Lorryn had just finished explaining the situation with Cael-lach Gwain to Lord Kyrtian—who, at this point, was stunned and battered enough to accept just about anything. He just nodded—at all the salient points, so at least he was listening— and took it all in as if the affairs of Wizards were everyday things to him.
Huh. Then again, after the politics of the Great Lords, our little quarrels probably seem small beans.
Kyrtian's men had bandaged their scrapes and bruises, ap¬plied remedies inside and out, and supplied all of them with food and drink. Including the dragons. Bless them, they'd gone out and dragged back three dead deer—a small meal by dra-conic standards, after all that exertion, but enough to help re¬vive them. The fire they'd built was immensely comforting, and for once, it wasn't raining.
"... so after we made sure he couldn 't come straight back to the Citadel, we waited. When he didn't come back at all, I fi¬nally decided that he'd either followed you, or he'd finally let his arrogance take him into a situation he couldn't get out of," . Lorryn said.
"And good riddance to bad rubbish, if you ask me," Keman grumbled under his breath. He—and the others—were too bone-weary to shift; they'd curled themselves around the en¬trance to the camp, making a formidable barrier between the camp and anything that might even consider going after what was inside it. Kyrtian's men were still wide-eyed and a little
nervous about being surrounded by dragons, but were handling it all remarkably well. Keman was flank-to-flank with Dora; the sight of two young dragons being as affectionate as any two young lovers seemed to go a long way to reassuring Kyrt-ian's men.
I suppose it makes them seem more human. .. .
"Keman has been talking with me, at night," Dora said, and the bare skin around her eyes and mouth flushed a delicate pink. Shana saw two of Kyrtian's men exchange a knowing look, and hid a smile. When humans who'd never seen drag¬ons before this could recognize a shy blush on the face of one, things would be all right. "We can speak over greater dis¬tances, mind-to-mind, than you can. And—we miss each other when we're apart." She eyed Shana with guilt. "I'm sorry Keman didn't mention it before, but—we didn't want you to feel badly because we could talk and you and Lorryn couldn't."
"Of course," Kyrtian said, with a slow smile. "I can certainly understand that." He passed his wineskin to one of his men, and settled back against the bulk of Keman as comfortably as if he used a dragon as a backrest every day.
Dora flushed again. "So I knew where you were, generally. And, of course, Lorryn had already been to the place where Shana and Keman transported to in the first place and he knew how to get there himself."
I should have known the lovebirds were chatting instead of sleeping, she thought—with a little envy. It would have been a lot nicer if she'd been able to do that with Lorryn without the aid of Keman. On the whole though, it was a damned good thing they had been billing and cooing every night. If they hadn't been, she might not be here right now.
"So when Dora told me that you had found the cave and when Caellach Gwain didn't come back, I decided it was more important to get out here and see if we could find him before he found you," Lorryn said with a shrug when Shana tilted her head up to give him a measuring stare.
"You supposed he'd been able to follow us, then?" she asked.
"I couldn't take the chance that he hadn't," Lorryn replied. "I
figured that bringing three dragons along would make certain he didn't try anything if—or when—we caught him."
"I knew they were coming of course," Keman put in. "But all they were supposed to do was to look for the Old Whiner. They weren't going to butt their snouts in on us, why should they? There was no reason to. When we got back, you'd have just found out they'd caught the wretch, so I didn't see any reason to bother you with it."
"You left me in charge to deal with Caellach," Lorryn told Shana, meeting her gaze frankly, and she gave his hand a little squeeze. "Without Caellach, there was no one to organize dis¬content. Frankly, knowing where he was and keeping him from making conspiracies out of half-truths was more important than my being directly in command for a day or so."
She nodded, and smiled. How could she not agree with him when he was obviously every bit as competent as she was? She left him in charge; that meant to be in charge and make decisions without consulting her if there was no need to. It would be pretty absurd to be angry with him for doing just that.
But she could tell him all that later, when they were alone. For now it was enough to know that she didn't have to be "the Elvenbane" alone anymore....
