The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent (A Natural History of Dragons) (37 page)

Up to that point, my sketches had only been for private pleasure, and later for field notes and scholarly illustrations. But news of what transpired in Eriga had ignited public interest: all the world knew the Moulish had just defeated the mightiest warriors of the Ikwunde with dragons. Might there not be a market for pictures? Several news-sheets had offered me money for the “true story” of what happened in Eriga, and while I did not trust them to report my experiences honestly, it suggested I might profit by selling a non-scholarly book as well. Something of more substance than
A Journey to the Mountains of Vystrana
, but less density than what I would present to the scholarly community.

I had more reasons than just Kemble’s research and the maintenance of my own household to spur me. Lord Hilford had been my patron for this expedition, but I could not depend upon his generosity forever; he had his own financial security to consider, and besides which, he was not a young man. By the time I was ready to begin the project I had in mind, he might not be in a position to fund it.

The sea-snake we had seen on the voyage to Nsebu; the lack of difference between savannah snakes and arboreal snakes; the drakeflies in Mouleen; the swamp-wyrms and their queenly kin and the fangfish I had not known were related. Wolf-drakes and sparklings and wyverns, and all the other creatures that we classed as mere cousins. I was increasingly convinced that our entire draconic taxonomy needed to be rethought—but to do that properly, much less persuade anyone to heed me, I would need a great deal more data than I had now. For all my reading, there were still woeful gaps in my knowledge, particularly where the scholarship was in another tongue; and once I had remedied that lack, I would need to undertake a much larger study than anyone, so far as I knew, had ever attempted.

Tom saw me chewing on my lip and leaned over. “Something troubling you?”

“Not troubling, precisely,” I said, keeping my voice down so that I might not interrupt Kemble and Lord Hilford.

He raised one eyebrow, inviting me to elaborate.

A slow grin crept over my face, against all rationality and common sense. “How much do you suppose a voyage around the world might cost?”

BY MARIE BRENNAN

A Natural History of Dragons

The Tropic of Serpents

Midnight Never Come

In Ashes Lie

A Star Shall Fall

With Fate Conspire

Warrior

Witch

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARIE BRENNAN habitually pillages her background in anthropology, archaeology, and folklore for fictional purposes. She is the author of the Onyx Court series, the Doppelganger duology of
Warrior
and
Witch,
and the urban fantasy
Lies and Prophecy,
as well as more than forty short stories.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE TROPIC OF SERPENTS

Copyright © 2014 by Bryn Neuenschwander

All rights reserved.

Cover art by Todd Lockwood

Interior illustrations by Todd Lockwood

Map by Rhys Davies

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Brennan, Marie.

    The tropic of serpents / by Marie Brennan. – First edition.

            p. cm.

    “A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

    ISBN 978-0-7653-3197-7 (hardcover)

    ISBN 978-1-4299-5635-2 (e-book)

  1.  Women scientists–Fiction.   2.  Dragons–Fiction.   I.  Title.

  PS3602.R453T76 2014

  813'.6–dc23

2013026345

e-ISBN 978142995635-2

First Edition: March 2014