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Zyla shook me awake the next morning and shoved a hot mug into my hands. I sipped at it, bleary-eyed.
“Come on, Tor,” she said, “you need to see this.”
My eyes went wide. “Golems?”
“No,” she laughed. “Come see for yourself.”
I followed her through the camp – what was left of it. The Green Dragon Riders already had most of it packed away and piled at the edge of the hill.
Saborak wasn’t sitting on her perch anymore. I felt a chill come over me and stopped. Where was she?
Zyla took my hand with a smile and pulled me to the edge of the hillside.
“Look,” she said. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Below us, inside the burnt symbol, Saboraak and Tachril lay in the grass, their heads on each other’s flanks like a pair of dogs in front of a fire. The other dragons slept in a ring around them. I sighed.
“This is going to complicate things,” I said.
“You’re telling me,” Nostar said, coming up from behind us with his own tea. “Think we can get them to fly again?”
“They’d better,” I said with a dark look. “A flood of golems is coming this way. They’ll have to wait to build their dragon city later.”
“Dragon city?” Nostar and Zyla asked at once, mirror looks of shock on their faces.
“That’s what that means,” I said, pointing to the two cuddled dragons. “That cute little display means that all those dragons down there plan to build their own dragon city together for the next few decades and the rest of us are going to just be dragged along for the ride! I hope they can at least hold off until we finish this war.”
Zyla clicked her tongue. “Don’t be so judgmental, Tor. You didn’t expect to be her whole life, did you?” She carefully folded a scarf in her hands as she spoke. “This is one of mine. Yours is a bit the worse for wear. Katlana spent the night rubbing it on a rock. Here.”
She reached up and tied the black scarf around my forehead, covering up the golden crown marks.
Nostar sighed and gave me a grim look, offering a hand. After a moment, I took it.
“Well, Tor. I guess we’re going to be getting to know each other pretty well. Ready to stop a war and then build a dragon city together?”
“They call it a Drazenloft,” I said, shaking his hand.
He chuckled. He was taking this better than I was. “How do you know all this?”
“Female dragons communicate telepathically,” I said.
“You mean she’s in your head all the time?”
I nodded and he laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. “Better you than me.”
“Alert!” A cry came from camp as Janes ran toward us. He was breathless. “Golems spotted to the north!”
I strained my eyes, but Nostar pulled a long thin tube from his coat and looked through it.
“Skies and stars! They’re not an hour away. We’d better hurry!”
“On land or in the sky?” I asked.
“Sky.”
“Can you take Katlana? Three is a big load for Saboraak.”
He nodded.
Saboraak! I called in my mind. Up! Up! They’re upon us!
She went from resting peacefully to leaping up into the air in seconds, Tachril only a wing-beat behind her. The other Greens swirled into the air like a tornado, landing around our makeshift camp. They’d hardly landed before their riders rushed forward, saddles and reins in hand.
Zyla trotted up and shoved Saboraak’s saddle into my hands. “I’ll get the rest.”
She was gone in a heartbeat as I threw the saddle over my dragon’s back. She was Green today. Of course.
“Don’t look so smug,” I told her as I tightened the belly straps.
You’re going to love the Greens, Saboraak said. They’re as adventure-loving and impulsive as you are!
One of me was bad enough. Two, if you counted the mimic.
And they aren’t nearly as cranky.
I wasn’t cranky. I was just dealing with the fact that my entourage was growing out of control.
Technically, you’re all my entourage.
“Keep telling yourself that,” I said, grabbing the bags that Zyla handed me and strapping them in place.
My mouth twisted into a worried frown. I was still frowning as I buckled into the saddle and Zyla buckled in behind me, still clasping her polearm. I was still frowning when we launched into the air in a flurry of wings. Still frowning as the golems chased us – black dots in a golden dawn sky. And then my frown began to fade. If they caught us, an extra six dragons might not be the worst thing. In fact, they might turn out to be a distinct help.
Told you so.
I frowned again.