Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor (3 page)

I should’ve called Cora right then and there. I should’ve called Garth for that matter, and asked for a ride. Something made me pause. He’d spent the past three days shadowing me around and then he suddenly came right out in the open. Why?

I didn’t get it.

Now, I was no Life Mage, but Cora had said that dragons had about the same intelligence as a dragoo. Hayate was smart enough to talk to, although he couldn’t say more than a few words at a time back to you. I decided to try talking to him. Why not? I had nothing to lose from the attempt.

“What do you want from me?”

His ears shifted, head tilting slightly as if he were focusing more on me. Maybe he hadn’t heard me? Were those long ears of his more for show? I repeated myself, a little louder. The dragon’s eye ridges drew together, as if in confusion, with not the slightest sign of comprehension on his face.

Huh. Odd, Hayate would have understood that. Of course, Hayate had grown up in Sol. Maybe I should try a different language? I tried again in Hainish, with no luck. Maybe it didn’t understand any of the human languages at all? After all, dragons hadn’t been around humans for two generations. I wasn’t sure if they’d even known a language
before
they moved.

All right, talking obviously wouldn’t work. What next? Cora couldn’t talk with a dragon through a mirror, she had to be near it to communicate, so that was out. I stared up at him for several moments, mind whirling without giving me any good ideas.

He eyed me carefully as he stretched out his neck so that his nose came into contact with my shields. Far from flinching like anyone else would at the magical backlash, he actually opened his mouth and tried to
bite
into my shields!

I stared at him in stunned incredulity. Had he…yes, he had. He’d just eaten some of the fire shield. Not only that, but looked quite happy doing it. A whimper escaped my throat. My shields…were useless against a dragon.
Not good
.

All right, I couldn’t panic. Just because a dragon could bite through my shields didn’t mean I was totally defenseless…or did it? I felt my throat tighten, and I had to swallow hard past the lump in my throat. After all, these creatures were one of the few races that could manipulate fire as they wished. They were
naturals
. If it came down to a fire battle between me and them, did I even stand a chance?

But he didn’t attack or take advantage of this. He gave another long lick at my shields, taking off another large chunk as he did so, smacking his lips as if thoroughly enjoying the taste. Then he sat back and licked at his mouth with a forked tongue, and resumed watching me intently.

If he wanted to attack, he could obviously do so. The shields were like paper for him, or even thin air. So why didn’t he? And why did he treat the fire from my shields like some sort of delicacy?

Something about fire and control wriggled its way through the coursing fear and sparked an idea.  On a hunch, I started juggling fireballs in and around my head, letting some bounce from hand to hand, and others disappearing in mid-air. The dragon’s head lifted, eyes intently following every fireball, the tip of his tail twitching in excitement.

The fire! Of
course
! Dragons were the only creatures that could produce and manipulate fire; it made perfect sense for them to be interested in someone else that could do the same thing. Now that I realized it, I felt like an idiot for not putting it together sooner. He must have seen my shield one night when I was sleeping, and he’d been following me around ever since, wanting me to do more.

I let the fire in my hands die, watching his reaction. His ears drooped slightly and his tail stopped twitching. I swear it was just like watching a dog that had been denied a treat. Unbelievable.

So what now? I knew what was attracting him, but I couldn’t think of a way to convince him to go away. Where was Nolan or Cora when I needed them? All right, if he truly didn’t have any hostile intentions, maybe I could safely call home for advice again. Still keeping an eye on him, I pulled the mirror back out of my pocket.

“Cora?”

There was a few seconds of silence before I heard, “
Krys
?”

“Hi. There’s been a…development.”

“
You say that like it’s a bad thing. What development
?”

“Well, the dragon is sitting not ten feet away from me.”

“
WHAT
?!”

It was amazing how much volume the mirror could convey. That yell nearly set my ears ringing. The dragon jumped a bit too, I noticed. “Cora, you might want to tone it down. You don’t really want to spook the carnivorous reptile right in front me, right?”

