Page 113 of Red Dragon
Behind Vorik, Syla stirred, affixing her spectacles above her nose. “Off and on.”
“I’ve been chatting with our delightful dragons.”
“Wreylith has been delightful?” Syla asked.
“I’ve mostly been chatting with Igliana. Apparently, the Freeborn Faction spent a lot of time in the desert last winter, and she’s hunted all throughout this area. She’s seen a rockformation in a canyon that has runes on it and thinks theremightbe a spot where someone with a moon-mark could touch it.”
“Is that where we’re going now?” Syla rested a hand on Vorik’s shoulder and peered past him.
“Igliana hasn’t heard anything about laboratories of the gods, but it seems like a good place to start the search.”
I am aware of the area,Wreylith spoke into their minds.I have been all over the world and seen many things.
Vorik remembered Agrevlari suggesting that the red dragon was specifically not old but mature, having lived through many centuries.
Long ago,Wreylith continued,the desert all around those rock formations ahead was known as the storm god’s playground. To this day, some of his magic affects the nearby flora and fauna.
“That sounds promising,” Syla murmured.
Since her hand remained pleasantly on his shoulder, Vorik rested his own on it. For encouragement.
She shifted her grip to link her fingers with his.
“I forgot to thank you for wanting to rescue me from my captors,” Vorik said.
“You did that with your lips.”
“Not as thoroughly as I would have liked.”
“I’d be open to more thoroughness later.”
“Before or after you seduce me?” Vorik asked.
“Duringmight be the logical time for lip play.”
“True. But I had hoped…” He looked over his shoulder at her. “I would enjoy being with you when it’snotpart of our mission and neither of us is angling for something.”
Syla smiled sadly and brushed the side of his neck with her fingers. “I would enjoy that too.”
“Yes. I’d ensure you would.”
“I’d call you cocky, but my experience thus far indicates…”
“Accuracy in my statement?”
Syla bit her lip, and were her cheeks a little pink? “Yeah.”
Her gaze lowered to his mouth, and she leaned forward, as if drawn to kiss him. Anticipation thrummed through Vorik, but Wreylith tilted and flew sharply lower to the ground.
You’ll note magical flora below,the dragon stated, inadvertently—or maybeadvertently—stopping anything that might lead to fornication on her back.
They flew over a clump of spiky pink cactus with giant purple pods on the tips. From their height and distance, Vorik couldn’t tell if they were magical, but they were like nothing else he’d seen in the desert and had an alien aspect to them. An animal that looked like a cross between an antelope and a wyvern ran off as the dragons flew overhead. He’d also never seen a creature like that before.
Few people or animals—or even dragons—are drawn to the storm god’s playground,Wreylith continued.The prey is stringy, tough, clawed, venom-possessing, and sometimes has a strange taint to its flesh that makes it unappealing.
My parents always told me not to fly far into the rock formations,Igliana said.There are no rivers and few oases where dragons might quench their thirst.
Then how did you gain knowledge of the formation to which you lead us?
