DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [149]
“You?” She thought a moment and then giggled. “You aren’t made out of gold. You don’t have jewels anywhere.”
“I’m your friend, pebble.”
Toopka sat very still in his arms. She looked at his face so close to hers, and her face grew very still. “Am I your treasure, Sitti?”
He squeezed her. “Yes, turnip seed, you’re my friend. I think that’s why the voices told me to come on this quest. So I could be with you.”
Sittiponder and Ahnek knew where to find the kitchen, the library, and N’Rae.
Bardon and Kale followed the two boys. Toopka skipped beside Sittiponder, holding his hand. With the dragons circling above them, they moved through the hallways quickly, going down narrow stairs hidden behind doors. At one corner the two boys stopped to consult. Ahnek wanted to go left, and Sittiponder insisted they should go right. The blind boy won the dispute.
Ahnek spoke over his shoulder. “There’s no sense in fighting him. He’s always right.
When they walked into the library, N’Rae sat curled up in a big chair, her feet tucked under her. She looked up from a book as they entered.
“Hi! I’m Toopka.” But the little girl might as well have saved her greeting.
N’Rae sprang out of the chair, sprinted across the room, and threw herself into Bardon’s arms, hanging on to his neck and lifting her feet off the ground in an exuberant greeting.
Kale took a step back, thinking, It’s a good thing I no longer held on to his arm. She would have knocked me out of the way.
N’Rae took a deep breath and leaned back to get a better look at Bardon.
“You’re all right. I’m so very, very glad. We found the knights. My father is there, and so is my uncle. We’ve searched and searched, and none of us can find a clue as to how to break the spell. We can’t even get out of the castle. We tried going out the way we came in, and that hole to the burrows is blocked somehow. A spell, I would suspect. And we’re running out of food, and all Grandmother does is paint.”
“Oh dear, a grown-up Toopka.”
Kale, be nice. Bardon’s voice popped into her mind.
“Of course, I’ll be nice.”
She was raised with ropma.
“That explains a lot.”
Kale.
“All right. I’ll be nice. Peel her off of you and introduce me.”
As Bardon tactfully disengaged N’Rae’s arms from around his neck and placed her a foot away from him, he explained where they had been, that they had rescued Bromptotterpindosset, and that they had brought back reinforcements.
Kale guarded her thinking. It wouldn’t be prudent for Bardon to pick up her thoughts as she mused over this new development. If I hadn’t felt that kiss he planted on my head, I’d be quite irritated with my dearest Squire Bardon. I wrote him letters pages long and got back three sentences. He never once came to visit me in The Bogs. I hinted where Cam was planning to take us next, and he never coincidentally showed up.
But that’s all right. He kissed me and was naive enough to think I wouldn’t feel it. Poor Bardon needs help discovering we’re meant to be a couple, and I can’t think of a better person to help him than me.
Kale frowned at the vivacious N’Rae. This friendly little emerlindian had better find someone else to snuggle up to.
Finally, Bardon introduced Kale and her dragons. The minor dragons liked the attention N’Rae gave them. Kale narrowed her eyes and vowed to give them a talking to. They immediately felt the tension in their Dragon Keeper and flew to perches around the room.
The pale emerlindian turned once more to Kale. “I am so glad you’re here. I’ve always wanted a friend my own age, and Bardon has told me so much about you.” She hesitated long enough for Kale to think, Oh, great!
N’Rae smiled shyly up at her. “I know you’re important, the Dragon Keeper and a wizard, but I hope we can be friends.”
Be nice, Bardon reminded her. She is just what she seems.
“She seems like she’s a bit empty-headed.”
Be nice.
“Oh, all right!”
Kale smiled and extended her hand. “Let’s get to know each other.”
52
ASSIGNMENTS
Bardon looked around the crowded room and noted the