Warlords Rising (17 page)

Nolan grinned at them in perfect understanding. “I know,
right? At least
something
about this trip is going according to plan.”

“Do we know who wants to partner with us?” Becca asked.

Shaking his head, Nolan explained, “Too early to tell. He
wants to talk to everyone first, but he said he’ll try to stay out of it leave
it up to us and his own dragonlings to decide. Next, he’s saying that he’ll
make dragon…um…” Nolan paused and frowned. “Not sure how to translate this.
Covens? Clans? Wards? Groups of dragons that live together in designated
areas.”

“Let’s go with clans,” Becca suggested. “Dragon clans in
Khobunter?”

“Right. This area is nice enough but they’ve grown too large
to comfortably support it, and if they keep hunting in this area, all of the
game will be gone in a few years. He wants to divide dragons up and send them
to different areas, make mini-clans, so that they can live safely but have
enough to eat. Trev,” Nolan had a distinct twinkle in his eyes, “you said
before that we couldn’t conquer Khobunter because we didn’t have an army or a
way of safeguarding the cities after we conquered them.”

“I think a clan of dragons will manage that just fine,”
Trev’nor managed hoarsely. The mental picture in his mind was throwing him for
a loop. Dragons as guardians? Dragons as comrades in arms? Was the world
supposed to work this way? “To clarify, they’ll fight alongside us?”

“They will, but their main task is to protect the areas we
assign them to. He doesn’t want them to be always in battle, just for as long
as we need them to be, as otherwise they’ll be sucked into being battle mounts.”

“That’s actually wise,” Becca allowed. “He’s right, putting
dragons into warfare will just make the carnage more intense. And it’ll make
people want to hunt and enslave dragons. It’s better not to open that door.”

“I agree.” Nolan blew out a breath, tired but victorious.
“So. Did I do alright in my first international negotiations?”

“We couldn’t have asked for a better ambassador.”

“Relieved to hear it.” Nolan rubbed at his eyes, fatigue in
every line of his body. “I was seriously flying by the seat of my pants all
night. I realized five minutes in that Krys didn’t tell us the half of his trip
to dragon territory.”

“You’re telling me.” Trev’nor looked around, or tried to,
but he still had a dragon partially in his lap. “I’m not even sure if we’re
allowed to explore this area freely.”

“The dragon chief assured me that we had free rein to the
area, although he asked that we stay out of the nesting grounds. You can’t
mistake the place for anything else, there’s remains of shells littering the
area.”

“Duly noted,” Becca responded. “I take it that he wants us
to stay several days?”

“He does. To get acquainted with everyone but also so that I
can help them. Some of the dragons have a few ailments or birth defects that he
wants me to address.”

That made sense to Trev’nor. If they were allies, then of
course they would trade favors like this. “We should tell him too that I’ll
help as I can. If he needs the landscape changed at all, I’m ready to work.”

“I’ll pass that along,” Nolan promised, fighting back a
yawn.

Gently pushing a giant head out of his lap, Trev’nor sought
to stand. “Well, first things first.”

“Breakfast?” Becca drawled.

“It’s like you read minds.”

“The day you stop thinking with your stomach first, Trev, is
the day that I know you’re dying.” Becca levered herself up to her feet.
“Breakfast first, and then I think we should explore and introduce ourselves to
the dragons.”

“Great plan,” Trev’nor enthused. “Sorry, Nolan, you’ll have
to nap later.”

“Much later,” Nolan responded with a look over his shoulder.
“You can’t see it from your angle but we literally have a line of dragons
wanting to meet us. Funny, I don’t remember Krys mentioning that mages are
popular with dragons.”

“I have a feeling that Kaya had something to do with that.”
Becca dug through her pack, laying out food as she did so. “Remember how
possessive she was, especially in the beginning?”

Trev’nor tilted his torso, trying in vain to see around two
dragons blocking his view, and caught no more than glimpses of a multitude of
different colored hides. “What are the odds that our new dragon partners are
going to be the same way?”

Around a mouthful of jerky, Nolan informed him, “Really,
really good.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.”

Becca stepped out to the ledge of what she had assumed to be
a cave, only to find it was nothing of the sort. The dragons here apparently
did use caves—she saw some tails sticking out of the mountainside, as well as a
few noses—but the majority of them lived in trees. The trees here were
massive
,
large enough to hold full sized cabins, and could take a dragon or two with
ease. The ledge she stood on was actually inside the trunk of a tree, hollowed
out so that there was room to stretch out in. Some of the tree openings looked
too uniform to be natural, but others were obviously natural growths.

Slowly, she did a full turn, looking around her. Three
massive waterfalls shimmered in the morning light, making a soft roar of
never-ending sound. The scents of greenery, of running water, of rock baking under
the suns, permeated the air. Mixed in with all of this lush scenery was the
multitude of dragons. From the purest of whites to the darkest of blacks, and
every color in between, they were everywhere. A dragon lover would have keeled
over on the spot in sheer happiness at such a sight.

