Page 34 of Red Dragon
“Don’t thank me yet. It could be disastrous that the stormers have that information.”
Syla grimaced. “How so?”
“For starters, the schematics will give them a much better idea of how to quicklydestroythe shielders if they gain access to more of them.”
“They managed that fine without instructions,” Fel said. “Destroying things is easier than creating them.”
“So you acknowledge that youeasilycommitted a heinous crime when you tore the engine of my tractor to pieces.”
Fel clenched his jaw.
“Eliok meat, Aunt Tibby?” Syla lifted the tray in offering, a few pieces lingering in the gravy.
Tibby started to lift a hand but paused to look curiously at the meat. “Did you sayeliok?”
“Yes, it’s a dragon favorite.”
“It’s my new favorite too,” Teyla said, still chewing heartily.
“Hm.” Tibby selected a piece to sample. “You’re correct that none of the scrolls held maps or information describing where the other shielders are located, but with the schematics and that list of components, including roughly where in the world they can be found—Teyla, I’d like to consult you on my translation of that—one might figure out how to makea shielder from scratch. It takes magic in addition to know-how.” Tibby showed them the moon-mark on the back of her hand. “But if their dragons helped the stormers, it might be enough. Ormorethan enough. Reputedly, dragons have power that can rival that of the gods themselves.”
“I don’t know if there’s historical evidence to support that hypothesis,” Teyla said. “There was only a very short window of time where the gods and dragons existed in the world at the same time.”
Tibby adjusted her spectacles, then lowered a bag slung over her shoulder to delve inside. “I concede that we don’t have any way in the modern era to compare the magic that current-day dragons have and the gods had. Even when both existed, there wasn’t ascaleby which to measure their power.”
“That’s true,” Teyla said. “The texts do offer accountings that may be helpful but certainly aren’t scientific and might have been hyperbole. Did the gods truly, as legend suggests, render volcanos extinct, alter the air and water currents, and travel from this world to another when they departed?”
“A thousand years and more after the fact, it’s difficult to say. Wedohave recent accountings of dragons altering land masses and shifting the flow of rivers by making changes near the sources.”
Syla lifted a finger, intending to steer the increasingly academic conversation back to the important matter at hand, but a voice sounded in her mind.
You’ve found the meat of the eliok sufficiently succulent, I presume,Wreylith said.
Less booming, her voice came from farther away than before. Maybe she was flying out at sea now instead of over the castle.
It’s extremely tasty. Thank you for sharing it with me.Perhaps belatedly, it occurred to Syla that Wreylith mightwantsomething. After all, dragons weren’t known for giving gifts or displaying gratitude toward humans. From what she’d learned of the stormers and their relationship with dragons, both parties found it mutually beneficial. Dragons certainly didn’t serve humans.You must be a mighty hunter to have found enough eliok to satisfy your needs and have some left over.
Of course I’m a mighty hunter,Wreylith said as if it were the most obvious statement in the universe.Were I able to fly down to your island, I could show you by hunting the horn hogs that amble through the valleys in the core of that land. Or I couldfish for venomous sword iglets in your eastern lagoons. Like the eliok, those species are difficult to find in the rest of the world. Only here where they’ve been protected by the sky shields do they remain abundant. Unfortunately, due to the distraction that you inflicted upon me, I was not able to hunt on your island before you returned the shielder to duty.
I apologize for inconveniencing you.
As you should. Are you aware that dragons have bonded with your kind in the past?
Uhm, my kind?Syla heard Teyla and Tibby continuing to debate on whether dragon magic could rival the magic of the gods, citing sources to back up their beliefs, but she barely registered the conversation. A new idea was percolating in her mind. Might she convince Wreylith to help her again? It almost seemed like the dragon, in returning to the area, wanted to do so. Wreylith wantedsomethinganyway. Venomous sword iglets, perhaps.You mean stormers who train to become riders?
No.
Tibby lay papers filled with notes on the table, and her discussion with Teyla turned to her translations.
Those humans with a moon-mark on their hand,Wreylith added.The lingering power of the gods.
Someone with a moon-mark bonded with a dragon? In the way that the stormer riders do? Receiving magical power from the dragons in addition to that gifted to them by the gods?
It has happened, but only when humans from your kingdom were wise enough to realize the greatness of having a dragon ally.
I’d think a lot of humans fromanynation could see the benefit of that. But why would a dragon?—
Through a bond with such an individual,Wreylith interrupted,my ancestors discovered that a dragon is granted access to the islands protected by sky shields. That is only truefor the specific island that the bonded human is on or flying to, but it was a way for those dragons to hunt in waters and on lands otherwise denied to their kind.
