Chapter 19 #2
With the moonlight gleaming on his silver scales, Jildarin spread his wings and flew toward the center of the lake.
Not sure what he intended to do, Rylana watched as he soared about while gazing intently down at the water.
She didn’t hear any alarm gongs coming from the city so assumed they were far enough out that the gnomes’ magic didn’t object to a dragon in its native form.
He would have to be careful though, since there were more pillars—and a peacekeeper station—on the far side of the lake.
As far as she knew, only a small stretch of the wetlands on the southern end wasn’t claimed by Tranquility—and protected by the peacekeepers and their golems.
Jildarin banked and headed toward her, skimming low over the water.
Even though they were allies now—business partners, so even closer than allies—Rylana couldn’t keep from shifting uneasily on the bench at the sight of a powerful dragon flying straight toward her.
Her heartbeat sped up, and her instincts made her want to reach for a knife.
As if that would do anything against one of their kind.
It didn’t help that Jildarin opened his great maw, and flames roiled in the back of his throat, yellow-orange swirls that were brilliant in contrast to the dark night.
“What are you doing?” Rylana blurted, rising into a crouch in case she needed to fling herself overboard.
Only then did she realize that he was angling slightly to the side of the boat instead of straight at her. Jildarin opened his maw wider and breathed fire at the surface of the lake.
A distant cry of alarm from the docks promised someone was out and had spotted him.
He bathed the water with his flames, close enough that their heat warmed Rylana’s cheeks.
Belatedly, she realized exactly how he was trying to convince the yeasts of the need to defend themselves.
As he soared past, she bent over the side of the boat.
Of course, the water hadn’t caught fire, so the flames didn’t linger, but was that a hint of blue light from the spot he’d targeted?
Jildarin circled the boat, sending more flames toward the lake. Purple brightened the water, another species of the magical bioluminescent organisms bestirred to glow.
Rylana had no idea which color the aquatic yeasts that they needed were, but she grabbed the stockpot and cheesecloth. As more flames struck the water near the bow, a green glow started up.
“We should have brought more pots,” Rylana muttered as she awkwardly alternated paddling with one oar to turn the boat while scooping water from the middle of each glowing pool into her only container.
In the lake, the different species of microscopic organisms kept their distance—at least, that was what the non-mingling of the colors had always suggested to her—but she forced several kinds into the pot.
She picked up the cheesecloth but wasn’t sure why she’d brought it along.
What could they strain while in the boat?
Besides, wouldn’t these tiny organisms be too small to be filtered with it?
She had no idea and simply used it to cover the stockpot.
“I’ve captured a bunch of samples,” she called.
But Jildarin had left the area, flying to the south. Rylana frowned in confusion. Had he gotten an abrupt urge to hunt?
Then she saw another winged being in the sky over the wetlands. Another dragon.
By the moonlight, it was hard to be certain of its coloring, but it was dark. Maybe black. Had his mother returned? Or—Rylana shifted uneasily again—his aunt? Lysilria had been the one who’d suggested getting rid of Rylana to ensure she didn’t distract her nephew from his mating duties.
Since Jildarin didn’t hesitate to fly toward the newly arrived dragon, she guessed it was indeed one of his relatives—or at least an ally.
Realizing she was vulnerable out in the lake, where dragons could fly without setting off the alarm pillars, Rylana shifted to the other bench, placed both oars in the rowlocks, then started navigating toward the shoreline.
When Jildarin had been rowing, the boat had made swift progress into the center of the lake.
Even though she’d kept up with her fitness training and was decently strong for a woman, Rylana was no dragon.
And the wind and current were against her on the way back.
They pushed her little craft toward the south even as she attempted to keep it en route to the docks.
Despite her efforts, she soon accepted that she would end up reaching land farther south than she wanted.
“As long as there’s a pillar nearby,” Rylana grumbled, careful not to make any movements that would spill the stockpot as she checked the sky again.
After passing over the end of the lake, Jildarin and the new dragon had flown too far away for her to see. But her instincts twanged again, and she caught herself looking to the north. Her gut lurched as another dragon came into view from that direction, another black dragon. His mother? His aunt?
Whoever it was, the dragon flew toward her rowboat.
Groaning, Rylana put her back into pulling the oars harder. She smacked something with one, and a long flash of green illuminated the water. One of the eels?
“Everyone is sensing the need to activate defenses now,” she said, “with all these dragons about.”
Too bad she couldn’t light up and attract a huge fish that would eat the predators after her. Alas, she didn’t think even the largest of sharks or whales would take on a dragon.
And this dragon was coming closer. Flying over the center of the lake, it remained on course for her boat.
Rylana glanced over her shoulder, cursing at the distance to shore.
She might be close enough that pillars would alarm about the time the dragon reached her, but it wasn’t as if the peacekeepers would appear instantly.
The magical golems didn’t need air to breathe and might be able to walk along the bottom of the lake to come out and help, but she doubted the solid stone beings could swim.
Running out of time, Rylana started paddling in another direction—with the current and the wind.
She’d drifted far enough south that Lucky Island and the boardwalk stretching to it from the shoreline weren’t far away.
There was a pillar on that island, though she doubted any peacekeepers would be nearby.
Still, the landmass was treed and could offer some cover if that dragon hadn’t come for a friendly chat.
Its yellow eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and Rylana doubted that chatting was what it had in mind. Was what she had in mind? Closer now, its scales were clearly black, and those were the same color eyes that the aunt had. Lysilria had come to kill Rylana.