Page 38 of Red Dragon
“These twogirlsaren’t going off into the world alone. And adragonisn’t a proper bodyguard.” Fel looked appalled at the notion.
“A dragon could eat a proper bodyguard.” The way Tibby smiled at him suggested she might like to see that.
Fel glared at her.
“I don’t think Wreylith would be quite as reliable as Fel in keeping me alive,” Syla admitted, remembering how the red dragon had tossed her to the ground near the lighthouse. It would have been to herdeathvia a broken neck if Vorik hadn’t run over to catch her. “Wreylith doesn’t quite understand human frailty. Especiallymyfrailty.”
Fel folded his arms over his chest in an I-told-you-so stance.
“Let me see if she’s even willing to do this,” Syla said. “I may be making assumptions.”
10
In the dark of night,the dragons and their riders flew across the Sea of Storms. As the squadron neared Dark Dagger Point and the cave overlooking the water that the Sixteen Talons were currently sharing with the Moonhunt Tribe, Vorik and Jhiton requested that their dragons fly ahead to drive away wyverns circling above the cliff.
Male and female archers on the ledge of the cave were firing at them, but the fast aerial predators could evade arrows by flying inland or spinning and darting about in the air. Wyverns often followed human foraging parties in the wilds, hoping to capture a lone person who wandered too far from the group, but to appear over a cave full of strong warriors—not to mention their dragon allies—was unusual.
They’ve grown too brazen, Jhiton said telepathically.
Hunger drives them,Agrevlari replied.
Perhaps, but fury filled Vorik at the presumptuousness of the scavengers. Though his people were always careful—they had to be to survive—more than one wyvern had successfully stolen away a baby or small child in the past. The idea of one snatchingup a toddler that came near the ledge made him lift his bow and start firing before they were in range.
Despite the distance, one of his arrows clipped a wyvern on the wing. It screeched, warning others of the approaching threat.
Agrevlari’s powerful wings beat rapidly as he closed the distance between the squadron and the scavengers. At his side, Ozlemar matched his pace, their past grievances forgotten, or at least set aside as they focused on the threat. Jhiton joined Vorik in firing, the wood-shafted arrows they commonly used for hunting doing little good on the magical creatures but the more precious and harder-to-come-by gargoyle-bone arrows driving through scale and into flesh.
More screeches filled the sky, and the wyverns flew inland, over the cliff to try to escape. Neither Jhiton nor Vorik relented, and the rest of the squadron shouted from behind, hurrying to catch up.
Perhaps bolstered by the sound of the dragons returning and driving away enemies, more men and women with bows stepped out onto the ledge of the cave. One loosed an arrow at a wyvern that had made the mistake of flying parallel to the coast instead of inland. The projectile took it in the shoulder, and the creature careened off the rock face.
Meanwhile, the dragons, with their larger wings and greater musculature, caught up with the retreating wyverns. Vorik slung his bow over his back and drew his sword for close-range fighting.
Agrevlari caught up with a yellow-scaled beast that dove and flew low over the ground, darting between rock formations in an attempt to elude the larger dragon. It didn’t work. For all his grousing and griping, Agrevlari was agile and powerful. He caught up and bit the wyvern on the back above its tail. Vorik leaned over as the creature reared in the air, snapping its jaws defensively at the dragon. Vorik drove his blade into thewyvern’s long neck. With a much greater snap, Agrevlari caught it on the spine and crushed vertebrae. The beast clipped a rock formation and tumbled to the ground, its back broken.
Vorik and Agrevlari flew higher to seek more enemies, but the rest of the squadron had killed the remaining wyverns. Though disappointed that the battle hadn’t been longer and he hadn’t been able to vanquish more enemies, Vorik was relieved when Agrevlari banked and turned toward the cave. After the long day, Vorik looked forward to a night’s rest.
A lone female warrior with a bow and a sword stood atop the cliff, having climbed up from the cave. Even in the dark, Vorik recognized Captain Lesva and grimaced.
After their battle on Harvest Island, during which he and a precisely timed lightning bolt had sent her plummeting a hundred feet into the ocean, she’d returned injured and, with the help of her dragon magic, had spent days in a healing trance, a gift she had that many envied. Because of that, they hadn’t spoken since that night. Vorik would prefer not to talk to her this night either, but she watched him and Jhiton as they flew toward the cave. Something told him he wouldn’t avoid a conversation with her.
Their dragons flew over the ledge, dove, and twisted to enter the wide mouth of the cave, alighting near the front. Cheers went up, especially from the women and children, many of whom waved apples or other treats the riders had been bringing back from their foraging on Harvest Island.
No, not foraging, Vorik corrected. His people were taking crops that the gardeners had planted and tended through the year. As happy as it made him to see previously hungry people smiling with food in their hands, this war didn’t sit well with him. Maybe because he’d gotten to know a certain gardener woman…
Vorik sighed as Agrevlari landed, then slid off and started toward Jhiton, hoping to be dismissed for the night so that he could rest, but Devron had already jumped down and was showing the general something. The scrolls he’d taken.
“Good evening, Captain Vorik.” Geahi, a slender woman in her twenties, smiled and stepped into his path. She had warm gray eyes and always greeted him when he returned from a hunt. “Do you have a moment? Leonodor and I would love to thank you for your work of late.” A few minutes ago, she’d been on the ledge with a bow, but now she carried a toddler, who appeared more interested in sleeping and drooling than displaying gratitude.
Vorik looked wistfully at the kid, wanting to sleep and drool a little himself. Behind him, the dragons left the cave to find perches in the rocks above. Their kind didn’t usually live with humans but, if they knew another mission was coming, would stay close.
“The fruit and vegetables from the gardener island are so wonderful,” Geahi said. “We’re enjoying them immensely.”
“I’m glad, but I’m not the one bringing them back. You don’t need to thankme.” Vorik touched his chest and smiled when the toddler yawned and dug his fingers into his mother’s hair. “In fact, Hohan is on the gathering team, isn’t he?”
That was the brother of the husband that she’d lost. The man had been trying to nobly step in to wed her, and everyone thought it would be a good match for a mother with a son to care for. Of course, Geahi didn’t feel that way, and she eased forward, shifting the boy so she could rest a hand on Vorik’s chest.
“From the stories that are being told,youwere paramount in the sky shield dropping so that our people can forage there.”
