DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [148]
“Too many people.” Bardon smiled at her.
Kale picked up the next line. “Always too many people.”
The look he cast her, filled with humor and chagrin, felt good. We’re friends, she thought. Very good friends.
She grinned at him. “And when we successfully awaken the sleeping knights?”
Bardon groaned. “Three dozen, plus two.”
Toopka hopped. “Are any of these people children?”
Kale saw a look of awareness cross Bardon’s face, but more interestingly, she felt his sense of pleasure. He had a secret surprise for the little doneel.
“Yes.” He patted her head. “Two are boys.”
“Oh good,” she exclaimed. “Boys are so much better to play with than girls.”
“They are?” asked Kale. “You really haven’t had many opportunities to play with anyone the last three years.”
“Just when Wizard Cam takes us through a gateway for ‘educational purposes.’” She looked very glum as they resumed their walk down the hall.
“Don’t let her fool you, Bardon.” Kale shook her head deliberately. “Cam’s idea of education is a visit to a festival for cultural enlightenment or to diverse families for exposure to different lifestyles.” Kale felt a sadness settle on her heart, remembering what it was like to have no real friends. “Still, it would be nice for Toopka to have one friend closer to her own age. One who is always around.”
“Regidor is my friend.” Her voice piped up, proving she had been listening, although she had appeared to be more interested in the paintings on the walls and knickknacks sitting in cases along the corridor. “And I’m older than him. I always will be.”
She dropped to her hands and knees, wiggled under a table, and came out with a large ring.
“Look, I found treasure.” She rubbed it on her yellow shirt and then held the ring up for them to see. A large square-cut emerald glistened from the ornately worked gold setting.
“I’d say that’s treasure,” said Bardon. “But we don’t know who it belongs to. You can keep it until we find the rightful owner.”
Toopka scowled as she tucked it in a pocket.
Bardon tweaked her ear as he walked by. “But somewhere in this castle is a treasure that belongs to you.”
She jumped and raced past him, then turned to walk backward as she pelted him with questions. “Where? How do you know it belongs to me? What is it? Why is it here?”
“I don’t know where it is. That’s why we’re exploring the castle. I know it belongs to you, because you once told me about it. It’s a…” He paused. “No, I think it would be better if you discovered this treasure on your own. Why don’t you turn around and look?”
At the end of the long hallway stood two boys, a blind tumanhofer and an o’rant.
Joy rushed through Kale as she realized Toopka’s old friend from Vendela was Bardon’s surprise. Her emotions transferred to the minor dragons, who burst into a chorus of excited chittering.
Toopka scrunched her eyes closed and turned slowly. Kale knew exactly when the little doneel allowed herself to open her eyes.
“Sittiponder!” Toopka squealed and ran to meet him.
The small tumanhofer scooped her into an embrace.
Kale took hold of Bardon’s arm and squeezed. “This is wonderful. How did you find him?”
“He found us.”
Kale left her arm tucked under Bardon’s as they walked down the corridor.
Tiny Toopka hugged her friend fiercely. “I’m so glad you’re here, Sitti.” She kissed his cheek and hugged him again. Then her attention turned to the other child. “Who is this boy?”
“Ahnek.” Sittiponder responded. With his arms full of the little doneel, he nodded in the other boy’s direction.
“Hello, Ahnek. I found a treasure.” Toopka took the ring out to show them. After flashing it before Ahnek’s eyes, she pressed the treasure against Sittiponder’s cheek and turned the ornate circlet slowly. “Bardon says there’s another treasure here in the castle for me. I may have to give back this ring if it belongs to someone, but the other treasure belongs to me and it’s one I told him about, but I can’t imagine what it is because I’ve never had a treasure.”
“You noisy bird,” said Sittiponder affectionately, “quit twittering.