Page 35 of Red Dragon
That’s fascinating. I hadn’t heard… I’ve read a lot of our history books and haven’t encountered that.
Your people have short memories and inadequate accountings of the past.
That’s… possible.
Your own Queen Erasbella, for a time, wielded both her gods-gift and the power of a dragon, through such a bond.
That wasn’t that long ago, even for us short-lived humans,Syla said.I’m shocked that I haven’t read about that, especially since Erasbella was my great-great grandmother. I’m a direct descendant.
I’m aware. As is the krendala.
The… That’s the figurine, right?Syla remembered Vorik using that term.
It is. Of course, it is a monumental choice to bond with another being, especially a decidedly lesser being, so it is not to be undertaken lightly.
Even for access to iglets.
Even so. Delicious though they are. I admit to feeling some distaste for the idea of even considering it with one who cannot see without eye tools and who is so feeble as to have no defensive or offensive abilities and barely the ken to stay on a dragon’s back.
“Syla?” Tibby touched her shoulder. “Are you listening?”
“Sorry, I’m being insulted by a dragon.”
Tibby, Teyla, and Fel looked around, as if said dragon might be lurking in a corner or perhaps up among the ceiling rafters.
“Wreylith is in the area.” Syla pointed out toward the harbor and beyond. “She finds me feeble.”
And that was far from the only deficiency in the dragon’s list. Syla touched the frame of her spectacles.
“She came here to tell you that?” Tibby asked.
“There must not be a lot going on in the world of dragons,” Teyla said.
“They’re hunting the prey on Harvest Island to extinction,” Fel grumbled.
There is some truth to that,Wreylith said, somehow hearing the conversation from afar. Or could she experience it through her link with Syla?With so many dragons scouring the forests there now, the hunting has grown poorer.
Maybe that was what had prompted Wreylith to recall a way that onlycertaindragons were allowed to hunt on the protected islands.
“Did you hear me say that it would behoove us to gather the components promptly, in case the stormers are able to translate the scrolls and decide to do the same?” Tibby asked. “Even if they don’t want a shielder of their own, surely, they will want to keep us from repairing ours.”
“I didn’t hear that, no, but I understand and agree.” Syla wished that stormer hadn’t gotten the scrolls and fantasized again about sneaking into their headquarters and stealing them back, but they had camps all over the world. Even if General Dolok had intelligence on the Sixteen Talons’ current headquarters, he wouldn’t give it to her. “Whatarethe components? And how hard are they to get?”
Tibby and Teyla exchanged long looks.
Before either spoke, Syla knew the answer would be,Not easy.
“The magical moss bulbs grow in the rainforests around the world,” Teyla said, pointing to an item on the list, “but since this requires them in an ancient version of desiccated powder?—”
“I thought you said petrified,” Tibby interrupted.
“I’m not sure of that translation. Finding something petrified would be even harder.”
“We know the magical teal ore is in the Everfrost Mountains on Droha though,” Tibby said. “It’s rare and hard to extricate, but it’s findable.”
“I would think so.” Teyla nodded. “But the last… This doesn’t even have a name beyondcrystal orb, some magical growth that the storm god created to assist in crafting his creatures.”
“I’ve seen the crystal orb in the broken shielder,” Tibby said. “It’s like a miniature of the outer shell, but it’s at the core of everything, according to the schematic, and both the brains and brawn of the artifact.”
