Chapter 10
With her bow in hand, her quiver of arrows across her back, and the horn on its new string over her shoulder, Rylana felt like she was leaving on a quest. Maybe she was.
Though she was only taking the ferry across Luminous Lake so she could visit the family estate, it seemed like a great undertaking.
The morning sun had disappeared behind clouds, and a soft summer rain pattered on the water.
She hoped that wasn’t a sign that her mission would fail.
She needed to talk her father into giving Jildarin his blessing—or at least agreeing not to send him on errands, pirate-slaying errands.
Ideally, her father would tell Jildarin he could do what he wanted in regard to Rylana and that the outdated courting book need not be followed.
Ostensibly, she’d brought her bow and quiver in case any female dragons decided to risk the ire—and magical beams—of the pillars to pay her a visit.
But maybe she would lean the weapons against the wall while she spoke to her father to remind him that she’d been a mercenary and wasn’t to be trifled with.
She doubted that would work, but one could embrace fantasies, right?
Fantasies in which one’s father realized he would be foolish to irritate the mighty warrior that his daughter had become.
“It’s raining, but you’re smiling. Are you daydreaming about your dragon?” Sylin joined her at the railing, her hood up against the drizzle, and her gnomish vacuum flash making frequent trips to her lips. Despite Captain Tassani’s warning, Sylin hadn’t brought any weapons along,
“About shooting my father in the butt with an arrow, actually,” Rylana said.
“Because of your dragon. I see.”
“It wasn’t necessary for you to come along on this errand.
” Rylana hadn’t expected Sylin to join her.
After they’d finished their jog, Sylin had beelined for the coffee shop, not mentioning any interest in crossing the lake.
But by the time Rylana had grabbed her gear, let Jildarin know where she was going, and walked out of the diner, two elves had been walking into the coffee shop.
It was possible they’d had nothing to do with Sylin or the ambitious Shaldona family, but, perhaps with Tassani’s warning in mind, Sylin had appeared at the ferry dock as Rylana had been boarding.
“You wouldn’t have been bereft without my company?” Sylin asked.
“Oh, I would have been. Without your companionship, my life is bleak and without meaning.”
Her instincts twanged, giving Rylana the urge to look up. When she did, she groaned. An elegant golden dragon was soaring high above the lake.
Sylin tilted her chin skyward. “There might be companionship waiting for you when we reach the dock.”
“That’s not one of the sisters. Wrong color.”
“This is the first golden dragon I’ve seen since the war.”
“I have a hunch that’s the first golden dragon I’ve seen since breakfast.” Rylana had already mentioned the shape-shifted visitor who had touched Jildarin’s shoulder and led him out of the diner that morning. She’d had blonde—golden—hair.
The dragon flapped her wings hard a few times, then folded them in and dove toward the shallows at the southern end of the lake.
In the trees bordering the marshy area, several birds flew up and away from the descending predator.
But the dragon was diving toward the water rather than the branches.
Her golden head snapped beneath the surface as her wings spread to pull up from the dive.
A glowing eel dangled from her jaws but only for a couple of seconds before she chomped it down.
“I gather it—she—didn’t stay for breakfast.” Sylin sipped from her flask.
Murmurs came from the crew and passengers on the ferry. Others had noticed the great predator’s presence.
“Why are there so damn many dragons in Tranquility these days?” a nearby crewman grumbled.
“Do you think that chef is inviting them?”
Rylana eyed the question asker, prepared to come to Jildarin’s defense if need be. Of course, his presence in the city technically was the reason so many dragons had visited the area of late.
“Probably not,” the first speaker said. “He makes all that good food for humans, gnomes, dwarves, orcs, and everyone else. Everyone normal. He’s not like other dragons.”
Rylana smiled, pleased by that encomium.
“I heard he was banished and that’s why he had to come work in Tranquility,” another crewman said. “His mother won’t give him any coin, so he has to legitimately earn his way in the world.”
That was close enough to the truth that Rylana was surprised. Though a desire for money wasn’t what had prompted Jildarin to start his diner, his unwillingness to mate with dragon females was apparently the reason his mother had cut him off from the family hoard.
“His food is amazing.”
Rylana almost laughed because the crewman said the word in the same reverent tone as the postal clerk had.
“I haven’t tried it,” someone else said. “I heard it makes you horny. My wife already groans when I come to bed randy.”
