The leather rat-dog nuzzled Baby, but backed away and bounced up and down like it was mounted on a spring.
Tsai shook her head. “It’s so weird watching an old boot pretend it’s a little dog. It surely wants something.”
“Weaver drowned in tears.” Lorel reached out and caught Izzy in midair. “It wants what it’s wanted all along.”
Tsai looked at her like she’d fallen off the Loom. “What’s that?”
“To show us where to find the kid.”
Izzy wiggled so hard it squirmed right out her hand. It jumped three steps toward the mountain, paused, and hopped around to face them. Black-pearl eyes gleamed in the afternoon light.
Why not? The toad already gave up. Why not follow Izzy? They couldn’t be worse off.
Lorel tucked Baby Bear inside her jacket, checked her swords’ positions, and strolled toward the rat-dog.
“What?” Tsai squeaked. “You’re joking, right?”
Izzy hopped around to face the kid’s mountain and bounced forward.
“Might as well give it a try.” Lorel’s boots ground into the snow. Ice dug through the battered leather and attacked her toes.
Tsai groaned, but followed her. The girl’s boots crunched too loud, too. But it wasn’t like they could sneak up on a dragon.
Their footprints showed up as bad as Kyri said they would, but that meant they’d have no trouble finding their way back to the wagon.
Oddly, Izzy didn’t leave no mark in the snow at all as it bounced up and up the mountainside. It paused occasionally, waiting for them, she guessed, but it kept bounding upward.
Baby Bear whimpered.
“Izzy, it’s getting dark.” Darker than she’d realized, now that she was stopped and looking around. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”
The rat-dog jumped faster instead.
Tsai pointed upward. “Is that a cave?”
“Looks like it.” Lorel patted Baby Bear’s butt. “We’ll need a torch to check it out.”
Izzy stormed upward and bounced into the cave.
“Fraying lump of leather.” Lorel scrambled up to the ledge, leaned back down, and offered Tsai a hand up.
The girl shook her head. “We can’t see anything more than a foot in. What if it’s full of snakes?”
“Snakes don’t like snow. They all went downhill.” Lorel eased inside the hole, but stopped at the edge of the light.
A weird roaring noise echoed inside the cave. Must be water. Must be a lot of water. At least now she knew the kid had something to drink, even if it was only melted ice.
“Come on, Izzy.” She turned back to the opening. “We gotta make some torches to get farther in than this.”
No Izzy. No sound of Izzy hopping, either. Not that she’d hear it over the waterfall’s thunder.
“I promise we’ll go looking for the kid come daylight.” She paused in the cave’s mouth. “And we gotta leave Baby in the wagon. It’s too cold up here for her.”
“It’s too cold for me.” Tsai wrapped her arms around herself. “We need our winter gear, and enough food to stay inside if we need to.”
“Can’t stay that long. I gotta feed Baby. Can’t count on the toad to remember.” Lorel slapped her thigh. “Come on, Izzy.”
Quiet tapping approached her. Izzy hopped slowly into the light. The rat-dog was definitely pouting, even if its leather face didn’t move none.
“Hey, you did good, Izzy. You got closer to the kid than the toad did. And we ain’t done yet.”
It hopped a little faster.
When it came into reach, Lorel grabbed the rat-dog and tossed it down to Tsai. “Catch.”
Izzy’s little arms flailed. Its tiny feet paddled air.
“Yikes!” But Tsai caught the leather toy just fine. “Warn me, would you? My hands are so cold I might’ve missed.”
Lorel laughed. “I’ll start a fire in the stove when we get back. Old toad’s gonna need lots of heating up. A warm wagon will help.”
“I’m going to need a warm wagon.” Tsai tucked Izzy under her arm and plodded down the trail in the snow. “I forgot how cold it gets out here.”
Wasn’t all that cold. Tsai and the kid never liked cool weather as much as she did. Kyri hated it. She should’ve known the overgrown wiggler would poop out after a few minutes in the snow.
A low howl echoed up the mountain.
Baby Bear whimpered and wiggled.
Not another fraying serdil pack. It was too warm to nail the pelts to the wagon. They’d attract flies for sure.
