Page 75 of Red Dragon
“I can’t ask him without possibly giving him clues. When it comes to the moss bulbs, they’re not only rare, but it’ll be hard to find preserved samples that have survived in this climate. And the other shielder components are just as rare. Or more so. The last one on the list requires us to enter one of the storm god’s laboratories and use a moon-mark to access it. We can’tshare clues with the stormers.”
“There’s a promising bank.” Teyla pointed. “It looks like it’s above water year around, and I don’t see any vipers hanging from the branches.” A shudder suggested she might have spotted a couple of those already.
Since Syla wore an older and weaker pair of spectacles than she needed, she might have mistaken snakes for vines. She didn’t know whether to lament that she hadn’t had an opportunity to visit her optometrist or be glad.
“Did you see anything to suggest humans might have had a civilization inland there?” Syla asked, following her cousin’s pointing finger with her gaze.
The back of her hand warmed slightly, drawing her attention. Huh. Her moon-mark was glowing a faint silver.
“I suppose that’s possible,” Teyla said, “but I meant… Well, I meant promising for, er, I was just telling Igliana that I need to pee.”
“Oh.”
I will attempt to perch there so that you can get off.Igliana angled for the bank.It is tight though. The growth is too dense here for dragons to penetrate easily. You may have to seek the civilization while we wait elsewhere.
Or hunt.Wreylith looked at large birds taking flight farther upstream.The journey has made me hungry.
I amveryhungry. I have carried two.Igliana landed on a clump of roots sticking out of a vertical bank, her back almost even with the top.
As Syla watched Fel and Teyla clamber off her and onto land, a roar sounding not far in the distance, she worried about something new—surviving in this dangerous place without the dragons nearby. It hadn’t occurred to her that their allies wouldn’t be able to stay close. Syla was glad Igliana had come along so they’d been able to bring Fel.
Wreylith flew back and forth, pacing in the air while she waited, and Syla was about to say that she also needed to relieve herself, and mention that her moon-mark liked this area, but Wreylith glanced upward and said,They approach.
“Who?” Syla asked.
Then two dragons flew into view, one green and one gray. From their backs, Vorik and his man peered down toward the river. No, Vorik was peering straight toward Syla. He waved cheerfully at her.
Syla glowered up at him and considered making a rude gesture with her hand. Wreylith roared at them. Agrevlari sped up, flying fast to escape her ire.
Too bad Syla couldn’t shoot magical beams of power out of her moon-mark to light enemies on fire. Or at least toast parts of their anatomy. Alas, her moon-mark wasn’t even glowing anymore. Maybe that had been a fluke or her eyes playing tricks on her.
“Syla?” Teyla called. “We’ve found something.”
Syla waved and held a finger to her lips, tilting her head toward the other dragons. Anormalhuman would have been out of earshot, but Vorik’s ears were much keener than typical. And who knew what those dragons could hear?
Teyla, standing ten yards inland and looking up at a tree, didn’t seem to notice, but she didn’t call out anything else. She only pointed upward. Was that a cylindrical greenmoss bulbgrowing high up on the bark?
Syla touched Wreylith’s scales. “Will you land, too, please?”
As she’d told the others, the still-living specimens wouldn’t do, but if they grew in the area, that was promising.
Agrevlari says there are indeed ruins from human settlements up and down this waterway.Wreylith turned toward the bank.
“You asked him?” Syla groaned. “I told you we’re competing with them, notworkingwith them.”
Should they acquire that which you seek before us, I will take it from them.
“Earlier, you didn’t want to fight them.”
Earlier, I did not have a compelling reason.
Reason or not, Syla didn’t think such a battle would go well for them. “Let’s just find the component before they do.”
17
Agrevlari continued flyingup the river, not slowing down until they’d gone around a bend and Wreylith’s roars had faded. Wise’s dragon barely kept up.
“I don’t think your wooing song, or whatever you would call it, worked on Wreylith.” Vorik looked back as they flew, wondering if Syla’s group had found something or if they’d stopped for biological necessities. As he well knew, even though dragons flew fast, their magic and raw power making them speedier than any bird, flights across the sea were long.
