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“We have all the—”
“I’m going back to the island. I’ll come back if I can. If I don’t, it means I’m dead. Do what you think is best.”
“NooShoahk, what is this?”
“I’m sorry, my friend. This was all an excuse to get you off the island. I didn’t want you to be a part of what is coming. I’ve been false with you. About unimportant things. In other matters I’ve been true, and always will be. Thank you for what you’ve done for me.”
AuRon raised his wings, and in a single jump and a mighty beat was aloft.
“Are you mad?” Varl shouted.
AuRon made a final loop over the confused barbarian, feeling for the dwarsaw tucked tightly within his ear. “Yes. The question is, am I mad enough?”
Chapter 27
AuRon flew faster than even he had at the trials. He wished to return to the island before Shadowcatch arose from his slumbers.
He landed in the cave, and did not stop to speak to any of the keepers as he hurried to the caves of the breeding stock. When he stood at the gap that led to the breeding stock’s chambers, he concentrated on repeating the trick he had been practicing the night before. He watched his scales change over from gray to the dull black that matched the stripes descending his back.
From deep within his own cave, he heard voices.
“Well, did he say anything about when he would return?” Eliam rasped.
“Fishing with Varl was all I heard,” someone answered, probably the Dragonguard Rand, who was on duty when AuRon rose.
“He’s playing us false,” a dragon’s voice said in the clipped tones of a trap snapping shut. Starlight’s.
There was silence for a moment. Then Eliam Dragonblade spoke. “We’ll wait till he returns then. If we go after him outside, unless fortune hands him over, he’ll just outfly us. He’s that fast.”
AuRon ignored it, and puffed himself up as best he could, filling his long lungs with air to make himself appear larger, and slunk down Shadowcatch’s tunnel.
The dragon slumbered in his alcove. He was younger than AuRon, but had grown a little larger on the rich meals of the Wyrmmaster. AuRon padded by at his most silent, not even breathing. The smell of another male so close put fire in his veins and chest, just what he needed for the day’s work. He made his way to the gate at the dragonelle’s cavern. Shadowcatch’s nostrils twitched, and his lips peeled back in his sleep to expose sharp yellowed teeth.
A sleepy Dragonguard stood up when AuRon came to the gate. AuRon stumbled and knocked the tallow-light from the wall with a folded wing. Only a single light from farther up the cave illuminated the open gate. AuRon snarled.
“No matter, sir, I’ll relight it.”
AuRon hurried past in the dark. He wondered how long he had before the ruse was unmasked.
He entered the dragonelle’s cave. A new dragonelle, with freshly uncased wings, lay on Nereeza’s perch, but otherwise all was the same. Two of the dragonelles lay encircled around fresh clutches of eggs and a third, Alhala, lay swollen and panting, ready to clutch.
“This ends today,” he said with his mind.
“Hurry, AuRon!” Natasatch thought. “They’ll be here to gather the eggs soon.”
The dragonelles stirred. He felt their confusion.
“I won’t end up like Nereeza!” Ouistrela growled, using her voice rather than her mind.
“What do you mean by AuRon? It’s NooShoahk, isn’t it?” thought the one who had teased him before. “That is Shadowcatch’s tunnel. What—?”
“No time to explain,” AuRon said, moving to Ouistrela’s ledge. “But your eggs are never going to be taken from you again.”
There was only one dwarsaw, and AuRon had to go about the job carefully. He’d only done six dragonelles when he heard voices from the gate. He scrambled up to the ceiling and clung upside down in the shadows, just as Father used to hide when he was on guard. His skin turned a mottled gray and black to match the vaulted cavern roof.
“Yes, two laid during the night. There may be three clutches by now,” the guard said. “Shadowcatch is in there.”
“You’ve been napping on duty again, Rov,” someone laughed. “Shadowcatch still sleeps off his wine in his chamber.”