“Bog swallow it.” Tsai started taking bigger steps. “Knee-deep in this crap right at dusk isn’t a good defensive position. And the horses are unprotected.”
“Hey, there’s three moons up. We can see well enough.” Snow wasn’t hardly ankle deep, but it might slow them both down. “We ain’t that far. And the roans’ll protect Sumach.”
“They’re just big horses.” Tsai stepped into the holes their feet had made on the way up and managed to walk faster. “They can’t possibly do all the stuff you say they can.”
“The kid thinks they do.”
“Viper has a brilliant imagination. And he believes everything Kyri tells him.”
True on both counts. He quarreled with everything Lorel told him, so she knew his faith in the toad wasn’t reasonable.
Maybe the horses were in danger. She sped up, passed Tsai, and hurried toward the meadow.
Just as she reached it, Poppy kicked a serdil in the head. The beastie flew across the grass and thudded against a tree.
Nope. She was right the first time.
Now where’s the rest of the critters?
Three gray serdil were dashing around the wagon like they’d lost their wits. Another one was chewing on the frozen bunny she’d left for Kyri. Two black-and-white ones were trying to claw their way through the wagon door.
Old toad must’ve slithered inside the wagon when the serdil showed up. The overgrown wiggler wasn’t stupid enough to stay outside by itself.
Why on the Loom would serdil want the snake so bad? There was lots of tastier food around. Why go after a magical critter?
Because it was magical?
Her long sword was in her hand. Had been for a while, and she hadn’t even noticed. If that wasn’t a sign this was her fight, she didn’t know what was.
Tsai hustled up behind her. “Back to back, or separate?”
“Separate. They ain’t much as fighters.”
“I swear they’ve been getting better at it.” Tsai drew her scimitar.
Lorel laughed. “Now you’re the one with too much imagination.”
The three serdil circling the wagon skidded to a stop, studied the two girls, and launched at them.
Baby Bear whimpered.
The fourth serdil dropped the bunny carcass and sprang right at Lorel.
“Weaver’s chamberpot. Hang on, Baby.” Lorel sprinted toward the charging beastie.
The serdil reared.
She slashed it across the throat, spun, and slammed her sword across another critter’s back. It howled and went down. Blood squirted across the meadow.
The two remaining serdil charged Tsai.
“Bog drown you!” Tsai chucked Izzy at the first serdil, stepped aside, and swung her scimitar at the second one.
It dropped and rolled.
Tsai missed. “Cross-eyed scimitar. I need my old blade.”
Izzy whirled in the air and came down on the serdil’s head. And landed hard.
The serdil crashed to its knees.
Lorel paused to make sure her last victim was dead. It wasn’t, so she stabbed its neck.
The two black-and-white serdil continued to attack the door like they were desperate to get inside. What did they think was in there, anyway? Surely they weren’t after the toad.
The serdil attacking Tsai spun around, leaped at her hand, and fastened its teeth in her coat sleeve.
Tsai screamed and pounded on its head with her free fist.
<
br /> Bitter blood in the Warp and the Weave! Lorel abandoned her prey and raced toward Tsai.
Baby Bear scrabbled against Lorel’s belly and yowled like she was trying to break everybody’s eardrums. “Meeeooo!”
The serdil hesitated. Its gaze swung toward Lorel.
Tsai grabbed the scimitar’s hilt with her other hand, yanked it sideways, and slit the serdil’s throat from windpipe to spine.
Blood sprayed all over the girl. The serdil kicked and struggled and squirmed. And held on with its teeth.
Tsai swayed from its weight.
Lorel reached them and grabbed Tsai’s uninjured arm to balance her. Sword still in her hand, yanked the serdil’s jaws open with her fingertips. “You hurt?”
“I think my arm’s broken.” Tsai’s face was paler than the moonlit snow. She nodded toward the wagon. “We’re not done yet.”
Izzy kicked its serdil in the face for the fourth or fifth time. It packed quite a punch for an undersized padded boot. Its serdil’s eyes were glazed.
Lorel trotted over and chopped the beastie’s head off. “Thanks, Izzy. You’re one fine warrior.”
The rat-dog hopped away from the spray of blood and bounded to Tsai.
