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The man took off his helmet and said something in return.
“He’s being polite,” she said.
And there the conversation sputtered and died out. The man spoke to his mount, and the dragon said, in a rather thick accent: “We have come to bring peace.”
“That’s good. I hope you may also go in peace.”
The dragon translated for the hag-rider. The man responded, through his dragon: “We seek allies in a great war. A war that unites dragon and man against their common enemy.”
Hawks and mice uniting against the dogs and cats! The Copper didn’t know what to make of it, but he was in the Imperial line and needed to answer well.
“If you are so united,” the Copper said, “why do you need to speak the man’s words? Why do you fly tied head and wing tip to the man? Answer me that, and don’t bother saying anything to him.”
The bronze looked nonplussed.
“I tell the man that, and he will be angry,” the bronze said.
“All the more reason not to translate it.”
The hag-rider yapped something.
“That was a ‘What?’” Halaflora said.
The Copper smelled Nilrasha lurking somewhere. He suspected she was slipping around the side of the palace, next to the stairs.
“It is a great war,” the bronze said. “We win battles.”
“I’m happy for you, then. I’ll welcome any dragon who wishes to come in friendship, parley, and leave in peace. Leave your men at home, though. It’s bad manners to bring armed men into a free dragon’s home.”
The dragon said something to the man, but it didn’t take long. The Copper suspected much of the wordplay had been lost. He hoped the meaning remained.
The man showed his teeth and raised his hand to his chin. He gave a twist of his hand, as though fixing his faceplate.
“We may return,” the dragon said.
“Yes, I think that was it,” Halaflora added.
The man climbed back up onto the bronze and took up the reins. He prodded the bronze with his pointy boots, and the hag-ridden dragon flapped up into the clean blue sky.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Nilrasha said, looking up. “The creature’s riding him like a horse.”
“If that’s the great alliance, I think we should have no part of it,” Halaflora said. “I’d sooner trust a dwarf.”
That night the three of them talked the matter over across the feasting floor.
Nilrasha tore into her meal of kern-fattened pig, tearing off lusty bits and swallowing them, while Halaflora ate in her usual dainty style due to her trouble swallowing.
They presented a pretty contrast, the Copper thought. But he couldn’t consider aesthetics.
“I think we’ll have to tell Tyr SiDrakkon. This is a matter for him.”
No one objected to the compound name, a serious insult had they been back at the Rock. At least in that respect, all three were alike.
“I’m going to send word through the bats. I’m afraid it will get confused, so I’ll follow to answer questions,” the Copper said.
“What if the rider comes back? Shouldn’t you be here?” Nilrasha asked.
“I’m not even sure I’m the Upholder. The FeLissaraths have moved to their lodge cave, but they still attend all the Anaean ceremonies, preside over them, in fact.”
