The Dragonstone Read Online Free PDF Page A

flowers we saw at the foot of the glacier. Take up as well some pure snow and pack the flowers therein. Then return within a candlemark.”
    Aiko glanced left and right and then leaned forward and hissed, “Dara, I would not leave you alone among these
iyashii
men.”
    The Dylvana made a sharp gesture of negation. “Go now, Aiko. I will be safe, and this man needs aid else he will die, and he is perhaps the one we need.”
    Yngli took up his cloak as well as Orri’s lantern and stepped to Aiko’s side. “Though I don’t own a horse, I’ll ride wi’ ye, double that is, t’ light y’r way if ye’ll ha’ me. I know a shortcut t’ th’ fell.”
    Aiko looked at Yngli, then at Arin. At the Dylvana’s nod, Aiko strode back to the table and donned her own cloak while Yngli lighted the lantern, then she gestured for Yngli to follow.
    As they left the room, Thar turned to Arin and raised a questioning brow.
    Arin set the flame-cleansed tweezers down next to the bronze needle, then wetted her fingers and snuffed out the candle. “When we rode down into Mørkfjord, we saw in the high fell at the foot of the glacier small blue flowers nodding on their stems.”
    “Blue flowers?…Ah, blue-eyed ladies.”
    “Blue-eyed ladies in thy tongue; arél in mine. Yet by any name a tea brewed from their fresh petals is a potent foe of fever.”
    “Th’ knives be cherry red and some, m’Lady,” called Tryg.
    Arin took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she looked down at Egil. “Hast thou a sleeping draught, Thar?”
    The man shook his head. “Nay, Lady. Egil’ll j’st ha’e t’ bear up.”
    Arin sighed and then turned to Orri. “I shall need six of thy strongest.”
    “Six?”
    “One on each limb and two t’ hold his head, Orri,” saidThar. “Can’t ha’e him jerkin’ about when th’ burnin’ knife goes in.”
    “Aye.” Orri gestured to five more men, then stepped to the bar himself.
    “A moment, Captain,” said Arin, and she took up the flagon and again used brandy to wash her hands, indicating for Thar and Tryg to do likewise. Then she turned to Orri. “Now, Captain, take hold.”
    “Arms and legs, lads, and hold hard. He’ll thrash quite a bit. Bili, help me up here.”
    The men grasped Egil’s limbs, and Orri and Bili stood opposite one another and braced his head by jaw, temple, and pate.
    Arin glanced across at Thar. “Art thou ready?”
    At the healer’s nod, Arin held out a hand to Tryg, and using a square of clean cloth he took up a knife by the handle and carefully handed it to the Dylvana, its blade glowing yellow-hot.
    Arin grasped the handle through the cloth and picked up the tweezers, then said, “Peel back his eyelids, healer; the rest of ye hold firm.”
    *   *   *
    In the stable at the Blackstein Lodge, by Yngli’s lanternlight Aiko pulled tight the saddle cinch. She drew her cloak hood over her head, and with Yngli following, led the steed outside, where rain fell in torrents and lightning strode across churning skies. She mounted up and then gave a stirrup and an arm to Yngli, and he swung up behind her. As he did so there came the faint sound of agonized screams muted by the storm and distance. Yngli shuddered and looked far downslope at the light shining out from the windows of the Cove. And then Aiko put spurs to the horse and they rode away through the black night.

C HAPTER 4
    W ithin a candlemark of plucking the flowers, drenched and mud spattered, Aiko and Yngli returned to Mørkfjord, Yngli bearing a leather sack filled with snow, the blue-petaled blossoms within. As they strode to the dock, the rain pattered down gently, the rage of the storm having moved off to the east, though now and again the sky was lit by the backflare of distant lightning. Yngli opened the door to the Cove and followed Aiko in, the small man holding up the bag and declaring to one and all, “Hoy, everyone, we’re back wi’ our bouquet.” A shout greeted the announcement as Yngli and