“
Right. Sorry. So…describe the dragon to me
.”

“About half the size of a small house, dark red, and more streamlined than the textbooks show. He’s quite comfortable sitting here watching me. Actually, I think I’ve figured out
why
he’s watching me.”

“
Really
?”

“Cora, I think it’s my fire. I’ve been erecting fire barriers around my camp each night and just now I played around with it a bit and he watched me so intently it was kind of funny. It’s the fire. He likes the fire I’ve been producing.”

A beat of silence. “
You know, that makes an odd sort of sense
.”

“
Doesn’t it? Of course he’d be interested in some human that’s wielding fire like a dragon. I feel like an idiot for not putting that together sooner.”

“
No, Krys, that’s not why this makes sense
,” she disagreed and it sounded like she was choking back laughter. “
Dragons only spit fire for one of two reasons, according to the books
:
one, they’re fighting or two, they’re doing fancy flame work to attract a mate
.”

“…Cora, that’s not funny.”

“
Really
?
I think it’s
hilarious.”

Yes, she would. “So you’re saying that playing around with fire will actually…er…”

“
Make her more enamored with you
?” she finished helpfully, a smirk in her voice. “
Yes. Also, from your description, that’s probably a girl
.”

“A girl? Really?” I couldn’t see anything that would suggest gender. “What makes you say that?”

“
Girls are smaller, and usually have a darker skin tone than the males. From your description, I would say this one is a girl.
”

That didn’t make the situation any better. “So what do I do to get this dragon to go away?”

“
You don’t. They either get bored and leave on their own, or they’ll follow you around forever
.”

“You’re not helping.”

“
Want me to tell Garth to come get you
?”

If Garth took me on the earth path, there was no way that the dragon could track me and keep following me after that.

“Please?”

“
Will do. You might have to sit tight for a few hours. I know he left to go get some new students
.”

“Roger that.” I could put up with this for a few hours, surely. 

~*~

Three hours later I was more than ready to leave. I hadn’t heard one word from either Garth or Cora, which made me a bit anxious. That was only half the problem, though.

The real problem was the dragon.

She intently watched my every move. Most of the time I tried to sit still, going with the theory that if I didn’t do anything showy, she’d get bored and leave. I even took off the fire shield, leaving the weapons and power shields in place, hoping that a lack of fire would help encourage her to go away. Every time I so much as twitched, though, she perked right up with this expectant look in her eyes. 

Despite the whole situation fraying my nerves, I couldn’t help but study her as carefully as she studied me. In an alien, reptilian sort of way, she was fascinating to look at. Her skin looked like tanned leather under her belly and head, the rest hardening into scales that protected her back, legs and the top of her head. Relaxed as she was, the ridges along her head and back were down, resting along her body. Her tail was certainly different than the pictures I’d seen. Instead of a sleek taper at the end, it fanned out at two different points. I couldn’t imagine what the purpose of that was. To help her change directions while flying, perhaps?

She certainly wasn’t acting like the ferocious beast dragons were rumored to be. At one point, completely bored, she let out this disappointed sigh and curled up so that her head was resting on her front legs, tail coiled up around her. The position was so feline that it made me smile in bemusement. Quite a bit of her appearance reminded me of a cat, especially her dark golden eyes.

“
Krys
.”

The abrupt end of the silence made me jump. I scrambled to pick up the mirror lying next to me. “Cora?”

“
We might have a bit of a problem. Apparently Shad has gone off on some sort of secret solo mission. Garth didn’t give me the details, but whatever Shad is up to, it’s got him worried sick. He’s rushing all over the place trying to find someone of the Red Hand to go after Shad.
”

That didn’t sound good.

“
Garth wants to know how much danger you’re in. If it’s bad, he’ll detour to come get you.
”

“It sounds like Shad is in more danger than I am,” I told her honestly, knowing as I spoke that I was probably resigning myself to a very long walk back to Solian soil. “Right now, she’s just sitting next to me, waiting.”

