The study of dragons is extremely dangerous, it opened,thus we owe this knowledge entirely to those brave men and women who made such knowledge their life’s work, many of them giving their lives in the noble pursuit of greater understanding. We, the authors, dedicate this book to them and give them our eternal thanks.
“Gods,” Adrissu muttered, rolling his eyes. If the entire book was like this, maybe he would not be able to get through it after all. But he continued reading, and the first full chapter was not nearly as insufferable as the foreword, so he kept going.
What he found was quite broad, though he supposed a book claiming to be an overview of knowledge would be rather general. But most of it seemed accurate: it described how dragons were almost entirely solitary creatures once they were adults, occasionally interacting with other dragons, but with long-term bonds only forming in order to procreate. Once the hatchling was raised, the parents would leave each other to live their singular lives once more.
It made no mention of the two major exceptions to this rule: fated mates and twins. They were rare enough that Adrissu supposed the writers—or the researchers they had so gratuitously thanked in the foreword—might never have encountered them, or not understood what they were seeing if they had. That was just as well; mortals would only see such bonds as weaknesses to be exploited.
It also made no mention of the values assigned to the color of a dragon’s scales, nor any of the complicated, rigid customs surrounding the way dragons were to act around each other. And plenty of what he read was outright wrong, too, such as the assertion that dragons’ power came from the sun, or that every single dragon was capable of feats of magic far beyond what any mortal could do. While all dragons were innately magical, of course, Adrissu knew that their power varied by degrees just the same as mortals—though even the least magically inclined dragon would probably be on par with the average elf. And as far as their magic coming from the sun, he had never heard of such a thing, so Adrissu dismissed it as complete conjecture on the writer’s part.
But it was an amusing read, and he could get through the entire tome before the library closed for the evening. He could not check books out, since he was not a student of Gennemont, so he placed it back and resolved to return the next day to make his way through the whole shelf. He did not know how much of it might prove useful, but at the very least, it had kept him entertained and distracted. That was, for now, the best he could hope for.
Chapter Fourteen
Withinamonth,Adrissuhad read every book pertaining to dragons that he could find in the Gennemont library. Much of it was conjecture, and much wrong entirely, but a surprising amount was accurate, or at least close to the truth. But overall, it gave him a clearer picture of what mortals thought of dragons, and why they believed the things they did. Neither that barkeeper, nor any human in that village, could have given him any insight into Vantas, which was somehow a relief. It was impossible for them to have known about his twin, or that she would have come looking for him, and Adrissu would not have known unless he’d asked the dragon directly or somehow known their parents. Even though it wasn’t an absolution, it relieved some small amount of the guilt he carried.
Now that Gennemont had nothing else to offer him in the way of dragons, he had decided what he would do with the rest of his year off: he planned to investigate every single dragon that was known, or even suspected of existing, on the continent of Autreth, even up into Aefraya if he could travel there. His lack of knowledge had been what had allowed him and Kian to be taken off-guard, which led to his mate’s death, however indirectly. He had been arrogant, assuming that his first instincts about the situation were correct, when he’d taken barely a day to investigate. He would not make the same mistake twice—and this way, his mate would have the choice of any dragon he could possibly want to become, which might make the decision a little more tempting. That, too, Adrissu was determined to fix in his mate’s next life: he would not sit around waiting for him to choose the soul transference. He would pursue it more aggressively this time, knowing that somewhere in his mate’s mind, he had grown exhausted by the cycle of reincarnation.
Adrissu stopped back at his home in Polimnos for a little while to make sure nothing had happened in his absence. Vesper greeted him happily, but had nothing to report. Once or twice someone from the Academy had come to check, but they had not pressed any further upon seeing that he was still gone. The city was operating as it always did.
He rested for a few days, then set out once more. Other than the young yellow dragon, Atillath, the next closest dragon to him was a red just over two centuries old, which lived inland and several hours north of Polimnos. He knew little of this dragon, but there was a human fishing village only a few miles south of its supposed lair; and Adrissu was certain that they would have at least rumors concerning its nearby presence. This village was his first destination. It was noted as Camfort Cliff on his map, which somehow sounded far more developed and well-off than the shabby little town he arrived in that afternoon.
