Page 29 of Galadon
Onyx kicked one more time and then swung his head to the east. I followed his gaze and spotted two guys cresting a hill. It was too far to make out their faces, but their gait and postures indicated they were wary. Nothing like a typical Kandoran’s behavior.
As they got closer, she noted their black camrium pants and short-sleeve tops. That could have meant they were shifters, but one had almost white-blond hair, and the other had red, which wasn’t common among the Taugud or Faegud. All of those she’d seen had brown or black, minus Phoebe with her solitarysilver strand among her dark locks. Neither of these guys had golden eyes, either, which would have been visible even from a distance.
The blond man waved once they reached a hundred feet from her. “You’re Rayna, right?”
“What gave me away?” she shouted back.
The slayer pointed at Onyx. “Your horse. He’s eating that dead dragon.”
Dammit. Rayna had completely missed that her stallion had moved from the dead humans to giant beast and began snacking on it. He swore dragons tasted good, though at least he left any other types of corpses alone.
“Stop that,” she hissed at him.
He made a snuffing sound.Hungry.
“Then eat some grass like a normal horse,” she argued.
This better. Makes me faster and stronger. Fill my tummy for many hours.
Rayna rolled her eyes. “Fine, but you better eat something else because you still need normal horse diet food. There can’t be very many vitamins in Kandoran dragons.”
You try this. Very tasty.
She nearly gagged and only managed to hold back because the two slayers had reached her and were listening to her one-way conversation with her horse. Now that she could see them better, she estimated they completed their rite of passage while in their mid-twenties, which probably meant they were around her age, early thirties. Anyone who was a kid or teenager when dragons arrived tended to take on the duty much youngeror forego it altogether. If they became a slayer, they stopped aging forever. At best, half of them survived the first year, and most of those who did make it had help guiding and training them so they didn’t die. She’d had her father and the Straegud shifters—a clan whose territory spanned several northeastern states.
Deciding to change the subject and get their attention off her eccentric horse, she asked, “What are you two doing here?”
“We came back to Oklahoma from the coalition a week ago and heard there were still plenty of Kandoran to go around for us to kill.” He glanced at the dead dragon to punctuate his point. “Each of us got one a few days ago, but nothing since. A guy in Norman—Conrad—told us you’d be out here and to look for you. Got any tips?”
So, these were some of the recent arrivals from the East Coast. It was great that the New American Coalition had peace along most of their borders now, but not such a good thing for their high number of slayers. As long as dragons existed, their instincts would urge them to keep killing the beasts, and they had to go where they could find prey that wouldn’t break treaties. It was a pain in the rear since their urges didn’t care about legalities.
“There are plenty around if you’re patient with your search, but be careful because there is a nest of at least two hundred beasts and humans living together about twenty miles southwest of here. They mostly come out at night in groups of three or four since they know we’re hunting them.”
He pointed at the dead Kandoran. “This one was alone.”
Technically, there’d also been two humans, but they’d come along after she attacked the dragon from anotherdirection. They’d probably thought she’d be easy to kill if she was already battling a massive foe. Onyx taught them the error of their ways.
“There are still some odd strays out here, and that’s who I target,” she replied.
The red-haired guy nodded. “Glad to hear there should be more.”
“In a couple of weeks, a bunch of shifters are joining me to take down the big nest. You’re welcome to join us as long as you only attack the Kandoran,” she said, understanding their desperate need to hunt. “Otherwise, you might keep heading west because there’s hardly any of us covering the Texas panhandle or New Mexico.”
Most of that region was devoid of life or many structures. Rayna had traveled through parts of that region during the winter in search of dragons to kill, finding most structures burned to the ground and virtually no resources to survive aside from water in the lakes and rivers. It was one reason she didn’t stay out there for more than six weeks because sometimes it took two to three days just to find a rabbit or bird to kill and eat.
Onyx could munch on the vegetation and snack on her dragon kills, but she quickly ran out of the rations she brought with her. Her camrium clothes were quite loose on her by the time she returned to Oklahoma. Spring would likely be better to travel to that area, though.
The blond man turned contemplative. “We’ve been considering that. Even packed some extra food since I heard it’s pretty barren that way, but it’s tempting to stay close until you take on that nest. Neither of us have any problem with shifters. They more than proved themselves during that war, and we’veseen how well they treat the humans in their territory. They’ve got it better than the coalition in some ways.”
At least something good had come from a conflict that left a lot of people dead, though peace was a nice side effect of the war ending as well. Most of the species—humans, sorcerers, dragon, shifters, and slayers—were in a much better place with each other than before. It had built a certain level of trust after fighting beside each other. She’d been surprised at Galadon getting attacked in his territory, though. Something was strange about that situation.
Rayna inwardly cursed, hating that she’d thought of him again.
She cleared her throat as if that would erase his image from her mind. “Well, you’re more than welcome. But for now, I suggest you don’t go too much farther south before it’s time because it’s going to take a small army to finish them.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” the blond man said with a nervous laugh.
They asked a few more questions and then headed on their way. She’d considered asking them if they wanted to spend the night at her tower since there weren’t a lot of places for shelter around the area, but she decided against it. Before coming to Oklahoma, she’d often hooked up with male slayers to relieve some tension. It just didn’t feel right anymore, despite the fact she needed to get over a certain male shifter by hooking up with someone else.
