“Even then. I’ll make sure no one questions your right to wear them.”
“Thank you. I promise not to poke you with them.”
“What if I irk you?” he asked with a soft laugh as he urged me closer to the carriage.
“Behave and you won't find out.”
His laughter burst out again, and a few people stopped and looked our way, a few shaking their heads before returning to what they were doing.
My smile joined with his. He really was an appealing man. I could love him much too easily.
We stopped beside the carriage, and I studied the creature pulling it.
When you regularly worked with dragons who stood as tall as a two- to three-story building, very few creatures could intimidate you. The dregs we’d battled had been vicious, with long claws and fangs. And they were relentless, even crawling across the ground to reach you after they’d been wounded, trailing their spilled guts behind them in thick strands.
This creature . . . I wasn’t sure how to describe it. Its appearance was easy. Four legs and shaped much like a horse, though larger and with a spiked tail rather than one of hair. A long neck, skinnier than a horse’s, and three long claws on its feet in place of hooves.
Tall, its front shoulder reached above the top of my head, and it was at least twice as broad as a horse. Not that I’d had much interaction with horses, but the villagers had used them to pull wagons and till their fields. Some rode them. I’d seen them in passing on the streets, and they’d appeared to be placid things.
Not this beast who looked like it could challenge a youngling dragon and win if the dragon hadn’t yet learned to blast fire.
Even Farris knew to be wary. He leaned against the back of my skirt, peering past me at the creature.
Its scaly hide shimmered like polished bronze, and long, curled horns in a lighter burnished copper jutted up from its forehead, curving around to thrust forward, each ending in a deadly point. Ears at the base of the horns flicked back and forth and its dark brown eyes took in the world around us with surprising intelligence.
Horns like those could end a life with one stab. Then the creature could lift them with its thickly muscled neck and toss them into the air. By the time they landed, the beast would be upon them, slashing at their hide with the forearm long claws. If that didn’t finish off their prey, the long, sinewy whip of a tail with a triangular spike on the tip would do it.
Its horse-like snout and muzzle extended down to lips peeling back in a yawn to reveal finger-long fangs. Wisps of vapor escaped its nostrils.
“Can it breathe fire?” I asked as we stopped beside the carriage, Farris pressing between us to hide.
“Only a hot mist that burns,” Merrick said.
Essentially the same thing if it would blister or singe the skin off its victim.
The beast shifted, its muscles rippling beneath its hide, and it turned its head to look our way, its gaze passing Merrick to lock on me. It studied me with a cunning that told me this beast would be a formidable foe.
“Can you speak with it?” I asked.
He shook his head. “We don’t speak with any creatures here.”
Unlike Tempest, my beast master friend, but I’d save that tidbit of information for another time.
“Who will drive it?” No one stood nearby, ready to climb into the front of the carriage and pick up the reins.
“I’ll send the zephyl directions.”
A zephyl, huh? “You’ll send it directions in your mind?”
“With my hands. It’s been well-trained.”
“Like our dragons.”
“I hope to learn more about dragons from you. We use them for long-distance travel. In the past, our aeries were full of them ready to carry us into battle, though we have so few left, most people have stopped working with them. Now, only a couple of older ones remain.” He lifted Farris into the carriage and then me, and I sank into the plush, pale gray cushion with Farris slumping onto his belly on the polished floor by my feet. The carriage itself appeared simple and unadorned, but maybe Merrick didn’t like drawing too much attention or appearing ostentatious when he rode among his people.
Once Merrick had settled beside me, he made a series of hand gestures, and the beast started walking, its claws clickingon the cobblestones as it pulled the carriage around to head through the gates.
I peered around. “Your city is beautiful.”
