Page 209 of Dragon Outcast (Age of Fire 3)

“Idiot!” SiDrakkon roared. He knocked the vessel over. “Silver! I won’t drink out of anything that isn’t silver.”

The blighter scurried away in the direction of the banquet entrance.

“The purity of silver! I require purity!”

The Copper approached and bowed. A few of the women covered themselves and cleared the way between the dragons.

SiDrakkon glared at him. “Everything around me is tainted and corrupt!”

The Copper didn’t know whether it would be more dangerous to agree or disagree. One of the griffaran fluffed up his feathers and shifted his stance, leaning forward a little.

“Why am I being disturbed, RuGaard?”

“Bad news from Anaea. We’ve been attacked. Dragons, hag-ridden by men. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. They control them somehow.”

Blighters extracted big river stones from his bath and disappeared as three more emerged and dropped the oven-hot stones in. “You can stop that now,” SiDrakkon said to the blighters. “I’m climbing out.”

He lowered his head so the females could dry his ears and griff. “I’ve heard these odd fables before, RuGaard. Men riding dragons come and take away young male dragons and insert logs into their—”

“No, they came with flame. They dueled and killed the FeLissaraths.”

“My Upholder? Murdered?”

“They fell in battle. The riders use poisoned quarrels fired from crossbows.”

“War, eh?” He climbed out of the steaming pool, and water cascaded off his scales into the tiles. It ran in channels down toward the lower Gardens. “War may shake the Lavadome out of the madness that seems to have crept in. I’ll call for dragons and appoint a grand commander for the Drakwatch. Revive the title of aerial host commander. Perhaps I’ll assume the responsibilities myself.”

Whatever his faults, SiDrakkon could at least act decisively when it came to war.

“Will you come yourself, Tyr?” the Copper asked.

“No. Anaea may be a feint. The griffaran have reported strange dragons above the Lavadome, but they always flee north at sunrise. If I wanted to attack the Lavadome, I’d strike the most distant Uphold too, and draw our forces as far from the main blow as possible.”

He shifted a little to let the women dry his underside, but he did it mechanically, grinding his teeth as he thought.

“You’ll be host commander, RuGaard. You’ve seen me at war and know what to do. Strike fast and strike hard, and keep striking until the war is over.”

“I’ve left my mate back in Anaea. I must return at once.”

“Of course. You can take my personal flying guard with you; the Skotl bodyguard can remain. AuBalagrave is in charge of the flying guard. You remember him from the Drakwatch. I believe you served together. That’ll give you an immediate force.”

“Thank you, Tyr.”

“Oh. I heard about this bat messenger service of yours. Let’s talk again when this is over. I’ve an idea that we could expand it.”

“They don’t do it for love of us, sir, but the taste of our blood.”

“Well, there are a few fat dragons here that could do with a little bleeding. Get back to your mate, Upholder, and keep me informed. Try to find out more about this enemy.”

Chapter 26

He rested for a few hours in a spare nook Imfamnia offered him. With the numbers of the Imperial line dropping, and the increased space closing off much of the top level of the Imperial Resort, there were rooms and cushions to spare.

She even offered him a bowlful of gold. “For family only,” she said, as though the gold could tell the difference. “Have as much as you like; my mate eats only silver these days.”

He ate but a few coins, not wanting to have to fly with a chest’s worth of heavy metals in his belly.

After checking with SiDrakkon one last time, to see if any additional orders or circumstances arose—“I’ll try to send as many as thirty dragons,” Tyr SiDrakkon promised—he departed with AuBalagrave and the other two dragons.

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