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“I do not know for certain,” the other dragon responded gravely. “But I sensed it from above, and when I investigated, I discovered this creature in the water. It had the tail of a giant fish, and emanated power. Even worse, its magic enabled it to enter our realm unaided. I very much fear it is the power that was sensed at the human ceremony. I have called the elders. They will wish to examine it.”
“Examine it?” The other dragon’s tail flicked angrily, scoring a deep groove in the grassy ground. “You know the law. They will wish to destroy it.”
“I expect so,” the first dragon agreed unemotionally.
“Wait.” Merletta struggled to her feet, fear lancing through her. “Please, don’t kill me. I don’t mean anyone any harm. I came to speak with Rekavidur, that’s all. But if it was wrong of me to come, I’m sorry. I’ll gladly leave.”
“What is this?” The angrier of the dragons ignored her words completely, seeming to actually look at her for the first time. “I thought you said the creature had the tail of a giant fish. I assumed you referred to one of the abominations from the deep, escaped from the elders’ purge.”
“That is what I assumed also,” agreed the first dragon.
Merletta could feel her body shaking, her mind grappling with the terrible truth she was hearing. Purge? Was it true, then? Had the dragons really tried to annihilate merpeople, as the Center had always claimed? But why? When they had co-existed so peacefully with humans for so long?
“By what devilry has such a creature now acquired legs like a human’s?” the newly arrived dragon demanded.
“That I cannot answer,” said the first dragon. “I thought perhaps an exception should be made to the law, to allow the opportunity for it to be examined, and answers to be found.”
“There are no exceptions to the law,” growled the other dragon. “Abominations must be destroyed. I know it seems human, but you can feel the strange power that clings to it. It is no mercy to prolong its suffering when its death is assured. If you do not have the resolution to do what you must, then I will.”
The dragon turned toward Merletta, opening its jaws. She could see a red glow in its throat, and heat washed over her, heralding something much worse to come.
“Please!” she cried. “Give me a chance to—”
Her words were lost, not in dragon flame, but in a crunching crash as an enormous body hurtled out of the sky and collided with the attacking dragon. Merletta fell back onto the grass, her eyes wide as she took in the newcomer.
It was larger than the other two dragons present, and much larger than Rekavidur. Its scales were not as bright as his yellow ones, but they still glimmered with clear purple, blue, and green. Flames poured from his mouth, but they were not directed at Merletta. They engulfed the other dragon, who emerged from them unscathed, but clearly irked. Apparently their only purpose had been to express the larger dragon’s displeasure.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Do not interfere, Elddreki,” said his companion in irritation. “Your love for the humans has made you soft, but this is no human. You must sense the magic that hangs around her. Were you not at the ceremony yourself? This is one of the creatures who was present!”
“So I’ve heard,” the dragon called Elddreki barked. “I also heard she claims she is here in search of my son!”
“Rekavidur has enough to answer for already,” interjected the dragon who had carried Merletta. “Bringing an abomination into our very realm only makes his conduct worse.”
“He didn’t bring me here,” Merletta cut in. She had to almost shout to be heard. “I came looking for him. He didn’t know I was coming.”
Elddreki turned his yellow eyes on her, the expression on his reptilian face impossible to read. For a long moment he stared at her, then he glanced at the other two dragons.
“If she is, as the elders suspect, an abomination from the deep, how is it that she has legs?”
Neither of them answered him, and his eyes narrowed as they returned to Merletta. Whatever their belief about Merletta’s origins, something about her appearance clearly didn’t add up with their expectations.
“How do you know my son?” the dragon asked her, his voice quieter now.
“Heath,” she managed, through dry lips. “Heath brought us together.”
“What are you?” Elddreki demanded.
“I’m…” Merletta hesitated, unsure what answer would make them less likely to kill her. “I’m Merletta.”
“I don’t want to know its name,” said the angry dragon impatiently. “Do not attempt to make a pet of it, Elddreki. You see what harm has already come of your fondness for the humans.”
“Conflict and change are not harm,” said Elddreki shortly. “They are necessary, and only as good or as evil as the manner in which they are handled.” He glared at the other dragon. “I have seen things you have not. It would not be the first time a dragon offered violence to an innocent human on the mistaken belief it was an abomination.”
He turned back to Merletta. “Where do you come from, Merletta?”
“Yes,” agreed the dragon who had plucked Merletta from the water. He sounded pleased. “That is information worth discovering before she is destroyed.”
