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“Come on, have some fun now, we’ll head out again soon.”
“If she warns them, we won’t be able to get close.”
“Doesn’t matter, we can pick off their patrols and bring them back for the stable.”
Marli tripped, spilling the drink, making a show of swiping the liquor off her arm and chest, drawing his eyes.
Glancing up, seeing his attention on her, she winked and tipped her head, “Shame to waste good liquor.” She pouted.
His gaze slid down her form, he started to move forward. She glanced up toward the resort and made like she saw someone she knew, waving. She threw him a smile and trotted up the sand maintaining proximity to the group of women.
Shit.
What the hell was she going to do now? If she flew back, they’d catch her scent and just follow her.
If she didn’t, the island would be ignorant of their coming.
Marli needed to get help, and she prayed she would be in time.
Chapter 8
Kymri walked out of the council room, growls rumbling in her chest.
She’d presented the reports showing sparse activity in the region. Red’s pirate ship had been spotted before the storm, but otherwise was absent from the boundary region. The cruise ships were maintaining their sail routes parallel to their borders staying well outside the periphery, as were air vehicles. The US military were still sending out their planes, and they too were respecting the magnetic boundary, having learned the expensive lesson of losing their planes—to both navigation failure and dragon deflection—when they didn’t.
The only trespasser was Jori, who’d drifted into their territory on his little plane. They’d kept an eye on him regularly, documenting visible activities and she had gone to assess him herself.
The queen had been on the throne, in its position on the dais behind the gathered Council. Her personal guard surrounded her.
Kymri’s mother was at the queen’s side.
The questions began. Why did you push his plane to safety rather than eliminate him immediately? Why didn’t you leave him to his fate on the ocean, he may have drifted out again on his own?
“Council, it’s been many, many years since we’ve had a drifter. And despite the sensitivity around the queen’s safety since the last attack we defended against, I thought it prudent not to unnecessarily destroy a citizen of our neighboring nation. For the sake of peace, we would expect that had one of our citizens drifted into their territory they would not be destroyed.”
“No, they’d lock her up indefinitely.” One of the councillors muttered.
“That may be, in current conditions, Madam Councillor, but not all of their regimes have been so barbaric. And in light of the hard work that Queen and Council have done to form political bonds, I thought it best to maintain a stance of neighborly compassion until the situation had been thoroughly assessed.”
“And now that you’ve had personal contact, what have you assessed the threat level to be, Kymri Steelscale?”
“As my reports state, the drifter is a lone male of prime age from the continent. His navigation and communication equipment failed when he passed through the barrier and became stranded. He carries recording and documentation equipment for his travels.”
“What is the subject of his documentation?”
“Us.”
Murmurs rippled through the gathered dragons.
“He and his equipment need to be destroyed.”
There were several other outbursts before Madam Councillor gained control of the gathering. “Continue your report, guardian commander.” Her voice had gone hard, signaling Kymri’s fragile standing.
“The equipment is non-functional and the batteries that power them have been destroyed.”
“She should have destroyed all of it,” another councillor said.
“I did not see the point in destroying the man’s livelihood altogether, the intention was to send him on his way back to the continent.”
