‘In the middle of the night?’ Leftrin queried.

‘Yes.’ A flat answer.

‘Why?’ Leftrin wouldn’t let it go.

Greft touched the scrapes on his chest and looked at the blood on his fingers. ‘To ask for blood,’ he admitted abruptly.

‘Blood? Why?’ Leftrin sounded shocked.

‘Because I want to become an Elderling like the others!’ The furious jealous words burst out of him. ‘I’ve heard the whispering. I know. The other dragons have given their keepers blood, to help them change. The other dragons are making their keepers into Elderlings. Yesterday I went to Kalo and I asked him when he would give me blood and take charge of my changes.’

The captain’s eyes had gone flinty. He spoke quietly. ‘Eider. Bring him aboard and set him down.’

As if he were a derrick moving freight, Eider turned and dropped Greft on the deck. He staggered two steps, then straightened up. He glared around at all of them defiantly.

Sylve abruptly pushed her way into the ring of bystanders. ‘I was with Mercor. I heard you demand blood. And I heard Kalo refuse you.’

She was pale and shaking, and for the first time Thymara saw how much Sylve feared Greft. She didn’t want to wonder why. Harrikin ghosted up behind the girl and set his hands lightly on her shoulders. ‘It’s all right,’ he said reassuringly.

‘No. It’s not.’ Her voice trembled but she faced Greft squarely. ‘I heard what Kalo said. He said he wouldn’t give you blood because he no longer trusted you. That you might not want the blood to change, but only to sell.’ Her hand darted out and seized the front of his torn shirt. She tore at his pocket, and a small glass bottle fell with a thunk and then rolled in a circle on the deck. It was empty. She pointed at it. it doesn’t take a bottle of blood to change someone. Only a few drops. So what was that for, Greft? Do we have a traitor in our midst?’

Thymara gasped for air. For as she spoke, Mercor abruptly loomed up alongside the ship. His dragon’s voice and thought echoed his keeper’s exactly: ‘Do we have a traitor in our midst?’ he demanded.

Greft looked around at them wildly. The ring of humans that surrounded him was shocked, silent. Thymara saw Sedric turn his face away, pale and sick with horror. Alise’s face was set like stone, and Leftrin’s eyes flinty. They waited.

‘I’m not the only one!’ he shouted. ‘You liars! Liars one and all! Jess told me, he told me everything. He told me the whole expedition was just to get the dragons far enough away from Trehaug that no one would know of the slaughter, except for the men doing the buying. He told me Leftrin knew about it, that him getting the contract was rigged! The Rain Wild Council and even Cassarick’s little council know about it! Why do you think they agreed to this? It’s all a farce! Even the “expert” from Bingtown and her assistant are in on it. There is no Kelsingra, there’s no final destination for any of us. The plan was to get the dragons away from Trehaug, then slaughter them and load the barge with the pieces. And set course for Chalced, to sell it all to the Duke of Chalced.’

He glared around at all of them defiantly. A shocked silence followed his words. The pained smile he gave them mocked them all. ‘Don’t you understand, you fools? Why do you think the council chose you? To get rid of you! And have no one care that you were gone. Once you’d helped move the dragons far enough upriver, no one would need you any more. And the dragons are supposed to be die or be killed. And then the barge full of dragon parts heads straight to Chalced. And everyone is happy. The Rain Wild folk don’t have to support the dragons any more, Trehaug gets rid of a bunch of misfits, the Duke of Chalced is cured and allies with the Rain Wilds, and a lot of people get very very rich very quietly! You liars! Don’t look at me like that! You know I’m speaking the truth! Why are you all pretending?’

Boxter shouldered his way to the front of the huddle. Tears were starting from his eyes. ‘But you said you said all those things! About having our own city, and starting new rules and, and everything!’ He sounded like a small confused boy. For a moment Thymara thought of Rapskal and his ingenuous questions. Grief scored her heart. But Boxter was not Rapskal and anger began to dawn in his face, making it ugly. ‘You liar!’ he cried out when Greft just looked at him. ‘You liar! Telling us we had to leave the girls alone, and then you went after them! Making all those rules about sharing and then keeping the best for yourself. We know what you done, Kase and me. We’re not stupid.’

‘Aren’t you?’ Greft sneered, and Boxter swung. Greft snapped his head back but Boxter’s fist still grazed his chin, clacking his teeth together as it slammed his mouth shut.

‘Enough!’ Leftrin shouted, and Swarge suddenly had Boxter’s arms clamped to his sides.

A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of Greft’s mouth. He ignored it, instead looking from one to another of them disdainfully. When he realized the full hostility of those watching him, he took a breath. ‘At first, I believed in what we were doing. Then Jess set me straight.’ He looked at Leftrin and his eyes were full of accusation. ‘What happened to Jess, Captain Leftrin? He told me you wanted to back out on his deal with you, told me that you wanted that woman in your bed, and that if you killed him, you’d bribe her with dragon blood to get what you wanted. Is that how it happened?’ He swung his accusing glare to Alise. ‘Fancy Bingtown lady like you whores herself for dragon blood?’

‘Leftrin!’ Alise gasped, but the captain’s fist had already connected solidly with Greft’s mouth. The force of the blow slammed the keeper up against the deckhouse wall. His head wobbled on his neck, but he managed to pull himself straight and stand up. He glared at the staring bystanders, then deliberately spat blood on Tarman’s deck. Skelly gasped in horror, and leapt past him to wipe it up with her sleeve. Greft deliberately leaned closer to Leftrin. Alise had hold of his arm, trying to restrain him, but Thymara knew that it was the captain’s own will that knotted the muscles in his jaw and swelled his chest tight.

‘I’m tired of pretending!’ Greft said. There was something so disillusioned and broken in his voice that for a moment pity for him swelled her heart. ‘I thought the Council was finally offering us a chance. I thought there was some sort of a future for me. That’s why I signed up.’ He looked around at all of them and his eyes were accusing.

‘I tried to make you all see how it could be. I tried to make you see we could change all of it. But some of you didn’t want any changes.’ He glared at Thymara. ‘And some of you just wanted someone to think for you and tell you what to do!’ His accusing eyes came back to Boxter. Kase had stepped up behind his cousin. He’d put a hand on Boxter’s shoulder, but Swarge still hadn’t released him from his hug.

‘Sa, how I tried!’ Greft shouted the words up into the night. Then he glared around himself again. ‘But none of you really listened to me. And then Jess told me why. Told me what a web of lies this whole thing was. Well, now he’s dead and gone, and I don’t think that was an accident. And I heard that some of the dragons were changing their keepers on purpose, had given them blood to make them change. But not Kalo, no. Not for Greft. Nothing ever for Greft. I took care of that monster. I hunted for him, I fed him, I groomed him, I scraped the filth off him. But would he give me one drop of blood, one scale? No. Not one drop to change me, not to put my body right, not to give me something I could sell to make a new life for myself.’ He looked around at them, self-righteous and angry. Blood was seeping from his scored flesh. She guessed now that Kalo had seized him in his jaws and flung him, tearing his skin as he did so. It was only surprising that the dragon had not sheared him in two and eaten him.