Janu kept as still as he could amidst the tangled brambles, one scratched hand resting on the fine-woven rope bag beside him, the other making a fistful of cold Alaram soil. Little specks of firelight flickered in the dark between the distant trees – not so distant that he couldn't hear the guards calling to each other.

Branches rustled on the other side of the bag. Janu glanced over, but could only make out the whites of Fraidun's eyes as he shuffled in place. As fidgety as a gnat, he is. Janu said nothing. He couldn't afford to. Not with the double-edged promise of a small fortune or imprisonment and death resting between the two of them. Not with half the Principality's guards on the hunt.

All they could do was wait. One eternal minute stretched into the next. His old knees ached. The scratches on his face and hands had already begun to sting. Chill spring air sapped the flexibility from his joints and it seemed the whole forest, bird and beast alike, held its breath with him. But slowly, slowly, the guards moved on. Their chatter and loud footsteps vanished. The wind wove a mournful howl through the trees in their absence.

'Finally,' Fraidun muttered, and set the brambles rustling as he began to move again.

Janu lunged across the bag and grabbed hold of his cloak. 'Wait!'

At the edge of his hearing and high above, the wind ruffled like a sail not quite set to the wind. A moment later came the flap of large wings. The Prince of Alaram himself was hunting for them, his bonded dragon the only such creature in his realm.

Janu eyed the bag with its thick protective padding. It would remain the only dragon for longer than anticipated.

'I think we're clear now,' he said when some time had passed without the sound of pursuit.

Fraidun muttered something under his breath and wriggled out of the bush. Janu did likewise, wincing at every snap and scrape. They paused for a while once they were clear, listening to the silence of the forest. Tentative birdsong began to creep in to fill the void the search had left.

Together, they reached into the brambles and edged the bag out of their hiding place, straining at the weight until the waist-high bundle was fully clear.

'Galnai'd better be where she said she would,' Fraidun said, pulling a twig out of his long hair. His teeth shone in a grimace.

'She will be.' Janu took hold of his two rope handles, one over each shoulder. 'It's a good spot. She won't find trouble there.'

Fraidun grunted and took up his own handles. The bag lifted off the ground and bobbed in the air between them. 'If it's so good, she might not find it.'

Janu rolled his eyes and adjusted his ropes so they settled right. 'I gave her clear directions. Have a little faith – even you could find it!'

Without waiting for Fraidun's reply, Janu set off through the forest. After a slight tug on the rope, Fraidun followed behind and the tread of their feet soon set the bag swinging in a steady rhythm. Just a short walk to the river and they would be near enough in the clear. Even decades after his family had fled here, even after looping in circles to obscure their trail, even in the dark of a new moon, Janu could still find his way.

'Reckon they'll go to war over it?' Fraidun asked after a while, his voice low.

'Hmm?' Janu picked his way around a tangle of roots.

'The princes. Over the egg.'

'The princes are already at war.' Janu had been a boy when the Kingdom of Avesh had split into three principalities – three brothers constantly at each other’s throats. It hadn't been long before his family had chosen to leave.

'Pfft. Border skirmishes. You know what I mean. The prince here has a dragon. The Narathin prince hasn't even got this egg yet, let alone hatched or bound it.'

Raising his gaze to the canopy-broken sky in case said dragon had returned, Janu said, 'The prince has one dragon that would be a pin cushion the moment it tried anything big. He wouldn't risk it.'

'No one's killed a dragon in years.'

'And?' He rolled his eyes and adjusted the rope. He could just make out the lapping of the river now. Ahead, pale reeds glinted through gaps in the trees. 'No one's ridden a dragon into battle in years. You can't very well kill what isn't there, can you?'

Fraidun just grunted again. They came out from between two of the trees and craned their heads above the tall river reeds. The river stretched out like a ribbon of black glass, dappled with ripples and the reflections of stars.

Of course, the only thing notably not disturbing its surface was a boat. Shit. This wasn't the sheltered river bend he'd told Galnai to wait at.

'She's not–'

'We're not there yet.' Janu glanced around, trying to pick out any landmarks to point him in the right direction. 'Here.' He pointed towards a strand of willow downstream. The silvery underside of its leaves shimmered in the faint moonlight. 'It's this way.'

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They set off again, sticking to the edge of the reeds, weaving in and out of trees. Ten steps in, a distant shout broke the silence. Janu froze. The padded bag swung into his back before Fraidun could stop, almost knocking him over.

Further down the river, the light of a torch reflected from its surface.

They're combing the river. Janu swore under his breath. 'Come on. We need to beat them to the boat.'

Faster than before, not caring as much about the noise they made, they followed the course of the river. With any luck, the prince only had enough men out here to search well in one direction, and they would logically pick downstream. But they couldn't afford to rely on luck. Instead, Janu kept his gaze fixed on the willows. Firelight flickered and danced in the background, out of focus.

At last they reached the willows. Janu paused at the edge of their leaves, taking another good look at the soldiers' torches. It was hard to tell whether they had drawn any closer or not. Satisfied that they weren't an imminent threat, he drew aside the curtain of leaves and ducked into the small cave behind it. Total blackness swallowed him.

'Hug the wall,' he told Fraidun. At this time of year, the river flooded most of the cave. One misplaced footstep and they would be waist deep.

A dim light winked into existence a few feet away. Only when he blinked and squinted could he make out the planes of Galnai's face beside her shaded lantern. Her eyes glinted from the shadows.

