Dragon Rule - E. E. Knight [78]
“So where is the third?”
“It went from Silverhigh to Scabia’s Sadda-Vale. From there, she told me that a dragon named AuNor took it. He was fond of looking into it—according to Scabia it gave some visions . . . others nightmares.”
“AuNor!” Wistala said. “My father’s father?”
“The same. He passed down the traditions of the Silverhigh Star to you and your brother . . . or at least he began to.”
“What is the Silverhigh Star?”
“Order of the Silverhigh Star, is the proper name,” DharSii said. “A league of dragons devoted to improving dragonkind and its place in the world. From good dragons, better was one of their sayings.”
“I’ve never come across anything about an Order of the Silverhigh Star among the Ankelenes. Though I’ve limited my studies to the physical sciences, for the most part,” Rayg said.
“Its influence was waning even before Silverhigh fell,” DharSii said. “Your mother sang one of its songs to her hatchlings.”
“If you find your missing piece of the puzzle, what will you do with it?” the Copper asked.
“Unite the pieces. Very carefully.”
“So it will belong to the Lavadome.”
“It belongs to all dragons, I believe,” DharSii said. “I would like to examine your home cave. With Wistala to guide me.”
Home cave. Bitter words.
“My home cave is the Lavadome,” the Copper said. “For now, it’s also Wistala’s. She has duties here.”
“Let me try to change your mind,” DharSii said.
“If there’s nothing more, Rayg, I will leave.”
Rayg ignored him, staring at Wistala in thought.
The Copper turned tail and began the long climb back to Imperial Rock. He heard Rayg’s quick footsteps behind.
Wistala and DharSii lingered behind.
Wistala couldn’t take her eyes off DharSii. He stood there amidst the fairy lights, looking as though he were standing in a thundershower of fireflies.
“I’d like to know more about your order,” Wistala said.
“It’s a matter of few words, or a great many,” DharSii replied.
“Tell me.” As far as he was concerned, she could listen to him forever.
“The Order was committed to learning from others. Hominids, avians, whatever. All the natural world holds a lesson.”
“That’s true. I learned courage from an old horse,” Wistala said.
“According to the philosophers of Silverhigh, dragons taught others to speak and record their thoughts. But sometimes I wonder if it wasn’t the reverse. There are so many odd words in the dragon vocabulary that are of little use unless you’re dealing with hominid concerns. Terms having to do with architecture, or agriculture. Dragons in their natural state don’t grow food and sniff out shelter more often than they build it. You’d think we’d only have three words for a cave, much as the bears do.”
“When would you like to leave for my home cave?”
“What about the Tyr?” DharSii asked.
“Talking about the past upsets him. That part of our shared past, I should say.”
DharSii planted his feet. “I’d rather talk about the future. Wistala, I’d prefer to have you as a mate.”
Wistala thought she’d imagined his statement. He’d like her to be his mate? “That’s it? I’m a preference? No song, no mating flight, no—”
“You’re a sensible, intelligent dragon. You really want to sit there and listen to me sing about my life? You know the particulars—the important ones, anyway.”
“That’s it,” she repeated, feeling the heat in her words.
DharSii looked puzzled. Perhaps he expected her to quietly agree, then have a long talk about the ideal Protectorate for a home cave. “These old traditions sound better than they live. My bellowing, you flying off and trying to outrace me. It’s silliness. I’m sure two intelligent dragons can come to a reasonable decision.”
Wistala spoke without thinking. “Reason, reason—everything with you is reason. Give me a reason to be your mate!”
DharSii stamped in confusion, looking at her first out of one eye and then the other as if to make sure his visual abilities were functioning properly.
“So we’re not to be mated?”
The Wyrr temperament he’d just praised disappeared. “Not without a proper courtship, no. Furthermore, I have my duties as Queen-Consort. I