Elayne’s litter creaked up and crested the lip of the tower’s turret. Atop the tower, Aludra stood with one of her prototype dragons. The bronze tube was quite long and set in a framework of wood. It was just a dummy, for display. A second, working dragon had been set up atop the next tower down the wall. It was far enough away that Elayne wouldn’t be in danger if something went wrong.
The slender Taraboner woman seemed to take no thought for the fact that she was delivering a potentially world-changing weapon to the queen of a foreign country; all Aludra seemed to want was a way to get back at the Seanchan, or so Mat had explained. Elayne had spent some time with the woman while traveling with Luca’s menagerie, but still wasn’t certain how trustworthy she was. She’d have Master Norry keep an eye on her.
Assuming, of course, the dragons worked. Elayne spared another glance for the people down below. Only then did she realize how high up she really was. Light!
I’m safe, she reminded herself. Min’s viewing. Not that she said anything like that to Birgitte, not any longer. And she did intend to stop taking so many risks. This wasn’t a risk. Not really.
She turned away before she grew dizzy and inspected the dragon more closely. It was shaped like a large bronze bell, though longer and narrower. Like an enormous vase turned on its side. Elayne had received more than one missive from the city’s irate bellfounders. Aludra insisted that her orders be carried out exactly and had forced the men to recast the tube three times.
Late the previous night, a loud crack had sounded across the city. As if a stone wall had fallen somewhere or a bolt of lightning had struck. This morning Elayne had received a note from Aludra.
First test a success, it had read. Meet me today on city wall for demonstration.
“Your Majesty,” Aludra said. “You are…well, yes?”
“I will be fine, Aludra,” Elayne said, trying to maintain her dignity. “The dragon is ready?”
“It is,” Aludra said. She wore a long brown dress, her black wavy hair loose, coming down to her waist. Why no braids today? Aludra didn’t seem to care for jewelry, and Elayne had never seen her wear any. A group of five men from Mat’s Band of the Red Hand stood with her, one carrying what appeared to be a chimney brush of some sort. Another had a metal sphere in his hands, and another carried a small wooden cask.
Elayne could see a similar group on the next tower over. Someone there raised a hat into the air and waved at her. Mat wanted to watch from the tower with the working dragon, it seemed. Foolhardy man. What if the thing exploded like a nightflower?
“The demonstration, then,” Aludra said, “we shall begin. These men here will show you what is being done on the other tower.” She hesitated as she regarded Elayne. “Her Majesty, I think we should prop her up, so that she can see the display.”
A few minutes later, they’d located some small boxes to place beneath the litter and elevate Elayne so that she could see over the tower’s crenelations. It appeared that something had been constructed on a distant hillside, though it was too far for Elayne to make out. Aludra pulled out several looking glasses and handed one each to Elayne and Birgitte.
Elayne raised her glass to her eye. Dressing dummies. Aludra had set up some fifty of them in ranks on the far hill. Light! Where had she gotten so many? Likely, Elayne would be getting some wordy missives from gownmakers across the city.
Mat had promised this would be worth practically any cost. Of course, that was Mat. He wasn’t exactly the most reliable person around.
He’s not the one who lost an invaluable ter’angreal to the Shadow, she reminded herself. She grimaced. In her pouch, she carried another replica of the foxhead. It was one of three she’d created so far. If she was going to be confined to her bed, then she might as well make use of her time. It would be a lot less frustrating if she could channel consistently.
All three of the replica foxhead medallions worked as the first replica had. She couldn’t channel while wearing one, and a powerful weave could overwhelm them. She really needed that original back for further study.
“You can see, Your Majesty,” Aludra said in a stiff voice, as if unaccustomed to giving a demonstration, “that we’ve tried to re-create the conditions under which you might make use of the dragons, yes?”
Except instead of fifty dressing dummies, we’ll have a hundred thousand Trollocs, Elayne thought.
“The next tower, you should look at it,” Aludra said, gesturing.
Elayne turned the glass to look at the next tower down the wall. She could see five members of the Band there, dressed in uniforms, waiting with another dragon. Mat was looking in the thing, right down the tube.
“These have trained somewhat on the dragons,” Aludra continued. “But they do not have the efficiency I would like. They will do for now, yes?”
Elayne lowered her glass as the men pulled the dummy tube back—it was on a set of wheels—and rotated it up a bit toward the sky. One poured some black powder in from his cask, then another stuffed in a wad of something. This was followed by the man with the long pole ramming it down the tube. That wasn’t a chimney brush he held, but some kind of tool used for packing.
“That looks like the powder inside a nightflower,” Birgitte said. She felt wary.
Aludra shot the Warder a glance. “And how do you know what is inside a nightflower, Maerion? You do realize how dangerous it is to open one of those, yes?”
Birgitte shrugged.
Aludra frowned, but got no response, so took a deep breath and calmed herself. “The device, it is perfectly safe. We set up the other dragon to do the firing, so there would be no danger, yes? But there would not be danger anyway. The casting is good and my calculations, they are perfect.”
“Elayne,” Birgitte said, “I still think we’d be better off watching from the wall down below. Even if this one beside us isn’t going to be lit.”
“After all I went through to get up here?” Elayne asked. “No thank you. Aludra, you may proceed.”
She ignored Birgitte’s annoyance. Did Aludra really think she could hit one of those dressing dummies with her iron sphere? That was a long way to go, and the sphere was so small, barely wider than a man’s outstretched palm. Had Elayne invested all of this effort to get something that would work more poorly than a catapult? This dragon sounded as if it could throw its sphere farther, but the boulders tossed by a catapul
