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Garelko’s hand shot out, grasping the creature by the snout. He stood and lifted the lizard, walking over to the door. ‘Duck for this damned thing? Not likely.’ Opening the door he flung the lizard out into the night. And then paused, staring out into the gloom.
‘Close that door, please,’ Raest said. ‘You’re scattering the embers here and these boots are almost new. Well, before they got soaked through.’
Garelko eased the door shut with a curiously gentle motion, and then, hunched over, made his way back to his chair. ‘Alas, Raest,’ he said, sighing as he sat. ‘It seems you have another guest.’
‘Is the lizard preparing to insist? No? Then who? I heard no knock.’
‘Good thing, too,’ Garelko said. ‘Sir, there is a dragon in your yard.’
Raest set his tankard down. ‘Only the wicked know peace.’ With a grunt he arose, gathering up a dusty, stained leather cloak that hung on a peg to one side of the door. That it had been hanging there for a long time was evinced by the stretched nipple that remained when he shrugged it on, riding his left shoulder. Tathenal turned away, hand covering the lower half of his face as he fought against an unseemly guffaw.
Garelko dared but a single glance at his fellow husband, lest he too burst loose in unholy mirth. Instead, he pushed his chair back and half stood. ‘Good sir, I will accompany you. Accosting a dragon seems perhaps dangerous. See how I am armoured and armed—’
Ravast added, ‘Do join dear Raest, then. We’ve seen off one dragon already, although that was mostly me and my axe in its foot. I leave this one to you, old goat. Tathenal is welcome to the next one.’ He reached for Garelko’s unwanted bowl of unwelcome mutton stew.
‘I require no armed escort,’ Raest said, now collecting a leather cap, such as might be worn beneath a helm, which he pulled on with some effort, only to remove it immediately, reaching into the cap and withdrawing what looked like a mouse’s nest of dry grasses. Emptied, the cap proved a better fit. Thus attired, the Jaghut opened the door once more and strode outside.
Garelko followed. ‘Good sir,’ he began, ‘about that other dragon—’
‘Kilmandaros has much to answer for,’ Raest cut in.
Before them, filling most of the clearing, the dragon stood upon its four squat limbs in a weary crouch, its tattered wings half cocked in the manner of an exhausted bird. Its massive head was turned and glittering eyes regarded them.
Frowning, Garelko said to Raest, ‘Sir, you take in vain the name of our sweet if fictional goddess mother.’
‘Oh, she’s real enough, Thel Akai. She’s never liked dragons, you see, and it seems some of her prejudice now infuses her wayward children. You may well be in the habit of attacking them, but not here and not now. So listen well. Draw not that weapon. Make no threat. Be gentle in your regard – well, as gentle as that face of yours can manage. As for the conversation, leave that to me.’
‘Conversation? Sir, with this wind I can barely hear you as it is.’
‘Not with you, idiot. With the dragon.’
‘I will delight in being the first Thel Akai to hear the slithery speech of a dragon, then!’
‘You will hear her or not. The choice belongs to her, not you.’
‘A female then! How can you tell?’
‘Simple. She’s bigger.’ With that, Raest strode forward, Garelko falling in a step behind the Jaghut. They halted no more than five or six paces from the creature’s snout. The dragon had lowered her head to bring it level with Raest. Rain streamed down the scales, the occasional flash of lightning sending reflected light shimmering across the pebbled hide.
When the dragon spoke, her voice filled Garelko’s skull, cool and sweet. ‘A Jaghut and a Thel Akai. Yet not at each other’s throats, from which I conclude that you have but just met, with the night still young.’
‘You are of course welcome,’ said Raest out loud, ‘to wait out this storm in the faint shelter of my glade. Once the storm is past, however, I expect you to continue on to wherever it is you’re going. It’s not that I don’t like dragons, you understand. Rather, I prefer solitude.’
‘Of course you do, Jaghut. What then of this Thel Akai?’
‘Gone in the morning as well. This one and his fellows still in the cabin.’
‘I found a slain brother, higher upon the trail.’
Garelko cleared his throat. ‘Alas, he surprised us.’
In that instant, the dragon’s gaze acquired sharp intensity, fixing solely upon Garelko. ‘Do you fear me vengeful, Thel Akai?’
Garelko blinked water from his eyes. ‘Fear?’
Raest said, ‘Thel Akai haven’t the wits to be frightened. That said, I’ll have no fighting in my damned yard, is that understood?’
‘You are Jaghut. I am of no mind to challenge your temper. I am Sorrit, sister to Dalk, who now lies dead beside a lake, slain by Thel Akai. This realm proves dangerous.’