"We transported in this morning and flew here, but we never, ever expected you to wake up a monster! And let me tell you," Lorryn concluded, "those last few moments when that thing at¬tacked you and we were still in the air were the worst in my life."
"They weren't any joy for us, I can tell you," Keman grum¬bled.
"So that was why you went ahead and attacked the thing!" Shana exclaimed.
"You surely didn't think I'd be stupid enough to do that with¬out being pretty sure I knew what I was doing, did you?" Ke¬man replied indignantly. "I think I did all right without their help, thank you. We didn't even really need them to get out of the cave, and I know I could have at least blocked the entrance enough by myself to hold that monster, long enough for us all
to transport out of here, anyway! I'll admit I was glad to see them, and it made getting that thing bottled up easier, but we three were perfectly able to deal with it on our own."
"You might have at least told me that there was help com¬ing," Shana pointed out—reasonably, she thought, but Keman only snorted, and for a moment, she was irritated.
"I didn't exactly have time to discuss it with you!" he said, looking just as irritated as she was. "And we weren't in any trouble, anyway!"
She decided not to quarrel with him—but this new attitude on his part was something she hadn't expected. Not from Ke¬man the gentle, Keman her little brother—
Keman the not-so-little-anymore. . . .
She'd have to take that into her calculations from now on. Males, she thought. He was so much more reasonable when he was still a dragonling! It had to be all of the courting and coo¬ing with Dora, she finally decided.
He wasn't a "kid" anymore and it looked as if he was going to be like every other adolescent male and start proving it.
Now he'd behave like most of the other young male dragons she knew. Wizard males and human males, for that matter. Next thing, he'd be flying mock-combats and doing acrobatics for Dora's admiration.
Lorryn must have guessed at her thoughts—or maybe she was thinking them a little too loudly. :No worries,: he said, squeezing her hand. :He'll get over it. And I assure you, I'm past it.:
:Thank the Ancestors!: she replied, her humor coming back. .7 think I'd send you to the Iron People to get it beaten out of you if you weren 't!:
"All I can say is that I'm glad you came," Kyrtian said fer¬vently, with a grateful slap to Keman's flank. "Whatever is in there can remain in there forever, so far as I'm concerned." He shuddered, and said nothing more, but Shana could only won¬der if he would feel that way some time in the future. After all, his father—or what was left of his father—was still in there.
Well, it wouldn't be her problem. He was forewarned now, and if he decided he had to go back, he knew he'd better come with plenty of help.
And, being without a lady friend to impress, he just might act in a sensible manner, unlike certain young dragons.
She cocked her ear to listen for a moment to things outside the camp. The sounds from inside the mountain were definitely weaker. "Did you find any sign of Caellach?" she asked, belat¬edly recalling that this was why their rescuers had come in the first place.
"We found where he'd transported in—so he did manage to learn the spell—and then we found ambush-beast tracks on top of his," Lorryn said grimly. "We didn't bother to follow them back to the den; there was enough blood to pretty much guaran¬tee that Caellach must have been the beast's dinner."
Her mouth formed into a soundless "O" but she couldn't think of what else to say. Lorryn waited for a moment, then continued. "My thought is to just let him vanish. If the other Old Whiners mink he's gone off to the old Citadel or some¬where else to live in luxury with their belongings and with lux¬ury goods lifted from the Elvenlords, they're not going to make a martyr out of him."
"Whereas, if they found out his own stupidity killed him—?" she countered. "Wouldn't that destroy his credit with them?"
"Then someone might try and make it look as if you arranged for his death," Lorryn replied, with a grimace. The fire flared up for a moment and gave them all a look of rapt concentration. "It'd only be our word for what really happened."
"A sufficiently clever fellow could even make him out to be a martyr if they did believe that an ambush beast killed him," Kyrtian said unexpectedly. "After all, he was the last supporter of the
Shana stared at him for a moment, astonished.
Where did he get that? It's possible—it's even likely—but I wouldn't have thought of it!