“That’s because you’re a cross between a rabbit and a goblin. What do you have? Eight children? I’d be groaning too, if I were your wife.”
“I’d be doing a lot more than groaning if you were my wife.”
“Anyway, that was the original soup he served. Now, everything the dragon chef makes just leaves you full and satisfied and wanting to come back and try more. The caramelized Luminous Lake scallops are to die for. And that blue maple glaze? Damn, I may need to visit the diner tonight.”
“You’re smiling again,” Sylin remarked, watching Rylana. “How many of those arrows are you envisioning firing into your father’s backside?”
“I like hearing that people appreciate Jildarin’s food. He deserves praise and recognition. He…” Rylana trailed off because the golden dragon, her eel meal consumed, was flying low over the lake.
At first, it looked like she would fly toward the ferry—and did her amber eyes lock onto Rylana?
—but a pillar near the dock on the western side started gonging.
The dragon flapped her wings and veered inland.
She flew over the pillar and wooded estates along the shoreline, following the road that led inland from the dock, and then descended toward the treetops.
The branches kept Rylana from seeing what the dragon did after that, and she shifted uneasily.
It had looked like she might be landing.
Landing to turn into an elf so she could walk past the pillars without prompting them to alarm?
The one near the dock had stopped gonging.
“Yes, you’re definitely going to have company waiting for you when you get off.” Sylin must also have thought the dragon had landed.
“Just for me? You’re not disembarking?”
“If there’s a dragon waiting on the docks for you, I might stay aboard, sip my coffee, and enjoy the show.”
“What kind of show are you expecting?”
“Thus far, all the female dragons you’ve met have tried to kill you.”
“They haven’t all tried to kill me.”
Sylin arched her eyebrows.
“So far, I think only Jildarin’s aunt and one of the sisters did.
” Rylana scratched her jaw. Was that right?
Or had both the sisters been after her on Lucky Island?
Had Sylin not ensnared one with the magical gnomish net, Rylana might have found out for certain.
“His mother hasn’t personally tried to kill me. ”
“She just flew around nearby while his aunt did?”
“Essentially. I admit I have gotten the impression that all the female dragons I’ve met think my death would be a good idea.”
“I’m going to recommend that you stay on the ferry too.” Sylin tilted her thumb back toward the opposite side of the lake. Suggesting they forgo this errand? At least for today?
If Rylana did that, who knew what other tasks her father might assign to Jildarin? Dangerous tasks. He could easily have been wounded during the pirate encounter. As powerful as dragons were, they weren’t impervious to shiploads of men firing cannons, crossbows, and bows at them.
“If she’s in elven form again, she’ll be able to walk onto the ferry to join us,” Rylana pointed out.
“True.”
As the ferry neared the dock, the same beautiful blonde elf who had come to the diner that morning walked out, wearing a dress that was already growing damp from the rain.
It clung to voluptuous curves that nearby men noticed.
The mist hadn’t dampened her hair enough to make it lose its body or luster, and more than one person waiting for the ferry looked her brazenly up and down.
The humans did, anyway. A half-orc and a dwarf, probably sensing what she was, backed uneasily away.
The shape-shifted dragon didn’t seem to notice any of the attention. Her gaze was toward the approaching vessel. Toward Rylana.
She sighed, equal parts exasperation and worry in the exhalation. Maybe she should have been terrified, but she was too frustrated at this point to be properly afraid.
A few of the crewmen who’d been discussing Jildarin earlier whispered, nudged each other, and pointed to the shape-shifted dragon.
“Maybe she got tired of flying and bought a ticket for a ride back,” Sylin said.
“Oh, I’m sure,” Rylana said.
“Maybe she wants the horn.”
Rylana snorted. “Somehow, I doubt my new antique artifact is what’s bringing Jildarin’s admirers to Tranquility.”
“Do they admire him or just lust after him?”
“Both, I think. And, above all, they want his babies. His hatchlings.”
“You should have fallen in love with a less desirable dragon. I haven’t heard anything about Zilek being chased by horny females.”
“Zalani thinks he’s hot.”
A few scrapes and clunks reverberated through the ferry as it bumped against the dock, crewmen tying it up and waving for people to depart. The shape-shifted dragon didn’t try to board. She looked at Rylana and spoke into her mind.
Come here, human.
Power laced the words, and the urge to promptly obey swept into Rylana.
I will meet you and discuss Jildarin with you.