Page 73 of Of Scale and Blood

By the time we reached the first of Mareritten’s ports on the far side of the continent, my jacket had given up any pretense of being waterproof, and moisture leaked steadily down my spine and between my breasts. My boots remained dry, but only because I was pushing heat to my extremities in an effort to avoid frostbite. I could have flamed hot enough to keep the worst of the moisture off my skin, of course, but I had no idea what lay ahead and no desire to risk burning myself out.

The drakkons were not in a better mind space. On days like this, they would normally have been hunkered down in their warm aeries to wait out the weather; the only thing that kept them flying on now was the possibility of hunting gilded birds.

Thankfully, the rain eased off by the time we reached the far side of Mareritten. Though the low blanket of gray remained, it at least provided us with some cover while not totally blocking our ability to see the ground.

The first port—L’Gon, which apparently meantbackwateraccording to a trader familiar with the place—lived up to its name. There were neither birds nor ships visible through the long viewer, and the three piers were definitely in a state of disrepair, with large slabs of wooden planking missing from two while the third had a rather calamitous lean. Either this port was no longer in use or the Mareritt didn’t care about it enough to keep it in top condition.

After a brief scout around the surrounding area, we flew east, following the wild and rugged coastline to K’Anor, the second but by far the largest Mareritten port.

Unlike the first port, it teemed with life. There were six boats docked, and on the masts of five the gilded riders’ flag fluttered. The flag on the sixth boat was blue and white, with a yellow sun in the middle. I had no idea what nation it belonged to, but Harris, our master of the fleet, probably would.

The gilded riders—or rather, their land-based counterparts, as their leather clothing was the same strange green as their hair—moved with ease through the seaport, ferrying crates and packages to the various holding buildings. The Mareritt were also here in numbers, but what caught my eye were the two squat towers that sat at either side of the harbor’s entrance, and the third located atop the two-story storage building situated in the middle of the main port area.

Those towers had large metal tubes attached to them.

The same sort of tubes the Mareritt had been constructing near the Barrain Ghost Forest. These were larger and undoubtedly more dangerous, not only because of the greater volume of acidic shit—or whatever the Mareritten equivalent actually was—they could spray at one time but because they appeared to be mounted on a base that could swivel, enabling them to track a fleeing target.

This wasnota good development.

We no attack, came Kaia’s thought.Too dangerous.

Surprise flitted through me. I hadn’t expected her to be so reasonable.

Not foolish.She paused.Yara might be.

Tell her if she attacks, she loses her flamer.

There was a pause.She want flamer. No attack.

Good. Tell her and Rua we’ll sweep around and see if there’s any gilded birds in the area.

We did a slow turn right and flew beyond the edges of the port, but there was nothing to suggest the birds, or their riders, had ever landed here. We continued on, out over the semi-barren countryside. There were plenty of long hillsides with flat tops that would have been perfect for a squad—a swoop?—of gilded birds but again, there was nothing to be seen but brown soil, dying summer plants, and the prickly yellow trees that grew so abundantly in this area.

It didn’t make sense.

K’Anor provided the perfect launching place for a flighted attack. It was within a night’s flight of Esan, it would allow them to hit us in the pre-dawn hours, and it would still give them time to retreat back to whatever roosts they’d set up near the Beak or their other watch stations.

Of course, it was possible that, given the Mareritt were building up their presence in the wasteland, they intended to usethatarea as a staging point. But if thatwerethe case, we would have had reports of it. Our scout teams were still going out, despite the growing danger.

But perhaps the answer was simpler than that. The Mareritt were a warrior race, and as a result had few allies—even those who traded with them on a regular basis did so cautiously. While there was undoubtedly good money to be made—or so the traders who also dealt with us claimed—it came with the risk of the Mareritt randomly deciding to take and kill rather than trade. They didn’t often, of course. The Mareritt might be arrogantly sure of their superiority over all other races, but their part of the continent could not supply all that they needed to survive, just as ours couldn’t—though we did have the advantage of more fertile soils.

All of which meant that perhaps the riders didn’t trust the Mareritt enough to reside in their lands, or maybe—just maybe—the Mareritt were wary of them.

But if the riders weren’t here, where in Vahree’s name were they? They might be building their presence on Ezu, but that reallycouldn’tbe their main base. It was just too far away from Esan to be practical. And while Jakarra was a definite possibility, Mom had already said there’d been no report of an increase there.

What do now?came Kaia’s thought as the drakkons continued to widen their circles.

I hesitated.Let’s follow the coastline home and see what’s happening along the Black Glass peaks.

Take longer.

Yes, but we need to know where those birds are roosting.

If know where, we attack?

When we have an idea of their numbers, and better weapons than just the three of us, yes.

We need fire.

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