“
Good. I’ll tell him. If we need to, we’ll call Sallah from Coven Ordan to come get you. Just sit tight for another day or so until Garth can come
.”

“Right.” I put the mirror down, feeling a little anxious. Roughly two years ago, King Guin of Hain had assembled a special team to go in and rescue the emerging magicians of Chahir. The team had been formed of a mercenary group, the Red Hand, of Ascalon and two magicians—Garth and Chatta. Along the way, or so I was told, they’d rescued Shad from being trapped in a two hundred year old crystal in northern Jarrell. The captain had joined the team and helped them until they’d finished their mission a year ago. One of the last people they’d brought out of Chahir was me. I was friends with all of the original team that’d rescued me out of Chahir. Shad especially was a fun guy to be around. I didn’t like the idea of him in trouble. I hoped whatever it was, wasn’t too serious.

I didn’t really know what to do at this point. Walking further south would be useless if an Earth Mage really did come get me. At the same time, I didn’t have anything else to do. With the sun steadily setting, the day’s heat waned slightly, making it more bearable to walk.

Perhaps I should just stick with my original plan. It didn’t hurt anything to be further south when my ride arrived. So I got back up, shouldered my pack, and went back to walking. To my complete lack of surprise, my dragon stalker kept pace with me, hovering ten feet or so to the side and behind.

How had I gotten into this ridiculous situation, anyway?

I walked and walked, time passing slowly as I steadily went over the flat terrain. Somewhere after midnight, I got tired of stumbling over my own feet and called it quits. I felt drained of all energy, dehydrated, and more than ready to be horizontal for a while. I sat down in the middle of this open space, pulled out my bedroll, and fell into it without even bothering to take my boots off. I probably should have pulled out the tent and set it up, but honestly, I didn’t want to. Too tired. I did put the fire barrier back up, not for protection (as the dragon obviously had no ill intent) but to keep me warmer. The desert nights could be bitterly cold. With a sigh, I let my eyes fall shut and went fast to sleep.

I woke up the next morning to another surprise. At some point in the night, my visitor had moved until she half-wrapped around my campsite, just avoiding touching my shields. Stretched out like she was, she could nearly touch the tip of her nose to her tail. Just how long was she? Twenty feet? Twenty-five?

The more I looked at her position, the clearer it became to me that there was nothing threatening about it. She was protecting me. There was no other explanation for why she was acting as a living barrier between me and the outside world.

I called Cora again. “Cora?” there was a long pause before I ventured again, “Cora?”

From the mirror, I heard the sound of some light thumps, like someone fumbling for something, and then a grumpy voice, “
Krys, do you know what time it is
?”

“Morning,” I answered dryly.

“
Argh. What is it now
?”

“She’s wrapped around me.”

“
…What
?!”

“She’s wrapped around me,” I repeated a little uneasily. “Well, she’s actually wrapped around the perimeter of my shield, as it’s still up, but you get the idea.”

“
Krys, do you know what that means
?”

“I’m hoping I don’t, actually, as I can only think of one reason why she’s acting like this.”

“
She’s adopted you
.”

I slumped dejectedly. “I hate it when I’m right.”

Cora sounded like she was trying not to laugh, but not doing a very good job, because I could hear her clearly. “
Well, Krys, congratulations. You have found a splendid familiar.
”

“Not funny, Cora.”

“
I know this isn’t what you had in mind, but think about it
!” she encouraged, still laughing. “
What more perfect mount could there be for a Fire Mage
?
She likes fire, like you do. She can transport you quickly to jobs
—”

“—she eats whole sheep for breakfast, is too large to fit into any stable, assuming that any inn would let her near their place,” I interrupted sarcastically, “not to mention the general panic she’s going to cause when people see her! Oh yes, a perfect mount indeed.”

“
Once people get used to her, you’ll be fine. Besides, dragons do their own hunting. You won’t have to bear the expense of feeding her
.”