The cursed towers 250
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Mar-grit. Apparently they canna fly over the highest peaks." She looked at Isabeau with speculation in
her eyes. "So ye have got Bronwen hidden away somewhere nearby?"
Isabeau said, "He must ken some other way to cross the mountains for he would no' dare go through the
dragons' valley, that I am sure o'. The dragons would know that he is in Margrit's employ and that she
was the one who provided the Red Guards with dragonbane and commanded the Mesmerd that was
here in the spring o' the red comet."
She paused in her ruminations then said, "Meghan always thought that was odd. Why did Margrit help ye
then and why did she send the Mesmerd here?"
"I do no' know," Maya replied. "She sent me an emissary saying that if I wanted to strike at the dragons
and get rid o' them forever, then she had the means to do so. She's always full o' smooth plausibility, that
witch. The Mesmerd was to help and guide the Red Guards to the dragons' peak—"
"But the Mesmerdean are creatures o' the marshes, they would no' ken the way through the mountains
any better than anyone else," Isabeau replied. "She must have had some other reason . . ."
She paced back and forth, chewing her thumbnail. "The Cursed Towers ... I wonder . . . She would've
known they still stand, for the Khan'cohban would've told her . . . and Iain said she asked for the books
from the Tower o' Warriors as part o' Elfrida's dowry . . . She must have wondered if any o' the auld
books and artifacts from Tirlethan still existed, for the Towers o' Roses and Thorns were famed for their
library ..."
Maya grew impatient with Isabeau's musings. "Are ye trying to tell me Bronwen may be in danger?" she
snapped. "I do no' want that wicked witch getting her hands on my daughter, do ye hear?"
"No' just Bronwen," Isabeau replied. "I very much fear they're all in danger! Oh, Ea! If only ye had told
me all this at first! We've been wasting our days here while all the time that blaygird Khan'cohban has
been getting closer and closer to the Cursed Valley."
"What are all these cursed places?" Maya cried. "Ye have taken my daughter somewhere cursed?"
Isabeau did not bother answering her. She caught up her plaid and tam-o'-shanter and said sharply, "Stay
here! Do no' try to follow me." Then she hurried down the secret passage, for the first time not bothering
to conceal the entrance. It was growing dark outside and cold, and the red moon hung huge and swollen
above the far horizon. She went swiftly through the trees to the shelf of rock on the far side of the loch,
where the water poured away over the lip of the bluff. She stood and faced Dragonclaw, dark and sharp
against the red-streaked sky.
"Caillec Asrohc Airi Telloch Cas," she called. "Come to me, I beg! Caillec Asrohc Airi Telloch Cas."
The words rolled out into the evening with all the force and solemnity of the roar of the ocean. She
waited anxiously and then whispered, Please, Asrohc, I need ye truly . . .
Over the past three summers she had called the dragon-princess whenever she felt the urge to escape her
usual round of duties at the Cursed Towers and fly the dragon's back. At first she had done so hesitantly
and with a sick flutter in her stomach. By her third year she had called confidently, and together she and
Asrohc had flown over much of Tirlethan and even up to the Spine of the World where the glacier stayed
white even in the middle of summer.
Isabeau had known when Meghan had called the dragons to aid her at the Battle of Ardencaple. She had
heard the queen-dragon's name in every hollow of her body, booming until she was near to fainting with
