Airwoman by Zara Quentin

Author:Zara Quentin [Quentin, Zara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780995404809
Published: 2016-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

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Loraya pressed her forehead to the brightly coloured mosaic floor tiles in reverence of the little dragon statue, glinting bright blue where it stood, wings spread. It was beautiful and so tiny, it would have fitted in the palm of her hand. It stood on a strange sort of altar: a slab of stone with three curved depressions carved into it, raised to chest height. In each of the depressions, a bed of coals glowed red.

The dragon statue, with disproportionately big feet, stood in one depression. In the next, a polished, yellow stone rested on the burning embers. The last depression was empty.

Namaje tugged on Jade’s arm, prostrating herself on the floor behind Loraya. Jade realised she, too, was supposed to bow to this token of their Dragon-God. Though, as she knelt, she remembered that, from Traveller stories, the Dragon-God of Premye had been gold—certainly not blue.

Jade leaned forwards to rest her forehead on the floor, then discreetly looked out of the corner of her eye to scan the room. It appeared to be their Temple, though from the outside it was a simple hut made from wood and mud-daub with a thatched roof. It blended into the swampy clearing which surrounded it; a boiling, bubbling mud swamp, which hissed a foul-smelling steam at unpredictable intervals. To enter, Loraya and Namaje had swung easily across it, their long, muscled arms reaching and catching a series of ropes that dangled from the overhanging branches. To follow them, Jade had flown, skimming close to the ground—though not too close to the foul, belching mud.

If its exterior was modest, the interior of the Temple was the opposite. Three walls hung with beautifully embroidered tapestries, and the fourth was lined with wood panelling, glinting with inset gold.

Nobody moved and Jade wondered how long they would pray. She squirmed uncomfortably and tipped her head to look at the panels. They were a collection of smaller panels that made a series. As she ran her eyes over them, she recognised the stories.

The panels told the creation myths—stories her parents had told her as a child. Later, at school, she’d heard them from the priests.

The first panel depicted the Lady Premye, the first of the Dragon-Gods, alone and yearning for someone to love. Jade’s eyes moved quickly along the panels, seeing the Lady Premye breathing a tongue of fire over Herself as She curled up to sleep, to dream. She saw the panel depicting the Lady Premye’s dreams, weaving creation around Her like a cocoon, the land and sea first, then tropical forests, sandy beaches, rivers, birds. She dreamed of a people to serve Her, tree-dwelling people. Jade recognised the carved depiction of the long-armed and bow-legged people of Premye.

Jade’s eyes flicked forward to the next panel, the Lady Premye still not satisfied with what she had created. She yearned for Her own kind and dreamed a nest full of eggs.

Eigots, Jade corrected herself as she remembered the term the priests had always used for Dragon eggs.

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