Lady nodded and beckoned to Sirl. She watched the kir help Taren back to the Keep. “Now why … ?”
Morlen chuckled in her mind. *Did thee not say he was terrified of my kind? Perhaps he feared thee would send him as our guide and that one of us would mistake him for a rabbit one dark night.*
Once again the Lady spent a rueful moment reflecting that she had forgotten too much about truehumans—especially if a truedragon had to remind her of their foibles!
“What of Taren’s claim that you won’t be able to reach the prisoner?”
*Where one dragon has gone, others may follow. This is not the task of thy kind, Jessia. Let us hope it need never be. *
“I suggest you stop pushing your luck, young man,” Otter said as he entered the chambers that were his whenever he came to Dragonskeep. He pushed the door closed behind him. “That was cowardly; you know Linden won’t clout you because you’re my great-nephew, and Maurynna’s friend.”
Raven looked up from sorting through his packs, his eyes flashing in anger. “Ah—because he’s a Dragonlord I’m supposed to be so careful of Linden Rathan’s feelings? Just lie down and accept that he’s stolen my lass from me? I thought you always said he preferred being treated like any man, not like some godling. Well and well, I’m treating him better than any other man who’d taken Maurynna from me. I haven’t Challenged him, have I?”
Otter shook his head in disgust. Was the boy really such a fool? That wasn’t the Raven he knew. “You ass. Do you really think you’d have a chance against Linden in a duel? Likely he could have scrubbed the stable floor with you even before he’d Changed. Or did you forget that he’s a warrior trained from the cradle, O my idiot nephew, and you a trader with but a few tricks with the sword? Remember those he was a mercenary under—the woman who became the greatest queen Kelneth ever had, and the man whose reign as High Chief was a golden age for Yerrih. It would have been no contest even then. Now, of course, he could merely pick you up and throw you into a wall to have done with it.
“But never mind that. I wasn’t talking about Linden. I was talking about Maurynna. Don’t think she didn’t notice you sniping at Linden all morning
long. Just a short while before I left them she was planning to have a little … talk with you.”
At least the boy had the sense to wince at that. There was hope for him yet. A flaying with the sharp edge of Maurynna’s ire was not a thing to court. Nor would she hesitate to clout the fool boy, either, as the young idiot knew well. She’d done it many a time back in Thalnia.
“Rest easy; Linden was talking her out of it when I left them. Why, I don’t know. I’ve always told him he’s too easygoing.” Otter crossed over to his favorite chair and sat. He looked down at Raven squatting over his bundles on the floor and tugged his beard in frustration. “Didn’t you listen to a single blasted word of the tales I told you and Maurynna when you were both sprats? Linden didn’t ‘steal’ Maurynna from you. They were given to each other by the gods more than six hundred years ago.”
The bard sighed. “If you only understood how lonely he was, waiting for his soultwin to be born, afraid it would never happen.”
“‘The Last Dragonlord,’” Raven quoted softly. “He was named so in the stories, wasn’t he?”
“You remember that much at least,” Otter said. “And don’t you dare tell me you’ll be as lonely as that pining away for Maurynna. It’s not the same thing as missing literally half your soul. Not at all.”
A sheepish grin told him Raven had indeed been clutching that bit of romantic idiocy to his bosom.
“Ass,” Otter said again, but this time with affection. “There’s someone else for you, you’ll see. And just for my curiosity—did you tell your father and stepmother you were coming here?”
Raven bit his lip. After a moment, he said,
Morlen chuckled in her mind. *Did thee not say he was terrified of my kind? Perhaps he feared thee would send him as our guide and that one of us would mistake him for a rabbit one dark night.*
Once again the Lady spent a rueful moment reflecting that she had forgotten too much about truehumans—especially if a truedragon had to remind her of their foibles!
“What of Taren’s claim that you won’t be able to reach the prisoner?”
*Where one dragon has gone, others may follow. This is not the task of thy kind, Jessia. Let us hope it need never be. *
“I suggest you stop pushing your luck, young man,” Otter said as he entered the chambers that were his whenever he came to Dragonskeep. He pushed the door closed behind him. “That was cowardly; you know Linden won’t clout you because you’re my great-nephew, and Maurynna’s friend.”
Raven looked up from sorting through his packs, his eyes flashing in anger. “Ah—because he’s a Dragonlord I’m supposed to be so careful of Linden Rathan’s feelings? Just lie down and accept that he’s stolen my lass from me? I thought you always said he preferred being treated like any man, not like some godling. Well and well, I’m treating him better than any other man who’d taken Maurynna from me. I haven’t Challenged him, have I?”
Otter shook his head in disgust. Was the boy really such a fool? That wasn’t the Raven he knew. “You ass. Do you really think you’d have a chance against Linden in a duel? Likely he could have scrubbed the stable floor with you even before he’d Changed. Or did you forget that he’s a warrior trained from the cradle, O my idiot nephew, and you a trader with but a few tricks with the sword? Remember those he was a mercenary under—the woman who became the greatest queen Kelneth ever had, and the man whose reign as High Chief was a golden age for Yerrih. It would have been no contest even then. Now, of course, he could merely pick you up and throw you into a wall to have done with it.
“But never mind that. I wasn’t talking about Linden. I was talking about Maurynna. Don’t think she didn’t notice you sniping at Linden all morning
long. Just a short while before I left them she was planning to have a little … talk with you.”
At least the boy had the sense to wince at that. There was hope for him yet. A flaying with the sharp edge of Maurynna’s ire was not a thing to court. Nor would she hesitate to clout the fool boy, either, as the young idiot knew well. She’d done it many a time back in Thalnia.
“Rest easy; Linden was talking her out of it when I left them. Why, I don’t know. I’ve always told him he’s too easygoing.” Otter crossed over to his favorite chair and sat. He looked down at Raven squatting over his bundles on the floor and tugged his beard in frustration. “Didn’t you listen to a single blasted word of the tales I told you and Maurynna when you were both sprats? Linden didn’t ‘steal’ Maurynna from you. They were given to each other by the gods more than six hundred years ago.”
The bard sighed. “If you only understood how lonely he was, waiting for his soultwin to be born, afraid it would never happen.”
“‘The Last Dragonlord,’” Raven quoted softly. “He was named so in the stories, wasn’t he?”
“You remember that much at least,” Otter said. “And don’t you dare tell me you’ll be as lonely as that pining away for Maurynna. It’s not the same thing as missing literally half your soul. Not at all.”
A sheepish grin told him Raven had indeed been clutching that bit of romantic idiocy to his bosom.
“Ass,” Otter said again, but this time with affection. “There’s someone else for you, you’ll see. And just for my curiosity—did you tell your father and stepmother you were coming here?”
Raven bit his lip. After a moment, he said,
Similar Books