Nolan shifted to dragon form—which garnered a roar of
delight and approval from the watching dragons—long enough to get Trev’nor and
Becca to a plateau further down. This turned out to be a wise decision as the
waiting multitude wanted to touch noses to them. She could just picture having
all of those dragons trying to squeeze into the hollow of a tree. They would
have been squished like a grape.

Surrounded by dragons on all sides had to be one of the most
unique experiences in the world. Becca turned, hands outstretched, touching
noses and looking into their eyes. The suns were warming up, reflecting dully
off their hides, and making the musky smell of their scales a little stronger.
It was not an unpleasant experience but definitely overwhelming.

Becca and Trev’nor, not knowing how to communicate, let
themselves be bombarded with noses and the dragon equivalent of nuzzling. The
tamed version, fortunately, as their usual approach could throw human beings a
good fifty feet. Nolan was the one that was actually talking to them and being
constructive.

He waved them closer, then pointed at the dragons hovering
nearby. “I’m doing a very rough translation of their names, alright? This is
Wind Soars High and his mate, Blue Sky Before Storm. They said that they would
like to have Rurick as their territory.”

That cemented Becca’s attention. “They do understand that no
one’s there right now and that they’ll probably have to fight often to keep it?
At least until we have the surrounding cities conquered?”

“They do. In fact, the elder dragon that came to get us
first? He suggested that what we actually do is bring all of the mated pairs
that want to go with us and then they can sort out themselves who gets what
territories. They will just branch out to the next conquered city when it’s
time to do so; that way there’s always a large group ready to fight until we
have all of Khobunter under control.”

Becca gave an approving hum. “That’s smart. He’s right,
that’s the best way to do it.” Turning to the mated pair, she said, “We would
love for you to guard the place. It is an important city to us.”

Nolan dutifully translated both ways. “They said they
understand this and will keep it from being conquered again.”

“Glad to hear it.” Trev’nor looked around him slowly. “Ah,
Nol? Are you saying that every dragon that’s around us wants to go?”

“Of course,” Nolan said slowly, puzzled. “I thought you
understood that.”

Becca’s jaw dropped. “What? Seriously?!” There had to be a
good hundred dragons crowding around them!

“These are our volunteers,” Nolan explained, laughing at
their reactions. “Most of them are mated pairs, and they’re not interested in
pairing up with us, so they want territories of their own to guard. A few of
them are hopefuls wanting to partner with us, if we feel like it would be a
good match.”

This was far, far more than they had hoped for. To have so
many willing to go was nothing short of astounding.

“They’re not sure what Khobunter looks like,” Nolan
continued. “Trev, can you do that thing Garth does? The mini-map?”

“Sure, sure.” Trev’nor spread his hands out wide,
encouraging dragons to back up. “I mean, it’s not going to be completely
accurate, as I haven’t been there myself, and I’m going off a map mostly. That
still work?”

“They just need an idea right now, so they can talk it over
and start divvying up territory,” Nolan explained. “And make it larger than
that, you have a huge crowd here.”

In more than one sense of the word. Becca stepped back too,
giving Trev’nor space, as he created a topical map of the whole country. The
cities and Ruins of Rheben were almost miniatures popping out of the ground,
the streams and oasis represented as close to what could be found in nature as
possible with only stone to work with. Really, the amount of detail that
Trev’nor could pull off was amazing. He might have a finer hand at this than
Garth did.

Finished, Trev’nor looked up at Nolan. “That work?”

“Garth would be proud,” Nolan assured him with a low whistle
of appreciation. Distracted, he twisted to look up at the elder green dragon,
the two of them clearly speaking with each other for a moment. “Huh. We’ve
apparently mentioned Garth enough that he’s picked up on the name. He wanted to
know who it was we’re speaking of.”

Interesting that he would do that. “That means he’s paying
very close attention to everything we’re saying.”

“I’ve actually been teaching him words,” Nolan told her.
“He’s been one of the more avid students. Anyway, back to this. So, this is
Rurick?” Nolan pointed to a city at the bottom of the map.

“Right. And that’s the Ruins of Rheben.” Trev’nor played
tour guide on his map, pointing out cities, pausing to give Nolan time to
translate. By the time they were through the map, some of the dragons were
trying out the names of the cities, although the pronunciation was usually off.

Becca was relieved they were trying to learn Chahirese, as
she couldn’t begin to figure out how to communicate with them. Even Nolan had
to cheat outrageously with his magic to pull it off.

A sapphire blue dragon came and nudged against her side,
blinking pale gold eyes at her. After a startled blink, Becca recognized her as
the dragon that had carried her here. “You’re coming too?”

