Page 39 of Dragon Rule (Age of Fire 5)

“You didn’t fly all this way to tell me this.”

She tucked her shaking wings in to her sides a little tighter. “We heard a rumor that you were to be our new neighbor.”

“Neighbor?”

“Fellow dragon lord. Protector of Dairuss.”

AuRon shifted his gaze to Naf. “That would be up to him.”

“Up to—a human?”

“King Naf is lord in Dairuss. I wouldn’t presume to tell him how to arrange his affairs.”

The dragon dame bent her neck without moving her head. Some might interpret it as a bow, others as a twitch. “I’m pleased,” she said, in that halting Pari. She shifted back to Drakine: “You know, AuRon, if he’s fatigued, a little dragon blood would help revive him. Does wonders for older human males. Might even help with the brittle hair.”

“Dragon blood?” AuRon asked.

“It’s all the rage with certain allies of ours. Sometimes, at banquets, NiVom and I are quite drained.”

AuRon looked over her perfectly formed lines. “You don’t look like you’ve ever shed a drop of blood in your life.”

Imfamnia chuckled. AuRon still wasn’t sure he liked laughing dragons. Silliness wasn’t befitting of dragonkind.

“I’ve never claimed to be a fighting dragon. There are more pleasant things to do with one’s life. You’re mated, aren’t you? Too bad. With so little scale you must be quite an experience.”

AuRon stilled his griff. Mating, perhaps the single most important decision a dragon could ever make, reduced to an experience. Less and less he was liking this dragon-dame.

“I’m sure I don’t have your experience to judge,” he said.

“I’m sure you don’t. But that’s easily remedied.” She brushed him along the side with her wing.

He’d never encountered anything quite like her. She appealed in a way that was hard to define, a less dragonlike attitude could hardly be imagined. She behaved more like a blighter who’d had too much rice wine or an elvish jester.

“You didn’t fly after us to joke.”

“No. Flying is wearisome. My mate and I thought we would invite you to our residence. Surely with two lands sharing a long border and a longer history, we have matters to discuss, so that the thralls don’t become restive and take matters into their own bloody little hands. Cooler dragon heads should be called in to resolve things, don’t you agree?”

“How did you learn I was to be sent to Dairuss?”

“You’re new to the Grand Alliance. News travels faster than wings. Especially in matters of mating, dueling, or politics.”

“Again, matters I know little of and care of less. I’m already mated, I’ve had my share of duels and won’t seek another, and as for politics, I don’t know enough to have an opinion.”

Imfamnia made a noise that was half laugh, half prrum. “An admirable disinterest. To tell you the truth, sometimes I have difficulty distinguishing them myself. What is your mate’s name again?”

“Natasatch.”

“Please send her my regards. Should your King Naf there decide to accept you as Protector, I hope we’ll see you in our resort soon. The change of company would be most welcome.”

“Hail and farewell, King Naf,” she added, switching back to Pari. “I hope the next time I visit your city, no one shoots arrows at me.”

“Enjoy the rest of your tour, AuRon. It shouldn’t take long, unless you enjoy counting sheep.”

With that, she trotted away and launched herself into the sky.

They rested in one of the towns near the Ghioz border, in a broken-down old castle overlooking a village nestled along the Ghioz road through the hills.

Naf told him a story about the defense of the castle against the Ghioz, long before he was born. Dairuss had lost, of course, but they resisted gallantly while they could.

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