Page 210 of Dragon Outcast (Age of Fire 3)

They were good fliers, lean and wide-winged, and he held them back the whole way. He wondered how many dragons would really be sent. Using NiVom’s old formula, perhaps six or seven might make it all the way to the Uphold.

They approached the plateau at night. The Copper, his hearts pounding, crossed the mountain line and looked first to the Upholder’s palace temple.

It looked intact.

“Have two dragons fly high. Just in case,” he called to AuBalagrave using mind-speech. “You follow.”

The words must not have come through clearly, because AuBalagrave took another dragon and gained altitude. Well, mind-speech wasn’t a perfect form of communication among dragons who hadn’t been long together.

If anything, the plateau was darker than usual at night. The hearth fires sometimes glowing out of windows didn’t give the city its usual ghostly glow. But there would be time to survey the damage in daylight.

The palace temple had been scorched about the roof, and one of the stone globes had been knocked off the roofing. Another was missing entirely, and judging from the cracks in the long set of stairs it had been sent bouncing down to the fields and woods beneath.

“Halaflora! Nilrasha!” he called as he landed, ready to tear into any dragon but his mate or guardian Firemaid.

Fourfang waved from behind a stone.

“All sleep be—”

“We’re in the lower chambers, as you asked, my love,” Halaflora called, surprisingly loudly for her small frame.

He looked at his escort. “Tell AuBalagrave that I’d like one dragon to stay aloft, keeping watch. The others may rest, and I’ll send food if there’s any to be had. Don’t go down into the valley to scavenge; the humans there are frightened enough.”

The Copper descended to the mouth of the Lower World. Two members of the Drakwatch stood guard at the tunnel, now partly blocked with piled stone and timbers. Nilrasha slept atop the blockage, but she winked at him with an eye and fluttered a griff.

“Asu-ra, that kern king, was up here,” Halaflora said. “He cried. He wanted to know why the dragons had loosed such fury on them.”

“You told him it wasn’t our doing, I hope.”

“I said there are good and evil dragons, just like there are good and evil weather gods. I think he understood.”

“That’s a better reply than I could have produced, with half the valley floor aflame.”

“They were after gold. They didn’t even steal any women or children, which I thought warriors always did.”

“What happened here?”

“They knocked down some statues and set fire to a few curtains. I believe they wanted to show their contempt for us more than to try to kill us. They never so much as ventured inside, though the upper level is entirely open, as you know.”

“Don’t forget the mess on the steps,” Nilrasha croaked.

“What happened on the steps?”

“They used it as a toilet pit,” Halaflora said. “Just a little water and scrubbing. Hardly worth mentioning.”

“Are you well, dear?” he asked his mate.

“Better than ever, my lord. You know, I think all this stimulation agrees with me. I almost feel as though I could fly, if I found a high enough ledge and caught a good updraft.”

“Let’s put the Uphold back in order before dropping you off any cliffs, shall we?” he said.

“How were things with Tyr SiDrakkon?”

“War always seems to put him in better spirits. He sent three dragons with me and promised more, and a grand commander of the Drakwatch.”

“Grand commander? I didn’t know there were as many in the Drakwatch as that anymore. So few of the drakes from the better families volunteer. You must tell me all the news of my sisters and brother.”

“Let’s save politics and family news until I’ve eaten.”

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