“And with the state you’re in, you’re not going to be ready to fly out in the morning to search for Fern,” he replied.
As if to confirm the lieutenant’s poor opinion of us, Dain slumped forward, the sound of his snores filling the room.
“I’m fine to fly…” Kael said, trying to put the tankard back down again, but it dropped and veered before smashing against the tabletop. Lance’s eyes narrowed further, which forced me to pipe up.
“We’ll be there when Fern needs us.” I held his gaze steadily. “Just like we were today. Where were you, lieutenant?”
The red spots that formed in Lance’s cheeks? Yeah, they were everything I needed. His jaw muscles worked right before he shot me a terse nod.
“I’ll be there, bright and early tomorrow morning, ready to fly out,” he replied stiffly.
“On what dragon?” Kael said, looking at me, then the two of us burst out laughing. Even Dain lifted his head for a second, looked around blindly then slumped back on the table, which just made us laugh harder.
Lance apparently couldn’t take a joke. He just stared at us stonily, waiting for us to stop, which took Kael far longer than me. He kept on snorting, repeating what he said to himself, then started sniggering again, but finally the need for more beer stopped him.
“Drink…” Kael tossed the remains of the general’s purse on the desk. “Need a–”
“Big glass of water.” I was the most sober, so I rose to my feet. “I’m getting one for those two. Should I get another?”
Lance didn’t want to say yes. I could see it in the set of his shoulders, the way his forehead was creased, but people surprised me all the time and he did just then, nodding finally. Leaving my brothers with the lieutenant felt like a risk, but it didn’t stand up to scrutiny. What could he do? With no dragon, he was just another man and I’d had plenty of experience with them. I grabbed some drinks from the bar, asking the man serving to splash a bit of beer in Kael’s water. It’d have him drinking it down without thought, hopefully saving him from a killer headache tomorrow. I placed the mugs on the table, pushing one towards Dain, but my brother was deep in sleep. Lance shot me a nod of thanks, drinking down a mouthful, before turning to the table.
“Viridian will be back, perhaps with Auren and Fern with him,” Lance said. That had me straightening up and the mocking smile fading from Kael’s face. “If he doesn’t return with them, he’ll help me find them.” His mug was set on the table. “When I do, I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure the aberration of today is never repeated.”
For a moment, I thought he saw it. The fact that there was no way for Fern and Auren to remain in Wyrmpeak, not the way things stood currently. Male dragons stopping themselves from trying to impress a female?
Pointless,‘Fang informed me.She belongs to us.
They don’t know that, though, I replied.All they see is a young female. Pretty? Was that a word dragons used to describe females?
Beautiful, ‘Fang corrected.Shines as bright as the sun.Glorious as a mound of freshly minted coins. Would Auren like a massive pile of gold?Gods, my dragon’s mind moved as fast as his body did when flying through the sky.That stupid man gave you money. He must have more. You could steal them–
Let’s make sure that’s what Auren wants before we commit grand larceny, I said.
“Won’t need to do that.” Kael peered at Lance owlishly as he raised his mug. “That plump little arse will be sitting in my saddle going forward.” His hands moved as he placed an imaginary Fern on his lap, which had the lieutenant frowning. “No need to learn how to ride when I’ll take her everywhere she wants to go.”
“Before or after she slaps you stupid?”
I didn’t usually mouth off like that to my brothers when others were around. Probably because Lance sprayed a mouthful of water across the table, right as Kael growled at me. Apparently it broke the tension, because after Lance mopped up the mess, he turned to the two of us.
“Seems like we all want the same thing here. I don’t like you.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “And I think you’re a stuck up prick with a stick jammed so far up his arse its a wonder you can sit down.”
“Right, well, after today…” Lance glanced at me then Dain. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep Fern safe, and if that’s forming a temporary alliance....”
Leaving the keep and doing a tour of some of the local taverns, I expected a lot of things, but not the lieutenant sliding his hand across the table for us to take. For a moment I just stared, right as Kael snorted rudely.
“Why the hell would we need an alliance with the likes of you?” he said, but before Lance could answer, I cut in.
“Someone we can trust…” I glanced at the other man. “Well, sort of. An officer can go places a cadet can’t. Pretty sure the general wants to put our dragons down like dogs. Getting us information on what’s being discussed behind closed doors, that’d be useful.”
“What the hell can the general do to our beasts?” Kael scoffed. “One spray of Slate’s breath and he’d have the fleshmelting from the bones of all those Royal Riders’ mounts in seconds.”
The tension around Lance’s mouth made clear I was onto something. His teeth ground together, but with conscious effort he relaxed his jaw.
“Well in the spirit of friendship, I’ll say this.” A nod my way. “Lorien has it right.”
“Yes…” I hissed.
