Page 27 of Red Dragon
“Yes, those are they. She found them fascinating.”
“I recall.” Fel rubbed his back again, probably remembering that he’d done the majority of pushing on that trek.
Syla bent forward and gripped her knees. “I hope Aunt Tibby made copies of the scrolls.”
A soldier peeked into the chamber and looked around for more bodies, but the last of the dead had been removed. Only one stormer had fallen while many Kingdom soldiers would not see another dawn. Syla regretted sacrificing them. Or rather being the reason they’d sacrificed themselves. She and the shielder.
“Corporal, thank you for your help.” She straightened and faced him. “Will you have someone get Aunt—uhm, Lady Tibaytha and bring her to the infirmary?”
Hopefully, Tibby was staying in the room she’d taken in the castle and hadn’t gone all the way back to the farm. As soon aspossible, Syla needed to know if she had copies of the scrolls. If not…
What? She would stage an infiltration of whatever cave the Sixteen Talons were headquartered in and steal them back? She would politely ask Vorik ifhewould steal them back? She knew he wouldn’t. Instead, he would talk to her about peripheral vision and juggling.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Thank you.” Syla waved for Fel to leave the chamber with her, then closed the hidden door before they headed through the tunnels. Later, she would have to find a new resting place for the shielder or booby-trap this one again. “Both,” she murmured, thinking of all the relatives she’d invited to meet her in the castle. Were any more missing? She would have to check on that too. “I want a vacation, Fel.”
“Iwas supposed to retire this week,” he said.
“The ultimate vacation.”
“It was supposed to be.”
“What were you going to do?”
“Visit my mother and cousins in Promontory Peak. Fish. Lie in the sun. Walk nude on the beach. Well.Hobblenude on the beach. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from all my injuries, but I had plans to try.”
Syla didn’t remark on the imagery that popped into her mind of her nearly six-and-a-half-foot-tall scarred bodyguard limping naked as he collected agates and sand coins. “I believe you would be bored after two weeks of that. Think how much more exciting your life protecting me is.”
“I’ve nearly been killed half a dozen times this month. Maybe a dozen.”
“Exciting,” she assured him as they climbed the stairs toward the theater.
The domesticated dragons are again attacking healers,a female voice boomed into Syla’s mind. Wreylith.
Syla blinked in surprise and looked up, though she of course couldn’t see the sky through the multiple ceilings above her head. She sensed, however, from the telepathic origins of the voice that the dragon was close. Perhaps directly overhead, skimming above the sky shield.
They vex you and this island instead of taking the opportunity to hunt on the now-exposed Island of Eliok. Were they wild dragons, they would know to enjoy such activities instead of servilely obeying the mandates of puny humans.
I think they’re idiots too,Syla replied.
Yes. I have brought you meat.
Uhm, meat?
A haunch of sumptuous eliok. As a powerful dragon who has seen many centuries, I neither need nor want the advice of humans on where to seek game, but Ididfind many delicious prey in the trees near the mushrooms that you described.
So you’re appreciative.
I have brought you meat. Since the haunch is neither a dragon nor other winged predator, it may fall through your sky shield, but I do not wish for it to land in the dirt and be sullied.
You want me to run outside and… catch it?Syla imagined a huge bloody, furry eliok leg plummeting from the sky and smashing her to the ground.
Prepare a proper receptacle, and I will release the haunch onto it.
Now, Syla imagined herself holding out a platter and trying to catch the meat as it landed, spattering gristle and blood onto her dress. How did one politely refuse a gift from a dragon? Maybe she would ask Vorik later, but she had a feeling it wasunwise to turn down presents from beings capable of breathing fire.
I’ve family that I need to heal, but let me see if I can send someone from the kitchen staff to lay out a tarp in the courtyard. Will that suffice?