The village itself was on a cliff, and a little to the north was a path that led down to a small beach nestled at the foot of the cliff, where individual fishing boats docked in the evenings and set out early each morning. It was too small to have cobblestone paths; instead, a packed dirt road led straight through the middle of the village, veering off to the right and becoming rough-hewn steps that led down to the narrow, rocky beach below. There was a single inn, a general store, a few small shops and stalls, and what looked like some sort of town hall. He had passed a few cottages and small farms on his way into the village, but still its small size took him aback. It had been a long time since he’d been in a village this small.
Evidently, they did not get many visitors either, though the inn suggested that the town was at least a stop along the way for those traveling further north. The humans he passed openly stared at him, their expressions more surprised and curious than hostile; but still, he felt their eyes lingering on him long after he walked past. He wondered briefly if he should have taken a human disguise instead of appearing as his usual elven self; but it was too late now, he supposed.
Despite how uncomfortable all the silent attention made him, the villagers who gathered in the tavern when the sun set were open to his questions, as intrigued as they were to find an elf amongst them. When he explained that he was a scholar here to study the local dragon, though, their expressions would change. They did not turn dark and angry the way Adrissu would have expected, but they seemed uneasy—their eyes darting about, or their voices lowering as they answered. The consensus was that, yes, rumor and legend put the dragon to the north, but it had not been seen in the village for quite some time, maybe a century or more.
This did not explain their peculiar behavior, though, and for a moment Adrissu wondered if they had some strange dragon-worshiping cult or something equally outlandish—but when he was asking a group of three workers about the dragon, one man pulled a disgruntled face and muttered, “The mayor says dragons don’t exist.”
One of the others laughed and waved away the comment, and the third remained silent; this made everything click into place for Adrissu. If the humans had never actually seen the dragon for themselves, then maybe it was easier to believe that the creatures were simply the stuff of legend. If this mayor were vocal about his disbelief in dragons, then this would explain why those who had talked to him had seemed so secretive about the information they shared, which was all rather mundane and expected.
The man who had laughed off the comment about dragons not existing, though, advised Adrissu that he would be better off looking elsewhere for information.
“Instead, you should head to Wintergrove, which is to the west. It’s further from where the dragon lives—where it’srumoredto live—but since it’s a bigger city, a real city, they’ll probably have a lot more information for you there,” the man explained. His gaze was entirely too warm as he regarded Adrissu, though, so rather than ask what else he knew, Adrissu placed a gold coin on the table between them and stood up.
“Wintergrove,” Adrissu repeated as he stepped away. “I’ll have to look into it. The next round’s on me. Thank you.”
He had seen the city noted on the map, but hadn’t thought to visit since it was further from the red dragon’s rumored lair. But if it were large enough to have a library, or even just more people willing to discuss what they’d heard, it would be worth it. It was a good thing to know, really—Camfort Cliff smelled entirely of fish, and it became more unbearable the longer he was here. He stayed the night at the inn, then set out for Wintergrove in the morning.
Wintergrove was positively bustling compared to Camfort Cliff when he arrived, but it was certainly no Polimnos. There were a handful of taverns and inns, the sorts of places where rumors and local legends were easiest to discover. He scoped out a few and chose one that had a bulletin board advertising odd jobs for mercenaries and adventurers, figuring that this would be the place where he was most likely to find someone who knewsomethingabout the red dragon. He still got a few strange looks as an elf in a crowd of what seemed to be entirely humans, but at least there was no obvious distrust or hostility in anyone’s gaze this time.
This inn was large enough that there were two workers behind the bar: two men, one obviously older, perhaps the father of the younger man. He nodded at Adrissu as he approached, shooting him a friendly smile.
“Something to drink, sir?” he asked.
“I’d like to rent a room for the night,” Adrissu replied, and the man nodded.
“Sure, sure, let’s get that set up for you,” he said, pulling out a ledger. “Just one room, one night?”
“One room, probably one night,” Adrissu said. “I’m here on research, so it will depend on what I’m able to find out and how quickly. But let’s say one night for now.”
“Research, huh? What brings you to Wintergrove for research?” the man asked, still looking down at the ledger. His tone revealed only mild interest, more indulging in small talk than anything else.
“I’m a scholar,” Adrissu answered. “I’m studying dragons.”
The man’s scribbling paused for a moment as he glanced back up at Adrissu, a surprised expression flitting across his face before he finished writing. “Dragons? Don’t hear that every day. Well, there is one that lives to the northeast. Can’t say I’ve ever seen it up close, but it’s spotted flying by every once in a while.”
“You know of it?” Adrissu asked, feigning surprise. “Lucky for me, then. What have you heard about it?”
