Idai. You will not harm har, and she will stay.''

"NO!'' cried Idai in a great voice, and ran towards Lanen.

I had wandered over to the pool. I don't know why, but it seemed impolite just to stare. I bowed to the one in the pool and to the other who waited on the far side. "I am called Lanen," I said. Mirazhe stared at me with unreadable eyes, but did not move or speak. Her mate leaned down his head and looked at me closely. He said something out loud that I didn't understand, but in a moment what I guessed was his voice said in truespeech, "Lanen, may I bespeak you?

I am called Kédra.''

"You are welcome to. You are Shikrar's son?"

"Astounding! So Akhor spoke no more than truth. A Gedri with truespeech! You are the friend of Akhor?"

"Yes," I replied. "I am sorry for your lady's trouble. Is there anything to be done?"

He might have answered, but I was distracted by a loud hiss, and suddenly there before me was the large one Akor had called Idai. Then everything moved in a blur—the creatures moved so swiftly I could not tell what was happening until it stopped. Mirazhe, the one in the pool, had thrust her head between me and Idai and hissed. Apparently Idai was so shocked she backed down, and around the edge of Mirazhe's jaw I just caught sight of Idai lowering her vast claw with its five swords. I'd have been deader than Perrin and twice as surprised.