CHAPTER 34
“ALL RIGHT. We take Sirius. But we leave a coded message so Kim and Konner can find and break into Son and Heir,” Kat said meekly.
Loki nodded his acceptance.
“Which dragon came to you?” he asked.
“A different one. The female. She calls herself Irisey.”
“Is she big enough to carry three adults?”
“Irythros carried Konner, Dalleena, and me and he’s only a juvenile. Irisey is fully grown—mother to both Irythros and Iianthe, and mighty proud of it.” She grinned hugely.
“What about Gentian? Is he coming, too.”
“He . . . he’s too afraid.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze. Which meant she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
Loki was almost willing to bet a fully charged fuel cell that Gentian disapproved of Kat’s plans. He decided he’d be leery and watchful. He couldn’t pull Kat’s secrets from her mind, but he knew her well enough now to know she was up to something very sneaky.
They tiptoed to the barrier by the light of a setting moon and the glowing embers of the central campfire.
“Where’s the dragon?” Loki asked quietly the moment they cleared the barrier. Bodies might not be able to penetrate the confusion field, but sound did.
“In the village, keeping Bruce from bolting. The last time he flew with a dragon, Irythros dumped him on the extreme western coast. It took him months to walk to Base Camp.”
“He doesn’t talk about his experience there.” That bothered Loki. He’d grown used to communal adventure stories around the campfire each evening.
“He doesn’t want to think about it,” Kat said quietly. She knew more. Loki knew that by the tightness of her mouth and the way her shoulders reached for her ears.
A few paces farther and Loki lit a small lamp to guide their way. In recent weeks he’d noticed a marked improvement in his night vision, but he was reluctant to reveal that to Kat.
“Do you think the dragon would swing over to the big continent and pick up Paola?” Loki asked. He hadn’t seen his lover in weeks and he missed her terribly. He also wanted a firsthand account of her attempts to deal with the snake monster. “We could use her strategic thinking.”
“You will have to ask Irisey yourself.”
They descended the last switchback in silence, aware how easily sound carried. No need to wake the villagers tonight. In the dim starlight, Loki caught a whisper of glow off a translucent dragon wing.
“She’s gorgeous,” he gasped in awe. In his mind he traced the curve of the wing back to the body. The size of the beast staggered him.
A faint chuckle brushed across his mind.
“Good evening, Irisey, Loki here,” he introduced himself to the dragon on a whisper.
(Good evening, Loki. I am Irisey, matriarch of the nimbus.) Her lilting voice danced across his mind.
He bowed slightly, feeling himself in the presence of true majesty. Cyndi could learn a lot from this lady dragon.
“We’ve got to get going, before someone misses us,” Kat hissed in his ear.
“Introduce yourself,” he hissed back. “Dragon protocol.”
“We’ve already met,” Kat pouted.
“In person, or only in your mind? Do it, baby sister. We want to keep the nimbus happy and pleased with us.”
Kat glowered at him a moment.
He met her stubbornness with his own.
“Irisey, I am Kat Talbot,” she said. But she did not bow, she kept her shoulders straight, her spine stiff, and her chin up. She approached the dragon, equal to equal.
Maybe they were.
A flicker of prescient vision rocked Loki’s balance. For a single heartbeat he saw his sister as a matriarch presiding over a brood of children; power radiated from her aura, and ease with that power as if long accustomed to it.
He reached out and braced himself. His hand brushed the dragon’s muzzle.
(Easy, Loki. The time is not yet for your sister to step into that role. Many dangers await your entire family before that can happen.)
Loki nodded and gulped. “She has a lot of growing up to do first.”
“Who does?” Kat asked.
A flash of mental agreement crossed Loki’s mind from the dragon.
“Cyndi,” he lied. But it was the truth.
Kat scrambled atop the dragon. Loki followed as soon as she settled between two spinal horns. He took a long moment to caress the dragon’s crystal fur.
“Your wing tips and spinal horns are iridescent?” he asked quietly.
(All colors, and yet no color at all.)
“Where is Bruce?” Kat asked, querulous and cranky. “What are we waiting for?”
(An other.)
At that moment Bruce appeared out of the darkness. He held the hand of someone . . . someone with bright blonde hair.
