The young are so easily impressed,Wreylith said, flying inland. They were on the far side of the island from the city and the palace.
On the way here, we discussed that Igliana is pleasantly encouraging.Syla lifted a hand toward the orange dragon, disappointed that there was no way for her to fly to the island to help. Syla would need all the help she could get against the stormers.
Easily impressed,Wreylith repeated. It seemed she had no interest in being encouraging.Your enemy pronged her sword into the roof of my mouth.
Oh!Syla had been so distracted by her own problems that she’d forgotten.Let me see if I can heal the wound for you while we’re flying.
Mighty dragons do not need the assistance of puny human healers.
Certainly not. I’ll get started right away.
Do so.
Fortunately, the magic of dragons helped them to heal quickly from most wounds, and it didn’t take long for Syla to send tendrils of power through Wreylith’s body and to the roof of her great maw. She knitted bone and flesh back together as they flew inland.
You might want to refrain from breathing fire for a while,she advised.I imagine that would irritate a wound.
Thus I discovered. In the aftermath, I almost wished for one of your foul slimy concoctions.
You mean my soothing salves.
Slimy.
Since Syla didn’t want to apply a salve, slimy or otherwise, to the roof of a dragon’s mouth, she didn’t argue further on the merits of her medicines. By the time Wreylith flew over Prominence Hill, Syla had finished her task, trusting nature—and the dragon’s inherent magic—would ensure she would soon be able to breathe fire again without trouble.
Before heading to the capital, Syla had Wreylith circle the hill so she could study the bogs, lakes, and forests below. She’d seen maps and once traveled to the salt mine via a road that led up its slopes, but she’d never seen the area from above and tried to conjure tactical thoughts.
Lake Talindar took up a large portion of the flat, forested top of the hill, and several fishing boats had dared to venture out after the storm. A half mile from the body of water, a couple of wooden buildings marked the mine entrance, one holding a lift cage that descended into the earth. Rail tracks led from the double doors of that building and followed the road as it meandered down the hill.
The ground-level portion of the operation was unassuming, especially considering it had existed and been in continuous use for centuries, but Syla knew from her previous visit that the mine was anything but. With multiple levels spread over hundreds of vertical feet, each level dozens of feet high, any one of them could have held an entire army. What if that was what the stormers brought? Great armies that would march through the forests and bogs to the top of the hill where they could force their way into the mine? Only a handful of people could go down via the lift cage at a time, but even small numbers of stormers were challenging opponents, especially if riders were among them. Even their ground troops, the Storm Guard, were better warriors than most Kingdom soldiers.
“We’ll have to start sending people to the mine right away,” Syla murmured to herself. “It’ll take time for our troops to descend too. Though I suppose we could plant soldiers all around the mine entrance and try to keep the stormers out.”
Hypothetically, that might work. The Bogberry natives ought to be able to summon more people than the stormers could bring by ship, but she couldn’t help thinking of the amazing powerand athleticism of the riders and worry that greater numbers wouldn’t be enough.
As they flew along the main road heading to the coast, they spotted wagons carrying uniformed troops. Other men were on foot searching the bogs and forests.
At first, Syla thought they might have somehow learned the stormers would be after the artifact and were preparing, but not many wagons were heading toward Lake Talindar. They were spread out all over the place, as if they were searching the island for something.
Or… someone?
Unease crept into Syla.
“Will you take me to the ship or wherever Aunt Tibby is, please, Wreylith? I think we’re going to need booby-traps. If not an engineering miracle.”
After Syla spoke, she realized she didn’t know if Tibby was safe. Vorik had said he’d helped her to shore, but what had happened after that? What ifshewas who the troops were searching for? The fleet ships had been sinking and in flames when Vorik had stolen Syla away, and she’d been so preoccupied with her own fate since then that she hadn’t thought to worry about her aunt. And what of Lord Oyenar and Lady Abrya and the palace? Lesva, she feared, had survived the battle and probably gathered her troops to try again to reach them.
“IsAunt Tibby all right? Do you know?”
The last time I flew over the city, she was on the remains of the docks with your bodyguard and local humans, directing the bringing of lifting equipment. Only the mast of the vessel you rode here is visible above the surface of the river. It and the weapons platform are underwater, sunk to the bottom.
Syla had suspected that and assumed they wouldn’t have a way to use the gods’ weapon to keep stormers out of the mine, but she groaned anyway.
“Vorik, why couldn’t you have kidnapped mewithoutsinking my ship?” She had little doubt that he’d deliberately chosen that target. After all, he’d been trying to destroy the weapons platform earlier. He might even have known she would come if he lit her ship on fire. “I need to end the relationship I never should have had with him, don’t I, Wreylith?”
You find him a stimulating sexual partner.
“Yeah, I enjoy our encounters way too much, and it’s not only sex. It’s… he’s…” Syla huffed out a frustrated breath as they flew closer to the city. “He’s my enemy, and I don’t think that’s going to change. He’s too loyal to his people and his brother. I understand that, but it’s why we can’t be a we. I never should have allowed myself to fall for him.”