'Took your time,' she said. 'They've been past here twice already.'

Janu grimaced and shuffled closer on the ledge circling the water. 'That's good. They're less likely to come back this way. Give us a little more light, will you?'

Galnai opened a couple more shutters on her lantern and more light spilled out towards the cave wall. It picked out the edges of the long fishing barge she sat in and made the grey streaks in her hair shimmer gold. It also made her scowl hard to miss.

'They've set a watch further down the river,' she said. 'Doubt they're planning to move on any time soon.'

With a sigh, Janu stepped onto the boat and adjusted his grip on the rope so he was facing Fraidun. He motioned for the man to join him and said, 'One thing at a time. Get the barrel ready.' But he was already thinking how they might slip past the guards.

Galnai set into motion behind him and, as quiet as she worked, the wooden taps of her removing the barrel's lid and placing it against the floor of the barge made him wince. While he waited, Janu eyed the bag containing the egg. Would it fit? Eggs hardly came in standard sizes, but this didn't look like the biggest he had seen. Still hard to slip past guards without a good disguise... but maybe that could work in their favour?

'Here,' said Galnai, placing the barrel beside them. She had to stoop to move in here.

Fraidun went to lift the egg again, but Janu shook his head. 'We should take it out of the bag.'

'Now?' Fraidun pursed his thin lips and gestured at the barrel. 'How are we going to get it in there?'

'Carefully.' He didn't know how much damage a dragon egg could take – and he didn't care to find out. 'Let's try it on its side. Keep the barrel steady.'

As Galnai tipped and sat astride the barrel, Janu and Fraidun unwrapped the layers of bag and blanket swaddling the egg. Opalescent flecks in its dull brown shell caught the lanternlight. Judging it against the size of the barrel, he reckoned it should fit with room to spare. So he gave a nod and took as good a grip on its smooth shell as he could get. With Fraidun's help, he turned it sideways and lifted it to clear the lip of the barrel, grunting at how much heavier it felt to hold like this. It scraped across the inside of the barrel as they shoved it to the bottom. Janu prayed the guards hadn't come any closer.

'Haul it up,' he said.

Galnai got off the barrel and tilted it back to standing with help from Janu and Fraidun. The egg struck the far side with a sharp clack. Grimacing, Galnai shoved her hand in to steady it before it could start rattling.

She flicked her free hand at Fraidun. 'Get the fish.'

Fraidun muttered something under his breath, but complied and fetched the other barrel. Before long, they had stuffed the sides and top of the barrel with fish and resealed the lid.

'Okay, boss,' said Galnai when they were done. 'What's the grand plan?'

Wincing at the ache in his shoulders and back, Janu took a seat on the nearest bench. 'Well, we can't move until morning anyway. No one's out with a fishing barge at this hour. So I figure we just need to find a way to get the guards away before then.'

'As simple as that?'

Janu grinned. 'Well, we've been for a nice walk in the woods. Now it's your turn.' He cast an eye over her broad frame. 'Do you think you can carry the other barrel?'

She turned her head to regard it, lips twisted in a scowl, and brushed a strand of hair over the hole where her left ear should have been. After a moment she nodded.

'Can you carry it fast enough to keep clear of the guards?'

'For a while,' she said. 'And you'll owe me a new back for it.'

'I can't work miracles, but with the money from this' – he went to rap his knuckles against the egg barrel, then thought better of it – 'I can certainly shell out for a good massage.'

Galnai shuddered at the thought. 'Keep your share. Just someone else is doing the lifting next time. Give me that, then.' She gestured to the rope bag and Fraidun passed it to her. A few moments later she had tucked the empty barrel inside it and hoisted the whole bundle over her shoulder with a grunt.

'Wait for me,' she said, as if it needed saying. 'I'll give this lot the runaround and be back by morning when I've lost them.'

Janu nodded, but Fraidun asked, 'And if you don't come back?'

Galnai blinked her wide, hard eyes. 'I've not got my money yet. I'm coming back.'

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The two men took turns napping during Galnai's absence. The steady noise of the river lulled Janu off to sleep as soundly as a feather bed, but Fraidun tossed and turned and muttered under his breath when it was his turn. Janu cast him periodic glances from where he sat facing downriver through a slight gap in the leaves, a corner of his lips twitching into a smile with each utterance. Fraidun had never slept well in all their years of thieving – it went some way to explaining his dour attitude. But only some.

At one point, when the first traces of sunlight had just begun to limn the world around them, a commotion erupted in the distance. They both lay stock still, listening to the hunting horns and shouts, wondering if Galnai had made it any distance at all. At length the sound ebbed and faded with neither of them the wiser. They settled back into their rhythm. Sleep came harder this time.

By the time dawn truly came, a spring chill had seeped from the water through their keel and settled into Janu's bones. Birdsong leapt from the trees and reeds in every direction, muted by the roof of their cave. A fine layer of sparkling dew covered every surface.

Something bounded across the roof.

Janu reached beneath his damp cloak and unsheathed his dagger. Fraidun did likewise and stepped out of the boat, pressing his back against the wall, gaze trained on the way they had come in.

A hand reached through the leafy curtain and pushed it aside, revealing Galnai's sweat-drenched face.

'Well?' she said, panting and eyeing their two daggers. 'We've not got all day. Let's get downriver and hope the prince doesn't try to dock payment for his dragon stinking of fish.'