Page 130 of Mikoto and the Reaver Village
Although there were padded benches off to the sides, thecanopy’s main furnishing was a central table. Maps and lists covered itssurface, their corners weighed down by an interesting jumble of stones—somerough, some smooth, some crystal.
Kyrie scanned the maps idly until he recognized the lakewhere they’d bathed and swapped stories. Orienting himself on that landmark, hequickly made sense of the rest and frowned. There was more to the Denholm rangethan he’d realized.
“Brother told me you would be at camp.” Torloo placed afinger on the map, indicating Wardenclave’s song circle. “My responsibilities keptme from seeking you out.”
“Nobody told me.” Kyrie shyly admitted, “I would have comesooner.”
Torloo glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “AndI would have asked Timur to speak on my behalf.”
Kyrie couldn’t contain a pleased trill. It was good to havefriends.
Touching another map, Kyrie skimmed a neighboring list. “Youare training battlers?”
“Yes. Brother chose these battlers for their potential astrackers.”
“And you are their teacher?”
“They are learning basic skills.” Torloo began to gather uploose pages. “I will send them to my brothers before long.”
Kyrie took a step back and courteously averted his eyes.Torloo hadn’t said anything, but his body language made it obvious—at least to Kyrie—thatthere were secrets strewn across the table. He only felt a little guilty atmentally reviewing the information he’d already acquired.
Poison.
Sway.
Camouflage.
Ambush.
Torloo appeared to be teaching these battlers about trackingdragons. And Sinder was obviously helping them, which is why he’d been injured.But …wasit only tracking? The equipment lists included a terrifyingspectrum of offensive sigilcraft, hypodermic darts, and crystal tagging.
If these were battler games, they were extremely dangerousones.
Why would the Elderboughs be hunting dragons?
Timur batted his way past the netting and offered a gruffgreeting. Fend shadowed his steps and disappeared under the table.
Torloo took a receptive posture and asked, “Is there more tothis than the reunion of friends?”
“Yes.” Kyrie summed up his desire to be assessed, thenasked, “Where is Reveille?”
“Waiting outside,” said Timur. “He doesn’t need to know everythingin order to keep you safe. I can’t tell you everything, either, but no one canquestion my right to talk about myself.”
Kyrie stood a little straighter and positioned his hands topromise secrecy.
Timur dropped to one knee before him, putting them more on alevel. “To be clear, your Dad knows about me, as do Mum and Papka. But I don’tthink Ginkgo has all the particulars. Just what he’s gleaned from watching mewith Sinder. And neither do any of my siblings except Annika.”
Annika was the sister right above Lilya. Like Timur, sheheld a battler’s classification and had gone away to study with Aunt Sansa’speople. That had to be part of the secret.
“My battler training upholds a longstanding family tradition.I specialize in dragons.”
Kyrie didn’t even try to hide his astonishment. “Like me?”
“Too right.” Timur caressed Kyrie’s hair. “Having you in myfamily helped me choose my courses.”
It had never occurred to Kyrie that he could have brought hisquestions to someone besides Lapis. Like a dragon specialist. “You know thingsabout me?”
“Not as much as Sinder, but more than most.” Timur’sexpression gentled. “Sorry to keep something so important from you.”
