Page 13 of Dragon Fire

“It’s all quite impossible. She’s destined for a knight pair, and I’ll probably be condemned to watch it all unfold.”

Hrardorr could hear Seth moving, sitting down to one side of the boathouse. The wooden walls held in the sound of his movements, allowing Hrardorr to know with much greater accuracy than usual where the human was and what he was doing.

“The future isn’t written yet,”Hrardorr reminded Seth, looking for something positive to say, though he didn’t really think it was going to end well for the young lovers.

CHAPTER FIVE

Gowan wasn’t completely surprised when Genlitha insisted on taking the small gryphon under her wing. She made sure Flurrthith was made welcome in the Lair and then insisted the youngster be made comfortable in their suite of rooms. In fact, she’d made Gowan find materials to make a nest of sorts for the young gryphon, where she could see him.

So, the spare room in their suite was now filled with blankets and pillows that had been scrounged from every corner of the Lair and formed into a circular nest for the gryphon. When Flurrthith slept, Genlitha’s long neck was stretched over the side of her sand wallow so that her head could rest in the wide archway of the room where Flurrthith lay. Genlitha breathed over the child, gently stirring his feathers with a caress of warm air.

“He looks comfortable, doesn’t he?”Genlitha asked Gowan, almost clucking like a worried hen as they both looked at the young gryphon.

Gowan stood beside Genlitha’s head, leaning one shoulder against the stone arch that led into the guest room. Genlitha’s head rested on the floor, her neck stretched to its full extent. All the rooms in the place had been built around the wallow, which was sized for a single dragon.

There were much larger suites in the Lair, reserved for dragon couples and those with children. The size of the suite depended on the dragon’s circumstances, and the knight was accommodated in the circle of rooms around the central cavern. Everything was carved out of the stone of the mountain, which meant arched doorways and rounded ceilings in most places. Air shafts were everywhere, allowing dragon smoke out and fresh air, and light, in. All had been created with the aid of magic, Gowan had been told, in the distant past.

“He’s exhausted,”Gowan commented silently, not wanting to wake the sleeping gryphlet.

“He needs friends,”Genlitha surprised him by saying.

“There are few dragonets in this Lair, and they’re all younger than Flurrthith,”Gowan reminded her.

“I’m going to ask Hrardor if he’ll take the child down to the town. I think Livia would be able to find some human youngsters closer in temperament to the child. Flurthith told me he was raised much as a dragonet, with two-footed brothers and sisters. They are likely fair folk, of course, but the fey are not so different from humans.”

“Except for being the next best thing to immortal,”Gowan observed wryly.“Still, I think it’s a good idea, but somebody will need to figure a way around Livia’s father. The captain is formidable, and I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’m probably the last person he’d listen to or help, even for the gryphlet’s sake.”

“I know,”Genlitha admitted, her mental tone mildly annoyed.“The captain needs a good, stern talking to, in my opinion, but we’re in enough trouble with the leadership of this Lair already. Still, I believe Seth could help us.”

Gowan caught himself before he could audibly scoff.“Captain O’Dare is just as angry with Seth as with me.”

“Ah, but Seth works with the Lair’s well-known and well-respected healer. I bet he could ask her to intercede with the captain. Even Captain O’Dare couldn’t deny a simple request from a respected elder like Healer Bronwyn.”

Gowan had to smile.“It is a masterful and devious plan, milady. I like it.”

The very next day, Healer Bronwyn went in a well-sprung wagon down to Dragonscove in person, to visit the market and the trading houses of Captain O’Dare. Crafty lady that she was, she contrived to bump into the captain and have a rather pointed conversation with him about how she was just too worried about the young visiting gryphon.

Between the two of them, they somehow arrived at the idea that a young person such as the captain’s daughter might be a suitable person to meet with the foreign—albeit young—dignitary. She managed to convince the captain that there might be some advantage to be gained in his daughter befriending a gryphon from Gryphon Isle.

After all, the captain ran a fleet of trade ships, and Gryphon Isle had just reappeared after centuries being hidden in magical mists called by the great wizard, Gryffid. The one and only wizard newly discovered to be alive after the wizard wars millennia ago. Who knew what riches could be traded for from and to his isolated home?

Further, it was said Gryffid had a thriving enclave of fair folk living there on the island with him and his gryphons, his greatest magical creations. The fair folk were well known to be craftsmen of the highest caliber. After all, they had very, very long lives during which to perfect their craft. Even an apprentice’s work usually contained all the skill of many human lifetimes. The good captain, no doubt, understood the value in having friends on Gryphon Isle.

Gowan was duly impressed when Seth told him later the way Bronwyn had described the meeting. The elderly healer had enjoyed her mission to the town, and Seth was happy to report it had gone as well as they had hoped. The next day, they would introduce Flurrthith to Hrardorr, and then, Gen and Hrardorr would both accompany the young gryphon down to the town to meet Livia. It was all set up.

Flurrthith was looking much better the next day when Genlitha escorted him to Hrardorr’s chamber. She had arranged that a meal of freshly caught fish should be waiting for the three of them, along with breakfast foods for both Seth and Gowan.

Seth was there before them, seeing to Hrardorr’s ongoing eye treatments, though they seemed to do little good. The magnificent dragon still couldn’t see, even if his pride had been restored slightly by the battle in the water where he’d taken out a good portion of the enemy fleet and sent the rest running.

Flurrthith walked into the chamber cautiously. He’d only been in the Lair a short while, but he’d already been told the story of how Hrardorr had almost single-handedly run off the pirates. Like any youngling, he seemed to be impressed by the tale.

“Greetings, Sir Hrardorr,”Genlitha sent her thoughts formally to all the minds present. Gowan had accompanied her and the gryphlet from their chambers.

“Lady Genlitha, it is good to hear your voice. And who have you brought to my wallow this fine morning?”

Gen preened, glad Hrardorr had agreed to play along with her plans. He could just as easily have growled at them, but she’d talked him around earlier this morning.

“A visitor from Gryphon Isle,”she said, though Hrardorr knew full well who she was bringing to meet him.“And my knight, Gowan, of course,”she added for good measure.

---