“Cyndi,” Loki breathed. “Why did he drag her along?”
(She is needed.)
“For what?”
(To remind you of what you fight for and against.)
“Enigmatic as usual,” Loki muttered.
Cyndi followed Bruce eagerly until she spotted their transport. “You can’t expect me to believe this isn’t a nightmare,” she protested, her voice rising into the now familiar whine. “Another nightmare.” She stared at Loki.
He didn’t know how to ease her misgivings. Her last encounter with a dragon had been Hanassa trying to force his spirit into her body.
“It’ll be fun,” Geralds cajoled her, unaware of her fears. “Think of it as sneaking out of your father’s house to meet your friends and riding in a really sporty flitter.”
“But . . . but I’m hardly dressed for an adventure.” She waved her hand vaguely at her usual tunic and leggings.
“Don’t worry about it, Cyndi. We don’t have dress codes on this planet,” Loki said flatly.
“Obviously. People still eat meat here. And they wear animal leather. And they bathe in,” shudder, “water.”
“Just get onboard. The dragon won’t fly without you,” Loki ordered. “We have important things to do.”
“Like what?” Cyndi stood rock still, hands on hips, mouth set to disagree with whatever they planned.
“Like saving this planet from degenerating into civil war that will plunge it back into the stone age.”
“Bruce?” Kat gestured toward the man.
Gleefully, he lifted Cyndi off her feet and threw her over his shoulder. She squealed and kicked him. He swatted her bottom. She cried out again.
A cry of alarm rose from the village.
Geralds climbed partway up the dragon’s leg, then plunked Cyndi behind Loki.
“Hold on tight, little lady,” Geralds said as he positioned himself behind Cyndi. Spinal horns braced them fore and aft. Cyndi squirmed restlessly.
“I don’t have to obey any mere dragon. And I don’t have to obey you, Loki,” Cyndi pouted.
“Just what I need, two women in sour moods. Irisey, may I please leave one or both of them behind?”
(No.) The dragon took three lumbering steps toward the cliff, flapping her wings.
“Do I have to touch it?” Cyndi held her hands away from the spinal horn.
“You do unless you want to fall off onto the rocks in the cove,” Loki replied. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to watch as they approached the drop off. Would Irisey have enough air beneath her wings to fly? Or would she plummet onto the jagged beach, impaling her passengers?
Cyndi yelped and grabbed Loki fiercely around the waist. She buried her face into his back.
Sounds of alarm died away behind them.
Irisey took one last step off the cliff . . . and flew.
Loki breathed easier. He did his best to ignore the warmth that spread along his ribs from Cyndi’s grip.
He threw his head back and let the wind play with his hair and beard. He opened himself to the chill air and savored the contrast between the cold penetrating his bones and the warmth of the woman clinging so desperately to his back.
In an amazingly short period of time, the dragon had flown along the coast and swung inward at the great river. Just a few wing flaps later she circled Base Camp. The watch fires glowed in the darkness along with two or three oil lanterns leading toward the latrine.
Irisey circled and banked a second time, selecting a landing place just south of the camp, away from the tilled and planted fields. She came down gracefully, running the last few steps to shed speed.
Kat dropped off the dragon’s back before she came to a complete stop. “My thanks, Irisey.” This time Kat bowed to the dragon.
Irisey dipped her head until the long spiral horn growing from her forehead nearly touched Kat’s chest. Kat grabbed the tip and rubbed it gently.
Some private communication passed between them.
Loki strained to listen while Geralds helped a shaking Cyndi onto the ground, then supported her for several steps until she got her land legs again.
At last Loki slid down Irisey’s haunch and faced his sister. “What was that all about?”
“Stand clear,” Kat called.
Loki moved away from the dragon. Irisey’s fur shimmered in the starlight and then . . . she disappeared. He heard her steps and wing flaps, but saw nothing of her form.
“I should be used to that by now.” He wiped sweat from his brow, not liking his reaction to the mysterious dragon. “What’s the plan, Kat?” he asked firmly.
Kat whipped out a needle pistol and aimed it at Loki’s heart. “The plan is that you surrender to me and I turn you over to Her Majesty, Queen Amanda.”