Even Lorryn looked surprised. "I'm glad you're on our side," Lorryn managed, after a moment. "If you can think of things like that—"
Kyrtian shrugged, his eyes bleak in the firelight. "I didn't al¬ways think this way," he pointed out. "I suppose I can thank my late cousin Aelmarkin for my education—and my loss of innocence." Then he smiled, and he looked more like himself again.
"Well, your cousin got exactly what he deserved," Keman said.
But Kyrtian shrugged. "Much as I'm glad I won't have to worry about him any longer, I wouldn't wish the death he got on anyone."
Shana compressed her lips; she wasn't feeling that generous. Especially when—now that she came to think about it—it was entirely possible that it had been Aelmarkin who woke that blasted construct. "I doubt he would have said the same of you," she said brusquely.
Kyrtian sighed, and looked weary and pensive. "You're prob¬ably right. No, you are right. But it would make me more like him to think that way, so I won't." His jaw firmed. "I refuse to descend to his level. So I'll forgive him."
"Now that he isn't here to make any more trouble for you, eh?" Keman said shrewdly.
"His men are shivering with fear in an ill-made camp, out that way," Father Dragon put in, unexpectedly. "Shall we rescue them, do you think?"
"Yes!" said Kyrtian and Lorryn.
"No!" said Shana and Keman at the same moment. All four exchanged glances, and it was Shana who broke the dead¬lock.
"All right," she said grudgingly. "I suppose we can round them up and take them back to the new Citadel when you've left, Kyrtian. Zed can probably find a use for them."
"We'll leave the way we came," said Kyrtian, with a sigh.
"Having found nothing but empty caves. We have a larger plan to think of."
"Indeed," Kalamadea rumbled, and it seemed to Shana that he spoke for all of them. "And now—rest We have a great deal of work ahead of us."
Indeed we do, she thought, as Lorryn helped her to her feet, and led her to the tent that two of Kyrtian's men had vacated for them.
Kyrtian stretched, feeling every single scrape, bruise, and pulled muscle. But just as much as he longed for home and a hot bath, he dreaded facing his mother with the news he had.
Absently, to distract himself from his own gloomy thoughts, he patted Kemah's side. "I don't suppose I could talk you and your lady-friend into turning up in a few days, could I?" he asked. "I'd love for mother to see you for herself."
And it would do her good to distract her from my—bad news. Oh, of course, she had been assuming all these years that his fa¬ther was dead—but it was one thing to assume, and another to know. When you assumed, there could always be that little hope lurking in the back of your heart that you couldn't quite give up....
He knew he was never going to actually tell her what he had found. It would be enough to tell her that he'd found his father's remains and not get any more elaborate than that.
And tell her that, yes, he did find the Great Portal just as he 'd always expected, but that he was killed in an accident. That it looked as if he was taken completely by surprise. That would leave her with the comfortable impression that he'd never known what was going to happen to him.
Keman laughed. "Of course you could! In fact, I think I will ask Lorryn and Shana if Dora and I can be the Wizards' li¬aisons with you. They don't need us particularly to spy on the Great Lords, and the advantage of having us with you rather than Wizards is that we won't disguise our true nature with il¬lusion. We can pose as a Lesser Lord and his Lady. Should you have any more visits from—say—Lord Kyndreth, no matter
how many illusion-dispelling magics he casts, we'll pass his test."
"I hadn't thought of that!" Kyrtian said, in weary surprise, feeling a renewed stirring of pleasure. "Consider the invita¬tion tendered, then. That would solve any number of prob¬lems."
Dora nudged him with her snout affectionately. "I think that would be lovely, my Lord," she replied. "I don't suppose you have any caves on your property, do you?"
Kyrtian repressed the automatic shudder; after what he'd just been through, he never, ever wanted to go underground again—
But he looked over at Lynder, who grinned sheepishly, and answered for him. "Quite a few, mi—ah—your—"
"Just Dora," the female dragon said, in a kindly tone of voice.
"Ah." Lynder rubbed the side of his nose with his hand, self-consciously. "Dora, then. Yes, Hobie and I have found quite a few. Limestone caves, water-carved, with lots of for¬mations."