Ragna hissed at her sister. “You deserve it, and I didn’t meanyou. That dragon slayer moron you found who pissed himself when he saw you the first time. Where did he and that imp of his go?”
“Oh...” Reva paused to consider it. “I don’t know. I suppose they headed home? If they’d stayed here, they would have been eaten. If not by one of us, then a gryphon or wyvern.”
“You’re useless! Why didn’t you keep an eye on the human and imp until they left?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Ragna. You didn’t tell me to keep an eye on them. How was I supposed to know you’d want them later?”
Ragna let out an angry burst of flames. “Fine. You go after that idiot dragon slayer and his companion. See if you can find Davin’s skull so that we can get in tight with Marla again and finish this, and I’ll go find Tanis.”
“What are you going to do with her when you find her?”
“Depends.”
“On?”
Ragna examined her dew claw and how sharp it was. “How much trouble she gives me.”
Reva understood that threat and was glad she wasn’t the one Ragna was angry at. “What about Father? What do we tell him?”
Ragna paused as if to consider options. “Leave him to me. I’ll deal with it. You worry about the human and imp.”
“If I can’t find them?”
Ragna gave her a cold, piercing glare. “Then don’t come home.”
Just after thesun had set, Dash found them a comfortable spot to camp for the night. Tanis slid from his saddle in a way that left him cursing everything, especially his life and, in particular, the stupidity of making deals with dragons.
She laughed at the latter one as he groused about it.
He conjured her a bedroll and a few supplies before he headed off into the woods alone.
“Is he all right?” Tanis asked Halla.
“I’m sure he just needs a few minutes to attend his needs.” Halla wagged her brows to convey a meaning Tanis didn’t want to think about.
The hobgoblin was incorrigible.
“You didn’t have to go there, you know.” Tanis set about laying her bedding on the ground while Halla piled up rocks to make a circle. She scowled as she watched the hobgoblin. “What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for the fire.”
Tanis was very confused by that. “Why would you have to get ready for a fire?”
Halla gave her a droll stare. “Not a dragon. We don’t just belch flames. We have to make one and contain it.”
Oh. She hadn’t thought of that. As Halla had noted, dragons didn’t concern themselves with such things. When they wanted a fire, it was an easy thing to burp.
Tanis gazed off into the woods as she considered her two companions. They were very different from one another. Dash was as quiet as Halla was chatty. Huge as she was small. Terrifying as she was friendly.
Halla stood back from the fire pit to survey her handiwork. With a satisfied nod, she wiped her hands together. “You wait here, Lady Tanis, and I’ll gather more wood.”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to help?”
“Ever gather firewood?”
Tanis paused. “Well, no. Part of being a dragon. We don’t need it.”
“Then you won’t be very helpful, will you? Because the one thing you don’t want to do is gather the wrong kind or the wood that something’s making a home in. Especially the kinds of things that bite.”