Nolan caught this exchange and answered, “She was one of the
first volunteers. She saw for herself firsthand what Khobunter’s like, what we
had to do to survive, and she’s very, very angry about the whole thing.”

This touched Becca, to have someone she barely knew be so
angry for her sake. Reaching out, she rubbed at the sensitive spot on the blue
dragon’s nose, which earned a happy rumbling purr. “Thank you.” Struck by a
thought, she twisted and mouthed to Nolan, ‘Mated?’

He shook his head no.

Oh, so this was one of the hopefuls? Becca found the dragon
to be stunning in looks and she had a sweet personality. Perhaps this would be
a good pairing? Wanting to test the theory out, she requested, “Nol, translate
for me? Ask her if she’d take me for a short flight around this area. I want to
study the weather patterns up here and it’s easier if I can do it up high.”

“Sure.” Nolan slipped around two dragons to be more in line
of sight and asked. “She said she’d love to. She said, as a prearranged signal,
double tap her to get her attention and point where you want to go.”

Smart of her to think of that now. “I will.”

Trev’nor levied himself off his knees, brushing the dirt off
as he stood. “Well, I think you’re set here, Nol. You can talk to them about
all of this. But I don’t think we should just stand around here and take what
they’re offering. Can you ask them if there’s anything they need help with?”

Nolan gave him a knowing a look. “Tonkowacon manners kicking
in?”

“Can’t take without giving back,” Trev’nor responded with a
shrug.

True, it was bad form to do that, especially with as much
help as the dragons were giving them.

“I can ask, sure.”

With the boys occupied, she patted the blue dragon to get
her attention and then pointed skyward. “Shall we go up?”

The dragons did indeed have things that needed to be done.
Trev’nor got quite the “Magus-Do-List” when he offered his services—everything
from creating more nesting caves to extending rocky areas near the falls so
there was more ledge room. The green elder dragon was the one that took him
around, showing him what needed to be done, with Nolan playing translator.

Trev’nor wasn’t quite sure why the elder dragon liked to be
around them so much. He was clearly done with his initial duty but he stayed
nearby anyway. Part of it might be curiosity, as he seemed more determined than
most of the dragons to learn how to speak in human languages. He absorbed words
so quickly that it almost put Kaya to shame. Part of that, though, might have
been that Nolan was the one teaching.

It took him the whole day to get the nesting grounds right.
There were mother dragons up here that were specifically charged with watching
over the eggs and making sure that all was well. Trev’nor had the equivalent of
six mothers-in-law following him around and making sure that he got every
detail exactly right. By the end of the day, Nolan looked as harried as
Trev’nor felt, and both boys were glad that finally, finally, the nesting
grounds met their collective approval.

The dragon chief came down himself to take a look. It had
amazed Trev’nor, the size of him, as he didn’t think anything living could get
that big. How did he even fly, that was Trev’nor’s question. He looked the
whole area over with a thorough scrutiny before turning and, via Nolan, stated,
“You have done well here, Earth Mage. You have our thanks.”

With the chief’s spoken approval, even the mothers-in-law
had to agree, which meant Trev’nor was finally free. He thankfully escaped back
to the perch he had slept on the night before and fell immediately to sleep.

Day two in dragon territory wasn’t nearly as taxing. All he
did was extend ledges and create more tree hollows for nests. The hardest part
about this was making sure that the new ledges could hold the weight of several
dragons. The green dragon and some of the fledglings happily tested them out
for him. The rock didn’t even shift under their weight.

Satisfied, he went to the next project.

Nests, as it turned out, were a very personal thing.
Trev’nor and Nolan had to speak to each dragon requesting a new nest, asking
for their preferences, before he could start on one. It also took their
combined powers to grow tree limbs the right direction and then hollow them out
without harming the tree in the process. Trev’nor shifted rocks and dirt about
to act as an anchor for the trees as Nolan tweaked them to grow just right. It
was anything but a simple process.

After doing six nests in a row, he’d had enough, and wanted
nothing more than to get off his feet for a while. Taking the canteen from his
waist, he guzzled half of it. “Break time.”

“I can go with that.” Nolan flopped immediately to the
ledge, not minding that the waterfall was close enough to mist him with spray.

Trev’nor found the spray refreshing and plopped down right
next to his friend. He twisted so that he lay on his back, looking aimlessly
toward the sky. Overhead, he saw the sapphire blue dragon and Becca fly past,
making a wide circle around the area. “Becca sure is spending quality time up
in the air.”

“She said there’s something wonky about the weather patterns
up here,” Nolan responded almost absently. “She’s almost got it figured out, I
think, she’s just double checking to make sure she hasn’t jumped to
conclusions. But have you noticed? It’s always
that
dragon that takes
her up.”

“I noticed.” Trev’nor grinned skyward. “How much you want to
bet those two pair up?”