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“More of an enthusiastic admirer. Are you a good flier?”
“I’ve won time trials, and the longer the distance, the faster I do.”
“Great Queen,” DharSii whispered.
“Great Queen,” AuRon added.
“No scale to weigh you down.”
“You are perceptive, Great Queen.”
“Perhap it’s the lack of scale, but you look starved. We can see your ribs. We shall have food sent to you.”
“Thank you, Great Queen,” the dragons said, together.
The Red Queen laughed. “We should like to hear you sing, like two birds. We shall do you justice, AuRon from the north. Ghioz is always ready for a new friend. Let us forget Hischhein and that rebel Naf the Dome-burner.”
“Perhaps. As long as the debts of Ghioz are not forgotten along with the names.”
The Queen’s mask at the end of the handle spun and spun again, as though she were deciding whether to show the smiling or frowning face. It ended up smiling.
“Look for us on the morrow. Perhaps we can fulfill more than our counselors promised. DharSii, are you back for the season?”
“No, Great Queen. I came only to accompany AuRon.”
“Then we wish you a good journey again.”
DharSii thanked her and bowed again.
The Red Queen, business done, turned and ascended to her chariot.
Food arrived, though the Queen gave no sign of having called for it. Blighters brought them each a skinned sheep in a barrow.
“What do you think?” DharSii asked, after they’d eaten.
“Different,” AuRon said, wondering how much honesty he could afford.
“Do not cross her, if you know what’s good for you. She doesn’t forget her friends or her enemies.”
“I am allowed to say no to serving her, I hope.”
“I did,” DharSii said. He looked to the east and took a deep breath. Then he opened his wings.
The expected jump-beat didn’t come. DharSii turned back to AuRon.
“If I have kept things from you, it’s because I heard your name and respect your deeds. I did not want us to be enemies. I hope you understand that once I have given my word, I could no more break it than I could divide myself to fly both north and south.”
“If you’ve brought me here on false—”
“Oh, you’ll have your gold. Fairwinds, AuRon. I hope we meet again.”
With that, he flew away.
Chapter 9
The Copper watched the demen move almost as one from point to point beneath the west tumble—a sort of pile of rocks at the base of the Imperial Rock.
Gigrix, the general of the demen, had “exercised” his troops to keep them from fighting amongst themselves in their idleness. The Copper had taken to watching the exercises with Gigrix when he saw them moving around within their allotted space beneath the loom of the Imperial Rock and took to asking questions—for example, why so many of the evolutions required the soldiers leaping over each other’s backs, the lower helping the upper to vault higher and farther.