The girl bowed to it, but grimaced as she stood up. “Temple’s blessings on you, Izzy. Sentakai, we’ve got to stop those monsters before they tear off the door.”
Good thing the fraying door lifted up instead of inward or they’d be inside already. “Izzy, stay here and guard Tsai.”
Izzy bounced twice and sat on Tsai’s feet.
The girl’s jaw dropped and she stared at Lorel. “Have you fallen into the swamp again?”
“Well, you ain’t in no shape to fight.” Lorel hiked Baby Bear higher inside her jacket and stalked toward the wagon. She’d’ve liked to leave Baby with Tsai, but the girl couldn’t protect nobody at the moment.
Unfortunately, Baby didn’t like all the commotion. “Meeeeoooo!”
Both serdil paused in digging at the door. One whirled and launched toward Lorel.
The wagon door slammed upward and smashed the remaining serdil under the jaw. Kyri burst through the opening and sank its fangs into the serdil’s white chest.
Good, just one to go. And one with an interesting pelt. She’d take it down fast and clean. She wasn’t even winded yet.
The serdil raced toward her.
She raised her sword.
Baby Bear wiggled half out of her jacket. “Meeeooo!”
Of all times for her baby to get lively, it had to be when she was too busy to enjoy it. Lorel grabbed Baby with her free arm and squeezed the puppy against her body.
Motion at the corner of her eye.
Tsai screamed, “Look out!”
A third black-and-white critter sprinted toward her.
“Bitter blood!” One serdil was no problem, but two of the monsters while Baby was escaping worried her. Especially when it looked like they were after her baby.
One at a time. She could deal with them both if she concentrated on one at a time. Lorel turned to face the closest one.
“Sentakai!” With the scimitar still in her off hand, Tsai pointed the curved blade toward Lorel. “Three more!”
Three? Five serdil after her? Blood in the Weave!
Flames shot out of the scimitar in a curved arc, headed right at her.
Tsai screamed.
Thread-snipping scimitar. She never had trusted a curved blade. Ignoring the serdil, Lorel dropped to the ground and curled around Baby.
Blistering fire roared above her.
Five serdil with beautiful black-and-white pelts burst into flame.
“Weaver’s cold toes, did you have to burn them all up? I wanted them furs.” Lorel sat up and ruffled Baby’s head.
Tsai hurled the scimitar away from her. “You can have the one Kyri killed. You can have the bog-swallowed sword, too. I never wanted a magic blade.”
The girl must be in an awful lot of pain to throw her sword down. Their teachers would’ve beaten her to tatters if they’d seen.
Lorel cleaned her own blade in the grass and on her jacket sleeve before sheathing it. She stood and shoved Baby deeper inside her jacket, until the little head just peaked out. “Show me your arm.”
Tsai shook her head. “Don’t patronize me.”
“You been taking talking lessons from the toad?” Lorel grinned and hoped Tsai wouldn’t notice the smile was a little shaky. All them serdil didn’t bother her much, but the miswoven fiery sword frayed her thread a bit.
Izzy hopped away from Tsai’s feet, right to the thread-snipping scimitar. It leaned its stiff little body forward and seemed to sniff the sword.
“Get away from there, Loom lint.” She’d hate to see the rat-dog burned up, even if it was only a toy.
Izzy dipped forward again, fell to one side, and laid down on the miswoven sword.
Tsai gasped.
Lorel held her breath.
No fire. Not even a little smoke. Maybe the sword’s lava lizard ghost liked the leather rat-dog. Lorel couldn’t think up no other reason Izzy wasn’t scorched into charbroiled jerky.
She strolled over to Tsai as calmly as she could. “I think that’s to tell us the miswoven sword won’t hurt us. The kid made the thing, after all.”
Tsai rolled her eyes. “Viper made both of them. Maybe they know they both have his magic.”
That might be true, but it didn’t much matter just now.
Lorel plucked at Tsai’s coat. “Show me your arm.”
“It’s too dark out here to see anything.” Tsai strolled over to her scimitar, staggering just a bit, nudged Izzy aside, and picked up the sword. “You get to put camp to bed by yourself.”
“Your arm, Loom lint.”
