It’s Praxigor, but I ignore him. “Astrid! Hi!” I wave.
She grins right back. “Oh my! Two dragons in one tribe?”
Praxigor holds her back. “Vyrathion. You found gold, then?”
No,Vyrathion tells him.I found something far better. I found a wife. Well, soon a wife.
“Morgan is your hoard?” Praxigor asks, still in his human form.
She is. And you came close to telling me that Astrid is yours. I should have listened better.
Praxigor remains tense. “Perhaps. Will you stay in this village?”
Two dragons in one village would seem like a severe fire hazard,Vyrathion says.Perhaps we’ll find a different place to live. But we do want to get married here. Would that be possible, Shaman Astrid?
“Absolutely,” Astrid says. “Just say when.”
Now, my dragon fiance says into our minds.
“Or in a couple of days,” I hurry to specify, “so that everyone has time to prepare for it.”
What preparations are these?Vyrathion asks.
“Normal wedding preparations, my love,” I tell him. “Actually, two days is not much time. But we both see no reason to delay it.”
Chief Korr’ax comes walking and the crowd of tribesmen splits so he can pass.
“Morgan,” he says calmly. “And this is Vyrathion the dragon?”
“Vyrathion the Wild,” I correct him. “My fiance and future husband.”
“Two dragons in one village,” the chief ponders. “I’m told dragons hate each other and that their fights are associated with great loss of life for anyone nearby.”
This is true,Vyrathion admits.But I shall do my best to refrain from killing Praxigor outright. Until my wedding, at least.
“We will allow no killing in our village, at any time,” Korr’ax says clearly. “We will go to any length to stop it.”
“I’ll keep him calm,” I promise, not sure how I’d actually go about calming down a furious Vyrathion. “And Astrid and I will keep them separate.”
“Welcome back, Morgan,” Korr’ax says. “We were worried for a while, but Praxigor said you were all right.”
“I was,” I state. “Oh, and there will be three more girls arriving soon. In the company of many Plood. I would ask that they be let in and made members of the Borok tribe. The girls, I mean.”
The nearby tribesmen exchange glances, and smiles spread across faces. They replace the swords in their scabbards and the tension falls.
Praxigor saunters away, but Astrid stays.
I jump off the dragon and hug her. “Sorry I vanished. But I just had to get away.”
“Looks like you had a fine vacation,” she says. “I know the pressure on you was getting high.”
“Did anything happen while I was away? Alba must have given birth?”
Astrid smiles. “Yep, little Elara is our newest member. Excluding Vyrathion. So you found more girls? Praxigor said you mentioned there might be more of them in the jungle.”
More of the girls are descending the stairs from the Red Rock and hurry over.
“Yes, three new ones,” I tell her. “And then maybe two more later. Maybe.”
