“Any chance your general will leave promptly on another mission, and you’ll be in charge of questioning me?” Syla asked.
“Ihaven’t had much luck getting information out of you. It’s been the other way around. I’ve babbled more to you than I should have, due to my enrapturement.” He glanced at her chest before smiling at her.
“Your enrapturement with my boobs?”
“Withallof you, in truth, but they are especially fine.”
She was on her way to be interrogated in an enemy camp; she shouldn’t have been flattered and pleased by the statement. And yet…
“You’re fine too, Vorik,” she said softly.
“If that were true, I would be helping you escape, not delivering you to my people.”
And he wouldn’t have sunk her weapons platform.
“I agree,” she said.
Vorik sighed, brushed her cheek, and leaned forward as Agrevlari spread his wings to glide in for a landing on a beach tucked into a gap between the cliffs. Broken branches, driftwood, and pinecones littered the sand, and she guessed the same storm that had hit her islands recently had reached these shores.
A few seals lounging in the area scattered at the dragons’ approach, hurrying to escape into the water. From the head of the beach, a steep grassy slope stretched inland with an animal trail meandering upward until it drew level with the top of the bluff. From there, it disappeared into a forest of towering evergreen trees.
Jhiton and his black dragon had already landed, and he’d slid off to examine large footprints in the sand. Even though the high walls of the cliffs left the beach in shadow, Syla could makeout the marks well due to their depth and size. They hadn’t been left by the seals. Something large and heavy had visited recently, and, as Agrevlari alighted on the beach, she thought of books she’d read on the dangerous creatures that made Froha their home.
When the two blue dragons landed beside Agrevlari, who growled and nipped at one he must have felt was too close, Jhiton beckoned to the pair of riders. He didn’t look at Vorik or Syla, instead pointing his men toward the tracks.
“Not a kraken at least,” Vorik called to the general.
Judging by the baleful look that Jhiton gave him, he wasn’t in the mood for humor. Orwasit humor?
“Kraken?” Syla asked quietly.
“Let’s just say that the camp we’re visiting wasn’t ourfirstchoice.” Vorik winked, slid off Agrevlari’s back, and offered her a hand down.
She accepted it and landed in the sand, making note of their surroundings in case she had to come back to this spot for… she didn’t know what for. It wasn’t as if anyone would come to pick her up.
Wreylith? She sent the word out to sea, though they’d crossed hundreds of miles, and she doubted she had the power to communicate telepathically that far away. But wasn’t the krendala supposed to allow riders and dragons to speak from a much greater distance than typical? She always carried the little red figurine along with her these days.
I remain entrapped on this island,came Wreylith’s reply, her voice very soft but distinct enough to understand.
I’m sure you’re traumatized.
Dragons are born to be free, not caged.
How many bog bears have you joyously hunted down and eaten since I left?
Only two.
The stormers have brought me to the coast of Froha. Will you ask one of the Freeborn Faction dragons if they’ll come and retrieve me?Syla thought wistfully of the cheerful Igliana. She would be delighted if the orange dragon showed up.
One? How many stormer dragons are there?
I’m not sure. At least four.
It will take more thanoneFreedom Faction dragon to rescue you from so many. And there are probably more than you’ve seen.
Yes, but I intend to rescue myself. I’ll only need to be picked up.
She braced herself for Wreylith to reply that she was a puny human and could never escape a camp guarded by dragons. Or a camp guarded by humans for that matter.