“After the wagon warms up. There’s nothing you can do about it, anyway. I won’t let you cut it off.”
“This one doubts that radical surgery will be necessary.” Using its snout, Kyri shoved the dead serdil off the driver’s beach. “This one requests the anchor construct a fire in the vehicle’s stove. If the anchor brings straight kindling for splints, this one shall guide the anchor in setting and wrapping the fire heart’s bones. More light would be appreciated.”
Blood in the Weave. She understood all of the longwinded worm’s chatter. Must be a first. “Fire and sticks. I can do that.” Especially since the cook fire hadn’t burned out yet, just needed some feeding. “Tsai, you need help to get inside?”
“I can manage.” The girl was wobbly, but climbed up to the driver’s platform without even cussing once.
Kyri pushed the door up and held it open until Tsai was inside.
“It’s slime-eating dark in here.”
“Working on it.” Fill the fire pot, find sticks for Tsai’s arm, wood for the stove, bandages, build up the campfire, skin all them serdil… Lorel figured she’d be hustling for the next couple of hours.
“Mau?”
And she better feed Baby Bear soon, or they’d all go deaf from the puppy’s hollering.
Her own tummy rumbled.
How’d the kid ever manage to do all this crap by himself?
Chapter 27.
Surizhan flew into the cavern and deposited two king salmon at the edge of the nest. “The human has camped in the meadow below your mountain.”
Viper’s heart thudded against his ribs. Just one human? Was one of the girls hurt? Or worse, had one of them died trying to reach him?
“A human does not concern me.” Leysamura filleted the larger fish and fed an impatient Zhanamuriel bite by bite. “Will you be witness?”
Witness to what? Another draconic ritual that he couldn’t record? He swore he’d never again leave the wagon without two notebooks and a dozen pencils stashed in his pockets.
If he ever got back to the wagon. And back to a town that sold pencils. He was fairly certain he had only three stubs left, and only six empty pages in his lone unfilled notebook.
Surizhan stared at her, looked critically
at Viper, and back at his mate. “I will do so.”
She nodded and continued to feed Zhanamuriel. After the infant was sated she gave the rest of that fish to Surizhan and sedately ate the smaller king salmon herself. She licked her hands clean and turned toward Viper’s shelf.
The expression on her face was peculiar. Determined and delighted and mischievous. As if she planned a silly prank.
Did he really want to experience a dragon’s sense of humor? Not as the victim of the joke. This might be a good time to go into hiding.
He dashed deep into the tunnels, dove into a hole in a fungus bed that he’d hidden in successfully earlier, and covered the entrance with spongy ears excavated from the bottom. He snuggled in and concentrated on being invisible. His Masking Veil must be perfect by now.
“Good try, little one.” Leysamura reached into the tunnel and plucked him out.
“Lightning strike you!” He kicked and wiggled uselessly. “Put me down!”
“Hush, my little hatchling. Be still.” Cradling him in one hand, she carried him to the other side of the cavern, where she hooked the earrings and the egg-lining cord with her clawtips.
Fighting her didn’t help at all. Besides, he was curious about what she was up to, now that she was finally doing something with his earrings.
Viper leaned back in her palm and studied the proceedings. Surely he’d remember enough to record their ritual later, in charcoal on the tunnel walls, if necessary.
She pushed both earrings onto the tip of her smallest finger, swayed over to Surizhan, and tilted her head. “Kindly pierce my ear.”
Surizhan took her ear in his mouth and bit down, fang meeting fang. When he pulled his head away there was a single neat hole in Leysamura’s earlobe. Blood leaked out in a slow rivulet.
Thunderdrums, that looked like it hurt. His belly twisted into a knot in sympathy.
“Little Adoriel, insert the loop, if you will.” Leysamura offered him one earring and the red cord.
Earring, cord, bloody hole. He wasn’t expected to squeeze the cord through her earlobe, was he? Not yet, anyway. He was too far away.
Wide eyed, he accepted the carving, threaded the cord through the hole between the wingtips, and clutched the earring to his chest.
Why ever had he thought he’d be the witness? But why was he a participant?
Dragon's Child (The Mindbender's Rise Book 4) Page 25