AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know her at all. She was gone long before I arrived at the Lavadome. She’s a terrible fighter in the air, I can attest to that.”
The Copper lowered his voice. “What was AuRon playing at, inviting her? The little rat tail. He’s up to something, I feel it. By stepping away from his feeding pit, it makes me the loser. I should have held my tongue and just pretended she wasn’t there.”
“AuRon’s new to all these customs too. He mentioned something about her helping them gather enough bullocks to feast the dragons. He and his mate didn’t want to be embarrassed in his first official meeting with his Tyr.”
Her brother looked at her with such astonishment. Wistala suddenly realized that she’d overheard his thoughts. Dragons could only read each other’s minds after long acquaintance, though family members could usually pick up on much of what their shared blood was thinking.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break in on your thoughts,” Wistala said. She felt his mind dissipate and retreat from hers like water steaming off hot iron.
“I’ll have to be more careful around you,” the Copper said.
“I sometimes think the only reason I survived my youth in the Lavadome was because no one knew my mind well enough to sense what I was thinking.”
“Would you like to talk about AuRon? You don’t fear he’s plotting against you, I hope. I know him, he’s an admirable dragon.”
“No. If I fall, it won’t be because he planned it. More likely he’ll knock the arm of the bowman so the arrow misses its intended target and brings me down. He’s lucky. Luck’s always favored him.”
“But he’s no Tyr of Two Worlds,” Wistala said.
“Thank you, Wistala.”
AuRon, still at the feast, listened to the chatter of the females. Most were discussing Imfamnia, either her insulting presence or her elegant appearance.
“Look at her scale tips, they’re almond-shaped. Aren’t they lovely? Simple and classic.”
“I thought scallops were in this year? In honor of the victory in Swayport.”
“Scallops? Too much work and it makes you look chicken-feathered. No, a simple almond shape is the style, in my opinion. It draws the eyes up to the face and wing and tail tip.”
“I’m going to speak to my thralls as soon as I get back to the Lavadome,” the mate of one of the Aerial Host said. “Almond shapes from nose to tail. I don’t care if I have to sit in the hygiene trench for a full light and a dark.”
The last platters of meat were emptied and NiVom brought up his special dessert, brandied brains in a buttery sauce.
“That’s a lot of brains,” Istach said.
“Where did you get all those brains?” AuRon asked. “Cattle?”
Imfamnia tilted her head. “Cattle brains? That’s thrall-feed. Those are hominid brains.”
“Where did you get such a supply?” he asked.
Imfamnia scratched herself behind the ear. “Oh, criminals in Ghioz were some. There weren’t quite enough, though, so some of the border soldiers raided the blighters to the east with NiVom. He terrorized them into surrender and our soldiers had their heads off in no time. What’s the matter, AuRon? You look like you’re going to faint. Blighters have big heads; they’re always valued for their brains.”
Chapter 6
The Copper flew through the still air of the Lavadome, his Griffaran Guard to either side. It felt odd to fly underground without air currents to fight or take advantage of. To think, for generations there were dragons who only flew in this still, uninteresting air.
Once you’re used to the air and space above the ocean or mountains, the whirling patterns of stars and the slow courses and phases of the moon, the Lavadome wasn’t quite as spectacular as it once seemed.
But still colorful. The Copper never tired of the streams of hot liquid Earth running down the unbreakable crystal skin of the Lavadome. Though the crystal mysteriously conducted away most of the heat, enough remained that the heart of his Dragon Empire remained comfortably warm, at least to dragon sensibilities, and ideal for dozing.
It echoed rather more these days. There were fewer dragon roars from hill to hill as neighbors tossed challenges and invitations back and forth.
It wasn’t war, disease, or famine that had emptied the Lavadome, though each had taken their toll during his reign as Tyr. Rather, it was the dragons’ success in the Upper World.
The Grand Alliance meant that almost every dragon of the Lavadome could live and bask in the sun if they wished. There was plenty to do in helping their Hypatian allies manage their affairs. If nothing else, dragons made sending messages back and forth between the provinces much easier. A nation that had been fragmenting was coming back together thanks to the dragons, the way laces and buttons joined the garments humans wore over their weirdly upright frames and kept them from falling off.
But some of the changes were for the better. Imperial Rock, long the towering resort of the ruling family and highly placed dragons, was now ringed by two layers of garden. Where once there had been training fields for the Drakwatch and Fire-maids, now there was a mixture of fungi and low-light ferns that could survive on the ample light, but no direct sun, that came in through the oval top of the Lavadome where crystal met air in the great volcano crater that surrounded their hidden home.
