That isn't nearly as reassuring as he seems to think it is. One of the creatures finally steps forward. Moonlight catches gray scales and a long narrow snout. It's smaller than the raptor from earlier, though not by much. Its body is lean and muscular, built for speed rather than power.
Then another emerges. And another. The pack is surrounding us.
I swallow. "They're hunting."
Vyrathion sighs. "Everything here is always hunting. It’s remarkably tedious."
"That's not helping."
"I wasn't trying to help, Morgan the servant female. I’m not ahelper. And despite your claims to the contrary, neither are you."
The nearest predator lowers its head. The others spread wider through the trees. For several seconds nothing happens.
Then the little Plood unexpectedly marches three steps forward and waves one tiny arm at the dinosaurs.
I stare. The dinosaurs stare. Even Vyrathion stares.
The little Plood stares at the dinos.
One of the predators blinks.
"I believe," Vyrathion says with disbelief, "that your servant is attempting todefendus."
"My servant?"
"He’s plainlyaservant. His entire species is nothing but. You acquired him and had him follow you. Therefore he must be yours."
The little Plood stands still.
The lead predator also doesn’t move.
I look from the dinosaur to the Plood and back again. "Is it working?"
"Yes and no," Vyrathion says. "They're mostly confused."
The dragon folds his arms and watches the standoff continue. His complete lack of concern would be comforting if I didn't know exactly how dangerous he is.
The predators continue circling. Eventually one of them loses patience and darts forward in a blur.
I barely register the movement before Vyrathion moves. His hand shoots out, catches the animal by the throat and lifts it completely off the ground.
The entire pack freezes, and so do I. It’s not a big dinosaur, only about the size of a calf, but it must still weigh two hundred pounds.
The captured predator kicks and twists, snapping its fearsome gape with a terrible, hard noise. Vyrathion holds it at arm's length and examines it as though inspecting an unusual insect.
The creature hisses and its tail lashes wildly.
"Hm,” he ponders as if he were reading stock market prices, “I see no gold, and it doesn’t feel like it has any.”
"Gold? Why would you think… no, I can’t imagine that thing has any gold," I state, eyeing the others with great suspicion.
"I also doubt it now. But Iamdesperate." He gives the animal a small shake. “Can you hear it rattle?”
The predator immediately stops struggling.
“No,” I admit. “Can you?”
“No,” the dragon says. “But I will investigate every chance. Now, go away.” He throws the dinosaur at the rest of the pack, hard. They can’t get out of the way and they all tumble backwards in a chaos of tails and fangs before they furtively stalk off.
