Page 92 of Red Dragon
“Good. I like her. I’m glad she’s not grumpy. She magically held us on her back. I’d been wondering how riders stay on dragons without something like a saddle and reins.”
“Somedragons offer magical assistance.” Syla hurried to put away her belongings, though she couldn’t help but grab the argondar root and a couple more small containers to take home to study. One was supposed to collect souvenirs when one traveled the world, right?
“What’s the plan?” Fel asked after they’d grabbed their gear and were trekking toward the river.
Yes, whatwasthe plan? Wreylith hadn’t been willing to go after the stormer dragons. She wanted Syla to handle her own problems. But how? It wasn’t as if she could seduce Vorik and knock him out with Candles of Serenity. Even if she’d brought some along, he wouldn’t have fallen for that again.
Still, that gaze of longing he’d given her before leaving came to mind. Mightsomekind of seduction work? Giving her an opportunity to take the amphora from him? Maybe Fel could sneak in and snatch it while she distracted Vorik with a kiss. But she would have to get past the stormer dragons too. Maybe Wreylith could distractthemwith kisses. She would probably object to the idea. Of course, Agrevlari was self-distracting when it came to Wreylith. Maybe she would only need to fly around the area, throwing in a sexy dragon sashay or two.
Fel looked at her. Waiting for an answer to his question?
“We’re going to the Everfrost Mountains to get the next component,” Syla said.
“We don’t have thefirstcomponent.”
“We will,” Syla said.
“You’re almost convincing when you say that.”
“What would I have to do to erase thealmostfrom your sentence?”
“Lift your arms skyward, like your mother always did when she addressed the people,” Teyla suggested. “And cultivate a regal air.”
Fel nodded in agreement.
Still mourning her mother’s passing, Syla couldn’t manage a smile at her cousin’s attempt at humor.
Ahead, Syla spotted a red-scaled head through the trees. And an orange one peeked into view as well.
The two dragons had landed on the vertical side of the bank, finding the only perches in the area. The golden eyes that locked onto Syla didn’t appear pleased. She could understand why Wreylith was impatient, but she could havetoldSyla that she was coming and requested that they be waiting.
As they reached the edge of the bank, Igliana’s head disappeared. Syla peered over. She hung from her talons by a clump of roots and was twisting so that she could nip at her scales under her wing. It was closer to the belly area than the armpit that Syla had been imagining.
“Are you scratching an itch? Or are you injured?” Syla remembered the fanged fish or whatever had attacked the dragon in the river the day before.
These wounds are not deep, but they broke my scales, and the ones under my wing chafe terribly.Igliana growled at the offending area.
Do not complain to a healer,Wreylith said,or she will smear a foul-smelling greasy concoction all over you.
“You pirouetted and sashayed after I put that on your foot,” Syla said. “It must have felt good.”
When I landed, it squished between my toes like slug slime.
“Only because you were once again able to put weight on that foot. I bet your wound feltwonderful.Also, the salve would have been unctuous, not slimy.”
My toes could not discern the difference.
The orange head rose above the cliff again, eyes level with Syla’s, fangs parting slightly. Only a cobweb that must have been on the roots and now dangled from the dragon’s horn kept her from looking entirely fearsome.I would endure slime if it made the chafing go away.
“I did bring some of that salve, but you’d probably be better served by…” Syla removed her pack, pulling out her recently acquired ancient apothecary containers so she could reach her first-aid kit.
“Where did all those come from?” Fel asked.
“She was shopping while you were sleeping,” Teyla said. “I approve. Those look like wonderful finds. Look at the art on the side of the ceramic jar. Is it Vyonetian? I had thought their people only settled in the mountains, but they must have used the river as a passageway to facilitate trade. I hadn’t realized their goods reached so far. How fascinating.”
Fel gave her a dark look. “Even without the moon-marks, I would know you two are related.”
Syla found a small jar of heliska paste and crawled to the edge to peer over the bank again. The river flowed past thirty feet below, with the roots Igliana perched upon more than ten feet down the vertical slope. What species of tree sent roots so deep down into the soil? She glared balefully at the nearby rainforest, not only because of the deep roots but because their trunks and branches grew too densely for the dragons to climb up onto the bank where Syla could more easily reach Igliana’s injury.
